His favorite spot

How cute is this snuggly pup?  Not a day passes that I don't come out of the bathroom after my shower to find Ike chillin on my bed.  Today he was all snuggled up in Joey's blanket.  I never thought that I was a dog person until we got Ike.  Now I seriously don't know what we would do without him.  So cute!

Forever Friends

Today we picked Aubrey up at 10am and I drove them to Cornbellys.  They spent over four hours there having so much fun.  Harlee kept me updated on their shenanigans through her Marco Polo messages.  They crack me up.  Then they went shopping at Target before coming back to our house to do a makeover for Harlee.  Wow! They have the best time together.  I love their friendship.  They have been friends since they were four and their friendship just keeps growing stronger.

Early Morning Good Choices

Luke told me last Sunday that a big group of his friends were planning on going to the temple to do baptisms next Saturday.  Well today was the day!  Luke woke up bright and early and left around 8:15pm.  Since their group was so large, Luke did not get home until almost noon.  I am so proud of him and the great group of friends that he has chosen.  What a great example he is to all of us.  How grown up and handsome he looks!

Cornbelly's

It's that time again- the lucky Childs kids got passes to Cornbellys again this year.  They were a little more excited than I  was.  I have to admit that I have always dreaded taking the kids since it is so crowded and the kids all want to go different directions.  Today was a pleasant surprise.  Since the kids have grown up, Harlee, Nash, and  Gray could go do their own thing and then I could take Tag to do whatever he wanted.  It was really fun.  We started on the big slide before heading over to ride Cornado.  Then Har took the boys to the clown maze and I took Tag on the blob.  He was entertaining me with all his awesome dance moves.  After we went to watch the seal show.  Yes, trained seals.  It was so fun.  Then we went to the zip lines, games, and then finished with corn cob beach.  The weather was perfect and we all had a great time.

Award Night

Last night we had pack meeting.  It is a little strange to still be working towards scouting goals since the program is going to change at the end of the year, but the boys enjoy it.  Gray got his call of the wild belt loop.  Nash got his Weeblos and Duty to God.  So proud of these boys for their hard work.

Student of the Week

This week it is Tag's turn to be the Star student in his class.  Each day he gets to do something special to introduce himself to his classmates.  On Monday he brought a poster that he colored. When asked what makes him a star he said because he is a great dancer!  He kills me!  I am so grateful for these experiences that he is having.  If you would have told me four years ago that Tag would be the star student in a mainstream classroom I would have never believed you.  I am so grateful for his progress and for amazing teachers that love him.

Sunday Hiking in our Mountains

On Saturday I had to go to a meeting with a potential new client.  While I was gone, Joey took Harlee, Nash, and Tag on a hike on the new Sensei trail.  They had so much fun and begged for all of us to go on Sunday.  After a little nap we went and hiked.  It is such a beautiful trail.  It was a bit of a work out but not too hard that Tag couldn't do it.  The views were amazing.  We hiked in about a mile and a half before turning around.  The weather was perfect and so was the company.  I love that this is so close to our house.  I am so grateful for these moments that I get to enjoy the beauty of Heavenly Father's creations surrounded by my favorite people.

Dining Room Update

Last Saturday Joey and I were out to lunch.  We were shopping on KSL while waiting for our food.  We came across some really pretty brown leather dining room chairs.  The guy was selling all 8, two of them captain chairs, for $400.  Such a good deal.  We went and picked them up.  With the change in the chairs I wanted to update the decor a little.  I ordered the table runner and pillow covers on Amazon.  Harlee and I went to Hobby Lobby to pick out a few new decor pieces.  I love that she loves to shop for home decor and with me!  We decided if Joey was upset for the money spent on the new items we would just remind him that he started it by suggesting the new chairs.  I love the new look!

Lunch with Bren

It is so fun to have Brennan home and to get to spend some time with my youngest brother.  You can tell he is the baby of the family when he invites you to go to lunch and you pay!  He is having so much fun living the single college life.  He is going to UVU and dating tons of girls.  We had a great lunch at Zao catching up.

Field Trip Friday

Nash was up and ready before 7am this morning in anticipation of his field trip in the park.  The fifth graders walked from the school to Eagle Summit park where they spent most of the day playing games.  Nash had so much fun with his friends.  I am so grateful that Nash is back at Traverse and was able to connect with some old friends and make some new friends also.  After the tough friend year at Ignite, my prayers for him have been answered.

Living it up in Nashville

After a lot of persuasion I talked Joey into taking a few days off and taking me to Nashville.  We were so excited.  Mindi was nice enough to stay with the kids so we could go and not worry about the kids.  We left Wednesday morning at 4am to get to the airport in time for our 6am flight.  We flew to Detroit for a quick hour layover before heading to Nashville.  We landed and got our rental car- we chose a Nissan truck which would prove to be a lucky choice later on in our trip.  We were starving so we went to Cheddars for lunch.  The food was really good- Joey had a philly cheese steak sandwich and I have some yummy grilled chicken and rice.  After a relaxing lunch we went to check into our hotel.  We stayed in Smryna which is a suburb of Nashville.  We stayed in a Hilton Homewood Suites.  It was a nice room.  We each had to work a little bit and then got ready for a night out on the town.  We went to a quieter part of downtown and ate at Chuys which is an amazing Mexican restaurant.  I loved it!  We had no schedule and we chatted as we enjoyed a long dinner.  It was so nice.  We then walked to a strip of bars where each hosted different singers.  We settled in at one which seemed to be the best choice.  They had 3 different singer/songwriters who would each perform several songs in round style.  Once they were done they switched and had three new singer songwriters come out.  Joey enjoyed his coke while I sipped on a water.  We probably were not their typical clients but we did not care.  We sat there and enjoyed the music.  It truly felt magical to me.  I could not believe that we were in Nashville enjoying amazing music.  It was everything that I had hoped it would be.  I was so excited that we still had several days to explore the city.

On Thursday morning we woke up and enjoyed the free breakfast before settling in to work a little bit.  After working and getting ready, we made our way out to see the temple in Franklin.  The drive there was beautiful.  I was so impressed with the beautiful homes and the huge yards.  I loved looking around and taking it all in.  We drove to the temple and it was probably the smallest temple that I had ever seen.  This made sense since the Latter Day Saints do not seem to be the prominent religion in Tennessee.  The temple was so much smaller than the huge Methodist church across the street.  After driving around the temple we went to lunch at a Southwest Grill called Moes.  It was pretty good.  Then we decided to drive through Brentwood which is the fancy part where a lot of stars have homes.  It was so beautiful.  I truly could live there!  After driving around Joey indulged me by taking me to Uncommon James- the Kristin Cavalerri store.  We went back to the hotel for a little nap before going out again for the night.  This night we went to a huge mall and went to Claim Jumper for dinner.  After dinner we went to see the movie Peanut Butter Falcon.  It was such a good movie and I was having a hard time believing we were staying out late again.  Quite a change for these two kids that are in bed each night before 9pm.  Another amazing day!

Friday morning we enjoyed free breakfast again and a little work.  We then got ready to go do more site seeing.  We went first to the Parthenon.  It is so crazy that this is the place where they decided to build a replica of the Parthenon in Greece.  It true Jamie and Joey style we walked through pretty quick and checked that off our list!  We drove around downtown before heading back to the big mall to enjoy another meal at Chuys.  We had another amazing meal and then walked over to the Grand Ole Opry.  It was smaller than I thought it would be but amazing to be there.  Then we went back to the mall to buy a little something to bring back for each of the kids- the boys all got new hats and we bought a Hollister shirt for Har.  We went back to the hotel to get ready for a night out on the town.  I was so excited about this night.  We had purchased tickets to see Mandolin Orange at the Ryman.  We drive to the Ryman and got free valet parking with our Nissan vehicle!  We then walked to the Ryman Cafe to have a quick dinner before going to the show.  We sat in the balcony of the Ryman and the seats were amazing!  I could not believe how great our view was.  We made friends with the people behind us and chatted until the concert began.  The first group was Bonnie Light Horseman.  Neither of us knew who they were and did not have the highest of expectations.  Boy were we blown away.  They were amazing!  They sang about 8 songs and we were so impressed.  We found out from the help of Google that the lady in the group was Anais Mitchell, a famous folk singer, and the male vocalist was the lead singer of the Fruit Bats.  No wonder they were amazing.  After a brief intermission Mandolin Orange came out.  They are a husband and wife singer songwriter group and they were beyond good.  The acoustics in the Ryman are unbelievable and they sounded perfect.  I did not want the night to end.  I would have listened to them all night.  There is seriously nothing better than enjoying beautiful music cuddled next to my best friend.  I will never forget this night.  As we were waiting for our car we struck up a conversation with a guy behind us.  He told us that he would guess that we were newlyweds on our second marriage. He was a little taken back when we told him we had five kids and had been married almost 18 years.  What a compliment! I love that others can recognize the love and adoration that I have for Joey even after all of these years.

We slept in until almost 10am on Saturday and almost missed the free breakfast.  We packed up and checked out of the hotel at 11am.  We first drove to see Bluebird Cafe.  We almost missed it.  It is crazy how small it is nestled in the middle of a strip mall.  After a picture, we decided to go down to music row and brave the craziness.  We walked up and down music row and took in all the different music. It is crazy how everyone is so so good!  We left music row and went to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  Our last quiet lunch in Nashville.  We drove around a little more before heading to the airport.  I was so sad to be leaving but I was so excited to see the kids.  I feel so blessed to have been able to enjoy this amazing trip.  Nashville did not disappoint and I have a feeling it will not be the last time that we visit.  I am so grateful for everyone that helped to make this trip possible.
*P.S.- the only downside of traveling with Joe is his lack of desire to take pictures.  Good thing the memories are forever in my mind!