official

We moved.

hmmmm, now let's see...

dominatrix leading poor slave-boy on a leash... check. Tree-man... check. Turkey legs, stake on a stake, and thousands of the strangest adults wearing their finest medieval dress-ups... check, check, check! Monday afternoon the Smith family made their annual trip to the Arizona Renaissance Festival. I hadn't been in a few years, so I was especially excited. We spent the day eating, shopping, taking pictures of freaks, and swinging from very high ropes. I knew there was a reason we needed to move back here. What more could you ask for?!

Here are a couple more things we've been up to since moving to the Valley of the Sun...

Happy Birthday Papa!!

Wednesday the family celebrated my dad's birthday at Red Robin. Afraid any gift we got for my dad might end up in the "pile" with all the other unused/unopened presents from earlier birthdays and many prior Christmases, we decided a Harbor Freight gift card would be put to better use. We ended the night on a sweet note with Key Lime, Chocolate Satin, and Lemon Meringue pies.

Gilbert Historical Museum

My mother is a very talented artist. I used to think that I had inherited this talent, but recent projects have proved otherwise. Anyway, a few of her drawings were displayed at the Gilbert Museum in an art show. It was neat to see her pictures hanging among the other lovely art. I have driven past that museum a million times and always had a secret urge to take a tour of it, thanks mom for giving me an excuse to finally go inside.

"what's the deal?!"

Last weekend we went to Las Vegas to see Jerry Seinfeld at the Colessium in Caesar's Palace. I gave tickets to Sam for our anniversary back in December. We made it a quick trip and went there and back in one night. We had just enough time to hit a buffet, see the show, and play a few quarters in the slots! Seinfeld was HILARIOUS. I don't often laugh out loud, but at this show I couldn't help it. Funny stuff. I was worried that he (like most comedians) would be crude, and dirty. Seinfeld managed to crack up the entire auditorium for over an hour without saying anything nasty! We found ourselves saying "that is so true" to about 90% of his whole set. Afterwards he came back out for an encore, and just answered questions from the audience. This part of the show was equally as funny! Everyone should see this show.

(Sorry the picture is blurry. No cameras allowed, so I had to sneak which meant no flash.)

happy happy birthday Sammy dear!

Sam turned the big 2-6 yesterday. So, for the 3rd year in a row I baked Sam's favorite "Fun-Fetti" birthday cake complete with trick-candles. Most would think this cake was more age appropriate for our son. Nope! This is just one example of why no matter what Sam's age, nobody expects him to act it. We started the celebration early, grabbed some Jimmy John's Subs, and headed out to St. George's finest...

Sam, Landon, and I enjoyed a lovely round of miniature golf. We of course set wagers on the game. I lost... BARELY! This meant no sushi dinner, instead Sam would get to choose the eating establishment. After golfing we headed into the arcade. Sam had a pile of quarters burning a hole in his pocket so we put them to good use! He was bragging about how (when he was younger) he would "totally work this one game". Little did we know, said game was hiding right around the corner. Sam had the opportunity to prove it, and surprisingly he did! Every token played yeilded at least 25 tickets. This was also a surprise because after getting the high score on skee ball, only ONE ticket was rewarded. Landon chose some fun prizes with our winnings and we headed home.

Later on Sam and I went on a hot date! Texas Roadhouse, complete with huge polygamist family to share our booth. Then a movie, Juno. We loved the movie, but not as much as watching the weirdos we ate with earlier. For his birthday Sam got tickets to see Paul Potts, Rob & Big seasons 1 and 2, some really nice clothes for his new job, and a video game. Thanks to all who helped make Sam's day so GREAT!

Sal & Logan

After the game we headed over to (Sam's sister) Sally's house to celebrate her and Logan's birthday! I can't believe he is already a year old! It's been so nice to get to know Sally better, and Landon has his cousin Logan to play with, they always have a great time! Happy (late) Birthday to the other Shumway's born in January, Max and Bean!

games

Sam's brother, John (the one shooting), plays basketball on his high school team. Friday nights we all go to the games to root for him! Now I must admit, I'm not a huge fan of sports. I attended millions of games during my 6 years of cheerleading, so I feel like I've paid my dues. Somehow I think I will be attending many more, what with my sports fanatic husband, not to mention the birth of my son. I usually have fun at these games, for the first half anyway! However, the last game was monumental! We ventured to a small town outside St. George. Hurricane, pronounced (by utahn's) HURA-KIN. It started out as a normal game, Snow Canyon was ahead the whole game. Little did I know there was a very special snack prepared for the half time show. They began by wheeling out the "set" which was constructed mostly of PVC pipe and shower loofahs. Then the Hurricane entertainment appeared.

Their instructor should be shot. Poor girls, as if the costumes weren't bad enough, she thought it would be fun to slap skates on these gimlets. They pretty much took turns hiding behind the fake rocks and skidding around trying not to fall. I won't go into too much detail, as the pictures speak for themselves. I couldn't tell you the final score of the game, but John's team won! I am very happy I didn't miss this game!

family journal

I started this blog about a year ago. I do not journal, and I definitely don't scrapbook so I decided to have our blog made into a book. I was very pleasantly surprised with the finished product! Each year I will send our blog into BLURB (after editing and placing photos where I want them etc) and have our memories printed into a hardcover book. It's way cheaper, and less time consuming than scrapbooking, and way more interesting than just a journal... jackpot!