Train ride!

     Last Saturday Greg thought it would be fun to take a ride with the whole family on the UTA frontrunner train from Lehi up to Salt Lake, so we did. The kids loved it! It was a bit crowded so we didn't get to sit together but it worked out great for me because Greg had all the boys with him so I was able to relax and enjoy the ride.
     Once in Salt Lake we walked just a short distance to the Gateway mall and did a little "shopping". Mostly we just wandered around but I did find a cute maternity top on sale and the kids talked us into a treat before we had to catch the train back home. My only regret is that we didn't study the directory more thoroughly when we first got there so we could have known about the Dairy Queen that was available because by the time we found that out there wasn't enough time to go but maybe next time and just Greg and I will go.

This was the ride back with four of the six kids.  Mark and Isaac had their own seats somewhere else.

Carter was annoyed that he couldn't go back with Isaac and Mark but McClane was having a blast.

I was glad to sit by these handsome guys on the way back.

     Greg put together a fun video of our ride and if you haven't already seen it here's the link.http://youtu.be/HSAXiCsakwE

Happy V-Day!

The love started early at our house on Valentine's Day with Kayli's best friend, Toni, coming over first thing with a fun Valentine's gift for Kayli. And I woke up to a box of treats on my kitchen counter from my Valentine and then to finish off the day we put together a fun dinner for the kids with help from Kayli putting together the decor.

I don't know if anyone got a card bigger than this one.

Kayli is always a big help when it comes to decorating.

Here's the finished product.  Simple but fun for a bunch of boys really.

Spare ribs anyone!?  I think they're excited for the punch more than anything.

Here is the second gift from Greg to me.

The man knows me all too well, cookies and chocolates!

It's so cute, Brock and McClane think I'm actually going to share with them.  Silly boys!

Isaac shared the Valentine cards he made for me and Greg.

And Mark maybe got a little messy from his dinner.

The best part of dinner for Greg was the easy clean up.  We should be doing this every night!

So there you have it, Valentine's Day at our house, simple but fun.

Sucker anyone?!

I guess he was saving it for later;-)

Visitors from Down Under!

     Back in May my sister, Jackie and her family decided to pack it up and move to Australia, my brother-in-law Ben's homeland. Needless to say I was sad and excited all at the same time, the only thing was they HAD to come back within a years time so I knew I'd see them again soon even if it may only be to visit for a few weeks.
     Well they did arrive, minus Ben and even though the girls weren't overly thrilled to be here without their dad we were all super excited to see them!

This is one tire Jovi who really, really wanted her Daddy at this moment!

Here's Jovi and Shae and Shae could not stop staring at me.  I think she was confused, here's a girl that looks and sounds a lot like my mom but she's not my mom and I don't even know if I like her.  (I gave her candy though so I don't think she hates me.)

Jovi couldn't wait to get out in the snow and after about five minutes in the snow she couldn't wait to get back inside;-)
McClane and Brock however could barely be persuaded to come back in after about two hours of the cold and snow.

This was after Jovi let me braid her hair.  And actually Kayli had me braid her hair too but not to look as cute as Jovi.

This is exactly how I remember Kayli's hair looking when she was little and let me play with her hair more often.  I don't remember her having such long thick hair at this age though.

     So that's been our time with Jovi, Shae and Jackie so far.  Thankfully they're not leaving for a few more weeks so I'm sure we'll get a few more opportunties to do hair and hang out!  If only Australia was just a bit closer!

Shh! Can you keep a Secret?

     Does anyone remember this photo from a little over two years ago?!  That is a girl hoping and praying for a baby sister only to find she's got ANOTHER brother.  Well don't lose all hope yet, come August 23rd or sooner she just might still get that baby sister!  We'll probably find out this time sooner than later if we're having a boy or a girl to give Kayli time to either prepare or be extra excited so I guess come March 1st we'll most likely know if this photo is doomed to be repeated.
     Now this is exciting news and we don't mind people knowing at this point.  A heart beat has been heard and I'm feeling less nervous but my only request would be to please keep the secret and maybe just recommend to close family and friends to check this blog out for themselves.  And keep Kayli in your prayers that she finally gets her baby sister as a late 16th birthday gift!

Brock's FIVE!

This cutie......

Turned five this week!

Happy 5th birthday to Brock Garrett!

This is how he looked after going to preschool.

This waws his birthday afternoon opening gifts.  This is a blurry batman mask.

Cool Optimus Prime mask!

That mask goes perfect with his new pajamas!

This was the very next day when we had cake and ice cream with G&G Kmetzsch.  This was a Spiderman mask.
(Are you starting to sense a theme here.  He wanted superhero stuff.)

He makes a cute spiderman.

And here comes his Spiderman cake!

    I'm going to safely say, Brock had a great fifth birthday!
I honestly was going to also upload a sledding video from our Oregon trip but it was literally taking for-ev-er!  Greg still has one more idea of how to upload it on the blog so it may make it up here yet, but I'm not holding my breath!

Hair Cut!

     All my boys need a haircut and I was going to splurge and take them all to an inexpensive hair salon, and still might, but Greg would prefer I did it myself but I just can't get motivated!  So the other day I had a few minutes between errands and it was just McClane and I and I thought, "Why not?"  So just McClane so far has had a hair cut and it was his first 'professional' cut.  He didn't love it at first but he sat so still even when he was crying.  The girl did an ok job I'm just happy his hair is no longer hanging over his ears or too far down his neck.  And she definitely did a much quicker job of it than I would have.

Sad but he was still so good.

He's almost ready to stop crying.

And he's nearly done and much happier, even though he refused to smile.

    Greg still hasn't downloaded the sledding videos from our Oregon trip but maybe next week.  And maybe next week the rest of the boys will finally have haircuts too.