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!

Sorry this is boring!

    Well I found out last Saturday I had Pneumonia so that explains why I was feeling so lousy and not getting better as quickly as I normally do when I get sick. Thankfully with the help of antibiotics I'm finally feeling better. I'm still not at full capacity but I'm close, there's just a lingering cough and I'm still a tiny bit weak but I'm feeling much better and I'm definitely looking forward to a few days in St. George with Greg and what hopefully will be a sunny and warm week.
     I did do some spontaneous shopping this morning with McClane and Charlie who were so good and cute carrying their individual bags with their new winter coats for next year. (Sometimes you just can't pass up a bargain when you find one.)

Too sunny to look right at the camera.

  Now lets see if Kayli can handle these kids for four days on her own?!

A little decluttering and Valentine's Day.

    Saturday was a completely free day with no basketball games or anything else on the schedule so I decided it was a great time to empty out several bins of little boy clothes that I've been storing needlessly. I filled 12 garbage bags full of clothes and shoes and emptied seven or eight bins. The kids really enjoyed playing in the empty bins and Carter found a pair of shorts he was hoping he could keep.

They also found a packet of stickers and I found these little round circle stickers everywhere including all over Charlie!

Size 24 months might just be a bit on the small size for Mr. Carter.

     Greg was thrilled to have some shelves freed up in his garage and went ahead and cleaned up the garage and reorganized a few things, mainly helmets, the rest of our Saturday afternoon. Now I'm just waiting for my next burst of motivation so I can clean up the storage room.

      We also had fun celebrating Valentine's Day. We had a yummy dinner after church and watched the movie "Little Boy".

The top photo is of all 10 of us. (Kayli couldn't let us forget Smalls in the photo.)

     It was a great weekend and having Monday off from school and work was an added bonus. Unfortunately I started feeling sick on Monday and still haven't recovered so I have no further events or photos to share. I have no idea what I've got but it's pretty much knocked me out. I've been pretty useless all week and thankfully Greg has been a true champ and helped me out a ton as has Kayli. Here's hoping I recover soon and that no one else gets it.

Fun stuff

     Sunday we used the Super Bowl as a perfect opportunity to have yummy food and hang out with family. We didn't have much invested in the actual football teams but it's always fun to watch the commercials.

We had plenty of yummy food to enjoy.

Some spicy wings and little smokies.

Carter's thrilled.

It was extra fun having the Smith's visiting from Idaho.

These boys played a game of their own.

   I recently started watching a TV series on Netflix, "White Collar" (thanks Ralph for the recommendation) that I mostly watch because of the actor, Matt Bomer, who is quite the hottie. I was sure he was the same guy who played superman in "Man of Steel", Henry Cavill, but I did some research and found I was mistaken but I did a side-by-side just for fun and I'm going to share it because they're both quite attractive men and very similar looking and everyone should get to appreciate their good looks if they don't already.

          And Big Baby showed a new talent.

Climbing!

    And Charlie pulled another 'snip-snip' with the scissors. It's hard to see in a photo but it's right on the top of her head.

The pieces hanging out are what she cut.

    Thankfully she's still cute and fun. I'm including the YouTube video of her cup performance that is a few seconds longer than what I was able to post on Instagram and Facebook.

    And this last photo is of Smalls. Greg has gotten into the habit of taking the dog along in the car when he drops the boys off at school and Smalls has become quite the chauffeur attendant.

He's looking both ways before turning left. He's very safe!

    He's fun! Now on to our three day Valentine weekend.

Brock's big day!

    Today Brock became an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. Turning eight is quite a big deal when you're a mormon, you get to be baptized. Brock's dad baptized and confirmed him. He is a happy boy and is determined to be a better kid now that he has the gift of the Holy Ghost.

     Almost all of Brock's Kmetzsch aunts, uncles and cousins came to support him as well as his Kmetzsch grandparents and his siblings. His aunt Kristin Page shared a nice talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost and had a nice white fleece blanket embroidered with Brock's name on it as a gift for him.

    We enjoyed a simple brunch at the house after the baptism and Brock was happy to spend some more time playing with his cousins.

Two of my handsome men.

A great opportunity for a family photo. 

Brock and his cousin Sam Smith all the way down from Idaho.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the food.

     The rest of our week has been pretty low-key. I had a phone issue, (only my third new phone in a year) so I lost a few photos in the process but nothing too important and most of the vital ones I'd already saved to my Chatbook app so they're not completely lost. Technology is amazing and a total nightmare all at the same time. Anyway, so glad today went so well for Brock and I can't believe we've got five out of seven kids baptized!?