Happy Birthday Noodle!

So my new favorite craft is stenciling shirts...It's amazingly simple to do.  I made a Mickey and Minnie shirt for each of the kids with the intention of visiting Disney, but that trip to Jax and Disney got canned.  Our dear friend Nick, who lives in Florida, had his 3rd birthday this week and we were bummed that we had to miss it.  The plan was to take his present with us and hand deliver it, but no such luck.

Nick LOVES pirates - that may be an understatement.  He lives and breathes pirates.  When there was a baby alligator in the pond behind his house, he spent the days looking out the back window saying "tick tock" the entire time!  Any time I would babysit Nick, he'd always ask if I could put Kendall to bed so he and I could play with Riley's Lego Pirate set!

So in honor of Nick's love for all things pirate, I made him a Capt. Hook shirt for his birthday.  I think Riley is a little jealous because I made a pirate shirt for Nick, but he'll get over it when he sees all the shirts I have planned for him!

I bought each kid a red long sleeve shirt and plan to stencil snow flakes on it for Christmas!  Can't wait to see how they turn out!  This is so much fun and a cheaper way to give my kids one of a kind shirts!

Sibling Love is the BEST!

Two days ago Riley had a melt down because I denied him his halloween candy dessert after lunch because he intentionally stepped on a toy of his sisters that she was trying to pick up.  We discussed what "on purpose" vs. "accident" meant and I'm not sure if he really grasped the point, but regardless his consequence was no candy after lunch.  The tears started and the cry fest began.  Poor Sissy didn't know what to make of all of it, but somehow she knew he was upset and needed some lovin'.  Her solution was to kiss him, hug him and pat his head to make him feel better.  It was one of my favorite moments as a mom.  To see her show him compassion at such a young age warmed my heart.  

Both of my kids are so sweet on each other.  They are each other's best friend.  I think Kendall is the reason Riley did so well with this move west.  He has a constant playmate.  The best part is that they both love to play with each other's toys!

This picture was taken yesterday of my two lovin' on each other again.  K is really into books right now and R is doing a great job of reading so she picked up one of her favorite books (Itsy Bitsy Spider) and sat in his lap and he read it to her!  

I have to keep these images in my head for those days where they are getting on each others' nerves as well as my own!  It's these moments that I need to cherish because siblings will argue and fight over the years, but in the end, they love each other and I hope they will remain the best of friends.

Cancelled Mini-Vacation...

So Andy has a trip for work schedule for Jacksonville in 2 weeks.  Little did he know that his business trip was going to double as a mini family vacation!  How could we turn up such an opportunity?

Well, Andy calls me this morning to let me know that he'd been on the phone with Southwest Airlines and they will not allow us to use our Rapids Rewards points to fly with Andy on his trip because they are overbooked for Thanksgiving the following week.  If we were to purchase 2 roundtrip tickets, it would cost us $1300!  Ouch!  So, now, our trip is cancelled.

I am SOOOO bummed.  I was looking forward to hanging out with my girlfriends, eating at Angies and sucking down as much sweet tea as I could in a few days as well as getting a quick trip in to Disney.  I even had made the kids matching Mickey and Minnie tee shirts to wear at Disney.  At the rate my kids are growing, they won't fit by the time we get back to visit after the New Year.

I guess there is no point in waiting to get my Utah license now...We were planning to get a Florida resident discount at Disney.  Oh well, we'll end up paying full price but at least we can plan it around another trip to Jax for work and use free flights...

Sorry to all my Jax friends.  I miss you all so very much!  We'll try again after the holidays!

Here are the adorable shirts I made the kids...

Utah's Version of Central Park

Today was so beautiful that the thought of staying inside seemed criminal.  So after some research online, we decided to check out a new park.  So far I haven't found the "it" park.  In Jax, it was Sunshine Park in Jax Beach and in Lancaster, it was a toss up between West Earl Park in Talmage and Long's Park.  All three have AWESOME playgrounds for the munchkins.

Liberty Park has a water feature for the warm months and an all-ability playground which means K and R can both enjoy the same area.  There was a dried up pond where the ducks and geese were trying to hang out in the small puddles.  In the spring time this might be a fun place to go and feed the ducks.  There is also a paved bike/jogging path around the entire park.  It's a big park - I wonder how many laps is a mile...could easily be just one lap.

Here are some pics of our fun day.

K loves attempting to climb things...She's a real monkey!

Brother is such a good helper!  He asked if he could push her in the swing...just needs a reminder to push gently from time to time!

I'd like to think she's counting in this one, but that's probably just luck!

We found a pile of leaves to jump in!

This is how K spends most of her time at the parks...walking around and making Momma nervous that she'll wonder off and I won't see where she went!

Family Fun Time on Sunday

After church today, the sun was shining and the temps had warmed up so Andy suggested we take the family on a hike.  It was a glorious day to do just that.  We drove back to Corner Canyon and hiked up the Jacob's Ladder trail...boy does that trail go up, and up, and up the mountain!  This trail is very appropriately named.  It felt that we'd make our way to Heaven if we just kept going.  We got to the top of the canyon, but not the top of the mountain.  Our trail connected to another that wove around the other side of the canyon so we decided that since Riley was exhausted as it was, we'd better just head back down the way we came.  We passed a number of sections along the trail that were still snow covered.  Thank goodness the trails weren't too muddy today.

Riley and I enjoyed some trail running on the way back to the truck.  We had almost reached the trail head (and we were running at full speed) when a snake slithered across our narrow trail and up into the woods!  I screamed so loud that I heard my echo across the canyon!  What a wimp I've become when it comes to snakes.  You'd think that after my 2 years in Jax, I'd be more use to the idea of snakes.  I think it's because I was surrounded by so many poisonous snakes in Jax, that I'm even more cautious and scared of them.  Once we all reached the trail head, and we were walking back to the truck, we came across a second snake!  Thank goodness both were more scared of me and my girlie screams than we were of them!

The view from the top of the canyon was worth all the work to get to the top.  I carried K in the back pack for the first half of the trip - all but a little bit of the ascent, then when my lungs felt like they were going to burst out of my chest if I went any further, I handed her off to Andy.  He had the easy part of hiking down the mountain.  But that's alright.  I needed to burn off the extra calories and I had fun running with Riley on the way down.

My two guys taking a break against a big boulder

Sissy's rest stop

Riley loved his walking stick that Daddy found for him.  When we were descending the mt., I convinced him that it would be safer to leave the stick while we were running, so he buried it in a pile of leaves hoping it would still be there when we return.

At the top of the canyon, this was our view to the south...This is Utah Lake in Utah County, just south of where we live.  We were east of South Mountain looking over the Alpine/Highland area.

This was the view looking back into the valley...somewhere down there is where we parked...Across the valley is Kennecott Cooper Mines.  This mine can be seen by astronauts as they fly over the United States!  It's 2 3/4 miles wide and 3/4 of a mile deep.

Looking up the rest of the trail towards the south east.

Our view of Mt. Timpanogos.

Where the trail seemed to continue towards (looking north east)...See why I told you it was appropriately named Jacob's Ladder!  I would love to know how high we climbed!  No wonder Riley kept saying he felt like he was dying for the second half of the ascent!

The Candy Fairy Visits the Chunkos!

We started yet another "fairy" tradition.  The candy fairy visited our house last night and took away the kids candy and left them with presents instead.  Now don't get to thinking that we're mean, horrible, awful parents who don't let their kids have ANY fun!  Riley did get to pick out a quart sized ziplock bag of his loot to keep.  But he had such a large amount of candy that even as good as we ration it with him, he'd still be finishing it by the time Valentine's day rolls around!

Last night after removing his favorites, Riley placed both bags on the front door knob in hopes that the candy fairy would arrive overnight.  When I got up this morning, he couldn't wait to show me what the fairy brought him.  He was thrilled to receive 3 new Hot Wheels cars.  Sissy got a Veggie Tales movie full of short clips that I got for a few bucks a month or so back.  Riley is excited for her present too because he knows he'll get to watch it with her.

So the candy fairy was a hit for everyone.  The kids get to keep a little bit of candy, they got presents and mom and dad don't have to worry about having so much around the house!  The plan is for Andy to take most of it to work so it doesn't sit around in our house, tempting us.

Trick or Treat! Smell My Feet! Give Me Something Good to Eat!

Last night was Halloween and our kids had a blast!  It was nice because it was the first time we went trick-or-treating as a family.  We drove over to our new house and parked there and headed out into the neighborhood.  It was nice to meet some of our new neighbors and for Riley to see some of his friends from school.  K would walk up to the door with her brother and take a piece of candy in her hand and then go back to her Daddy and put her treat into her candy bag.  She'd scream when we left her in the wagon and didn't allow her to go up to the door!

When we approached one neighbor's door, they had a mechanical witch that made noise and stirred her cauldron...well that was enough to freak Kendall out!  She doesn't like anyone dressed up as large characters - she freaked over Curious George at the Halloween Haunt on Monday too!  After seeing the witch, she wouldn't get down at the door for at least a block and a half!  She warmed up to it again and had so much fun collecting candy!  She had no clue as to why people were giving her treats, but it was fun.

Riley on the other hand has turned into his Dad when it comes to trick-or-treating...He was in such a hurry because he was afraid that the neighbors would run out of candy!  We couldn't keep up fast enough.  It's no wonder he wanted to hit as many houses as possible...some of our neighbors were giving out full sized candy bars and the rest were giving out 2-3 pieces at a time...We're going to be broke keeping up with everyone next year!

Vroom! Vroom!

Andy has been talking about getting the dirt bikes out for the past few weeks now and today was such a glorious day, that he went over to the storage unit and dug out Riley's bike and his own and brought them back over to our apt.

First they went out together on Dad's bike to check the terrain together on the field across the street from the apt.  Once it was deemed safe - no holes, etc. to get caught in, they came back and got Riley's bike for him to ride...

He was SOOOO excited to get a chance to ride.  He hasn't ridden since at least May because Daddy but the dirt bikes in storage while the house was for sale in Jax.  He was cautious at first, but then after a few laps, got use to it again.  Leaning into turns, using his brakes & throttle correctly to make tight turns, etc.

Andy's PT use to ride dirt bike and has been cluing Andy in as to where to go to ride locally.  There is a place just west of Lehi where you can ride and camp...I think they are planning a guys camping trip this spring or summer with the bikes.  I love that they share this hobby together.  It's such a great way for them to spend time together and to bond as father and son.

Here he goes!

Not sure if you can see it or not, but he's got a HUGE smile on his face!

Isn't the background beautiful?

These are the same mountains we'll see out the back door of our new home, just a closer view....And YES, we do have IKEA in Salt Lake county!  Can't wait until we move in so I can shop Ikea for some cool stuff for their play room!  But aren't the mountains pretty?

Date Night

Last night Uncle Kevin and Aunt Cara came over to babysit for us so we could go out for our anniversary...Yes, it's been 14 years (on Oct. 21st) since we got married.  Can't believe it.  I started to count how many different addresses we've had and it's been 7 since 1995!  Wow!  That's a lot of boxes to move around!

We went out to dinner at an awesome place called Log Haven.  Click here to check out the restaurant.  It's located in Middle Creek Canyon and is the perfect setting...a log cabin built up on the side of the canyon with waterfalls on both sides of the road.  A beautiful setting for a wedding or reception for sure.


The food was delicious and the atmosphere was quite and romantic.  It was a wonderful night...the best part was getting away from the kids for a few hours together.  After dinner we stopped by Hoppers (a micro-brewery) for a drink or two before heading home to rescue the Wiegands.

Now we're ready to start on year number 15...Hope it's the best one yet!

Say Cheese!

Our first of many school pictures for Riley...He's growing up so fast!

Raise The Roof

Before you know it, this place will be covered with tar paper and shingles!  This can't happen soon enough for us.  It's amazing how quickly this is going.  But since it's build #3 for us, we realize that it all appears to go quickly during the framing part and seems to go much slower once you start working on the interior, but I'm getting my hopes up that it's done before New Years...

A Winter Wonderland

We had our first "winter" storm out here.  It was the wet kind of snow that sticks to the trees...The pretty kind, but also the slushy kind.  Thank goodness the roads were still warm enough that it didn't stick and create havoc for me since I had to drive Andy around.  I snapped a few shots of how pretty everything looked in a coating of white.  Riley is now calling South Mt., Sugar Mt. because it looks like it's been coated in powdered sugar!

This is from the balcony of our apt.

This is the view from our new place.

A Literacy Parade? Really?

This week is spirit week at Riley's school.  Monday was crazy hair day - he wore a mohawk.  Tuesday was backwards shirt day - he wore his skeleton shirt backwards.  Today was the "literacy parade" - he wore his pirate costume and carried his book called "How I Became A Pirate."  He then had a party in his classroom until it was time to go home...He loved marching around the school with his classmates, visiting every classroom and wrapping it up in the gym where all the anxious parents, siblings and extended family were waiting.

But calling it a literacy parade?  The note home told parents what books to bring if their kid wanted to dress as a witch or a knight, etc.  It also said that if they couldn't find a book, just to come dressed anyway...so why are we bothering to repackage the traditional halloween parade as a literacy parade?  Let's just call it what it is...Heck, I haven't seen a place that loves halloween more than Utah!

This is also a short week for Riley...He has off Friday for "Evidence Based Learning."  From what I understand this is a day that teachers use to plan, grade, evaluate curriculum, etc.  Great if you are a teacher...heck, in the 3 districts back east, I NEVER had one day a month for something like that.  But the part that gets me, is that every Friday is a short day for "teacher planning."  But since Friday is no school for the kids, their "planning" time is now on Thursday...Our kids need more time in the classroom, not less.    It kills me that Utah considers kindergarten "optional."  I could choose to keep Riley home this year and no one would do anything.

And the WORST part of it is that there isn't any physical education in elementary or middle school!  What is up with that?  Thank goodness my kids will never have to worry about learning how to stay fit or healthy, but there is so much to be said for organized large group physical activity.  Kids need to learn to cooperate, wait their turn, develop physical skills & coordination as well as be physically fit.  Physical education is a PERFECT way to help do all of that.  Recess doesn't do anything for their heart rates, body composition or fitness levels.  Those kids who aren't fit, will be the ones standing around or sitting on their behinds watching the rest of the kids play.  I am grateful that Riley does get chased by the girls at recess...he's getting his exercise and doesn't even realize it!  Hope they keep chasing him, but that they never catch him!

Okay, enough of my rant...the teacher in me came out...now back to mom mode.

Halloween Fest!

Our town holds a Halloween Festival with tons of stuff for the little ones to do and lots of candy to hand out.  It was great to see so many adorable and scary costumes.  Kids participated in games, activities, listened to witch stories, watched the fire dept. drop pumpkins off of the ladder fully extended, etc.  Andy had PT so I took the kids by myself.

K was dressed as a fairy - wings, wand, tutu and all.  R was dressed in his skeleton pirate costume once again.  K enjoyed running around and driving me crazy trying to keep my eyes on both kids.  She's fast for a 15 month old!  Thank goodness R is pretty obedient and stays near by.

The kids couldn't wait to get home and see Daddy and show him their loot!  I love coming in the door and watching them both go running into his arms.  R even shared some of his goodies with his Dad.  So cute.

This was the best shot I could get of the front of K.

This was pretty much my view of her all evening...

This was the "golf pro" from the indoor golf center in town having R hit a few...now I'm no golfer, but even I know that his hands are wrong on the club...Pretty sad when mom is correcting his form and not the pro!

We've got walls!

Here it is...I can't believe how much they have gotten done so far.  I guess that's a good thing because the weather is turning cold this week and we're getting our first "winter" storm Tues - Wed!  Shouldn't be too much of a cause for alarm, only 1-2 inches in the valley.

The chimney is in our living room, the entry is to the right of that room.  The next room is the kids playroom, then the two windows side by side are the 2 car garage and then you see the entry to the 3rd car garage.  Above the playroom will be a spare bedroom - so all of you who want to come west to visit, we've got a room ready and waiting...well, that room will also double as a craft room when we don't have company!

This is the view from the back.  The 3 windows in a row are our family room.  Then the bump out is the breakfast room and the kitchen will be on the left.  Above the family room is our bedroom, then K's in the middle and R's on the right.  The dining room is between the kitchen and the living room.  I can't wait to get inside and walk around.  Tonight they were working until at least 7pm!