SLEEP OUT

Sleeping out on the upper deck of our house is quickly becoming one of our favorite things to do. I thought Chris was crazy the first time he drug the mattresses and pillows outside... And even more crazy when we threw it all back in the house when it started raining at 5am! But at 6200 feet above sea level, the 70 degree July nights and the clear starry skies are too amazing to miss. Last night our old neighbors from Kansas City stayed with us and my friend, Connie, was dying to sleep out. So we left six sleeping kids and the hubbies inside and went out for one of the best night's sleep ever! Tonight the kids are out there, all cuddled in with books and their guard dog Charles.....sleep tight!

WET

Today is the first day of Prelims for swim team....GO DOLPHINS!! Nick got one race done before the rain started. This mom could have prepared a little better as we are all sopping wet! The races are on hold due to thunder so we'll probably be here a while. Thanks to Ben bringing his entire savings with him in his pocket, we had enough cash to buy everyone a hot chocolate. We are happy and considering today to be a great adventure!! Swim hard, Smith kids!

RECITAL

Tonight was the kids' piano recital. They did so well! This was Nicky's first recital and he was so nervous. As soon as he sat down after playing his piece, he broke into sobbing tears. Poor thing, he can be so unnecessarily hard on himself! As Ben said,"His music was good, why is he bawling?" Olivis played two pieces she had prepared for Guild which was last week. She received a SUPERIOR ranking and she was so pleased with herself! She has already decided to try for the National Guild program next year which is 10 memorized pieces. Way to go kiddies! I am so proud of all your hard work!

SPRING BREAK

For spring break this year we headed south to Arizona to visit Grandma Joan and Grandpa Cookie. And the sun. And the palm trees. It was wonderful. The kids and I drove down a few days early and stayed in Albuquerque in split up the trip. They were angels in the car, perfect in the hotel and we had so much fun swimming and playing. The next morning morning we all got ready, loaded the car and headed to the lobby for breakfast. There weren't many people there at first, but by the time the kids were all seated and eating, the place was packed. I got up to get myself something and just a second later, could hear a little voice saying every bathroom-related word he could think of. It was quite loud, but at first, I didn't recognize the little voice as one of mine. Then I turned around and saw Ben kneeling on his chair spouting off with this sassy look on his face. Momma and her hard-boiled egg marched over and had a very quiet but very seriously little visit with him as all the nearby tables watched and smiled. Two minutes later he dumped his cereal all over the floor, my chair and narrowly missed the elderly woman sitting inches from him. Kate started screaming, Nick was begging for more pastries, and I decided breakfast was over. I was sweating but smiled when the couple at the next table with their two teenagers leaned over and said, "Oh....we remember!"By the time we were all in the car, it seriously felt like 5pm so I couldn't figure out why the clock read 8:04 am...

We arrived in Anthem about 2pm. The kids were heaven playing in the extra big hot tub and sleeping out in the Casita together. Kate figured out how to crawl in the downward dog position really fast so her legs didn't have to touch the cold marble floors. It was hilarious!

The rest of the week was a lot of relaxing, swimming and eating good food. Chris arrived on Tuesday night and we were able to go on a couple of dates while we were there. The best was the surprise I set up for early Friday morning. We headed to the Deer Valley Airport just after 5am to meet our hot air balloon crew! We had been wanting to go up in a balloon since we first lived in AZ six years ago so I figured it was time. The process of getting into the air was so interesting! We went up with several other balloons and it was just a beautiful site. I have a fear of heights but I quickly realized that only kicks in above 7,000 feet. When we got higher than that, the dizziness and nausea came on hard and fast. There was no way I was going to barf out of that basket so I just kept breathing and staring at the horizon until we decended a bit.