The Oregon Coast, Where I long to be

On our way there (yes we drove) we stopped at the Fish Hatchery and the Loches and Dambs. We got to watch a tugboat and barge go up the loche. At the hatchery, Brian hung Kyler over the edge to see if the fish would nibble on his toes, then Kylers pants got stuck and we almost lost his pants and Kyler to the fish, wish we would have gotten that one on tape.


We also stopped at Multnomah Falls, SO BEAUTIFUL! Kyler had his first taste of icecream.


On Sunday we stopped at the temple. The flowers were SO amazing, I'd never seen flowers so red before. Brian took some fun pictures.



Then off to the coast. We camped at Cape Lookout State Park. It was like camping in a rainforest everything was so green.





We spent our time combing the beach....

And crabbing...

We had such a wonderful time, I'm sure we'll go back soon.

Am I an Adult?

As I was doing dishes this evening I was pondering what it means to be “an adult”. Does it mean that you know how to balance a check book, pay your bills, and support yourself? Or does it mean you’ve achieved a certain level of education? Or is being an adult waking up every morning before your ready, so you can take care of someone else, knowing when to help someone and when to let them make their own decisions? Can you really know what being an adult is if you’ve never experienced parenthood? Do real adults always have the dishes done, the house cleaned, have their daily exercises done, read their scriptures and get to bed on time. Do you know you’ve officially become an adult when you have a routine that works like clockwork and that routine makes you happy? Can you be an adult before your husband has graduated from college? What if you never really become an adult and even though you graduate from high school your inner child fights to lay in the grass instead of do dishes, sleep in instead of fix breakfast, love those that hurt in your life and ignore that their flawed, spend money on people instead of bills, stay up to watch a meteor shower instead of get a good nights rest, but even though your inner child is screaming you do the adult thing even though…..you don’t FEEL like an adult. Even though I look around at my life and see all the things that I think might define an adult, I don’t feel like one, and I’m starting to think…that’s ok.

Warning! This post contains an insane amount of Pictures

Well, we just got back from 2 1/2 weeks of vacation. We had a really good time, but it is really nice to be home. Not only to just chill for a few days, but to have Kyler back on a schedule is heaven. Anyway, here's what we did, hope you enjoy!

July 12-15
We drove to Cedar City to visit Scott, Becky, and Kennidee. We saw a few plays at the Shakespeare Festival, Fiddler on the Roof, and Othello. Both were fantastic. We then killed our time shotgun shooting, and playing video games (crash and burn has become our favorite). Kyler LOVED chasing Trixie (the dog) and Matter (the kitty), he had lots of scratch markes to prove it. Pictures

Kyler also got to meet his Great-great Grandma Brooks for the first time.

July 15-22

Then we attemped the long drive to Phoenix. We were almost to Vegas when Kyler had a melt down, so we decided to pull off the free way, find a gas station and let him get out of the car for a while. Well, we pulled off the freeway and immediatly knew we were in the wrong part of town, I was totally freaked out. We finally found a gas station and when Brian got out to fill the car I immediatly locked the doors. There was NO Way we were going to hang out here for a while. I started getting cranky, mean while Kylers still screaming, we try and rearrange things in the car so I can sit in the back and feed Kyler and try and keep him company. By this time the car is 100+ degrees and by the time we get moving I'm thinking to myself, we're never doing this again! Suddenly Brian is stopping the car and I snap "Why are we stopping!" And he says "We are at the Las Vegas Library" Hallelujah angels start singing in the back ground and a smile breaks across my face. Thanks Mom smith for teaching us that the Library is always a safe haven from any storm. We enjoyed an hour of toys and airconditioning, then moved on to Phoenix whithout a hitch. We stayed with Nathen and Beth, and their boys Kaleb and Jonah. Kyler was in cousin heaven, he followed the boys around, and Jonah would even get down and crawl with him, before we knew it Kyler was crawing at top speeds. They enjoyed building train tracks and going up and down the stairs. We all had fun going to the pool and enjoying the awesome splash parks they have there.

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July 22nd



We drove to Yuma AZ, to visit Brians best friend Andy and his wife Jenny and their two boys, Ammon and Peter. Andy is in the Border Patrol so they get to live in beautiful Yuma were it was 115 degrees!!! I don't know how they do it, we, of course, went to another splash park

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July 22nd-29th

Then we drove on to Sunny San Diego. We stayed with by brother Richard, his wife Jessica and daughter Madison. My Mom, Chuck, and Sisters were also there to visit. We enjoyed many beautiful days on the beach, going to the aquarium, playing at the park, and eating mexican food :)

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Now if you haven't seen enough, check out our fun videos

The End!