Natalie's home!!!

After a few days of ups and downs, Natalie gained two ounces yesterday and was discharged from the hospital this afternoon. We're working hard to keep her warm so she can continue gaining weight. We appreciate all your faith and prayers in our behalf.

The twins have arrived

It's a miracle. It's just a miracle. Here's the story:

On Wednesday, Lisa was scheduled for an amniocentesis, which went very well. After which an ultrasound followed to check the size of the twins for the c-section scheduled for the following day. As with past measurements, the boy was almost two pounds bigger than his sister.

On Thursday, Lisa and I arrived at Cottonwood Hospital in the morning (around 7:00am) and she was prepped for surgery. Around 9:30am, Lisa was given a spinal block and the c-section proceeded. It was amazing! It's as if they lift up a pillow cover and pull the pillow out. Tanner Paul Moore was born at 10:04am at 6 pounds 4 ounces, with Natalie Eileen Moore at 10:05am at 4 pounds 7 ounces.

Saturday. We were given the possibility Natalie might not make it home with Lisa on Monday morning, as she was struggling to hold her temperature as she's so small. On Sunday, we found out Tanner wasn't holding his temperature either. Finally, this morning (Monday) came, and Tanner was eating like a pig (he squeals like one too :)), and is happily sleeping upstairs. Natalie's barely into the jaundice levels, and will be under the blue lights today. We're hoping she'll be coming home Wednesday or Thursday, but are more concerned with her health than her home arrival date.

We're ecstatic the twins are doing so well, as at least one of the sets of twins the hospital has seen in the past few weeks have stayed 7-10 days. Happy, healthy, eating, and sleeping, we're grateful for two little miracles following the example of their older sister, Sydney.

It's all over!!!

I just left school for the last time. It still hasn't hit me. I'm thinking in a year (after the twins are old enough and we're getting sleep again) I'll go back for my MBA, but I'm so excited to be done. I've been feeling weird lately, not having registered for more classes. I'll walk a week from tomorrow, and graduate with honors. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOORAY!

C-section scheduled

Lisa went to the doctor today, and she's up to a 2+ and about 80% effaced. We're hoping we make it to the scheduled c-section, May 17th @ 7:00am. Anyone excited yet!!! I can't imagine one coming out, holding it, then repeating the process. WOHOO!!!

Graduation Day

Well...it's come and gone. It was fun to see friends from school, hopefully not for the last time. This is a pic with my buddy Matt Fraley at graduation. It's been a long ride, and it's weird for several reasons.

* I haven't registered for another semester

* I haven't bought books for another semester

* I feel I'm still on the break between semesters

* I don't remember what it felt like not to be in school

Quotes blog

I just realized I never posted something on this blog about my new LDS Quotes Blog. I'm trying really hard to get a new quote each day from LDS speakers (normally prophets and apostles).

No joke...the iGrill

I preferred the MadTV's iRack (Iraq humor) being funny over serious for-sale items. I found two different versions just checking quickly:

Small version

BBQ version

I mean seriously...

Lisa's birthday

What a fun day..well after sod removal.So the day started early for me - my neighbor needed help removing all the sod in his backyard. The old owners, before they moved, trashed the yard, and he was paying for it. So for several hours in the morning, we used a sod-cutter and got it out. We went to lunch while it poured outside, and proceeded hopefully to Thanksgiving Point for the tulip festival. This is our second year in a row, and, just like last year, it was gorgeous. The beautiful colors and beautiful day was perfect. Sydney had fun spraying us, blocking the water fountain spouts, and we got a lot of cute pictures like these:

After this, we all went home for a nap, which was quite good, as I had taken two Benadryl-D to get my allergies to calm down from the weeds during the sod-cutting. We went out to Lisa's parent's house to drop off Sydney. I had told Lisa's mom I was talking Lisa to the symphony, and that it was a secret. Evidently this wasn't passed on when Lisa's mom told her dad, and he mentioned how excited he was that we were going to the symphony. Oh well, she would have found out soon enough.

The symphony was awesome. It was "The Best of Sondheim", who did a lot of musicals such as Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, and Merrily We Roll Along. I didn't recognize a lot, other than several they did of Into the Woods, but it was such a great night. The vocalists were hilarious and the music was outstanding.

Baby Name Wizard

Lately, Lisa and I have been *discussing* baby names. We've been thinking Tanner Paul Moore and Natalie Eileen Moore (Tanner after my great uncle N. Eldon Tanner, Paul after my father in law, Eileen after my mother). I've been frequently going back to Jeffrey Tanner Moore, but Lisa dated a Jeff in high school and I've been told it's about a 0% chance, roughly. Anyway, for those of you who care, or are having a kid soon, there's a funky java wizard that someone built to show you graphs based on name/year of how often the names are used.

Check it out

Techno...are you sure you hate it?

It used to be big a big pet peeve of mine that people would knock techno, with ideas of dance music, 80's electronica, etc. in their head. What they don't know, is that techno is a very broad term. What is 'alternative' or 'alternative rock'? Now we're both on the same page. Note, that techno is only a choice out of trance, house, breakbeat, jungle, tribal, all the way from progressive to ibiza to pop. Well, if you're willing to spend five minutes, go to Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music.

You can tell a lot about a person by their electronic music. What fits you best?

We're in

Ready for some fun? Well...here's what happened. A few years ago, the old owners of our home bought the land behind our house where the stream is. A little time thereafter, they almost lost the house to foreclosure, but the stream property didn't go with it. When we bought it, we didn't know it was two separate properties. So, when the previous owners called us to sell us the property, we bought it, and they signed the quik claim. All seemed well....until we took it to the county recorder and found out he signed his name wrong and they wouldn't take it. So we sent them a copy of the claim and were waiting for him to sign his name right.

Now comes the sale of our home. When we took the claim in to get the land in our name, they had to have a location to send the tax statements to, so the two properties were linked. When we sold our home, we intended to give the new owners the stream property, but figured we'd do it once the claim came through. Well, once they tried to sell our home, it couldn't record as the two parcels were tied together. So after that disaster was averted Friday, the last disaster came up (think of a scary old movie with the 'dun-dun-dun')...

Well...after all the push our realtor (Dane Newland - I recommend him for anyone and everyone, and he even has a huge enclosed trailer that you get to use to move) and the title company did to make it happen (for us to get keys), the sellers of our new home didn't get the info to our title company in time :( But, since the State's computers were down, and once they came up, all the info was processed, we sucessfully moved in the kitchen and electronics on Friday, and the rest Saturday.

If we hadn't received keys Friday, the new owners of our old home were able to move in Saturday @ 5 regardless of whether we could move in to the new place, so that would have been a huge disaster. Imagine storage, encroaching on others to sleep for two days, then getting people to help move on a Monday....ugh!!!

We've been truly blessed. We really appreciate all the help moving into our new place. The move only took 3 hours to move everything, and am hoping we can park in the garage soon (move all the boxes into storage downstairs, etc) :)

Inspection complete

So here's the latest. The appraisal went well, and the inspection found a few things (that we fixed in a few hours). There a patch job that needs to be done on the roof, so we gave them a little cash to cover it. Now we get to go do the inspection on the other house tomorrow morning. Assuming that goes well, we'll close on both houses March 15 (no Okie...no blood will be shed on the Ides of March).

Things just keep going well (find some wood to knock on). We've been extremely blessed. School has been manageable and one of my teachers has even cancelled the midterm and the final is optional (if you need it to bump up your grade).

Ok...that's it :)

Latest Update

Things are finally slowing down a little before the big move, and this next week is Spring Break, so I thought I’d write a little something before we move Saturday. The plan for this week is to sign papers to sell our house and buy the new one on Thursday @ 11:30. We’ll move the kitchen and other fragile things on Friday, then do the big move Saturday. Frank, Nate, Rich, and Matt have all offered to come help move, and we’ll have several friends and neighbors, so it should go quick.

Lisa’s feeling really good, except struggling with being out of breath a lot, especially when sitting or laying down. She still gets to the gym at least twice a week, and has started doing water aerobics on Saturdays. She’s having her final piano recital in April, and is looking forward to be spending more time as mom, but will miss teaching.

Sydney…what a funny duck. Lately she sings and hums as she runs around the house, finding new things to do. However, if Lisa’s singing she says “stop singing”, then continues her renditions. Lately she’s taken to doing 48 piece jigsaw puzzles by herself, so we ordered a few more and are excited to see her learn and grow. She is also in the middle of potty training, and although several attempts have failed, she’s making progress. She took Lisa upstairs to show Lisa that her new Tinkerbell underwear was clean, and that the poops were in the ‘darbage’ (garbage). She’s getting it…mostly. She get “Scooby snacks” (fruit rollups) when she goes, so it’s a helpful treat. She is so helpful around the house and is excited to tell everyone about “two babies” (showing two fingers).

The light goes on

I was waiting for some code to build, looking at my old Microsoft mug. I turned it around, trying to remember what was on the other side. Now look at the view:

"Where do you want to go today?" pointing to the pass-along cards of Jesus Christ and the temple. And the light comes on...

What's in a name?

Since we found out we were having twins, we've been pretty certain the girl would be named Natalie (I hope Natalie Eileen, after my mom, but Lisa likes Nataline Jane). Anyway, knowing this, and that we can't agree on any boy names, I'm up for taking suggestions, voting (even though I know your minds and no I won't commit to the winner), or other means of finding out his name. There are a few family names, Paul, Wayne, Tanner, but this is about all we have to go on. The other issue is we're limited to choosing names not already used by cousins. Here's the list of those not available: Henry, Ryan, Luke, James, Benjamin, Andrew, Joey, Taylor, Spencer, Ethan, Max, Sam, and Daniel.

Names NOT on the list (although I like some of them, but using "Moore" as the last name, I think you'll see why): Michael (Michael Moore), Thomas (Sir Thomas More).

Maybe we'll do lunch for the winner :)

Sold...again

Well...after our previous buyer rescinded their offer after two days, then being back on the market for five more days, we received two offers, countered, and are again under contract. Well...back to watching The Office - season 2.

Packing

Oh, the joys of packing. When the work day is over, and homework is pushed to the next day (as it's not due today...), more packing ensues. It always amazed me why everyone helping moving always agrees that several things should not be done when packing (i.e. putting all the books in one box, etc), yet I find myself taping the box of books anyway.

My dry sense of humor leaves me with nothing but "So I married a pack rat", which is what Lisa should be (but gratefully isn't.........to my face) saying. The nice thing is most of those things are already boxed and ready. Also, only 10 minute drive to the new place, so how bad could it be?

We're hoping to have several family and friends over to help, and with two huge trailers we should be ready and roaring come the 15th. Let's just be grateful I don't own a regular piano (digital is so light and easy to move) that the only hard things to move will be the LoveSac and the big screen (which is lighter than my old 35" by far).

Ok, ok, I've put it off long enough...back to packing.

Sold!!!

Talk about changes. After less than two days on the market, we just signed all the papers to sell our house, and put another offer on the house we'd like to be in. It all seems so amazing how fast things are changing. Sure, there are two inspections, appraisals, and loans for our current house to sell and future home to buy, but wow. We hope to be moving around the first week of March. Once all the above things are taken care of (maybe just when we give keys and get keys) we'll post a picture of the new place.

We've truly been blessed, and credit things going so well to a loving heavenly Father and two wonderful parents currently serving a mission in Uganda.

Here's the latest dates to go off of:

March 5: should close on our new house or around and get keys to the new place (assuming they like our offer, but are pretty sure they'll take it)

May 4: Graduation

June 13th: Lisa's official due date(although they won't let her go past May 31st, and expect around May 17th)

Changes changes changes

It has been quite an eventful month. From my motherboard dying (see previous blog) to having twins. The realization now is that we don't want to have three kids in one room (the alternative being putting Sydney downstairs before she turns 3 - which is definitely not happening). This means moving. Tomorrow we're going to look for houses with our real estate agent and will probably put our house up for sale a week from Friday (Feb 2). The other realization is that three kids means we need a bigger car. We've been saving up, but weren't planning on either of these (house/car) too soon, but we'll survive.

It always amazes me how blessed we are to have the friends and family we do. Not only have old clothes, car seats, cribs, etc been offered to use, just the support alone of getting through the next few months before the twins are born is the biggest help. We're really excited for graduation in May, and hope that I make it through finals before the twins are born.

It all stems from thinking our Christmas letter was pretty bland and boring. We didn't want to gloat about vacations, etc. and we were thinking not much happened to us in 2006. Well...here's what we get :)

Lisa's ultrasound

I was sure it was twins, but alas the first ultrasound Lisa had (just the doctor checking the heartbeat and that it was moving), only one heartbeat. Well, for those who can remember, I was sure Sydney was a girl even before the ultrasound. I was just sure it was twins, but figured I'd loss the prowess :)

Then again... :) We arrived at the hospital, and sure enough, there was a head on this side of the ultrasound and a head on the other side. Lisa's due with twins (a boy and a girl), to deliver at 38 weeks (if she lasts that long) around the third or fourth week of May.

Despite the fact I still can't stop shaking being so excited and nervous, though I'm not the one who gets to breastfeed. Lisa will probably stop teaching piano around March or April, and is unsure whether she will continue or not afterwards.

Top ten signs you're dating a tester

Top 10 Signs That You're Dating A Tester

10. Your love letters get returned to you marked up with red ink, highlighting your grammar and spelling mistakes.

9. When you complain about him spending too much time with you, he replies that he's in the middle of a soak test.

8. He keeps asking for a "spec" so he'll know how his "harness" should "interface" with you.

7. He'll always do something wrong twice so he can provide accurate repro steps.

6. When you tell him that you won't change something, he'll offer to allow you two other flaws in exchange for changing this one.

5. When you ask him how you look in an outfit, he'll actually tell you.

4. When you give him the "It's not you, it's me" breakup line, he'll agree with you and give specifics.

3. He won't help change a burned out lightbulb because his job is simply to report that it's burned out.

2. He'll keep bringing up old problems that you've since worked out just to make sure that they're still gone....and the number one way to tell you're dating a tester...

1. In the bedroom, he keeps "probing" the incorrect "input."

(Thanks to Rom)

Dell Excitement

Well...for the second time in six months, my Dell's motherboard's capacitors were bulging and needed to be replaced. Well, that's the short story. Here's the real *excitement*:

Thursday morning I was just rebuilding my code for a new delivery to clients when my computer just shuts off. Mysteriously, none of the monitors or other powered devices went out. Slowly it dawns on me the pain I'm about to be in. It's happened again. The Optiplex GX270 with an infamous motherboard problem has indeed striked my house again. Well, after I called Dell and they confirmed the issue, a motherboard was sent and delivered Friday morning, not to be installed until Monday afternoon. So I spent half the day Thursday and all day Friday trying to do work while installing the software I need in the background. You never realize the software you use, installation settings, etc. until you have to start fresh. Anyway, painfully Monday comes around. The tech comes, installs the motherboard, but it doesn't even post. He says it's probably the power supply and leaves. (Only the motherboard was under warranty as they had just replaced it six months ago.

So I needed a power supply. I looked up a few power supplies and who had them locally and found a sweet deal on a 350-watt power supply from Antec on Circuit City who had it for $50, with the SATA power adapters and everything. The website verified they had one and the store wasn't answering my repeated calls to check, so I just went over. After 10 minutes looking, they couldn't find it even though it showed they had one. Then when he looked again, they didn't have one :( So after 15 more minutes on the phone with the Fort Union store, they found that they had one. I paid for it at the Jordan Landing store so I just had to pick it up at customer service in Fort Union. Or so I thought (you'll see this is a theme "so I thought").

So I drive 15 minutes to Fort Union, wait in line 10 minutes, give them my receipt, and she goes looking for it. She returns saying they don't have one, asked who I spoke with, etc. After calling the Jordan Landing store and the person they talked to at the Fort Union store, they find out he put it 'somewhere that they'd see it, so it'd be quicker for me since I've already waited so long'. After this, they found it quickly (once he told them where to find it), and I left to install the power supply.

So after driving another 15 minutes home (I don't want to think how long this whole process took), I opened up my case and swapped the power supply. The computer wouldn't boot. So I removed all the devices, put my old power supply back in (just power, processor, and nothing else (ram, etc) and it posted. Evidently Dell had sent the motherboard in "Manufacturer mode" and, after 5 to 10 seconds of letting it do its diagnostics, I slowly added each component until I found out a stick of ram had been fried.

When I put my PCI sound card back in, I needed to reinstall the drivers (evidently it was in a different slot). I got online with Dell and couldn't find the drivers, so I found the model # and talked to "Elvis" (not kidding), who pointed me to Intel Chipset Utility, modem drivers, and even asked me at one point if I already had the drivers and needed help installing them. So after another wasted 20 minutes, I called Dell support, and after five minutes had the answers and the drivers downloaded and installed.

Can you imagine putting your own computer together and not having the online and phone support you need when you need it?

January 22, May 4, June 13

Well...for those of you like me, these three days (January 22, May 4, June 13) mean three important things:

1/22: We (hope to) find out the gender of the baby

5/4: Graduation(it's about time) from Weber State - BS in Computer Science

6/13: Lisa's due date

It's funny, even though Lisa is pregnant and showing, I forget I'm going to be a dad (again). With trying to get some homework done, ward clerking (spent 12 hours at the church Sunday), working, and dieing to spend more time with the family, it's almost too surreal to believe I'll graduate in under four months. For those who think I'll have just as little free time, I beg to differ. Summer semester was so rough, that with a just a little break before fall semester, fall was really hard on me. Somehow I made the honor roll. Now, that it's my last semester, I am enjoying being at class and the learning atmosphere. The only sad thing is missing out on dedicated time to learning new things (although that won't stop...just formally) and realizing I won't see the friends in the major as often.

Colorado Avalanche 2001 Stanley Cup Final Game 7

Movies 2007

Well well well. What's great about a new year? Resolutions? Who needs a new year for that? New movies! Well, here are a few movies I'm looking forward to this year:

Harry Potter 5 (7/13/07): Looks like they took out his orneryness and looks like another winner http://imdb.com/title/tt0373889/trailers-screenplay-E30458-10-2

Spiderman 3 (5/4/07): If you haven't seen the trailers (there have been a few AND they've been out for quite a while. You still have to wait until May to be satisfied. What great storyline and plot.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007): If there was ever a cliffhanger, Pirates 2 fit the bill. Still in production but slated for 2007, this should fill a few holes (like the Kraken!)

What is the movie you're most looking forward to in 2007? Simpsons? Transformers?