Hmmmm...the house is unusually quiet, it must mean its back-to-school time! While it is nice to have a little me time during nap time, I kind of miss them already and can't wait to see how their first day back went.

Veronica is in sixth grade now, and that means middle school!?!? Even though I have known for a long time now, I am still not totally prepared for that. Her teacher seems really good, though, and I am sure she will have a fun year. The big excitement has been her walking to school with her friends. They have been talking and scheming and planning all summer long about it and had the route all planned out long before school started.

Samantha is in second grade and last night was "so excited I want to scream!". She even has frogs in her classroom so she can learn about the life cycle of frogs.

Tyler is entering third grade and is far from exuberant about the whole situation but was a little better after meeting his teacher, I think.

I always get excited about all the things they will learn each school year and am finding that the older they get, the more cool stuff they get to learn about. I am so grateful that I have the knowledge of the tools that I need to teach them how to stay strong in a world that is so exciting and good but also that can be so scary sometimes.

It was a great summer full of friends, bbq's, traveling and the like but now that I have a little more free time I get to work on some projects...first one is to paint the bathroom!

Manly Men/Girly Girls

The annual Guy's Weekend/fishing contest took place this last weekend in the Mountains above Beaver Utah. From what I hear everyone that attended had a great time, there was lots of food, stories told, fish caught, all the things that make up a great camping trip with the men. Those that were there were my Grandpa Smith (someone needs to tell him that 80-something year old people usually sleep in a camper or tent or something, not just under the stars. Oh well, thats why we love him, I guess!), my dad, and all my brothers and brothers-in-law except one and the three boys in the family that are old enough to camp with their dads.
Tyler won the biggest fish caught this year with a 16 inch fish winning a cool hammock!
Of course, when the boys are away, the girls and I usually find something something fun to do and the tradition has become that we do homemade facials. My sister Brenda and baby Deker were able to come down from Boise, Idaho and stay with us during Guys weekend, so Friday was our pampering day. We started out with some cool facials and hair treatments then later in the day when my mom and Sister-in-law Melissa and Hudson came over we did pedicures, shopping and dinner out.
I will post more pictures when I get them off of every one's camera!

Butterfly Pavillion

While in Denver we visited The Butterfly Pavillion http://www.butterflies.org/. I would highly recommend this to anyone if you are ever in the area. The admission rate is very reasonable and it has something for everyone. The favorite part for everyone was the tropical conservatory, a 7,000 square-foot tropical rainforest, home to more than 1,200 live butterflies and 350 plant species from around the world! It was beautiful to watch all those butterflies flying around us in what I imagine a rainforest would look and feel like. I tried to take pictures but it was so humid the camera fogged over.
We all held Rosie the spider, a pet tarantula,....ugh

Us in a spider web and honeycomb in the room with giant "insects" that actually move!

Going "Home"

Because Joe grew up in Denver and still has family there, we try to make a trip out there at least once a year. Because of Joe's graduation ceremony, we were there this last weekend. We had a great time. Everyone was wonderful (as always). Just like coming home. It was so hard to leave. We so appreciate everyone for opening their homes up to us every time we visit.

My Graduate

Although Joe officially graduated from college in May, this last weekend, August 1st, was his graduation ceremony in Denver Colorado. I think this was the proudest moment of my life. Standing there, surrounded by family, watching him walk down that isle was just amazing.
I am so proud of him. He recieved his bachelors degree, with honors, by the way, in four years while working full time and raising five kids. No one else could do all that as well as he did and still manage to give of himself and serve others like he does.
We appreciate all those that came out to support him!