White Rock SandDunes

On Saturday we decided to go Geocaching up to the White Rock Dunes. It was a little hike but yet not to long for Elia. She walked the whole way. Any way I don't know if any of you have every been up there but it is a lot of fun and the kids had a blast in the sand and hiking up the big white rocks that were every where. We never did find the Cache but just playing in the sand and stuff was well worth it. The Kids' favorite part was going all the way to the top of the dunes and sliding down the sand on there belly's (even though they filled there pants with sand it was fun).

2nd Grade Program

Just thought I would let everyone know that Jayli is having a 2nd Grade program at 7:00pm On April 1. It will be held in the gym at arrowhead elementary. Jayli wanted me to also put a picture of her new hair cut on the blog so here it is.

We have a blog!

We officially have a blog! I am not good at this yet & I am still learning! If you would like to see our blog then just click on Bonnie under the friends list and it will link you to our blog. Or go here themoss5.blogspot.com to check it out! Warning: it is a bit cheesy! But isn't that the reason why we blogstalk?!

Trent & Bonnie

Dad

Well, miracle of miracles. Dad is finally on the blog. I went back and read all the blogs back to and including Christmas with all the fun pictures of your supercalifragilisticexpealidocious projects for Christmas. I know it is a drag to some, but I am proud of each one of you and what you came up with. It was fun to read the updates on the families and see the cute pictures. Mom told you about our trip to SLC and East Canyon Resort. I used it as a business trip. On Saturday I went to the Sportman's Expo at the Southtowne Center. They had a big sign there saying no soliciting, so I went in and collected business cards. Most of them had an email address on them, so I will email the companies to tell them about the information backup business I am doing. I also had 3 appointments on Tuesday. Amy Grant (who hired me) and Phil Watts, the president of the company who came over from England to help us, went with me. We didn't have immediate success, but feel 2 of the 3 will probably do business with us.
When they had the parade of homes here in St. George, I took Mom to it and at each home talked to some of the exhibitors and got business cards from others. I hope it all pans out.
I think most of you knew I flew back to Norfolk, VA the last of January for the International Sales Convention of our business, Data Vault Security. It was a lot of flying for one day of meetings, but I got a lot out of it. Thanks to Trent for the air travel. The guy that presented was Andy Hansen from the UK. He fined people for sleeping or for sitting with your arms folded. We had a few funny experiences with that. I did have a problem coming home. I got to the airport at 5:30 am and realized I didn't have the reservation number to print my ticket. I called Mom at (by that time 4 am here) and walked her through the computer to get the number. Both of us were very frustrated by the time we got it.
I haven't been doing my 403b business for about 5 years or so. I got a call from a gal who wanted to sign up. We have to have Errors and Omission Insurance and it $700. I went aheaad and got it hoping I would sign a few more up. I printed a flyer and got it to all the elementary schools and Tuacahn. I got one call from Tuacahn, so I didn't pay for my E&O. I did get a call about a transfer, but that is still up in the air.
Well, that's all the good news. Now for the bad. I have had some pain in my back about where my kidneys are, so I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Stucki. I went in for a CT Scan ($1300) before the appointment. He told me one kidney is clear full of stones and the other has one in it. He scheduled me lithotripsy for April 2. (I told Kierra that she and I could hold hands and cry together) I have had litho twice before and each of the days after were the worst days of my life. So, keep me in your prayers. The doctor did say that they could put a stint in to drain part of the stones away and hopefully not have all the problems. We'll see. Oh, and he said one treatment would not take care of it. I will have to have 2 or 3.
Well, after that long epistle, you may be wishing that Dad hadn't discoved the family blog after all.
I love you all and enjoy being a part of your lives.
Dad

Update on Kiki

Kiki has been having some difficulties lately and after getting rid of a couple of bladder infections we finally got the right tests and found out she has 3 little stones. After 5 minutes of crying and feeling sorry for herself, she changed her attitude and is handling everything just fine. She puts up with the pain, but what she hates is before surgery (the bowel prep) and after surgery (coming home with tubes in her). She decided that if she had a stone that at least there were 3 so maybe the doctor can save one or two for her.
The doctor called me and thinks the stones are little enough that he can go through her belly button (her mitrofanoff) and extract the stones. Therefore taking out the two parts that Kiki hates the worst. We are happy about this and hope it works out. Kiki goes into the doctor tomorrow where we will learn more. If all goes well she will have this procedure on Friday.
She knows she is blessed and watched over. She is certainly a good example to me.

Thanks Judy's Family

I just wanted to thank Judy and her family for being such great sports and watching our kids over night on Friday. Jeff and I had a great time. We went to the Blue Man Group (which is a few guys that paint themselves blue and play the drums, but they do a few funny things too) at the Venetian hotel. then we went to denny's for some breakfast at 2 in the morning. We definately weren't as hungry as we thought we were but it was still good. Then we went back to the Hotel and slept for a few hours, then went and picked up our kids to take them to do a few things that we thought would be fun like the M&M factory and the lions at the MGM. I don't know what we were thinking taking our kids away from Judy's Family because they definately were not being good for us. I think Ashlin cried the entire time we were out (which was about 3 hours) So since Jeff and I didn't have much sleep either the night before we got tired of the kids and cut our trip short. We were suppose to go to church with the LEE's and listen to Shaun give his talk. We are sorry about that LEE family. We really do love you guys and love being around you. My patience are very short since Ashlin acts that way almost everyday. If anyone has any Ideas about what to do with a kid that just is so mean (especially to Elia)and just cries all the time because she doesn't get what she wants. I NEED HELP!!!! Thank you very much again Judy and Family We love you guys!!!!

back from East Canyon

Family,
We had a very relaxing week at the East Canyon Resort. The only problem was the road was closed and we had to travel around by Henefer, close to Ogden every time we wanted to go to Salt Lake. It was about 70 miles and that got a little too much. We visited the Draper temple and that was wonderful. We had a fun day with Joni, Teri and the girls. We all went to the Jazz game. We were introduced to a new "friend" of Joni's. Mike was a great guy and we all liked him immediately. He is very easy to be around and must be pretty great to put up with all of us. Teri took her girls out of school for Wednesday and spent the day with us up to the condo.
I loved coming home and reading about everyone on the blog. Much love always. Mom

An Explanation for Judy

First, an apology. We SHOULD HAVE planned time to visit the Lee family while we were in Las Vegas to see Phantom. No excuse. It was bad form on our part.

But see, there is a little bit of an excuse. Here goes:

We planned a whole week of exciting adventures for our stay-cation. One of those days was a whole day (and a night) in Las Vegas so we could visit our dear family, hang out with them, go shopping, etc. and see Phantom. I even reserved a room and Dad's Worldmark Resort. However, our plans changed.

Last Friday, my friend Stephanie asked if Megan would be able to dogsit at her house Wednesday through Saturday of Spring Break. She was desperate to find someone as apparently her other plans for dogsitter didn't work out. So, a quick call to Megs, and you all know how much she LOVES dogs. How could she say no? She couldn't, not only because of the dogs (two darling white Westies named Sampson and Delilah) but because Stephanie was paying very very well.

So, end result, we are squeezing our 6 days of stay-cation into only 3 days. Hence the very quick trip to Las Vegas. We left at 4:00 MST, got there at 5:00 Vegas time (what is that? Pacific time?) went to dinner until 6:15 ish, drove over to the Venetian, got in line for the theatre at 6:30, saw the show at 7:00, got out at 9:30 and drove home. It was quick, I promise. No dilly dallying and no shopping, no visiting anyone. I'm sorry!!! We'll make it up to the Lees somehow. Please forgive us. We took the money and ran (so to speak).

The Stay-cation

Megs and I have been having a blast so far on our stay-at-home vacation. Its not nearly as glamourous as some people (like those who jet off to Hawaii) but we are still having fun. We started of by going on the guided 4-wheeling tour which was discussed earlier on the blog. Way fun! I have no idea how to haul 4-wheelers, no clue where to go, and really no idea what do when I get there. So the "Guided Tour" package was the solution for me, and Jeff really hooked me up with a fun day. All I had to do was park my car at Premier Recreation, and he drove us out to Werner Valley, gave us a crash course in how to drive the 4-wheeler and then personally escorted us along the trail. As a bonus, he brought along Chanieca, Caysen, Jayli, Elia and Ashlin to cheer us on and take pictures. After we had about as much fun as we could stand, we all went to lunch at In-and-Out Burger. Thanks guys!! It was a blast!!

We then drove to Las Vegas and had dinner at P.F. Chang's -- Megan's favorite restaurant. Then we went to The Venetian to see "Phantom of the Opera." Wow - that was a spectacular show.

Tuesday we went to Brushfire Pottery Studio and picked out some pottery to paint. We spent all morning there painting, and still didn't get done. So we are going back on Wednesday to finish. We had a great time being creative, and my friends Jennifer and Kelli came with their daughters too. Then Megs had to go to work, and I saw my friend Becca for a haircut and some girly time. That night Megs, Harrison and I went to the new Brazilian Steakhouse for dinner. We had a really great time. Hope everyone else is having a great Spring Break too!!!

Removing of the Cast

Well Caysen finally got his Cast off. He got it off on Monday at 4:00 and was very excited. The doctor said he still can't do anything crazy for another 2 weeks. He just has to squeeze a Stress Ball and rotate his wrist to build up the muscles back in his wrist. Well we sure Hope everybody is doing well and Having a wonderful St. Patricks Day.

4 Wheeling

Well hello everyone,
We just wanted to post some pictures of Jana and Megan enjoying their Spring Break. They wanted to go 4-wheeling but wanted the guided tour kind, so we were lucky and got to join them on their little outing. Some of the great sights we were able to show them were The sand hollow Arch, Mount Wannahauchalugie, and stove pipe rock. I think they were very impressed with our knowledge of the area. They said they had a great time and are planning on doing it again. So just for all of your guys information we do guided tours. Thanks for the Great fun Jana and Megan.

Space Shuttle

Caysen and I just saw the space suttle finish its blast-off into space. Pretty cool.

Concerts

Hey Everyone,

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their Spring Break. Well the school year is coming to an end again and it is time for choir concerts. I am very proud of Caysen this year he has been very dedicated in getting himself up an hour earlier for school on Tuesdays and Thursdays just so he can participate in Choir. He will have 2 concerts that you can attend: The first one is on April 7 @ 6:30 and this will take place at Tuacahn YEAH!!! The Second one will be on April 28 @ 6:30 and it will take place at Arrowhead Elementary in the gym. We hope to see some of you there.

Thanks
Chanieca

Hawaii

Dave's family (minus Davey, see below for explanation) is off on Spring Break, for play by play visit this link by clicking HERE.

Most of you know that Kelsey got the lead in her school musical "Zombie Prom". This will be put on March 26, 27, 28 at 7:00pm. The cost is $7/adult and $3/child. We would love to have anyone come and stay with us.

Sports and Spring Break

Most of you know that Davey was playing on the High School Basketball Team and his team won the Region.  Chase played in the Snow Canyon Basketball League (Dave coached his team) and Brayden played in the Ivins Basketball League.  Well we got a whole two weeks break and now Davey has made the High School Baseball Team and Chase and Brayden are registered for Snow Canyon Little League Baseball. 

We don't know Chase's or Brayden's schedule yet but Davey is practicing now and has a game next week.  To see his schedule click HERE.  He also has games over Sprink Break and as such has chosen to play baseball instead of go to Hawaii with us - can you believe that?  Sooo, guess who is going instead????? Yup, the boyfriend.

And the winner is...

(Drumroll please)
Chanieca!!! Yay! The odds were certainly in her favor. Congratulations! You are now (or very soonish-like tomorrow) the proud owner of one $25 Gift Certificate to Olive Garden.

Don't forget the little people now that you have won the coveted award. Like, remember how you invited me and Megs to tag along?

(For you that don't know, there was a contest announced on this site, but because you didn't look, you didn't get to enter. nyah nyah nyah.)

Church callings

Well I know it is not the most exciting thing to post, but I thought I would share. I have been released from my calling as a Weblos leader (which surprisingly I was sad about, but mostly because I was going to have Caysen in a few months). Any way I have now been called to be the Beehive Advisor (which is the person that teaches the lessons on sundays) and I was also called to be on the Ward Activity Committee. I am very excited for both, especially the Beehive one because I haven't been in Young Womens for 12 years. I am also very nervouse so I am writing you all this in hopes that maybe some of you can help me with some fun ways to teach my lessons or maybe some fun games or activities. So if there is anyone out there that has some good ideas please post them. I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks
Chanieca

Academic Award

I Just wanted to share with all of you how smart my kids are. Caysen was awarded the Academic award for excellence in Math, science, reading and Language arts. This is his second time receiving this award, and they only pick a few from each grade 3rd- 5th. I love having smart children. Caysen had his last Basketball game tonight and they let him play. He did awesome he even made a one handed basket. We are so proud of him.