Trip to Virginia Beach

Layne and I have been wanting to go camping but the weather has not been cooperative.  So, Layne came up with another adventure for us to have to celebrate my upcoming birthday.   He found a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater in Virginia Beach.  Virginia beach is 3-5+ hours from our house - depending on traffic.  Friday Layne took off work early and we headed down south for some murder and mayhem.  5 hours later we got to Virginia Beach.  

The Dinner was Saturday night so we were able to enjoy the beach, walk around, and just relax Friday night and Saturday morning.  Friday night the weather was super - we drove most of the way there with the Vette's top off, but Saturday was cold and windy.  Mr. Always Hot himself was even cold - which as you know take a lot.  

The Dinner Theater was a lot of fun and they gave prizes for the best sleuth.  Layne got second place and won a frisbee!  He really got into it and we had a great time.  After dinner we slept for a few hours and then drove home so that I could be at church to teach my primary lesson.   It only took 3 hours without traffic! 

Here are a few pictures of our adventures and recuperation period.  

Time to Grow

(This is how we found Paisley after a little while of playing by herself in the dirt.)

Today was gardening day for us. All of our friends have started their gardens and so we decided to start one also (even though Jason nor I know what we are doing). We got some new gardening gloves, including Paisley. She enjoys to dig in the dirt along with us. Jason started clearing out the dirt where our garden will be. We are planning on growing (hopefully they are also planning to grow) radishes, peas, onions, and tomatoes. We bought tomato starters to live inside with us until the end of april. The other plants in the starter boxes are different kinds of flowers I planted. I thought we would try and start them inside also. When they are ready to be transplanted we will spread them throughout the front and backyard. This will be a fun adventure and if it works we will be having some yummy salsa in a few weeks!

Our Trip to Brian Head

Thursday evening we got back from skiing in Brian Head, Utah. The first day we went skiing, my mom, and I took skiing lessons. That same day my brother took snowboarding lessons. Well, because my dad already knew how to ski, he just skied without us. The second day. My brother did the same thing, snowboarding lessons. My mom and I decided not to take lessons and ski with my dad. We did the same "bunny hills" over and over a few times, then we decided to go up to Chair Lift 4. That's when things went wrong. I tumbled over and hit my lip badly and cut it, and my mom did the same thing, but hurt her leg. She got picked up by a snowmobile rest of the was down the mountain because she couldn't ski the rest of the way down. Then they took her to the "first aid" place and had her leg straightened out. She is OK now, but it is still sore. So is my lip.

We have a house!!

Lewis is sleeping still but I am restless and awake. We found our new house yesterday. We are renting from a woman who was raised Catholic but both of her children have married mormons (in the temple) and are active in the church. They built this house and lived in it, til they divorced. Then her son and his new bride moved in, now they are moving to another brand new home and they are renting it out for the first time. Its really nice with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and a totally fenced in yard. No pool, but a huge ward with 20-30 young men and young women each. Lewis is headed to work today and I am headed to the house to help Pattys (our new landlord) son and daughter in law move. Since we have a place I have nothing to do today, so why not help them and meet the ward members who are also coming to help? Tomorrow we will attend our new ward as they meet at 9am and we don't have to be down to Fontana until 1pm. We are going to encourage the kids to come down tonight so they can attend with us. I'll post pictures after we get back home. We feel very blessed once again as we feel confirmation on the house / ward/ neighborhood/ schools etc. Oh yeah.....rude awakening for the kids, seminary is early morning here.....real early 5:45. OUCH! Caitlin had 1 year of early morning but Jon has only known release time. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger? right?!! LOL

Family Reunion '09

Greetings Family! It is time to start talking about the Whelchel Family Reunion in the summer of 2009. At last years family reunion the idea of going to Nauvoo next year was brought up and everyone who attended the reunion said they would be willing to travel to distance to go to Nauvoo. I am now asking if the opinion is the same. I have found some very nice condo's in Nauvoo that would be an excellent place for our next reunion. Please leave a comment or email me about whether or not you are in for Nauvoo in 2009. Here is the catch... if you say you are not willing to go to Nauvoo in 2009 you have to then tell me a realistic alternate destination (that means no hawaii, australia, etc...). As is the Whelchel policy we hope everyone will attend but we will go with who we got and with a family this big we can't please everyone. Also up for debate is the week of preference. It typically has been either the last week in July or the first week in August depending on school schedules. So please as soon as you read this, leave a comment and/or email me your likelihood of going to Nauvoo. I'm also sending this letter in email form for those that don't check the blog that often, although, if they don't check the blog they probably don't check there email, so if you know someone who falls into this category please call them and let them know the plan! Thanks!

P.S. I apologize in advance for those of you that will not receive this in email form because I don't have your right email address. Please do not yell at me, a simple email or phone call will do.

Caitlins first date........

Caitlin turned 16 in January. I almost arranged for her to go out on a group date just to get it over with as she was excited about the fact that she was old enough to now go. However, it never quite came together. Several times she would say, I just want my first date to be special.

In our ward is a wonderful family, the Sealey's. We like them very much. They have 7 children. Their oldest is at BYU and their next oldest is a senior at Caitlins school. Caitlin is very good friends with their next child Sarah. She has always admired Justice (senior boy) but Justice usually was spoken for with always plenty of invitations to any and all social occasions the school or ward provided. Today, he called her up and said he wanted to ask her out to the "El Cheapo" dance this weekend at Dixie High but had heard a rumor that she wasn't going to be around for it. She confirmed this and told him about going to California house hunting. So he then asked her if she would like to get together sometime the following week to do something together? Ummmm she said YES!!!!! They are going to double with Lauren and her friend but Justice said he wanted to surprise Caitlin with what they are doing so she won't know until they go out. Needless to say we had to peel her off the ceiling she is flying so high to tuck her into bed. As she said, nothing else has to come out of this, but what a perfect "first date"! I agree!

bubble fun

Today was a not so warm day but Paisley wanted to play with bubbles so bad we bundled up and braved the cold wind! Paisley loved to chase the bubbles when it was my turn with the bubble blower but her favorite thing was to use the bubble blower herself. We had a lot of fun getting soapy and chasing bubbles today!

Our little tike's first trike

About two days a week it is spring here in Kansas. The other five days are way too cold to go outside. We have been stuck in our how for way too many months so we are taking advantage of the few warm days we get. Paisley is the proud new own of a big wheels!! She can't quite reach the pedals when they are away from her so much mostly scoots with her feet. This nice tricycle is also adjustable and will grow with her and she gets taller, so that is really nice. In addition to Paisley getting her first bike, Jason got his first kite. That is what he is doing in the first picture. The wind here is a little bit too strong for kites most of the time, but we still get to have a lot of fun with ours. Life is getting a lot more fun with more outside time!!

House Hunting this weekend!

This weekend we make the house hunting trip to California. We have appointments to see a few homes and hope that one of them will be ours. We are prepared to walk away though if we don't feel the right "spirit". Hopefully that will NOT happen.

We are also attending James good friends homecoming. He left two years ago and went to Germany and returns this Thursday. We are very excited to see him again. He and James put in their papers around the same time but this James received his call first. Its one of those milestones to our own James returning. We just found out that the weekend that James was supposed to be giving his homecoming is NOW stake conference. They are praying about asking him to speak at Stake Conference. Other wise he will not give a homecoming here. Wow! It will be interesting to see what happens. He will be released the evening he arrives home and give his report to our stake president. Due to the short amount of time he has between when he comes home and we move (and stake conference) there is not an opportunity for him to report to the council.

We officially started packing. I am so very tired of moving and hope that we don't have to move again for a long time but even as I type that I know that we will have to move in a few years as we will buy back in once the market turns in California. Sigh.

I loved reading about the adventures in Kansas and everyones Easter. Loved the pictures too. We didn't do anything other than attend church. I have been very busy doing lots of "extra's with the kids (Caitlin hurt her knee and has 4 weeks of physical therapy, Daniel had his wisdom teeth out etc etc). We also found a reputable and trustworthy car repair place and had all the cars serviced so we were having to do without one car as each one rotated in to be fixed. Lots of fun but very tiring. This week is looking just as busy. I look forward to heading to California to "get away".

Wichita Weekend

This weekend we had a very fun activity. We went to a children's theater in Wichita and saw Alice in Wonderland. It was so much fun. Included with the show was a lunch buffet and that was a lot of fun. Paisley really enjoyed watching the "princess" (any cute girl is a princess to her.) We loved it so much we are planning on going back in July to see Raggedy Ann and Andy!!

First Easter in Kansas

Easter in Kansas has certainly been fun this year. We aren't quite in spring yet but the sun is shining. Paisley looked beautiful in her new Easter dress and shoes and really got the hang of posing for the camera. We had a wonderful celebration this first Kansas Easter.

Our First Easter

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Today Layne and I have had a SUPER EASTER!!  At church a boy in the ward gave a great talk with a very touching story about pushups (maybe Layne will forward it to you if you request).  Then I went off to Primary.  (I am a roving substitute teacher.)  I got to teach Sunbeams today.  The teacher had put together all sorts of stuff for the kids and we had a great time.  Layne went to Elders Quorum and they handed out CANDY.  He wasn't even hungry when we came home from church because of it.  Grumble grumble.  Luckily, I was planning on a simple lunch before our yummy Easter Dinner.  

After the much needed Sunday afternoon nap we decided to die Easter Eggs.  Here are the pictures.  We had a lot of fun.  Now I can smell the Rodeo Special cooking and we are getting excited about eating it.  

Love, Jen!  (and Layne)

Sking

Our family is going sking this Monday. We are still leaving on Sunday after church around 2:00 to Brian Head, Utah. Hopefully I don't break a leg, like my mom that one time.I can't even imagin that! We are bringing cookie dough also if we want a nice hot, soft cookie out of the oven.(That was my mom's idea). I hope we have a fun time. I am glad you guys are my family.

A little vacation

Last week the kids and I took a trip to Utah to visit my friend, Julie. They did a great job on the long car drive. On our way there, the 15 was closed 20 miles before Vegas, for about 3 hours, so that greatly increased the length of our drive. Surprisingly enough, Mialee and Nathan thought it quite fun to watch the cars so close to us and see people out and walking their dogs on the freeway. :)

We were lucky enough to have snow while we were there which absolutely thrilled the kids. We made a snowman and had a snowball fight. We went to the 4 temples in the area-Mialee has been wanting to see the SL temple in person, and got to do a session at the Jordan River temple while a nice YW in Julie's ward played with the kids.

On the way home we saw Shelley and Jolie and Mom and Dad. Sorry we missed you Tracy and fam!

We had a great time and came home to many new posts of your adventures! Our blog had an exciting, busy week.

I don't know how to post pictures with the camera I have, so this will have to do.....

Work Easter Party

We have celebrated Easter early because Jason's work party was last Sunday. It was a ton of fun. The Easter bunny came and hid candy for all the kids. There were special cookies for each kid and yummy punch. Then after the candy hunt the Easter bunny passed out coloring books for everyone. It was a lot of fun and Paisley was a pro at candy hunting.

More about Taryn

Taryn got braces this morning. I had asked her to come right over as soon as she had them so I could take her picture. I think you'll agree with me that she looks very cute with them. Keep smiling, Taryn!

Taryn's New Look

Wisdom Teeth

This beautiful fine morning Daniel will be removed of his wisdom teeth. Yes, its one of the last things to do towards his mission. Now he needs to win the lottery. LOL. He has to pay off his dental bill and now save half of his mission expenses ($5000) for you parents who aren't privvy to knowing what one goes for these days. He is making steady and continual progress. Please keep him in your prayers.

I forgot

Here are the pictures of the Corvette we bought 4 days later.  This one is a beautiful Sunset Orange.  It is also a 2005 but in perfect condition.  The driver never really used it so it only had 3000 miles on it.  For the peace of mind of you out there I should mention that we returned the red one and we still have a car that will hold grandchildren.  The red one had some odor in it that was causing us to get nauseated so we took it back.  Carmax has a 5 day no hassle return policy so it didn't cost us a cent.  Here are pictures of the one we kept.

Pictures

Here are the pictures that I meant to send with the previous post.

Corvette

Speaking of Taxing, Jennifer and I did our taxes a few weeks ago and already got our big fat refund. ;) We spent half paying off some debt and the other half we used as a down payment on a Corvette!!!!!! Luckily for me Jen likes Corvettes or I wouldn't have received permission to buy it. Also I couldn't increase monthly expenses more than a couple of dollars a month. We bought it a week ago last Monday. We traded in the truck for a more fuel efficient vehicle. We get almost twice the MPG with the Vette. Doesn't Jen look good behind the wheel. Unfortunately that is the last time she will see that view. ;) JK

Life

Hi,  It seems as if we haven't written much here for a while.  I just wanted to let you all know that we are alive and well.  Layne has some super news that he wants to share but I will let him do that.  Life has been interesting.  Layne and I are having a good time trying to figure out the whole marriage thing but I want to let you know that Layne is a pro at it.  For example:  Today Layne made dinner, emptied the dishwasher, took out the garbage, set the table and cleaned up after dinner while I sat around talking to one of my friends.  I am one lucky woman!!!!  Shhhh don't let Layne know how great he is or it might go to his head.  (I love you Layne!)  

Jen!

That Sure was Taxing

Currently around the country people are stressing out about their taxes. With only a little bit over a month before they are due some people may be starting to sweat it, while other are filing for an extension. For us in Kansas, thanks to our friend Turbo Tax we filed electronically yesterday! YAY! I've already had confirmation that both states and the feds have received our tax return and we are about 1 week from our refund! I'm sure glad that's over, and really glad that next year we will only have to file in one state instead of two!

James Travel Itinerary!!!!!!!

13 MAY 08 - TUESDAY EVA AIRWAYS 12 COACH CLASS EQUIP-77W LV: TAIPEI 640P NONSTOP MILES- 6799 CONFIRMED AR: LOS ANGELES 325P ELAPSED TIME-11:45 MEAL AIRLINE LOCATOR-BR -CG6TXS

UNITED 5782 COACH CLASS EQUIP-EMB120 TURBO LV: LOS ANGELES 914P NONSTOP MILES- 348 CONFIRMED AR: ST GEORGE 1151P ELAPSED TIME- 1:37 OPERATED BY-UNITED EXPRESS/SKY AIRLINE LOCATOR-UA -JZ4XFS

Can you believe it? His two years are almost up! Soon it will be Daniel, then Thomas, Jonathan and Brad going. The Whelchel family continues sending worthy able and willing young warriors to serve in Heavenly Fathers army. What a glorious day!!

Just returned from Pennsylvania

Hi Taryn,

I got your email. Sorry but my mom had dial up at her house and it takes so long to do anything that I don't do hardly anything at all.

I flew home yesterday and went through Denver and had a wonderful conversation with Martissa, Vallen, James, Grace and Lizzie (although with Lizzie it was one sided).

Good to be home in my own bed.