Ahhh...another blessed week has flown by.

Last Wednesday we headed up to Greer,AZ for a little family get-a-way. Thanks to Groupon.com we were able to enjoy luxury for a not so pretty penny. Defiantly a place I would visit again. Hopefully soon I'll download the pictures off the camera and get them on here...my goal is to do it before Halloween.

Saturday brought a couple exciting events...no pictures though...forgot the camera. We woke up early and dressed in our best Sunday dress and headed over to the Phoenix Temple grounbreaking for the new Phoenix Temple. But of course we dropped Crate off with Marmie (smart thinking, that would not have been the right venue for a 19 month old.) The older boys did pretty well sitting reverently and when all was said and done the children that were there got to go up with the General Authority and get their own shovel and turn over the dirt like the adults. They were pretty excited for that and Pops did get some cute pictures on his phone. I hope they remember this event. They were two of the few kids that got to attend and a Temple groundbreaking isn't something that happens everyday.

After that event we dropped off the two oldest with Crate and Marmie and headed out to celebrate our 12th anniversary. Holy smokes...twelve years...and we're still happy, who would've thought? We headed to lunch first at the very romantic Fuddruckers then we were off to find Pops the perfect summer shoe. He needed something that was casual enough to wear in the summer yet dressy enough to wear when meeting with clients dressed in his business summer clothes. He's a man buying one pair of shoes...how hard could this be? Well 4.5 hours later he finally finds what he hopes will work out. And I thought I spent a lot of time looking for the right shoe? I told him now I know how he feels when we has to be with me while I'm shopping...if you're not shopping for yourself it's no fun accompying someone else. I think he now officially holds the family record for longest time shopping for one pair of shoes. And he'll probably hold that record for the rest of his life. Before the day was done we did make a stop at Costco and low and behold guess who was there! Some chair massage company selling their amazing chairs. We each took a seat and proceeded to receive the most amazing body rub from this mechanical massage chair. We enjoyed it for a solid 25 minutes. The amazing salesman really thought he had us sold on his three-thousand dollar product. (If I had it to blow, I really would've bought one...it was AMAZING!) But atlas we were there only to be cheapskakes and enjoy the free massage on our anniversary. Poor guy, he's probably still waiting by the phone for our call to give our credit card number. I felt bad, he was a really nice guy. I hope he can make a lot of sales. Anyhow no trip to Costco is complete with out dropping triple digits, right? To top off our most romantic date Pops got me a mop. But let me tell you folks...this ain't just any mop it's the Shark Professional Steam Mop. And it was the cheapest price I had seen from anywhere else. He said he didn't feel right buying me a mop for our anniversary. I told him to heck with romance and hip, hip horray for something practical that I could really use. Not to mention I reminded him how much he hates walking in the kitchen having his feet stick to the floor...this might just be the magic tool that will prevent that from ever happening again. No guarantees though. We headed back to Marmie's house picked up the trio and called it a day. More than anything it was nice having a whole day together just hanging out. I could handle that happening more than once a year. :) I told him when we hit 20 years it's gotta be a nice romantic trip or something. A mop won't cut it...start saving, :)

So I busted out the mop for the first time tonight. I wanted it's maiden voyage to be memorable so the boys and I spent almost the entire day getting this place ship shape for it. All bathrooms are once again cleaned, all sheets washed and put back on beds, kitchen is spotless, no piles of laundry sitting around, freezer is cleaned out, pantry is cleaned out all tile is swept, dusting is complete, certain walls are washed down, garbages are empty, and the mop came out to do the last and final chore...clean the floors. She didn't do to bad for her first time. Floors look good, no chemicals were used in the process and the piece of cucumber that somehow got caked to the tile for the last six weeks is finally removed thanks to her steaming efforts. All in all I would give her a 4.5 out of 5. My only problem with her is the fact that it takes even longer to mop now since she has to be moved slowly across the tile. I timed myself and to do the entire throughout the house it took one hour and 37 minutes. It was painfully long but next time I'll do it when the boys are asleep and I am listening to something good in my ears. I'm excited for my "new toy" as Pops calls it. That reminds me of something..."you know you're a mother when...a new mop brings so much joy and excitement." Holy cow I'm getting old. I'm excited to wake up to a house not full of toys and dishes...I better get to bed!