H-A-double L-O-double U-double E-N Spells Halloween

Ah, the finer things of Halloween. Black frosting and pumpkin guts. Does anyone else ever feel like some holidays conspire against moms? But really I love giving my kids fun messy things they love and making traditions. Good times.

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission!

When I have grown a foot or two or three or four (it could happen).

And congratulations to my baby brother on his mission call. He is going to Joao Pessoa, Brazil! Amazing. We love you Dale, you are an example to this little guy and I am glad for it!

Fall

After a couple years in Autumless Southern California I am just blown away by fall this year. Yes it's cold but its so stinkin' pretty. Here are the trees directly across the street from my parents house that I get to look at every day.When the sun hits them it looks like they are on fire.

And here is a picture of my sister and me. She came to visit for a while and we already miss her and the twins.

Clap Your Hands!

I think this boy is cute.

Wearing his cousin's glasses.

Scooter

Griffin is mobile. This makes for a happier Griff and a busier mom. We think that his little scoot looks like he is swimming. He will rock on his knees and elbows. When I put him down on the floor he will be on his hands and knees and stay like that for a minute or so then flop to his belly so he can scoot off.

Griffin also has a tooth now! Yay for being big (boo for being bit when I feed him)!

What's Goin' On

I didn't think I had much to blog about but now that I am here looking through my pictures I've found I am behind. So here is a random photo presentation on what's been goin' on round here.

The annual park picnic complete with a visit from the local firemen. All the other kids thought this was cool.
Mesha freaked out.

Griffin is cute.

And getting very big. (He's 6 1/2 months old now!)

But not big enough to not get kissed all day long.

We went to the fish hatchery.

We tried on a Halloween costume to see if it fit.

We celebrated Grandpa Swany's birthday (that is a portrait of him by cousin Julia).

We rode the carousel at the mall. Over and over and over again.

Griffin got new jammies. He sure is cute. Do I say that a lot?

Here are some more cute people.

And last but not least Griffin was introduced to the Johnny Jump Up. He likes it so bad he yells for the first 5 minutes hes in it. Silly boy.

Smith Family Reunion

I swore it would never happen but it has- I am terrible at remembering to take pictures. I guess it might be better to live life through your own eyes rather than a camera lens. But I still wish I had more pictures. So I am borrowing a bunch of pictures from Corissa (my SIL) via facebook to fill in some gaps.

Anyway, we went to the annual Smith family reunion last weekend. This year it was in Winthrop. What's in Winthrop? Not much. There was a decent amount of things to do however. The little town is western themed and it was fun to walk the shops on a rainy first day.

Yee Haw.

Sterling thought this was funny.

On the second day we went on a little walk to a suspension bridge. This is where I took most of the few pictures of the trip.

Monkey family.Dad and the boy.Mesha LOVES rocks and spent most of her time throwing them.A little monkey girl.

On the third day we went to see the sights on top of Sun Mountain Lodge.

The Graig Smith Family (left to right: Tyler, Casey, Corissa, Spencer, Graig, Martha, Nancy, John, Jared, Griffin, Kierstin, Sterling, and Mesha). We are missing 3. Hilary and Andrew are on missions and Jacob is lame! Just kidding- we miss you!The Sterling Smith Family.

We had a last hurrah at the lake before we drove our tired behinds home. I'll tell ya, the drive to and from Winthrop was almost as good as the trip itself. Highway 20 all the way!I've never seen rivers and lakes that blue-green color before! Sorry no pictures, like I said, I'm lame.

We had a lot of fun. It was good to see some family that we don't get to see very often.