From the Desert to the Mountains!

This week we came to Utah to visit the Clarks and to shop around a few stores (Fun Fun!). Melany and I are very excited to move into our new home in Clearfield, UT. The kids, however, enjoyed swimming with their cousins at Seven Peaks and riding Go-Karts at Trafalga much more than they did visiting furniture stores with mom and dad. Shocker!

Life can change in a blink of an eye!

How can I start this... we are moving... again! That will make 4 states in less than a year! I know sounds very crazy. It all started a little over a year ago with a diagnosis of Optic Neuritis. After that diagnosis and the finding of some lesions after an MRI, I was told that I had a 90 percent chance of developing MS. I believe I have had other flair ups which would constitute MS, although not officially diagnosed by a doctor. Anyways, my first Neurologist recommended that I start injections of a medication that usually will put MS in remission or at least reduce the flair ups. In lame man's terms MS is your body attacking your nervous system and it can rear its ugly head in a million different ways. So since I would like my nervous system to function as well as possible, I took the recommendation only to find out that our student insurance didn't cover the medication that costs $3000 a month... I was a little, OK a lot shocked with all the news and so, instead of sticking around OK another year while Diego completely finished up his PHD, he started applying to ANY job that he was qualified for and that offered better health benefits. Well, the first job that worked out was a job teaching at a Charter High School south of San Francisco. So we made the move to San Jose and quickly realized that between the commute and expenses, we probably weren't going to stay there a very long time.

Then a job in Las Vegas came along... a great job, although at a 2 year college, we were happy with it. So we moved to Las Vegas in January, anxious to have Diego home a little, OK a LOT more! It seemed to be great, but Diego felt it was a little lacking at times and not very challenging. We just continued to plug along happy with where we are, patiently waiting for our house to sell in Oklahoma so that we could buy a house in Vegas. It had been on the market for about 6 months and well, maybe I wasn't as patient as I should have been. Then we got an offer! Woo hoo it was accepted and we were thrilled for it to close. Then the craziness began. Diego got an email from Weber State University in Utah wondering if he was still interested in a position that he had applied for over 5 months previous. He said yes, and I chuckled thinking that nothing would come of it. He had a Skype interview and then was contacted and told that he was chosen as one of the finalists and they wanted to fly him out to show him the campus and for an official interview... they thought he was still in OK and were a little confused that he suggested maybe he could just drive since I would probably like to come along to visit my sister, who lives in Utah. Once they realized the confusion the Dept Chair agreed to reimburse him for the mileage and driving would work out fine. So we made the trip.

My wonderful sister kept the kids so that I could spend the 2 nights in Ogden with Diego. They invited me to come along on the tour of the campus and city and dinner and reception with the other faculty members. It is a great place and, despite snowy winters, I felt like it would be a great place for our family. His official interview was last Friday and when the Dept. chair dropped him off at the hotel he told him that they would meet on Monday to make a decision, turn the name into the Dean and hopefully know by Friday. I was shocked on Tuesday morning when Diego called me and said "I got it." I was confused and asked "got what?"...of course he was talking about the job! So after listing pros and cons, not really many cons, thought, and prayer we agreed that we should take it. His contract starts in July, but he won't start teaching until the end of August. I know that Diego will be so much happier being able to teach at a University where he will have the opportunity to teach upper division courses, will be required to publish and enjoy the commadery of being part of an official Foreign Language Dept.

All I have to say is that this last year has been quite a whirl wind!! I am so grateful for a positive husband, an all-knowing Father in Heaven, and wonderful children who roll with the punches!! My health is good right now and I feel like, although numbness here and there and sometimes electric shocks through my body, the daily injections are helping and hopefully will continue to keep things under control. I just had an MRI, and am schedule to have a lumbar puncture in a couple of weeks, NOT thrilled about that, so hopefully my DR. will be able to see what is going on and if the MS has progressed. I am really going to miss Vegas and the great friends that we have made in just a few short months. We have truly been very happy here. I must admit that I am very excited to be closer to my sister and some wonderful friends and cousins. The kids are excited to be closer to family too. So these next few months will be crazy, filled with house hunting, checking into schools, and just the normal insanity that our family of 7 is used to!!

To top it all off, the best news of the year is that Diego will be defending his dissertation on May 6th and be done with his doctoral degree and school forever ...maybe!

Welcome back!

It's been a looooong time since my wife posted anything on our blog! I decided to wait over a year to see if she would pick it up but it doesn't look like she will. Who can blame her? I mean, five children should keep you busy 24/7. I bet after everyone is in bed, the last thing she wants to do is go online and write a new post (why choose that over a good round of bejeweled!). So I guess I'm taking over for a while. I'm not really writing anything special today I just wanted to post a picture of our kids so you guys can see how big they've gotten (is that even the right past participle?). Anyway, life is good! We are busy! We moved to Vegas in January...looking to move to Utah this year, maybe, who knows! I think three moves in one year should be in the Record Guinness book! Either way, we'll (try to) keep you in the loop!

If you stopped reading our blog, I hope this gets you hooked again. I'm hoping it does it for me!

'Til then, hold on tight....life is a bumpy ride!