Much Too Young to Feel this Damn Old.

Everyday I feel older and older. Today I took Cassie to "Mountain Mike's Pizza" to see about a job. A JOB!! If she's old enough to get a job how old does that make me? Too old. Soon she will be driving and I can already feel the stress, high blood pressure and gray hairs coming. Now she's talking about "Homecoming" and now I have to worry about who I can trust with her?! Too stressful. Sounds like you guys got a lot of rain back home! Hope everything is drying out and no damage to anyone's place. It's been real dry here. We got a little rain today but nothing major. It hasen't been too hot either so we've been pretty lucky. Hope everything is going well for all back home. As always, love and miss everyone and we'll talk to you soon.

Greetings from Utah

Hey Everybody,
How's everyone doing back home? Hopefully everyone is good. We're getting settled back in after our trips to Illinois. Cori and Jacob started school today and Cassie starts next Monday. It was a busy morning. It was the first time in months that the kids jumped out of bed the first time I called them! They were so excited to start school.(New shoes, book bags, lunch boxes, etc.) Cori has a lot of her friends from last year in her class this year so that made her even happier. Now Jacobs class this year will be a little different. We went to orientation last week for him and found out his teacher from last year, who he really liked, had found a teaching job closer to home and would not be returning. Then he found out the school psychologist, someone he really liked and built models with,would also not be back. We heard he also has some new students so hopefully he makes new friends and gets along great with his new teacher. I have no doubt he will do good academically. Cassie seems to have mixed feelings on starting High School. She'll be O.K. as long as she tries. She starts Drivers Ed soon and we have to take her to get her driving permit so she can start practicing driving with us! I can already feel the gray hairs poping out! As everyone probably knows already Jacob broke his arm again for the 4th time! He was playing out front with the neighbor girl and wiped out on his scooter, which he was not suppose to be riding, and broke it in the same spot as last time. I'm tired of broken arms and I know Jacob is too! Anyways...I'll try to keep everyone up to date on what's going on out here and add pictures when we atke them. Here are some pictures we took on the way home from Illinois. Hope you enjoy them. As always, miss and love everyone very much.

Taken Today at Costco

Sully Scare

Recently we had a scare with Sully. He was having nose bleeds occasionally while sneezing and one time lost quite a bit of blood while sleeping on the pillow.(We had to throw the pillow out.) After talking to a few people we heard that Cancer can cause nose bleeds. We got worried and took Sully in to the vet to get their opinion. The vet didn't seem worried. It had been 2 days since Sullies nose had bleed and he said he doubted it was cancer even after I explained to him where we moved from. He said because everything was so dry that a lot of people and animals noses have been bleeding and not to worry. Knock on wood everything is o.k. with Sully. He is our baby.

Jacob's New Friend

Just an update on Jacob's friend search. Jacob has found a boy in the neighborhood to play with. His name is Aaron and although he is a few years older he has Ausbergers Syndrome and is at the same maturity level as Jake. He could not be any happier! We just found out his mom helps out with Jacob's Scout troop. Just wanted to let everyone know how happy Jacob is now that he found a friend!

No News is Good News

It's been a while. Not much going on here. The weather has been great this past week...it's been in the 50's. I'm getting spring fever...ready to go camping. Everyone is doing well. Cori and Jake have been off track from school for the last three weeks and will be going back this Monday. I put in for time off of work for July to bring the kids out and visit for a week. The dates we're off are June 30th til July 8th. This will allow us to visit for a few days before coming back home. Then on the weekend of the 28th we will be coming back out to Illinois to pick up the kids to bring them back. Hopefully this schedule will work for everyone back home. We can't wait to see everyone. I know we still have a few months but hopefully it will go fast. Cassie, Cori and Jacob are also very excited to see everyone. Hope everyone is doing well there and as always....love and miss everyone!

Still Alive and Kicking II.........

Sorry to everyone for taking so long with the blog page....it's been pretty hectic here the last couple of weeks. Seems like everyone here has been sick as some point and I've been back and fourth to the doctors for my foot and with work it has been hard to find some time to come downstairs and sit and type something and I apologize. The pictures are from yesterday and today. Cori and Jacob are excited they just started their off track from school and will be off for three weeks again! I'm also excited because I too don't have to get up early and get them ready for school...yeah! Jacob had Bronchitis at one point and lost his voice but everyone else has just had the flu....acky, warm and tired. Not much new....got about 3 inches of snow last night so the kids were out playing while I was shoveling. The Sundance film festival started this weekend up in Park City and runs through next weekend. We would like to get up there and see if we can see any celebrities but it all depends on how everyone feels and the weather. Been pretty quiet here. Usually I am a winter person and I was excited to get up to the mountains and try some skiing but with my feet I just assume winter be over and summer here. Can't wait to go fishing and camping up in the mountains! We're going to try to go quite a bit this summer. I think I might go ice fishing in a few weeks....my work is hosting an ice fishing derby for the employees and I might give it a try. Anyways...for now everyone is healthy here so lets keep our fingers crossed. Wish me luck with the specialist on my feet.(No Surgery) As always...wish everyone good health and love and miss all you guys. Bye for now.

Still Alive and Kicking....

Just a letter to let you all know we are still alive and kicking. Everyone is doing fine, Cori was a little warm today, but other than that we are well. It's been kind of cold here lately and we haven't been going out much to get pictures...although I've been itching too. Maybe tomorrow. That's one of the things in life that really relaxes me is going up in the mountains and taking pictures. Finding some far of place where it's just you and nature and just start shooting. I haven't got any good pictures lately and it's driving me crazy. I promise I will have some good ones soon. Anyways...I went to another doctor about my feet and he sent me to the hospital for x-rays. I found out the x-rays were good but still wondering what the problem is with my feet? The doctor gave me some good medication and gave me a reference to a foot specialist. My foot had been feeling better since the new medication though so keep your fingers crossed! well....gotta go get ready for bed. Just wanted to drop a line to say "Hi" and tell you we're all doing good. Oh yeah..we took the kids to Walmart to spend their gift cards and they had a blast! Cori got some Littlest Pet Shop stuff, Jake got a new cordless game controller and a playstation game and Cassie got a piece of exercise equipment. They say thank you! Everyone here misses everyone at home and wants to remind them we love them and miss them! We'll talk to you later and look for pictures coming soon!

Early Morning Photo's

All these pictures were taken this morning. The sunrise pictures were taken from our bedroom window. Cori & Jake asked if I could take their picture after they got ready for school. Once again I apologize for no pictures of Cassie...she leaves for school before I even get up in the morning. She now has her own digital camera so maybe I can get some pictures of her off of that and post. As usual....love and miss everyone.

Kids at Play

Sorry the picture quality is not the best. They were taken at night with a flash because the lighting in the hallway was so dark. The kids were in the hallway playing with their Christmas toys.

New Years Day trip to the Lake

Jan.1, 2007 - Photo's

Out here in the valley we have this thing called an "Inversion". It's when the clouds and smog get stuck down in the valley because of no air movement. When driving yesterday I noticed you could see just the tops of the mountains above the inversion. It was pretty cool.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Another year has come and gone. This last year was one of the most exciting years and the most difficult years for us. With the move to Utah brought happiness and sadness. Each day that goes by it gets a little easier. Hopefully this year brings happiness and good health to all. We're looking forward to a year of health, happiness and exploring. There is still so much to see and do. As always I will have my trusty camera with me to take photo's along the way. We miss everyone at home and wish you all happiness and good health. We miss you all and love you.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas Everyone. Just wanted to let everyone know Christmas this year isn't the same without all of you! The kids had are having a great Christmas playing with their toys and munching on monkey bread. Just want to let everyone know we miss them and hope you all have a safe and Merry Christmas! Love, Mark, Diana, Cassie, Jacob & Cori Jean