Saturday Vacation

What good is a Saturday without a little vacation to go with it? We decided to drive to Dinosaur National Monument to get out of the house for awhile, and to spend time together. (Brandon wasn't on call... miracle of miracles... although he STILL got direct calls from his rigs that only like him.) I took a lot of pictures... so it was a fun day for me! I think they were trying to see if they could break through the snow here. Tyler was cold for some reason (it was actually quite warm--about 45 degrees), so he wore Brandon's coat. (Just in case you thought Tyler's arms grew to amazingly weird proportions!)

Aubrey is usually my shadow, but she had her own shadow following her around yesterday. We are still in shock about how much she has grown up. At her swim meet awhile ago the boys wouldn't believe that the girl I pointed out was Aubrey, because she was "too tall".

Cooper is my favorite person to take pictures of. Aubrey usually turns away and hides her face, and Tyler always cheeses for the camera. Cooper doesn't care what I'm doing, so I get a lot of natural shots.

One time, when I got out of the truck to take a picture, Brandon thought it would be funny to honk the horn (I was right in front of the truck). I jumped about a mile, and I think everyone in the car giggled for a good 10 minutes after that. I'll sacrifice my dignity for a good laugh every once in awhile, I guess. ;) This is what you get when you make faces at the camera, and complain about me taking pictures of you.

I love my cute freckly boy. And I love his ears.

The colors are just amazing... the sky was so blue, the rocks so red... it was a perfect day.

Cooper likes to take his gun along with him wherever he goes. I don't know what he's planning on hunting, but it makes him happy.

Oh, deer! Look what we found here!

Split Mountain is one of my favorite places here. It's so beautiful and amazing!

This is a picture of a puddle. I'm not even kidding! There were some really cool reflections in a puddle on the road, and I probably would have never noticed, except I was trying to take pictures of "reflections" for the photography blog I'm part of.

Here's a parting shot of the puddle. I'm never going to pass up a good puddle again! It was so much fun to take pictures of! Ah, I love our Saturdays together.

A Sad, Sad Day

For Christmas, Cooper got some sea monkeys... it was one of his happiest days ever. He even declared, after reading the package, that he would NEVER be lonely AGAIN! He's watched them grow, fed them carefully, stirred them so they would have oxygen, and put them in the window so they would get needed sunshine.
Well, tonight a tragedy occured at the Smith home. Cooper had just got out of the shower, and he came running into the living room, stark naked and sobbing. I couldn't tell what he was saying, except I heard "sea monkeys" in there, and I knew what had happened. So, I went to see the knocked over tank, with no monkeys in it... and held my poor little sobbing boy. He had swung his towel at Tyler because he was mad, and the sea monkeys suffered for it. Cooper kept crying, my babies, MY BABIES... I was going to be a MOTHER!
We said goodbye to the monkeys in the carpet, and talked about the hope of buying new sea monkeys. I think Cooper is going to be okay, poor little guy.

I LOVE running...

...why else would I run a 5K on Valentines Day? :) My dad ran his first 5K on Valentines Day, and I wanted to run it with him... I know, you all think it's crazy, especially since it was SNOWING that day, but it was fun. Really! It was! Geoff was the photographer for the event, since he was the only one with a camera (on his phone). He took this picture of himself, so don't think I'm mean for posting it. Oh, and he ran the race too... with us the whole time until the end, when he decided to sprint to the finish and leave us in the dust... or the snow. ;)

Ready for the race to start... I could've done without that jacket. In fact, I was wishing I had worn shorts about halfway through the race (because it was HOT running, and my pants were also soaking wet and heavy and felt like they were going to fall off.)

Dad... ready for the race. He started off strong... I was a little worried that the pace was too fast, but he didn't ever let up. He ran an awesome race... completely beating his goal of 35 minutes. (I think our official ending time was 30:47 or something...)

My feet were so wet at this point that I didn't worry about running in the slushy snow. My feet were so wet that I could wring water out of my socks after we finally got home. And those pants?? They just soaked the water right up. I should've worn waterproof pants like Geoff, or pants that didn't touch the ground, like Dad. Ah, live and learn.

Hi Geoff! Nice picture.

After the race... finally clean and dry! (The getting clean part was a challenge for me... somehow I slipped in the tub, fell out of it backwards, and took the curtain and rod down with me. Miraculously I wasn't hurt... I'm sure it looked hilarious.) Let me know when you run your next race, Dad! I'm so glad my family loves running too! (Some of them... a couple of them... okay, just me, and my dad a little bit. ;)

6th Picture Tag

My best friend, Carol, (okay, so she's not my best friend because I somehow missed getting to know her when I lived right by her, and now that I'm gone I blog stalk her and she's freakin' hilarious and I think we were meant to be friends all along...) whew... where was I? My best friend Carol is sassy and bossy and said that I am supposed to do this tag. I find the 6th picture in the 6th folder and tell about it. So, here it is. All I know is that it was taken on our way to the Oregon Coast waaaay back in 2004. I'll tag every single person who reads my blog who has NOT done this tag. Don't make me get sassy and bossy like Carol. ;)

Escape From the Big City

We went on one of our "escape" drives this past Saturday, and I had to share a few of the photos I got. Every once in awhile we have to get out of the big city and BREATHE! My baby boy's feet.... balancing on a fence post.

My baby boy's sweet baby face. I'm pretending that I wanted the sun flare there, so go with it, okay?

This idea was really good... I got a lot of potentially good pictures of my boys walking down a road... unfortunately Tyler is crying in all of them. Nothing like a whiny boy to spoil a good shot.

I made Brandon stop a couple of times so I could roll down the window and take a picture. I loved it... it was so much fun to hear the kids screaming to "ROLL UP THE WINDOW, I'M FREEZING!!!" I'm a nice mom.

My only disappointment here is the lack of wind. I've got to catch that flag blowing sometime. I'm thinking it would be fun to take a series of flag pictures. I've got a few to get me started. :)

If you look closely, you can see the monkey in the tree.

I took this one today, so it doesn't really fit, but I'm sticking it here anyway (since I'm lazy about that more than one post thing...)

And, here it is... my favorite picture from last Saturday. Brandon will be mad I posted it, but I love it, and this blog is all about me, right?

My Lips Hurt Real Bad

....from laughing

3 Gifts in One

My amazingly sweet friend, Tari, gave me some beautiful tulips for my birthday. I was SO surprised, and overwhelmed. She didn't even know that tulips are my favorite flower! So, how is it 3 gifts in one, you ask? Well... I took about 120 pictures of them the night I got them! It was so much fun to try different things... I was even making Brandon hold my black music stand behind them for the background! I even used a tripod for the first time (what a pain in the butt! I wish I could hold statue-still myself!) So, the first gift is the tulips in a gorgeous vase. The second gift is something new to photograph! And the third gift?

SPRING on my table!!! Yes, I know the tablecloth needs ironed.

We Have a Winner(s)!!

I've got a funny bunch of friends, that's for sure! :) I'm impressed, since about an hour after I wrote this post I started thinking about it, and realized that I couldn't think of ONE funny thing, so how should I expect you guys to? BUT... you did! :)

I'm going to have to send out two birthday cards, because there was a tie! Brenda gets the first one, for her word with many meanings (Aubrey thought of diarrhea first... nice, huh?), and Melissa gets one for her afterthought for Brandon. Thanks for the laughs, girls! And thanks for the laughs from all of the rest of you, too! You are all such good sports to play along with such a silly game. :)

Birthday Tradition

We started a new birthday tradition in our family this year on accident... we were singing the birthday song that goes "one year older and wiser too, happy birthday... to you!" to Aubrey, then we all started singing that line over and over again, putting a new word in there, like "one year older and sillier too, happy birthday... to you!". It got pretty funny, and we liked it, so we're sticking with it.

SO... for my birthday I'm going to send one of YOU a birthday card. I know, it's exciting. Put your head between your knees for a minute and breathe. This is how YOU could be the lucky recipient of a birthday card from me: Complete the phrase for me, One year older and __________ too, Happy Birthday... to you! The one that makes me laugh the most will win!

Snow Pictures and Poison Control

The pictures are for Tari... I had to do an assignment for my photography class, and I think I deserve extra credit. We had to take pictures of the same subject from far away to close up, first on our feet, then our knees, then our stomachs. It's kind of hard to get on your stomach, holding a camera, in about a foot of new, wet snow. My fingers were so cold that I couldn't feel the shutter button anymore. I couldn't tell if I was pushing down or not! After I took pictures for the assignment, I just had fun taking pictures of the winter wonderland yard I have. It truly is beautiful.

The other part of this post (because I'm too lazy to separate them) is just for laughs. When I read Felicia's blog today, it made me think about my boys' iron stomachs. They don't throw up very often, even when they really should. It got me thinking about the many times we've called poison control (I'm a little surprised that they haven't taken our kids away yet...). So, for your amusement, I will list the things I can remember that have gone IN the boys' mouths. (And not back out... the mouth at least.)

*3" long humongous straight pin. That one came out the other end. No harm done.

*Ant trap poison

*Little Christmas light bulbs. I blame the Grinch for this one.

*A whole bottle of vitamins. Thank goodness I didn't get the ones with iron in that time, or I'd be one boy short.

*80 tums. Why oh why would a person even be able to eat that many of those nasty things??

Melancholy Random Thoughts

Do you ever have those days where you just feel like crying but you don't know why? Today is one of those days. One time when I was a little girl my mom found me crying my little heart out... when she asked why I was crying I told her it was because I couldn't stop crying. That about sums it up, I guess. Really, I'm fine... just feeling melancholy and sentimental, I guess.

* I put these pictures on, because now, two years after that day we took them, they still make me smile. What a perfect fall day, and perfect hike. Plus, we got a ton of snow last night, and it's still going. A crisp fall day sounds really nice right now. Brandon couldn't even get his truck door open this morning... he had to use a screwdriver. I decided to forgo the gym (gasp! I know!) and focus on making it to my 10:00 young women meeting. I might walk.

*I really had the house pretty much clean Friday before we went out of town, and somehow between then and now it blew up. How on earth does this happen?

*Texas Roadhouse is yummy.

*Last time I wrote random thoughts I said something about the people here that wasn't really nice. I got a call from one of my sweet friends, worried that she might have done something. The answer to that is a resounding NO, and I mostly take back what I said. :)

*I need to buy bottled water for Cooper's sea monkey tank. For those of you who are familiar with Cooper's pals, they're doing just fine and growing. The one with the longest tail is named Charlie. Cooper will never be lonely again. ;)

*That's about all I have to say... I miss and love all of you who read my blog (and some who don't read my blog.)

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl

My little girl is not so little anymore. Aubrey decided she wanted to embrace life early... 1 1/2 months early... and hasn't stopped going full speed ahead since! You would never know that this tall, slender, beautiful, strong, smart, kind, lovely, spiritual, helpful, amazing girl started out a little over 4 lbs, and had a hard time even drinking a little milk. We're so glad that Aubrey is ours, and we wouldn't trade her for anything! Welcome to teenagedom, Aubrey Lisanne! My mom sewed Aubrey an old-fashioned flannel nightgown out of the same fabric that MY baby blanket was made out of. She also gave Aubrey my baby blanket and a cute baby doll with an outfit out of the same fabric... Mom, is that fabric used up YET? Aubrey was so excited! She has wanted a nightgown for awhile, and I am not talented enough to sew a nightgown. I can handle straight quilt lines, but no sleeves for me, please!

No day would be complete without some tears. I think we teased her or something. Who knows? She's a teenager... that explains it all.

She was excited about everything she got, including Mamma Mia from us. It had a digital copy so she could put it on her ipod. She got a neat music notebook from Mom and Dad Smith, and some money (which I'm sure she will hold onto until the PERFECT thing appears... she's good at saving!) Tyler gave her some folders and dividers for her new semester at school, and I think she got a few gifts from friends too. Spoiled rotten, that's what she is!

I am CPR Certified!

I passed! I've spent most days last week taking CPR classes, and tested today. I missed one dumb tricky question on the written test, but I got all the rest right, and I passed both the written and practical. I'm really glad that I took these classes (last time I certified was when I was a teenager) but I DO NOT want to have to use my knowledge! When I was learning it, everything was fine, and it seemed easy enough... until I started thinking about what I was actually learning this for, and then I'd get a little freaked out. I am scared that someone's life could depend on me, although if the need ever arises, I will be very grateful that I CAN help.

I had to be certified in CPR to be able to teach the Silver Sneakers classes (for grandpas and grandmas). I've taught two classes so far, and it is so much fun! I love these "old farts" (as they themselves put it) already. One guy is turning 96 next month! They are all amazing.

Aubrey's Swim Meet By Aubrey

Today I had a swim meet. It was here at our pool. We (the vipers) swam against the Barracudas. Anyway, I swam in five events. 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard individual medley, 200 yard freestyle relay, 50 yard breaststroke, and 200 medley relay. I got one 1st place, two 2nd place, one 3rd place, and one 5th place.Here I am turning on my Breaststroke. I know I look beautiful. And tired.

Here I am swimming my breaststroke. Looks cool huh!

Here is my butterfly on my individual medley that I am oh-so-good at. And I'm even more gorgeous at it than my breaststroke. This medley made me SO TIRED. I had to do every stroke on it.

Here is me getting ready to dive off the blocks. I don't know when. You can see my new team suit good in it, and the cap says Swim Team Vipers and has a big snake.

My meet was really fun. I was worried about swimming butterfly. Or getting too tired. But it was AWESOME.

p.s. My birthday is on Monday! I'll be thirteen!

For Katie

Hoo boy, is this fun!! How cute is this boy?

I've been playing around in photoshop... I still know NOTHING, but I've figured out how to use actions. One day I'll know SOMETHING. Baby steps...

For Melissa

I'm having way too much fun here! Isn't she adorable?

Sledding at the Farm

As promised, here is the thrilling, exciting, never-before-seen footage of our family sledding. Yes, this is me wiping out, and my sons laughing at me. You only WISH you looked as cool as I do while attempting to break your leg.

I thought I'd show you my model pictures before they appear in a magazine. Look at the hair bounce! Look at the smile! (Hey, I showed you one of my horrible pictures, so I'm due a good one or two!)

It's a workout hauling these kids up the hill.

But going back down? It's a breeze.

This is Aubrey, sulking at the bottom because her hands were cold. When I asked her where her gloves were, she said that she took them off because her hands were hot. Let's just say that she was upset about wearing the puffy pants, and couldn't get past it.

See what I mean?

I really tried to figure out how to do those kind of shots where it looks like the sled is zooming down the mountain with a blurred background... I think I have some more figuring to do. We had a lot of fun anyway, although I felt bad the weather didn't cooperate for us to go sledding with everyone else, and I also missed being pulled behind the four-wheeler. Now THAT'S fun!

I'm a Winner

Remember when I played Bunco last week? I WON SOMETHING! This is my first Bunco win, so I was a little bit excited. I won this amazing blanket. It's my new favorite blanket, because it feels like you've got a warm cloud on top of you. It's velvety soft on one side, and it has down on the inside. Niiiiice. Now snuggling up with a good book is even more tempting. (Like I needed more of an excuse.)

Now I Feel Like It

I promised I'd show you my new shoes when I felt like it. So, here they are! Cute, huh? I loooove cute high heels. I could own a hundred pairs if finances and space would allow.

Sledding pictures will be coming up in a minute.

I Almost Forgot to Put a Title on This

It's been a little while since my last post, so I thought I better write something. Sometimes when I haven't been present in the online world for awhile I get a few concerned emails. For those few who worry about me, here you go!

I really think I make pretty faces in pictures. This one in particular. Seriously, though... I must walk around looking like an idiot all day, since there are so many hideous pictures of me taken. You know how moms always say not to make a face or your face will stick that way? Well, that must've been what happened to me.

I have a migraine today. Thank you mother nature for your monthly gift.

I'm going to bunco tonight. I'm finally an official member of the group instead of just a sub. I guess they either 1) got desperate or 2) I passed some sort of test.

I've had a few experiences in the past few days that have shown me that I live in a VERY cliquish place. I won't share all of them, because people read my blog, and in general I really like everyone here. One I can (I think) share is that I'm having a hard time getting violin students, and was told it was because I was "new" here, and people don't take to strangers quickly. In Rigby I got more calls than I could handle. I guess it will just take some time.

I finished a good book called Reconstructing Natalie. Thanks, Brenda! Now I'm reading another Brenda recommendation (like she's ever read anything I've recommended ;) called A Voice in the Wind. It's interesting so far.

We had a fun time visiting family around New Year's. I have a few sledding pictures that I'll post later... when I feel like it. I love spending time with those I love. :) Melissa was even nice enough to clean our teeth and do sealants on the kids. She's amazing. Simply amazing. We also were able to go to Donovan's baby blessing. Jason gave him a beautiful blessing. And I looked great in my new shoes that my mom bought me for my birthday. They're so cute! I'll take a picture and post it later... when I feel like it.

It actually got warm here today! Like 40 degrees warm! You'd think that was good news, but it's actually very bad news. Brandon hadn't had a chance to break the ice off of the roof yet, so he thinks our roof will leak as it melts. Just add it to the list, baby. At least I won't trip over a leaky roof (like I do the bumpy kitchen floor ;).

Tyler also put a basketball through the window in the dining room. Jason was the lucky guy on the other end of the phone when it happened. Sorry about your eardrum, Jas. Luckily we still have a storm window there... or maybe that's unluckily, since that means it will probably never get fixed, since it's not a gaping hole to the outdoors... no, I'm looking on the bright side... fresh air! Interesting break pattern to look at! Warmer for the cat who sits in the window box next to it! There are all sorts of benefits if you look hard.

Well, I'm going to go see if there's some magic I can make happen for dinner...