Another Try

We have not had good luck with cats around here. Sad, but true. Paige brought "Midnight" home the other night. Cute as a button. The girl and the kitten.

Disneyland Smith Style

Brady teetering over the edge

Photos by Justin. It was probably -100 or something this day! Brrrrrr! Love homemade fun!

(They jump out of the hot tub and do this in their swimming suits too!)

There are only two smart people in this family, and they are NOT in this picture.

A rough morning

Some mornings go better than others.

O Christmas Tree

Happy Thanksgiving

When my mom was here taking care of us she gave me a great compliment. She told me that she was impressed with how well Brady could clean a bathroom. So I just had to show her this: he can bake pies too!

Skiing On The Brain

The owners of the local ski resort told the kids to do the snow dance everyday.

It worked!
If you want to know the snowpack right down to the centimeter at any ski resort within 200 miles, I know some people who can help you.

A rare moment

These two actually did this together!

The Sky is Falling

I know you can't see anything, but if you could, you would see us in the hot tub early this morning. WHY? You ask.

Because Astronomer J wanted to see the Leonids! A meteor shower of course!

Soar like an Eagle

Justin has been working on his Eagle project. He has been trying to connect and clear a trail in the South Hills that is used by mtn.bikers, hikers, runners, motorcyclers, and horseback riders. Several people from the local bike shop and biking community have been putting in hours on it. Saturday some leaders and scouts from the ward showed up to finish it.

Thanks guys! Only a few minor flesh wounds...

Look at that beautiful trail

It works!

Catch of the Day

The choice is yours...

Justin's carp from the canal....

or Paige's trout from Oakely Reservoir.

A (Cold) Trip to Paradise

The boys went on their annual cast and blast on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. Two words sum up what they told me of the trip - Brrrrrr! and "Click."

Chris, soaking wet, after a close call.

Group photo, including wolf boy. Or should I say "click" boy.

Ghost boat. Hmmm, who "tied" it up?

Not ashamed to use the Barbie pole. Look at that catch!

A big surprise - look at Pete's face! Tad hiked in 11 miles in too small of boots to meet them at Cougar Creek.

Did I mention Brrrrr!

Just to prove to mom that they do brush their teeth, even if it is only at the take out!

They came home empty handed as far as game goes, but they did get plenty of chukar. They ate them along the way. Justin got a shot at an elk, and Monte got several shots and a "click" at a pack of wolves! If you haven't heard the story, I'm sure he'd recap for you, he relives it everynight in his dreams!

Happy Halloween

A quarterback

A CD Burner

Laundry

Not for the faint of heart (or the vegetarians)

That ain't ketchup. Guess what we did today?

Strong wings, this one has


If you are eating Thanksgiving dinner with us this year you may or may not want to be looking at this post.
But, if you're the kind that likes to see where your food has been, now you know.





Paige plucking feathers from a chicken breast. She insisted she did not need to be a part of this. "I don't need to know how to do this, when I grow up my husband will know how to do it!" She cried. Which of course flared up the girl power section of my brain. "Be interesting! Be brave!" I always send back.

Knowledge is power. Even the chicken slaughtering kind of knowledge. Maybe especially this kind of know how. Afterall, that is why we raise chickens, not, like you might think, because Darren and I love saying "Did anybody feed the chickens?" a million times a day!

One last Hurrah

We let the chickens out for one last day of freedom. Yes, they are going the way of the freezer today.

She's only smiling because she won't have to feed them any more. I'm actually going to miss the SOS call of "Chicken Help! Chicken Help!" when they surround her or try to get out.

A boy and his turkey. The turkey gets to stay around a little longer. Maybe because he can fetch, who said turkeys were dumb?

This one is going for a walk. Just kidding, it didn't work out.

Magic Mountain Race

Kimberly Middle School lets 5th graders come to cross country practice, though they can only participate in the home meet. That meet happens to be the toughest one of the year and it draws schools from Hailey to Wells, NV. There were about 70 boys racing this 1.9 mile straight up the ski hill course. Brady, 5th grade, took 14th place with a time of 11:05!

Justin came in 10th with a time of 10:43. That is totally sick if I compare it to my mile pace time, not including the hill climb!

Get a Life!

Justin earned his Life ranking. He also turned his Eagle project proposal in for approval. We adore this kid - where did we get him? We are also very lucky to have amazing leaders in our ward that put in a lot of time and effort providing great experiences for these boys!

Logan to Jackson (LOTOJA)

Darren rode 206 miles, through three states and over 3 major passes, in 11 hrs. and I only get a few lame pictures! In my own defense, I was kind of busy driving for 11 hrs. and running water bottles, PB&J and potatoes to him every 50 miles or so. He actually beat me to the feed zone in Afton. I only made one teeeny tiny stop - a girl deserves a Diet Coke after that long on the road, doesn't she?


He did awesome on Salt River Pass - 16:09! He is my superhero.

Steak and Lobster

This weekend was all about Paige. This was her trip. The boys get to go on the Middle Fork every year with Darren and she feels more than a little upset by this. I can relate. I remember hiding in my dad's car when he took my brothers to a Fathers and Sons campout.


In the end she decided to invite the rest of us along. She is quite the social creature, afterall.






We kayaked, carrying all our gear, to the south end of Redfish Lake and spent the night. I have a hard time picturing a more breathtaking view than when you round the corner (it's a big lake) and see Mt. Heyburn and the Grand Mogul stretching heavenward.






We fished, hiked, and hiked, and hiked Darren style: Trail? Never heard of it. And, as usually happens when you take the road less travelled, had a great adventure.

Look who we found along the way. All her idea Clayton, nothing to do with me.

Kayaks aren't very spacious, so we had to go minimalist. We decided this would be a great time to use up the food from our 72 hr. kit. It needed replacing anyway. So off we went with dehydrated spaghetti, an MRE, lots of granola, oatmeal and trail mix.

As pictured above, MRE brownies are a special treat to my kids. Sick, but whatever.

Now that our emergency food supply was mostly gone, we are going to have to refill it. Everyone thought this was a good tradition to start to make sure we rotated it. I asked what they thought I should replace it with for next year.

Justin's immediate response: Steak and Lobster.

Smart kid, that one.