Only one day this summer did I feel like I was ready to send my boys back to school.  We had gotten back from vacation, and celebrated Caleb's birthday and were left wondering what to do.  I kept telling the boys to "go play" and I think I even locked them out of the house…

It's been a long day. Caleb asked me to read him a story tonight.  For the record, I read him some stories after school from the Friend magazine, so I feel like I had met my story-reading quota for the day.  And I was spent.  So I told him I would tell him a story…

Here I sit.  Not quite sure what to do with myself – although I can think of a million things that need to be done.  Samuel's watching a cartoon.  Derek's at work.  And Jacob and Caleb are off at their first day of 4th grade and 1st grade, respectively.  The first day is always tender for…

My aunt Lisa sent me an e-mail today with these pictures of my Dad with his brother Robin.  We were amazed at the resemblance between my Dad and Samuel.  I don't know if it's the big head, the cute hair cut, the smile or the eyes, but it's definitely there!  So fun.  I also see…

…have we been busy!  No time to even stop and blog about it!  Geez!  We're sucking summer dry. We're enjoying every minute. We went to the lake with friends yesterday. We were back at a different lake today with more friends. We're sun-kissed and fun-hugged. We're tired. Plus, we're working hard on getting ready for…

ETA:  Caleb came bounding on to our bed this morning with a very proud look on his face.  "It's a girl" he nodded.  "What's a girl?" we groggily asked.  "LUKE IS A GIRL!"  Based on some very scientific pictures from our leopard gecko books and a very scientific 7-year old eye, he is now convinced…

While I've been busy chronicling our adventures around the world, Mr. Caleb had a birthday!  Although I haven't posted about it until now, it certainly did not go unnoticed around here.  Big C turned 7 years old.  On the 22nd, his actual b'day, I took him to lunch at Double Dip for his favorite frito…

Is it just me or did the turning of the calendar from July to August make time fly at a faster pace.  All of the sudden I feel like summer is dwindling and I want to squeeze as much out of it that I can. All of the sudden I feel like my boys have…

If you know Derek you know that he is a great husband and father…and creative too.  For our trip he did 3 fun and clever things for us as a family: 1.  Before departing he gathered us in the living room for a slideshow that he had put together of our Smith Family "Road Rules":…

On Sunday, 7/19 we left Sioux Falls (gratefully – this was NOT one of my favorite hotels) and headed for Omaha, NE.  Our purposes their were two-fold.  The first was to visit a Church historical site.  This is where the early pioneers of our church made their home in the winters of 1846 and 1847. …