AFM-Another Fat Mormon

Wow it's been awhile.

2012-01-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the end of the hardest 13 months of my life. It has taken it's toll on Anna and I. We try to stay patient and loving, luckily that prevails most of the time. We do have to count our blessings as we are for the most part healthy and Anna got a promotion at work. We have been able to do some fun stuff to our house/yard. Went to disneyland with the kids as well as a family reunion on a large loop home. Went to Canada and had a good time with the family up there. Got to see Kara, Jim and the their kids multiple times. I wished we lived closer as Jim and I get along pretty well. Did a last minute decision trip for Thanksgiving in Folsom. Spent Christmas in California and both trips had perfect weather-very thankful for safety. Got to do a lot of things while out in California. Saw Jimmer play in a preseason game. Celebrated Hunakah and Bekah won the dradle game. Damon is home although he has had at least 3 different issues come up this year-I hope he can see we are here to help him overcome his struggles. We found out where Netto ran off to and that he is safe.

Overall we continue to have our ups and downs like most families do. We are constantly praying for guidance to help us know the way.

Happy New Year and cheers to be a better year, 2012.

Erasure concert tonight with Anna.

2011-09-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this one goes better than the last one when Tatiana faked a serious injury on a trampling and made us come home from the Colors tour 4 years ago....That was interesting with Glen, Jeannette, Geoff and Alisha.

Maybe I'll post some pictures of Andy and Vince. Those two crack me up...okay, mostly just Andy Bell and his sensationalized gayness.

So Life has been a rollercoaster.

2011-08-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

Football has started for both boys. Yesenia is trying out soccer...she says she has always wanted to try. We'll see how that goes. We are excited for school to start again....summers are not easy with both of us working and all. A lot of stress with the kids around 24/7.

Was going to go to byu/texas football game for reaching some weight loss goals, but have decided against it. My brother has quit his job...in this economy it isn't easy to find a new job. A lot of overqualified people taking lower end jobs.

Working hard to get a better raise this year at my work. I have had great results the last 4 years with no high ratings..hopefully that can change. A lot of personal goals and things to do the next 4 months.

My mom is coming out to see us next weekend. Should be a good few days. I think Gabe's games start that weekend.

We have a new foster daughter R. Situation is unclear but she is 12 and has been hanging out with Yesenia a ton.

Bekah is currently in pre-school limbo as we are trying to get something for her. She is only 3 but she is pretty smart and we're hoping to get her started sooner than later.

I just heard some terrible news from

2011-08-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

a friend of mine. Our prayers go out to her and her family. So much sadness in this world these days...

Passed my coverage test from that class

2011-06-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

in Seattle. So I don't have to take it again!!! Probably only 25% of the people pass it on the first try so go me!!!

Going on a weight loss journey again...need to take it more seriously to feel a little better about myself. Worked out five days last week and it felt pretty good. Now more cut backs on food and soda this week. Trying to take a gradual approach to hopefully make subtle changes along with the increase in exercise.

Going to Canada in 3 weeks for a week...haven't been up there in a few years. Should be fun. Although coming back from long breaks kills me at work.

The California trip was nice. Although the colder than normal weather made it difficult at the beaches. The kids did get to swim once back to my parents' house as the weather quickly went up to over 90. It was hot.

Still seeing what is going to happen at Anna's work with her job.

I am buying my erasure tickets tomorrow...

2011-06-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Coming to SLC in September!!! I'm excited.

Trip begins tomorrow-

2011-06-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

After all of the turmoil over the past six months, we are finally headed on our long trip tomorrow. Headed to Vegas and staying the night. Then to Disneyland for two days, the beach for one and then back to Disneyland for the third day. Then driving up to Monterey/Santa Cruz for the family reunion for 4 days. Should be fun. Lots of pictures as I'm sure the girls are going to have a blast at DL.

Too much simple minded thinking in this world.

2011-05-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

I am no genius, but thank God and my parents that I am not an idiot.

That class was terrible in Seattle.

2011-05-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

I sure hope I passed the test and don't have to do the class over again. Overall things are going well. Damon should be coming home at the end of next week. He is doing much better. We are all very excited to head to Disneyland here in 3 weeks. We are also headed up to Monterrey for a small family reunion before routing back to Utah. Also staying in Vegas one night on the way down. Should be fun.

We have been doing some great landscaping in the backyard. We planted one tree, with 3 more trees on the way, about 15 shrubs/flowers, lots of sod and waiting on curbing/black stuff around flower beds and bark pieces. Should look really good. We had some drip systems put in that make it easier to do all of these things. Still have to plug up some holes in the sod pieces eventually but perfection will take awhile with that. The clay under the top soil mixture make holes while watering so much. We've tried not to walk on it much for that reason. We also painted the garage floor after doing some much needed cleaning and organizing. I love getting projects done.

Overall things are going well.. Now just need to lose more weight.

Seattle is pretty exciting...

2011-04-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

So I am up here for four days doing a coverage training for work. Yeah it is as exciting as it sounds. Sitting in class for seven hours with another 3 hours in my hotel room working on coverage. I did get to see my two sisters, my brother in law Cracka and my nephew. Carter is a cute little bugger. And the most important thing...he didn't cry when I held him for about ten minutes.

Anna and the four kids are traveling around northern california...I miss them a lot. I will be back on Friday and the kids on Sunday.

My sister has a sweet Mercedes...

Liars and deception-

2011-03-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

I'm having some issues with trust lately. All stemming from people lying and deceiving us. I consider myself a pretty honest person, so when this happens to me I am not too pleased. I guess some people are so delusional that they think lying is the answer to all of their problems. They have no idea how this affects others and how others may deal with them and their lying.

Keep N in your prayers...I'm not sure where he

2011-03-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

is at this moment. But it is sure hard to think about the future and how this will affect him and his relationship with his siblings. And also our relationship with his extended family....

N is still gone.

2011-03-05T08:14:00.000-08:00

I wish we could plaster his name all over the news and get some attention over this. Kid is going to screw up his life even more.

N has run away from his foster home...

2011-03-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

Not sure what is going on or what is going to happen but this is creepy with the different dynamics going on.

I just got defriended on facebook by my own

2011-02-25T18:14:00.000-08:00

sister. Can someone help her learn how to deal with others?

It's Anna's birthday.

2011-02-21T12:16:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to do a quick post and tell the world(well those 5 of you who read my blog), that I am incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful wife as my companion. After having her as my best friend for over 10 years, I can easily say I married up!!! Happy Birthday sweetheart!

As a birthday present, we are getting our largest federal refund ever. Too bad we are responsible and stuff...otherwise we could do some really fun stuff. Although we are going to spend some money finishing our backyard this spring/summer.

You know, life really doesn't have to be that

2011-02-08T15:59:00.001-08:00

hard. It has been nice around our house the past few weeks. A lot less tension and problems. I'm not exactly sure what is going to happen with Damon, but we love him regardless of his choices. Anna is doing pretty well at her new job. I'm surprised how well she can function while sleeping a lot less. She is a trooper.

Anyway, we are chugging along. Trying to plan our trip for this summer. Trying to fit in a family reunion type deal as well. Trying to make sure we can actually budget after mocking others who can't budget. Trying to treat each other with more respect and kindness. Anna's birthday is in a few weeks.

So things are a little different in our family...

2011-01-25T11:53:00.001-08:00

We have struggled with things and have found some solutions. It has been a rough road.

I wish the phrase life isn't fair never crossed

2011-01-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

my mind. Please God, help me.

Dang it is cold.

2011-01-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

I have lived in Utah for what 9-10 years with a year and a half break in between that and has it every been this cold for this long of a time? No!!! I am used to it snowing and then the snow melting within the next 2-3 days. But it has been below 40 degrees for awhile now. How frustrating. Maybe I have to actually shovel snow to avoid the ice skating rings around the outside of my house now. Crazy!!! But the snowpack is going to be good this year...so good for the summer activities.

Anyway, life is going well. It has been a little better around the house since N left. It's sad to see him go, but the family dynamic was crazy there for quite awhile. We also gave away our six month old lab Marley...the kids just don't care much about him and we figured he needed a home where he could be trained and given more attention. He reminded me of Hedo when he was a pup.

Overall things are going great. We are doing some family therapy to see if we can continue to grow as a family and clear up some issues we are having. But hopefully the hard work pays off and we can foster again soon and have a baby someday...

Anna starts her new position next week...she'll be working from 2-10am. She seems to be excited for the extra time during the day. Her current job is quite the busy position and seemed to really stress her out when you consider the issues we were having at home with a full time job. I hope this helps relieve her stress. I appreciate her sacrifice right now in working as we are trying to financially set ourselves up after moving into this new house last year.

Christmas was fantastic!!!!

2011-01-04T21:29:00.000-08:00

We had such a great time over the break. I was off of work for about 10 days and that was great in and of itself. But we had some fun times with my parents in town as well as Anna's brother Ben and his girlfriend Sara. So let me try to go through what we did:

My parents wanted to upgrade our pathetic air hockey table we had just bought for $10. So we found a brand new one that was seven feet long. So my dad and I headed into Lehi on Thursday to go pick up this new one who didn't want this in the box table. Little did I think I would have trouble fitting it into my pilot...well it was quite squishy. Imagine us cramming the seats all the way forward to where my gut was squished against the steering wheel. Had to adjust some and imagine us going down the highway looking sideways with my gut driving the car as my head was hitting the ceiling. But it was a great gift and the kids love it. My parents also got us a nice used pool table that is fantastic.
Went up to Temple square with everybody, including my brother and sister law and their kids. Was fun and came back to a nice Christmas eve dinner and small reading of Luke and the night before Christmas. Anna and my mom then got going on presents and got very little sleep. I didn't get to bed until 1:30am trying to help wrap presents and get things organized. But there was so much to do. My mom likes to do projects with Anna...they were making Christmas pillow cases and some aprons for the girls. Then my mom even got some drapes and a rod to place over the guest room shutters. The room looks very nice as they chipped in some lamps from some online store. My parents spoil each of us when they come visit each of us...I'm sure she misses spending time with us as she spends so much time with Craig and Joanna in Sacramento and gets to spoil them year around.

Christmas morning I went and picked up our foster son that is moving to a new home so that he can be with his siblings. They haven't found a new home as of yet. Woke up at 6am to drive down to Provo. We were all tired on Christmas...came back and took a nap. Did presents around 9am. Hung around and cleaned up and had dinner around 4pm. We had turkey and ham. It was nice to have so much room for everybody in our new house!!! Having the basement done is a definite plus as well with all the new toys. We also got a new playstation 3...for the bluray of course. The boys happen to like it for the games too. Then we went to a kids movie...yogi bear was boring. But the kids thought it was okay.

Sunday was just another day of church. Nothing too exciting. Last day of 11am church for awhile...
Monday we had Damon watch the kids while my parents, myself and Anna went to Little Fockers. It was quite the funny movie. Had a nice lunch at olive garden. Went home and got my parents packed. Went down to watch Gullivers travels with the kids and my parents. It was okay. I feel asleep and my mom kicked my chair. Went to mountain mikes for half price monday pizza with everybody including Ben and Sara. I then drove my parents to the airport for their way late flight home.

The rest of the week was crazy as Anna had to work some days and I was home with the kids. I'm sure they love it. Had a small new years party with some friends and Dan and Becky with the kids. Our hour lock on the directv even turned off right before it hit 10 seconds to midnight...it was quite the crackup as everybody was counting down. Went and picked up N from his current spot and took them to a nice lunch at Tucano's for some Brasilian bbq buffet and then a movie seeing Tron. Tron was pretty good. Anna, Yesenia and Bekah saw Narnia.

Overall it was a great ending to a very interesting year. We moved twice, adopted four kids, trying to deal with four adopted kids and one foster son, get our new house ready, get a new dog who we are giving away now, and I have been sick for the past 3 weeks. Finally went to the doctor today. I was talking to my mom on the way to the airport. I think I have been doing a lot she was doing when we were teenagers. So caught up in things/worrying, that we weren't enjoying the ride. I am working on not worrying so much and being myself. I am a very easy person to get along with. I usually don't get worked up over the smallest things. Anyway, I am feeling much better lately.

Here's to a fabulous 2011!!!

Christmas is almost here!!!

2010-12-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

And half of us are sick. I hate being sick. I hope we all feel better when family is in town next week. It should be exciting to have Ben and his girlfriend Sarah along with my parents. We'll have a big family meal with Becky and Dan with their kids. It should be great.

Odd story from our drive home...

2010-11-29T08:31:00.001-08:00

So we decided to miss the large pass going out of Seattle due to it raining pretty hard on Saturday night. So we stop in a rest stop on the way down to Portland. We are stopped and the kids had gone out to use the restroom. I had just gone out to throw out something when some lady going in the car next to us said something...I caught something about you better not be...I got back out and said, "I excuse me?" She then proceeded to tell me that we better not be driving with our child on the front seat lap...to which I responded, in the meanest thing I could say, "mind your own business." Basically Anna was trying to change an exhausted Baby's diaper in the front seat...but Bekah didn't want it done. So she was screaming in the car and Anna had pulled her up to the front while we were sitting in the rest stop. I wanted to tell the lady to shove it...

Anyway, the ride home was terrible. We ended up stopping for the night...which was a good thing as it was apparently snowing through the passes during the night.

Thanksgiving was good...driving was terrible.

2010-11-29T08:29:00.000-08:00

We probably won't be driving up to Washington any time soon. Holy cow that was terrible. We drove 20 plus hours going there and then again coming back. And a lot of it through snow. My body is still in tense mode while trying not to slide off the road.

Happy Birthday Rebekah!!!! We love you.

2010-11-11T09:09:00.001-08:00

My baby sister is old...

2010-11-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

She turned 25 today!!! It seems like yesterday I came home from my mission to this little girl who grew like 10 inches while I was gone who was into cheerleading. Happy Birthday Julia.

go Conservatives!!!!

2010-11-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

Great start to cutting back spending and obamacare. Please remember this day when you are voting and being pushed to be democrat lites....

So we went to two of those presentations while in Hawaii....

2010-10-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Given that we had six days in Hawaii, we felt we could give a few minutes of our time for a few hundred bucks. So the first one was a vacation discount club. It was kind of expensive considering you had limited discounts. Basically they bought from hotels/airlines in their less busier times in bulk, and sold them for cheap to their vacation club people. But we only considered it if it gave us good discounts to place we were already going like Canada, Montana, Washington and California. Of course it wasn't a huge discount at those places and we said no. So we paid $25 for a night cruise along the coast of Oahu. It is usually around $180 for two. Then we did the Wyndham resort timeshare presentation. This was only for $100. But it was interesting. Really expensive but interesting. Paid for some things and I still have some of the gift card...maybe $5 of it.

Anyway, that took about 4 hours of our time, but it seemed worth it. We were already going to do the cruise anyway, so it saved us $150 for the buffet cruise. It was decent food, nothing too exciting. Great view from the water and nice fireworks from one of the hotels at the end. We met a nice couple from Chicago. Both had immigrated from South Korea. Nice people. Said they were advised to stay away from the Polynesian cultural center because there was no drinking there...pretty funny as they planned away from it because they couldn't drink that day.

Haven't downloaded pictures...we have a ton from our hikes and adventures. Had some fun parasailing...it was much easier than expected and not too rocky of a ride.

Cockroaches with my pizza please...

2010-10-12T06:18:00.001-07:00

I will blog a few stories about our fun trip to Hawaii. This story involves us sitting at this Deli type place that served Roundtable Pizza. I had missed roundtable, so I had to order some. We shared a pizza and the server left to get a box for the leftovers. Anna left to go get some things at the small store down the street, so I was chilling in the booth. The box came and I boxed up the pizza to my right. I put my hand down to my left to clean up my area. I felt this weird sensation on my left hand. Then as I raised it a cockroach began climbing up my arm and on the table to the left. It flew across the booth and then to the table next to me. It was absolutely disgusting and brought back some nasty memories from Brasil.

BYU football sucks this year...

2010-10-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

My excitement for college football has gone to virtually nothing. How lame is that.

Sheesh, it's been awhile.

2010-08-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

I guess I am using facebook a lot more than I used to for interesting things going on in our lives. It has been quite the interesting summer with the move and all. Anna has gone on a few work trips and took the kids down to So Cal for some time on the beach.

It has been a slow process in getting our house in order...we seem to lack time. And now we are throwing another wrench into things by having our basement started by Anna's cousin Todd. A few weeks ago we had some cement poured in our backyard for a nice patio, shed and bike areas. But the patio ended up having some issues and they have to tear it up. It looks okay, but the guy spilled some coke on it while drying and it left huge spots where the soda acid ate away at the color/texture. So they will begin that part tomorrow.

The family is doing well. N will probably get his license soon. We had some doubts if he could handle the stress/responsibility. But he has his good moments and I think we'll probably do it soon. Damon didn't have any lineman to have a ninth grade team, so he is playing on the sophmore team this year. He may not play too much, but hopefully he learns how things work and gets better. G is doing really well on his 7th grade team. He seems to understand things better and reacts much quicker. Yesenia is going to the new elementary school starting tomorrow. She is excited. Bekah continues to be the cutest little girl ever.

Anna and I will be going on a 10 year anniversary trip in October to Hawaii. Using my parents timeshare. It should be nice to relax.

And we are all moved in....

2010-06-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

Moving is about as fun as it gets. The past month has been crazy. Getting ready for the move...stressing about the house getting done..moving mostly on our own. Now the sealing is happening this weekend. Wow, our life is crazy!!! I think in the middle of July things will finally start to slow down.

4 kids were adopted today...

2010-05-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Pics to come. Here is one recent one of Bekah

Is it really that hard to follow plans to build a house?

2010-05-20T13:55:00.001-07:00

We have had so many problems while our home is being built. It is stressing out big time as we are going to be delayed at least another week or two because of some cabinetry issues. Then we have shelving issues. Then vanity issues. Then brick issues. Anyway, we want to get the heck out of this piece of crap rental asap, and these issues are just making things worse. I guess we don't have to worry about moving while Anna is at her conference anymore. We are waiting with the manager tomorrow to hopefully get things figured out.

Any suggestions on what to make A for our

2010-05-07T14:23:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day meals? Thanks

About 4 weeks to go...

2010-05-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

Then the fun begins. I remember being quite overwhelmed at the amount of expenses after moving into our last home...and this won't be any different except for more expenses!!! The sheetrock is up and the mudding/taping are just finishing up. So, maybe 3 weeks of actual work left to do. Starting to get bids on a fence we'll need to put up immediately. Also need window well covers. So that's like 8k right there. Then blinds...then paint. Then finish basement.

Anyway, the kids are doing well. Only three weeks from tomorrow until adoption date. It looks like it will be the 3 younger kids for now. N probably will get his license soon. D will probably practice this summer to get ready for freshman football. G will probably continue to be the little kid he is. R had her visit to the dr the other day and was a pro. I was so proud of her. She is growing up so fast. Y is doing well in school and continues to pick up things quick. She is pretty much on grade level in almost every subject. We are very proud of her as well. All of them seem to be doing pretty well and we have seen a lot of progress in different areas...sometimes the areas in which we don't see everyday or the one's we want, but progress nonetheless.

Work is going well. I love handling attorney represented claims. Attorneys are such schmucks. It's amusing to say the least.

Frontal view of house progress

2010-04-30T21:10:00.001-07:00

We should be moving in the new house in 4-5 weeks...how exciting!!!

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Here are a few pictures:

and a few more-

2010-04-15T05:50:00.001-07:00

New pictures:

2010-04-15T05:47:00.001-07:00

So we just found out the court date is May 27!!!

2010-04-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Although it is a sad circumstance in which the kids are entering our family, we are excited to have them part of it. I didn't think it would be out that long, but it will work. We''ll probably have the sealing sometime in July for the girls.

Our house is going up dang fast and they should have the carpentry work done by tomorrow. They have been slowed a little due to the bad weather but it's so exciting to see everything get done.

The house is going up quite fast.

2010-04-11T22:55:00.000-07:00

But it isn't fast enough living in this odd rental!!! I am going to try and put some photos in my post, so we'll see how that goes.

So the woodwork will probably be done by Tuesday by how fast they are going. It's exciting to think of the extra room.

I'm bored at work today; so what do I do?

2010-04-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

I just thought I should write a post about my life in general. With hearing a lot of conference over the weekend and watching a few movies last night by myself...I thought about a lot of different things. First off:
I am extremely blessed to have a wife that is smart, funny, beautiful, diligent, patient and a hard worker. I can't imagine choosing a better lifemate. I'm still working each day so that she'll say the same thing another 10-20 years from now.
Second: The Lord has blessed us more than we deserve...I don't know why, I don't know how, but we feel very blessed and grateful for what we have been given.
Third: Although I may complain and whine at times, I love the kids with us. They each have their unique challenges and quirks, but they are our kids and we feel blessed to have them in our home. Some praise us for what we do, but that makes us more uncomfortable and completely wrong...we are doing what we can to help kids that might otherwise not have a normal home to live in. I can't imagine them not in our life. They have a piece of my heart.
Fourth: I'm grateful for our rational and sometimes boring thinking. We make some mistakes, but we haven't had too many that are hurting are family for a long time. It has been hard to know the Lord's will in some of our decisions..but we think things out and do what we feel best. Overall things have turned out very well. Hopefully our home being built continues to follow this pattern.
Fifth: I miss my father-in-law. Jim was very loving and kind to me and a big support. I wish the kids would have his kindness and love in their lives right now. It still hurts me to think about this. Not that my parents don't love us and accept us, but something seems to be missing at times. Maybe Marie will help fill that void if she comes and lives with us for a bit when she retires...

Sixth: I don't like small houses. No offense to those who have them. Call me a snob or schmuck, but whatever. There isn't enough room for us in this small house!!!

Seventh: Weird that my sister is pregnant and having a baby in the fall. I wish I could be there to see it..I'm not sure how often I'll see her. I wish we could all live closer. I think our Fechter family got a little spoiled by having almost all family in Sacramento growing up.

Eighth: I need to do and be better.

That's all.

And the sale went through-

2010-04-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

We feel so blessed that our home was purchased and for a reasonable amount. I don't know why we have been so blessed by The Lord, but we are grateful. We have to have everything done by tonight and then we leave our keys. Sad to see our first home go, but it is so exciting that things are working out so well. With people having such difficult times, it's hard to be too happy, but we humbly accept any blessings we can receive.

Hedo is one smart dog...

2010-03-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

So the wind blew open our not so closed gate yesterday. I freaked out when I got home and started my search for the two labs. I checked up the hill where we take them to be able to take them off our leashes...no. Looked up and down the straights around our rental...no. Looked around the main road...no. Prayed. Then thought to go check our old house. It's about 3/4 mile away. Then I get a call from my friend Glen asking if I was missing something. I told him yes..the dogs had found their way all the way back to our old house and were in his garage!!! I'm sure Belle just kind of followed Hedo's nose all the way back. I was for sure impressed. So Glen had put the dogs in our old backyard as we are still waiting on the funding and then signatures tomorrow to go through.

About this rental...we are simply biding the time until we get out of hear. It really doesn't fit us too well. Oh well, it was hard to find four bedroom homes. The builder just put in our foundation. So maybe about 9 weeks now.

So, I've never had good blog titles to attract

2010-03-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

more people to my blog. Oh well. I guess I can't be perfect at everything.

So everything is going smooth on selling our house!!!

2010-03-10T12:14:00.000-08:00

It looks like this will go through. We are kind of anxious of having to be out in two weeks, but we'll get it done someway and somehow. We will probably go get a storage unit tomorrow and will start taking things over. The rental unit won't be ready until the 22nd...so we have a short time frame to get things completely moved. It will be crazy, but so worth it in the end.

Quick update on life-

2010-03-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

Funeral went well out in Sacramento. It was good to see some family I have not seen in forever. I honestly did not cry as much as at Anna's dad's funeral. It just doesn't make me that sad when he had a good 80 years to live. He was a good man at heart.

Court to set adoption date is next week...we are very excited. The girls are sweethearts and I think G wants to as well. It is very saddening but exciting at the same time. It really rips our hearts in two directions. It's been crazy to have five kids, but we've managed with God's help.

We may be leaving the house in a few weeks if the current offer on the house goes through. We just had the inspection today with the appraisal coming up. We will be renting until our house is built in the end of May or beginning of June. We'll be posting pictures for sure as we will watch every step of the way. It will give us tons of room for the kids, future kids, grandparents..., and other guests. It is very exciting. We have been so blessed. Both of our jobs are great.

Exercised four times already this week while burning over 1000 calories each day. Hopefully that can get me going in the right direction. I've been eating breakfast more as well.

Moving sucks. It's very nerve wracking and crazy. Due to not doing much for the past week, we are going to have a heck of a time the last two weeks before we have to move out.

I love you grandpa. We'll see you soon.

2010-02-13T09:49:00.001-08:00

So we have taken the jump!!!

2010-01-28T20:45:00.000-08:00

We have signed the paperwork to begin the building process for our next house. I know it sounds crazy to upgrade from a 3100 sq ft house, but it will give us plenty of room for the kids and any future kids we may have. It comes with 6 bedrooms with another 3 possible in the unfinished basement. 5 bathrooms as well. It will require Anna to work a little longer to help us with some of the moving expenses, but it will be worth it. We want the kids to feel that they can stay as long as they need after they graduate from HS..in our current home it would be extremely tight. The lot we choose is a corner lot and it's in a neighborhood only 1 minute away from where we are right now. We've had a few people come by looking at the house, but nothing serious yet. Luckily we have a good amount of equity, which allows us to lower it if needed. I think it's pretty close to what comparable houses are in the area.

Today was N's birthday. Sweet sixteen. He is having a little get together tomorrow. We are hoping he can get his license sometime this summer. Overall the kids are doing well. R is probably the most polite little girl I have known. She always says thank you jacob or you're welcome. The kids definitely have a piece of my heart. At times I think I try too hard to correct poor behavior, but I really hope we can be a good influence of what is good in life...and how life can be happy and consistent. It looks like adoption could be started as soon as April.

Brown wins in Mass...!!!!!

2010-01-19T19:38:00.000-08:00

What a great showing from a conservative type of senatorial candidate. I'm glad the people are finally seeing the light that this socialism crap is not going to work. God bless America and down for Obama and the dems later this year!!!

So we have pretty much decided to move...

2010-01-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

We have a realtor coming by on Monday to get us going in this crazy process. We will then most likely begin building out here in the EM city center. It's just too good of a deal to pass up on a much larger house. It will allow us to adopt the kids and hopefully have a few babies some time in the next 5-7 years. This will allow us to be comfortable in a home and also give the kids some space. It may mean we'll need Anna to work a little longer to get the home spruced up, but we feel it is the right decision right now.

We just want the kids to feel like our home is always open to them. It will be easy for the boys to just pick up and leave when they turn 18 or graduate. But we want to have enough room for them to feel like they can stay for awhile if they'd like. By having more space, this makes it much easier to tell the kids and show them we mean it. Otherwise with our current house, it would be hard to say you are always welcome when we already have a full house.

Also there is small bedroom/den on the main floor. This could be used if my parents or Marie need to come live with us. There will also be a full bathroom on this floor. It just makes sense on a lot of levels. Also we have the funds to do it this year...so why not?

Overall things are going pretty well. We are both proud of the two older boys. They seem to be taking responsibility of things pretty well at school. It has been a rough semester with what happened with their mom and they both passed all of their classes. N is excited to get drivers ed going so he can probably get his license this summer. He is turning 16 in a few weeks. It's weird to think he's that old...

I am starting my diet/exercise this week. It's time to stop the excuses and make time for myself. Plus we get a huge discount on our health insurance if I reach some of my goals...lol.

Life has been good.

2009-12-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

Court was crazy, but other than that, we are doing well. We may be buying another house to help us have some more room in the future to accommodate a larger family. The boys have taken things pretty rough, even though they don't really verbalize things very well. Hopefully they can calm down and we can keep our patience.

Thanksgiving was pretty good. We got to see my grandpa, even though he is looking very ill. It is crazy trying to sleep/cram everybody in my parents house...but worth it. the weather ended up being very good and not an issue while driving. I'm hoping it is the same for Christmas.

B is now 2 and the cutest little girl ever. She does and says some of the funniest things. She is beginning to do better at nursery and be not so clingy.

Anyway, just thought I would do a quick post before going to bed. night

I hate our government. These socialistic policies

2009-11-09T19:12:00.000-08:00

are going to kill us!!! With Medicare and SS going to hell, why would anybody want our government to run our healthcare system? And for those who say it's only one option, it's going to drive private health insurance out of business!!! I do not want the government running any part of my insurance and to get out of my life. This is getting to be ridiculous. Please pray that the Senate doesn't pass this hellacious bill.

I'm just sick of this crap. Please help the liberals wake up to reality. Feelings of helping the world don't solve the world's problems. Cap and tax and now healthcare are going to tax the hell out of us. Please stop the madness. They say this will only affect the wealthier but that is garbage. There are serious trickle down effects from higher taxes on the rich. It seems simple but so misunderstood.

And football is done.

2009-10-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

My coaching days for the sixth grade team are done for this year. The last game is actually tomorrow but we have a baptism tomorrow at the same time. It has been a crazy time as it takes up so much of our time. D finishes his schedule in two weeks for the eighth grade team. It was good to see the progress some of the kids make throughout the year. With some of the kids I wonder why they are even out there as they seem pretty disinterested. We'll see if both boys decide to play next year.

At home things have been going pretty well. Anna's work has her working a modified schedule now, so Anna can be more involved with the kids after school each day. Her work has treated her very well...probably because she has worked her butt off for them, but great nonetheless. The kids are doing okay at school. D is almost getting straight A's. He seems to have the best memory and does the best on his homework. G and Y are still a little behind and are working hard at times to get caught up with things.

Y is having her baptism tomorrow. We are so proud/excited for her. It will be my first baptism in over 10 years. Man I am old. We are going to have a little luncheon thing afterward with some of her extended family. Court is coming up in a 4 weeks. Should be interesting.

Overall life is good. I'm excited for a little break this next weekend. 5-6 couples are going down to St. George to stay in a few timeshares owned by our neighbors. Not sure how golfing is going to go...it's been forever. It should be fun to have my mom stay with the kids while we are gone.

I hate being sick.

2009-09-03T05:39:00.001-07:00

So I threw up six times last night and this morning. Dang it was disgusting. Still not feeling well at all. Maybe I didn't get all of the bad stuff out yet. Anybody have any suggestions for home remedies for upset stomach/vomiting?

Anyway, it has been fine since Anna left. Little one even slept through the night..until about 6:30am. Too bad my sleep was terrible with the bad tummy. I actually slept well the first 3-4 hours and then it hit me again. How frustrating is that.

So college football starts tonight. I'm so excited!!! I love this time of the year. BYU will probably get worked by Oklahoma, but at least it will be fun seeing them play a good team.

Work is crazy!!!

2009-08-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

Someone else has left my office and things are still crazy. I don't think things will slow down until October, when the other team will be integrated back into Farmers claims. They have been handling claims for one of our subsiderary companies, Bristol West, until they could switch over all BW claims to Farmers Ins claims. It may even get more confusing as Farmers has bought part of AIG, 21st Century Insurance just last month. So it's good to see my company be aggressive and grow while economic times are a little uncertain.

Well the kids have been doing okay. We have started the level system, so that the consequences for behavior can be consistent. We just feel that the kids weren't improving and maybe this would help. We are even doing some things to help them take more control in getting up for school...show more responsibility. So far so good with that. N seems to like his new high school.

Our malibu has broken down again...got towed from the freeway as we didn't move it in time. Then had to have it towed to our house. Therefore, we are buying a new used car and will use the malibu as a third car...maybe for N. It has been a mess for sure since the beginning. I will never buy a Chevy, Dodge or Ford. My work car is even having transmission issues at the 1.5 year mark. Sheesh, it's still new.

So college football is coming in two weeks. I am so pumped. I love football. We lost our peewee football game on Satuday. The other team had a great qb and we don't exactly have a system set up to defend the pass well. We didn't even score. I am the DC and we did okay but not great. It's hard to handle kids this age as they are 11 or 12. Almost half of the team don't exactly have much of a football instinct and seem disinterested all of the time. We'll see how much they improve.

I'm excited for our two trips over the next few months. We are headed to New Orleans for a few days in September when BYU plays Tulane. Then in October we go down to St. George with 4 of our couple friends. They both should be nice breaks. Although R will be coming with us to NO as she is free still for everything.

Anyway, life is going pretty well. Anna just ran a half marathon yesterday down in springville. I'm so proud of her as that isn't easy....especially considering she has asthma. I love her so much, even when we drive each other nuts.

So we are pretty busy lately!!!

2009-08-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

Summer is thankfully winding down but dang it has been busy. We have gone on a few trips, survived having the kids home all day every day and have got a few things done outside/inside. It will be nice when the kids are back at school...we have spent a lot of money on food over the summer...at least it seems that way. School does start next week.

So I am the defensive coordinator on G's football team. They needed some help, so I volunteered to help out. It is crazy right now as it is a five day a week commitment right now. But that will go down to 3-4 during school. I also am volunteering again for cougar club security for byu football practices. That is always interesting to me as I love football.

Just finishing up some work and time for bed. Work has been dang busy. I don't think I have been this busy since I have started at Farmers. Just a lot of different factors that is making it crazy for everyone.

Anyway, I just signed up for facebook as I was searching for someone. Nnot sure what I think of it yet. I hate getting all of these friend requests.

And the judge delayed the stuff again...

2009-08-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

The attorney got the judge to hold things off until the end of September...then the final stuff in the middle of November. It's crazy to let the kids go on with so much stuff on hold for this long. What a joke.

We are home and back to normal.

2009-07-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

I hate trying to play catch up at work when being off for so long. It takes me days to get back into things. So work is still going pretty well. I am one if not the top person in my office. I have been very consistent over the past 18-24 months and it is showing in my results. Hopefully I can get a great raise next year...it will be combined with a 3.5% across the board raise that the company is giving out. So I could potentially get 8-10%. That would be nice.

So the boys are doing okay...sometimes crazy, sometimes fine. It is such a rollercoaster. They haven't spoken with their mom for almost two weeks. Maybe they don't have phones on Montana reservations? So not much else is going on in that front. We are planning to take a few trips this fall. My parents invited me to New Orleans with them when BYU plays Tulane. Anna will probably come too. We'll bring B as the kids will be in school. Then some of our friends invited us to go to St. George with a few couples in October for three days. Becky or my mom will watch the kids while we are gone. B will not come with us on this one as no kids are allowed. So they should be some fun trips.

I'm excited as heck for football season coming up. Dang I love college football. I am doing security for the cougar club again this year. It gives me a little inside info at practices. I almost volunteered to coach pop warner for the boys, but the commitment was too much. Our football season tickets got bumped up pretty good due to losing our seniority last year. Oh well, it should be an excellent home schedule this year.

Anyway, life is good. Need to exercise more. Need to read more scriptures. Need to pray more. Man my life seems like a mess sometimes...lol

So we had a change of plans..

2009-07-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

Due to wanting to see my granpda while he was in good health, we actually changed our plans from Montana to out in California. It probably isn't as exciting as hiking and swimming in a lake, but worth it from our point of view. Then there are some issues with my grandma after her knee surgery that care making a huge mess of things. Then my dad catches pnemonia and is in the hospital for two days.

Overall a crazy trip so far. Probably heading back Friday morning.

And cancer hits again!!!

2009-07-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well my mom called me last night and let me know my grandpa has pancreatic cancer...that has spread to a few other organs as well. He will have an official prognosis soon as they do some more testing. I need to figure out when I can get out there soon to see him before things hit him harder than they are right now...I remember Anna's dad and some of the photos before he passed away.

Anyway, the kids are doing okay. Not much is going on as court got pushed back again another month. Not sure what the deal is but it seemed like some kind of legal tactic to buy more time. Whatever. Poor B didn't want to go on her visit today as she cried when Anna was leaving. She has done fairly well with attaching so far. She got very upset when I tried to leave nursery on Sunday.

We are headed out to camping next week. Hopefully all goes well.

I have become a bad blogger lately.

2009-06-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

But it's partly because I can't share much info on what is going on with the kids due to Foster Care rules. Anyway, the two older boys continue to be a little crazy at times. They sure try our patience at least once a day. They have improved on some things, but still the same on others. We know things don't chance overnight, but the younger kids don't need to deal with some of the crap they pull. I think something may be happening soon with this.

So Anna has been away to a short conference in Burbank. It has been an okay time. We haven't done too much. I did cook some ribs last night that were pretty good. It was my first time cooking them and they turned out really well...other than a little overseasoning. We had Glen and Jeannete over. We are going on a couples only trip in October with them to their time share in St. George. It should be pretty fun as we haven't ever done that...actually we did go up to Park city with Geoff and Alisha a few years ago for a weekend.

Overall things are going pretty well. It has been crazy trying to balance our schedules this summer since school has been out. Anna's work has been more than accomodating. It just has never calmed down. And it won't really do so either as we are headed to Montana in two weeks for camping. And we have a day off this Friday...not sure if we are doing anything. Court is next Monday...not much will happen this week.

So our Tahoe, SF and Sacramento trip went well.

2009-06-19T11:57:00.001-07:00

No major issues or blowups. The kids got along well and we the kids didn't break too much.. We hope they will be able to come with us to Montana for camping as well. We'll see what happens. There may be a few changes coming with our situation.

So the kids will be with us for awhile...

2009-05-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what is going to happen later on. But we have some tough decisions. Hopefully the therapists can help us sort things out.

Be of Good Cheer!!!

2009-05-24T20:38:00.001-07:00

That was the title of the EQ lesson I gave today. It was okay, although the thoughts didn't flow too well. But I hope some people got the gist of the lesson. It was about being happy in our lives. I think some people don't know how to be happy while on the ride of life. It reminded me to enjoy the simple things as there is so much cynicism and pessimism in the world. I want to be known as someone that is happy and optimistic. Someone who see's the good in others. Not someone who needs to rip others down.

So court is Tuesday. I don't expect much to change, but it will be interesting to see what the judge says. So sad...

I survived.

2009-05-21T21:00:00.001-07:00

So last week ended up being okay. No big issues. It seems like the boys have calmed down for whatever reason. Not as much cussing or agressive behavior.

So we are not sure how long the kids will be with us. Plans have kind of changed and things are up in the air at this point. I feel terrible for these kids...not knowing what is going to happen.

I am excited for our trip to Tahoe. Going to be gone for 10 days in Tahoe and Sacramento. It's going to be nice. I am going to brave the waters of the big lake...just like I did as a kid. Hopefully it's warm...

So Anna is gone until Sunday!!!!

2009-05-12T20:52:00.000-07:00

The first two days haven't been too bad. No major blowups and got a decent amount of work done today. My claims load has been going up and up...and now another person has left my office. Not sure what happened, but is gone. We are down so many people. Another guy is retiring this week as well. A few others were fired last month. I don't have much time to do anything other than handling my claims these days. I have also been backing up two other adjuster the past 3 days.

Home life has been getting better. We had a very good 1.5 weeks...then hell since the kids saw their mom last week. I think it may have finally sunk in what is going on. It's rough..not sure how I would deal with it if I was away from my family so much in my young years.....

I'm pretty excited for our long vacation in a couple of weeks. We are headed to Lake Tahoe and then hanging out in Sacramento for a few days. Maybe we can go to a baseball game or something in the bay area. Maybe I will ask for the day off after my birthday too to be able to have an extra day to travel.

Good night

It sometimes feels like such work to have a good

2009-05-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday. Church is crazy, trying to convince kids, who don't give a rats about anything, to be quiet. They have very poor social skills while in public. That was one of the reasons we cut our Canada/Montana trip short was due to this. It just becomes too much to handle. But we made it through the day without any big bumps...which is more important at this point. There is some progress, but we still have daily issues with disrespect, name calling, cussing among other things. This has really tested our ability to be patient and loving...while at the same time being firm with what is expected. There is only so much verbal abuse and cussing we can take at this point in time.

Anyway, court is tomorrow. Hopefully the judge does the right thing...whatever that is. -

Court goes on forever...

2009-04-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

So another date is set without anything getting done. Poor kids have to continue to wait to find out what is going on. It's sad the kids are this familiar with being in foster care...

Not sure what we are going to do this summer as it's pretty clear things are not going to be done overnight.

At last...

2009-04-17T10:19:00.001-07:00

So I have been very hesitant to weigh myself that past four weeks with the five kids in our home. I haven't had much time to work out and things have been hectic. But I did weigh up in Canada during our trip and I have lost 26 lbs since December. So it has been slow but things are still going okay. I need to get more consistent to lose anymore, but it was good to see I haven't gained much if anything.

So we cut our trip short due to issues with the boys...they seem to have some serious social issues to say the least.

Still issues with getting the oldest two in school.

2009-03-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Talk about incompetent and idiotic government employees!!! Sheesh, taking way too long for a kid to be able to start school at a new school. What a joke!!! Not sure if it is going to be tomorrow or Wednesday but dang this is ridiculous.

They seem to be good some days but back to chaos the next. Hopefully things get better when all are in school.

School is only happening for the two younger

2009-03-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

kids. Dang prior school can't check them out until early next week. So another 2-3 days for the older two boys. It's tough but they seem to be getting better. But we found more property of ours destroyed in their room. Nothing big just lame they have broken so many things already. They don't have any sense of property or leaving things alone.

So court didn't happen today...

2009-03-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

the mother's lawyer didn't bother showing up. So we at least have the five until next Thursday...although they are getting a kid in custody waiver to put them into school. So we won't go crazy trying to babysit them all day every day. Anna was going crazy this morning when the caseworker suggested just having the kids sit home all day for another 9 days...eesh. So our worker called the girl and finally talked some sense to her. So now they will at least be in some school. Sounds like the caseworker was just being lazy.

They are very difficult but getting better.

It is tough to handle teenagers that act

2009-03-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

around half of their age or what? I mean I was a pain sometimes as a teen but wow this is difficult. Seeing what an inconsistent and fractured home can do to kids is extremely sad. But it helps you understand kids a little more. I don't get as upset at some of the neighborhood kids that have some lame homes when I think about it a little more. I mean when the parents are screwed up, what else do we expect from the kids?

Sad but true.

I'm tired!!!

2009-03-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

So they had court yesterday just to determine they want an official court date with the kids judge next Tuesday. So, who knows what is going to happen.

I suck at getting woken up multiple times in the night...

2009-03-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

She is a sweet little girl but dang I'm not used to it. Then when I try to help out, she pushes me away and wants Anna. I think this may be to the fact her brothers are the only men in her life. So they are fairly nice kids that are somewhat shy. The two oldest boys didn't want to go to church, but mostly because it involves interaction with people they don't know. We'll see what happens on Tuesday and then adjust our lives accordingly. I feel bad for the 15 year old boy as he was set to move in on Friday but that got placed on hold. If this turns into a longer type of placement, I don't know if we could handle 6 unless Anna quits. I don't even know if we want to do that at this point but certainly an option. Anna loves her work but we are both ready for a family...and starting one, one way or another. It is frustrating seeing all of these idiots with lots of kids that are pathetic parents and yet we can't even have one child in eight years. But at the same time we have been blessed a lot.

So a change of plans!!!

2009-03-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

So we got a call yesterday afternoon from our caseworker asking if we'd be interested in shelter or regular foster care for a family of 5 kids from 15 months to 14 years old. Anna seemed excited to help out and I told her we could as long as she knows her schedule would have to change. They have court on Tuesday to figure out what's going on with the kid's mother.

So here we go again.

2009-03-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

We are going to have a fifteen year old boy in our home starting on Friday. It should be quite interesting as he has a girlfriend and is very in to her...almost obsessive. We'll see how that works out. We also finally finished our lds family services online stuff and should get that approved soon. So our profile should be up in running here soon. Maybe I'll put some link on this blog to it or something. Anyway, we are also being considered for 3 african american kids and one 11 year old. So things could change quickly over the next month or two. We are headed up to Canada in two weeks, which should be a nice break. Then get to her nephews and niece up in Montana on the way back.

Anyway, life is always chaging, hopefully these will be changes for the good.

So my raise is...

2009-03-06T13:29:00.001-08:00

9.5 effing percent!!!! Yay. Soon Anna will be able to quit and things will still be fine. My emlpoyer also plans on giving everybody in claims positions raises of 3.5% in January due to some changes in benefits...and on top of that another performance raise. So, it could be a fat year and a half at my work.

So my new goal of losing another 20 lbs will

2009-03-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

start on Monday. Going to do it by May 15. Going to cut out everything as my partial diet kind of plateaued a few weeks ago. So I have been studying my workers comp stuff for the past few weeks. I took the test today and passed!!! So I get an official designation called Assoicates in Claims or AIC. I get a $300 bonus and I get to put it next to my name. Anyway, things have been going well. I passed my Farmers prep courses in portland, promotion test and now my designation test. I am going to sign up for one more class too to get another designation. Should be fun.

New PSB album next month...

2009-02-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

I've already ordered it on amazon.

Take a listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYzsV4RzdE

Not too bad. Catchy.

So that test is now behind me...

2009-02-19T14:56:00.000-08:00

on to the next one in two weeks. So I passed my freaking test today!!! Yipeekayah. Anyway, the three other adjusters all failed...they were retaking it and I was taking it for the first time. And, yes Julie, I did finish my test first in 35 minutes for 50 questions. Not bad eh. So now I get a raise at 6-7%. Sweet.

So now I have my workers compensation course to finish up and take the test on 3-6. If I pass that, I get a $200 bonus and a new designation next to my name...AIC or Associate in Claims. Then if I take a customer service course, I can get ACS next to my name or Associate in Customer Service. Anyway, things are going well at work. My boss has approached me about learning the ropes more in order to eventually promote. The Lord has blessed me tons. This is setting up well so that Anna can hopefully quit sometime in the next year or two. We'll see when anything changes on that end of things.

And we are childless again...

2009-02-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

Well that was quick. Two foster daughters leave within 3 days each... Both are funny/weird stories but probably shouldn't be shared on the blog. Kind of sad as 16 year old seemed like a good teenager. She would have been fun to be around the next few years. Oh well...I will say one thing, she was crying when we dropped her off at her home. And it wasn't because she was going to miss us...

Sad.

So I'm down about 20 lbs.

2009-02-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

It has been quite refreshing to steadily lose weight...so hopefully it stays off. I have been watching my calories more and working out every day. I can reach my goal sometime next week. Then my next goal will be 25 lbs in the next three months. I think this is a good pace for me as I don't have the best discipline in food choices. If I just focus on exercise and cutting out fat, I should be good to continue losing. With Anna, it appears she may win her work contest and get the pot if others don't reach their goals. Anna has told me I can get high definition tv if I reach goal. So, it's going to get done. I can't wait to see how it looks on my sweet sixty seven inch hdtv. The only issue with losing weight is getting fitted clothing. I am going to bust out some of my old clothes or buy some new clothes soon as really bagging clothing makes you look a lot bigger.

Oh, my promotion test is next Thursday so wish me luck. I could use another 6% raise. That's another few hundred bucks. I do enjoy the new 401k plan, even though net I am taking home less money. I'll have $500/month in that account. So combine that with my retirement and bonsues going into there every year and we should be good at retirement.

Anyway, life is good.

Two foster kids...

2009-02-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

Well we have a foster daughter come and go...in the quickest amount of time....three days!!! She had a history of running away and did it while I was showering on Friday morning. She had been doing fine but then started telling the sheriff she didn't want to live here anymore. So they took her to DT. She has some serious issues in the head as she was doing fine one day and then ran away the next.

So now we have a 16 year old foster daughter that could be here long term. She seems like a good kid that is pretty mellow. She just was dropped off today by her caseworker.

Anyway, hopefully things go better this time. Not much we could have done with our prior foster daughter. It's kind of crazy having a 16 year old here though...

So I passed my two tests in Portland.

2009-01-31T11:28:00.000-08:00

I got so nervous the first day as some of the questions were quite tricky. But I got a 95%. The second day I thought I did better but got a 88%. Oh well, good enough to be able to take my promotion test in February. If I pass that I'll get probably a 6% raise, which isn't too bad. Some people don't pass this test the first time, so I'll have to study up to make sure I don't make any stupid mistakes.

Anyway, weight is doing pretty well. I didn't gain much on my trip to Portland, even though I only exercised for like 30 minutes those three days. The exercise room there sucked at the hotel. Oh well.

We saw New in Town with Renee Z last night. It was okay as long as you didn't have high expectations. We'll probably go to Last Chance Harvey next weekend. That one got better reviews.

So I'm headed to Portland on Monday.

2009-01-23T23:20:00.000-08:00

I have to take a few courses in order to take my promotion test. I have to pass both one day courses on Tuesday and Wednesday. It should be very exciting. Once I pass these classes, I hope I can pass my promotion test. The last 4 people in my office haven't passed it.
Anyway, my exercise is doing very well as I have done it 5-6 times a week for the past month now. Now I just need to tweak more carbs out of my diet and I should lose more weight. At this point I will need to cut everything out of my diet to reach my goal. I exercised on the eliptical for 30 minutes tonight and then went to my stake basketball game in which we won by 1 point. I only scored 5 points..but went 2-4 on my shots. Some guys take it way too seriously. But it was fun as I hit a three pointer with a few minutes left to put us up 1. Good times.

Tom Hanks calling out Mormons for voting for

2009-01-16T11:18:00.000-08:00

prop 8? You know what you uneducated idiot...we can vote however in the hell we want you ahole!!! Sorry, just had to put that up somewhere.

So I am down about 10 lbs now...

2009-01-16T10:42:00.001-08:00

I think the increased workout time is helping a lot this week. I'm doing about 45-50 minutes a day on the eliptical. It has really helped me feel better. Although I am noticing I am sleeping a little better with the working out. Anyway, if only I ate better I could be losing more. Oh well.

So I didn't get as good of a raise as I had thought...

2009-01-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

I had a great year far exceeding all of my goals at the office. I had thought that meant I achieved greatness and was deserving of one of those large raises that I had hear about for the past four years. And then I got into the meeting. I was told my behavior, for reasons unknown to my supervisor, was deemed to knock me down from far exceeding expectations to exceeding expectations. Basically cutting my potential raise in half. Damn them!!! And without a reason...so I have emailed my HR person to see what is going on. Maybe the scales have gone and a 5% raise is up there. But, out of principle I'm not happy. I had a great behavior year as well with being positive, volunteering for additional projects, backing up my supervisor, getting my promotion to the next level. Anyway, the hr lady will get back to me by tomorrow. I'm just sick of some upper management schmucks who seem to always knock me down. To hell with them. I worked damn hard to improve and reach all of my goals. It wasn't even close.

So worked out last night and burned about 1400

2009-01-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

calories. I really don't know how accurate the eliptical is, but that's what it said. The weird thing is, I could go for another 20 minutes and still feel fine. Are there other fat people like this that still have good health and stamina? Anyway, still working my diet and cutting out sugars. Anna has stopped buying white bread...which sucks, but oh well.

We are still waiting to hear from our Foster Care rep about any kids. She called us before Christmas about a four year old that needs to be adopted, but we want older kids for now until Anna quits work. We have to finish that stupid collage for lds family services still too. So many little things to do....

Peace

Down 8 pounds. Not too bad.

2009-01-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

It has been a good few weeks. I need to average about 3 pounds a week for the next 7 weeks though for Anna's work contest. I think i can do it as my exercise and diet are going pretty well. I will up my workout time to 40 minutes tomorrow to keep up the fat burning as things may flatline a little this week. Wish good luck to me.

And here come the lbs....

2009-01-01T15:16:00.000-08:00

And no, not linebackers. I have been doing pretty well on a better diet and better exercise since the beginning of the Christmas holidays. I have lost about six lbs over that time. I need to lost another 40 lbs before I can use the Wii fit with Anna. She seems to be liking that a lot. Anyway, I have been doing some great workouts, which seem to be doing wonders to my metabolism. No more recumbent bike for me..not a good enough workout. Anyway, I'll post more often now things are rolling. We had a great Christmas. All around fantastic time...although at the end of it, it was a little creepy that we saw six movies!!! Ave Maria!!! Anyway, Happy freaking New Year. Oh, stupid thing happened. Our Malibu didn't pass the safety test for registration. I get a big back notice back saying REJECTED!!! I felt like those pictures where people put fail on the bottom of them. I was pretty ticked.. Maybe we'll get a new car as we are tired of all of the small repairs over the past eight years.

It's hard for me to find new good music....

2008-12-09T12:37:00.000-08:00

Well I must say The Killers new song Human is fantastic. For those who are not sure which song that is, search on youtube. It's the closest thing to Pet Shop Boys that I've heard in a long time...except PSB themselves from back in 2006. Great concert BTW. If only Erasure hurried up on their new album and get is released next year.

And we are now childless again....

2008-12-05T22:25:00.000-08:00

so the foster kids finally went home today after almost six months. It has been quite the roller coaster but good to finally be over with. Hopefully their dad can step up to the plate and be a good father. I don't really expect him to be, but at least be okay. They are good kids with good hearts. They just need to be allowed to be kids and enjoy childhood. Trouble comes when kids are forced to be the adults to the parents.

Anyway, time for sleep. Good trip over Thanksgiving. And we are going back again in 2 weeks. Have to get that bday card out for Sheds tomorrow.

It really hasn't been so bad...

2008-11-25T07:02:00.000-08:00

So I've been without soda for six days now. It hasn't been too bad. Although I do plan on drinking some on my trip/driving. Even during the big game on Saturday, we had 3 12 packs that I choose not to partake in. So it's been good. No fast food either. Anyway, if I continue with this, I will reach those goals. Not to move on to exercise. The Foster kids are going home soon, so I will have more time to exercise and focus on that.

Lunch and Dinner on day 1

2008-11-20T06:13:00.001-08:00

I had chicken and rice for lunch with another cup of water. Probably around 1.5 cups worth. Not a small portion but kept me content for awhile. For dinner I had potatoes and milk gravy with meat. Oh, and corn too. I kind of ate too much. I had 3 girl scout cookies for desert. Overall it was a good day...no fast food or soda. I'm still working in the other goals.

Day 1....breakfast

2008-11-19T09:02:00.001-08:00

I ate an apple and a leftover small snickers bar in my car. Drank one glass of water.

Goal day.....

2008-11-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

Weight Loss Goals:

At least lose 15 lbs per month for the first 3 months.

At least lose 10 lbs per month for the next 3 months.

At least lose 5 lbs per month for the next 3 months.

How I am going to reach my goals:

Absolutely no soda. This should put my daily fat content way down as I usually drink a soda or two a day. I may choose to eventually go to only at restaurants once my weight is more manageable and my diet is better.

Absolutely no fast food. I think this is more out of convenience than anything. I simply need to get out of the habit as I don't expect to miss it much. It usually makes me feel sick afterward anyway.

Exercise for at least 30 minutes per day for 5 days a week. The other two days do at least something to get my heart rate going like a longer walk with the dogs. Our labs will like that.

No TV until exercise and to input my other goal, or until scriptures are read each night. This will help in giving me incentive to get things done as I usually like watching a show or two each night before sleeping. DVR's definitely help.

No eating after 8pm. This is a bad habit where I snack or eat more sugary things before bed. If anything drink more water during this time.

Blog what I eat each day. This will help me visualize everything I put into my body. Sometimes it shames me to think about what I have eaten. This may help me think more about what I am doing when I get a soda and some other fatty thing.

Eat smaller portions. Then if I need to eat a healthier snack later, do it.

Anyway, everyone pray for me as I don't have the strongest will in the world. But I know I can do this as it is a good thing for my life.