Grand Holiday Weekend

(click the pic for the rest of the gallery)


Aimee and I try to take the kids downtown a couple time each year to stay and play at Little or Grand America. Over our anniversary we stayed at the Grand for a night and them brought the kids down to play the next night.

Jessica and Jarom came downtown with their families to see the lights that weekend as well. Thankfully, the weather cooperated perfectly. The rain stopped just before we headed over to Temple Square and then started back up as we left. Aside from losing a kid for a bit (who had no idea she was lost ;), it was uneventful and a lot of fun.

Monday morning we ate at the Grand's buffet and hit the pool. I think we will probably stick with Little America in the future just because the kids feel less inhibited, although Avyrlie is in love with the afternoon tea time at the Grand. Such a princess!

Ready for Teatime

spix101217_15210, originally uploaded by eouio.

Avyrlie has been wanting to set this princess table up for some time now. Lately she has been doing a fantastic job keeping her room clean and loves help around the house with everything she can, or can't quite do ;)

As her reward for the room keeping, she got to get out another 'big' toy. Now if Santa brings that tea set she asked for...

Product of Her Parents

Avyrlie just finished explaining to me why the hotel is much better than just home:

 "They have a pool and cool places to eat and you can ride the train and the bathroom is sooooo much easier to clean."

Remind you of anyone?

This time of year was always much to overwhelming for poor little Ian when he was in grade school. Between his birthday, all the activities at school, get-togethers with family, his parent's anniversary and then of course, Christmas, he was constantly on running in overload mode for two months straight. The fact that he was more than a little spoiled didn't help much either ;)

Avyrlie is much more laid back. (That bit she gets from me ;)  She gets plenty excited and checks her 'event schedule' frequently to make sure she isn't missing out on anything, but she is ok with waiting patiently for events. Of course the waiting is accompanied by non-stop talk questioning about all the plans she is making and all the plans you are making and all the plans everyone is making... Internet chat rooms and Relief Society exist for personalities like hers.

Hope it gets back in time for Christmas...

Ian's Championship Kickoff Return

Well Played

The Huskies lost their championship game against Skyline today. Ian played a great game, but it wasn't enough to pull Hillcrest through. The defense gave a solid performance, but our offense was plagued by penalties and turnovers.

Thanks again to everyone who supported Ian this year. He likes giving out hugs after the game and enjoys performing on the field for his fans :)

Ian Combines Football and Marching Band

spix_101106_10255, originally uploaded by eouio.

Bantam Playoffs - Hillcrest vs West

Hillcrest had a great game against West in the first playoff game today. Ian had some great runs, blocks, and scored a couple TD's off passes. Thanks to everyone who came and called to support him.

Ian started the game off with a touchdown. The pic is after Jensen's 40+ yard touchdown. Vombauer also caught a pass for a touchdown and Ian scored the last TD (video at the bottom) to end the game with a 27 to 6 win.

Next up; Skyline...

Pumpkin Carving

spix_101030_6627, originally uploaded by eouio.

Aimee is getting more elaborate with her pumpkin carving demands each year. I've come to find it's all about the tools. Next year I'm doing anime characters ;)

Beaten and Battered

Beaten, originally uploaded by eouio.

Hillcrest ended their winning streak when they played Skyline, who has also been undefeated for the year.

It was rainy and wet, but we started out strong with a touchdown on our first possesion. Somehow we lost our momentum and our lead after that and struggled for the rest of the game to keep our spirits up.

Hopefully our boogyman has been faced and the outcome will be different when we meet them in the playoffs.

Ian had a good game. The wet weather and some badly worn cleats seriously hindered his tackling, but he had a strong running game and I'm sure his kicking would have been spectacular if we had managed to score more ;)

Millcreek Canyon Photos

We snapped a couple photos as we hiked along. Sadly my memory card was filled before we headed down and had some really good light, but my poor little compact Fuji did ok for the last couple shots of the day. Click any of the pix to head to the slideshow.

Millcreek Hike - video for Aimee

Just putting up a quick video of part of our hike this afternoon with the kids and Liza. Aimee is off for a geek getaway while I'm home entertaining the kids. Ian and Avyrlie know how to pick footwear, so I love to take them up for short hikes up the local canyons when we have the chance.

Today we drove up Millcreek and headed up the Terraces Elbow Fork trail. It seemed less popular and less populated. In fact, we didn't see a single other person the entire time. Liza did great the whole hike. She stayed within sight and had a blast chasing squirrels and bombing down the hillsides. Avyrlie hiked up the entire way (2 miles) and then hitched a ride on my shoulders on the way down. Not a single complaint or whine the entire time, except from Ian when we turned around to head back. Next time we'll have to do an over-nighter :)

Gardner Village with the Richardsons

Friday we were invited by the Richardsons to do some kid photos at Gardner Village. Rachel was careful to schedule for the absolute craziest crowded time of day because she understands my love of photoshopping strange old men out of the background ;) As packed as it was, everyone there was very polite (unlike a certain blue box shopping hell I could name) so we got all the photos we wanted. Only one small mishap as Thomas decided to detour straight up the wall of mud and ended up adding some characteristic caked on dirt to his otherwise spotless outfit.

Thanks to the Richardsons for a fun afternoon and all the cute kid pix!

(click the pic for the slideshow or here for the set)

Kearns Touchdown

Ian started the game against Hillcrest by returning their opening kick-off for the first touchdown of the game. I'm not sure what TD this video is, but the whole game was about this easy. It was just a sad day for Kearns.

Kearns TD - Too Easy from aaron smith on Vimeo.

Tailgate Party

Aimee and I, along with coach Hinton and his wife, hosted the Thursday night tailgate for the football team this week.

Last week there were a TON of people out for one of the coldest tailgate nights we've had to date. This week has been really warm so we planned on at least the same number of people. Not so much. We were giving away dessert and muffins afterward and ended up taking home and whole tray of brownies and 60 muffins.

Minimal attendance aside, it was a ton of fun and the food was good. Coach Hinton made chili of three-different-levels-of-death chili and brought the chopped jalapenos for true masochists. His wife made peanut butter rice krispie treats with chocolate icing which I am now craving. Not sure why I didn't snag some left-overs...

Aimee and I did cornbread muffins and cream cheese iced brownie bites with fruit on top. I'm pretty certain the consumption rate would have been at least triple without the fruit. All the kids thought they looked far too healthy ;)

Mighty Hunters

Mighty Hunters, originally uploaded by eouio.

Ian headed up to Kamas with Uncle Aaron to help him pack out whatever he shot. At least, that was the plan ;)

Nothing got shot (except these two by the camera) so Ian got off easy. He says different as he complains about how far they had to hike and walk, but then he says he'd do it again anytime. Teenagers...

Ian had a lot of fun and we had a pretty good meal when we took Ian up that night. Best butternut squash soup I've had in a long time.

Almost fall colors

After Ian's game on Saturday we went up to Little Cottonwood Canyon and snapped a couple pix of the Wilsons. Click the pic to check out the rest of the set :)

Pumpkin Patch

Grandma took the grandkids out for pizza, pumpkin picking, and some McPlaytime.

(click the pic to view the rest of the set)

So Close

Ian was held scoreless against West. He had plenty of yards and caught a couple sweet passes, but was stopped just short of the goal line each time.

One Inch Short

Battle for Yards

Hillcrest was definitely outsized against West and had to fight for every yard. They really together played as a team, fighting for each other on the field.

Disliked For All The Right Reasons

Ian was greatly disliked by West on Saturday. I've never have much problem with him irritating the opposing team, but when the opposing, dirty deed teaching coaches decide to target him, I do get a bit concerned.
It was a tough battle. West played a dirty game. The refs must have had little brothers on the the team and I can't post any of the opposing parents' comments and still call this a family website. In the end, we just outplayed, outclassed, and outscored them.

(West coaches had the same expressions every time we ran past them ;)

War Machine

Hillcrest had a great game Saturday against Cyprus. Ian had 3 or 4 touchdowns and some great runs. The kids are in great shape and were hitting hard this game. Defense struggled a little bit because of the size difference but made up for it in skill and speed.

I stuck together a couple pix of one of Ian's touchdown runs from the Cyprus game and put it in a video. Music is AC/DC's War Machine ;)

Young Duck Eating

spix_100918_9601, originally uploaded by eouio.

Conducting. I can't pronounce it quite the way she says it. Most of her pronunciation is spot on, but she has a few words that get tweaked a bit as she speak them; Yan (Ian), slushilie (slushie), puckcake (cupcake), and young duck eating (conducting).

Insectinator

My insect disliking nephew just makes extra sure the bug on the pavement is properly terminated:

Surprise Hike

We headed up the canyon Saturday afternoon with Aaron and Brooke. Being of the male species, it was decided that the original plan and reasons for going would never be divulged to me, but it worked out in the end with the flip-flop clad females of the species agreeing to hike up to Cecret Lake toward the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon. I'll save the topic of Aimee and her choice of footwear for a later post, but really? Flip-Flops for a trip up the canyon? I will however take a moment to point the blame for Gracie's 15 minute crying episode on the aforementioned footwear decision. I feel better.

(click the pic for the rest of the set)

Kennecott Open House

The Kennecott Refinery finally had another open house for employees and families. I ended up volunteered to play tour guide for part of the day and Aimee brought the kids and her parents out to enjoy the fun. Ian had fun with Grandpa showing him around but was a bit bummed that he didn't get a souvenir gold bar ;) Avyrlie was impressed with the dinosaur arts and crafts but not so impressed with having to do her own walking around the tour...
(click the pic to see the gallery)

Zoo Crew

Judy, Chris and Carson came down for a visit and are joining us for our weekend fun. Started off at Ian"s football game with a big win against Taylorsville. Then lunch at the Corner Bakery and now we're at the zoo waiting for the birdshow to begin. Avyrlie is having a ton of fun with Carson and is quote the tour guide. I'm not sure if its all informative but she talks non stop and gives a lot of directions ;)

Back to Ballet

After missing the first couple classes for family events she is oh-so-ready to dance.

This year we switched to the Saturday time so there is a class before her. She was pretty excited get to watch the older girls for a bit.

Alaska Hunt

Aaron (not me, the other Aaron) sent out this email and pics from his hunting trip in Alaska:

I just wanted to share some pictures from my Alaska Trip.

A special thanks to my wife, Evan & Amber Raber, and the Froehle Family who made this trip possible.

I spent some time in Nome, AK and some surrounding native villages. It was an amazing experience I will remember it the rest of my life. This caribou is part of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd which is approximately 490,000 strong.

Thanks

Aaron

(click More to see the pics)

Ice Blocking with the Smiths

A brave few of the Smith clan headed to the park after our get together at the other park. We had a ton of fun with plenty of trash talk, crazy speed, crushed kids, and Jessica made sure she stole the show on the last run but paid for it with a little blood.
(click the pic for the rest of the gallery :)

Cartoon Cuddling

Avyrlie and Liza love to hang out in the morning and watch cartoons. They take turns picking shows or just compromise and end up with Scooby Doo ;)

Dance Video

For everyone I talked out of trekking up to Avyrlie's performance, we'll host a video party once we get our copy of the studio's DVD recording. In the meantime, I did record her rehearsal the night before for your viewing pleasure. If you lose track of her, she is the girl with her tongue hanging out (a trait she learned from the dog) and is usually dancing to her own tune.

The laughing and giggling you can here as they skip around is Avyrlie of course. She was just as giggly in the performance the next night. She loves that they are supposed to be teasing Gaston through the scene :)

My favorite bit is around 4:18 where she just gets tired of standing there ;)

Beauty and the Beast

Avyrlie's dance studio had their end of season performance this last Thursday. They did Beauty and the Beast which is just perfect for all the little princesses Avyrlie dances with.

I was slightly less than excited about sitting through and entire dance studio performance, even with Avyrlie in it. My previous experience was Chelsi's dance performances and competitions where you waited for hours trying to figure out just when she would be on while trying to battle the manic horde of dance mothers for a seat. Consequently, I didn't push much to get attendees and even tried a bit to talk most family members out of attending.

It ended up being pretty enjoyable. The production went smoothly and the dance numbers were very entertaining. The scenes were creative and fun and everyone on stage seemed to be having a great time. The three hours didn't exactly fly by, but I didn't lose interest either.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Sutliff for coming, and there was little chance of dissuading Chelsi from attending. Click to the pic below for more photos:


#end#

Avyrlie the Texas Girl

Cuddly Cute Couple

Ian smiling for the camera is rare. Ian cuddling with his dog is not.

Oldest vs Youngest

Cute little sister happy and serene.



Luckily I knew how to correct the situation.



Chaos restored.

The official candy of heaven

Wonderful Mommy and Daddy Bonus

My wife is very wonderful. There are so many wonderful things about her that I couldn't possibly list them all here so I won't. All those wonderful things make her worth any wait, and I spend a good deal of time waiting.

As an added bonus, as if all the WONDERFUL wasn't already enough, she has some cute little phrases to ease the wait like: "just a second", "I'll just finish this real quick before...", and my favorite, "I'm just going to take a quick shower". Yeah, her shower is only limited by hot water availability.

Lucky for Avyrlie, I get to take her to dance class most weeks so she can get there 5 minutes ahead. Those 5 are some of her favorite minutes of the entire class. She runs and dances and sings and spins and jumps IN TAP SHOES. She would wear tap shoes everywhere if she could get away with it. In fact, I doubt it has even occurred to her to ask because she assumes they can only worn for dance.

If she put her foot down and were stubborn about it in the morning I'm sure she could get mom to cave. It's not uncommon to pick her up from daycare and find her in pajamas because she didn't want to change that morning.
'Let's me have my way if I'm stubborn enough' is on Avyrlie's list of wonderful things about mom ;)

She could play on the beach forever

Avyrlie loves the sand and surf. She played for hours and wasn't about ready to leave even after everyone else had called it a day.



Finally I told we her we had to leave. It was very reluctant compliance even with the fact she was heading to Disneyland...

New Sutliff

More people than baby, but she just wasn't ready to entertain yet ;) More to come, but click the pic for the rest of this set:

Happy Easter Everyone :)

Happy Easter Everyone :), originally uploaded by eouio.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Easter Bunny Belle at Build a Bear

Easter Bunny Belle at Build a Bear, originally uploaded by eouio.

We took Avyrlie to Build A Bear for an Easter present this year. She is pretty excited about picking out clothes and dressing her up like Princess Belle.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Shooting Skate

Every so often I manage to snag a pic that doesn't suck too bad. Ian agreed to let me take some pix of him in return for him trying to land on my head with his skateboard. Ian and I were both pretty happy with how the shot below turned out.

You can see the rest of the gallery here.

Escape Attempt

We watched these guys for quite a while as they made various uncoordinated escape attempts. This guy was especially entertaining for both us and his partners in crime.

And people say I have hairy feet...

And people say I have hairy feet..., originally uploaded by eouio.

(click the pic for the rest of the pix)


We took a quick zoo trip Saturday after Ian's football weigh-ins at the Steiner center. Ian starved himself the day before and all morning so he managed to sneak in just under the 135 lb limit. He was VERY nervous about making weight especially considering that fact that he would have lost one-fifth of his official identity which currently reads as:

Babysitter Extraordinaire

Struggling Student

Parent Antagonizer

Dog Lover

Running Back

We started out in a light rain which I believe is the perfect weather for a zoo trip. It's just enough to keep the crowds away, but not so much that the animals mind. I had to drag everyone along to get them inside and excited, but once Aimee declared her desire to pet the fruit bats, everyone was in a good mood (and slightly disturbed).

By the time we were leaving the snow was coming down pretty heavily, but no spirits were dampened. Avyrlie enjoyed catching snowflakes, Aimee was on her phone safely under the umbrella, and Ian was still a little goofy from his day of starvation.

I'll add more commentary in the Flickr gallery

Liza the Doorway Lurker

Liza the Doorway Lurker, originally uploaded by eouio.

Liza sits and thumps on the bathroom door anytime I close it behind me. My options for preserving my sanity have been to either stick her in her kennel first or let her inside. The first, and only time, she managed to lick my butt brought an abrupt halt to one option. After some work we have finally found a happy medium. Now she gets to sit in the doorway with the door cracked open. I keep a supply of tennis balls nearby in case Liza needs a projectile reminder.

Adventure of Duck

(distressed duck)

(lucky duck)

(nuked duck)

(frozen duck)

(at-home duck)