I'm Addicted

I've always loved to travel. And it's been a bit hard the last few years as I've watched my brothers and sisters have skipped off to England, France, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Andorra, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Cayman Islands, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, China, ... (have I missed anywhere, guys? And by the way, I hate you all. Just for the record. ;)


Anyway, I think I might have solved my problem. The answer? Road tripping. The new problem? I'm addicted. After all our Eastern Excursions, I can't seem to go anywhere without adding a little side-trip in there. Sam's brother's wedding reception down in Arizona? Perfect! Here's the map:





What you see:

Sandy, Utah
Canyonlands National Park (more later, be excited.)

Arches National Park (more later here, too)

Monticello Temple (It is really beautiful, but TINY. The stake center next to it looked about the same size.)

Four Corners National Monument (Woa middle of nowhere. Check out the background. Yeah.)

Winslow, Arizona (Yeah. That's a Jaguar.)

Missing: Zions National Park (We were supposed to go, but I got the flu. Road trips with the flu are fun. Ha.Ha.Ha.)
St George, Utah

Let's just add these to my other state pictures. First time in New Mexico. Yeah, baby!

Spending Sunday at the Smiths

You need to know:

1) Smith is my maiden name.
2) My skirt didn't allow me to bend like this, that's why I have pajama pants on. You don't actually need to know that, but it makes me feel better to tell you.
3) My family rocks.
4) To actually play the game, you rotate players and play like they do spelling bees. If you fall and the person after you gets it, you're out. If everyone after you falls, everyone is still in and you go another round.
5) Obviously this song wasn't really playing when we video taped, it just seemed appropriate for the video footage. :)

the Birthday Girl

So I'm a couple weeks late posting this, but Seara turned 4! I guess this means only one more year at home before kindergarten. I'm think I'm more scared than I am excited. But that's a post for another day.

This is the best birthday picture I got. Not surprising, if you know Seara. She loves her agency and really hates being told what to do. Things like, "Smile for the picture, Seara!" really push her buttons. :) I've decided that this is a good thing. If I can just teach her to be stubbornly righteous, we'll be set!

Seara is really awesome at being a good sport and going with the flow. This kind of attribute comes in handy when it comes to birthday traditions. Things like cake. You remember that Sam and I aren't huge cake fans, right? Sorry sweetie. This year we went sugar cookies:


Sease is also quite the peacemaker. Most of the time she'd prefer to let Elijah have the toy than to have a fight, and she's always the first one to find Enoch's sippy cup if he's screaming. It really upsets her when we are angry with her, and she often tells us, "No, don't be mad! Smile and be happy!" Even when Elijah crowds her space and blows out her birthday candles, she doesn't care one bit. What an angel!

Seara loves to change her clothes a thousand times a day. My mom says I deserve it because I was like that, too. :) Sisi's favorite is when we pull out the dress up clothes. Lucky for her Grandma Kaye sent her a princess outfit for her birthday, complete with jewelry, a crown, 'glass slippers' (as Seara calls them), and a home sewn cape and skirt. Sease was so excited that she asked me to take a picture of her. I know. Weird. So the question is, which do you prefer? I like the one on the left, Sam prefers the one on the right.

Seara loves all things girly. Like pink. And princesses. And apparently I didn't get the memo, but this was a princess-themed birthday, because my parents got her a pink castle with a prince and princess who dance together. Elijah immediately claimed the prince as his own and calls it, "Lije." True to form, Seara let him have it.

Man, I love my little girl!

Marriage Day Mishaps

Today is our 5th Wedding Anniversary!

Samuel and I actually did our wedding in reverse order. We took all our pictures just before our wedding reception, which we had on Thursday, August 5th. The next morning at 10 am we were sealed (married). We had our luncheon at 12 pm and by 1pm we were boarding the plane for our honeymoon. We spent the evening of our wedding day strolling barefoot along the La Jolla beaches at sunset. It was perfect. I couldn't have asked for more wonderful wedding day(s)! But, because I loved everything about my wedding so much, I never wrote down the things that went wrong. Drum roll please ...

10) Samuel and I were late to our pre-reception photo session at the Jordan River Temple. Not a huge deal to most people. Except I'm not most people. And few things make me more anxious and angry than being late.



9) Samuel lost his cuff link some time during our reception (you can see that he had it in the pictures before the reception...) so he actually didn't have one cuff link for our wedding.



8) Because our reception was in my parents' backyard, by the end of the night the hem of my wedding dress was very obviously green from the grass. It took some last minute brilliance to get it clean so I could wear it to my sealing the next day!



7) My parents had only been home from their mission for three weeks, so they were really pressed to get the yard ready in time for a wedding reception. Which means that my dad decided to repaint the patio (that the family and wedding help would use, not the guests) the day before the reception. You'll understand why this is bad in a minute ...



6) A family friend and very talented makeup artist did my makeup for the pictures and reception. I loved how she did it, but in some of the pictures I think the misty look makes me look like I'm half asleep!



5) My in-laws lost their car keys right before they were supposed to come for family pictures. Since they were from out of town they didn't have a spare, so a locksmith not only had to break into the car, but had to make a spare key for them!



4) As the photographer was posing us, he decided to use the repainted porch as a prop. We didn't realize until we saw the paint all over the back of Sam's tux that the paint still had some wet spots!



3) Well, the turpentine removed the paint really well. But it also made Sam smell like turpentine for the entire reception and wedding. Lots of water and lots of cologne covered it up pretty well.



2) My parents showed up at the temple for the wedding, and didn't realize until they were at the recommend desk that both of their temple recommends were expired. I went ahead alone to do all the paper work, and after what felt like forever, they were finally given clearance to come in.



1) It all started with the clouds in the distance. The photographer must have guessed what was going on because we have progressive pictures. But we didn't really notice anything until the sky opened. RAIN! And lots of it! It's good thing Aunt Denise had decided to put up a dessert tent.

I must say, the rain and clouds made for some gorgeous pictures, and they really helped cool down a warm August evening! My wedding was perfect. And things only went up from there. Here's to five years wonderful years with my sweetheart and an eternity more!

SuperMom July

Window Markers on Sliding Glass Doors (what makes this so fun is having the kids on opposite sides)

Doing It With Them (everything is better when mom plays along!)

I spy with my little eye, someone that is hiding ... (aka me)

Sock Puppets (old socks+fabric scraps+crazy buttons+colorful thread = sock superhero & sock doll)

Fishing (We made fishing poles with dowels, yarn, and magnets, then attached paper clips to the fish we made. When the kids caught a fish they had to tell me the number on it. Aren't I educational? :)

Painting Sugar Cookies (The semi-runny sugar cookie frosting is perfect for kids to spread with cheap paint brushes!)