Sunday, February 24, 2008

The snow train!


Kate takes out a Toddler on the slopes

Kate an Art City Eagle

February 24, 2008

Hi All. Don’t have much to report this week other than Jake’s basketball season ended in a glorious fashion…coach didn’t show so Kels stepped in and lead the team to another win. He’s a natural…both Kels and Jake!

I’ve attached a video clip of Kate singing her Art City Eagles song. Never knew there was a school song or I don’t remember Bianca or Jake singing it. Kate belts it out quite often and after taping the song she asked if I would send the video clip to American Idol. I told her she was too young for that show but I thought Grandmas and Grandpa might enjoy watching it. She was good with that too.

Hope you all have a great week!

February 17, 2008

It’s President’s weekend and as we honor our past presidents, we are wondering what the future holds with a new president. We sure are getting tired of hearing all the campaign promises and rah, rah speeches. I think we should put all the candidates in a boxing ring, let them fight it out and last one standing is the new President of the United States! Hillary might have a chance that way!...hee, hee! I guess I need to have a little more respect for the election process…I’m trying.

To celebrate this great weekend Connie and her kids came along with us for a sledding/tubing adventure at Jolley’s Ranch. The tubing hill there has been groomed and has a great mound of snow at the end to stop runaway sledders. I was a little nervous at the beginning of the trip because just last week we heard that one of our good friends front teeth were knocked out from her sledding adventures. I counseled with the group before we hit the slopes that it would be a good idea to not try anything dumb. Well as the day progressed we all tried dumb things like tube trains, tummy slides, double decker slides and other extreme tubing fun. Nate, Mik and Bianca had a couple good wipe outs but all their teeth were securely intact when we left. Thank goodness! The entire time we had moose, deer and elk watching our antics…I wonder what they thought...wildlife!

Tomorrow we plan to have a nice calm day at the theater with all the other people in Utah County.

Late breaking news…
A little before 10:00 PM (Sunday) we heard a loud boom and our house shook…really! I thought the mountain was coming down on top of us, that the fault that we were living on had finally produced an earthquake. Jake was the first to respond with a “Mom, what just happened!” Kate asked if everything was ok, once reassured she then turned over and went back to sleep. Bianca ran up from downstairs and in her excited voice wondered if we were going to have more rumbles. I looked out our windows and saw half the neighborhood turning on lights, coming outside and lots of confused faces wondering what had just happened. The other half of the neighborhood slept through it, along with Kels!

This is the official report of what happened:
“An explosion at a Utah County pipe-casting plant rocked homes several miles away injuring 10 workers and sending at least five to the hospital Sunday night.
The blast happened at Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co., a plant just outside Provo's southeastern limits (Springville limits), around 10 p.m.
Three people with minor injuries were taken by ambulance to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, said Sgt. Spencer Cannon of the Utah County Sheriff's Office. At least one person was released before midnight. Two people were flown to University Hospital in Salt Lake City with more serious injuries, possibly burns, Cannon said.
As medical responders treated five other workers at the scene, officials said they worried about the possibility of internal injuries that might not be immediately detectable.
"Good news. Everyone has been accounted for," said deputy Dan Thomas of the Utah County Sheriff's Office. "There was a small explosion in the plant."
The comment evoked a wry chuckle from the 20 or so family members who said the blast shook their homes as far away as Payson and they now waited nervously for news of their loved ones.
Investigators were not immediately sure what caused the explosion, though Cannon said the blast was likely caused by work involving a calcium carbide material. Some workers were being decontaminated before being released from the plant, Cannon said.”
Monday, President’s Day—We are happy to report that all is well at our house and we hope the people injured in the “blast” are being well taken care of.

We hope all of you are safe, healthy and happy.

February 10, 2008

We’ve had 3 days in a row of beautiful sunshine! It’s a record around here and we are very grateful to know that the sun still shines in beautiful Utah. We’ve all got a little spring fever…flip flops and shorts are starting to appear even though there is still snow on the ground and the temperatures are still below 20 degrees. Bianca seems to think wearing a coat to school is not cool, Jake can’t throw a football at recess in anything but shirt sleeves and Kate, well Kate is just happy to go, go, go!

There are news reports saying that the newborn fawns are dying because there is not enough food to eat with all this snow. I guess that is why the herds are continuing to move lower and lower down the mountain. .

We’ve had an abundance of animal life in our yard munching our plants. We’ve even seen deer prints on our front porch. They lean over our porch railing to nibble on the plants that are out of reach—smart animals. Jake and Kate play the guessing game every morning—who can spot the newest footprint and what kind of animal does it belong to. There have been cougar sightings as well—and not just the BYU variety!

Jake and Bianca have been tubing and snow boarding down a slope right off our back yard. They will play for hours and come in with frozen feet and hands but oh so happy. “That was awesome , Mom!” Kate lasts about 45 min. and comes in crying because she just can’t take it anymore. A cup of hot chocolate and a warm bath usually thaws the frozen limbs and lots of marshmallows brings that cute smile back.

Yesterday Jake and Nate decided to dig Banjo and Blue out of the muck and mud that accumulates from lots of snow, rain and other stuff in a corral. After feeding and watering the horses, they put down fresh straw. It was fun to watch the boys work hard. They talked about Grandpa Jackson doing it this way and Dr. D. doing it that way…you can see everywhere they walked because there were bits of straw from one side of the corral to the other. Good work Boys! Banjo and Blue kicked up their heels in delight…I’m sure!

We’re still going to lots of basketball games and cheering Bianca, Jake and Cierra on to victory. They have all greatly improved over the season and have proudly earned a place on the picture wall dressed in the appropriate sports attire. The mothers are cheering for the end of the season! Jake and Cierra have already reported that baseball/softball season starts in the spring.

This weekend Kels had to skip a lot of the family outings. He had 3 tests, a paper due and class to attend…and that was just on Saturday! He comes home tired but always makes the time to shoot a few hoops with Jake, read a book with Kate or correct Math homework for Bianca. He’s a good dad and we’re glad he likes being home.

As for me, I’m always happy when my Sunday School class comes to a close and the 14/15 year olds head out the door. They have a lot of great questions and always ask what I’m not prepared to teach…keeps me on my toes. This signals an end to another full, fun week.
We love you and miss you.
Kellie