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!

Long time no blog!

O.K. so I am going to write this as quickly as possible so that I don't get distracted!! Just some updates so that I have them written down. I have been a terrible blogger and it makes me so sad because I love going back and reading past blogs. I guess I could title this as "My Christmas Letter" IF I was going to send one out! No, really I love to blog so that my kids and myself can look back and read about the past!

Lauryn and Aitana both learned how to ride their bikes without training wheels. I had it all planned out in my head...Lauryn hasn't been real interested in learning so I thought if Aitana got it she would be a little jealous and want to try...sure enough Aitana picked it right up and Lauryn said "when are you going to take my training wheels off?" Then Lauryn picked it right up...yeah!

Jacob is my champ! He has been babysitting for us. I know he is only 9, but I think that he handles things better than me sometimes! The first time that we left him for longer than 10 minutes was for parent teacher conferences. To our surprise when we got home he had done the dishes and both Ryan and Lila were asleep! We were shocked...needless to say he has done more babysitting lately. Jacob is so responsible and does so well in school. He loves music. He is now, on top of taking viola lessons, taking piano lessons. He also really loves playing the recorder at school which cracks me up!! Then he is in the 4th and 5th grade honor choir and was chosen to be in the district wide Circle the State with Song Concert. I think they choose 5-8 kids from each school. I never have to push him to do his homework or get his projects done (maybe because he can't play any video games or have any screen time until it is all done.) Last month Jacob was diagnosed with Benign Rolandic Epilepsy. He had some seizures while he slept so the Dr's had an EEG done on him and that was the diagnosis that the Neurologist gave. He is now on meds and hasn't had another seizure!

Lauryn is my little authoress. At PT conferences her teacher told us that they were writ ting books that would be published (well put into book form). She asked each child to write 4 pages....Lauryn ended up with 12, with illustrations! She loves to read and write. Friday she brought home a story that the teacher laminated and I had to cut the lamination open because the teacher didn't realize that she had written on the front AND the back so what was supposed to be a one page story ended up being a 4 and 1/2 page story. I am very proud of her. She is my snuggler and I love when she cuddles up to me. She usually has a book in her hand and loves the books that Diego picks out for her at the library. I think that she is finally over the Junie B. Jones series. She read each book about 3 times! She loves the American Girl series and was very touched by the Addy books which were based in the time of slavery.

Aitana is our social butterfly. (Most like me of all my kids probably...orneriness and all!) At PT conferences her teacher told us about her little click. She said that there are 3 boys and 3 girls that do everything together and one of them is Aitana. She has informed me that Dane (who is also part of the group) is her boyfriend. GREAT! She had a few issues with kissing boys when she first started kindergarten, but we've got that all taken care of thank goodness! She always wants friends over to play and is always trying to keep up with Jacob and Lauryn. If I compliment her on something she asks if she does it better than Lauryn. She makes us laugh on a daily basis and makes us cry on a daily basis! :) She is reading very well and loves to read to me. She loves the Dick and Jane books.

Ryan is our Toy Story/ Star Wars addict! He wants to watch Toy Story 2 every morning. (The terrible mother that I am I usually let him!) Then we try to not have the TV on the rest of the day, which is sometimes a struggle. He is going to a speech pathologist because I was worried about his articulation. She says that he doesn't have any major issues and that with a few sessions he should get better. She said that the sounds that he has problems with M, W, B, and P are usually some of kids first sounds so she thinks it's a little odd because the other sounds that kids with speech issues usually struggle with aren't a problem. He is a very sweet boy and very independent. At church he walks himself to nursery and a lot of times he wants to walk to the bus to get the kids by himself! (That doesn't happen) Ryan loves his big brother and gets so excited when he gets home from school.

Lila is such a sweetie. She makes us all smile! She is walking now and I think that she tries to say baby...sounds more like DD. None of the other kids made sounds that resembled words this soon so maybe it is because she has so many people talking to her all the time. She HATES the car, which can make my life a little crazy since I spend so much time in it! I am hoping that she will grow out of it sometime soon! My mom got her a little baby doll and stroller for her 1st birthday and it is so cute when she give it loves and says "DD". We are so blessed to have her in our family.

What can I say about my awesome husband Diego. He works his tail off!! At home and at work. He has been teaching 3 classes at OU while working on his dissertation, and trying to keep his crazy wife happy! His dissertation is going well, but I'm sure not progressing as fast as he would like because he spends so much time with us. We are so blessed to have such a great dad in the house. He has applied to about 10-15 Spanish faculty jobs so now it is a waiting game. We decided that he wouldn't apply to the ones in the mid west or east coast because then if something opened up on the west coast we would want to move and well moving isn't our favorite thing to do. We'll just wait it out here in OK if he doesn't get one of the jobs on the west coast that he applied for. I was very impressed by the letters of recommendation that he was given by the Department head, and 2 other faculty members. He works hard and is a very talented teacher and I know that everyone that he works with can see that. He was given an online class to teach next semester so that will be nice that he will only have to be on campus to teach the other 2 classes. He is also taking an accelerated Portuguese class for Spanish speakers next semester. He is going to kill me when he reads this, but I can't brag about him enough.

I am the same....crazy mom of 5! I love it and wouldn't change my life for anything. I am so blessed! I sometimes have a hard time balancing it all which leads to eating fast food, but I'm working on that! I can't update much about myself because I am the same as always! Love to talk on the phone, go on dates with my hubby, and play on FB. I AM going to try to be a better blogger, but I won't keep my fingers crossed!

Lauryn's Baptism

Last Sunday my sweet Lauryn was baptised! It was a sweet night even though I was wrestling my 2 year old the entire time! It's so amazing how fast kids grow up. My mom worked her bootie off and sewed two beautiful dresses. She is amazing!

Up and coming photographer!

Just a few of the awesome pictures that my step niece Andria took of our family. She has been taking photo classes and did such a great job! I love the photos. Here are a few of my favs.

Happy Birthday Aitana

Well another birthday down!! Starting in January we have one every other month in our house until July. Then we get a break until Lila's in December. May was Aitana's month. I can't believe that she is 5. It seems like yesterday that she would start crying at 4 pm and wouldn't stop until 9pm!! She sure makes us laugh so I guess she is making up for it. I love this girl! She wanted a Barbie Diamond Castle tea party. The invitations were Diamond Castle and that was about it!!! We tried to find her a Diamond Castle dress, but they aren't in stores anymore so we were bummed...thanks to Taryn who called a few days after the party from TJMax and said that they had them so she picked one up for Aitana. Thank you again. Anyways the cupcake plate was supposed to look like a castle. Diego did a pretty great job...I leave all the creative things in the house to him!!! The girls loved the tea party. Who doesn't like chocolate covered strawberries!! I took a couple of great pics of all the girls together, but my dumb camera said that it couldn't read the file...argh!!

I just love the princess hands!

The night after her birthday party she was already talking about her 6th birthday party...nothing like planning for the future!!

I love my boy

Tonight Diego is at the Father Daughter camp out with the girls so I put Ryan and Lila to bed and Jacob made us dinner. He wanted it to be a surprise and he said that he was going to make quesadillas. So when I came in the kitchen and sat at the table he had cut mine in the shape of a heart. He is such a sweet boy and I love him so much. A memory I will cherish forever. Me and my boy eating heart shaped quesadillas...who could ask for anything more! I'm so lucky. Sorry no pics my camera is on the fritz!

Lila My Love

I decided to try to feed Lila some cereal....

Didn't go so well!

She was still happy!

Diego decided to let her taste his popsicle....

She was so fast that Diego couldn't stop her before she grabbed it and took a big bite!

I think that she got a brain freeze!

We went to the school and had lunch with the kids on super kids day and Lila was the main attraction! Lauryn loved showing off her little sister.

Loaded Weapon and Diego's New Job

The title of this post has to do with Aitana. I just never know what is going to come out of her mouth and when. Last night we were getting into our car at a restaurant and there was a man in his car next to ours. He was talking on his cell phone with the window down and as Aitana walked by she looked into the window and said "YOU BETTER WATCH OUT MISTER!" then starts cracking up. I was a little shocked and was going to get on her, but then Diego started laughing and we all started laughing....a little random wouldn't you say!

At Lauryn and Jacobs viola recital I asked her what instrument she wanted to play with a very serious face she looked at me and said "The Tuba." Well O.K. whatever floats you boat.

What a blessing kids are to keep us laughing all the time...or yelling or crying...I sure love mine!

Diegos new job!

Yep after years of school Diego finally found his dream job! Working the drive thru at McDonalds! Last night it was McTeachers night at McDonalds and Aitana had been begging to go (They put stickers on the kids at school to wear home so the kids remember to beg their parents)...thanks a lot. Anyways we weren't going to go, but time escaped me yesterday and I didn't have time to get my dinner together before Lauryn and Aitana's gymnastic recital so McDonalds it was!! Well for a school to do that fund raiser you have to have parents volunteer to help and our friend is the PTA president so he was working the drive thru. Another friend of ours was there too and he and Diego decided that it would be fun to help so they hopped behind the counter and went to work. I had to get Diego's attention by pointng to my watch so that we could go because I was past ready to go home and I think that the manager was really enjoying the free compitent help! When Diego came out he said "That was tooo much fun." He told us about a lady who drove thru with a huge cat in the seat next to her and that the cats name was Tiger. Wish I had seen it! Leave it to Diego to enjoy that...at least we have a plan B if he never gets a teaching job! HA HA

Mother's Day

I think that each mother should get to pick which day she wants to celebrate Mother's Day. I had a good Mother's Day today, but yesterday was less stressful and more fun so I would consider that my Mother's Day! Yesterday I spent time with my kids in a fun relaxing way and then went on a fun date with my hubbie. I think that at first Diego thought that I was a little crazy when I told him that I wanted to ride our bikes (I got a new one for Mother's Day) down to campus and have dinner and then ride home. We had a great time, but my bum is still a little sore! We ate at this little international restaurant called Monique's Corner and it was great. We even left Lila with the babysitter for the first time and she did great. I love Diego and am happy that he always goes along with my silly ideas even though sometimes they don't turn out that great...this time it did.

There were a lot of great things about today (actual mother's day)...let me list a few in no particular order...Waking up to my sweet Lila's precious smile, Aitana telling me happy Mother's Day about 20 times, Diego making me breakfast (not that he doesn't already do it often) and buying me the cookbook that I had mentioned I wanted, talking to my mom on the phone like I do every day (usually twice a day!), the little box of chocolates that they gave all the mothers at church, listening to the primary kids sing at church, Lauryn snuggling up to me at church and any time I am sitting still, listening to Ryan tell me exactly what happened in detail only understanding one word he said: "broke", watching Jacob play with Lila and Ryan, seeing all the women at church that I love and admire and picking out the one trait that I admire about them and would love to steal from them, listening to Jacob and Lauryn perform at their viola recital, eating the treats at the reception after the viola recital that I know I will regret tomorrow, reading to my girls curled up to me in bed, getting one last sweet Lila smile before I lay her down for bed, getting a sweet kiss from my wonderful husband who picked up the house after a crazy busy day.....OK I have a lot to be grateful for...what a great Mother's Day! Oh how blessed I am to be a mother 5 times over!

Dosie doe your partner!

Quick fun trip!

Two weeks ago Michelle and I decided to meet in Albuquerque with the kids. The kids had a blast being with their cousins. We swam at the hotel pool and had a fun night at a pizza place called ITS. Michelle and I were a little beat as you can see, but it was worth it. No time for hair or makeup! Too bad we don't live closer. As we were leaving Jacob said to me "I wish Scott was my brother." Aitana decided the first day we were there that she didn't want to swim with her floaties so off they went. She is a great little swimmer. I was so grateful that Diego kept Ryan so the 8 hour drive wasn't too bad...2 year olds are into everything and very hard to reason with!

Adam and Lila enjoying their fingers.

Aitana was a crack up trying to steer the bowling ball with her body.

Last Friday was Square Dancing day at Washington Elementary. I didn't even try to pull a costume together for Jacob, but Lauryn was heart broken that we didn't have anything for her to wear so I attempted to put something together...Um the closest thing that we had to cowboy boots were her high black boots and the closest thing that we had to a western skirt was a short plaid looking thing...LOL! Didn't really look too rustic to me, but she was happy. Anything to please. The funnest part of the entire thing was watching Jacob spin his partner. It was like she was a sack of potatoes. He would just fling her around...I was cracking up!