Smith Family

Beckham

2011-03-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

Becks will be two in June, so it's a BIT delayed that I am just barely getting to his one year old "day in the life" images. But, he was too cute not to share. Call it the "youngest child sydrome," but he is the family clown and is loved beyond measure around our house.

You can view the other boys "Day in the Life" images HERE, HERE, and HERE.

day in the life...barrett style

2011-01-10T05:56:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!

A Day in the Life of Barrett is filled with energy, adventure, and just plain fun. So many words to describe my special little guy...happy, entertainer, loves to play, adventurer, sensitive, imaginative, sweet, loving, stubborn, determined, and a huge doughnut lover. We love you Bear!

You can see Kaleb and Isaac's Day in the Life here and here. Beckham is coming soon...

2010

2010-12-29T21:51:00.000-08:00

How do I EVEN begin on wrapping up this year? So much has happened, yet our blog is close to empty this year. BLOG SLACKER. I really wanted to update this blog for family and friends who live far away, as much as for our "online journaling" that I make into a book each year. 2010...BLOG FAIL. Next year is a new year, right?

Soooo, to wrap up 2010, I am going to post a large smattering of images in a pathetic attempt to give a VERY brief summary of what we have been up to this year...

Trip to Utah and Island Park December 2009 and January 2010...

Lots of extracurricular activities (scout camp shown here)...
Tons0-o-water sports and friends in the summer...

So much yummy food...

Barrett sustained a few injuries throughout the year (always our most adventurous child)...

Lake house in Northern Michigan...
Grandpa and Grandma Luckert came to visit in the summer...

Trip to Chicago (where we just happen to run into the set of Transformers 3...Patrick Dempsey and Shia LeBouf are the two in black at the top of the rubble)
Barrett got baptized in August...
Trip to California with my family for my brother Greg and my new sis-in-law's (Keli) wedding...

My sweet, wonderful boys in 2010...

New Jersey/New York in October...

Kalahari in Ohio in November...
And of course...Christmas...

Here's to an amazing year (and to better blogging in 2011)!!! Happy New Year friends and family!!!

Kaleb

2010-12-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

I posted Isaac's Day in the Life earlier this year, and I am finally getting around to the other boys.

Kaleb.

My oldest.

My mini-me…in looks and personality.

Words can not describe the bond and love I have for this kid.

He is a lover of all things lego, video games, food, and books...as you will soon see (you can click on the images to see them larger).

hi

2010-10-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Just checking in to let you now we are alive, kicking, happy, and just very busy (hence the huge lapse in blog posts). We'll be back very soon...

isaac

2010-05-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

We are just so thrilled that Isaac has decided to follow in his parents footsteps and take up photography. He is quite a natural with an amazingly artistic eye. We are pleased to present some of his most recent work.

His use of bright colors and textures is just outstanding.

He uses interesting angles and lines to draw the eye to the main focal point in an image.

The emtion he captures is just breathtaking.

He dabbles in the more artsy side of self portraits. We have tried to teach him how to properly expose an image, but the boy is a creative genius and must explore the possibilities.

The way he tells a story through images is heartwarming.
Even we are jealous of the way he can creatively set up a shot.

I'm so proud of his candid moments and creativity in framing a picture.
And last, he already knows the rule that everybody loves a picture of toddler or baby toes.

mothers

2010-05-09T18:06:00.000-07:00

We are so very blessed to have these women in our lives and be able to call them our mothers and grandmothers. Happy Mother's Day!

10 months and 12 days

2010-04-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

10 months and 12 days later...he is finally mobile...

Hey, Mom! I gotta a new trick...

Chug a chug a chug

Destination reached
Food obtained and fully enjoyed
Ah, Mom...I am not used to all of this physical exertion! MUST. SLEEP. NOW.

a day in the life

2010-04-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the repeat from my photography blog, but I am going to just assume none of you have seen my photography blog and this is the first time you are viewing my little project. I have decided that every year, around each of my kidlet's birthdays, that I am going to photograph a day of their life. They will be images that tell their story and show them doing things they love doing...so I can remember them forever at that particular stage in their life.

First up, Isaac.

Isaac. Loves Sesame Street. Hates to be alone. Loves food so very much. Makes us laugh daily. Demands he says the prayers every night. Is a momma's boy. Feisty. But so happy. Has the best white, moppy hair around. Is scared of many things (especially the girl who blows up to a blueberry on Willy Wonka), adores reading books.

My heart bursts with joy when I look at these images. I love you little man.

april fools

2010-04-01T08:56:00.001-07:00

Here's to wishing you a Happy April Fool's Day and hoping you didn't wake up like Kaleb and Barrett this morning (taken at 2 am when I secretly moved them from their beds to the bathroom)!

seriously?

2010-03-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

The other day...

Me: Come on Barrett, let's go downstairs.

Barrett: Ok.

Us...moving toward stairs.

Barrett (under his breath): I love my new zip line.

Seriously? Who thinks to do that? I really wanted to be mad at him for abusing our railing. But it was too funny.

mine

2010-03-04T20:23:00.001-08:00

So in love with them I can hardly stand it.

little brothers

2010-02-16T23:35:00.001-08:00

It's just how it is. As a little brother, you must go through the humiliation and endure the rites of passage to be in the brotherhood. Lucky for Beckham, he is too little to remember anything that will scar him for life. Introducing....

THE BECKHAM SHOW!!!

If this is looking familiar, yes, it's been done in our house before. Kaleb and Barrett thought it was so much fun with Isaac, that they thought they would reinvent it with Beckham.

Oh, and if you are wondering what The Beckham Show is? Not much action...just a cute baby stuck in a box where everyone stares and laughs at him while he looks at everyone and smiles back thinking he is awesome.

Love my boys!

spock and such

2010-02-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hey, Captain Kirk called and said to get back to the Starship Enterprise. Oh wait, that's not a Klingon, that's Barrett...who fell off the playground caterpillar...and broke his nose.

huh?

2010-01-30T01:08:00.001-08:00

Really? Last post was at the beginning of December? Where does the time go?

Well, finishing up an uber busy photography season and spending a month in Utah over the holidays tends to just suck the time right up. The month was SO. GREAT. A true vision of rest and relaxation.

Somehow, I came home with hardly any pictures. Kind of pathetic. HOWEVER, it did seem to be the trip of group pictures. So, enjoy with me as I relish in the fabulous time spent with family and friends over the holidays...group picture style.

The trip started off at Grandma Debbie's house for Christmas week

Throw in a Christmas party with the whole family (Travis' family)

Next, we went up to Island Park with our good friends, the Roylance's and the Baker's (small moment of silence for the Dalpias family who had to be absent this year).

Next, we "moved in" to Grandma and Grandpa Luckert's house for the last two weeks. A little trip to the zoo...

Luckert Family group picture (another moment of silence for an absent Greg and his fiance, Kelly).

MUST have a group picture in front of the gingerbread masterpiece.

And last, a very sexy friend group picture.

thanksgiving

2009-12-08T02:57:00.001-08:00

a little late, but our week of thanksgiving fun is wrapped up into one little fantastic video (made by travis). our friends, the duffy's, came up from north carolina for the week and endured us we scared them, made them dance on tables, and almost commit felonies in detroit. watch on...

some funnies

2009-11-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

having four silly boys and one even sillier travis often leads to funny moments around our house. i wish i could remember or take pictures of everything, but alas, i only snag bits and pieces and must share them so others can giggle with me.

sooooo, you know that guy (or girl) that you hear about that drove away from the gas pump with the hose still attached to the car? you know how you laughed really hard and couldn't believe that really happens outside of a movie? well, I know you are all thinking that sounds like something that might happen to jean, but THIS time, it was TRAVIS. FINALLY...it was travis. unfortunately i wasn't there, but i laughed heartily when he called and said, "don't laugh when i tell you what happened to me at the gas station today..."

oh, and it turns out that they now dummy-proof those hoses...they make them detachable for people like travis. it detaches without gas spraying everywhere and just snaps back on. huh.

oh, and that's not actually a picture of travis (we wish we owned a bmw), but had to add it for the visual effect.

second funny. our boys are always looking for ways to earn extra money. well, i guess they decided to forego the "earn" part. the other night, we happened upon this on their door...

loves to all!

g-ma

2009-10-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

grandma debbie came to visit us last week and oh, the fun we had! the boys absolutely adore her and look what happens when Grandma is around. a little of this...

and a little of that.
We love you Grandma Debbie!

beckham

2009-09-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

huh? what's that? you forgot i had a newborn? yeah, that's because i NEVER post any pictures! what kind of mother am i?!!? well, no fear, i'm finally getting around to it with some random pictures i took of my chubby pumpkin today...

i am SORRY, but he is freaking cute

he totally cracks me up when he is settling in for sleep. he grabs his blanket and pulls it up around his face and buries his head back and forth getting comfortable. i wanted to take some pictures while he was going through this very cute process.

oops, he spotted me

i'll sneak up here so he can't see me. dang it...little bugger found me again.
oh well, if the kid wants to perform for the camera...

U2

2009-09-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

ahhhh...our u2 trip to chicago was UH-MAZING. we went on a super fast 24 hour road trip last weekend with our two friends matt and james (thanks to matt for getting the tickets which were sold out in like .00001 seconds). i think we all have a crush on bono, who is truly the epitome of awesomeness. here is our trip in pictures...

on the road to chicago

at the gas station

at our favorite chicago restaurant, giordano's
walking to the u2 concert
more walking to the concert
waiting for the concert
during the concert
at our hotel room wired after the concert
at a speedway for the 25th time (the only gas station which carries diet mountain dew for james and matt)

on the way home
now that you have journeyed with us to chicago and back, you can only come to one of four realizations...

1. travis and jean are hot
2. travis and jean must be really vain
3. travis and jean had nothing better to do than take pictures of themselves
4. travis and jean took a lot of self portraits because the trip was so short and we didn't get to do much sight seeing (and we didn't have kids with us so what else are we going to take pictures of?!?!?)

if you answered #4, then you are correct. however, if you answered #1, that is acceptable as well.

oh wait, i have one more. and it happens to not be a self portrait of trav and me...it's a self portrait of all four of us!

SUH-WEET!

2009-08-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

although i am in denial that i am old enough to have an eleven year anniversary, i am extremely grateful and feel ever so lucky that i get to share that anniversary each year with travis. we celebrated eleven years on the 12th and i just wanted to give a little love shout out to travis...LOVE YOU BABE and here's to the best eleven years EVER!!!

while we were out to dinner, travis pulled a little surprise out and i almost burst into tears. anyone who knows me even a little should know that i think U2 is the greatest band on the planet and travis bought us tickets! september 12th. chicago. u2. so excited i can hardly stand it!

smith haps

2009-08-05T04:34:00.000-07:00

wow, has it already been almost eight weeks since beckham joined us in this crazy world? it's such a bittersweet thing...wanting him to stay tiny, yet at the same time wishing he would get older so he will sleep through the night!

here are a few happenings going on here as of late...

sometimes beckham is fussy and the only thing that calms him down is his swing. well, a couple of days ago i went over to check on him in his swing, and i found him decorated. not sure which little boy thought this was funny...

i made my first "event" outing with all four kids by myself this week. and i chose the zoo. really? the zoo? could i have chosen a more chaotic place? thank goodness the older boys were such a good help because between beckham crying most of the trip (found out he hates baby carriers) and isaac being terrified of every large animal, i was ready to call it an early day.

so, we discovered isaac's fear of all things large and hairy in the ape house. while the crowds were gathered around some other windows oohing and ahhing over the chimps, isaac chose a window where there was nothing to see. as he was looking outside, a huge gorilla suddenly bolted around the corner and stood two inches from the window and stared at isaac. he fell backward and screamed a blood curtling scream. as the crowds rushed over to see the gorilla, isaac continued to scream...apparently traumatized for life.

we moved on to the arctic tundra and saw the polar bear swimming above us and the screaming continued...as seen below. i got a mix of looks from other people that ranged from "oh wow, four boys" to "you poor thing" and even "shut him up because you are ruining my polar bear experience."

and last, we had beckham's blessing this last sunday. travis did an amazing job and i was a waterspout (translation: my eyes leaked all sacrament long). it was a great day, but so sad and weird that family couldn't be with us on a day like this.

i know, he's cute, huh?

moments like this

2009-07-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

i came home from a session tonight and was rushing around the house cleaning up and thinking about what i needed to get done next. and then i walked down the stairs and see this and everything else was forgotten.

i've seen similar sights in my home before, but at this moment, i was overwhelmed with thinking about what's most important in my life. it's not work, it's not a sparkly house, it's not my "to do" list for tomorrow...it's my loves of my life. spending time with them and being the best mommy and wife i can be.

i love my boys.

and i love moments like this.

birthdays and bff's

2009-07-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

i can't believe another birthday has come and gone. i can't believe i am 32 years old. and i can't believe how loved i feel. i feel totally and completely blessed to have the friends and family i have and i seem to be overflowing with gratitude at the moment.

i was already feeling the birthday happiness from the phone calls, texts, emails, packages in the mail, and facebook love, but THEN i just happen to open up my friend, allison's blog tonight. and to my surprised birthday eyes, i beheld a post all about ME. i read, i giggled at the hideous pictures, and i cried. it meant so much and, allison, i'm sorry for copying the entire thing onto my blog, but it was just so sweet and the pictures are just too laughable not to share. thank you so much everyone for the birthday lovin!

here is allison's post...

Jean is one of my BFF's. We have been friends as long as I can remember. Our families moved into homes next door to each other around the time that we were both born and we have been friends ever since.
Over the years we have, played make believe together, played Barbies for countless hours, danced together, played soccer together, hung out with friends together, worked together at Circuit City, went to WSU together, in a sorority together, and watched each other get married. She has seen me at my best and my worst

Jean is a fantastic friend, beautiful inside and out, an amazing mom and wife, the life of the party, so intelligent, a super talented photographer, and one of my favorite people.

Jean now lives almost 1500 miles away and is still one of my best friends. We don't see eachother often enough. I absolutely love that we can go weeks without talking and then just pick up where we left off. I adore her and her family. I will forever be grateful for the countless ways that she has blessed my life.

the last three weeks

2009-07-05T21:50:00.001-07:00

what have we been up to the last three weeks?

well, a little of this...

and a little of that...

and a little more of this...

and a whole lot of this...

yes, every one of us is completely smitten with beckham. although these last few weeks have proven to be a bit crazy as we adjust to our life with a new baby, we have managed to squeeze in some fun too...

balloonfest...

our friends from thunderbird, mike and joy williams, came to stay with us over the 4th of july weekend and we had so much fun!

at greenfield village...

4th of july bbq...

4th of july parade...

and 4th of july love. yes, isaac found himself a new lady friend (joy and mike's little one) and has declared her as his own. the parents of the two are currently deciding on the future wedding details...

my mom and dad came out to Michigan from Utah for the first week and half after beckham was born and can i just ask WHY DIDN'T I JUST TEMPORARILY MOVE MY MOTHER IN FOR THE OTHER THREE BABIES?!?!? she was amazing and helped sooooooooooooooooooooo much.

oh, and if you haven't seen enough pictures of beckham yet, i posted more pictures over on my photography blog. you can see them here and here. hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of july!

introducing...

2009-06-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

introducing...beckham owen smith...boy #4!!!

he is healthy, chubby cheeked, and absolutely perfect. although the word on the street is that pink will never reside at our house, we are so thrilled with our new little boy and are already so in love.

here are a few pics from the day he arrived. we are now home and well and i am feeling EXTREMELY grateful to have such a wonderful husband and mother helping me out...

the boys were so excited and all wanted to maul the poor kid at the same time...

he LOVES his fingers

LOVE HIM!

new status

2009-06-04T21:48:00.001-07:00

it's down to the end folks! either i go into labor on my own or my doctor is inducing me next thursday! so, what do you think? will i kick the kid out on my own or will i have to be induced???

hmmmm...looking at my little poll to the side, it seems as though boy is still winning, but girl is suddenly a close second. we're still thinking boy...

and last, and definitely most least, here are the LAST pictures you will EVER see of me pregnant. i am SOOOO not one to flaunt pictures of myself all over the internet, but it seems fitting as this post is all about my pregnancy ramblings and i finally get to show off the mad skills of my husband. yep, add one more thing to travis' list of things-i-am-awesome-at. he has always loved photographing landscape and architecture, but who knew he could turn such a forlorn model into something decent? loves to my husband...

oh, and p.s...this is NOT me right now...these were taken when i was 35 weeks. my belly and cankles have grown quite a bit since then...

mother of all parties

2009-05-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

we had heard about the legendary "jensen memorial day party" since the week we moved here in june of 2007. we all went camping over memorial day in 2008, so the party didn't happen last year.

HOWEVER, on may 25th, 2009, the queen of all party planning (that would be lanae jensen) brought it back. and it definitely lived up to the rumors. seriously, what memorial day party is complete without

amazing food (not shown)...

a cotton candy machine...

a huge bounce house...

soccer, volleball, dodgeball, croquet...
a mile long slip and slide...

and of course, an octopus delicacy straight from portugal...
just a quick pic with me and some of the girls. but where are isaac and travis??!?! continue down...

yeah, that's the crap part. poor isaac got sick sunday night with the flu and travis stayed home with him. missed you honey!!!

so, even if no one else looks at this post, at least my hubby (who missed all the fun) and our friend, carrie (who went into labor the morning of the party and who REALLY hates to miss any kind of party) will appreciate the pics.

hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

status

2009-05-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

two horridly swollen stumps with vienna sausage toes attached to equally horrid cankles

+ one severely pinched sciatic nerve

+ larger than life belly

+ not enough time to get everything done before baby comes

= a grumpy jean

HOWEVER...

only 31 more days

+ two centimters dilated

= a bit happier jean

and THAT my friends, is the status around our house. you caught me on an off day...

the demise of c.f.

2009-05-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

well, it's about time i stop living in denial and face the facts (and the future). we have received several phone calls and emails since the news last week of the bankruptcy of chrysler. travis doesn't work for chrysler, but rather the funding company, chrysler financial.

so, what does the bankruptcy mean for us? will travis still have a job?

well...ummmm...hmmmm...let's see...

yeah, that's the problem, we don't know yet!

here's what we do know at this point. chrysler is filing bankruptcy and "starting over." which is good at this point since they have no where else to go. however, the bad part is that gmac will be the new funding source for dealers and customers (rather than chrysler financial). yikes.

however, chrysler financial still has billions of dollars in loans outstanding that will need to be collected over the next couple of years and the company is looking for other opportunities and business partners.

so, to answer your questions, we don't know the final verdict and at this point, travis could have a job for a week or for a year. so, if we come knocking on your door looking for a place to sleep, just let us in for crying out loud.

on the bright side, let's look at the cuteness of my new two year old (he turned two on april 17th). we went exploring at a barn right by our house and he was happy as could be with his boots, "lamby," and dirt. LOVE this boy...

yep, he was DONE.

hp obsessed???

2009-04-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

no, you computer geeks, i am not talking about hewlett packard. i am talking about none other than HARRY POTTER. now, i admit that i was an avid harry potter reader (as was travis) and couldn't wait until the next book came out. but, once i read the series, i was satisified and figured i might get to it again in ten years or so (i'm not much of a second time movie or book person).

but kaleb takes the love of harry potter to a whole new level. he has always been an excellent reader and we tried to convince him for a while to read the books. he finally took us up on it and he read all seven books in about a month. right after he finished, he started the series again and finished them in two weeks.

i thought FOR SURE after round two that he was done, but he immediately picked up book one again and started the series AGAIN! so, now he is on book three for the third time. what the?!?!? and to top it off, he walks around casting memorized spells from the books.

should i be worried that my kid is normal or are there others this obsessed with harry potter...haha!

a rare moment

2009-04-15T09:45:00.001-07:00

here we have a rare moment and a break-your-heart-moment.

the rare moment is the picture of me and all three of my boys on easter day. this rarely happens as i'm the one always behind the camera...

...and i admit it...also because i don't like to get in front of the camera when i am so severely inflicted with the 32-weeks-pregnant-and-chubby-all-over syndrome.

and the break your heart moment (well, at least break mommy's heart), comes to us as we were preparing for easter sunday by giving barrrett and isaac a hair cut...

i'm not really loving this, but i'm ok...

kinda bugged, but i'm still ok...

daddy thinks it is cute to turn me around and show me in the mirror that all of my hair is gone and now i am heartbroken he cut off my white locks of lusciousness.
i am still just downright mad.
i'm so mad, i'm just going to keep crying until this horrid moment is over.
hope everyone had a fabulous easter!!!

blogs to books

2009-04-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

so my friend britnee told me about this great site called blurb.com where you can turn your blogs into books. so, i went on and made a 2006 and 2007 book (currently working on 2008), and realized what a priceless things blogs are.

i know a lot of people consider blogs their "online journals," and i have never felt that to be the case for me since i have journals for myself and each of the boys. well, i came to the sad conclusion that i have not written in my own journal for more than a year and it has been several months since writing in the boys. soooooo, to make a long story short, although i am not a wonder with words, my blog HAS become somewhat of a family journal for us.

so, i renew my commitment to update this bad boy once a week. i really want to. i am going to. most of the time.

HAPPY EASTER to everyone and have LOTS of chocolate this weekend (isaac did)!

still kickin (literally)

2009-03-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

yep...we're all still here! how does a month go by so quickly???

we just got back from utah to visit family and friends. well, i should say me and the three boys went to utah...travis ended up not being able to go at the last minute :(

the boys all did awesome on the plane to and from and everyone around me on the plane must have been expecting serious meltdowns with the pregnant mommy and three boys, because they all felt the need to come up to me after the flights and tell me what well behaved boys i have. oh brother!

anyway, it was so awesome to see everyone again and i'm so glad we were able to visit now... who knows when the next time will be...with the coming of a newborn and now that we will have to pay for isaac to fly (turns two next month). i brought my point and shoot camera and didn't even pull it out once...YIKES! thanks to my mom and allison for pulling out their cameras and giving me the only pictures that were taken while we were there.

me in all of my 28 weeks of pregnancy glory...pulling a really ugly face...

me and my chicks! we were missing a few, but i was so happy i could get together with my friends from high school for dinner. i love these girls and consider myself SO super lucky to have such wonderful friends!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

2009-02-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. yeah, that sounds about right. we took a short, spontaneous, wonderful vacation to cancun last week. we're still wannabe world travelers and take any opportunity we can to go on a vacation!

i already posted some pictures on my photography blog and you can see them HERE, but let's get to the good stuff that i don't talk about on that blog!

so, our equally spontaneous friends (from thunderbird), the sherwoods, live in mexico city and agreed to meet us in cancun with a week's notice! they rock! here we are...one big, happy family at the tulum ruins.

well, as we were making our way back through the jungle from the ruins, we happened upon this hideous monster (and he was HUGE).

travis squatted down with isaac in between his legs trying to get a good picture. all at once, the evil beast from he#! started charging travis and isaac at top speed (and those things run FAST). i started screaming for travis to pick up isaac, but my precious husband just kept trying to get a picture.

just as i thought isaac's toes would be gnawed off, it was apparent that the crazed lizard had seen isaac's binkie fall and went after the delicious morsel of food. he put it in his mouth (just like a baby does) and started running. i AGAIN started screaming for travis to GET THE BINKIE...IT'S THE ONLY ONE WE HAVE!!!!!!!!!!! travis reacts to his wife's panic and sprints after the hideous creature.

anyway, the lizard obviously realized the binkie wasn't food and dropped it. but, it was all too late to look casual and composed as we had just gathered a nice little crowd to witness our 28 seconds of smith craziness.

and yes, i WAS screaming.

screaming at the top of my lungs.

i didn't look at the crowd as i'm sure they were all suppressing manaical laughter as we walked away.

oh well. what's a smith vacation without something crazy happening?

first it was me almost drowning in the ocean in hawaii. now this. what's next you ask? well, you'll just have to stay tuned for the next smith vacation.

i am a rock

2009-01-30T09:15:00.000-08:00

I DID IT! i made it through our 20 week ultrasound appointment today without breaking down and grabbing the ultrasound machine right from the unsuspecting technician's hands to find out for myself what the gender of our baby is.

you all thought i would cave and find out what we were having, didn't you?!?!?

well, i guess we'll just have to wait until june 15th...

oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful mother!!!!

check it out

2009-01-09T19:15:00.001-08:00

so i needed to veg for a moment and i came across my friend's blog with a little collage bit on it. hmmmm...looked like fun. so, i headed over to polyvore and made my own little collage of ME! kind of fun, eh? go on, go check it out...you know you kind of want to...

jean by jeavis

hawaii

2008-12-28T22:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over (and it was fabulous, by the way), and now it's time to talk about our awesome trip to Hawaii a couple of weeks ago! We went to the Big Island of Hawaii for the wedding of our very good friends, Paul and Staci. The beach wedding was amazing and we had ONE WHOLE WEEK of hanging out with our wonderful friends KIDLESS (thanks Grandma Debbie)!!!

I mentioned on my photography blog about being saved by lifeguards at the beach. I have had several people ask me about it, so I feel it is time to tell the story. I read the Dalp ias' blog, and after reading the very false version, I am here to set the story straight...

It was a beautiful day at the beautiful Hapuna Beach on the beautiful big island of Hawaii. We (six of us friends) were playing in the waves and having a good old time. Suddenly, a series of humongous waves started coming in. Holly, Camille, John, and Jean were smart enough to realize it was time to head back to the beach. Jean suddenly realized that Jason and Travis weren't following and turned to see them as tiny specks in the vast ocean. Arms were a-flailing and waves were crashing over their heads. Jean used her sweet swimming skills and quickly made it out to them in record time. They were exhausted and what looked to be near drowning. She grabbed them both (without a buoy OR flippers), told them to hold on to her and each other, and started pulling them to shore. After about a half a mile (maybe more) of dragging them in (they were WAY out there), Jean screams to the lifeguards who quickly sprint to help pull the two guys the rest of the way in. Jean was a bit embarrassed, but took a little bow as everyone on the beach clapped for her.

ok, ok, if you must know the truth,we were all frolicking in the waves...jean kept frolicking but was unknowingly getting further and further out... the waves became gigantic... jean kept playing... jason and travis swam out to tell her to get back to shore...we all tried to swim back, but kept getting pulled further and further out to sea...four baywatch-like lifeguards spotted the three almost drownees and came to drag our sorry butts back to shore. there. you have the truth. can you see why i would want to tell the first version? how embarrassing.

Bring on the pics! I also just posted some pics from the wedding on my photography blog if you care to see the beautiful bride and groom!

we should have paid more attention to the sign..."if in doubt, don't go out."

jason, holly, travis, jean, camille, john, paul, staci

girls being girls

guys being monkeys. out in the middle of a hawaiian jungle. with a car ripped to pieces behind them. what the?!?!

black sand beach
a hike to....hmmmm...dang it....can't remember the name. but, it was beautiful.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

merry merry

2008-12-20T19:53:00.000-08:00

merry merry christmas to all of our friends, family, and random blog readers!!!

oh, and by the way....
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one more thing...
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we're expecting baby #4 on june 15th, 2009!!! i am fifteen weeks along, but don't call me up in five weeks and ask me what we're having, because we're not going to find out!

oh yeah...HAPPY NEW YEARS while we're at it!

giggle with me

2008-11-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

the other day, travis and i came across a forgotten folder on our computer. we opened it and just started giggling...had to share some of the gems we found...

about five years ago, travis discovered a program that i had never heard of...photoshop. yep, that's right...the same program is my best friend these days. anyway, he started playing around on this crazy new program and became obsessed with distorting our poor little family.

unfortunately, others were victims as well...his very first distortion was our good friend jason...

it's 1:30 am and i'm tired. maybe these are funnier to me because i am in sleepy land right now...

click on the image to see it bigger.

so proud

2008-10-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

i am so proud of travis...he ran his first marathon this last week! a marathon and triathalon are both on my list of "things to do," but i have never quite got around to either of them yet. so, that makes me all the more proud of him for deciding to do it and, well, just doing it! here is our day in pictures...

the family arrives in detroit at 6 am...jean and the boys sleep in the truck for two hours while travis starts pounding the pavement...

we head out into the chilly morning and head to the finish line...the sun is just starting to come up and some half marathoners and 5kers are finishing up...

kaleb, barrett, and isaac hanging out...anxiously awaiting the time when it's time to go look for daddy...

we were close to the finish line and could here the announcers naming people and telling stories of the finishers as they crossed the finish line. there were so many inspirational stories and people (i shed a tear). i saw one man fall to the ground with exhaustion (or injury) and two other marathoners picked him and carried him to the finish line (i shed another tear). some runners were crying, some were limping, and some were working the crowds. it was so fun to watch.

and then there was this guy...

oh, i see daddy...BOYSSSS...there's daddy...DO YOU SEE HIM?!?!!?
trav after hearing us scream our guts out for him...
oh, and want to see travis' number one fan on the sideline? he should be so proud...
just chilling after the race...

well, i'm happy to say that travis can now walk again and has regained full control of his muscles again. he wasn't very happy with his time, so he is already plotting his next training schedule for his next marathon.

hey, next time, it's MY turn...

a little help?

2008-10-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

ok, so i logged into blogspot to make a new post and noticed a few things.

- my poor family blog has once again been neglected (almost a month since my last post).
- i looked at my blog and realized how pathetically boring it looks.

i go to everyone else's blog and see patterned backdgrounds, polls, slideshows, pictures on the sides, etc. i have always been more into the simple side of design, but gosh dang it, i want to learn some of these cool tricks! can anyone give me tips? i'm not sure where to start...

does this happen at your house???

2008-09-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

(time for isaac's nap)

has anyone seen isaac's blankets? i could have sworn i set them down by the stairs. anyone? anyone?

a few minutes later, i find this. yes, that is the garbage can. a tall one.

now, who in the world would stuff two blankets, two spatulas, six spoons, and a wisk in the garbage can? hmmm...i think i may have found out who done the deed...

GUILTY as charged.

this has been happening often around here. i remember the infatuation kaleb and barrett had with toilets, but garbage cans? better watch my wallet...or my camera...or pretty much everything.

i'm in love

2008-09-06T00:09:00.000-07:00

we just got back from washington dc over labor day and had so much fun! but until i get around to uploading our pics and postingt them, i just had to post this picture.

i am so in love with isaac i can hardly stand it. i was just telling travis how sad i was that i had no pictures of him and me. when we went to utah, heather mickey took our family pictures and i totally don't remember her taking this picture, but she sent it to me tonight and i wanted to cry (oops, maybe i did a little). anyway, just wanted to share...

lesson learned...but i'm still mad

2008-08-28T23:08:00.001-07:00

this post is strictly for venting.

i'm not blaming anyone besides myself for my very stupid mistake today, but still...i need to vent.

let me tell you a little story...the condensed version...

i had a session this morning at 9:30 am at university of michigan's campus in ann arbor. oh, by the way, parking is horrendous 99.35% of the time in this town. i am looking for parking and see this...

SWEET! an open meter! so i pull up, note the orange bag on the other side that says tow away zone and the handicapped sign right above it, and figure the "tow away zone handicapped zone" only applies to the orange bag side. the other meter is fair game...rock on.

jump out of car. insert money in meter. run to session.

session ends at 10:45 am. i go out to find NO CAR. this is where the panic began. why? because my wallet AND my phone were in the car that was apparently towed. i was stuck in a town where i didn't know a soul and the only phone number i had memorized was travis (in which he was an hour away from me at work).

hmmm. i looked at the sign above the meter again. oops. NOW i notice that the red arrow points in both directions, not just the orange bag side. insert swear word here.

can't call a cab...no money.

can't call for help...no phone and don't know any phone numbers.

i find the first innocent victim with a phone and commandeer it for a few moments trying to find out which towing company has my car. found it. scared boys with phone run away from the crazy lady on the verge of yelling and/or tears.

find another innocent victim with a phone. i am crying by now. i somehow remembered the phone number of the client i just did the session with and called it. humiliating? you don't even know. she came and picked me up and continued to drive me to the lot to get my purse out of the car, back to the police station to get a release, back to the towing company, and finally to the lot again to get my car).

three hours and $375 later, i got my piece of crap honda accord back.

$375!!!!!!!!!!!!!! are you kidding me?!?!!?!

anyway, for those of you still here with me after this monster vent session...thank you. i needed that.

learn from my mistake (or should i say mistakes...does a shirtless jean in walmart ring a bell).

by the way, since when are there handicapped meters anyway. for crying out loud...

back from utah

2008-08-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

ugh...kind of sucks to get back to normal life after a vacation. don't get me wrong...we are excited to get back to a normal routine, our friends, and the rest of our michigan summer (so beautiful here). i'm talking about responsibility. housework. other work. you know...the stuff that's manageable while you are at home, but kind of hits you smack in the face when you get home from a vacation. enough about responsibility...let's talk utah...

as you may have read in my last post, we were without travis for most of the trip. although that part sucked (do i use that word too much on a family blog?), it did allow for some much needed time with just my boys and me. we played games, read stories in the hammock, went to lagoon, cherry hill, swimming, and miniature golfing. i love my monkeys!

on to family and friends...i love you all and miss you already! this trip was the most relaxing utah trip we have had in a while and it was wonderful to see everyone. my boys were in pure heaven spending so much time with both of their grandmas. it's pretty crazy how much they adore them. speaking of grandmas...i'll let you in on a little conversation from a car ride with kaleb, barrett, and grandma debbie (relayed to us later)...

kaleb: grandma, i can't wait to move back to utah
grandma: i know, i can't wait for you to move back
kaleb: i will probably have to wait until i am an adult to move back
grandma: yeah
kaleb: i don't know if i will have a wife and kids when i move back
grandma: hmmmm
kaleb: i will probably just wait until i get to utah to get a wife and kids so i don't have to buy them a plane ticket

kaleb overhead talking to barrett afterwards: no, barrett, you can't just find kids, you have to get a wife first and then find kids

when i got back, i very sadly realized that i took hardly any pictures of my kiddies while i was in utah. but, here are a few i did get of my boys doing what they do best...being crazy little boys!!!

10 years

2008-08-11T23:45:00.000-07:00

what the?!?! that can't be right. i just checked on the last time i posted (before trav's last semi-rude post about me) and it said july 3rd. really? wow...this summer has been brutal on the smith spot blog.

enough about the "busyness" of this summer and straight to the point.

travis and i have been married TEN years today. if any of you know me, you know i am not one to write about mushy and personal things. but today, I DON'T CARE. i have been married to the most amazing person for ten years and i am going to shout it out to the world how much i love him!!! these ten years have flown by and if the next 60 years (actually, i hope i don't live that long) are anything like these last ten years, then i feel like the luckiest girl alive.

maybe my crazed love profession comes from the fact that our ten year anniversary is today and i am in UTAH and he is in MICHIGAN. how is that for SUCKY.

anyway, i love you trav and HAPPY TEN YEARS!!!

here's a picture from the oh-so-talented heather mickey from last week...she braved doing our 2008 smith family pictures...and did a FABULOUS job!

AAAARGHHH!!!

2008-07-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

OK, so does this bug anybody besides me?!

So yesterday while hanging out at Cedar Point, Jean asked me if there was anything she did that bothered me...after several minutes of pondering the question I was stumped...I couldn't think of a single thing...she's pretty much perfect! Then this morning I looked over and beheld the bain of my existence! TANGLED CORDS.......AAARRRGGGHHH!!! And unfortunately, everytime I look over at my sweet loving wife while listening to her headphones I am filled with IRE!!! WHY OH WHY would anybody wear a knotted mess of cords like this? I have even untangled it several times for her, but alas, the clump of tangled wires always seems to return...

But I guess it could be worse, right?

super duper ooper important

2008-07-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

all right peeps...listen up. this is no joke. if you own a computer (which you obviously do), you need to find some way of backing up your images, documents, digital scrapbooking stuff, or whatever else it is that you have on your hard drive.

last week, my hard drive crashed, and it crashed HARD...like so hard it was DEAD. i was FREAKING out as it had all of my photography business images, family images, digital scrapbooking images, and every other document i have ever saved on it. after six days of several failed attempts, travis found a program that restored most of it.

so, i consider myself super lucky as i didn't have everything backed up in the first place. we now are subscribed to an online service that backs up our hard drive online every day.
anyway, sorry to go on and on, but SERIOUSLY...can you imagine if you lost all of your pictures??? makes me sick.

anyway, just wanted to leave you with a few pictures from our camping trip (with captions...i love my lame captions) a couple of weeks ago (i am slowly catching up)....

a very rare moment...there is actually a picture with ALL FIVE of us in it...

last day camping...we were on the sand dunes and then went down to play on the beach...

yes, i am very hot and i ride an atv like no otha...

isaac's new girlfriend...

my boys headed down to the beach...look very closely at trav's beach bag...

one year, two months, and two days

2008-06-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

that's how long it took isaac to take his first steps! yippee...my baby is walking (arms straight up in the air and giggling the entire time)!

ok, so i totally just skipped the very small part about WHERE HAVE WE BEEN FOR A MONTH A HALF? i can't believe i left my shirtless walmart story up for so long without another post to cover it up! anyway, we have been so busy and have a ton of pictures and adventures to share, but all else was dropped for a moment when isaac took his first steps...

be back soon...very soon...i promise....

the unthinkable...in walmart

2008-05-10T23:38:00.000-07:00

As I type this, I'm not really sure why I am wanting to spotlight my stupidness. Oh well, it's all for fun.

So, I was rushing through Walmart the other day when I walk past the clothes section and see a cute swimming suit cover up dress thing. I never use dressing rooms for quick try-ons because it wastes too much time, so I scouted out a mirror and slipped it on. Perfect fit. So, still rushing, I whipped the dress off and stood there for about five minutes (more like 5 seconds) when I looked in the mirror and noticed that I ripped my shirt off with the dress.

Yep...there I was...standing in the middle of the Walmart clothing section without a shirt on. So, of course, putting it back on in the fastest way possible was no graceful maneuver. I threw the dress back over my head to spare any possible onlookers the pain of seeing any more of me than they already had. I struggled for at least 10 minutes (more like 10 seconds) to get my shirt on with the dress still over my head.

With my shirt back in place, I dropped the dress, and walked away. I couldn't even bring myself to look up to see if anyone had witnessed that whole scene. I couldn't bear the pain.

Lesson learned? Always use a dressing room...they are there for a good reason.

a little help please?

2008-05-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

Ok...I need some serious help. We realized this week that our boys eat as though they are teenagers and I seriously fear for the day when we have actually have three teenage boys needing to fill their empty stomachs. That realization led me to look at how much we are spending on groceries...it is NOT good...not good at all.

So, I am on a mission. A mission to save some serious money on groceries. This is also perfect timing as we are really trying to work on building up our food storage. The only problem is that I have never been good at coupons or finding deals.

This is where you come in. I know there are all sorts of cool websites out there (I have heard people talking about them but it went it one ear and out the other) and other money saving tips...I just don't know where to find them.

So, please, help a mother of three boys who who doesn't want to go bankrupt from grocery spending. TELL ME YOUR SECRETS! And if you're STILL not convinced of the severity of this situation, just look...Isaac is already displaying teenage boy eating habits...

one

2008-04-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

So, my baby turned one last Thursday. PLEASE tell me there are others who have had a super hard time seeing their baby grow up. I never thought I would be one of THOSE people. With Kaleb and Barrett, I was always excited for the next step or development. Uh uh...not with Isaac. He is my baby and I want him to stay that way.

Ok...can't handle the sadness...let's get to the fun. We didn't do a big birthday for him...I'll save those for when he can actually remember them :) But, I will tell you that he LOVED his cake...just look at the hand shoving action...

And last, we discovered last week that Isaac's top teeth were popping through. I am well aware that this is NOT a flattering picture of our child, but I had to share and giggle. WE HAVE A BABY VAMPIRE (any Twilight fans out there will appreciate that)!!!

calling all blog lovers

2008-04-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

All right all you blog lovers/stalkers/followers. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret that will cut your blogging time in half. Ok, so maybe it's not so much a secret and you all already know about it, but if you don't have Google Reader yet, GET IT!

You just go to the left hand side and click "add subscription" and add all of the blogs that you follow. So, anytime anyone posts on their blog, it will show up in your google reader. Gone are the days of endlessly checking blogs to see if there is an update.

Travis and I have igoogle as our home page and our google reader is right on there. So, a bit of useless information, but it might make someone very happy.

I leave you with a picture of my sweet little boy who will turn one this week.

chicago

2008-04-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

WOOHOO...I hate to jump the gun, but I really think spring is HERE! We went to Chicago this weekend (a first for me) and the weather was AMAZING! Travis was already there for work, so I packed up the car (and the kids), met our friends, James and Jen Peterson, and caravaned down to Chicago for the weekend. I was SO wishing we had at least one more day...we had so much fun. Navy Pier, children's museum, boat ride, YUMMY food, Flint museum, Millenium Park, and a planetarium were all squeezed into a little, bitty weekend.

A picture overload for you to enjoy...

a very typical family picture...crazy boys with no mommy in the picture.

had to share this pic...we giggled at isaac the whole time. he was so excited to see everything, he sat like this eagerly the whole time in the stroller.

giant silver bean at millenium park...very cool.

not a good picture, but a picture of trav and me, nonetheless...those seem to come few and far between lately!

kaleb and barrett (with some added friends) at the children's museum in the waterworks room.

children's museum...building room

ok, there's a super fast summary of our trip. cross your fingers for spring and barrett would like to leave you with a warm and full-of-love HAVE A FABULOUS DAY!

sibling rivalry

2008-03-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

coming home from church yesterday...

Kaleb: It's mine...give it to me!

Barrett: NO!

Kaleb: GIVE IT TO ME!

Barrett: WAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Daddy: (In his best grumpy voice) WHAT is going on back there?

Barrett: WAAAAAHHHHHH! Kaleb BIT me!

Daddy: KALEB! Did you bite Barrett?

Kaleb: (starting to cry...frantic voice...knows trouble is coming his way). No, no, Daddy, listen! I was just sitting here and all of the sudden my teeth just flew into his fingers!

Daddy: Uh-huh.

Mommy: (giggling...quietly)

So, I don't know if teeth just fly into fingers at your house, but I guess that's how sibling contention goes around here. Luckily, Kaleb and Barrett are best friends and the fights are few and far between.

Wow...I am BEHIND on pictures...haven't posted any pictures here from my trip to Las Vegas yet, and haven't uploaded my Easter pictures. Well, I am taking the easy way out...my trip was wonderful...if you want to see my pics, visit my photo blog...HERE. I will post pictures of Easter soon.

Have a great day!

pink sucks

2008-03-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter (from a household of boys and one mommy who is alone in her love for pink)!

We decorated eggs today and I asked the boys why no one was putting an egg in the pink dye water. I explained that pink is not just a girl color on Easter...it's an everyone color on Easter. Barrett decided to try it out, but obviously regretted his decision, because when it was time to decorate the eggs with stickers, this is how the pink egg ended up. He just couldn't handle having a pink egg in his collection...so he covered it up.

it's a miracle

2008-03-15T19:30:00.001-07:00

FINALLY...my baby crawls! I'm at peace...he will be able to read now (who started that rumor anyway). 11 months and just barely crawling...oh well...better late than never...

Do you remember my posts just two posts ago about him army crawling, scooting, and rolling to get to where he wants to go? NO MORE...he started crawling two days ago. Hmmm...now I wish he weren't mobile...I liked him stuck in one place.

Ok...I am leaving town from Sunday to Wednesday for a photography convention in Las Vegas...YIPEE!!! So, unless by some miracle Travis decides to post, I will catch up with you all later next week!

Joy

2008-03-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

Meet my friend, Joy. She lives in Arizona, and of course, I live in Michigan. The following is an excerpt from a recent phone conversation.

Jean: Blah, blah, blah, blah (insert useless girl talk here). You know, that would be so much fun to get together!

Joy: Yeah it would. Let's do it! What are you doing this weekend?

Jean: Nothing, wanna come over and play?

Joy: Sure, I'll see you on Friday!!!

Ok, so the conversation wasn't EXACTLY like that, but pretty much. My point is that Joy gets to fly for free and can therefore pick up and go whenever she would like (can you feel my jealousy seeping through). Although I don't have the same luxury, at least I got to benefit from her luckiness because she came to visit us this weekend!

WOW...how great was it to have another girl around?!?! We talked a lot, photographed a lot, ate a lot, shopped a little, and slept very little. It was so much fun!!! Thanks for coming to hang out with us!

Sidenote: To all you future visitors (we love visitors), don't listen to Joy's description of the horrid, cold weather blessing our great state of Michigan...I told her not to come in March...her fault.

And of course, since I can't post without a picture (or ten), here are some pics from our weekend.

Kaleb and Barrett were with us, but they sacrificed face time to photograph the adults. Sniff...I'm so proud of my budding little photographers. Look how centered the picture is.

This is Joy's beautiful little one, Sarah. Look how sweet and nice she performed for me and then scroll down to see what I got from Isaac...

when kids are naughty

2008-03-03T17:34:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you, but this is what happens when kids are naughty around our house...they get locked up or thrown under the table.

Or...maybe a better explanation is that I am not an abusive parent and lately Isaac keeps cramming himself into corners and crevices all over the house. He is 10 1/2 months old and STILL not crawling. But, I swear, if that kid wants to get somewhere, he manages with a combination of bum scooting, rolling, and army crawling. We're pretty sure he's just going to skip the crawling bit...oh well...who needs it anyway?

ai

2008-02-25T06:07:00.000-08:00

Forget family life for one post...let's talk TV.

Ok, so I am not much of a TV watcher, but there are two shows that I like...well, that I love...OK, that I am OBSESSED with. Those shows would be American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. Of course, everyone knows what American Idol is, but do any of you watch So You Think You Can Dance (it is on the summer)...it is the best show EVER.

Anyway, since Travis does not share my American Idol obsession...he actually detests it...then I must find others who like it! Are any of you watching it this season? It's still kind of early for me to choose favorites, but I've got my eye on a few of them. How do you choose...there are so many good ones! By the way...did you know that these two...Brooke White and David Archuleta...are mormons? They are both really good!

Anyway...now you know I am an American Idol groupie. I'm not ashamed.

8 YEARS OLD

2008-02-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

I am still in a bit of a shock that I am now the owner of an eight year old. WHAT? When did that happen and where did the time go?

Kaleb's birthday was last Monday, February 11th. We celebrated as a family by going out for pizza, bowling (which, by the way, i received my highest score ever...but i won't steal kaleb's thunder...besides...am i SERIOUSLY bragging about a bowling score...i am pathetic) and having cake and ice cream.

We continued with the festivities on Saturday with a friend birthday party. Can you guess the theme? LEGOS (of course)! So, after a lego treasure hunt, lego races, and lego tower building, i think the party turned out to be a success.

I know, it's got to be the worst looking cake ever...cake decorating definitely isn't my specialty. But, PLEASE tell me you can at least tell it's a giant lego.

My baby is 8...sniff sniff

Am I the only mom in the world who has the kids pull funny faces instead of smiling? You should try it...the kids practically run to get in the picture if you tell them they don't have to pose and smile...hee hee!

Ok, looks like a normal party photo with the boys all watching Kaleb open presents, right? Well, as soon as I saw the picture, I started giggling...DEJA VU! Scroll down to see what it reminded me of...

Ha ha...remember this? A little kaleb in the middle surrounded by a sea of dark heads while in china!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KALEB!

CAUTION: mushiness ahead

2008-02-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have been "tagged" twice by this one. I have never done one of these tagging things, but this one is a must! So, don't read on if you don't want to bored by my tribute to Travis...

How long have you been together? TEN YEARS on August 12th!
How long did you date? Ten months from the time we met until the time we got married.
How old is he? 31
Who eats more? Food...Travis. Treats...ME.
Who said I love you first? Travis. Scared me to death. But, I came around.
Who is taller? Travis...three inches (he would tell you 3 1/2)
Who sings better? Me, although we both pretty much suck. BUT, in Trav's defense, he can karaoke a mean version of "Pour Some Sugar On Me."
Who is smarter? Travis...can't even argue that one.
Who does the laundry? ME
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? ME...I try to be spontaneous and switch sides for a night, but he won't have it.
Who pays the bills? Me...oh wait...Travis fired me from that job and now he does it.
Who mows the lawn? Don't know yet...first house that we have ever had to mow our own lawn...we'll find out this summer!
Who cooks dinner? Mostly me, but Travis is the better cook...hands down!
Who drives when you are together? Travis...so I can put on my makeup, make phone calls, beat the kids, you know...multitasking.
Who is more stubborn? Hate to admit that we are equally stubborn.
Who kissed who first? Travis kissed me on our second date
Who asked who out? Travis asked me out...I still remember him leaning over the Circuit City counter acting ever so suave (his friends STILL tease him about it).
Who proposed? Travis...one of the most amazing days of my life.
Who is more sensitive? Me. ALTHOUGH, you get him in front of a heart warming or sad movie, and the tears are just-a-flowin!
Who has more friends? What kind of question is this? Travis and I like to compete, but come on...who has the most friends??? My friends are his friends and vice versa.
Who wears the pants in the family? Isaac...he has us wrapped around his pinkie.

I'm not usually one to open my heart to the public, but there are way too many things to be grateful for when talking about Travis. He has so many wonderful talents and qualities...I am amazed by him and am so lucky to have him in my life. Honestly, how could I NOT love this...

sorry, too cute

2008-02-05T22:10:00.001-08:00

Had to post these just for the fun of it. We've given Isaac "real" food a couple of times, and man, is that kid happy.

He has always loved food and starts to dance (well, bounces around and flaps his arms vigorously) if he sees any non-baby food in sight.

Today, iI gave him some of my spaghetti at lunch. He loved it SO much. Just look at him concentrating (to make sure none would escape his mouth).

And do you want to see my canvas gallery wraps? I love them and want to fill my whole house with canvases (don't worry, i won't). Anyway, this is the wall above Isaac's head...aren't they fun?

our happy day...or not

2008-01-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

Oh, that's so cute...the boys are getting all bundled up to go play outside in the snow! Ummm...not so much...more like...gettting bundled because our house was 48 degrees...INSIDE!!! Yes, it was awful.

We had HORRID winds last night and I guess there were power outtages all over the place (hence, the no heat situation). So, school got cancelled (hmmm...that seems to happen a lot in Michigan) and we thought we would have a rockin day at home...just mom and the boys. Well, we were too cold to do anything, so we bundled up in our snow gear and snuggled in mommy and daddy's bed and read books until the power came on!

Here are some pics of the boys all bundled up and ready to play...er...legos with gloves on? Well, Isaac tried REALLY hard to play, but picking things up with covered hands proved to be a bit difficult...

hmmm...wanna stick that it my mouth...

that didn't work, maybe i can get this...

dang it...why can't i pick anything up?

poor kid gave up and went to bed...

Two other very important sidenotes...Happy Birthday Mom...love you! Also, I wanted to include this picture of President Hinckley, as it is one of my very favorites. My feelings are so sad yet so happy for him at the same time. He is perfection in my eyes and he will be greatly missed.

Happy 2008!

2008-01-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! I am back to the blogging world! All right, not many words, just a little story of our awesome Christmas trip to Utah...

Our story begins with the traditional gingerbread houses the boys make with Grandma Liz every year. As you can see, they take this art very seriously.

Of course, we loved hanging out with everyone at our various family and friends Christmas parties and get togethers. Unfortunately, Jean didn't pull out her camera at most of these parties, but we did manage to find a few pictures taken along the way.

Sometime during these functions, Isaac managed to get lost in the wrapping paper and Travis somehow got a hold of the camera and took many pictures that I am sure he would proclaim is "self-art." I'm just pleased he managed to get the boys in a few of them.

Christmas day was fabulous and the boys were ecstatic that Santa somehow knew to find us in Utah. Travis spent the bulk of the day (7.5 hours in fact) figuring out how to solve his new challenge...the 5x5 rubiks cube. Oh, and yes, he did figure it out, if you were wondering.
Next, we headed off to our annual New Year's trip up to Island Park with our friends, the Dalpias', the Roylance's, and the Baker. We had so much fun and here are few pics to prove it.

Before the New Year's trip, and a little after as well, I found time to indulge in my favorite hobby, photography. Wow, I just realized red was a popular color for all four sessions...it looks so great with the snow! None of these guys have seen these yet, so I hope you likie!!!

Sadly, we did not get pictures of everyone and everything, but we love everyone back home will see you summer 2008! The End.

this is goodbye

2007-12-16T08:36:00.001-08:00

Well, goodbye for 2007 at least. We are leaving tomorrow morning to go home for the holidays...YAY! We are so excited to see family and friends! The boys and I leave tomorrow morning and then Travis comes out on Thursday. Let the parties begin!

Fun sidenote: apparently when it snows in Michigan, church and school get canceled. So, our church was canceled today and we had sacrament meeting in our living room...that's a first for us! THAT would never happen in Utah...

Anyway, I posted a picture of Isaac last time...here are a couple of my other monkeys. I have so many empty frames in my house and they needed filling, so I dragged Kaleb and Barrett outside for some quick pictures. 15 minutes. For BOTH of them! I have to work quick with them (apparently when your mom picks up the camera, it's really funny to run the opposite way giggling).

Warning: partial nudity ahead

2007-12-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

Seriously, how many naked pictures does a mom need of her tiny one? I CAN'T HELP IT...it's too stinkin cute...

Merry Christmas...er...Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T06:45:00.000-08:00

It's not supposed to snow until Christmas morning!!! Well, that's how it would be in Jean's perfect world. But, against my wishes, we wake up Thanksgiving morning to a winter wonderland.

The boys were so excited...they woke up and instantly wanted to go out and play. Now, you know they are excited when they want to do something without even eating breakfast...

So happy, so thankful

2007-11-21T14:07:00.001-08:00

I am so happy.
I am so thankful.
So thankful for my boys (all four of them).
Thankful for our wonderful family.
Thankful for our friends.
Thankful for the church that I belong to that guides us every day.
So many things that I am thankful for.
Wow, I am a lucky girl.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Things have finally started to slow down lately and we were able to take a little two day trip down to Ohio with some friends from church. We went to Kalahari...a huge indoor water park and resort. It was great to leave our busy lives behind and just have so much fun together!

I wish I had better and more exciting pictures to show, but I barely even pulled out our camera. When I did it seems I couldn't even center a picture. So, let's all laugh together about my terrible photo skills at Kalahari.

Take One

Take Two

Take Three

Oh well, I never could center it, but at least it's a cute picture of Travis and Isaac.

Here's Kaleb...riding the wave. Sweet!

Check out my boys

2007-11-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the dark and dreary months are coming, so I was in need of some serious lighting equipment. I got it this last weekend and tried it out on my boys. Go check them out on my photography blog, HERE.

To be continued...in this lifetime???

2007-11-06T01:19:00.001-08:00

Ha ha! That's the question Joy asked in a comment on my last entry. Yes, I am finally posting again. It makes me happy to know that my friends and family care enough about our blog that they will make rude and threatening comments on the blog to update more often and post more pictures! Because we are still living with moving boxes up to our necks, I will postpone indoor pictures of our house and other house news until later.

So, what's the point of me posting Halloween pictures almost a week late when everyone else's blogs have moved onto other things? Several good reasons follow that question...

1. Halloween is tied for my favorite holiday and I HAVE to have a Halloween post.
2. I feel guilty that I am a mother and photographer and didn't even get pictures of my kids on Halloween. So, I made them get dressed up again four days later for pictures.
3. If I am going to go through all that trouble to get pictures, I might as well share them.
4. To show you how lame I am this year...my kids are wearing the same costumes as last year!

My lameness will have to be blamed on our busyness this last month. With sickness sweeping our house, moving, and my photography, we didn't even have time to get new costumes (not to mention the fact that we didn't even carve pumpkins until an hour before we went trick or treating). Oh well...expect big things from us next year!

Here are some quick pics of my cute boys in their "rerun" costumes...

2007-10-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

We're in...FINALLY.

To be continued...

Visitors!!!

2007-10-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

Yay! Visitors! Trav's mother, Debbie, and his aunt Lori came to visit us this last week.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, Debbie and Lori booked their tickets to come out here. We were supposed to be in our new house long before they arrived. But, alas, our date had been pushed back yet again, and they arrived to spend the week as minimalists...just like us for the past few months. Oh well, they adapted easily to their beds on a couch and twin mattress (yes, the twin mattress was an upgrade we added in the last week), plastic plates, and bare walls.

Well, since we figured they didn't come to see the decor on our walls anyway, we had a great time together! Lots of shopping, laughing, and seeing random sites in Michigan. This is a picture of all of us (minus me) at a Cider Mill (I should have a whole separate blog about the cider mills here....love them)!

Isaac

2007-10-02T22:11:00.001-07:00

I am sorry, but Isaac is too cute. I am still baffled that a baby can be as good and always happy as he is. It breaks my heart that our family and friends don't know him and get to enjoy his sunshine. Yes, sunshine...that is our Isaac. Cheesy? Yes, but the only way to describe him.

Isaac is learning how to sit up on his own, but every time we turn around, he is diving to get whatever is closest to his mouth (as displayed below).

Kaleb made a "robot" box for Isaac to sit in with holes for his arms and legs to stick out. He just sits in there patiently and sucks on the box while Kaleb and Barrett laugh and laugh and laugh. And laugh. And laugh a little more.

No pictures, just words

2007-09-24T08:34:00.001-07:00

Ok, so this is a random blog entry, but no one around here knows Travis well enough yet to appreciate what a goof he is, so I had to share with those of you who do. Not sure if he will love it that I share his deep, dark secrets...

So, I am out working on the computer late the other night when I hear laughing in the next room (not a giggle or chuckle...full out laughter). So, I walk in there knowing that Travis has been asleep for about about an hour and a half. I walk in to see him with the biggest smile on his face that I have ever seen.
Me: Travis, what in the heck is so funny?
Travis: (opens eyes and still grinning)
Me: Why are you laughing?
Travis: (still smiling) Because your reward is a corndog (little giggle)
Me: "Huh?"
Travis: Yes, you deserve a corndog...but only if you jump over the pants (still smiling, he rolls over and goes to sleep).

It was one of those moments that I just laughed so hard and wish I had someone else there to make fun of him with me. Of course, he remembers nothing of the incident.

I just thought those of you who were in Europe or China with him and were subjected to his nighttime laughing, weeping, and proclamations of squishing grapes in his toes would like this.

Aaaahhh...so much fun to be married to him. Truly...never a dull moment!!!

Heaven

2007-09-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

Monday morning.
We are driving to school and it is a bit foggy that morning. We are driving up the street and come upon this sight. Kaleb practically jumps out of seat.
Kaleb: LOOK! It's beatiful...it's heaven! Mom, take a picture of heaven!
Me thinking: Ohhh, he's so precious...and lucky that I DO happen to have my camera here.
Kaleb: I want to be sucked up to heaven through that heaven portal!
Precious moment ruined. Oh well, there's heaven from a little boy's point of view.

Back to School

2007-09-05T19:03:00.001-07:00

Bitter sweet. That's what the first day of school is to me. A part of me wants to leap for joy, and another is sad my little buddies are headed off to the real world (without me there to protect them). I had a sad mommy moment when I thought Barrett would be terrified to go to kindergarten and cling to me for dear life. On the contrary, he didn't even want to hold my hand as he was cruising down the hall to put his backpack in his "cool new locker." Well, I guess we can chalk it off as a successful first day of school.

As I looked at these pictures on the computer, I seriously had to look twice...those aren't my little boys, those are grown up little men! What happened to my itty bitties?

I had to take a picture of Barrett's shoes. Travis has slowly been infiltrating our family with converse shoes...

Henry Ford Museum

2007-08-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

Fun times. We love our life. Whether we are just hanging out at home or out on a weekend adventure, we always have fun. Boys are crazy, loud, sometimes obnoxious, and hilarious. And, as you all know, I am completely surrounded by boys. The only thing that would make it better is if we were surrounded by family and friends. So, could you all hurry up and start migrating to Michigan?

We had fun last weekend with James and Jen Peterson (James and Trav work together). We went to the Henry Ford Museum which was so much fun! I had heard a lot about it but didn't know what to expect...I was totally surprised! It was huge and full of cool things (cars were only part of it). They had an old, battered jeep of a father and son from South America who wanted to get to the Henry Ford museum so bad that they left with nothing but their jeep towards the U.S. Two years later, they finally made it there. Well, it only took us 30 minutes for us to get there, but was well worth the trip. We didn't have time to go to Greenfield Village (which is a dated village with old streets and buildings, women in their big dresses and parasols, old model T's driving around, etc.)...but we'll make it back soon...

Those fuzzy blobs are not angels, but rather us. I asked a sweet little Chinese man to take our picture...

In my son's defense, he is NOT picking, he is SCRATCHING...

I thought this was cool, this was Madonna's limo she went to awards shows in...seriously...too much money floating around...

Just wanted to post a picture of my new car...or rather John Lennon's car. But, I love it and want one!

The Mullet is Back

2007-08-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Mullet look is back...ok, it was never IN. Isaac had acquired the-bald-spot-on-the-back-of-the-head-from-the-hair-being -rubbed-off look and had a sweet mullet growing in back. As a first time parent of a baby born with lots of hair, I wanted to keep all of his luscious blond locks. But, unfortunately, I just couldn't stand to see my baby with a bald spot and mullet and he received his first haircut at almost four months old. Isn't my tiny too young to be getting a haircut? Well, here are some before and afters of his first haircut...

Hmmm, I need to get more pictures of Kaleb and Barrett on here. They just seem to run the other direction when I get my camera out. Here come the bribes...

Friends and Fotography

2007-08-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

There's been so much fun the past two weeks, I don't know where to start! It's been a Thunderbird reunion around here! Our friends from Arizona, the Duffy's, took a road trip from Wisconsin (Ken is doing an internship there) to our house last weekend. Their time here was short, but we had so much fun! It was a weekend full of movies, swimming, picnics, gaming, and of course, hot dogs...oh, I mean, polish dogs...apparently, there is a huge difference according to Travis and Ken. Here is a pic of them that I'm sure they will be pleased to see that I posted...

Next on the list of fun was our road trip to Greensboro, North Carolina this last weekend. Our friends, the Heids (also from Thunderbird), live in North Carolina as well...how convenient is that? Danny, Andrea, and Connor were the ones at Isaac's baby blessing for all of you folks in Utah who were there. I'm not sure Travis would have conceded to drag the whole family down there if we didn't have the Heid's to hang out with too! Here is a sweet self timer off the back of Danny's car...thank goodness he had his camera...

And here is a pic of the photography workshop I attended. It was BEYOND amazing...don't even get me started...look at that studio...ahhhh....

Oh! By the way...Happy Anniversary to me and Trav (last Sunday)! NINE YEARS!!! Since we were in N.C. on our anniversary, we are going to celebrate it this weekend. While we there, not only did Travis watch the boys the whole time I was having fun at the workshop, he decorated our hotel room and had roses and chocolates on the bed for me when I got back Saturday night! Seriously, I could get really mushy here, but I will save you all and just say I have the best husband EVER!

Not much to say...

2007-08-02T07:52:00.001-07:00

No big news around our house...so I'll just post a picture of my teeny tiny.

BUT...I did want to say CONGRATS to Trav's sister Mikki, and her hubby Kevin, on their new baby, Emery! Yay!!!! We are so sorry we can't be there to see her...we expect lots of pictures...

Summer in Michigan

2007-07-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

Michigan is beautiful in the summertime! I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune come winter, but we love all of the lakes and the lush, greenness of it all and are having a great time! Sometimes I feel like we are still on vacation and will be coming home soon. I just don't think we feel truly settled yet. Speaking of that, our house is still on track to be done mid to late August...we'll see how that goes. Maybe then, the fact that we are now permanently relocated might sink in a bit.

These pictures are at a cottage on a lake, owned by some people from church, the Jensens. They, and others from church, have been SOOO wonderful to us! We have been to the lake a few times with them and the boys absolutely LOVE it!

Sherwoods

2007-07-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

Our hearts are broken for Josh and Amanda Sherwood, our friends from Arizona, whose sweet baby Andrew passed away on July 13, 2007. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers at this time. We love you Sherwoods!

4th of July

2007-07-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hi! Everyone has a busy 4th of July and pictures to go along with it. So, I thought I would add mine to the mess! Here is our 4th of July story in pictures...it was so much fun!

Nothing like a patriotic run bright and early on the 4th! Travis ran the 5K and Kaleb and Barrett ran their very first race! They loved it! We signed up for another one later this month. Oh, Trav is the dude in the red if you can't tell because his contorted face.

Barrett thinks he's Dash (Incredibles)

This sooooo brings back great memories! The boys perched on the side of the road, eating ice cream, watching the parade, and of course, waiting for CANDY!

This was Isaac pretty much the whole day...

We went to see fireworks on Kensington Lake. Wow, it was a whole new fireworks experience!

Barrett and Kaleb doing sparklers...they love these pictures because they think they look like ghosts...silly boys!

Our (Very) Humble Abode

2007-07-02T06:40:00.000-07:00

Hello! Just a little post with a few pics...
I took some pictures of our current living conditions because I think it is actually quite funny! Although the condo we are staying in is beautiful, we have nothing to fill it! No one complains about sleeping on the floor, and to tell you the truth, there is a whole heck of lot less cleaning here! Maybe when all of our storage comes in August, I'll be wishing for these simpler times...hee hee! Anyway, without further adieu, I present....the Smith Home (temporarily)!

Trav and Jean's Room...hey, it's not bad...we have a sweet pad to sleep on!

Family Room, movie viewing area, and furniture...hee hee!

Aaaah, our one piece of real furniture...we bought it at a yard sale!

Kaleb and Barrett's Room

This card table USED to be our dining table until we found one at a yard sale...Kaleb and Barrett have since turned it into their craft table!

So, there ya go. I can't imagine we'll have too many visitors while we live here! I can see it now..."Welcome to our home! Come have a seat on...um...the floor."

Anyway, here are a few more pics of Isaac from last week to finish off my post! Laters!

The Last Two Months...

2007-06-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hello from Michigan! We are finally here and trying to get used to our new life as Midwesterners! I feel like we haven't been able to keep in the best of contact with everyone over the last two months, so I will back up a bit and update you on everything.

Of course you all know we welcomed Isaac to the world two months ago and then Travis graduated from Thunderbird two weeks later. This is where I pick up the story. We packed up our apartment and made the trek up to Utah where we would stay for a month. Good bye Arizona and all of our friends...it was hard to say goodbye!

While we were in Utah, we were busy, busy, busy! Unfortunately, remodeling our condo to sell it took up a lot of our spare time. Note to self: Never start a remodeling project to be done in a short amount of time if you just want to relax and enjoy family and friends. Seriously, thanks to our wonderful mothers who helped us out SOOO much while we were there! Here are some pics of some of things we did...

Trav and some of our friends ran the Ogden Marathon as a relay team (supergirl Holly in the middle ran it on her own and qualified for the Boston Marathon...yay!). Do not question the sanity of the fella in the middle with the tight tank top, hot pink shorts, and mile high spiked hair. That there is our friend, Jason, who is always making us laugh with his crazy ideas. Yep, he got quite a few second looks that day!

We went on a camping/rock climbing trip in May to City of Rocks, Idaho with our friends. It was Isaac's first official trip. We had a lot of fun and the boys attempted their first ever climbs!

At the beginning of June, my family and I went to San Antonio, Texas to see my little brother, Steve, graduate from Air Force Basic Training. It was a really cool experience...Go Steve!

Sweet little Isaac hanging out with Grandma Liz in Texas.

Ok, so now we're to the present. We moved to Michigan about a week and a half ago. It all went pretty smooth. I'm sure we were a sight to see in the airport juggling our three children, ten pieces of luggage, and several carry on bags! We had to bring the max amount of luggage we could because we will just be living out of that for a couple of months until our house is done being built and the rest of our stuff is moved here from Utah.

Our builder has been great to work with and offered to let us live in one of his brand new condos rent-free until our home is done. So, this is where we are at right now...

Here is Kaleb and the baby...the boys are still loving Isaac so much and always want to hold and love him (sometimes a little too much)!

Our boys have easily adjusted to their new life here. Kaleb and Barrett are such good, little boys and find fun anywhere they go. I'm just so grateful they have each other. As far as Isaac goes, I'm just not sure what we did to deserve such a good baby. His mission right now is to eat, sleep, and entertain. That kid smiles more than any baby I've ever seen! He is so much fun! Here are just some random pictures of the boys having fun in the sprinklers at our house.
Last but not least, here is Travis and the boys on Father's Day. I look at this picture and seriously can't believe I am completely surrounded by boys!!! Oh well, life is great...

Ok, everyone, please keep in touch! We need it more than ever now! Even though China was so far away, we knew it was temporary. But, our move is for real this time and not so temporary! Hugs and kisses!!!

A Quick Post...

2007-06-06T00:36:00.000-07:00

Whew! It's already been seven weeks since our baby was born! In these short two months, our family will have experienced some major life changes...a new baby, a new job, a new car, a new house, and a big move!

First of all, I have to say...CONGRATS TO TRAV ON HIS GRADUATION FROM THUNDERBIRD! It has been an amazing experience here at Thunderbird for our whole family and we will miss our friends so much, but we are also excited to start a new job and a new life in Michigan. He will blush (does Travis blush???) and shrug it off, but I am seriously so proud of him! Our wonderful families came down for his graduation and to help us pack up to move.

We have been in Utah for about a month. We have been able to spend a lot of time with friends and family...we love and will miss you all!!! We have also been super busy completely gutting and remodeling our condo here to sell. What a project! Hopefully it will sell sooner than later...

Anyway, we are actually leaving for Michigan in two days, so I will post as soon as we get settled a bit.

Here are some pics of Trav's graduation...

The First Few Days

2007-04-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hi! Our baby is finally here! Isaac Nathaniel Smith was born on Tuesday, April 17 (Happy Birthday to Sonali too). We went in to the hospital at 2 am to be induced. The labor was easy and smooth (thank goodness for epidurals) and Isaac was born at 12:45 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. I think he looks just like Travis...our friend, Holly, said it best when she thought he looked like a "mini Smitty."

He has been a little angel so far and we have all loved having such a sweet little baby around. The boys were so excited to see him and are very proud to be big brothers. Barrett thinks it is cool that he is a little brother AND a big brother. Here are some pictures of Isaac's first few days in the big world...

All candid kisses here! Kaleb and Barrett couldn't get enough of their new little brother. They just kept holding, kissing, and hugging him.

A good shot of his hair. We were so excited when he came out with a full set of blonde hair! We thought we would have all bald babies. The nurses kept coming in commenting on his hair. The nursery nurse told us they were in the nursery oogling over him because they very rarely see blonde babies with that much hair.

Whew! Mommy needs a nap!

Isaac's first bath...he screamed and screamed until we put his head under the warm water to rinse his hair and he just sat their so content. So cute!

Hello

2007-04-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to anyone who may be reading this! We decided to start writing on our blog again after a long hiatus. I guess our life down here in Arizona hasn't been newsworthy enough to blog about! I figured with the coming of our baby and our big move to Michigan, we may have some news from time to time. Although we will still be in the country, I sometimes feel like we are moving as far as China again. We are so excited for our huge changes rapidly approaching, but we will still miss everyone here in Arizona and Utah so much!

Well, we just got back from a quick trip to San Diego last night. We decided to go on Friday and took off on Saturday! We went with our friends, the Heids, and spent Easter at Danny's parents home on Sunday and then we went to Legoland on Monday. As many of you know, our boys are OBSESSED with legos and we have been wanting to take them there for a long time. It worked out perfect that we could go while we only lived 5 hours away from San Diego. It was a super quick trip, but the boys LOVED it and didn't want to leave! Here are some pics from our trip. I saved the best for last...

Finding eggs on Easter morning

At the beach...what beach you ask? I have no idea, but all
I know is that I am in love with the beach and ocean!

The boys preparing to enter heaven

Ok, so I thought I would NEVER buy the pictures they take of people on roller coasters, but we easily forked out the $12.95 when we saw this picture of Barrett. This was his first real roller coaster ride, and as you can see, the poor kid didn't do so well on the big hill. We are NOT terrible parents who find humor in our kids' pain...he was fine after and wanted to go on more roller coasters. For those of you who know Barrett, you know you have NEVER seen a face like this on him! We laughed so hard and wanted to pass the funniness along.

Halloween Fun

2006-11-03T21:51:00.000-08:00

Hello and Happy Late Halloween! We had a great Halloween this year (and all of the festivities leading up to it). Barrett and Kaleb both had their Halloween parties at school on Tuesday. I was able to go help in Kaleb's class with the party. I mention this because I don't know how long the time will last that my son is SO proud to have me there (he was yelling to everyone that "that is MY mommy over there," and coming up and hugging me every five minutes). I hope it lasts for a while, because I am not looking forward to the stage when children are embarrassed of their parents! Anyway, so then we went to a Thunderkids Halloween parade, then to the Glendale communitity Fall Festival, and last, trick or treating. Whew...we were exhausted!

Here are some pictures of our little "super heroes" in action...

So proud of their "Ghosts in the Graveyard" treat and their very own pumpkin face creations

Aahhh, here are the super heroes...the Red Power Ranger and, of course, Batman
(have we ever gone a year without seeing Batman or Spiderman???)

Just had to add this because it makes me giggle...we were at a party and Kaleb was lying on the ground and someone tried to take his picture. Being difficult, Kaleb began to scoot away with his forehead on the ground (don't ask me why). Well, come to find out, our clever little boy gave himself a sweet and very large rugburn smack dab in the center of his forehead. Good thing his costume had a mask...

The next couple are of the boys at the Fall Festival here in Glendale. It was kind of like a carnival with games, food, blow up jumping toys, etc. It was nice to enjoy Halloween activities in warmth!

Back In Arizona

2006-09-18T22:47:00.000-07:00

Hello? Is anyone there? Ok, so we know that our life in Arizona may not be as interesting as it was in China, but we hope that you will check in on us every once in a while.

Our life in Arizona is finally starting to feel somewhat settled. We moved in on a Monday (two weeks ago today), and then all three boys started school the next day. We have quickly realized that this will be the busiest semester yet for Travis. Along with a full and hard schedule of classes, he is President of the Entrepreneurship Club, is a Campus Ambassador, and is involved in many other clubs and groups on campus. He is always one to be right in the middle of it all!

I also seem to be in the middle of a full list of activities that will keep me busy. Along with normal mom duties and work at the gym, I have committed to teaching a kickboxing class at Trav's school and have some photo shoots lined up. I am also involved in the soccer club, triathalon club, Thunderdance, Thunderkids, and International Women's club on campus. I LOVE Thunderbird because it is so family oriented! So busy, but so fun!

Anyway, not much else to report. I am including some last pictures from China when we went on our last weekend trip to Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. You thought you were done looking at pointy, bright colored buildings. Well, it was just such a fun trip, I wanted to share...

In Shanghai: The first two pics were of some friends we made at a little hole in the wall restaurant on a street. We took the first one to show of the conditions we were eating in. The picture makes it look WAY too clean. We were laughing at how our mothers and most of our friends would FREAK if they could see how and where we ate half of the time. We decided that our friends, John and Paul, might be the only ones who would join in our "street eating fun."

In Suzhou: This was by far my favorite city we visited! It is known as the "Venice of the East." We were able to go on boat rides and see the streets with the canals running through the homes and shops. What a COOL thing to see!

The next two pics are kind of nerdy, ok, just mostly the picture of me, but I had to include them as riding around Suzhou by bike the whole time we were there was one of our favorite things! For the first time, I sort of felt like one of the Chinese, riding with the rest of the masses. The boys loved it too! Notice Trav's grandma bike...you know I giggled several times watching him cruising on that sweet ride...

Last but not least, I included this picture just because I wanted to brag at how handsome my little boy is. Seriously, he's all Travis...

Suzhou is also super well known for their gardens, as they had a ton of them throughout and beyond the city. Just a little view in the Garden of the Master of Nets...

In Hangzhou: This city is most well known for West Lake and Lingyin Temple...the first two pics are at the temple and the last is at a garden on the West Lake.

Ok, I'm off! Until next time...

Goodbye (sniff)

2006-08-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I write with mixed feelings tonight. This will be our last last blog from the great land of China. We have been sight seeing this week to a place called Longqing Gorge and also the Great Wall (Badaling), and are leaving tomorrow for our last trip to Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou in Central China. When we get back, we will have two days to pack, clean, and get everything squared away before we leave next Thursday.

Longqing Gorge

The Great Wall of China

We have truly experienced the summer of a lifetime and hope that we can return someday. I wish I could describe in words all that we have seen, experienced, learned, and felt during our stay here. This blog was my attempt to convey some of those feelings and for me to have a "journal" of our happenings. My last blog is sort of a tribute to China. There are so many images, people, and places I want to remember...but I have a camera to capture those memories. But, it's the small, quirky things about this country that I want to also remember. So, what better way to write them down and share them with friends and family!

Things we never did get used to here and/or will not miss about China...
1. The masses of people everywhere you turn
2. People constantly spitting loogies (even women)
3. I might as well mention farmer blows and nose picking as well
4. Split pants on toddlers (I'm still shocked)
5. Humidity (you wonder why you always see my hair slicked back in all of the pics)
6. Stares (I mean, come on, as I'm jogging down the street, are they staring because they are fascinated by the white chick or because they think I am a freak of nature???)
7. Driving conditions (we have seen three people either on foot or bike get run over by a car).

While I had to add the not-so-great list, our list of great things far outweighs the bad. Here are the things we love and/or will miss about China...
1. Wonderful friendly people...they LOVE our kids, are so willing to help, and are always trying to have an English conversation if they can
2. PARKS...oh, how I will miss the beautiful parks...my very favorite thing to do was go to any of the parks in the morning or evening and watch the many, many fascinating activities going on...dancing, singing, martial arts, tai chi, mahjong and chess games, hackey sac, ping pong, and massive kite flying. Kaleb and Barrett love the parks as much as I do...we get right in there and dance along with the rest of them! I swear, I must have taken a million pictures at the parks...here are some of the things we might see while strollilng through a park in China...

3. Shopping....duh.
4. Food...yeah, I thought I might be coming home looking anorexic and/or malnourished because I didn't dare eat the food. Yeah right, I wish. If I've put on a few, I'm totally blaming it on the Pockies, oh, and the Pretz, and the food at a little restaurant by our apartment, oh yeah, and the daily ice creams from the road side freezers. Believe me, we haven't struggled in the eating department!
5. Everything is so CHEAP...I don't know how I am going to have to go back to paying U.S. prices!
6. Beautiful landscapes and scenery
7. The laid back lifestyle...we love to walk along at night and see everyone just hanging out with family and friends playing games or just talking on the side of the street.
8. The quirky little things see and love to laugh about...karaoke, dancing in the streets, old men with their birds in cages and/or crickets in their pockets, cutting hair in the streets, people sleeping on the side of street, the style of clothing (or lack thereof), etc.

9. Most people are such hard workers...and for what seems like so little. We totally respect that.
10. The deep culture and history
11. Kaleb and Barrett are free for everything...yeah!
12. I LOVE it that people don't care what others think about them. They don't try to impress anyone. What a great attitude...I wish I could be a bit more like that.

Oopsie, I was going to stop at ten, but you get twelve. Well, there you go...there is our little tribute to China. Thanks for blogging with us this summer! I know you are freaking out, wondering if the blog will shut down. Dry your eyes, because we will still post updates and random pictures of the boys every once in a while. Hee hee, I'm such a geek. Good-bye all...or I should I say HELLO in a week or so! We are SOOOO excited to see everyone!!!

Countdown

2006-08-17T05:50:00.000-07:00

We're on the countdown...only two more weeks until we head back to the states. I truly can't believe our time here is almost done! I don't think the reality of it has set in...the only thing we can think about are alll of the things we still need to see and do! So, needless to say, we are frantically (well, me being the frantic one) trying to figure out our last few weeks here.

Believe it or not, I have no pics to post this time. But, we have had a few things going on...

First, we had to get rid of our puppy. We called and talked to the airline a couple of times and found it was going to be impossible for us to get the puppy out of the country. Hmmm, maybe something to think about BEFORE one buys a puppy in China. Anyway, one of the kids in Trav's class gladly took him and offered to send us pics of him every week...hee hee.

Trav is just finishing up with teaching two English camps for kids. He is getting paid a lot for it, but I didn't really see much of him for two or three weeks (because he still had his internship as well). It has been a good experience and he comes home with hilarious stories about the kids daily. The kids sure loved him...he came away with several gifts and gets emails regularly from them.

My brother, Greg, and his girlfriend, Amber, just left Beijing today. We had a blast with them over the past week and wanted to thank them for visiting. We did a lot of sight seeing, shopping, dining, and Amber and I had a massage yesterday (2 hours for $12...you can't beat that)!

Last, and definitely not least, Trav and I celebrated our eighth anniversary on the 12th. Three of our birthdays and our anniversary were celebrated in China this year! The Jagodas watched Kaleb and Barrett while we went out to eat at a Brazilian BBQ and then went for a walk in a park. It was so great...it was the first time we had been out alone since we have been in China.

Ok, that's it for this week...

30 YEARS OLD!!!

2006-08-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true, Trav hit the big 3-0! His birthday was on Tuesday, but because of the English Teaching Summer Camps he picked up, he was gone from 7 am to 9:30 pm. So, needless to say, he didn't get much of a birthday that day. But, don't worry, the party planning crew (that would be me) came through on Friday. I surprised him with a full two hours of pampering at a local massage place...one hour of full body massage and one hour of foot massage. No snickering to any fellas who may be reading this...deep down you know you would love the pamperage. After that, we came home to a big SURPRISE from our friends and family (Greg and Amber). We had Chinese food for dinner and a delicious array of cakes and such. I was pleased to find out that Trav didn't have a clue about the surprise party (which is the first time ever he didn't find out about one of my surprises beforehand).

1. Trav and me at the Massage Parlor
2. Trav re-doing his "surprised face" since we didn't catch it the first time
3. I had to take a picture of our desserts, because they are such a rare treat here...we had chocolate cake, Chinese cake, no bake cheesecake, and peach cobbler. Thanks to Emily who made the cake and cobbler in her toaster oven. So Yummy!

Our guests...Amber, Greg (my bro), Brittany, Savannah, and Dan Jagoda, Smith's, Emily, Joab, Asa, and Joab Meyer

Ok, so, obviously you saw the birthday picture with my brother Greg, and his girlfriend, Amber in it. They are here in Beijing on vacation for ten days...we are SO excited they are here! They came from Japan where they spent 10 days. We have been doing some sight seeing and shopping.

At Summer Palace
Ok, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't resist this photo opportunity! We fit the part of Chinese royalty perfectly...

I took a few more pictures of Kaleb and Barrett's five minutes of fame in China. I still crack up about the fascination people have with foreign kids. However, I think poor Kaleb and Barrett have had about enough of the attention. Kaleb tolerates it, but Barrett looks them in the eye and tells them, "I am NOT saying Ni Hao to you," or "I don't want to talk to Chinese people right now." Of course, the people just giggle because they have no idea what he is saying. In this picture of Barrett, I was standing down below and a big crowd of people gathered to oogle and watch Barrett. I think that in this situation, it is much more fun to be the parent than the child...

If you look closely, you will see a little Kaleb in the middle of a sea of Chinese people and cameras.

We also went to Yonghegong Temple with Greg and Amber. It was the first Buddhist temple we have been to and was very cool to see. In this temple in the picture, there was a giant golden Buddha...we came up to his ankles...

I added this picture because it was such a funny situation. While we were at Yonghegong Temple, we were caught in a huge downpour for about 45 minutes. When it finally cleared up, there was a small river from the temple to the entrance with no other way around it. It was funny to see everyone getting in their bare feet or sloshing through with bags on their feet to get to the other side. You could just see the disgust on the Chinese people faces that they had to do this. But, on the other hand, these people know what's in this water...

Well, that wraps up our fun for this week! I keep telling myself that one of these days, I will write a blog that someone could read through in 30 seconds...

Xi'an Family Fun

2006-08-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

Hi! We're back from Xi'an and back to real life (ok, not exactly real life, but whatever). So, we had a wonderful time and it went by way too fast! Here is our trip with pictures in a nutshell...

Xian is a city in a southern province of China that is well known for it's history and culture. We had been told by many people what a great place it was. We went with our friends, Dan, Brittany, and Savannah Jagoda. The train was a first for our whole family, so you can imagine the boys were pretty excited about it. The trip is about 13 hours, so we booked tickets in the evening so we could sleep all night on the train. That is the way to travel long distances (especially with kids)...

Our first stop in was the hotel. Um, not the greatest, but for $12 a night, you can't go wrong! Next we went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (easier to say than the Chinese name), which is a type of Buddhist temple. The surrounding grounds were beautiful, as usual.

Kaleb likes this picture because it shows how "big the Gapoda is." They were pretty proud that their little legs climbed all the way to the top to see a view of the city.

At certain times throughout the day on the Pagoda grounds, they have huge fountains set to music. There were certain fountains that people could play in. When the boys saw the other kids, it was all over. Who needs dry clothes anyway?

After full bellies and naps, we went to the center of town to go to the Bell and Drum Temples, the Mosque, and street market. Of course, I included a picture of part of the street market, as they are my favorite. I never tire of the markets here and I am proud to say that I reign as the bargaining queen (according to me anyway). Drum temple at night...

The next day, we headed out on a bus to go to what Xian is most famous for, the Terra Cotta Warriors. On the way, we went to the mausoleum of the first Qin Emperor, Qin Shi Huang. The tomb is said to be bigger than the Great Pyramid of Egypt. He is famous for basically uniting all of the China back in 220 B.C. This was a performance they did on the grounds.

You gotta have a picture with the main performer...

Ahhh, the Terra Cotta Warriors. Said to be the eighth wonder of the world. It was truly amazing, but the history behind it is what makes it so cool. The same emperor of the tomb we went to wanted to have his entire army killed and buried with him when he died so he could have their protection in the afterlife. He was finally convinced not to kill all of them (imagine that) and have lifelike statues of all of them, their horses, chariots, and weapons to be buried with him instead. It was kept a secret for thousands of years and was only discovered by some farmers in the 1970's. There are thousands and thousands of them, and they are still uncovering all of it. This was so fun to see. The facial features, clothing, and weapons were all completely different.

That night, Travis and Dan set off to climb an insane mountain called HuaShan. They hiked all night straight up cliffs of death holding on to chains with just their headlamps. Yes, it is a very big attraction around those parts. It sounds crazy, and they said it was a killer, but was also so amazing. They said the view at the top was beautiful even though the sunrise was kind of, well, non-existent, because of the fog. Here is a picture of my sweaty hubby.

While they were on the verge of death, us girls took the kids back to the fountains at night. After the insane amount of crowds gathering around us to gawk and take pictures with our kids, we got soaked and had fun in the fountains.

On our last day, us girls and the kids went to an awesome park until Trav and Dan rolled back into town around 11 am. We all went up on top of the city wall (which still surrounds the entire city) and Brittany and I rode bikes around the whole city wall while the boys took the kids to good old McDonald's for food and ice cream. Picture of part of the city wall and "moat" below it...

Wow, if you got through all of that, then congrats. You know me, I just get carried away with my stories and pictures. Believe me, I spared you the many small details that occurred along the way. I had to refrain.

Well, thanks again for the emails and comments! Love always, Us

And we're off!

2006-07-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ni Hao! Well, we are off to Xian tomorrow for a four day trip with our neighbors, the Jagodas. We are really excited to see other parts of China. The boys are just really excited about the train ride there (little do they know they will be stuck on that train for 14 hours).

These pics are from our day trip to the Summer Palace. This was one of our favorite places we have been so far. As I was going through the pictures, I realized that most of them are scenery. So, sorry to possibly bore you, but it is actually the only way to try to explain how wonderful and beautiful this place was. So, here you go...

The first three are of a quaint little village and bridge built along the river. It was so great, this was one of my favorite parts...I guess you are lucky I stopped at posting three pictures!

The second part was exploring the actual Summer Palace which is built up on a hill. The boys loved exploring the buildings and tunnels that climb the hill. Unfortunately, all you get is a picture of me in a door, as we were too busy exploring and hiking ourselves to take pictures of the boys.

The rest of the pictures were from our paddle boat ride on the lake and hiking through the grounds of the Summer Palace. It was truly beautiful.

Just a sidenote...I had to throw in another one of Kaleb and Trav's converations. You may not care, but at least the grandma's will appreciate it! Kids say the darndest things...
Kaleb: Hey Daddy, I bet a lot of people in China want to marry me, huh?
Daddy: Uh, sure.
Kaleb: And Barrett too. But, I will probably just say no, because I need to marry an American.
Daddy: Why is that?
Kaleb: It would be too long before I could understand anyone here.

Big (or little) News

2006-07-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

Really quick...just a little update on the orphanage. I was able to go again this week. Another amazing experience, but no tears this time. I was able to spend a lot more time with the little boy that was so precious. I just need to figure out a way to keep him...

Ok, I write to you with mixed emotions about our news. It happened...the moment I have been dreading for the almost nine years I have known Trav. The subject that we have disputed since we have been married. I knew it would happen, just not at the time of our lives when we are most transient and busy. Yes, Trav came home the other night with a puppy.

Anyone who knows us knows I am NOT a dog person (let alone a pet person) and Trav is a super dog lover. He has begged, bribed, and given favors in hopes that he can get a dog. Well, two nights ago, he took matters into his own hands and gave into the man with the knapsack of puppies outside the subway. He tried to justify it that since I couldn't adopt the little boy at the orphanage, at least we could save a little puppy from China. Hmmmm, quite the humanitarian.

I tried really hard to be mad, but just look at his face and his tinyness. I think I kind of like him. Oh, and the boys...oh, the boys are in heaven. They talk non-stop about the puppy and thanked Travis over and over. Kaleb loves the puppy, but Barrett LOVES the puppy. He has always been the more animal loving child of the two. He won't leave the puppy's side, even when he is in his box sleeping. He is so gentle and sweet. He cleans up after him, feeds him, holds him, and plays with him. If we don't hear from Barrett for a while, we check on him and he is out on the porch talking to the puppy and we even found him inside the box with the puppy one time. So, here we are...in China with a puppy. What do ya do.

Last week, the boys had their first experience at a Chinese barbershop (any barbershop for that matter). A couple of days prior, Trav and I were casually talking about getting the boys hair cut, when Travis teased that the Chinese barbers would probably shave them bald. Well, as much as we didn't think Kaleb was listening, he sucked in every word. So, one day as we were walking to our house, we spontaneously decided to get haircuts. We sat Kaleb in the chair and he just started wailing at the top of his lungs and wouldn't stop. You better believe that everyone within a five mile radius was staring at the crazy Americans in the Chinese barbershop. Come to find out, Kaleb saw the hair guy pull out his clippers and thought he was getting shaved for sure. After assuring him he would still have hair, he was ok. Here are before, during, and after pics...

Before: Two shaggy litte boys desperately in need of a haircut

During the delicate art of buzzing of the head

After: Besides the hair color, skin color, and everything else on their bodies, they looked just like the other Chinese kids with their new hair do's

Ramblings

2006-07-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

Hello! Another fun and busy week goes by. How is it possible that I don't have a job and no other responsibilities outside of being a mom and housekeeper and we are just as busy as ever? Outside of the many "fun" things we do to occupy our time, Travis and I are both getting ready to teach English to Chinese students, and Kaleb is lined up for a photo shoot. Being a foreigner here, there are some great opportunities to earn a little extra cash! We need to pay for our upcoming mini trips to Xian and Guilin this month and next.

I had an amazing experience this last week that I wanted to share. I had the opportunity to go to an orphanage and spend time with the children. Just a little background...this orphanage is considered to be one of nicer ones in China, so it was clean and the kids were generally healthy. The majority of the children were healthy, little girls, or little boys with some kind of handicap or deformity (cleft palates, missing arm, no fingers, down syndrome, etc). These are the children that people gave up because the parents who wanted a boy and had a girl, or had a child with a deformity and wanted a healthy child. The parents are allowed to have one child here in China to control the population.

A little more background...this orphanage does not adopt the children. The children stay there until they are about 13 or so and then are on their own. I guess there are actually very few orphanages that actually do adopt out children here. I was able to witness the nicer side of orphanages in China, but I learned so much about other orphanages here that absolutely breaks my heart. The conditions are exactly what you hear about...I can't even bring myself to think about it, let alone write about it. We would not be allowed in any of these orphanages. I guess the women in our church have been working for three years just to gain entrance into this orphanage. Absolutely no pictures were allowed (which, of course, broke my heart).

When we arrived, we started with the babies. We held them, loved them, sang to them, and fed them. There were about 15-20 babies ages 1 week to 1 year. This was amazing and I, of course, shed too many silent tears looking at these beautiful babies. They may be fed and changed well, but they don't have the love they deserve.

Next, we played and helped feed the older children. They were all precious little souls, but I found myself especially interested in a little boy about 2 or 3 years old. He had been dropped off at the orphanage a couple of months ago and they said he was just so sad...cried all of the time and never played. At first, he would have nothing to do with me whatsoever. But, one time, I reached my arms out to him and he let me pick him up. After a few minutes, he laid his head on my shoulder and just kept staring right into my eyes. He was attached to me for the remainder of the time. It was time to go and I went to set him down and he wrapped his tiny arms around me and held on so tight. I sang to him and hugged him and then had to put him down. He stared at me with tears rolling down his face with his arms outstretched. Leaving that little boy was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I got in the car and cried...not because of his conditions, but because that little boy will never know the love of a mother and father. I wanted SO bad to take him home and give him the life he deserves. I cried several times that day and night. I am going to the orphanage again this coming Wednesday. I may not be able to do much, but if any of those kids feel love and happiness from me spending time with them, than that is what I will do.

Well, I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. One of my requests is that I could go out by myself and do two things I can not do with my little ones around...browse the endless shops on the streets and photograph. So, Trav watched the boys while I went out for four hours...what a wonderful and perfect morning. When I got home, Trav made me lunch. He then proceeded to blindfold me. I fought him for about 10 minutes on this, but he prevailed. As if we don't get stared at enough around here, my family led me all around town, onto a crowded bus, and into a busy market. All I knew from behind the blindfold was people laughing at me and bumping into a few trees and walls. Trav surprised me by taking me to Yu Show Market to the tailor shop to have a dress made for me that I have wanted. How fun is it to pick out or design a dress and choose the material and have it fitted exactly to me! He is seriously the best! That night, we all went to a Chinese Acrobatic Show, which was amazing. Man, the things these people can do! What a wonderful day...here are some pics of yesterday...