.small kids, big kids, kids that climb on rocks.

This past weekend was spent in the presence of 5 very energetic children ranging in age for 1-11. To say it was easy would be an understatement, but being with "The Hoard" does guarantee a good time. Here is just a few of the adventures that filled the weekend.

"Breakfast" Tillman digging into some goodness

Bed-headed Sullivan grinning his morning grin

"Jumping"

Grace, T, and Jupiter the space donkey giving the tramp a good going over even in the depths of winter.

I love that this picture is all legs and arms!

"Art "

Just a sampling of Grace's beautiful work

"Reading"Sully and his books, the kid can't get enough

"Epic Battles"Noble donning his battle attireDarth RoyThere is just something about uncle Roy coming after you with his bundle of rope that is irresistible.

"Car singing"

You can't tell in the pic, but these kids know how to groove when the tunes are on in the car...they were a bit camera shy at first (check out Sully's shifty eyes...classic!)

"Park Time"

Battle of wits between Jessie and Roy at the tic-tac-toe board

Sully kickin' it in the swing

"a little of whatever"

Noble told me how comfortable these dress up shoes were and I couldn't resist.

All in all it was a good weekend some other highlights included:

-Roy taking the chaos, and possible the fun, out of Apples to Apples. The kids were all yelling over each other (which I imagine is part of the fun for them) when Roy demanded order. Each child was given their time to argue and rebuttal...hilarious to watch Roy control the table so well.

-Rice King

-Snuggle time with Sully

-Realizing that Roy is indeed amazing at entertaining children

-"The Rock" episode

-Sunday walks with Grace's doll and out of control Jupiter

-Movie nights (try finding a movie all 5 want to watch...nearly impossible)

This I now know, we can take on 5 anytime!

still in its original packaging

Monday's can sometimes bring happy surprises. Some background perhaps...we have a single room up stairs at work where we put everything in; filing, vacuums, computers, old CD players, golf clubs, and various other office equipment. This room is a veritable black hole...things go in, but never come out.

Recently however, the room has been purged! And behold my arm rests in the original packaging were found. I've worked here for 3 years and never realized my chair had the possibility. I love my chair, but now I love it even more. I'm now capable of lounging with even more LoUngE... if that's even possible!

In update news, we just returned from a weekend with my sisters 5 kids, aptly named "The Hoard". It was a great accident free weekend, but I'll give more info with pics when I have some more time. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy some more chair lounging!

maiden voyage

When Saturdays are open (as they so rarely are), and the air is nasty and thick with polution, we try to find ourselvs out and up to cleaner air. We trudged our way through yellowfork canyon on saturday taking my new snow shoes on their maiden run. It was so nice to get out of the inversion in the valley and do something outside. It cleared our minds and hopefully our lungs as well.

Roy's amazing skills and form

Looking a little surley, but also happy to be outside!

So as much as I'm looking forward to some spring, we might as well enjoy what we have at the moment.

.good for the soul.

i'm digging this new tune! Thanks jojo.

love me some dave matthews

.stars are dancin on the water here tonight, its good for the soul when there's not a soul in sight.

Projects

Last weekend as we welcomed in a new year, I welcomed in a cold. I'll be honest I didn't accomplish much more than putting myself together to go to the temple with my sisters and Grandma. I'm such a slug when I'm sick. I think this stems from the fact that I have a tendency to be a little lazy already, so when you take away my energy you can imagine the outcome isn't all that pretty. Consequently, Roy carried my butt this weekend. I left to go to the temple leaving the house in post holiday dumpiness and returned to a completely cleaned house (i.e. dishes done, clothes being laundered, tree taken down, floors vacuumed, swept and mopped...immaculate). On top of the hours put into cleaning the house Roy stuffed me in the car and off we went to home depot to gather supplies for much needed home repairs that we had been putting off. The main one being the entry way tile:

The tile job that we have is crap, but we lack the funds to completely redo it so we will just have to be happy with our fix it job.

This doesn't appear to be the first time this has happened. The previous owners however just threw a little bit of glue on the back of the tile. Roy couldn't believe the crappy fix they did as he was chiseling off all the old cement.

We improvised with the tools we didn't have.

No trowel...? No problem, we just used Roy's spare concealed weapons permit with some other dude's picture on it. Glad we kept that around...you'll never know when you might need to use something like that.

On top of the tile fix, Roy also repaired the carpet guard that goes from our kitchen to our living room, purchased and assembled a coat rack (which I love), and put up our new TV. After all was said in done I felt so much better, not only because there was once again order in our house, but also because I had done a little more than just putt around the house all day. I'm grateful for Roy and his driving force. That is why I have decided that this years project is going to be me taking control of my life. Roy shouldn't always have to be the one doing the driving, and I imagine he is very tired of driving...so I'm going to be using my time more effectively to not only better myself, but others as well. So there it is folks...my commitment!