Hot Rods and Hot Deals

I would never claim to be crafty. I would, however, claim to be cheap, and this was a fun cheap craft I did with the kids this morning. I found the little wooden car and bus at Walmart for $.88 cents. The kids picked which one they wanted and we spent about an hour painting them just right. This looks like the beginning of a new car/bus collection.

Come and Get It!

PLEASE! We have an abundance of cherries growing on our tree out front. There are so many that we can't get them and eat them or give them away fast enough. Come. Bring your ladder and best climber and take them away. We know they're free but still hate to see them go to waste.

Micah's Family

Micah's brothers and sister were all in town last weekend so we decided to use a nearby park for its real intended purpose...Family Picture Photo Op. We did everything we could to not end up on awkwardfamilyphotos.com but you can be the judge: The blue and white hat belonged to Micah's younger brother that passed away 11 years ago this August. His family tries to have it in all their family pictures as a tribute. I need to dig up some old pictures that show how much Taj looks like his late uncle Jacob in that hat.
Part of the reason for the get-together was to celebrate some birthdays. Ben and Gabe are 14 years and a day apart...you know how big families go.
My father-in-law Steve temporarily lost his senses and offered to take us all out to eat for the birthday boys. We went to Salt Lake to The Melting Pot; a tabletop fondue place. The food was awesome and I won't even go into the detail about how much I dream about the Turtle Chocolate dessert fondue. Taj and Eden were little angels during the three hours we were there. Little angels that can't sit still and want to stick their fingers in the pots. They had fun once the chocolate covered marshmallows arrived.

Something about "the Big City" still makes us feel like country bumpkins. What's this? A parking meter?
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Since the Smiths are all boys and one girl, anytime they get together a basketball game ensues. This time they got some cousins and neighbors involved:

Family Photo's

As family photo's go, we don't get many that we like. We are an un-photogenic family. Seriously. Even the kids take some winners. I usually erase them as soon as they are taken- it's an instinct I've developed after years of bad pictures. These were just a few of the first ones I found- I don't want to nauseate anyone :).

Micah just showed me an AWESOME site that must be seen: http://awkwardfamilyphoto.com/ It's my new favorite. Share it with people you love.

re-discovery

With all the books we read each day I am amazed it took this long to re-discover Leo Lionni. The man was a children's book author-genius and is one of my all time favorites. If you haven't read his stuff or it's just been a while it's time to get to it. He's a pleasure to look at and read over and over again. "But don't take my word for it!"

Summer Fun

Last Saturday was the annual Fireman Breakfast. It was our first time, but definitely won't be the last time. Eden mentions it several times a day now and loves to wear her fireman hat-I need a picture of that. I wonder if she'll do that until next year. It was a fundraiser where the firemen cook a great breakfast and we buy it, eat it, then play around on the trucks. How rad is that old fire truck? Taj was loving the bell.

We love Farm Country (Thanksgiving Point). Eden had her first horse back ride and kept saying "Again" afterwords and Taj picked the biggest horse he could find. We laughed at the baby cow that could lick his own nostrils. It was good times.

We've been out to the parks and thrown hundreds of rocks into streams all over town. This is such a beautiful time of year, and such a beautiful age for the kids. I'm loving watching their excitement over the world. It's something new everyday. Summer is fun!