Our Fun New Years Eve!!

We have had a very fun New Years Eve day! It started out with the tradition breakfast out. We didn't take a picture, but we went to Ihop. It was adequate. We ran a few errands in Salina and then we headed off to the Rolling Hills Wildlife Museum!! Thanks Mom for the tickets! It was sure fun. Jason did a puzzle.

Paisley played with the legos and the animals.

Then she put on a puppet show for us! After the museum we headed to the Russel Stover Factory store to get some chocolates for our part tonight!

This is Jason and Jarom partying it up with a sippy cup. Jarom went to the doctor today and she said it was time he start learn to drink from a sippy cup. The cup makes him a little frustrated because he can't get anything to come out in his mouth.

We made some yummy carmel bugles and Paisley is loving staying up past her bedtime, eating bugles and watching Fern Gully. We are having a super fun party at our house!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Dollywood

We had a conversation (howbeit brief) about Dollywood while at Grandma's for Christmas. Leslee thought it was by Memphis and I thought it was my Nashville. I looked it up today and its by neither! LOL. Its just south of Knoxville on the far eastern side of the state. We will have to check it out at some point and tell you if its worth the drive.

The Exploration Place

The day started by making Paisley's hair cute! Then we headed down to Wichita to use our super fun Christmas present from the Cornwall's of tickets to The Exploration Place!

It was FREEZING today but we had to stop for a quick picture!

The traveling exhibit was "How to make a Monster" which featured monsters from several different films and the process they went through to make them. This was a monster was used in a cell phone commercial.

There was an incredible castle to play through. It was multi-leveled and had a lot of different rooms and activities within the walls. It was pretty fun!
At the end of the monster exhibit there was the crocodile from the Peter Pan movie from 2003, this cute poster was next to that exhibit. Jarom and I would make a tasty dinner.

Paisley would make a yummy snack.

And Jason would be a delicious feast!!

Jason was brave and took a whirl in the tornado simulator. Winds got up to 78 mph!

Meanwhile Paisley was building a tower.

We all took turns flight an airplane in the flight simulator. We all crashed the plane, instead of landing it. We'll leave that to professionals!!It was a super fun time!!

Our Anniversary Recap

For Our 7th Anniversary we had a lot of fun!!! We ran a lot of errands all over town. Then in the afternoon our friend called to see if we were interested in going out to dinner for her birthday and we said SURE!! We were already planning on it for our anniversary. So we had a good time going out to eat with a lot more people than we had originally planned. It was a good time!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

Happy 24th to us!!

24 years ago on a snowy cold day in Salt Lake City, the love of my life said yes once while I said it twice! Happy Anniversary Darling!!

Snow Snow and did I Mention SNOW!

Hello,

We are currently snowed in...well not technically, we can force the door open and make it down the steps. Once we get to the bottom of the steps you enter about 2+ feet of snow. To answer the question that just ran through each of your minds, yes the Corvette is completely buried. Luckily we know where we parked it. We hope to see it again in a few days; I say a few days because although it will stop snowing tomorrow morning, after snowing nonstop for 36 hours, the temperature isn't supposed to get above the low 30's tomorrow and not much snow melts at those temperatures. Well enough talk, here are some photos. The battery in the Camera is dead so these were taken with my iPhone so the quality isn't the greatest but it will give you an idea. In the last picture, the Corvette is the car right in the middle of the photo.

Googling your name

I regularly google our names to see what has made its way out there. I found out this time that a Daniel Lewis Whelchel got tired of waiting for his Grandma to die and attempted to kill her. Geeze.

Lewis is out there for his Austin stories.

And of course every single post on the this blog that mentions his name is out there. So do be careful what you post that you don't want others to read. It is accessible.

Violin!

I have my violin! And I learned how to hold an orange! I AM SOOO EXCITED!

I know some of my grades!

YAY! I passed my Marriage and Business Computer class with B+. (Marriage could possibly be an A). My Managerial Accounting class is going to be an A- even if I failed the final! My Econ and Ethics class are either B's or high C's! I am almost done! YES!

A House made of Candy!

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It must be Christmas because we made some really cute gingerbread houses on Sunday evening! We threw a surprise baby shower/ girls night out for a friend and made these super cute gingerbread houses. If you think back 2 years ago I made one then also. Last time I didn't let anyone pick at it and eat it, but this year it has been fun to snack on this fun Christmas project!!

Another Request...

IT IS DECEMBER AT LAST!!!.. Aunt Sefanie, can you plleeaassee change the blog background?? (if spelling is wrong I am sorry!)


Love,
Taryn :)

p.s.: Can't wait until Christmas... and also I am still using that "Norad Tracking Santa" website. lol

Crawling to the finish...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This semester is winding down and so am I. I had a 6-8 page autobiography due this past monday. I finished it last night and turned it in today! I have a research paper due on Wednesday with a porfolio of everything I have done in the class due as well. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though, and that is awesome! This week has been an awesome week. I went to the temple for the first time in a month yesterday, I have completed a lot of assignments at work, school, and some for church. I am grateful that this week has been so good. The pressure from school (exams, papers, research, finals) has been overwhelming. Next Thursday is going to be SO awesome! It will be my last day of school, excluding finals. Well, I am in class... see ya'll later!

-James

Don't forget about the other blog

Lewis and I tend to do our posting there. Its official we are headed to Tennessee!

Chopping Block

I am sitting in the waiting room at the Hispital waiting my turn to get
stuck onto the chopping block. I have my sinus surgery this morning.
Hopefully it will happen thus time. Last time I was on the chopping block
they sent me home for high blood pressure. Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday Lewis

You birthday is easy to remember since I remember when Mom and Dad's Anniversary... (tomorrow for everyone who didn't know) So happy birthday!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!! 49 YEARS!! Way to go!

Glad to know what you all are doing

I was so glad to read what Lewis did for Thanksgiving that I decided I should write what we did here. We usually celebrate by ourselves and I actually like having a great holiday like Thanksgiving all to ourselves. But Laura (Mike's little sister) and Derrick and their three children moved here so we celebrated at their new house. We had lots of Fun! I found I liked that too.

We really love having family here again. This children really missed Layne when he went out East. We have probably been with Laura's family at least once a week since they came! The little cousins love to be together and James has a soul mate in Garret who also fends for himself in a house full of girls.

We are trying to sell the rental house as I write. We got it all fixed up in September and its been on the market since October 18th. We've already had one offer fall through and we heard rumors about another possible offer coming up this week, so we'll see. Laura finally sold her Texas house on the third offer so I'm feeling like things are progressing normally.

We've all been sick for weeks, but most of us are feeling and acting better now. Yea! I asked a few friends so come last sunday to give blessing all around. We needed the extra boost. Now our break is over and the children have to go back to school and I have three weeks before Christmas break. We'll see what I can get done

Love to you all!

Christmas Came Early

After the nail biter of a BYU - Utah game this evening and finally winning in overtime I decided to give Jason his Christmas present early!! Stay tuned tomorrow for some great church wear... we have been promising to wear our cougar getup if BYU stomped on the Utes (maybe stepped on is more fitting), which they did, so we will come through. There is a hardcore Utes family in our ward, so victory will be grand tomorrow!

Thank you for Thanksgiving

Happy day after Thanksgiving:

I want to say thanx to the Haralsons for hosting a really nice afternoon, and to mom and dad from bringing the turkey and rolls. It was a wonderful and relaxing time.

I was concerned about David's report on his health, and we have him in our thoughts and prayers. It must be so frustrating to feel unwell and have measurable symptoms, yet not get the help needed.

Mom and Dad left the Haralson's shortly after we did in the evening to return to the temple. They were meeting Rebecca there who drove down to stay with them and go to the temple while her in-laws watched the kids. I'm grateful for their examples of doing the right thing all the time.

We missed James and Lauryn yesterday, but are enthused by their spirit and desires to do the right thing. James is taking care of himself and working to save and have money for school. He is very diligent in his efforts to get good grades and maximize his learning. It's hard to believe that he is halfway thru his second year of college.

It was very fun to see our first 'big' house of lights on the way back to Apple Valley last night. It was somewhere on Ave S as we headed down to 47th street and the 138. So many colors and designs.

It was nice to be with the rest of my family there, enjoying the day and each other. Those times become more precious to us as I spend more time away from home.

I hope you all are blessed with a nice remainder of the weekend!

Love, Lewis

For Traditions Sake

If you recall when Paisley was almost 1 month old we spent our first Thanksgiving alone. as we were getting the turkey ready we noticed that she was smaller than our turkey so we got a picture. Now as we have another baby near Thanksgiving we thought we should compare Jarom to our turkey this year. He is definitely bigger than our bird! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Email Orders

It has recently come to my attention that most people probably do not have an Etsy account. So in order to reach more people and be as successful as I can be, I would love to invite anyone interested to order an I Spy Bag through my email. If you have seen an I Spy Bag on the store site (thepurseplace.etsy.com) that you would like please email me the description and I can sell it over email. If there isn't one on the site you like but would still like to order one please email me. I have a lot of really cute fabric that is in the process of becoming an I Spy Bag, they just aren't finished. I am preparing for this busy holiday shopping weekend and for Cyber Monday. If you would like to specify that the I spy bag is for a girl or boy so the choice of fabric is appropriate that would be great! Please send your email orders to purseplace.etsy at gmail.com (email broken up to discourage spammers) Also, please feel free to tell your friends, family and anyone you think would be interested!

Long Time, No Talk: Lewis from Nashville

Hello,
Life has been a whirlwind for me for the past 3 weeks, it seems. I've been traveling each week so far in November. I think Tracy said I was home for 3 days so far, though I think I've been home on the weekends.

The first week of Nov was my usually monthly meeting, and I travel for the week to spend time out here rubbing shoulders and doing stuff with the people. I get extra done and more productively here. I also like to keep myself visible.

All of a sudden, just before that trip, I was "invited" back for a meeting the following Wednesday, which would be the 11th. I was to return first thing the next morning, but after the meeting, I was asked to remain till Friday afternoon. Thank heavens I always pack with extra clothes after being stuck one time, so I have clothes and just enough meds to make it. At that same time, I was also "invited" to come back this week. I told them I could only stay thru Wed night because of my vacation for the race. They said okay, so here I am. I was originally to leave this afternoon to fly to LAX and then rent a car to home, but I changed that, with advice from Tracy, to leave first thing tomorrow and go to Vegas and she'll pick me up there on the way to Overton/Logandale. I'll still leave the office this afternoon around 3pm when I was originally scheduled to leave to put together the details for the supplies and consumables at the aid stations. I plan to drop those off around 3am Saturday morning, and I don't want to be guessing.

I will be home for Thanksgiving week, but am leaving first thing Monday to return to Franklin. I've made the flight arrangements but I can't remember the details. I just was asked to spend as much time here as I can, so I'll also be home for a week, then returning the week before Christmas, then again the week after New Year for the monthly meeting. I have so many trips planned that my corporate AMEX card is almost maxed out even though it gets paid weekly after each trip. I don't wait a day to do the expense statement once the travel is complete.

When I'm here, I work hard and long, so I've been quite negligent at texting and say hi throughout the day. An 8pm work evening isn't unusual.

Well, I'm off for milk and bagels. Have a lovely day and keep me and my family in your prayers!

Love, Lewis

Business

As you all know since I posted it on this very blog, that I have been making and trying to sell purses online. Well I have expanded my online store to include I Spy Bags. Mom and I made a couple while she was here. I listed a couple of them on my store on Wednesday and on Friday two of them had sold!! In the meantime Jason and I were selling something on Craigslist and the lady that called and wanted to buy it owns a children's second hand clothing store in Salina. During the conversation I asked her if she would be willing to carry some of my I Spy Bags to sell in her store. She was really excited to do that for me! Today we took up three bags (I wanted to put most of my finished bags on my online store because I was excited to have sales) Anyway, by the time we got home from doing our shopping in Salina I had a message on our answering machine from her saying two bags had already sold!! She asked me if next time I brought up bags if I could bring about six!! YAY! It is nice to finally have success since my purses didn't go too well. Since it is the holidays however I have slashed prices on my purses and we are having a Holiday Sales Event!! Fell free to check it out... thepurseplace.etsy.com

This is the outside of the store where my bags are and here they are at the cash register in the store. She just opened her store a few weeks ago and the major advertising for her store begins Tuesday... I gotta get more bags up there!!

Gratitude

What are you grateful for?

As I think I already said, Lewis was in Tennessee the first week of the month, then had to go to Tennessee this week but was supposed to return yesterday at noon. Instead he had to fly home tonight. They also told him that he has to go out next week (he flys out at noon on my birthday) and will fly into Vegas where we will pick him at the airport and proceed to VOF. Now ta-dah he gets to go Thanksgiving week too! So on Thanksgiving day, we will have seen Lewis 7 out of 26 days. We will be very grateful to have him HOME!! What about you, what will you be thankful for on Thanksgiving?

Happy November

Happy November, Happy Birthday Martissa and happy new blog background as we enter a new season!

YEAH!!!

I know I am really late, but on October 7, I got my braces off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPEE!!

nice straight teeth at last.

Happy Halloween!

Here is our family picture. Jason designed the Cornwall Zoo logo. I thought it was fantastic! We sure love our cute little zoo animals!

We hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween night!!

Paisley's birthday and our fun week

Okay get ready for a long post. This week has been very fun but very busy. We first start out with Jarom being as cute as can be!Monday night we carved our pumpkin for FHE. It was a lot of fun. We went with a simple design this year since we had a couple nights of frost and made our pumpkin a little bit squishy.

On Tuesday the kids were able to wear their costumes to dance if they wanted, so Paisley decided she wanted too. She makes for a cute leopard!

Wednesday night was our ward party. We all got dressed up for the occassion but we unfortunately didn't think to take a picture since Jason and I were in charge of the activity we were a little busy doing other things. We are going to put on the costumes again so we can get a family shot. (SPOILER ALERT: since you have seen the kids costumes, this years theme was the zoo. Jason and I were zoo keepers, Paisley was a leopard and Jarom a giraffe.)

This is Paisley with her best friend Maisie at the ward halloween party.

Today Paisley had a great birthday. She loved all the letters and phone calls and especially all the sing to her. She was very happy to turn 4 and now considers herself to be "big". Here she is with her pile of presents.

She was much more than thrilled to get a lot of princess things for her birthday including a lot of dress up things!

Later in the evening our town had the annual trick or treat on main street and town carnival at the community building. Before heading to the festivities we went to Papa's favorite place (Braums) for ice cream!

Despite the rain this town party's hard for Halloween. We went trick or treating to all the stores even in the rain.

The carnival was a blast! Paisley loved all the games.

Paisley got some cute new jammies for her birthday and decided to wear them to bed tonight!

After a long day of celebration we came home to sing "Happy Birthday" and eat her princess cake. After the huge amounts of ice cream we had consumed earlier we all had very tiny pieces.

And I just wanted to show off how cute Jarom is in his "I love my mummy" outfit!

We've had a great week, with lots of fun. We are so happy to have Nana and Papa here. Paisley had a fabulous birthday, and we are excited to see how year 4 goes!