New City Creek Mall

While McKenzie was here

all of the girls, plus Bridger went up to Salt Lake

to the beautiful new City Creek Mall!

Love, love, loved it.

Only got to spend a couple hours there but it was fun

and I look forward to going back and checking out more of their stores.

 It is kind of an indoor outdoor mall with a retractable roof.

And it has a creek running through it with fish in it.

 Bridger loved climbing on all of the rocks and looking at the water and fish.

 He also liked throwing coins into all of the many different fountains

that they had through out.

Pretty sure none of us had any change left in out purses by the time he was through.

 This was a very cool fountain.

Cant really tell by the pictures but it looked like bubbles.

Not sure how they did it.

It was my favorite fountain!

 This mall has my very favorite store,

"BRIGHTON"

And it was big and had so much stuff!

Loved this picture of McKenzie and Bridger,

mostly because of the little girl in the background in the hat with the balloon.

How cute is that?  Did not see her when I took the picture!

Later that night we went with the whole family to go bowling at Jack and Jills.

But we never did make it past the arcade games to do some actual bowling.

Even my oldest kids turned into little kids in the Arcade.

They did some Lazar Tag and Guitar Hero and just had fun playing games.

  McKenzie spent a lot of her time texting her boyfriend back in Hawaii.

Summer and Autumn dualing it out on Guitar Hero.

 Hunter explaining to Noah how to play the game,

or possibly making up an excuse why he was playing so poorly..............

 Still texting........

 Bridger never actually needed money to play the games.

He still thought he was playing,

even f he actually was not...........

 Hunter hit the jackpot on one game and got 250 tickets!

Still gathering tickets........

and more tickets........

Now they are all helping him decide what to get with his tickets.

I think they decided on a bunch of fruity tootsie roll things!

Playing Basket Ball of course..........

Never did end up bowling!

It was a fun night spent with the family.

The last before McKenzie went back to Hawaii.

Master Chef

Hunter loves to cook ever since he has been taking a cooking class in school.

On Sunday he made dinner.

Okay, it was Sloppy Joes. But he did make it from scratch.

I prefer the can method when I do it, so I was very impressed.

He never wants my help and always does everything himself.

This included slicing and dicing onions and green peppers.

 

Later on Sunday afternoon he made Chocolate Chip cookies.

This boy knows his way around a kitchen

and how to use the Kitchen Aide!

 It would be nice if he wore a shirt,

but anybody who knows Hunter knows he never has a shirt on.

I was just thankful he had on shorts.

Usually he is just in his boxers!

 I was so impressed because his cookies turned out picture perfect.

Not only did they look good

but they tasted amazing.

Gotta love this kid!

It has been fun looking through recipes with him...

I wonder what he will come up with this Sunday.........

whatever it is I am sure it will be yummy!

Can't wait!

 

Our Clearance Puppy

It has been just a little over a year that we got Stockton!

He was the cutest little puppy.  So cute. So cuddly.

You could hold him in your hands........

Everybody loved him...........

Too bad things change!

Ever see the movie "Marley and Me"?

That is what we got. A clearance puppy!

The Master of destruction...

A royal pain in my____!

When I was shopping for a puppy they were all $250 to $300.

I got him for $100

That should have been my first clue.  The first sign of what was to come.

Believe me he has cost me a lot more than that

having to replace all that he destroys!

 He looks so sweet when he looks at you with those big brown eyes!

But in reality I spend more time cleaning up after him than I do my kids!

Everyday is a new mess.  Everyday it is something new destroyed.

Not to mention he is a Giant dog! And he jumps on everyone.

And when he isn't jumping on me I am tripping over him.....

  

Here he has just taken over a box that had some shelves I was building in it.

He barely let me get the pieces taken out before he climbed in.

Once he plants his body somewhere he can not be moved.

The box is now his home.  Has been for 3 days now.

Sunday morning I got up to find that the boys had not finished bringing in all

the groceries the night before and had left the back of my car open.

What a surprise to find shredded boxes of cereal all over the yard,

as well as my umbrella shredded.  A blanket in pieces, and a first aid kit

dismembered all over the driveway!

I understand it is not the dogs fault that he is a dog.....I get that!

But I am starting to have a love hate relationship with him.

Especially after today, trying to plant flowers and if he was not running off

with the flowers, he was running off with my shovel!!

Also, he is pretty spoiled.  He will only eat his food if his bowl is sitting next to the back door.

If it is anywhere else he just stares at it and me like "What are you thinking?"

He really will not eat it.  So after awhile of being stared down by his big brown eyes I move it!

Can you say spoiled?

I think he is lonely.  With Malone gone now he just gets bored.

I have considered getting another puppy so he wont be alone.....

and then I think,

"What are you thinking?"

Double the trouble.  I think not!!

  

Don't let him fool you.

He is not as innocent as he looks!!

I have holes in the sheetrock in the garage to prove it!

Happy Birthday Bobby and Mom

Monday night we had a dinner with the entire family
at Summers to celebrate my Birthday
and Bobby's 25th Birthday which is this Saturday.
It was so fun to have the entire family together.
It does not seem to happen much lately,
so that in itself was a Birthday present!

Summer got my cake this year from 'Nothing "Bunt" Cakes'
It was so yummy! But we laughed the whole time
because it looked like it had a weed growing out of it
and it reminded us of the movie
My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when they are given the "Bunt"cake
and her family did not know what it was or why a cake would have a hole in it!
Anyway, as you can see in the picture below
it wasn't a weed, it was a green sunflower.
Loved this cake! Probably will be my 2nd best place to get cake!

Brotherly love............

Sisters.............

Noah could hardly wait to try the cake.
McKenzie cut herself a piece and he just picked up her plate
and went at it. No fork or anything!
Pretty funny! Sometimes I wish I could just do that.....

It was a nice Birthday.
My family got me some nice gifts.
Mostly I just enjoyed having all of the kids together!

I hope Bobby had a great Birthday too!
He also got some fun gifts from his brothers and Sisters.
I forgot to mention that I made him a very Yummy
Cherry Crumble Pie, which turned out perfectly!
That don't always, but this one did!!

Happy 25th Birthday Bobby,
and thank you everyone for making mine great too!

A Familiar Sight.............

For two months I have been secretly planning to fly McKenzie home for her Spring Break.
Did not tell anyone in the family.........
So, last week I told the boys I had a surprise for them on Saturday
and I wanted them to come with me to pick it up.
The questions began to fly, but I would not give it away.
It became quite humerous as they tried to figure out what it might be.
Was I getting a new car? Could it be a puppy?
Was it something that was electrical? Do you plug it in?
Did it weigh more than a 100 lbs?
Half way to the airport, which they did not know we were headed to yet,
it was decided that I was either going to pick up a baby that I was adopting
or I was getting them a pet monkey.......
Really?? Where do they come up with this stuff at???
I was laughing so hard!
Finally Hunter said, "Is it McKenzie? Is McKenzie coming home?"
To which I said, "Would you be disappointed?"
Hunter, "No, but I really wanted a Monkey!"
When we got to the airport, McKenzie did not know they were coming
and thought it was only me, so the boys hid and when she was picking up her luggage
they ran up behind her and hugged her! It was so fun!
It has been a fun surprise for everyone.
can not believe I was able to keep it quiet for so long.

We were home from the airport maybe 20 minutes
when I walked into the family room
and found McKenzie stretched out on the love seat sleeping.
A sight I have seen hundreds of times over the years
and one that I cherish.
We have missed her and love having her home.
It is just for a week, and a week that is going much too fast.....
but we are loving every minute!

Welcome Home McKenzie!