Welcome Family & Friends!

This is our first posting and hope to make a concerted effort to continue to share the happenings and adventures of our family.

First things first. As most of you know (though some may not, given the speed at which everything happened) we recently up and relocated to San Antonio, Texas. Yep, Texas of all places. I took a position with KCI Medical (http://www.kci1.com/). KCI is an international company with a growing focus on increasing its global presence. My manager is a Thunderbird Alum, and really felt this was an opportunity to leverage my background and education. I currently support Sales in an analytic capacity, but hope to expand horizons as the company continues to grow. Anyway, from interviews to 1st-day was about 30 days with the Christmas and New Years in the mix, and relocation planning all along the way...It was a crazy/stressful time, but are now settling in, and the boxes don't reach the ceilings anymore.

(Kids unpacked, and having a blast with the paper!)

Anyway, for the little (or no) notice to you our friends, we apologize. But, we are taking the first steps, with the introduction of our blogspot, to make amends and keep everyone better appraised to our adventures.

We've been very blessed since our decision to move to San Antonio. We found a wonderful home (in which we rent...not wanting to carry 2 mortgages waiting for our home in AZ to sell) in a great neighborhood close to the LDS Temple, and is included in my daily commute. The LDS community is strong here, and we enjoy the Ward. Glinda has 2 callings, 1) Relief Society Chorister, and 2) Cub Scout Den Mother for the Bears (Isaiah's age group). I'm sure Cub Scouts will be a challenge, but she's been doing a great job already. The annual Pinewood Derby is coming up next month, and she's helping the boys get excited about it. As for me, I was disappointed to leave our Phoenix Ward having been given an opportunity to work with the 11-year old Boy Scouts where Nicholas just started. Well, my disappointment did not last long, as I was asked to serve as an Assistant Scout Master for the 11-Year old Scouts again! We had out first camp out in February, and are planning a lake camping/fishing outing next month (of course this is the only thing Nicholas can think about).

It's official! Despite a very challenging Real Estate market in Phoenix, we received an offer on our house just 3 weeks after listing. This past Wed, the sale closed on schedule! It's a bit sad, we really liked our home. Glinda has mentioned a few times she misses the extras we put in to it, and although we like our rental, miss being able to make wanted changes (i.e. Garden, Flower beds, upgraded appliances, larger hot water tank to avoid our current need for scheduling, etc). We find ourselves making mental notes for future home ownership.

Our Challenges - Since coming out here, we've experienced our more than fair share of illness. Jonah and Thomas were sick while trying to move out here. After getting somewhat settled, Nicholas contracted some virus, other than the flu (per the M.D.) and missed nearly a week of school (a rarity for him). I developed a cough, that tuned dry and hacking, and difficulty to breath. I struggled through the weekend, tried to go to work the next Monday, and left early with significant decrease in lung capacity. Going downhill from there, I scheduled a Dr. visit Tuesday. In the Dr. office, I could hardly breathe, and went into a coughing fit, severe enough the Dr. heard, came in, and ordered a breathing treatment on the spot. Again, no flu, but was fighting a respiratory infection with Bronchitis, borderline Pneumonia! The Dr. gave me steroid and antibiotic shots in the rear to help fight the infection and then went on some other good oral meds to control my coughing. It's a weird feeling not being able to breathe, and now can sympathise with anyone with Asthma. Isaiah, then Thomas, came down with a high fever last week and was down for several days. This past week, Jonah came down with Strep throat, and despite being on meds since last Friday, is still fighting a high fever (he'll be seeing the doctor in the A.M.). And, the icing on the cake is Nicholas and Isaiah both show signs of Pink Eye (red, irritated eye, with morning goop)...they too will be seen in the A.M. Glinda is O.K. if you consider having to take care of all of us at any given time doing well.

Other goings on - As mentioned above, include the Pinewood Derby. Isaiah has plans to enter a thin "lead sled". The project has given me a decent excuse to invest is some woodworking tools. We'll post pictures later of our project. Wish us luck!

2 weeks ago, we experienced our first non-Arizona tradition...Daylight Savings Time Change. I don't know how the rest of you all you deal with such a crazy concept, but it was something I took for granted not having to deal with in Arizona. So the day of the change I was enjoying a nice Sunday nap in front of the fireplace (a neat opportunity unusual to Phoenix life), and awoke to find Jonah as a self-service beauty school dropout...His subsuquent professional fix came as a shock to everyone!

We've also made efforts to explore the area, one of our first outings was to see the Alamo. It was a neat experience bringing history to life, especially after watching the old and new version of 'The Alamo'. The older boys really enjoyed seeing the Alamo building up-close and personal.

Other adventures include Sea World San Antonio...Glinda & I surprised the boys with an annual pass! We took a short trip Friday before last and had a chance to see Shamu, penguins, and just before closing, I was able to talk Nicholas and Isaiah into riding the 'Great White' roller coaster ride. We were able to ride in the first row! Here is a link to a video of what the ride looks like from the perspective of the the rider...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvpXdGNZeY4 Isaiah says his experience was the same, except his eyes were closed the whole time. They each say they'll join me again in the future. It was a short 2 hours, but a blast!

We look forward to taking them again once everyone is well.

We look forward to sharing more of our adventures with you all. Please stop back by, and we look forward to hearing comments from you all, and keeping in touch!

If you're ever in the San Antonio area (or want to plan a trip), you have an invitation to stop by and visit us.

Kirk, Glinda & The Boys -