The Good Life

The Smith Kids

(minus buff, who couldn't make it)

After we got home from California my family came up to Utah for my Grandma's funeral. My mom's mom died at the beginning of this month. She lived to be 95 years old, pretty impressive! For the last 8 years my mom has been taking care of her, so my family had the opportunity to get to know her pretty well. It was a beautiful funeral service, and really nice to have my family in town. Afterwards I got to fly to AZ and spend some more time with my family and friends. My mom wanted to re-decorate the room my grandma had lived in for those 8 years, and I was just in time to help! We peeled through 25 years of different wallpapers and gave the walls a much needed fresh coat of paint. The finished product turned out so cute! We did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. It wasn't all hard work, I did a lot of playing too. I got my hair done, thanks Ash! We went bowling one night, I WON! Not really, I think my high score for both games combined was 47. Perhaps I should be concerned with my total lack of coordination, but I guess it's ok if bowling is never my forte. My favorite part of the trip was catching up with good friends. No matter how long it's been, we always have the best time when we all get together.

Before

During

After!

(don't worry, the putrid chair will be re-covered)

Oh What a Week!!

We were in desperate need of a vacation. So, we flew to California and spent a wild week with my family. My mom had a timeshare at a condo across the street from Disney Land so we took advantage of the opportunity. It was so nice, each family had their own room in the condo. Monday we hit Universal Studios, Tuesday we headed to Sea World, we spent Wednesday at Huntington Beach, then Thursday-Saturday we played at Disney Land. Talk about a week crammed full of fun! The best part was eating at a different delicious restaurant every night. Everyone but my brother's were able to come. Each family even made matching T-shirts to wear to Disney Land (cheesy, i know). Landon was surprisingly very good! I was afraid that he might keep us up all night because of the wacky schedule and new surroundings, but he actually slept better than ever! We're up to 11 hours through the night! At Disney Land we were able to "child swap" so we didn't have to wait in line twice for the rides that were too scary for the little ones. Landon was able to go on most of the Disney rides anyway. Now that we're home I get to unpack, do laundry and pack again for my trip to AZ this Friday, I can't wait! Here are a few pics from the vacation.

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

James and Blake (nephews)

We love the "Saw" movies!

Our big boy!

SEA WORLD

BEACH DAY Sugar Shack! Yummmm.

DISNEY LAND!

"Most Creative"

"Cutest"

Our shirts won "Funniest"

eye high

Who can tell me what is wrong with this picture? Since we plan on moving in December we decided to take full advantage of our insurance while we can. We've been in and out of Dr's offices a bunch lately. Our most recent adventure was to the Optometrist. Sam has contacts but likes to take them out and wear glasses at times. However, he has been sporting the same glasses since 1998! That's almost 10 years. So, not only was it well past time to upgrade the style, maybe now he will actually be able to see while wearing them since his poor sight has increased well past his old prescription's capabilities. Lately I noticed myself squinting a lot more than normal, especially when trying to read the subtitles of our newest hobby; watching Spanish movies. Judging by Sam's muffled snickering at my attempt to read the vision chart, apparently my sight is worse than I thought. Instead of blasting our eyes with the usual "puff" of air the Dr decided to dilate our pupils with what I swear was poison. Not only did we have to endure the searing acid in our eyes, we were semi blind for quite some time after. The effects left Sam's pupils lop-sided but at least he could see out of one eye. Mine were equally deformed and I was starting to get frustrated at not being able to read the time on my phone, or anything else for that matter. We're all better now, and should have a good 10 years before we go back!