The Smithys

Lets take a step back.....

2012-02-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the beach.

In August we piled into the cars, somehow we got stuff for 4 people for one week to fit into Matt's Subaru.. it made the cost of gas much better, but it was a tight fit. Good thing we like each other. Driving for a couple days, stopping in Nevada for a night's rest, we made it to Laguna Beach to spend a much needed vacation with the Smith Family. To say we were excited would be a huge understatement.

We got settled into our shared, with Nate and Shana and their boys, condo at Aliso Creek-which had a pool right in our back yard, and walking distance from the beach. What more could we ask for?

We headed down to the beach the next morning, and enjoyed the fresh air, seagulls, rocking waves and even a little contaminated water.....

The beach was split up by this "creek" that was bringing water from the city to the beach. To say that it was clean would be a a huge mistake, and they had labeled it contaminated. Which of course scares everyone. We decided that the beach was less crowded on the other side of the creek, which makes sense- people weren't willing to cross- and the waves were better. So with lawn chairs, towels, and children in tote we decided as a large crowd to head across the creek.

Lindsey and I were bringing the rear of the group and both noticed about the same time that no one was really noticing that the tide was coming in. We jokingly said, "They better hurry, or the waves are going to take them out!" Within seconds, kids were flying through the air, sand castle buckets were being pulled into the contaminated water, flip flops were lost, and Abby, Coasten and Aunt Pete were taken out!

Parker lost a flip flop during the run, but was running so fast that he didn't even look back to get it. He was the first, to make it across-maybe the rest of the group should have been more willing to make that sacrifice. Nate swooped up Coasten and saved him quickly, Abby jumped to her feet and ran over to Parker, and Aunt Pete-while loosing her shoes made it back to the safe side with a smile on her face, and a ruined cell phone. Watching it all unfold was hilarious. I am sure being one of the victims it would be another story, but watching things fly into the air, everyone screaming and us scrambling to gather our belongs I am sure was such a site to see. So much for not looking like the tourists from Utah.

After making ourselves comfortable, we tried calming down the victims, and enjoyed a great day at the beach. Saige and Jake didn't waste any time burying Saige.

Coasten was still a bit hesitant to make it over to the waves, but was the best sand castle helper and made sure that Saige was packed in their tight.

Coasten got a perfect for summer haircut that made he and Milo look just like twins. A couple of years ago, when the boys were babies, we took them to the beach and pushed them in the double stroller together. Everyone thought they were twins then, and still do here.

During the mornings at the beach, the marine layer was still there and the mornings were still pretty cold. But for some reason this little boy didn't care. He wanted to follow his Dad wherever he went.

Schedules were pretty relaxed. I actually had time to read a book, we didn't hold to much of a routine-which sometimes is hard for our kiddos, but they were a perfect age for this trip. Old enough to adjust well, but small enough that they still need Mom and Dad.

Mermaid bikinis were on the agenda for Saige, and I am sure would have stayed there the whole trip. Oh that Saigey girl is one of a kind.

Milo's trip was pretty relaxed. Finding seashells with Gramps, going out in the waves with Matt (a few times not telling us where he was headed until it was too close for my liking), stealing swigs of Dr. Pepper, and making sure to play a few tricks on everyone was all he wanted to do.

One late afternoon, Matt, Jake, Lindsey, and Amanda decided to swim out and surf in the big waves. I decided I would join them and asked if Scott and Lisa would watch over the kids.

As we swam out, I could hear our kids screaming. I looked over to see both Saige and Milo scared that Mom was out in the ocean. Glad to see that they were worried about me, but also a little alarmed that they didn't know what to do cause Mom was out in the water! (Tells me I need to get in more!)

With lots of sandcastles to be built, Lindsey and I showed the Smith's how a sandcastle is really made. Okay so it really wasn't our best effort but it took some serious time, and we had a good time.

I enjoyed the conversations while building the sand castle just as much as making the castle.

Although, trying to find the perfect spot-you know close enough for the water to come into stream that we built to go around the castle, and go through the bridge but not close enough to wipe out the whole civilization- made us take a few attempts at the castle. And the help with all the kiddos always presents a challenge, we managed to make a castle we approved of.

Thanks Lindsey, I will take your help any day. And your cartwheels put me to shame!

After some hands-up stands-up, Frisbee, relay games, and sandcastles, we decided to head out for some exploring. There was a great little place close to our spot on the beach that had star fish and some really amazing little fish living in. Matt took this as a great teaching experience for our kids.

Matt has always had a huge love for animals and creatures. He has a great knowledge of things and doesn't miss an opportunity to share that with our kids. I hope they develop a love for nature like Matt has.

Aren't I lucky? This is my family!

After a great lesson on fish and tides. We decided to head back.

Making our way through this natural tunnel, and making sure to take in the beautiful landscapes. Wishing that we could be here more often, it was just perfect!

With mornings at the pool, afternoons at the beach, evenings back at the pool, couple trips to the "healthy" frozen yogurt shop, shared dinners with the family, night games of rummy, dancing by Lindsey, a great visit from Katie and her kids, Gramps joining the IPhone club (thanks to Pete's persuasion and ruining her phone in the contaminated water), chats out on the lawn chairs, a great trip to Disneyland (more on that later), spending time with Matt, Saige learning how to swim (almost) without floaties, Gramps jumping in to save her, learning that a "stocked" kitchen is not what I thought it would be, and learning that yes we can still make a meal with limited kitchen items, Lindsey making us all feel lazy when she shows up after her morning runs, yoga at the beach at the Montage- and that dang old man that killed us and put us all to shame, chatting, chatting and lots more chatting. I would say this was a good trip. (Smith crew-what else did i forget?)

I was able to get to know family members even better, spend time together, and prove that the huge misconception of "terrible-in-laws" which maybe for some, but is not the case here! I consider myself to be pretty lucky!

Thank you Scott and Lisa for yet another wonderful trip to the beach. It was just what we needed, and couldn't have asked for a better time.

What's for dinner?

2012-02-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

Okay. So I haven't forgotten that I was going to post food stuff. (sorry Lauren, I am going to do much better) I really do cook. Do I always have time to document it? No. And I swear I'm usually at Gygi's watching other people learn how to cook!!

Looks fun huh. This is right before our knife skills class.

Okay back to home-

Tonight we are cooking:

BRUSSEL SPROUTS

Matt and I have enjoyed these quite a bit. He had them a lot on his mission in England but for some reason I forgot about them for a while.
I have two ways I like to cook them, if I plan ahead and have 35-40 minutes I roast them. Trim
off the end, toss them lightly with olive oil and kosher salt and throw them in the oven on a cookie sheet and rack and roast until tender at 375-400 degrees. Depends on how patient I am.

But tonight I was in a hurry, and needed it quick.

I places them in the steamer, and steamed them until almost cooked.

Took them out, drained the water and lightly oiled the sauté pan.

Once the oil was hot, poured them in and let them finish cooking.

Took at most 10 minutes. And then finished with my favorite seasoning-

Chef Todd's pit seasoning. We use it for everything. Love it.

We plated it up, ate our ground turkey meatloaf and had a yummy dinner.

It was a thumbs up meal from everyone.

They even begged for more.

So now you know. Everyone loves brussel sprouts.

Oh you lucky boy.

2012-02-05T17:35:00.001-07:00

Nana and Gramps like to take the birthday kid shopping together and spend some time. Nana called and asked of Milo wanted to go to Target and pick out a present. She then invited us to go to dinner afterwards, Matt was at school so it just was the 4 of us.

Milo quickly picked out a spiderman car, which he absolutely loves, and plays with daily. Sleeps with it sometimes.

We met at El Farol's, a Smith family favorite. Milo asked to eat somewhere with nachos- big surprise huh- so we went and had a big plate of nachos.

As we were enjoying our food, Saige said, " Mom I have never been to a fancy restaurant like this! They even have painting on the walls!!" oh the things that make kids happy.

We chatted with our Nana and had a great night.

Thanks Nana. We enjoyed being with you, the dinner and having a fun night out.

Ferb, I know what we're going to do today...

2012-02-05T17:23:00.001-07:00

....Celebrate Milo's Birthday!!

Phineas and ferb have a strong presence in our home. Milo loves the show, and I have to admit I find myself watching to see what Dr. doofenshmirtz is up too. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching it. It's a good laugh.

I haven't become a friends birthday party Mom yet, and so far the kids haven't asked. We have an amazing family that shows up and likes to have a good time. So no complaints here.

Side Note: I got these amazing 36" balloons, from Shop Sweet Lulu, and they were my favorite. I could barely fit them in my car, driving home on a stormy night with two huge balloons in my car may not have been the best idea but they made the night.

And lasted for at least a week. Lots of helium in there.

Milo picked the menu- great summertime food, since Phineas and ferb takes place in the summer- who cares that it's January right?!

Carrots and ranch. A crowd favorite. My Dad cut all these carrots in long strips. Perfect for my favorite bags from Gygi's. Love the stripe.

Matt grilled Nathan's hot dogs and we had a good time.

After dinner the kids played some games...

Made some slime, thanks to Connie and my Dad,

He then opened some presents

Gave some hugs

Wiped out the favors, lots of toys, some treats, and another fun striped bag.

It wouldn't be a summertime party without some glasses-

(aunt Pete, Nana, and Gramps)

(Josh Smith Family.)

(Staci and Jilly)

(Lady Bug-Katie bug)

(Connie, flying solo- Ty we missed you!!)

(Mimi and Banka)

(the Hagens or Higgins)

And some how I lucked out and actually got a picture of our family!!

After a phone call with the Kentucky crew, oh we miss you, and seeing how cute our Josie girl is...

....It made everyone happy.

We had a great time, an amazing family and a wonderful boy to celebrate.

My most favorite present---

Thanks Parks. These are saved in a very special place.

We love you Milo boy.

Happy Birthday Milo Boy.

2012-02-05T15:46:00.001-07:00

Our Milo boy turned 4. Where did time go. Some things you may not know about Milo boy-

He loves, loves, loves nachos. He would eat them all day.

He makes a great Dr.

Most the time he would rather I take a picture of his toys than him. Silly boy

He loves the computer, actually games in general. We have to be careful with his computer time. And I am pretty sure he can navigate my phone better than I can.

He loves hunting stuff. He we were grabbing a treat and noticed a hunting magazine. He was in heaven.

This kid loves and needs his sleep. Lately he will randomly fall asleep.

And usually sleeps 2-3 hours for naps. Love it!!!

Milo lives his Staci. Think I'm joking? Just watch them together. Best buddies

He loves his mama. Makes sure to always give me kisses and say hello.

Some of favorite times are just playing on the couch!! Today he found an old disposable camera. He was in heaven.

This was last year for his birthday.

And here is the big boy now.

We love having him a part of our family.

Location:Harvest Cove,Lehi,United States

We are sushi people- Saige.

2012-02-05T15:16:00.001-07:00

We love to take out kids out for a special dinner. Most the time Saige and Milo pick sushi.

Matt won't complain. The closest place to us, and honestly it's not too bad is the Tepanyaki in Lehi. There isn't ever a wait, our waiter this time was AMAZING, and sushi rolls aren't terribly priced.

Milo is hooked on the fish tank and watching the fire over at the tables.

Saige loves the miso.

After we got home we had a serious boy versus girl game of Ants in the pants.

Of course the girls won. Saige takes her games very serious.

Love our nights together.

Our last day.

2012-02-05T15:03:00.001-07:00

We stayed up a day longer than most the family. Most people had to get back to real life, we decided to hang out one more day.
Got packed up, cleaned up

And dressed up for the snow.

Took the 4-wheelers out for some fun!!

Going anywhere with Staci is a blast for us!! We love her.

They all fell asleep!!! Shhhhh.

Banka took Saige up the big hill, and they slid super fast all the way down. Except at the bottom the got stuck in the mud.

After some playing, we decided to head home. Milo and I sat in the tube and Staci and Saige pulled us behind the 4- wheeler.

Going down the windy road, may not have been the best place for this. We had a couple close calls to close to the edge.

Handsome Matt came to save the day, and took the kids and Staci and I rode the 4- wheeler down.

Until we ran out of gas.

Luckily, Matt saved the day again.

On our way down, a Tahoe pulling some snow mobiles slid of the high sloping hill. I honestly don't know how the passengers walked away. Someone was watching out for them. We waited for the road to open up and then headed to Heber for some lunch with the trains!!!

Ended a great week on a high note and had a wonderdul time.

New Years!

2012-02-05T14:44:00.001-07:00

This year was a little different. Usually we just hang out. Last year we went to Matt's parent's house and had a blast! Jen and I had talked about doing a murder mystery night but things changed when we went up to midway with the family!!

Thanks to Candi, we all became very festive. Jos was a little worried what was going on with our heads.

What would new years eve be without hats and noise makers?!

Soda pop cans filled with popcorn seeds (I think that's what it was, right Candace?) covered in colorful paper make perfect noisemakers for the whole family!

A little bit of personalizing and lots of color!!

Since we had lots of kiddos we had east coast new years eve and gathered everyone together!

Did a countdown.....

Some chatting....

And a serious game of sock war!!

Gathered all the random socks, and with our big group that's a lot.

Split up into two teams.

And started throwing...

And throwing...

And throwing.....

And throwing....

And some more throwing...

And a little more throwing. 3 minutes of throwing, which seemed to last forever. But the team with the most socks on their side after the 3 minutes lost.
Lots of strategic plays, so we decided to surprise the players with the time- no holding socks!!

It was a great game! Thanks everyone for playing we had a blast!

After some photo shoots, and some more serious games of air hockey, we headed up stairs for some games and some drinks.

It's a good thing it's just apple cider. Connie and I had out fair share of apple cider.

Overall it was a great new years. Charades, laughing and a late night swim (for some) ended the night. Thanks everyone!

Creative Boost

2012-02-02T23:41:00.001-07:00

Do you ever get in a creative funk?!

Sometimes I feel like I can't get out of it, I don't have enough time in my day, or I just can't seem to stay true to myself. And to be completely honest I sometimes blame things like pinterest. There are so many amazing things on there, and then I can't seem to think of my own. But don't get me wrong I love the help it does provide.

So the beginning of the year I told myself that one of my goals, trust me there are many, was to allow my creativity to play a larger role in everyday. But how to get out of the after holiday's funk?!?

Enter Fat Mum Slim. She is a genius. She lives in Australia. She has the summer right now while have this blah of a blah winter. And she created this nice thing called photo a day.

What is it you ask? Well with the convenience of our smart phones we have a camera everywhere we go. She gives a subject for each day and you interpret how ever you would like and take a picture for that day.

Some of my favorites were:

~~mornings~~

--favorite--

Okay so I really liked them all.

There is a lovely, heaven sent, app that helps keep them in order and shows them all together.

I find myself looking over the days and bringing back memories of little things found in the days.

Even scary pictures make it up here. But that's what makes it fun.

So why am I telling you this? {And if you follow me on Instagrams (and if you don't, you should cause I would love to follow you too!! heathersmithy is my name) I am sure you already know I am doing it, as I have shared some on there. }

Well because I love it. It helps me to focus on the little things in life. Helps me to see the amazingness around us and even helps me to take a photo of my mailbox (letterbox in Australia- I had to check that one out- didn't know what a letterbox was haha).

And best of all- its got me being creative again. I am finding some great things to do with the kids, for and in our home, and best of all be true to myself. I can honestly say I am doing this for me. For me to remember something other than the big events. Helping my kids to see that the small moments are the best and to just love every second together.

I have two super easy and way cute Valentine's Day treats I'm ready to post, and my kids loved helping so be prepared!!

So February is now here and so is a new challenge. I'm excited to see what we come up with. Excited to see those little moments. And most of all keep things true to myself. Cause that's what matters most.

---words---

Thanks Fat Mum Slim. You have inspired millions. And I personally thank you from the bottom of my creative toes.

Are you doing it? Will you join in February? If you don't think you can do it, just remember she lives in Australia. So her photos post the day before- maybe helping to inspire what you might do!! Hint hint- thank heavens on the letter box post.

And one last thing, thought I would let you in in a little something over on the Gygi blog we are doing a huge, major huge, $400 prize giveaway. So watch the blog- www.gygi.com/blog, and the Facebook page at 4:30pm. I'm excited!!! There is a cast iron Staub pot involved!!!

I hear wedding bells

2012-01-30T15:29:00.002-07:00

Matt's brother Jake has been a family favorite of ours. You will catch him playing with the kids whenever we head over there. Milo loves playing Batman with him, and he treats Saige just like the princess she wants to be. We love Jake.

Well he met this girl. She is not just any girl, she is amazing. She is beautiful, smart, funny, kind and even sticks around our family after vacation with us. Lindsey was just the perfect match for Jake, we were pretty picky and could not even think about anything to not like her about.

Ms. Lindsey is going to school in AZ and they found out that the best time to get married would be right after Christmas. Luckily we all agreed and found ourselves having a pretty great party.

On the 26th we all got dressed up, adults only hehe, and had a beautiful dinner up at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Everything was so beautiful, perfect flowers, gorgeous photos, and of course the most amazing couple to celebrate.

We were able to help make some caramel apples for the wedding favor, and had so much fun spending the afternoon making them with Lisa. Matt designed the place cards, which turned out great. Lindsey had such great taste and made everything so much like them.

After a great dinner, we headed home and made sure to get a good nights sleep for the festivities the next day. Temple session was in the morning so we got dressed up and enjoyed a beautiful session at the Salt Lake Temple. It brought back so many memories of our wedding and made me think about our special day. The sealer was a friend of the Smith's and brought so many sweet feelings to the ceremony. Many of my thoughts turned to Grandma and Grandpa Faust,who were both such a special part of our wedding, but I still felt like there was such a personal ceremony and they did such a great job. What a great reminder of the wonderful man I am married to.

We waited for the bride and groom to come out, and took some fun pictures to keep us entertained.

Lovely Aunt Pete. She is always up for a photo op.

Nate, Shana, Milo and Matt looking for Jake and Lindsey.

The Smith Crew.

Matt and his sweet Mama.

Saige, wondering why we are standing outside in the cold.

Here they are!! Lindsey looked absolutely gorgeous and Jake looked good too.

The kiddos got the first hugs!! Milo couldnt wait to say hi to Jake.

After a few, must have temple photos,

We headed out- hopefully to find Milo and Matt something to wear to the wedding.

Waiting for Dad to get the car.

We found the perfect outfit for both boys, took Saige to get her hair done and I even got changed in the parking lot at fish tech- all in time to get up to This is the place.

The grand kids. Isn't Milo's outfit perfect?!? He was so funny the whole night, flirting, dancing and having the time of his life. Saige looked beautiful, she thought she was a bridesmaid- and was supposed to be up with Lindsey. Luckily we convinced her otherwise.

Great food, company and of course pineapple dole whip was great. The coconut ice cream was my favorite, and they chose to feed each other ice cream and didn't do a cake! Great idea Lindsey!!

Saige caught the bouquet and loved it. She thought they were real, and was so impressed with her gardening skills weeks later. I didn't have the heart to tell her they were fake.

Then the dancing began.

Milo was so excited to dance. Hilarious how he got into it, and became everyone's favorite. I got the best ab work out from laughing so hard.

My parents stopped by with sweet Josie. She loved the ice cream, and the music. Love that girl. The evening came to a close, we had an amazing time. Lindsey has a great family. I was so lucky to get to know them better, especially her Mom, and do glad to have them apart of our lives. We love you Jake and Lindsey- so excited for your new life together and to see you two together. Enjoy AZ and know we miss you both like crazy!! Love you guys.

Snowmobiling anyone?

2012-01-29T22:03:00.001-07:00

One of the perks of our Midway trip was two days of snowmobiling. Where you ask?
Yes the snow has been scarce but we have found a great trail up at Daniel's Summit.

With the open trails, no guides, and a gorgeous day- we set off to enjoy the outdoors.

With views like this and the winter air this guy was in heaven. And maybe for once I could relate to his love of the outdoors.

Here he asks, "If we were to get stranded here, where would you sleep?"

My first thought, I would not be finding somewhere to sleep, but to start making my way down!

But started thinking like him, and quickly responded, "over there where the bank is blocking the wind." He was proud.

I enjoy the views and the conversation. Which makes me a passenger. It's much more fun being with someone else, a little bumpy but still a blast.

Candace even let me ride with her, while Matt was off on his own adventure. We actually caught some air together- right Chase?

He was the pro. We just pretended.

Jon must have had a crazy ride. Good thing he had on his red long johns.

Grant brought his too, but somehow showed a little too much....

Good thing it wasn't the back flap.

Katie and John. Troopers to put up with us, glad the came along!!

Overall, a great day. Almost got hit while Candace and I were coming around the bend, but due to Candace's mad driving skills we survived.

Jilly even made it.

The whole crew after the fun day, don't ask why Jon and I are off to the side...

Thanks Pops for another great trip!!!

And proof we eat well EVERYWHERE:

Our good friend Chef Todd Leonard came and cooked for us. Let's just say we ate WELL. Enough protein for you?

Thanks Todd it was amazing.

One of those days

2012-01-27T09:20:00.001-07:00

It's one of those days. I crave sleep. I was delirious and chose to stay in bed.

Sometimes the alarm is just so sweet when he asks for some pink milk. But somehow my whisper can get him to stay laying down. As long as I let him twist my hair.

But reinforcements came and pulled us out of bed. She has a way with getting us right up! It must be the "I'm starving" comments. Or the "Mom look how small my stomach is, it's eating itself!"

So now we are up and going on our day. Enjoy your Friday. But now a serious question, that means you have to answer- what gets you up each day?

Stone Hill

2012-01-25T23:17:00.001-07:00

What do you get when you put our whole family in one house for a couple of days? Pure humor, lots of food, and thank heavens there was a pool. This year's gift to us from our parents was this amazing stay in Midway. Dad found a house that would fit all of us. It was an older house with lots of history, and fun things to look around at. We were lucky no one broke anything and we walked away with no injuries.
Lucky for us, we had a pool, racket ball, air hockey, and a gorgeous view of the mountains.

Milo did find time to play the dance game. Man this kid likes to dance.

There were some serious air hockey games, everyone tried to knock Ty off his winning streak but he went to bed victorious on his birthday.

All safety measures were taken. Just in case.

Keeping ourselves entertained. Saige loves a good photo collage.

An indoor pool was a nice touch. The kiddos loved it. Milo proved his toughness and would run outside lay in the snow and run back in. He loved it!

Remember being little and not worrying about the temp and wanting to swim all day ? These kids were no different. Loved every second.

We ate way too much, played some great games, ate some more and even managed to survive the haunted rooms! Thanks mom and dad. We loved every second.

Tree Farm

2012-01-23T12:16:00.001-07:00

Candace flew into town the night before, I was at work, and the weather was finally getting a little cold. My family decided to take the kids out to get a tree for my mom's basement. They were brave, the kids had a great time, saw reindeer, and picked out a great tree. Thanks to my amazing sisters and Mom for taking my kiddos. They loved it.

Glad to have the Heward's in town. Glad Candace is pregnant, and Josie is as cute as ever. Too bad she calls me Connie, what about all those bonding Wednesdays we had?! But it's such the compliment tone called Connie, I'll take it!!

The BIG December day.

2012-01-23T12:06:00.001-07:00

The kids slept in. We had a yummy breakfast- grandma Foote's sausage stuff. Yummmmm. And the kids opening presents.

Saige screamed in delight about her doll house. I thought for sure I took photos but cannot see them. She jumped, she screamed, she was so excited. It was perfect.

Stockings were fun, definitely a present for moms. While at Harmon's I saw a bag of coal. I bought it planning in putting it in Matt's stocking. But I actually got Matt a lot for his stocking and nothing for mine so I put it in mine. As the kids emptied theirs they wanted us to open ours. They laughed at all of Matt's Mtn dew, and then I pulled out my coal. Both their jaws dropped and they gave me the most worried look ever. Saige came and gave me a hug and said, "Mom, maybe you cried and whined and pouted too much!" Hahaha. Next years goal, no more pouting. I did not think it would make that big of an impact but those two told everyone that I got coal.

Milo asked for a monster truck. That's it. So we got him a black monster truck, I wrapped the truck and left the controller out. He ran up and immediately tried to figure out what it was for. The truck was in the back but he could hear it moving.

It was fun to see how excited he was.

One happy kid. Lots of presents were opened. Smiles, screams, and jumping for joy. The kids had a great Christmas, I managed to surprise Matt with stuff from REI, cant go wrong there. And I got a new front door!!! Can't wait to get it up!!!We visited both families, took very little photos- shame again. Did get some great photos of the hats from my mom from festival of trees.

Thank you families for such an amazing Christmas again.

Milo's Charlie Brown Tree

2012-01-23T11:30:00.001-07:00

Mimi came and dropped off an early present for our family.

This darling Charlie Brown tree. It came with a book, narrated by Mimi and we put together the tree and placed it on display. The kids loved listening to the story and Milo really liked the ornament. I told him he needed to be extra careful as its glass and not on there very tight. We were getting ready for bed, I think Adam and Natalie stopped by, and I heard a crash. Milo had been playing with the tree and the ornament fell off. He looked at me totally sad, and didn't know what I would do. Honestly I wasn't worried. I could easily find a new red ornament to replace it. Milo ran into his room, I assumed to just hide for a minute. I finished chatting with Adam and Natalie, and Milo came back out with this:

He had taped the ornament back together using lots of tape and it made it perfect.

Made me cry, he thought I was sad he broke it. But it was just a reminder of this little boys sweet personality and creativity. We wrapped it up, and it will be the only ornament on that tree forever.

Christmas Eve Finale

2012-01-23T11:09:00.001-07:00

Yes. Christmas Eve is a hectic day for our family. (In the past I have often times worked on Christmas Eve too, thank heavens I have come to my senses didn't do that this year.)

After two amazing family get togethers we rushed home. Saige was so worried that Santa was going to beat us home and thought every red light was santa's sleigh. We made it home and Saige quickly pulled out the cookies and milk.

Thanks to our amazing friend/neighbor Jen, she baked up some of the most delicious cookies (bottoms were even dipped in chocolate!!!!). I hid them and saved them for the perfect night. I may have helped Santa eat them.

After the cookies were out, we sprinkled some reindeer food out on the lawn to attract the reindeer. Thanks to cute Aunt Shana- the kids loved it!!

A little glitter never hurt anyone right?

No snow this year! But at least it wasn't too cold!!The kids quickly jumped to bed, fell asleep quicker than ever- and the nights festivities were just beginning for me.

My Dad and Mom, I mean Santa, bought Saige this amazing dollhouse from this cute old man in Orem- hand made wooden furniture, cute shutters on the side, perfectly pink. It was such the perfect gift for Saige. She loves it and plays with it every second.

My Dad came and dropped it off, and then I wrapped up all the accessories so she would have presents to open in the morning.

After getting most the presents wrapped, it was time for the stockings.

Santa must shop at target. Lots of undies, socks, oranges, and Chapstick for everyone. Do you have stocking traditions? Ours are toothbrushes, bananas, oranges, and chapstick. Always have and probably always will.

Girly stuff.

Matt's stocking. He got an extra little something.

I seem to stay up too late every year-I'm going to copy Jenni's idea and do it with a friend earlier and just be done. That's the goal next year.

Santa wrote the kids a letter, thanking then for being good, Alex the Elf dropped off some yummy treats

The house was cleaned, decorated for the big day, all in anticipation of it becoming a huge wreck in the morning.

And best of all, my helper of the night. He was asleep the same time as the kids. He did offer to help, but his eyes had a different plan haha.

Merry Christmas Eve.

McDonald Christmas Eve... A bit different

2012-01-20T09:17:00.001-07:00

If you know our family, or remember previous posts, you know we have 6 girls. 6 loud, crazy, talented, out spoken, creative, sweet, loud (did I already say that), and competitive girls. We are all about a good time and a McDonald spin on EVERYTHING. Christmas eve is no exception.

First off we start everything with food. Not very many of us were hungry but all found something to eat. The shrimp were everyone's favorite.

We gathered in the living room, pulled costumes for everyone, and got ready for the nativity of the year. Presenting:The Shepherds.

This was an exclusive group. They saved the best for this group, and let's be honest no sheep were ever lost with this group. LtoR: Bonnie, Matt, Grant, Ty, Mom and John.

Our boys. Brave boys. Think about it, until 6 years ago when Matt and I were married, there were no boys. Our Dad is so glad they are around.

I'm really glad this shepherd was around. I think I will keep him, just have to bribe him with shrimp.

Isn't he handsome? Sorry ladies he is taken.

He looks thrilled to be in costume doesn't he.

Oh and meet John. Not Jon as in Bonnie's Jon. This is Katie's John. Apparently looking oddly similar for Bonnie and Katie was just not enough. They needed two Jo(h)ns. And don't get me started on the Onnie's in our family. Thats another story. Welcome John. You are brave.

Meet the angels. Sweet, angelic, and perfect Angels.

Staci was the ring leader, you know those angels had a good time.

Saige. Oh Saige. She was born for the angel role. She adored it.

Ms. Josie. She was the traveling angel. She didn't want to stick around too long.

And the wise (wo)men. Oh it's just trouble here. No wonder it took the wisemen so long to get there. These 3 probably slowed everyone down, but did it fashionable. Ha.

Ms. Ella. Oh this girl. She is a hoot. Funniest Mary, with her sippy cup.

Milo pulled off the Joseph role again, hey when you are good why change right?!?

Sweet kiddos. Reminding us why we are celebrating Christmas.

And of course the bravest narrator-

We had a great time. Small minor changes but all in all a perfect nativity. After the nativity our mom, even though she promised not to, had some gifts for us.

For many many years, my Mom has given us ornaments. Usually some symbol of the year's activities, and some random Christmas ones. But she gave us a beautiful box to store them in and keep them safe. Thanks momma.

We then got our cute Pj's for the kiddos and warm clothes for the adults. The kids loved their slippers and matching pjs.

But while we were getting jammies on we heard something on the roof top. Quickly we found out it was SANTA on the roof!!

Santa called down to the kids and told them how good they have been this year.

Milo was so excited. He wanted to climb up there and find Santa. Oh the excitement to be a little kid again.

We followed Santa's orders and hurried home. The drive home was so long for the kids, they were so worried he would beat us home. Thank heavens Matt drives fast. Merry Christmas Eve.

Nativity Smith Style

2012-01-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

(reposted, somehow it got deleted-no new info just want it up still!) Christmas at the Smith house is very traditional. It's so fun to go and have a sit down dinner, with the nice Christmas plates, sparkling apple cider at our fingertips, delicious food to fill our bellies and of course the best company to surround ourselves in laughter and love. Perfect way to celebrate Christmas Eve.

Matt's mom ( I hate calling her my mother in law- it sounds like its someone I should dislike, I love her. She is amazing and I look up to her in so many ways. I really feel like I have known her forever and if I was having a problem I feel like I can call her, just like my own Mother, and chat. So I'm going to find a better way to refer to her as....) Lisa, has the most amazing plate collection. I covet it. She has these gorgeous Spode Christmas plates that she pulls out for dinners after Thanksgiving and only thru Christmas. They are lovely. Mark my words I will have "nice china" sometime in my life. Wouldn't it be fun to pull out the cute plates and have different patterns to choose from!! Am I nuts? Back to the story.I usually try to get some type of photo of dinner, the guests, the decor, ANYTHING- I got nothing this year. NOTHING. what a shame. But just know it was delish and we had a good old time.

After dinner we gathered in the front room for the annual Nativity reenactment. It's classic here. A beautiful bible reading with someof the cutest kids playing parts so perfectly. It's actually wonderful to see.

Sweet Macy girl playing Mary. She is so cute with the babies and made a perfect Mary. Especially with her cute "baby talk" voice it was only a given she should be Mary.

And maybe one day I might convince her parents she should live with us. I'm trying.

The two beautiful angels- Abby and Saige. These two are the best of buds and play so cute together. But must always be the same- its a good thing there can be two angels.

The most handsome wise man/ shepherd boy. Coasten was so cute and sings the best Christmas Hallelujah. One great moment to remember.

Sweet Parker, wish I got a better picture but this kid doesn't hold still. Such a great older cousin. The younger boys love him and would do anything with him! I believe Coasten, Parker, and Jake were the three wise men, or a combination of wise men/ shepherds don't remember but they were handsome.

Our Milo played the perfect Joseph. He has one of the sweetest hearts I have ever seen, I'm his Momma I might be bias, but he was perfect for the loving Joseph.

Before they were starting I pulled Milo aside and asked him if he knew what Joseph did. He replied, " He was the Dad. " I told him Heavenly Father wanted him to protect and teach Mary and Jesus, so he needed to make sure he did that.As soon as Macy sat next to him, he put his arm right around her and kept it on her back. It was so sweet to see, and I love seeing this sweet side of Milo- he really does have the biggest heart.

Can you see it? Darling huh. After everyone was dressed, the crew put on an amazing show.

And with an audience like this

How could it not be just perfect. Another end to a perfect Christmas Eve at the Smith house. Maybe one year I will remember that they do their sibling gift exchange ON Christmas Eve, not Christmas. I seem to forget every year and screw things up.Why do we do that anyways?!? Is it cause Josh can't wait?

Christmas Prep

2012-01-08T23:34:00.001-07:00

Holidays get crazy at the store. Sometimes I survive on about 2-3 hours of sleep each night and the hustle and bustle of the many people that come in keeps the adrenaline going and makes it work. But I do try to make sure we celebrate at home too. This year we added Alex.

With the help of pinterest we had some great ideas and were able to surprise the kids most mornings- sometimes I was so tired I forgot- but I used the excuse that I was up too late that he couldn't leave hehe.

Shame on me, I didn't get many pictures but this one has them laughing. Silly Alex got the bath toys out and had a grand old time in the tub.

We finally got our tree up, much later than I usually do. I was kind of in a funk this year and wasn't totally motivated- I blame work it pretty much takes over! But we got our decor up and we were set. A few weeks before Christmas Saige had her dance recital. She was more than excited.

"jolly old saint Nicholas" was the song, and I must say their group had the cutest costumes!

Thanks Mrs. Tracy for a fun time! Hopefully after all this we are ready for CHRISTMAS!!

Happy Happy Turkey Day

2012-01-06T21:17:00.001-07:00

Holidays can be a little busy. With two families so close together we want to see them all but sometimes it's just not possible. This year was pretty relaxed and we managed to see almost everyone. Gma and Gpa Foote met at the Barney's house at 11 and saw most of our family members. Most is the key word- Matt decided to go look for deer that morning and happened to get stuck and was up on the mountain. It made me laugh, with how warm the weather has been it snowed the day before but was warm on Thanksgiving- when he parked the car it was fine but coming out to leave it was a big old wet mess. Silly boys. So after chatting for a while at the Barney's, talking to Candi on the phone, we headed over to Matt's mom's house hoping he would make it back in time. Haha

Lisa always greets us with a huge smile, a hug, and a warm cup of wassail. One of my favorite. Saige and Abby enjoying the adult table with real cups. They are growing up so fast.

Lisa's beautiful table. She has some of the greatest plates, one day when I have some storage I would love to start a china collection. It's so fun to see which ones she pulls out for us.

Ms. Lindsey and Ms. Macie enjoying chatting. We are so excited to have Lindsey apart of our family! We love her. We love Ms Macie too, I may bribe her with jewelry to get her to sit with me. HeheAfter an amazing dinner, so amazing I didn't get any pictures- the turkey was phenomenal. She brined it this year and I highly recommend this for every year. Side note- did anyone else try brining their turkey this year? It's quite the trend this year and I'm not complaining.

After dinner settles the kids get to make their gingerbread houses. This is another great tradition of the Smiths. I love it cause we have our first Christmas decoration (sorry we aren't as on the ball as the josh smiths), and the kids actually eat off it.

Our kids do a pretty good job of making a huge mess and making it look pretty crazy, but hey we are being artistic right?

All the kids, even big kid Jake made great houses!!

Thanks Nana and Gramps for a wonderful night!

Thanksgiving night would not be complete without the Smith Family BINGO game. No matter where we celebrate turkey day, we have to make it to the bingo game. I love to hear the trash talking and the excitement in all the adults. When I say they get excited its a huge understatement.

Even the kiddos get involved!

With mystery prizes you never know what you are getting, Matt was quite excited over the sparkling grape though.

Rumor has it this is the cheating family, except I dont think it was Kelle this year...... Adam......

After lots of good food, homemade ice cream, bingo games and of course AMAZING FAMILIES we can jot this turkey day as another great day. We are so blessed.

Saige's favorites

2012-01-03T16:55:00.001-07:00

I remember the days of being a little girl. Never worrying about anything other than my babysitters club books, sleepovers with my cousin Amy, and making sure that our kitties had plenty of dress ups on.

Going thru some photos of Saige, and I hope she has some of the greatest memories. How would it be to be a little girl again? Dress-ups everyday, rearranging the Barbie house, and silly talk with my friends.

Thank heavens for imaginations, good friends and family.

Thanksgiving Prep

2011-12-28T17:37:00.001-07:00

I love any Holiday that has to do with food. Let's be honest most have a strong food influence. But Thanksgiving is wonderful. And I love everything it celebrates- we honestly dont take enough time to look at the things we are truly grateful for!
Getting ready for the big day can be a lot of work but we get everyone together and have a great time.

I took Saige and Milo to Gygi's and we went to make some yummy pies. Staci called and asked if we could help with her drink- so she came down and it became a party.

Matt and Adam and my Dad were there, they are always down for a party. Then Bonnie called looking for rootbeer extract, and was headed over. Then Connie and Ty stopped by on their way down from Logan. It was a big ol party with a whole lot of treats to be made.

Pies are a little time consuming. A lot of refrigeration, a lot of sugar and whole lot of rolling out. It was a blast! But since I knew my kids would not eat the pie we made some pumpkin pie shaped cookies for the kiddos.

Finished product!

Milo's cookies! Can you see the face?

Mr Frank joined in on the fun too. He is the best! Always making me feel like I have cooked the most amazing things and willing to eat anything.

Milo taste tester. Love this kid.

Apple apple apple pie. I cut out circles using the large end of a cake tip and it turned out pretty good!

Then striped the other.

Traditional pumpkin pie with leaves along the crust. I didn't realize how long pies take to cook! Man pumpkin takes forever!

Isn't it lovely though.

And the finished pies.
Secret to good pie crust: keep it cold, use cold butter and when mixing it butter streaks thru the dough is a good thing. Oh I love a good pie.

School Pie Day!

2011-12-28T16:59:00.001-07:00

Saige loves school. To say that she enjoys going is an understatement. She loves her teacher and makes stuff for Ms. Dawn all the time- but sometimes we need to limit the things we take to her. For thanksgiving they had a pie program. Saige was so excited to have us come to hear her new songs. We were just as excited.

Together with Ms. Dawn they shared with us what they are thankful for, Saige's was Bull our dog. She does love that hairy beast.

They then sang a few songs and Saige was quite excited to do so.
Afterwards they served us pie

And then we all enjoyed our pie!

Thanks Ms. Dawn for the yummy pie and the great program!

Feliz Cumpleaños

2011-12-28T14:10:00.001-07:00

Meet Jon.

He had a birthday. A 30th birthday. And having the wonderful wife, my sis Bonnie, she threw him a killer party. What kind of party you ask? Oh just a mariachi band!!!! It was so much fun! Bonnie definitely had a good time- with cafe rio for dinner, tres leche for dessert, chips and salsa on each table as well as little pictures of Jon all over the tables!

To say we had a good time is an understatement. We made sure to get as many photos with Jon. And if I can figure out how to upload a video from my phone- you will be privileged to see my dance with the band. Until then pictures will do--

Mi papa

Mi mama

Mi hijo

Mi hija

Everyone getting a chance to take a photo with Jon. Thanks for taking the time to photo with us Jon.

Thanks Hagen's for a great party. We had a wonderful time!

Afterwards as if we didn't eat enough Saige had a nice bowl of egg nog ice cream! Thank heavens for the holiday season.

Happy Birthday Matt.

2011-12-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

I don't think there is any coincidence that Matt's birthday falls into hunting season. His mom jokes that Matt got the hunting gene 3 times what anyone else did. I would have to agree. He is in love. I would be lying if I have come to bed before and had to move his bow off my side. Haha.

Well this year he was pretty dang lucky. His Dad invited him on a hunt in Montana that Matt dreamed until the day they left.to say he was excited is an understatement.

This is him, sitting in a tree- looking for white tail. Way below freezing temps and SITTING IN A TREE!! It's something I will never understand but love that he adores it.

I really see the best smiles from Matt when he is out in the wilderness, and holding an animal.

This was another successful bow hunt. I'm not sure how he does it, I cannot even pull the bow back.

Everyone was quite successful and had a great time.

Nater

Gramps

And even Adam- yes they make bows in Adams size, surprising I know.
Well since Matt was gone on his birthday- I had plans on sending some gifts for him with his Dad but ran out of time. Thank heavens his Dad and Grandpa were creative.

The best looking cake I have ever seen. I couldn't have made one half as good.

And in honor if his birthday I wore his shirt and went out to dinner with his sister and Mom. Thanks for having a birthday so we can celebrate. (don't mind the pic in the bathroom at Joseph Smith Memorial, waiting for Saige!)

I love you Matt and am grateful for your Birthday so we can celebrate you for a bit. You are the best ever and we love you to pieces. Happy Birthday.

Location:Veterans Memorial Hwy,Lehi,United States

Happy Halloween.

2011-12-25T09:11:00.001-07:00

I love Halloween. I honestly start thinking about costumes months in advance. This year it snuck up on me and Matt was not too excited about dressing up so we were a little more low key and thanks to a dear friend Adrienne- she saved me with her Bjork costume.

I had the sweater for the evening trick or treating- and so I wouldn't scar the neighbor kids. Thanks Adrienne-it was perfect.

We had a small get together for the kids to go trick or treating, thanks to all that came. We love having you here.

The Kunics moved away and we haven't forgiven them yet. Don't they know that can't move away?

We headed out into surprisingly warm weather, not that I was complaining! I hate when it gets cold.

This was no joke- walked outside to get the kids on their way and milo had his pants dropped peeing right in the front rocks. I apologize to those who saw. I did grab a picture but it's a little to up close- if you know what I mean.

After trick or treating we came back for the most delicious elk chili, dry ice drinks and salad. Perfect Halloween dinner, or and some candy too.

Pre-Halloween festivities

2011-12-23T00:17:00.001-07:00

I've said it a million times, but Holidays are a big deal at our house. We drive Matt nuts most the time, but he loves it.

It is my mother's fault and I love that she taught us to have a good time. Halloween is no exception. This year we went over before and celebrated on Sunday as a family.

I have THE BEST SISTERS. Oh I'm not kidding. They are amazing. They help me out so much and make me such a great person. Connie was in town and helped us carve our pumpkins.

Milo loves the gunk inside. Such a boy. Isn't he handsome?

I may have helped a little with the carving.
Ms Saige didn't want to get yucky so she chose to paint and glitterfy her pumpkin.

Thanks Mimi for letting us come
make a mess and carve our pumpkins.

My mom's tradition for Halloween is dinner in a pumpkin. It's nothing fancy but it's not Halloween without it -candace who is in Kentucky even carried on the dinner in a pumpkin tradition at her home.

Aren't they cute? They taste yummy too.

Ms. Ella joined the party and played with me for a bit. Man I can get some funny faces from her!

Love this girl. Will pose for any picture and loves to be dressed up. She would love having halloween everyday!

My mom's brain jello. Yummy.

Scary witch Mimi and her dinner in a pumpkin.

Belle and Luigi. We may have super glued his mustache on. Hehe.

After dinner, cute Mimi put together some fun games for the kids. Isn't she great.

What party would be complete without an up close photo:

Thanks Mimi for a fun Halloween party.

Halloween at Dance

2011-12-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

Saige is in a great dance class. Ms Tracy lives in our neighborhood and for the longest time I didn't know she danced. One day we were talking and she was telling me about her dance classes. We looked into it and found a time that works with our crazy life and the rest is history! Saige loves it and has a great time!!

This particular day was just before Halloween. Aren't they the cutest girls.

After dancing and playing they got to have a little dance-Halloween party. Milo even got to join in.

I really think Milo has the biggest crush on Tracy, who wouldn't though. Sorry Daniel, Milo flirts with your girl.

Ms. Brinn. We carpool with this lovely lady and love being friends with her. She is Milo's age but has he same love for all the same things as Saige and they have a great time together.

Thanks Ms. Tracy for a fun Halloween party.

Until it snows, here comes some more Fall....

2011-12-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

Cornbelly's. I actually had not ever been till this year. Staci, the amazing sitter/sister/best friend, took the kids last year and Saige talked about it for months afterwards. Bonnie sent over a groupon for a killer pass so we took advantage of it this year! We had a great time, and I need to remember that we should visit t. Point more often!!!

We met up with Bonnie, Ella and Asher on a cloudy day- luckily it didn't start raining until we were on our way to the car. Note to self- next year remind anyone not to bring the stroller. Not exactly a stroller friendly event. Poor Asher had to hang out away from everyone else.

Ms. Ella was begging to ride the bull. It wasn't a hot attraction just yet, so the guy running it laughed and said, "well usually they have to be older, but since you are the mom I guess you can put her on!" Ella loved it! Even when he tipped it!

Then it was Saige's turn, she wasn't quite convinced it was something she wanted to do!

But she warmed up and even in true cowboy style threw up her arm!

Next we made it over to the corn guns. I thought the kids would love this! Boy was I wrong. They are loud, but being around guns from Matt I thought they would be excited. Ella wouldn't even come close and after Saige shot the first one, it scares her terribly and she and Ella walked away bawling. Haha

Milo was then worried about it so I got to shoot 4 people's worth of corn!! It was actually a lot of fun! Milo had a good time directing where to shoot.

After scaring them we decided to head over to safer games. Bobblehead horses!! The kids loved it. But Milo and Ella tried sharing and neither one could reach the ground.

After a few horse races we headed over to everyone's favorite area- DRESS-UPS!

We spent most of our time here and the kids loved it!

Ella makes some of the best faces. I promise we did see lots of smiles!

After popcorn and some playing we headed home just in time to beat the huge crowd and the rain. Thanks Bon for a fun day!

Better late than never

2011-12-18T23:06:00.001-07:00

As I was looking over somehow I forgot to post some of these. Since there is no snow on the ground I thought it was appropriate to still share fall themed photos.
Our family visits the same pumpkin patch every year. Our cousins live right across the street and told us about the Family that own the patch. For some reason when you know the reason for the patch-it makes you want to help them out even more.
This particular family have kids that play the bagpipes and started this patch to help pay for the expensive musical dreams of their kids. We are all about supporting the arts.

Candace, Grant and Jos were in town, which we love so we came to party.

This farm, right by the district- has the best tractors out front, a small corn maze and amazing pumpkins. The kids love the tractors and small wheel barrows to push the pumpkins in.

Staci joined us, which made Milo more than thrilled!

And sometimes they push people, poor Jilly that's a big load.

Mimi, Ella, and Saige looked for pumpkins for Mimi, somehow she finds some odd shapes and great decorative pumpkins.

This sweet Ella girl says the funniest things. As Mimi was pushing her around she started screaming, "There is FedEx!!!" and the FedEx truck drove by. We all thought it was hilarious that a two year old can pick out a FedEx truck.

I guess Jon gets packages sent there everyday so she gets excited to see the truck come. Haha

We love our Lucy girl. Honestly dont know what we would do without her.
After picking pumpkins we headed thru the corn maze. Good thing we had Mimi, it was pretty scary!! Hehe

Josie wanted to stop and eat the corn. Funny kid.

Phew. We made it out!!

Josie may have tried eating this corn.

We love fall!!

Thanks family for a great day!!

Sushi thru the eyes of Milo

2011-12-14T09:37:00.001-07:00

My kids love to take pictures on my phone. I'm thinking most the photos on there are taken by them. But sometimes they really turn out pretty good. This is our night out grabbing some sushi thru Milo's perspective. Enjoy.

Apparently Adam was the lucky subject of the evening. Saige and Matt lucked out and didn't make the camera roll.

Why does my head look so big ha-ha.

Location:Pilgrim's Loop Rd,Lehi,United States

Cleaning out the pictures

2011-12-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

My phone has 1471 photos on it right now. And I cannot get myself to delete most. Okay I will I will, but thought I would share some favorites. Excuse the walk down memory lane:

Remember this Candace? Glad to have a Dad who can sheet rock like a pro!

This is a picture of a picture. And yes that's Matt. He is going to kill me.

Sober Softball with the Smiths. We didn't make it this year, and really missed it!!

Super hero outings with the best girl Staci!

Cooking classes.....

Cooking Classes.....

Cooking classes. I have a love/hate relationship here. I adore classes. I love the people I meet, get to teach and see the excitement when they learn something new. I hate how much it takes me from home.

Chicago with the parents. Weird to be away without Matt and the kids- loved the city of Chicago.

Sweet Milo. Sometimes a face only his mother can love.

Family outings. Saying goodbye to Lucy. (man we miss her when she leaves!)

New hair color for me!! Loved the red!

Preschool graduations. Saige loves school!

Mustache wearing.

Hair change again!

Okay more to come. I need to sleep now.
Good night

Sometimes before is much better than the after

2011-12-08T00:03:00.001-07:00

I have shared many a times Saige's handy work when it comes to make up, on Facebook, but I don't think they all make it here. This was one of my favorites.

I think Matt better not stay out late anymore. He might come home to something worse next time.

Churro Time

2011-12-04T16:14:00.001-07:00

Have you been checking out Gygi's blog? I can say that it's getting pretty darn good, cause it's not me doing it anymore and our cute friend Cait has taken over and doing a mighty fine job. So go check it out- www.gygi.com/blog and maybe even enter in one of the contests! A $20 gift card is always a good thing to win. Anyways- last week Cait featured a post about homemade churros that we did for LDS living. So with our tanned skin, blonde hair and summer clothes we made churros.

This recipe is actually one we make quite a bit. It's super easy and everyone loves deep fried sugar and cinnamon goodness, right? So here is the how to:

Batter Recipe:
2 cups Water
5 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
2 cups all-purpose flour

2 quarts oil for frying

For Coating:
1 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, mixed together

Paper bag

In a heavy sauce pan mix your water, sugar, salt and oil and stir on medium heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture boils.

After mixture boils, pour into your mixer, or use a heavy wooden spoon and constantly mix batter together while adding the flour. This will be a big arm workout if you don't have a mixer!!! Mix until everything is combined and it starts to pull together.

About like that. ( I wish Matt was around to take pictures of everything we made- I might get more recipes up here! Thanks Matt. )
Now this is where patience comes in. Patience is something I don't have a lot of. I burn my mouth eating that first bite of soup, I regret biting into those green beans that I just had sizzling on the pan and just had to try and this recipe tests my patience. After the batter is done mixing it's hot. Really hot. And the next step you have to put it onto a pastry bag with a large star tip (Wilton 8b) and fill it with the batter.

After its in there you want to pipe it out but the BATTER IS SO STINKIN HOT!!!! But for some reason I cannot wait to pipe it!! It burns my hands, I even wrapped the bag with a towel hoping to cool it down. So my advice: let it cool down a bit before piping it out!!!

Here you have two choices on how to cook them. The first attempt of cooking churros I followed the recipe exactly, and pipes each churro into the pan of hot oil. Burned my already burned hands, and spent a lot of time over that pot of oil. But if you are trying to get these done fast than this is the quickest way to get them cooked. But if you plan ahead you can pipe them on a parchment lined cookie sheet, where you can make sure they are all the same length and then once the tray is full throw it in the freezer!!

I leave them in for about 20-30 minutes, or until they are easy to pick up off the tray.
Meanwhile, pour some canola oil into a shallow but wide pan- a sauté pan is perfect for this, that way you don't have to fill up a large stock pot and can make some good sized churros.

Clip on a candy thermometer and watch the heat till it gets to 375 degrees. This is where it gets hot a tricky! You want to watch the oil as to make sure it doesn't get too hot or cold. The churros, since they are frozen will cool the oil down so just watch and adjust the heat so they get cooked right.

You can use a pair of tongs or just carefully drop in but place in the oil until lightly browned. After thoroughly cooked place on a cooling rack and let cool slightly. All while mixing the remaining cinnamon and sugar together in a paper bag and shake it up. Place churros inside bag and fold down top and shake away !!

Take out of bag and enjoy!

Have fun with this. I promised my friend Lauren I will start posting more recipes so maybe this is the beginning. I'm sure there will be lots more sweet/baking recipes than cooking but what fun is no sweets.
And if you want some really good candy making recipes, check out this month's LDS living, I wrote an article on some fun recipes- marshmallows, salted caramel and lots more.

Donuts big debut

2011-11-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

Remember my post a few back about baked donuts? Well our episode on My Craft Channel, with the amazingly talented Britney from One Charming Party, about a fun alternative to Thanksgiving desserts- the baked donut! Check it out here and if you missed the first one, all about caramel apples you can catch up here.

But I have found even more ideas, so here you go, please keep drooling to a minimum, and if you make any of these please let me know if they tasted as yummy as they look.... i love baking season!

Pumpkin Baked Donuts found here

A variety of donuts from Health.com so they cannot be bad right? Found Here.

Chocolate Iced, Found Here

And lets all be honest, we would all love to be the donut queen! Found here

Enjoy.

Yo yo Matt

2011-11-07T09:32:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Matt! You are the greatest and we are so excited to have a day to just celebrate you!

Saige says her most favorite thing to do with you is snuggling with you on the couch:

(he does make a great cuddle partner)
And Milo says his favorite is to go shoot bows with you so you can teach him how.

My favorite thing is that you would do anything for me! I know I am not the easiest person to live with, but you will do whatever you can to help me. You make me so happy and I cannot think of life without you in it.

We love everything about you, and your ability to be such a good friend to everyone you are around. And just your natural charm that gets everyone around you laughing and having a good time no matter where you are.

We miss you today on your birthday but know there isn't a better place for you to be than doing your most favorite thing, hunting, with your dad, grandpa, and brother.

We love you!

Happy birthday!

Mimi and Banka's House

2011-11-05T22:55:00.000-06:00

There is always that place where you go and it just makes your heart happy. For me it's my parent's backyard. I don't know if it is the huge open fields, the enormous amount of grass, or the same playground that we played on as children. But that backyard screams memories and I hope its the same for my kids.

With trees older than most houses in the neighborhood, that are the most perfect for climbing, Milo finds himself pretending that he is spiderman and jumping from building to building.

Memories of that first climb UP the slide, and feeling like you just climb the biggest mountain in the world, and just hoping someone around you saw your amazing feat.

But the best memories are those being with your friends. Specifically those friends that just so happen to be your cousins.

I have memories in this exact backyard of our family get togethers with my Dad's 9 brothers and sisters and their kids. There were people everywhere and we were lucky enough to have several cousins close in age that we really did have our good friends at family parties.

Our families haven't grown that much yet, but we are lucky enough to have Josie here for a visit. And our buddies Ella and Asher close by for friends always around.

Clifford even joined us.

This swing set has been here for as long as I can remember. I may have broken one of the swings once...oops.... But they have been replaced over the years.

The free falling feeling of pumping your legs thru the air is the best!!

Saige loves her hair blowing in her face and begs to go higher and higher.

I may have joined in the feeling, crossing my fingers I didn't break another swing especially with Milo on my lap.

My camera seems to love that dear Josie. It could be that she is a ham and loves the camera but I like to think she just smiles for me!

This is my all time favorite picture of her. Shows her personality perfectly.

Sitting around, pretending I'm not there. Haha.

The weather has changed and the fun summer nights are not around anymore but we do have these memories. And now we are counting down till Christmas time for the Hewards to come back.

Fall Sunday Drive

2011-11-02T22:26:00.000-06:00

During this very very short time of year, the mountains just scream Matt's name. It's now hunting season, and his trip to Montana cannot come soon enough for him. Until then he gets his outdoor fix by visiting the mountains. Luckily he asked us to join him.

It was such a beautiful day, perfect weather and the leaves were gorgeous. Unfortunately everyone else thought so, and we saw way too many family pictures being taken. Although the most interesting was the lady who was driving in front of us, swerving off the road as she tried to take photos while she was driving!! (true story)

Saige is such a spitting image of her daddy, and has so many of the same interests he does- I think she also just likes to be around her Dad.

Milo and I sat in the warm truck, as the sun went down, and sang songs. We are both really good singers and complement each other's singing nicely. Hehe

Thanks Matt for the fun family outing! We loved it!

Mr. Bullwinkle

2011-10-24T22:49:00.001-06:00

Meet Bullwinkle.

I told Matt when he was done with school we could get a dog. I figured I was safe until at least June. But the beginning of summer is a great time to get a dog. We are much more active, I don't feel guilty making them stay outside and we can devote more time to him.

Well Matt took a small break this term. He has the tendency to take on a million classes and devotes everything to those classes. But at work, Oct- Dec are Nutso. So somehow we convinced him to take a small break and go back in January. That left him a little bit of free time, and while browsing on KSL one night found this gorgeous Bull Mastiff. Our friends, the Bennett's, have this gorgeous dog named Mallie.

Matt instantly fell in love and tried to find another Mastiff out there. Well he found a few and I could argue the money card, cause these dogs are not cheap, but this particular dog was being offered for free. We checked him out and fell in love. Our kids loved him, Matt loves him, and I am slowly but surely coming around and loving him too.

He lets the kids sleep, jump, climb, sit and do anything on him. He is the laziest dog ever, and if I didn't have to vacuum
his hair up every second I would love him.

Most times he thinks he is human but I quickly remind him he is a dog.
My most favorite thing? He loves to be by my side. No matter what I'm doing he will follow me around and try to be right by my feet. He really is just like a cat.

Here is to many more memories with Bull our big ol dog.

The big apple

2011-10-24T21:37:00.003-06:00

For family night, Matt's mom Lisa wanted to make caramel apples.
Sidenote- I think I won Scott (Matt's Dad) over when we were dating, I brought over caramel apples and Lisa said "Ohhh Scott loves these!!" He got a huge smile and I knew it made him excited. So when Lisa asked if I would teach her how to do it, I knew Scott had to come.

We invited the Smith crew over to Gygi's (Shan we missed you, sorry Hyde was sick), plopped some caramel in the ovens and had a party. And let's be honest- anything with caramel is a party.

Saige and Abby were the best helpers and very patient to wait for the adults to do theirs. I love their imaginations and how much they love to be together!

After brief demonstration and some instruction everyone dipped away and hopefully had a great time!

There he is the man of the hour, I think Matt was a bit of a distraction, but he did great!

After the caramel comes the chocolate and of course all the goodies. This is my favorite part, I love seeing everyone's creativity.

Oreo, butterfingers, m&m's, toasted coconut, peanut butter cups, almonds and on and on and on. It was yummy.

Aunt Pete showing off her dipping skills while on the phone- that's talent people.

All done and packing them up. I was so impressed with everyone, and think we need to do this more often!! Guys are you up for that?

We all know Milo is!

Thanks for this great Family Night Lisa. We all had a great time, and love being with our great family. How lucky we are to live so close together and be able to do things like this. Love you all.

And if you want to do this, check out this link where Brittany and I will give you some tip-eroos.

While the boys are away....

2011-10-19T12:08:00.003-06:00

Our family isn't quite use to Priesthood night. Yes our Dad has ALWAYS gone but he would come home right after and we enjoyed root beer floats. But now most of us have husbands that go out, enjoy the priesthood session and go out for traditional sushi afterwards. So while the boys enjoy the night we party together!

And by party we mean Chinese food and some dancing on the Wii. Our kids love it and I would be lying if I said I didn't like it as well. I'm a terrible dancer but love the slight competitiveness and of course being able to shake my groove thang. Haha

Just don't tell Milo that the remote is not a controller. He loves it and won't use anything else.

Thank heavens Bonnie, staci, and Connie were just as excited as we were to dance cause we danced the night away!

Sweet baby Asher was a little worried why he would be left with all these crazy girls but Mimi made him feel like it would be okay.
If I could figure out how to get my Videos up here I would show you some scary dance moves. Until then you will just have to dream.

We love conference Sundays.

2011-10-16T20:32:00.001-06:00

There are many things that we look forward to- trips to St. George, seeing our loved ones, sushi nights as a family and one big one is conference Sunday. Twice a year we get to enjoy Sunday's at home, in our jammies, and listen to the sweet words of our prophet and leaders.

Our kids are to a really good age that bribing works wonders and we can actually hear quite a bit of what is being said-while my favorite is always the Ensign Conference edition (sometimes reading it means so much more).
So after lots of pipe cleaner, crayons, notebooks and stickers we enjoyed ourselves a great little Sunday.

A little bit of make-up and a hair brush kept kids entertained for many talks.

And the kids most favorite was delivering cinnamon rolls to some
of our favorite people.

The opportunity to listen to these wonderful speakers gives me such hope. It comes at the most needed times in life and gives me that extra push needed to continue on. I hate to see it end but am grateful for it to come again in April.

Family fishing

2011-10-14T23:04:00.000-06:00

Fishing. To our little family, fishing is a much different thing than it is to most Americans. Our Dad, sweet Matt, is highly passionate about this pastime and we take it quite serious.

Most the time I am not allowed to touch the rods, so I enjoy a good photo op.

Oh my sweet Milo. Just could not help himself and had to throw the little rocks in. Much to Matt's disliking.

Saige the poser, will take any chance to get her photo taken.

Feeding the ducks.

Getting a lesson from the master fisherman.

Teaching her pupil.

And last but not least a little bit of our own photo shoot, while Dad fished away.

And one last one with my love. It's not very often I get a photo with him, so have to take advantage when he is in his element!

Reminiscing

2011-10-09T21:25:00.001-06:00

As October began the weather seems as if it were just begging to turn, and was finally given permission to change. I was hoping to slowly get back to pants and sweaters but in good old Utah fashion we dropped a good cold one and reminded us all that Mother Nature is in charge here. While there are many things I enjoy about the fall- pumpkins, Halloween, cider, leaves and sweaters- I really miss the warm weather and what it brings in the summer time. So before it is entirely gone I'm spending some time remembering the good old summer.

Cowabunga:
Matt was going to be gone over Saige's birthday, so to celebrate with her he took her, Milo and Jake to COWABUNGA BAY!! she loved it all and had the best time ever!

And Mr Muscles had to come out at some time right??

Bath time. Our kids adore bath time. Sometimes getting them out takes about a half hour and a whole lot of water on the floor.

I love the imagination.

Trips to the mall.

There is something about your kids that will get you to do things that you promised you never would do. One of those being the carousel at the mall. I always walked passed and never really noticed- now with children it's as if their every ounce of being just has to step foot on it.

So we ride.

Porch Sitting.

Being able to send the kids outside to enjoy their dessert is priceless. Catching a picture of them together and being nice to one another is a mother's dream. Our porch seems to be the perfect place for that.

Air drying our clothes:

My Grandma Foote messed us all up by raising us with the smell of line dried clothes. I LOVE IT! if you could bottle that up, I would buy them all.

Bbq's:

Even if it means Adam has to wheel his over- we make a mean BBQ.
And seeing some of our good old friends and their massive dog

Splash parks:

Which makes us miss some of our two favorite girls.

Ms Ella and Mimi.

Summer Concerts with our loved ones!!

This was one of the highlights of my summer. Surrounded by most of my favorite people, amazing music --Brandi Carlisle and Ray-- and of course my sweet love Matt. Just wished my kids were there they would have been in heaven.

Having all the cousins together, right before the Hewards moved.

Bath time at the Foote's:

This red tub has memories for everyone in our family. We packed as many kids in there as possible and had the best time! Here is to hoping my kids have lots more.

Face Paint:

Why don't we face paint in the winter? It's such a fun summer tradition and sometimes wish I was a kid again and could walk around with a huge butterfly on my face!

The summer activities that make you just pass out on the couch! Promising that you are just not tired!

We love the summer. And hopefully have created some amazing memories this year that we will just have to top.

To all my creative friends:

2011-10-07T22:52:00.001-06:00

Gygi's is having a contest. What kind of contest you ask? Well this one is probably pretty easy for most of you, as I have really quite talented friends {honestly I do, and I am really referring to all of you!}. And since I'm not in charge of this one I don't feel like there will be any favorites played- cause I would really want you guys to win. And there will be lots of winners- so you won't all become angry with each other. Alright alright I will get to the contest:

Well as you know Halloween is approaching and we see lots of product being bought each and every day with these grand ideas but don't ever get to see the final product! So this is where you come in: we want you to send in your photos for your best SPOOKY THINGS using something ( anything) from Gygis!!! That simple, that wonderful and I know you all have some things planned- so whip them up snap some pictures and send them to my new friend Cait- she is awesome and the judge haha so now I won't be the bad guy anymore!
We have our friends at Our Best Bites, Crafting Chicks, and One Charming Party helping us so you might end up on one of these great blogs too!

So hurry you only have till the 16th send your stuff to: customerservice@Gygi.com.

RIGHT NOW!!!

More details here: http://www.gygi.com/blog/index.php/guest-post-contest/

willy wonka, willy wonka

2011-10-05T11:57:00.000-06:00

One of our family's most favorite movies is the Johnny Depp version of Willy Wonka. The older one is great, just a bit creepy and doesn't keep my kids attention as much as the new version--HELLO it has Johnny Depp!
So when Modern Kiddo, posted this party today I fell in love!

go check out the rest, this lady is quite talented, and check out all the great things Modern Kiddo does. I love the children feature of what they are wearing, most the time it is better than what I wear.

Girly girl.

2011-09-26T16:23:00.001-06:00

I have never considered myself a girly girl. I guess out of some of my sisters yes, but never one to love ruffles, make-up, spa days, or fancy dresses. I have always had a pretty good imagination and grew up doing plays, dances, radio programs, newspapers, and all sort of odd things-mostly with my even more imaginative cousin Amy. But has really always liked football, basketball, don't mind getting dirty and sometimes not shaving my legs- that's for a whole other day and post. Haha.

So when having our Saige- I imagined a girl with the sweetest imagination, not afraid to be who she is, maybe a bit of a free spirit like her parents, but definitely not a girl who thought she was a princess. (I even said once to my sisters- "if any of you buy her those princess things or ever call her princess you are busted!") Well in true Saige fashion- she shocked me, she really did become a free spirit, very imaginative and is the girliest girl who loves dresses, princesses, and just about everything pink.

And I will be honest at first it bothered me. I don't understand the reason why we have to wear pink somewhere each day, or the breakdowns when we show up to school and she didn't wear a dress, and how no matter how cute we dress her each day-her dress-ups show back on and she has become princess Annaleise. But as she grows and I realize it really is who she is- I love it.

She loves to pretend and her dream world carries over quite a bit- sometimes she asks me if something is on our world or just for pretend. I hope that creative spirit lasts forever.

Today she was the nail polish girl that gives free nail paintings but charges $22 for one of the purple flowers.

She loves patterns and sparkles and will put plenty of them on your toes and fingers if you let her.

She takes lots of breaks cause she wants to change things on her own hands and feet, but we look at it like staying on top of the trend.

Come over anytime. I only allow my toenails to be painted twice a week so she is always looking for a new victim, I mean client.

And there is no discriminating here- without upsetting Gramps too much- Milo's are often painted but then quickly taken off so Gramps won't get mad at her. So boys you are welcome too.

Donuts. Doughnuts. Dnuts??

2011-09-25T08:33:00.001-06:00

For work, I have been doing some filming for a new craft channel called My Craft Channel. (www.mycraftchannel.com) I guess you can think of it as hulu or on demand or whatever you use to instantly watch things, but all about crafts!!! There are some really creative people involved and I am really quite excited to see how things all turned out.

We partnered up with One Charming Party- if you haven't checked out their site you MUST!! {the most amazing party ideas, and the cutest photos that make you want them all!!!} hurry go look at it- onecharmingparty.com. Back to the story- one of the segments we did was made baked donuts.

We made these for alternative Thanksgiving treat ideas. These ones are pumpkin donuts with a maple glaze...... Yummo. The flavor combination just screams fall and my kids had such a fun time decorating them too. But after that I started thinking of all sorts of different ways you could make them and I have started to get a little excited to see how what we can come up with. Bonus they are more healthy for you than the normal deep fried donuts, you make it so you know what goes in it, and you can really customize the flavors you want.
After falling in love with some donuts I have started to see some other posts and thought I would share some ideas:

{photo from a beautiful mess}
what a fun party theme- this was a wedding shower with a donut theme!!

{photo found on Pinterest}
Originally I was going to make these donuts for Saige's birthday-isn't the pink glaze just beautiful?!? She chose churros instead but I still love these.

What a fun treat to have at Halloween. The glaze is super easy-milk, powdered sugar and flavoring. I'm thinking we make a dozen different glazes, make a couple different flavored donuts, invite everyone over and have a donut party!!! Who wants to come?

This is my I don't want to wake up face.

2011-09-21T08:23:00.001-06:00

Sometimes our deepest wishes are said so brutally honest by our kids. Most days we have a pretty busy schedule and when I say these kids are amazing and really are quite the troopers it's and understatement. They tag along on errands, at Gygi's and everything in between. But this morning Milo had enough.

I went to wake him, mean Mom I know. He hid under the covers and came out with this:

The "this is my I don't want to wake up face!"

It made me laugh pretty hard, this kid comes up with the funniest things. Wish I could save them all.

Us girls know how to party

2011-09-16T17:59:00.000-06:00

Who knew waiting to buy wallpaper could be so much fun? Saige is always up for a photo shoot.

Glad to see that someone else can make stupid faces just like me. Love this girl!

Oh Target

2011-09-14T13:14:00.001-06:00

They really suck me in. I know I shouldn't ever really go in there. Seriously. They say you should never go to the grocery store hungry- well that same urgency and need to buy food you normally wouldn't eat feeling- I get that every-time I step in Target. Trouble. Trouble.

You see this hot chica? Well Missoni has partnered up with good old Target and sucked me in again. There is something about the colors, the stripes, the retro 70's look that makes me want it all. Now for a bigger closet. Here are some of my favorites. If anyone would like to buy them I would gladly take them off your hands. Especially the rug!! Agh.

Yep. That's a bra. I might actually wear one more if it was this beautiful--

Cutest shorts. Perfect with some purple leggings underneath.

5x7 please.

Okay I will stop. Love it all. Thanks Target for helping us normal people be able to afford the things we dream of.

Where the cool kids go.

2011-09-12T01:41:00.001-06:00

School. It's such a crazy thing. It completely changes your life and at the age of 3 it's the one thing you just have to have. Being the younger brother is hard. You watch your older sister go do things and are told you aren't quite old enough to do yourself. Well not anymore.

This happy kid is in school now. And he loves it. Miss Tori's smart cookies school is just what Milo had been begging for. We went to meet her and she had a Batman toy that screamed Milo's name. After seeing the toy that was all he needed.

Milo is a mommy's boy. I can't help it. This boy has me wrapped around his finger. I can't drop him off to primary still. He won't go, and I succumb to allowing him to stay with me. But if Matt drops him off he is fine. I was afraid school would be the same. But thank heavens for fun toys and a great classroom, Milo is beyond thrilled.

While he was away at school, Ms. Saige really missed her brother. She asked several times how much longer till he gets home and couldn't wait to see him. It's fun to see her stay at home once in a while and miss her brother. But don't worry Milo, your white pillow and cup were right where you left them. Waiting for you to come back!

Fun Day.

2011-09-05T15:16:00.001-06:00

Labor Day should always be called Fun Day. While it's a day focused on celebrating those in America who work hard and help make the country grow, we
always seem to have a pretty rocking time. Today was no exception.
What celebration is complete without starting the night before and partying all night long!

Our great brother Jon has this projector. So we borrowed it, hung a big blanket up in the backyard, and turned on Despicable Me (one of our favorites!). It was so much fun!!

Mimi made some of her yummy grilled cheese sandwiches and we had raspberries and peaches and Connie's yummy punch!

After we all filled our bellies we laid on the blankets, cuddled up and enjoyed the movie.

Milo and Ella would not hold still so this is the best picture of the night. After popcorn, treats and a fun movie we called it a night. But our crew of friends that were going to sleep out with us was slowly getting smaller and smaller. So it ended up being Staci, Saige, Milo and Me.

We bundled up, grabbed the tarps and laid down for the night. It was a lot of fun. And I actually didn't freeze and had a great time!!
But before we could sleep we had to make our scariest faces!!

Staci scared....

Saige happy....

Milo sad....

And Me silly. (I think it's hard to tell the difference between them all!!)

Good night!! We missed you all that decided to ditch out.... Connie Katie!

(morning hair, its lovely having bangs!!)

Now the whole purpose of the sleepover was so that we could go to the neighborhood labor day breakfast at my parents church. They have been doing this breakfast for as long as I can remember and it was fun to see some old faces and realize that I don't know anyone anymore in that ward.
After some face paint and the lovely kids parade

We had yummy pancakes, eggs and hashbrowns, thanks to all the chefs!!

Lots of fun and food! We loved having Katie, Connie and Ty come down and spend the weekend with us!

Milo and Mimi on the same bike!

Lots of fun. Bike rides. Tractor rides. Yummy food. And of course family. We had a great day!

Saige's 3rd year of preschool

2011-09-02T16:32:00.003-06:00

Now now, before you start to think, geez this girl cannot even pass preschool?!?! Our lovely Saige is so fortunate to be born September 3rd. Two days after the deadline for kindergarten. For a while I was quite bummed. I mean this girl has always been pretty mature for her age, her bestest friends are all going to kindergarten and she is going to be going to preschool for THREE YEARS!! I started realizing this will be a good thing though. Her and Milo will only be a year apart, she will be the oldest in her grade and she will be able to be the boss of everyone (her ultimate dream!!).
So that is why we are starting our 3rd year of preschool.

Saige was more than thrilled to be going to Miss Dawn. They hit it off on the first meeting and she couldn't wait to leave this morning.

She picked out her own outfit, blew dried her own hair and even reminded me (every minute) that school starts at 12:30. She is getting so big and I love her independence.

Don't mind Milo's head !!

Here we are going to Miss Dawn's.

She was sooo excited to have a special place for her backpack.

Coloring in her daily journal. So excited to see what she thinks up everyday!!
We love school!!!

Summer is ending

2011-09-01T08:34:00.001-06:00

All the big kids are at school. So what better thing to do than PARTY!! Our best friend Jocelyn came out and we ran through the sprinklers, laid out in the sun and each had 3 otter pops. What a perfect day.

School can start, schedules can come back, and things can get back to the norm. But please Mr. Sun stay as long as you can. We love you.

Matt's ideal world

2011-08-29T20:29:00.001-06:00

When marrying Matt there were a few things foreign to me the hunting world and the camping world. Both of these are heaven to him. His ideal life would be on a secluded part of Alaska where no one would see him walk outside butt naked to do whatever you do. Well he married me, who loves the city and people and everything about it. The hustle and bustle of the world intrigues me. I'm a people watcher at their finest and enjoy being able to get anything quickly.
Well I'm slowly changing and vacation by vacation Matt might one day get his wish granted but until then he will have to take summer vacations that involve the wilderness.

While this was out in the middle of no where Matt was quite accommodating this camping trip and he reserved a spot near a bathroom and a lake. Do you remember last years 24th of July outing? The one with the sheep invading our camp? It was a blast and a trip I will never forget, but this one was a little bit cleaner!

Some of our most favorite people came, Gramps, Nana, Jake and Aunt Pete, joined us. (unfortunately I really didn't pull out the camera till the last day, so pictures are lacking).
The boys fished, we walked, talked, played lots of rummy, enjoyed being together and most of all Matt was the happiest I have seen him in a long time. HE LOVES THE WILDERNESS!!!

He really is the best Dad. These kids adore him!!!

This was for Lindsey. He was missing her. (So was I. I really really really like her!)

Saige's photog skills at their best

The last day we decided to pull out of camp and take the 4wheelers for a spin. This was Milo's favorite part and us girls had a good time posing.

Cute Grampsy!!!

Isn't Matt's mom cute? She had perfect hair the whole time and was brave enough to wear white camping! We love our Nana.

In case you were wondering what I look like as a motorcycle cop.....

And last but not least the impromptu headstands. Have I said it before how much our kids love Jake. He is one of their best friends. And is so good to always play with them. We love him!!

This last smile about sums up our trip. Everyone had a great time. We were sad pete had to leave early. Thank you Matt for planning a perfect trip and for everyone that came. Let's do it again next 24th!!

Irrigation

2011-08-28T22:39:00.001-06:00

To most people hearing the word irrigation I'm sure they think of water and mostly in the form of a sprinkler. Correct?!? (And if any of you in my neighborhood are reading this, I am sure you are wondering if our sprinklers are broken this year? No we have just been crazy busy- I'm sorry we have a nasty lawn this year!!)

Back to the story--
But the word irrigation to our family means a whole lot more!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Foote have the most amazing garden, remember the raspberry patch? Well along with the patch they have the MOST amazing garden and house and yard and EVERYTHING!!

Our sweet Grandpa has outdone himself for sure. He rigged up this perfectly planned and laid out system that waters his whole yard to perfection. It's quite amazing to watch and makes me quite proud of the amazing family we come from.

Isn't he cute?

The perfect garden.

Mimi and Ella met us there for a serious party. Grandma Foote doesn't do little parties either- my cousins Austin and Emma were there, Saige's new "boyfriend" and Grandma's neighbor, as well as 6 young neighbor boys were all there for the party.

This water is straight off the mountain. It's ice ice cold. And somehow I forget how cold it truly is. First thing Grandma told us, " Remember that when your feet start tingling, time to get out!" We all laughed, but that tingling came all to quickly. But there is something about that tingling feeling as a kid, you notice it, you feel it, but you just don't care. My kids are no exception.

Fearless. It's one of the biggest things I miss as a child and this sweet girl is as fearless as they come. Here she stands in front of the little water pit that when she stands inside goes up to her shoulders. And this sweet girl jumped in and out and frozen her chicken nugget bum right off. And she enjoyed every second of it.

Milo joining in with Emma.

Sweet Ella. Loved Grandma Foote's boats and wanted to pull them around all day.

And we have to hang out on the porch swing. So many memories on this, it's a shame we didn't have this when we were younger.

Milo won't smile. How rude.

I love going to her house. I start to feel like a child again. I want to sit out on the deck and have Grandma's amazing fingernails scratch my back. (they aren't anything different but she gives you the best best best back-scratches)

Goodbye lovely house and yard. Till we get brave enough to take on the water again!

The things I love....

2011-08-15T21:48:00.001-06:00

Just going thru the pictures on my phone and realized there are some great ones of my kiddos. Man I love them

Swiper blowing up a ball. Took him 10 minutes but he did it!!!

And the many faces of Saiger. Oh geez I could do a whole post on pictures she took of herself.

I'm one lucky Mama.

And wifey.

It's (class) party time!

2011-07-29T10:41:00.002-06:00

We have the best primary class. Such a great mixture of kids, personalities, and attitudes. (okay who am I kidding, we have always had the best primary classes!! Every class we have taught we adore these kids!!)
We bribe, I mean persuade, the kids with a good behavior chart each week. If they are reverent and participate in singing time and also in class they get to put a picture on the good behavior chart. After the chart fills up we have a PARTY!!
We asked the kids what they wanted to do and it was all about snocones, and hot dogs. So that made it easy for a great party!!

We roasted hot dogs on the fire pit, and had by request BBQ chips and cheese chips. I threw in fruit skewers and corn on the cob. Perfect summer party food.

After everyone ate dinner, we had a WATERMELON EATING CONTEST!!

Jordan and Cohen finished about the same time so we had a tie breaking round and I believe Jordan won!!! I will have to ask, I'm sure Cohen will correct me if I am wrong.

The kids were begging to play pin the tail on Matt. I wasn't sure what to do, so I turned it into "pin the antler on Matt!" We started with a big x on Matts head.

Then we blindfolded the kids, spun them around and gave them a paper antler to try to get on the x.

Some kids were accurate, some barely made it near Matt but overall they had such a good time! I believe Cohen got it spot on and became the winner!

The last game was our donut eating contest! We started with Jordan, Gage and Cohen in the first round. It was very close but Jordan came out as the winner of the boys.

Next up the girlies. I think they were more excited than the boys.

Kalee pulled out the super close win and we did a final round between Kalee and Jordan

It was close again but...................

Kalee won!!

We finished the games, had some snocones, and talked to the kids about our most favorite book, The Book of Mormon, and finished just in time for the parents showed up!

Thanks for being such good kids! We love our class!!

Birdy Savers

2011-07-29T10:14:00.002-06:00

Saige has many talents. One of them being an animal lover. She asks every person that walks by with their dogs if she can pet it. One day we will get another dog, but when we aren't ever home it just doesn't make sense. The other day Saige, Milo and I were cleaning some things up in the backyard and we heard some chirping, I glances down inside the window well and noticed a baby bird. If you ask Matt, he will confirm I have a slight fear of birds. Not sure why, but always have. (funny story- when Matt and I were first married we lived in apts that had pigeons everywhere. One day we had the windows open and one flew right in!! I was terrified and Matt thought it was the funniest things ever. We still laugh about it now!!)
I don't want my kids to be afraid of things that I am, so I pretended that if I climbed down that I wouldn't be able to climb out, so I had to lower her down. She got so excited to help the bird and climbed right down.

After a few failed attempts we successfully saved the sweet birdy and had a good friend for the afternoon!

The mommy bird brought the baby some worms and helped it jump up the back tree to safety. It was fun to see how Saige and Milo saved this little guy.

Two days later, we found a totally different bird in the same window well. Saige wanted to climb right down and got it right out!!

Love notes

2011-07-29T09:56:00.002-06:00

I'm loving my new camera toy. Is it realistic...no. Does it print out the cutest most adorable sized pictures that I love around my house....yes.
And do you see that cute note in the back, that's from my precious Saige. Families are forever, I agree.

St Geezy peezy

2011-07-29T09:45:00.001-06:00

Headed down to St George for the 4th of July weekend and had, yet again, a WONDERFUL time. Thanks again to Troy for letting us stay at his house, we owe you big time.
This time around we took Matt's parents boat down and spent the time at Sand Hollow, with them. Sorry for all the pictures but pictures say things much better and when you are as good looking as these people WHY NOT right!!?

Candi and Josie. She loved the boat and had such a good time!

The three chillins. They loved the front of the boat and didn't ever want to leave, even when the giant wave crashed over the front and scared the adults away!

Cowboy Joe! (sorry for the blur, but it was a great picture!)

Saige gets into the zone and made us all laugh!

We had a great teacher, Adam who got us all surfing and even got Josie out on the board!

Adam was so great. He was able to get the kids out without even being in the water!!

After the surfing we all took a break and jumped in the amazingly warm water!!

Carolyn, Joe, Milo and Natalie.

Saige was doing flips off the side of the boat. She had no fear with the water!!

Jake and Milo, and Joe and Taylor!!

Adam and Natalie

Candi and Jos.

Fun uncle Jake. Saige and Milo absolutely adore him! He is so much fun and out kids Love to play with him!!

After snacks and a good rest (sometimes I really wish I had a boat to throw the kids on when they won't lay down! There is just something about the boat that they fall asleep so easily!!), we headed off the lake and enjoyed some at home fun!!

We successful introduced Josie to pop rocks, one of my favorite treats!, and celebrates the fourth with popping in our mouths!

The rain started to fall so we all ran inside and played a very mature game of "Button Button Whose Got The Button"!! Somehow we thought of that game while trying to think of something fun to do with the kids. All the adults played and the kids still talk about how much fun it was. So thank you all for playing!!

Sorry for the picture overload. We had a great time with everyone and would vacation with this crew any day! We love you all and love St George!!

Museum fun.

2011-07-16T20:58:00.001-06:00

Being a working Mom, one that works at home, I find it hard to make sure I am not working ALL the time and spend time trying to be a good Mom. My kids are the best and have the best imaginations. They find games and imaginary world everywhere.
When we got invited to go to the Children's museum I was thrilled. Fun for the kids and a great chance to be with girls from the hood.

The store was one of our favorite places. Maybe it's because my kids practically live at Gygi's and it's second nature for them but they stepped right in that store and got right to work!!

Saige being the clerk for everyone. Sometimes after classes when people want to buy something, Saige runs up and begs to help. She loves talking to people and is a pro!!

Saige has a princess dress radar. I'm not joking. She will find a dress up anywhere and loves to wear them. Somehow she found one here and became the princess checker.

I'm hoping one day, in my future, our kids can have a playroom like this. How fun would that be everyday?!?

As we ventured through the museum the kids loved everything and weren't bothered at all by all the hundreds of kids around.

As we were nearing the end we found a fun little part that was huge fooseball figures. As the kids climbed up they had a voice box that changed all their voices. It was so loud and so much fun!

We then ventured out to the water park at Gateway and played in the water. I had some really great pictures that included all of our friends from that day but my phone guy, Milo, loves to erase them. We had a blast and would hang out with this crowd any day!!

Thanks Carolyn, Marcella, and Jennica for a fantastic day! Let's do it again soon!

It must be summer...raspberries.

2011-07-15T09:32:00.001-06:00

As far as I can remember we have picked raspberries at my Grandmas. It may sound silly but I love it. I don't even know if it is the amazing delicious raspberries we get at the end! I get to spend some time in the magical world of the raspberry batch which causes you to forget everything else going on, chat for a while, and sometimes open your heart to whoever else is there to listen.

My Grandma Foote has this glorious patch and garden. It puts most other gardens to shame. Sorry if you are pretty proud of yours.

Cherry tree!! It was gorgeous!!

See that raspberry patch on the right, that's it, and times that by about 100!!! That's her patch. My kids love coming, they don't last long in the patch, they are pretty delicate and I get paranoid they will break things so they are encouraged to go around and explore in the amazing backyard.

Grandma has the COOLEST buckets for picking. Here she has made some kiddo ones. String through a plastic bucket that you tie around your waist or neck and it freezes up your hands, and allows you to have the double handed technique down!

Milo tends to eat way more than save. This is how we start out, empty bucket, tied around the waist, ready to be filled with delicious red berries.

After a few times up a few rows, filled with our favorites!!
We had so much fun. Met my Grandma's neighbor, who happened to go to the same high school as me, and we never knew each other!, an her son who Saige fell in love with!!, hung out with my Grandma on her birthday and spent some time with my darling kiddos out in the sun! I wouldn't trade it for a thing!!

Oh and to end up with this is a great reward!
Thanks Grandma Foote. We love you!!

That was supposed to be me.

2011-07-08T09:31:00.003-06:00

Sometimes after cooking classes, I have a few things to finish up and end up being there alone. Not a big deal. There are lights everywhere, people are usually outside at the business across the street and I park right by the door. No big deal. Matt has begged and pleaded that I not do it but sometimes being able to get a few things checked off when you are alone feels so good. Last night was one of those nights. Class ended up needing my help quite a bit and I didn't get my things done. So I stayed.

As I was locking up I went to walk outside and noticed a random car sitting right in the middle of our parking lot. I looked to see if it was one of the students from the class, or an employee. But didn't recognize them. There were 3 adults and a small child sitting in the car with the doors wide open and the adults were smoking inside. I thought oh no big deal, there is a child. I set the alarm opened the door to leave and felt as if someone was pushing me back inside. So I went back in.

I am not afraid of much. I feel like I can handle myself in most situations, and am not one of those people that scares easily. But after that strong feeling I started to scare myself. Of course while waiting inside for the car to leave I started hearing things, noticing random things out of place, and making it more and more uncomfortable. After about 25 minutes of waiting, I called my sister. She passed me over to my mom, who suggested I just call the police. They would send someone over just to check it out. I thought for a bit no way but after that long of people just chilling in our parking lot, and the amount of crime that occurs around us I thought it cannot hurt.

I called and just as I was finished telling the extremely nice lady the story the car decided to leave. She stayed on the phone with me till I got locked in my car and as I was pulling out the cop car came by just in case. (I was quite impressed with good old salt lake! )

I then started getting upset with myself. Why did I allow myself to get so scared?,why in the world did I call the police?, and how did I mistake a feeling so strong to stay inside when the situation was completely harmless?

It was about 10:30-10:45 by the time I was driving home and by then the roads are pretty empty and it allows me sometime to think. I kept beating myself up and feeling stupid. But as I was nearing 106th south there were police cars and the first two right lanes were directing traffic to the 2 left lanes. I slowed down and noticed a black car was totaled. It appeared the front tire blew and it took a pretty good beating. Luckily it was only one car and didn't hit anyone else.

And that was when I got an even stronger feeling. I immediately felt that rush of blood and was told that it would have been me. That car would have hit me if didn't stay. I questioned the feeling again but then felt it stronger than ever. It was almost as if it said to me, "Hey stubborn! I tried to keep you there! You didn't want to listen so I created a situation you would listen too! And look where you would have been!!!"

I'm stubborn. I hate being told that I shouldn't do things. It makes me want to prove that it's okay to do it. But realizing my newly found cautiousness actually saved my life really struck me. I need to take the time in life to notice those small and simple voices and promptings and follow through with what is being asked. I feel so blessed to not have been in any danger last night, and thank my Heavenly Father for keeping me here just another day.

I feel so blessed with my wonderful husband and kids and cannot imagine not being here to be with them. We are so lucky to have the gospel in our lives and being able to have these promptings.

I truly am blessed.

Blonde.

2011-07-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Well I did it. Almost. I didn't chop it, but I am glad I didn't. I love my hair, I just wanted a new change in color. And I think I got it.

Here is the before. A fun red color, with some blonde streaks. I asked Michael what his thoughts were for going on blonde and he was so supportive. I just don't think he knew what he was really getting himself into.
He thought the blondest we were going to get was a dirty blonde but we would put some streaks through it too. He stripped the color and was so surprised how blonde it was able to get!!
Didnt it turn out lovely?

This is where we scared everyone!! (isn't he so great back there?!? I just think he is so amazing!!) Everyone in the salon just gave me the oddest looks almost wondering what is this girl thinking!! But I completely trusted Michael, had no worries in his abilities, I knew he would make things perfect. Well 5 hours, everyone at the salon's help, Candace's patience while watching my kids, Matt helping me with the cooking class I was supposed to be at, and last but bot least Michaels absolutely abilities to perform miracles, we have this:

Isn't it fun. Just what I wanted, didn't know if it would ever really get to this and he did it in one shot. I'm excited to be a blonde. I've been really everything else, so it was time.
Thank you a million times over Michael and B Space Salon. You are all amazing and I appreciate all the great comments. So what's your honest thoughts?!?

Bye hewards.

2011-07-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

My lovely sister and her family are headed off to Kentucky for dental school soon. It's such a bittersweet feeling. We are so proud of Grant and all the many years of school and studying it has taken for him to get here. He is going to be one great dentist. But 4 years seems to be so far away, especially when sweet Josie girl will be Saige's age when they are finished. Luckily we have Skype and all other things to stay in touch as well as a great reason to take a trip.

So in honor of the departure we of course wanted to have a party!

Connie and I put our ideas together, and thank heavens Connie is so amazing. Things went together beautifully and a perfect party for celebrating the Hewards.

Connie found the cutest fabric and made tablecloth squares and a garland around the house.

Arent parties all about the details?!

My failed attempt to make yarn balls. (note to self-use modge podge not elmers glue next time!) but it's a good thing we like things abstract.
And it wouldn't be one of our parties without GOOD FOOD.

( yummy flavored mayo for the sliders-- balsamic and sriracha mayo anyone?!? )

After the party was set up, everyone started arriving. We tried to surprise Candace and Grant but the word got spread and they found out. They kindly didn't say anything and pretended to be surprised anyways. Surrounded by tons of loved ones we then chatted the night away and spent some great time with our Hewards.

Rather than have everyone just leave their info for Candace and Grant to stay in contact with we decided to use my new favorite toy:

(my Fuji Instax camera. It takes credit card sized Polaroid type pictures, and is so much fun)

With the help of some paper mustaches and green fabric we had silly pictures for them to remember us by.

Our cute Gma and Gpa Foote

Guests of honor.

We are missing Bonnie and Staci but all us sisters will sure miss you Candi. You keep us all together and never cease to amaze us. We all look up too you in so many ways. And love you like crazy.
BEST OF LUCK ON YOUR NEW ADVENTURE.

Scarf tying #1

2011-07-01T07:00:00.000-06:00

Janae. This one is for you.

My sis Candace taught me this one. It was quite simple and when I asked her how to do it. She just said, " I just pull, twist and tie." And really it's quite simple. I use this all the time, probably too much but for days in the summer it's perfect for cooling you down and still feeling cute.

I pull my hair up in a thick bun or messy one like this. Nothing worse than tying your short hairs on your neck into your scarf.

Pull both sides of the scarf up evenly.

Cross the two sides so it makes an x. If your scarf is extra long, you can do this a couple times to make a little knot.

See cute huh! This is crossed over twice.

Tie in the back and tuck in the strings if you want.

Now you are ready!! This is the best for the pool, sprinkler, SUMMERTIME do. With my bangs it's great to keep them down and not crazy.

I have lots more. But kids and knocking.....