HaStA La VIsTA VEgAs

Last time blogging from Vegas. 

Movers are coming Thursday to box up everything, and then we're pretty much nomads for a month until we fly to London.  It's been a good year!  A super busy year for all of us.  I didn't realize before Jake started his AEGD that it would be more time consuming then dental school ever was.  For that reason I'm glad this year is over.  I'm ready to have him home more!  His graduation is on the 6th of Aug.  Almost done!!  The best part about Vegas living has been being close to family.   Well, closer then we've been in a while anyway!  I don't think we've gone a month without seeing them since we moved here last June!  We'll miss those easy drives to see them once we're in England.   

      I was looking back at some older blog posts from when we first moved here.  The kids have grown up so much in just a year.  It's crazy!!  Ella went from being a baby to a full on toddler.  We've made some great Vegas memories along the way!  I know Ella probably won't remember much if anything about living here, but I think Luke will take a little Vegas with him to England!  I know I'll remember countless fun times in the car on the way to swimming lessons while we jammed to Black Eyed Peas (in crazy I-15 traffic), all the times we watched the planes at McCarren airport, fun walks and bike rides through the neighborhood, and good times with friends.  And, the mountains!  Vegas is surrounded by some great mountains.  Hopefully Luke will remember some of that too.  There's a lot to see and do in Vegas, and I think we did most of what we wanted to.  We still have a few things on our list we didn't get to... reasons to come back and visit later i guess!     
signing off from sin city...
me :)  

Hiking and Hanging with Booner

Daniel came to hike Mt. Charleston this past weekend with Jake.  He's fun to have around!  Actually, Luke wishes he'd move in (along with all of his other uncles!).  They hiked Mt. Charleston on Saturday and after the 16 mile hike were quite pooped!  The elevation is a lot higher then it is here in the valley, and I guess it took some getting used to!   They said the scenery and everything was super cool.  The kids and I met them at Austin Steakhouse for dinner afterward and we rented some movies.  Good weekend!  

   

Visiting Ogden

We stayed in Ogden for a little while on the way up to the cabin and on the way back home.  It's home to me and I love it.  I miss it.  We stayed at Grandma Nan and Grandpa Arnie's house with everybody the night before we went up to Yellowstone.  Grandma and grandpa have the best sprinklers around and Luke and Ella had fun running through them! 

More pictures from Grandma Nan and Grandpa Arn's house! 


Here's a partial view from grandma's front yard.  It used to be the view from our backyard when we lived a couple of blocks away.  Anyway, there's something comforting about this mountain. I'm thinking I want to print this picture and hang it somewhere in my house.

After the cabin we all went to Grandma Fran and Grandpa John's house.  We got to see most of my cousins and uncles and aunt too.  Such a fun night!  We had a pizza party and got to catch up on life.  Some of us slept at granny's house and others at grandma and grandpa's. 
Here's grandma and grandpa with their great-grandbabies... 
(crazy bright lighting, but I like the picture anyway)

Random pictures of everyone hanging out... Glad you took so many pictures Ab!  I swiped most of these :)

Before we headed back home, Abby, the kids, and I met Jazzi, Bahar, and Xan for ice cream.  It's always a good time with the Sharifans!

A Trip to the Cabin!

If you ask any of Clyde and Ellie Buehler's children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or even some of their great-great-grandchildren to tell you about their favorite summertime memories, I am pretty sure they will tell you about the cabin.

      

  I'm one of their greats, and the cabin has always been one of my favorite places to be.  When I logged onto Facebook yesterday, my cousin Maggi had posted that they were at Hebgen Lake and it was sooo beautiful.  Another cousin, Minden, responded, I just wish EVERYONE could understand how much love our family has invested in that place haha. I try to explain to people how amazing it all is, but I fail. Everytime. (: Love it.  Well said Minden!  It really is hard to explain how great this place is.  Here's the cabin.  It sits on the South side of Hebgen Lake about 8.5 miles from West Yellowstone.  

Time at the cabin is always full of adventure and fun.  From the second we arrive, we're out riding mini bikes, fishing, boating, playing games, and just relaxing with people we love.  This year Luke, Ella, and I went up with the fam.  Jake and Chris couldn't get off work, but everyone else made it.  When I was a kid we would go up with Grandpa Arn, Grandma Nan, aunts, uncles, and all of our cousins.  I have so many fun memories of cabin time!  Gift cousins ala 1994...  

From L to R ... here's Minden, Dak, Bailee, Shae, Abby, Emily, Parker, Cody, Todd, Me, Amie, and baby Maddie.  It's crazy to think that there's a whole new generation of cousins having fun at the cabin now!  Luke, Ella, and Amy had a great time this year.  Last time we were at the cabin, Luke turned one year old.  This cabin trip, baby Amy turned 1!

We all enjoyed being outside in the cool weather!  Such a nice change from cooking in LV!  

Luke was really liking the mini bikes!  Grandpa Paul led us on some great rides.  Ella wasn't a fan of the bikes.  Even the sound of them freaked her out!  Funny since she's usually the dare devil of the two.

How my little girl could not like mini bikes is beyond me!  I think I'm close to Ella's age in this picture.  Ella preferred feeding the squirrels over the bikes.  We always put peanuts out for the squirrels and it's fun watching them find them!  Ella and Amy would sit by the big window and watch the squirrels together for a long time. 

                            

                            We spent a lot of time on the lake. 

I thought this picture down at the dock turned out pretty!  The water is like glass in the early morning and evening hours.  Makes for great skiing and wakeboarding (:

Luke was stylin in Dak's old wetsuit.  I rode on the tube with him behind the boat and he was having a great time.  Kept wanting to go faster and over the 'bumps.'   A big wave from the wake submarined the tube and went over both our heads.  He didn't even mind that too much!  Grandpa Paul let him be 'captain' of the boat a few times and he loved driving it around!  Grandpa Buehler had a bunch of Navy hats made a long time ago and Luke insisted on wearing the 'captain hat' while on the boat.  Abby, Todd, and I had fun wakeboarding.  We couldn't convince Dak to get in the cold water.  He's too used to hot Arizona lakes!  I think the freezing water at the cabin is just part of the fun.  I didn't think it felt too bad this time.  Still took your breath away when you first got in, but warm enough to get used to it.

Dad, Todd, and Dak all caught fish this trip.  Luke was having a good time casting but I don't think he got any bites.  "just some mosses."   Ella wanted in on the fishing action too so dad gave her a pole without a hook.  She was happy.

The sunsets are awesome on the lake.

We drove into the park one day to see Old Faithful, the mud pots, and a few other things.  There were lots of buffalo this time around!  The guys saw one by the cabin on the way to get fishing licenses and we saw tons in the park.  A few were really close to the car and we had to wait for a couple to cross the road before we could move on.  Also saw some Elk.  A few weeks before we got to the cabin, there was a mama grizzly and two cubs spotted right next to the cabin.  Sort of made me nervous while we were there wondering if a bear would show up.  My cousin Emily and I saw a bear when we were on a mini bike ride years ago.  That's the only time I've seen a bear at the cabin. 

Another afternoon, Abby, Dak, and I were going to hike up the mountain to the big tower.  Well, we freaked ourselves out about there maybe being a bear somewhere out there and ended up driving up there in the car instead.  I had always wondered what the view was like from the tower.  It was so cool.  Dad and Dak climbed up there to get an even better view. 

Part of the view from the top!

This old tree was too cool not to take a picture.  

Lots of wildflowers this year! 

We took so many pictures it's really quite ridiculous.  But here are a few more I don't want to leave out of the blog book!  We were laughing pretty hard when dad and Dak put on Gramps and Grammies (i'm guessing they were theirs) yellow rain jackets to cover the boat when it started raining.  According to Abby they looked like the bananas in pajamas. haha..  Dak's was a little snug. 

 

 Every time we leave the cabin we get a family picture on the swing.

Thanks for such a fun trip mom and dad!  We all had a blast.  Also, Thanks mom for watching the kids so much while we went out on the bikes and boat! 

PS. I like this picture of you two.

 Fun in Utah on the way to the cabin and on the way back next post!

Smith/Durfey Reunion 2010

Last Thursday night we drove up to Zion National Park for the Smith and Durfey family reunions.  The Durfeys are Rick's mother's side of the fam.  The Smith family reunion was on Friday followed by the Durfey reunion Saturday through Monday morning.  Fun times!  Jake's family has been meeting at Zion for reunions for over 50 years.  We lucked out this year since we only had to drive a little over two hours to get there from Vegas!  Relatives drove and flew in from Idaho to Boston and everywhere in between.  It was great seeing everyone!  I was lucky to marry into such a fun family.  Jake's extended family is a close knit group and we really enjoy hanging out with everybody.  We missed Josh/Jenni, Aaron/Kristen, and Melanie/Joe and their kiddos who couldn't make it this time around! 

The Quality Inn and campsite the reunion is held at is right on the Virgin River.  This year the weather didn't seem to be as hot as it's been in past years and we spent a lot of time hanging out by the water.  The kids played outside nonstop.  We didn't see much of Luke while there since he was following Ethan and Collin around the whole time!  He thinks he's one of the big kids and can't get enough time with cousins.   

Here are a a few pictures!  I took quite a few on the 4th of July and the first day we were there!  Zion is beautiful.  I love the mountains.         

Grandma Sherry taught Luke how to catch the little minnows and tadpoles in the river. 

Connor found a frog and was holding it during the Smith family program.  All the little kids were jealous!  haha.  Cute kid!

On the 4th of July, some of the kids rode on the little float in the Springdale parade and others waved and watched from the side of the road.  Little Anna ran out to grab some candy in the road and a crazy driver cruising up the road almost hit her!!  Seriously, within inches. SO scary! 

Ella had a good time watching the parade.  She managed to get a lot of candy while holding her apple in one hand and a flag in the other.  haha.  Serious 4th of July skills! Luke got quite a bit of candy too!   

Ethan and Luke.  Too cool to smile...

Cute Mila!  She did her own face painting.  I think she painted Kate's face too. 

The Durfeys in the parade!

Ella was being a monkey on the bars outside the hotel!

Cute swimmers.

Check out Lane and Lucy's matching swim suits!  Dressing one little girl is super fun.  Hailey is lucky she gets to dress twins!  :)

We all hiked up the weeping rock trail.  I think I've done that hike all three times I've gone to Zion with Jake.  Pretty cool.  They say the water coming out of the rocks there is over 14,000 years old!

While we were taking a picture of Sherry with the grandkids, some Asian tourists were snapping pictures of them too.  Too funny!  Wonder what random person's photo album this picture of the kids will end up in!?

Jake, Rick, Booner, Corey and Chris hiked Angels Landing while we were there too.  Nope, this isn't it.  I just liked this picture of the mountain.

Every year at a Smith reunion you can count on an entertaining program, taco salad, lots of laughs, the Legend of Chief and Boots, singing, testimony meeting, and crazy werewolf games. This year was no exception.  We all rode the bus down to the LDS chapel for church on Sunday.  I'm pretty sure the reunion doubled that ward's numbers for the day!  Betina and I gave baby Georgia her first haircut on this trip too.  What a cutie!      

Dancing was added to the craziness this year.  Suzette led everyone in the Macarena and Boot Scootin' Boogie among others!

Luke is already asking when we can play with Ethan and Collin again. I'm afraid it's going to be a while! Glad we could all make some more happy memories before we take off to England. Movers are coming to box up our house on the 28th and 29th of this month.  We came home to some fun mail... our Passports!! (I'll have to post passport pics later...they are so funny!)  and my marathon T-shirt!!  (I guess all the smalls and mediums were stuck in customs race week... glad I finally got it!)  I love good mail.