MEIN BRUDER!!!!!!!!!!!

My brother Jackson got home from his mission last week and we went to California for his homecoming. It was a fun weekend. We were crazy enough to take our 6 dogs out there with us because we didn't want to leave them with anyone. Having the dogs with us made it hard to sleep at night and they threw up in our car a few times. GROSS.

ANYWAY... it was really good to see my brother. On Friday we went to the Ventura County Fair. Average temperature in August in Ventura = 74 degrees. I was in heaven. It was cool to have the whole family there.

This is a quilt that I saw at the fair. I loved it.

Here are Jackson and Kelsey. Both are thrilled to be there.

The back of Michael's head on the way to the livestock pavilion.

This was an interesting sign we saw while we waited for freshly fried mini doughnuts. SO GOOD!

Jackson's foot, Michael's food, my feet waiting for the blacksmith show to start.

More blacksmith waiting. It started to get really cold as the sun started to set.

Here is the set of the village blacksmith. Michael and Stephanie both one a lucky pony shoe that the blacksmith made during the story his wife told.

We sat down to dinner. My hair gets really weird and curly in the front when it's humid outside.

Here's Stephanie, Mom, and Dad eating dinner.

Michael got an Italian sausage sandwich and I had a meatball sandwich.

Michael and Jackson getting a little closer.

More making fun of my silly forehead curl.

I loved everything about the fair. We saw the mineral and rock expo, the floraculture expo (Michael's favorite, I think), the commercial expo, the children's expo, the arts and crafts expo, the livestock pavilion, the Village Blacksmith show, the All-Alaskan Pig Races, some horse competitions, and all kinds of crazy fattening foods like chocolate-covered bacon.

I didn't really get any more pictures of the weekend. On Saturday we spent the day with the family. My grandparents were in town. Sunday was the big homecoming day at church. My brother gave a talk about service and my mother and I sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". It was a great Sunday. I got to see a lot of friends and was so glad that Cristin and Fa were able to drive up from San Dimas to spend some time with us. Love you guys!

So now my brother is on the market. If you know any fine young ladies for him to date, let me know and I'll pass the word along.

Last Day With All of the Puppies!

Yesterday I took the whole litter and their mommy to get fixed at the shelter yesterday. WHAT A DISASTER! Luckily everything worked out. The white one couldn't be fixed because he had not dropped (if you know what I mean...) so I have to continue to foster him. Everyone who did get fixed is doing well though. Thank goodness. I was so worried because these puppies weigh 2 and 3 pounds! Unfortunately, the shelter was soooo disorganized and could barely handle what was going on. I had to lead them along like a puppy on a leash (I'm so punny) to get them to do what they told me they would!

My friend Natalie adopted the brown male and named him Charlie. There was a ton of drama trying to get the puppies adopted yesterday, but Natalie was finally able to take him home!!! I have to admit that I kind of miss him, but I know I will get to see him in the future.

Summer Fun

Here's some stuff that's happened this summer:

I went with Michael's family down south to Kartchner Caverns and to Huachuca City to see some of their cousins. We spent some time at a little lake near Tucson.

Max enjoyed being the swimming cowboy.

Here I am keeping my skin beautiful in the shade.

Here's the whole crew. I was SOOO tired that whole trip.

We followed some cute kids around town in a Jeep Cherokee!

This is the only picture I got at Kartchner Caverns. Max was pretty bored after the tour and just wanted to go play with his cousin Sammy!

DIAMOND BACKS GAME!

We went to a DB game with Trevor and Jessica Smith a few weeks ago. It was pretty hot and sweaty, but fun. We are making "db" signs by the way.

MUSEUM FOR YOUTH!

I took Max and Malachi to the Museum for Youth in downtown Mesa last month. I thought it would at least be fun for Max. There were a few fun things but Max got bored really quick. Malachi had fun with the building blocks there. At least we got in free!

McDonald's Trip

It is SOOOO hot here, so we met one of Max's friends from school at the playplace at McDonald's. These two are so cute and have the best time together.

I am so sad that summer is coming to an end!!!!

Smith Family Reunion 2009/Boise Idaho Trip

At the beginning of July we went to Boise, ID for a family reunion on my dad's side. We also had a great time sight-seeing. Michael ended up serving his mission in Boise, ID so we visited places he had served, apartments he lived in, and people he spent a lot of time with. It was a great trip. Michael has more pictures on his camera, so there might be more later.

Cousins in the pool. (I didn't go to the YMCA.)

Chelsey, Shelbi, Stephanie and Kiley: The Wallflowers

The Whole Family (Almost). Check out my sweet Show Choir pose.

Some Fine Ladies

The Youngest Cousins

The Harvey and Luena Smith Family

Sisters with lots of hair

Stephanie and cousin Emery

Relaxing on the couch

Trying to squish everyone on the couch

Family times

My dad

The Smith Brothers

Stephanie and Jordan (We dyed all of these shirts ourselves)

We love Kacee.

This is the first night we were in Boise. This is Dalla Bills. AKA Dolla Bills AKA Elder Bills AKA Brian Bills who served in the Boise mission at the same time as Michael.

We drove out to Twin Falls and saw some beautiful stuff.

Water was seeping out of the walls here. Who would have thought that in some parts of the country there is water in abundance?

I took this picture of Elk for my dad. These big guys live at an elk farm.

Michael looking at the falls

Some gorgeous falls pictures.

We had a great trip and it was so fun to see family and friends. I was shocked by how beautiful Boise is and told Michael that if we had to move there someday, I wouldn't mind. There was grass everywhere and everything was green.

Here are some more things we did on the trip: ate at Good Wood BBQ twice, saw The Proposal in downtown Boise, ate at Fuddrucker's with the Beaths, ate at Cafe Rio with the Tranmers, drove around in a truck made with no air conditioning (can you believe they actually make cars that way?!), slept in until 8:00 (So late, right? haha) every day at our hotel, went to WinCo Foods with my mom, tie-dyed t-shirts, went to Jordan's Eagle Scout Court of Honor (Michael enjoyed the Eagles' Nest), and spent a ton of time at Aunt Kirsten's house with the fam. GOOD TRIP!