The Smith Family Agrees, "This is the Place!"

 Yesterday was our annual trip to the This is the Place State Park, something we always look forward to.  Unfortunately, we chose one of the hotter days of the years.  We had a great time!

Here are the kids playing some pioneer games and checking out the farm animals.

 The little movie star girls decided that donning their sunglasses the whole day was the cool thing to do.  Stockton decided that donning his "cheesy smile" in our photos was the cool thing to do.  His parents agreed!

Elizabeth doing some woodwork in the carpentry shop. 

Kadence also got in on the action, as did...

...our little man!

Taking a quick break for a train ride.

 Kadence riding the pony.  We remember fondly (or not fondly) a few years ago when she was so frightened to get on and cried and cried until we took her off.  This is much better!

Tayah was a wonderful big sister to let her baby brother ride with her.  She held on to him the whole time, making sure he was okay.  Afterwards, she asked "Daddy, did I do a good job?"  That has been her catch phrase lately!

We did a lot of other things that we inexplicably didn't photograph: rode the mini train, panned for gold, had the town charlatan Dr. Quackenbush try to sell us some magical elixirs, attended class in the one-room school house, had a picnic, listened to some fiddling music, and had shaved ice.  We paid the consequences later when it was time for three cranky kids to go to bed, but it was worth it.  Things have been so busy and hectic lately (as usual) that to have this family day together was a true blessing.