Stupid Roofers

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
As I got ready for work this morning, I noticed a couple of guys getting out of a truck. They walked around to the back of the house with a ladder, then a few minutes later walked back out front and put their ladder back on the truck and left. About 5 minutes later, Chris (one of the construction guys) asked if the roofers had shown up. When I told him what happened he just shook his head. They never did show back up and apparently they were supposed to do the roof today. I'm not sure what the deal was, or why they left, but the contractors said they were going to get someone else to come out. Pretty weird.

Spent my lunch break out in the woods with a spray can marking the trees I want to come down. My contractor had given me a quote to finish clearing the lot that was higher than I expected and Shena and I decided we would have to keep working on it ourselves. Long story short, they thought they could get a professional tree guy to come out and do it for much cheaper. He came out at lunch and we talked a bit about it.

After work, I had Elder's Quorum meeting. It was just Joe Hamilton and I, so we talked for a few minutes and then went to visit Brad and Danny Crockett. We talked for about an hour and a half, then I came home. That was my day. Pretty boring, eh?

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena was feeling really bad today. There was a lot of pollen in the air and then she was also feeling nauseas and dizzy. She was miserable all day.

Arellano Update
None to report.

Christensen Update
None to report.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:00 - 6:30 - I was hoping to get to sleep by 10:00, but it just didn't happen. I did wake up feeling pretty good, though. I don't recall waking up at all through the night, and that seems to make such a difference in how tired I feel.

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of honey nut cheerios

Lunch: Taco Bell - bean burrito - no onios, steak gordita supreme - no tomato, Mt. Dew

Dinner: Hot Pockets brand "Chicken Pot Pie" pockets. Not real good. I didn't eat before my meeting tonight, so I wanted something quick before I went to bed. I wouldn't recommend them.

"Lost" is Back

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
The construction crew got two windows and our back door up today (pictures tomorrow). We are still waiting for another week for the last window (which had to be ordered). After all this major progress the last week or so, it is going to be a long couple of weeks waiting for everything to get finished. We are ready to start using that room!

I left work about 1/2 hour early to try to take advantage of the sunny weather and cut up some more trees. Since Vachon made the mess on Sunday, the yard looks bad (not that it looks good with a bunch of stumps and mud, but still better than trees all over the ground. I recruited dad to come over and help me out. The work sure goes faster with 2 than with just me. We were able to clear about 2/3 of what Vachon had cut down. We also made some plans for what I would cut down next. I think I can cut down more than I expected to be able to cut down before. Another couple weeks and I hope to have all the trees down that I wanted down.

We cut until it got dark, then I showered and Shena and I watched a new episode of "Lost" (it had been several weeks since they showed a new one). It was good, of course. Kept us hanging on, as usual. The frustrating thing is ABC has been running the show over by 5 minutes (only Lost as far as I know), so when we reocrded it, we missed the last 5 minutes. I will have to try to figure out what we missed out on. It was showing a "back story" on one of the characters when it stopped recording, and it looked to me like he was about to drive his car into a tree or off a cliff (trying to commit suicide). Love that show, though.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena came into the office to work today. Yesterday at the park, Cade invited himself over to Dede's to play, so Shena took him over this morning. Dede said he was a good kid and he and Hank had a great time playing. Kelson stayed with mom. Shena said when she picked the boys up they were excited to see each other. Like they missed each other. Mom said that Kelson looked for Cade the first 1/2 hour he was there at the house. They have been fighting a bit more regularly than they used to, but maybe that means they like each other more in some weird way.

Kelson fell asleep at about 6:45. I guess he only took a 10 minute nap today. I wish it was just a nap thing that was causing all these tantrums he's been throwing, but I don't think it is. I'm sure it is a terrible twos thing and he is testing our limits so that he knows what he can get away with. It'll be a long couple of months as we sort it all out.

Arellano Update
No more than what I've already written.

Christensen Update
None to report, that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 9:00 - 9:30, 2:00 - 7:15 - note to self...don't take power naps at 9:00 at night

TODAY:
Breakfast: none

Lunch: Tuna on wheat with cheese, ruffles plain, water

Dinner: McDonald's - Quarter pounder with cheese, no onions, fries, orange drink - milk and 3 chocolate cookies before bed

Terrible Twos

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
I'm trying to write this blog a day and 1/2 after the fact, and I'm coming to the realization that this blog has actually made my memory WORSE. Seems like now after I write about an event, I purge it from my brain...and even if I haven't written yet, my brain now only retains 24 hours worth of events at a time. I've been sitting here trying to remember things that went on, and I can't really. I can remember some things I did, but not really conversations or anything like that. Very frustrating.

I do know that the construction guys did a lot of cleaning today. They are just about finished with their part until they finish up. We will be seeing sub-contractors for the next couple of weeks. The roofers should be here any day, the electrical sub will be here on Saturday, and the HVAC guy will be here one of these days shortly. After that, they said, they would have to wait on inspections before they can continue, and that might take a week or more. Since it has been raining so much, they suspect that the inspectors are backed up.

Found this article on sleep today. I always complain about not feeling like I get enough sleep, I guess I'm not the only one.

Had a short FHE tonight. Mom gave a quick lesson on "Spring Time," then we walked up and down the street to look at flowers and let Cade and Kelson ride their bikes. Cade was a good boy, when we said it was time to go he said "Ok. Let me park my bike." Kelson pitched a fit most of the time. I love the terrible twos.

I was going to work in the yard tonight, but since the electrical guy is coming on Saturday, Shena and I had to go and pick out lights at Lowe's. That was a horrible experience. Again, Kelson was pitching fits left and right. We finally got out of there with what we needed (4 can lights for the room, 1 for the bay window and a fan and light fixture kit to go in the middle of the room.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena and the boys went to the park with Dede and Hank, Andrea Larson and Jason and Ashley Ward and Josh. They had a picnic and played on the playground. She said it was muddy and the boys got really dirty, but they had a good time.

Arellano Update
Like I said, had FHE with mom and dad tonight. Dad's feeling sick.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 10:45 - 6:15 - so much for getting more sleep last night. I went to bed about 10:15...all excited thinking I was going to get a good night's rest, then spent the next 1/2 hour fighting with Cade. He had some kind of nightmare or something and was up and down out of bed. I was so blasted sleepy that I was having a hard time showing any empathy to him. I'm a bad parent. All I could think about was getting some sleep. Anyway, I still couldn't get him to go to sleep so I had to recruit Shena to try to calm him down and get him to go back to sleep. She went in and talked to him for 5 minutes, and he was fine. And then this morning Kelson showed up at 6:00, which didn't let me sleep in to my normal time. So, to summarize I got to sleep about 45 minutes earlier than I normally do, woke up 45 minutes earlier than I normally do. So much for "catching up."

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats

Lunch: Wendy's - big bacon classic with cheese, no tom, no onion, fries, coke

Dinner: Pasta with spaghetti sauce, covered in cheese, texas garlic cheese toast, water. Later had a few oreos cookies.

Spring Weather

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Hard to put my finger on what it was, but it was a stressful day today. I guess just a combination of it being a Monday and the cruddy weather we've had for the last couple of days. Which leaves me with not much to report at all.

The weather was so crazy today ^(sunny, then 10 minutes later cloudy and raining, then sunny again) that the crew didn't even attempt to put the roof on. I'm sure it would have been a waste of their day had they tried. We are supposed to have at least 3 days of nice weather starting tomorrow, so I'm sure they will get plenty done then.

After work we went by mom's house for dinner. One of the advantages of living close to mom is the homemade Mexican food she makes. My siblings may not like me for what I am about to say, but I have to report my day in my blog, right? Dad brought back a corn tortilla press from Mexico for mom. I think one of my aunt's actually sent it with him, it's not like he bought it dropping hints to mom or anything. She bought some corn tortilla mix and made some homemade corn tortillas for us last night. Very, very good. The last time I remember mom making homemade corn tortillas was when we still lived in Idaho...over 17 years ago. Sorry guys, but you missed out. I'll eat one in your honor next time.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Rough day with the kids today. They both woke up grouchy and bratty. I felt like I spent all day disciplining them...especially Kelson. He wouldn't listen to us at all. I know he spent at least 16 minutes on the mat (he has to stay there for 2 minutes every time he gets sent to the mat). I hope tomorrow is a better day because I really hate coming home from lunch and work at the end of the day and the first thing I have to do is start punishing the boys. They are usually happy to see me when I get home, but if this keeps up they will not want me to come home anymore (and I may not want to come home either).

Maybe part of the reason they were such little poops today is they were so tired. We put Kelson down at 7:30, and haven't heard from him again. Cade fell asleep by 8:00 on the couch, so I know he was tired, too. Because they went to bed so early, I'm going to bed early. I can't wait.

Shena is still sick. She's hacking and sniffing all over the place. Good news is it isn't allergies, bad news is she is still sick. Kelson's cough sounds much better, but he still isn't 100%. One of these days we will all be healthy and quit passing this stuff around.

Arellano Update
I kind of share already...mom made homemade corn tortillas...did I mention they were good?

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:15 - 7:10 - it is harder to wake up on time when it is still dark outside...part of the reason I don't like winter time as much as summer. When you get up early in the summer it is light outside and you feel like you are starting the day when the day starts...during the winter, it is still dark outside if you get up early and so you feel like you should still be in bed. Today it was more about the clouds than anything else, but I got off on the tangent and couldn't come back...

TODAY:
Breakfast: None

Lunch: 2 slices of Domino's pizza left over from Saturday, coke.

Dinner: Homemade corn tortillas, beans, cheese, coke. Had some german chocolate cake from mom's birthday and some milk.

Cutting Down Trees...on Sunday!

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Church was ok. I missed most of sacrament meeting trying to get Kelson to go to sleep. He was a grouchy butt during the sacrament itself, so I took him out. Then cade was a poop with 5 minutes left in the meeting and Shena had to drag him out where Kelson and I were. Sounds like he pitched a fit and started screaming in the middle of the meeting. Nice, huh? How in the world do we keep that from happening? Anybody? It's not like we don't punish...and we've tried changing the punishment. He just seems to flip out and lose it sometimes. I dunno, very frustrating.

After dinner at mom's (See Daily Report), we came home to give Kelson his LONG overdue nap, and then Shena and I layed down to try to take one too (in front of the UNC game). After laying there for a few minutes, I heard the neighbors dogs barking (which they usually only do when someone is in our backyard (nice, huh? like our own guard dogs without the mess or food expense...except they bark at us too, which is annoying). I didn't think much of it, but after a few minutes I heard what sounded like a chain saw going. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but I thought it might be our backyard. I looked out my blinds and there was Vachon, cutting down some trees. He had to come by today to pick up a ditch digger that attaches to his Bobcat, and he said since he was here and before he took his Bobcat away he wanted to clear a few more trees that I wouldn't be able to get. I think he just wanted to drive it one more time before he sold it (which is why he came by to get the ditch digger...he has a guy looking at it tomorrow). He cut down about 2 decent size trees and 2 BIG trees. One fell towards the house, and was the next one I was going to cut down next (which makes me jealous that he got to cut it down before I could). The other was the tree closest to our house and that had the biggest lean towards our house. It has made me nervous for a long time, and I wanted them to take it down for me since they had the equipment to do it. Vachon pushed a bunch of the trees he had cut down around and made himself a path, then propped a 20' ladder up to the tree...he used that to get to some branches, then climbed up about another 20' in the branches and tied a rope around the tree. Dude is crazy. He ran up the ladder like it was nothing, then climbed the tree like he was a monkey. He had told me several weeks ago that he grew up cutting down trees, but I didn't know he was so comfortable around them. Anyway, I was comfortable enough with him doing it that I didn't feel the need to go in and tell Shena and the boys to leave the house like I did when I was the one cutting down the tree last week. Vachon had a guy who was with him pull the Bobcat back until the line was tight, then he pulled more until the tree was just about straight up. He cut a notch out of the tree and had the guy pull even more. The tree started to give a little, but I think he didn't want the rope to break, so he reved (sp?) up his chain saw and just started to cut from the back side of the tree. He probably didn't get any more than an inch into the tree when it broke and came down. I felt the ground shake (not major...but a definite vibration) when it hit the ground. That tree was bigger than I expected...and the branches are MUCH bigger than the one that I cut. I was glad to have it down. Most of the other trees in the yard now will either fall into our yard or into the neighbors yard and I don't really have to worry about one hitting the house (knock on wood). He chopped it up a little and pushed it around some until it was out of the way so that he could get to his ditch digger and was on his way. I have a big mess to clean up, now. I'll have to use some guilt to get dad out here to help this week. It may take about every night this week and then part of Saturday to get those trees he cut down today cut up and moved.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Because Kelson has been sick, we've been trying to give him juice and avoid the milk so that he doesn't get congested. It kind of backfired on us today. He was running through diapers left and right. At one point, Shena was changing his diaper and Cade had out his "The Incredibles" flashlight and was supervising while Shena changed a diaper. Cade kept shining it on Kelson's butt, telling her where it was dirty and needed to be wiped. Funny kid.

After his screaming fit in church, I had a long talk with him. I made him sit for about 10 minutes with his arms folded, not talking. Then when sacrament meeting got out, I made him walk to primary with his arms folded and made him sit in his chair and wait for the other kids with his arms folded. After church, Dede told me that she had asked him why he was so quiet today and he said "Daddy's mad at me. I was a bad boy and irrevernt in church today. I don't want daddy to be mad anymore." She said he was an angel during primary. Why can't they just be like that all the time? At least he recognized that I was upset with him and why. I guess it is a step in the right direction.

Arellano Update
Dad had a hard time eating lunch today. Mexico and the USA were playing in soccer to qualify for the World Cup. They were playing in Mexico and so they were expected to win. There is some bad blood between the two teams, and so it was pretty heated. The game started just as we were sitting down to dinner, and for some reason he sat with his back to the TV. I'm surprised he didn't get whiplash as often and as quickly he would snap his head around when he thought he heard something happening on the tv. I tried to trick him a couple of times (I was facing the TV) to try to get him to turn around, but he never did fall for it. He just gave me an evil eye. Mexico wound up winning 2-1, so he was happy the rest of the day. When I saw him this evening, I told him "Congratulations." He just grinned.

Mom talked to Lettie for a few minutes tonight when I was over there (I stopped by to pick up some leftover ham for my dinner tonight). I sure wish she would call us sometime. She never does. I guess she is just too busy to call her nephews. (Guilt trip for Lettie's benefit)

Christensen Update
Grandma and Grandpa C sent a package for the boys for Easter. They sent a couple of BYU basketballs for them to shoot hoops on. They are already fighting over who gets which ball. They both want the bigger one, of course. They liked them, though.

Shena talked to her mom for a while, but we started watching our shows (America's Funniest Home Videos and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition) and then she went straight to bed, so we didn't talk much about the news from Idaho.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 10:30 - 7:10 - I actually was able to go to sleep, but I didn't sleep well through the night. For some reason Shena was coughing all night. I hope she isn't getting sick. We just can't seem to kick stuff around here this year.

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted flakes

Lunch: I hate to do this to my siblings...but I have to tell you what I had for Easter dinner: ham, baked potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs (why on Easter, anyway? seems sac-religious to me), rolls, apple butter, coke. Lunch was excellent. I was starving by the time we ate, so it was all really good. Scrumptious.

Dinner: Leftover ham sandwich on toasted wheat with two slices of cheese and mustard, apple sauce, orange juice - had a piece of german chocolate cake and milk just before starting my blog.

Painting Easter Eggs

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
I got up this morning thinking that I had some time before I had to get some of the back yard cleaned up. The weather report yesterday said it was going to be rainy this morning, but be cloudy but no rains in the afternoon. When I checked the weather first thing, they had completely switched the report (of course). It was supposed to be cloudy but not raining in the morning. I got outside about 9:00 and started cutting. I know you were all so excited to find out how my new shoes and gloves did. They did great. I was able to cut the wood so much more cleanly, my footing was strong, my grip was true...it was just a beautiful thing to watch with my new gear. Anyway, Shena called Brad Crockett, who is in our ward, to come and help me move some of the trees. I didn't want her to, because I don't want to feel like a charity case and I don't want people to feel like I am calling all the time asking for help. I am also trying to hold off on calling anybody until I have A LOT of trees down and I need to get them cut up fairly quickly. This tree project will take me several weeks, so it isn't like this was the only week I would be cutting down trees. Brad made the mistake of telling Shena that he liked to work outside and wouldn't mind cutting down tress at all. It was nice of him to come by, though, and he did help me out a great deal. He's a big guy and could take a load in trip that would probably take 3. He probably saved me about 4 to 6 hours worth of work by myself. He had to leave right around noon, and I wound up working for another 2.5 hours or so. I had cut down two more decent size trees and then a whole bunch of saplings, so I had to get those cleaned up. I essentially worked until I ran out of bar and chain oil. It would have taken me about 15 minutes to get another bottle of oil, but that was my excuse to quit. I was getting tired and Shena wanted me to help her with the boys for a bit.

Before we even started working outside, us boys got haircuts. It had been 3 weeks, and I was looking especially nappy. I think I've mentioned this before, but I will say it again anyway (I have a word minimum I have to meet in this blog, you know) I like the way a new haircut looks, I just hate getting it cut and getting the hair all over me. I wish those "Flowbee" thingies really worked. I would love to have my haircut and not have any hair all over my neck.

At about 5:00, mom and dad and the Crocketts came over for pizza and to decorate easter eggs. Cody (their little boy) was asleep when they got here, so they laid him on our bed to nap. We were going to wait until he woke up to start decorating easter eggs. I can't believe he slept through all the noise that was going on in the house. Cade and Kelson were absolutely balistic...a million miles an hour running around and jumping on grandpa. Very noisey. Then the rest of us were trying to carry on conversations over them, plus the basketball games were on in the background. It was a mad house. We had fun, otherwise. When it came time to decorate eggs, we had one had 2 adults for each kid, and it still wasn't enough to keep any order or to keep the accidents down. Kelson and Cody would grab for the cups of egg dye every chance the had. Cade was tossing eggs in the cups like it was a basketball hoop. I was trying to take pictures while Shena tried to keep track of whose eggs were whose. W ild. That is all I can say about tonight. Absolutely wild.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Cade has been doing a lot of drawing recently. He likes to draw faces (Grandpa A taught him how), and he has started putting hair on the heads now. Anyway, he had been walking around with paper and a pen in his hand for several hours when Shena asked him if he was going to be an artist when he grew up, he saidn "No, mom, I'm going to be Cade."

Arellano Update
None to report, that I know of.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of. I'm going to start harassing Shena gain about adding to this section. I didn't want to bug her after the mis-carriage thing, but I think it is time she start contributing! :)

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:15 - ^7:00, 7:10 - 7:30 - I'm starting to feel guilty for trying to sleep in on Saturday's. I know I could use the sleep, but so could Shena, and one of us has to get up with the boys, so I try to get up at the same time.

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats

Lunch: None - too busy cutting, I was afraid if I sat down to eat, I wouldn't get back outside. I did have 2 cookies and milk at about 2:30, when I got in.

Dinner: Domino's - three or four slices (I lost track) of ham and pineapple pizza, coke - later we had some ice cream (I had rocky road)

We Have...Trusses, and A Moonroof

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Since it was Good Friday, the office closed at 1:00. I have known for several days that everybody else was getting off at 1:00, but I dind't tell Shena because I thought that I would probably work later than that. Just too much to do. Sure enough, I wound up working until 3:00, which is no big deal. I had planned on working all day, anyway. It wasn't a scheduled day off, just one that "Navigon" took as opposed to Nationwide as a company. Anyway, when I got home, I told Shena what had happened and she got mad at me for not telling her. She said "We could have planned something." That was the point. I knew that if I DID tell her, she would plan something that would get spoiled because I had to work later. I'm glad I didn't tell her, that would have mad her even madder when I called and told her I would be later.

When I got home, the crew was finishing the trusses. I'm impressed they were able to get them up there. It was just the three of them and they didn't have a crane or anything. They had to pass them up one at a time. I'm sure I would have had a hard time with it. They even worked until about 6:30 trying to get the sheets down so that the rain that is supposed to be coming this weekend would not get inside. Unfortunately, they ran out of material, so they put on what they could, and the put plastic up over the shingles that they cut to try to keep it from leaking. I'll have to keep an eye on it and make sure we don't get any leaks into the attic. Because they ran out of material, we now have a room that is open to the sky for the weekend. It might be kind of cool to have a room like that...in the desert, but NC is no desert, and I'm afraid it is going to rain in there. We'll see.

Shena and I also spent part of the afternoon talking about a fence and how much fence we want, what kind, etc. The more I think about it, though, the more I think it may be something we wind up doing either in the fall or next year. It would be much easier to clear the back yard of more trees without the fence, and the boys won't be able to play out there much this year, anyway. It will take a good part of the summer for the grass to grow in. So we don't NEED the fence right away. I would rather put that money towards a little shed/house for the lawn mower and other garden supplies that are currently either under the house or in our water heater closet (not real safe, but that is the only place we have to put the things that shouldn't be in the elements). I'm sure she and I will debate that for a while. We had a little disagreement after talking about the fence about where she had the guys put the window on the North wall. I was planning on it being 3 feet from the corner, she told them to put it 2 feet. No big deal, no screaming or yelling, but we didn't agree where it should be. Shena said the crew told her that they have seen couples split up during house construction because they can't agree on how things should be done. He said we are pretty mellow and laid back compared to most of their customers. I guess that is a complimnet.

After we went out to eat with Mom and Dad (see Arellano Update), Shena and I made a quick run to Wal-Mart, while the boys played and Grandpa's house. I wanted to get some "work boots" so that I can work out in the yard tomorrow. I had been wearing tennis shoes, but I slide around in them too much in the mud, and I figured I had a better chance of not losing a couple toes in steel toes boots if I lose control of the chain saw. I was actually going to go to Sears to get the boots, but she said her dad got his at Wal-Mart, and I liked his ok, so we went and got them there. I also got me another pair of work gloves. The pair I was using were kind of bulky and I couldn't wear them when I was cutting, so I got a pair that fit my fingers better.

Tried to stay up to watch the UNC game, but just couldn't...too sleepy. Plus I was bummed about State and Duke losing. I didn't fell like watching UNC lose too.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena made a cake for mom today for her birthday. She was even nice enough to make the kind mom likes (german chocolate) even though Shena hates german chocolate. I don't know if I would have done the same thing. I would have been tempted to make what I like so that I could have some too.

Kelson got in trouble at some point today and got sent to "the mat" which is across from the washer and dryer, in a little nook where there is nothing to do but sit and think about what you've done wrong (I obviously have been sent there many times). At the time he got in trouble, he was watching a movie on tv. Next thing you know, he walked out of the nook with the mat in his hand, set it on the floor in front of the tv and sat on it! When Shena asked him what he was doing he just said "Mat. Look, mat." Hard to stay mad at them when they are so dang cute.

Arellano Update
Mom wanted to go to Ham's for her birthday dinner, and we got to tag along. We went about 5:15, so it was pretty quiet in there, which is nice. It can get packed and loud later in the evening. We ate, then headed to mom's house for cake and presents. She had already opened everything else from everybody else, so she just had the presents that "we" got for her. Of course Shena was in charge of that, and she made her some little tile thingies that go in some thingies that you put hot plates on. Whatever. That made no sense, but I don't know what they are called. My wife is amazing with that kind of stuff. I probably would have got her some lame picture book about Washington D.C. or something...! (FYI, that was an inside slam on Adam & Melissa, because that is what they got her. It really was cool, I just wanted to tease them. And I know the rest of you have no idea what I'm talking about, and it just wasn't funny to you, but I'm sure at least Adam will get a laugh out of it. Laugh along with us...come on, pretend. It was funny, huh?)

Christensen Update
None to report that I now of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:30 - 2:00, 3:00 - 4:00, 4:30-7:00: for some reason Kelson wouldn't stay in his bed last night. In hindsight, maybe I should have just let him lay on our floor, where he was and give him a blanket, but instead I kept picking him up and putting him back in his bed. The frustrating thing was I kept saying "You stay in bed now." And he would say "uh-huh," like he was going to. I would just get comfortable and amost back to sleep when I'd hear the door open.

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats

Lunch: none...well, kinda...I didn't take a lunch so that I could leave work early, which I did about 3:00, so I ate two quesadillas then...but that was like an appetizer before dinner.

Dinner: Ham's - Chicken Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, white gravy, water. I also had a piece of German Chocolate Cake that Shena made for mom's birthday and milk.

The boys helping grandma blow out her candles (59th Birthday...don't tell her I told you how old she is!)

The roof, taken about 8:30 tonight (Friday). They actually got more done than I expected, and would have had even more done had they not run out of material. They worked until about 6:30 tonight. They are working hard trying to get us taken care of, so we really can't complain too much.

The south wall and the "mini-bay" window (not cut out yet, but you can see it framed). Taken Thursday night about 7:00.

The north wall and rear door. Taken Thursday night about 7:00.

We Have Walls

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
When I got home for lunch, the contractors had the north wall up on the room, and were just finishing putting together the south wall as I was leaving. Those two were the easy ones because they were essentially straight walls with one window each in them. I wasn't sure if they could get the west wall done by the end of the day or not. It was much more complex because of the mini-bay (as I call it) window. I think it took them until about 5:00 to get it done, but they did get the third wall up. It is starting to look like a room, now. They said they would have the roof on by tomorrow, but it is supposed to rain in the middle of the day, so we'll see if they get it done or not. It is quite strange to look out our "old" backdoor and the kitchen window and not be able to see what we used to be able to see. The kitchen window feels like you have a blinder on your right side now. We expected it, but it still fills a little funny. I will post pictures tomorrow of today's progress and then tomorrow's progress.

After work, we went by mom's for dinner. We had planned on going out to eat, but she apparently called at about 4:30 and asked us if we wanted to come over for dinner. They had the missionaries, and I had a priesthood leadership meeting (as did Dad and the missionaries) at 7:00, so we had to eat and run. I was going to ride with dad, but decided that I wanted to stop by the house before it was dark to see the walls up all the way and to take a few pictures. I was afraid if I didn't, then I wouldn't get progress pictures, like I've wanted to do. I wound up being about 10 minutes late to the meeting, but not too bad.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena ran several errands today, and taught a couple of piano lessons. She said the boys were pretty good most of the day. Kelson is still coughing, so we will have to keep an eye on that, if it doesn't clear up it looks like we will be headed to the doctor again. We've spent more time in the doctor's office this year than in all our other years of marriage combined. It is ridiculous. Dad said that Cade took a spill on Kelson's big wheel, but he had his helmet on so the result wasn't too bad. He said that he was working in the flower beds and Cade was playing on the big wheel at the top of the driveway (which inclines about 10 degrees downhill...doesn't sound like much, but for a driveway is pretty steep) and somehow wound up going backwards down the hill. Dad said he tried to jump up and stop him, but he went by too fast. When he hit the street, the big tip over and he fell off and hit head first on the road, but because he had his helmet on, he didn't even cry. Dad said it scared him, but he just kind of said "whoa." Dad then said a little bit later Kelson was on the big wheel and started going down the hill forward, this time dad was keeping a closer eye on them and got out in front of Kelson to stop him...but he was still going fast enough to almost knock dad over. He said he closed the garage after that incident and told the boys no more bikes for today.

Arellano Update
I just gave my Arellano news up there.

Christensen Update
None to report, that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 12:30 - 7:00 - couldn't get to sleep last night...I tossed and turned for a while - I guess I was a little anxious to see if they would actually get walls up today

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats

Lunch: corn tortillas with beans and cheese, coke, had a chocolate chip cookie before I walked out the door, too

Dinner: beans, rice, chicken, covered in shredded cheese, with home made flour tortillas, coke. Mom had some mole poblano, but I don't like that kind much. It's too bitter or something, so I just had everything else. After the meeting, I had two chocolate chip cookies and a small glass of milk.

"We've got hail...we've got cows."

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Kind of crazy weather today. Rained fairly heavily during the morning, then tapered off into the afternoon, when it got sunny and warm. As I was headed home after work, I noticed gray skies gathering. By the time I got to mom and dad's (where we were having dinner tonight), WFMY News 2 had minute by minute updates of the storm that was passing through Winston-Salem and moving into Greensboro. When you looked outside in front of mom's house, the clouds were going one direction, when you looked at the clouds behind her house, they were going the opposite direction. It was pretty weird. Next thing we knew, it was as dark outside as 10:00 at night. It was like that for about 5 minutes, then the rain started pelting down, then hail. We thought we might be getting a tornado with all the crazy weather. The boys were excited, faces pressed up against the glass looking outside. We kept our eyes open, but never saw any kind of a funnel. As far as I know there weren't any reported. Still was kinda crazy, though.

Because of the cruddy weather the contractors didn't make it out to the house. The plastic they put down didn't do much good, either. The holes are filled with water again...even more so than last time, I think (if that's possible). They will have to pull out their sump pump again. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, as is Friday morning, so they should have a little bit of time to get something done. We'll see.

After dinner, I just studied my CLU course for a bit. It's been several days. I was hoping this wouldn't happen, but life is definitely getting in the way of my trying to study. It was a bit different when I was going to school...I had deadlines and exams and tests and such, so studying was a priority. Since this designation is for my own benefit and there are no real instructors involved, it is much easier to put it off. I will have to set some goals and some time aside to get it done. This addition has taken a good deal of my time, but as I look ahead to the next 6 months to a year (addition, re-financing, trying to get pregnant again, having a baby, looking for a new car, summer vacations, Ryan coming home from his mission, etc.), I really don't see where I would be able to study anyway, so I'm just going to have to buckle down and skip some TV shows and some play time and do it. Who knows...maybe the Bag O' Cheeto's will have to go too...we'll see.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena had her follow up visit with the doctor today. {WARNING: The following material may not be suitable for people named "Marcos" or "Lettie" or anyone else who my not like to discuss such things.} She had been hearing different things from different people about how long she should wait before trying again. Some people said she could do it right away, others said to wait at least two "cycles." She asked her doctor, he said he normally tells patients to wait two. She told him "You suck." And then told him what she had heard from friends. He said he understood and that she could really do what she wanted. He thought she would be ok to wait just one, but to be sure he always recommended two so that there is less chance of having to go through a mis-carriage again. This news made her mad and bummed her out again. She is anxious to be pregnant. So she did some more searching on the internet to try to find some answers. She found this article and I think she feels better again. She also talked to Christy Baughan about it, and Christy had just done some kind of research paper for a class she is taking on mis-carriages, so she gave Shena some good advice. We'll see what she decides.

The boys had a great time playing with Grandpa today. It took Kelson a bit to warm up to him again. Shena said he looked at him like he thought he should know who this guy was, but he wasn't sure why. When I came home for lunch, they were still over there, so I stopped by and they were in the garage riding their bikes, wearing the jersey's dad brought home and going crazy. Kelson kept saying "Daddy. Vamonos ("let's go" in spanish)."

Shena said that at one point today, Cade was watching Noggin when "Rugrats" came on. He yelled at her to come out and change the channel. When she asked him why he said "That show is bad. They fight and say mean things." Not sure where he learned that, but it is nice that he recognizes those kinds of things. Maybe we ARE doing some good and somethings are getting through to him.

Kelson started coughing today. Sounds like he has some stuff in his chest he is trying to get out. Sounds like it hurts too, but he hasn't acted sick. We'll have to keep an eye on him and see what comes of it.

Arellano Update
As you've already read, dad is back in town. He went to a bad barber in Mexico and got his hair whacked off. Almost looks like a Marine, it's so short. He also brought presents for the boys (soccer jerseys, of course) that they loved. Shena said when Cade saw his, he immediately stripped off his clothes and put on the jerseys. Dad got him two, for some reason, and he has changed jerseys several times today.

Christensen Update
Cherie sent an Easter/Birthday package for the boys. I haven't really seen what was in it. By the time I got home Shena had opened the package and divided up the contents to several places in the house.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:00 - 7:10 - I actually woke up at 6:30, but for some reason I rolled over and closed my eyes again, and didn't wake up until late

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats

Lunch: I lied yesterday...there was still some enchiladas left, so I had those and some rice. I for sure finished them off this time, with a coke and then had a chocolate pudding pack

Dinner: Bean burritos with cheese and garlic bits (dad's creation) on home made flour tortillas. I also had a couple on corn tortillas because I like them better for some reason. Had some apple juice with dinner. After dinner mom and dad came over for "dessert," which was chocolate chip cookies and milk

Spinning my wheels

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
It was kind of hard to get much done at work today. Felt like I spent the whole day with the contractors. Shena and I talked to them for 30 minutes this morning going over which windows we wanted where. She and I then had to go down to a building supply store in south Greensboro to look at interior doors. Then at lunch I spent another 50 minutes talking to them and the HVAC guy about where to put what. I guess that is the name of the game, though. They didn't get much done as far as building goes, but they got some of the details out of the way. It is going to be raining for the next couple of days, but I talked to Shawn tonight and said "I guess we'll see you in a couple of days." He said "No, you'll see us tomorrow, we'll be there working in the rain. Not sure what they are going to do, but they said they were going to work. We'll see what happens. I think they are being a little too optimistic on that. But then again, I'm not going to complain if they are working to get this job done and out of the way. ^The sooner the better for both of us, I think. After work Shena and the boys and I even went to Lowe's to look at a door that Shawn was thinking we might want to use as the interior door. So you can see, we really spent a good deal of time today on the addition. I have an idea now of what Jim has been going through the last month or so. He and his wife are buying a new townhouse and have to pick all the colors, fixtures etc., so he is out of the office regularly doing something with that. If Shena and I ever build, I hope she handles most of this stuff, because it drives me crazy.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
After we got back from Lowe's, we played a quick game of "Go Thomas" with Cade. He had been bugging since I got home from work. He loves that game. Don't be surprised if he asks you to play if you ever come to visit.

Shena has her post-surgery doctor's appointment tomorrow. We are both a little nervous about that. We're hoping that he tells us we can start trying again soon. We'll have to wait and see, and I'll keep you up to date...although I won't give TOO many details, since that seems to bother some of you out there (but come on...it's called reproduction, it happens all the time all over the place).

Arellano Update
Mom came by for dinner before she went to teach institute tonight. She said that dad is supposed to fly in at 10:50 (I hope to be asleep by then), assuming he makes his flights and they haven't been delayed or canceled due to the weather. She had a couple of surprises for him in the garage (Cade's bike and a new ladder) that she covered up with a blanket. We hope he doesn't notice them tonight. We think it would be fun for the boys to show him the surprises.

Christensen Update
Just a quick shout out to Sky & Erin who are celebrating their 3rd anniversary today. Congratulations...may your 4th year of marriage be as good as your 1st.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 10:30 - 6:50 - and I still feel exhausted...doesn't help to go to bed early if you wake up every hour and a half

TODAY:
Breakfast: None

Lunch: tuna on wheat with double cheese, lettuce, milk, tortilla chips, two chocolate chip cookies (good then, but now they are gone)

Dinner: enchiladas, rice and beans...we had to get that first pan finished, which we did tonight with mom's help - had some orange sherbet covered with fudge topping just before bed

We have a floor

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Headed to bed early tonight...my body is screaming for sleep!

The work crew showed up promptly at 8:00 this morning, and got right to work. Jason, Chris and Shawn were all here at the same time. They had to pump the water out of the holes, then dug down to where the ground wasn't so soft, put down some quickdry stuff, and they were on their way. When I got home at lunch, they were getting the main beams up. When I got home from work, the entire subfloor was done. Pretty cool. Look at the pictures below to get a better idea.

Work was fine. Not a typical Monday...nothing crazy happened, but it was busy. After work (I left right at 5:00 today), I ran home, changed clothes, and started cutting up the tree Marcos and I brought down on Saturday. It is supposed to rain tomorrow night and off and on on Wednesday, then I have meeting Thursday (when the weather is supposed to be dry) then back to rain on Friday and Saturday. That means it might be a while before I can get to that tree and I wanted to get as much cut as possible. I only cut for about and hour and a half, but my hands and back didn't like it much at all. They were both still complaining about Saturday, and when I got done today, I had blisters on BOTH hands, instead of just my left hand like on Saturday. Man, I'm weak. I got about 3/4 of the tree cut up. Just the top portion (which is a lot of limbs) left. Hopefully we'll have a little bit more dry weather so that I can get some more cut before the end of the week.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena made enchiladas with Lessa, Susan and Dede. They were planning on making 15 dozen, and wound up making 22 because they had enough of everything to make that much. That gave each of them at least 5 dozen. Good thing they freeze pretty good. It might be a while before they do that again, though. Shena said that Cade was a poop all day. She said he and Devon Williams fought the entire time. Funny how some kids seem to get along and then others don't. My brother, Adam, was talking about how they have good friends who have a son that is around Ethan's age, and those two fight all the time. Cade is like that with Devon for some reason. He gets along with most other kids, but he and Devon just can't seem to play together.

Cade and Kelson were excited to have the floor done outside. They spent most of the evening running around on it while I was cutting. It is all sooo exciting for them. When I was looking at pictures to upload to the blog, he saw the picture of him jumping (see below) and started yelling. He was excited to see himself on the computer, I guess. He started jumping again to show me what he was doing on the picture. Cade fell asleep before 8:00. No wonder he was such a poop for Shena...he was tired. Hopefully he'll be better tomorrow.

Arellano Update
Dad will be home late tomorrow night. The boys will get to see him on Wednesday, and they can't wait. Mom went to the "Senior FHE" tonight instead of coming over with us like she normally does, which is cool. She needs her own old people friends, just like Shena and I need young couple friends.

Christensen Update
None to report.

Daily Report - I'm still considering whether or not to include my TV watching habit. Not tonight, maybe tomorrow.

LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 12:00ish - 6:50 - I couldn't sleep last night, and then I woke up early because I was anxious to see if the construction crew would show up or not. They told me they would be here early, and so I was hoping they would.

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats...that peanut butter and preserves wasn't enough last night...I woke up starving this morning

Lunch: cheese sandwich with mustard and lettuce on wheat, two cookies and milk

Dinner: enchiladas (of course), rice and beans, coke - later had banana pudding that Shena made. She doesn't like her Nilla wafers soggy in her banana pudding, so you have to build your own...I don't like it as well that way. I would rather that the cookies have absorbed some of the moisture up, first....just my style, call me weird.

I forgot to add this picture earlier. This is the tree that Marcos and I cut down on Saturday. You can see it was a pretty tall one, although I have to admit it is much less impressive on the ground. It felt about twice as big when we were considering cutting it down. And I'll say it again, it fell right where we thought it would.

Cade and Kelson playing on the work they got done today. They weren't messing around when they said it would go up pretty fast once they got started. At this rate, they might be done next week, which we wouldn't mind at all. You can see the little "bay" window they are putting in for us. It will be a window seat with a window facing straight out, and shelves lining the window. Should be pretty cool.

A good picture of Kelson's hops. Kid can jump like no white boy I've ever seen. Maybe it's the Mexican in him. Not sure what the illusion is in this picutre, but it sure looks like he can jump. I didn't take the picture, and I wasn't around when Shena did, so I dunno. Pretty cool pic, though.

Marcos and I cleaning up. You can see the two piles that we made during the day. They might not look like much, but my muscles tell me it was hard work.

Cade and Kelson watching Marcos and I cut up the trees. They really can be entertained for hours with all the activity going on outside.

Our swimming pools. Don't they look inviting?

Cade on his new bike. You can't tell me he isn't LOVING it.

Sore Muscles (do I have those?)

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
I woke up sore, as I expected. I have one decent blister on my left hand, which is the hand that carried the chainsaw around all day yesterday. There were a couple of times yesterday where it was hard to open it back up after having it wrapped around the handle for so long. I thought my hand might be permanently formed that way. Luckily it returned to normal.

I also woke up with a stuffy head and a dry throat. The throat thing cleared up after a drink...I guess it was just a little sore from breathing through my mouth all night. I'm not sure if the nose is a sign of things to come, or if it was just a mild allergy situation. I would rather a cold, actually. I've never had allergies, so I would hate to start now, but I know that people can develop them anytime...even if it they never have had them before.

Church was fine. Nothing exciting to report there. I spent 1/2 the time walking the halls because my back (mostly the muscles around it) were stiff and sore. It didn't really HURT, but it was uncomfortable to sit, so I paced the halls. I didn't feel like getting down on the floor in my suit and stretch out. That might have looked funny.

After church Jeff Needham invited us over to his house to watch the UNC vs. Iowa St. game. I thought he was just joking around when he first asked us, and I kind of blew him off, but then later he said something to Shena about me "shooting him down." I called him back when we got home from church and apologized for not taking him seriously. We wound up taking the boys over to watch the game with them. I can't say that we have been best buds, but I appreciated Jeff extending a friendly invitation like that. We will certainly try to do things with them on occasion. He has been our home teacher for a little while, and we've seen him on several occasions, and I've played basketball with him for quite a while, but we've never actually hung out, so it was kind of cool to spend a little time with them. I like Jody, his wife, she seems very sweet. We tried to carry on a decent conversation, but Jeff and I were into the game too much to really focus on anything else that was going on. We had a good time, though.

After we left the Needham's, we just came home and played with the boys...watched a few more games (I watched the last 12 minutes of the Duke vs. Mississippi St.), and then watched Cops. I think, though, that I need to start a new daily entry to the blog...an accounting of how much time I spend watching TV. I'll have to think on that one a bit. I don't know if I want all of you knowing how much time I WASTE (and I mean waste...I hate TV sometimes) sitting in front of the TV. It might shame me into watching less and being more productive in other areas of my life. I've tried to cut back a good deal in the last six months or so, but I know I could cut more out. Sports seems to be the hard one for me to give up. As much as I like to watch "The Amazing Race" and "Lost," I really don't think I would be devastated if I couldn't watch them again. But cutting out sports (especially football and basketball) would leave me pretty bummed. And the sad thing is, I spend more time watching sports than my other shows combined. Anyway, that a tangent...I'll think about making it a daily report. Feedback appreciated.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Cade and Kelson had a good time at the Needham's. Even though they have two girls, they had a train set and a VCR that was showing Disney movies, so the boys were fine. They just kind of ran around the house, playing. I didn't catch them playing with any dolls, so that is a good thing. I didn't consider that before we went over, or we might not have gone. Kidding.

Shena did well at church. Not many people spent a lot of time dwelling on what happened to us. Joe Hamilton told her he was sorry, but that was about the extent of it. That is what she wanted. I'm sure if we had gone last week it would have been a different story, but since we were 10 days removed from the whole situation, I'm sure it slipped most peoples mind, which is fine.

Arellano Update
Dad will be home on Wednesday from Mexico. I'm looking forward to it, because I know that he will help me cut down some more trees and clear the ones I have laying out there right now from Saturday. Cade is excited to show him his bike.

Christensen Update
None that I now of. Shena talked to her mom for a while today, but we haven't had a chance to review that news, yet.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 1:15 - 7:30 - I got caught watching "The Outer Limits" again...I don't know why that show drags me in...I just HAVE to know what the outcome is. Which is ridiculous, because my knowing how the show ends has no affect on my life whatsoever (other than contributing to my sleep deprivation).

TODAY:
Breakfast: None

Lunch: Tracy's chicken pita's with cheese and ranch dressing...mom and Shena didn't really feel like cooking, so we had leftovers, had a coke with mine

Dinner: Peanut butter and apricot preserves on wheat (just one sandwich), milk, piece of apple pie, two chocolate chip cookies (they were fresh, I HAD to have one tonight) - I only had the sandwich so that I could justify my eating two pieces of dessert. Otherwise, I would have just eaten the pie and cookies...but I would have felt guilty writing in my blog that I had cookies and apple pie for dinner...then again, I just told you WHY I had the peanut butter sandwich, so what's the difference, right? Next time I'm just going to eat the pie and cookies.

"I'm A Lumberjack and I'm Okay"

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
If any of you males out there are feeling a little too sensitive, maybe not very manly for some reason, I have a suggestion for you. Go out and buy a chain saw, find some trees, and cut them up. It'll put hair on your chest. I haven't felt as MANLY as I did today. Got up early this morning thinking I would cut up some trees in my yard with my new CraftsMAN chainsaw I bought at Sears the other day. I was actually hoping to clear a few to let some more light into the backyard to try to dry it up some. With all the moisture we've gotten, it is quite a muddy mess. And for all of the bashing that I do on Marcos, he really is a pretty good little brother. He hasn't been feeling good for the last couple of days, but he still came out and helped me move logs for a couple of hours. I worked from about 9:00 - 2:30 or so. I certainly am a lightweight when it comes to manual labor. I know I am going to be sore tomorrow. I was getting cramps in my legs as I took off my dirty clothes to get into the shower. Anyway, we cleared the trees that were already cut down, made two piles (one logs, one branches to be chipped later), and then cut down several more. The biggest one that we cut down (pictures to be posted later) was kind of exhilarating in a weird, sick sort of way. I couldn't help but notice my heart beating faster as the tree was falling. I analyzed it afterwards, and decided it was the uncertainty of what was going to happen. I was about 99% sure that the tree was going to fall where it did, but there was still a little doubt in my mind...and once it started falling, there was nothing I could do about it. That is what made my heartbeat increase. Knowing that as the tree started leaning and falling, there was nothing I could do to stop it, and whatever happened from there on out, was going to happen no matter what. I made Shena and Cade go outside the house and watch from a safe distance, just in case my calculations were completely off and the tree came down on the house. That would have been bad enough, but to have it come down on my house with my family in it would be a million times worse. Moral of the story, cutting down trees is dangerous and hardwork, but kind of fun (in a "I've never done this before, it's kind of cool, but I wouldn't want to do it for a living" kind of way).

After I was too tired and sore to do any more cutting, we went to mom's to have dinner with her and Marcos before he had to get on the plane to go back to NYU. We watched a little basketball, then came home and watched some more basketball before going to bed.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena had to clean the house on her own this week, since I was outside doing "Manly" stuff (grunt, grunt). She was just as tired as I was after cleaning and fighting with the boys. She is feeling much, much better physically, and doing much, much better emotionally. I think she is past the hard parts, and will now just think about the loss on occasion as opposed to hourly, like she had been doing the last week or so.

Cade rode his new bike some more today at Grandma's house. We are keeping it there for now since we really don't have a place for it at our house...and there isn't really a good place for him to ride his bike at our house either. Our driveway is too steep, and the road isn't busy, but it is pretty narrow. Mom's road is on a cul-de-sac and plenty wide and much safer for him. He fell off for the first time today, too. He took a bad angle coming in towards mom's driveway, which is a steep uphill climb, and the bike tipped over on him. He wasn't going fast or anything..more just fell to the ground than anything. Of course he cried for a few minutes, but Shena did a good job of getting him back on and giving him a pep talk about getting back on after falling off. He said he hurt his hands, but they weren't even scratched, really, so he was fine. There will be MANY more of those accidents in the years to come.

Kelson said prayers for the first time today. We asked him if he wanted to say family prayer just before we went to bed and he said "Uh-huh." I helped him, and he tried, but we couldn't understand much of what he was saying but "Amen." Point is he tried, he tried to repeat what I said, and he was excited after he was done. He had a big grin on his face and Cade got excited too, told him "Good job, buddy. Give me five!" It was funny.

Arellano Update
As mentioned earlier, Marcos headed back to NY this evening. He doesn't enjoy transitions as much as the rest of us Arellano's (with the exception of Dad). The rest of us kind of take things as they come, get excited for new experiences and moving to new things (even when they are sometimes "old"). I have to admit, he is doing much better in NY that I thought he would. I thought he might have a hard time being away from NC for so long, but he likes it up there and I think he is enjoying school as much as can be expected (it is school, after all).

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 1:20 am - 7:45 - couldn't get to sleep for some reason. Watched basketball until late, but then just couldn't fall asleep. It was like my body knew it was Saturday and that I wasn't going to have to go to work today or something.

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted flakes

Lunch: egg, bean and cheese burritos (2) - apple juice - Shena made them for Marcos and I while we were working. We stopped for about 10 minutes to eat.

Dinner: Tracy's chicken (marinated in Italian dressing), funeral potatoes (really cheesy...the best kind), green beans and bread, Sprite

Cade's New Bike

***Text in this color authored by Shena***

Work & Play
Work was fine. Wrote a check for $3,000 to the Vachon crew. They said they will be starting to put down the footings on Monday, after the holes dry up (pictures on their way). I am skeptical...I doubt the holes will be ready by then. We'll see.

After work, we went over to the Plummer's to hang out and watch some March Madness. It doesn't appear that my picking style is as good as I hoped it might be. I thought I might be able to surprise everybody and do decent by flipping a coin, but it's not working out that way at all (and we just finished the first round...several more to go). We ordered pizza while the kids ran around the house and played. Ed and I argued about the supremacy of the ACC. He has quite an inferiority complex...he knows the Moutain West just can't live up to ACC standards, so he has to bash it. The girls knitted and talked about things that really shouldn't be repeated here in the blog.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Cade is still having one "accident" a day, even though he knows when he needs to go to the bathroom, he just doesn't bother. He keeps running out of underwear, so Shena busted out some of his old underwear that she had put away (not sure if it was because it was too small or because she wanted him to wear plain underwear). He had some Buzz Lightyear and Bob the Builder underwear. When Kelson saw it (the Bob underwear) he about went nuts. "Bob! BOB! Daddy, Bob!" When he saw Cade put them on, he tried to take his diaper off so that he could put some on too. We told him that when he started going to the bathroom in the toilet, he can have Bob underwear, but he didn't know what we were talking about. Just kind of gave us a balnk stare. I think he thinks that Cade is cool now because he has Bob underwear.

Shena went to a consignment sale at some private grade school. She bought Cade a bike for $15. We then spent another $17 on a helmet and $8 on training wheels. The bike is in good enough shape for Cade. He hasn't really bugged us for one, but he has ridden one at Grandma C.'s house, and he liked it. He was excited to get it. Sad that we spent more on "accessories" for his bike than for the bike itself.

Arellano Update
Tio Marcos put on the training wheels on Cade's bike. If Cade would have had to wait for me, he probably wouldn't have gotten to ride it today.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:30 - 7:00 - even on nights when I say I want to go to bed early, I wind up going to bed at 11:30...I guess that IS my early time

TODAY:
Breakfast: None

Lunch: None - no time...met with the contractor, then had to get back to work

Dinner: Domino's - a couple of pieces of ham and pineapple pizza, A&W - we later had brownies and milk

A Blizzard...

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Work & Play
...by North Carolina standards, anyway. Snowed last night and most of the day, but it never stuck and was gone by the end of the day. Not real exciting...not even enough stuck to let the kids go sledding (since the schools were closed).

Due to all the moisture the last couple of days we now have swimming pools in our back yard. Three little ones. Not exactly what we had in mind when we thought about adding on to our house, but no big deal. I'll get pictures up tomorrow. It will for sure be a couple weeks before this dries out and we can continue on the house.

I didn't have Elder's Quorum meeting tonight, so I thought about studying my CLU classes, but decided I was too sleepy and would probably not get much out of it, so we all watched "The Incredibles." It is a two hour movie, but it tooks us 2 1/2 hours after answering the phone several times and bathroom breaks, etc. I thought the movie was ok, but I don't think it is one of my favorites. Maybe I had too much on my mind to enjoy it, I don't know. Nothing bad to say about it, just not as awesome as everybody else thinks it is.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Not much to report today. A pretty typical one. Nothing exciting. Cade went most of the day without wetting his pants, but when I walked in the door from work at 5:30, he was crying and Shena was mad. For some he reason he told her he didn't have to go to the bathroom, then wet his pants right in front of her. He was so close to being able to make cookies. I guess they will try it again today.

Arellano Update
Marcos is sick. We'll have to stay away from him for a while. We ate dinner with Marcos and Mom again. May as well take advantage of him being home. The boys sure like him being here.

Christensen Update
None to report, that I now of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:30 - 6:45 - I wanted to go to bed at 9:00, but just couldn't make it...to much to do in the office

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted flakes

Lunch: corn tortillas with beans and cheese, apple juice - had a piece of apple pie and a small glass of milk, too

Dinner: Taco soup, which isn't really my favorite, since it is soup, and soup doesn't seem to fill me up very well. Also had some wheat bread from a store, but I forgot to ask which store. It was the kind that has pieces of wheat still in it...I hate that. Bread should just be bread. Had milk with dinner and then had another piece of apple pie with milk just before I wrote in my blog.

The "I's" Have It

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Work & Play
Jim finally made it back from his travels of the last 6 weeks. Although, we wouldn't know it. He had appointments and phone calls all day, so I barely talked to him. It may be a couple of days before things get back to normal around here.

After work went to dinner with the family to Stamey's BBQ. The same stuff that Bart & Cherie ate when they were out here and wanted to try southern barbeque. I can eat it every now and then...I just don't crave it. Cade and Kelson enjoyed it, though...they had a hot dog and chicken strips, respectively. Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets and hot dogs...either one makes Cade happy, no matter where we eat. We got lucky because we accidentally sat in the smoking section, but nobody smoked the whole time we were there. I could hardly believe. No smokers in a NC restaurant. Hardly ever happens.

After dinner, nothing exciting happened. Mom and Marcos hung out for a little bit, and I spent the rest of the night in the office paying bills, picking tournament brackets. I say "pick" but there was no logic involved at all. I decided for fun to do my picks this year randomly. In one bracket I counted the number of vowels in the name of the team on the sheet, and whoever had less vowels I picked as the winner. If they had the same number of vowels, I went with the team who had a vowel come earliest in the name. Long story short, UAB (Alabama-Birmingham) is going all the way! In the second bracket I flipped a coin for each game. Heads, the higher seed was my pick, tails, the lower seed. Only once did the game have the same seed, and I just assigned a heads and tails to each team. In that bracket Wake Forest is the winner, playing NC State in the finals. It was pretty interesting to see how the heads/tails worked out. It looks like a more logically picked bracket than the vowel bracket. We'll have to wait and see which one does better...and if either one can beat anybody else in our group.

I've realized that there is a Catch 22 in writing this blog. On days that I don't have much to report, I have plenty of time to write...when there is a lot of news to report, I run out of time during the day, and the blog gets neglected. Today is one of those days. I could go into more detail and share more stories, but I'm running out of time...my eyes won't stay open.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena had a better day today. She has beed doing some reading and researching on the internet to try to make herself feel better about everything that has happened. It's worked. She found several sites that made her feel like she was normal and that there was nothing to worry about. I'm glad. I think it is one of those situations where I could have done the research for her (and I considered it), but it wouldn't have been as effective as her having the desire to find out herself. It would be like me forcing it on her when she isn't going to listen with an open mind. I think she will be back to her old self in another week or two.

Shena made Cade a deal that if he would go all day without wetting his pants, she would make cookies with him. He did it for 1/2 a day. For some reason he just doesn't want to quit what he is doing (usually playing) to go to the bathroom when he needs to. It is pretty frustrating. He knows he needs to go, he just doesn't do it. What made it bad today was that he was sneaky about it. Shena said he suddenly appeared out of his room dressed in shorts and a soccer shirt. He SAID it was because he wanted to be like "Dora the Explorer," and she didn't think much of it at first, but then she noticed that he had put wet underwear in the clothes basket. When she asked him, he denied it. Not a good sign at all. Four years old and already knows how to be deceitful. And how in the world do they learn that? Do they really pick it up when we are teasing or being playful with them and pretend we can't see something? When we do that we always say "I'm just teasing." It would seem if that were the case he would say the same thing when he knows he is lying to us. I guess he must be picking it up from us, somehow. Certainly makes me feel like a bad parent.

Kelson is trying to new words every day. Cade even likes to get in on the fun and tell him to say things. He has a cute little "s" lisp and so Shena tries to get him to say words that have "s'" in them.

Arellano Update
Just wanted to wish Adam & Melissa a happy anniversary. They've been married 3 years today. Congratulations guys. Although I'm sorry to tell you that as cute as you think Ethan is, he just doesn't quite compare to Cade and Kelson! :)

Marcos took exception to my comments about his bashing my principles. He claims he didn't do it...I specifically remember him saying it. For some reason, the two of us have different memories of things, and this is just one instance. For example, several years ago Marcos, Cade and I went to a Greensboro Prowlers arena football game (before they folded). We were about 3 or 4 rows up from the field, and during a timeout some of the Prolwers staff were throwing t-shirts into the the crowd. I don't remember why, but for some reason Cade was on my lap. Marcos was standing to the left of me with his hands up trying to get them to throw him a shirt. I was just kind of sitting there. Here is where the story is in debate. I remember having a t-shirt come towards me and catching it with my right hand. I look at it for a second, then give it to Marcos and we then start to argue over who gets it. I pulled out the "it's for Cade card" even though it would never fit him. Long story short, I wound up with the shirt. If you ask Marcos, he will tell you that HE caught the shirt and he gave it to me. I will go to my grave remembering that I caught the shirt. He will probably go to his claiming he did. It doesn't really matter, but it is frustrating to think we have such different recollections. Only one of us can be right. I will admit, I don't have the best memory in the world (remember the chainsaw accident? I said that it was the guys left arm that got hurt? it wasn't...it was his right), but for some reason I am POSITIVE that I caught the shirt. Bad thing is, now that I've admitted it, Marcos will probably mess with my head from now on...or pull this quote out 20 years from now "You said you have a bad memory. You can't be right."

Christensen Update
None to report, that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:30 - 5:45 - woke up with my back hurting...I could have tried to go back to sleep, but I knew it would be pointless, so I got up and paid some bills...what a way to start the day, huh?

TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 bowl of frosted mini-wheats, 1 bowl of frosted flakes...plenty of sugar to get me going

Lunch: peanut butter and raspberry jam on wheat (2), milk - mmmm...more sugar

Dinner: Stamey's - combo platter...chopped pork barbeque and white chicken meat with barbeque sauce, two "rolls" (they are actually hamburger buns...this is NC after all), baked beans, water. We also brought home some cobbler...I had strawberry a-la-mode (mom asked the waitress for hers a-la-mode...the waitress said "Ok. Do you want ice cream on that?")

Construction delays ahead?

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Work & Play
Was surprised to see that Vachon didn't do any work on the addition today. It was the last dry day for quite a while (forecasting rain until Sunday, then more going into next week). I really thought that they would have tried to get the footings in before the rain started. I decided, though, that I'm not going to start bugging him, yet. I would hate for somebody to try to tell me to do my job, when they don't know what they are doing...and I really have no idea how he should do his. I don't know how many other jobs he has going right now. All I know is what our contract says and that is he has 8 weeks to finish the project and we are only in week 2. I'll start getting anxious if we are at the same point in 4 weeks from now. The other thing about it is we haven't paid anymore than the original 25% we paid when we signed the contract (which says he will give us an invoice on Tuesdays of each week that he is working), so it's not like he is ^ asking for money and not doing anything. We did see him about 5:30 today as we were walking out the door to go to mom's. He stopped to pick up the bobcat which he said he needed for another job. Bad thing was the bobcat was behind the equipment trailer that brought in the other day. So they had to pull the equipment trailer out first, then pull out the bobcat and it's trailer after that. I saw them pull the equipment trailer out, no problem...they tore up a small piece of grass doing that, but I expected that. When we got back from mom's, it looked like the whole side of the house had been turned into mud. That side of the house is on the North side, so it doesn't get as much sun and stays wet longer. I guess the grass was too wet and the bobcat slid around trying to get the trailer out. Sure did make a mess.

Had dinner with mom and Marcos and Stu Miller, Marcos' friend from HS. Stayed and talked for a bit, but not real long. Sunday I noticed an ad for a chainsaw at Sears that was cheaper than the one I bought at Lowe's. Because Shena and I like the Extreme Makeover Home Edition show so much (especially because they aren't just giving houses out to anybody, they seem to try to find people who need it), we always talk about shopping at Sears more in order to show our support of their sponsoring the show. We want to encourage that kind of sponsorship of worthwhile causes...not sponsorship of rich people award shows (like the Academy Awards). Anyway, even though we say that, I still never seem to think of Sears when I need something. Doesn't matter what it is, Sears usually doesn't enter my mind. So I decided to take back the chainsaw to Lowe's (which I hadn't used yet), and go and buy a chainsaw at Sears. I wound up paying the same amount for essentially the same saw, but at least I felt better about who was getting my money (not that I felt BAD about Lowe's getting my money, just not as good). Marcos and Stu wound up going with me to Sears, Shena stayed home to get the boys ready for bed.

The Amazing Race 7 started a few weeks ago, and we have already got some favorites, and some not so favorites. "Boston Rob" and Amber from Survivor are on the show, which is great for the ratings, but it makes me mad that they would put somebody like that on tv. Dude is an absolute snake. I know I'm not the only one who dislikes him, but I also know that there are a lot of people out there who think that the way he does things is ok. And the "moral" of the lesson that people learn on the show is that if you lie and deceive, you will be rewarded. There have always been people like that on the show (several have made up stories when they are trying to get on a plane), but none has been as consistent or blatant about it as Rob and Amber. I look forward to the day they get eliminated, and if they wind up winning, I won't watch the show again. Marcos makes fun of my "principles" sometimes (he ragged on me about taking a chainsaw back to Lowe's and spending just as much or more at Sears on principle), but if I don't stick to them, then what kind of a person am I?

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena and the boys went to the mall with Leesa. Shena wanted to get out of the house, and Leesa was nice enough to go out with her. Sounds like they had a pretty good time, other than stopping in at Motherhood (a maternity store). That was kind of rough on her. They bought "The Incredibles" on DVD, which I need to see. Cade loves the show and we watched about 20 minutes of it on my lunch break, but I still haven't seen the whole thing. One of these nights when I'm not so busy...maybe tomorrow?

Shena had an ok day today. Towards the end of the day I asked about going to play basketball at the church (which we couldn't do because of "play practice"), because I wanted to make sure that she would be ok with me going. She said I could and when I said "are you sure?" she said that she needed to get back to just living normally and so it was fine. I think she knows that the only way for her to start feeling better is to continue on with her days. She made me an apple pie today to say "Thanks," which she really didn't have to do. I think she thinks that she is putting me out or that I am getting mad at her for the extra load that I've been carrying with her being down, but that is what a spouse is supposed to do, right? Isn't that what it's all about? It's not like I have been carrying my fair share 100% of the time since we've been married. There have been days that I've been sick or gone and she's had to do it on her own. It was a nice thought though, and I do love me a homemade apple pie! (see my daily report)

Arellano Update
So I've been trying to bait Adam into talking some trash about my blog, since I've been trashing his. No luck. He is to good of a guy. The worst he has done so far is talk about my momma in the comment section of the blog.

Not sure what Marcos did most of the day. He said he was supposed to be catching up on his school work this week, which is why he came home for Spring Break and not go somewhere else where he might be distracted. Don't know if that is working out for him or not.

Christensen Update
None to report that I know of.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 11:12 - 6:05 - Kelson is the best alarm clock I could ever hope for...whether I want one or not...kid is up every morning no matter how late he went to bed.

TODAY:
Breakfast: None

Lunch: tuna on wheat with cheese and lettuce, ruffles originals, kool-aid. Cade brought me three chocolate chip cookies from the cookie store in the mail for dessert. Nice of him to think of me. Cute kid.

Dinner: carne asada (grilled, thin steak), beans, rice, corn tortillas...I made tacos out of mine, with cheese and a sprite to drink. After I got back from Sears, I had two pieces of pie, warmed u in the microwave and a glass of milk.

My Experiement Worked

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Work & Play
I am excited (I'm such a geek) to report that my Google experiment worked. You can now type in my family's name in quotes, and either the first or second entry will point you to Bag o' Cheeto's. I know you were all on pins and needles wondering if it would work out or not. I'm expecting some kind of Nobel for this one.

Work was fine, nothing exciting. Typical Monday, busy and the whole week ahead of us. I have started working on a designation to add to my resume. As with most professions, there are several standards boards that have been set up and that give out designations when certain criteria are met. The one I am currently working on is called a "Chartered Life Underwriter" (CLU). It will take about 2 years (8 courses) of studying and exams, in addition to three years of full time experience in order to get the designation. I chose it because Jim has his and he recommended that I get it. In my profession there are several different designations you can get, some more recognized than others, but to be a CLU is probably the toughest. After I receive it, I will then have to take just 3 other courses to get the second designation that I want, which is a "Chartered Financial Consultant" (ChFC). Both of the designations are given by The American College, which I enrolled in last week. If you try to get a hold of me and Shena tells you I'm studying, now you will know what it is I'm studying.

When I got home for lunch, Vachon and his crew were digging holes in the backyard. See the pictures from today's date. They have about 24 hours worth of dry weather, then it is going to rain again for several days, so I hope they got those pillars poured and ready. Who knows how long it will be before they will be able to do it again if they don't get it done tomorrow. I guess spring time is kind of a bad time to do construction, huh? It sure is making a mess of the backyard, though.

Llano Update (Cheeto's Brood)
Shena had another rough day today. One week since we found out that the baby had stopped growing, so that is all she could think about all day. She tried to stay busy, ran some errands, etc., but still couldn't shake being bummed out. She said the boys were pretty good for her, though, which is a plus. She'd really be in bad shape if they were poops all day.

Kelson walked in some of the mud that they have gotten on our drive during the construction, on his way out to dad's Jeep as they were headed out for errands. He then thought it was cool to wipe his feet all over the back of the seat. At this rate, dad won't let us anywhere NEAR his car ever again. I spill OJ on his dash, Kelson gets mud all over the back of his seat. Good thing is they are leather, so hopefully it should come off pretty quickly and cleanly.

Cade was a good kid today. When they started digging holes at lunch time, he had his nose stuck to the window the whole time, as usual. Kelson missed most of the construction because he was asleep. We played a game that Grandma A brought back from her trip out west called "Go Thomas" for FHE tonight. It is basically a "Go Fish" game with Thomas characters, but he loves to play it. He especially loved that we all played with him (including Marcos and mom). He was in hog heaven having all these adults paying attention to him.

Arellano Update
Went and had dinner with mom and Marcos, then they came over for FHE. As just mentioned, played the Thomas game, then watched The Legend of Johnny Lingo. Mom hadn't seen it yet. I fought sleep, and Marcos, Cade and Kelson lost their fight. All were asleep before the movie was over.

Christensen Update
Shena said her mom and dad were putting new carpet in today in their basement after their flood. They had to replace the living room and play room. I think they have now laid new carpet down there in all the rooms in the last 2 years due to floods.

Daily Report
LAST NIGHT:
Sleep: 12:15 - 6:45 - Kelson actually came in at 5:30, but I was so sleepy that I told him to go back to his own bed...when I woke up an hour later, he was asleep on the floor next to our bed...no blanket. I felt bad. I should have put him down myself or at least given him a blanket.

TODAY:
Breakfast: None

Lunch: egg, bean, rice and cheese burritos on flour tortillas. I just realized that I didn't put salsa on those, which would have been good. Oh well. Also had kool-aid, a brownie and milk.

Dinner: No, this isn't a copy and paste, but I had eggs, bean and cheese burritos on flour tortillas (at mom's this time). The rest of the family ate tortas (Mexican sandwiches), but I've never been a fan of them, so I just had burritos again. Also had some sprite. We ate a bit of popcorn during the movie and then I had a brownie and milk before coming in to write.