I love this quote...don't know who it is though...

"When you come to the edge of all the light you know and are about to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things will happen. There will be solid ground to stand on or you will be taught to fly."

Festival of Trees (December 2009)

I LOVE the Festival of Trees! It's sensory overload, very festive, and super yummy (the SCONES!). This year was special though, because our angel baby, Bridger, had a tree and wreath donated in his name. We searched the entire South Towne Expo Center from North to South and finally spied both his tree and wreath. And with 100% of the proceeds going straight to Primary Children's Hospital, it was well worth the traffic!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving dinner was held at our house this year! Here are the stats:

• 9 original (crazy) Smith's
• 7 Smith significant others
• 13 Smith offspring and 1 angel baby
• 29 chairs, hand-made turkey nut cups and place settings
  
• 2 turkeys
• 96 rolls
• 17 pounds of leftovers
• 1 party fowl
• 10,000 laughs
  
• and a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

Belle's 1st Grade Thanksgiving Play

Click here for video

and here

Apple Green

I had a urge to paint my walls Apple Green and since we've had spackle white for about 18 months now I thought it was a good idea. I saw an Apple Green kitchen somewhere and it stuck. I thought the color was so refreshing and happy-making that I wanted to re-create that feeling in my own house. So Jeremy being who he is started the project and finished in less than 2 days. I bought the paint and chose the color and helped where I could. He didn't care what color it was just as long as we finally covered those ugly dry wall mud patches. It's a little bolder than I was expecting, but as you know with paint it dries darker and makes a HUGE impact on the room. I love it! Enjoy the pics. Hope they do it justice.

Funny things that were said during the process:

Belle: This looks like spring!
Tre: This is the BEST Saturday EVER!
Belle: I just love watching people paint, I love the smell.
Tre: I like this color green
Jer: Its really green...
Leisa: In that light it looks florecent! I feel like I'm living in a fun house! It makes me happy!
Belle: I just love watching people paint, I love the smell. (we heard this comment a few times)
Jer: Hope you don't get sick of this color ANY time soon, cause I'm not doing that again for a long, long time.
Jer: Mmmm...anyone want an apple?

The Process:

The Finished Product:

Oh, and I also picked up a 'mis-tint' from Lowes for $20 off the original price. Not a color I would have EVER picked out on my own, but I needed a color for just one wall of our front room. This seemed to fit the bill and though I didn't love it when we were painting in on, I fell in love after it dried. It matches the trim on our huge painting perfectly and looks FANTASTIC!! I'm calling it 'Berry'.

Anabelle

I love to tell everyone I meet about my little girl who is six and a major reader. She loves books. I don't know where she gets this from. Granted, I love to read and can often be found sitting on my "reading chair" devouring a new romance or mystery, but Tre didn't pick it up quite like Belle has. She reads all of Tre's chapter books and more. She amazes me daily with her ability to read unfamiliar words without a pause. She can race through a 50 page chapter book like it's the Sunday Funnies. My favorite thing to do is watch her eyes and head while she reads. It's like the cartoon character that eats corn on the cob, head going side to side quickly. She is a speed reader and has read every book in the house. Her teacher says she can't keep up with her reading level testing because she just gets better and better every day. She reads as well as an average adult. I think I'll start her on Dan Brown next. I am SO proud of you Belly!

Halloween 2009

Tre is a 'Dead Skater'

Belle the Feisty Cheetah

Luigi

Sassy Pink Witch

80's Chick

Halloween is always a fun time at the Smith house. We've got the Smith Family party complete with homemade chicken noodle soup, bread bowls, and games. The kids dress up and we all stuff ourselves silly and have a good time. Then on Halloween night we eat broccoli cheese soup in bread bowls (again), sugar cookies, and candy.

But, this year Belle got really sick. We think it was the Swine Flu, but didn't really have her checked. All her symptoms pointed to that so we treated it as such. She did make it out trick or treating with the aid of Tamiflu (which cost us $90) and Advil but didn't make it long. The party at school was tainted too. She really wanted to go, but was so sick she couldn't make it through the party. I had already signed up to help with a game at one of the stations so I took her anyway. Her fever was raging by the time we got home and she ended up sleeping most of the afternoon. But we survived and are now on the mend. We'll hope for better luck next year.

I did like my costumes I wore to work for "costume week" though. Fun stuff!

Sad, sick little kitty

Then and Now

Then:

Now:

The first picture is at the Zoo with Scott and the kids. Notice the shorts and t-shirts. This was on October 18th. Fast forward 1 week and 2 days later...and you get Belle playing in the snow, making a snowman in a coat, gloves, boots and hat. Oh, Utah. How we love the weather...NOT!

Escalante Sept. 2009

Pictures above: Big Rock Candy Mountain, Jer and I in the car on the way there, Tre listening to his iPod, Belle happy with the sunrise in the background, Belle eating crystal candy from Big Rock Candy Mountain, Belle with our packed car in the background

Jer and my mom decided that the family needed to take a trip to Escalante National Park. No one had ever been and they wanted to check it out. Besides I wanted to take a camping trip and Jeremy just likes vacations period. So we packed up the car (it was like a Tetris game to get it all to fit), left early morning Friday, and set out for an adventure.

Petrified Forest Hike (Steph, Jas, B and B hadn't made it yet): Jer being funny, me and the kids touching a big piece of petrified wood, giant lizard (or small dinosaur), Tre, Tre and Jer, Grandpa and grandma looking at a black widow, Tre, Belle

Devils Garden, my favorite!: me on top of an arch, family picture, me and Tre, me and the kids, Tre climbing a tree, Tre and Jer on top of an arch, Grandpa jumping a crack, Jer scaling the rocks, Tre jumping a crack, Belle and the arch in the background, Jer still climbing, Belle in her "cheetah cave", me and Tre, Tre climbing the rock, Grandma, Grandma and the kids

Camping! We stayed at this really weird site where the tent sites were just on a open space behind a store and restaurant. There was a community fire pit that we took over the two days we were there. It was still fun...even with all the stickers! From left to right, top to bottom: Jer on the phone trying to get some work done, Belle in her feety pajamas, Tre playing in the sandbox at the campsite, Belle by our tent, Jason and Jeremy in their matching outfits, Tre-Braden-Brookie-Belle in bundled in their jammies one morning, Belle and Steph in jammies, Belle eating Charleston Chews (yum!), the whole family relaxing while dinner is cooking, Jas made dutch oven chicken and rice and Caramel Apple Cobbler. It was SO good!, the kids playing a multiplication game Grandma brought.

Lower Calf Creek Falls hike: Here's the gist of the pics...10 hikers, 8 hiking sticks with 2 being used as Light Sabers, Flying Spaghetti Monster, climbing trees, posing for pics by the falls, searching for points of interest along the hike

Grosvenor Arch: Jer and I, the kids sitting on a rock, Jeremy at the top where he climbed up the backside of this MASSIVE arch, Braden in a cave, the kids scaling the arch making Grandma nervous, the arch from a distance, Tre and Belle climbing. This arch has a major dirt road you have to drive on to get there. Jason and his minivan was not happy. The Check Engine light came on while on this road. BUT...I think the arch was SO worth it. It was beautiful!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Anabelle: 1st Grade Mrs. Lefler

Model student, gets along well with others, has friends, does her work, is quiet in class, an amazing reader...(off the charts) and loves to read. The teacher tells us to keep up the good work, that whatever we are doing is working. Hehehe! We haven't done a thing! In fact we have worked harder and longer with Tre and kinda put Belle on the back burner. It's all her. Belle did have one incident where a 3rd grade boy (who may or may not have Turrets and/or anger issues) kicked her in the stomach with both his feet on the monkey bars. So she punched him in the face. We didn't hear about it because Belle is not a Drama Queen. She took care of it. Let her teacher know what happened, held her own and wasn't even upset about it after she punched him. So proud of this girl!! Smart, tough, agressive, knows herself and will stick up for herself anytime.

Tre: 5th Grade Mrs. Sparks

Tre is a great student. He tries hard, has tons of friends and loves to write stories for his teacher. Teacher says he wrote one where she was the "bad guy" but was so excited to give it to her that she had to take it as a compliment. He talks alot...(wonder where he gets that from!?), struggles with organization, neat work, and handing in assignments. But he is a "joy" to have in class. He is always happy and friendly and respectful. He is on his class level with most subjects, loves to read and loves school. He prides himself in getting good grades and worries when they are not so great. He is always going, going, going. I love this kid!! Smart(ish), friendly, happy, active, tender-hearted.

Jeep-N

I love, looove, loooove my Jeep. Especially with the top off. Funny how buying an 15 year old car can be so rewarding. Who needs luxury cars with all the extras like...power windows, locks, and seats, heated seats, automatic transmission, a top, and shiny interior/exterior's?

Not me! I'm happy to get 5 big tires, a steering wheel and a seat belt. And that's all I need. I told Jeremy he's pretty lucky that he can make his wife uber happy with a $4000 car.

The Tooth Fairy Is At It Again

Before:

After:

Yesterday while swimming at Grandma's house, little Belle was happily eating a mint chocolate Creamie when all of a sudden she shouts, "MY TOOTH!" She bit into the ice cream bar and thought maybe there was a rock in it. It was this close (picture her pointer finger and thumb showing us) to getting swallowed. But when Belle pulled the "rock" out of her mouth it was her front tooth. She was super excited. The Tooth Fairy would come that night and leave money! Yay! And he..er..she..didn't even forget.

Couldn't resist taking a picture of her outfit today. The shorts are hand-me-downs...from Tre. Yep, boy shorts. And the shirt is a black Halloween "skeletanimals" from Target. This girl cracks me up!