Supersmart Soccerstar!!!

The Ultimate Defense!

Streaking with the ball!

Lil' D has crazy Soccer Skillz! She bounced between JV and Varsity and ended up on JV. She played almost every position (normally she is a mid-fielder). We were very proud of her. She handled the adversity she faced with dignity. We couldn't be prouder!

You can look, but don't touch.

Oops! Someone just got steamrolled by the "Lil D."

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Once Upon A Time

There were 4 beautiful maidens that lived in Fairlington Forrest, a small peaceful place where Sleeping Beauty would be jealous. Fairlington Forrest was full of animals like red foxes, opossums, blue jays, and lot and lots of domesticated canines. One of these maidens was raised by a lovely queen that hated animals and would not allow her offspring to have pets that couldn't be contained in a small shoebox. Thus the maiden's hatred for living creatures was born. Back in the Fairlington Forrest, one of its furry inhabitants began to multiply and replenish the earth in such large numbers, that they began to become a nuisance to the charming women. These annoying animals, let's call them Evil Squirrels (ES), would dig up flower beds, steal planted produce, and hide in car exhaust pipes. An example of such a creature is found below. The ESs come in all shapes and sizes and all varieties claim the Farlington Forrest as their home.

There was no escaping the creatures. They even found themselves onto the clothes of the ladies.

Like most inhabitants of the Fairlington Forrest, when the leaves begin to change and the weather turns colder, the chicas calientes buy pumpkins in order to decorate the porch of their abode. However, the ESs often mistake the festive decorations as a holiday fest and alas their annoyance continues.

In order to protect themselves, their neighborhood, and their precious pumpkins from these evil beasts, the delicate females took shooting lessons with very appropriate targets.

As you can see, they aren't bad shots.

But since this maiden hates guns almost as much as she hates ESs, the Fairlington inhabitants were forced to rely on other means of "handling" this problem.

One down. One million more to go.

And thus the four maidens lived...Happy Ever After.

Mt. Washington

Nick came up Conference weekend to experience some "fun" mountaineering. We decided to climb in Central Oregon because this is where Nick served his mission. Mt. Washington is not a terribly difficult climb, in terms of altitude or technical climbing. However, the weather was atrocious, but undaunted we decided to give it a go.

We left early Friday morning, thinking that we would be able to summit before night fall. We were absolutely pounded by rain the entire time we climbed. We hiked about 4 miles and found a decent camp site. By this time, our packs had absorbed so much water that they weighed about the same as a small elephant.

The North Ridge (left)

We climbed to about 250 feet from the summit before turning back. The rain was turning to ice, I couldn't feel my fingers and it was getting dark. All in all a foreboding situation. We completed a small portion of the technical climbing and determined discretion was the better part of valor. We rappelled off the rock face satisfied to think about climbing Mt. Washington in better circumstances. Mt. Washington is definitely a very cool climb and is now on my "must climb list." We were cold and miserable and so we climbed out to the car that night (15 rain soaked miles in 12 hours). As we descended (stumbled around in the dark), Nick had the memorable and first-hand experience of comparing the natural Magellan senses of the "Human Compass" (a.k.a. me) with the accuracy of a small GPS. My recollection is that the "Human Compass" was superior in every aspect to the GPS (Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

The Summit from the North Ridge

We crashed in a scuzzy motel and got up early the next morning and headed for Dynamited Cave in Washington. We only did the first rappel, because we didn't have Jumars, prussics or any other device for ascending the big rappels. More important than the climbing, was spending some quality time with Nick. He is truly an outstanding young man. We had a great time despite the awful weather, losing the big toe nail on my right foot and a couple of snagnasty blisters.

Sheila, Nick, Lil D and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Gasperetti's following Priesthood Meeting. All in all a memorable weekend .

My Cool Irish Son!

Shea and I went to Ireland in August for a little man to man bonding. We ended up spending some quality time in pubs listening to cool Irish music, taking in some sights and shopping for cool Irish stuff. We didn't get to Northern Ireland, but maybe its for the best because Shea is a little too political about the reunification of the motherland.

We did some cool sight seeing included the Blarney Castle. When I heard about the mystical powers, I decided to lick the Blarney Stone. I didn't want to take any chances that I would not be rewarded with the gift of the Blarney. As a lawyer and a coach and a parent, its something that I need every day.

Shea really enjoyed the music and meeting and talking with the Irish. The music was absolutely amazing. All in all, it was truly a magical trip with a most amazing son.

Fat Camp Abroad!

Bonjour! Je suis a Paris! Thanks to this Super Smart blog, I can finally update you all in a more exciting way than email! (Yay Darcee!) As you can see, hanging out in front of the Eiffel Tower is just an everyday occurance for a seasoned traveller like me! Consider this an official invite to anyone who wants to experience the beauty, cuisine, and history of France with their own personal tour guide. She's free! (The only thing you have to pay for is your plane ticket, hotel, food, metro pass, and any souvenirs you feel you need) And I'll even include my favorite pastry! (Pictured to the left) I know you are all dying to come visit your favorite sister/daughter/auntie, so I'll be waiting!

Allez le bleu! I hope you all got my email explaining the insanity of European soccer. It's only fair that I include some pictures so you can get a visual of me cheering on the French in a sea of crazy Tunisia fans. France is supposed to be playing a few more really good games and I hope I can get tickets, but only if I can handle the madness. 80,000 people + ONE metro stop = long waits, french men breathing down your neck, and body sweat on your arms that doesn't belong to you. See what I mean? Oh the joys of public transportation.

Until the next post. A bientot!

Durrell and Shelly go to DC...

...to visit their favorite daughter on the East Coast!

It was fun to show them around and show them off. And of course it was no surprise that they were way POPULAR--mom even got a few invites to move in and live the single life. Since we all know what would happen to Dad if Mom wasn't around, Dad quickly shot that idea down.

They were even lucky enough to be here for our "I Fall for Fall" Party--an annual event where we cook dinner in a pumpkin and play fall games. Of course Mom and Dad were way popular and my roomates and I loved being spoiled!

Thanks to my roommate, they were able to do a tour of the White House. Dad was given strict instructions to not get arrested but he couldn't resist wearing his political pin that read "Attention Sara Palin: Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor"

It was a fun weekend and I really appreciate Darel letting me steal the 'rents for the weekend! Mom, don't worry whenever you're ready for the sinlge life the door is always open!!

PS. Here is a pic of all the roomates for those of you who haven't met them. Sarah, Me, Allison, and Melissa. Sarah and Melissa are sisters and they are from CA. Allison is from NY and we all went to BYU. While we look domestic, don't let that fool you we really aren't that domestic but we pretend!!

Smarties Unite!!!

Ok, fam. It is time for us to unite in cyberspace since we are spread out all over the world. There has been discussion of starting a family blog and well...here it is! We can easily change the layout. I just got us going with the most basic kind. I've invited you all to be "authors" so you can post pictures, change the layout, etc. If you have any questions, I think I can show you how to do most editing, although I'm by no means an expert. The pictures on the right are the best I had. If you have better pics of yourself, please feel free to update your pics. I can tell you how if you need help.
Basically, this is a forum where we can update each other on important happenings in our lives, post pictures, plan family activities, share our thoughts and most importantly pretend we are funny, interesting and popular people.
I'm looking forward to reading and viewing all the fascinating happenings that are the Smart Family!
Happy Blogging!