Hello again! Some prodding from my family has got me back here writing again.
Sierra is loving College life at the U!! The University of Utah is treating her well. She is on the Utah Dance Team (UDT) and is able to be on the sideline for all the football games, dance for pre-game, and half-time. She'll dance at many more events throughout the year, but I don't know to what extent. They got to travel to the UCLA game and cheer at the Rose Bowl Stadium. I wouldn't say that this team is challenging her dancing, but she has learned tall flags, working with a full band, and being a spirit leader, and making appearances as a team. She wants to start pursuing a dance degree and can't be on UDT while in the dance programs, it conflicts with schedules and what not. So we will see how things work out. She is studying hard and getting good grades so far. I'm pretty proud of my little Ute!
She is teaching dance at many schools and studios. Luckily they are all part time. Just a few hours here and there. Her new big gig is assistant coaching the Taylorsville High School Drill Team. Her old coaches heard that some other schools were going to approach her about coaching and they swooped in and hired her before that could happen. She loves it- but the early mornings are a kick in the pants. She is also coaching at Bennion Jr High for their Dance Company, teaching for Xcite Studio 22 & Illusions Dance Studios, and continues to choreograph & coach solos as well as cut & edit music for all these adventures. So needless to say she is still super busy. She is still dating Mark and they are cute together. We really like him and think he is a good influence on her as well as a fun guy. He is preparing for an LDS mission in the next couple of months and Sierra is preparing to wait for him. I hope she will date other guys while he is gone, but I don't know when she would have time, and I don't think she will want to. But we will see. 2 years is a long time.
Montana has become a soccer fanatic! She was bouncing back and forth between soccer and dance over the summer, but then decided to go back to kicking balls. She also tried out for her Junior high soccer team and made it. So it was league & school soccer 6 days a week for the last 3 months. That was more than she bargained for, but in the end, I think it was very good for her. Her skills have improved immensely and she has learned to be more aggressive as well as more controlled. Her school soccer is over for the year and they did well. Made it to the semi-finals. Her league team "Fusion" has a tournament in St. George over Thanksgiving weekend. Tana and I are going down together. It will be a fun trip, just for the two of us for a change. She is loving the Jr. High social life, but not school so much. She's having a hard time adjusting to the 8 teachers in one day vs 1 teacher all day in elementary. She's doing well grade wise and I know she will adjust. She is very outgoing and has a friendly, silly personality. She's got LOTS of friends and the boys are starting to notice how gorgeous she is. She was in choir this semester and was chosen for a short solo in one of the songs they were singing. She did very well. I was quite surprised to see her not get worked up and nervous like she usually does. She is shedding her shy, anxious, and withdrawn ways and is blossoming into such a beautiful young woman. I'm so proud of her.
Justice is taking saxophone in school this year. His uncle Shaun loaned him his old one (that was in pristine shape) to see if he likes it or not. I think he does, but the weight of this instrument is probably the one downer. We bought him a rolly cart that he carries it to school in, so that helps. I haven't heard any songs yet, just notes and scales. Which is wonderful. It doesn't have the squeaky nerve rattling quality that the beginning violin did- thank goodness. He's in 5th grade now, and is still struggling with the homework and getting things turned in. But he's a bright kid and I know he will turn things around soon. He is still involved in scouts and loves doing activities and earning badges and pins. He's got quite a collection now.
He and his friends got a big idea to turn our garage into the "mancave". They have collected all kinds of hand me down, thrift store & garage sale finds to the cause. It is pretty cool. They've got a playstation with a million games on a special shelf, a sound system with nice speakers, a television, seating for 5, and a nice rug and "coffee table" to pull it all together. It makes me laugh that he would go to such extent to put this thing together-but hey- keeps the boys out of my hair and the mess in the garage. Plus he loves having his own space- no girls allowed!
I FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY, got promoted at work. After working nights and overnights for the last 10 years I'm working a 9am-5pm job for the first time in my adult life!! It's so nice to be home with the kids at night and not have to take them to grams every night. But I have to admit, I do feel like I'm missing out on a lot. Taking them to school, picking them up, being home if they are sick, running them to lessons, and to friends. I'm asking family & friends to help out and it's taking some getting used to. But I am making a bit more money and holidays off!! And sleeping 8 hours a night is the biggest perk. My new job is 180 degrees of responsibility and workload from my old job. I'm still at FOX13 TV. I used to run cameras for the news, edit commercials and programs, and most of the time, just watch tv, because I had a lot of down time. But now it is a race to get my massive workload done on a daily basis. Plus I am on call 24 hours in case there are any problems, and if there are any problems, it's my butt that gets chewed about it. I'm the Traffic Coordinator in the Sales Department. I enter instructions into the commercial engine "Wide Orbit" for each and every commercial that is on air and make sure the commercials are ready to air when and where they should. If there is a new commercial or a campaign ends, I need to make sure those instructions are entered into the system. My entire day is spent at my computer, in my own office cube :-). I send and receive about 200+ emails a day, I work with our hub team/HQ station in Kansas City to produce a written log, "the bible" of each days commercial info & time that each will air. I can't leave for the day until the next day's log has been printed & sent electronically to Master Control. If a commercial gets kicked out of the system or goes missing for some reason, I get a call and have to tell them where to find it or decide what to do about it. That's my job. Kinda weird and kinda fun. It's been a massive learning curve and a lot of costly mistakes have been made, but 5 months into it now and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. Knock on Wood!
We are happy and healthy and thankful for all of our family, blessings, and opportunities. Posted below are some pics of the last little while to get you caught up on our latest happenings!!
Click the link below to see new pics! Laters!
http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d3475938k3559631o1/blog-slideshow-11-2012
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