Summerfest 2010

Summer officially starts with the Summerfest firework show. I could'nt care less about the stupid carnival or the L A M E parade, but I do not miss the firework show. I love the years when it's been warm summer night weather and all the cousins run around the baseball field with their glow sticks--it's just the BEST! These last two years of cold and rain have really been crampin my style but we still manage to have a great time and make some great memories.

This year I made the mistake of trying a new parking place. After marching some unhappy kids about a mile (but mostly hearing the whining coming from my husband...shh), me & Jenna went to stake out our spot for the firework show while Brent took Gavin & Kesley to watch the parade and try to catch some flying candy.

Me & Beans trying to keep warm...and happy staking out our spot. Easily distracted...but for how long?

The Fam Damily

The whole Clan of cousins during the finale! This year seemed a little empty without everyone there. Stop planning missions and vacations over SUMMERFEST people!!
Thanks for all the great traditions Mom & Dad! We sure missed you guys this year!

Can you handle it?

Computer problems have kept me from updating for a few days, but if things keep going the way they are going I will never catch up! Hang on tight--or just scan the pics!

Girls weekend in Vegas! What was going to be me and Kesley driving to Vegas for a weekend with Bonnie, turned into me and Aunt Amber FLYING to Vegas for a way fun weekend with Bonnie & John. Sorry Kesley, but flying and mom getting some adult time will definetly improve your quality of life--promise.

Because food is such a big part of life--and Vegas, we had to start things off right with the Bellagio Buffet. Can you say, "I think I am going to POP!" Then we went to see the Cirque show "O", which was AWESOME--we were so close we could see the shiny skin wrinkles on the black fan dancer performing in front of us. What would it be like to have ZERO body fat???

Me, Amber & Bonnie watching the Bellagio Water Show

Amber & Bonnie trying on $150 Cirque masks...which they decided not to buy! :)We layed out at the pool, went shopping and I was introduced to a Smith favorite--Gillmore Girls! It was a fun, much needed weekend!

Slip-N-Slide...or not! After being refreshed from my lovely weekend, I decided to try to be a fun summer mom. We went and bought two slip & slides and put them together down our back hill. I thought the kids weren't really slippin fast enough, so I tried sprinkling the slide with vegetable oil....didn't really have the effect I was looking for and the kids kinda smelled like french fries the rest of the day.

FHE in style. We spent Monday evening up South Fork. Grandpa Smith came with Tiffy & Maddy, Amber came with LOTS-O-FOOD & we had a beautiful evening. I don't have any pictures of this except one I stole from Ambers FB page which happens to be me & Beaner in the river--I also happen to be wearing my new favorite dress I got in VEGAS last weekend.

HIKING or WHINING? Tuesday I attempted something I knew would be iffy. I took my kids on a hike to Stewart Falls with Aunt Tiffy & cousin Maddy. We also had Jamison with us because Liz was still at the hospital with Ashton.

Tiffy, Maddy, Gavin, Kesley, Jenna & James

Me & my kiddos at the top.

It was two miles up & two miles back. It worked out to be about one mile uphill & one mile downhill both ways. Gavin & Kesley performed above my expectations, but for Jenna & James the hike proved to be about 3 miles too L O N G! When they were both already crying before we started the return hike, I knew we were in trouble. I sent Tiffy & Maddy on ahead with Gavin & Kesley and Me, Jenna & James took our time. We stopped and looked at bugs, named flowers and tapped on every tree...it was...fun? Both kids were working really hard on trying to be happy. At one point, Jenna stopped and said, "Mom, can we hike to Stewart Falls again next week on my birthday?" I think she was shocked when I said yes--so she quickly added, "Actually I want to have a birthday party--so can we never hike to Stewart Falls again cause I don't like it cause it's too long." I think that summed it up for both of us.

Summer is HERE!

Doesn't this background just SCREAM summer?!

Kesley missed her last week of school because of our trip. We woke up to this on her first official day of summer--5DAYS AGO! It was sick and wrong.

This is today after Gavin was officially done with school for the summer! How it should be! Nothing beats a tramp and a sprinkler.

This is Gavins melt your heart note he wrote his teacher. I wanted to keep it myself.We will obviously be working on some spelling issues, but he did this all on his own. He drew the picture of himself so she could remember his big teeth! I love the last couple sentences, "I like your smile. Do you like deer?" What a stud. He read it to me and when he got to the deer sentence he look at me and shrugged his shoulders and said, "I just thought I'd ask!"

Now...how long is summer?

Awkward family photos contest winner!

I cannot stop laughing at this! We had a big family picture taken at the 3rd to last goodbye party for my parents, and my mom asked this quirky lady from her ward to take a picture of all of us. Love this lady. I grew up with her as young womens advisers and stuff--but she is a not playing with a full deck...that's all I'm saying.

She gave my mom a disk with the pics and this little treat was on there. I call this:

"In the Hollow of His Hands"

Hi, my name is Maria and I am a FOODOHOLIC

We are home! (as of 3:30 a.m. this morning) I am already wishing I was back on the coast enjoying family, good friends and ENORMOUS amounts of food. I was thinking about my top ten moments of the trip and realized most of them revolved around food--butter in particular. We spared no expense and pretty much ate our way through our vacation! I haven't downloaded any pictures to my computer yet, so to fill the gap I will give you:

Maria's Top Ten Oregon Coast Moments In Food:

10. Depot Bay caramel popcorn--perfectly crunchy and chewy at the same time, every time.

9. Tillamook cheese! Why I felt the need to eat my weight in cheese is a mystery, but if everyone could please try not to use the word, "cheese curd" around me for awhile, I would very much appreciate it.

8. Amber's french dip sandwiches with sauteed mushrooms & onions on yummy french bread rolls.

7. Brent's famous pancakes with Daveys 'Pappy's Papsmear Syrup'. 4 ingredients: butter, buttermilk sugar & vanilla = the BEST syrup EVER!

6. J's Fish & Chips--a new find after all these years going to the Oregon Coast, but a MUST from now on.

5. Avocado Egg rolls with Honey-Cilantro dipping sauce. As Amber says, "They are their own food group."

4. Almond cake from "The Shops at Salishan" Nibbled on it and savored every bite as I thought about my parents--love you guys!

3. 124 cans of Diet Pepsi--not all consumed by me, but I think I'd be sick if I knew what percentage of that actually was consumed--by-- me.

2. Peanut Butter bars. Three pans full = 2 pounds of butter to add to my already overflowing muffin top.

1. Davey's Prime Rib at 11:00 p.m. one evening. Drooling just thinking about it!

p.s. The diet started this morning.

Encore presentation!

Because of its popularity (and documentation in pictures!) I am going to share a few choice views I have been enjoying this week...

Sand? What sand?

Hangin-out at the beach Hitchin a ride at Depot Bay
Hitchin a ride at Multanomah Falls
Hitchin a ride at Cape Mears Lighthouse

The tag saves the day at Heceta Head Lighthouse

It has been a great trip!

We are a happy family...seriously, we are.

We had an impromtu photo session this morning. 50 mile an hour winds and rain were on their way, so we ran out and tried to beat the storm. Thank goodness pictures don't capture all the screaming that went on between clicks... Gavin has the best smile in the world but, for some weird reason, he does this freaky smile for any formal picture setting. Between that and Brents crazy faces, we are relying on some Amber photo op magic for our perfect picture. She's probably going to kill me for posting this unedited pic, but I wanted to show you how talented she is. This is the before--the after will hang on my wall and show me looking 10 years younger and 50 pounds lighter--hee hee. Thank you Aunt Amber for being so patient!