Party at Nonny's.... always!

There's always a party of some sort going on at Papa and Nonny's home, it seems like...

The cause for today's celebration was Nathan's 7th birthday!  He's the youngest son of my eldest bro.

Brilliant to have the kiddos eat their cake out on the lawn, right?! Keep the mess outdoors!

Steve and Meg are our "Texas people."
Wish they lived closer of course, but it's fun that they do these long visits here EVERY summer!

Brianna's Church Class

My 6 year old gets SO excited each Sunday for her church class. That makes this Mormon Mama's heart fill with happiness.

Next to her is her good buddy Thatcher - son of my friends, Landon and Briett Lybbert. The middle blond girl is the daughter of my friend Lekiesha, who I've known since Elementary. One of their teachers is Kara, who - again - I've known, like, forever..
It's so crazy that MY children are now friends with the children of my old childhood friends! I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.
All part of this adjusting to life "back home" !
PS - The Church is true.  Forreals.

Highlight of their day....

Cones at the Colbert store!

Just a buck for the yumminess.

I know why I like taking them here so much.... it's a combination of wanting to support local business and wanting my kids to have the same happy memories *I* have.  
I remember as a child being SO excited when my parents would take me to Theno's Dairy in Woodinville (near Seattle).
There was a giant cow outside that Mere and I loved to sit on.
And the ice cream was legit - homemade, thick, creamy.... the real deal.
Colbert store does Dreyers brand, which is fine.
It's more about the experience than the actual product.
I was so sad to learn that Theno's closed down a few years ago.
They couldn't stay open
 (DARN YOU BASKIN ROBBIN TYPE CORPORATE PLACES!!!)

So we will do our part to make sure the Colbert Store stays open so our children can have the fun we did :)

Lake sag diaper!

After playing at the beach, she is happy and LOADED!

Disposable diapers are so much more absorbent than we think they are....


Seriously, she LOVES playing on the beach, right at the water's edge. It's like SENSORY OVERLOAD.   Sun shining down, muddy sand to grab/throw/eat/stand in, and of course the moving water. So fun to splash in like crrrraaaazzzzyyyy.
Charity is especially happy to have moved to this unique locale where lake trips are multi-weekly occurrences!

The face only a mother could love....

 

I know, right?! How could anyone NOT wanna smooch on those sweet cheeks.... so full of snotty black bean remnants... mmmmm....

Big&Little

First Utah visitors !

So great to see the Marujis!

Our first visitors from Utah so far.... I hope they won't be our ONLY! Friends, come to Spokane!! :)

Why I dislike Brian's fancy schmancy phone...

He's ALWAYS on it!
 Biggest distraction ever!
Constantly checking email, sports scores, news updates, etc.
 I've resorted to HIDING it many times. If he didn't "need it for work", I'd be happy to see it disappear....

Consumerism

Costco is a dangerous place....

I keep finding things I NEEEEEED, like this chair! Ahh!

Would be so perfect in our fam room....

Must.leave.now.

thirsty...

Sipping water off her highchair. 

It's what the classy babies do.   

New swing!

The instant-gratification-lover in me appreciates Amazon's 2 day shipping. (Mom's prime account-but I'd probably pay for my own if I needed to cuz I love it that much!)
This kept the twins busy for a full 90 minutes!! Long enough for me to workout (on week 6 of T25, good stuff), shower, and start packing for the reunion!

Car napping slumped twins

Aaare weeee theeerrre yeeeettt.....

Headed out to Lake Chelan! Finally!
Been looking forward to this for months.
Not the long drive part though. Ugh. I hate hate hate long drives.
I neeeed to get oooouuuut and moooove my body.
I'm a whiner, I know.

Getting this announcement over with....

[big breath annnd - GO]
So I let Mere chop off 14 inches kindof impulsively after 15 years of long hair and I'm selling it and I look awful with shoulder length hair now and I feel yucky and I don't wanna talk about it anymore

Cherry Pickers Trot!

Family tradition! The kids did great in the Kid's Trot. Then Brian did the 4 mile full race and rocked it. We enjoyed some tractor-caterpiller rides, dinner, dancing to a live band, and perfect summer evening temps up on Greenbluff!

Summer party

We invited the girls from Briann's kindy class over for a "Summer Party" (basically a glorified playdate - or a birthday party minus the birthday cake).
It was super fun!
We did some cute butterfly painting crafts, played water relay games, had sandwiches & fruit, went to the park for a frisbee game, and finished w/ popsicles.

 I really want Brianna to have a great experience going into 1st grade, and I think having good friends will help with that.
 So we'll have at least one more summer party and give the girls lots of time to play together! (at MY house. Cuz I'm going to be one of THOSE parents :)

messy sweet boy

Bennett came up to me and said, "I'm sorry mommy." My first thought was - oh he's so sweet - but that was quickly replaced by the realization that he probably was apologizing for a big mess he made somewhere.
And that was exactly the scenario.
So sad to see good salsa go to waste.
And so sad that Bennett has now lost the privilege of being anywhere near the pantry.

(this was only hours after he spilled a jar of honey from the pantry - so both spills = pantry ban)

Mad Scientist hair

Sometimes baby gets a little head-sweaty during the day, since it's like a million degrees outside lately.

Which provides the perfect conditions to play with her hair and spike it up crazy during feedings.

He's part-monkey

Sprayed on the trampo!

Playdate

Brianna has a cute playdate friend named Lily.

We moved to WA and developed a plant-buying addiction.

 Weed jokes never get old.....

Cruising w/ cousins

Big screen jammin

I love love love our Vizio player that lets us do YouTube, Netflix, etc on our tv! And Pandora! I have music going allll day.
I got this little device for $25 off craigslist. So now we don't have to pay for any cable services or anything.  Now I just gotta get our bunny ears working so I can get local stations!

I'm a gardener

My house is so very far from "put together," but I do have one thing I can be proud of: we got our garden in!

Zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, cabbage (which might have died already), cucumber and cantaloupe. 
And some flower baskets.
The kids have loved being involved in planting and watering!
And hopefully we'll get to enjoy lots of Fall backyard produce.

AZ people have arrived!

It's starting!!

The next few weeks will feature lllloooottts of cousin time.

Seattle people, Texas people, Colorado people....

The Super Smith reunion 2014 has unofficially begun!!

yay for 'merica

Nonny enjoyed shopping for and outfitting the kids in patriotic attire!

Free raspberry jungle!

My parents have been blessed by the Raspberry Gods.
There are LOADS in their backyard garden wonderland.
It makes me happy.
I spend hours there eating - I mean picking - the juicy balls of happiness.
Brianna is an excellent helper. Courtney - well, she's easily distracted by everything else in the yard.
Saturday morning I rode my bike up to their house w/ the 2 girls in the trailer (good workout!) and picked for 90 minutes straight.

 

Huckleberry @The Ram

Mere took this outside the The Ram. I have fond memories of stopping here on the way home from Girl's Camp every summer for Huckleberry icecream. So of course, I wanted to give my children the same experience. This IS Northern Idaho... where Huckleberry is a staple flavor for just about every dessert.

Riley Creek

Beach, 
pretty lake, 
jumping cliffs, 
happy baby, 
no crowds, 
sandcastles, 
jet ski cruising... 
Its July in Washington!


Well, technically Idaho.

Friends with pools are the best kinds of friends

Swim parties in their backyard wonderland every week!

Napping with Nonny

Supervising Papa at work