A very good looking group

 

 

the siblings

 

'we are a happy family . . .'

Perfect except Michael's eyes are closed. argh 

 

Handsome, handsome, same, same

 

Four Generations

 

Nice setting

Cuuuute . . . 

With Ann and Brian

My favorite part is Matthew's "smile" 

Smart Cousins with Nana

First time all Smart cousins have been in the same location in how long was it Dave? 

Brudda's

 

Emma's first day of kindergarten!

Emma had to wait a whole week after Catherine started school to go to Kindergarten. One of our traditions is that Daddy walks the girls to school on their first day.
Emma: I like Kindergarten! It's so much fun. I want to say a poem I learned from Catherine: My preschool year is over, I've had a lot of fun. I've learned to do so many things, now kindergarten here I come! 

Catherine's first day of school!

 

David is getting bigger!

 

Emma's beautiful homemade crown

She made this while Catherine was at her first day of school and still wears it frequently. 

Camping!

We squeaked in a camping trip on one of our last weekends before school started. Even David went with us and was a really good baby. We went to our favorite site in Hobble Creek Canyon with friends from our ward, the Beans. (Yes - they're related to Monte L. Bean of the famous Bean museum at BYU - aka "the dead animal museum." 

Babies in the misquito net

David and Ashley Bean. 

The water feature

One of the reasons we love this camp site is the nice creek that runs next to it. Something for everyone. 

Fishing

 

Taking down the tent

 

Dirty little boy

Spencer made the most of his camping experience and got as dirty as he could! 

Pioneer field trip

In the middle of August, we visited the Pioneer Trails/ This is the Place Park (or something like that.) It is a village of restored pioneer homes, churches, schools, stores, etc. We've read some pioneer stories including the "Little House on the Prarie" books recently so the girls were especially excited. We went with my mom, my Aunt Marge, and my sister Jenni and her two girls Abby and Isabelle. At each building, there were different activities. At one house we got to do chores: watering the vegtables with pans of water, beating the rugs and washing clothes on scrub boards and hanging them on the clothes lines. The kids LOVED that. (Why can't they get as excited about jobs at home? Maybe if I change the name to chores . . .) 

Visit to This Is the Place Heritage Park

 

Carding wool

At one of the pioneer housees we got to learn how to card, spin and weave wool. Here the kids got to practice carding (or smoothing) the rough wool so it could be spun. We found out this was an important little kid job when they were done with their other chores. 

Spinning wool