GORTON FAMILY BLOG

Project Complete

2010-03-06T09:06:00.003-07:00

So Brigitte has had in her mind to refinish the kitchen cabinets for a while. She finally convinced me to do it. I started it the weekend before Presidents day weekend and did one section. I thought that I could finish the rest on Presidents day weekend because that was my Friday off and I did not work on Monday, so I had four days to work on it. Turned out to be a bigger project that I anticipated but I am glad to say that it is finished, and I am very pleased with results, as is Brigitte. She absolutely loves them. This is my whole paining setup. Three tables in the dining room. Left not much room to eat.

Cabinets are ready for the doors which took a lot longer than I expected.

This is the what they looked like before project commenced. This is what they look like now. Complete transformation.

BYE BYE TREES

2010-01-24T21:20:00.003-07:00

So when we moved into our house in July of 2009, the half bathroom on the main floor had these trees painted on the wall. Every time my father came to visit, he would always ask for some paint and a paint brush to paint the room. For Christmas, Brigitte got a gift certificate to TiaPan and she wanted to redo the bathroom, so that was my project over Presidents Day weekend.

I was suppose to take some pictures before I started painting but forgot to do so. Brigitte snapped these few pictures before I got to far.

These next few pictures are of the finished project. And yes the walls are purple just in case you were wondering.

Fun in the Sun

2009-10-26T20:51:00.003-06:00

While we were at my parents house they wanted to go to a corn maze. There was one close by that they had heard that it was fun so we went to check it out. It turned out that there was these slides at the same place and it was the same price just to get in the door. So we went for the corn maze and spent most of the going down these huge slides. They had these burlap sacks that you got in to go down the slide. They warned us that you needed to keep your arms inside the sacks. I learned why you wanted to. OUCH!!! Major burn. The kids had so much fun. And yes we still went through the corn maze. It was the shape of Bugs Bunny and you had to find five markers for a treat.

Trevor was the first one down. He was so scared at first but when he got to the bottom the first thing he said was "That was awesome. Lets do it again."

Picture of how high the slide was. In the summer they have water running down the slides and the bottom is filled and you just stop in the water. Here they put those balls like in the McDonalds play pens to stop you.

I took Alexa down with me the first time and she had a blast. She just wanted to go do it again and again.

My mom took Maya down and she did not like it at all. She was so scared and she would not go down again. I finally convinced her that she could go with me.

Kolby had such a blast and the employees were happy to see him helping throw the balls back in. That kept him entertained because we thought he was to small to go with down the slide.

Trevor trying to get out the the balls. It usually took some one to help him get out.

They had a small slide for the little kids and the girls had a blast on it. Maya was finally to go by herself and had a blast as well.

I took Kolby down the small slide and the smile on his face says it all.

Weekend Trip

2009-10-26T20:26:00.004-06:00

We took a trip up to my parents a few weekends ago and had a great time. It turned out to be a great weekend weather wise and so my parents spent the morning out in the garden getting things pulled and ready for winter. It does not matter where or when but my kids love to play in the dirt. They were right out in the middle of the garden pulling carrots and onions and anything else that they could pull. Even some things that they were not suppose to but my parents loved the help and the time they got to spend with their grand kids.

Here is Trevor, Alexa, and Maya just always ready to have their pictures taken.

My parents pulling up the onions. They had every type of onion that you could think of planted.

Maya and Alexa trying to get some carrots out of the ground.

Kolby just decided to site wherever he wanted, even if it was right where the digging was taking place.

ITS CANNING TIME AGAIN

2009-09-13T15:05:00.003-06:00

It is always a fun time of the year when we are canning, or at least it starts out as fun. I always for get about the amount of time that it takes to process the products after the initial canning is complete. This year was did tomatoes and peaches again. We canned 60 quarts of tomatoes and 33 quarts of peaches all in two days. We did get some help from the little ones who want to be involved with anything that goes on in the kitchen. Here is Maya with her apron on helping put the cut tomatoes in the bottles.

Alexa learned how to peel the skins of the the tomatoes really fast that it surprised me. By the time she was done helping she was covered in tomato juice but she had so much fun.

WE REALLY DO TEACH OUR KIDS MANNERS

2009-09-13T14:54:00.003-06:00

We really thought that we had been being good with Kolby but I guess when we are not around all is forgotten. This picture was taken as Kolby was relaxing after breakfast. This kid is crazy but you cannot help but laugh.

FAMILY FUN

2009-09-13T14:31:00.005-06:00

For our family summer get together we went up to Jon and Karissa's cabin again. This time it was not so cold and the kids could run around outside. It was a lot of fun. Every night a fire was built and we sat around it and talked while the kids ran around and wore themselves out. This picture shows Trevor waiting patiently for a smore. Maya loved the smores. This was her second one and made such a mess. But if you don't get dirty, what is the fun of camping. Alexa was not as fond of the smores as Maya. She got chocolate everywhere, but still enjoyed it. Grandma organized the whole trip and we are grateful for all the work and prepartion that she put into it. Thank you.

Grandpa is here relaxing after hard work cooking his dutch oven chicken and potatoes. It is still the family favorite and is always requested whenever we all get together.

Thank you Jon and Karissa for letting us use your cabin again.

POOR TREVOR

2009-09-13T14:17:00.004-06:00

Well Trevor has so much fun at recess. One day Brigitte got a call that Trevor had fallen off the monkey bars at school during recess. They thought that he was all right but that she should come pick him up. Trevor was being so brave and was not crying, but the second that he saw Brigitte, he started crying. Brigitte called and got Trevor into the doctors. After initial xrays the doctor thought it was just bruised but needed the radiologist to look at it. The bad news came that Trevor had a hairline fracture on the his elbow. This picture was taken shortly after he got home from the doctor. Because of the nature of the fracture, Trevor had to go to a specialist.

Trevor had to keep his arm is a sling for a week because the swelling was so great they could not but a cast on. When time for the cast, they asked Trevor what color of cast then wanted. Trevor said he wanted bright green like Sonic the Hedgehogs eyes. The things that kids notice.

Trevor had to had his cast on for a mere two weeks and is now going to physical therapy so that he can get his arm to bend like normal again.

It has really been 9 years

2009-08-02T20:41:00.003-06:00

Well, it seems like it has been a while since I updated the blog and as I started to write this I had a flashback to one year ago when I wrote about our 8th anniversary and could not believe that it had all ready been a year since I wrote that. My how time flies. As they sing in primary, "One year older and wiser too." I am not sure about the wiser part but celebrating my 31st birthday made me realize that I am getting older.
This last year has flown by. It was so weird when Trevor headed off for his first day of 1st grade on July 20th. He has grown up so fast. The girls turned three and it seems like they aged overnight. Kolby is running everywhere. Whenever the front door opens it takes everything to get him before he is down the stairs. They are just growing up so fast.
This year for our anniversary we decided to go to a play at the Desert Star Theatre. Our back door neighbors, the Featherston's anniversary was on the 30th so we decided to invite them as well. We dropped the kids off at Brigitte's parents and then went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. That was the first time that we had been there and the food was sooooooo good. We walked around the mall for a while and then went to the play. The play was James Blonde Agent 7-11 in Casino Real. It was hilarious. They always are. It you want to have a good time then i would suggest trying it. We have even contemplated about getting season tickets, but the budget has never allowed it. Anyway, it is hard to realize that nine years ago Brigitte and I got married. I just want Briggite to know that I love her very much and am grateful for everything she does for me.

SAN DIEGO WAS GREAT

2009-07-15T17:15:00.001-06:00

Brigitte and I have never went on a vacation by ourselves and we decided that it was time. We decided that we would go to San Diego for a weekend. I had never been to Sea World and thought that it would be fun. We got some really great deals. Delta was having a special where you could use sky miles to pay for the entire flight, taxes included. We still had to pay the baggage fee. We Pricelined our hotel. I was scared that we would not get a good hotel but we got a great hotel right in along the harbor. The Manchester Grand Hyatt was were we stayed for $75 a night. I would priceline a hotel again anytime.

Our hotel was three blocks from Petco Stadium, home of the San Diego Padres. No we did not goto a game because we spent the day that they played at SeaWorld.

We had a great time at Sea World. We first went to see the Killer Whales and sat in the 4th row. We got absolutely soaked. From there we went to Journey to Atlantis and got even wetter. We were there from when they opened to 10:45. Then we had to catch the bus to the trolley. It was a late night.

Our hotel was right next to the Seaport Village. We spent the first night walking the pier and visited all the stores.

The last full day we were there we took a tour of San Diego. We visited the Hotel del Coronado. It was massive and beautiful. Also expensive. We spent $7 on a single peice of fudge.

We also stopped at Balbo Park and walked through a couple of gardens. The gardens were also beautiful.

The day we were to fly out I wanted to go to the Midway Museum, but breakfast was a little hard to find and we spent 45 minutes standing in line to have a delicious breakfast. We walked down the boardwalk to the ship to at least say get a picture. Overall it was a great trip. Look forward to doing it again next year.

April's Scrapbooking Pages

2009-04-13T22:13:00.000-06:00

Brigitte is a Close to My Heart Consultant and she makes layouts every month. This month the layouts used were the That's Amore Paper. The first layout she put pictures of when the girls got their ears pierced. I thought that it turned out really cute.

The second layout was of Trevor's Valentines Day party at school. It shows him making his Valentine bag and where he sits. Trevor was really proud of his bag.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY KOLBY

2009-04-12T22:03:00.006-06:00

Kolby is really 1 year old. Man it does not seem like that long ago that he was born. He has all of a sudden decided that he does not want to eat baby food anymore and all he wants is to have what we are eating so tonight he had steak, broccoli, deviled eggs, and pineapple. He loved it and ate two whole pieces of pineapple.

Thursday night after decorating eggs we opened his presents from Grandma and Grandpa Gorton. He really got into the unwrapping until he tore off his first piece of wrapping paper and then that is all he wanted to play with.

Saturday we went down to Grandmother and Grandpa MacKay's for another birthday party. Kolby is to the age where if there are alot of people around he gets into that stranger danger stage and is really clingy. But once the presents came out he was all right.

Brigitte made a really cute birthday cake for him. The caterpillar was suppose to be upright but the cake was so soft that it would not stand up so instead she laid it down. I still think that it turned out really great. And it had my favorite frosting - Cream Cheese.

Kolby was once again clingy and did not want to sit in the high chair for his birthday cake. The whole time we were singing to him he was crying and screaming. He wanted to have nothing to do with the cake. He finally had a few bites but that was all. No big mess to clean up. Hallelujah!!!!!!

WONDERFUL FUN OF COLORING EGGS

2009-04-12T21:50:00.006-06:00

It is that time of the year again. Time to decorate the eggs and hope that no one spills the dye and ruins their clothes. We made Trevor go get his old shirt on.

We made the girls take their clothes off. This way we did not ruin any clothes at all.

The kids had so much fun decorating the eggs. They were so sad when it was all done but at the same time we were glad.

This egg decorating kit was really weird. It had the space theme with stickers of bunny-nauts and egg ships. It even came with glow in the dark stickers and glow in the dark paint that never really existed. It came with these punch outs that you could use to put rings around your eggs.

CAMERA FUN

2009-03-30T21:23:00.003-06:00

Trevor has a bad habit of waking up really early in the morning, some times as early as 5:30 and going downstairs and watching TV. We have tried everything to stop him. We did not know that he had gotten a hold of the camera until we downloaded the pictures off of the card. We found some weird pictures. I guess Trevor really wanted a self portrait. This one was quite funny. I am not sure how he took it.

This was more like the ones that we found on the camera. He took pictures of either the ceiling or the TV. That is how we found out when this took place. He got in some trouble for these. In totla he took about 20 useless pictures.

Ears peirced

2009-03-30T20:58:00.006-06:00

We decided that it was time to get the girls ears pierced. We went to the mall and was in line to get but Trevor threw a huge fit so we went home. We went back the same day with the girls blankets because we were not sure what they would do. Alexa went first. I took Maya away so that she did not watch. Alexa was all right until she had her first ear done. Because there was only person there trained to pierce ears they had to one ear at a time instead of one both at the same time. Alexa was doing good until they pierced the first ear and then they had to hurry and do the other. She was crying so hard. The lady looked at her and asked her if she wanted a sucker and she immediately stopped crying and was just fine. Maya heard her crying so she was not sure if she wanted to do this.

Maya had to have mom hold her during her turn. She did not even cry or make a sound during the whole procedure. She was so brave.

Both girls looked so cute after they were done. They both had suckers to help them.

They each got there own little bag with the cleaning stuff for their ears. They looked so cute carrying their little bags through the mall.

He is getting so big!!

2009-02-16T18:31:00.004-07:00

Kolby is getting so big. Now that he has decided to start eating food finally, that is all he wants to do. He has also started standing up to everything. And he crawls everywhere. He has even tried to venture up the stairs but got stuck when he realized that he had went up one stair.

What Markers can Do!!!

2009-02-16T18:19:00.003-07:00

The girls got a hold of Trevor's Markers after he was told to put them away. Brigitte did not know that they were downstairs coloring. Coloring themselves that is.

This picture says it all. The look on their faces is so precious. Whenever they see these photos all the can say is "we haughty."

Poor Alexa. Who can help but laugh when they see this picture. Good thing that it was washable marker.

Maya did not get the worst of it but she was the artist for the worst of it.

Brigitte was so mad that she made the girls go to the next door neighbors without washing their faces so that maybe they would learn a lesson from this experience.

Andy Rooney Tips for Handling Telemarketers

2009-01-06T20:42:00.006-07:00

Three Little Words that Work!!!

1.) The three little words are: 'Hold On, Please...'

Saying this while putting the phone down and walking off (instead of hanging up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear the phone company's 'beep-beep-beep', you know that it's time to go back and hang up the handset, which has efficiently completed its task.

These three little words will help eliminate telephone soliciting.

2.)Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes a phone call and records the time of day when a person answers the phone. This technique is used to determine the best time of the day for a 'real' salesperson to call back and get someone at home.

What you do after answering, if you notice that there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting the # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialed the call and kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer!

3.) Junk Mail help:

When you get 'ads' enclosed with your phone or utility bill, return these 'ads' with the payment. Let the sending companies throw their own junk mail away.

When you get those 'pre-approved' letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope. Most come with post-paid return envelopes, right? It costs them more than the regular 41 cents postage 'IF' and when they receive them back. It costs them nothing if yo throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents before the last increase and it is according to weight. In that case why not get rid of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage paid envelopes.

Send and ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back! If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn't on anything you send them. You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them. The banks and credit card companies are curently getting a lot of thier own junk back in the mail, but we need to OVERWHELM them. Let's let them know what it's like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they're paying for it...Twice!! Lets help keep our postal service busy since they are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, and that's why they need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!

Gorton Family Christmas Party

2008-12-28T17:36:00.000-07:00

Winter Fun for the First Time

2008-12-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

Trevor's 6th Birthday

2008-12-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

Ginger Bread Train

2008-12-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

It was time for the annual building of the ginger bread house except this year I think that Trevor convinced Brigitte to get a train instead so this year it was the ginger bread train. It was great because the kit came with all ready made frosting so we did not have to make it. That is always such a pain. I built the train up and then let the kids decorate it.

The kids were having fun decorating the train. They started by handing the candy to me to put them on the train.

But then they started getting into the decorating on their own.

Maya always had to show us the piece of candy before putting it on the train.

I had to add more frosting where they wanted it to give them more places to place the candy.

It got to a point where the candy had to be tested in the mouth before it went on the train.

Trevor was deep in thought as to whether the train was complete or not. He had to make the decision because there was more candy but they wanted to eat it.

The final train decorated. I would usually cover the whole thing in frosting but was not in the mood to do that this year. Besides the kids got to the frosting before I got a chance.

Christmas Tree Time

2008-12-01T20:40:00.003-07:00

Well it is that time of year again. Time to decorate the tree. This year we decided to get a real tree. And because we had enough room we wanted to get a big tree. We had heard that there was a self choose, self cut tree lot close by so we thought that we would go try there. It was fun looking at all the trees but they just were not what we were looking for. When we found on that we like from the front we went to the back and it was dead because it had grown so close to the other trees. We decided to go find a Christmas tree lot. We drove for a while and then ended up going to Home Depot. They had just what we wanted, a 9 ft tree that was perfect. Got it home and then decorated it for Family Home Evening.

Alexa and I are putting the ornaments on the tree.

Trevor just had to get this ornament at the top of the tree. He is getting to heavy but I was able to get him high enough.

Alexa was having so much fun. Brigitte got two huge balls and this is the one that Alexa got to put up.

It was time for the kids to go to bed but they insisted that this picture be taken.

The Christmas tree finally finished with tree skirt and all. It is one beautiful tree. Don't you all agree?

Kolby's Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

Kolby's cousins thought that it would be funny to put him in the girls shopping cart. He was having fun until I decided to take his picture. He started crying as soon as he saw me with the camera.

IT'S FINALLY DONE

2008-11-27T13:13:00.009-07:00

It is finally done. It only took three months of work almost every night till 11:30 but it got done in time for Thanksgiving. The carpet was put in on Monday and then the finish work was finished the night before Thanksgiving. W e are glad that it is done. Now life can get back to normal.

Halloween

2008-11-03T12:47:00.001-07:00

We went to the Trunk or Treat at the church and the kids just had tons of fun and got a lot of candy.

Trevor with his friend Andrew. They enjoyed the donuts and hot chocolate.
Maya, Trevor, and Alexa heading out to go trick or treating. They were gone for about two hours and came back with tons of candy. Yum Yum.

This picture was taken at their great grandmothers house for the yearly crazy dinner.

Every year the family gets together at grandmothers house for a crazy dinner. Every one has to eat out of weird dishes. As you can see from this picture I am eating out of a bundt cake pan with a weird type of spoon. As well as that there are bags on the seat with different things in it that you have to where while you eat.

Karate

2008-10-25T12:41:00.000-06:00

Trevor wanted to take karate so we got him into some classes at the local USA Karate and he is absolutely loving it. He took his test for his Yellow belt but we have yet to find out if he got it.

Month in Reveiw

2008-10-19T21:05:00.009-06:00

Instead of a Week in Review I will do a month in review because it has been so long. It has been so long because every night after dinner I go to the basement and work on it.
Kolby has been such a happy boy. He just eats, sleeps, and plays all the time. He is always smiling and seems that nothing makes him get angry. He is growing so fast and has started sitting up. We have tried him on rice cereal but he is not to happy to eat it.
Trevor lost the first of his two front teeth one Saturday while playing in the basement with on e of his friends. His friend hit him in the face with a pillow chair and the tooth came out. Then while up at my parents house for Conference weekend he was playing downstairs with his cousins and the other tooth came out. This makes a total of four teeth he has lost so far.
Sheet rocking has been my latest pastime. After dinner I would work on the basement getting sheet rock up for about three hours and then go to bed dead tired. This picture is me sheet rocking the girls closet. The whole basement was finished sheet rocking on the the last weekend in September and now the fun part of muding and taping has begun. The bathroom is finished and ready to start sanding.
I can not believe that Halloween is all ready here. This past week we went and got pumpkins and decorated the front steps. These spider webs were fun to put up but they have not lasted long. The wind has blown them and they are just blowing in the wind now. Each of us got two pumpkins, one large and one small. The kids had such fun picking pumpkins but had a hard time leaving the pumpkins on the porch but wanted to take them to bed with them.
The girls had outgrown all their church clothes. We had to go get them new dresses. This is the first time the girls have had clothes that do not match. We are just afraid that they are going to start fighting over who gets to wear which one. They were both so excited to wear these new dresses. Alexa was the first to chose and she first chose the black one and then changed her mind as soon as I had the dress on her so I had to switch them. They are so beautiful, don't you think.

Well that was the month in review in pictures and words. I will try to keep this blog more up to date but I am on a deadline to have the basement finished by Thanksgiving so there is no guarantee.

Meet me in the Stair well - Twin Towers

2008-09-11T20:10:00.002-06:00

PLEASE READ TO THE VERY END. IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

'MEET ME IN THE STAIRWELL'

You say you will never forget where you were
when you heard the news on September 11, 2001.
Neither will I.

I was on the 110th floor in a smoke filled room
with a man who called his wife to say 'Good-Bye.'
I held his fingers steady as he dialed.
I gave him the peace to say,
'Honey, I am not going to make it,
but it is OK. I am ready to go.'

I was with his wife when he called as she fed breakfast
to their children. I held her up as she tried to
understand his words and as she realized
he wasn't coming home that night.

I was in the stairwell of the 23rd floor
when a women cried out to Me for help.
'I have been knocking on the door
of your heart for 50 years!' I said.
'Of course I will show you the way home -
only believe in Me now.'

I was at the base of the building with the Priest
ministering to the injured and devastated souls.
I took him home to tend to his Flock in Heaven.
He heard My Voice and answered.

I was on all four planes,
in every seat, with every prayer.
I was with the crew as they were overtaken.
I was in the very hearts of the believers there,
comforting and assuring them that their faith had saved them.

I was in Texas, Virginia, California, Michigan, Afghanistan.
I was standing next to you when you heard the terrible news.
Did you sense Me?

I want you to know that I saw every face.
I knew every name - though not all knew Me.
Some met Me for the first time on the 86th floor.

Some sought Me with their last breath.
Some could hear Me calling them
through the smoke and flames;
'Come to Me.. this way... take my hand.'
Some chose, for the final time, to ignore Me.
But, I was there.

I did not place You in the Tower that day.
You may not know why, but I do.
However, if you were there in that explosive moment in time,
would you have reached for Me?

Sept.11, 2001 was not the end of the journey for you.
But someday your journey will end.
And I will be there for you as well.
Seek Me now while I may be found.
Then, at any moment, you may know you are
'ready to go.'

I will be in the stairwell of your final moments.

GOD.

During the next 60 seconds, stop what every you are doing,
and take this opportunity. ( Literally it is only 1 minute.)
All you have to do is the following:

Stop and think and appreciate God's power in your life,
for doing what you know is pleasing to Him.
If you are not ashamed to do this, follow the instructions.
Jesus said 'If you are ashamed of Me,
I will be ashamed of you before my Father.'

If you are not ashamed, send this message...
only if you believe 'Yes, I love you GOD.
He is the fountain of Life and My Savior.
He keeps me going day and night.
Without Him, I am no one.
But with Him, I can do everything.
CHRIST IS MY STRENGTH.'

THIS NEEDS TO GO AROUND THE USA MANY TIMES

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY AND TROOPS
SERVING TO PROTECT IT.

Week in Review

2008-09-01T17:46:00.006-06:00

These past few weeks have been crazy so i will skip a week.
MONDAY - It just seems to be harder to wake up on a Monday morning that usual. After work we had dinner and then had a family home evening. The girls are definately in the terrible twos.
TUESDAY - It was another day at work. After dinner we went to Day Farms to find out what they had there. We were to late for the U-Pick section so we went over to the main building. There they had a variety of fruits and vegetables. We ended up picking 4 lbs of strawberries, but they were the tiny ones. We thought that the kids would be so excited to pick but they were more interested in playing in the dirt and mud then picking. We also bought two 1/2 bushels of peaches for $18 a piece. What a deal.
WEDNESDAY - After work I went to Costco to get some things that we needed. I ended up buying like 16 lbs of strawberries for making my favorite jam. When I got home we had dinner and then put the kids to bed and started making strawberry jam. We were up until 12:30 canning but it was worth it.
THURSDAY - My last day of work this week until a 4 day weekend. Hurray. This evening we canned peaches. They were so good. We were up until 1:00 but it did not matter because I did not have work the next day.

FRIDAY - We took Trevor to school and then went and picked three boxes of tomatoes. The only problem was that they were not ripe enough so we will have to wait to process them. It was so much fun picking tomatoes and the girls were such great help. We would pick the tomatoes and hand them to the girls and they would take them and put them in the box. We found out today that George and Melissa would not be coming because she has Strep. It was a relief but disappointing at the same time. So I called my parents and convinced them that they have to come help with the basement.
SATURDAY - I worked on the basement for a good part of the day. We went to Lowes to pick out the bathtub and the vanity that will go in the bathroom. This is the last major hurdle to finishing the framing. I need to know the dimensions to frame for. I went a bought a little play pool for the kids and but it at the end of the slide on the swing set. They had so much fun. The day just seemed to go by so fast.

SUNDAY - Today was the last Sunday of our month for teaching our Primary Class, and boy am I glad. The kids were like so restless and they all wanted to talk at the same time. When we walked home from church the wind was blowing hard but we thought nothing of it. As soon as we got home Brigitte's mom called and said that there was a severe thunderstorm warning and that everyone outside needed to go inside. About on hour later the storm hit. The wind blew and it started to rain hard. I was a little worried because my parents were driving in the weather. It took them 3 and a 1/2 hours instead of 2 hours. While we waited for them we decided to process a box of tomatoes. We should have waited because not all of them were ripe, but oh well.

Week In Review

2008-08-25T17:26:00.001-06:00

Week of August 24, 2008
Monday - Thought that we were all over the sickness that had been bothering us but as the day went on I just got feeling worse. We were suppose to go to a birthday party but because I was not feeling well and the girls were grouchy and not happy we decided to stay home and get everyone to bed early.
Tuesday - It was one of those day that you wish that you did not get up. It was hard to get up to go to work. The kids were feeling better today.
Wednesday - We all felt a lot better today. After work I went down and started cleaning the basement so that I could continue framing. The girls are finally getting into the terrible two's. They are starting to get into everything and causing trouble, but at the same they are starting to play with each other more and are less dependent on us.
Thursday - This week is just going by so fast. I am looking forward for this week to be over. Work is getting more busy now that we are ramping up for another software release.
Friday - Finally it was Friday. I was excited to get to working on the basement. I got off work at 3:30 and came home to a messy basement. Everything that I had cleaned was scattered everywhere. Brigitte had went and got some organizing bins for all the toys so that they could be more organized. It took a while to get the basement cleaned up before I could begin and then I ran out of wood at about 8:00.
Saturday - We all slept in. That seems to make Saturday go by way to quickly. Our neighbor said that he had a bunch of 2 X 4's left over from when he was framing his basement, so I bought them from him which saved me a couple of trips to Lowes. I worked on the basement until the girls room to be was finished framing. It was a great feeling to be done and it makes the basement seem like something was accomplished.
Sunday - We went to church and then came home and immediately headed for the in-laws for a surprise birthday party. It was great we had tri- tip steaks and rolls and a lot of food. We got home really late and the kids are going to be tired tomorrow.

WHY...WHY...WHY

2008-08-19T21:07:00.003-06:00

"No problem is so bad that whining about it won't make it worse."

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead?

Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they know there is not enough money?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose idea was it to put an 'S' in th e word 'Lisp'?

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, 'It's all right?' Well, it isn't all right, so why don't we say, 'That hurt, you stupid idiot?'

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

And my FAVORITE......

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

WEEK IN REVIEW

2008-08-17T05:00:00.002-06:00

Week of August 11th-17th
MONDAY - We were glad that Monday was finally here. It meant that we survived Sunday speaking in church as well as teaching our primary class. Teaching was fun though. Totally different then teaching Elders Quorum. Today was a normal day with the kids playing all day. Trevor had fun at school.
TUESDAY - Tuesday was just like any other day. Trevor started not feeling well. Guess it was a cold that he picked up from school. We enjoyed the evening with the kids. The Jakins came over to use the internet and we let the kids play.
WEDNESDAY - At work today I decided that I was going to start framing the basement. I had been contemplating it but finally came to that conclusion. When I got home we were having BBQ ribs. As soon as dinner was over, Brigitte headed to West Jordan to go to her scrap booking night. She is contemplating on signing up and selling Close To My Heart.
THURSDAY - Thursday was Dave LaCascia's last day at work because he was retiring. It was sad to see him go because he made the day so much more entertaining. I had to get home right after work because we were feeding the Elders. Brigitte had made chicken tortilla soup, watermelon, asparagus, and for desert banana split cake. The Elders were a little weird. They ate so much. They had like three bowls of soup, six pieces of watermelon, and then two pieces of desert. But to top it off they asked if they could take the rest of the soup home with them. Brigitte was disappointed because she wanted the soup for lunch tomorrow. Also Brigitte and I as well as the girls and Kolby were not feeling well.
FRIDAY - Today was my day off and I had planned to start framing the basement but because I was not feeling well I got off to a slow start. Trevor had a short day at school and after the girls went down for their nap Trevor and I went to Lowes to pick up some 2 X 4's. We were in luck because they were on sale. Friday night we had a neighborhood BBQ. It was fun and great to get to know our neighbors a little more. We were there for about three hours and the kids were very tired.
SATURDAY - Got up at 8:00 and went out and weeded. I am really starting to get tired of Morning Glory. It seems like it grows everywhere. If anyone knows how to get rid of it let me know. We cleaned the house to get ready for another BBQ with our friends. I finally was able to start working on the basement. Because of our BBQ last night I learned that my next door neighbor had a compressor and a framing nail gun. Boy did that really make the work go faster. I was able to finish one wall and get started on the next. At 5:00 the BBQ was suppose to start but did not until 6:00. We had hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon, and chips. It was good. We then went over to the Jakins for desert. It was another late night for the kids.
SUNDAY - We were able to sleep in this morning and it was a great day to rest and relax and try to get feeling better.

Low Ceiling

2008-08-16T21:16:00.001-06:00

HELPING GIRLS

2008-08-14T21:44:00.003-06:00

Maya

Alexa

Alexa and Maya were helping when Brigitte finished the topping for the Banana Split Cake. She handed Alexa the beater and Maya another one. They enjoyed it so much and Brigitte got out the camera to catch these pictures.

WEEK IN REVIEW

2008-08-03T20:41:00.001-06:00

This week went by very fast. So to recap: On Tuesday Trevor went to the first day of school. He was so excited about it and he came home and started his homework. He was sad that he did not have more to do. Friday was our 8th Anniversary. I spent all day building the swing set so that the kids could have something to play on. That evening we went over to the Jakins just to hang out and enjoy the evening. Saturday we spent the day getting the home clean. On Sunday we woke up at 6:30 and got ready then put the kids in the car in their pajamas because we had to drive all the way to Saratogo Springs for a baby blessing at 9:00. We then had breakfast at Zak and Heathers and then drove home in time for the kids naps.

HAPPY 8TH ANNIVERSARY

2008-08-01T21:45:00.000-06:00

I can not believe that it has been 8 years ago that Brigitte and I got married. It seems like forever ago but at the same time it seems like no time has went by. I would like to do a recap on what has happened in 8 years from the day we got married.
The first year we were married we lived in three different places. We lived in Wagon Wheel apartments in Rexburg while attending Ricks College. Brigitte and I were both taking classes at Ricks and I was also driving to Idaho Falls to take classes at the ISU campus there. This apartment was small but it was great because we were in subsidized housing and were only paying $65 dollars a month for rent. One month our heating bill was more than our rent. Brigitte graduated in the spring. My parents sold their home the same day Brigitte graduated, and so they moved out and we moved in to take care of the house until the new owners took possession. We then moved to Pocatello to attend school there trying to get into the Pharmacy program.
The second year we were both working at Convergys while I was going to school. We both got rather busy with work as well as church callings. In October my dad surprised me for our hunting trip by renting two four wheelers. I was was excited. When we got to the camping site we were unloading the four wheelers when my wedding ring got caught on the rack and cut right into my finger. After rushing to the nearest hospital one hour away, it took three surgical ring saws to get my wedding ring of my finger so that they could stitch it up. Not a fun trip. I think that I was more worried about Brigitte being mad that they had to cut my ring off then she was about me getting hurt. In April while at Brigitte's parents we found out that we were going to have our first child. It was exciting to think that I would be a father. In May I found out that I was once again on the alternate list for Pharmacy school and decided that it was time to take a new career path. My choices were Boise State or University of Utah. I was accepted at both but choose University of Utah for two reasons. The first reason was that field that I wanted to go into was Electrical Engineering and Utah is well known for that degree, and the second was my father-in-law offered me a job working for him and I took it. We moved to Salt Lake City in May into an apartment that was half the size of the apartment that were had been living in for $150 more than we had been paying. I started work the day after we moved there was running a hardware inserter for two straight day before I was moved over to run the laser.
Year three found us in Salt Lake with me working for my father-in-law and then started school in August. It was hard working and going to school that was so far away, but my father-in-law was very generous and helped me out with tuition and scheduling. On December 14th Trevor was born at Jordan Valley hospital in South Jordan. It was difficult because we had been staying at the in-laws during the days leading up to the birth, which was about 20 minutes away. We went to the hospital one night and then next morning they sent us home and then finally the next night we went in and Trevor was born the next morning. We then stayed at the in-laws until after the New Year. The New year brought more school and work. Trevor continued to grow. In May we moved again to a bigger apartment, which we were so ready and excited for. It was so easy to move because I think that we did it all in like five regular truck loads.
The fourth year was more school and work. I was learning a lot in school and was working hard. We decided that it was time for a new bed as well as a new washer and dryer. The wonderful work of 12 months no interest, nothing down. We were able to pay off everything within six months. In September Brigitte got the bug to buy a new home. She finally convinced me to go look at home out in West Jordan. We drove out there and looked one day. Then in November we went back out because she wanted to go look again. There was a new construction sale for Richmond American Homes. We got the information and thought about it over night and decided that we should do it. The next day we went and signed the paper to build our first home. For Christmas we spent it at my parents home. We were the only one that were there that year and it was great because we got spend the time with Trevor opening his presents. I as pretty stupid coming home after Christmas because I just wanted to go see how the coming and drove home through the worst storm ever. I will never do that again. After the New Year it was back to school and work. At work I had been promoted to Production Manager. Business was going good and there were a lot of projects that I was in charge of as well as going to school. It was taking a lot longer for school because I dropped back to part time school, full time work. Once again in May we closed on our house and moved in on Memorial Weekend. It was so exciting being in our own home that I could do my own projects on. The first project was the sprinkler system and the yard. These were done within a month so that Trevor would have a place to play. My brother Jon then came down and helped us pour a concrete stamped patio. It was fun working out in the yard.
The fifth year we lived in West Jordan. We traded in Brigitte's Mazda MX3 for a Mitsubishi Montero Sport. This was due to the fact that the traffic in the winter was bad out there and the Mazda was giving out. I did not want to put any more money into that car than I had all ready had. We were making friends and having fun living in our home. For Christmas we received gift certificates to Lowe's for home improvement. We painted the entire main floor over the Christmas break. We painted it a faux marble like. It was very hard but at the same time it was satisfying when it was done and everyone thought that it was wall paper. They were just blown away when we told them that it was paint. We also put pergo flooring in the kitchen and dining area. In May we did not move to our surprise. This was the first time in our marriage that we had not moved within the year.
The sixth year found me getting closer to graduation. I was so excited to be so close. It had seemed like I had three years left of school for four years. During Thanksgiving at the in-laws Brigitte once again found out that she was pregnant. We kept it a secret until the night before her first doctors appointment and that is when we told her family. She told them that there was a one in ten chance that there might be twins because of the fertility drugs that she was taking. The next day I was at work and she called just crying. I asked what was wrong and she said that there was two of them. It took us both a while for the information to sink in until we were excited about it. I called my parents and asked them if they would like to spend a week with us in July to take care of Trevor and the new babies. They caught it right off that we were having twins. They were excited for us. We went to my parents of Christmas and I helped my dad but in their wood floor. It took all day but looked very good when it was all done. At this point at work I was now in charge of printing stickers and creating the designs for the machines that we were building. I was having fun but was also ready to get my degree and move on. On July 20th, Alexa and Maya were born. They were both healthy baby girls but had to remain in the hospital for one extra day because of weight issues. I am very grateful for my mother-in-law who took time everyday for three months to come help Brigitte with the twins. I do not know how we would have made it with out her help.
The seventh year found me starting my second to last year in school. I was so excited to be getting closer. The year just seemed to fly by. In November we traded in the Montero Sport for a Dodge Grand Caravan. It was getting a little tight with two car seats and a booster seat all in the back seat. Christmas was hectic because we took all our gifts down to the in-laws. I think that it took about four trips to get it all there. Having twins was difficult because you had to get two of everything. Trevor got his first bike and was excited to learn to ride it. The spring and summer just flew by and before we knew it we were through another year.
The eighth year brought many surprises and changes in our lives. I started my last year of school in August and started interviewing for new jobs during the first semester. This year was the year of senior projects and I was excited because I had been selected to be on the Micron Clinic. It was my dream to work at Micron. Shortly after starting school Brigitte called one morning while I was at school crying. I was worried that one of the girls got hurt or something. I was shocked when she told me that she was pregnant again. It was right in the middle of changing insurances at work and she did not want to tell anyone that she was pregnant but we could not lie on the application so that is how everyone found out that she was. I finished that semester and we stayed at home for the first time for Christmas. It was the first time our Christmas tree saw Christmas morning. It was quite a mess. I started school again in January and continued to interview for jobs. I finally got an interview with Micron. It went good and I had a second interview. I thought that it was well as well. I had told my father-in-law in February that as soon as I was done with school and found a new job I was gone. On April 9th, Kolby was born and what a blessing he has been. He was the best baby in the hospital and continues to be today. I continued to interview for jobs while waiting to hear back from Micron. It was a tough day when I was turned down by Micron and another job on the same day. It was the next day that I got an email from the school saying that a company in Layton was looking to hire new graduates, which they had never done before. I was still bummed out about not getting the Micron job so I was done looking for jobs for a while. The next morning I decided to send my resume to them and see what happens. Within and hour then had called to set up an appointment for an interview. I was excited. About this same time we were deciding whether or not to put out house on the market. I went to the interview and it went great. It was to work as a contractor for the Air Force on the EFV project. We decided to put our house on the market at this time. A week later they called me back and asked if I could come up to meet the people on base and let them get a feel at what I would like to do. It was a great meeting. As we were leaving Rich, the hiring guy, said that things looked good. He said that I had two choices: Systems Engineer or Test Engineer. I said that I would take either which ever team needed me more. I had to wait a whole week before they called me back. While waiting we sold the house. It was a very stressful time knowing that we sold the house and we were not even sure where I was going to work, but I had a feeling that everything would work out. One morning as I was on my way to work and asked if I could be there in two hours. I said I would be there and they offered me the job. I would start on June 1. We moved out of our house on Memorial Weekend and moved into the in-laws for a month. We had found a house in Clearfield. We moved into our new home on July 3 and celebrated the 4th in our new home.

New Swingset

2008-08-01T21:08:00.016-06:00

About a week ago this swing set was started. In just two days this was as far as Jeff got to building the swing set.

Trevor, Alexa, and Maya decided to enjoy a ice cream sandwich from Dairy Queen under the swing set. They are just so excited to have it finished.

Maya decided that she wanted to measure the board to make sure that I had the right one. We caught this picture without her even knowing about it.

I worked all day on Aug 1st to finish the swing set for the kids even though it was Brigitte and my 8th Anniversary. I was so tired after that I did not even feel like going to dinner so we had pizza from Little Caesars. We even turned down free babysitting from Dale and Janae. Thanks to Dale and Janae for volunteering.

Alexa just loves to play on the swing set. I think that they were more excited about the slide then the actual swings.

They have so much fun and it is great that they can just go out in the back yard and play without us having to be right there watching them. Here they decided to all go down the slide at the same time and when they got to the bottom they were laughing so hard.

Trevor's First day at school

2008-07-29T20:58:00.002-06:00

Trevor was very excited to go to school today. This picture seems like he is angry but in fact he wanted to make sure that everyone could see his new backpack. He loves his new backpack. He goes to school at 12:40 and gets out at 3:30. He had so much fun on the first day. He said he got a gold coin for being quiet in the library. He also said that his teacher got mad at him because he rang a bell when he was not suppose to. He is going to be a handful for every teacher that he has.

Week in Review

2008-07-27T16:04:00.002-06:00

This was was a crazy week. Everyone had fun though.
Monday - Monday was Jeff's 30th Birthday. It was just like another day for him. At work he put up on his calender that it was his birthday but no one even said Happy Birthday to him. The decorations for the girls birthday was still up so that is what he got for those decorations. The problem with getting old is that no one really gets you a gift but just sends money. It is all right but it just is not as personal as getting a gift. It was also Trevor's first day at his new school. It was more of a chance for Brigitte to go back to school. The children went off and played while the adults sat through the orientation.
Tuesday - Trevor went back to school to have his evaluation for Kindergarten. He passed with flying colors. His teacher was impressed with him. That evening Jeff has his summer party for work. Brigitte and he went to the SoBran Summer Bash at Speed Kart. The party was catered by Holy Smoke's BBQ and was good. Then we raced go carts for the rest of the evening and had so much fun. Everyone was very competitive but had tons of fun.
Wednesday - It was just a normal day with nothing of interest happening.
Thursday - It was July 24th and it felt weird because most people had the day off of work but Jeff had to go to work. Jeff usually has the day off but not this year. Trevor was so looking forward to going to a firework show but fell asleep and when we tried to wake him up he would not so it was a relief that we did not have to drive somewhere.
Friday - This Friday was Jeff's on Friday on work so it was boring around the house. The kids are so bored and want to do something. Jeff got home and found out that Dale and Janae were going to start moving in tonight. We all went over to their new home to help and were done in one hour. It was crazy.
Saturday - Jeff went over this morning to help Dale finish moving. He had been planning on spending most of the day helping them move in but they were done by 11:00. We took them some pizza for lunch and then came home to put the kids down for their nap. While they were down Jeff went to Toys R Us and bought a swing set for the kids. It was a good thing that he did because it was the last one that they had. Jeff spent the rest of the day putting it together. It is going to be a huge project.
Sunday - Sunday morning came fast because we stayed up late watching movies. We got a phone call to go in and meet with a member of the Bishopric. Brigitte and I were both called a Primary teachers. I think that is will be so much fun teaching 6 and 7 year olds. We were also asked to speak in Church on the 10th of August. It should be interesting.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY ALEXA AND MAYA

2008-07-20T22:55:00.012-06:00

Today was the girls 2nd birthday. I can not even believe that it has been two years. It just flew by but they have been an exciting two years. We had a birthday party for the girls and invited everyone to come. Those who came were grandpa and grandmother, great grandmother and great grandpa, and Abby.
While the girls were down for their nap, we decorated the dining area so that they would be surprised when they woke up.
Kolby was so excited for the party.
It took the girls a few presents to get into the opening mood.
They both got brooms and Alexa went right over to try it out.
I asked Alexa to smile so that I could take her picture and she sat right down.
That present was just about as big as the girls. It was took Trevor to help them get it unwrapped.
I final picture of everything that they got.
Brigitte got this idea from Betty Crocker. These sandles were so fun to make. Brigitte stressed out a little when she was trying to cut the shapes but then it was easy after that.
They were both so excited to have some cake. Brigitte had practiced blowing out the candles before hand. It helped with Alexa but not Maya.
After the girls went to bed we finally got the kitchen set up for them. They are going to have so much fun with it tomorrow.

July 24th Party on the 19th

2008-07-19T21:53:00.012-06:00

The kids enjoyed playing in the water on Saturday with their cousins. It was so hot that they just wanted to play in the water.

Every year the kids decorate their bikes or scooters or push bikes and the adults sit in the shade and watch as the kids have a parade in front of us. The kids have so much fun at first but today it was so hot that they just could not go that long.

It was a long day for Kolby. He got like a 30 minute nap during lunch and was up for most of the day so he was tired. This picture shows his wild hair. I guess it is time for a new haircut.

Week in Review

2008-07-06T22:31:00.004-06:00

This week was a busy week for all of us so I am just going to do it all as a family. We were so excited for this week. On Monday we signed our closing paper at Bonneville Superior Title in Layton. Before signing we did our final walk through of the home. We were so excited that it was finally going to happen. On Monday night Brigitte took her parents to the house and took what they could fit in the car. On Tuesday we packed everything that we could and got it all ready. On Wednesday after work I drove right to the UHaul place to pick up the truck. I got a 24' thinking that it was enough room. I drove right to the storage shed to load up everything. Dale and my parents were there to help me. We started loading it and I realized that we were going to be pushing to get everything from the storage in the shed. We got it all in the truck in two hours. It is sad to think that everything that we own fits in the back of a UHaul truck. I drove the truck to Brigitte's parents. I moved everything that I could out into the garage to determine how much more stuff we had. We decided that if we got the work truck that it would be sufficient. Thursday morning I was up at 6:30, but had been awake since 5:30. My dad and I drove to get the work truck and then loaded the rest of the stuff. We left for our new home at 9:00. It took about an hour to get to the house. My dad, Trevor, and I began unloading the truck. We were completely moved in our home with all the major furniture in about four hours. Brigitte and her sister Abby got the kitchen completely organized. It was a hard day but it was so satisfying. I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed instead of on the floor. That night Uncle George and his wife came over. He wanted to help us move in but he could not get off work until 4:00. My mom had went to the store to pick some things up and three hours later she finally made it back. That is when we realized that the fridge was not working. It was lucky that we still had our old fridge at the moment. On Friday Brigitte unloaded boxes while I went to Lowes to get some blinds for the boys room. I was just a long day of unpacking. That night we lite some fireworks at the end of our driveway and then watched the fireworks from the city. The kids were more fascinated with the little fireworks that we did then the big city fireworks. On Saturday my parents took off after lunch and we were left to ourselves. We did nothing the rest of the day except relax. I had called a repair man and he showed up about 6:00 and fixed the fridge. Sunday was our first time at our new ward. It was small because of the 4th but I think that we will really enjoy it here. Everyone was friendly and the girls both enjoyed Nursery.

Week in Review

2008-06-29T16:32:00.002-06:00

Week of June 23rd.
Jeff - This week was a quick week it seemed. Jeff was in training all week and it went really fast. He is getting tired of having to drive so far to get to work and is really looking forward to only a 10 minute drive to work. He is so excited to move this coming week.
Brigitte - This week was a lot better for Brigitte. She was able to go and get her haircut on Thusday morning which she was excited about. She bought a huge vase to go in the out cove above the stairs in the new house. I looks so nice. She also set up all the utilities for the house so that all we have to do is move in.
Trevor, Alexa, and Maya - They are so ready to be in our new house. It seems like their activities are getting more and more restricted. They have been playing outside in the swimming pool and on the slip and slide so much. But they never seem tired and hate to go to bed.
Kolby - Kolby seems like he is growing every day. He is laughing and smiling more than ever and enjoys playing with the girls. He will just lay on the floor and they will look at him and he just starts smiling.

On Monday we finally bought some new couches that will be delivered on the day we move in. Only 4 days left until we are in our new home.

Jeff's Tag

2008-06-29T15:57:00.005-06:00

20 Years ago I was.....
1. 9 years old, almost 10. Enjoying playing gold every day.
2. Was getting excited about my next birthday.
3. Had finished 4th grade.

10 Years ago I was....
1. in Clarksburg, WV
2. Going door to door sharing my beliefs in Christ.
3. Walking around in the most humid conditions in my life.

5 Years ago I was....
1. Working full time to support family.
2. Enjoy playing with Trevor after work.
3. Just getting settled into a new apartment.

3 Years ago I was.....
1. Living in our first house in West Jordan
2. Happy that I only had 3 years of school left.
3. Enjoyed playing outside with Trevor at the playground.
4. Trying to determine what project to do next in our house.

1 Year ago I was......
1. Excited that I made the Micron Clinic for my senior project.
2. Helping Maya and Alexa learn to take their first steps.
3. Excited that I had only two semesters of school left.

So far this year....
1. I've graduated from the University of Utah with Electrical Engineering Degree.
2. Sold a house
3. Bought a house
4. Moved in with my in-laws until the house is ready for us

Yesterday I...
1. Fixed Brigitte's favorite breakfast - strawberry crepes.
2. Went to Tia Pan to look for new decor for our home.
3. Went shopping for a surround sound system.
4. Played online- okay, fine! I love to do that.

Today I...
1. Over slept until 8:45.
2. Fed the children breakfast.
3. Checked email and updated blog.

Tomorrow I......
Will be driving an hour to work, closing on our new home, hopefully get keys to our new home so that we can start moving stuff down there. Am looking forward to moving into our new home.

WEEK IN REVIEW

2008-06-22T21:57:00.003-06:00

Week of June 15th.
Jeff - This week at work I was able to get to know more about the processes that take place. It was still boring at times because we are waiting for more work which is coming shortly. I really am enjoying my job and am grateful for the opportunity to learn so much. This week on Wednesday I came down with the flu but was fortunate not to have to miss any work, but it was difficult.
Brigitte - On Monday Brigitte was the first to catch the flu and it really hit her hard. She was down all day which was hard on the children. Tuesday and Wednesday were a little better and then on Friday she had it hard again.
Trevor, Alexa, and Maya - This was a hard week for them. It was also very fun because they spent a lot of time playing outside in the water. Their grandmother has a slip and slide as well as a blowup swimming pool that they played in.
Kolby - Kolby did not get the flu from any of us so that was great. He has been sleeping through the night now for two weeks. He is more alert and smiles and laughs a lot when you look at him. He is growing up so fast.

CONVERSATION STARTER

2008-06-18T22:33:00.000-06:00

A stranger was seated next to a little girl on the airplane when the stranger turned to her and said, 'Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.'
The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to the stranger, 'What would you like to talk about?'
'Oh, I don't know,' said the stranger. 'How about nuclear power?' and he smiles.
'OK, ' she said. 'That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff -- grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?'
The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, 'Hmmm, I have no idea.'
To which the little girl replies, 'Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don't know shit?'

Kolby's first haircut.

2008-06-14T23:10:00.007-06:00

Kolby's hair was so wild that we decided to give him his first haircut. For his first haircut he did not even cry which was really weird. I thought that he would cry the whole time like Trevor did. Before During
After. He was so tired after the haircut that before Brigitte could give him a bath he zonked out on the counter.

Week in Review

2008-06-08T19:54:00.002-06:00

Jeff - This was Jeff's first full week of work at his new job. He had orientation on Monday and the then on Tuesday started a full day on the base. To tell you the truth it was pretty boring. Because he did not have a computer yet, he was stuck reading documentation about the project he is working on. He has went this whole week without a computer and hopes that he will get one tomorrow. On Tuesday morning he went to go to work and his car was not running correctly so he took that van to work the whole week.
Brigitte - Brigitte's week was also kind of boring. Both the girls still have colds and they always want to be held. She is getting excited about moving into our new house. She loves looking at all the websites about furniture and swing sets. On Friday we went and looked at couches and she found the couch that she liked at RC Willey.
Trevor, Alexa, and Maya - The kids all had fun this week. They got to spend a lot of time outside and enjoyed the swing set and the tramp. Maya can now climb up the ladder to get to the slide all by her self. They are all very bored at times and are a handful.
Kolby - Kolby got the girls cold and he sounded like he had a sore throat. In some ways it was great because his cry was not very loud but it was so sad that he could not cry. On Thursday night he finally slept through the whole night for the first time. But he made up for it on Saturday night when he kept Jeff up for 4 hours during the night.

WEEK IN REVEIW

2008-06-01T17:39:00.003-06:00

Thanks to Dale and Janae who got the idea from the Anderson's, this seemed like a great idea and we are going to copy it.
Jeff - This was Jeff's last week at DSM Sales and Manufacturing. He was very busy training other to accomplish what he was doing. It was harder that he thought on his last day but he was very excited to start his new job on Monday.
Brigitte - Brigitte had a busy week keeping the children occupied and out of trouble at Grandmothers house.
Trevor - Trevor had a normal week and loves playing out on the tramp with the girls. He loves to ride his scooter around on the driveway and to watch movies in the morning and play the Wii. On Friday trevor started getting a cold from the girls and had a hard time today.
Alexa and Maya - Alexa and Maya had a hard week. On Monday Jeff finally changed the door knob on the girls bedroom door so that they could not open it. This created a problem at first but it helped them sleep better. Then on Wednesday Maya started to get a cold and by Friday both the girls had the cold and were very clingy.
Kolby - Kolby finally moved out of his parents bedroom and moved in with Trevor. Trevor was very excited. He is still waking up once a night about 4:00 a.m. He is growing everyday and has started smiling and ohhing and awhing.

KOLBY'S BLESSING DAY

2008-06-01T17:21:00.002-06:00

Today was Kolby's blessing day. We could not decide if we wanted to wait until we moved into our new home to bless Kolby or just do it now. If we would have waited, the blessing would have been in August making Kolby about 5 months old and we did not want to wait that long. We decided to bless him today knowing that most of Jeff's family could not make it. It was a beautiful day for the blessing.

OUR NEW HOME

2008-05-23T22:19:00.011-06:00

This last couple of weeks have been hard. Last weekend we moved out of our home and moved in with Brigitte's parents. We had put an offer on a home in Clearfield where I will start working on June 2nd at the Hill Air Force Base. We never took pictures of the home when we first walked through it and finally got back to take pictures of the home. These pictures are from our to be new home in Clearfield. If everything goes as scheduled then we will be moved in the first weekend in July. But there is a chance that it could be sooner. We are hoping sooner than later.

Trevor's Pre-Kindergartner Graduation

2008-05-22T22:08:00.001-06:00

Trevor had his preschool graduation tonight and was so excited to be able to start kindergarten. In fact he is so excited that we are going to drive to his new school tomorrow so he can see where he is going to go to school. He has loved preschool so much and learned so much from his teacher. We were so surprised to learn that he could say the alphabet backwards.

2008-05-09T12:01:00.006-06:00

The Coping Diet

This is a specially formulated diet designed to help women cope with the stress that builds during the day.

Breakfast
- 1 grapefruit
- 1 slice of whole wheat toast
- 1 cup skim milk

Lunch
- 1 small portion lean, steamed chicken
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup herbal tea
- 1 Hershey's kiss

Afternoon Snack
- The rest of the Hershey kisses in the bag
- 1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream with chocolate chips

Dinner
- 2 loaves garlic bread
- 1 family size supreme pizza
- 3 Snickers Bars (fun size)

Late Night Snack
- 1 whole Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)

REMEMBER: 'Stressed' spelled backward is 'desserts.'

Creation and Evolution

2008-05-07T12:18:00.003-06:00

This story might provide the answer to the difference of opinion between creationists and evolutionists.
A little girl asked her mother how mankind was created.
The mother answered, 'God made Adam and Eve and they had children and then all mankind was made.'
Two days later the girl asked her father the same question.
The father answered, 'Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved.'
The confused girl returned to her mother and said, 'Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God , and Dad said they developed from monkeys?'
The mother answered, 'Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his.'
This story might provide the answer to the difference of opinion between creationists and evolutionists.

GRADUATION AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-03T11:46:00.003-06:00

After 9 years of patience and many long nights of homework and studying, Jeff graduated from the University of Utah on May 2, 2008 with his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering.

SOCCER AT LAST

2008-04-26T20:12:00.002-06:00

Trevor was so exctied to start playing soccer again. He and Addy Jakins are on the same team again and they had so much fun at their first game. Once again they are blue and it was windy as always.

Kolby Comes Home

2008-04-19T20:25:00.003-06:00

We were able to bring Kolby home from the hospital on Saturday April 12th. This is the traditional picture of the baby with his new teddy bear. This is also the first time that Kolby was put into real clothes. Doesn't he look cute. Since Kolby has been home he has had his first bath. Kolby has been a grat baby. He still only wakes up once a night to eat an then is a great alarm clock at 6:30.

BABY # 4

2008-04-09T20:27:00.001-06:00

Kolby Adam Gorton arrived in this world on April 9, 2008 at 12:47 PM. He weighed 6 pounds 6.9 ounzes and was 19 inches tall. We are so glad to have him finally here and are grateful for a healthy baby boy.

Disney Land Vacation

2008-04-08T23:28:00.000-06:00

We had fun at Disneyland with the kids. Here they were the last ones in line to see Mickey and Minnie.