Wednesday, March 27, 2013

WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SAVED BLOG, IT IS GONE!!

Well, dummy me seems to have deleted my blog update of August 11!  I was about half way through and seem to have hit a wrong button.  I have been putting off starting it again because I ALREADY DID IT ONCE, ARGH!  Oh, well, here we go again!

Way too much has happened to report on everything since February, so I will hit on a few highlights for us all. 

Mario is travelling a ton and loves it.  Since January for his new job, he has travelled to NYC, upstate NY, Boston, Texas several times, California several times, England, Singapore, Florida, and more places that I can't think of right now.  He is in high demand constantly.  He is an expert in many different areas and his company is putting his knowledge to good use.  I hope he can keep up with the intenseness of it all; he isn't a spring chicken anymore!  Our Zion's Camp over Memorial Day Weekend was a smashing success with over 250 YSA's attending from all over.  It was good to see Mark and Nancy Worthington again after so many years, who brought up a nice group of YSA's  from Virginia.  Brad Wilcox was our featured speaker for the conference and stayed with us.  He also did a BYU Alumni fireside for PJ while he was here.  Awesome man and speaker! 

PJ went to Chicago with her sister, DD, in April and had  a blast!  She was trying to use up a timeshare that was expiring and the closest one to Chicago was 1 1/2 hours away!  She thought that would be good since she and DD wanted to also go to Springfield to see the Lincoln Museum.  Well, what a fiasco trying to get into Chicago on the train, which would take her many pages to explain!  Suffice it to say, they went by car the three days they went into the city after that experience!  They ate at some fantastic restaurants, went to 42nd Street at the Marriott Theatre, went segwaying (sp?) all over Chicago for three hours (her favorite), went on a beautiful hike at Mathieson Park (it was supposed to be in the 60's that day and by a fluke, the temperature shot up over 90!  We had dressed for the weather and almost melted away!), went to two sessions at the Chicago Temple, went to the Art Institute and the Chicago Symphony (which was amazing because we got tickets to sit BEHIND the orchestra, looking out at the audience, which was a whole new experience!)  One restuarant we ate at was circular, up on the 50th floor with a fantastic view of Chicago at night, spectacular!  The Lincoln Museum was, bar none, the best museum PJ has ever been to, she was totally enthralled with everything.  They went to Sebastian's for dinner that night in Springfield and enjoyed the best steak and rolls, PJ has ever had.  She would highly recommend both places!

I STARTED ANOTHER BLOG AND DIDN'T FINISH OR PUBLISH IT, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
ONCE AGAIN, I AM PUBLISHING IT ANYWAY!

Where Did the Last Five Months Go?

So much for writing once a month!  Looks like this will be another book in order to catch up!  So much has happened, I don't know where to start. 

Mikah is back home for seven weeks from BYUI.  It is so nice when your daughter is excited to come home!  She has changed in many good ways but continues to want to stay up until all hours of the morning (which has been ruining my sleep) with her Branch friends, swimming, yakking and watching movies.  She has way too many friends and they constantly want to be with her!  She is supposed to be doing what she can to make money.  She is starting up her "Diversified Services" business again (yard work, pet and baby sitting, errands, etc.) and put out her flyers in the neighborhood yesterday and has already gotten a call!  She will post her flyers in the two local chapels tomorrow and we will see what happens.  She wasn't able to get a job at school last semester.  A job is posted there and is filled within minutes and it is rare when they hire freshmen.  She had a blast at school over the summer and it was hard to concentrate on school, now that she has discovered the wonderful Idaho outdoors.  She took a canyoneering class, joined the outdoor adventures club and went rapelling, white water rafting, horseback riding, waterskiing, boating, backpacking, spent four days in Moab, sleeping under the stars and canyoneering.  It is nice having her home to share chores with me.  I hate cleaning out the pool baskets with all the dead frogs and even a dead skunk!  Gross!  The summer has been miserably hot and watering constantly gets very old!  Since we have lived here this was the second worst winter, the WORST spring (constant rain) and WORST summer (heat and humidity).  Ohio normally has fantastic weather, except the winter. 

Abram got the job at Tuacahn in Saint George!  He was SO excited to be hired at such a prestigious theatre, although he has had to drop out of school a semester because the season goes through the end of October.  But he is making money and will get over half of his equity points!  We are going out the last week of the shows to see him.  If any of you get out that way, please be sure to go see him!  So far the Sowards, Hunters and Williams have seen him and given nice reviews!  He has the role of Sonny, one of the T-Birds in Grease.  He was one of two from BYU who got a legit role and isn't an understudy.  In Little Mermaid, he is the swing and has to learn all the roles, which is very difficult because, sometimes he has to jump in at the last minute.  He has played the pilot quite alot and is the first voice you hear when the show starts and also a couple of  ensemble roles.  Tuacahn did auditions in NY, LA and several other places.  Most of the performers have been on Broadway, regional shows, TV and movies, so Abe feels very fortunate to have been selected.  Tuacahn is the first regional theatre to perform Little Mermaid after Broadway and Disney has thrown alot of money their way, incredible visual effects and an eighty foot water curtain.  Life is quite different away from the cocoon of BYU and he has definitely had to get used to "real life" experiences.  It is great that he is back in the old stomping grounds of his mission in St. George and is having many wonderful experiences with the Spanish and Single's Branches.  He is the Primary pianist in the Spanish Branch and helps the missionaries alot.  He is dating and having fun!

Alixa, Jarom, Jenna and Bo (Blake Owen, yes, she had a sweet little boy in April!) are still in Richmond, VA and love it there.  Jarom works with the Young Men in church and Alixa was the girl's basketball coach.  They love having Nate, Kenzie and Kenna nearby to experience life together (Jarom's brother and wife and little girl who is Jenna's best friend).  We enjoyed visiting them in June for Bo's blessing and seeing our first grandson and his darling sister.  Their home is rapidly shrinking as they expand their family and acquire new toys and books!  Mitch (their pet snake) now has to share his bedroom with Bo and Jenna's old crib and Jenna graduated to the futon.  Alix and Jarom are fantastic parents and are raising two very bright and happy children.

Zak, Sam and Eva bought a foreclosed home in Saratoga Springs, UT and have a nice view of Utah Lake.  Mario said their home is very nice but I haven't seen it yet.

WELL, I STARTED THIS THREE YEARS AGO AND STOPPED.  I AM PUBLISHING IT ANYWAY, SINCE I WROTE QUITE A BIT!  I AM HOPING TO FINISH MY NEXT EFFORT!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

At Last, I'm Starting a Blog!

Well, how do I know where to start?  For many of my family and friends, I was sending out a monthly(ish) letter but quit a year and a half ago when life started getting a little rocky for the Ohio Hegewalds.  In a nutshell, Mario was bought out of his position at Eaton and the consulting position he took after that fizzled out when the economy tanked.   He was unemployed for a year but did a little consulting on the side, but, since January of this year, he is happily employed back with Ernst and Young again!  Hooray!  It is so much nicer having a happy husband around, even though he is back to being gone four days a week.  He is currently back and forth to Philly and Boston.  I just have to think of all the Marriott and Continental points he is racking up and it makes me feel a little better!  I have also had some pretty horrendous health issues but they seem to be over for now and I am feeling almost back to my old self. (I really shouldn't use that word because it is becoming more and more true, but I am fighting it!)  So I sent some of you a notice a couple of weeks ago that I was starting a blog and then forgot to add the site!  Pretty dumb! 

I guess I will just start in January, 2011.  I will start with Mikah.  She is currently at BYUI, majoring in art but is home now because she is on the Summer/Fall track and Winter is her off track.  She couldn't wait to get out of the house last Fall and had a good semester at school and even got good grades!  When she came home for Christmas, she had such a great time that she decided to stay here and work instead of going back to Idaho to work.  She is having an absolute blast with all her friends from the Branch, is working at Target and babysitting, and we rarely see her because she is either off with her great friends or they are over here.  She couldn't be happier and will be very sad to leave, I think.  She has really matured and cleaned up her act.  Her 20th birthday was a few days ago.  No more teenagers!  Kind of sad because that is just another indicator that life is moving on whether I want it to or not! 

Abe is at BYU.  Mario and I went out to see him in Peter Pan last month and he did a great job!  He made the decision not to do Young Ambassadors this year, which was very hard for him.  He realized that he needed to build his resume by being in other shows and having other experiences.  He may join again next year when they go to South Africa but may not.  He auditioned for Tuhechan (sp?) in St. George for Grease and The Little Mermaid and will find out if he made it next week.  If he does, it runs until October, so he would have to quit school for a semester, which would mean he couldn't be in YA's again.  He also auditioned for Jackson Hole and will be auditioning for several other theatres as well.  I hope he ends up in a place that will help him the most.  It is very hard for his dad that he isn't in YA's anymore.  I think Mario wishes he could do it!  Abe had gotten so much joy from the two years he was blessed to be in the group.  You couldn't ask for a better group of kids for your child to associate with!  He is on full scholarship for his grades and talent, which was a huge blessing for us since we had no income for the last year.  We had so much fun with him over Christmas, he is a great kid!  He is currently working for an insurance company, going door to door and getting leads for them.  It pays well for not much time spent and he can fit it around all his shows, etc.  He is loving life and BYU!


Alixa is such a great little mom and Jarom is a doting dad!  Her family has settled in Richmond, VA and Jarom has a great computer job helping a huge hospital system to go paperless.  What does that have to do with his Masters degree in Sports Administration?  Oh well, it helped him to get his job because he needed a Masters!  He will just "administer" his kids in all their many future activities!  Alixa is having a little boy around April 22!  I'm hoping he is a few days late and waits for my birthday on the 25th!  Jenna, their little girl, is an absolutely amazing child!  I tease them that she is like a little dog and performs on command!  She is very smart and it is so hard to be serious around her because she does the cutest, funniest things!  I think she knows every kiddie song there is!  I spent a few days with them for Alixa's birthday and a baby shower a nice lady did for her in the ward.  She is the girl's basketball coach and Jarom was working with the Cub Scouts but got released while I was there.   Alixa has worked to make their house a home and has a little business she started with McKenzie, her sister-in-law, selling baby items.  You might want to check it out at babybabblesboutique.com.  

Zak, Sam and Eva have settled in Lehi, UT for now.  Zak graduated in chemistry from BYUI last August and now works for a company in Salt Lake City.  We are very proud of him.   We tease him because he has a UNION job!  Very nice and cushy!  I hope he will be able to work on a Masters and his company pay for it since he gets off at 3:30 pm!   I stayed a week with them while I was in Utah last month and it was nice just seeing how they lived.  Sam and Zak are fantastic parents and Eva is a little doll.  She was rolling all over the house but hadn't quite gotten crawling down yet!  She is a very curious baby and doesn't stay still!  Sam is happy to be by her sister's family and Zak has reconnected with his high school buddy, Matt Lukens.  They hang out with Matt and Jerrie a lot.  While I was there, their car broke down several times and Matt came to the rescue and saved them a bunch of money because he is so good with cars.  One night they worked on the radiator until midnight!  They are living in Zak's Uncle Andy's very nice house until Andy sells it. 

Mario is happy as a clam with his new job and has realized that he doesn't like corporate life too much and that consulting is a much better fit for him.   We learned a lot the past year being unemployed and with my health issues.  The Lord has blessed us and made us stronger people.  He continues to love being the Branch President of the Cleveland Single's Branch and I love being with them as well.  We are way too successful marrying off these incredible young single adults and it is hard to keep the numbers up!  He is busy planning his fifth Zion's Camp, a young single adult conference that is held for three days over Memorial Day in May.  If anyone knows of a  young single adult looking for a fantastic time, send them to Cleveland for Zion's Camp!    He continues to play tennis, walleyball and golf whenever he can squeeze them in!  He spent a week in Germany last month for one of his consulting gigs on the side and enjoyed it very much.

I am just happily plugging along.  I still enjoy my women's club where I play canasta once a month, am with a fun group of ladies once a month where we cook different foods, and do a lot of service for causes around Cleveland.  I am putting together a service project for next month for Shoes and Clothes for Kids where I hope to get around 20 people from my ward to help.   Mario and I had a crazy night last month playing a giant Family Fued game at our local rec center.  We didn't do very well but it was fun!  You could tell that the people we played against watched a lot of TV!  Mario and I enjoyed our time in Utah seeing our family and also Mario's family.  I went to the temple twice while there.  I always go when I can since I have about 10 to choose from that are within 30 minutes, unlike the entire day you need to do here in Ohio!  Spoiled Utahns!   I'm playing tennis several times a week but have slowed down a bit since my operation.   I feel like everyone is trying to shove me to the next "season" of my life and I don't want to go there!   I was exercising fairly well last year to get my core strength back but quit over the holidays and turned instantly to flab again!  It is a never ending fight!  I tried water aerobics last week and it is ok and want to try yoga as well.  I'm trying to start weight training again but it is hard to get back into the routine!  Waa waa waa, I'm such a cry baby!  I am seriously thinking of going on a diet for the first time in my life and am not looking forward to it but I need to!   

Well, I have said more than enough and hope I haven't bored everyone to death!  I don't know how to upload pictures on the blog yet but Alixa is helping me to do it tomorrow, I hope, so you can see how we all look these days.  Yay, I'm done!

I guess I did ok on the pics even though they are all in the middle of the page and I don't have a clue what to do on the right column.  Hopefully, by my next blog, I will have it all figured out!

Friday, February 4, 2011

I AM FINALLY STARTING A BLOG!

I (PJ) am finally starting a blog about the Ohio Hegewald's!  For many of you, I wrote a monthly letter update for a couple of years but then quit awhile back.  I fully intended to start a blog and Alixa just set me up (I'm staying with her for a few days in Richmond) FINALLY!   I will be sending those of you who are getting this a notice of a post and you can delete it or open it as you wish.  Hope that is ok!  I haven't written a Christmas letter in years, so I thought I would update you as to our doings and whereabouts.  My blog is a work in progress and will look better and better as I learn to do pictures, etc.  Right now, I need to get ready because Alixa and I are going to tea!  I will send an update soon!