Youth Conference 2017

Youth conference is generally for people ages 14 and up.  Alison is still 13, but all her friends are 14 (thanks to her skipping 1st grade).  She was pretty bummed that she was going to miss youth conference, until they announced that anyone who was 13, but going into 9th grade could attend!  How thoughtful is that!?!?!

Personally, I feel like they should have said, "Anyone who used to be a young women's leader but got yanked out two months ago should be allowed to attend" as well, but they didn't.  So I was forced to send Alison and all the rest of my young women off to Snow College without me.  Look at a few of the pictures their leaders took of all the fun they were having:

I think this is part of the ropes course.

Here's Ali as a human bowling ball.  

Alison the rock climber.

My peeps just chillin' in the shade.

Ooh!  This looks fun and hard.  Go Ali!

And the Manti Pagent to top it all off!  What a great time!

Alison came home and told me all about these fun activities, as well as a dance, some amazing talks given by our stake president and his wife, some powerful devotionals, a fantastic testimony meeting, some crazy silly middle-of-the-night memories, and even getting lost for a while.  She had a ball!  

Lagoon!

Summer REALLY starts when we go to Lagoon with the family each year!  What a fabulous tradition this has become over the years!

A HUGE thank you goes out to these people.  Grandpa Smith always gets us discount tickets (FREE this year!) and they help me chase down my gaggle of Gees all day long!

This is one of two rides that Quinton went on - he screamed his head off both times. 

I guess he's not much of a thrill seeker.  But he was perfectly content watching the rest of us.  After work, David picked him up and took him home while the rest of our gang stayed and played until closing time.

Look at that fun, wet group!  Clockwise, from the green shirt at 12 o'clock: Joshua, Uncle Scott, McKenna, Nicole, Alison, Grandpa, Bronson.

If you look closely, you'll see Alison in Black, Nicole in navy with a while strip on her sleeve, McKenna in sky blue, and Katie behind her in pink.

Now you see Katie in the pink shirt again, and next to her is Scott Smith in light blue.  This is the crew we hung out with after the baby went home.  We hit all the big rides.  

Poor McKenna tried to go on a few of the big rides with us, but she's not really a fan of them.  After a couple, she said she was feeling queezy.  She wanted to rest on the sky ride (the one that takes you across the park).  I thought she'd be better off walking with me, but she insisted on riding. Well, I guess I should have been a little more forceful in my request because, sure enough, she puked.  Over the side.  Onto the ground.  Luckily, she didn't hit any unsuspecting passers by below, but she could have... 

Her car (along with her clothes and body) were covered in vomit, so they had to shut down the ride while they cleaned it up.  Ever wonder why the ride gets stopped forever while you're stuck in the air?  Now you know.  Alison was in the car right behind McKenna, so she was stuck literally 5 feet off the ground for EVER while they cleaned it up.  Poor McKenna.  Poor everybody.  We all stayed positive and got a pretty good laugh out of the whole thing, but ew!

Meanwhile, my parents went with Joshua and Bronson on the more kid friendly rides like the Bat, Bombara, the scrambler, etc.  They had an absolute ball!  We'd meet up here and there for a few minutes, then break up again.  It was a totally fun time - and the perfect start to our summer fun!

It's Hard To Be LIttle

Quinton wanted to play with the big kids and his neighborhood friends, but he was feeling a little bit shy about getting wet.

So he just watched from afar.

It was cute, and a little heart breaking at the same time.

At least he had fun watching the kids play.  It was entertaining to him.  Eventually, he warmed up to the idea of getting wet.  Now, a couple months later, I have a hard time keeping him dry.

School's Out For Summer!!!

Hooray for summer break!!!  The big star of our family this year was Nicole, who graduated from Elementary school (wait, WHAT?!??!)

I could have sworn I just barely took this picture!  How did she grow up so fast?!?!  Time is such a weird thing!  Especially for a parent, I think.  It's strange to see the child your kid once was and the person they are becoming all at the same time, isn't it?  Strange, and awesome! 

The boys finished school for the summer a week before the girls, so they attended Nicole's graduation ceremony with me.  

Mrs. Trease, her nearly 80 year old (I kid you not) teacher.  She is a superstar!  One of the best teachers in the state!  I fought hard to get Nicki in her class, and I'm glad I did.  We will miss her, and I'm sure Nicole will go back and visit her until she retires (or dies - whichever comes first).

Nicki and Charly - best friends.  

Wow!

Grandma Gee has always wanted to play the piano at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  Now that she has no kids at home, Grandpa's retired, and they aren't serving a mission, she decided to give it a try.  She auditioned for one of the main music guys for the church and he was very impressed!  He asked her to come play not only at the JSM building, but also the conference center.  So, on the first Thursday of every month, Grandma and Grandpa Gee drive down from Idaho.  She plays at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in the evening for a couple of hours.  The next morning, she plays in the conference center.  Isn't that cool!?!?

We all went to Salt Lake to see her on the first Thursday in June.  I don't think we'll do that too often - it's a little distracting - but it sure was cool to see her at least once!  Hopefully we'll see them more often, either as they are passing through Layton, or as we come listen to her play.  We are so proud of her - not only for her fantastic skills, but for her courage and determination to go after her dreams.

She is an amazing pianist! It was fun to sit and listen for a while.  In the JSM building, she is free to play Disney songs and show tunes, etc.  At the Conference center, she sticks to hymns and religious music.  

Grandma was stuck on the piano, of course.  But Grandpa Gee chatted with us, and even came upstairs to look at the view of Temple Square from the top floor.  We are looking forward to having them in town at least once per month.  

Memorial Day Weekend

We had the best Memorial Day weekend this year!  Everything about it was wonderful!  It started on Friday.  It was the last day of school for our boys!  (The girls still had a week to go).  In the evening, Kristi and Terry's family came over.  They had their annual soccer tournament here in Layton so we got to host them overnight.  This has become one of my favorite traditions!  We love having them visit and we love to catch some of their games. (I think David loves that I get crazy and deep clean everything I can in the house in the weeks leading up to their visits - without them, I'm not sure if I'd EVER wash the floorboards behind our boys' beds...)  I am ATROCIOUSLY bad at getting pictures of their visit every singe year!  I'm semi-proud of myself for getting any at all, but I certainly didn't take enough.

They arrived at our house with just enough time to drop off their bags, pack themselves a sack dinner, and head off to soccer games.  We went to Abbey's game that night.

When they came back from soccer games late that night, they brought the fixin's for chocolate milk floats.  Yummy!  Our kids got to stay up late, eat treats, and sleep in sleeping bags near their cousins.  It was awesome!  My kids were pretty bummed that they didn't get more time to play.  Bronson said to me, "Do you mean we worked this hard to clean the house and we don't even get to SEE them for very long?!?!?"

In the morning, we ate a big yummy breakfast, then sent them on their way to get to their games. I took a couple of kids with me to watch one or two games.  It was fun! 

Somehow I missed getting pictures of Abbey, but here's Sam! 

Here he is again. He's really good!  So is Abbey.    

Bronson and Isaac playing ball behind the sidelines.

We had a really great time, but it was too short.  They headed off to Terry's sister's house after the tournament ended.  I made them promise to stay longer next year.

On Sunday afternoon, we took the family to Temple Square.  

It was a beautiful day, the flowers were spectacular (are they ever NOT?) and the kids were relatively well behaved.  Success! 

Early in the morning on Memorial Day, we took our kids on a hike.  Not just any hike, though.  We took them to the Mount Ben Lomond Trail.  

On this very spot, on Memorial Day 15 years earlier, David proposed to me.  

It's only a mile or two up the trail.  It's overlooking Eden and Huntsville.  David and I went much earlier on the day he proposed.  We hit this spot right as the sun was rising.  

The kids did about as well as can be expected.  Quinton thought he was going to die and had to be held for a large portion of the hike. Joshua was always WAY too far ahead of us and we had to keep yelling for him to wait up.  All of them threw up when David and I volunteered to reenact the proposal and kiss in front of them.  Hee hee!  

Look what a difference 15 years can make!  We had a wonderful time celebrating the family we chose to begin that day.

After our hike, we went to the Ogden cemetery to visit Grandma and Grandpa Smith's graves. I love cemeteries.  Especially on Memorial Day.   So much love there - so much history!  And what a glorious place it will be on resurrection day!

In the evening, we grilled souvlaki and had corn on the cob.  It was delightful!  What a great weekend!

This n' That

Here's a little taste of life in the late spring months...

Alison's final choir concert was held outside at the Ed Kenley Amphitheater. It's a really fun concert.  Alison had a solo in it and did a great job.

Alison auditioned for her school's show choir for next year and made it!  We're very excited for her!

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While Megan and her parents went to her sweet 16 party (that's right,Megan is 16!!) Nicole and I babysat Adam. He was so super cute!  He actually took my phone from me and flipped through all my photos for a long time. He'd stop and check out any pictures that had people he knows in them.  He's so cute! Nicole said she wants to go back with me next time I get to watch him.

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Somebody in this house is in big boy underwear!  He's very proud of himself.  Somebody else in this house is gonna stop buying diapers soon.  FOREVER!!!  Whooo!

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In scouting news, Josh made and decorated a cake (mostly) by himself.   The theme was renewable energy, so he made an earth cake with solar, wind, and water energy sources.  He was very proud of it.

Josh was the grand champion at our raingutter regatta!  Pretty awesome, right?!?!  Especially since the boat was only completed about an hour before the race!

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Soccer started up again in the spring.  David stuck it through the entire year as Bronson's coach, but vowed to never do it again! Josh's team was undefeated.  Nicki was on a comp basketball team, but I never got any pictures.  Sorry!

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We went on a lovely walk with Grandma and Grandpa Smith through the Farmington Bird refuge one Sunday evening. We saw tons of little ducklings,  Blue Heron, Red Winged Blackbirds, and tons of other birds.

The mosquitoes were about as big as birds, though.  Next time we'll be prepared!
L-R: Alison, Myself, Grandma, Josh, and Grandpa.  

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Bronson and Nicole cuddling and watching TV together.  I really cherish these moments of peace and kindness between my children.

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We went to "Baby Animal Days" in Farmington again this year.  It makes me sad and nostalgic every time. I'm sad that none of my boys remember our life in Idaho.  This is such a novel thing to them! 

I'm glad they get to pet goats and cows and ride a horse and hold a baby chick once a year, but I also wish they could experience a life that include these animals.  Oh well.  City life certainly has its perks too.

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Nicki had a long lasting cold in May and we ended up taking her to the doctor.  He put her on antibiotics and a few days later, she broke into a rash.  We called the doc and he said she was probably having a reaction.  

She missed a couple of days of school, but was otherwise perfectly fine.  The bummer was, she missed some big, fun days of school.  May is all about test taking and parties.  Poor girl!

*Later note: about a month later, Josh picked up the same rash.  Quinton got it a week after him.  I guess it was viral and had nothing to do with the antibiotics after all.

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She didn't miss her medieval days, though.  She earned the title of Lady (she would have been a queen if she hadn't missed a couple of days for her rash).  She tied for first pace in the chess tournament, ate delicious midieval food - soup, bread, pie, etc - played fun games, jousted, and had a great time.

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My good friend and neighbor, Melanie got tickets to a Real Salt Lake soccer game and invited me to come along with her.  It was FREEZING, but so much fun!  Emily Williams came with us too.  We had a great girls night out cheering on some professional soccer players who must have been freezing their tails off!