small update

So it's been about a month and a half since I last updated. I've been too busy and lazy to update!!

I'll put some pics up eventually (I do put pics on facebook more frequently than on my blog).

We moved! We are all moved into our new house in Dallas. We've been here a little more than two weeks. I've been so busy b/c in addition to moving almost 2000 miles in our own car with a trailer, I've also moved in, unpacked a lot of stuff already, painted 3 closets, tore down paneling from an entire floor-to-12 ft ceiling living room, tore down half-wall paneling from the kitchen, refinished, re textured, and painted the living room, changed all the plug outlets and a few light switches, took down 3 sets of cabinets in the kitchen, and removed a small wall coming from the ceiling in the kitchen.

Needless to say, not only have I not had time to blog, but I also haven't been able to type due to my scabbed-over and throbbing hands! I always knew I was quite handy, but I have to admit, I've impressed myself this time.

Anyway... kids are great. Ben is great. I'm great. Travis is in 1st grade and has already adjusted quite well at his new school. Kinsey is my little cling-on, but I hate to admit, I think she loves tv more than she loves her mom! Which has been great b/c I've logged in 10-12 hour days remodeling the house.

I told her the other day, "Kinsey, I'm so sorry I've made you watch tv for so long today. I promise I'll finish all this work soon so that I can spend time with you."

Her reply, "Thats okay mom. I luuuuuuvvvvvvvveeeee tv!!!!!!!"

Whoops. Gotta work on that.

Have a merry christmas everyone and enjoy your holiday. I know I will b/c Ben will actually be home using vacay time for the next 2 weeks!!! Not only will he NOT be traveling and away from us, but he'll actually be HOME and NOT WORKING!

Peace out.

Trav's new blog

Travis really wanted his own web page, so we talked him into a blog instead. He updates it sporadically so add the address to your reader so you don't miss any profound moments with Travis. lol

travatar.blogspot.com

Don't forget to leave him lots of comments. Those make his day!

You say tomaeto, we say tomahto

In Texas I learned how to talk. In New Jersey I learned how to talk all over again. I'm glad that my choice of words has entertained so many New Jerseians on a daily basis! :)

I say... / They say...

Beach / Shore

Tennis Shoes / Sneakers

Grocery Store / Food Store

Grocery Cart / Buggie

Stroller / Buggie

Wahterr / Whatah

Jersey / Joisee

New York or Manhattan / The City

Y'all / "'Y'all' hahahahaha 'y'all' y'all' hahaha oh my gosh that is so funny! y'all"

New Jersey Turnpike / Turnpike

Garden State Parkway / The Parkway


I'll add more as they come to me.

10 Things...

Top 10 Things I WONT MISS About New Jersey:

10. Too-narrow check-out lanes at the Grocery Store

9. ALL Costco Employees at the Costco in Eatontown

8. NO swimming pools (unless we want to pay $4k a summer for a Beach Club)

7. Elementary School & all Teachers refusing any and all Parent Involvement

6. Having to drive at least 20 minutes to get to Target, Wal-Mart, Costco, Grocery Store, etc

5. Weekend Traffic on the Parkway

4. Fake-Baked, Breast Implanted, Rhinoplastied, rich, snotty, plasti-girls

3. Nannies and AuPairs instead of Parents

2. Getting my groceries from my car to my apartment through a lobby, up the elevator, and down a long hall... every week

1. Totally RUDE and SNOTTY people (mainly employees) in general



Top 10 Things I WILL MISS About New Jersey:

10. Spring, Summer, and Fall (and never getting above 85 degrees!)

9. Celebrity Sightings (So far we've seen Bruce Springstein several times!, Kelly Rutherford aka Lily Van Der Woodsen from Gossip Girl, and Ken Paves aka Celebrity Stylist)

8. Attendants pumping my gas for me - it's the law! and it's SO nice!

7. Ocean Front View each day out ALL my windows

6. Billy & Heather (and of course, all my other amazing friends I've made!)

5. Eating Sushi @ Kanji

4. Beautiful wooded drive anytime you drive anywhere on the Parkway - and it's getting even better with all the leaves changing

3. Wicked

2. Weekend Road Trips exploring as much of the North East as we can cram in

1. Being so familiar with New York that I don't need a map in Manhattan anymore

Exciting news for the Heps!

We bought a house! It's in Dallas (Coppell). We will move sometime mid-December.

Here are a few more pictures of it.

















3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 living, 2 dining, ~2000 sq ft.

We'll update it once we move in - ie: kitchen, breakfast nook, and family living room (paneling has got to go!)

Remembering 9/11

And I’m proud to be an American where as least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land God bless the U.S.A.

2 days in and already called into the Principal's office...

Travis' teacher said the Principal wanted to see me. They want to move Travis into the Gifted/Accelerated Class!!!

Ha! I totally had you thinking that he got into huge trouble, didn't I?!?!

Last year he was tested for the Accelerated program (where I'm from it's called TAG or Gifted) and his teacher told me he'd be in it for sure this year. I never heard anything else about it so after orientation last week I asked his new teacher about it. She looked at me like, "Ya right, you are just another parent who *thinks* your kid is super-smart." She didn't say that obviously but I just got that vibe from her.

Then 2 days later she said the Principal wanted to see me to have Travis placed in the Accelerated Program. HA! I could tell she felt kinda bad for treating me like that two days earlier.

Apparently the school wasn't totally on the ball and didn't get the Accelerated Program class organized before school started. So now they are pulling all the kids from their classes and putting them into this new class. They will have one Accelerated class for all of 1st Grade and will do the same 1st grade work but at a faster pace. He'll be into 2nd grade work before the end of the year.

Oh, and just a brag...

At the end of the school year last year the Kindergartners did standard testing. They give the parents the results based on where they scored compared to all the other Kindergartners in the Nation. There were 4 categories total. Travis scored 99% better than all other kids in the entire Nation in all 4 categories. He's a smart one... but he knows it too and we are trying to not let him get cocky about it.

Beach Day

$248.15

$248.15... That is how much I've spent this past week on SCHOOL UNIFORMS. Argh!!

The kids had uniforms left over from last year, but after sorting through them and getting rid of all the too-small stuff and yucky stuff, this is how much I had to spend to get a decent wardrobe for them to wear to school.

I don't like doing uniforms at all! They both have a closet full of cute clothes!! But of course, I have to go out and spend an additional $248.15 on more clothes for them! And this is in addition to the uniforms they already have!

These uniforms cost more than what I usually spend on their clothes... which usually come from the clearance rack. Why do uniforms have to cost so much?

Kinsey is the new Gisele

That's hot!





Posh loves her.

Kinsey's 4 year portraits

Isn't she a beauty?


(This is the package I ordered that family will get a print of)











If any family would like a pose other than the first one, let me know and I'll send you the link to order them for yourself. You only have 90 days though until the images are no longer available. The square collage prints are available also in a 5x5 or 10x10. I ordered one of each of the collage prints in 10x10 for our family.

JCPenney went digital and totally upgraded their photo studio. This is the first time we've gone since the upgrade. I'm so impressed with the quality. Much better than the old system.

If you click on any of the photos it will take you to my picassa account where there are a bunch more from this photo session. These are just my favorite.

Travis is a walking infomercial!

Travis, I kid you not, is a walking infomercial. (He's 6.) He'll come up to me and say,

"Mom, we should buy a plant. And then, we can buy a Aqua Globe. And did you know that if you act now and call the toll free number that you can get it for only $14.99? Can you believe it, mom? Only $14.99! Plus, they will even give you a second one for free!! Mom, you HAVE to call the toll free number NOW so we can get our two Aqua Globes for only $14.99. This offer wont last long, mom, so we really need to hurry!!"

I'm not kidding! If he sees a commercial more than a few times, he walks around talking exactly in the same words and tone as the commercial. The cereal and unhealthy junk food ones are the worst!



And just in case you have been persuaded by Travis's excellent persuasion skills, here is the link where you can order your very own set of Aqua Globes!

https://www.buyaquaglobes.com/?cid=496594

We're sinners!

Last Saturday we went to Atlantic City, NJ for the day - the Sin City of the East Coast! We didn't gamble, but we did have a really fun time and plan on going back again soon!
Driving in to Atlantic City





Monopoly sign


We ate at the all you can eat buffet at the Hilton. It was yummy!






Beach in Atlantic City












On the boardwalk




Boardwalk taxis. These were hilarious! The driver pushed them on foot. They charged about $1 per block plus tip.


Inside the most amazing mall I've ever seen. It is 3 stories built on a pier over the ocean. It was so nice and had some of the most upscale stores.

View from the pier in the mall


Fountain that did a full water show every hour. The show from the fountain in the mall was the most incredible thing I've ever seen. It alone was worth the drive down there. I'll post some videos of it soon.




Inside the mall

Looking down from the 3rd level to the 1st

On the 3rd floor there were several of these sitting areas with real sand...



I had to get a picture in front of the Roxy store!


More boardwalk pictures

Hill Cumorah Pageant

We went with our friends Billy and Heather to see the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, NY. We live about 6 hours from there. While we were there we did the whole standard LDS Church history tour. It was a really fun trip and we had a blast with our friends!

At the hotel




I love this one

At McDonalds

At the Hill Cumorah Pageant before it started

Finding our seats (open seating so we got there early)


Travis went around with the camera and got as many pictures of him with the actors as he possibly could. We laughed when we uploaded the pictures to the computer and saw all these random pictures with Travis in them.










Waiting for the show to start


Kinsey is under that blanket having a melt down

Whenever Travis wants something he does this face and says to me, "Mom, you can't say no to this face! It's too cute!!"

The show



The next day we went back to the Hill Cumorah to visit the visitors center and take a tour of the hill


Kinsey's doing Hook 'Em Horns... lol



View from the top of the hill looking down onto the stage and seating


Still on the hill...


Billy and Heather


Monument on top of the hill




Smith log cabin on the Smith family farm







They had to take a picture in front of the "Anderson" bus..hehe


Long Day!


Palmyra NY Temple and church building across the street from the temple






The house actually isn't there anymore. A new house was built on the same lot, so it isn't even the house Martin Harris lived in.


The Peter Whitmer farm was amazing. They had the best Stake Center/visitor center right in the middle of the property and the Whitmer house next to it.

Inside the Whitmer house

4th of July sand hole

For the 4th of July we spent the entire day (noon - 10pm) at the beach with our friends Billy and Heather. We did a terrible job taking 4th of July pictures, but we did get pictures of the huge hole Ben, Billy, and Travis dug.

Once the sun went down we watched fire works right on the beach. It was amazing! Best fire works show ever.

Video of the kids at the beach

Nothing too exciting, but here's a picture of the kids playing on the beach.

We saw a shark!

We were at the beach last month having a fun beach day, and a real SHARK swam to shore and was caught by a fellow beach goer. Travis was in heaven and kept trying to pet it. I had to tell him to stay away because sharks will bite!




The girl in the green looked JUST like Rachael! It was weird. Plus, I think they both have the same swimsuit!









Oh, and we saw a dead sting ray!

Last day of school

Here are a few cute pictures of the kids on the last day of school from the end of June. Yes, I know, I'm posting all these pictures really late!

Travis with his teachers Mrs. Sweet and Mrs. Iandoli


Kinsey sporting her birthday button




My little monkey






This girl, Carina, has the HUGEST crush on Travis. She would send love letters home with him every single day. Travis liked her but would always complain to me that she bothered him too much and wouldn't leave him alone.


Two cutest kids on the planet!

Kinsey's 1st manicure

We gave Kinsey some cute little kiddie fake press-on nails for her birthday. She loved them! She looked so hilarious in them!


She had a few extra so I stuck them on her big toes. So funny, yet creepy...

Travis the Avatar

Hi everyone - since this is our "family" blog, Allison added me as a poster to it. Look forward to helping out with The Hepworths Blog.

Travis recently has gotten into a Japanese Anime called Avatar: The Last Airbender. He just started watching it this week and is really really into it. He made a makeshift costume with a pair of black shorts, a red jacket, and a marker drawn on his arms. Here is a video of him being "The Avatar":



Honestly, I've never really understood the whole "Anime" craze that quite a few of my IT co-workers are into. I will say, though, that after watching an episode of Avatar with Travis, it was pretty interesting and I can see how people get into it. Travis has definitely gotten into it.