Middle School

The girls started middle school on Monday. It was Bostyn's first day of middle school and Bailee's last first day of middle school. I cannot believe that they are both in middle school.
Seriously.
Where does the time go? Didn't they start kindergarten like yesterday?
Wow. In a few short years, I'll be posting pictures of them driving away to college.
Oh boy.

Anyway.

Here are pictures of my beautiful girls on their first day.

Bostyn

Bailee

We are all excited about this school year. Bostyn has set a goal to get straight A's and be on the honor roll for the entire year. YAY! Now that is a goal that I can get on board with.

Here's to a wonderful school year!

There goes summer

After our trip to Utah, we had two short weeks before school started again. We did a bunch of activities and had lots of fun.

We went to a fun farmer's market. All the girls climbed the rock wall.
Hayden preferred the bounce house.

The bottom left picture is me. Heck yes.


Bailee got her knee stuck in the deck railing.

She's not in pain in this picture, she was actually cracking up. She pulled it out when the neighbor offered to bring over his chainsaw. Ha ha ha

We made cookies in the shapes of all 50 states.

Delicious and educational. Score one for mom.


We prepared for Hurricane Irene by hanging out on the roof.

Totally safe right? Right??


We finished up the two weeks with 2 fun-filled days (dripping with sarcasm) of school clothes shopping. Unfortunately no pictures of that. We were too busy trying on everything in the entire mall. :)

HOME

Utah will always and forever be my home. As much as I like traveling and being able to see different parts of the country, there is no place quite as amazing as Utah.

As soon as my plane touched down last Monday, I felt like I could finally breathe.....sort of...I was (and still am) battling a nasty chest cold.


First things first, we took Hayden out to get a new cowboy hat at Smith and Edwards. In the parking lot, they had a tank that Hayden was mesmerized with. He climbed up and down the stairs and checked everything out.

After we picked out a cowboy hat, it was on to the trains at the Union Station. Grandma climbed up on one train and Hayden yelled up to her, "Grandma! Be careful!"

Later that night, we met up with Josh and Cindy (my brother and sister-in-law) and their kids (Jesse, Bella, Brooklyn and Tayton) to let the buddies play.

Hayden and Jesse on safari

Wednesday, we rode Frontrunner with Sheryl (my cousin) and her kids (Eva, Katelyn and Colin) down to the Gateway for lunch and a little splashing in the fountain.

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Kyle (my brother) flew in late Wednesday night and by 8:00 am Thursday morning, Hayden and Kyle were best friends.

Thursday night, my mom and dad treated all of us to a concert. Darryl Worely!
What a freaking blast!
THANKS MOM AND DAD!

Man this dude is tall!

Mom and Dad in their roaring fifties!

Me and Hayden love this guy. Who wouldn't?


Friday we took family pictures and then we all went to dinner at our favorite steakhouse, Maddox. Yum!

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Saturday morning we had our wild and crazy Smith family reunion.

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Hayden and Jesse running around the sprinklers...these two had a blast together!

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Later that afternoon, we celebrated my Grandpa's 80th birthday!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Fred!


On our second to last day, we celebrated the blessing of my nephew Tayton. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the adorable little guy, but here are his parents, Josh and Cindy.

Our very last day in Utah was spent mainly in the airport. It was quite the nightmare. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:50, but it was delayed due to bad weather in Baltimore. When our plane finally arrived at 2:30, we boarded. After sitting on the plane for 20 minutes, they de-boarded us, because they could not get the door to close. We waited for another plane to arrive. Because we waited so long, we were able to say another goodbye to Kyle. Our plane finally got off the ground at 5:00 and we touched down at almost midnight. It made for a long exhausting day.

We had a great trip. I wish I could fly home every other month. I want to say thanks to my mom for an awesome week. Hayden has been saying he misses Grandma and Grandpa ever since we touched down in Baltimore. I guess we'll just have to go back next month right? :)

July Round-up

We had a very busy and fun past couple of weeks, but you'd never know it by looking at my blog! I figure I better get caught up before my trip out to Utah next week.

Here's what we've been up to.

Bostyn took her very first cake class!

We went swimming with friends....thanks again Tonya!

Said goodbye and put Bostyn on a plane.

Bailee and I made beach towel bags.

We also made seashell collecting bags...can't wait to use these on the beach!

We painted plates.....even Hayden enjoyed this craft. :)

Hiked Gambrill State Park

Visited our cousins at Grandma and Grandpa's farm.

That's cousin Ziggy.

Went to Six Flags America!

This is the view from the top of......

........THIS ride. AWESOME!

Tuesday we dropped Bailee off at the airport and the boys and I went to the National Aquarium. We figured with it being Shark Week and all, we had to go.

Hayden loves everything about sharks, but actually coming close to one was another story.

Hayden and mom checking out the frogs. My favorite part!

If you click on the picture above, you can get a better look at Jake's reflection in the glass. It's pretty funny.

We had a blast in July and I cannot believe it's already August! In a few short weeks, the girls will be back in school and before you know it, it will be the holidays.


Have a great rest of your summer!