So our friends the Townsends are preparing to leave us.

They will be moving to N. Carolina in about 2 weeks.

These boys have been my kids closest playmates for more than 2 years.

We have lots of fun memories with them, and we will miss them greatly.

This is a picture of Zeni in an outfit from Uncle Jon and Aunt Cher.

She looked too cute, so I just had to take a couple pics of her.

Since coming home Tuesday I have seriously done about 8 loads of laundry. Crazy and insane. I still have one more load to do tomorrow morning and then I'll be caught up.

We are having a family picture taken tomorrow night for the Norman Community Church of the Nazarene pictorial directory. I'm trying to decide how we can look coordinated without looking matchy-matchy. I think I'll go with earthy tones...maybe.

Saturday is looking like it's going to be crazy. Besides missing our niece, Kylee's 16th Bday party, we have a going away party for Dave and Laura Townsend. I also was reminded tonight that I have an all day crop on Saturday. I was supposed to take Lindsey's senior pictures, but I had to call her and reschedule because there was just no way we were going to get it all done.

A new school year is quickly approaching. I can't decide if I'm excited or disappointed. Part of me loves the whole school supply, new shoes, back to school idea, but the other part of me will greatly miss being home everyday. I just really enjoy doing whatever I want to during the summer and I know that rarely happens during the busy school year. This year is significant because for the first time I have a class that will be graduating. The seniors this year were my first class of 8th graders back in 04-05. It is rewarding to see how much they've accomplished and how much they have matured. I might be a little sad to see them go.

I'm at my brother's house in Paola, KS and we will be leaving for Oklahoma tomorrow morning. Our drive is only about 5 hours. Compared to our drive Saturday that will be a piece of cake. It will be so nice to put away all the suitcases, and get settled back at home. Of course that means I have to face reality and prepare for another school year. August 11th is when I report back and I've got tons to do before then to get ready. Summer always flies by so quickly. Well, I'm off for now and will post again from good ol' Oklahoma. Talk to ya'll later.

These are all pictures of my niece, Kylee. Her mom wanted some pictures for her 16th bday. It took us less than an hour to take 124 pics because she is soooo easy to photograph. Much less difficult than my 7 and 4 year old. These are just a few of my favorites.

So, I posted all of these pictures but they are not in the order that I wanted them posted. So this will be a bit confusing. I wanted to give a quick overview of what we've done so far on The Trip.

This first pic is Amos at the Roosevelt Park Zoo.

This is Maren at my mom's store, The Front Porch.

This is the fence that goes around the yard of the store.

Zeni peeking through the porch railing.

Me at the family reunion. The water in Spearfish Creek was freezing cold.
I couldn't stand in it for very long.

The sign that greeted us was so nice and then we realized Jevne was misspelled.

Deadwood, SD was kinda bleeeh. We didn't stay long.

Tash and I were able to ditch the kids for awhile and go cruisin' in Dad's corvette. We had a blast and not once did we go over the 35 mph posted speed limit in Spearfish Canyon. (wink, wink)

When we returned from the canyon we found Amos like this...

Drove through Wall, SD on the way to Spearfish. Didn't stop.

We were trying to make it to Mount Rushmore to see the July 3rd fireworks,
but didn't feel like parking 5 miles away and hiking up the mountain with 3 kids. So we drove past and snapped a picture. Maren was satisfied with having seen it out her car window.

Tash walked across the freezing creek and then had to walk back.
I think it was a male ego thing.

This little bugger can be so cute and sweet, but boy can he turn on ya.

Maren would only go in the creek if she had her flip-flops on. Never barefoot.

Tash's nieces, Kylee and Sydney in Kearney, MO while we were lighting fireworks.

Papa Tom needed a new picture for his desktop. These are the 5 Smith grandkids.

Apparently, Sioux Falls is named Sioux Falls because of this...It was news to me.

Had to stop here because Tash had been telling me about it for 15 years
and I'd never been there.

Since we weren't in a huge hurry to get across SD, we took the Badlands Loop
with lots of cool scenic views to pullover and take pictures.

So that sums up our vacation up to this point. We've got a few more days in Minot and then on to Fargo for one night and KC for 2 nights. I'm sure I'll have many more photos to post. So far I've taken about 420 on this trip. Loving the new camera.

Arrived in Spearfish last night and will be here 2 more days for the Jevne Funfest. Then on to Minot.