Back to School!!

Peyton started preschool this year - I can't believe that he'll be in kindergarten next year!! His teacher is Miss Rhonda and he absolutely loves learning his letters, reading, and writing his letters. He is also going to speech with Miss Beth. He has a lateral lisp which makes it hard for him to say his S, Z, CH, and J's. But he loves speech and works very hard on his homework.

At first, I wasn't sure what Kennedi would do without her big brother around, but now that Peyton is in preschool, Mom and Kennedi get to spend a lot of one on one time together. Sometimes she still misses her big buddy, and asks, "Can we go pick up Peyton?"

Ashy is in the 2nd grade this year and has Mrs. Koechley. She played another season of soccer and still loves it!

Dallin is in the 5th grade and has Mrs. Kinder. This year, he got to go to Ameritowne. For two months before the event, the kids get to apply, interview, and train for jobs that they want to do while they are on their field trip in Americtowne for the day, then they go to this mini indoor town for an entire day. Dallin was a police officer and although he loved writing tickets, he took his job very seriously =).

Talie (ever ready to strike a pose) started Middle School this year at Ranch View - I can't believe I have a Middle Schooler!!! It was a rocky start, but she is loving it and works very hard, pulling great grades! She also started volleyball, and discovered a new love!

Oh, and did I mention that she is now taller than me - crazy!!

I also can never find my clothes, because they always seem to end up in her drawers, hmmm.

Talie had a YW's activity where the girls dressed up like nerds, well her brother was not going to be left out - look out Napolean, because you've got nothing on Peyton=).

Go Rockies!

This year, Benson got Rockies season tickets for his employees and other people that he does business with. We also got to use them. He'd take one of the kids and they'd enjoy some Daddy time. One evening, right before school started for the year, Benson, Talie, Dallin, Ashlynn and I went to one final game. It poured down rain, but since it was a double header and the team was from Toronto, they didn't want to call it. So although it started at around 7:00, they decided to hold off until 9:00 to see if they would call it or keep playing. So we walked off in the rain to the 16th street mall, where we got on the shuttle and looked around for a restaurant. We found a yummy Chinese restaurant, ate some great food (much better than a hot dog), and went back to the game, in time for them to decide to keep playing in the rain. We sat in the rain for an hour or so and the rain kept getting worse. But finally they played enough innings that they decided to call it with the team ahead winning. It sounds like a horrible setting to enjoy a baseball game, but it was a great night! I can't imagine how fun it would be on a beautiful night- who knows, maybe it would be lacking the adventure.

Happy Birthday TALIE!!!

It's CRAZY to think that my baby is 12!!! Talie turned 12, is in YW's and Middle School - all in the same week! I remember the time when I thought my little ones would never grow up, and now she only has 1 or 2 inches before she passes me by!
Talie is a sweetheart! She absolutely loves babysitting and is my little entrepreneur -umm, pretty sure she gets that from her Daddy - She is always trying to come up with ways to earn money, and sent an email out to everyone in the ward with young children, announcing that she loves to babysit and completed the Red Cross babysitting course. She got to go to Girls' Camp and had a BLAST! She still loves animals, and is always on the lookout for a Smith family dog.


Talie is a great friend and always makes friends with those who may be left out by most. She is a lot of fun to be around and has a funny sense of humor. It has been so much fun watching her grow into such a beautiful, sweet, good person. I just hope the next 6 years go by very S L O W L Y because I can't believe that she will be gone in that amount of time! Talie we are so grateful that you are a part of our family, and I love you with ALL my heart!

Obviously, they didn't have running water at Girls' Camp!!

Talie is our little photographer. She is always taking pictures of herself and everyone else. She sets up a little studio in her room (complete with a fan for effect =) and pulls Ashlynn, Peyton and Kennedi and any of their friends that happen to be around, in for photo shoots. She also bought her very own camera with some Birthday and Babysitting money that she had saved up. We went to Wal mart to find her the perfect camera, but she didn't quite have enough money for the camera and the memory cartridge she wanted, so I suggested that we wait until she earns a little bit more money and then come back and buy the camera she really wants. She agrees to this, but while we are looking at other items to purchase, the gentleman she had been working with , comes up to her and tells her that since she had worked so hard to save up her money, he had spoken with his manager, and convinced him to sell her the camera for $20 less so she could afford it that day.

Ashy turns 8!!!

Ashlynn turned 8 on August 20, and we lucked out that her baptism was over labor day weekend, so that a lot of family could come and support her. She was baptized by her Dad, and had a lot of family and friends in the circle - Uncle Ian, Nate, Matt, Daniel, Spencer, Grandpa Walker & Smith, and Brother Glatt.
Ashlynn has always been a natural nurturer (above: Ashlynn w/Peyton). She is so good and patient with the little ones - they absolutely adore her, and sometimes I sit back and am amazed at how patiently she deals with them. She naturally jumps to help people when they need something - we think she would make a great nurse someday. Ashlynn loves school and works hard at everything she does. She enjoys playing with friends, but is still content to play for hours with polley pockets, littlest pet shops, or barbies. She and Talie are always playing musical beds, taking turns sleeping with each other. Sometimes I will go check on them before I go to sleep and I discover four of them piled on top of each other in one bed, like a litter of puppies - sometimes I think we would be just fine in a two bedroom home=). Ashlynn was always our chubby little girl, and prides herself in being the biggest Smith baby (at a whopping 7lbs. 6oz.). The big joke in our ward when she was four months old, was that her thighs were bigger than mine. Now she has grown up lean and tall, and she has become our little star soccer player. Ashlynn does well being the middle child, and was a little upset that she would lose her spot when the new baby comes, but she was relieved when we assured her that she would just share it now with Peyton. We love our Ashlynn and cannot believe that she is 8 years old!!! Congratulations on being baptized! We are so proud of you!!

She and dad have always had a special bond. She is the one that -when asked - instantly chose Dad as her favorite parent, and is always giving him foot rubs and bringing him treats.

The Walker side of the family
The weekend turned into a Walker family reunion, because all of the Walker family was able to be there except two of my brothers. And that doesn't happen very often - thanks everyone for coming!. I think it made Ashlynn feel extra special!

We had a lot of fun! The men took the kids four wheeling, we went hiking at Red Rocks,

climbed around at Daniels Park, went extreme swimming - including building human pyramids,

attempting a 4 person pyramid

Succeeding a four person pyramid with Bday girl at the top!

the adults went out for amazing dessert at the White Chocolate Grill, we hot tubbed

(I'm sure there's no maximum capacity),

there were kissing cousins,

(I'm not sure where I was when this was taking place =)

lots of little boy cousins - usually dressed up as some sort of super hero,

we hung out and stayed up late talking, ate lots of good food, and played a wild game of Fear Factor, complete with drinking disgusting stuff and running around the house with a cricket in your mouth

- Peyton completed that feat for the Smith family, bringing us to first place in round one - go Peyton!!
Amazingly there were no fights, broken bones, or sick kids, all in all I would call that a success!