First Day of School

 First day of Kindergarten and 3rd Grade

All 4 kids were really excited to start school today. On the way this morning Grace told me she was super excited and just a tiny bit nervous. Made me smile. I am super nervous and just a tiny bit excited. I am grateful my kids have such a good school to attend. It is just hard to send them off for the whole day. Especially the boys! They are ready though. I will have such a huge change in my life with everyone being in school. I have all sorts of plans about how I will use my time. I am not sure how it will feel to have such a quiet house all day long. I have to admit I am glad Molly is here still to keep me company!

Rodent Adventures

Our fun adventure today was supposed to be picking apples. We drove to an orchard just north of our house. It was kind of a bust. We were done in about 15 minutes, the apples are good, not amazing, and Grace summed it up when she said that it was just not as fun as she pictured it. The real adventure came when we pulled in the garage.
We have a chipmunk who lives in the rock wall in our front yard. He/She was in the garage when we got home. The kids thought it was so cute and spent a good 10 minutes trying to lure it out with some carrots. They named it Alvin because it was "mischievous". I left the garage door open and the kids trickled inside after me 1 at a time. 30 minutes later Sophie screamed and said there was a rat in the bathroom.
What?!!!!!
I am such a wimp.
There is no part of me that wanted to discover what was lurking in that bathroom. Then I saw that the door to the garage had been left open AGAIN. Luckily I have Luke. When I asked who wants to help mom be brave and go look in the bathroom he volunteered right away. Once the kids realized it was the chipmunk then they were not scared and wanted to go in right away and love on him. I was a bit freaked out still.  Grace took a broom and scared/shooed him out the door. You know what came next. I just hope they listened and will shut the door. Gross! and freaky and Sophie may never set foot in that bathroom again.

Spontaneous Adventure

 Jason and I are good at playing, just not at planning. We woke up yesterday to a rainy, cool day, no obligations, kids crazy with energy, and decided to go find an adventure. We left the house with one plan, then changed on the way. 2 hours up into the Blue Ridge Mnts  we found ourselves at Tweetsie Railroad, a small, rural amusement park. They have a working steam train from the early 1900's and lots of old school rides.
The weather was cool, low 70's. It is the first time I have been outside in months without sweating and I even got chilly a few times! It was amazing. Super fun day. All the more because it was so organic and just happened. The kids are finally big enough to go on stomach churning rides by themselves. They went again and again, all 4 of them laughing their heads off. Makes me happy remembering it.

I didn't tell the kids to be zombies, just to squeeze into this coffin for a pic. The Smith in them is so apparent sometimes!
Yeah for summer adventures!

For My Sisters

Have you seen this video yet? Totally makes me laugh, and love our swim team even more. Go USA!

Call Me Maybe

Warning...this song gets embedded into every cell in your brain from listening even once. Seriously good underwater robot among other things totally makes it worth it!

Ugh

A little gift from Jamaica. I am always amazed at the amount of dirt/debris leftr on the floor when I sort my families laundry. Never had a dead, smashed lizard before... Good thing I have Luke to pick up and throw away gross things for him mom.

Jamaica Funnies

Real moments from our vacation...

Grace being fed up with getting her picture taken

We saw this face a lot in Jamaica

 Graceful I am not. This felt so much more fun then the pictures show.

 Sophie had an unfortunate run in with the gate at our villa. Being ever so stylish, she developed a perfect triangle wound and black eye. After the drama, I said a prayer of gratitude. The closest hospital, a  rural, Jamaican one, was well over an hour away.

This just makes me laugh. It looks so weird and Jason is forever closing his eyes in pictures.

Luke was such a good kid on this trip. He was super patient with his mom wanting to take pictures of him all the time. Once he even told me that he didn't like getting his picture taken, he was just a good sport. Sweet Kid.

 Until this night...and then Luke was done with pictures.

Ya mon...cool snorkel

Jamaica

 Our trip to Jamaica was wonderful. Because we were visiting my parents as missionaries, we really got to experience much of the country. Most of these pictures are of the beautiful places we saw. I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of the poverty and challenges of living in Jamaica. I was most impressed with the faithful Latter-day Saints we met with my parents. They deal with challenges so outside my experience and comprehension, it was very humbling.

We went to church with my parents in Ocho Rios at the small branch where they served for a year. Sacrament meeting was conducted by Bro. Paul Lester. He was baptized the first week my parents were missionaries and now is in the Branch Presidency.  Paul bore an amazing testimony of gratitude and contentment with what the Lord has given us. The Spirit bore witness to me of all he was saying, I felt his message resonate in my heart. After church my parents took us to visit Paul's home and I understood even more the strength of this good man.

Here are my kids in Primary. I guess Grace didn't want her picture taken...

 My Mom with Jody Ann and other sisters from Ocho Rios.

Our family with Marcus and Bro. Gail

I don't want to sound overly dramatic, but meeting these Saints has impacted me so much. Life changing.

Here are more of the fun, touristy things we did...

 All of these pictures are from YS Falls. It had to be our favorite place in Jamaica. We were surprised that they let you climb and jump off some of the low falls. Hands down, favorite place to swim of all time. The water felt absolutely amazing.

  

Grace with my parents on the ride up to YS Falls .

 Grace and Sophie both gathered their courage and jumped off  here. Of course after mom and dad went first!

 

 This is the view from where we stayed in Treasure Beach. After a bit of a fiasco with our first hotel, we totally lucked out and ended up here. I have never stayed in a more beautiful place.

 Playing at Treasure Beach

 Grace really is my beach baby. This girl adores the sand and salty sea.

 

  Sweet Noah picks me flowers all of the time. Just about every time we are outside he will pick a flower and bring it to me.

 Gracie and I loved this outdoor shower. It was totally private and super fun to shower in.

 Such a good trip. So glad we are home. I have honestly never been so happy to sleep in my own bed. I am grateful we were able to go. I hope it impacted my kids at least a bit. I know Jason and I learned a lot. It was so good to spend time with my parents! I have to admit I am super happy they are coming home in a few months.