Snow and pools

I guess snow and pools are not so good together. We were told that we need to get the snow off of the pool cover so that the snow won't weigh it down. When it rains we have this little pump that you throw out on the cover and it just pumps the water off. Easy. Snow, not so easy. You have to walk on the cover and carefully shovel off the snow. This goes against what you have been taught, which is don't walk on the cover, yeah it will hold your whole family and them some but it is not meant to be walked on. The lightest person in the family should do this shoveling. Kyler is much lighter than me so decision made. Kyler is supposed to do the snow removal. Oh but no, Kyler decided Kayla was the lightest person in the family and that she should do it because he was too heavy. In his view she used the pool as much he did, and she's here all the time, which means part of the family. My son the gentleman.

He did provide the much need moral support for Kayla; as she shoveled he stood back, kept her company and told her what she should do. All of this talking just plumb wore him out so he need a break.
It really wasn't as bad as I made it out, but from the picture that I took thats the idea that you got. When I looked at the pictures I just laughed. Well, Kyler did help. They both decided it was pretty cool walking on water. They said that you could feel the ice break when you stepped down which was a little freaky. They got most of the snow off of the cover for now but there is supposedly a lot more to come over the next week.
It looks like we are going to have a white Christmas. This makes Pete very happy. Snow removal is are only source of income during the winter. It can snow everyday until Christmas eve but then I hope it stop, until at least after Christmas morning. Last year it was just Kyler and I Christmas eve and Christmas morning, Pete was out pushing snow. So this year I am hoping for the best. Merry Christmas!

Kiefer's Memorial Debate Tournament

This past Friday and Saturday was the second annual Kiefer Memorial Debate Tournament at Lehi High school. After Kiefer's accident the debate coach at Lehi High school, Mr Mansfield, changed the name of the debate tournament to the Kiefer Memorial Tournament. This year over 33 high schools from all over the state participated with over 1000 students. It has became one of the largest in the state. It doubled in size from last year.

Kiefer was a great debater. In his sophomore year he took either first or second in almost every tournament that he competed in. He took second in the state competition and was told by the judge that it was because he was a sophomore. The girl they gave it to was a senior and Kiefer would still have two more years to go to national (if they only knew). He lettered his sophomore year and won the entire tournament at a national debate camp the summer before the accident with his "beautiful" argument on AIDs. Mansfield actually read his "beautiful" argument at the funeral, it was amazing. He was also the president of the debate team as a junior, which is not typical. Debate and drama were what Kiefer lived for. He loved to be in front of people and he loved to argue (he got the arguing part from me).

The tournament is based on Kiefer. They gave out bandannas to each competitor (Kiefer always wore a black bandanna tied around his wrist). The individual prizes were dog tags. The trophies are all skate boards with a long board for first prize (Kiefer rode his long board or mini everywhere). They also have a dance. Everyone that we talked to say it is the best tournament.

This year Mr Mansfield asked Kyler, Randy and I to help hand out the prizes. It was really great to be there and to be part of something that Kiefer loved so much. It is also great to know that he is remembered and will not be forgotton; to know that every year people will get to hear about my son, to learn just a little about him and his passion for debating. I am so honored to be Kiefer's mom. Everyday I just try to think about how blessed I am to have had nearly 17 years with this smart and wonderful boy. He taught me so much and I still think that I am continuing to learn from him everyday as I try to be a someone that he can be proud of. He touched the lives of so many in such a short time. He was so smart and had such a big heart. I am so glad that Kiefer had found something that he loved so much and that he was so good at it. Thank you Mr Mansfield for honoring Kiefer and keeping his memory alive.

Halloween Pictures

Okay I know that it is December, but hey I just got copies of the Halloween party pictures...

Pete and I as vampires!

Tim, Melissa, Adrienne and Todd as ABBA.

Adrienne's parents Dave and Roberta. I wouldn't have know who they were if I hadn't recognized there voices

Me eating a noodle ear that Adrienne had made. They weren't so good or maybe it was just they way they looked.

Me and a few of my friends

I wish I had more pictures so you could see more of the awesome costumes that were there. Adrienne's parties are always a lot of fun, and in case you didn't notice Halloween is her favorite holiday. She starts planning what to dress up as next year as soon as Halloween is over and she usually tells you what you should be too. That's okay though, I love her and her ideas are always great.

November

Lets see it has been awhile. So let me up date you. Kyler and Kayla broke up, got back together(I think) They spend all there time together so you would assume. They went to Sadie Hawkin and shopping at 12:01 on Black Friday. Kayla says that got some really good deals.

I spent last Saturday with all three of my niece (Braxtyn, Parker and Swayzee) and I have a new appreciation for what my sister does every day. Three is more difficult than two. We made sugar cookies and colored. They shot Nerf guns at Kyler and Kayla. Oh yes, not only did I have my niece three of they age 5, 3, and 1, but Oscar my little Yorkie torn up an entire thing of gold glitter. I came home and my entire up stair was cover in glitter and also Oscar. I should have gotten picture but at the time I was a bit overwhelmed. I told my niece that my house was attacked by pixie fairys and they thought that ws pretty cool. Well, needless to say glitter does not clean up well and I am sure that when I am dead someone will still be clean glitter off the hard wood floors. My house does sparkle and it is the perfect time of year for that.

My trees are up, but no light on the house, our outside outlets won't work. I think Pete broken them because he didn't want to put lights up. He say he called someone to come look at them, but I think he might have dialed the number and then hung up before anyone could answer.

We spent Thanksgiving with Tony and Trish. They are the greatest people and Trish is a amazing cook. Kyler calls her Martha Stewart. It was very relaxing. We saw two movie which makes a perfect day for me. I love going to the movie. It is my escape from reality.

Last but not least we have a new person living with us. Pete daughter Danielle moved in and will be staying with us for a while. She is 31 and had a bad year. Hopefully we can help her out and get her back on her feet.

That about it for November.

Painting

Jennie and I have a new thing....... We have been painting. We found this store where you can buy unfinished wood. It has been so fun, a little, well allot time consuming, but fun. Here are some of the thing we have been working on....

The Santa isn't finished, he need eyes and a bred, and our snowmen still needs buttons, anyway it have been really fun. It is great to spend time with Jennie and to do something new. Next we are going to paint a turkey that you can hang on your door.

Halloween

On Halloween we went over to Jennies to see Pete's Grand kids in their costumes they looked so cute.

Cale is getting so cute he is smiling now.

Pete and I actually went to a Halloween party at Adrienne's dressed as vampires last weekend but my batteries were dead in my camera so I am waiting to get copies from James. Pete looked really good. It took me, Kyler and Kayla about two and half hours to put his make up on. It might have taken so long because I could not stop laughing at him. I have no idea why I found the wig he was wearing so funny. I could even think about it or I would fall over laughing. He was also very picky. The getting ready was hilarious. I will post the picture as so as I get them.

Homecoming Kyler and Kayla

Kyler's Homecoming was October 11. Of course he took Kayla. They went with a group of Kayla's friends. Kyler so did not want to go with people he hardly knew. I had to bribe him into letting them come here for part of their day date to watch a movie. He told Kayla and I that only his friends were invited to our house. Anyway they went and did whatever and by the time the got back Kyler had decided that they were way fun and by the end of the night he had decided that he wanted to go to the dance with them because they would "boogie" (the boy loves to dance). He actully told me last night after his Halloween Party that he fit in more with this new group of friends. This makes me very happy to see that he is moving on, and slowly moving away from Kiefer's friends, but also very sad. It is like the end of this era. I have watched most of these boys grow up. They all have practally lived at my house since Kiefer was in 5th grade and Kyler was in 4th. They all call me mom. Kyler needs to find his own way now, he has always just followed his brother. It is great to see him do this. I am sure that Kyler will be friends with Treavor, Garrett and Evan forever and I hope that they keep in touch even after they all graduate and leave on their missions. Of course Kyler asked Tracy to take there homecoming pictures and as always they turned out great. Thanks again Tracy.

Adrienne's Witch Party

Every year my friend Adrienne has a Witch Party. It is a girl's only party, where everyone who comes has to dress up like a witch. It is really fun. All the costumes are really good. Most people go all out. It is nice evening without husbands. The guys usually all get together and go out to dinner or something.
This year all of us who lived north met at my house and drove down together. The husbands also met at my house and Tony couldn't resist getting into our picture. So Tony is the cute witch with purple hair up front (like you couldn't figure it out) .

This is my sister Tracie and my friend Kristen. Kristen is dressed up as the witch from Pirates of the Caribbean (I can't remember her name) but she looked great and she won a prize. Some of our friends dressed up as the blind witches from the movie Clash of the Titans. They looked awesome.
This is my friend Tauny and Pete's daughter Jennie (Gabbie and Cale's mom). They looked like twins and they didn't even plan it. The Witch Party is alway such fun. I look forward to it every year. Next year I want Jennie, Tracy (yeah you) and I to dress up as the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus. I want to be Bette Midler, Jennie, Sarah Jessica Parker and Tracy, Kathy Najimy. Plan on it.

Pictures

Well, I finally got Pictures of Ky and I together. For years I always wanted pictures of Kiefer, Kyler and I together and never did it. It was never the right time. I was always too fat or I didn't know what we should wear or it was the wrong time of wrong time of year. I thought that I would alway be able to do it next month or next year. Well, I can't now. I will never get to have professional picture of me and my boys because I put it off. Please don't put important things (like pictures) off. You never know when the day will come that you won't be able to do it. Anyway, I really hate pictures but I did it. Tracy just came over and Kyler, Kayla and I went with her just down the street. Kayla got to be the assistant and help Tracy. I think she was there more for just entertaining Kyler and I. She would get a little distracted playing with the reflectors. Tracy did a great job and the pictures turned out pretty good, much better than I had expected. Thanks Tracy.



By the way, I think Kyler takes wonderful pictures. He is so handsome. I love you Kyler! These last two are picture Tracy took last Sunday with Randy.

My Day

My life has been pretty boring lately, nothing really to say. I am painting my dinning room. Just one wall for now. I was thinking about painting the whole thing but since I started have changed my mind. I am spounging it and it takes forever and the walls in there are so tall it is really a pain. I am getting alot of exercise going up and down the latter. The reason I am finally painting is that I finally got dinning room furniture. Yeah! The room has been empty since Pete gave my table away. I found the the table and hutch on KSL.com. It is not new but hey, I got a great deal and am so excited to see what it looks like when I get it put together. Also I got to baby sit Jennies kids while she got her hair done yesterday. We had so much fun Gabbie and I made Brownies, while Cale slept in his swing. I think my helper might have ate more than she help but we had fun. I had to take her shirt off so her mom would kill me for ruining her new clothes. It was a great time and she stayed clean. I didn't get alot of painting done, but I had more fun playing with the kids and I can finish the painting hopefully today.

So Proud

I am so proud of myself. I got to speak at press conference for the state of Utah, about fatal automobile accidents and teenage drivers. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Just the deciding to do it was hard. It brought up so many emotions. Now that it is over I know that it was the right thing to do. I know that it is what Kiefer would have wanted, and hopefully because of this press conference maybe some other family will not have to go through losing a child. I hope Kiefer is proud of me. It was really scary talking in front of all those people and cameras. I can hear him saying ,"mom it is not that big of a deal". Well anyway... I was on Fox 13's news last night, (Kiefer always loved attention) and also today in the Daily Herald. Here is the picture that was in the paper and just what was said under the picture. There is a nice article if you want to look it up on line. Well anyway, some people have asked to read my entire talk so I am going to add it at the bottom. Thank you Tracy for all your help and thank you and my mom for going with me.

ASHLEY FRANSCELL/Daily Herald
Kim Sandoval remembers her son, Keifer, who died last year in a single car accident on his way to school in Lehi. Sandoval is one of several families who have lost a teenage in car accidents who have told their story as part of a teenage driving campaign through the Utah Department of Heath Violence and Injury Prevention Program. Photo taken at a press conference Thursday, September 11, 2008 in Salt Lake City.
Friday, 12 September 2008
Family remembers teen driving danger

Kiefer's Story:

One year and 18 days ago I lost my oldest son Kiefer Nicolas Sandoval in a single vehicle accident, two weeks before his 17th birthday. Kiefer was beautiful, caring, and intelligent. He was the debate team president, a son, brother, and friend. Kiefer had an ineffable sense of joy about life. He had a thousand watt smile. He knew how to laugh at himself and make others laugh. Sometime Kiefer would laugh about some joke that he found so hilarious he would fall helpless on the floor but was incapable of telling you why he was laughing. When this would happen you would just start laughing at him you couldn’t help it. The joy that Kiefer found in life was contagious.

He loved long boarding, listening to his iPod, going golfing, reading and hanging out with friends. He has a definite sense of self. He didn’t care what anyone thought. He could as easily stand on the stage at the Shakespere Festival in Cedar city and perform a monologue from Julius Caesar, or make a fool of himself riding a toy horse through Wal-Mart in front of a bunch of girls as he could debate private healthcare issues with a doctor. Kiefer dressed like he wanted and said what he wanted; even if it wasn’t want everyone else would want to hear. He lettered in debate his sophomore year and was an award winning writer. His creative writing teacher actually kept everything that he wrote in class because she was sure that he one day would be a famous.

Kiefer loved with all his heart. He had so many friends and made more everywhere he went. He had an affinity for those in need and extended himself to people who may have needed a friend or a shoulder. Kiefer wanted nothing more than to help people and make them happy.
My son, a beautiful teenage boy was smart, ambitious, loving and passionate, talented and imaginative. He had dreams of Yale, the Peace core and eventually a career as an attorney. All of his dreams were taken away in mere seconds.

Kiefer left for his fourth day of his junior year with his younger brother, Kyler, (age 15) at 7:00 AM. It was August 24, 2007, a beautiful and sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. I told my boys goodbye, to have a good day at school and that I loved them. My sons got into Kiefer’s car buckled up and headed to school taking center street on the east side of Lehi, a very narrow, hilly and winding road. As he headed up the hill he was slightly over the center line and going 10 to 15 miles over the posted speed limit of 25 mile per hour. At the same time there were two cars coming down the hill around a blind corner. When Kiefer saw the first car he swerved so as not to collide with it, he then overcorrected back across the center line where he saw the second. At this time he overcorrected again and his car left the road and rolled down an embankment. His car landed upside down, wedged against a tree. Kyler, who was basically unharmed, called me on his cell phone, telling me that they had been in an accident and that he thought that Kiefer was dead. I arrived at the accident before any emergency personal. Kyler had already helped two men that had stopped remove his brother from the car by lowering him from his seat beat and pulling him out the back window.

I will never forget the sight on my son lying in the dirt with these two strangers. I was just begging for him to breathe because I could see that his chest was not moving like it was supposed to. When the emergency personal finally arrived minutes later, I felt like it had been hours. They made Kyler and I go up the hill and wait. I am unsure of the events that followed or the amount of time that passed. I just know that at one point I was sitting in an ambulance when someone came and told Kyler and I that Kiefer hadn’t made it.

The death certificate said time of death was at 7:03 AM, three minutes after he left our driveway, on that beautiful day, less than ¼ mile from our home. On that day Kyler lost not only his big brother and best friend but his innocence. I lost my oldest son, and the world lost a beautiful person, one that would have certainly changed it if only given the time.

This last Sunday would have been Kiefer's 18th birthday. No parent should have to go the cemetery for their child’s birthday. Birthdays should be about happiness, not sadness and what if's. I hope Kiefer’s story will help other teenagers realize accidents can happen anytime, anywhere and even if they are going just a few miles over the speed limit. Accidents can still be deadly. No one is invincible. Please slow down.

Kiefer's Birthday

18 years ago yesterday, I gave birth to the most wonderful little boy anyone could ask for. Kiefer weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 21 inches long. He was born at 3:34 PM during Days of Our Lives. He didn't want to come out and pretty much got completely stuck and so the doctors had to push him back in, then pull him out. OUCH!!!!! He was totally worth it in the end. He had ton of brown hair that stuck straight up and big brown eyes. Randy and I were so excited to have him with us. He was so cute and such a good baby. Kiefer never really took naps so when Kyler was born I thought that there was something wrong with Kyler because he slept all the time. This not needing much sleep continued his whole short life and now I believe that Kiefer knew somewhere inside of him that he was only going to be here for a short time and needed to make the most of it. Oh, and he did. It was really hard to keep him in the house. At night he had this problem with crawling out the window. I miss that boy more than anyone can possibly know. I even miss getting up to check on him in the midde of the night and only finding pillows, and I am sure Randy misses my 2:00 AM phone calls about Kiefer's whereabouts. To celebrate Kiefer 's Birthday, Kyler and I decided that Kiefer would have loved to go to Chucky Cheese. It was one of his favorite places as a little boy so why not? So on Saturday we all got together and went. We ordered pizza and all the teenagers had a great time (especially Kayla, she had never been there before). They played games and they all got a ton of tickets. I gave each of them a gift of one of Kiefer's loves... Pepsi, Rock Star, cookies ect. It was really fun, then they all said one thing that Kiefer loved and one thing that he hated. Some of his loves were: his phone, his ipod, Parker my niece said he loved her, which I thought was really cute. Somethings that he hated were rules, homework, and shallow minded people. We all had fun remembering and laughing at things Kiefer did. I love you so much Kiefer. Happy 18th Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!

The New Edition.....

We have a new edition to our family, a new grandson. Yeah, can you believe it I am a grandma at the age of 39. Well actually at 37 because Gabbie is 2 1/2. It is great to be a grandma. I love it, espeacilly because it is not Kyler's babies, not yet anyway. I am not ready for that. That is why this is so great. I get to be a grandma, but Kyler can still wait to have kids in like 10-15 years. I would love to see the kids everyday if I had the time. Jennie had our new little grandson on August 23, 2007 at 9:00 PM after a long 3 hours of labor (Yeah, wouldn't that be nice--3 hours, Lucky Girl). He weighed 5lbs 9 ozs, a whole 9 ozs bigger than his sister. He is so cute. Pete and I were lucky enough that we got to have Gabbie come play while mommie and daddie were at the hospital. Gabbie insisted that mommie was shopping not having her new brother. I feel so lucky to have these two wonderful little ones in my life.

Kiefer

Sunday, was the one year anniversary of Kiefer's accident. It was a really hard day but we have so many wonderful friends and such a great family. Everyone is so supportive. It is so great to know that everyone still remembers and that there are so many people that love Kiefer, and care for Kyler, Randy and I. Of course Adrienne and Trish were amazing. Adrienne planned a whole parade. We all walked from my house passed the accident site and left flowers, then up to the cemetery. Oh, but with Adrienne we can't just walk, that wasn't enough, we had to do it New Orleans style, with parasols (that Melissa decorated so cute) music, masks, and beads.

When we got to the cemetery Trish, Tony, Katie and the boys were waiting there with flowers, balloons, and water. Tony read a little something that he wrote:

" A year ago I stated, some journeys take us far from home. Some adventures lead us to our destiny and a true pirate will always look to the horizon. Kiefer, the winds of destiny chose you and now blow you on the seas of eternity, forever and forward. This has been a hard year, but just maybe if we listen to the winds that carry your message, we will hear Kiefer telling us, 'never quit, never give up and always look for the bounty in the gifts given us; moments. Moments of laughter, time with friends and loved ones, and adventures that constantly surround us'. I still believe that Kiefer was a pirate and would have beaten the ninjas."

After Tony finished we had a moment of silence and then we let all the balloons go to heaven for Kiefer, as my nieces would say. After that we all walked back to my house. It was a good day. I am sure Kiefer loved it and was with us all day, smiling and laughing.