LOTS OF NEW NEWS!

Sorry it has taken me so long to finally update our BLOG! So much has happened in the last eight to ten months. So, I will try to update without making it too boring.

I am still working for JetBlue and loving my job. I believe my family loves the fact that I work for JB too! Jim and I have sent the kids to San Diego a few times, Jim has flown a few times as have my parent's. I finally took a trip to with my family to visit my mother-in-law in the hospital. It was a really nice one day trip; however, the last 1/2 hour of our flight home was not so wonderful. Salt Lake City was having lots of rain and thunderstorms that day and so our decent into SLC was like being on a very long roller coaster ride, too LONG in fact. Almost everyone on the flight had their barf bags out and opened and our Christian missed the bag and got it all over himself. We tried best we could to clean him up before we left the airport, but we were all pretty nauseated by the time we got home from the wonderful aroma.

Poor Christian, he is so accident prone. Earlier this year he fractured a thumb, barfing on himself, and now he has hurt his right arm during PE on Monday. One of the bones in his right arm is bowed and they can't really tell yet if he has fractured his elbow or not. Christian and I saw the Orthopedic Surgeon yesterday and they casted his arm and we go back next Friday to see if the bow has healed itself enough for us to find out if anything has been fractured or broken. There were some spots on his elbow that the doctor was a little suspicious about bout is hard to tell in boys his age because they are still growing and sometimes there are spots that will look cracked in the elbow because of this. Because of the bowing in Christian's arm, he is unable to move his elbow or his wrist. Now that his arm has been casted he was able to finally move his fingers this morning. I am not sure that I want my kids to take skiing or snowboarding lessons now. I am afraid we will be at the doctor's every week with a broken bone on someone!
On a better note for Christian, he is doing so much better in school! I think part of his doing better is that he is a little bit more mature and he has made lots of good friends, and they all live close by so he has kids his age to play with.
This summer, Christian and Jim went on a week long Boy Scout camp out near Yellowstone National Park. They had to do a 16 mile hike which took them into the Park and Jim got some beautiful pictures. They had a great time the two of them. I believe the Boy Scout Camp was Camp Loell, my spelling might be wrong. They did get rained on while they were there, but they did have lots of fun. They were exhausted when they got home.
I have lots more I would love to write, but I have to get some work done around the house today before everyone gets home.

Where to Begin...

Wow, it has been a long time since Jim or I have done any blogging and we apologize for not updating sooner. So, this entry is going to be rather lengthy. We are adding some nice pictures, that have been taken recently, for your enjoyment.

Spring is here, and that means that sports have started. We signed Alec up to play baseball. Alec is a great little athlete, he can play almost anything at anytime and do really well at it. His coach's have been very impressed w/how well Alec hits, catches, and throws the ball. He can actually pitch pretty well too! Alec has one down fall, he is very critical of himself and really gets down on himself when he doesn't do as well as he thinks he should. Alec came home from his game last night very upset because he had struck out twice. Hey, it happens to everyone, include the professionals, of course he didn't care to hear what mom and dad had to say. We promised to take him to the batting cages to practice some more as well as Jim practice more w/him when he his home.

Speaking of sports and dance classes, I was very surprised at how inexpensive it is to do all these things here in Utah. Jim and I had a family membership to the YMCA and it was still more than what we paid here to play ball. I know that I had also looked into signing him up to play little league ball back in California and it was at least $200. It was only $50 to sign Alec up to play baseball. The girls want to take gymnastics and Jazz/Hip Hop classes. Guess how much it is monthly...$80?...$120?...$200+...Nope, $35 a month for gymnastics, and $45 a month for the Jazz/Hip Hop classes or vis versa. Anyway, that is a lot less than what we would pay in California. Now I am sure there are problably expenses that will incure for recitles and compititions, but still you have to admit these are some great prices.

Christian is a Boy Scout now and there are lots of things he has to do as a Boy Scout to pass things off to get to his new ranks. We are fortunate enough that at least here in Davis County they offer merit badge classes at the high school to help the boys pass things off. I knew it would be to hard trying to get Christian to practices and passing off merit badges, so for now he is taking a few merit badge classes so he can get to his next rank. One of the classes he is taking right now requires Christian to have 8 hours of volunteer work that he has to get done in four weeks. As things progress w/this volunteer work, we will post pictures so you can see his project.

Nothing much new w/Rayanne or Kirstyn. They both seem to do very well in school and their subjects seem to come to them rather easily. Kirstyn's class read a book about Flat Stanley and sent one to a friend, and Kirstyn recieved a Flat Stanley from her friend. We need to take Flat Stanley around and take some pictures w/him so he can go home and show everyone where he has been in Davis County, we might even take him to Eli's baptism next week in American Fork. Rayanne continues to be an honor roll student and is on the Kaysville Jr. High National Junior Honor Society. Her grade point average came down a little last term, but she should be back at a 4.0 by the end of the semester. Rayanne has been getting a bit testy lately. All part of being a teenager, but she is driving Jim and I crazy as well as everyone else in the house. She has this idea in her head that she can do whatever she wants whenever she wants or that she is entitled to do what she wants w/out every having to ask anyone. It is really getting annoying and I am not sure how to handle it anymore. She is pretty lazy too. Rayanne talks about all the work her friends have to do and how they are so lucky, but she doesn't even do what she is supposed to do and constantly complains and have does the job when she is even asked. I would love to give my kids an allowance, but they have to do their work on their own w/out being asked, and I don't ever see that happening in this house. Although, we recently had to help clean the church house, and my kids did a fabulous job. Some friends of mine were there helping clean as well and they commented on how wonderful of a job our children were doing and how she wish her's would help more instead of goofing off. My kids love to help other people, just not themselves or their family.

I am so thankful for our move to Utah and for deciding to come to Kaysville. Our children have forged many new friendships and are loving to spend time outside and w/their new friends. They do miss their old ones, and I am planning to take advantage of working for the airlines and sending them to visit San Diego often. One of the things I really love the most about living where we are is all of the wildlife I see pretty much every day. During the winter some of you may remember the pictures that I took of the fox that we had in our back yard. Spring is here, and I still see fox in the back yard hunting, just not as easy to spot in all the brush and not as ofter. This last week I have noticed lots of pheasant in the back, and they are beautiful. The other day there was a male, a female, and a few babies, and today there was a male and a bunch of females. Eventually I will be able to get myself a better camera and take better pictures, but for now the ones I have will have to do.

I thought I should give you all an update on our house in Escondido. We still have not sold it, and Jim's relocation benefits run out the end of this month. It has been difficult for us to pay two mortgages, and we have had lots of help from both Jim's family, and some help from my family as well. We have now put the house up for rent, and this should help ease bleeding our families for financial help. Maybe Jim's dad might start feeling better(little joke dad if you are reading this). We really appreciate all that our families have done to help us. My parent's have gone often to check on our house, mow the lawns lately, and take care of the weeds. My parent's have to help w/their parents a lot right now, especially my mom. Mom flies to Tucson often to help give her sister a break from taking care of their mother. My dad has been going to New York a lot more lately to help his parents as well. So, not only are they busy w/all of that, but my Sister Janna and her children are living w/my parents and Janna just had a baby boy. My parent's home is very busy right now. Speaking of the baby, dad, when are you going to email some pictures?

I could sit here and write forever, but I think I will leave some for my next posting. We love and miss all of our friends and family and hope to see you all again soon!

This is now my favorite commercial. Celeste thinks it's gross but I can't stop laughing.

Birthday Girl!!!

Kirstyn had her 8th birthday on Wednesday. It's hard to believe that our youngest is now 8 years old. Her teacher had her make an "all about me" poster that she displays in the classroom the week of her birthday. She was also allowed to bring in some treats on Friday to celebrate.

Of course, she asked to have her picture taken with every present she opened (while showcasing her present like she was on "The Price Is Right"). I think she's easily the biggest ham in the family. Rayanne may be taking Drama in school but Kirstyn doesn't need any classes, she's a natural. Every emotion is exagerated beyond belief.

8 years old also means she will be baptized soon. Her date is scheduled for March 1st at 1:00.

Well, it's official. Rayanne has reached that magic age where her parents are old, uncool, and a big embarassment to her. Unless, of course, we're taking her shopping and buying her stuff. Then we're the best. She did say that I would be more cool if I started wearing Hollister. I guess at that age your clothes help to define you. I never thought we'd reach a point where we have to bribe our kids to gain their approval (not that I'm all that influenced by what she thinks). She is definately searching for that teenage independence and she wants a cell phone to go with it. I don't think a day goes by where she doesn't pull out a cell phone ad from somewhere to show me and tells me how much she REALLY, REALLY likes it. Her tastes are becoming progressively more expensive and trendy. I guess that's to be expected.

Celeste graduated from Jet Blue and has started working her normal shift. We still have to get things ready for her here at that house by running a network cable to our bedroom from the basement. That will still be a temporary solution. We plan on moving the boys to the basement and making their room into an office. We still have some prep work to do in the basement by sealing the floor and setting up some temporary walls for privacy.

Sunday is her first night working her shift. She won't be done until midnight. She's excited to be starting work but we'll see how she feels about it after she gets home tonight. It won't be so bad once she's working out of the house instead of driving down to SLC.

The weather is starting to warm up here and that means "mud". That's right, we don't have any kind of a yard yet so when the snow melts we're left with several inches of mud until the ground dries out. There's a lot we'd like to do but not much can happen until we have a solution for our San Diego home. At least we've had a lot of potential buyers looking at it over the last couple of weeks. Still, we going to have to take it off the market soon and look at renting it if we don't get a decent offer. We're still hoping and praying that it sells (We're hoping that you are too! :)

Sibling Rivalry

A couple of weeks ago Christian broke his thumb and he's had it splinted since and will continue to have it splinted for a couple more weeks. Not to be outdone by his older brother Alec went and broke a couple of bones in his foot last night while running down the stairs to the basement. I know that Alec likes to do everything that his brother does but I didn't realize that sibling rivaly extended that far.

Here's a picture our accident prone boys.

Hopefully neither of the girls will get any bright ideas.

BTW: we need some kind of image for our blog title. Any ideas anyone?

This has been a pretty busy week for our family. I had lots that I learned at the jetBlue University and of course we test at the end of every week. Boy am I glad that this week is over. I have two more weeks of training and there is still lots to learn.

Jim was called to serve in the Young Men's program as an assistant to the Scout Master and an Deacon Assistant Advisor. So that means that Jim will be at the church house on Tuesdays with the Young Men and at camp outs and stuff. Jim is pretty excited about this calling especially since Christian will become a deacon in March. I think Christian is pretty excited to have his dad in the Young Men's program with him too. Jim really likes the scouting program, so this is exciting for him to be working with Christian.

Some really neat news...Alec is going to the Davis County District Science Fair at the end of this month. His science project is on Electromagnetic Levitation. His was the coolest project at his school. The science teacher told us that she had to babysit his project all day because there were so many kids around it. Alec had some hands on stuff that the kids could do, and I think that is one of the reason's his project was so popular. We will see how popular his project is with the High School AP kids. If you call the house make sure to talk to Alec and ask him about his project.

What a week it has been. As many of you know I had jetBlue orientation last week and started my actual training this week. I can't miss any of my training and I can't miss any of my shifts for 90 days. This means if something happens to any of the kids I have to hope that Jim can take care of the situation. I can miss a day if I have a note from a doctor, but then it means that I must start all over with my training and that is something I am not willing to do. Anyway, the kids were home Monday and Tuesday for holiday. On Tuesday Christian, Alec, and Kirstyn went to a friends house for most of the day. While at their friends house the boys were snow boarding on a small hill that their friends dad had made. Christian had gone down the hill a few times and on his last trip down the hill he fell landed on his bottom and his left thumb jammed into some ice. Needless to say Christian's thumb swelled pretty badly and Jim was thinking that maybe it was just sprained. We decided to wait and see how his thumb would the next day. I came home from training on Wednesday and decided that his thumb didn't look very good. His thumb is bent and he can't straiten it at all, his other fingers have started swelling and they are all going numb. I took Christian to the after hours Kid's Care to have a doctor look it, well he got x-rays and of course he fractured his thumb. The worst thing about it is that he fractured his thumb along the growth plate and it runs the length of his thumb not the width. The doctor's office put a splint on his thumb and we were told to see Orthopedics's or Sports Medicine. The Orthopedic surgeon wasn't in the office on Thursday, so Sports Medicine looked at Christian's x-rays and chart and decided that he didn't need to have surgery. I wasn't sure how I felt about their decision so I left a message for the Ortho Surgeon to look at Christian's stuff and to call us. The Surgeon agreed with Spots Med and has asked that Christian come in next Thursday for them to see how he is progressing. I am not sure how I feel about him not having his hand casted, especially since just the right fall would make his fracture worse. The surgeon said that the worst thing that would happen to Christian in the long run is his thumb won't grow to be as long as his other. That might be a little weird having one thumb shorter than the other. I have to say I felt awful having had to go to work and not being there for Christian. I will get over it soon.

Getting back to jetBlue, there is much that I have to learn in the next few weeks. There have been two people leave this week and there will probably be a few more drop out of the class. There are a few older people that aren't getting the hang of the computer program and how to make a reservation, cancellation, changes, etc. It is proving a little easier than I thought, I might have problems though once we start doing live bookings. This class has some pretty lively people in it. Our trainers have said that we are the best of all the classes they have taught so far. Maybe they say that to everyone. For my training I have to drive into Salt Lake near Holiday (about 12 miles from Snowbird and 14 miles from Alta). Monday/Tuesday we got lots of snow and driving into work was somewhat of a challenge. I am carpooling with another woman that lives in Kaysville and she sort of coached me while I was driving. There were people slipping and sliding all over the roads and the closer we got to the training center the worse the snow was. I think I drove about 30-35 miles per hour the whole way. It was a very scary ride, but the California driver made it without incident.

The kids got their report cards this week and they are all doing really well. Christian has really improved in his language arts. Our move to Utah has been really good for Christian. He has made some friends and has done a lot of maturing since we have been in Kaysville. There are so many kids in our neighborhood and all of them around the same ages as our kids. There is always someone for the kids to play with. And, of course, Rayanne has straight A's again. She really works hard to earn her grades and a place on the honor role.

Okay, Jim and I finally gave in and decided to start a BLOG. My sister Stephanie has had one for sometime now, and we really enjoy reading what is going on with her family. So, don't be to quick to judge our BLOG, it will get better as we go along.

As many of you know I have started a job with jetBlue Airways. I am both excited and apprehensive at the same time. I hate the fact that I have to train for four weeks and than I have to work anywhere from one to three weeks of my regular shift from the Salt Lake Office until my Crew Leaders decide that I am doing well enough to work from home. I hope I will get the work schedule that I have requested. If I do, I will work three-eight hour days. The last couple of days have just been about the jetBlue way and benefits, so I will start my actual training next week. I have a lot that I have to learn in the next several weeks, and I hope I am still as fast a learner as I used to be.

The kids have adjusted really well to our move to Utah. The kids have made lots of friends and many of them live in our neighborhood. However, the kids are starting to get bored with the snow. It was exciting for them at first, but now it has all lasted too long. Although it has been cold I do enjoy the winter and it has been tolerable. I don't like driving in the snow though. I am sure in time I will get used to it and it won't be as bad.

Living in Utah has been a wonderful experience so far. We constantly get to see wildlife in our backyard and love watching them as does our dog. We have some foxes that hunt in the field behind our home and it is amazing to watch them. We have also seen some beautiful white owls, hawks, pheasant, geese, and a few stray cats. The dog goes crazy when she sees a fox in the field. She starts whining and sitting by the back door with her nose pressed against the back door window.

I know so far this BLOG has been pretty boring, I guess that is what happens when your kids get older. They just don't do as many funny things anymore, although they can say some pretty interesting things. This will be an eventful year for most of my children, Kirstyn will turn eight next month and get baptized in March, and Christian will be turning 12 and receiving the priesthood. Rayanne has been getting a lot of babysitting jobs and has been really excited about babysitting for others again.

Our blogging goal is to update on a quarterly bases at this point with new pictures, recipes, and hopefully some fun stories to tell.