Finally! The Zoo

I have been totally absent lately. It's hard not living in your own place, partly because your routines just get all messed up. But I'm starting to get a little better at getting back to the things I use to do. Life has slowed down now that Julia's (Brian's sister) is married and almost all of the family has headed back to their respective homes. So now I have some time to Blog! Yea! Last week we went to the Zoo before Kylers cousins headed home. We had a great time. Kyler loved the Elephants and could have watched them all day.

The Rhino's were a little scary because they were so close, but he was brave.

All the cousins, minus Kennidee, plus Grandma and Kiki. Kyler even looked at the camera!

Kyler loved the Carousel, until it started moving, good thing I got the picture first!

On our way to ride the train it started to rain, hard! But that didn't stop the kids from having a blast, thanks Kiki for humoring Kyler, he loves puddles!

The 8th Day Lament

I know some of you will think this is pathetic, but today I have have been away from Brian more days in a row then all the other days we've been apart in our marriage put together. He comes home tomorrow AND I CAN'T WAIT!!! He's flew to Atlanta last Saturday to interview at the Shepard Clinic. He stayed with Phillip and Jamie and is now driving across country with their family to get here for Julia's wedding. It's been a really long week, and I've missed him terribley. Kudos to all you wife's who have husbands in the military or have jobs that take them away often. I couldn't do it! I LOVE YOU BRIAN!! Come home to me safely.

The Cake

So I just wanted to give a quick thanks to Jenae Meservy who did the cake for Brian's graduation party. I had been dreaming of a U cake for Brians final Graduation for as long as I can remember. So when the time came near I was excited to put the plans into action. I contacted a bakery close to where we lived in American Fork who has the most wonderful little pastry shop. They also do custom cakes, so I told them what I was thinking and they gave me a quote that sent all my dreams crushing to the ground....there was NO WAY I could afford to get the cake.
I told my mom of my dilemma and she contact Jenae. We grew up just up the street from Jenae and her family, she now has started her own wedding cake and flower business. My mom gave her a call and gave me this wonderful surprise on the day of Brian's graduation party. Jenae did such a wonderful job. Not only did the cake look amazing..it TASTED amazing!!! Of course nothing less then chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate for Brian. The whole cake was edible except the scroll and the top of grad hat. I couldn't have dreamed up anything more perfect! Thanks Jenae!!!
If anyone is interested in her work, she has a website, http://www.petalsandcrumbs.com/

Graduation!!!

Yes, you read that right. Brian has FINALLY GRADUATED!!!! It felt SO good, and I wasn't even the one graduating! The ceremony was really nice. Everyone who spoke had great things to say. Of course we were all waiting for the moment when they said......Dr. Brian Clark Smith....I don't think it had really sunk in until that moment.

I'm so proud of you Brian, you've worked SO hard all these years, and you did such a good job of balancing school and family life. I hardly ever felt neglected, and that is an amazing accomplishment all on it's own! You are an amazing Physical Therapist, and any patient would feel privileged to have you on there team. I love you Mr, I'm glad we made the journey together.We had a really nice party the next day. Thanks to everyone who came and supported Brian.

I tried to get the big "Dr. Brian Clark Smith" on video, but the audio was a little slow..bummer, here's what I got. Wahoo Brian!! I love you!

Carthage, Nauvoo, and Steamboat Springs...The second part of our Journey home

We were able to stop by Carthage and Nauvoo on our way home. What a beautiful area. It's amazing to me how things were kept and preserved even after all these years. Like Carthage jail was actually a home for many years, and yet they never replaced the door with the bullet holes in it. I think that's pretty cool. Anyway, this is Carthage, it was a beautiful spring morning, and we were the only ones there, I was really neat to be in the martyrdom room alone. What a powerful place.

Then we headed into Nauvoo and had lunch by the Nauvoo Temple.

We didn't have time to see very much so we took a guided tour on a horse drawn wagon, Kyler loved every minute of it.

As we'd ride by, all the missionary couples would come out of the houses and wave hello, I loved this picture because it seemed just perfect for how things might have been then.

We had fun meeting the missionary couples, and seeing some of the artifacts, we would have loved to see the play the missionaries put on, but we just didn't have time. We'll definitely have to go back!

Then we headed into Steamboat Springs Colorado. The original plan we to camp in Rocky Mountain National Park, but this is what we found...

Needless to say we didn't camp. Instead we stayed in Steamboat Springs, which is a lot like park city but not as hoity toity. We stayed in a cheap off season hotel that was really nice, and spent our days in the hot springs.


We didn't take any pictures because we were in the water the whole time. Kyler loved it, he got so use to it by the end, he'd step off the stairs, go under water, and just blink up at us. It was pretty funny. It was a great way to end our journey home.

Our Trip Home...the first few days

We headed back to Utah on April 27th and said goodbye to Gastonia. There are a few things we will miss, but we are excited to see family and friends again. We started the trek by going to Great Smokey Mountain National Park. It ended up being more of an adventure then we planned. Campgrounds are still first come first serve because it's still the "slow" season, so we figured we'd be fine, but when we started getting close it was hard to ignore the 10,000+ motorcycles riding in and out of the park and surrounding area. The place was CRAZY!!! We went to the closest campground..full "go to this campground" they said, "it will for sure have sites", so we drive another hour and a half through the park to that campground....full!!!! It was getting late and we were frustrated with the lack of communication between campgrounds. So the ranger says "go to this campground, it will for sure have sites." Sound familiar, and of course it's another hour and a half away. So we put on our fake smiles, and headed to our last chance. We were lucky enough to get one of the last spots, and felt bad for the endless cars that drove around even in the middle of the night looking for spots.

We ended up loving the campground, and took a trail from the campground to a falls called Hen Wallow Falls. The hike and the destination were beautiful.

The park was beautiful and we hope to be able to go back sometime and spend some more time there. We then packed up and headed to Cincinnati to spend some time with my cousin Tara and her family. It was so nice to be "home". We felt right at home and spending time with Tara and her family will definitely be the highlight of our trip home. We went to a local aquarium one day, and enjoyed playing games and watching the kids play the rest of the time.

Believe it or not, Grant and Kyler are exactly the same age, they were born 5 min apart, you'd never know it by comparing their sizes, Grant is wearing 24 month cloths, Kylers still in 12 months :)

Katie was SO good with Kyler, he'd grab her hand and drag her places, it was so cute!

We sadly said good bye to the Arnesen Family, and made the drive to Nauvoo....which we'll save for a later post....Utah here we come!