Christmas Eve

The kids are very excited for Christmas this year. I am excited to see their faces as they open the presents and have a good time.
I got my present of a new cell phone this week. I got the new Blackberry Storm. It is sweet. It does everything i need a computer to do in a small package. My email was down for 2 days because of the switch to a Blackberry and I was in physical pain because I didn't have a phone to check everything on. I love the Internet access is html on the Blackberry. It is very cool. Part of the phone is an application to help you manage your facebook account. Looks like I will soon be on facebook, we'll see. Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year everyone!!!!

It is almost Christmas!!!!

I need to get back into my blogging groove. We are slowly getting into a routine here in Omaha. I love my job and work with some great people. Our ward is good too. Tiff is the activities committee chair and I am about to get a calling this next week.
It is cold here. It was 60 degrees about 10 days ago and then the next day it snowed and hasn't been above 30 degrees since. we had an ice storm last Thursday. There is an inch of ice on everything. It is kind of crazy.
We went out and bought new front room furniture tonight. There is a brown leather couch and love seat. We will find a bright chair and pillows to offset the couch and give the room a little color. The kids are getting huge. Caiden just got up on all 4's like he was about to crawl. It's coming soon. Colton is spelling and adding and reading small books. Cali is as cute as ever, she plays so good and loves her little brother. She will start preschool in January.
Have a Merry Christmas!!!!!

I hope you enjoy these pictures. We will post more soon. The kids are getting so big!!!!

OMAHA- Not half bad!

This is my first time updating our blog, (who am I kidding, Cliff's blog.) Any time you see a family blog talking about basketball shoes followed by a link you know it is no family blog.
We finally made it to Omaha, NE. We bought a new home and everyone asks me if it so great being back in a new house. After days of painting the frontroom so that it matched everything we own, paying for and picking out blinds and curtains, dreading landscaping I tell everybody, " yes I love owning a new house!" At least everything that is damaged I know we took a part in it. The one thing I'm having trouble with is all the "D" stairs, (we now own a multi-level.) We did smart up a couple weeks in and put a basket for things that need to go upstairs. By the way that baskets is always overflowing.
Our ward seems nice and big. There are a lot of couples in our ward our age with kids and stuff and most of them are new to the area or leaving with the military soon. I already got a calling, Ward Activity Director. Don't be jealous the title makes it sound more glamorous than it really is. Cliff told his mom he's seeing how long he can go without a calling since our last ward had him doing Executive Secretary and Elders Quorum President at the same time. It seems that I must learn best by baptism by fire since the Christmas party is in a couple weeks and everyone is expecting something fabulous, we'll see.
I was going to keep going but Cliff thinks your all bored by now so I will have to update this another day.

Crazy Time!!!!

We are crazily packing and getting everything ready to move on the 26th. We close on the Sioux City house on September 24th. We are renting the place back for the rest of the month. That will give us the time to clean the house and make sure everything is out of it. We close in Omaha at 9am on the 26th. We are packing most of our stuff into a uhaul on the 25th and then spending the night in a hotel in Omaha. We will be unloading at our new place all day Friday. I am excited to get this over with. I am in a car 3 hours a day. i am done by the time I get home so it makes it tough to accomplish stuff. We are excited to be near a temple and the church house is over 5 minutes away instead of 20. I need to call the bishop and see if he wants to help us move in on the 26th. Hope so!!!

Our new house....

So, it is not final yet but here is where we are hoping to buy this week. Here is the subdivision. It is called Stockman's Hollow and it is a great location in Papillion, Nebraska. We are about 25 minutes from downtown Omaha. 35 minutes from the Temple. 10 minutes from our ward house.This is a new construction house that was pre-built and will be complete on September 24th. Here is the floor plan. It is a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath that has over 2200 finished square feet. There is an unfinished basement that could be a large recreation room, a bedroom and a bathroom in the future. We are excited to move in, and I am excited to stop commuting the hour and a half each way per day. This is not final. we talked to the financial people and they only let people put offers in if they are pre-approved. We should have a pre-approval Monday and put in the offer on Tuesday.

Moving sale

We are busily getting ready for a Moving/Garage/yard/everything must go sale at our house. This next Saturday it is go time. We have bookshelves, toys, clothes, coffee tables, electronics, and a bunch of other stuff. Tiffany loves these things so it should be ready to go on Saturday. We have got to get rid of the clutter so that we only have to move what matters to the new place. I just put 2 screws in the bookshelves so that it won't tip over. Colton is going through his toys deciding if 800 different balls are enough or if 1 can be sold...Since we will not move until the end of September we are putting Colton in School for 1 month. Tomorrow he starts again. He is excited to be back with his friends even if it is for a short time. Next time I blog I will tell you about the house we are buying.

Slacker...Yep that's me!!

Yes I am a slacker but if you are not used to it by now you never will be. Life is crazy right now. I drive an hour and a half each way every day to work. And it is a new job (which I love!!) so I am spending extra time getting down all the different job functions. We are looking for a house. I am trying to spend time with the kids so that they feel special during this time of transition. And I need sleep. So, updating the blog loses out.
We are pretty close to deciding on a house. It is a huge 2000 sq ft new construction house. I like it a lot!! the down side right now is the neighborhood. Because it is a newer area you never know how it will end up. The schools in the area are good. The church building is about 5 minutes away. Work will be about 20-25 minutes. It is close to a Target, Walmart and other stuff. We should have the decision made by end of the week so stay tuned!!

Offer done!!

Last night I signed the offer on the Fiegel's buying our house. I am leaving Thursday morning to SLC to get the family and drive back to Sioux City for now. It is about 6:00 here and i think I am going to go look around town a little bit. I want to show Tiff around Omaha on Sunday so we can get moved down here fast. Super excited about all that stuff. I am very anxious to see my family again. It has been too long!! Caiden has doubled in weight since i last saw him!!! I have presents for them and everything. My Mom said she was inviting Ryan and Matt and Families in for Dinner on Thursday. In case you read this and haven't heard from Mom yet, make sure your night is open for one last hurrah and maybe a game of Nerts. I'll even let Ryan win.....

Yesssss

Just met the people who are going to buy our house. Tiff won't answer my call so she doesn't even know it yet. They are approved already with a lender, her father is a lawyer who will do all the paperwork. They both teach at middle schools here in Sioux City. They have a 6 month old and a few dogs. It has been a busy day so far with the Open House. I hate missing church but Sunday's are when Open Houses happen in this town. So excited....Cannot sit still.....must pace.....more to come soon!!

Garden

I just picked the first tomato's of the season out of the garden. I looked out there and saw 3 cherry tomato's ready to go. They were sooooooo good. I am excited for Tiff and the kids to come back. Colton has asked me several times to make sure I leave him some tomato's.
Zucchini is another issue. I gave away 5 and have 8 in our fridge. We have Zucchini coming out of our ears. Next time we will only do 1 plant instead of 2. No one can eat all the zucchini off 2 plants. Our green peppers are doing well. They are still small but growing quickly.

Looking for a car

I went out looking for a new car last night. I have never been to a car lot where I did not immediately get harassed. In Sioux City on Friday and Saturday car lots close at 6:00. I was able to go to 3 lots and look really close at all the cars. Of course, I would have liked to test drive 2 of them to see if I like the performance. There was a Toyota Corolla that I liked but, my favorite was a Nissan Sentra. Check it out here. I will have to let Tiff take a look when she gets back.

house for sale

So I spent $50 bucks at Lowe's to get a bunch of signs to hang around town this week. The signs I bought allowed mt to put our house on the Internet at no charge. Check it out here. If anyone is looking for a house in Sioux City let me know.

Flights

So I am doing these posts in the wrong order. Deal with it. I have to tell you how bad the flight to and from Denver was this past week. It felt like United Airlines put me in a bag and beat me with a baseball bat for an hour each way. It was dreadful. I was within about an inch of throwing up on the way back Thursday night. Not to mention that both flights were very late because of plane issues and all that kind of stuff. A week ago I made the same flight on Frontier and it was fine. Probably why United announced a 152 million dollar loss for the quarter. They sucked.

First full day on the job

Friday was the first full day at the new job. One of my coaches took a job on the Operations side of the house so I will be hiring a new coach soon. I spent the day trying to figure out who will be the best person to fill in as an in-charge while I interview and hire. I also spent a majority of the day meeting people saying hi and learning what they do. I am currently reading the book The First 90 Days. It talks about how to make the first 90 days of a new job really count. It has some great information at the beginning about learning the culture and environment of your new job. It has a bunch of great questions to ask those that have been around too. I plan to start having one- on - ones with my direct reports here in the next week. Start developing and building relationships. Friday went so fast it felt like I was at work for 15 minutes.

Open House

Tiff and the kids are still in Utah. I am glad that they have extra time to spend with family and cousins. I miss them.
Today we had an Open House. We had about a dozen visitors. That is not that many. Sunday's are really the day most people go to Open Houses around here. The house down the street has an Open House tomorrow too. Hopefully this place sells fast. I want to get down to Omaha as soon as possible. With the road construction between here and there it is taking 2 hours to make the drive. That is too long. Not to mention the gas. I am thinking that the $53.99 Motel 6 might be cheaper then coming home every night. I am going to fill up the tank on my truck today and then crunch the numbers.

Denver

Hello out there from Denver Colorado. I am currently there for a Qwest Leadership Training. It has been pretty good. We have discussed Qwest Finances and Ethics so far today. I met a few people that I had only met on the phone and conference calls before. That was cool.
Yesterday was my first day at the new job. I met all the coaches and consultants. Then left for Denver. I am excited to get going and start making a difference.
I miss my family. They are still in SLC hanging out until August 10 or 20. I think I am going to go to the store and buy them a souvenir. Go Colorado Rockies!!

Open House part 1

Today we had the first Open House to try and sell our place by owner. It went well. We had a dozen people stop by. They all thought the house looked great. A couple of those people were repeat visitors so I tried to get my sell on. Didn't work today but they will be back.
Before the Open house I talked the Missionaries into helping me stain my deck. It looks great. They were still working on it when the Open House started. They saved my bacon so thank you to the Elders who helped out. Other then that I am attempting to keep the house clean for tomorrows open house.
I just talked to Tiff and she went to the Family Reunion for my family. She deserves a parade or a National Holiday in her honor for doing that. I am going to start working on that now.

links of the day

Check out this story on Missionaries for the Church. Crazy stuff.

I always try to read the news of the Weird each week. People are nuts.

Here is a hilarious You Tube video mocking Akon and T-Pain because they sound similar.

You might know I am a huge You Tube fan. Here is a hilarious Will Farrell video. That is Will Farrell's daughter. She will need a ton of therapy when she's older.

I need a vacation from my vacation!

Today was a day spent makig sure the house is ready for the 2 Open Houses we have this weekend. I trimmed and mowed the lawn and then pulled all the weeds throughout the flower beds. I fixed the closet doors and added pull knobs to the doors. I calked the wall by the stairs and then added cement caulk on the front porch where the stairs have settled. I had to clean some of the carpets again. I hung the door to the basement. I also fixed the refrigerator that begun to leak. I created the paper about the house for the Open House. I stained part of the deck. The missionaries are coming over tomorrow at 10am to help me finish the deck. And I did 4 loads of laundry on top of that. I need to go to work so I can get some down time.
I am traveling to Denver for 4 days next week for work. hopefully i can get a little reading in and relax some.
My wife and kids stayed in Utah while I start the new job and sell the house. I miss my wife and kids. I could always count on one of them to make me smile if I needed it.

The Dark Knight

So, usually I am not the type to go see new movies at 12:01 the day they open. I did that with the Simpson's and loved every minute of it. Tonight a buddy of mine invited me to attend the new Batman movie with him at midnight on opening day. With all the buzz around this movie I had to attend. The Dark Knight did not disappoint. Or rather should I rename the movie to the Joker. Heath Ledger was jaw dropping. he was maniacal yet believable. Now that we know more about Heath it feels that he might just do everything his character does. Every moment of the movie was amazing. There were twists and turns and amazing action scenes. This movie is a thumbs up or 5 out of 5 or however you rate movies. I would warn parents about taking children to this movie. PG13 is a generous rating. It is very violent maybe a PG 16 would be better. Great flick, go see it and do not wait for the video. You have to see this mad man on the big screen.

It's been a week.....

Yes it has been a week since I last blogged and boy am I tired. The family reunion is in full effect and we have barley rested since it started. We spent 3 days at the Northgate Mansion in Provo and then spent time having fun together at mom's house.
Today we went and saw Tiffs parents. Colton Jumped off their shed onto the trampoline. It is his favorite thing to do at Opa's. He is about 10 feet in the air and jumps onto a pile of pillows on the tramp. He landed wrong on one jump and knocked the wind out of himself. That scared him, but he is super tough.
I am headed back to Sioux City on Wednesday to sell the house. Tiff and the kids are staying here. Wish me luck!!

Family Reunion

So the entire family will be in town tonight. Tomorrow morning we take our first venture out into the world to get family pictures taken. We haven't had family pictures in 3 years so it will be nice to see the difference in the kids. Today i didn't do much. I wore my shox's for the first time when i went and played ball at the church with my nephews. It was fun.
My dad is finally finishing the waterfall/pond he started 3 years ago just before the last reunion. It is really nice. He had 2 huge rocks delivered today. They had been pre-drilled with a hole to run the water pipe through. I will take a picture and post it soon. I think it is a very clever design and it sounds cool as the water runs over the rocks. Makes me miss the ocean a little more.

I am shoxed...

While in Park City I purchased a pair of Nike Shox's. I have a pair already and I love them!! If you are looking for a good pair of shoes i recommend them. If you go to your local mall they charge you an arm and leg. Go here and you can get the for a much better deal. These are the ones I purchased.

Wanna go on a drive?

So it is family reunion time in Utah. That means we drive from Sioux City to Salt Lake. Over 1000 miles of fun with a 6 and 4 year old. Not to mention the 4 week old....Sound like fun? In case your wondering it wasn't. We left Sioux City around 4 in the afternoon after work. At 4 in the morning we were in Laramie Wyoming and stayed the "night" in a Day's Inn. Checkout was at 11 so we were back on the road. We made it to Park City Utah at around 5 in the afternoon. We did not want to hit Salt lake traffic so we went to the outlets in Park City. We finally made it tomy parents house around 7 at night. A little over 24 hours from starting the drive we made it. That is a long drive!!

Day off....?

So I took a vacation day from work today. They call it a vacation day but I did more work today then at work! We are trying to get the house ready to sell so we are working our butts off getting the little things done. We hired 3 of the nieghbor kids to come over today to paint and clean. They did a good job. I borrowed a pressure washer from a guy at work and we took the paint off our deck. We were letting the deck dry so we could restain it when the rain started coming down. Painting is so annoying. i am not excited to continue painting this evening. If anyone out there wants to come help paint just come on over!!

Omaha is a great place to be!!

Check out this report on MSN Money about the Top Places to live. Omaha is number 2!!

The big news

So I alluded to some big changes for the Roblyer's and then I left you hanging. I am a terrible blogger. Well here it is. I recently received a promotion at work and the family and I are relocating to Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha is about 100 miles away but it is a big city of over 1 million people. That is about 10 times as many as Sioux City and the surrounding area. So off we will be going. I have to report on the 21st of July so we are on a tight schedule to sell the house and move the family. I am super excited! Tiff has a little reservation but that is mostly because I have a ton to get done before we can get a realtor involved. We are currently painting the house, replacing doorknobs and heater registers, and refinishing the deck. Wish us luck for a quick sale!!

It's been a couple days

Life has been super busy this week. I feel like a mystery writer because I can't say why it has been busy. Monday I should be able to announce it but needless to say we Roblyers here in Iowa are pretty excited about what is coming this summer!! It seems like whenever Tiff and I have a kid big changes come along with that. Well that held true this time. Right now that 1 topic is all I think about so I have nothing else to say (for now)!!!

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day Dad! I don't say it enough, thank you for everything you have always done for me and my family. Growing up you taught me the value of hard work and money. You had the patience to let me learn by making mistakes for myself while never allowing me to get so far off track that I couldn't make it back. Thank you for your great example as a father!

Slide Show!

The thought of President Obama scares me!!!!

I saw this picture on the Internet. I only hope McCain picks a social conservative as his Veep so that normal people will vote for him. The political outlook is very unnerving.

Flooding in Iowa

Sioux City is in western Iowa, right along the Missouri River. We live 2 minutes from the Nebraska state line and 20 minutes from the South Dakota border. The area we live in is not currently affected by flooding. That is further east and some to the south toward Omaha Nebraska. Check out this story on the flooding that is occurring on the other side of the state.

Let's start with Cali Ann

So, let's talk about Cali. She is my 4 year old little girl who is as sweet as they get. We named her after California were Tiffany and I went on a Thanksgiving trip as friends. I also served my mission in Southern/Central California, so it is an area I love. Cali is always happy. She is a morning person who comes into our bedroom early asking for breakfast. She loves to play by herself and could spend hours drawing and being creative. She loves to play in the sandbox and be outside. She wanted to name our baby reading rainbow, which I am a big fan of LaVar Burton, or Gordi LaForge, but it is still not a good name for a baby. She wants to change her name to Frosty Pop which is a great name for an ice cream but is not a great name for a kid. I gave her the nickname Izzy at a young age. She goes to preschool and loves her teachers, both at school and church. She has her father wrapped around her finger. Her mom has taught her to ask dad for something and then bat her eye lashes. That is not fair! Cali loves to make up songs and dances. She is so cute!

Picture of tornado

Here is a picture of the tornado that hit the Boy Scout camp last night. It is truly amazing any ofthe boys that were out in this survived.

Tornado nearby

We are about 45 minutes from Little Sioux, IA where 4 people were killed by a tornado. They AIRMED a couple of the over 100 injured up to Mercy Medical center where Caiden was born almost 1 week ago. Every time we went to visit Tiff in he hospital we would park by the helicopter so the kids could see it. Here is a link to story on a local TV stations website. This happened at a boy scout camp. I will have to talk later about my years working at a Cub Scout Camp.

Jumper

So I made the mistake of believing Hayden Christensen just couldn't act in Star Wars. Tiff and I rented Jumper tonight. The movie had some good action but, no character development. You never got to know the people. And, then the movie ends with it open for a second movie. There is no way this movie will have a sequel. He ends the movie by not killing the bad guy and then finding out his mom is one of the bad guys. Then he jumps somewhere else. Very weak ending.

Grandma is gone...

My mother has been here the last few days to help with the baby and it has been great. Since Tiff has been out of commission so, it was a huge help to have family here. My mom made all the food, cleaned the house and watched the kids. The kids were very sad to see her go today. They had played go fish and played with bubbles. So here is a picture of Grandma with the kids. If you read this mom THANK YOU!!!!

First day home

Today the wife and baby came home. It is nice to start getting back to normal. If you call a newborn that only poops and eats normal. Colton and Cali are so exited to have their mom and brother home. They are bouncing off walls with excitement. Here is a picture of all 3 of my kids together. They are adorable!! For me it will be nice to have my wife back in bed so I can sleep normal again.

Tiff is in a bunch of pain. When you a C-Section they cut you all the way across and it is a huge scar. The kids are not used to having to be careful when giving mom a hug. She is a trooper so she'll be back at it in no time.

And our baby's name is...

Okay here it is, Caiden Jan Roblyer! That is the name Tiffany and I have chosen for our new baby boy. Cali has a little girl friend named Kayden, so I am a little hesitant that this is a girlie name. Not to mention that his middle name is spelled Jan. Now, Jan is a family name, and it is pronounced (yun) so I am completely behind the middle name. Tiffany's dad and grandpa have the name Jan. I will get get over the different name quickly. I will post some more pictures of the baby a little later. We just had his newborn picture taken and it was so cute. His little eyes were open and he was looking for Tiff and I. A few of the pictures have him tilting the direction we were standing. Because he was so big he already has pretty good control over neck.

Video's at the bottom of the page......

I added a few video's to the blog because this is my 2nd post and I know I am boring. The video's are hilarious. Barats and Beretta are two of the funniest guys on You Tube. Take a look, and feel free to laugh out loud!!

My first post

My wife had a baby yesterday. I want to share a few pictures. Check out this kid. He is huge!! 10 Lbs 2 OZ!! He is a tank. He does not have a neck at all so I think he would make a great fullback. We'll see, let me know what you think