Smith Secrets..... Shhhhh....: June 2010

It was a sad day when Grandpa Nielsen left this world. Grandpa wasn't what you would call a fun loving kind of guy, but some of my best memories of him was when he was sarcastic. When he laughed you knew it was real.

We know he is in a better place and he is back with his parents. He was an only child, so I bet his parents were very happy to see him.

This is the last picture I have of grandpa. I am so happy that we stopped by, Ry ate onion soup, threw up and we got a picture.

Grandpa's funeral was very good. It was fun to see all my cousins and reminisce, Not necessarily under the circumstances but at least it brought us all together.

Grandpa is buried at the same mortuary as alot of Aaron's grandparents and great-grandparent.

Aaron's dad's grandparents are buried like 10 feet away from my grandpa. I thought that was very cool.

Grandma picked out a very nice casket for Grandpa to "sleep" in for awhile.

My cousins were the pall bearers.

Grandpa was in the service so there was a bugler there. It was very patriotic.

I quite liked it.

The servicemen were very respectful and sincere.

They take this job very seriously.

Grandpa's final resting place.

Ryan was playing with this little wind-mill.

At least he was busy.

Aaron took a walk with the boys to check on his Grandma and Grandpa Smith.

Last family picture with Grandpa.

Some flowers that Madi got from Grandpa.

Our family picture with Grandma.

Grandma is such a sweet lady and she was such a good wife to grandpa.

I am so thankful for the plan of salvation. That we know that they will be together forever!

Side Note.....

During the funeral the Grandkids and Great-Grandkids sang "Families Can Be Together Forever". While we were singing Madi looked across the room and saw her cousins crying. So, she started crying very hard. Ry was standing next to her and in front of Aaron. Ry looks back at Aaron and said, "Madi's crying!" very loud! We tried to ignore him the first time, but he said it again! He was so confused! Aaron busted up laughing and couldn't stop the whole second verse. It was a little awkward. Ry was just concerned, that's all!

1st Day of Family Reunion

June 22, 2010

Even though my family lives very close together and we see each other all the time, we still love the excuse to get away. This year we decided to head up to Cherry Hill and enjoy the cooler weather.

About 1 minute after we pulled out of our driveway, my mom called and said my Grandpa Nielsen had passed away. We knew it was coming and he had been saying that he was ready to go for quite a while. Nonetheless, it is always hard when someone you love passes away. We still headed up and kept our plans for the most part, but had a few minor changes.

It was always the plan to stop at grandma's house in Elk Ridge on the way up to clean up her yard and house. It was good, but emotional to be there so soon after the passing of grandpa. I think I had a lump in my throat most of the time we were there.

After we had done our duty at grandma's house we headed to Cherry Hill. We got up there at about 7:30 Tuesday night. Some set up camp while others made some taco's for dinner. We had some delicious taco's for dinner then had some oreo's and milk for dessert.

Madi and Lex enjoyed their dessert.

Brayd and Cam.....those boys were inseparable pretty much the whole trip.

Cute boys!

These boys love their dessert's:)

I never got any pictures but the boys had some fun soccer games. Aaron even got out there and enjoyed some soccer.

Here is Cam and Brayd AGAIN!

No, we did not just pose for this picture....We DID sleep in this tent all night! Yep, Aaron and I finally sleep in a tent together in our 10th year of marriage. Porter was sleeping with Alan and Connor in a little tent about 20 feet away. At least I can now say I have slept in a tent with Aaron, and took my kids "camping". It was a long, not very comfortable night, but we made it through.

2nd Day of Family Reunion

June 23, 2010

Paul, Russ and Aaron went to a "pub" in Salt Lake to watch a World Cup soccer game and have a breakfast burrito. No, this doesn't sound fun to me, but the boys all had a good time together.

On this day, Aaron and I decided to take our family to Lagoon. We had a great time!

Brayd is already yawning and we haven't even made it through the gates yet.

And he's ornery about it too! This face didn't last long!

This is Aaron's cup that I hauled around all day:)

He's cute!

I couldn't believe that this is how we walked in to Lagoon. No cooler, no diaper bag. Just my purse-which is as big as a diaper bag. My kids are growing up so big!

As soon as we made it through the gates, Aaron was more excited than the kids and had us on the move!

I'm not quite sure why Porter never looks at the camera. He's still cute though.

Aaron and I walked over to take this picture and a man standing next to us asked if these were our kids. Of course we claimed them. He then told us that they all ran to separate little ships but then saw where everyone else was and ended up in the same one together. I guess they like each other.

There weren't very many rides that Aaron and I didn't go on, but this one we didn't.

While the other kids went on a wet ride Brayd and I hung out together. We don't like the wet ones.

Brayd still killin' time.

Ry and Aaron got wet.

I think Madi and Porter managed to dodge the water.

Porter was the only one daring enough to go on this ride with Aaron.

We all went on the Sky Ride. Porter, Aaron and Ry were in the car ahead of Madi, Brayd and I. Madi and I were very scared on that one.

This was so sad. Ry wanted to go on a ride with Aaron, but this shows that he is just a little too short.

Poor Boy!

Brayd kept jumping on this fence saying, "look mom, I'm tall enough now!" Brayd was o.k. with staying off the "scary" rides with me.

Madi and Porter on this scary ride. When they got off and watched what they actually did on the ride, they were pretty impressed that they lived.

We of course went on the train and enjoyed some relaxation time.

I love my family. We all went on the Tidal Wave. Brayd and I closed our eyes the whole time.

We were scared.

Aaron took the older kids on some more scary rides so I took the little boys over to where the big kids couldn't go. They felt pretty cool about that.

Just hangin' together.

My babies on the boats. Ry kept touching the water.

He's a monkey!

Ry on the caterpillar roller coaster.

Brayd went on this one too but he didn't love it.

Brayd was so cute how he rode on this with his hand behind him the whole time.

Ry on "Puff".

See Brayd and Ry?

Brayd wanted to try out the car by himself.

Hey Ry!

Madi was ready to join the little kids after Porter and Aaron had left her while they went on the Colossus.

Porter and Brayd loved the planes. You can see how nice Lagoon was this day. No lines for the planes. We had to wait about one round to get on each ride. Some of the rides the kids walked off and walked right back on. It was great!

Madi on her last ride of the day.

Porter enjoying his last ride.

Ry, proud as a peacock!

Cute little Brayd Man!

We had such a good time at Lagoon! The weather was awesome, it wasn't crowded at all, and we all had a good time.

Until next year......

3rd Day of Family Reunion

June 24, 2010

This day we hung out at Cherry Hill all day. We had a good time swimming and just hangin' out with family.

These two loved the slide. We had a lesson on cutting in line and the correct way to wait. It was interesting.

The "lazy river" put Brenden right to sleep.

So Cute!

Brayd didn't so much love the "lazy river".

Madi headin' out on the tube.

Porter just hung out on with Connor and Alan the whole day.

They did forget about him eventually though. About 15 minutes after everyone else had come back for dinner Porter came walking up and said, "You could have told me you were coming back." Whoops, I guess they forgot about him.

Ry and Daddy. They hung out ALOT!

Sweet Train.

Russ keeping hold of Madi.

Ry and Daddy going down the ride.

So Fun.

Hailee Mae was so, so freezing. I think there were about 4 towels wrapped around her.

She needs some fat! She can have some of mine.

Madi lost her mat on the dragon slide.

Porter still hanging with the cousins.

Brayd and dad had a good ride together.

Then it was Ry's turn. They had to trade off and as you can probably guess he wasn't so happy about that.

Russ and Brayd-and Aaron.

I even went down with Brayd

Ry got tired of waiting for Aaron so he went down with Alan.

Aaron and Madi cruisin' on the slide.

Whoops, Madi lost her mat.

Then I told Aaron to smile:)

He had to fix his hair though.

Does he look better?

I was screaming and we were going so, so fast!

Brayd and Grandpa.

Sweet tank-top huh?

? I really don't know what to say about this picture ?

I figured since I was all wet I may as well go on the "big" slide.

Connor, Aaron, I and Porter all went on a train.

I did come out a bit wetter than I went in, but it was very fun!

Cherry Hill is such a fun place. I think we are going to try to make this a tradition. Not hard core camping but fun:)

4th Day of Family Reunion

June 25, 2010

On Friday we headed to the Children's Museum at The Gateway. My mom and I ran to find her a couple of dresses for awhile then we made it back and joined the party. The kids had such a fun time and kept very busy together.

Brayd drivin' his Fire Engine.

Cam Man not far behind in his little car.

Brayd walked around with this had on for about 2 hours.

I think these boys were figuring out the game for the night.

Whoops, they caught me taking a picture.

These boys may have had more fun than the babies at this museum.

Who's the crazy lady in the back?

Madi was a cute little checker.

Aaron finally found something to keep him busy, just in time for us to leave.

This day was Cam Man's birthday. He had so much fun....we think!

Brayd and Cam are such good buds!

Aaron is good at resting! He had to rest up for the REAL game.

Heather, Jo and I took the kids that weren't interested in the REAL game and got some Cafe Rio and hit up like the oldest elementary school in the Salt Lake Valley. It had old metal toys and everything. The rest of the clan went to the game and from what I heard.....Had a good time!