Not much has changed....

July 24, 2008


July 24, 2009

I came across this and thought it was funny...

....same froggie slide
....same swimsuit
....same friend
....same date July 24
....same Roy Aquatic Center
....same crazy overdue for a cut hair


Not much changes in a year, at least when it comes to the little things!

Happy Birthday Ash!!

Happy 25th Birthday Ash, I love you --- here is your top 10!

1. I love her organization skills, there is no better gal to have around when you are in need of a closet redo, or packing up a house (hint, hint come on over and help me get started). One time in particular I remember when I was on bed rest with Luke and you came to KY to visit me. You spent the entire weekend organizing Lance's old stuff, getting the nursery ready, washing bottles, etc, etc. One thing I did not worry about at that time was having everything ready in time for his early arrival you did it for me.

2. I love you as my fashion consultant, if ever I wonder if something is in style or is as cute as I think it is, all I need to do is ask you. I take your word for it no questions asked, you just have the knack when it comes to fashion, thanks for being my stylist the last 25 years...

3. I love your tender heart, though it can sometimes be a little tricky to work around. It seems in all the times I call you in tears over something what usually happens is I end up comforting you instead, nobody can turn those tears on faster than you....I love that sweet heart of yours.

4. You are so giving, I think of the many times you show up with banana bread just because.....or your quick volunteer to babysit the boys....or the many haircuts while certain little boys are screaming their heads off....or your willingness to change a diaper, get a sippy of milk...or just about anything else anyone asks you to do.

5. I love the sound of your voice, it's so soothing and comforting. I apologize for the many times I fell asleep in the middle of a story when we shared a bedroom growing up but your voice does it to me every time, it's a built in stress reliever. I promise your stories really were interesting....

6. I love how you never leave a conversation without saying the words "I love you", it's one of the sweetest most endearing things about you.

7. I love your beauty, I know sounds like a silly thing to love, but Ter and I have always said if you were not our sister we would really despise you. I swear she has no imperfection, she is just so beautiful, I have always been so proud to be her sister. A great compliment is when someone tells me we look alike. She is one of those people that can just roll out of bed and look darling, I am so not that way...

8. I love your faith, she is so quiet and humble yet her spirit is just so huge, I don't mean to sound corny but it's true. I have never known her to miss a night in prayer and scripture study, she has always been an example to me with the relationship she has with our father in heaven. She takes everything to him, I strive to do the same by her example.

9. She is super talented, I think she got my share as well as her own in that department. Their is nothing she can't do even on the first try: cross-stitching, decorating, skiing, crafts, and pretty much anything involving her hands. I remember at 4 years old we would have Ash french braid our barbies hair -- I mean really how many 4 year olds do you know that can french braid.

10. One of my all time favorite things about her is her ability to put others completely at ease. Whenever I spend the night at her house, she is busying herself with making me dinner, doing my laundry, giving me her bed all the while laughing and talking like she doesn't have a care in the world. She can be with complete strangers and start conversations just like that, like she known them her whole life. She is calming and patient and loving.

I love you sister have a great birthday!

(don't mind the odd spacing between numbers, I don't know what I am doing wrong)

The Dreaded Day.....

The dreaded day has arrived....

Poor Eric is off to take the bar, good luck my sweetie my thoughts are with you these next two days.

Sending good wishes your way....

Summer Nights

They are so easy and carefree....look at my pretty sister...I love the laughter.....
Summer nights are meant to be spent getting dirty, sweaty, grass stained.....especially if you are a little boy.
No matter if the mom has to wash muddy shoes off a million times, it's just proof that they were having fun.
I can't believe we are at the turning point of summer, it's going to darn fast.........

Pioneer Day

We spent Pioneer Day at the pool.....

there was a lot of splashing......

.....that fire hydrant was a mere two seconds before my darling boy got me right in the face, check out that stream, that is no small amount of water, and why did I wear mascara? And you see that laugh on his face, he felt no remorse.....

.....good food....good picnic food....there is just nothing better than good picnic food....

.....good company -- Jill this picture is for you!

.....this baby slept like a log for two hours in this stroller, look at those dainty little feet. Can I call a boy's feet dainty? I think this is pretty much how we all felt after a fun day in the sun, ready for a warm bath, comfy clothes, a good movie and my own bed. Great Pioneer Day with all of you!

Star of the Month **Lance**

Full name: Lance Eric Smith

Lance is pretty much the best therapist I can find when it comes to helping teach Luke how to speak. If only I could bring him with to school every day, I tell you what he would blow those teachers out of the water. When Luke is in his clamming up mood, all we need is Lance to participate and you can bet Luke will follow along. A chance to do what big brother is doing you bet he is all about that. I find Lance constantly doing the hand que to Luke prompting him to speak and then giving him high fives when he gets the word right. Lancey we should be paying you big bucks for the success you have with your student.

Favorite belonging: currently his CARS backpack
.....and here's why an excuse to tote his favorite belongings with him everywhere he goes. It changes daily but here is an example of today -- Spidey, Baby Mickey, magazine featuring Spiderman costume, and a Spiderman book that we got for 75 cents at the DI. Just a little look into Lance's world these days.
Favorite food: Ice cream -- he is his Father's son, that's for sure!!
Stunning.......simply stunning, Lance has a great sense of fashion. If you have great legs you might as well flaunt them, even if you are a 4 year old boy!

Love you little fella.

Every day, you make me smile.....

Sunday Afternoons

Do you need a Sunday afternoon activity go stroll through a cemetery in the late afternoon.....it's peaceful, a light breeze, practically deserted, and a good chance for your imagination to run away with ideas, dream about the people who lived once and loved like we do now. I tell you what it's down right enjoyable.....


Look at these dates, I love to imagine the lives they led back then.....

This one broke my heart two twin little girls only lived a day....they would be 15 now. I always wonder what the story behind grave sites like these are--what did they die from?

Eventually we came upon the reason behind our quest, Eric's great grandparents. Here is my boy with his ancestors....

........and now we go home to make brownies, that is after we collect Luke from the destruction he is performing. Oh yeah, there is one bad thing about browsing through a cemetery he is two years old and has a mind of his own.

My girls.....

My girls......

No matter how many years pass, how long it's been since the last get together, these four girls will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you friends for the years of friendship, it was a truly wonderful night with you all. It's amazing to me how we can pick right up were we left off and spend three hours sitting in Chili's with the waitress giving us the evil eye to get out and yet the laughter tears and joy is still there. I thank my lucky stars that day in 7th grade when the five of us became inseparable, I would never have made it through those years without you. Here is to 14 years of friendship......may we have a life time of laughs ahead of us.


Deeann: I love her quick wit, the silly sayings she says "lash out irrationally" how many times did we hear that in high school? Her small backpack in 7th grade, my math tutor for pretty much every grade. She was the friend to call when you needed a good cry, she would play with your hair and tell you funny jokes and then come up with the crazy idea of toilet papering that mean ex boyfriend's house. She by far has the most exciting life, how many Utah Jazz dancers do you know? We love hearing of her many trips, and her take on the Boozer situation. Friend I will always have a good laugh at "I am so glad I am not dating him right now" as we all stared in complete shock at the football field, never laughed so hard in my life.



Stacey: what can I say about this girl, we are the most alike, kindred spirits, she is my bosom buddy as Anne Shirley would say. She is our sweetheart of the group, the peace maker, as beautiful inside as she is out. It was always the two of us sitting back laughing at the chaos around us by the other three, we were the quieter ones, "sensible ones". Stace what would I have done without you this last year in Logan? Thank you for being one of the greatest friends I have ever had, for your eggnog, invites to dinner, babysitting Lance every Wednesday, trips to the park. I am going to miss you like crazy in your move to Texas. Thank goodness we have proved that miles apart does not stop our friendship.

Teri: One of the most frequent twin questions we get is "were you friends in high school"? Well not only did we share the same group of friends, but this twin was my best friend. Every second of my childhood was spent with this girl by my side, she has seen every laugh, every tear, every joy. How in the world was I so blessed to get my best friend for my sister. Ter I think back to some of my favorite memories of school with you and I think of the four of us crowded around you in A building bathroom while you sobbed about Theo. Copying you and Dee's psychology homework every day before class started. My locker buddy in seventh grade, where we fought over the lower shelf. You driving me everywhere in the gray box car because I refused to learn to drive a stick, I could go on and on....

Teryl: We would have been pretty dull without this girl around. Her laugh is infectious and still to this day brings a smile to my face you can't help but be happy when Teryl is around. We were locker buddies in 8th grade if I remember correctly, EFY buddies in 9th grade where we circulated a certain rumor about ourselves, too embarrassing to say what the rumor was however. My most vivid memories of you involve chunky fry sauce, hopping down the road in your car every day for lunch while the rest of us screamed and you screamed back telling us to "shut up". Report card day was always a good one, we avoided you at all costs to not deal with the wrath of Teryl. And your hugs Teryl gives the best hugs in the world.......

Love you girls can't wait for the next time we are all together!

Home Owners (almost)

In just one short month we will be the proud new home owners of this house, August 19th is our closing date, and we will move in that weekend right before Eric starts school.

the foyer

Family room

Kitchen

Boys Bedroom

3 out of the 4 bedrooms have walk in closets, won't this be delightful to shove all of their toys out of the way in here. As you can see Luke has already made good friends with the current owner of this room a little three year old boy, he thinks his toys are Luke's toys.

Master bedroom

Master bathroom look at my huge bath tub, I have wanted one of those for quite some time. (I love baths at the end of the day, with a good book, yep I will be doing that nightly).

More pictures to come when we move in.

A few of my favorite things about this house:

--4 bedrooms

--The boys will share still because for one thing their room is huge-- equal to the masters-- but that means I will get my own craft room and Eric will get his own office. We are very excited about those prospects...

--the foyer right when you walk in, for some reason it is the room I am most anticipating decorating

--custom painting that just so happens to be colors that I would pick myself. Well there is one pink room, darling for a little girl, but seeing as how I don't have a little girl that one may have to be repainted, but for now that is my craft room and hey I am a girl!

--we only have one house on the left of us, from the right and the back our neighbors are cows. I love it!

--separate shower and bathtub in the master bath

--it is only two years old built in 2007, still looks brand new

--huge windows everywhere there is so much natural light and the views holy cow Cache Valley is the prettiest!

Okay the list goes on and on but I will spare you for now. Just know that we are excited, I spend every waking minute planning and daydreaming about it, my very first house. I have waited for this moment for six and a half years now, I am just drinking it in!!

Cherry Hill

Here is what we have been up to this weekend:

....camping

.....celebrated Tan's 8th birthday

......sleeping in tents

......good food

......swimming

.....miniature golf

.....concerts in a park on a warm summer evening!!

And all this in one location.....if you haven't been to Cherry Hills in awhile, go there is so much fun to be had! Thanks Tanner for inviting us along for your birthday celebrations, happy 8th we love you!