Friday, May 29, 2009

Family BBQ


{the dad's and cousins}

Eric and I love to be hosts. We love having friends and family over all the time to play and eat and enjoy each others company. Last night, we had over some of Eric's family for a night of swimming, playing, eating nd watching the Cav's game. (They are all from Ohio afterall)


{the showoff}


{the brisket}



{the food and sweets}



{the Lovell, Kandell and Kesler kids}



Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Cabining in Wyoming


Our little "filthy" family

Over this past weekend, Memorial day weekend. We went up to my parents cabin in Wyoming, in the beautiful Uintah's. We had s much fun there. It has been 2 years since we were all there together for the weekend, since Spencer was on his mission, and now we have added Max to the mix and Brady, my brother who got married and his new little wife Natalie were also there. It was so great. Except that I forgot my battery to my camera home on the charger but luckily my little sister Breanna sent me these photos of the weekend.



Highlights included
HUGE bonfires at night
yummy food
cabin card games
movies (funny ones in the afternoon, scary ones at night)
paint ball wars for the guys
4 wheeler rides
flower picking
naps and relaxing
S'mores
Max's tantrum on the log


Spencer, Christa, Me and Austin


The newlyweds with Christa and my kids. Max loves Natalie



My dad, brothers and Eric suited up for paintball war. Eric and my brothers were text and facebook trash talking all week leading up to the cabin. They had some serious wars.



Look at the welts, oh my gosh, that does not even look fun.
The guys did let me, my mom and sisters sniper shoot that them while they ran across the yard. My gun was jammed so they didn't get it too bad. My theory is that Eric intentionally jammed my gun since they all kept saying "Hailey is gonna jack us up" They were right, I was.


(Eric got a paintball to the chin in his last game)


The kids loved the 4 wheelers. Loved them!

Thanks mom and dad, it was such a great weekend!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Whirlwind Weekend


So last weekend was actually Hailey's birthday, but in light of all the family functions that we had going on at the time, we decided to celebrate her birthday this weekend.  Last weekend we had Spencer's return from Africa on his mission, Brady got married, and of course Mother's Day.  We decided to focus on those events last week and by the way it sure was lots of fun.

So this weekend I decided the best gift for Hailey would be to have some quiet time away for a night.  We just headed up for a relaxing and romantic evening in Salt Lake.  We stayed at Hotel Monaco and ate at one of our favorite spots right there at the hotel called Bambara.  The coolest thing about the night was that it was just really laid back.  We had eaten and were back in our room by like 9 pm and all we wanted to do was veg out and watch movies and relax.  No checking on the kiddos, no need to set an alarm clock, just true relaxation.  I sure hope Hailey enjoyed her birthday gift as much as I did!  Happy Birthday Babe!

This weekend the weather was amazing also.  We came home Saturday around lunch time and just relaxed and did a lot of playing outside with the kids.  I am not home much during the week but can certainly tell you that it is much easier now that the weather has cleared up and summer is upon us.  There is nothing better that just being able to let them outside and play til they wear themselves out.   We got in the pool and had tons of fun.  I cannot wait for this week, because it is supposed to be in the 80's to 90's for the next few days.  Summer fun here we come.







Living Traditions Food Festival!
For those of you that visit our blog sometimes, you know how much we love food.  We have even been told at times it is strange how much we photograph food.  Well I grew up loving food, and believe it or not, even Adyson, my daughter is now starting to love to cook and help out.  So we heard that there was International Festival in Salt Lake and decided to head up and check it out.  There were 20 different booths of ethnic foods from, Indian, Salvadorian, Bolivian, Swiss, Basque, African American and tons more!  Below are some highlights.



Bolivan CHOCLO (corn on the cob, obviously)


Lebanese dish with hummus, a salad and some chicken pita.

Tibetian Food
I'm telling you that those potatoes were SPICY!


Tahitian Dish




Dancing to the different traditional music that was being played live.





We finished off yet another busy weekend with Uncle Spencer's Homecoming talk at church up in Centerville, followed by a fun and filling lunch gathering at the Smoot home. 

Saturday, May 16, 2009

More Time Outs

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Dancin Queen



Ady had her first Spring Dance concert in April, we unfortunately had to miss it since we were on vacation at the time. But today she got to bring her costume home from ballet to keep. So, even though she didn't get to perform in the recital I wanted to take some pics of her in it since she looked so darling and worked so hard learning her dance at class.
I think she looks  so old all dressed up. Sad.




Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Faces of Time Out.


This face says "I'm sad you're mad"

And this one says to me "I am sorry I got caught"

The Conversation

Me - You guys are in time out because we DO NOT THROW FOOD!!

Ady - Max did all of it

Me - No, you both did, I overheard the laughing and Max could not do that all alone

Ady - Did you SEE me throw food?

Me - No, But I KNOW you did

Ady - If you didn't see me, then I think Max did all of it.

yeah right....

Also from time out, Ady yelled to me " You never want us to play together"

once again.... yeah right.....

Sunday, May 10, 2009

A good day to be Mom.


{A proud Mommy with her kids}

Ady's school made Mother's Day card

Ady, Mom and Macky

Happy Mother's Day Grandma!

Of course, since my family came down for a Mother's Day dinner I got a couple cute cakes at Dippidee, one for Mother's Day and one to celebrate my returned missionary brother Spencer's first Sunday meal at home. I think his cake is awesome.

We had a great night with my family, it was even warm enough to eat in the backyard.

My kids with their Aunt Breanna

My Grandma Hatch came too.

The siblings, Austin, Spence and Christa


3 generations of mothers. My mom and her mom.

My mom loved the cards and gifts we all gave her.

And I loved my cards and hugs. Thanks kids!