Funny things . . .

Since my blog is really the only type of journal I keep, I had to write these funny thing down that Ian has done before I forget!

1)  I was getting him dressed a few months ago and he put his little hand up over one of my eyes and demanded, "Mommy, say 'ARGHHHH' ".  (like, a pirate)

2) The other day he couldn't remember the word for "tears", so he told me that "all the sad was coming out of his eyes".

3) Yesterday morning when he woke up I asked him what he dreamt about.  He responded "Noodles."  Then chuckled at himself. "Like Kung Fu Panda, mommy!"  If you haven't seen the movie, this makes no sense.  If you have seen the movie, this is hilarious!

4) Today in the car he sneezed all over himself and said "Ohhh yuck, I've got 'bless you' all over my hand!"

Gingerbread House and Candy Cane Cookies

We decorate a Costco-bought gingerbread house every year.  Most of the candy ends up in our kids' stomachs, but we love doing it anyway.  Let me tell you, pre-bought Gingerbread houses are the way to go!  I am a semi-homemade kind of cook.  You know, buy everything you can and then spice it up with your own stuff.  Have you ever seen Sandra Lee on the Food Network? She's my kind of cook!

Gratitude

"Gratitude turns a meal into a feast and drudgery into delight.  It softens our grief and heightens our pleasure.  It turns the simple and common into the memorable and transcendent.  It forges bonds of love and fosters loyalty and admiration."

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Thanks to my sister-in-law Carolyn who emailed this beautiful quote.  I think being  grateful is so underrated.  I hope I can raise grateful children.  I know that the more gratitude we have for the life we are given, the happier we can be.

Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving

What a fun-filled Thanksgiving.  We started off with the Cottonwood Heights Turkey Trot 5K.  And, since I really need to get my bird in the oven, we went really fast (otherwise I would have probably taken my time!).  It was great, the kids even managed well.  We got Ian out of the stroller for the last 25 yards so he could run across the finish line.
Wendy, Ryan and family came for dinner (I did a bad job of taking many pictures).  It was so fun!  We made the kids little Indian Headresses.  Meggie and I made little turkeys out of oreo cookies and candy corn to put at everyones place setting.    The dinner turned out well, no dry turkey thank goodness.  However, if anyone is craving mashed potatoes, please feel free to visit.  We have enough for about 80 people!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Birthday to Kevin!

Today we are celebrating Kevin's birthday!  He started his morning out with a 4.5 mile run and then headed off to work (I'm sure treating himself to an egg mcmuffin along the way).  The kids and I have been making his cake and wrapping presents, along with other errands.  Thanks to Auntie Rogierre, Kevin and I are going on a date tonight while she takes the kiddos.  

Here are the Top 10 reasons that I am grateful for my hubby:

1)  Besides the Lord, he is the one who has brought me peace through the loss of our little David.  We have grown so much closer and found a greater love and appreciation for each other and the tremendous blessings we have been given.

2) He is ambitious, he always has a goal he is working towards.  Right now it is attending Police Officer Standards Training so he can add that to his resume.

3) He is a phenomenal father.  He is so good about playing with the kids when he gets home from work.  They play hide and go seek, steal the bacon, red light green light and wrestle every night!

4) He is hilarious.  I mean really hilarious.  We laugh all the time, and for anyone who knows me, you know I love to laugh!

5)  He is a peacemaker.  He cannot stand the thought of anyone in his family, especially his wife, being upset.

6)  He is such a good gift-giver.  his gifts to me are always totally creative.  Like, for instance, last year I had been complaining about what a pain it is to cook for a picky eater (i.e. Kevin).  So, for Christmas, he had an award engraved with "Best Home Chef 2007" then my name and a thank you on it.  What a guy!

7)  He is always encouraging me to spend money on myself and take "me" time.  I know, crazy!

8)  He's a great kisser!

9)  He has REALLY nice legs.  I love to be behind him on hikes so that I can watch his calf muscles flex!

10) He is a great provider, giving us a lot of peace during these tough economic times.

Thanks for letting me rave about my main man, I think he needed to know how much I adore him!

Happy Birthday my love!

p.s. I used this picture because Kevin looks so stinkin' buff!

Hair chopped and raking leaves

We went to Chels and Cody's this weekend for a haircut and so that Ian could be a HUGE help to Uncle Cody while he was raking the leaves.  The kids had a great time messing up Cody's beautiful piles!

I got my hair whacked!  I do this after every pregnancy.  I was feeling totally frumpy, so I had Chelsea chop it off.  It feels sooo much better!  Kevin always likes my hair long and curly, but I think he's okay with this, too.

Halloween 2008

Ian finally decided on being a "Bad Guy" (i.e. whatever costume looked fearsome at Target, which ended up being a red power ranger).  He got a "sword" from the police department, thanks to Chief Russo.

Minnie Mouse.  She was sooo proud of herself.  She kept prancing around on her tip-toes, just like a princess.  I just know that in her mind she was saying "I'm so cute, I'm so cute, da da di di da!"

Our semi-new kitchen

I decided to take on the huge task of painting our kitchen cabinets (which desparately needed a facelift). Boy, was it a process! After cleaning, sanding, priming, 2 coats of paint, and then antiquing, it is finally finished! And, I love it. I was afraid for the antiquing part, but it was such a piece of cake! I wish I would have taken a before picture, but this is all I have:

Before:

After:

On another note, Kevin made the kids "model" before church:

Finding more joy

It is hard to know what to write. We are learning to press forward and find more joy in our lives. We are thinking and praying and loving our little David everyday. This picture is from the day of the service.


The kids got a Halloween package from Uncle Joel, Aunt Robbin and family. You should have heard the squeals of delight while we were opening it. I can't get them out of their Halloween shirts that were included in the package. I got in BIG trouble yesterday because Ian's Halloween shirt was dirty and he had to wear something else.

We keep asking the kids what they want to be for Halloween. Ian's responses have included, a lightbulb, a snowman, a marshmellow, batman, and an airplane. Hmmmm . . . I'm really not one of those super creative moms, it looks like a batman suit from Walmart will be what we go with. Unless someone has a great idea of how to make a three year old look like a lightbulb!

"Too pure, too lovely . . ."

We want to thank so many of you who have sent flowers, come and visited, called, sent letters and came to the graveside service, for our sweet little David Stanley Smith. He was stillborn on Thursday, September 18th due to umbilical cord complications. We know more than ever that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that he has a plan for our family to be together forever, and that our little baby is waiting patiently for us in heaven.

"The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered, instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again. …

“… The only difference between the old and young dying is, one lives longer in heaven and eternal light and glory than the other, and is freed a little sooner from this miserable, wicked world. Notwithstanding all this glory, we for a moment lose sight of it, and mourn the loss, but we do not mourn as those without hope.” Joseph Smith

Our new little addition to the family . . .

No, we haven't had the baby yet. Still 9 days to go. Yuck! But, we do have a new little addition . . . a beta fish, lovingly named Jackson (Ian's idea). After the dog trauma, Kevin and I were feeling bad for Ian and decided to take the plunge (literally) and buy the kids a fish. He has brought a lot of giggles, requires no poop-scooping, only has to be fed every 3 days, doesn't bite, and from what I hear from my friend Jean, is virtually impossible to kill!




And, me in all my hugeness. I know, can you believe I can even still stand up????

Trauma at the Humane Society

Lately I have been feeling really guilty for not letting my family have a dog. Kevin loves dogs and would get one in a second if I would consent. Meggie goes crazy every time she is around dogs. She laughs and giggles and can't stay away. Ian, however, is always a little timid and unsure. So . . . on Saturday we went to the Humane Society just to "check things out". We found this sweet little black cocker spaniel and decided to get it out and play with it on the grass. We took it outside, it instantly gave Kevin a hug, then came to me for a love. Oh, so sweet, we were thinking. I motioned to Ian and Meggie to come pet his back. They approached slowly, stuck out their hands and then, the dog went ballistic! He dug his teeth into Ian's chest. Kevin had to pull him off. I was MORTIFIED! We took Ian to the Emergency room and they quarantined the dog. It was really a traumatic experience. Needless to say, we all decided that maybe a goldfish would be a better bet for our family right now. This experience cured me of any guilt I was feeling about not wanting to get a dog!

Ian pretending to cry (I didn't get any pics on the day of the event so I had to try to get him to fake it today. Didn't really work!)

Cougar Fight Song during the Prayer

Our little Meggie started singing the Cougar fight song during the closing prayer of sacrament. We heard "we . . . fight, day or night, rain or snow!". Maybe if we would sing more church songs to her, she would start singing "I am a Child of God" or something a little more appropriate. Not than singing during the prayer is appropriate at all. Well, you can see where our messed up priorities are!

Messes and brains and ugly cabinets

I am posting purely for the fact that in the future, when I am old and decrepit and my daughter is having to take care of me, she can be reminded of how many messes I have cleaned up of hers. Let's see, this is an example of a typical mess at a typical meal. This happens 4-5 times per day, multiply that by 365 days a year, she is 20 months old. Hmmm . . . that is about 3000 messes I've cleaned up. Keep in mind, this is just "meal messes". This doesn't include the times when we take her diaper off and she runs through the house and before we can catch her, piddles on everything in sight! Or, the crayons on the walls, mommy's lipstick on the furniture, the garbage can emptied and strewn about the house, etc, etc, etc. Yet, despite all of this, we still adore our little Princess and would not trade her for anything! Hmmmmm . . . complete and utter insanity and chaos has set in! (I'm sure that there are a million other mothers that would express the same sentiments!)




I totally forgot about these jammies in the bottom of Ian's drawer. He just looks so grown up. That same evening he had his hand over his chest and said to Kevin and I "Is this where my heart is?" "Yes, Ian, you are soooo smart!" I said. Then Kevin proceeded to ask "Where is your brain Ian?" After which he quickly and in all seriousness, pointed to his bum!


One final note, I love my new kitchen. The people we bought it from had really nice granite counter tops installed on top of really ugly cabinets. Come to find out, you cannot lift granite off cabinets without a serious chance of it breaking. So, I am stuck with these cabinets for a while. I had a guy come and give me a quote on painting, it was $2400. That is a good start on all NEW cabinets, so I don't want to go that route. Also, I am the sloppiest painter in the world. I try to cut corners and things turn out awful! Anyone have any ideas? Otherwise, I am going to paint them myself. Arghhh!