McKinley's 8th birthday!

 Somehow we allowed McKinley to turn 8.  I'm still not sure how that happened, but she is growing up to be a special young lady.  She is very kind and thoughtful, very sensitive and fun!  She loves to smile and do gymnastics all over the house.  For her birthday this year she had a 2 day, 3 cake bash starting with a BBQ on Saturday with chocolate cake, Sunday dinner with cheesecake, and a family party with strawberry topped cake!  She really knows how to celebrate!

Making Memories and Remembering

 This year for Memorial day we began with a beautiful drive up Big Cottonwood canyon for a breakfast with Mike and Mischele's family.  We had a gorgeous campsite in among the spruce trees with a small ice cold river trickeling through.  We had french toast, bacon, potatoes, and orange juice.  So yummy.

 

 After breakfast we headed to West Jordan for a Memorial Day service.  It was a bright sunny afternoon and the service was perfect.  There were patriotic speeches by Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Matheson.  There were also decorated military generals and the Patriot Brigade surrounding us with flags.  The names of 20 Utahan's killed in action this year were read and the bell rang.  Then there was a 21 gun salute and taps was played.  The ceremony ended with bagpipers playing Amazing Grace as they walked away.

 Before the ceremony began there was a riderless horse and a flag draped casket to represent all service men and women killed in battle.  It was a touching symbolic reminder of all those who died protecting the United States of America.

I hope my children will remember how important these men and women were and how we enjoy our freedoms because they were willing to die to protect them.  Freedom is not free!

Birthday, Mother's Day, More Birthday!

This past weekend has been filled with so much fun!  

 The actual day of my birthday was just how I like them...super busy!  We started the day off with breakfast at Denny's with all the kids.  They thought that was a great treat and it was!  Then we had Evan's soccer game, a trip down to Orem for a wedding reception, more soccer, and dinner at Lugano's with Dave, my sister and her husband, and my mom (who was in town!).  It was great food and great conversation.  And after our very late dinner Dave and I came home and watched the Real Salt Lake defeat Seattle 1-0.  Another great birthday gift!

 Sunday was mother's day and I was spoiled even more!  The kids made me all sorts of special gifts...bath salts, paper flowers, a necklace, cards, cake stands, and a Haiku from Evan!  I had a great breakfast, a great church meeting, and then off to the part to celebrate more with my sister, her kids, and Grandma!

 We enjoyed a beautiful day at the park with a good BBQ and watching the kids play, feed the ducks, and eat.  It was great to be able to be with my mom on mother's day.

After the BBQ we came home and celebrated with Dave's mother and his family.  We tried to spoil both the mother's that mean so much to us. 

And there's more. (no photos).  Monday morning I met up with my mom and sister to have a make up makeover.  We all had our make up done by Angelique and then went to lunch and to Sephora to buy all the make up she'd showed us!  Oh my goodness, we went crazy and it was a lot of fun.

Today it kept on going with lunch out with the Smith family girls.  We could go anywhere and have a good time and we did.  Yum. Thanks so much to my family who spoiled me all weekend and then some!  Now, back to regular life!

A Utah morning drive...

This morning was an odd day with one less soccer game and so we decided to load up the family and head out to the Kennecot Copper Mine that is just 30 minutes away from the house.  David has never been and it's been 15 years since I had been out to see the mine and visitors center.  The kids moaned and groaned about "family time" as usual, but as usual we took them anyway and they quite enjoyed themselves.  I highly recommend it as a morning trip for anyone!

 We started off by looking into the large pit mine.  You can watch all the huge trucks hauling stuff out of the mine, or the trucks watering the roads so they don't get so dusty. 

 You can see all the tiers of excavation they have done over the 100+ years of mining.  You can see the conveyor belts carrying debris up to the smasher thingy.  It's all pretty amazing.

 There is also a visitors center that details the history of the mine and the amazing technology they use now to mine more efficiently.  It also showed how many products use the things mined there.  They mine much more than copper out there.

 The kids thought the life size tire of the trucks they have there was incredible.  It was 16 feet in diameter and in the visitors center we learned that they now have trucks with 20 foot tires on them!

Austin seemed especially interested once we got there.  He enjoyed using the viewfinder to watch the activities and paid particular attention to the presentations and displays in the visitors center.  So he's now our family expert on the mine and all that goes on there!  All in all a fun morning activity for us!

Evan is Eleven...that rhymes!

 Bright and early on his birthday, Evan was up to open presents.  He was super excited to see he got his Ultima Soccer training goal (no picture? hmmm).  He got a soccer ball and played as long as he could before heading off to school.

That evening we had family over for dessert.  Evan chose sheet cookies, with ice cream and Grandad's chocolate syrup on top!  It was delicious.  All in all it was a great day for this great kid!

Evan's Arrow of Light

Evan received his Arrow of Light from Cub Scouts this week.  He worked very hard every week with his leaders to accomplish all the requirements for the Arrow of Light - the highest award a cub scout can earn.  He enjoyed learning new things about nutrition, government, architecture, art, computers, traveling, and other subjects too. 

The ceremony was a symbolic journey through cub scouts, from Bobcat, to Bear, to Wolf, to Webelos and now on to Boy Scouts. 

                Here he is getting his award.

 Proud moment after receiving his Arrow of Light with Akela!

Smith Family Easter Egg Hunt 2012

This year I "organized" the Easter Egg Hunt.  It was a very simple plan...hide the eggs (older kids), find the eggs (little kids), eat hotdogs and chicken and sides.  And it was so much fun.

The older kids hid over 150 eggs and the little kids found most of them.  Everyone was able to find at least a dozen eggs and had fun doing that.  The weather cooperated well and we were able to have an outdoor BBQ and play time as a family.