Weekend Highlights:

Temple Night, we did an endowment session for the first time in what seemed like forever. Our usual monthly temple nights are with a group in the ward that do sealings. We really REALLY enjoyed doing the session this time and plan to go early on temple nights from now on so we can do both. We also really love our tradition of going to Taco Time on our way home from the temple. We get our nachos and drink and go and park across the street to eat. Then we stop at Arctic Circle to get our awesome "free-tonight-because-we-went-to-the-temple" babysitter a chocolate oreo shake for a treat. We've done this every single time on our way home from the Temple for years. We're kind of wondering what we're going to do when the South Jordan Temple opens and we won't drive by Taco Time anymore - we might just have to go there anyway, we can't bear the thought of breaking tradition now!

Joshua got to go to a birthday party on Friday. They went bowling and he had a blast. He said he got one strike and he would have gotten a spare, but instead it was a foul because he stepped over the line. All of that practicing on Wii Sports must have paid off! :)

Friday night we finally had our traditional movie night with the boys. We've had so many projects (another post) going on lately that we've been putting it off. We all snuggled in our bedroom (Mark, Gabe, and I on the bed and Josh and Sam on the floor by the bed with oodles of blankets) ate popcorn and watched Back to the Future. SO fun... but my that Marty had quite the potty mouth in high-school! We're hoping he's cleaned up his act since the boys are convinced we're watching the next two in the coming weeks.

Samuel got to play with his cute friend Brodey. They are on different tracks this year so this was the first time since school started that they've gotten together to play. He had so much fun!

We went to lunch at AB's Drive-in (Sorry Aunt Ellen, we had coupons!) on Saturday. We all shared a chocolate-chip shake, YUM! Except when the cup seemed to get fuller than it was when we bought it...that's when Mark and I stopped eating and left the rest to the boys. Eww!

Then we went and drove by my childhood home. On a recent trip to the gym we ran into a boy from my old neighborhood (that I used to babysit for). He said he'd heard they were going to tear the home down and build another one in it's place. We thought we'd drive by to see if it was still standing so we could show the boys where I grew up. We also thought if it WAS in the process of being demolished we could steal a brick (Mark's sentimental idea) so that I could have it to remember it by. It was still standing, but looked SOOO different from the way I remembered it as a little girl. In fact, it looks more like I remember it in the above picture (taken from Google Maps), with the black shutters. The black shutters have since been removed and that makes a big difference. I was amazed at how different ALL the houses looked, not the way I remembered them in my mind at all, but still very beautiful. I so wished we could have gone inside where I could dash up the stairs 3 at a time, just once more for old times sake! I have such fond memories of this beautiful house and my childhood days spent in it. My pretty green and yellow room with white furniture and two window seats. The "big room". Our huge playroom with raw umber carpet where all our toys lived and we could play to our hearts content. The balcony where I could check in on my family or visitors from down below. The "huts" that my dad started for us in our closets by cutting through the Sheetrock and framing a room inside. Mine never got fully finished, but Shar's actually had carpet inside and a light so my friends and I would hold all of our secret clubhouse meetings in hers. :) The trampoline, the hot tub and playing, playing, playing. That is what I remember when I think of this house. It was so fun to reminisce about these things a little this weekend!

Our Stake Conference was today and not until the afternoon which meant we got to sleep in! ....Well, we meaning the boys and I, not Mark. Poor guy had a leadership meeting at 7AM! I'd already told him to come home and crawl back into bed for another hour or two but instead he got Will out of bed, fed everyone and brought ME breakfast in bed. Yummy ham and cheese omelets even! I really don't deserve this wonderful man!

We wrestled with our 1 year old for 2 hours during conference. This isn't so much of a highlight really, as it was just pure relief when it was over. That and the fact that we came out triumphant and didn't have to leave once...though the families around us might have wished a time or two that we had! We've dubbed Will the "Sacrament Monster" and he plays his role quite dramatically for the most part. He went pretty easy on us today with it being 2 hours long and all. It was still all we could do to get him home, get his belly full and in that bed though. Whew, one-year-old's are HARD WORK!!

And last but not least we got all dolled up (me) and "cool" (everyone else) for some individual pictures in the backyard. I took the plunge this year and ONLY bought the class picture from the boys' school. I NEVER display the school pics anyway since I take my own candid shots of the kids for my walls, but for some reason I've always felt too guilty to not buy at least the smallest package. This year however, I'd made up my mind. I checked "class picture only" on those envelopes and never looked back. ANYWAY, that left me really needing new individual shots. I think we got some good ones that I'll be posting later, but couldn't help but post these little "numbers" courtesy of our 9 year old photographer. Sam took our first few, but then I had Josh take the rest. Mark kept saying I "fired" Sam, but fired is a pretty harsh word. I prefer the term "on hold" instead. Temporarily "on hold" until he can figure out how to not cut off Mark's head or my chin. :)

Aren't we cute? ....our poor poor kids!




Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!