How do you sleep?

Exhibit A:  Maxwell Hans Johnson

Likes to stay up late and wake up early.  Can be found in all sleeping positions possible.  Is often without covers and turned backwards.  Sometimes halfway falling off but rarely completely falls off the bed.

Exhibit B: Liza Enziane Johnson

Likes to stay up quietly and look at books.  Sleeps in (a little longer than her brother) and typically has her covers completely covering her and laid out nicely.  Sleeps in one position without a lot of movement.

These kids of mine, their sleeping style matches their personalities really well.  Cutie!

Hiking the Y

We brought Lisa, Warren and Liam home with us from Emmett.  We toured around BYU, ate on campus and hiked the Y.  I always forget what a steep hike it is, especially with a 26 pound one year old on your back.  But we all made it and Vanner actually hiked some of the way himself.  Must have been inspired by Liza and Max who were both fantastic and did the entire thing themselves.  Luckily it was overcast and ended up being a nice way to spend the morning before they headed home.

July

I'm pretty sure I was home all of three days in July.  But we made use of the time and Jeremy and the kids fit a few activities in while I was gone.

Jeremy was the master gardener this summer.  We had zucchini, squash, bell pepper, tomatoes, grapes and blackberries.  We loved all our fresh produce.

While I was in Oregon Jeremy and the kids tried to go to the Build-A-Bear "pay your age" day.  Basically you could get an animal for the price of your age, which is a huge discount if you know anything about Build-A-Bear.  However, when they arrived the mall was complete chaos.  After deciding the 8+ hour wait wasn't worth the price of any stuffed animal they aborted the mission and just played at the play area with cousins.

Random pics of Vanner and Max looking very cute.

Liza said she wanted to have a lemonade stand, to which I answered, "That sounds like a horrible idea.  Let's sell Creamies to BYU students instead."  So one afternoon we bought some Creamies and headed to campus to test our luck.  It wasn't wildly successful but the kids made a dollar after they paid for supplies and they each got to eat a Creamie themselves so they were happy.

Old college roommate Heather was in Utah but unfortunately she was here the exact dates I was in Idaho.  There was one afternoon of overlap so we planned it so I could pick her up from the airport and hang out for a few hours before I had to leave.  Short but sweet.  I need more Heather time in my life!

BYU Moab trip

Jeremy didn't stay with us the entire time in Emmett because he had to get back to "work".  I use quotes here because part of that work included taking a two day trip to Moab with the summer interns.  Not a bad gig if you ask me.

The party continues...

After Albion a few family members from the east stuck around for more fun in Emmett so naturally we wanted to tag along.  The kids were having non-stop fun.

Tea parties were a frequent occurance

Suzette taught everyone to play Get the Gold Bars (a favorite game from our childhood) and the kids thought it was fantastic.  They were out in the summer heat playing game after game in the evening.

In true Smith fashion, all the kids participated in "work camp".  We cleaned up all the pine cones and needles from under the trees.  Some were more excited to help then others.

One day everyone except Vanner and I went to the damn because Vanner was napping.  When he woke up he followed grandpa around the garden and helped him dig and pull weeds.  He was pretty cute out there.

And of course, when in Idaho, the dangerous weapons come out.  Dad let all the littles do some gun shooting.  He had them make their own targets and then shoot one at a time.

Liza was very meticulous about lining up the gun just right and having everything ready before shooting.

Max, on the other hand, jumped up on the seat, briefly looked through the scope and quickly said, "fire" before anyone even knew what happened.

Vanner was happy to get to check out the targets when everyone was finished shooting.

The day after gun shooting the bow and arrow came out.  The arrow was a small one for kids but still a bit tricky for Liza and Max to pull back.  They weren't quite strong enough to do it all by themselves although they really wanted to.

Vanner was feeling left out so he grabbed a gun from inside to entertain himself.  The highlight of the trip for Vanner was feeding the neighbor's pigs.  We would collect fruit and veggie peelings, watermelon rinds, moldy bread and put them in a bucket to take to the pigs.  Vanner loved doing this and multiple times a days would just start saying, "Feed pigs" and walk himself over to the neighbor's house.  Luckily there were lots of cousins willing to follow him most of the time so I didn't have to go with him every time but he was obsessed with those pigs.

The two white haired men at the party.

As always most of our time was just spent in the pool.

Max finally got brave enough this time to jump off the diving board all by himself.  He loved it and kept doing it again and again with the addition of ninja moves.

Somehow we all survived and had a great time with lots of memories.

Smith reunion in Albion

The middle of July we headed to middle of nowhere Albion, ID, for the George and Beth Smith reunion.  Basically my dad's brothers and sisters and their families.  We had about 90 people come and I was in charge.  Luckily for me I put together a fantastic committee to help me plan and organize everything and it all turned out great.

The night before Lisa, Cherie and I went to Twin Falls to spend the night so we could do some early morning shopping.  We were quite the sight in Walmart and Costco as we bought enough food for 90 people for breakfast, lunch and dinner for three days.  Cherie was the ultimate menu/food planner and somehow we got it all bought and transported (that was the trickiest part) to the reunion.

The first night we started things off with a few Minute to Win It games.  Always a nice way to reconnect with cousins you haven't seen for a while.

While we were there we also celebrated Grandma Beth and Grandpa George's 100th birthday's.  Both of them are dead, but they both would have been 100 this year and boy, what a legacy they left us with.  As part of the birthday party we did pinatas, cookies and brownies and also created a circle of family members from oldest to youngest.  

Another morning was spent in near by City of Rocks.  Liza was very disappointed that she wasn't allowed to climb all the way to the top of one of the rocks but we did get a few good climbs in and despite Vanner's constant crying (he was tired) we all had a pretty good time.

A few of the cousins also planned some escape room games for adults and kids.  Everyone was really engaged in them and enjoyed solving the mysteries.

Obviously toe painting was a must because Heather was there to do cute flowers.

Other activities included banana bike riding, swimming, haunted house tours and lots and lots of eating and playing.  One of my favorite nights was an impromptu volleyball game with some cousins.  Fun times for sure.

And did I mention my entire immediate family was there.  Had to snap a family photo.