Garden Park Church

This is the beautiful church grounds in Slc of the Garden Park ward. I would have done bridals at if it hadn't been dead winter. It is so peaceful and pretty. I wonder how often I would miss church if I went to this one just cause I get lost in the beauty.

My Crazy Family

Over the break I got to hang with my family doing various things. It was fun. I don't get to see them often at all so I enjoyed getting to relax at home.

I spent about half the break worried that all the mail that was being sent to me to bring to the Bahamas wasn't going to make it on time. So this was a daily trip made to check the mail. Luckily all the mail made it there but just barely.

I introduced My brother to the Belgariad series by David Eddings. It is the most amazing fantasy ever. So it was common of Johnny when he wasn't working to be reading. Seriously if you've never heard of them or read them I suggest you do. It is one of those series you just can't put down and it has good humor in it.

From my Nickel Mania trip with some friends I bought a slinky with the tickets I won. So I taught Cole just what a slinky does. And I myself re-discovered just how fun slinkys are. Slinky slinky slinky slinky! (Ace Ventura)

Then of course there were many Hand n' Foot games. My Aunt Esther taught me this one and its dang fun. And no, if you were wondering, it has nothing to do with foot and mouth disease.

Taking Katy to the MTC

My friend Katy is going on a mission to Richmond Virginia (Yes I know its the same as your's Ben) So now that the MTC no longer does a meeting with the family before they ditch their kids at the MTC Liz offered to drive her and Annemarie and I joined since we won't see her again for who knows how long. At least by then I'll be in the US though.

These ar my favorite girls. They are funnest easiest going people I know and that is why I love them.

And of course we got a lot of double takes since we were 4 girls (and might I add good looking girls) and you know, missionaries are starved of that kind of thing. As we drove in though Katy kind of wished she hadn't waved at the missionaries that were trying to get our attention. You know she is the only one who has to stay there :) Our last glance of Katy was her walking with The elders towing her luggage and me yelling bye from the car window. A sad sight but it amused us so why not. Anyway We love you Katy and hope you do enjoy serving the lord.

Small side step from the topic here. We ate lunch at Mad Greek and on the menu was a picture of 2 kids I used to teach at Challenger. They are so cute so I had to take a picture. Reminds of the good ol' days.

Super Hero Academy

After our weenie roast in Mill creek canyon, we had to stop to take some pictures of this sign. It just is too funny.

What happened is we all decided at the campfire what our super power is according to our last name, then when we stopped we decided to pose. I love having friends who are ok with being silly.

My super power involved both my names, Nichols Smith I can wield nickel into what ever I want and control it with my mind.

Andrea Pratt was one who has a way with words and is an excellent insulter.

Liz Braithwaite can turn anything in her path into a clearing.

Annemarie Neff's power is over the Swiss Army Knife.

Anyway I'm not sure how obscure some of the powers are but believe me we are not the girls to pick a fight with.

FYI We were on the main canyon road around the time when people are headed out of the canyon so we had a lot of spectators. They probably thought we were very strange and it took a lot of time trying not to take pictures when cars were coming. We thought it would put quite the damper on the evening if a car veered into us cause they couldn't see.

Nickelmania Nostalgia

This is one of my favorite activities my friends have come up with. It all started on my birthday 2 years ago. It ended up being what we did for everyone's birthday for the rest of the year. We go to Nickelmania and play games. It has something for everyone and we always make sure to win as many tickets as possible. Then after we pooled our tickets together we would buy a gift with them for whoever was having a birthday and use the rest for candy. It was such a fun way to see all my friends and just have fun like we always used to.

This is a new friend. Sarah is so good at Guitar Hero. Kinda sad she had to play with me. This was my 3rd time playing. I've decided I likes it!

Steve Bayles (not to be mixed up with my Steve) spent most of his nickels on Donkey Kong. This game is so so hard. Its almost impossible to get to level 3. But to be honest these games really aren't the same with out a controller in your hand.

This is my old room mate who I haven't seen since I got married and now she's married too.

I must imply strongly that I love to bowl. This game is the funnest one if you are trying to win tickets. Lon knows good quality.

Last time we played with the soccer ball game more. The goal is to kick it as hard as you can.

Love those tickets!

Now kids remember what your mom and pop said; Don't drink and drive. Also as a side note I paid for that can of soda entirely in nickels.

Prim and proper Liz is always a hoot.

This one is funny case before Lon got on the Alligator he put a nickel in the airplane and gave Amber a fright. She was laughing so hard that I'm surprised she didn't fall out.

Why do people insist on giving me dumb looks when I take their pictures. These 2 might be my favorite people in Salt Lake. They definitely entertain me.

All of the crew new and old. This isn't the whole group that used to play some have gone and got married and have moved past this insanity some just are too good for us now, but no matter what we all do there are always people willing to play.

The Living Room

I feel bad that Steve didn't get to come on some of the adventures my friends and I cooked up. But if they are good enough we could always recreate them and have some more fun. So my friends in SLC decided to do some hiking on Labor day. We went above Red Butte Gardens and were trying to hike to the Living Room, but there seems to be a profound lack of signs in this area and a remarkable amount of interlocking trails. We may have made it to the Living Room but how would we have even known. It was a fun hike though.

This is what we look like when we're not sure where to go and nobody's really leading.

Erg!

Lovely old Salt Lake. I really love this town.

We came across this man and it may seem mean but we named him Sasquatch. No worries we didn't tell him or even talk to him. We were to busy watching him beat the offending brush on the side of trail with his walking sticks. I never knew that brush was that annoying. It was kinda funny and definitely made us laugh.

Now if this is the Living Room this would be our only proof of the fact. Cool picture eh?

Steve's camera has a great zoom on it. Thar yonder ya see the darlin' temple square.

And there really is something to be said about the land of Jamba Juice. I can't believe that they haven't moved operations to the Bahamas. It seems like the perfect location for such a beautiful thing. If anyone reading has never tried a Jamba Juice. I suggest you get off your butt and go get one now. Go on. Get.... It's really a piece of heaven in a cup.