Projects

    It goes without saying that owning a home means an endless list of projects waiting to be done. Lucky for me I have a husband who is willing to put forth great effort to put a dent in that list whenever possible. The current project is shingle-siding on the two eaves of the house. So far Greg has completed the first and biggest eave and the goal is to finish the second and smallest eave this coming week. The painting of these eaves may not happen for another few weeks because of weather but it's already looking better.

I forgot to take a before photo but this is how it looks today.

And here's the before photo of the front eave and hopefully I'll have the 'after' photo by next weekend.

     And here's a few photos taken throughout the week.

Carter and his basketball coach after their final game of the season.

    We enjoyed Sunday dinner at Justin and Cassity's.

The cousins were sure happy to be together.

   

These two love lunch with dad, Charlie especially.

       Next weekend we have some fun plans for our spring break and we're all looking forward to that. Kayli and Isaac are ditching us and heading to Disney World with their Kmetzsch grandparents so we'll have two extra seats in the car so traveling won't be quite as cramped for the rest of us. It might be a little weird without them but they're sure to have a grand time in Florida and I'm sure the rest of us will muster up some fun even without them around.

The sabbath is a delight

    Big Baby is learning to delight in the sabbath day.

We found her reading the scriptures after church on Sunday. She's such a good example.

     And Charlie wore one of my new favorite outfits today and I had to get her on 'film'.

She's so cute and silly!

     Those are the highlights from our week. It's been exciting in other ways but nothing I can share on this blog because it would need to be R rated. An 8 year old who says the 'f' word is one thing but to actually hear it on video is beyond disturbing. Welcome to my life!! 

This week was nothing like last week!

    Oh to be back down south in the warm sunshine. Reality has hit hard and quickly. We did enjoy at least one day of sunshine this week but we also had some crazy weather as well. I've also done plenty of housework, laundry, cooking, bed making, homework battles and countless other 'fun' things. And I was told by McClane that he would like for his dad and me to be gone forever so he can just play devices all the time. I guess they didn't miss us anymore then we missed them. ;-)

      I didn't take too many photos this week but here's what I've got.

Carter and his little cousin Elsie.

Mark and Elsie.

Carter with his piano teacher at his Master Class/piano recital.

Poor Charlie was shot in the face by McClane with an air soft gun. Dang boys!!

Greg and Charlie tried flying a kite out back this afternoon.

And this is Isaac with his scout group today getting ready to head out to Rexburg, Idaho for a temple trip/'camp out'. It's a rough life to have to travel like this for four hours. I hope he isn't too miserable! 

   So that's our week. I'm ready for another vacation! Who's with me, one week on and one week off!!

They survived and we reluctantly came home.

    This week I saw a glimpse of my future as an empty nester and I got a little excited! Long jogs with no stroller and no time restraints. Soaking up the sun by the pool for as long as I could and only having to fend for two for every meal. I didn't make a single bed, I didn't do a single load of laundry or wash any dishes. I didn't make a lunch or take out any trash. It was AMAZING!!! Now I know life can't be that blissful all the time but I could handle a week like that every few months!

     And incredibly things here at home went quite smoothly with Kayli in charge and all the kids did their best to cooperate for the week. I only got two phone calls for the whole week where there was an issue and even than it was nothing serious. The rest of the communication was just to touch base and see the kids faces on face time.

     Kayli took the younger kids on lots of little adventures throughout the week so they weren't miserable or missing us at all. I would definitely call this little week getaway a success for everyone involved.

     Right before we left Monday afternoon Brock won a 'Raskal' award at school. This means he has been one of the best students in his class for the past month. They pick one boy and one girl from each class in each grade every month for this award. It was quite exciting.

Brock and the other 2nd grade 'Raskal" winners.

       We spent a little time at the red rocks.

Greg found his name that he carved into the rocks over 25 years ago.

It's a fun little place to explore.

    A nice guy that Greg knows (I promised not to put his name with the pictures. ) let us go explore the exterior of his house that overlooks Snow Canyon in St. George. It was quite amazing! He wasn't in town while we were there otherwise I'm sure he would've taken us on a full-blown tour of the interior as well. As it was he made it possible for us to get into this gated community and into his backyard to see his little oasis.

Talk about a spectacular view and some very nice immediate surroundings.

The front and back of the house. Not too shabby!

    Obviously pictures don't do it justice but you get a vague idea of how amazing it is. Plus it was getting late in the evening so it was hard to get real good pictures.

     These are some seriously cool rocks that I came across on one of my jogs.

Again photos don't quite do justice.

    This was where we stayed all week and on the cities dime, which was a major perk!!

    Not a day without a little pool side sun soaking.

I could have used another day or two by the pool.

    We even got a little alone time in the hot tub. These photos were more to embarrass the kids and we NAILED IT! :-)

     We had some great dinners every night but the Anazazi steakhouse had to be the highlight of the week as far as dinners go. And the bonus was getting to enjoy it with the Cox's and Greg's co-worker Travis.

Cooking your own meat is actually pretty awesome.

   And to finish the week Greg got to go clay pigeon shooting. Super fun and it was all paid for ammunition and all.

    Back at home Kayli had some fun with McClane and Charlie.

Donuts!

  And they finally got to meet their little cousin, Elsie. 

Charlie and cousin Elsie.

     And then we had this very 'sweet' video dedicated to Greg by Mark to watch just hours before heading home. Just a side note, Greg likes to be the first one to mow the lawn at the start of every spring season.

     If you watch it you'll get the gist of why he did it but if you don't watch it just know that Mark was a little bitter that Greg took me to St. George instead of him.

     And now we're home and I've already got laundry going, a soda spill across the kitchen floor to clean up, the 2-year old in the bath and countless other reality checks! Our getaway has already become a distant dream!