Festivities!

     We managed to get out a couple times this week for some Christmas festivities. For FHE we took the four smallest kids to see some of the dancing house lights nearby. There are three fun houses less then three miles away from home and the one at the top of the photo is absolutely mind blowing! Everything is lit up, it's like a miniature Temple Square! I love the dancing house lights!

Photos don't do these justice but you get the idea.

     After enjoying the last house Greg decided to let Charlie drive us out of the neighborhood. She did not want any help!

Ummmm......NO!

     Then we got really CRAZY and took the 4 smallest kids, again (The older kids have not been good sports recently.) to Seven Peaks Waterpark for their North Pole activities. We waited about 20 minutes to get in, 60 minutes to ride on the boats and waited another 45 minutes to ride the trikes through the Nutcracker story book and then our time was up. (They put the groups in 2 hour time blocks.) Was it worth it? I'm still not sure but the kids left happy so that's something. Brock and McClane would have liked to go back the next night to try riding the train and sledding down one of the waterslides but no one else was willing to wait in the cold and in such long lines.

Silly boys!

Magical!

Spinning Fun!

Fun!

    We may not get too crazy with our holiday festivities but I think we do just enough. And when the older kids saw our photos they were a little bummed that they didn't join us at the "North Pole". (That'll teach them.)
      Now 'Santa' just needs to find some time to go through a few things to be sure 'he's' ready for the big day.

Cute and a little not so cute.

      Sunday the two littles were in a modeling mood. Charlie was modeling her cute new dress, BONUS!

This is some of our cute part of the week.

      Monday was my bi-weekly shopping day and this huge goose egg on my shin is exactly how I feel about shopping and apparently how shopping carts feel about me. PAINFUL! Pure pride is all that kept me from crying out and fainting from the pain. (This is some of the not so cute of the week.)

This was photographed about 10 minutes later so I'm guessing it might have been even a little bigger right at first but I didn't have the guts to look at it initially.

     Monday night the four littles did a little gingerbread house decorating. This kit came with he house already assembled, GENIUS! This is cute and not so cute! By the next day Charlie had eaten about 50% of the candy off and then the boys started breaking off pieces so it's become less and less cute as the weeks worn on.

     And this boy was asked to Preference in a fun way. The girls name was spelled out on the frozen peas and he had to sit and sort through them all to find out who asked him. After about an hour he figured he had the letters for "Morgan" so he responded with a helium filled balloon with a note inside saying YES and the balloon was tied to about 200 yards of ribbon so she had to do a little work as well to get her answer. Morgan is the sugar cookie master so she had my vote for his date. This kid may not have access to his vehicle but he still manages to have fun a majority of the time.

     So that's our week of cute and not so cute. Santa's been doing a little shopping and is nearly done with this family's wish list. Everyone is excited about Christmas and we've especially been enjoying the "Light the World" campaign and the morning devotionals we've been participating in each morning via brightlystreet.com. If you haven't had a chance to see this cool website check it out right now! Every day there's an awesome music video, a few scriptures and a video that coincides with the scriptures. It's been fun and uplifting and has helped me feel a little more of the real Christmas spirit this season. Merry Christmas!

Birthday

    Usually my birthdays are a bit disappointing and I know it's only because I have unrealistic expectations, but this year I just planned on being disappointed and ended up being pleasantly surprised. My first surprise was balloons from Greg. Then after my treadmill torture I found my bed covered in new clothes, courtesy of Kayli and almost everything fit and will be a great addition to my wardrobe.

I love having my own personal clothes shopper.

    Another fun surprise was a gift certificate from my friend and she made me promise to use it on my birthday and I like to keep my promises so during the lunch hour I had the pleasure of getting a pedicure. I loved most of it, the toenail filing is a bit disturbing but I got through it.

Periwinkle is one of my favorite colors.

    Totally off topic from my birthday celebrations, Mark shared these, and several more, photos of him and a few of his friends and I thought they were pretty cool so I figured I'd share a few on the blog.

Mark really isn't that much taller than his buddy but they tried to convince a few people with this photo that Mark was 7 feet tall. (He wishes!) 

     Once everyone was home it was a good time for me to open a gift from Greg and my birthday card from my parents.

    New slippers, money and a giant piece of cake!

Thanks Mom & Dad and Greg!

     Then, per my request, Greg and I went to Festival of Trees as a date night and left the kids home. It was a much more pleasant experience and I don't think the kids were too bummed about missing all the walking.

These were a few of our favorite trees.

These were some cool reclaimed wood projects.

Fun playhouse ideas.

And by far my most favorite display! You have to be a true Seinfeld fan to truly appreciate this. The decorator and donator were listed as "The Human Fund"! I seriously loved it! No tree, just a pole, a real Festivus for the rest of us! Whoever did this is my new best friend!

Then a yummy dinner at Chili's to finish off the night!

And a day later I got this yummy plate of cookies from Mark and his 'friend' Morgan. She seriously makes the best sugar cookies I've ever had so Mark is going to marry her!

    I also received a nice gift from my long time friend and walking buddy, Cammy, but I failed to photograph it. All together it was a great day and the highlight of my week for sure. Life aint too bad for this 42 year old!

Thanksgiving

  Carter had his first experience camping with the scouts at the sand dunes last weekend.

SAND boarding definitely appeals to me more than SNOW boarding.

     We had a pre-thanksgiving dinner with some of the aunts, uncles and cousins Sunday night since we wouldn't all be around on Thanksgiving day. The food was awesome and there's always lots of ways to entertain each other.

A little Texas Hold 'em to wrap up the pre-Thanksgiving dinner night.

And sometimes Charlie falls asleep in the car and almost gets left there all night.

     Then it was the BIG day and we had another fantastic dinner and fun visits with more of the Kmetzsch clan. 

This was the only photo I took. You'll just have to imagine all the yummy food that was added to this beautiful table.

     Then I convinced Greg to give in and allow me to start the Christmas decorating. He and Mark even went out on the dreaded "Black" Friday to purchase a real Christmas tree.

With our new set up in the front room I had to adjust my decorating a little.

I had five great tree decorators.

     I think we're ready, at least in the decor department. There's still some shopping left to do but even that is mostly done! Bring on the Christmas festivities!

Zip!

    I've got zip to post! I didn't take a single photo all week. Charlie took 27 but not one of them was worth saving or sharing.

       Sorry for this pathetic post, I'll try to do better for Thanksgiving week.

Greg's birthday week.

    The title isn't that accurate but close enough. This weather lately has been so AWESOME! I love warm fall days. I love when my kids can still play outside a majority of the time. I don't however love the leaves falling all over and making a mess of the deck and yard, but I survive the mess every time.

This just mad me smile. I love seeing cute tiny shoes by the door.

We enjoyed a fun campfire last weekend.

     In honor of Greg's birthday we decided to take advantage of the awesome weather and go for a motorcycle ride Thursday. We made our way out west through a tiny mining town, Eureka and then over to Vernon where we had a yummy lunch at the smallest diner I've ever seen and we were literally in the middle of NOWHERE! We also made a little side trip up a couple small canyons on the way home and the little city of Ophir was a fun hidden surprise. I hope we can go back again, especially in the spring because it looks like it could be very picturesque when everything is in full bloom.

We're still working on our selfie skills.

Double cool!

I'm guessing this is Vernon's claim to fame.

   Greg treated himself and the five youngest on his birthday morning with RC fun with his buddy and co-worker, Jed up in Heber while I got to stay home all morning alone doing whatever I wanted/needed to do. It felt like a win/win for me!

Jed was kind enough to let all the boys take a turn flying.

Boys and their toys!

He's got some skills!

   We finished the day and week off with cake and gifts.

New sunglasses. 

New bluetooth headphones and card and cash from the in-laws. (Thanks mom & dad!)

Kayli even added to the fun with a few new items of clothing for her dad. (There are perks to working at a clothing store every day.)

     I'd say it's been a successful birthday for Greg and an over all great week. I know the weather is bound to change but I, for one, sure have loved the warmer fall weather lately! If I'm lucky I'll get at least one more ride with Greg on the motorcycle before the weather changes.

Fun!

       We went on another fun ride last weekend. This time we tried the Nebo Loop. It was our first time taking the freeway and neither Greg or I were big fans but we didn't have any problems and it was fast. Thankfully we took another route home that was far less fast and loud.

A nice lady visiting Utah from San Diego volunteered to take our photo.

     These two girls sure have fun together.

Sister silliness.

      And of course it was Halloween Monday and all seven kids decided to dress up, some were more into it than others. Isaac sat on the porch all evening in his weird costume and scared kids who tried to take more than one piece of candy. Some kids wouldn't even come to the porch because he was so creepy sitting there so still. It was a successful Halloween!

All 7 ready for Halloween.

     Not a lot else happened that is worth blogging about. Mark might have a few comments to make but he can vlog about his issues if he wants. Lets just say he's learning the HARD way that you don't disobey your parents, especially for a second time. For now I'm back to being a chauffeur and Mark thinks he can break me with his needs for rides to and from work but I'm 25 years ahead of him in stubbornness expertise. We really are loving our teenagers! (NOT!)