Monday, June 28, 2010

SWIMMING!







We have been swimming all day today.  So much fun!  One downside, Ethan found some kind of gross green fat wormy thing on the grapes.  EEW!!  But, still fun...

Maddie's Baptism

Maddie was baptized last Saturday.  We have been looking forward to this special day for a long time.  I had all of these great plans.  My friend Jean made a beautiful special dress for Maddie.  My friend Alicia helped with cute decorations and cupcake toppers.  Uncle Doug helped us make a bunch of fruit kabobs.  Bruce MacMillan has been working with Maddie for weeks to help her be ready to sing on her special day.  He accompanied her on the guitar.  
On Saturday the kids had a great time swimming with their cousins and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Smith.  Macky started complaining of a headache, but we sent him to get dressed anyway.  We made it to the Church on time, which was an improvement from Macky's baptism.  We hung up the decorations.  Ryan "helped" with the cupcakes, which RUINED the frosting.  Ug.  So, I was hurriedly trying to fix them when someone came up to me and said, "Macky is throwing up."  Yep.  In Church.  On the carpet.  In front of guests.  SO, I got him into the bathroom with Spencer.  Good ol' Uncle Brett cleaned up the throw up.  We got Maddie into her special white jumpsuit and had a nice picture taken with her Daddy.  Mac went home with Aunt Patti and we started the program just a few minutes late.

Maddie's cousin Bonnie gave the opening prayer.  Grandma Bonnie gave the talk on baptism.  She did a lovely job.  I think everyone was really touched.  Then Maddie and Bruce performed, "Beautiful Savior."  It was amazing!  Maddie is so talented and confident.  She really brought a special spirit to our meeting.  Then Spencer baptized her.  Then I got to run back and help her dress in her special new white dress.  I will always treasure the special moments I had with her.  I talked with her about how she felt and about why she felt that way.  She was so happy.  Her cousins Bonnie and Jaycee came back and gave her a hug and told her how excited they were for her.  Those three make me so happy.  Then we walked out together.  Aunt Shannon gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  She made this really cool thing that looked like a quilt that had a pictorial representation of what she was saying.  Maddie was thankful to have a memento from the day.  Then her Dad gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost along with help from Grandpa Smith, Uncle Doug, Uncle Brett, Kevin Wagner, and Mark Ping.  I kept thinking she is so lucky to have so many nice men watching out for her and helping her.  Then Brother Wagner said a few words.  Then Jaycee said the closing prayer.  It was so sweet and special.  I almost forgot that my decorations and food got messed up.  I am sad that Mac missed it.
I'm so thankful for our Church and for all of the support that we receive from our friends.  Maddie feels loved and important.

June Pack Meeting

Mac earned a Whittling Chip award in Scouting.  He also earned his Webelos badge.  He earned three pins for his shirt as well.  He's been working hard at Scouts and we're so proud of him!
This is his leader Elaine Nilsson.  She does a fantastic job!  Mac has so much fun thanks to her.
A scout tradition is to have the scouts pin their mothers when they have earned the next level.  So, Macky gave me a Webelos pin.

Fabulous 8th Birthday!!

We Smiths party like it's going out of style!  You can't have just one birthday party!!  So, Maddie had a nice party with my grandparents and parents on her birthday.  The big gift of the evening was a new big girl bike from Grandma Vonnie and Grandpa J.B.  It's the sweetest thing!  Maddie rides around like a maniac.  There is no stopping her now!!!
My mom made her a cute cake for her birthday.  She made it look like an eight.  Maddie wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and marshmallows.  
Then we had a Smith family party for Maddie and Chandler.  Chandler turned 13 this week too!  Watch out world, we have a teenager.  

Ryan's Skates

Ryan had an appliance in his mouth to help him stop sucking his thumb.  He had it in there for two months.  We thought he was all set, so off came the appliance.  As a reward he got roller skates.  He was surprised to find out how hard it is to skate!  He has been caught sucking his thumb a few times since, so the skates are put away.  Hopefully he'll manage to stop and get those skates back!!

Ice Cream at Shuberts



We love Shubert's.  We go as often as possible.  We got to go with my Dad, Anna, Aimee and little Wyatt not too long ago.  One of the kids took the pictures.

Maddie Can Ride!!

She finally figured it out!  Maddie can now ride a two-wheeler.  In order to celebrate this momentous occasion, Maddie wanted to ride bikes to the Taco Truck.  She made it all of the way!  For some reason, she was sad by the time she got there.  I don't remember why now, but she did make it!
One of the first things she wanted to do was to ride bikes with her Uncle Jeff.  She made him pinky promise that he would come over and ride with her.  It took him a couple of weeks, but after some serious hounding, he made it to ride with her.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Happy 8th Birthday Maddie!

Maddie was born eight years ago today.  Oh, how I love my little girl.
This is Maddie with my Nana on her blessing day.

Maddie celebrated her first birthday in Lake Almanor.
I am so thankful for our little Maddie girl.  I can't believe that it's been eight years!  Happy Birthday Maddie!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Smiths in Utah

I did not take nearly enough photos!  Somehow I didn't take a single photo at Uncle Rich's house.  We were having too much fun!  Well, here are the photos I did manage to take while out visiting Utah.  We stayed each night with Grandma and Grandpa Smith and took day trips to visit cousins each day.  On Tuesday we visited with the Rich Smith family.  We got to see Uncle Rich's elaborate new garden and the plans for his brick wall in the back yard.  It will be very romantic!  Maddie and Ryan had a great time playing with Jasmine, the dog.  Mac played video games with Andy quite a bit.  Zack was super nice and fun for all of the kids. (Zack, by the way, is quite the guitarist!!)  Maddie was attached to Kylee and Brynne the whole time!  She got to stay with Kylee over night on Tuesday as a special treat for her birthday.  We missed seeing Bryant, but we are glad he's in the MTC!!
On Wednesday we went to Uncle Tyler's.  Ryan could hardly wait.  He kept asking for Uncle Tyler that day, and Christie just had to keep telling him that Uncle Tyler was at work and would be home for dinner.  It was incredibly windy that day, so Maddie had to wait to ride on Sam, Katie's horse.  It also wasn't the best swimming weather, but the kids made do.  The picture with Maddie floating in the pool just cracks me up!!!

This is Ryan with his cousin Nicole.  Nicole is a rock star!  I had a great time chit-chatting with her!!

This is Maddie feeding Sam.
Ryan LOVES Zack.  He couldn't wait to wrestle with him in the pool!
This is Mac with his cousins' baby boy, Joseph Miller the Fourth.  He is an adorable addition to our family!!
How cute is Courtney??!?!!  This photo was taken for Aunt Delayne!  She is due August 1st and is expecting a baby girl.
On Thursday morning we got up and went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point with Grandma Smith.  Ryan RAN!  He loved it.  Mac took his time and looked at everything.  Maddie opted to go with Katie and ride Sam instead.  We got a really neat 3D puzzle from the gift shop and ate lunch with Grandma.  On Thursday afternoon, we went to the Wrights.  The kids just played and played.  We stayed until the Smith kids were in meltdown mode.  I played this great game called Wackee Sixes with some of my nieces and nephews.  So fun!!  I wish I had gotten a picture of Maddie with Miriam.  They were just so cute together.  Mac and Andrew played together all day, as usual.  I really appreciate Andrew's patience with Ryan.  Ryan was so tired by dinnertime, he almost just couldn't take life.  Andrew was so good to him.

On Friday we went up to Salt Lake City to see the new exhibit in the South Temple Visitor's Center.  Grandma and Grandpa came with us.  We got to see how the Salt Lake Temple was built and what it is like inside.  They had a 1:32 scale model that we could look at and into.  It was fantastic!  They also had all of these videos where you could learn about what is done in each room of the temple.
After the Visitor's Center we went to the Lion House for lunch.  Not my best idea.  It is great food, but it wasn't really practical for the kids.  If you're in Salt Lake I recommend eating there, but maybe not with a bunch of little kids.
On our way back to the car we stopped in the Joseph Smith building.  The kids really enjoyed this statue of Joseph Smith.  We spent the rest of the day playing at Grandma and Grandpa's and preparing to go home.
This is on a shuttle in our hotel in Reno.  We were so tired, and still having so much fun!!  I'm so thankful we were able to make this trip.  The kids had a great time with their cousins.  John can now say Nana and Papa.  Success!!

Evan Robert Porter

My long-time friend Megan had her first baby.  This is Evan Robert Porter.  I was so happy to be able to visit with him for an hour.  He is just beautiful!  Megan had a rough time getting him here and she was just doing beautifully by the time I arrived.  Her husband is so obviously smitten!  I wish that we all lived closer so that I could see them all of the time!!

Whiteheads and Hills

For our first day trip in Utah, we went to visit our good friends in Sandy.  We had a splendid day hanging out with the Whiteheads and catching up on the goings on in our old neighborhood.
This is Maddie with her best friend Ellie.  They were so dramatic!!
John was very happy to be with the Whiteheads too!
We played beauty parlor!  Laura and I got to paint the finger nails and toe nails of Maddie, Ellie, and Ashley!
For dinner, we went to IHOP for Scout Night.  It was so fantastic!  I just love those Whiteheads!!  I especially love how well our kids just mesh in together to have fun.  One of my favorite parts of this trip was teasing Matt.  He said that he wants to wait until after his mission to date girls, but his Dad and I would like to see him out every weekend!!  :)
This is a group of the kids sitting down and watching a movie.
This is Parker and Macky.  They played all day, I didn't even see them until dinner!  While in Sandy, Laura took me on my necessary visit to Deseret Book where I got some fun new books and movies!!  Laura and I had a great time talking.  I loved talking with Lisa too!  I sure miss those two awesome ladies!!

Young Eagles



The Young Eagles offer free 30 minute flights to kids 8 and up once a year.  They want to get children interested in flying.  This year they held their event on the day we planned to go to Utah.  So, we left later than usual so that Macky could take advantage of this unusual treat.  He had so much fun!  He said that his pilot was very nice and that he loved flying in the plane.  He was too short to see over the side of the plane and out of the window, so the pilot did some loops for Macky.  That way he could see Chico from way up high!