County Fair Round 2

.....and these were the only 3 pictures I got at the Box Elder County Fair this last week. The stomach flu hit our household the night we moved in at 3 am both boys woke up with it. Two days later fair night I came down with it and two days later thankfully after Eric's last class of the week he came down with it.

Fair foods, spinning rides and a billion people do not make a good mix when you are just getting over the flu, not my funnest fair experience. But the boys they loved it......so of course it was worth it.

Good Friends

A good friend of mine from Kentucky was here visiting family this last week, her and her family are now living in the Philippines for her husbands job. We were able to meet up together for dinner at Red Robin and catch up on this last year. I can't even imagine living in the Philippines with young children in tow, I so admire her and absolutely loved hearing her stories of living there, though hopefully they will be able to get back to Utah soon so we can see more of each other than just once a year.

I have to share a story of this girl and you will see why I love her so much.

December 17, 2006 was a horrible dreaded day for me. I was pregnant with Luke 26 weeks at the time, in the hospital on bed rest for the last month. Everyone was busy preparing for Christmas or had already left KY to visit family for the holidays, Eric was finishing up finals and my dear sweet mother who had been staying with me for the last 3 weeks and taking care of Lance for me was scheduled to leave that day because her leave was up and she had to return to work, but the real heartache in this was she was taking Lance with her to Utah I needed Eric with me, and so we all felt it best to have Lance go to Utah for the next three weeks until Eric's parents flew out after New Years and they would bring him back. Our family was all in Utah at the time and there was many willing and loving people to watch out for my baby at the time I was unable to. We knew it was the right thing to do but you can imagine my despair at watching him walk out of that hospital room in my mother's arms and knowing I wouldn't see him for three whole weeks. I felt so alone and sad and worried about Luke, that I just curled up and cried right then and there in my room and not twenty minutes later in walks my friend. She was an answer to a prayer she knew I would need a friend this day and she stayed with me for four hours I am afraid I wasn't much company but she didn't seem to mind, she said sweet things, and held my hand and just sat there in silence with me.

This was just one of her many visits to me at a hard time in my life.

She let me borrow her "Friends" collection all seasons hours of entertainment for me.
She brought Eric a birthday cake on Dec 28, with Luke just one day old at the time, we had a party for Eric in the hospital.
She babysat Lance for me more times than I can count while visiting Luke those 10 weeks in the NICU.

Friends are wonderful in the happiest of times but in the times when you really need a friend they are priceless, I am grateful for a good friend.....Thank you Joslin!

Preschool....love/hate?

Loves:

--his new backpack

--his favorite teacher Miss Heather

--his celebratory lunch at McDonald's

--his prize from mommy and daddy for being a big boy

--his prize from Grandma Tereasa for being a big boy

--games on computers

Hates:

--being dropped off, it's always a cry session

--when Miss Heather is not around, again a cry session
--pictures on the first day of school, and yet again it was a cry session which is why there are NO PICTURES of the first day of school.

It's a slow process he does cry getting dropped off but he is all smiles getting picked up and his teachers say he calms down after just a few minutes and is an angel for the rest of the time. All in all we are liking it, hopefully each time gets easier for both of us. After all I cried the whole way home that first day the tears are not only from him.....

The Move

These two loved every minute of moving......I think they were the only ones it's hard work.


So talented.....can talk on the "phone" while packing at the same time.


I mentioned before our backyard neighbors are cows....these two are completely enamored with them.....


Poor Granny......poor Luke

Granny broke her hand is and will now be in a cast for who knows how long.
Luke is exhausted from all of this craziness, he falls asleep anytime anywhere.


There happy watching Spiderman on the tiny TV while the grownups do all the hard work, at least it keeps them out of our hair for a while.


The moving crew....I could not have done it without you all , thanks for sharing an Arby's dinner with us.

Gran you were angel sitting on a hard floor watching movie after movie with the boys
.Ash slave driver where would we be without you.
And most importantly Carsy for your mad vacuuming skills, love you all!

And that is all the pictures I got, I didn't get any on the actual moving day but hey it was all I could do to just keep a float with things.......

Update on house:

We are LOVING it! I have now got everything unpacked well besides that pesky garage hopefully that will be Saturday's project. The kitchen is decorated but that is all, it's a very slow process for me decorating it could be a while, but pictures will come in time. We have only had one disaster in it since, and it involves Luke, crayola paint, and carpet oh and a 45 minute timeout while I sobbed and scrubbed the carpet as best as I could. If you come to visit me and notice a red tinge in the boys room please pretend you don't see it, it's a very sore spot for me right now I want to cry just thinking about it, that darn Luke!!!

Thanks to all who helped us, we love you!!

Star of the Month **Luke**

Full Name: Luke Williams Smith

Nicknames: "The Ruler of the Roost" aka Luke, Lou, Lou bird.

Age: the terrible twos

Luke runs all things around this house he has hit the terrible two's good and hard. I don't remember Lance throwing quite the amount of tantrums that Luke does at this age, but then maybe that is something the mind chooses to forget. We have tantrums over everything: the wrong Pez dispenser, the last fruit snack, an early dismount off the "puppy" (Eric), and most importantly a loose hearing aid sends him haywire. However his love for life makes him so darn endearing it's easy to look past these things, it's always our Loubird who comes up with the exciting ideas for him and Lance to jump into you!

He has quite the imagination it was his idea to make beds with the car seats and picnic blanket while waiting for the car wash.

He loves fences any kind, White Pickett, iron you name it he loves them......

His loves right now: Mickey Mouse, kool-aid, Spiderman (thanks to big brother), and for some odd reason his crocks, it's WW3 trying to get him to wear anything else, he loves them all right!

Current favorite phrases: "All done", "Spiderman", "Oh no, what oh no",and my personal favorite "mommy shoe" he begs and pleads all day long for a chance to go outside.

I'm loving:

his fascination with water--he loves turning tap on and off

his hat--daddy bought him a new Weber State Cap

his hat on backwards--don't know where he learned this, not from Eric

his perch on counter--always has to be sitting right next to me while I am in the kitchen

his scars on legs--everyday he has some new injury, the kid falls down more than anyone I know, though if you have seen him run this shouldn't surprise you....

What mommy is loving about this boy right now, you ready for this FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY after two and a half years of trying my darnedest to get this boy to watch just one little bit of television and to no avail he is now mildly interested. Only a few shows mind you "Curious George, Mickey Mouse Club House, and Spiderman are the three favorites....yeah for a little break for the mother!!

Love you Loubird, you keep this house hopping!!!

MOVING***

I had big plans today that consisted of packing, packing and more packing.

I was going to accomplish my closet which is a project in itself, our bedroom, and the boys bedroom.

Here is how my day went:

7:00 am--get up for the day, get boys breakfast
7:30 am-- decide to start taking down all the pictures off walls, get sidetracked with laundry
8:00 am -- go back to taking pictures down, get sidetracked getting boys ready for the day
9:00 am -- start doing my closet, find a shirt and decide I should shower for the day
10:00 am--start my closet, sidetracked by a phone call from Luke's new teacher we discuss schedules for quite some time
10:30 am--go out to get another box, get sidetracked taking pictures of boys making a town out of the boxes
11:00 am--still doing closet, boys come in say they are hungry go out to get them a snack and realize I am Mother Hubbard and have no food
11:30 am--make a trip to Walmart to buy groceries for the week, get sidetracked and end up buying to many new items for the new house, so much stuff in the cart Luke barely fits and finds himself a perch on top of the chips they are now destroyed.
1:00 pm--get home, haul groceries in start unloading them, go to put new hangers in closet and get sidetracked with my mess of a closet and begin hanging clothes up
1:30 pm--panic because I just realized I left all of my perishable items still sitting on the counter, hurry and put those away and get sidetracked yet again by what else but those hungry boys
2:00 pm--make boys a quick lunch of PB J's
2:30 pm--cleaning up lunch, get sidetracked with taking pictures down again
3:00 pm --bless that monkey "Curious George" is on boys sit quietly and I continue on with my closet
3:30 pm--Get sidetracked with "Deal or No Deal", decide I could use a little break and sit myself down to watch the rest of the episode.
4:30 pm--closet finally finished, start on my bedroom, get sidetracked by a call from Eric saying his paycheck was in a day early and we officially have the down payment saved for Wednesday closing day on the house. We celebrate and I get sidetracked again deciding I should probably balance the checkbook and pay some bills.
5:00 pm--go out to get another box discover Lance sound asleep inside of a box with his blanket, I think that is a little odd and wake him up to close to bedtime for a nap.
5:15 pm--start making dinner "Tater tot casserole" (what can I say my boys love it).
6:00 pm--put dinner in oven go continue my bedroom
6:30 pm--eat dinner, clean up dinner
7:00 pm--get boys in bathtub, do our hour long bedtime routine of brushing teeth, family prayer and scripture, 2 stories, 2 songs and personal prayers with Lance. It's quite the exhausting routine around here .
7:45 pm--boys down, get sidetracked with helping Eric sort papers decide we need a filing cabinet and send Eric out to buy one.
8:00 pm--yet again get going on my bedroom, get sidetracked with this post and now I want to go sit down and do nothing for the rest of the night I am exhausted.....

How will I ever be ready to go come Saturday? I got one thing accomplished on my list my closet, but yet why do I feel like I ran around all day, oh yeah because I did, and I am easily distracted. Ash slave driver get up here and keep me in line, or this move just isn't going to happen!

Growing up is hard.....on us mothers

We had Lance's school orientation this week, mostly it was just me filling out a bunch of papers while the boys met Lance's new teachers and played with play dough. It was a good opportunity for Lance to become accustomed to his new classroom and teachers before the first day of school next week.

Every so often as I was filling stuff out I would glance over at him and his little form just melted my heart, he sat up straight, he answered their questions, he laughed and gave them his sweet little smile. I couldn't be prouder of the little fella, so why did I feel like crying myself to sleep last night, he's just to little to send out in this scary world all alone. I think it's hardest on us mothers, than it is the children.......

He is pretty nervous but at the same time I know he wants to be excited, he likes the idea of school and being a big boy. The whole way home yesterday he was so quiet, and I could tell his little mind was thinking something over. I kept asking him if he was okay, finally about 45 minutes later he comes to me and says "mommy I think I will just go potty at home and not at school, and then I will be okay and be a big boy, okay". Oh, I love that boy, I have a whole week to convince him that going potty at school, is not that bad, other than that he is ready, but still I just don't know if his mommy is quite as ready.....he was promised lunch at McDonald's after his first morning but I don't know what I can promise myself to make me feel better.

Happy Birthday Granny O!

Happy 76th to a very special Granny O, we sure do love you!

A few special memories:

--sleepovers with homemade milkshakes, Grandpa's old time country music playing and watching Smurfs in our "beds on the floor".
--"A bushel and a peck, and a hug around the neck".
--Monday's with Lance, you love him so much you have even mastered the "Red Box" for an obsessed 4 year old.
--driving to AZ in the middle of the night with you and mom taking turns driving, or really mom driving while you try to convince her to give you a turn.
--My welcome gift last year at your house of five books that had been on my want to read list.
--phone calls from long distance cousins that are being forced by a dear old Granny, wanting us all to bond, I guess it worked love my cousins!
--for always keeping the names of your loved ones on the temple prayer list and having a distinct feeling when I am in the need of special prayers, I love you for that!


Thanks for the wonderful day sweet Gran, I hope you had a good one!

James Family Reunion

We went to the James Family Reunion on Saturday (Eric's mom's dad's side of the family), and for once we lucked out having it in our neck of the woods in Paradise. The unlucky part was the weather on Saturday, it was FREEZING! Okay maybe not freezing but when you are not used to weather in the 70's it felt like it was freezing. I was so glad Eric suggested jackets as we were walking out the door in the morning, you don't normally think to dress warm in August so the boys and I were all in shorts.



Baseball Lance has it in his head that family reunions always play baseball, he brings along his mitt and glove every time and can always con Eric or Grandpa to play along with him.....

I might look happy here but mostly I was thinking about would it look really bad if I went and hibernated in the car, yes I was that cold.

Luke and Julia spent most of their time over on this old fashioned teeter totter. Though it was kinda funny their weights are not exactly proportioned, and poor Julia spent most of her time on the ground with Luke stuck up at top. Somehow neither of them minded their little dilemma.....

Thanks Smiths for a fun day.......we had a great time!

Cache County Fair

It's that time of year again.....County Fair season.....

Man alive I am such a sucker for bright neon, deep fried everything and dirt paved walkways, county fairs are my happy place.

They really do love me, even if I have to force them for a picture......

I love these faces they were thrilled with the rides, though at $3.00 a ride we had to limit them to 3 rides each.....those fairs know how to get ya for all your worth, all $20.00 of me.

Lukey boy, I love him, all night long "mommy, yook (look), oh wow"! He was way impressed with the county fair as well, that's my boy. That little finger was always pointing at something.

You see those eyes, we have another Granny O on our hands, he stares and stares and stares at people, quite embarrassing, but then again I love to stare too.....

This boy was just plain happy on the tractors and you will notice the tractor on his shirt, am I a thinker or what, it's all about planning ahead. I envisioned the fair when I bought that shirt....(not really, but it worked out well)!

As we were walking back to our car we passed by a pasture with horses in the distance and puppies everywhere. Luke was enthralled, the sweet owner told us to wait right there and she would bring a horse closer so Luke could pet it, Lance was keeping his distance a few hundred yards away. Luke's joy was Lance's nightmare, he is no fan of animals. It was a sweet little horse who let Luke pet away and when it came time to part ways we carried a kicking and screaming Luke 3 blocks away to our car.....I just love it when a family fun night ends on a happy note with a tantrum throwing two year old!