Alive in Utah.

Hey Everyone.......our computer is back from the dead! After messing with this thing for a week it's finally fixed. Still working on pictures but will have some SOON! Not much new. Kids are doing great! Cori and Jacob just went back to school after a 3 week break. Both were very excited! Cassie is close to getting all A's so that's great! We had parent teacher conference's for Jacob on Wednesday and the teacher could not say enough great things about him! He is doing phenominal! A complete turn around from last year. He's matured so much over the summer. Almost straight A's too and his behavior in class is excellent. All he needs to improve is his handwriting and they are working on that in class. Cori is coming along great in school also. She knows her phone number, address , shapes, colors, alphabet and is starting to read very well. We got her a thick hard cover book of "Dick and Jane" stories and she reads it very well. Diana is doing well at work and has put in for a supervisors position and she should find out soon if she got it! Keep your fingers crossed and pray for her. I've been busy at work....6 days a week working 9 hours a day and Sunday working 5 hours. It feels like the movie "Groundhog Day". Everyday seems the same. Feet are still sore but the money is nice....especially since Christmas is around the corner! Anyways....so far the weather for Thanksgiving weekend looks pretty good! Hopefully it will be nice sightseeing weather! Hope everyone at home is doing good and we love and miss all you guys! Sorry again about the pictures and keep looking as I will update the site daily again....as long as the computer holds up. Love everyone and talk to you later!


http://weather.msn.com/tenday.aspx?wealocations=wc:USUT0225 - 10 day weather forecast.

Sunday Evening Blabber

Cassie wading in Salt Lake.
Cori and Jacob looking for lizards on Antelope Island.
Best Friends - Krista and Cori
Cori and Jacob at "Little America" - a hotel on the way to Utah.
Cassie in Boyd and Della's kitchen.
Cori and Jacob in Boyd and Della's backyard.

I'm sorry to say there is no new updates to the pictures. Our memory card on our camera is finally full (like 850 pictures) and we need to get a new one. Not a whole lot happening today...we went to Costco and did some shopping...the weather was great! Later on I took Cassie to see "Saw III" and Diana took Jacob and Cori to see "Flushed Away". Everyone had a good time! No new news....really busy with work. Lot's of overtime for extra Christmas money so that's nice. Counting down the days until Thanksgiving. (17 days) The Holidays are going to be hard this year but I'm sure we'll get through it. We'll be thinking about everyone back home and wishing we were all together. Diana and the Kids send their love to everyone back home. Anyways...I'll leave you with some old pictures but one's I like. As always, Love and miss everybody.

Lazy Saturday Afternoon

It's been a few days since we have posted anything so I just thought I would drop a line to say "Hi" to everyone and let them know we are still alive. I've been busy at work lately, over every night and 8 hr Saturdays, so I apologize for the lack of pictures. Maybe tomorrow I'll take some of the kids and post them. Everything's going good here...weather today is overcast with some rain but the temp. is 54 deg. and it feels nice. Tomorrow their calling for all rain and by Thursday they are talking about snow! I hope it holds off until after Thanksgiving because there are places I would like to take Boyd, Della, Tiffany and Taylor that will be kind of hard to get to if there is snow. Let's hope it holds off! It's getting close now....just a few weeks. Sure wish everyone could come out but we know that is impossible. The kids are getting into the swing if things and working on their rooms for Thanksgiving. Maybe by the time you all come they will be done. Just wanted to say "hi" to everyone and let you know there will probably be some pictures tomorrow of the kids so check back. I have to get ready for work now so I will talk to you later. As always.....Love and miss everyone!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope everyone had a great holiday. We did here. It was a bitter 49 deg. but the kids were bundled up and they were fine. (No complaints of being cold!) I don't think we had as many kids come to the house as we did in Morris but we were still busy. Cori and Jake went with Diana and the neighbors, Cassie went with her friends and I stayed home to pass out candy because of my bum foot. Cori and Jake both got 2 big bags full and Cassie got about 1 bag. They all had a blast. Jake's highlight of the night was he scared 2 girls and made them scream...he thought that was cool! The dogs were not to keen on their costumes so shortly after the pictures they came off! In case you couldn't tell Cori was a tiger, Jacob was a Zombie and Cassie was a referee. Anyways...as always...miss and love you guys! Happy Halloween.

From the Mind of Jacob

Hi everybody...this is Jacob. We're in Utah right now. It's morning. How are you all doin!? What time of the day is it over there? I'm in Oquirrh Elementary School out here, so how are Katie, Truman and Hannah? I really miss you guys a lot! We finally have the internet out here. We got it a few weeks ago. There is snow on the top of the mountains. We went to McDonald's and I got a Asphalt Assault Hot Wheels car. This is all I wanted to say right now. Bye everybody and I love you guys.

Sunday Drive to American Fork Canyon

This picture was taken on our way down the mountain....getting dark. You can see the moon.
The dark makes everything seem so much more peaceful.
Well....what am I suppose to do with the gold I found then? Beautiful, roadside views.
Getting Late.
We decided not to go any further.
This was the good part of the trail.
Diana's handiwork.
Diana showing her love.
I have a picture from this same spot and posted it the other day. I just loved this spot!
View from a parking lot by the reservoir. Tibble Creek Reservoir - Water looked awesome.

Today was a beautiful day in Salt Lake City....65 deg. and sunny so Diana and I decided to go for a ride. We went to American Fork Canyon to see if we could find some moose for Diana to see. The ride was great...very relaxing. The canyon road first starts off paved and after a few miles up it branches off to different reservoirs and all these roads are dirt and rock. You pretty much need a 4x4 (on muddy or snowy days) or at least a vehicle with some clearance for the rocks. The first road Diana and I took wound up the mountain through thousands of pine trees which smelled great in the wind. We drove past sheer drop-off edges, aspens and pines, meadows and the occasional creek which we had to drive through. We drove until we came to a sign suggested we not go any further. So we got out and took a walk hoping to see some wildlife...none. We had talked on the way up about whether or not animals know it's hunting season and we think they do because we saw none. It was a nice walk though...very peaceful. Diana even stopped by an aspen tree to carve our initials into it! Anyways...on the way down we were getting ready to cross the creek again so before we started to go we decided to stop and roll up the windows. The first time through I told Diana I felt the Trooper sinking. This time she said to floor it through so we didn't get stuck! So halfway through I slipped it into neutral and reved up the engine and told her we were stuck! I thought it was funny.....she hit me. Apparently the fact that we were 10 miles from the nearest town, in the mountains with no one around she didn't find that funny. Anyways...we got to the bottom and decided to take a rougher road that leads up to where I saw the moose. When I say rougher I mean bigger rocks on the trail, snow and ice on the road because of higher alt. and an occasional area where rocks have accumulated on the road due to small rock slides. Now Diana wasn't too keen with the ice due to the fact that I was in 2 wheel drive and the rear end of the truck kinda slide a tad. I stopped...put it in 4x4 and we where fine. While rounding the next corner we saw a female biker struggling up the hill. (I mean pedal biker.) She let us pass and we waved and went on our way. Further up the road we stopped to take some pictures and the biker caught up with us. She asked where we were from in Illinois. We told her and come to find out she went to Oswego High School! She had moved here 3 years ago and said she saw our plates when we went by and had to find out where we were from. Small World. We said our goodbyes, she wished us a safe trip and we did the same and told her to watch out for moose. We decided to turn around because it was getting late and head home. Evidently the thought of moose scared her because she passed us again on the way down. After a few more stops on the way down for pictures we were on the highway headed home, tired from all the fresh air and hungry. Another wonderful day under our belts!

St. Louis Cardinals - 2006 World Series Champs!!

Update on Jacobs Rocket Race

Unfortunately I was not able to go to Jacob's scout race because I had to work but Diana went and she said he did very well! Maybe not as well as he would like, he got 4th place and a "Certificate of Participation", but he said he had a blast and that's all that counts! We didn't get any pictures but in the future we will take some pictures of his scouting functions and post them for you all to see! Just wanted to keep you up to date and let you know we Love and miss you all!

Cool Friday Morning Drive in Butterfield Canyon

Cool Friday Morning Drive in Butterfield Canyon



The snow kept getting deeper the higher we went.
Cori enjoying the ride.
Jacob enjoying the ride....put your hat back on!
Barn Scene
Wasatch-Uinta Mountains
Barn Scene
One of many wild turkeys we saw!
Cori being shy.....and crabby.
Jacob having a blast!
Mountain Stream
Mountain Stream
Oquirrh Mountains - plenty of snow.

Attention All Family Members!

Attention all family members....we are in need of a response to let us know that someone is actually looking at this website. Please either click on "comments" and make one or follow my steps written on this website on how to write a blog. I'm beginning to think nobody is looking at this! Doesn't have to be a novel...just some comments on pictures or writings would be nice. If you have time please write...thank you.

Jacob's Rocket Project for Boy Scouts

The Beginning.
Glued...sanded and shaped.
Paint drying...looks like a corndog.
Finished Rocket.

So Jake had a project to do for Boy Scouts.....build a rocket. Sounds simple enough...wrong! Now I've built the cars before and I've seen the boats before but I have never even seen a rocket. The box looks simple enough and then you open it up and see the directions...or at least what THEY call directions. Very poor....they jump around...the only pictures are very poorly drawn sketches. So they give you these two blocks of wood and you have to glue them together. After the glue is dry you have to sand the block into the shape you want...no knifes allowed. So after 3 hours of sanding Jake and I agreed that the sanding was done and that's the shape he wanted. Next step...paint. We put three coats of paint (Same color paint as his car from last year) which by the time they dried and repainted, dried and repainted it took another 3 hours. Next comes the cutting of the wings. Now the wings are much smaller than the ones shown on the box. So after cutting the grooves in the wood for the wings you have to glue them in place. All of it up to this point was not too bad. Stickers and painting the cockpit...not too bad. Now comes the part where you have to adjust the propeller.....decide if you need 1,2,3 or 4 rubberbands to turn the propeller.....bad. I ended up cutting one of the wires too short and had to go to Lowes to get more...but they didn't have the same size so I had to improvise. Well...anyways it's done. I hope it's right. They have to be turned in tonight and the race is tomorrow night. I wish I could see some other rockets to see if I'm doing it right but I can't so cross your fingers I got it right. You have to wind up the rubberbands approx. 150 turns each time you race. I rigged up something that attatches to the rubberbands and then to the cordless drill and I wind it up that way....much quicker! Well....wish us (Jake) luck tomorrow night and we'll give an update on how he did and hopefully have pictures too.