Breakfast with Santa and a Parade

Yesterday the girls and I along with Aunt Triessa, Mardi, and Whitni went to Lin's to get a donut, milk, orange and candy cane and to see Santa. Kenzie was the only one of my girls who would sit on Santa's lap.

Later we went to the Story Book Parade on Main Street. There were a lot of fun characters to make it enjoyable and look how people were dressed, 60 degree weather in Dec. is not the norm. for Utah. We toured the festival of trees where Tres was volunteering and then brought Mardi home with us to play.

When you don't put your tree up in time......

Grandma Hepworth sent me home with this tinsel garland and later that night I found this. If you like it all you need to make one is: Vacuum, Green blanket, tinsel, ornaments, 3 bored children.

Yes, I have finally Posted

Well to start off, I have 2 jobs now, Shadow our lab had 10 puppies, Kenzie has lost 2 teeth, Richard has another Kidney Stone, KayLee did not get her elk, and Kenna plays the violin.

My kids are baby animal magnets as I have said before. A tiny kitten some how ended up in our backyard. Shadow was scratched when she was a pup so even though she was much bigger than the kitten she was afraid of it. She even allowed it to nurse with the puppies and join the litter until we got rid of it after like 3 weeks.

We took the puppies and kitten to Walmart to get rid of them. It took 3 different Saturdays but they are finally all gone.

Benifits of living close

Triessa loves to hike. She invited the girls and myself to go along with her and her kids to hike in Zions National Park.

We got lots of looks from all the tourists and comments on what a "crew" we had. Tress had Whitni strapped on the front of her and even managed to feed her a bottle while continuing to hike. I think the comment was "Wow, what a stud Mom."

Mardi and Kenzie managed to not kill one another as long as Mardi got to be in the lead, which worked out since Kenzie was too busy picking up acorns.

We saw a huge tarantula, several squirrels, a few lizards a butterfly that got mauled by Kenzie and Mardi. A woman scolded them because now that butterfly would never fly again because they had wiped off all its flying dust.

We went to a park to eat lunch and I am sure Tress doesn't want to take me and my kids out in public again. I was catching ants for our new addition, Henry, the horny toad. Then I got poked by a cactus while trying to brake off a piece for the iguana.

On the way home I made her stop so we could get a picture of the "shoe tree" in Toquerville.

All in all we had a really fun day!

THANKS TRIESSA!!

A look so far...

Some how I have managed to do it again. This time it was with the computer I lost all my pictures. Rich has tried to teach me to cut and copy my pictures and then delete the SD card. Well I thought I did that only now I have nothing on the SD and the file I thought I saved can not be FOUND!!!

So I had great pics to go along with this but you will just have to suffer without, sorry.

Labor Day was spent in Parowan for the Iron County Fair. We went early with Grandma and Grandpa Hepworth, Brett, Tress and the girls. We ate at the fundraising breakfast. Then the parade was on Main Street. We walked through the entries, you should have seen the size of some of those onions!!

The evening was followed up with a BBQ at Grandma and Grandpa's.

On the 5th we headed North for the Hardy Family Reunion in Heber. We were able to stay in very nice cabin that belongs to the husbands family of one of Richards cousins. It is always fun to see all the family and how they have grown. I have been a part of the Hepworths for 14 years now so it has changed and grown a lot.

On the 7th we went down from Heber to Provo where Ryker was blessed by his dad, Justin at the home of Lindsay's parents. We had a very nice brunch in their beautiful yard. We then hurried back down to Cedar to make 2 batches of salsa, and peaches.

On the 13th Nana, Papa and Olivia came for a visit. We went to dinner with them and Kortny, Taylie and Kortny's boyfriend Bryce. We had a fun visit.

Sunday we headed for Toquerville for my cousin Cam's farewell. Due to time he spoke at Stake Conference. We went to their house and had some lunch and got to see Dad's side for the family.

Richard is very busy with work he has gone over night at least once a week since we moved here. The kids are busy with school, I try to keep up on the house and run kids to and from school. I have had a couple of interviews, I got a call last week that I got the job as a dialysis tech. It is through U of U, with full benefits and after 6 months I can take any course through them for 50%, after 1 year my spouse could and after 3 years my kids can. I don't know when I start and I am filling in for Grandma and Grandpa Hepworth babysitting for Brett and Tress while they are in Island Park so I am not in a rush. I keep telling Rich to leave me alone, I have a job now.

Moved

Well we did it. We have moved to Cedar City. We have been here for 7 days now and still have a ton to unpack. We got rid of the chickens and planned to leave the cat only he stuck around for 3 days prior to leaving so I could not just leave him. He was not happy on the ride down. I left around 11:00 so I could get down here to get the keys and sign the lease.

I had a the truck packed with stuff, the aluminum boat loaded with the wheel barrow, bikes and heavy stuff,.Kenzie, Kooka(the Yorkie), Iggy (the iguana) in the cat pet carrier, and the cat in Kooka's pet carrier all in the cab with me. Shadow (our lab) was in her carrier in the back of the truck. The cat meowed like a baby most of the way down. Kenzie kept telling him he was okay.

Kenzie was born 2 weeks after we moved into the house in Santaquin so she has never moved. She used to say, we need to move, I have lived here my whole life. Then as it got closer to the move it was, why do we have to move? She also ask if moving was like going camping only you never go back home. On our ride down she just stared out the window. She asked a couple of times how much longer. When we were about 10 minutes from Cedar I asked if she was getting excited. Her reply was "not so much".

Well the cat was most content being a house cat, used the litter box and stayed off the furniture. The kids thought it was great. Well I knew I had to do something as I am very allergic to cats and it was only a matter of time before I could not breath. Monday I had a repair man from the rental agency come by to check on a couple of things, well I had to pay a $100 pet deposit per pet and since I did not plan on having the cat here I did not pay for him. So when the guy left to run the the store I got the cat and a can of food and put him outside on the back patio. He ate his can, licked his paws and must have jumped the fence. We have not seen him since Monday. Poor guy, he is probably trying to find his way back to Santaquin.

Kenzie and Kenna started school on Monday. Kenzie is really struggling with the whole day concept. And it doesn't help that the ice cream man is parked outside their school everyday.

When we get things more organized I will post pics of the new place.

Thanks to Richard's family for all their help with the move!!
We Love You!





Front of the house, stuff on the left-junk stuff on the right still needs to fit in some how

Kenzie and Dale
I made the mistake of pulling off the wallpaper-luckly Dale saved me by putting up plaster and then we painted over it
Jaron and Kari flew up Friday after work to help with the cleaning
Kenzie and Linda trying to finish up the last of the cleaning

Nothing is more memorable than a fish!

Nothing is more memorable than a fish. One tug can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up an epic battle of man vs. fish, a hot summer day, a majestic river nestled low in valley surrounded by snow capped peaks. Now you have a memory, a defining moment in a fishermen’s life. We all have them, they are what make us.

I have been lucky enough to experience events of the previous nature a few times in my life but few compare to a recent experience I shared with my dad, brother and a few friends in British Columbia last week. I was fortunate enough to not only catch one Spring (King, Chinook) salmon but two. The first of which would have not only satisfied my determination to catch “the King of salmon,” but would have made a memory to last a life time. It was however, the second one that will be burned in my memory forever.

I hooked the fish in almost the same spot in the river were I had caught the Spring the previous day. This time however, I was using a spinning rod, the same rod I use for trout back in Utah. The rod can be purchased at any Walmart for a measly twenty-five dollars. This is not what you want going through your head 30 seconds after hooking the fish of a lifetime. I new almost immediately I had something special, it wasn’t the dislocated elbow I experienced from the initial tug but the aerial performance we all witnessed as my fish headed for the ocean. As I chased the fish along the bank, ever aware of the shrinking distance between me and the log chocked bend ahead and the dismay that it surely held, dad organized the other members of the group and brought the boat to my rescue.

I was able to clamber into the boat as Darren shoved us into the current all the while Craig was filming what should be an Oscar winning performance. Dad rowed the boat with the grace of a ribbon twirling Olympic athlete, the skill of a spey rod wielding Englishmen, and the power of Ryan following four days without a shower. Dad maneuvered the boat around logs in the river, slowed when needed and accelerated as required all the while I stood in the front of the boat hanging on for all I was worth, shouting orders and chocking back obscenities dreading the out come that was most probable.

It was probably close to an hour after hooking the mammoth that it showed signs of weakening, I however had been showing signs for the last thirty minutes. I looked to the beach searching for an adequate location to land the fish. It was not to be, the banks were either to steep or chocked with debris. To make matters worse the channel split three ways just ahead. The boat entered the center channel and with a little coaxing the fish followed (it was close my prize would have chosen the right channel if not for the stout Walmart rod I was controlling it with). Just around the bend was a good length of shore that held promise. I calmly persuaded dad to beach the boat, and remembered a famous quote “this is the place.”

Jumping from the boat, I continued to bring the fish closer to shore. Surprisingly, she began to role to her side, with a final gut wrenching pull I slid her up the beach. Dad was just getting the boat secured and run to assist, blocking any possibility of escape. After snapping a few photos, smiling for the video and admiring my catch we all stood and watched her swim away.

Thank you, to everyone who helped. Most notably dad I couldn’t have landed that fish without you, Kim for making it possible for me to go, Kenna for forgiving me for missing her birthday for the fourth time, Kenzie for finding the rod I used at Yuba and Walmart you sell a hell of twenty five dollar rod.

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love,

the things you are, the things you never want to lose”

The Last Summer Horrah

Richard excepted a job in Cedar City so we went down and found somewhere to live. We also found out that school starts on the 14th. SOoooo I registered KayLee for Middle school and when Grandpa drops Richard off Tuesday from their British Columbia trip, KayLee will be going back down to stay with Brett and Triessa until we get moved down.

We will move in about 2 weeks so the other girls will just start a week and a half late. Aunt Tress is so excited to have KayLee at her school. She is even her math teacher and picked all of KayLee's teachers.

We came home from Cedar last night and decided that today would be the only day we could use our Seven Peaks Passes. We took the neighbor girl with us and had a blast. Look and see for yourself!

Maui

Richard and I along with his parents, siblings and their spouse were able to take an enjoyable trip to the island of Maui.

Thanks to his sister Kari, we were able to fly for a discounted price which also meant flying stand by. It was an adventure, Kari was a nervous ninny, Richard ground his teeth so much that he suffered from a major tooth ache the whole trip. Everyone made it to the island on schedule.

We rented a very nice house just across the street from the ocean. The first thing we did and this is a must if you ever go, we rented snorkel gear. I was a little afraid at first but when I saw how beautiful it was under the water I forgot about the breathing. We snorkeled all but one day. We were able to see sea turtles and many colorful fish.

We ate pineapple every morning with our breakfast and some other type of fresh fruit. We tried coconut milk it wasn't very tasty. We took a snorkel cruise, went to a luau, drove the road to Hana, and pretty much just relaxed and enjoyed our visit.

I would like to thank Kari for all her hard work she put into planning this trip and making it work. I would highly recommend her for your trip to Hawaii as a travel agent but I am afraid Jaron won't let that happen. She was very stressed trying to make it all work. Thanks again Kari!!!

On our way to the airport Sunday night I was able to spend a few minutes visiting with my cousin Amy and her son Corey who live on Maui. It was nice to see her and visit.

I have already been looking at airfare and hotel to return. I don't know if we ever will but I had so much fun I want to go back.