Weekend visit from the Smiths

These pictures begin at the end, but I don't want to upload them again, so.....I'll start at the end and move backwards!

I had a great weekend with the Smiths a few days ago. My sister Janet came down with her daughter-in-law Tina and they stayed with us for a few days. Her daughter Syd and her new husband Adam came over and we packed so much into those few days! We had a great time and I appreciated them inviting me along for the fun.

Sunday: This is Syd and Adam's home they are going to rent. It is almost ready and it has new paint and carpet. They'll be moving in soon. It will be perfect for them. I'm sure they will have it looking very good before long.














We went to the MTC for church on Sunday. Adam had never been to the Provo MTC when he was a missionary because he went directly to Brazil and missed standing in front of the Provo MTC sign. We took care of that for him. Now he has his own picture. I think he was happy he was on the outside and not on the inside at this point in his life.














We attended sacrament meeting with our branch, went to Relief Society, watched the Spoken Word (which was amazing) and then we had lunch in the cafeteria. It is a very spiritual place and everyone loved going to see what goes on there.














We took a walk around to the back of the Provo temple. The flowers were so beautiful and it was a wonderful fall day. Claire and R, Janet and Dave were married in the Provo temple, so it has special meaning to our families. It's also the temple Rick and I attend the most each month.



















Adam took these great shots of the temple against the beautiful blue sky. After lunch at the MTC, the Janet and Tina packed up and got ready to head home. We were all quite tired, but we had a great time together while they were in town.












































Saturday included a trip to Tai Pan for some shopping for seasonal decorating items. We all got some great stuff. We finished the day at Cafe Rio for dinner chowing down on some great food.














Here we are at a stop at Rod Works for some home decorating items. The girls hauled out the loot and got some great prices on their finds.














Lunch at Thanksgiving Point. They make a great Reuben sandwich there, FYI.



















A stop at IKEA for some more items.....including some grandma supplies for me. Kids dishes - including plates, cups, bowls and utensils with a step stool for the bathroom for the little people. Cool! Each bag of plastic items cost $2.00 each! A true deal. $8.00 total.














We made a stop at a little shop in Highland called Dear Lizzie. They had some darling, overpriced things there. We just looked and got some fun ideas.














We started the day on Saturday hiking up to Timp Cave. Tina and Adam had never been before. Jan and Syd remember going with our family when the children were much younger. Everyone enjoyed seeing the cave. It's an amazing cave and very cool - literally and figuratively. 43 degrees inside at all times, winter or summer. We learned a lot about what goes on in caves.



















Here is the "heart" of Timpanogos Cave. I huge stalactite that weighs over two tons. Wow, it was impressive. These pictures don't even do it justice.














We had a guided tour by Ranger Mark. They take groups of about 15 people through every 15 minutes and you have to have a ticket so that the groups are staggered. There are some spectacular things to see in Timp Cave and to learn about caving. The potty at the top of the mountain will not soon be forgotten by Tina. Can you say "stench?"



















This shot was taken on the way back down. The trail is 1 1/2 miles up with a ascent of 1200 feet. It gave us all a good workout (some even more than others.) I was stiff for days afterword, but it was so beautiful to climb it in the fall. Jan and I did quite well actually. We took pride in the fact that we know many friends of a similar age who couldn't even begin to hike that far up such a steep incline.














Here's a view from about half way up.














Wow, I really need a hair cut and color. Yikes!














The cutest hikers on the mountain (with the exception of Adam who looked very manly and buff!) Those girls turned some heads on more than one occasion. It was hilarious at the MTC. Cute Tina the mother of three darling boys and Syd the newly wed. They've still got it!





















Oh yeah! Hike on baby!! (I hate hiking by the way, but wouldn't have missed out on the great company and the adventure we had!) We had a great time at the cave and everyone thought it was worth the effort. We started the day early, chowing down on some of Annie's oatmeal pancakes with special syrup with a fresh peach smoothie done up in the Magic Bullet. We needed the energy boost for what lay ahead.














Friday, the Smiths arrived about 5:00 pm and the four of us started our great adventure playing tennis. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that activity, but we all decided that it is a great game and we want to play again. None of us will be mistaken for the Williams sisters or Mary Erickson anytime soon. We had dinner at Rumbi Island grill and then went to University Mall for some shopping. The girls headed to XXI for some clothes shopping and Jan and I went to Kirklands, (one of my favorite decorating stores) See's candy to get a free sample from my friend Evie and then on to Archivers to look at some photo books. Then it was back home again for a round of Uno. It was so fun to be with the Smiths, to get to know Tina better, to be with Janet (always a delight) and to spend some quality and quantity time with Sydney and Adam. I love the Smiths!