Start of a New Year

Well, I have finally figured out how to get new backgrounds. Now I just need to find other websites so I have more to choose from -- maybe that's not a good idea. Anyway, you can really spend hours messing around with this stuff! I guess it doesn't really matter too much for me, as I don't think anyone is even reading this.

The New Year started out with all of the kids having strep throat and missing the first week back to school. Everyone is better now -- what a relief!

We had a lot of fun over Winter break. We were here a few days, in Overton a few days, and then Tony and Tina followed us home to spend New Year's Eve and day with us. I'll be sure to post pictures soon.

I don't have much to say today, but I will post again soon.

Thanks Brittney for following my blog! Love ya! Come stay with us or at least have dinner next time you and Danny are in Sunny San Diego!

Well, I need to figure out how to do this blogging stuff. Alexia doesn't like the background and we all hate the picture -- not to mention it is very out of date.

We are almost completely unpacked now. All we really have left is to hang pictures and art on the wall. I also have to organize Taylor and Kira's room and Alexia's room. All the girls need blinds and/or curtains too. Then we need to keep up with keeping things picked up and rooms clean. But overall things are good and we are doing well.

Poor Todd is on a liquid diet for another 4 weeks. We decided to buy a vita mix from Costco. I hope we're happy with it. I've had friends trying to convince me to buy one for quite some time now. I guess Todd has been diagnosed with basically an allergic esophagus -- meaning his esophagus is inflamed and swollen due to food allergies and some environmental allergies. I guess we will probably have to go in and see an allergist and have him tested for allergies. That'll be fun -- NOT. In the meantime, he has to take some Nexium, a Flovent inhaler, and stay on the liquid diet. I guess it's time to become creative. He is all ready bored and frustrated to death with the food plan.

The girls are doing well in school. It is taking a while to make friends. There is still hope though. That's a good thing.

That's about it for now. Life is getting busier. Hopefully we can all keep up. I guess we'll see. I remain optimistic though. The sun is good. I like the heat. The girls aren't liking the heat so much. That's okay. It'll start cooling down this weekend. I think summer is over now. I am sad to see the warm weather go. I do so like summer. Autumn will be fun. I'll be sure to make it a point to actually get the pumpkins carved this year ... hahaha.

Okay. I think I have finally found a new layout that I like and can live with. And to think that I actually did it by myself!:)

I have just read the About our Family and it really doesn't speak much about our family. Perhaps I will change that up soon. I doubt anyone is really interested in all the different places we have lived. I suppose I could put that information in a different part of our profile. So now the challenge is to figure out who and what our family is and then try to summarize that in 1200 characters or less. Perhaps this weekend...

I'm glad today is Thursday. I have always loved Thursdays. Traditionally it has been a great TV night. Not so much anymore. But with that said, I felt like my weekend started on Thursday night. I still feel that way, even though I don't start off the weekend with TV anymore. I hardly even watch TV anymore. But yet I am still trying to convince Todd that we need a 52 inch flat screen TV -- go figure! Can I say anymore anymore? :D

Well, it's time for chores. I hope to add links to my friends' and family's blogs this weekend. I guess we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Todd's Esophagus

Spent the day yesterday at Balboa Naval Hospital with Todd. Lately he has been having some problems swallowing and getting food stuck when he eats. Turns out his esophagus is very narrow and constricted. He also has a stricture at the end of it. Monday he had a pea get stuck and couldn't eat or drink for the rest of the day. With the problem still persisting on Tuesday morning, he went to the ER on Camp Pendleton. They sent him to Balboa. Good thing. They were able to dilate his esophagus and remove the pea. They were also able to give him a diagnosis to his problem and a treatment plan. He will be having to go in once a week for the next six weeks to have his esophagus dilated :(. He is also on a liquid diet for the next full week. Not to worry. He'll be fine. Plus we stopped by Costco on the way home and bought a new blender, tons of fruit and yogurt for yummy smoothies, and a bunch of really yummy soups. He's still going to eat well. I think I'll join him on his diet. His food plan looks more delish than mine. Plus with the heat here, it will be nice and light and refreshing.

On a lighter note... I was called to be the Young Women's 1st counselor on Sunday. I will be working closely with the Mia Maids. They are the 14 and 15 year old girls at church. I am excited for my new calling. Sydney will be a Mia Maid in a month. Our first presidency meeting is tonight. I am looking forward to it. Todd tells me that the new President is a new convert. She was just baptized in January. She's been Taylor's primary teacher. Taylor really loved her. Taylor is upset at the change. But I think it is all good.

The girls are doing well. They are adjusting to school. Taylor is having the hardest time of it, but things are better this week, as she was put into a new class. There were too many 5th graders at her school. They had 5 classes with about 32 students in each class, so they made a sixth 5th grade class. Now each 5th grade class has about 25 -27 students. She likes her new teacher better and looks forward to going to school. No more morning tummy aches! Hooray!!!

I could go on and on, but I don't have time for that. So more on the other girls later. Maybe I'll take Melissa's offer to let her set up my blog. She'll do a much better job than I can. Turns out I was thinking of feeling jealous over one of my sister - in -laws and how awesome her blog is. Somehow she can do everything -- or so it seems at times. But I feel better now. She didn't do it herself, Melissa did! That's how awesome my sister -in -law Melissa is. She is so talented and creative. I love her for it. I also love how she always is thinking of others and trying to help however she can. Thank you Melissa for putting me in my place and keeping it real. I'm sorry for considering being jealous of anyone -- especially a family member. I love you all! I'm glad we're related and I'm a part of your family :).

I'm trying to figure this all out. I'm not doing so well. I hope to post a better family picture soon. If I can figure out how, I will put it up with our blog title or as the page background. Any one feel like tutoring me on how to make a blog page? This sight is not very user friendly. How do I turn off the underlining?

Here we go! And we're off...

I've been wanting to set up a family blog for a couple of years now. About a year ago I set out to do it and felt overwhelmed at the task, so I clicked off and thought "later". Well "later" has come (and gone) and now I'm going to give it a try. This will take a while to set up, but I want to see if I can do this. So, here goes nothing -- wish me luck!