Senior Ads

I cannot believe that we have a SENIOR!  Here are the pictures that will probably be in the senior ad section of the LC yearbook in May.  I love this stuff.  Sam thinks it is utterly ridiculous to spend money on these ads but I have been looking forward to this since Chad was a freshman.  Is he a doll, or what?

 

And here's a picture for the baseball senior ad.  I cannot believe it was just yesterday that they were all on C-team and about 5 foot 3 inches tall, 120 lbs. soaking wet.

Now if we can just figure out what Chad is doing next fall.  He says he is definitely a go to college for a year before mission kind of guy.  So we at least know that  part of his future is still a year and a half away.  Other than that, he has visited a few campuses and talked to a few college baseball coaches and college recruiters,  but we will all just have to wait and see.  I'm not sure I can take the suspense.  How do they grow up so fast?

The Two A's

Here is my official post about the two most awesome kids in the world whose names start with "A".

 I totally forgot to post pictures of Aaron and his date Carissa at Homecoming.  They are adorable.  I don't tell Aaron often enough what a great kid I think he is.  Every week he vacuums the entire house for me and he does a better job than I would do myself.  He doesn't complain when I ask him to take out the trash or to drive slowly past the bus stop to make sure his sisters got there safely.  He doesn't even protest too vehemently about having to live with his loveable slob of a brother.

Aaron has always gotten a lot of female attention.  This is probably because he has just about the kindest heart of anyone that I know.  He always notices if I've had a bad day or if anyone has, really.  I think reading people's feelings is just a talent that he has always had.

The best thing about Homecoming was that after going with their group  (and seeing one of the group member's parents who sat at the adjacent table at dinner), Aaron admitted that I may, in fact, not be the biggest stalker parent of all time. 

And here is our other darling "A".  Amber has had the same T-ball coach  for three seasons.  She really should have moved up to Rookies this fall, but she just loved Coach Joe too much.  She has really gotten into the game this year and one game she even got ten outs, which for a three inning game, is pretty impressive. :) (In T-ball, everyone gets an at bat.  The inning can go for as many outs as that takes.)

Amber's friend Katherine came to help the team this fall for a church project she is doing.  Katherine rocks.  The kids love her - especially the girls.  We are hoping Katherine will help with Amber and her friend Mia's rookie baseball team this spring.  After all, it's not every day that you get a coach who has won the softball Little League World Series.

This is what Amber made (with Bethany's help) to take to school last week.  She is so much fun.  Who wouldn't want to be a member of Amber's Awesomeness Club?  Last year, she tried to start an Alien Club and she came home from school crying because she couldn't get anyone to sign up.  Luckily, it looks like she had better success this year. 



Fall Activities

As you may have guessed from my sporadic posting activity these last few months, my microbiology class is kicking my butt this semester.  Not only do I spend way more time studying than family scrapbooking, but I also think I have caught a rare disease from one of the pathogenic bacteria that we work with in lab.  My head, shoulders, knees and elbows have hurt for a week and a half.  There has got to be somebody I can sue. :)  The good news is that I can do a pretty decent gram stain and a passable streak isolation.  I even finally learned how to properly use a microscope after cajoling my lab partners to do it for me in both biology and anatomy labs. But, we have done some fun things this semester, and some of them I even have pictures of.

Sam and I took turns taking Chad to various showcase tournaments in New Mexico and Texas but between times we found a weekend to get away for our 20th anniversary trip to Manitou Springs, CO.  We stayed at the Two Sisters Bed and Breakfast.  We got there on one of the last three weekends before the owners retired so we lucked out.  Here is Sam standing in front of the honeymoon cottage that used to be the carriage house.  It was darling.  And the food was so good.  Yummy!  We also got to see a Halloween melodrama, shop at many a cute little boutique and tour a very rich Catholic Priest's mansion house from the turn of the century.

 And of course, if you're in Colorado, you have to hike. And we did.  It was beautiful!

One of the highlights of the season for the girls is helping Aunt Emily at her school Halloween carnival.  Here is Amber the magician getting ready for the big event.

This is what Amber does for business instead of pleasure.  Her homework assignment was to write about a sports activity using five of her spelling words.  This is what she came up with. Ha!

And of course another event that is greatly anticipated is the Hurst family reunion day in Blanding.  Lots of cousin time, lots of food and this year lots of leafs.  We gathered some up to spread on Poppy's grave.  We also visited Aunt Lizaboo's grave and collected some pinecones from around her grave to put next to Poppy's so that they could be have some of the same surroundings even though they are buried in different towns.

Cute girls getting ready for Trick-or-Treating.  Grandma and the aunts came over to get them ready since I had to finish my midterm. But I got home just in time to party.

 Of course, Bethany is too old to trick-or-treat with the family so here she goes off with her friends.

 But Miranda and Amber would never let us down.

And here is what the girls do with their candy once they've eaten enough to make them sick.

Family Pictures 2013

Does anyone besides me dread taking family pictures?  I hate it.  I only do it every two years and then just because I would be a hypocrite if I didn't.  (I get seriously perturbed if I don't get an entire family portrait at least every other year in the Christmas letters I receive). I used to think it would be better when the kids got older.  You know, we wouldn't have to bring candy to head off the inevitable toddler tears.  Our photographer wouldn't have to throw toys in the air to get babies to smile.  It just seemed like we should be home free by now, right?  Wrong.  So, in case you're wondering - the boys all say that the shirts they are wearing look totally gay and that I should definitely never plan to see them again,  Aaron is way too cool to smile, certain boys don't want to stand next to certain girls and Amber apparently still does better with bouncing toys. Who knew?  Anyway, big Amber (who I will hereafter call "Super Amber" instead because she's really not all that big) made the whole affair as painless as possible and we made it through.  So, here they are for your viewing pleasure.  Maybe tomorrow I'll post about Halloween or - you know - anything else that has happened this fall. :)

I personally thought I did a great job picking out clothes (with the help of Aunt Emily).  Doesn't this just say "autumn" to you?  Yeah, me too.

 Look at these cuties.  We are so lucky to have these great girls.

 And here are three handsome boys in the shirts they hate.  Whatever!

What a feisty little hot pepper.  We had to summon her back to the photo shoot on more than one occasion because the temptation of playing with Kade and Keian proved entirely too great.

 Here is our resident seventh grader.  Isn't she getting grown up?

 Sweet Miranda and her very favorite blue boots.

I think this is the picture I chose for Chad's senior ad in the yearbook.  It's either this one or the next.  They were both pretty awesome.

 Can you believe my baby is going to college next year?  Don't leave me Darling!

This is probably the closest we got to a smile with Aaron.  He doesn't look like he's in too much pain, does he?

And here's our little firecracker again.  She is simply bursting with flavor.  Last weekend, she sneaked up behind Aunt Emily, said "I bet you didn't see this coming!" and then proceeded to pinch Aunt Emily's bottom.  We laughed and laughed.

 Just chillin' out at the park.

 Sam and Julie after twenty years.

 Here's the less high maintenance contingent of the Smith family. Ha!

And this is my favorite one.  As a matter of fact, when I'm done here, I'll be ordering it poster size for the family room.  Woo Hoo!

Miranda insisted on having this picture in front of the climbing vines.  I think it turned out quite nicely.

 

And so now I just have to write the Christmas letter and we are good to go.  Signing out!



Fabulous Summer Vacation!

Aw, the good times we had this past summer.  Neither I nor the boys took summer school and Sam had a couple of months between school ending and starting his new job at Sandia National Labs, so we were free to move about the country (all except Chad who had baseball tournaments and a summer job that caused him to miss all the fun).

We were able to attend this year's Britt family reunion in Mississippi and it was awesome.  Sam had never before sampled Aunt Sandra's hospitality but I don't think it will be long until he's ready to sample it again.  That woman can cook!  I think I probably gained ten pounds in the three days that we were in Brookhaven.  The other night, my sisters and I were watching Duck Dynasty and I said, "Don't you think that if Aunt Sandra, Paula Deen & Miss Kaye got together, they would be the best of friends?"  My sister Emily replied, "I don't know, but I can tell you that I would like to be there if they decided to cook together."  Amen, sister!  My family got to stay in the house that Aunt Sandra grew up in.  Her mother, my grandmother's sister, died a few years ago but they have kept her house in the family for when visitors come.  It was really interesting for the kids to see how small houses used to be back in the day.  The kids loved it and spent their time crossing the meadow to Aunt Sandra's and Renea's house to play with the grandkids and the dogs.  Above was a scene from the potluck lunch and program.  I am with four of my favorite people - my sisters Jane & Emily and my cousins Renea and Allison

 

Same scene  with Aaron.  This is pretty much the look he had on his face the whole vacation.  Travelling without his brother did not quite cut it.  I had to agree with him though.  I probably called Chad three times a day to make sure that he was still sleeping and eating.

For one of our family reunion activities, we went to the Bogue Chitta River and went tubing.  It was so fun.  I didn't get a picture of the water, but above is a picture of the surrounding trees.  We would definitely do this again but next time we will be beware of the bend in the river where Amber got sucked under a log and almost drowned.  It was all quite dramatic!

She recovered however and after eating a ton of food at the family cat fish fry, it was time for kids' games.  Yahoo.  It was Survivor Britt style and above is a picture of Amber in a shower cap covered with shaving cream.  Each team had to throw Cheetos at their teammate's head and the team who got the most to stick won.

There was also some sort of wet t-shirt activity that clearly happened while I was on a walk.  I don't think it was the risqué kind. :)

Aw, the donut eating contest.  Go team blue.

After we left Mississippi, we travelled to Kansas City via St. Louis.  While  in St. Louis, we took in some sights.  We started with a river cruise.  Captain Amber reporting for duty.

It was too hot to stay out on the deck for very long so we cooled off with a drink in the lounge.

Bethany taking a picture of a passing boat.  I think you can see Indiana in the distance.

Here are a good-looking group of people in the St. Louis Arch visitor's center.  We were glad that we would be staying at Aunt Betsy's house that night and not in a teepee.

At the top of the arch.  The whole thing is a little claustrophobic but oh the view!

St. Louis from above.

Cardinals stadium.  Of course I texted this picture to Chad.  He so should have come with us.

And here is the last leg of our trip.  We had a great time with our Kansas City cousins.  We had homemade ice cream, we watched Holli's band concert, we played in the fountain, we took walks, we swam, we played Dance-Dance revolution and we went to World's of Fun (well Aaron and Gabe did, anyway).  Good times!  We had so much fun that Sam and the girls had to drive up to Colorado Springs the following week to see some of the cousins again.  More on that next post.  Anyway, we made it home safely to find the house intact and Chad alive and well.  I'm ready to go again!

Six4Three

Chad and his friend Justin have spent a ton of time this summer working on writing and recording songs.  Oh, the fun they have had.  They named their group Six4Three, which those of you who have scored baseball or softball will know is the the set of numbers you use to record the most common type of double play (short-stop to 2nd base to 1st base).

They have recorded several songs but I am including a link to my favorite.  I think the lyrics perfectly illustrate their deeply poetic souls. :)
https://soundcloud.com/643/feelin-free

The boys have two concerts scheduled in the next three weeks and then Justin is off to Harvard.  Don't leave us Justin!  Boo Hoo!

High Adventure

I keep waiting to post these pictures in hopes that I will remember to do it while Sam or the boys are around and can help me with the captions.  But, they are never around and I am falling further and further behind. At this rate I will never post pictures of our fab vacations this summer, so I will do my best and if I mess it up, I'm sure they will let me know.

I guess this is some kind of double tightrope activity.  The priests left a few days before everyone else and I guess this is the kind of thing they did.  How do you like the bright pink shirts?  I'm pretty sure neither Chad nor Aaron have worn their's since. :)

Sam was the camp photographer this year and we have what seems like millions of pictures.  I narrowed it down to about a hundred to put on this blog post.

No Helaman's camp would be complete without the dreaded trust drop activity.  Luckily for the other priests, this was before Chad started full force into his summer program to put on thirty pounds.

And there he goes.

And there goes Sam.  Sadly for the priests, this was before Sam began his summer program to lose thirty pounds. Ha! Just kidding, Honey.  You would absolutely blow away in the wind if you were to take on such a program.

I have never seen anything like this but apparently, you have to stand, sit or lay on it just right in order to keep it balanced. Cool!

Go Chad. Squeeze those cute buns through the tire obstacle.  Apparently his friend Sam O. launched himself through hands first.

 And I thought by the time they were priests, they would be too mature for this sort of thing.

They were really into balancing activities.  It makes me wonder if they were all training to join the circus for next year's High Adventure.

 Two extremely handsome Smith men.

I am surprised that Chad went for zip lining.  For a big tough jock he is pretty much a big baby when it comes to heights.  He does not like them.

But there he goes and I have to say that it looks like a lot of fun.

 And he made it.

 Here comes Dad.  No wonder, he volunteers to chaperone these activities.

 And the teachers finally arrive in time for river rafting and rock climbing.

 Aaron said the water was so cold.  It looks like a pretty good time to me though.

 Luckily, Aaron is not scared of heights so this activity was just his speed.

And the service project.  The boys all fixed up a park in Jemez Springs.  The people were so grateful that they fed them a delicious lunch after they were done. Yum!

And so ends another High Adventure.  Thank goodness my cranky boys decided to go this year.  Not only that, but they even went to youth conference last week.  Aw!  I guess they are growing up.