Toward the middle of June we packed up the car and headed out for our two week road trip in... White Shadow. (Remember, use your whisper voice.)
First stop - EFY in Flagstaff for Little C. If you're looking for a life changing, uplifting experience for your teen, this is the place to make it happen!
He and his cousin, Joshua, had a pretty amazing time learning about the gospel and about the females surrounding them.
My darling nieces, Desiree and Kallyn, also attended EFY together. It warmed my heart seeing these two become best pals.
While Little C was away at EFY we partied at my sister Erin's house! It had been more than five years since we had last visited and we made sure to fit in as much fun as possible!
Here's some water park fun:
And there was always a lot of cooking going on:
Erin teaching Ruckus how to make waffles:
While The Beloved escaped to go golfing one day, we took the littler kids to play in a fountain:
Dinner at Mod Pizza:
Craft Time: P.S. the best kinds of artists wear sunglasses.
Cute girls:
The day for departure just so happened to be The Beloved's birthday! After attending nine o'clock church, we arrived back at Erin's and made a lovely, healthy brunch. - because this guy is healthy now. And since he really knows how to party, he requested vanilla greek yogurt for his "bday cake". :)
This is The Beloved's face during most of our adventures in life. He's so happy when I encourage him to do stuff - specifically go on road trips and be social. But underneath that face is a loving, patient, hard-working man, who is devoted to his family. He cooks fantastical meals for us, he helps the kids with their homework, he prepares their school lunches, he helps Sweetrotten and the Baby read their personal scriptures every night, he plays bball with Little C on most Tuesday nights, and he makes sure to throw a ball around with the boys on Sunday afternoons. Don't get me wrong, he's a fart too, but he's our fart. And a pretty handsome one at that.
And when our tire went flat in the middle of nowhere, on his birthday, he didn't say one bad word. But he usually doesn't. He's a goody like that. Unless we're out of protein bars...
Later that evening we arrived in St. George at The Beloved's brother's house. The kids had so much fun swimming around in Jake and Kelli's swimming pool and playing with their fun cousins. Ruckus and I had our own kind of fun while we hung out a Big O Tires waiting for our van to get new wheels. We walked next door to have some lunch and then found a used video game store that we spent way too much time and money in. But we had fun. Ruckus is my pal.
The next day The Beloved and Jake took time to practice their golf swing:
Lou was super entertained:
Our next stop was to party with the Craner fam before the annual Smith/Palmer family reunion.
Cousin Hyrum serenaded the girl's with his ukulele:
Rook time:
We hit up Bryce Canyon:
And Angie provided us with fun moves:
Here's the one picture I took at the family reunion campground. How lame am I? These two cute girls would walk up and down the trail holding hands all day.
Toward the end of the reunion we went on a spelunking adventure.
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| We were so happy to have some of our Smith cousins with us. Katie, Brett, Heidi - it was fun to be with you! |
All of our kids did it! I'm not going to lie, there was some crying, but they felt strong and proud afterward!
Here's Joe popping his head out of the hole. :)
The day we headed home from our two week jaunt was Angie's birthday. We stopped for lunch and were all surprised at this mother of a cake the restaurant gifted her. So funny!
My little dad was feeling paternal and tried to help Joe with his bites.
The celebration continued at our house as we not only celebrated Angie's b-day, but our soul sister, Emma's as well. We are so thankful we can have a piece of the Vallecillos family near us even when Erin can't be here.
My talented niece, Natalie, had a sushi dinner prepared for us when we arrived home and we were all thankful for the feast!
Party!
The following morning my mom, Angie, and I celebrated my birthday early by having breakfast at Kneaders. We then headed to Walmart and walked around like the hot babes that we are!
And finally we crashed!
Because it's so nice to getaway, but it's so nice to come back home!
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