Cristina, the graduate!

My sister Cristina graduated from BYU-Idaho this week in Communications! We are so proud of her! Our dad was able to come out and spend some time with us before and after going up to Idaho to be apart of the festivities. We were so glad to be able to see all of our family who live out here! Cadence always enjoys playing with his cousin Atley too! (awkward I didn't end up even getting a picture of Cristina, or dad...)

Pioneer Day!

Unfortunately because it's not a National holiday, Austin didn't get any time off work. After singing so many pioneer songs with our primary, I was just DYING to do something! Cadence and I were exhausted, but we still managed to get over to North Park and look around the pioneer village. There were people dressed like pioneers and indians, a variety of games, quilting, homemade butter, the pioneer village, rag dolls, entertainment, a fire engine, antique cars, and the list goes on! So much to see and do!

I can't wait until Cadence can participate more next year (maybe Austin can come with us on his lunch break). Check out the videos of Indian dance (which Cade loved) & how to make butter.

Matt & Jess get married!

We headed up for Logan just to stay over the night so we could congratulate Jessica Ensign (Austin's friend since high school) & Matthew Wing on their marriage.

We ran into lots of good friends from Illinois and are so glad we went! We hope they will have a very happy marriage!

Over the river and through the woods...

... to Grandmother's house we go! Austin went on a trip to Indianapolis with the Young Republicans, so his parents flew Cade & I out to spend some time with the family from 7/6-7/13. We had a great time! Here are some pictures of what we did (besides the specifics already posted)!

Michaela built a fort of legos for Shane.

Kelsey decided to play UNO for family night.

Lots of kisses & hugs from Shane for Cadence! He loves his nephew!

A visit to Aunt Janet's in Kankakee, IL (Mom's Aunt, Grandma Cobb's sister)

Shane got tired of wearing pants.

Taylor gave everyone the color code test!

Tanner & Conner were @ EFY & came home Saturday.
We were happy to see them!

Uncle Mike & Judy visited, along with Trace, McKenzie, & Riley

Trip Action

Here are some "action shots" from our Illinois trip! Enjoy!

Shane loves the swiffer, and his nephew!

Cadence loves to play with Grandma!

Our little tap dancer! I rolled laughing @ this one!

Keaton turns 10!

Keaton's birthday was a lot of fun! Kelsey and I baked him a dinosaur cake. In case you are wondering, I think the writing on the cake ended up being "ho, ho, hop on, happy birthday". Kelsey kept messing up so she got creative and changed it into a creative phrase. He got a kiss from Taylor (she doesn't catch him at the end of the video, but she does later in the evening), a hot shot basketball game from Conner (who got it from Austin), and a baseball mitt and balls from mom and dad. We ate monkey bread and tuna noodle as his meal choices. It was a fun birthday!

Did you say Korean?

At a service auction for the Oswego ward, mom and dad bought a Korean meal with the Hwang family (who just happens to be Austin's boss). I was so glad they planned the lunch while I was there! Austin has been telling me how wonderful it is! Check out the yummy food! Plus, Abe got to meet Cadence for the first time!

We had TRADITIONAL all-american ice cream for dessert - yum!

Grandma was so happy that Cadence let him rock her to sleep after lunch!

Friends, family, an amazing meal, and a good nap... who could ask for anything more?

SURPRISE!!!

For their 26th anniversary this year, dad (Smith) decided to surprise mom. Since I had not yet planned my trip and he wanted to take her away for the weekend, he flew in Taylor to surprise mom, telling her that her trip would be in August (same dates, just changed the month). It was so hard keeping it a surprise, but we did it! They ended up not going away for the weekend, but just an evening to see Mary Poppins in Chicago. Still, it was a great surprise! Just before this she was playing with Cadence, so she didn't get suspicious I was taping. Check it out!

Mom's Birthday

Okay so it wasn't actually ON mom's birthday. Grandma Cobb was visiting on her birthday, so we didn't really get a chance to make a cake. The next day, Kelsey and I went to the store to get our supplies, and set out to make a heart-shaped (Kelsey's idea) pull apart (cupcake) cake.

YUM! We used mom's favorite - devil's food with cream cheese frosting. We tried to dye the frosting red, but no amount of food coloring seemed to work (we had some fun giggles over that). The excess food coloring actually made the frosting pretty runny, so there were holes in the pull-apart cake. We were creative and patched it with twizzlers! It was DELICIOUS!

July 4th Weekend!

We finally made it this year to Provo's Freedom Festival (at least some of the events). On Friday, the 3rd, we went to the carnival. They had a lot of fun things for kids, plus old antiques from the Revolutionary Period, and lots of yummy food! It seemed there was something for everyone. I especially loved the candied strawberry. We had a great time!

On Saturday, we headed up to Midvale to have a BBQ with Jaylyn & Taylor (Austin's sisters). Austin and I brought a YUMMY fruit pizza, decorated like an American flag, of course. Jaylyn and I are both the primary choristers, so we spent some time planning for primary. Taylor helped us by using her talents to draw. Austin had a great time playing Wii fit and Star wars.


We went swimming too and wore out the babies.



In the evening, Jaylyn & Sadie drove with us to find a good up high spot to watch the fireworks. We found a great place and could see fireworks all across the valley. Plus, other people who ended up at the same place brought their own, so the babies had something to watch! Cadence LOVED watching them. It was a long & fun holiday!