It's The Theme For This Winter

While the kids and I have been freezing our butts off in one of the coldest winters on record in Utah, this picture depicts Andy's life in Florida.  He seems to make it home on the very few days the sun actually shines (meaning we don't have an inversion) and misses any cold weather in Jax.  Somebody got a good deal this winter.  I have used the snowblower so much just since January that I've filled it up with gas already!  Our driveway is a pain to shovel, but it's not THAT big!  Next year...

He's Ready to Move

Riley had free dress day at school last week.  This is what he chose to wear:  his Jags jersey.  I think he's ready to move back to Jax now too!

Daddy's Little Princess

Every year SMCC puts on a Daddy Daughter Princess Ball around Valentine's Day.  It's a great opportunity for dads to show their little girls what they should expect out of a future suitor.  Andy goes all out with Kendall.  We get her a new dress, do her hair and nails, and this year he gave her a necklace I made for her.  She got the special treatment and she felt special for sure!

The princess ball offers dinner, dancing to live music - and yes my little ballerina got up on stage with her girlfriends and danced with the band, a craft and a professional portrait.  I can't remember the last time Andy did that for me!  She's one lucky little girl!  :)

Snow Tubing = Sledding at it's best!

When I was a kid, my mom would drive us over to Comet Field (our school's large athletic field complex) to go sledding.  There was a HUGE hill we use to sled down.  We got great speed and usually built a few jumps during the day.  For those of you who played field hockey or soccer at PMHS, it's the same hill we use to sprint up during the season.  A killer to go up, but tons of fun on a sled!

Snow tubing is even better than that hill because these are groomed trails and a tow rope to take you back up the hill!  You sit in your tube while it pulls you up the hill.  Genius!  There are two here in Utah we've been to.  Solider Hollow claims it's got the longest runs so we went there this year.

See, told you it was great being pulled up the hill!

Little Man having fun!

Andy and Riley going double

Kevin and Cara with their fence crashing speed!

My handsome little guy

Enjoying the ride!

Fun, family, friends and the sun!

I'm BACK!!!

Life has been crazy to say the least.  We are trying to sell our house so we can all live under the same roof again.  Andy's taken a job transfer/promotion with his company in Jax.  He moved there in January and the kids and I have been living in Utah by ourselves.  It's been lonely to say the least, but I'm thankful for my friends who have been holding me up during this transition.  

Andy tries to come home twice a month.  This weekend he was home and we spent Saturday on the slopes.  We had a beautiful day to ski and great conditions.  I will miss these family ski days, but we'll replace them with family beach days.

Here is some video and pics of our day at The 'Bird:

Pazagna Kendallism

Today's Kendallism:

Over the summer we joked about Garfield trying to sneak into the house anytime we ate "pazagna." I told her we were having pazagna tonight and we would need to be on the look out for Garfield. 

Her response: Mom, Garfield doesn't eat gluten free pazagna!

That girl keeps me in stitches even when she's got the flu!

Happy New Year!

I know, I'm terribly behind in my posts and I plan to catch up at some point here, but I wanted to post about how we spent our New Year's Eve...

Last night I had asked everyone to sit down at the table and think about this past year.  I gave both kids a paper to fill out.  It had questions on it regarding the past year and the upcoming year.  Andy and I helped them complete them but here they are.  The kids colored them afterwards but their answers were very honest.

I thought it was sweet that what Kendall loved most from last year was spending time with Nanny & Pappy Hershock and that she wants to learn how to draw a picture of Penton...

No surprise that Riley's favorite food was BROWNIES!  That kid would live on brownies and bbq chips!  His answers were pretty predictable.  Especially the Legos, moving, and eating gluten!  Thankfully he wants to go jet skiing which will be much easier to do in Jax than in SLC!  Bless his little heart that he wants to get better at focusing...Love that boy!

Afterwards we opened up some confetti poppers, had a blanket picnic with rootbeer and popcorn while we watched a movie as a family!  The kids thought it was great (and so did we because it cost us next to nothing and no one complained or whined or cried).  After we put the kids to bed, Andy and I settled in with a drink and some Monty Python and the Holy Grail!  We laughed all night long.  We haven't seen that movie since we were dating!  

We have no idea what 2013 has in store for us - well, except for the fact that we are moving to Jax and Andy is starting a new job, the kids will be starting a new school, etc.  So many questions are left unanswered and we are trusting that God will take care of all of those details for us, like when our house will sell, where & when we'll find a new house, etc.  

Hope all of you had a wonderful New Year's Eve and a fabulous start to 2013!

Kendallism

Today's latest addition:


"Look Mom!  Their house is on sale too!"

I guess she listens when I tell her I won't buy something unless it's on sale!

All I Want For Christmas Is...

We decided to take the kids to the new mall downtown called City Creek.  It's been open for awhile, but since it's a good 25 minute ride and has more high end stores (and fewer of the ones I typically frequent) I never went when there are two malls much closer to me.  

I had read online that City Creek had a virtual line for Santa.  You check in, then show up at your appointment time and there's no wait!  It's great.  We headed straight to check in and then walked around the mall until it was our turn to see Santa.  

As expected, Kendall was scared of him.  She's always been that way with Santa.  She'll take off at marathon pace to chase after Minnie Mouse at Disney, but acts silly and frightened with Santa.  I guess it's because she's never sure if he'll deliver the goods or not!  Last year Santa sent her a video email telling her she was on the naughty list and had better work harder.  That sent her into tears!  

Both kids told Santa what they wanted, but no pictures since she wouldn't get close enough without holding on to me.  The only downside to seeing Santa at City Creek is that they don't let you take your own photos - you have to buy theirs.  Bummer.  This is the only one I could get of them at the mall today.  It's a really beautiful mall - a stream running through it, stocked with fish, animal paw print tracks on the tiles, sky bridges, parking garage, outdoor fire pit, fountains, and lots of high end stores perfect for window shopping.  I wonder how much business Tiffany's does at City Creek?  The Apple store was packed - which by the way, if your phone battery is low, let the kids play with the new ipads while you borrow their charger!  :)

Ski Season is Upon Us!

On Tuesday I attempted to take Kendall skiing at Snowbird to warm up for the upcoming ski season.  We did a few runs on Chickadee but she struggled.  Not a great start.  I thought we were going to have to go back to using an edgie wedgie and a harness!

At least it was a beautiful day - she ended up feeling sick after lunch so we had to head back down the mt. only for her to feel 100% better an hour later!  Ugh!

But then we headed to Brighton with friends on Wednesday and it was as if she never took a break from skiing last spring!  Whew!  Here she is...

No edgie wedgie!  No harness!  She pitched a fit when I pulled them out to use!

Fun times with her big brother, friends Alex and Katie!

Riley and Alex on the lift together - Riley is too fast for me even to attempt video taping him!  Photos of him are my only option!

"Mom, this is the best day ever!"

~Kendall

Aren't the Rocky Mountains just beautiful?  Can't get enough of the scenery around here!

Vegas Baby!

We decided to take the kids with us to see the Monster Energy Cup Supercross in October.  Both kids were so excited for it.  Kendall asked me about it every day for a month!  She was just excited to go on a trip...a 6 hour road trip through the desert!  The kids had a blast!  The really enjoyed it but wished we could have stayed longer and done more exploring.  

The kids thought the strip was awesome - especially all lit up at night.  

The next morning we let them hang out by the pool while enjoying the Nevada sun

After lunch we headed over to Sam Boyd Stadium at UNLV to watch the pre-race activities.  While walking through the pits, Riley got to meet Bam Bam Barcia in person!  

Here we are watching some crazy freestyle riders

Told you they were crazy riders!  

One handed...

Seriously???

Two separate gates at this track...

The kids had a blast.  Kendall loved it as much as Riley.  I think supercross/motorcross is now a family affair rather than a testosterone filled event for the Chunkos!  The more we can find to do as a family the better in my book!  Looking forward to the supercross coming to the U again this spring.  Kendall has already requested that Daddy buy tickets for the girls this year!

Moonlight Zip

I have been wanting to go zip lining in Provo Canyon since Max Zip opened last summer.  Kevin, Cara, Andy and I tried to go in September but we got rained out.  There was a groupon for a $35 groupon offered for a Haunted Zip.  We were all over that!  Keri and her hubby Mike joined us for the night too.  

It was a great night.  Poor Cara was nervous because it was her first time zip lining and she wasn't sure how "haunted" it was going to be.  She did a great job and did get a scare from one of the guys working at the second platform.  He put on a werewolf mask while she wasn't looking and it totally freaked her out.  Then they told her to watch out for the man in the tree...Thankfully that was the extent of the haunting.  

There were 5 zips in all and going in the dark was a new experience for all of us.  I hope to be able to do it with the kids this spring.  Keri and I discussed taking all of our munchkins and getting the group rate.  I think my kids would like this one even better than the one in NC because it's just zipping, not part adventure course.

We are going PRIVATE!

After some deliberation, I have decided to go private with my blog.  If you are interested in being added to my blog so that you may continue to view it, please leave a comment with your email address below.    Otherwise you will no longer be able to view our blog.  You will be required to sign in to view it in the future, but this will keep others who I do not know from viewing pictures of our children.  We want to protect them from all the creeps out there in the cyber world.

Thanks for understanding.

Miners Fight Back Against Obama TV Ad: "Absolute Lies"

Whether or not you agree with using coal as a source of energy, it is one of great abundance in this country.  Many people rely on coal mining to put food on their tables and a roof over their heads - WE are one of those families.  Most of Andy's rail business is coal related.  Not all coal that is mined in the US is used in the US.  A lot of the Wyoming coal goes to the southeast US for energy and some of the Utah coal goes to Korea and Europe and some to other parts of Asia.  

Obama has allowed such strict EPA regulations on energy plants that it has caused a number of power plants to close.  This has resulted in lost energy plant jobs, lost mining jobs, and loss of rail road jobs, because rail roads haul coal across the country.  Do we wonder why unemployment hasn't improved?  This will result in higher energy costs for all of us because there is no other power substitute in place.  Coal generates much more efficient power than solar & wind combined.  Does this mean we build more nuclear power plants?  I lived through the Three Mile Island meltdown and don't want to do that again!

President Obama has approved an ad that lied about these coal miners in Ohio.  These blue collar workers (you know, the middle class Obama's so worried about?) were so frustrated by the fact that they were misrepresented that they wrote letters to the president and to the radio host who accused the mine of forcing them to attend a Romney ad.  

I'm so glad that the working middle class is standing up for themselves.  I hope a lot of other coal miners realize how many of their jobs are in jeopardy with Obama's War On Coal.  

Here is a link to the original Obama ad where he LIED in the ad about coal miners: Obama's False Ad

Here is the resonse of 500 Century Mine employees:

I'm so sick of all the lies of the Obama administration.  I don't understand how anyone can support a man with such little integrity.  I may not agree with everything about Romney, but I can say that he's a man who I can respect by the way he conducts himself and I feel he will represent us as a nation with more character than what's been demonstrated over the past four years.  I'm sick of the excuses.  I'll be glad when the election is OVER!  We can't take another 4 years!