Halloween 2012

 Thayne and I were Garden Gnomes...and a big thanks to his brother who let us borrow these costumes!  There were great and the ward loved them at our ward party.  Some little kids thought Thayne was a scary Santa.

 Quinn the Ninja, Simon the death eater??, Hannah 70's girl and Collin the Gangster

 We had fun carving pumpkins on Monday night.

Simon had to tally his candy for a homework assignment.  Hannah actually took the two boys trick-or-treating while Collin attended a party (broke his toe there!) and Thayne and I sat on the front porch handing out candy.  It was an enjoyable evening, except for Collin had to ice his toe.

Happy 12th to Hannah

 Hannah has started collecting Hearts4Hearts dolls.  They are 12" dolls from different countries.  This is her 3rd one...from Belarus.

I can't believe my daughter is 12!  She has been to Young Women's twice now and is really enjoying it.  In fact, last Sunday there was no one to play the piano so she told me that she is going to play next week.

Piano

Here is Hannah at her first piano recital.  She did well but was quite nervous!

Simon turns 9

We enjoyed growing giant sunflowers this summer.  The kids were picking the seeds out of the sunflower heads here and then we soaked them and toasted them in the oven.  It is always so amazing how many seeds there are!

Simon had a "late night" birthday party.  They had fun playing Apples to Apples, Who Knew, and playing outside in the dark with flashlights.

Mostly Quinn

Quinn helping me make applesauce.  I had a little fun experimenting this year with applesauce.  I added red plums from our tree and made "plumplesauce".  It is really good and I prefer it over plain applesauce.  Later this coming week I am going to make peachlesauce!  Hope it tastes good.

We had quite a big rainstorm last week and I heard someone outside singing "...the rain came down and the floods came up..."  Quinn was outside on the deck singing.  I tried to videotape it but he wouldn't do it for me.

A few Sundays ago between meetings, Thayne let the boys each pick a game to play with him.  Quinn was last and picked Hedbanz guessing game.  Thayne was a good sport and they ended up having lots of fun.

Our neighbor loaned us their little guitar and Quinn has taken quite a liking to playing it.  He just looked so cute holding it.

We spent last Saturday evening up Blacksmith Fork Canyon at our "lot".  We enjoyed hiking, roasting hot dogs and smores, playing Mormon Bridge and a fun campfire game.  Next year we have got to go there more often!!  This is my brother Aaron on the left, my mom standing and me and then Thayne.

School Begins

This summer Hannah and I painted her room and she chose lavender as the color.  She wanted her closet doors painted in stripes of different sizes.  I like how they turned out! 

While Thayne's car was being fixed, our car insurance got us a rental...a convertible!  He had a great time driving it and Collin loved to be dropped off at school in it.

First day of 9th grade for Collin.

This is Quinn with his Kindergarten teacher.  It was taken after his assessment.  She is a great teacher and plays her piano for the kids while they do a little march around the room.   It is really cute.  She informed me that she is 69 yrs old!  Hannah had her for Kindergarten and really liked her.

First day of Kindergarten!

First day of 3rd grade and 6th grade!

Camping in Logan Canyon

Well here are the eight kids enjoying the Logan River.  It was pretty cold!

We go on a camping trip every year with some friends from Brigham City.  This year we stayed three nights and three days.  I've never been so dirty!

This was half way through our hike.  The kids did pretty well.  We had to carry the two little ones for part of the way.

We brought a pedal boat and Collin gave us rides up and down a section of the river.  It was pretty shallow and fun to see the fish swimming around.

More July Fun

Simon all ready to go to day camp.  He just looks so cute all dressed and ready to go.  Our ward didn't go so I called the other wards in the stake till I found one he could go with.  When he showed up that morning, he found that one of his best friends is in that ward!  He had such a wonderful time.

The boys had matching ties on from my brother's wedding the previous day so they wore them to church.  This picture made me laugh because of Quinn's face.

On a Friday evening, we picked Thayne up from work and went to Crystal Springs for the evening.  We had a fun time eating fried chicken from Smiths Grocery store and swimming.  The kids enjoyed the slides the most.

We spent a Saturday on the farm repairing the old flagpole so we can use it on our upcoming camp out.  This is a picture of us trying to put the flagpole back into its hole.  It was so heavy that we couldn't lift it any higher than you see in this picture.

After lots of thinking the boys realized how to use the tractor and it went in very easily.  (Much to everyone's relief)!

Last summer Hannah and I had so much fun sewing doll clothes.  I have had some friends ask to see pictures...so here they are.  Last week we sewed the outfits the dolls have on and the two dresses right above the dolls' heads.

July Fun

We took a Logan trip one day last week.  We enjoyed Willow Park and Pepperidge Farm factory.  We also visited the Fat Boy factory and Gossners Cheese Factory.  It was a great trip and the weather was wonderful.

Thayne and his brother Eli!

We got some free Cherry Days T-shirts from Weber State Credit Union and wore them all day on the 4th.

June 2012

Simon and Quinn helping me pit cherries.  They were a great help!

Baseball got over last night.  Simon had so much fun learning all the rules of the game and got really into it.  More baseball next year for sure!

 Kick ball also ended this week.  Quinn just loved his coach and when all the other kids were laying in the grass, he was up playing his best.

 Quinn and our kitten Cora.  We all really love her.

May 2012

I took the two boys to the Treehouse Museum on a Friday evening.  Thayne was doing homework and the two other kids were busy doing other things.  I had fun just watching them run around and enjoy everything there.  I think they had the most fun dressing up like cowboys and riding the horses (stationary that is).

 Hannah finished up a whole year of dance class.  She enjoyed ballet the most.  This was taken after her dance recital.  She is now done with dance for awhile and is starting piano lessons.  I have taught her for several years and now she is moving on to a real teacher.

 Quinn's preschool graduation.  The picture is dark...he is the one with the red tie.  It sure was a big affair for preschool!  An hour long program with about 50 kids standing there and singing for most of it.  Cute though!

More Smith Fun

Alas...time to learn to tie a tie!

My Grandma Francom and I on Mother's Day.

 Quinn playing kickball!

 Simon getting ready for his first baseball game of the season.

Xylophone

For two years now Hannah has had the opportunity to take an after school class where she does extra projects in Science, Social Studies, and Fine Arts.  It is only for two students per class and so I am glad that she has been able to do this.  She got the opportunity to learn how to play the xylophones with a few of her class mates for the Fine Arts class.  She really enjoyed it.

What have the Smiths been up to?

See that little black thing under Collin?  Yes, it is our new kitten, "Cora".

 Thayne rescued her at work and brought her home.  We have been feeding her bottles for almost two weeks now.

 We bought a trampoline.  In this picture we are half-way done setting it up.  It was dark when we got done because we had to take all the springs back off after this picture.  So far Collin has scraped up his nose doing a double flip and just tonight Hannah hurt her jaw doing a front flip :)

 Last weekend we visited the Church History Museum.  Here is the family standing behind a pulpit in the Gordon B. Hinckley exhibit.

 Here we are eating at one of our favorite restaurants..The Lion House.

Ahhh the pinewood derby!  So much stress for one little piece of wood made into a car.

 Simon got the straight A student award for his car.  He wishes he won though!