At times I don’t think anything new has happened since I last posted, and then as I reflect back on this past month, MANY things have happened. I will try to remember all of them and not make this TOO boring!

First off, we are closing on our home on Monday, June 11th. We are very excited to be moving into our own home. After living in other people’s homes for half a year, it will be nice to spread out. We had our first walk through with our builder this past weekend. He told us that he boss said that she wishes they would have used our home for the model. So, that is a nice pat on the back for us. So far with purchasing our first home and it being a new home everything has been a smooth process. If all goes well, we will have our final walk through, sign papers and move in all on Monday. Once we get the keys we will move our things in. It should only take an hour or so since everything but our bed, computer, clothes and TVs are in the garage in boxes.

Other news…Matt went to London, England in May for training. He flew out Monday evening, had training on Wednesday and Thursday and then was a tourist for Friday and Saturday and came home Sunday evening. He was able to see a mission buddy who lives in England and actually stayed in his flat to save money when he was being a tourist. When he told me that he would be going to England for training, I told him that he needs to bring me back some chocolate! And that he did, I don’t even have to share this chocolate with him! We thought that he would be able to visit my cousin Jana since she is there in England, but she had to unexpectedly go into work for that weekend. He had a great time and took some pictures if anyone cares to view them, they have been placed in our photo albums.

In church, things have changed a bit for us. I was the Enrichment Leader for a couple of months, but I never had to be in charge of an enrichment night since our next activity is scheduled for July. Well, I have now been released from that calling and will now be serving as the 1st counselor in our ward Primary presidency with my aunt Anna as the president. Matt is still helping out in the nursery with Kalani, but will also be teaching Sunday School for an hour as well. Any good ideas for primary, send them this way. Being in the ward Primary presidency is a lot more work than Stake Primary presidency. I guess I will get to know the primary children very quickly!

And now onto our Kalani news. Right now she is playing with a castle and swords and dinosaurs. With 4 boys living here of course she would start to play with some boy toys. But, she is also incorporating her My Little Pony and Crepe Suzette doll into her playing. Yesterday she was telling us that she was the Pink and Purple Queen. If you ask her what her favorite colors are the response will always include Pink and Purple, so of course I will be painting her room pink and purple. She has a very active imagination and I love to just listen to her stories and her playing. She is still changing her clothes a couple of times a day, but what do you expect when you play pretend? One of her favorite pass times is to play “family” where she is normally the “teenage sister,” or the queen or princess. She is also a very fast learner if I can just brag for a moment: She would watch the TV show, “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” so I decided to teach her to spell her name by changing the letters of Mickey Mouse to Kalani Farley. Like they say, if you put it to music you will remember it faster. So, if you ask Kalani how to spell her name, she can tell you. Also, she knows how to type her name on the computer.

Well, thanks for letting me brag and fill you all in on our life here in Texas. We will hopefully see most of ya sometime this year. If you are ever in the Houston area, look us up. We are only about 25 minutes from the airport and we have an extra bedroom in our new house!

During the summer of 2006 I co-founded an internet startup called eefoof.com which competes with sites like YouTube and MySpace as a community portal driven by user-submited content.

During the intial launch we generated enough buzz to attract investment capital which we used to hire marketers, lawyers, contractors, etc. Entering my final semester of school I was not available to continue in my role as lead developer, but luckily we found a very talented developer and hired him to do a complete rewrite/makeover of the site.

After having PC Magazine list us in their 10 Worst Names, we decided it was time to re-think our name. We are now in the midst of launching eefoof v2.0 aka vume.com.

It is our hope that vume sees the viral success that other sites have, as users take advantage of our profit-sharing business model.

Introducing Junior, an eastern indigo snake and the third addition to our list of reptile pets. He’s nearly 8 months old and is growing fast.

The Eastern Indigo is truly a prize in the reptile world and one of the flagship animals representing North America’s natural history. This is the largest North American snake (with records hovering around 9 feet) and it is also now an endangered species due to over collecting, habitat destruction and habitat fragmentation. Now relegated primarily to small pockets in Florida and Georgia, this snake once roamed the entire southeastern parts of the United States. A formidable predator, this egg laying snake preys on any animal it can overpower with its powerful jaws including other snakes (even venomous), amphibians, birds, mammals, arachnids, scorpions, etc.

Now, in order to own one of these beautiful creatures, you will typically need a special permit depending on your home state. But there’s no need to rush for a permit, it may take awhile to find one for sale. Indigos are not mass-produced like corn snakes and ball pythons and as such, you have a fairly limited pool of breeders from which to choose.

I purchased my baby indigo from Steve Takata here in Texas. Steve is an experienced researcher who has a Ph.D. in zoology and a renowned reputation as an indigo breeder.

To Tia’s chagrin, Junior joins Big Daddy and Little Momma in our expanding reptile collection.

Every so often Tia takes Kalani to get some portraits done, and I am always amazed with the results. Just when you don’t think she can’t get any cuter, she goes and does another photo shoot.

The Picture People – This is why she’s cute. Combined with Zazzle.com, The Picture People offer a completely streamlined web purchasing interface which allows you to preview and order portraits. By partnering with Zazzle, The Picture People can take it a step further and offer various merchandise and apparel featuring your photos and custom text.

Here is an example of a Picture People / Zazzle ordering form where you can order prints or overlay images on apparel and merchandise.

I’ve also downloaded the Zazzle digital copies into our local farleyfamily.net photo albums:

• Low-Res no Watermarks
• High-Res with Watermarks

I hope that ya’ll enjoy these sporadic letters. I enjoy telling about the life that we are living here in Texas and all of the changes that are occurring. Matt will post my update letters here on our website, hopefully you will enjoy reading about our adventures.

Matt and I have both experienced fire ants since we have moved here. I have been bit twice, but that is two times too many. I was in the backyard pushing Kalani on the swing when I felt a sting on my foot. It started as a small bit, then it quickly became more painful. The pain subsided for a couple of days, but then I got a small blister on my foot that itched. Aren’t there enough ants in the world? Why do we need fire ants? Matt was standing on a small ant mound on Sunday, so I don’t know what his take on the experience is.

Since we drove from California to Texas, a 12 hour road trip doesn’t seem that bad. For spring break my aunt Anna and I took the kids to Manhattan, Kansas to visit my uncle Robert and aunt Annette and their 7 children. It was a really easy drive, going directly north, just kind of a boring scenery. We left on March 14 and came back on March 19. In Oklahoma we stopped at Braum’s. It is a hamburger/creamery/grocery store all together. The ice cream was really yummy and the food was decent. Kansas was very chilly while we were there. Especially since we were coming from Houston. We didn’t pack properly, but luckily Rob and Net have a child about the same age/size as all of the kids that we brought. The day after we arrived (Thursday) we went to the elementary school while Annette had a parent teacher conference. The kids played on the playground for a while, until it got too cold. There was a book fair going on inside the school so the kids had fun checking out all of the different books. Then Annette treated all of the children to a book. Kalani got a scratch and sniff Strawberry Shortcake book that she wants me to read to her daily. Later in the afternoon we went to a “ranch.” A lady in Annette’s church offered to have the kids come over and ride her horses and help with the chores. The kids loved it. They learned how to measure a horse and pony, brush them, and clean between the horses toes! The kids also were grossed out but laughed when the horse went pooh. I guess when you don’t grow up on a farm or in the country you are not use to seeing things like that. Kalani was scared of the horses of course since there was no fence between us. She wanted to sit in the car while the kids rode the animals. I did eventually get her out of the car and we watched the kids ride the pony by themselves.

On Friday Robert took everyone over to the church building to play some basketball, soccer and play with the nursery toys. It was fun to see all of the cousins/siblings play together. It reminded me of my youth and trying to play sports with the uncles. When we got back to the house the ladies got ready for an afternoon together. Anna, Annette, Kalli and myself went to lunch and then to Hobby Lobby (it is somewhat like a Michael’s or JoAnn’s but with more home decor). Later everyone got ready to go bowling, but I opted to stay home with the 3 little girls so we could have a “Princess Party.” I had Kalani and Hannah (both 3 and then I had baby Jadyn 1) watched Cinderella 3 while I combed their hair and curled it. Then I put some make-up on them and got them dressed in dresses they wanted to wear and took their pictures. I had a great time and I think they did as well.

Our plan for Saturday was to go to Independence, Missouri to see the church visitor’s center and other church historical sites. We had a late start and about an hour into the drive Robert pulled over and asked if we noticed his car shaking. Anna and I hadn’t noticed, but once he brought it to our attention I noticed that the wheel on the passenger side was shaking so bad it looked as if it would fall off. We pulled into a gas station and noticed the the tire was splitting a the seems in two seperate locations. The rear driver side tire was also splitting and the driver tire was not in that great of condition either. So, while we were stopped, I made peanut butter and honey sandwiches and the kids saw how to change a tire. The spare was flat, but it wasn’t a problem to put air into it since we were at a gas station. We made a detour to Walmart for some new tires. The first Walmart we went to had a horindous long wait, so we left for another Walmart that wasn’t very far. While new tires were put on the van and realigned I bought a variety pack of ice cream to entertain the kids. The only rule was that each person had to eat at least 2 ice cream sandwiches/cones/popsicles. All of the kids were up for the challenge. The kids also discovered a man made tunnel used for storms, or something like that. After our detour of a couple of hours, we headed to Independence. The visitor’s center is huge and a lot of fun. We watched the new Joseph Smith movie and it made me remember all of the hardships he went through in order to restore the gospel. It was very touching and some of the older children felt the spirit from the movie. Robert took the younger kids out to play in a small area designed for children. It was a small cabin that kids can play in as well as plastic toys and a wagon to ride on. I highly recommend everyone to visit that visitors center.

Daylight was quickly coming to an end so we started back towards Kansas. We took another small detour to Cabela’s (a hunting, backpacking store). There were many “stuffed” wild life on display along with some live coi fish and ducks. Kalani did pretty well looking at the animals until we got to the Africa section with a huge elephant and other Afican animals. What really freaked her out was when a hippo head and lion head started to talk electronically. From then on she only wanted me to hold her and was done at looking at the animals. We soon left for the house but the kids said that that day was, “the best day ever!” Just goes to show you that with good people, lots of food and a good attitude, any day can be the best day ever.

Sunday was spent going to church and hanging out at the house and Monday we woke up early to come back to Texas. One of the funniest things that I heard from the trip was said by Nick (10 years old). Nick is autistic, but has a good memory. When he saw me he said, “I’m scared of Big Black Jeff!” I just laughed since I knew he was refering to my dad. Nick would say this almost everytime that he saw me. Just an hour ago Kalani said to me, “Big Black Jeff is my grandpa.” So the saying has stuck. Dad you are now known as Big Black Jeff!

Since our Kansas trip not a whole lot has happened. I taught a lesson for our church enrichment on TIPS. Thank you to all that gave me helpful tip information. After the meeting I met with the Bishop and he extended the calling of Enrichment leader out to me. Of course I said yes, but I am very much out of my comfort zone. I enjoy enrichment meetings, but I have never planned one. I would much rather be a counselor in any organization than a president or leader. I don’t want all of the reponsibility! So, if you have any good ideas or things that you have done in the past that you enjoyed, PLEASE send the ideas my way. Matt still has not received a calling although he has expressed interest in being in the nursery with Kalani.

Last Sunday we drove to Austin, Texas for my college roommate, Angela DeLong, baby’s blessing. It was great to see her and her family again. Plus her parents and in-laws were also there. I haven’t seen them a few years so I had a blast talking with them and showing off Matt and Kalani. I know that if I ever go to Hawaii or Utah I have a place to stay with the Welling or DeLong family. While we were there I mentioned to Angela that was is going to California for a week and she quickly asked if I was going to stay with her. It is just so much fun to be in the same state as Angela again and to have her girls there to play with Kalani. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive, but it isn’t a hard drive and really that is almost like driving from Sacramento to the bay. Not that big of a deal.

In a couple of days Matt leaves for California and will be gone for a week. He likes to bring up the fact that he gets to go to church in Antelope and eat Sunday dinner at the farm. He needs to be in California for work, but arranged his flight to leave a few days early so he could see friends and family. When he gets back there will be a lot of changes on our house. They just poured the foundation last Friday, March 30. Tomorrow they will start framing the house. Our builder still says that it will be done by the end of May. We will see how close to that date they come. If they get one bad storm that will push them back. And boy do they get some crazy thunder storms. Kalani was sitting at the window watching our first lightening and thunder storm here a few weeks back. She got pretty scared from the noise and how the whole sky lights up.

We hope that everyone is doing well this Easter Season. We love you and miss you.