"Parting is such sweet sorrow" ~William Shakespeare

"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else".Ralph Waldo Emerson

This post is definitely bitter sweet for me.  As most of you know, we are ready to take a new path in our lives and we have decided that we are supposed to be in Boise.  We've been away from family for far too long and we are ready to reunite.  Whenever we are over there, the kids really have the best time playing with all their cousins and getting spoiled rotten by their Ninny and Papa and their Aunts and Uncle.  We're taking a plunge and hoping that everything else falls in to place!  That is the 'sweet' part.  The 'bitter' part is that we are leaving some really great friends behind and we will miss them dearly.  We've been here for over 7 years now and have made some really great memories with some of the best people around, but as the great Walt Disney once said, "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."  

We just hope that we'll still get to see everyone every now and then!!  (We love company, just remember that!)

Some really dear friends of ours were kind enough to throw us a 'going away' party and here are some pictures we snapped!

   

KJ's had a fun time growing up with all these kids....he's quite the ladies man!! 

I love these women!  And Alex, I'll miss our laugh fests (I'll turn up Mika and think of you!)

My friends know me very well to send me parting with LeCakery cupcakes and anything that has to do with Halloween and Candy Corn!

This is a sign someone made me to put in my new front yard! I love it!  And I'll be visiting often!

Once a week we get together for Baseball night and all the kids have a blast playing with each other!  This is the kid 'baseball gang'!  I took this picture tonight so we can always remember these fun moments with some of our favorite people. 

"Good-Bye Bend, Hello Boise!"

 PS- To any of Dan's patients who might be reading this...no need to fear, he's sticking around and will still be working here!!

IRONMAN #1581 & reunion!

I have to brag about my Dad a little bit for this post because I am so proud of him!  Last Sunday (Father's Day) my Dad competed in the Coeurd'Alene IRONMAN and we all went up to watch him.  All I can really say about the whole thing was that it was so awesome and inspiring.  All he wanted to do is finish it, and he DID!!!  He actually did much better than he even hoped for.  We were all so worried about him because before the competition he had a bone in his foot and a muscle in his neck that were both bothering him.  We got there at about 6:30 am so that we could be there when they shot the start gun at 7:00.  It was absolutely crazy downtown with tens of thousands of people from all around the world, loud music and speakers, but there was a certain buzz in the air and everyone was all pumped to be there cheering on the competitors.  I personally, don't know how it is even physically possible to do this race.  When the gun went off, it was a mad dash of 3,000 people to get in the water and all you could really see was a mist up and down the water course from all the swimmers.  The swim portion is 2.4 miles.  It looked like the course was never ending, I can't imagine what it looked like from the water!  That is a long time in the cold lake water.  Dad swam it in 1 hour and 35 minutes.  We saw him get out of the water with a smile on his face and we knew that he was feeling okay.  We ran to the transition tent to watch him get all ready for the next leg of the race which was the bike, the longest part of the race.  We cheered him on as he got on his bike and rode away for his LONG bike ride all over town and up in to the country hills.  The Bike portion was 112 miles, and he did this in 6 hours and 48 minutes.  (Can you imagine being on a bike for that long?!  That's how long it takes me to drive to CDA from Bend)  It was fun going to different points along the race path and to be there cheering him on, my kids loved it!  He got back to the transition tent and then still had to have enough energy to run the 26.2 marathon.  It was crazy watching some of the competitors get off their bikes and their legs just gave out from under them from riding so long.  I couldn't help but get teary eyed for the ones who just couldn't go on or the ones who didn't qualify on time and had to drop out.  (there were 2,153 finishers)  It began to rain pretty hard for the run portion and it was getting down into to the cold 50's.  This part of the race is where we got to see the most of him.  Our whole Smidt family clan stood on a bridge to watch the run and so we got to see him go under the bridge 4 times and we drove the car to certain points along the course to cheer him on!  After he passed the bridge the last time, we all hopped in our cars and drove down to the finish line and I think we all had tears in our eyes when we saw him cross the finish line after 14 hours and 11 minutes of hard core endurance!  What an accomplishment after working hard for this for a solid year.  I am so proud of my papa.  Now he can check this off his 'Bucket List'!  

Dan had to try the finish line for himself! 

What a stud!  He's a grandpa to 5 and he still beat some of the young guys!

Hugging his mom! 

(This is how we found him after the race!  Getting foot rubs by the family.  He wasn't complaining!)

Family came from all over the country to watch him in the IRONMAN and so we had a family reunion the week after the race.  It was fun to see cousins from all over that we really don't get to see very often.  During the week we had family pictures, spent a day at the beach/park, played Lacrosse, hiked Tubbs Hill and then swam in the lake, went swimming in Nana's pool, had game nights, celebrated my birthday, went shopping, had a skit night, and had fun just hanging out with all the people we love most.  I am completely exhausted, but had such a fun and memorable week.  

We all jumped in the lake after our hike.

Brian entertained us in the evenings in his famous 'Blue Sweater'!  He's single ladies....!

My cousin Ryan and I share the same Birthday, so we got spoiled one night together!

Family Picture with Nana and Pops.

KJ loved spending time with his cousins Jayden and Spencer

cousin sword fights

Father-Son Cross Country Adventure!

This post was supposed to happen a few weeks ago, but I was going to have Dan help me with it, (since it was 'his'  trip and I wasn't with him), but I finally realized that's just not going to happen, so I'm just going to post some pictures and have KJ help me with some captions!  

Dan bought an old 1970 International Scout, the car he's been wanting for a long time.  The only problem was that it was in Virginia!  Dan didn't see this as a problem at all, he instantly thought that it would be a fun adventure to have him and KJ fly out there and they could drive it back across the country together.  Not my idea of a good time, but he loves road trips and thought it would be fun for the boys to have a week to themselves to see parts of the country that they haven't ever been to.  Here are some pictures they took along the way.

The first day in Virginia with their new 'toy'!

Can you believe there is really a SPAM museum?!  Yep, they had to stop here.  What?!

They also went to the BadLands Park.  KJ says that "this is where some dinosaurs used to live a long time ago".

The next couple of days they didn't take any pictures, (but they are male, what can you expect?).  They stopped at Dan's old college buddy's house to sleep and left early the next morning and made it to Dan's parents house in Illinois and were able to spend the day with them.  It's too bad they were on a tight schedule to get back that they didn't get to spend more time with Grandma and Grandpa.  KJ really loved getting to see them, plus they got to go eat at their all- time favorite pizza place so that was a bonus!

The day they spent in South Dakota, they got to do the most 'touristy' things.  This was Mt. Rushmore.  KJ loved seeing "the presidents HUGE faces cut in to the mountain."

Another one of their South Dakota stops was the Wind Cave.  This is one of the world's oldest caves.  It was regarded as sacred by the American Indians because when the wind blows thru it, it makes a whistling sound.  The wind is still felt at the caves entrance.  KJ thought there were going to be bats in the cave, but once he found out there wasn't he was very relieved!

As any boy would, KJ was also fascinated by the Mammoth Site.  He said that he got to watch the "people still dig up the bones in a big mammoth pit.  But it was roped off so he couldn't help them.  Some of the mammoth skeletons were 14 feet tall.  It was good to see all the bones."

KJ tried a fried pickle and actually really liked it.  I didn't even know they existed, guess I'll have to try one sometime.

One of KJ's other favorite stops was Evan's Plunge.  It is the world's largest natural hot spring swimming pool.  It has waterslides, tube rides, and kids pools, plus the water is around 87-90 degrees.

They also went to Jewel Cave which is, according to KJ, the world's largest cave.

Devil's tower used to be a volcano.  Wyoming.

KJ loved seeing the buffalo or 'Tatonka' in the road.  Just a little delay in the trip!

KJ said when he stood here he felt 'funny' because of the elevation!

This is how KJ was welcomed home!  Do you think he was missed?! 

We were so glad to see them again, safe and sound, a whole week is a long time.