School....already? AND a new calling?

Yes...our children started school already. Chandler is the only school in the country to start this early. It's been a week since they started and they are finally getting into the groove of things.

Alycia started Jr. High this year...I wanted to cry when I allowed her walk out the door. That's normal, right? How can my baby girl go off to JR. HIGH??? Yes, I know she's taller than my little 5 foot self, but she'll always be my little girl. I couldn't wait until she walked through the door to tell me how her first day went. She was glowing and was so enthused when she spoke to me. She had a fantastic day! ...big sigh of relief... She's in the gifted program and is not looking forward to all the work involved...Today was the first day she said she had an OK day...
When I asked why just OK..
She replied... "Ugg, I have so many projects due on Friday...I'm soo not looking forward to all that work"....
She'll be turning 12 this month and is anxious to start the Young Women's program. At our last Primary program, she just wanted to hide and was not enthused to be there. Her facial expression said it all...I was glad to see that she wasn't the only one making it clear that they didn't want to participate....big sigh....

Just before the first day of school, Brent and I were chatting about Jr. High and we couldn't come up with anything positive to say about it. I don't think it's just us that feels this way. We just ended up telling Alycia to just have a great time...

As for my little man Joseph...he's enjoying 4th grade. There's definitely more work expected from him, but he's dealing with it well...so far. His best friend is in his class, so that's fantastic for both myself and his best friend's mom. Joseph finished getting his Bear in Scouts. He's just not very driven when it comes to scouts. It can be a bit frustrating sometimes. Oh well...He'll be turning 10 this month and keeps telling me on a daily basis how many days are left until his birthday. Birthday countdown....

If I were a better Mom I would have posted pictures of my kid's first day...well...I guess I'm not. I completely forgot. Perhaps I'll post a second week of school picture. Is it too late? Hmm...we'll see...

Well, my wonderful husband has been released as Gospel Doctrine teacher. He absolutely loved that calling. When the Bishop called us in, I was nervous it was for me. Thankfully, it wasn't. Brent's been called as our ward Scoutmaster. Yes...Scoutmaster! When Bishop said Scoutmaster, I couldn't stop laughing. Seriously...it was so hard for me to keep a straight face. Brent kept a straight face. He's overwhelmed, since it's such a huge responsibility but he's excited. Good thing he likes camping, since he'll be doing a whole lot of it! Everyone knows I dislike camping, so my poor husband doesn't get to do a lot of it....not anymore!

Well....I better get back to sewing Scout patches for both Joseph and Brent...

Isn't there a sewing patch they could earn??? hahaha

Summer vacation in Utah...

Our vacation to Yellowstone....

After the Smith reunion, we went up to Yellowstone National Park. I never thought I'd survive all the camping involved. Our plan was to camp overnight for 3 nights. That in itself is almost an eternity for my pampered self. I am no pre-madonna...I know...I know...my siblings and stepdad call me "Mrs. Hollywood"....but I'm really not that difficult. Anywho, we ended up leaving a day earlier than anticipated. Here's why....

The first day went really well. We saw a bear 20 minutes after we entered the park, which was totally awesome! I've never seen a bear in the wild. We stopped to see an Elk or dear (are they the same?...just curious) and someone yelled that there was a bear across the river. I liked the fact that the river separated us from the brown beast. That night went very well. It wasn't freezing cold like we thought it would be, but it was quite chilly. I think it was cold to me, since I'm so used to really hot weather. We all slept peacefully....

The second day went well. We went and saw tons of Bison and wild animals throughout the park. It was absolutely amazing...Afterwards, we went to church at the outside amplitheatre of our campsite. It was interesting with everyone dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. I felt a bit strange wearing my sunglasses. After church we started to get our dinner ready and marshmellows roasted. By then I was feeling great...like I could totally do this camping thing. Boohoo...our campfire kept dying. So we ended up having to cook it with the stove. There goes my dutch oven experience. Oh well. The food smelled delicous. So delicous that I thought a bear would come to our campsite. Luckily, no bears paid us a visit for dinner. Then sprinkles started to make their presence. Oh no...great...they stopped. The family finally got to eat their marshmellows since our almost non existent fire turned to coal. Fun Fun Fun....grr...more sprinkles. We cleaned up everything, then the hail started. Yes...hail...I don't camp with hail! We all escaped to the van. Fun huh? Once it died down the temperature dropped. Like realy dropped! I could see my breath cold! We head for our tent and luckily we brought plenty of warm clothes and blankets. I married Mr. Outdoorsman/Perfect...he was smart to put a tarp above our tent. It kept us nice and dry. Thanks babe! By 2am...it started to rain, thunder and lightning. It felt like a bomb went off above us. That's it! We're leaving! Joseph and I start freaking out! Alycia just goes back to sleep. Brent calms us down and we go back to sleep. By morning I head up to the Ranger's station to get the weather update...and they predict the same weather as the night before. Early check-out please! Needless to say, we checkout and do a quick visit to rest of the sites we needed to see at the park. The kids got their Jr. Ranger patches and we took plenty of pictures.

We all had a wonderful time at Yellowstone. It's one of the most amazing National Parks I've ever been to. It's definantly a "must see" wonder. As for camping...I'm still not a fan. We did take showers every single day. They were worth the $3.50/each we ended up paying per day! I hope you enjoy the pictures I scrapbooked. We have tons more pictures, so I just did a condensed version...

Smith family reunion in Heber..

The month of July was super busy and fun filled. With the Smith family reunion and our trip to Yellowstone Park, let's just say...we are finally decompressing....

The reunion was fantastic. We spent 5 days together in a 7 bedroom cabin up in Heber, Utah. It was great! The cousins had a great time getting reacquainted and hanging out. Alycia had a great time hanging out with her cousin Dariya. They're just a few months apart. With 20 cousins and only 5 being girls...the girls tend to stick together. Our 5 days were filled with planned activities. One of them being boating/tubing/wakeboarding...My fave was wakeboarding. It was just my second time attempting it and I actually got up several times. I'm trying to convince Brent that we need to get a boat or jet skis...haha...we'll see about that...One of the days, we went hiking (which I'm not a fan of) and fishing. Alycia actually caught a fish. I'm not sure what kind it was, but she liked eating it. Her cousins Alan and Jakob also caught fish...Joseph was a trooper, he wanted to stick it out and catch one but didn't. I give him an "A" for effort.

Our brother-in-law Paul got a fabulous deal on reunion t-shirts and Brent got his slogan printed. "Heber City invasion 2009" "Keepin' it real"...

On Sunday, our nephew Jakob was baptized in the Provo river. It was an awesome experience. After the confirmation, we went to church in Heber. The time slot we went to was for the Single's ward. I was a bit nervous. Single's wards usually have a reputation, especially on Fast Sunday's. I'm happy to say no one bore weird alien testimonies. About half of Brent's siblings went to the same meeting time as us...so there were weird looks when we walked into Sacrament meeting.

There was one person that said.."you know...ummm...this is a Single's ward meeting..."

"uh, yeah...we know..." I said.

One of the girl's in our row, kept eyeing us and was freaking out that we were there. It was quite funny seeing her expressions. They were priceless...(big grin)...

In all, the weather was fabulous and everyone got along. My kids can't wait until the next reunion.

Girl's Camp 2009

As many of you know, Alycia went to Girl's Camp this year. She had an absolute fabulous time! I'm posting a few pictures she took on her adventure. I don't think I'll freak out as much next year knowing how great of an experience she had. Thanks to all the YW leaders that made this such a special event.

Enjoy!

Summer is here! Time for some drama....

June has come and gone. The kids have been out of school and I've had the chance to catch up on the happenings of their little lives. The first few weeks after school let out, the kids were so nice to one another. Well the something's happened and they now get on one another's nerves.

"so and so didn't brush their teeth, and they have dragon breath."
"so and so poked me, so I poked them back....it's not my fault they're crying"
"so and so is killing me with their death breath"...gagging sounds

I can go on for forever with the drama that I'm dealing with. I remember as a young mother watching other moms at the store. Some spoke kindly to their children when they misbehaved....some looked frazzled and chewed the kids out with no regard as who was observing...some just ignored the behavior and went on doing what they were doing...others caved in and gave the child/children what they wanted. Hmm...I'll be like the first mother...were my thoughts...

I remember thinking...I'm going to be so patient and loving towards my kids always...I'll never raise my voice to them...If I just give them all the love and attention they need, they'll never misbehave...my kids will never talk back to me, since I'm such a nice kind mother... hmm...
yeah right!

So what happened yesterday? We were at Sam's Club getting some last minute items for our trip and I brought both kids with me.

"So and so whacked me in the face"...sobbing.
"I didn't do it on purpose, I was just skipping and swinging my arms and accidentally hit so and so. It's not my fault so and so's face got in the way."
"Apologize" I said.
"So----rrrry".....
"so and so didn't mean it!" sniffle sniffle.
"so and so stuck their tongue out..."
"so and so is giving me the evil eye..."

I think this was the straw that broke the camel's back. My patience by now had dwindled.
"Fold your arms, no swinging, no bumping, no talking, no evil eyes, NO nothing! I don't want to hear one word from either one of you. Silence!"

(audible sniffles from both kids)

As we pass the little old people at the sample booths, both kids say "oooh. Can I get a sample?"

"No, you two were not kind to one another and misbehaving. No samples."

sniffle, sniffle

We pass two sample booths and both kids look pitifully sad.

"Would you like a sample?" said the little old lady with the samples.

"We CAN'T... our Mom's mean and said we were misbehaving so no samples for us."

gasp.

You would think the little old lady would have some sympathy for me...Nope...she made the "shame on you" face to ME!

Nice huh?

I guess the drama will never end, huh?

Bad dog owner....

We had just gotten back from swim lessons, when Joseph notified me that Copper got into the Nutter Butters. I was not happy. I don't like very many store bought cookies, but these are my absolute favorite. I know it's silly to yell at a dog and ask it questions. But I proceeded to do so.

"Copper! Did you get into my Nutter Butters?"

Ears tucked back and tail also.

"Bad dog Copper!"

Dog runs to the back door to be let out.

I open the door and tell my brown enemy what a bad dog he is. I feel a little bad since it's 102 by then, but the dog needs to learn his lesson, right?

I instant message Brent and tell him how bad of a dog he has. How he ate all my precious Nutter Butters.

There was a bit of a pause. I'm sure he was laughing.
"Uh, I ate the rest of the Nutter Butters. There was nothing left but crumbs." Brent wrote.

My heart sank. Poor dog. He got yelled at because someone decided to leave the empty bag out...

Am I a bad dog owner or what? So sorry Copper.....