oops its been over a month

It was October the last time I posted a blog and here I am, now 38 and a few days away from Christmas.  Where has the time gone?  Where has the past year gone?  I cannot believe how fast time just keeps on going.  The only reason I am even finding time right now is because Hailey and I are sitting on an airplane on our way back to Utah.  

We visited Chicago for a couple of days to celebrate my birthday and to do some last minute shopping.  

With the ease of shopping online these days it was actually really nice to spend some time getting stuff for the kids together.  It really helps to put you in the Christmas spirit being all bundled up in a city in the cold and just thinking about your kids and the time of year and kind of putting everything else on hold for a bit.

Putting things on hold has been tough the past few months.  One of our biggest pieces of information is that I left a mortgage company that I was part of for well over 6 years and have now started my own company.  Though this is very exciting, it has come with lots of work and effort and I am sure it will be that way for some time.  

The name of the new company is United Military Mortgage and well, just keep your eyes and ears open because it is going places.  Well, at least I hope so.

So this is our family blog so I want to keep it to that.  We celebrated Thanksgiving this year in our home in American Fork, though we normally head down to St George when it is the Kandell's year.  We had a 40th birthday party to attend for my cousin Weston out in California the day after Thanksgiving so it was easier to stay in AF this year.  Hailey did an amazing job setting the scene for a fun and festive Thanksgiving. 

 The Lovell cousins came over and believe it or not, we even all got in the swimming pool.  We were not in for long, but did spend some time in the hot tub.

Grandpa and Grandma Kandell were in town and Grandma Sue had all sorts of arts and crafts for the kiddos which was nice because it kept them all occupied for quite some time.

  Grandpa Jim and I loved spending time cooking and we smoked a turkey and fried one too!  There was certainly no shortage of food this year.  Hailey made her famous sweet creamed corn, Lisa did rolls and a brussel sprouts and well who knows, we sure ate well though.

Like I mentioned, Hailey and I flew out to California the Friday after Thanksgiving to celebrate the 40th birthday of my cousin Weston and that was a blast.  

We stayed at the Michels home in Encino and it was so much fun and brought back many great memories for me.  When I was first in college and had met Cat, now Weston's wife, I had the opportunity to visit that home many times and it is always so much fun.

Some other things we have been up to the past month or two are:
Family pictures

Adyson's and Lucy have had their first dance performances of the season
Max and Ady continue to do tennis lessons

Christmas programs for all 3 kids at Challenger
My work Christmas party
Hailey was actually in the hospital in and out for an infection she got in her hip. 

Elves on the shelves throughout the house

Christmas tree decorating in the kids rooms

I am totally wishing I had made the time to write once a week like I had been doing so well for a while and who knows, this may be a new year's resolution so that in 2014 I can do much better at writing and documenting what we are up to.  It is always so much fun to go back and read.

Christmas is just 3 days away.  Cannot wait

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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

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