Happy 4th!

After spending almost 2 weeks away from home, it was good to be home for the 4th. I think I needed the last 3 days to recoup from being gone for so long. And so did the girls! They have been sleeping so much. They are going to hate getting up early to go to daycare tomorrow.


Friday night we spend the evening at Crystal and David's house for a 4th of July/birthday party for Cassi (and Dave). It was a great night to spend with Josh's family. Sierra and Dave and the boys were here too so it was definitely a party! Thanks Crystal and David! We ended the evening with a tiki man pinata, a game of kickball and of course, fireworks. My intense fear of fire keeps me way back away from the fireworks, however one still managed to find me! One of the fireworks didn't work the way it was supposed to and tried to take off my foot! Luckly it just grazed over the top and nobody was hurt. But I spend the rest of the night in the house watching the display.

Tenlee

Baylee

Baylee running bases with Aunt Sierra

Nice swing Baylee!

Josh and Tenlee on the trampoline
Saturday night I had to work at Meridian Speedway. My work sponsors a racecar driver and the Speedway so it was our big sponsorship night. Josh's family joined us for the fun. Overall, it was a great ending to a fun vacation. But I think I'm ready to get back to a normal routine, even if that means getting up and going to work. But I love my job, so I don't mind too much.

Vacation Part 3 - Going Home

For the last part of our vacation, we stayed at my mom and dad's house for one more night. The girls love it there. And now that grass has been planted and starting to grow, the girls love to play outside too. We spent all of Thursday in there and drove home late that night. It was a long trip. Lots of driving, but it was good. I needed the break from work (although I couldn't keep from checking my email along the way and making sure everything was ok at the office!). Spending this time with Josh and the girls and other members of my family was a great memory. We may not have done a lot of super fun things, but we were together and that is all that matters!

Vacation Part 2 - Driving through Montana

Josh talked me in to taking the week off to go to Montana with him. This was right after spending the previous weekend in Utah. So instead of driving home to Boise we went straight to my parents house in Mackay and left the next morning for Montana. When everything was all said and done, we were away from home for 10 days! That's a lot of packing!

We traveled to Billings the first night and stayed. The girls and I hung out at the hotel while Josh worked Tuesday morning. So we swam and watched movied and walked the around the hotel. The hotel lobby had waterfalls, ponds with fish and big rocks to climb on so it kept us busy for the most part. Tuesday afternoon we drove to Great Falls. On the way we drove into 2 huge rain storms! There was lightening everywhere and we could barely see the road! The girls didn't like that too much. Once we got past the rain we came across windmills. Hundreds of windmills. They went on for miles. From far away they didn't look that big. But as we got closer we were amazed by their size. As we drove into the closest town they had one of the blades of the windmill laying on the ground. I'm standing by it so you can get an idea of how huge the things really were.

Wednesday we waited for Josh to get done with work. Took much longer that any of us thought, but the girls kept themselves occupied by watching Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses for the 100th time. Then we were on our way back to Mackay for the last leg of our trip.

What do you do to kill time in a hotel? Make a tent out of the porta crib, whatelse!

Vacation Part 1 - Wolf Creek, UT

My sister planned a family trip to Wolf Creek Resort in Eden, UT. However only part of my family was able to make the trip. But we still had a great time. We stayed in condos which made it nice to put kids down for naps and to cook our own food. There was lots to do at the resort. Baylee and Jaten spent hours in the pool! They are the best of friends. Overall, it was a good time spent with family. Hopefully next year all my family will be together!

James (Jaris hubby, Ryan, & Josh)

Vacation - I think!

• 10 days


• Over 2,000 miles driven


• 30+ hours in a car


• 3 states (Idaho, Utah, Montana)


• 1 grandma's house, 1 condo and 2 hotels


• Countless viewings of Barbie Princess movies

Thankfully there were no injuries, accidents or other catastrophes to add to this list. For the most part, it was a good trip but I don't think the girls (or me) will be too eager to get in a car anytime soon!

I hate pictures!

Of me that is. So I've been told by a few people that I don't have any pictures of me on this blog. That was kind of the point. I'm more than happy showing off my cute girls and awesome husband, but when it comes to pictures of me I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm the least photogenic person in the world! But on rare occasion, some pictures turn out ok enough to share. Don't get use to it, because there won't be many of them. I promise!

Smart Family Trip

This weekend was Grandmother Smart's 90th birthday bash so we loaded up the cars on Friday and headed down to Sacramento for the occasion. Sierra flew in from Virginia minus the boys and Jason's family wasn't able to make the trip. But we all still had a good time. Driving for 9 hours with the girls was interesting. Tenlee slept for maybe an hour the whole trip down! Traveling isn't her thing. Not that I can blame her on that! On the way home, Baylee got sick (only 20 minutes into the trip!). So that was an unscheduled stop. But other than that, we made it home in one piece, although I don't think we made it home with our sanity!

Josh killing time having wheel chair races (with Jake).

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Smart's. Don't ask what Jake is doing.
That's my girl! I spent my whole childhood climbing trees!

Since Sierra doesn't have girls to spoil, she loves to do things with ours and Crystals! Thanks Aunt Sierra! We love you!

We were able to find some time to go see the Sacramento Temple. This was the first time any of us had seen it. It is very beautiful. There is just a beautiful and peaceful spirit when you are on any temple grounds. But being there with family make it even more wonderful!

I've Been Tagged

Tag
1. What was I doing 10 years ago: 10 years ago I made a very unexpected and very quick move to California to live with my brother and his family in El Dorado Hills. There was a lot going on in my life at the time and I felt like I needed to get away to sort things out. Mike had talked to me about spending the summer down there but I didn't really think I would. I called Mike on a Saturday asking if the offer was still good. I went to Pocatello to pack my stuff and left a note for my roommate (and best friend) that I was leaving for the summer. I'd still pay rent and talk to her about it later. I left on a Monday. I cried the whole way there. I met some great people, had a great job, spent time with my brother and most importantly figured out what was most important to me. I left there a different person. It was the best move I ever made (except for moving to Boise!).
2. What is on my to-do list for today? Well, since the day is almost over there isn't much left on the list except to go to bed and hope and pray Tenlee doesn't throw up again. My day consisted of working from 9:30 t0 6:00 at Firebird Raceway, coming home and sleeping for an hour and then cleaning up Tenlee twice from throwing up, cleaning up Baylee's throw up from the smell of Tenlee and trying to keep Josh from throwing up. Good thing the day is over!
3. What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire? I would probably build a new house on at least 10 acres, buy the car and boat of my dreams, send Josh on his hunting excursion to Alaska with his dad, Don and Doug, go on a huge vacation some place warm with all my family and save and invest everything else. But only after I went on a shopping spree in Italy.
4. 3 Bad habits: (Just 3?) I hate to make the bed! So most days I don't. I bake "not very good for me" treats when I'm bored just because (I don't even want to eat them most of the time). I get caught up in "reality tv" shows instead of doing something worth my time like exercising or cleaning.
5. Places I've lived: Mackay ID, Pocatello ID, El Dorado Hills CA, Boise ID, Meridian ID
6. Places I have worked: The farm, the deli,the farm, the grocery store, the farm, an Outdoor Lighting company, Lamonts, ISU, State Insurance Fund, Health and Welfare
7. Things people don't know about me: I would love to own a restaurant, I'm terrified of fire and snakes but I love frogs and lizards. I was on the Dean's list for 3 years at ISU. I changed my major 3 times in college. I hate, hate, hate to show my emotions, but unfortunately I wear them on my sleeve.

Who will you tag: Erika, Crystal, Missy

Summer is finally "almost" here!

Josh hard at work

The girls have been so anxious to just play outside. Now that it's starting to warm up a little they have been spending a lot of time outside. Tenlee love the "Flintstone" car. She drives it around everywhere! Baylee has been getting a lot better at riding her bike. I think she is ready to take it for a longer ride! I am also glad that warm weather has arrived. Now if I could just find the time to really enjoy it! Soon, very soon! Can't wait for family vacations! Here's hoping the weather cooperates!

Serenity Ranch

Mike and Kim invited us to Serenity Ranch tonight. This is a non profit farm that works with kids who are disabled to learn to work with animals. The woman who owns it is also disabled. Kiarra (my niece) works a little on the farm and they allow her to use one of their horses for 4-H. My girls are both afraid of animals so I was hoping this would help them over-come this fear. Baylee was very excited to go. They had farm animals of all kinds and even let the kids ride one of the horses. Baylee actually got the courage to get on the horse and ride! I'm so proud of her for being so brave. I think both girls learned that most animals are friendly. Tenlee loved just running around and looking at the animals. But she didn't get too close. But at least she didn't scream and run!

Baylee feeding the horse

Baylee on the horse

Tenlee having fun on the farm

Baylee and Brietta and the chicken