Hawaii

Ok, one more for right now. Ali still has most of the Hawaii pictures on her camera but here are a few. We took a boat ride around the Napali Coast on the north shore of Kauai which you can only reach by boat, helicopter or an 11 mile hike on very narrow ridges, very high up. We chose the boat ride. We had an escort of about three dozen spinner dolphins!! It was really neat to watch. At the end of the ride we went snorkeling and saw big turtles as well as lots of other fish. Sorry, no pictures of that. Kauai is a beautiful island and we love to go exploring but I think my favorite part is that this is probably the only place where Jeff really will just sit and relax. It has that affect on you. More pictures when Ali gets hers on here.

PS, we talked to Steve yesterday and he, Brittany and Ian are doing great. They are sending some pictures soon of a great trip they took in Europe (you know he is stationed in Germany) so I will post those as soon as we get them.

Look What I Can Do!!!

Can you believe Mady is already 6 months old?!?! She cut her first tooth and is sitting up (almost) all by herself. You can't leave her alone yet but she does really well. If you lay her on the floor she turns herself around and is learning to scoot. The cat and dog are getting nervous!!

Brandon & Andrea's House

Jeff and I were able to help the kids out by driving the moving van down to their new home in Arizona. It was a fun (hahaha) drive but it was great to get their stuff down there and get it in for them.

Andrea is a new GRADUATE!!!! She finished her Bachelor's Degree in Hospitality Management on June 18th and is really glad to be done with school. She didn't walk so we don't have any cap and gown pictures but we are really proud of her. Just the day before she had an ultrasound and found out they are having a GIRL!!! Hurray!! Our family is growing. Jocelyn Mae Smith is due on November 2 and everything looked perfect.

Brandon flew back to Utah (he has already been working and going to school in Phoenix) and then he and Andrea drove home to their new house. I can't wait to see how she decorates it - she has the magic touch. I will let her update their blog with more info but I will put in a few pictures of the moving in stuff.

Girl's Camp 2008

Well, we went up to Bear Lake just about an hour away from Logan. We expected it to be a bit cooler than home but were caught a bit by surprise by the hail storm on the first day and then the inch of snow we woke up to the second day. We went on our hike in the snow storm but only hiked outside a little bit before we went into Minnetonka cave where the temperature is the same all year long. It was really cool. The next day we had arranged for a couple ward members to bring up their boats and we were going to spend the day at the beach playing in the sand and water. Needless to say we made some changes, canceled the boats and went to the hot springs instead. It wasn't quite the same but it was fun.

Next we were able to go to the local playhouse and watch them put on their last dress rehearsal for the play they were opening the next night. It was a lot of fun and then we got to use their stage to perform our skits!! That was really neat. (Ours weren't quite as good as theirs but what can you do!!)

I was glad we were in a cabin and even though it wasn't typical camping it was fun and we had a lot of spiritual activities too. We had a total of 19 girls there (for at least part of it) and 6 leaders so we had a good turn out.

I'm Baaaaccckk!!

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated this blog. A lot has been going on. I will put up a few entries and try to keep up a little better. In the last three weeks I have traveled to Arizona in a moving truck to help move Brandon and Andrea into their new home. Got home Sunday night, spent Monday getting final preparations done for girl's camp done, left Tuesday morning for Girl's camp. Friday left for Hawaii and got home on the red eye this Monday afternoon. Whew!! I am worn out, but it has been fun - well, most of it. I will put together a few pictures to show you what we have been up to.