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.

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!

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!