October 08 Movie

This may just be my best editing job yet (at least on a kid movie). I still have a few things I wish I had done differently, but mostly I'm just impressed with myself. :)

Eastern Excursion 13: National Zoo

THE NATIONAL ZOO

It was supposed to be pretty cold today (56* high) but since it was was also supposed to be sunny, we figured we would bundle up and head to The National Zoo in DC. The zoo was nearly empty, the animals were all out and entertaining, and we thought we were brilliant ... until it started to rain. So our trip got cut a tad bit short. Luckily we did all the big animals first! And extra luckily The National Zoo is a part of the Smithsonian Museums - which means it is free! (Click on any picture in this post to enlarge it.)

The last time Samuel and I went to the zoo was in San Diego on our honeymoon. Four years, three kids, and 2689 miles later, here we are:

Thanks, random stranger, for taking our picture!

Sam poses with Elijah ...

... and I pose with a strange looking bird!?

Obviously she was more interested in looking at the animals than looking at the camera.

Seara wore her hat just fine until she realized I wanted to take a picture. What a goof!

This is what Enoch did almost the entire trip. What an angel!

I love the colors of fall back east! Even the parking lot is beautiful!

Can you please explain me to ... ME?

A preface for those who aren't familiar with the Mormon culture: We put a huge emphasis on the family in our church. We believe that God's command to Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish is still in force. So, as a church we tend to marry a bit younger and have kids a bit sooner than the rest of the world. Hopefully that will help you understand why, at the ripe old age of 19.5, I was so concerned about not being married yet. Although, if I remember right from my class, the average marrying age for LDS (Latter-day Saint - it's an acronym we call ourselves from the full name of the church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) women is 23 and for LDS men is 25. So even within the church I was being pretty dramatic and ridiculous!

Caroline (my BF from my single college days), me, and Claire (roommate) celebrating Caroline's birthday.
I think I need to tone down the white eyeshadow ... just a TAD.

A roommate ... I don't remember her name ... but we have the same birthday.
I loved those flipflops. In fact, I finally trashed em when we moved out here to Baltimore!
On a road trip Caroline and I took to Ricks College.
Little did I know that one day that would be my name!

A couple days ago Sam pulled the book Teaching by the Spirit off our bookshelf. The book was mine long before Sam and I met - a dear friend, Sissy Hooper, sent it to me while I was in the MTC (the Missionary Training Center where we go to learn the language and practice teaching the gospel before our missions). He opened the book, and inside he found a shrunken copy of a paper I wrote for my Marriage Prep class at BYU in January 2002. It was the first assignment of the class, and we were supposed to answer the question, "Am I ready for marriage?"

Janae Smith
MFHD 301

Reflection Paper #1

Am I ready for marriage?

NO. There is no way that I am ready for marriage! But let me explain. I’m not one of those “I hate boys” or “I’m serving a mission, period, end of story” girls. To be honest with you, I’m actually in absolute shock that I’m not married yet. [Right now I'm in absolute shock that I would say something so dumb.]

As a 15-year-old girl I told my patriarch that he shouldn’t bother mentioning a mission, there was no way I’d make it! I’d for sure be married by then. [That's not quite true. I never mentioned my getting married too soon to him. I only told him not to mention a mission ... I didn't say this then, but it was because I didn't WANT to serve a mission. The marriage thing is just an excuse I threw in the paper because I felt guilty admitting that I thought badly of sister missionaries and didn't want to be one.] Four days after my 18th birthday I was proposed to by an incredible guy – smart, handsome, RM [an acronym for 'return missionary' - meaning that he served a 2-year Mormon mission], good family, everything I could have asked for. I just wasn’t in love, or even in like, with him. [Not true, I had a huge old crush on the guy.] But at that point marriage became a real possibility. Marriage was prevalent in my mind – all the time. And so I got this mindset: I will probably be married or engaged by Fall semester of my sophomore year.

The time came . . . and the time went . . . and there I was, baffled. Where in the world is Mr. Right?! Soon I started getting scared. “Oh no! I’m already a junior!" [I was a Junior credit-wise halfway through my sophomore year. I wrote this at the very beginning of Winter semester of my sophomore year - it had only been a month since my Fall semester "deadline" had passed. I am so ridiculous.] What if I graduate BYU single?! Where will I go? What will I do?” Okay, okay, so we tease people who think that, but I was honestly getting worried. But then everything changed . . .

Over this last Christmas break I flew to Santiago, Chile, where my parents are serving a mission. [Ironically, this is when I met Sam for the first time, but I had a supercute boyfriend at the time and didn't care one whit about him, and he was a missionary and cared even less less about me.] While there our family got together with the other Mission President families a number of times and it was then that I met Chalonn Christensen. She is beautiful, smart, funny, an absolutely endearing person. She served a mission and is attending BYU. She is incredible. And she is single. And she is 25. Now THAT was a lot to think about. And so I thought, and I thought, and I thought.

For two weeks strait I thought about Chalonn and about marriage. Then, one night, I attended the wedding reception of a good friend. I was alone for the 45-minute drive and spent the majority of it in quiet and deep contemplation. As I neared home I realized that there is no way that I am ready to get married.

[Here is where mush ensues. I have a hard time reading it without activating my own gag reflex. Feel free to skip to the end.] I am a firm believer that you marry someone a lot like you. Because of that, I feel that I cannot expect to marry a very spiritual person if I’m not spiritual, or expect to marry a very patient person if I’m not patient, and so on. [Baloney. I haven't an ounce of patience in my body, and Sam is the most patient person alive.] I’ve believed that, and worked on it, for years. But on that drive home I realized that I want much more out of my husband than I can give right now.

First things first . . . I want a man who is gentle and kind. Someone who is cautious with what they say and careful about hurting people. I want someone who doesn’t speak unkindly of others, but is a champion of the underdog. He should always be willing to help those in need and never think of himself. I want him to compliment others, to build them up and help them see who they really are. And I want him to be patient, oh so patient. Willing to love in spite of mistakes, willing to step back or slow down, willing to do whatever is necessary. [Sam is measuring up perfectly so far!]

He should be a return missionary, but not just any return missionary. He should have served faithfully and valiantly. He should have given more than just himself, he should have given his all. I want him to be a better person each and every day, and I want him to strive to be like our Savior Jesus Christ. I want him to love the scriptures, so much that he longs to teach the stories to our children. I want him to be stalwart and strong, an example of goodness in all that he does. [Check!]

And I want him to be happy, to look at the good things, to be an optimist. I want him to be clean, pure, and chaste. And, I want him to keep his life and mind that way always. Last of all, I want him to love God more than me, and love me more than anything else. [Dang, I married GOOD!]

If I am to become all the qualities that I want in a husband, I have got a lot of work to do. But I’m doing it, day by day, line upon line, and precept upon precept. Someday I’ll get there, and I’ll be ready. [I'm not even CLOSE to being that person I described, so according to my naive theory I should have never gotten married.] And when I am, my wonderful husband and I can continue to work, but this time we’ll do it together.

The question is, WHY ON EARTH DID I HAVE A MINIATURE COPY OF THIS?? And as a side thought, how did it end up in a book I got on my mission? Ironically, writing this paper was one of the main things that helped me decide to serve a mission. Not one month later I had my mission call. But that is a story for another day.

Family Pictures

My sweet friend Sue took our family pictures this last week! We tried to take them last Monday but had some technical difficulties, and had to re-do them. But we did get this gem from Monday:


So we did pictures again on Friday. I pretty much loved them all, but that is because my own kids fascinate me and I think they are precious no matter what. So I just picked a few. (Ha, ha! There are 11 pictures on this post. Obviously I can't pick just one.) But here are some that I love ...




Sue just got back from a photography retreat and has been learning photoshop, so she spiced up these darling pics:






And then some family pics. I'm not putting the best one up because we're using it for our Christmas cards, and I want it to be new to you. So here are some other ones:



Nickname Update: Okay, you guys are hilarious! I got some dang funny comments on the nickname question! So I'm thinking I'll stick with Sisi. Not in love, but maybe it will wear on me. Maybe if I write it more often I'll get used to it. Right now we are calling Enoch "Enoch Enoch bo benoch banana fana fo fenoch" which Sam says might stick if we don't choose something soon. I like Nic, but Sam still says no. Maybe if I say it alot, Sam will get used to it. :) I like E, but if we name our next girl Eden (both Elijah and Enoch were going to be Eden if they were girls) then we will have three kids whose names start with "E". I like Een, best, I think. What about Eeny. Is that getting a bit too strange? Maybe Eensy ... like the Eensy weensy spider? Oh, and his middle name is Ole (after my dad), if that gives anyone any brilliant ideas. But unless you are familiar with that name, you probably don't pronounce it correctly. It's Scandinavian - you know, the names Olsen and Olson are son of Ole. You pronounce it like "old" but stop before you say the "d" and say the letter "e" instead. For real, if you have any ideas or opinions, I really do want to know!!!

Pics and Nics

Don't let that innocent face fool you. He's still as busy as can be destroying any semblance of cleanliness and organization in my home ...

If you don't know what this 'hat' is, I won't tell you. If you do, know that I was absolutely disgusted as I ran for the camera so I could solidify this moment in history. I just know this picture is going to come in handy some day. :)

So, Seara's latest thing is taking all her clothes off. (Don't worry, she keeps her diaper on.) Unfortunately, she's dragging the boys into it with her, too. Elijah does it because his big sister is obviously a perfect example of all that is good and wise (see picture above) and Enoch does it because Seara takes his clothes off any time I'm not watching. Like when I blink.

I need to photoshop this picture so it is lighter, but the mac broke (cry!)

Okay, I have a question. Nicknames. Elijah is either Lija or Lije. That one is my easy one. Seara is Sease or Cici. Except I never write "Cici" on the blog because it bothers me that I can't seem to spell it like her name. I want it to start with an S. So maybe Sisi? Seasea? Honestly, what do guys think? Any brilliant ideas?

And then there's Enoch. What on earth should we call him?? Remember, we pronounce Enoch: E (the way you say it when you say the alphabet - a, b, c, d, E ...) - NICK. That is the way I grew up hearing it. And personally, I just don't love E-KNOCK. Anyway. Sam doesn't want to call him Nicky. I don't mind because, once again, I'm bothered that it's not spelled like his name. I just can't convince myself to spell it Nochy. I do think Nicky is cute, though. So do we call him "E"? My sisters call me J. Janae is a hard nickname, too. So I'm either J, or else I'm Naenae. Which makes me sound like a horse. And don't you dare start calling me that. Alright, alright, back to Enoch. Een? Noch? Nic? C'mon, I'm serious. I need help!

Eastern Excursion 12: Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS

I admit, I expected Annapolis to be a lot like Baltimore: dozens of skyscrapers, thousands of apartments, millions of people. I was pleasantly surprised to find a darling, pedestrian friendly TOWN. At least that's what the cute old man who stopped us to ask if Sease & Lije were twins called it. Annapolis has more 18th-century buildings than anywhere else in the country - perhaps that's why it reminded me so much of Portugal (where I served my mission). I mean, dozens and dozens of small, skinny buildings, all pasted against each other down one-lane, cobble-stone streets. It was PRECIOUS. I felt like contacting every person that walked by us. :) We saw some fancy houses, but mostly we enjoyed meandering down the streets, wandering through the US Naval Academy, and watching the boats glide up and down the Chesapeake Bay.

View of Annapolis and the Bay from the Naval Academy

Sam loved this colorful street leading up to the State House

So here's what we saw:

Maryland State House: (built 1772-1779) Served as the nation's Capitol from 1783-1784.
It was here that the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the Revolutionary War.

Chase-Lloyd House: (built 1769) Home of Samuel Chase, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Hammond-Harwood House: (built 1774) America's "most beautiful Anglo-Palladian house."
Whatever that means. It was old and cool looking.

William Paca House: (built 1763-1765) Home of William Paca,
signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Maryland.

Charles Carroll House: (built 1725) Childhood home of Charles Carroll,
the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Hmmm ... does that sound familiar to anyone else? Seen National Treasure one too many times, eh?

And now for your random tidbit of the trip. Apparently people from Annapolis are called "Annapolitans." You know like metropolitan or neopolitan. Strange, huh? Normally you put either -n or -an on the end: Californian, Utahn, Idahoan. (Well, except here. I'm actually a "Marylander".) Anyway, it got me thinking. You know how in Book of Mormon times the people put -ite at the end? Wouldn't it be bizzarre if we did that now-a-days? So people from Utah would be Utites. And people from Idaho would be Idahites ... or maybe Idahoites. Ha, ha, ha! I make myself laugh. :)

We are best friends