What's up Hogi-Yogi?

Do all of you love Hogi-Yogi the way I do, or the way I used to? After being sick and taking care of sick kids all week, all I really wanted was a delicious, most, tasty turkey sandwich with mayo and cheese which I usually leave off, but since I have eaten nothing on account of being sick, I figure I could afford the extra cals. Anyway, being stuck her with vomiting kids, I craved and looked forward to Steve bringing me one, picking it up on his way home from work last night and....

It was the worst sandwich I have ever had. And he was an hour late getting home since the service there was so bad. What a let down. On days like this all you have to look forward to a good sandwich.

So, I had to do it. I've been holding it in now for years now, but after that sandwich I let it all go. Here is the letter I sent to them. It's long, but concise.

Tell me if you agree or disagree.

Dear Hogi Yogi,

I have loved Hogi-Yogi from the beginning. A loyal customer, that’s how I think of myself. However, I have been disappointed over the last few years and I wanted to let you know.

The problems I’ve noticed seem to be across the board, at every location I have visited. Because of this, I assume that they are a result of the corporate “tone-at-the-top.” My hope with this letter is not to complain, but to see a return to the old ways…back when Hogi-Yogi was great!

I have frequented many of your locations. Lately they all leave me with the same impression, loud refrigerators humming (especially in South Jordan), cold, no music and dirty corners. You need to liven the place up with music or TV or something to absorb or drown out the white-noise to make people feel like lingering. I think the interior look you are going for is fresh and modern, but it is coming across as bare and lonely.

Next, your price-point is too high. I would eat there five times more often if it cost just a little less. Also, I never see any ads in the mail. I eat at the restaurants who sends ads or coupons my way. It really draws in the crowds. Wouldn’t you rather have a crowded restaurant and make a tiny bit less on each order? No one wants to eat in an empty restaurant.

During the last five years or so, the quality of your food has declined. Tonight, I got a Turkey sandwich from your Riverton location. The bread was dry, it tasted three days old. There was hardly any meat at all. I could barely see or taste it. It is a different meat than you used to use. Not an improvement. The veggies tasted old and bitter. This is typical at all the locations I frequent. Occasionally I get a good sandwich, but not usually.

I noticed that all your yogurts come in premeasured packages. Don’t you train/trust your employees enough to allow them to measure? It is embarrassing to watch them un-wrap three separate packages to make a medium yogurt. Additionally, that is a lot of needless trash you’re producing, that’s just silly. It feels like your restaurant is run by communists who are trying to scrimp every way they can, taking a lot of money and giving as little product as possible.

Third, why is it necessary to have all your food options? Do we really need Yogurt and signature yogurt and ice cream sandwiches, and sherbet and milkshakes and smoothies and cookies? By doing this you are really getting away from what makes your yogis special, getting any flavored yogurt you want with all your mix-in’s.

All the different types of sandwiches is crazy too. I feel like I get punished now if I order a regular turkey sandwich, like I get the worst quality ingredients when I don’t order the fancy stuff you offer. From the taste of my sandwich tonight, maybe I am right.

All I know is Hogi-Yogi was great when it was just that, hogies and yogies. Keep it simple. Simplicity is bliss.

You really have to consider what your employees can really pull off in the “fast-food” time they are allotted. We waited just over 20 minutes for our food to be prepared tonight. Way too long for One regular Turkey Sandwich and one Chicken Bowl. There was only one other family in the store besides us. This has become the TPYICAL wait-time since the menu explosion a few years ago. FYI, at Subway, I am in an out in 5 minutes.

Now let me address the employees. Why do they all seem so sad? I have visit locations including Logan, West Valley, Bountiful, Riverton, South Jordan, Provo and Ephraim (100 years ago). Across the board…all the employees seem sad to be there. Are they not treated well? Are there not employee perks? Are they not getting a free hogie or yogi on their break? How could you be sad after that? Happy employees treat customers in a way that makes us want to return again and again.

Thank you for reading this lengthy e-mail. I hope you receive this message in the spirit which it was created. I want Hogi-Yogi to stay in business providing high quality food and customer service at reasonable prices.

For the record my favorite items are: Medium Raspberry-Snickers in Vanilla and Regular Turkey Sand with everything except cucumbers, and Cool Ranch Doritos. Yummy!

Please feel free to contact me for more information about how I REALLY feel. I would be a valuable resource to you. I am like a one woman focus group. A very savvy consumer, that’s me! I will also be posting this letter on my blog.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Precious Moments, Alyssa Edition

Part One:


My sweet Alyssa is just that, sweet. She really is a good girl. Here are some fun things we have been enjoying about her lately.


First of all how cute are these pictures? We recently got a new Hot Water Heater. I know…Tons of fun. The best part about it in Alyssa’s eyes was not that we once again had easy access to hot water, but that the box it came in was her new house.


The moment she laid eyes on the box, she said… “I want to live in it.” She wanted Steve to install some stairs into it, so she could access the top of the box. She was disappointed to find out that it was not possible for her new home to have stairs inside it, but she made the most of it anyway.


Before we cut a door and windows for her, Alyssa and her sister went to town exploring all the fun things that can be done with a giant box.

Seeing her reminded me of being a little girl. Me and my friend Trisha used to go down to the local furniture store and beg for a refrigerator box. Thinking back, I can’t really believe we were brave enough to do that. After obtaining the box, somehow we hauled it home on our bikes. (Is this even possible? How did we do that? Maybe there is some of the story I have forgotten over the years.) Anyway, the point is we got the box brought it home painted it, cut doors and windows in it and hauled it up to the busy street and set up as our snow-cone shack, and sold snow-cones all summer. We both had little snow-cone machines.


Maybe someday, Alyssa will get the entrepreneurial bug I had. Actually, I never had it, I just did what Trisha told me to do. But for now, she just has fun with her box.

Part Two:

Many of you are familiar with Alyssa’s best friend Kiwi.

She has loved this cat since she was about 18 months old. It usually accompanies us room to room in the house and goes wherever we go, and of course sleeps with her at night.

She is smitten with this kitten and this is what she told Steve out of the blue yesterday. “I love Kiwi and Kiwi loves me. She is a good cat and that’s why I keep her forever.”

Is that the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard?











Part Three:

One of our favorite TV shows these days is Curious George. I don’t know if Alyssa’s new behavior is a result of this new found favorite or perhaps it is just her age, but I find myself struggling to answer her curiosities all day long.

The other morning she comes into my room before I had woken up and said….. “Mom…..Mom….MOM!!!!”....(me)What???? “Why do we need ceilings?”

Here are some other questions we’ve been addressing lately
Why do we need the sky?
Why do we need dirt?
Why do we need cars?
Why do we need windows?
Why do we need buildings?
And of course
Why do we need caves?
Do you know why I love chocolate? Because it’s just so good!

And there you have it. Now you’ve spent a day in the life of our family.

Part Four:
We got some new shelves installed in the garage this weekend. I have been getting estimates and making arrangements for it all week. All week Alyssa has been very excited about it.


I couldn’t quite place why she cared so much about it. Then, after the installation was complete, I took her into the garage to show her the new SHELVES. She was very disappointed when she saw them. So disappointed that she started to cry.

I asked her why she was crying and she said…”These are not Sea Shells!”

So all week long when I said there would be a worker who would come over and put SHELVES in our garage, she was hearing that a worker was coming to put SHELLS in the garage. She loves sea shells. That’s why she was so excited about it in the first place and so disappointed with the end result.

It was so funny, I has Steve run in to grab the camera to take a pic of her crying in front of the SHELVES. You’re welcome.

Saving Sunny

I think Sunny wants to die. She sure acts like it. Here is three minutes we had the other day.

Sunny: Pulling on a plug in an outlet.
Mom: “No Sunny, that’s dangerous.” Knowing she wouldn’t be able to leave it alone I pulled the plug out of the wall.
Sunny: Immediate response. ..Try’s to stick her finger into the outlet.
Mom: Sits in front of the outlet to stop her.
Sunny: Crawls across the room to start chewing on an electrical cord.
Mom: Crawl across the room to stop Sunny from chewing electrical cord.
Sunny: Attempt to pull her baby self up using a space heater as an anchor.
Mom: Pull Sunny off the tipping space heater.
Sunny: Crawl away and finds a plastic bag to start chewing on.
Mom: Crawl over and take the bag away.
Sunny: Crawl over to heat vent cover and pulls it off in one swift motion.
Mom: Stunned, crawls over to heat vent to re-cover. How did she even know that is possible?
Sunny: Starts bawling because she thinks I am ruining her fun. Mean old mom won’t let her do anything.

This is a very frustrating age. She is so very curious about everything, but has not been around long enough to know that some things can kill her.


I am always fishing things out of her mouth especially little yarn-ties off her baby blankie. Somehow she unties the knots made of yarn and eats them or at least sucks on them for a while. This kid has incredible dexterity to be able to undo those knots. I can’t even untie them. I think she sees it as a challenge.


Another favorite past-time of hers is eating books. I am not talking about lightly sucking on books or gnawing on them a little. I am talking about completely eating books, until they're gone. Total destruction. Come check out our book collection sometime, or what is left of it. I am always fishing big hunks of cardboard (board books) and paper out of her mouth.

It sounds like I am not supervising her that much, but I am. She is just a very busy girl.


She is also heavily into the drop game. She especially loves to drop food and drink and watch Steve and I pick them up. She loves that game, as do we.

She is a very sophisticated girl, way too cool to eat baby food. She eats what we eat. She very much prefers to feed herself, which isn’t always possible, but it’s highly preferable to her. She is a very independent girl.


One thing she’s got going for her though…She is a good sleeper and is easy to put to bed. No special requirements necessary. When it’s time, she just goes. Which is helpful, because by the time she goes to bed I have already saved her life so many times during the day and I am completely worn out.


I am enjoying her babiness as much as possible, but I won’t be sad when it’s over. I love being able to talk and explain and reason with Alyssa. Can’t wait til Sunny is of age.

Ballet Class

Alyssa has become very interested in all things girlie recently. She especially loves ballet dancing. So, when we got the School District Community Education Catalogue, we signed her up for a class.

She got some ballet clothes for Christmas, so she was all set. She loves to dress up in them and run around the house, so actually using them in a class setting was very exciting. She has a Leotard which she calls a Ballarina-tard, tights, a chiffon skirt and cute little slippers.


She and her cousin signed up for the class together. It was held in the cafeteria at my old Middle School. Very chic.


Her teacher, bless her heart, was a high school girl. I mean who else would really have the patience to teach 12 three year old girls how to do ballet. But she left a little to be desired when it came to instruction. But as least she showed up, most the time.


It was so fun to watch her in a class setting. My kid is the social butterfly, if you were wondering. Always talking and telling people stuff, and making friends. This particular picture is the friend she made 10 seconds after we got there.


The first few lessons were basically learning how to behave in a class. What is appropriate to do and what is not. How to listen to the teacher, and what happens when you don’t. By the last lesson she totally had it down. She even seemed to know a little about ballet. And when I say a little, I mean very little. I am not sure how much ballet a three-year-old can really learn, but we didn’t learn much.


Anyway, all in all we really enjoyed the series of 8 classes for $25.

Episode 2

Here is the latest installment of MissynKrissy. Sorry for the delay. Life prohibited us from recording an ep last week. Go ahead and enjoy, laugh. We sure did.

Don't give up on the second part, that's when all the best stuff happens.

Part One

Part Two

Is she ready??

A girl I know who is about to turn 13 thinks she is ready for a cell phone and apparently has been begging her parents for one. My question to you is….Is she ready?

My initial thought was NO WAY! Young teenagers don’t need cell phones. But then I thought about this particular teenager. This is a very responsible girl. She has great friends. She gets straight A’s in school. She’s my top babysitter. She is in gymnastics and dance classes on different days of the week. She is her church class president. She is a very busy girl.

I remember when I was her age, I desperately wanted to have my own phone in my bedroom. I begged and pleaded for a long time with no justice, until…..Christmas morning. I un-wrapped a pink phone from under the tree. Absolute glee! A few days earlier, without my knowledge, my dad, a phone man by trade, had installed a new phone jack into my room. NOW, my question is this…….does having my own phone in my room in 1992 = having your own cell phone today?

She is a very trustworthy girl. Is there any reason to deny her this wish? If I had anything to do with this decision, which I don’t, I would consider getting her a pre-paid plan which she paid for herself, at least mostly. I think that’s what I would do. And no camera phone, yeah.

Not that I am making this decision in any way, it’s just an interesting conundrum I am interested in what you all think about it.

Pros and cons…..GO.

Messages

You know all those fenced in roadway overpasses where people feel compelled to leave messages for loved ones spelled out in disposable red plastic cups? A few questions… Is anybody in charge of taking those cups down after a certain period of time? Is it illegal to do in the first place? Do you need a permit to do it? I was just wondering about that.

I’m not going to say that I am bothered by the messages, because I don’t think I am, but…If you are going to leave a message, you should also take it down, don’t you think?

I mean, isn’t Elder ****** already at the MTC, he’s really not going to see it anymore. Do we all have to wait for the same Elder to get home before it gets taken down and replaced with another one that says Welcome Home Elder *******.

Just take them down after you're satisfied that your message has been received, that’s all I am saying. Typically what happens is, slowly, painfully, the cups blow away one at a time or some clever chap morphs the origional message into some other cute or offensive quip. Either way...annoying.

I have been driving under a particular cup message for weeks now that said…..I Love Jen….(Jen spelled backwards). It was probably placed by the same Elder who left, then came home, and now has fallen in love with a girl named Jen. His message however has been up for weeks now and someone has rearranged the cups to say…………. I love Men.

So the point of this is to say… If we are going to be forced to read ridiculous messages, I say we should have the municipalities in which the overpasses are located rent the space and use them as billboards. I mean, wouldn’t we all rather drive under a juicy McDonald’s double cheeseburger sign and earn the tax payers some money in the process?

I think that is a better use of space than reading about if someone loves Jen or Men or whatever the case may be every time I drive the highway.

MissynKrissy R back

By popular demand....here is Episode One, not to be confused with the Pilot Episode, they are different. In TV-talk we don't count the Pilot as an episode because we never know if it will get picked up or not. In this case, it did, so please enjoy Episode One.

We had a great time making it. It is better than the first. Less painful to watch. *Cough, Dad, Bob-Hana, Randy Cough* Anyway, enjoy, have some laughs, on us or at us, whatever.

Part One

Part Two

Say Yes More

If you go along in life saying "no way, not me, I can't," to these kinds of opportunities, you probably won't lead a very interesting life and probably won't have much to talk about.

After viewing our new internet talk show, I hope you enjoyed it and received it in the spirit in which it was created, which is silliness. You may be asking yourselves, what would make a person, or two people as the case may be, want to do something like that. Why would they voluntarily put themselves out there like that? Wasn't it painful for them to watch themselves in that way?

To that I say this…Kind of. But it's worth it and I'll tell you why.

I have had many ideas presented to me that at the time have seemed crazy/embarrassing/impossible. People told me I was crazy for Hypno-birthing, running half-marathon, being a sister missionary, to name a few. In actuality, these and experiences and others like it turned out to be transformative experiences for me. I am very proud of myself for the accomplishment of them.

Maybe this is one of those things, maybe it isn't. Either way… If you go along in life saying "no way, not me, I can't," to these kinds of opportunities, you probably won't lead a very interesting life and probably won't have much to talk about.

That being said, I hope you are all looking forward to episode ONE next week. We have collected all your feedback and are planning a fun filled, shorter show, that will hopefully be less painful for all of us to watch.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

See you soon.


*Title credit given to the Movie Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey.