The Kandells: grandpa and grandma kandell

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Our St George trip to Tuacahn

Mommy and Ady at the Mary Poppins play at Tuacahn

I am not 100% sure if this is an annual tradition yet, but it is beginning to feel like one. This past weekend we headed down to St George with the car packed, bikes on the back and kids nestled away inside for a quick cousins weekend in sunny St George, Utah.

We left Thursday night but were not able to get on the road until about 7:30 pm since we had to wait for Adyson to finish her dance classes in Orem. I came home from work and Hailey had all the bags packed, art project in the car and movies loaded up. She sure knows how to make the drive a bit easier! I loaded the bags in, put the bikes on the tow rack and we were off.

Grandma and Grandpa Kandell were already down in St George and the Lovell cousins drove down Thursday night also. As we were leaving there were reports of snow coming in and frost warnings so we were really excited to get down to the southern desert of Utah. The kids did really good and Hailey and I laughed a bit as we watched Max struggle for about 30 mins in and out of sleep and you know how a kid will nod off the feel as though he was falling or something. Hailey eventually climbed back there and helped him get situated so that he would quit falling onto Adyson.

We got into St George around 11:45 or so and the kids of course went straight to bed. Lucy actually slept quite a bit of the way down. The next morning the kids of course got up early and went right to playing. It is so much fun to see them playing together and talking and carrying on. Bike riding around the block is like the pinnacle of fun for the Kandell kids since we do not really live in a normal neighborhood. So the kids were on bikes all the time. The first morning there it is a tradition for Grandma Sue to get on her bike and ride to the local Mcdonalds where she is a kind of celebrity and to have all the kids on bikes riding along with her. Other fun things included lizard hunting, making hotels and houses out of cardboard boxes and clothes pin people, Halloween cookies and art, BYU football and of course the main reason for the trip is the Santa Clara parade and the Tuacahn play of Mary Poppins.

spooky Halloween masks and bike rides around the neighborhood made for a good time

My mom and Hailey took just the oldest two cousins to see the play on Saturday night and they said it is absolutely the best play they have seen there and every year it seems to get better and better. Adyson and Easton thought it was awesome and the boy in the play actually goes to Ady's school so she thought that was great.

We also attend each year with all the kids, the Santa Clara parade and it is such a good parade. We had the best spot this year and had shade and not tons of other kids trying to get our kid's candy. Max cleaned house and was relentless enough that we had to slow him down a bit.

Hailey and Max loving the parade

Max is loving his role as big brother and is showing Lucy the Princess Float coming down the road.

My favorite part of the parade is the fair food afterwords and I even ate curry goat from a Jamaican vendor this year. The kids ate lots, listened to the live music and we all just enjoyed the sun!

amazing Halloween cookies Hailey made with the kids

Max is just chilling listening to the local music while Lucy and Saige hang out

Cousins hiking in a river bed that is dried out

Adyson and Easton in their spooky masks they made with Hailey

We love going to St George and spending some time (trying to relax, though with 7 kids under 9 it is tough) relaxing with family.

I wonder what plays will be showing next year?

Max loving his ice cream sundae at Black Bear Diner

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Wow has it been over a year?

Ohio July 2013

I have no idea why I am blogging this morning. Here I sit at work and yes things have been extremely busy the past year or two and now we have finally slowed waaaaay down. I do not want to talk about work on this blog and hope that this quick post, if nothing else will strike a new desire in both Hailey and I to begin capturing life's memories on this page.

Updates? It is almost as if too much time has passed to do updates and perhaps we will just have a gap in our family history (per the family blog) or we will just be required to go to facebook, instagram, twitter etc. I was just talking to Hailey last night and her sister Christa was over and we were discussing how we will each have like 250,000 photos by the time we die and we wondered how they would all be stored or saved. With new phones etc it is as if every single moment is captured.

Well I will try for some fast updates on each of us.

Eric (me)

I have been working working working. That said I have been able to enjoy more time off and not be as stressed as in years passed due to some key hiring at work. We grew the office to over 130 employees at our peak and business has been great. I continue to love cooking and food and Hailey and I took a couple food trip to NYC earlier this year and had a blast just spending time away together. Oh and we ate a ton.

I am loving my new found workout passion called Crossfit. I have been starting to golf weekly with Max (just 3 times so far) and hope to keep that new habit going.

Hailey and I are teaching the 14-16 yr old kids at church in Sunday school.

Our family garden is back and it is not too long until the kids will be selling produce at my office again.

We spent Christmas 2012 with Grandpa and Grandma Kandell in Punta Mita, Mexico and have really fallen in love with that place.

The kids are growing up so fast and I love them so much.

Hailey

Well Hailey has been uber busy being a mom to 3 kids who she is running all over the place all the time. Lately we have started to feel a bit overextended with all of our commitments but we love staying busy and going going going.

Hailey has continued to showcase her talent that I suppose was hidden for some time of planning and throwing little parties or shindigs (ok some may not have been little) and our kids have been very grateful for all the work she has put into their functions.

Hailey making fresh muddled lemonade at Ady's Garden Birthday Party

A normal day could be something like, breakfast then Lucy off to princess camp, Max and Ady off to tennis lessons, home for lunch, Lucy naptime if lucky, Max and Ady being crazy kids (that was a nice way to say it) then Ady off to Dance class and Max to karate. Everyone home, Dad home and dinner, wind down and bed. So yes Hailey is a busy mom who cannot wait for school to start in a few weeks.

One thing that Hailey really has put lots of effort into this past year is serving those in and around our neighborhood. Nothing over the top like manual labor of course (ha) but she is very kind and just seems to know when someone is needing a little help and will drop off some bread, lemonade, cookies or a card etc.

Adyson
Our little Ady is not so little anymore. She turned 8 and gets baptized very soon! We cannot wait. I will tell you that Ady has become an excellent dancer this past year that we have been off the blog grid and it is due to nothing short of her extreme hard work and dedication. I have asked her many times when mom is not around if she likes it because I get worried she goes too much, and she loves it and all her best friends dance with her so it is a great thing for her.

Ady did awesome in school this past year and got some great awards for academic achievements at the end of the year too! We are very proud of how much she tries and studies at school.

Ady loves cooking with her dad. If I am ever in the kitchen she tries to be right by my side and I love it.

Ady's highlight of the summer if you had to ask her was going to Ohio for 2 full weeks to be with the Kandell Grandparents. Well to be fair, she loved spending a few days at the Smoot cabin too because she has become a fishing expert and seriously according to her has a magic fishing rod that always catches fish!

Max

Doing all things boy!

Wow is all I can say about Max. Dirty or messy may be the other two words. It does not matter what we dress this guy in he will ruin it or at least trash it! Max did AWESOME in school and we are so proud of him and cannot believe he will be in first grade in a few weeks. Max is in both karate and jiu jitsu so watch out! He is still our mini Michael Phelps in the pool too. We love Max so much and he just lost his first tooth a week ago. He actually pulled it out himself at church!

Lucy
Ok so Lucy is just a ball full of energy, joy and talk talk talk. Hailey says since she is the youngest she has picked up so much more vocabulary from being with her brother and sister all day long. I love hearing her try to reason and speak about basically everything. She started dance recently and looks up to Ady for sure. If it has to do with Princesses then Lucy is going to be interested. She will start pre K this year and is really excited to get to go to school where Max and Ady go. In addition to princesses, if you can eat it, Lucy will for sure eat it! She loves to eat. A friend pointed out that most pictures we post of Lucy, she can be found with food in her mouth. It is true. Just watch.