lesson learned...but i'm still mad

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...

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back from utah

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!!!

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10 years

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!

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AAAARGHHH!!!

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?

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super duper ooper important

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...

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one year, two months, and two days

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....

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the unthinkable...in walmart

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.

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a little help please?

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...

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one

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)!!!

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calling all blog lovers

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.

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chicago

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!

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sibling rivalry

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!

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pink sucks

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.

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it's a miracle

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!

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Joy

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...

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when kids are naughty

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?

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ai

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.

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8 YEARS OLD

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!

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