We Love Fall Break

For fall break this year we headed down south with Caleb and Marci and their boys. The first day we spent some time in Zion hiking a crowded, but fun trail. The kids had fun picking up every rock and stick in sight and looking at a couple lizards and the friendly squirrels. We got to ride the bus, have a picnic, and our visit was quickly halted by the explosion of Wyatt's diaper. Thankfully the babies were very cooperative in all our travels. What troopers we have.


The kids "trying hard" not to get too muddy or wet.

Uncle Caleb was nice enough to carry Claire for quite a while...even if she wouldn't give him anything but a death stare.


We spent some time in Snow Canyon. I had never been there before. I thought it was gorgeous! The kids (minus Claire) had a great time climbing the rocks that were perfectly sticky for their little feet.




Mallory asked me to take this picture of her while "she pretented to climb". Ha ha. So cute and funny.

We went to the gleaming white St. George temple for a quick visit.

Jaren was super excited to be at the temple.



Caleb's and Marci's friends were generous enough to let us use their vacation home in the St. George area. It was fabulous! The kids had a great time playing tennis in the backyard, climbing the brick wall to their "secret fountain", and swimming in the community pool. The first night we were there, Nathan and Caleb walked the kids to the pool to just check it out. It was an adventurous outing to say the least. Henry tripped and fell, Mallory tripped and fell twice (one of the times in a puddle...she was soaked), and while the guys were talking to a stranger, Claire decided to drop trou because "she needed to go potty". Not sure when she decided that was protocol.




All the kids took a turn standing by the palm tree in the backyard.




And a couple fun pictures of our little boy who isn't so little.

A Family is Forever

Saturday we had a great day in our family. We were able to go to the Timpanogos Temple to be sealed to Jaren. The girls looked so beautiful in their white clothes. I hope it's something they will remember forever so we can all be inside the temple again someday when they are older. Jaren was a trooper and slept through the majority of the time we were there. I was a little worried about the older ladies who were going to have to lug his chubby self around, but I guess as soon as we left him in the nursery, he fell asleep and they were able to push him around in a stroller. Awwww...Anyway it really was a fabulous day. Right after the temple sealing, we headed to our church house to bless Jaren as well. Here he is looking super cute in his white clothes.


People who came for our day, minus a few who snuck away.




Saturday was also Mia's birthday. It was fun to have quite a bit of family around to help us celebrate. I hope she had a good day.

Mia with her Lego Cake.

Holy Smokes...that was a Great Summer!

Back to life...we started school today. I've been a little apprehensive about the beginning of the school year all summer because I just really enjoy the laziness of summer days. Thankfully, the girls proved to me over the last few days that it was definitely okay for them to return to school. The fighting was really getting to me and my orneriness was reaching peak levels. We sent our 3rd to kindergarten this year, which means that for a few hours a day, it's just me, Claire, and Jaren at home. Claire was a bit confused by the whole disappearance of her sisters and kept insisting that she should be going to nursery today. She also said her favorite part of today was when she rode the white bus...not sure which white bus she was riding, but it was her favorite. Ha ha. Cute and sad. She's going to be hanging out alone with me and Jaren for a few more years.
Here are all my darling, fun school girls with some of their best buddies. So glad to live by such great people!




Thought I better to a little (or a lot of) bragging in this post about our little guy. He's growing up...sitting, eating rice cereal, and actually just rolled over today. Yay! I was beginning to wonder if his chubbiness was holing him back a bit too much. But alas, he did it! We are all sooo adoring him still.






At the end of July, we got together with Nathan's family for a few days in the Deer Valley area. The house we stayed in was gorgeous and the company wasn't too shabby either. Denice and Jeff had lots of great things planned for us to do and yummy food for us to eat. They sure do treat us right. We hiked, biked, played the Newlywed Game, had a fun auction where Rich was a fabulous auctioneer, and many other things I am sure I'm forgetting. Anywho, here are some pictures of our time together.
On our last night together, there was THE MOST gorgeous sunset. Check out the view from the deck. Breathtaking if you ask me. And...the kids were able to play in the hot tub while we enjoyed the evening.



During one of our afternoons, we entertained one another by playing Minute to Win It. I thought it was great fun to watch and laugh. Good thing there are so many good sports to humor me.

These next folks are attempting to get the cookie from their foreheads to their mouths. A few of them were actually quite successful.








The kids loved Grandma's tickle book.

Uncle Rich patiently helped Mallory do a fun craft where she got to make a dog. Cute!

Weren't these guys so helpful? They were delighted to be handling meat for our first dinner at the reunion!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's hard to believe but our first baby turned 9. She's such a fun girl. We sure do love her.


Libbie chose swimming for her birthday activity. We went to a pool we've never been to before, and it turned out to be very fun for them. I kept Jaren in the shade, and Nathan was a good dad and cared for all our crazies in the pool. Brave, brave soul.



All the kiddos before our swimming adventure.

We were able to keep Caleb's and Marci's boys for a day while they were in the hospital getting their new little one. We had a great time swimming in the back yard and also ventured out to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. Here are some of the fun hi-lights.




Henry was THE BRAVEST one and would stick the corn right in the goats' mouths. At one point when we were by the Clydesdales, he found some stray hay and started feeding them. One horse nearly ate his fingers, but he didn't seem to mind...pretty sure his parents would have minded.

For the 4th, we went to McCall for the annual Smith reunion. It sure is gorgeous up there...but always stinkin' cold! The girls didn't seem to mind though and had so much fun being dirty and running around with cousins all day. They got to do lots of fun things like paint t-shirts, play bingo for prizes, hit a pinata, make other fun crafts. They also witnessed two cleanings of fish...ewww, but they were fascinated and don't seem to be scarred in the least. It was so fun to see people we love that we don't get to see very often. Next year though, I say we head to Hawaii. What do you all think?
Here are the girls playing in the tent.


We got in some good grandma time.

These girls had such fun together. They played and played so nicely. It was sue great to see them together.

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