Smith Family Reunion 2016

The Smith family does a reunion every couple of years and this was our first! It was also our first "vacation", long drive with both the kiddos and my first time in Idaho. Lexi has always been great in the car, but we were curious about Mr Dallin who was basically done with the car when not sleeping. He did okay though and we tried keeping him happy with tastes of applesauce. Probably would have been fine if I could have sat in the back with him. It was a 5.5 hour trip and we decided just to get a hotel to make things easier.

We drove up Friday afternoon and made it for the ice-cream social. Saturday they had a breakfast gathering in the AM, a pool party during the day and park play time in the evening. We made it late for everything lol. But Dallin got passed around and Lexi enjoyed whatever and whoever came her way. I still don't have all 7 siblings and their kids sorted out, but everyone is pretty awesome. We went to church with a cousin & stopped by to see his grandmother afterwards who didn't really recognize Eric with her dementia, but she is so sweet it doesn't matter. I wish I caught all her wit and wisdom on camera.

Our hotel was a little ghetto but completely good enough and we mooched what breakfast we could. I tried getting Mr Smith to help me pass the time on the way home but he didn't like to indulge me in my little car Q&A games, but such is life. Miraculously, no blowouts (minus the minor one on grandma at the park) or injuries but many awful drivers, especially once Mr Smith starts driving =) Mr Smith would always comment on how beautiful the fields were in the valley...like he was trying to convince me. I didn't buy it. I told him I need trees for it to be beautiful. ID definitely doesn't trump NC.

I FINALLY tried out the phone lenses that Amy sent me for my birthday. I love the fisheye effect on all the photos at the park, definitely a fun thing to play with. I was really bad at taking photos at other times. The pool was wonderful in the heat and a really perfect pool for kids too. I wish I could dunk my head back in it again. I just need to get a swimsuit for next year.

The trip exhausted us though and we all slept in Monday morning (4th of July). That was a nice treat. I'm pretty sure we just took it easy and didn't really see much of parades or fireworks. Next year, maybe. I'd still like to see Lexi enjoy a carnival.

Comments

And so it begins, again

At what point do you ... 1. Keep holding on waiting for inspiration to come 2. Try something different 3. Let go & walk away I'd say most of us are usually somewhere in between #1 & #2, but there are occasional moments where I find myself locked into another Jane Austin film with some oreos & milk ignoring reality all together. Today, I'm trying to rise above some level of complacency & clear my mind at your expense. Mr Smith & I had a good run of it, but since blogs became obsolete in 2017 while Instragram chained us all to algorithms, I had no audience nor desire to write in this world. But times change, after it murders our souls, and alas we are famished for an authentic keyboard with less distractions again. So, let's catch up. They say it comes in threes... Since our job change in 2017, we experienced three more moves, three additional job changes (that don't necessarily align with the moves), and three additional children. 2018-2022 were ver...

Breaking Silence for Religion

I've never been good at being concise. I like words too much. I think outloud. And I haven't had time to blog all these conversations & posts & mental thoughts and it's eating at me to write it all down, to get it out there. These are some words that no one understands anymore: love, tolerance, faith, forgiveness, covenants, judgment, respect, moderation, self-worth, humility, equality...at least if they say they do, I wouldn't believe them. In truth, I think we should be forever understanding what these words mean. Yet I hear people affirming over & over again in their actions & with their voice that they want to be right and they want you to know it & accept the choices they're making. So much for democracy & freedom. They might say "to each his own" but I'm not idealistic anymore, people don't really believe that. I reference "the world" a lot. Let's clarify what I mean. We can start with Holly...

We're patiently waiting

Picture Mr Smith putting together the pack-n-play. He was so cute. Mostly when he had to read the directions. Do we have a child? Don't ask such silly questions. Hopefully it won't collect too much dust in 5.5 months. We're ready now . . . (but not really) It has a changing thing and a removable bassinet that vibrates. I'm okay with not needing a changing table. It will probably mean we won't get a crib for awhile too. Next we need to hear from our baby/exercise friends a good car seat & jogging stroller (maybe ones that work together)... Any favorites? Then a blanket . . . Then a breast pump . . . Then a diaper bag. . . Then lots of diapers, toys & cute clothes. And even a mobile. Then they get older and there's even more things. Mr Smith is just so thrilled. I'd love to hear about any products that you recommend/absolutely love having. Here is one thing you can do to annoy Mr Smith: go ...

Mr & Mrs Smith

Search This Blog