A few more Utah pictures...

Utah Trip 2017

While the kids stayed with Craig and Dessa, Jason and I went to Park City for a work event. Jason had lots of meetings, I had lots of time hiking. It was amazing and so rejuvenating. I added the picture below only because it was the first afternoon and I took off above our hotel. So, so amazing. The hotel was deluxe, nicer then I have ever stayed in. Jason and I ate good food, hiked and hiked and drove over Guardsman's pass several times.

 

 
After Park City we all went to Soldier Creek to the Hardy cabin. The first few days with the Hardy family were cold, it even snowed a few times!

 

 I love this picture of Craig and Dessa with all of their Grandkids!

 The girls and I went down to Provo one day. We went to the Bean Museum with the Kroebers and Fairbanks. It was more fun then Grace & Sophie expected. Ice cream cones from the BYU Creamery were a hit too. The girls and I went to the art museum and then to Cafe Rio for lunch. Linds and Heather and their kids were still there! The Smiths then all gathered at the cabin. Weather warmed up. Fishing did not get better. We went on an amazing hike along the Strawberry River.

 Mom and Dad, Polly, Hardy's, Mortenson's - Kate and Anna, Pikes, Kroebers and Fairbanks all at the cabin! It was crazy and fun and a lot of Smiths running around!

This is Grace's dress Briella is wearing. It has been passed down through many cousins. I think it has survived from only being worn on Sundays occasionally. Makes me smile!

Cousins. There is something special about cousins. I love this picture, and all these crazy boys!

Bayden, Kenan, Talus, Elijah, Issac, Noah & Luke

Happy 13th Birthday Grace & Sophie

It is hard to believe my girls are 13! I'm only a month late on posting this....Sophie's outfit cracks me up, I think she said to just take pics from the waist up...I love that you can see Grace's dimple so well. We had fun making these unicorn cakes. If you don't look really closely they are a huge success!

I had to add a few random pictures from this year. I have been so inconsistent about blogging I have a lot of them!

The day we got new chicks. I love that my 13 year old girls are still so captivated by them. 

This is Bella. She is Sophie's favorite chick and got carried around a lot on her shoulder. Sophie made diapers out of socks from a video she saw online. When the chicks were older Bella got pecked badly by the other chickens. I was in Utah, Sophie nursed her back to health in the garage. Bella is still missing feathers on the back of her head and neck but is finally doing ok being with the other chickens. Poultry hospital in the garage is stinky....happy she is better!

 
  The girls got roped into being line officials at one of the boys football games this fall. They were forced to pay attention and finally learned how the game works, mostly. The head official from the Y was super patient with them. The most unlikely football officials ever!

 May 4th, 2017

May the Fourth be with you...

Easter & My Birthday

  Sophie was sick and didn't go to church, so she is not in the picture. I was going to take one of her later and of course I forgot. We had fun dyeing eggs - learned some new techniques from Sophies love of searching DIY on you tube.

 Happy Birthday to me! Jason brought home a whole Maxie B's cake! It was a huge surprise. I had been so sick and did not want to be in a picture :) Gracie gave me a thousand wishes and a new glass picture like the one I got for my wedding that mysteriously broke... It was a good day.

April

 April Fools Day - boys TP'd girls room. Was not received well...It's so dirty though you almost can't tell!

 Winter trees, the gray winter can be really pretty. I wanted to capture it before everything turned green.

 Grace had a minor surgery. She had a cyst on her cheek that needed to be removed. A plastic surgeon did it, hardly any scar at all.

Sophie and Grace in North and South Carolina at the same time at Carowinds. Orchestra field trip, it was freezing cold and I was sick and spend most of the day in the car. Girls had fun. Grace won this Grumpy Cat toy and Sophie was soooo jealous :)

Winter Catch up

This winter has been busy with boys basketball, girls and Jason and I taking family names to the temple for the first time, raising new chicks, enjoying 1 snow storm, enjoying unusually warm temperatures much of the time, having a birthday party for Luke and Noah, going to the new D League team Bball games in Greensboro, Sophie being super brave and playing church basketball, Jason traveling a ton for work and beginning to meet with people to get estimates/plans to remodel our house. We watched 2 friends dogs this weekend and Baby Sophie on Friday. It was fun! For all of us but Jason....

Happy 10th Birthday Luke & Noah

Luke & Noah are into the double digits! Sometimes it seems time is moving too quickly. On the morning of their birthday Luke went with Jason to Sheila's house with the YM in our ward to clean up her leaves. I was proud of him that he would choose to give service on his birthday. Before they left we had a special Birthday breakfast together.

When they got home Jason took the boys fishing. Luke has been asking to go fishing for the past few weeks. He has been watching fishing shows on tv and wants to learn how to fish for bass. They went to the Bennett's, friends from our ward who have a pond,  and fished for a few chilly hours. A few small, big mouth bass were caught and one blue gill. One of the bass swallowed the hook too far to release back into the pond. Jason taught Luke how to cook it when they got home.

We went out to lunch as a family and then to WalMart to pick out new bikes, then came home to open other presents. Noah asked for an icecream cake and I finally got it right. It was delicious! Luke has let me know for months that he wanted a Packer's Cheesehead cake. I used fondant for the first time and it turned out better then I expected.

I love these boys. I love the goodness if their hearts and the love of life they bring to our whole family. I love that Noah always wants to play as a family and Luke's silly jokes. Both are super awesome dancers who make me laugh regularly with their smooth moves. I am blessed that my Heavenly Parents allowed me to be the earthly mother of these 2. It seems like not long ago that they were little dudes climbing into things and getting into mischief.

We watched all of the Lord of the Rings triology on the boys birthday and the day before. It was super fun, all of them enjoyed it, no one was scared and it was fun to share something that Jason and I enjoy so much. It was interesting to see how many gospel truths are taught in a series that focuses on good and evil and imperfect people doing great things.

Happy Birthday my awesome boys!