i heart ... reunions

we had a smith reunion this summer.

it was in alton, utah near bryce canyon.

it was so beautiful
and we could even sit outside
in the middle of the afternoon
without melting.

alton was in the 70s
which was such a relief from mesa
where it was 115 degrees!

brad and i drove up together.
he had the brilliant idea
(one that only brad can have)
of taking out the front passenger seat
so that whoever wasn't driving could sit in the back seat
and have all the room in the world to stretch out and relax.
we even made a little ottoman.

when he first ran the idea past me
i thought i would be embarrassed by what other drivers
would think.

but i got over that real fast when i realized how comfortable it would be.
and it was!

the drive to utah is long and boring,
but i have to admit that there is a lot of beautiful scenery,
like this:

we stayed at this beautiful lodge

with this beautiful view

and want to know what we did?

well,

we hung out

and hung out some more

and hung out even more!

we played cards

and played chess

harmony, chance, ammon, noah



we painted fingernails

natalie

we made jewelry

that looked like this:

(it says "cousins club")

we read books

paulina and thomas



we cuddled

caleb and eric



we played football

thomas



we had a talent show

natalie, darren, rebeca and paulina singing "big rock candy mountain"

the moritzes singing "because we are smiths" to the tune of kelly clarkson's "since you've been gone"

brennan, ammon, sierra and kaitlyn looking so cool after their performance.

i think they should dress like this everyday!



and most importantly we got to see our cousins who live far, far away!

jordan, shelby, brennan, kenzie, sierra, andersyn