Anniversary and more fun.

    Greg and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary last weekend and decided to splurge on a hotel and dinner up in Salt Lake. The hotel was great and we had a fun view of the valley from our 11th floor room but dinner was a bit 'overpriced' shall we say! Someone gave Greg a gift card to this very nice steakhouse in Salt Lake but it turns out it was really a bill for $176. The food was yummy and the service was exceptional but not worth the prices. Now we know and it was our first real dinner splurge in 24 years so at least we haven't made a habit of over priced meals in the last 24 years.

Yummy dessert, maybe we should have started and stopped with that.

    We did a little site-seeing and shopping.

    I wish you could appreciate how tiny these outfits are, especially the Guns N Roses outfit. It was a no-brainer purchase! I can't wait to see baby Wendel wear these cute clothes!

   On our way home from the hotel we stopped in to visit Mark and Marcus in their cool loft! They have quite the setup.

     We had Charlie take a commemorative photo of our 24 year anniversary.

     We also had fun playing with Belle's puppies this week. They are so adorable!! There's nothing like puppy snuggles!

Lucky kids!

    I've sure been enjoying having my fingernails painted on a regular basis and not worrying about chips or breaks for weeks at a time. This blue color is one of my favorites!

I don't know if this photo was edited but my arms look strange for some reason.

     I also took the four youngest and a couple bonus kids swimming at the Provo Rec. Center this week. It's by far their favorite swimming 'hole'. Everyone was big enough for all the slides, lazy river and general fun.

    And to end the week we get to have Smalls' best friend, Chloe, visit for a few days. She's big and adorable but also terribly naughty, she ate Greg's tinfoil dinner he had prepared for his campout! Obviously it's more Greg's fault for leaving it anywhere she could reach but still upsetting. Thankfully he had enough ingredients to remake his meal so he's not going to starve tonight while he's out camping at Strawberry with the Teachers quorum.

      We're sad to see summer cruising by so quickly but we still have several more activities to enjoy before it's over so here's to the coming week with cousins, car cruise and other fun stuff.

Before, during and after July 4th

     So we've had a fun week! Carter wanted to experience the curler effect, which was hilarious. Unfortunately, we did this Saturday night and he was too embarrassed to wear it curly to church so the curly look was short-lived.

What a goofball.

     I also took the kids swimming this week and we tried the Pleasant Grove pool for the first time and it wasn't as cool as Provo Rec but they can't say I didn't take them swimming, but of course they still want to go to the Provo Rec center soon.

These two were the only ones reluctant to leave.

Charlie's got serious skills plugging her nose at the end of the slide.

     Carter and his buddies had some fun on the diving boards but the lifeguards were pretty whistle-happy and put a bit of a damper on their fun.

     And even the neighbors can't resist trying out Charlie's cool 'ride'.

     Our cute boy McClane got his own set of scriptures and couldn't have been happier. He's been taking them all over the house and yard and showing them to anyone and everyone. I was going to make him wait, (I haven't even bought Brock a set yet) but he kept borrowing scriptures from the library at church so I felt he'd earned a set of his own.

    And our neighbor wanted to add some fun to our Fourth of July morning and hosted a fantastic breakfast in his backyard for several families in the neighborhood. And of course we still had our fun "Sidewalk of Fire" with the neighborhood in the evening but unfortunately the weather put a hiccup in the night and we had to take a serious pause while a major rain/thunderstorm blew through. Thankfully it was only about a 30 minute delay and then the festivities continued and the regular chaos and fun was enjoyed by, almost, everyone.

Charlie loves time with the fun teenagers in the neighborhood.

     The face painting kits I added to the fun this 4th of July were a huge hit and I discovered our neighbor is an amazing artist and was a good sport about taking on the task of painting all the kids faces.

Rain, wind and lightning, oh my!

The candy/toy explosion was a huge hit!

    And Isaac splurged on his own set of PitViper sunglasses, or are they Smalls new sunglasses!?

What a stylin' dog!

      So that's our week and it was fun! Greg and I are looking forward to celebrating 24 years of marriage this weekend. We're headed to Salt Lake for an overnighter and a small break from our reality! Lets hope the kids can survive on their own for 24 hours! (They're not all sad about missing church.)

Braces, bikes, friends and showers

      McClane, a.k.a. 'brace face', was a trooper getting his braces Monday morning. He's such a cutie!

     Isaac was out for a joy ride this week. No one can resist a spin on Charlie's bike.

     Last night we made a late night trip to the local Street Taco joint and these cute girls tagged along.

    And today was Kayli's baby shower in our backyard. We had plenty of food and yummy cake to enjoy during and after the party. It was an overall success and she got a lot of great stuff. Baby Beau has some cute clothes to wear and needs to hurry up and get here. (Only 7 more weeks!)

    Now on to the 4th of July festivities!

Tent city/hiking

     Tent City was a success! Lots of yummy food, peach cobbler, home made ice cream and a traditional breakfast. We spent the majority of Saturday hanging out. Greg, Josh, Nathan, Brock and Carter went on a hike and Greg took some amazing photos. They found what they were looking for, a recent helicopter crash in the mountains just north of us, and found lots of crazy helicopter parts. It was amazing to me that Greg was able to locate the crash site after only seeing the general location from our front yard through a scope. Greg's sense of direction is quite impressive.

Always a view worth hiking for.

Lots of helicopter parts to sort through and try to piece together.

    While the guys hiked the cousins played at the park/splash pad. Charlie was in heaven spending so much time with her cousins.

     Father's day was also a success. Greg got to take a nice long nap and Charlie even squeezed in a nap and snuggle with her dad.

    The oldest three kids purchased this fun little camp chair for Greg. It may look like a mistake but it's supposed to be that tiny and it actually holds up to 350 lbs. so it's definitely the right 'size'. Greg also got a fishing license earlier this month so he's a happy 'camper'!

     McClane got to attend Day Camp and had a blast. Luckily his leaders the best and took some great photos that she shared with me.

    And Isaac is working hard with two jobs and anytime he lays down he falls asleep. The best part is he's 'rich'!

     Charlie made a new friend recently but unfortunately she was just visiting so she had to head back to California today, which was kind of sad. Believe it or not, this cute girl is nearly 10 years old and Charlie's just a few inches shorter then her.

     Well that's our weeks worth of fun. I'm enjoying our easy summer schedule and have been reading several books by Susan Meissner, which have all been good. The kids are starting to pester me a little about going swimming so maybe we'll squeeze that in next week but first McClane gets to have his first set of braces put on Monday morning, which should be 'fun'!

House favorites!

     It's been a little quieter this week but I did get to tour a few houses with Greg for the Parade of Homes here in Utah County. I bought my ticket solely to see my friends FABULOUS house but we've seen a few others as well. Our friends house is beyond description. I took a few photos but they just don't do it justice. Their views alone are breathtaking and I could go on and on about all the other amazing things/details inside the house. I took a few photos, but again, they just don't do it justice! It's just an AMAZING house! I plan on walking through it a second time and the real hope is we get an invite to swim or something so I can really take my time admiring all the cool features.

This is the view from the cool reading room, there's the mountain view and then the view of their resort like backyard. So incredible!

Their backyard really is a resort! So AWESOME!

Their dining room and the light above it were spectacular and the theater room were just two of about a 100 things I couldn't stop oohing and aahing over!

    So far we've walked through a total of 7 houses out of about 40 and these are just a few things I found that I had to take a photo of.

Those glass doors were so cool, the metal and wood shelf, AWESOME, cool light fixture and a cool metal and wood table in some lucky persons workout room.

     I love seeing different design ideas and house layouts. Most of the houses are beautiful and well put together but I can honestly say I'm happy to come home to my very modest home and not worry about outrageous utility bills or trying to keep these large homes clean. A pool in the backyard wouldn't be the worse thing to live with, but again, maintenance would be a chore. Oh and I wouldn't mind double washer and dryers like several houses had.
      This weekend we're hosting 'tent city' and if I'm not too busy I'll hopefully get a photo or two to share next weekend.

Birthdays, puppies and Youth Conference

    We helped Kayli celebrate her 22nd birthday Sunday. I never say no to Costco chocolate cake!

A little cash and cacti!

      And Kayli became a 'Grandma' the day after her 22nd birthday. Her dog Belle had a litter of 9/10 puppies. One wasn't fully formed but 9 made it and they're adorable!

      Greg and Carter had a blast at Flaming Gorge this week with the youth from our ward. Greg took some great photos.

Floating the river.

He only had jeans to wear and had no intention of floating down the river but you do what you're asked!

Such a pretty place!

Carter couldn't do enough fishing.

     And this evening I went with Greg to do his water chores and there's just a 'little' run off!

Crazy!

    We were supposed to host tent city this weekend but it was not a good weekend for the majority of the Kmetzsch family so we'll try again next weekend. It's been a good week and we've all survived our first full week of summer break.