Mother's Day 2015

This Mother's day rates up there with the best!  I have to admit that some Mothers days I have had great expectations that left me a little disappointed, but this year my highest expectations were met and even exceeded!  Dave and the kids were great and prepared and thoughtful.  Austin sent me flowers from school and the kids went shopping by themselves the day before and came up with some thoughtful gifts.  The sign that greeted me was touching and everyone behaved and spoiled me!  It was so nice and I really appreciated it!  I love my family!

Annual Smith shooting trip 2015

The Smith shooting trip happens every year and is always a lot of fun!  The boys and men really look forward to this trip and even though there are several women and girls that would love to go they have kept this as a boy bonding trip.  The guys just do things a little differently and we don't really know what goes on there.  :)

These pictures are from Evan and they give us a glimpse of the area and what goes on.

The trip is always a highlight of the year and the kids have a great time.  Safety is really important and everyone takes things seriously.  They enjoy shooting clay targets and hanging out and eating as well!  It was a great trip!

Evan keeps getting older and better...he's 14 now!

We celebrated Evan turning 14 with an early present of his GoPro camera so he could use it at the Smith boys shooting trip that was going on a day before his actual birthday.  He took it on the trip and had fun making movies and taking pictures as well as shooting.

On his actual birthday we got up early and celebrated his day with him.  Evan is such a fun kid, I mean young man.  He has such a fun personality and is really a joy to have in our house.   He's thoughtful and kind and very generous.  He loves to bake treats and works hard in school and soccer. He does very well in school and has really good friends.  I'm loving this stage and this kid!

Later that night we had some family over to have cake and ice cream and sing to Evan.  I think he had a great birthday and enjoyed us celebrating him.

Spring Break getaway...Devils Garden area

On Saturday we got an early start and headed into Arches by 9am.  We wanted to get all the way to the top of the park to explore Devil's Garden.  This area has a number of arches on a 7 mile "loop" trail.  We weren't sure how far we'd go...we just headed out to explore.  The first arch we came to was Tunnel Arch.

A short hike to the next one was Pine Tree arch.  There was a pine tree growing right under the arch and that is why it was named that.  We took pictures inside the arch and soon learned that you can't see any faces in the shade under an arch.  So as we were leaving Kim and Katie had the idea to take a picture in the sun.  I think it turned out great!

Another hike and we found ourselves at Landscape Arch.  I think this is one of my favorite arches.  It's really long and just looks kind of fragile because it spans such a huge distance.  In face, in 1991 a huge piece of the arch fell off and came crashing down.  Now they don't let you go in this arch...only view it from a distance.  You can't help but wonder if it will collapse completely in the "near" future...maybe 200 years!

We were having so much fun exploring that we decided to keep going.  We hiked and hike to the next turn off and headed to Navajo arch.

We spent quite a while exploring the area around Navajo arch.  There was a slot canyon that Evan and Mayce figured out how to get up and get on top of the bluff.  They were up exploring and making a Go Pro video of the amazing views they had from up there.   We waiting and then worried about them getting down and with good reason.  There were some jumps and scary moments for them to get back down, but they loved it!  While we were there we decided that we needed a big group picture and we asked a poor passer by to take our picture...on 3 different cameras.  I think he did a great job!

From Navajo arch it was a long way to the farthest arch...Double O.  Everyone was doing pretty well and most of us decided to push on.  It was some tough hiking, but again, once we reached Double O, it was worth it!  We were getting pretty hungry by this time (3 1/2 hours in...about 1pm!) and discovered that we forgot the pack with the snacks in it.  Luckily, Kim was prepared with just about everything in her backpack and we scarfed her homemade energy goo (which was delicious!!) and decided to continue the loop onward that eventually lead back to the car.

The hike back was supposed to be the "easier" way and maybe it was, but we were getting tired and hungry at this point!!  The little kids did amazing on this mega hike, but needed a little help near the end!

The "easy" way ended up having one of the scariest parts of the hike.  There was a narrow ledge taht you had to ease yourself across and there was no room for error.  Luckily there were some people there making their way at the same time as us and it was a group effort to get everyone through safely.

After another 1.5 hours of the "easy" way back we arrived tired, hungry, and sore to our cars.  It turned out to be a 5 hour adventure and an estimated 7 miles!  Phew!  It was again perfect weather and such a beautiful experience...but we ate our lunch and headed into Moab for some ice cream!  We deserved it!

All in all it was a great getaway.  We had a fun night around the campfire and a great game of whiffle ball at camp as well....no pictures.  It made for a good mix of work and play for our Spring Break 2015!

Spring Break getaway...Delicate Arch

After lunch we headed over to Arches National park to hike the famous Delicate Arch.  This is the arch that is on all the Utah license plates...probably the most recognized arch in the country.  The hike is fairly strenuous and goes up the face of the redrock so it's not easy.  We didn't take any pictures while we were hiking because it's just hard!  This was the last little ledge part of the hike before you turn the corner and see the arch.

 Once you reach the arch the hike is all worth it!  People spend a long time up there enjoying the view and taking lots of photos!  I enjoyed exploring the arch area and taking pictures of all those fun people who were with me!  We really had a great group of hikers and family together.

Evan liked to climb to fun places and get even higher and better views.  He is part mountain goat I think and I try to just let him be...but tell him to "Be careful" a lot!

You seriously just don't want to leave!  It's fun to sit and watch people and enjoy the views from all different directions.  We were waiting for our group to all get there, but we probably stayed about 45 minutes to an hour up at the arch!

For this hike you have to go back down the way you came.  It's a much easier hike down, and passing those coming up you remember how it felt.  It was fun to give encouragement and chat with people on the trail.  The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed ourselves!

Spring Break weekend getaway...Dead Horse Point State Park

For Spring Break we had several projects we needed to get done around the house and Dave had just taken vacation days for NYC, so we just snuck away for 2 days to Dead Horse Point State Park and Arches National Park near Moab.  We hadn't been there for about 8 years and it was such a fun place to explore.  We put out an invite to our families for all who wanted to share our group site and off we went!!

We got a late start and pulled into camp about 10pm on Thursday night.  There were a couple campers squatting in our site, but there was room to share and they were gone first thing in the morning!

After breakfast we headed out to Dead Horse Point State Park that was about 20 miles up the road from our campsite.  I had never been there and it had been since grade school since Dave went there, so we decided to check it out.  Such a beautiful place!

The cacti were just starting to bloom and this one was exceptionally beautiful!

This ledge was really fun to stand on!  It looked like you were really out on a ledge, but in reality there was another ledge just below you that made you feel safe enough to venture out on to it!

The weather was perfect, the company was great, and we had a great time exploring this area of our state!

New York City trip

 In combination for Dave's birthday and Austin's spring break from RPI we decided to do a trip to NYC for a few days.  It was such a fun time.  Of course the best flights from SLC are the red eye flights that leave around 1 o'clock in the morning and we arrived to NYC at 7am.  Luckily we were able to leave our luggage with the doorman as our apartment wasn't ready until 3.  So Dave and I had time to wander around and explore a bit.  We quickly found Times Square, which included the M&M store!

Our family tradition of getting M&M's was easy to fulfill this year!  It is the biggest M&M store in the world, and is 4 stories!  A lot of fun stuff in there.

Coincidentally the Architectural Design Home Show was going on in NYC that weekend and we had tickets to go and browse through that show.  It was a HUGE show and very trendy and upscale.  We felt very underdressed in our jeans, but we enjoyed the home furnishings and design ideas that were there.  We'd like to incorporate some of those things into our home in the future.  It was fun!

After a late lunch and checking in we were off to Penn Station to meet up with Austin.  He rode the train down from RPI and was arriving at Penn Station at 5:30pm...rush hour!  What a crazy place.  We were a couple floors underground and cell reception was not very good.  Plus we had know idea where exactly we were in comparison to where Austin was.  We eventually found him a floor above us and had a happy reunion!

The next day, Saturday we had tickets for the 9/11 museum and memorial.  Words can not explain the feelings of that experience.  For me, it was the first time I've been to a war type museum where I can remember the day.  It was very powerful and the museum and memorial are so well done.

The two reflection pools are very large and have cascading water that goes down into the ground seemingly endless.  It was a very pensive and somber...definitely hallowed ground.

Inside the museum it was so well done.  It's a huge museum that incorporates so many relics of that day.  There were recordings and artifacts and memorials throughout.  One thing I hadn't really thought about was the enormous number of ambulances, firetrucks, and police vehicles that were lost that day.  I don't remember the exact number but it was a lot.  They had several of the recovered vehicles in the museum which just showed the devastation that occurred when the towers fell.

There were the original footings of one of the towers displayed where the museum was built around.  There was also the "survivors stairs" that remain where thousands of people made it down and out to safety.  The huge steel structures that were mangled both by the heat and by the impact of the airplane were displayed.  They were able to identify the structure where the plane actually hit the building.  Very hallowed feeling in and around those exhibits.

After that emotional time at the museum we wandered around a bit and then headed back to the apartment to rest up for our Broadway show that evening.  We were able to see The King and I, which was fabulous!

Sunday we attended church at the NYC temple and chapel.  It was a very nice service with some amazing musical numbers of some very talented New Yorkers!  After wandering through central park for a while we spent the rest of that day resting up and watching a little March Madness basketball.

Monday we had our trip to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  This was full day of exploring! From the Statue you have the best view of the NYC skyline...just beautiful!

I had reserved tickets for us to be able to go up into the Crown of the Statue of Liberty and it was fun.  It was 300+ steps up to the Pedastal and then another 150+ up to the Crown.  Such small and winding stairs and a tiny lookout area at the top.  Since 9/11 only 400 people a day are allowed up into the Crown in small groups because of the lack of exit strategies from there!  It was quite a hike, but fun!

After the Statue of Liberty we got off the ferry at Ellis Island and took the audio tour of that island and all it's history.  It was interesting and filled with personal stories and beginnings for so many.

Monday night we wanted to see Time Square at night, so we walked and walked all over.  We went past the Rockefeller Square and NBC studios and other interesting places downtown.  It was pretty cold, but Times Square at night is just a sight to behold.  Everything is so big and bright.

 Tuesday we took a walking tour of SoHo and Chinatown.  We didn't take any pictures that day...don't know why.  But it was really fun to hear the history and have the architecture described to us.  We toured Little Italy and ate some dumplings in Chinatown.  Chinatown is huge and growing bigger every day!

We said goodbye to Austin at sent him on to Florida for the remainder of his Spring Break.  From there we walked down 5th Avenue to the Macy's store in downtown NYC.  It's 9 stories high and was having a floral exhibit that day that was just breathtaking.  We took our first Uber ride back to our apartment, gathered our luggage and headed to the airport to make our flight back to SLC.  A whirlwind, wonderful trip for sure!