Today it was 75 degrees and sunny...If we would have chosen to stay inside it would have been a sin. The weather was beautiful and I knew the day couldn't be waisted. So after a morning workout I told the boys we were headed outside to do their favorite thing...pull weeds. They were not as thrilled as I would have liked but there was a job that needed to be done and they needed to help out. After lots of whining I told them they had a choice. They needed to be grateful. They needed to be grateful they lived in a home and had weeds to pull at their home because the alternative could have been to be living in a box on the street but not have weeds to pull. I think they got the picture. By this time Pops arrived home from morning basketball and after I told him the plans for the morning he was just as excited. I reminded him about being grateful also. Then my friend called and invited me to go for a pedicure. I had a predicament. It had been six in a half months since the last pedicure so I had reason to go but I committed to the boys to pull weeds. Once Pops heard of the conversation he encouraged me to go. With his blessing I immediately left four boys to fend for themselves and tend to the weeds.

Fast forward one hour...I come home and not a single weed is pulled and no one is at home. 15 minutes later Boss walks in with chocolate all over his mouth and something spilt down his shirt. Pops had taken the boys out to get donuts, chocolate milk and orange juice and some weed spray. Lovely. "What about the principle of teaching these boys about working hard," me thought? I kept my mouth shut because I could physically see the bonding that had taken place over the last 60 minutes and knew this doesn't happen too often so I let it slide. It was fun to watch them have conversations about basketball, wrestling and salt that goes in the water softener.

They did work hard at spraying the weeds together and the boys cleaned up the back yard along with taking out all the trash and then played and played outside. Meanwhile I vacuumed out the van and the truck and whipped everything down and organized both glove boxes. I found lots of useless junk and am glad to get in and out of a clean car. By this time it was time for lunch and Pops was headed into the office to take care of work and do his blessed third Saturday duty...finalize his talk for his third Sunday speaking assignment. I pushed Crate in the swing outside while the boys played. Once Pops was done he suggested we head outside to hang out. I suggested a hike but got out voted once again. We ended up at a park a few miles away we hadn't visited in a while. We played on the playground. Crate enjoyed the swings and then had some good old fashioned football. I can still throw a mean spiral...as long as it's with a Nerf ball.

Boss is still awake and it's after 10pm. That should make for an interesting day tomorrow.
I need to finish up some stuff for YW's tomorrow. Although I won't be able to attend the third hour of church because I'm gonna keep the boys home so they don't cough on everybody and spread their RSV and Pops has to speak during our third hour. At least I'll be there for sacrament. Hopefully Buster will be up for going with me tomorrow.

If the weather could only be like this everyday...that would be paradise.