I'm Back (part two)

Man, has it been that long already since my last post? I think I am adjusting to working overnights now and I am feeling alot better so that is good news. Since the last post a lot of things have happened and I hope that I can remember everything. Here goes.....We spent Thanksgiving with Diana's family and there was a house full. Everybody was there except for Jeremy and his family. Daniel and Jamie flew in from Philadelphia and Steven recently returned from his mission in Idaho so he was there too. Between Tamara's family and our family, we supplied the children and most of the noise. Jordan finally bought a car ('93 Ford Thunderbird coupe) and he is pretty proud of it. He drove to Wichita for Thanksgiving to be with his family there. Spencer is pretty close to getting his Eagle and Andrew just got his Tenderfoot badge. Chase is pretty excited to be a Cub Scout on his next birthday. Jordan has a girlfriend and spends most of his time with her, and Spencer has a little girlfriend in our ward and they go on group "outings" once in a while. It is funny to watch the boys grow up and all of a sudden take a liking to the ladies. It has snowed here within the past week and is very cold. Nothing like Utah in regards to snow, but the cold here is much more brutal. It is a very wet, bone-chilling cold! Diana is still doing great at her job and now spends a couple of days at a clinic in another city each week (same clinic, different location). I am still working overnights at the juvenile detention center and have not yet got my heel looked at. I am managing the pain for now along with reocurring cluster headaches. My body is not aging well. Good thing I am so handsome! :) We are now getting ready for Christmas and Diana just downloaded a bunch of pictures into our computer (yes, we now have a computer!!!) and I will put a bunch on a new post this week. That is about it in a nutshell. Keep in touch and have a great Christmas!

Home Sweet Home

We finally got moved into our own place and we are loving it! It is conveniently located close to both of our jobs and the schools, and is about a block from the freeway. We all enjoy having our own space, especially the boys. We even have a real fireplace......haven't ever had that. Michael and Steven helped us move with their trailer and it was pretty pain free. I had to work the first night of the move so I didn't get to help too much...Dang It! We are almost totally unpacked now and it is shaping up into a nice home. It is really hard to live with family no matter how much you love them and it was hard for us, but we really appreciated Diana's parents putting us up. I am sure they are breathing a little easier as well. Thanks again to everybody who has left comments or e-mailed. It is appreciated. I am very jealous of Andrea by the way. :) Later...

I'm back

Sorry to have been away for so long but I have had some things to deal with. First, the computer that I was using got a virus and crashed so I have to use the library computers for now. I don't get down here very often, and they don't have the equipment to download pictures....so just use your imagination on this one. I have been working part-time at Walmart for about a month now but just got offered a position with the Johnson County Department of Corrections. I am working in the Juvenile Detention/Home Detention division. It is nice to have a nice salary and benefits again. And, we will be moving into our own place next month. We are excited about that. I have had this knot on my heel for years and a couple of weeks ago it started to hurt pretty bad, so much so that I had a very pronounced limp and by the end of the day I couldn't even walk on it. After work one night when Diana picked me up I had her take me to the emergency room because I couldn't take the pain anymore. The doctor told me that it looks like a tumor that was infected. They put me on some meds for the infection (which is gone now), but I need to see another doctor about the knot. I spent that week with my foot elevated and iced. Then, this past week at work I started feeling really lousy and went home early, and wound up staying home in bed for about 4 days. I was diagnosed with the H1N1 (Swine) flu. That was the most horrible my body has ever felt. I see why people have died from it. I am still recovering from that but the brunt of it has passed. Jordan quit the football team in order to find a job, Spencer is still playing and is becoming a good little tackle, Andrew just turned 11 and is in Boy Scouts now, Chase likes to chase girls at school and can't wait to have his own room. Diana is doing great at her job and even has patients coming in and asking for her specifically (she gives shots the best). So, we are doing pretty well overall. If I can just shake this Walmart curse I will be great! Hope everybody is doing well. Keep checking for updates.

Spencer's first day of practice

Spencer had his first day of practice today (no pads) and it was a great day for it. Cool and overcast. Spencer (#26) is seen here on defense holding one of the "dummies." Practice lasted for over two and a half hours with the last 15 minutes in running drills. Spencer was pretty sore when it was over, but he did great! Spencer is a lineman and I knew that he would be. He is a solid kid with a size 11 shoe. He is in pretty good shape for a bigger kid. I was impressed with his hustle out there today. I only watched about the last 30 minutes or so and I was pretty proud of him. His coaches were very good and motivated the kids well. It will be a good season for the Jaguars this year I think. On a related note: Jordan was able to get his physical today so he will be playing football for Olathe South starting tomorrow. He is pretty excited to play and will more than likely be a receiver or defensive back. That's my guess anyway. He is in great shape and can run! It will be a fun season for us. Maybe we can get Diana more into football now. Fingers crossed. (photos: Spencer modeling his helmet, listening to the coach, Spencer on defense in gray shorts)

First day of school for Andrew and Chase

This is the first year that Andrew and Chase have had to ride a bus to school because we have always lived very close to the schools. Andrew didn't want his picture taken with the bus but did allow a photo inside the school.
Photos: Chase and his cousin Chyna (Tamara's daughter) getting on the bus in the morning; Andrew, Chase and Chyna arriving at school; Chase in his class; Andrew in his class.

Back to school

(Back: Andrew, Jordan, Spencer; Front: Chase)

This past Thursday Andrew and Chase started school and they were very excited to get there. Andrew is in 5th grade and Chase is in 2nd grade this year. They did pretty good for being the new kids again. They made a lot of new friends, but Andrew had a head start because he participated in a special school chorus before school even started and got to know several kids from there. Chase is a social little guy so he had no problems making new friends. Their school, Briarwood Elementary (Bears) is a very nice school and much smaller than they have been used to so that made it easier for them to make friends too. Spencer is in 8th grade and started school last Friday. His school, Frontier Trail Junior High (Jaguars), is behind Briarwood so he is close to his brothers. Spencer is on the football team and starts practicing tomorrow. He got his equipment last week and is very excited to play. This is his first year of playing football, but he knows the girls like that (greeaatttt). Frontier Trail is a great school too. They have two gymnasiums and a very nice pool. Plus, both of these schools are just down the street from the house. We have been impressed with the schools, including the staff. Jordan got here yesterday from Wichita and started school today. Diana and I took him to his school, Olathe South High School (Falcons), this morning and finished getting him registered. Jordan is a Junior this year and his school has an enrollment of about 1400 students, but was used to about 5000 at Davis High School in Utah. Jordan got enrolled and then just kind of got absorbed into the masses. He acted like he had been there all along. He was so calm and collected! So now everybody is in school and seems to be adjusting just fine. Hopefully they won't have to be the brand new kids again for a long time. They will however be making some changes in the district next year that will affect Andrew and Spencer. Next year the 6th grade will be in the Junior High and 9th grade will be in the High School. They are loving that because it makes them feel older.

The move back to Kansas

My last day of work at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City was Thursday, July 23rd, and as soon as Diana picked me up from the Front Runner station in Clearfield we drove directly to Ogden to get the U-Haul. We got back to the house at around 7:00 pm and immediately started loading the truck. We loaded until about 11:30 that night and it was still pretty hot out even then. Once we stopped we were still up until about 1:00 am and then went to bed. We were back at it the next morning at around 5:00. Once we were finished loading on the 24th we left Utah in the rear view mirror. That day we drove all the way through Wyoming and into part of Nebraska, stopping in Paxton for the night. Wyoming was pretty boring until we got to Laramie and Cheyenne. That was some pretty country. Eleven hours in a U-Haul was not fun, but the weather was great! The day of the 25th was a little better. We finished driving through Nebraska and then drove through parts of Iowa, Missouri and Kansas, crossing the Missouri River twice. We were so glad to see Kansas City at around 8:00 pm because the trip was coming to an end and my butt was asleep! Diana was tired too since she drove the van the entire way with the boys playing musical chairs. Jordan missed out on the action because he had flown to Wichita a couple of days prior to the move to visit family and will join us later this month. Diana and I left behind some great people that we worked with and we miss them a lot (holla') , but it is good to be back in Kansas. (photos: Kansas City, Missouri; Missouri River in Iowa; Spencer, Andrew and Chase in Nebraska; U-Hauling near Laramie, Wyoming)

A work in progress

Well, here is my first attempt at blogging and I hope it actually does what it was intended to do; entertain, inform, enlighten, etc. Diana didn't get the name of this blog at first so, for those of you that don't either.....one of my favorite old Clint Eastwood westerns is "High Plains Drifter" and I thought that had a unique tie in with our recent move back to Kansas. I will tune this site up as I learn more about what I have at my disposal, so please check back from time to time. As soon as I get more time I will document our move for everybody. It was fun!