The best part of our week was when my sister Amy came with her husband, Paul, and her two youngest, Emma and Hannah! They came Friday and stayed until Sunday morning. It was so fun to see them! They came to see their oldest, Mandy, play her solo at the half time performance of the marching band during the BYU football game. She did great! As did the whole band, of course. They did songs from the new Top Gun movie. One of their formations was even a jet plane with smoke coming out the back. It was very cool. Paul got tickets for Kevin and I, too, and we had a great time being in the stadium and being part of the excitement! We even got to hug Cali for a minute because she was there, too!

On Saturday, we gathered as many as we could for a lunch at Brick Oven. Of the Rich's we had Amy, Paul, Mandy, Emma, and Hannah. Of the Skinner's we had Sarah and Avery, Megan and Ammon (who had just finished a temple session), Cheyenne (who had just finished hiking Rock Canyon), Calianne (who had just finished stake conference), Bethany, and Benjamin. Savannah had to work but I can't believe we got so many of us together! It was really fun.

After lunch, we lost Calianne and Megan and Ammon, but the rest of us drove down to Santaquin to go to Rowley's Red Barn and enjoy their fun activities. We went on a trailer ride, climbed giant hay bales, enjoyed a giant slide, zipped on the zip line, bounced on the bounce pads, got lost in the corn maze, shot the apple cannon, and, of course, took lots of pictures and bought apple cider doughnuts. Yum!

Amy made us chili for dinner. Megan and Ammon came back to visit some more. We all helped Sarah with a project for Halloween. The kids played some games together and us parents talked some more.

The Rich's came to church with us in the morning and then had to head home. We had a great time having them visit, though!! We did fun things we probably wouldn't have otherwise done and we got to spend time with great people that we love!

We got back from Florida on Monday so it was a short week for us! Beth and Ben seemed glad to get back to school and friends and karate. I enjoyed going back to work and getting to know the girls and my job better. Kevin had a really good appointment with a chiropractor and is looking forward to going back again next week.

The weather was beautiful this week! I got to watch Avery on Friday and I was glad we got to sit on the blanket under blue skies while Avery chased falling leaves and ripped them apart before the weather turned this weekend. Now I'm looking at grey skies and snowy mountains!

Not much to report but I will leave you with the beautiful pictures Kevin took on one of his morning walks this week!

Kevin and I took Beth and Ben to Florida this week!

We left on Wednesday very, very, very early in the morning! We arrived in the early afternoon, got our bag, found our Touro car, and went searching for food. Finally we arrived at our townhome. Beth and Ben claimed rooms and collapsed into reclining positions. Kevin and I went to WalMart to buy groceries and a giant TV. That night we watched A Knight’s Tale on the giant TV!

On Thursday, I tore apart the old framed pictures in the townhome and put in new pictures that I had brought. Lyrics from songs were in two and Star Wars figures were in four more and a welcome sign in the last. Our metal pictures arrived on this day, too, and Kevin bought a drill so he could start putting them on the walls. That afternoon we went to IKEA to buy new countertops for the bathrooms. Beth and Ben were smashed in the back but they were good sports! After unloading, we went back to WalMart so we could cook burgers for dinner. The kids swam that night in our light-changing pool in the backyard and went with Kevin to the big pool, too. I started putting up vinyl wall stickers.

On Friday, Kevin worked on getting the metal prints onto the walls. We all helped. I also got the rest of the vinyl stickers up and the last of the pictures reframed. Our property manager arrived in the afternoon with some help to get started on installing the bathroom counters and new sinks. We had something planned this night, though, so we left at four to get there on time. We went to a medieval tournament! It was great fun! There were horse tricks and races and jousting and costumes and we ate our whole dinner with our fingers! Afterwards, we stopped at a furniture store and bought a new couch after we broke the one already there by standing on it to hang said metal pictures. Oops!

Furniture shopping

On Saturday, Kevin and I went looking for a used furniture store. We found one but it didn’t have nightstands that would work for us. We stopped at a home furnishing store and got some pillows for the new couch, though. Afterwards, we went back to the townhome and grabbed the kids so we could drive to the beach and visit some family!! We met at my brother, Dave’s house and it was fun to see it in real life! He is on the water with his own dock and has his own banana tree. I’m so proud of him! Diane and Jason were there with their four kids and had driven two hours to meet us! Also, my niece, Emily, and her husband, Nic, came, too! It was so great to see everybody! From there we drove to the beach where we spent some time playing in the ocean and the kids dug a giant hole in the sand before we got some seafood at a nearby restaurant. It was some of our best hours in Florida. We love those people!

On Sunday, I finished some pillows before we set off for church at 11am. It was a lovely meeting. Back at the townhome, I painted the lamps from the master bedroom while the kids watched Prince of Egypt. Then Kevin and I hung those pictures that I had reframed. After dinner, we all played a game of Haunted Mansion which we bought for the townhome and Beth and Ben had learned to play earlier in the week. We liked it!

On Monday, we did our best to clean up. We had our final Mickey waffles (another thing we bought for our guests and enjoyed everyday!). We went to the pool one final time, packed up and headed for the airport.

What a week! As far as business ventures go, this one carries risk as all ventures do, but it sure is a fun way to spend our time and we really like the perks!