Salt Lake City, UT

After our reunion in Idaho, we spent the weekend in Salt Lake City. My dad and his 3 brothers (and others) went on a hike to King's Peak in the Unitah Mountains. I had a small desire to go at the last minute, but once I found out my 2 girl cousins weren't going, I quickly changed my mind back to doing nothing. Always a good idea. My Grandma and Grandpa Jones, and my aunt Kim and her 4 kids were all staying at The Kimball with me, Sam, and my mom. The Kimball is a timeshare DIRECTLY across the street (east) of the conference center. It is the PERFECT location to hang out downtown Salt Lake City. Walking distance to everything!

We basically spent the weekend acting like tourists...you'd think we'd never have lived there! On Friday we walked around Temple Square and ate at the Lion House for lunch. There is an "I Am A Child of God" Exhibit at the Art Museum that was just for Sam. She really enjoyed being there. We got to play with blocks, organize stained glass and play on the chairs.During Sam's nap, I got to go see the Joseph Smith movie at the Legacy Theater. Amazing. For dinner we had Cafe Rio and played at the park.

On Saturday I woke up extra early to get into the first morning session at the LDS Temple. Wow. Then, we drove to our old house and neighborhood in Lehi. Not much has changed in less than a year. We all went to Thanksgiving Point for lunch and the Country Farm. Did I mention I broke my camera...AND... thought I had lost it at the petting zoo...so no pictures! It was so fun to see all the kids playing and feeding the animals! Sam loved the horses and cows and ducks and pigs and goats and baby chicks....umm...she loved everything. Grandma bought her a fun new toy as a souvenir! I do have a picture of that!

Sunday we walked over to the Tabernacle to watch, "Music & The Spoken Word." Then, for the first time ALL week, a miracle happened! SAM GOT IN HER STROLLER! Hallelujah! So the real tours began! First we went to the Visitor's Center to see Jesus with all the cousins. Then, we went to the Conference Center for the rooftop tour.

The hikers got back on Sunday night to brag of their adventures and visit before everyone parted their ways. Happy 90th birthday Grandpa!

Sam sure loves her cousin Lydia. If my camera hadn't broke, I would have gotten them on video. Lydia has the cutest, squeekiest voice you've ever heard.

This "vacation" has been the best and the worst all in one. We had a WHOLE WEEK without Blake. We sure missed him...but he might have missed us more...this was waiting for us when we got home.

Schwartz Family Reunion - Smokey Mt, ID

On a last minute whim, Samantha and I decided to join my Mom and Dad on the Schwartz Family Reunion. This is the 2nd time they've held it at Smokey Mountain, just outside of Sun Valley, ID. We were definitley camping and getting dirty! We flew into Salt Lake City late, late, late on Sunday night. The next morning, we rented a car and started our 6 hour drive to Idaho. Lucky for us, Sam likes to be in her carseat...AND...Grandma always comes prepared with a new toy! Today was a sticker-story book! I can't tell who was having more fun.My mom has 6 brothers and sisters who were all in attendance. With all their kids and their kids' kids...there were a bunch of people! I haven't seen these cousins in YEARS! I am one of the older cousins, so my memory of everyone is when they under 10 years old. Most cousins are now teenagers or married with kids! I mixed up a lot of names and faces!

We played lots of games and ate a ton of food, and even had a karaoke night! Alturus Lake was a few minutes away...but the water was really cold! Even Sam, who LOVES water, wasn't getting in!

Of the 70 people that were in and out during the reunion, only 4 of us were hikers. Me, dad, and my 2 cousins, Landon and Brandon....what a group we made! We went on a hike "around the lake." To our utter dismay, there was no trail that went all the way around. What a long and annoying hike! What started off as a pleasant hike, turned into going through the river, then nothing but swamps and eventually the road.
No day is complete without bath time...especially if you are camping! Smokey Mountain cabins are used for LDS girls camp....which means no showers....so we improvised with the kitchen sink!

Never too old to bathe in a sink!
Sammie made lots of new friends. Her favorite of all was Hannah. They liked to play outside the mess hall. Sam LOVED opening the door, over and over and over again. It would just bang shut right behind her. This video has Sammie saying Hannah, although I might have been too far away to really hear it.

Weekend Update

Blake and Michelle had Friday off last week, so we decided to continue our Texas college visits. We headed to Rice University on Friday afternoon. On the way there, we met up with Ray and ate lunch at Ruggles. It was a fun area of town, so we walked around for awhile. We stopped into a Learning Express so Sam could play with some toys. She found this dollhouse on a table and pulled herself up for some fun.

Rice University was in a great part of town - medical center, zoo, museums. Blake's main focus is visting the bookstore to buy a t-shirt. If it wasn't so unbearably hot, I would insist on spending more time walking around the campus. But, the day is short and we skipped Sam's nap, so on to the next stop - University of Houston. This is Ray's alma mater, so he got a t-shirt too.

Saturday we celebrated Ray's birthday with dinner and a fight. He took us to Bellaire for Vietnamese food - he orderd us Beef 7 Ways. It was yummy and fun to eat. Sam was only interested in playing with the highchair, not actually sitting in it. She can almost say, 'buckle.' Blake has decided that I need to stop encouraging this word...

We then headed to University of Houston to watch a Mixed Martial Arts fight. Ray never wants to be in any of my pictures, especially a group photo...but Michelle is always up for a pose!

If I had it my way, I would have gotten a picture of Ray in his shiny (and I literally mean, SHINY) new 'Affliction' shirt getting this guy to autograph it for him. That was the plan...but instead, I ended up with this...

and this...

Then, snuck in this one...

and then this...Oops. I've offically gone too far.

At least Blake is smiling enough for both of them

3 Blond Bombshells

We LOVE the pool!

Ornery Etta

When me and my sisters were little, my mom had a nickname for us when we were fussing, nagging or just in a bad mood.

Today Samantha earned that name.

She did NOT take a nap today. When I finally gave up trying, she brought her pillow and blanket in the kitchen while I cooked dinner. She whined and moaned and cried...then all of the sudden, she went quiet. When I looked on the other side of the counter, this is what I found...

At first, she was laughing with me...but when the drink spilled all over her...her mood changed to this...

And then this...

Lucky for you, this was NOT caught on video.

A Day In Dallas

Blake, Sam and I are always up for a quick roadtrip to sites and cities around Texas. This past weekend, Ray had a work conference in Dallas, so we tagged along. We drove in late Friday night. Saturday while Ray was working, the rest of us headed downtown. First stop was the JFK assasination location. The shooter was in the top righthand corner window. On the street there are 2 'X's marking the spots where he was shot and then killed.

Downtown Dallas is great! On the weekends, there aren't very many people, so it was quiet and fun and didn't really feel like a downtown. We were trying to find something to eat, when we walked past this place...

A big guy came outside and highly recommended that we stop in and eat...'this place has great food and it's cheap!' We kept going to see the rest of the eating spots. A lot of places were closed, but we wandered into a few touristy shops and restaurants. We ended up coming back to this place only to find the same guy still in the cafe. We asked him what was good and he said, 'oh, I dunno...I always eat the same thing for breakfast.' Um...gee, thanks. Blake got a kick out of this place....what a dump! We had ham-egg-cheese sandwiches and they were excellent!

Next stop: Dallas Museum of Art. It was a long, hot walk...but well worth it! There is an outdoor sculpture park that has lots of trees and fountains, so we cooled off fast.

And played, and climbed through the sculptures. Ray misses out on all the fun!

Last stop was SMU campus. Blake is now on a mission to visit all Texas college campuses....well, at least the ones that we happen to be driving by. SMU is only minutes from downtown. The campus is beautiful! We all loved driving around the surrounding neighborhood and seeing the houses...they were amazing! We stopped into the bookstore so Blake could buy a t-shirt and Sam could read a quick book.

Then we picked up Ray and headed off to dinner. That night the girls went back to the hotel to watch a movie ('Made of Honor' - lame!), while Blake and Ray went to a sports bar to watch the fights. Great weekend! Next stop is Austin in August!

Grandma finds the best toys...

Every few weeks, Grandma will come over with 'something for Sammie.' Sam will sit down and open the bag and find a brand new toy or clothes or books! Sam has had a runny nose the last couple of days, and Grandma found a Make Me Better My Little Pony. Her name is Rarity and she says all kinds of cute things as you doctor her back to health.

There was a stethoscope that taught Sam how to listen to her heartbeat.

Grandma, listen!

We found the perfect doctor's bag....now, where did the thermometer and medicine spoon go? It was just here!

Ahh! "There it is!"