It's Fall

Fall at our house means lots and lots of football. Sam has season tickets to the Boise State games and BYU games and more importantly our season tickets to Spencer and Carter's games. They practice daily with games on Saturday. Mix in a visit here and there to the chiropractor to correct the hard tackles from the week before, and we hardly have time to to think, let alone blog. The boys have both had great seasons. Their games are super fun to watch, and until yesterday the weather has been ideal. Yesterday... was miserably cold, but luckily the games were good. The girls are troopers and great cheerleaders at the games, as long as I take a picture of them once in a while.

ETHIOPIA BOYS UPDATE: I know I mentioned in the last post that we had a court date of October 9th, well last week it got pushed back to October 26th. UGGG! They said something more pressing had to go through the courts before adoption cases could start up...Seriously, what could be more pressing than getting these boys home, nothing in our minds and stomped on twisted up hearts. So don't pray for us on the 9th, save it for the 26th, and hopefully we can travel before Christmas.

Carter is the one with the ball. He plays something called a "two back", and is on the "D Line". (I don't know my football positions too well.)

Spencer is #82 on the blue team. He plays tight end, and defensive end, and whatever position it is that gets him to score at least two touchdowns a game. It helps to hit puberty before anyone else when it comes to football.

Our pretty little Sissy.

Elle is miss photogenic. I have never seen her look bad in a picture, even when she tries to.

Summer Don't Go!

We have had the best summer, and are a little sad around here that school starts on Monday. Now, don't get me wrong, I won't miss the constant mess, fixing and cleaning up meals around the clock, the occasional(okay, who am I kidding, frequent) bickering, disney channel to the hilt, laundry galore...you get the gist, school has it's advantages. However, we will miss... no homework, sleeping in late, staying up even later, s'mores around the fire pit, the swimming pools, family get togethers, the lake, the warm sun, the water...the lake. We have had a dang fun time this year at the lake. Hence, the pictures on our blog all look very similar, but bear with us, it's coming to an end. This last weekend is no exception, we spent it at the cabin with all our dental school friends that live close...the Hayhursts, Taylors, and Shipps. When we first met, we used to all hang out in Louisville and it was just Spencer and Hannah Shipp in tow, now we are far out numbered by children, but they all have such a great time together. The proof is in the pictures.

It doesn't get any better than this. Nothing like losing your shorts in front of all the cute girls. It didn't really seem to bother Carter though.

This tube has been a good investment. We have always been anti-tubers until we found this one, and it's so fun and can fit so many we have loved it....added bonus, we can keep it inflated and just tie it on the dock and not have to carry it around with us all day.

Elle and Abby and the new beach, now that the water is down.

The kids doing a little PX90 and than making stew in the hot tub.

Carter teaching Tanner to surf, and Spencer trying to do a 360 on the surf board.

Smiths Are Fun

This year for our annual Smith outing we took them all up to the lake for a fun filled weekend. We were only missing the Paynes (who thought Disneyland would be funner) and Jesse's family in Vegas. Other than that the whole crew was there and it was a blast. There was a body sleeping in every corner of the cabin and a few on tents on the lawn, but still fun (I had my bed).

The campfire every night was fabulous. It was a contest to see who could make the perfect s'more.

Elle surfing.

Enjoying her perfect s'more and watching the sunset over the lake.

This was synchronized diving at its best.

We had the first annual Smith triathalon, with 5 events instead of three. Teams had to canoe, swim, throw a football, run and bike. Our team won, so next year Team Ryan, "Bring it!"

Funnest tube ever, and this is coming from Sam, who does not like tubes whatsoever, but there is something about being with 6 other people screaming and hanging on for dear life.

Dock jumping

Carter and Jayden had a special bond. Carter loves that cutie.

And so does Elle.

Bear Lake Lovin'

Every year we make the pilgrimage to Bear Lake, where my parents have a cabin, and spend a fabulous couple of days with The Garner Clan. This year was as fun as any, minus the fact that Sam forgot to schedule work off so he didn't get to come. The kids loved playing in the sand for hours and hours, begging an adult to take them out on the jet ski's (thank you, dad for always being willing so I didn't have to ride with Carter), playing with their cousins until the wee hours of the night (sorry, mom, for your lack of sleep), and just being together and laughing ourselves silly, and eating "Garner Style".

The Air Chair was a new addition this year. Lisa and James made that purchase and my boys loved it. I think Carter has only told me 100 times since we've been home that, "We HAVE to get one and it's better than wakeboarding or skiing or even tubing".

Eric brought along his new addition too, JESSICA. She was adorable and we loved her. Hope we didn't scare her off, she's a keeper. (Yes, she does have a tissue shoved up her nose in this picture, but she is still cute.)

Thanks family for the fun time. You guys are the best, and we love all your stinking guts!

July 4th

This is just a sample of the fun we had on the lake for the 4th. Plenty of boating, sun, late nights, fireworks, and the most scrumptious food around. What could be better than that...God Bless America!

The Waiting Game

The wait is on, but I was pretty excited to get some new pictures of the boys this week. This whole waiting thing is a killer( Marc and Susan you are my heroes). If we were the norm, we would be traveling this week or next, as most families adopting from Ethiopia travel withing 12-14 weeks of a referral, and we are on week 12 and still don't even have a court date. Supposedly the slow down is one paper of the boy's that was signed by the wrong government agency, but the agency that needs to sign it didn't exist until 3 weeks ago....now they don't know if it has people working there yet. Wow, if this doesn't make you grateful for the good 'ole USA and democracy. We are hopeful that things will progress in the next couple of weeks though because our agency sent a couple people there last week, to see if they could speed things along any. If we don't have our court date by mid July the government closes down for August and September so it would be October before we get to bring them home. If that weren't enough, they are in such a drought that they have to shut the power off, which is generated by hydroelectricity (dams), in the capital for 24 hours at a time followed by 12 hours of power, than 24 off again. This makes it hard for businesses, government agencies, and and everyone to work more than a couple days a week...hence slowing down the adoption process as well. The rainy season is from mid June through August, which usually fills their dams and waterways. So far, they haven't had much rain, so we are praying for that as well.

This is Nate with the camera man, Koby Bryant look a like.

Nate, isn't he handsome, snotty nose and all.

They said Dag didn't like the camera man because he looked like the doctor that gave him shots a couple weeks back.

My Ironman

Yesterday, June 13th, Sam competed in his first (and hopefully last, if I have anything to say about it) Ironman race.   It was a 70.3, or half Ironman, which equates to a 1.2 mile swim in Lucky Peak Reservoir, a 56 mile bike and than a 13.1 mile run.  He has trained for the last 6+ months, exercising like a mad man daily.  He took swim lessons from the pros and now he is a pro.  In the triathlons he has done in the past swimming was always his weakest link, but not now...he knows how to keep himself a float.  Running is a breeze for him, he was a crosscountry/ track star in highschool,  and the bike, well if you have a bazillion dollar bike, you'll be a fast  biker too...at least that was the plan anyway.  I have never seen Sam get nervous for a competition, but this one did it to him.  He hasn't slept good for 2 weeks, worrying about this race.  The race started at 2:00pm because they wanted a night finish, so it was a pooping, anxious morning, but alas the race was on.  He did awesome in his swim, but just as he was getting out the rains came down, and they didn't stop the rest of the day.   The kids and I  had mapped out the course and strategically planned which places we would go to cheer him on throughout the day.  The first spot was about 15 miles into the bike race and we were gathered with about 30-40 other fans, when it started to pour buckets of rain.  Then here comes this biker down the hill and as he goes to take the turn he completely wipes out.  We all groan and moan and then I realize, "Crap that was Sam!"  That's right, he biffed it bad, and messed up that fast bazillion dollar bike, so the rest of the race it rattled and shifted whenever it wanted.  I was a nervous wreck from there on out, and Sicily cried her eyes out worrying that he might crash again.  We are grateful Sam only had some serious road rash and a broken bike, but no broken bones.  He was a total trooper and got back on his bike and rode the remaining 41 miles in the pouring rain, and  then ran his 13.1 miles amazingly.  We are so proud of him.  He is our hero.  We were joking that he won't have to go get an ironman tattoo, because he'll always have his road rash scar to remember it by.   So here are the pictures of the day.

Hallelujah, he is off his bike finally ready to run.

Can you see that rain?

Mile one of the run, and still smiling.  About mile 6 that wasn't the case anymore as his stomach decided it had had enough of this crap for the day.  He was pretty miserable the last 7 miles.

Finishing with his buddy, Rob.

Sam with his training buddies, Brent Chapman, and Rob McBride.

He's an Ironman.

The family after a rainy fun field day.

Ouch on the shoulder

Bigger ouch on his hip