Mini Drill 2011....

Kensie was so excited to spend three days dancing with Kalee. They learned a routine to the "Pun" (rupunzel) song, a quick military dance, and got a cute t-shirt. Kensie kept trying to show me how to do the military dance and showed me how to salute. Too funny! And of coarse she was Kaitlyns shadow during the whole thing.

Kaitlyn, Kalee, & Kensie

Let freedom ring!!!

Yahoo for the fourth of July........and a long weekend! With the fourth falling on a Monday this year the city decided to split the celebration into two days. The park happenings were on Saturday and the fire works went up on Monday. Gavyn slept over on Friday night with the plan of Nikki & Wyatt coming in early the next morning and us all going to the park. This has been the tradition, but you will notice in the picture who ended up going to the park.....only the Newtons. After listening to whining, crying, name calling, back talking, & complaining over their outfits Momma bear lost her temper and kept both Smith kids home. I have had it with their picked on attitudes and I kept to my guns and followed through on my threat. We went and got a drink and drove around the park to show the kids what they were missing. Cael claimed that he didn't want to go anyway, but by that night he confessed he wished he would of been good. It took Cael most of the day to admit that he was wrong and we didn't have anymore attitude problems the rest of the weekend. Casey spent the whole day working on the playhouse instead. Monday we had our traditional firework BBQ. We had a hard time decided what to serve this year and I finally made the decision to make home-made Philly Cheese Steaks. Casey was totally against this and wanted to do Turkey again. He ate his words when he had his first sandwich and it melted in his mouth. I found the recipe online and it turned out so Yummy! I even made buns for the first time. For the past couple of years it has rained and the power has went out and sure enough the same thing happened this year. I found a bunch of 4th of July trivia online with word searches and scrabbles. I think everyone had fun working on their packets while we waited for the fireworks and Power to come back on.

Kayden Park, Kalee, & G&G Morgan

Grandma Morgan, Grandpa Earl, & Paul

Abbie, Chris & Jakoye

My Mom made these firework fruit pick and Jakoye made some fun Red/White/& Blue strawberries.

Kensie trying to wake up from her nap.

The kids love Kayden and he is always willing to play with them.

Working on their packet. Grandpa Morgan refuse because as he put it "i didn't come to take a test!" He is so funny!

Pouring Rain

Summer time....

To be honest, this summer has felt dang weird. It's half way over and I still feel like it has not yet started. Mostly because of the cold weather. We have been blessed with some hot days, but for the most part I feel like my neighbor Terry has his home state of Alaska living with him. We haven't been camping once this summer. Usually by this time we have been out several times, but our first camping trip of the year isn't scheduled until the 24th weekend. We were planning on going to Beaver, but it is still covered in snow....Yes Snow! So who knows where we will end up. We also are missing the Blackett family in the neighborhood. Cael has been bored out of his mind without Cooper to entertain him. This has led to him being grounded....Alot! I feel like all I have done is yell at him to "knock it off!" He truly has been miserable and I'm yet to figure out why. I think that "Good Manners" award must have put a curse on him! Kensie Lynn has also been moody. Come on guys....It's Summer! What do you have to be grumpy about? Anyway, besides all the mood swings and rain storms we are still trying to have a good summer and hopefully it will only get better from here!

More sleepovers with Gavyn.....look how beat!




I had a yard sale at the first of the summer and ended up with some extra boxes. My neighbor Audrey went right to work and started making the kids houses. It's amazing how much a box can entertain. They played in them for hours.


We also have been trying to get the kids playground put in this year. They are growing up so fast and I hope we can get it done before the grandkids are the ones to enjoy it. We stayed home from Lagoon so that we could go get our lumber. We have talked of doing this for a long time and it has been fun to watch it come together.

I will post the final product when it gets done.

We have also been trying to spend more time working on the house. Last summer we played a lot and pretty much only mowed the grass. We have been paying for it this year and I feel it has taken us twice as long to get ready for summer. The bushes were over grown, windows disgusting, door casings weathered, and the basement was out of control. Slowly we have been checking things off our to-do list and should be ready for our busy month of July!

What would summer be without water? The bonus this year was Cael learning how to tie a water balloon....YEAH ME!

Coach Pitch....

The last couple of weeks we have been playing ball twice a week. Cael has loved Coach Pitch and has improved tons!! I think he has only struck out once and tonight had a great hit into the out field. We played Gavyn's team tonight which meant four of the Jarrett Great-Grandkids played in the same game. I was glad I snapped a picture because this is one of my new Favs! What some handsome boys! It reminds me of "The Sandlot".

Conner White (my cousin Tyson's), Gavyn, Nolan (my cousin Ryan's), and Cael.

Gavyn had some great hit's too.


Ryan & Cael

Great-Grandpa Earl even made it to the game to watch the four boys play.

Princess Dance Camp.....

This is our Dancing Princess!!! The last couple of months Kensie has really started to enjoy dance so we decided to put the girls in Lisa's Princess Dance Camp. Kensie was in "Prin" heaven. It was a three day camp and they did so many fun things including making their own crown. Today was the last day so they had a Princess Parade after showing off their new dance. Kensie has really started to come out of her shell and even waved to the crowd as she went by. Thank you Lisa!!

Snow White even came to the parade... Jocelyn you're the best!

Halle & Kensie

Savanah & Kensie