He's legal!

This charming, smart, funny, happy kid is now an adult!  What a journey we have had together.   I have learned things that only Austin could teach me and I hope that he can say that he has had a great childhood.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for this young man!

She said YES!!

Shortly after asking his date to Homecoming, Ethan received his answer.  There was a knock on the door and when I opened it there was no one there (surprise, surprise).  There was a flashlight and a sign hanging in the tree out front which read, "If you want to know my answer follow this string"

So I found Ethan and he proceeded to follow the string.  The string was wrapped around mailboxes and trees and bushes all the way up the street.  He followed it across the road, past people's homes, and finally into a field where there was a tree hanging with a bunch of treats and a sign that read YES.  It was super cute.

Cleaning that all up was no so cute.  It took Ethan a good 30 minutes to unwind that string from the couple blocks that it was strung across.  A few neighbor dogs were very upset and Ethan had to explain his presence to a few neighbors who just chuckled when he explained his plight.  All in all a very memorable event!

First Day of School 2014

Another summer has come and gone, but boy did we have fun!  We are now ready for school and schedules and timeframes!  Not really, but we have to!

Ethan is happy to be able to drive himself to and from school now.  He bought Austin out of his share of the car and now owns half of the car.  He's able to come and go as he pleases as long as he lets me know where he's at.  It's been a nice degree of freedom for him and he's very responsible to get himself to and from school and work.  It's a nice thing!

Evan leaves for school at 7am and so I wasn't up to snap a picture of him.  Hopefully this is our last year of 7am as he will be headed to SAHS next year and McKinley will go to the middle school next year as well.  That will be nice!

McKinley is top dog at the elementary school for her final year!  A big 5th grader this year.  She's a lot of fun and such a smart little thing!  She's going to have a great year too!

Good luck this year guys!  I'm always so proud of your hard work and kind hearts at school.  It's the combination that makes you super special!  Keep it up!

Homecoming....asking a date

In Utah, there is a tradition that asking for a date for dance has to be creative and fun.  Guys (or girls for girls choice) must come up with a creative way of asking their date to the dance.  Ethan decided he wanted to ask a girl to Homecoming and so he came up with his idea.  He covered the girls driveway with red Solo cups and made a cute poster that read, "I'd hate to go Solo, will you go to Homecoming with me?"  Now he wait for his date to come up with a fun and creative reply...

Taking Austin to Rensselaer!

 Somehow the time has come to take my first baby to college!  Yikes!  How fast time flies.  Such an exciting time.  We arrived on Saturday evening and made our way to Troy, NY to get settled in for a night before move in day.  We brought 5 suitcases between us and 4 of them (the big ones) were Austin's.  We then grabbed some dinner and headed to Walmart to buy all the things that didn't make sense to pack and bring from Utah.  School supplies, toiletries, hangers, pillows...etc.

 After church on Sunday it was time to get checked in and settled into the dorm.  The check in process was super easy and quick and then we were off to find his room.  He's in a room with two other young men and they are working on getting things organized the best way to fit them all.

After unpacking and "decorating" (boys don't decorate much), we had things pretty cozy in that room!

Then we had a few minutes to walk around the campus of Rensselaer.  After all, neither of us have ever been here before!

It is a beautiful New England campus.  So green..so lush, not too hot (it will be cold later!)  The buildings are older (mostly) and have that colonial feel to them.  Lots of red brick and dormers...beautiful!

We didn't want to tour the whole campus, since we have orientation tomorrow and that's probably a big part of that, but we did kill some time walking around the part of campus near the dorm.  The recreation and fitness building looks like a castle from the front and has a HUGE indoor field and gym!  It's cool.

So far it's been fun to explore together and spend this time together.  I try not to think about having to say goodbye and leave him here...but actually I'm so glad I got to come here and at least see where he's going to be.  He's going to be just fine...no...he's going to be great!

Bear Lake 2014

Another Bear Lake Smith family trip was a complete success!  We look forward to Bear Lake each year and it's always a great time.  This year was no exception!  It was a whole bunch of fun, lots of sun and water, good food, and great family times!  It was fun to have Ashlee back from her mission and there to share time with us all.

We enjoyed the waverunners and also had two stand up paddle boards this year to play on.  Everyone seemed to take a turn trying out their balance, or splashing around on them like kayaks.

 My favorite thing about Bear Lake is cousins.  All 35 cousins get along so well and there are just groups and groups of cousins everywhere.

 Our family was able to enjoy Monday thru Thursday night as we were busy getting Austin ready for college.  It was the perfect place to spend some family together time before things change.

There is something just so special about Bear Lake and the tradition that is over 30 years straight!  I hope it continues on to the next generation and as long as we all can go!  Such memories!

First place feels so good!!

2014 U14 Addidas Cup Champions!!

Evan's team was declared the champions of the Addidas Cup on Saturday!  They had 5 tough games to get all the way to the top...and they liked it!  We've had our share of 2nd places over the years and that just makes first place all the more sweet!  The boys really played together and had some great combination goals from the defense all the way up to the back of the net.  It was complete performances.  Evan was able to score a header goal and a clean up goal in two different games, as well as contribute to the over all hussle of the team each game!  Here's to a great start to the Fall season...Congratulations boys!