Wow it has been that long!!!

Life has been good.  Damon got his license this summer.  We went on trips to Canada for 10 days, Montana for a few days, Moab for a few days...it's been busy.  Now that school is back in session, it is a different type of craziness but no too bad.  J is in Soccer.  Bekah is doing soccer as well.  No sports for the boys right now. 

Anyway, just chugging along. 

Trust-why can't I just be okay with not trusting

someone? I think I have some serious psychological hangups in my life over this issue. I am generally a very trusting and caring person. I usually don't sit wondering if a person is just plain BSing me or if I should believe the stuff being said. But over the past few years my personality has changed. I've been opened up to a complete new world of lying/deceit and a lack of trust. It seems it's commonplace to simply lie or cover up things if they don't fit your view on things or work best for said person.

I'm not perfect in this area, but I try to be upfront and blunt in my conversations. I'm not really good at deceit or hiding my feelings on most issues.

Anyway, I just hate feeling so skeptical and negative about this. I need help.

I've become a slacker.

Lots of things going on in our lives right now. Anna is chugging along in her new position that she entered in the 4th quarter of last year. I am hopefully applying to our leadership program to become a supervisor at the end of this year. The boys are struggling at doing homework...not exactly fun. It makes me think what my mom went through with Michael and sometimes Craig...ugly. We don't exactly expect the world from them, but no F's is a reasonable goal considering our challenges. Gabe has decided to do track after a little encouragement. He has always been a great runner and we're excited to see how he does with a little coaching.

The girls are trying their best to deal with two teenage boys who like to exercise their freedoms a little too often for their own good...We struggle in keeping the girls progressing while the boys have their own issues with us. We love them and hope the best, but in the end they have to decide what they want out of their lives. We hope their lives include a lot of hope and hard work but at times we wonder how much we are really helping them. In the end we will continue to press forward.

Anna and I have our ups and downs. We are continuing to learn and develop our relationship through unique trials. We have been extremely blessed in a lot of ways, just sometimes not in the ways we hope. Bekah had a really rough time last night and was screaming/throwing things for awhile. It was physically and mentally exhausting combined with another incident from yesterday. But this morning I decided that Bekah could stay home with me since work was a little light today. I asked her if she wanted to go on a lunch date with me. She answered, "yes daddy, that would make me very happy." We ended up changing some plans and having a pizza buffet that she loved...

I sometimes struggle to see the positives moreso than the negatives, but in this instance I felt Rebekah's love and I can say I am glad the kids are a part of our family. It breaks my heart to know what the kids have been through and we continue to try and help each of them progress to be the best human being they can be.

Wow it's been awhile.

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.

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.

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

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