June

Our month of June in a NUTSHELL:
I will start at Father's Day 2010. We hoped to make this day special for Damien, as we are so blessed to have him in our lives. He is such a great father and husband. At his request, we had 4 Layer Dessert for "fat fat", after eating steak and potatoes for Sunday dinner. (Yummy 4 Layer Dessert)

We made breakfast in bed (thank goodness for 11 o'clock church so we have time to do this) and had to snap a picture of this cute moment-all the kids piled in bed with dad-priceless! Damien's four kids think the world of him-he walks on water, does no wrong, scares away bogeymen, is prince charming, etc, etc, etc!

Leave a comment and try to guess what is different in the two pictures above. Two thumbs up to anyone who can tell....(I know, super exciting giveaway!!!) We are thankful for Damien in our lives and I count him as my biggest blessing!

June 7---Carter's 8th Birthday! Carter is growing way too fast! I seriously don't know where the years go-but they need to slow down! Carter is starting to read real well. He is super talented at math and anything revolving numbers. He is kind to others and worries about others. It worries him to see homeless or needy people, and he questions me over and over whenever we pass one, wanting me to put his mind at ease that they will be okay. He watches over his mother and hates to see me sad or worried. He is quick to help with Eden, even willing to change diapers! We have had him babysit a couple of times, once with Eden even, and he always does such a great job. We came home once to find everyone in their pajamas, ready for bed, living room picked up. He is very responsible, and tries hard to please his parents with his actions. His hero is his father-he wants to be jut like him. He loves his dad so much, and thinks he does no wrong. Thankfully, I can't think of a better person to have my son look up to than to his dad!

We had a FEW parties celebrating his special day. Monday, the 7th, his "real" birthday, we had his cousins come over for a MINUTE TO WIN IT party.

If you haven't ever seen the game show, you need to check it out! We love to DVR it and watch it on Sundays as a family. We laugh and laugh! We had to do the whole breakfast in bed thing-it's a huge hit in the Smith household! Here's Carter enjoying his...And the birthday elves decorated his door while he was asleep that night...

His "8" pancake, with rolly sausage and scrambled eggs-his favorite!
Grandpa Smith, Tammie, and the boys gave him this most-wished-for nerf gun. Grandma Karen sent this awesome duffel bag full of fun outdoor tools and gadgets. All of it was a huge hit with Carts!

This boy is lucky enough to share his birthday with his Grandpa Smith, so we always do a little party together. Sunday night we got together and were excited to have Zane and Rachel join us from Utah!
Damien and Tammie were pretty determined to light all "48" candles on Grandpa's huckleberry birthday pie. There was some serious heat coming off that thing!

The birthday boys!

Ririe Girl's Basketball
As most of you know, Damien coaches girl's basketball at Ririe. His coaching takes up so much of his time---he is gone A LOT---but I could have it a lot worse, so I try not to complain. And instead of sitting home going crazy, and having the kids be all sad that we never see dad, we join him!

Memorial Weekend he had a tournament in Butte. We borrowed his dad's camper and made it into a mini camping trip. It was a blast. I hardly saw Carter and McKoy the whole time, as they spent hours on their scooters and bikes, watching movies, or playing playstation in Bowden's camper. (Bowden's have a daughter on the team and two younger boys, so they all keep each other company) The girls watched lots of ballgames with me, and all in all were really good.
Every weekend but one in June was full of basketball.

June 4 and 5-North Fremont-We didn't stay overnight, but drove up on Saturday. The boys spent the day with Grandpa and Tammie, and I took the girls. Somehow in the rush to leave by six that morning, I forgot to pack Addison shoes, so we drove to the Jubilee gas station in between games and found some flip flops about 3 sizes too big that she absolutely loves!

June 18 and 19-Carey- We borrowed the camper again and had a blast sleeping over. The kids run themselves ragged riding bikes and scooters, shooting hoops, and throwing a football around. We ate some good food and are blessed to have some really good parents that take care of the team AND coach's family. The team did a great job and won the whole tournament, beating Sugar in overtime! It was some good basketball!

June 25-26-Sugar-We took all the kids up on Saturday. We watched lots of games. The kids had fun playing on the school playground next to the school where games were held. Sadly, one of Damien's guards, Paige, hurt her knee and ended up tearing her ACL. The team played good regardless, though, and ended up second place.

June 27-July 2-Cedar City (Southern Utah University) Team Camp-Damien took fourteen girls to a team camp. The kids and I didn't get to go (too much going on back home that week), and we missed him while he was gone. They all loaded up into Bowden's big RV and made the drive to Heber City, staying with Nikki Sue and Bruce one night, then waking up early the next morning and driving the rest of the way to the camp.  On the way home, they stayed at Amber and Spence's (Alamo Storage) and then drove home the next morning really early.  He sure puts a lot of time, energy, and money into that team. I enjoy watching him coach and like to cheer on his team.