summer fun?

Well aunt Sher is catching her plane to head home tomorrow, and we hope we didn't completely poop her out. We wanted to cram as much in as we could while she was here. So first we took her to the zoo (on the hottest day of the year), and had a blast we did get to see alot of the animals and ride the carousel and the train. Then we took her to the dinosaur museum at thanksgiving point. None of us had been there before and we had so much fun. Grandma Carson went with us and the kids had so much fun with her too. We saw the sea monsters 3-d movie and really liked it. So thanks aunt Sher for hanging with us, we miss you when you go home and love ya alot!

family pics

Always an adventure is the family picture hullabaloo. It has been 6 years, 4 kids, and a divorce since we have had our family picture (on my side) taken. For some reason Jen Lewis agreed to do it for us. It was so fun to see her and Tom and one of their girls, and she did an amazing job especially considering there were 10 kids and my brother Randy who was almost as much work as the kids. So thank you again Jen!!
Here are some of the pics that she took. As a little side note Halle and Shelby do not like to have their pictures taken as I think you can tell.

12 years!!!

What! I know you are all thinking "she is way to young to have been married for 12 years":), it is however the truth. It is so bizarre to think that for the last 12 years I have been living as Mrs. Shannon Smart and for the most part have been a responsible adult(kind of). I feel unbelievably blessed to be married to this amazing man for so long and hope to have many more years together. I know it's cliche' to say that I remember my wedding day like it was yesterday but it is so true. When I look at where we are and how much we have done together it amazes me. Jason is the best husband anyone could ask for and an even more amazing dad. So Happy Anniversary" to the love of my life! Here's to at least 12 more:)

Swimming Lessons

At last. Next to the annual Lake Powell trip, I think my kids look forward to swimming lessons more than anything else during the summer. Brooklyn is rockin the level 5. She is the youngest and smallest in her class but she has been working so hard to pass it. Halle and Shelby are in level 2 and doing really good considering there is like 20 kids in their class, the teachers do the best they can but they spend alot of time holding on to the side. Cass is still to young to do the pre-school class so she hangs out with me until the classes are over then Brooklyn takes her out to play. The lessons are over on Thursday, I'm kind of sad cuz to me it's like it's almost the end of summer:(

The best holiday ever!

I say the best holiday because I LOVE the fourth of July! I remember we used to have a BBQ at our house every year when we lived in Lehi and it was the best! My dad would light our fireworks and then we would watch the ones at the ball park which we could see so well from our house. Everyone would come and we had the best time. Sadly we have different traditions now, and even though they pale in comparison, I still pick the 4th of July as my favorite. So this year we did the parade thing again in the morning. This time I ran in the 5k so Jason was solo with the kids until I finished and made my way back up to Main St. So then off to the park for the festivities, not as fun as it has been, but still ok. We had to come home for a nap and lunch then back to town. BBQ and fireworks at grandmas and more fireworks at the deseret peak complex. All and all a success.

We took some time on Saturday to go to the pool for a quick escape from the heat. Mandy and Charlee went with us and we had a blast. The girls played until they were completely exhausted and then home for another nap:)

Check out my Slide Show!

Oh the joys of motherhood. I left my four little angels alone for a total of about 5 minuets the other day while I showered. Imagine my surprise when I came out into the living room and found 3 of my little angels sitting in a trance on the couch watching spongebob and my other little angel looking like this.


Apparently the 3 older girls felt no inclination to stop their little sister from smearing desitin all over her face and hands and clothes, in fact they hadn't even noticed until mom had a fit:)






This however is truly one of the joys of motherhood. We took the girls for a ride on the 4-wheelers Friday night up to Jacob City. I put some tinfoil dinners together and we made a fire and cooked them up there. I love living out here where we can just jump on the 4-wheelers and go. It took us about 45 min to get to the top and then after we ate we came down through Stockton canyon. The girls had so much fun, they kept telling me "thanks mom for our field trip Friday" (something I have tried to do with them through the summer). I find myself appreciating the outdoors so much after we do things like that, I hope my kids will have that same appreciation.

Wow has this summer ever taken off. The girls last softball game is this Wednesday, they have had so much fun, it has been so much fun to watch them they really have learned alot. So next is swimming lessons. They have all been doing gymnastics and Brooklyn has piano and a little scrapbooking class she is doing with her friends. I have a horrible memory but I know I wasn't this busy as a kid. I don't mind it though, my girls are very good at getting their jobs done and surprisingly enough usually they don't give me much crap about doing it, I do however get plenty of crap about other things:)
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So they finally split our ward. Since 1918 Stockton has had it's own ward and yesterday they changed that. I am pretty excited though I think it will be good especially for the primary that had something like 200 kids. I am very glad that we got to go to girls camp before they did it. We had so much fun. My friend Laura was in charge this year and it was just our ward, so she got us some condo's in Park City and so we took 23 girls and 5 other leaders. We spent one afternoon at the Olympic Park up there and it was alot of fun. I can't believe how good the girls were. I KNOW I wasn't that good when I was their age, but they really were amazing. Some of these girls have the most unbelievable testimony's it's so refreshing, and it gives me hope for my girls.


Father's Day was a success. Jason and his dad got season tickets to the BYU football games and I think they were both very pleased. My dad wanted a gift card for CAL Ranch (easy enough). I know that the older I get the more sentimental I get, but I just have to say how much I appreciate all the fathers in my life. I am SO blessed to have the best dad and the best dad-in-law ever! They are both such amazing men it's almost crazy to think that I was lucky enough to have both of them as a huge part of my life. Of course who could talk about dads and not mention the daddy to my little girls. He is the most amazing man I have ever known, and the most amazing dad any little girl could hope for. I tell Jason all the time that his little girls think he hung the moon and he laughs but it is the truth, sometimes I feel bad for myself cuz I'm pretty sure they prefer him over me, but I am just so happy that he takes such good care of all of us and believe it or not he hardly ever complains

Girls of Summer

I love softball, funny thing is I never actually played it, I just love to watch my girls play it. Usually it is the summer sport, although this year it seems today was the first game day I sat through where I didn't have to run to the car for an umbrella or blanket. They are so funny to watch. The twins are still in the knee high league where they hit the ball off the T and this is Brooklyns first year in regular pitch. That sure makes for some slow games but the twins comedic performances make up for it. I mostly just enjoy sittin back in my chair soakin up the sun and BS'n with my friends.

Happy Happy Birthday!

I sometimes wonder if I knew what I was thinking when we sort of planned all our kids in the spring. It's a great time of year to have a baby but 4 in a month and a half makes it feel crazy! We celebrated Brooklyns 9th birthday and Cassidys 2nd with the family on Tuesday, Grandma Sherri took Cassidy to build a bear and then Brooklyn had some friends sleepover last night, and today grandma Sherri took Brooklyn to do the build a bear thing. They both were so spoiled and had so much fun. I keep trying to talk them into just staying the same age forever and they just aren't cooperating:)