While the kids are away....

1. The parents PLAY

and

2. The parents rest

All the kids are in Mesa, and have been since Friday night. We have definitely enjoyed the peace and quiet, and got to do things that we normally wouldn't even think of doing with five little rascals around.

Friday afternoon my parents showed up, said a quick hello, got a rundown of our usual schedule around here, and loaded up my babies into our van, and drove straight back to Mesa. David was feeling pretty good so we decided to try out a new restaurant in town called Planet Pasta. We actually went INSIDE! That is something that never happens. If we eat out, we either go through some place with a drive-thru or to Sonic, where they are all buckled down and can't get away. So we had a leisurely, quiet dinner and wandered around Movie Gallery for a few minutes, decided that there were no good movies out that we wanted to see, and headed home. Even though the kids were away, we still hit the sack pretty early, and I slept terribly.... must have been missing my kids. =)

On Saturday, I called The Cutting Edge salon in town, made an appointment and went in to finally get my hair cut. It was getting WAY to long, almost always pulled up in a ponytail, and looking pretty scary. That is always a good sign to me that I need a haircut! Got it cut pretty short, but I love my hair short and so does David, so it works out great. After the haircut, we went over to Davids' aunts house, and visited with Deon for a while. She is wonderful, and we all love her!

Saturday evening we used our season tickets, and went to BYU's Living Legends. What a great performance! It was so nice to be able to focus on the stage, and not worry about keeping the kids quiet and/or still! What a wonderful night it was!

Sunday I slept in. I mean, really slept in. In this house EVERYONE is up and going between 6-7 am. BUT, I slept til 9 am on Sunday, and wow, I had forgotten what it is like to lay in bed until I wanted to get up. We leisurely got ready, had plenty of time, and still ended up at church nearly 15 minutes early..... unheard of! It was such a treat to sit and listen to Sacrament Meeting. I read a few chapters in the Book of Mormon, FELT the spirit, and felt renewed.... also unheard of. Primary was surprisingly quiet, the kids were super well-behaved. It made me wonder if it is MY kids that are the loud ones!! I don't think so, but it was a little ironic. Yikes.

Monday was actually a pretty busy morning. We headed up to Show Low early for a 'continuation of coverage' interview for our health insurance (we love AHCCCS!). And also made a quick trip to WalMart for a good shopping trip. We only had one cart, no kids, and two able adults. We made it through WalMart in less then an hour.... yet again, unheard of!

Today we were planning on making the drive to Mesa to pick up the kids, but the roads are closed from all the snow we have gotten in the last 12 hours. No more then 2-3 inches here, but they are reporting 14-18 inches on the rim. So, we have yet one more day and night to get things done, nap, and sleep soundly at night.

I have completed some projects these last few days. I got all the bedding changed, washed, mattresses vacuumed and flipped, and beds wiped down and disinfected. It was a long time coming, and it feels good to know that it is done! I also washed all their winter coats, since they were not needing to wear them in Mesa, and they were not being used all the time here. I FINALLY cleaned, mopped, scrubbed and sealed the grout in our family bathroom. (only two years later!) What a difference a toothbrush and some elbow grease makes on a bathroom floor =). I also have tackled the office area. The office has pretty much been the catch-all for anything and everything we either don't want to deal with at the moment or that didn't have a 'home'. I am pretty good at clearing the floor and stacking piles, but it has been since we moved in that things have been cleared out, de-cluttered, and DI'd out of my life. We have quite a few bags to take to Mesa tomorrow, full of DI stuff. Ahh, it feels so good to get rid of stuff! Still a work in progress, but it is looking so much better then I ever remember.

It sure has been a nice break, and I feel very lucky and blessed to have parents that are willing to take on such a job! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Now let's hurry and pray that the roads are open and clear tomorrow..... I am missing my babies!!