End of May

We had a great end of May.  I have a hard time picking a few highlights so here is my summary of the Smith Reunion 2016.

It started a few days before everyone got here.  I got the bathrooms cleaned, the kitchen cleaned, the food bought, the beds organized, and the house vacuumed.  All that was a project by itself.

My parents and Melissa got here about 4:00 on Saturday afternoon.  We had dinner and Lindsey and her family pulled up a little after 7:00.  They had driven from Fort Collins that day and left their house at 4 a.m. (3 am in Washington).  All the kids went crazy and ran around yelling for a while until we put them to bed.  Alan and Kristi and Tyrell flew in and their flight landed about 8:45.  We were all under one roof by 9:30 p.m.

Sunday we had blueberry french toast for breakfast--one of my favorites.  We all went to church and had a great taco salad for dinner.  (The food for this week was important and I remember it well)  We had a great big birthday party that afternoon.  My mom planned some fun games and we did a pinata and gift exchange and ended with chocolate cake.  Yum!  WE had scones for a snack and had a family council that evening.

Monday we hiked badger mountain.  We all had a great time.  Cami was struggling on the way down and we found a "magic" rock.  If she squeezed it, then it helped her legs get more energy.  We also had maps for everyone and Melissa hid a few treasures along the way to keep us going.  It was cute.  We went shopping in the afternoon and I got a new swim suit.  Dar, Gary and Amber came over for dinner and we had a great time hanging out.  Our backyard is awesome in the evenings.  It is totally shaded and very comfortable.

Tuesday Kirk, Jason and Alan took the kayaks and went fishing.  The each caught at least 20 fish and floated 6 miles down the Yakima river.  It was one of the first times Alan had been fishing and I think he liked it.  The rest of us drove about an hour to see a little city park with lots of dinosaur statues in it.  The kids had fun climbing on the statues.  We were walking around a lake and the path had water over it.  The kids thought that walking through the water was really fun.  I took Cade to swimming lessons that afternoon and helped the guys with their shuttle back to the starting point on the river.  Alan, Kristi, Melissa, Kirk and I stayed up talking for a while that evening and that was fun.

Wednesday we started the day with a talent show.  Daniel taught us about dinosaurs, Josh taught us about tools, Luke sang I am a child of God, Cade sang Praise to the Man, Cami sang "Let it go" and Tyrell read a book.  My mom did a finger play and my dad told a story.  Then some of us went to Cade's final preschool concert.  We did family pictures in the backyard.  My neighbor friend came and took them.  We got some really good ones.  Nobody yelled, hit or ran away either.  We had grilled veggie sandwiches on foccacia bread for lunch.  Kirk, Lindsey, Jason and I took our kids fishing and left the babies home.  We went to one spot on the Yakima river (Chamna).  We all walked in the river a bit and Kirk, Jason and I all caught a fish and let the kids hold it.  The water was a bit higher and faster than we were hoping for and we decided to leave and try another spot.  We drove about 15 minutes to another spot.  Daniel wanted to try reeling in and so I was casting for him and then letting him reel it in.  After a few casts he caught a fish and he was so excited.  Jason caught one at the same time.  Kirk also caught a couple.  The kids all got to hold them and the day was a success.  We had a little poison ivy scare at the end, but everyone ended up ok.  Cami's highlight was when she fell in the river and I snatched her out.

Thursday we didn't have a ton going on.  Kirk and my dad put some shelves up in our shed.  We took the kids to Goethals park and everyone loved the zip line.  Lindsey, Jason, Kirk and I went to the temple in the afternoon.  We had lasagna for dinner so it was pretty simple (I made it ahead of time.).  That night we got out blankets, treats and popcorn and watched Hotel Transylvania II.

Friday morning we packed up the crew and drove about an hour to Scooteney Reservoir.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  We played a little game of baseball.  Cade wanted to go swim in the lake.  He didn't want to do anything else, especially something I suggested.  When it was his turn to hit the ball, he just ran where ever he wanted.  We all went on a walk by the lake and he finally calmed down.  We had some lunch and then went and played in the lake.  Cami thought it was awesome that she could play with Alan out in the deep water.  Kirk and Alan swam out to a little raft and thought everyone else was crazy for not wanting to join them.  When we got home we had some quiet time and then several of the adults took the kids to a splash park nearby.  My mom, Melissa and I stayed home with the babies and cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed downstairs and made dinner.  It was nice to get some of that done before everyone left.

Lindsey's family and my parents left early Saturday morning (like 5:00 early).  Alan and Kristi left about 11:00 and we spent the day cleaning up, moving Melissa in, doing laundry, mowing the lawn and trying to fix the sprinklers.

We had a great trip.  It is fun to see family, and really fun to live with them for  a week.  I think we all had a great time,  We are really spread out and I wish we could be together more, but facetime and Skype are great things too!  It is always weird for me to say good bye to people I love and not know when I will see them again.  Totally worth all the effort for the week though!