The Smithson Family

We've Moved!

2010-05-18T19:00:00.005-06:00

Hello My Dear Readers,

I have officially changed the address of this blog to growingourstory.blogspot.com. Please visit us there for the latest post! This current blog address won't be up much longer so be sure to remember the change!

There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed a Goat

2010-05-16T19:23:00.002-06:00

There was an old woman
Who swallowed a goat
She opened her throat
And in walked the goat
Perhaps she'll die
Lyrics from "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly"

I am the old woman. I am trying to swallow the fact that Sean wants to buy a goat. That's right. A goat.

"Just think," he says, "it will graze in our yard so we won't have to mow the lawn!"

At first he wanted chickens. Lately we have heard of a lot of people who raise chickens. But I think chickens are gross with their nasty, freakish legs and beady little eyes. They are one animal that I just don't like. And besides, I don't really want to raise chickens.

"But we will learn to be self sufficient with our chickens and their eggs," says Sean.
I say, "No way."
So he says, "Well let's get a pygmy goat."
"What, are we learning to be self sufficient by drinking goat milk?"
"Well, we would know how to care for them if we needed something like that. And they will mow our lawn and then Loucee (yes I changed we spell our dog's name) will have a friend."

A goat, people. A goat. Help.

We drink Alotta Milk

2010-05-11T13:11:00.005-06:00

I have a confession. I didn't make this idea up myself. I got it from a magazine. Here is the deal (as She-She always says).

First I spent a few weeks saving milk jug lids. Like I said-we drink alotta milk. If you buy milk from Walmart you will be able to figure out what kind two kinds of milk we drink. Then I traced 'em, labled 'em, and made this nifty matching game. If I'm in a really good mood, I put pennies in the turned over lids. She-She and I take turns and for every turn she takes, she keeps the penny. At the end of the game, she gets to go to the "store" and buy some m&ms or something small. I make her count the pennies and treats so she gets even more learning.

Even though she knows her alphabet it is good practice. I still collect lids so the next game I make will be matching small words on the lids to the pictures on the paper. I love it when I feel like a good mom.

Guess Who

2010-05-06T12:52:00.002-06:00

I came across this picture the other day and it reminded me of the pictures I had just taken of She-She.
I bet you can't guess who is in that first picture. :)

Farm Country

2010-05-02T09:20:00.000-06:00

First a picture of my little boy. Here he is playing in the dirt...and eating it. But boy is he cute.

A few weeks ago we took an outing to Thanksgiving Point: Farm Country. Thanksgiving point is a fabulous park with several different things for entertainment. Last year we made it to the gardens. They are amazing. There are paths all over acres of landscaped lawns and gardens. There is even a "secret garden" which was everything I would want it to be. It was small, hidden, quaint, but fascinating.

The other gardens/areas are filled with fountains, ponds, and even a huge waterfall. I think it is the largest man made waterfall or something like that. The gardens remind me of reading Pride and Prejudice when they describe Mr. Darcy's estate covered with gardens. Visiting the gardens inspired me to someday own a lot of land and have my own gardens, including a secret one, of course.

But, the Thanksgiving Point Gardens are not the actual subject of this post. Neither is the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum (which we have yet to visit). Or some of the other attractions at Thanksgiving Point. The subject is Thanksgiving Point:Farm Country.

Farm Country is like visiting a petting zoo/state fair livestock exibit/farm, but with the best of each. First it is outdoors so you don't get so much of the stinky state fair smell. It also has all of the important farm animals so the best of the farm life. And, you can touch and feed the animals like a petting zoo.

For $10 our whole family got in, had a wagon ride, and She-She had a pony ride. The kids loved it. It was small enough to see everything but big enough to be exciting. Check it out...

She-She and Bigdog looking at the sheep.

The wagon ride. I am hiding behind a post, wearing a red shirt, holding Bigdog. She-She is wearing a pink hat, sitting in the middle. Then those nice ladies next to me had an extra ticket (you get a few free tickets upon entering the park) and offered one to Sean so he could hop on with us. Wasn't that nice?

Here are the horses pulling us.

She-She named her pony Jandyla.

Bigdog feeding a cow. Moo.

She-She feeding a...a...something.

She-She milking a fake cow.

She-She milking a real cow. With my help. Nice view, huh?

Bigdog loves animals and is known to cry when we tear him away from them. While leaving Farm Country he had an all out fit. He couldn't get enough of the animals and ran from one pen to the next giggling the whole time. She-She had a million questions to ask and took her time observing each animal and talking to them like they were her friends. It was tons of fun and we are definitely heading back soon.

Newest Developments

2010-04-28T09:20:00.007-06:00

Dear Readers,

I just want you to know today is April 29. APRIL 29. I woke up and there was snow on the ground. The sky has been spitting snow all morning. Winter is plowing over spring and before you know it I will be shoveling snow from our driveway in June. HELP!

To get the other bad news out of the way, today two different toilets in my house overflowed. If that isn't gross enough, one leaked down through the ceiling and dripped out of our ceiling fan downstairs. I'm not sure what I miss more, only having one toilet or having an apartment manager to call and fix all of my woes.

Here is where the real post starts. I complain about the cold but there has been a few warm days this spring. That means we spend the afternoon outside digging in the dirt (Bigdog) and swinging on the swingset (She-She). The best part is that She-She has learned to pump! So if I get her started she can go for hours.

Pushing the Limits

2010-04-26T19:14:00.007-06:00

(wrestling with Dad)

Our latest concern with Bigdog is that he tends to be an aggressive little fellow. He likes to tackle, doggy pile, push, throw, pull, kick, and squeeze. His two favorites are pushing and throwing.

Anything that Bigdog gets in his little paws will eventually be thrown. He doesn't give things to you, he throws them at your face. To engage someone else in play he picks up a toy and chucks it at their head.

For Bigdog, pushing is also way to play. He is trying to get your attention and get you to wrestle him. Sean responds and they have a great time shoving each other and rolling around on the floor. Unfortunately other one-year-olds don't appreciate being pushed down every two minutes.

(Giving hugs)

I'm trying to fix these problems. I have been practicing a little game where we HAND toys GENTLY back and forth. For pushing I tell Bigdog to be gentle and give a hug or a high five. He thinks these are two great alternatives. Except that high fives can easily be perceived as hitting. Plus, when Bigdog gives a hug he proceeds to push the person down AFTERWARDS.

What's a mom to do?

The Magic of...

2010-04-19T09:19:00.003-06:00

Here is my new discovery, two words, Tic Tacs. There is something magical about these small little breath fresheners that calm my kids down. They like the orange flavor the best. I confess to keeping a pack in the car, in my purse, and at our house at all times. Here is why.

Scenario 1:

(Scary Foreboding music) We are at Walmart. Our 45 minute shopping trip is coming to an end. I am unloading groceries at the check out line and Bigdog wants to be held. She-She is getting hungry for lunch. There is about to be some major screaming from both. Out come the tic tacs.(Music escalates into a a hopeful and even triumphant sound) I pop one or two in each childs mouth. They say in unison,"What is this small morsel inside my mouth? I will sit here quietly and savor the taste." Problem solved. I finish the shopping trip successfully with out disaster.

Scenario 2:

(Dramatic music) I am changing Bigdog's fourth poopy diaper of the day. He has a diaper rash. He fights to get away as he screams and thrashes around on the floor. I pop a tic tac in his mouth. (Peaceful music). He imediately says, "What is this small morsel inside my mouth? I will lay here quietly and savor the taste." I am able to put ointment on and quickly finish the diaper change.

Plus, they make a great rattle!

Generally I use tic tacs when we are in the car or at a store and there is about to be a melt down. I feel a little guilty for making my kids dependent on candy, but can you even call it that? Tic Tacs are like a half calorie each and technically breath fresheners. Maybe I should just teach my kids to behave or self-soothe somehow, but for now, tic tacs are my best friend.

Messy Post

2010-04-15T09:00:00.001-06:00

This is my boy. He is a BOY. At least, that is what I blame all of his destructive bahavior on. It is an amazing thing. He has a talent for turning our house into a disaster area. I feel like I spend 50% of my day following after him and picking up the messes he makes. Bigdog doesn't like to play with toys. Instead he likes to EXPLORE. If there is a toy, he tries to take it apart or throw it to see what happens. If there aren't any toys to throw, he goes around the house to find other things that are interesting. Here are some of his favorite pastimes. He gets around to most of these at least once a day. Some activites he enjoys multiple times daily.

*Throwning things away in garbage (toys, hot pads, letters from the fridge, books, stuffed animals)

*Emptying ALL the ziplocks from the box
*Dumping toy baskets

*Pulling all of the books out of BOTH book shelves

*Pulling all of the clothes out of the drawers he can reach

*Getting into the pantry and dumping rice all over floor

*Pulling papers out of filing drawers

*Eating crayons

*Coloring with markers (not on paper)

*Pulling bibs out of drawers

*Throwing food on the floor when he eats

*Shaking sippy cups to leak milk everywhere

*Tipping my decorative plant over pulling it apart

I try to prevent these messes as much as I can. I don't put locks on EVERYTHING for fear that our house might look like a psych ward. I try to think ahead of Bigdog by putting the plant on the counter or stacking clothes on the dresser instead of in the drawers. But sometimes there is nothing I can do. For example, the ziplocks are in a drawer that is locked, but Bigdog can pull the drawer out 1/4 of an inch and slip his little fingers in to dig out the ziplocks. And there is the fact that Gracie might leave a cup or markers out and he gets to it before I do.

Today before 10:00 he had thrown all of the bibs on the floor, thrown some toys in the garbage, eaten Sean's chapstic, eaten some crayons, there was close call with some markers but I caught that one soon enough, pooped twice (I know it doesn't count, but still), dumped both baskets of toys, and gotten to my plant again. Maybe the problem here is that I'm not learning and I need to just stack everything on the counters. Kitchen chairs, plants, garbage, toys, and lock every single drawer in our whole house.

Hoy vey.

Tucson

2010-04-11T19:16:00.006-06:00

This morning Sean showed me this article that composed the Travel section of our Sunday newspaper. All of the sudden I got a little sentimental. Lets talk about this.

I lived in Tucson for seven years. From the time I graduated high school until we moved up here. When I first moved there for college, I was not impressed. Honestly I don't consider Tucson the most beautiful city. I take that back. The scenery is unique and amazing, especially if you can get into desert landscape. It is surrounded by five tumbling mountain ranges decorated with towering saguaro cacti, along with other strange plants that tend to be prickly.

The city itself tends to be run down. I guess this is what you would expect from a town established in 1775. Its old, but it has character.

I had my complaints about Tucson. It was HOT (I almost miss it), there weren't sidewalks ANYWHERE. There was a serious drainage problem. I know its the desert but in monsoon season everytime it rained, it flooded. Not to mention the cars being swept away in washes that snaked through the city. And our cars were broken into FIVE times while we lived there.

But Tucson also had its good points. There were amazing places such as Mount Lemmon and Sabino Canyon. I liked the delicious mexican food. Its kind of a quirky liberal town in the conservative state of Arizona. Like I said, it has personality.

I guess the real reason I miss Tucson isn't because I loved the city itself. I loved the life we had there. Its where I met Sean. Its where we dated, and lived as newlyweds. We graduated college there and started our family. We were comfortable there and had our special little places that we called our own. We made wonderful friends and memories there. So I miss it. *sigh*

But here we are now. Spring is finally here and green is peeking through everywhere we look. We can play outside and enjoy the fantastic mountains. We have a good life here, too. So I will probably miss it when we move in a few years. Such is life.

Here are a few random facts about Arizona-

*Arizona has more parks and national monuments than any other state, more mountains than Switzerland, and more golf courses than Scotland

*Tucson is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the United States. Natives began farming here nearly 3000 years ago.

*Arizona stays on mountain standard time ALL YEAR ROUND. No daylight savings time. When I first moved there I thought it was weird. Then I got used to it and thought daylight savings was weird. Then we trudged through a cold dark winter in Utah and I was SO grateful when daylight savings came. After a long winter it totally makes sense.

(This is actually my own picture. It actually snowed in Tucson one time.)

*The age of a saguaro cactus, largest species of cactus in the world, is determined by its height.

*Official Neckwear: Bola Tie. It originated in Arizona and is usually made by silversmiths and leather makers in almost every size and shape, most often with silver and turquoise.

Ruff-Ruff

2010-04-03T09:30:00.006-06:00

(Re)Introducing:

Lucy Belle!

Origin of name:

She-She wanted our dog to have a princess name and was pretty set on Cinderella. But we stepped in and the compromise came to Lucy Belle. Belle being from Beauty and the Beast. Not a movie She-She knows very well, but still knows the princess.

Breed:Labrador Retriever

Color: Chocolate

Age: 11 weeks

Favorite Hobbies:

Running with tongue out and ears flapping

Chewing on kids toys

Wrestling stuffed animals

Nipping ankes, hands, and pants legs

Other Talents:

Obeying the "sit" command

Bringing the ball back if you throw it

The Story:

Sean owned a dog similar to Lassie when he was a kid. They were best pals. Sean would fall in a well and then Grady would run home and bark and Sean's parents would say, "Grady, did Sean fall in the well again?" There are many tender and amazing stories told about old Grady.

So Sean wanted our kids to have a dog

I on the other hand, did not want to pick up dog poo, smell dog poo, and step in dog poo. I did not want to be tied down if we wanted to leave town. I did not want to train a dog.

Then one Saturday I was feeling depressed and bored. I started looking at puppies online. They were so cute. I told Sean we should get one and he jumped on it before I could back out. So we did it.

Then things got a little crazy:

Stage 1- Lucy cries all night, poops and pees on the floor and can't be outside because we don't have a fence

Stage 2- We panic at our rash decision

Stage 3- She-She confines herself to the couch because Lucy tends to get hyper and nips and jumps.

Stage 3- We build a fence. Lucy learns to go potty outside (most of the time). She sleeps through the night

Stage 4- We remember how cute Lucy is. She-She gets more comfortable with Lucy. Lucy stays outside much of the day, also saving our floors from accidents.

Now things feel more normal. My biggest problem is that Lucy likes to nip to get attention and it drives us all crazy. Hopefully this is a puppy thing and she will grow out of it. But she is so cute and VERY smart. We love having her around. The good news is that she is adjusting to being an outdoor dog and that makes things a lot easier.

Kids' reactions:

She-She adores our dog. She likes to feed her treats and play tug-of-war with her. Although she keeps her distance when Lucy is really hyper for reasons mentioned above.

As you can see from the pictures, Bigdog and Lucy are two of a kind. They both chew on everything in sight, roll on the floor, growl, and romp. Bigdog likes to give Lucy hugs or just maul her. Lucy takes it pretty well and it is so cute to watch.

So thats the story of our dog. We think she is pretty great.

P.S. If anyone has any great dog training tips, let me know.

Another Hairy Topic

2010-03-28T09:30:00.001-06:00

She-She has been growing her hair out. Ever since she was a baby I have trimmed it here and there to keep it mostly the same length and looking decent. She has loved having beautiful flowing hair and likes to bend her head back so she can feel it brush on her back.

I had been talking about giving She-She a haircut for a long time. Sean didn't want me to because he was kind of sentimental about her long hair. Of course, She-She wasn't a big fan either. Then I gave Sean a hair cut. And Bigdog. And then I got a semi-drastic hair cut. So She-She told me one day she was ready. She wanted me to cut her hair.

Before:

After:

I have to say she looks SO CUTE. Even Sean had to admit that I was right and she looks adorable. I think I probably whacked five of six inches off. This was her first major haircut EVER and it is a success. She barely even noticed when I showed her in the mirror. Her only comment was, "Its black like yours, Mom." Since my haircut/highlights she associated cutting hair with changing its color I guess. Good stuff.

Apples to Apples

2010-03-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

In our house apples are like candy.

First a little before and after picture. This is what Bigdog's apple looks like after working on it for 20 minutes.

I'd like to see YOU do that with only four teeth.

Then he uses it as a prop for cooking. Bigdog loves apples. And he loves to cook. He also loves to watch me cook and hangs on my leg and cries until I hold him so he can watch what I'm doing.

If there is something going on in the kitchen, Bigdog has to be there. Then he imitates it later when he plays at the toy kitchen. But I digress.

Here is another example of what four teeth can do.

I do peel off the skin, though. It makes things a little easier.

Here are two yellow-bellied creatures gnawing on apples. Here is the real question. Why did I let them eat on the couch? Now I'm gonna go get an apple because they make 'em look so good. You should hear the smacking and crunching sounds they make. Wow. Apples are delicious.

3 year pics

2010-03-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

This is my sweet angel. She was so excited to get her pictures taken. She is a little princess.

Introducing...

2010-03-07T17:01:00.003-07:00

Ummm...actually she doesn't have a name yet. But enjoy her cuteness. More on her story later.

A Hairy Topic

2010-03-03T08:00:00.003-07:00

A big event happened in my life this week. I got my hair cut...and highlighted. Can you believe it? Okay, so maybe it isn't a big deal to the rest of the world. In fact, maybe it is a little LAME that I have NEVER in my ENTIRE LIFE colored my hair. Okay, except once in high school I helped a friend bleach her hair and I was so brave and put some streaks in my bangs. No one even noticed.

This time I got coupon in the mail for a salon. A haircut for $14.99 or a cut and color for $50. A steal, I guess. Sean watched the kids and convinced me to take a risk and spend the $50. So I did. Then I texted him that I went pretty blonde and he about panicked.

The truth is that I got some highlights and cut my hair a little shorter than usual. See any difference in the picture above? Not really, right? Well, She-She says there is. Here is her reaction:

At first she was kinda silent. For an hour or so. Then it all came out when Sean asked her opinion of my new style. And you know She-She always has an opinion on style.

"I don't like yer hair! I will tell dose people at the store to not take yer long hair! And you will sit in the chair and I will paint it black. You not have brown hair! I will paint it black. I'm so angry."

She told me several times that I was not supposed to have brown hair. She plans to paint it black again when she gets the chance. So I guess my little adventure at the salon was not to her approval. She likes the old me better. Oh, well.

As you can see by this fabulous picture, I just have "a little sunshine" in my hair (as the stylist said) that should grow out naturally. I think this picture makes it look even more dramatic than it is. Or maybe I just can't see the top of my head in real life, so I don't know.

Fun stuff. Next time, maybe I really will go blonde.

Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk

2010-02-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers,

I know I use crazy little alias names for my kids, and these video totally negate that purpose, but whatever. Bigdog is learning to say words and it is so cute. Sometimes he can be pretty good at imitating a word I am saying. Some words stick around for a along time (Momma, Dad, hi, no-no, pat-pat) and others he learns and quits using after a while. Here is a sample of our little linguist. In the video I thought he was saying 'knock-knock' but I have decided he was telling me 'no'. A lot of his words sound the same, but trust me, he IS saying them. Can you blame him that enunciation is hard at 14 months?

(P.S. Do you know the difference between enunciation, and annunciation? After writing this post, I do!)

It is now official. Bigdog is 14 months and he walks. He took his first steps at the beginning of February. By Valentines day he was covering short distances across the room. Now he has decided that there is something about walking that is worth it. This week he started walking ALL the time instead of crawling. Even if he falls, he doesn't crawl but stands back up. Here is some footage:

Stuffed Full: Cook-Blog-Share Final Week

2010-02-23T21:06:00.006-07:00

Mexican Chicken

2010-02-23T20:00:00.002-07:00

(From Erin)

Spray the crock-pot with Pam first.

4 Frozen Chicken Breasts
20 oz. Pace Picante Sauce
1 dash Cumin
1 cup Frozen Corn
15 oz. Black Beans, drained and rinsed.
2 cloves minced garlic
2-3 cup uncooked brown rice.

Combine all and stir. Cook 4 hours on High in crockpot. Stir it occasionally through out the time so it doesn’t burn. Shred chicken with a fork and cook an additional 30 minutes until sauce has worked it’s way into the shredded chicken. Serve over tortillas.

Hawaiian Haystacks

2010-02-22T07:00:00.002-07:00

(From Cherie)

Bone in chicken with skin
1 cube margarine
¾ C flour
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 C milk
3-4 C chicken broth

Cook whole chicken or cut up chicken in boiling water. When cooked, let chicken cool then remove meat from bones in small pieces. Set aside chicken and broth to use in the sauce. Make a white sauce by melting butter. Add flour to soak up the butter. Then stir in milk. Add broth a little bit at a time and cream of chicken soup. Be careful not to let sauce get to thin. (I use a wisk for all of this part so the sauce doesn’t get lumps of buttery flour.) Salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked chicken. Serve over cooked rice and top with desired toppings like cheese, tomato, olives, Chinese noodles, etc…

Note: to save time, canned chicken and canned chicken broth can be used instead of boiling your own. It doesn’t taste as good but is a lot faster. Also the amount of sauce can easily be altered to make more by adding another can of chicken soup and more broth. Or to make less, I usually cut the recipe in half by halving the base ingredients of the white sauce (butter, flour, milk). Then I add enough soup and broth to make the right consistency.

Cook-Blog-Share: Week 3 of 4

2010-02-16T20:00:00.004-07:00

*Here are the links to the other blogs with recipes this week. The blog/post title isn't always the name of the recipe so be sure to read the whole post and there should be a recipe somewhere in there. Also be sure to click on 'older posts' at the end of this post for more recipes or check out the February archive. Updated Mar 3 2010.

Tortellini Soup From Elise
Bran Muffins from Marie
Baked Fish With Tomatoes from Melanie

Thanks to everyone who has contributed recipes so far. I am trying them out one by one and have found some real winners! This week there are a few less contributors, so if you are reading this and want to send on a recipe, please do! Email me or leave it in a comment. elainesmithson@live.com

This is actually a new recipe for me that I tried for the first time this week. If you love mushrooms, and I luv mushrooms, then you will like this dish. If you don't like them, then not so much. It is basically chicken and linguine with a mushroom sauce. I thought it was yummy. I got it from Pioneer Woman's website. You should check it out sometime. I did make a few modifications to her recipe, though. So here it is.

Chicken Scallopine

1/2 pound Linguine
4 whole Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breasts
Salt And Pepper
Flour
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
4 Tablespoons Butter
12 ounces Mushrooms, Sliced Thin
1 cup Chicken Broth
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
½ cups Heavy Cream (can Use Half-and-Half)
1 teaspoon (heaping) Capers
Chopped Fresh Italian Parsley

Preparation:

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Flatten chicken breasts to uniform thickness. Salt and pepper both sides (first), then dip/cover in flour (second). Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry chicken breasts until golden brown. If breast are thin, this is about 2-3 minutes on each side. Be careful not to burn butter (juices in pan will start turning black). Remove to a plate and set aside.

Throw mushrooms into the pan and stir. Immediately pour in chicken broth and lemon juice. Stir to deglaze the pan, and then cook vigorously for 1 minute, until sauce reduces.

*At this point I thought the sauce was a little thin, so: Take about 1/2 teaspoon butter in a bowl and mash as much flour into it as you can with a fork to make a thick butter/flour clay. Maybe about 2 tablespoons of flour. Then, stir this in with the mushrooms till the butter and flour dissolve. Turn up heat to medium high and cook until sauce thickens. Again, be careful not to burn. This is a cool trick I learned to add flour to thicken without the flour getting clumpy

Pour in cream and stir, then add capers and parsley and stir. Turn off heat. Stir and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve mushroom sauce over chicken and pasta.

**Little side note. After making this, I thought, "Next time I will cook the sauce first and the chicken second so the chicken stays warmer and juicier, and the sauce can sit and absorb flavor while I cook the chicken. Then I realized, the chicken juices and butter and oil make the mushroom sauce tastier, so never mind. That is all.

Greek Salad/ Sesame Lamb Gyros

2010-02-16T19:55:00.004-07:00

(From Holly)

Greek Salad

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 large clove

garlic, quartered

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 cup olive oil

6 cups mixed mesclun greens, soaked in salt water to remove grit, dried in a salad spinner and torn into bite-sized pieces

1 cup kalamata olives, pitted

2 English cucumbers, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch disks

1 cup cubed feta cheese

Sesame Lamb Gyros

4 each pita bread, slightly toasted or grilled

2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste (or 2 tablespoons peanut butter mixed with 1 teaspoon sesame oil)

2 cups plain yogurt

1 lemon, juiced

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 cup cucumber, peeled, 1/16-inch dice

3 to 5 slices leftover cooked lamb per pita, slightly warmed on a grill or Sauteed in olive oil

2 large tomatoes, 1/4-inch slices and seasoned with salt and pepper

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Greek Salad

For the dressing:Add the vinegar to a blender, replace the lid, turn it on, and through the feed tube add, 1 at a time, the garlic, crushed red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Leaving the blender running, add the olive oil in a slow thin stream. Set aside until needed.Toss the greens, olives and cucumbers together with enough dressing to coat. Fold in the feta cheese. Serve additional dressing on the side.

Gyros

In a small bowl, whisk together the sesame paste, yogurt, lemon juice and garlic until smooth. Fold in the cucumbers and season. Spread the 'tzatziki' on the pita and lay warm lamb and tomato slices on top. Spread more 'tzatziki' on the tomatoes and garnish with sesame seeds.

Plating: Slice in half and serve.

Chicken Nuggets

2010-02-16T19:50:00.001-07:00

(From Cherie)

1/2 C flour (rounded)
2 tsp seasoned salt
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp poultry seasoning
½ tsp ground mustard
¼ tsp pepper
2-3 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts

Mix dry ingredients in a ziplock bag or large bowl. Cut chicken, place in bowl or bag and coat with flour mixture. Fry in oil until chicken is cooked—about 10 minutes.

Italian Chicken

2010-02-16T19:48:00.002-07:00

(From The Kitchen of Erin Cummings)

4 frozen chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ stick of butter
1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix
8 oz. room temp. cream cheese
Angel Hair Pasta

Put chicken breasts in crock-pot. Melt butter and pour over chicken. Sprinkle with entire packet of Italian dressing mix. Cover and cook 4 hours on HIGH. When done, shred chicken with a fork. Blend soup and cream cheese and pour over shredded chicken. Cook and additional 30 minutes and serve over angel hair pasta or whatever other pasta you like.

Out Of the Mouth Of Babes

2010-02-13T19:04:00.002-07:00

(A picture of me and my girl at the baby shower. Wow, I look like a ghost from this long winter inside...)

Here are some of the adorable things She-She has said lately. At age three she sure comes up with some good ones.

(When I was brushing her hair)
"Mom, stop! You are hurting me. Stop brushing my fur!"

*******************

One night She-She couldn't fall asleep so we let her come in with us while we brushed our teeth and got ready for bed. We were all laying in bed while Sean and I read scriptures. And had this little conversation.

"You're my sweetheart," says Sean to She-She.
"No your MY sweetheart," she replies.
"Your MY sweetheart, She-She," I jump in.
"No, she's MY sweetheart!" Sean counters.

It goes on like this, so I change it up...

"Hey She-She, Daddy is MY husband."

She argues, "No, he is MY husband!" We laugh and tell her what a cute girl she is. The argument is over. She-She lays back, stares at the ceiling, and says in a quiet voice to Sean, "You are my life...you are my heart." Sean and I glance at each other, both stunned at her poetic confession of love for her daddy, then shower her with tender hugs and kisses.

*****************************

One of my friends is having a baby and is due in three weeks. We have playdates every so often but She-She was oblivious to the whole pregnancy until we went to the store to buy a gift for the baby shower.

"What is that for?" She-She asks.

"Holly is going to have a baby girl soon. This is a dress for her new baby."

"She has a baby at her house?"

"Well, not yet, but soon. Right now the baby is in her tummy." I can see She-She trying to fit this information into her head.

I explain further, "See, Heavenly Father gives little babies to mommies. First babies stay in a mom's tummy, and then later, the baby comes out and the mommy gets to hold it." Oh shoot, I'm not sure if I am doing this right. I wait for She-She's response

"Oh...I don't have a baby in my tummy." Whew! I think I did okay. She-She concludes, "Holly feeds the baby in her tummy!" and then is distracted with toys. The end, except...

She-She was OBSESSED with this idea of Holly getting a baby. Almost everyday she would ask if Holly had the baby and if we could see it. I kept explaining that the baby wasn't here yet, but soon. So She-She finally reasons at lunch one day, "Oh, okay. The baby will be here soon. They will go get it from the store." I think she forgot the whole baby-in-tummy thing...UNTIL the day of the baby shower.

We go to the shower and AGAIN have the whole conversation that Holly is going to have a baby girl but it is not here yet. We walk in, see Holly, and I tell her about She-She's facination with her pregnancy. She-She hears me and the whole baby-in-tummy thing that we talked about earlier in the week. After a while I think she figured out that Holly's tummy WAS in fact bigger. There really must be a baby in there!

She-She turns to me, "Did they tie the baby up?" Oh dear, this is a confusing idea.

"No, honey, the baby is warm and comfy in the tummy."

"Oh...does it bite her?"

"No. The baby is so happy in her tummy. The baby likes to sleep a lot."

No response, just a thoughtful face.

So I can only wonder what my poor child thinks now. Since the baby shower, she hasn't brought the subject up again. Even if she is confused, I can't help but smile at her cute perception of such a new concept.

Cook-Blog-Share: Week #2

2010-02-09T10:00:00.001-07:00

First Night- BBQ Roast Beef Sandwich

Ingredients:

Pork or Beef Roast

Hamburger Buns

BQ Sauce

Preparation:

Put roast in crock pot over night (this is important so that the roast will be super tender and easy to shred). All you need to add is 1-2 cups of water. But by all means, season it with what you'd like. Our family likes it plain and beefy..or porky. Shred roast. Butter buns. Put buns on cookie sheet in oven. Broil on low until bread is toasted. Put meat on bun, add BBQ sauce, eat up.

Second Night- Pulled Pork (beef) Burritos

Think similar to Chipotle restaurant.

Simply put the meat on a tortilla with all of these other tasty toppings...

black beans (I just use canned)

tomatos

lettuce

cheese

onions

salsa

quacamole

sour cream

Chinese Chicken Salad- The only homemade salad worth eating...

2010-02-09T09:07:00.010-07:00

(From Holly)

Dressing:
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons oil
1 chicken flavor seasoning packet from ramen noodle mix

Salad:
6 cups finely shredded Fresh cabbage
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
1 Fresh green onion, thinly sliced
1 (3-oz.) pkg. chicken-flavor ramen noodle soup mix
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted
2 teaspoons sesame seed, toasted

Preparation Directions
1. In small bowl, combine all dressing ingredients; mix well.2. In large bowl, combine cabbage, chicken and onion; toss to mix. Crumble ramen noodles; (the seasoning packet is for your dressing). Add noodles, almonds and sesame seed to cabbage mixture. Add dressing; toss to coat.

Let Them Eat Cake

2010-02-09T09:07:00.009-07:00

(From Kaitlin)

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 can of Caramel Ice Cream Topping
1 package of Devil's Food Chocolate Cake
1 Whipped cream
A package of ground up Heath Bar.

Bake the Devil's Food cake according to the directions on the package. After baking and before the cake cools, use a wooden spoon or knife handle to poke holes all over the cake. Poor the condensed milk and caramel in all of the holes, make sure it soaks into the cake. Cover and cool. Top the cake off with whipped cream and crushed Heath bar! Serve cool and ENJOY!!!!

Lasagna/ Lasagna Casserole

2010-02-08T16:46:00.004-07:00

(From Cherie)

To make the sauce:
Brown ½-1 lb ground beef—season with garlic salt, pepper, onion, etc…
Add 1 can Hunts tomato sauce with basil, garlic, and oregano
And 1 can tomato soup plus about 1/3 of the soup can full of water
Mix together, cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes

For lasagna casserole:
Cook a little more than ¾ of a 1 lb bag of egg noodles. Drain. Add 1 ½ C. cottage cheese and a little salt to the noodles and mix together. In a 2 quart casserole dish, layer half of the noodles, half of the sauce, then a layer of cheese. (I use cheddar and mozzarella) Repeat layers one more time. Cover and bake about 30 minutes at 350.

For lasagna:
Boil lasagna noodles until cooked. Place a layer of lasagna noodles in a 9x13 pan. Spoon some cottage cheese over all the noodles. Add half of the sauce. Then sprinkle with cheese. Repeat layers one more time. (I usually double layer the noodles in one of my sets of layers). Bake same as casserole.

Chinese Chicken Salad

2010-02-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

(From Erin)

1 head lettuce, cut up
3 green onions, chopped
3 sticks celery, chopped
1 green pepper, sliced into strips
1 small pkg. slivered almonds
4 chicken breast (boiled and diced)
1 can chow mein noodles or 1 package of Top Ramen Noodles

Dressing
4 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil

Mix up salad and then mix up dressing. Pour dressing on and toss.

When I am in a hurry I just used a bag of salad that has some cabbage and carrots. Just normal
bag of salad. Then I just used a rotisereri chicken from Sam's club. So fast and fantastic!

Post 100

2010-02-08T12:24:00.005-07:00

Can you believe it? This is post number 1-0-0 for me. I guess my little recipe project made the last few posts add up quickly, but I am still impressed with myself.

I remember when I very first stumbled onto the idea of blogging a little more than two years ago. I had just started my own blog, when I read on a friend's blog that she was at 100 posts. I was astonished! I was sure I would never get to that point. Could I stick with it? Would I find anything interesting to write about? Would anyone read this humble little part of me floating out in cyberland somewhere?

But I made it. I have a few readers. I have found things to write about-mostly simple pieces of our family life. But I still have a kind of a proud feeling that I actually MADE something. And someone cares. Even if it is just my mom checking for pictures of the grandkids.

The picture above was taken yesterday. Lets not talk about the game-we may or may not have watched the game on Sunday. Don't judge :). I will just say that it is fun to cheer (and cry) as a family. Its fun to have something unite us. Even if it is a football team.

Little reminder- If you are a cook-blog-share-er post or email me tomorrow (Tuesday) Thanks!

Evening Entertainment

2010-02-05T10:12:00.001-07:00

Its 8:00 (or so). The kids are in bed. Sean and I drop onto the couch and sigh a breath of exhaustion after a long day. Then we turn to each other and in unison say, "Watcha wanna do?" The question stumps me every time, I tell ya. It really is a hard one.

This is the golden time where we are together, just us. The time where we want to grow in our togetherness and build our relationship in deep and profound ways. Yet, we are tired, and tempted to just turn in early to get and extra hour of sleep. Levels of energy are running low and activities that require minimal effort are the most appealing (i.e. TV).

I have been thinking about it and wondering. What do other people do when they get a moment together. I'm sure everyone has creative and clever relationship-building pastimes that somehow I have just forgotten about. Please remind me.

Here is what we usually end up doing when Sean is home at night-

1. Sean studies (I bet you thought the studying thing was finished when he finished school. Ohhh no. Big no) and I do something to entertain myself. This usually means cleaning, catching up on household business, reading a book, or blogging.

2. We watch the TV. Or a movie. Or an old rerun on TVland online. And eat something unhealthy like ice cream

3. We stare into each others eyes and take turns telling one another our favorite qualities about the other person. No really, I'm serious about this one...

4. Once a year we play a board game.

5. If we are feeling really rowdy, we hook up the Wii and enjoy some quality time together racing on mario cart.

6. And thats all I can think of right now

So do tell. What is the favorite thing you and hubby do at night after the kids go to bed? Keep it clean people. :) hehehehe.

Week #1- Eat Your Heart Out

2010-02-03T00:01:00.005-07:00

Creamy Herbed Pasta

10 ounces dried rigatoni, or penne pasta

1/4 cup snipped basil, or 4 tsp dried basil, crushed

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbs olive oil

4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese

1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup snipped parsley

1. Cook and drain pasta

2. For sauce, cook basil and garlic in hot oil for 30 seconds. Reduce heat. Add cream cheese, cottage cheese, and parmesan cheese. Heat and stir until nearly smooth. Stir in milk and parsley. Cook until slightly thickened.

3. Mix sauce and pasta

Two Extra Recipes- Cookies!

2010-02-03T00:00:00.017-07:00

(From Kaitlin)

Oreo Truffles

18 oz. package of OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies*
8 oz. package of Cream Cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
16 oz. Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate or Milk Chocolate Chips,
melted

Directions:
1. Crush the cookies into fine crumbs in a food processor or zip top bag
2. Add softened cream; mix until well blended.
3. Roll cookie mixture into balls, about 1-inch in diameter for full size truffles or 1/2 inch diameter for mini truffles.
4. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
5. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir until smooth
6. Roll the balls in chocolate to coat completely; use two toothpicks or forks to remove the balls from chocolate, allowing the extra chocolate to drip off.
7. Place on wax paper-lined baking sheet.
8. Refrigerate another 30 minutes until the chocolate forms a hard shell.
9. Store leftover truffles (if any) in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

* You can substitute the OREO Cookies with a cookie dough of your choice! ENJOY!!!!

Graham Cracker Cookies

1 box graham crackers
2 sticks of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup pecans of almonds

Directions:
1. Put graham crackers on baking sheet to cover pan and cut them along grooves with a knife. Set aside.
2. Combine butter and brown sugar in pan. Bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes.
3. Spread mixture over graham crackers.
4. Sprinkle nuts over the top.
5. Back at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Penne Rustica

2010-02-03T00:00:00.015-07:00

(From Erin)

1 pound penne pasta
Cooked chicken, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup jarred artichoke hearts, quartered
Cooked zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup chopped roasted red peppers
1/2 cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
3 roasted Roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup sliced pimento-stuffed green olives
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
½ cup small mozzarella balls
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook penne according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in chicken and remaining ingredients.

Pan Burritos

2010-02-03T00:00:00.014-07:00

(From Cherie)

Browned hamburger

Refried beans
Cheese

Sour cream
1 can Hormel chili without beans
1 can tomato sauce
Flour tortillas

Slightly fry flour tortillas. Place meat, beans, cheese and sour cream inside. Roll into burritos and place in a greased 9x13 pan. (I spread a little tomato sauce on the bottom before putting in the burritos.) Mix the can of chili and the can of tomato sauce together. Spread over the burritos. Cover with grated cheese. Bake about 20-30 minutes at 350.

Tomato Basil Pizza- A vegetarian dish so good, you won't know its vegetarian

2010-02-03T00:00:00.011-07:00

(From Holly)

YOU WILL NEED:
6 tomatoes
some basil [fresh: chop and cook in oil shortly] or [from your spice rack]
garlic [fresh: chop a few cloves and cook in oil for a bit] or [use garlic salt]
2 cans of plain crescent rolls
12 slices of provolone cheese
shredded parmesan cheese (not grated!)

HOW TO:
1. set oven to 350
2. take crescent rolls from cans and spread out on a pan making it into a crust
3. make sure you blend all the seams and take up the entire pan
4. place in oven for 10 min or until golden brown then remove from oven
5. place provolone cheese slices on the dough
6. slice up your 6 tomatoes into thin slices and place slices over cheese
7. sprinkle your basil over your tomatoes
8. sprinkle your garlic over your basil
9. cover with grated parmesan cheese
10.place in oven for 15 min or until you think the pizza looks fabulous and ready to enjoy

Mexican Ravioli

2010-02-03T00:00:00.010-07:00

(From Camille)

Ingredients:
Frozen or fresh ravioli
Enchilada sauce
Black beans
Corn
Olives
Cheese

Cook ravioli according to package directions. Mix in a bowl with black beans, corn and chopped olives (however much you want of each). Spread a little enchilada sauce into a baking dish, add ravioli mixture and top with more sauce and cheese. Bake at 450 for 10-15 minutes.

Olive Garden's Pasta E Fagioli Soup

2010-02-03T00:00:00.008-07:00

(From Erin)

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 large carrot, julienned
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 15 ounce can red kidney beans (with liquid)
1 15 ounce can great northern beans (with liquid)
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 12 ounce can V-8 juice
1 T. vinegar1 ½ t. salt
1 t. oregano
1 t. basil
½ t. pepper
½ t. thyme
½ pound (1/2 package) ditali pasta (or any other small pasta you have laying around)

Instructions: brown ground beef in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat. Drain off most of the fat. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour. About 50 minutes into the simmering, cook the pasta in 2 quarts of boiling water. Cook for 10 minutes or just until pasta is al dente. Add pasta to the large pot of soup. Sometimes if there doesn't look like there is enough liquid in the soup at this point, I add some of the pasta water to the soup, if not, then drain and just add the pasta. Simmer for 5-10 minutes more. Serves about 8 adults. Freezes great. I serve it with garlic bread and Parmesan cheese for the top. Mmmm.

START TOMORROW! Cook-Blog-Share

2010-02-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

February is the big month! Just a reminder, if you are going to be sharing recipes, please post one on your blog tomorrow (Tuesday), or email me your recipe so I can post it on my blog. Then check back here on Wednesday to see some new recipes. Thanks! (elainesmithson@live.com)

1st Annual Cook-Blog-Share Event!

2010-01-26T12:41:00.002-07:00

Yes, I put rice in a pan in the shape of a smiley face just for this post.

Yesterday, as evening was approaching, I knew I needed to start making dinner. But I didn't want to. Not because it takes time or effort, but because I didn't want to eat anything I was going to cook. I am tired of all of the meals on my "menu." I need something new.

Thats when I had this ingenious idea. For four weeks, post a recipe on my blog on Tuesday and ask all my friends to post one of their favorite recipes on their own blog. Here is how I imagine it working. Anyone who wants to participate posts a recipe on THEIR blog every Tuesday for the next month. On Wednesday, I post my recipe and a link to all the other bloggers involved. Then, just visit my blog, check out my recipe, and follow the links to other blogs with recipes. Does that make sense? Or, email me your recipe (if you want your blog private) and I can post it for you. Even if three friends join in, that is twelve new recipes for me!

I have to say, this is a risk for me. What if nobody is keen on my idea? I mean, I only have, what, ten readers? So the chances of this taking off may not be so good. I may take a slight hit to my self esteem if no one wants to do it, but I will get over it quickly. Then I will delete this post and pretend it never happened.

SO. If you are interested leave a comment or email me! Then I will send you a little email with a few extra details. The whole thing will start next week and last through February. Thanks!

I gave up, I gave in, I changed my mind

2010-01-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

Bigdog ALWAYS has to have his chomp-chomp to sleep with. He rubs it on his face while he falls to sleep. And he has claimed this soft blanket as his own. He loves soft things.

We make She-She sleep on the floor. Just kidding. She is playing pretend in this picture.

She-She and Bigdog share a room. At least since he was six months or so. Mostly this is because I am stubborn. I never had my own room so any kid with their own room is spoiled. Not really, I just have a hard time giving my kids their own room for some reason.

When Bigdog was old enough to sleep through the night, we moved him in with She-She. It worked pretty well for the most part. There was a week or two when BD decided he would NOT sleep through the night, so we practiced a little "sleep training" (AKA- cry it out kid!) during which time She-She slept with us for a few nights.

Everything was hunky dory (is that how you spell that?). I even think they got a little comfort from having each other while they slept. UNTIL our little Arizona adventure when BD got sick and since that time we have passed around cold after cold. Let me give you a little formula here:

BD sick= BD not sleeping well

BD not sleeping well + sharing a room with She-She= She-She not sleeping well

Bigdog and She-She not sleeping well= ME not sleeping well.

This has been the case since November. I was up AT LEAST three times a night to help one or the other. Finally Bigdog started sleeping better in January, but then She-She was all out of whack.

About two weeks ago I HAD HAD IT. "I'm splitting them up!" I said. "I told you so," said Sean. Which made me want to NOT split them up but I needed sleep. It was like having a newborn again. Okay, not really that bad, but it was still tiring.

I started preparing to move She-She into the other room when miraculously, they both slept through the night. Then it happend two more nights. If they do it again I will have four nights of peaceful rest under my belt. So now I am thinking about leaving them together. I mean, not lasting 6 months with them sharing? Weak! Or maybe it would be better to split them up until they are a little older. Why am I choosing to make my life (and their sleep) harder? I don't know the right answer. We will see how tonight goes.

Sea Life Aquarium

2010-01-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

Some of us girls in Relief Society took a trip to an aquarium over in Sandy, Utah. I knew She-She would like it but I wasn't sure how Bigdog would do. HE had a good time, although, I was sweating and tired by the end. Between chasing him around, holding him up so he could see what he was interested in, and helping She-She get the most out of it, I was exhausted! I was impressed, though. There was a variety of animals including a tank with a few small sharks in it, and a pond where you could pet sting rays (which She-She was too nervous to do and I didn't let Bigdog because he would probably jump in after them). A pretty good set up considering we are in the desert, surrounded by snow, and far from the ocean.

This is Bigdog wearing his pirate hat in anticipation of our outing.

This is an octopus...

This is an octopus about to eat She-SHe

This is the octopus closing in for the kill...

Uh-Oh...Bigdog was eaten by the octopus...it is dark inside the belly....

Can I just say...

2010-01-12T21:18:00.000-07:00

I find it satisfying to change the background of my blog frequently.

I don't follow many blogs of people I don't know, but I just stumbled on one called thepioneerwoman.com and I am kinda addicted lately. It makes me want to buy a cow.

Bigdog always smells like maple syrup. Except after a bath and then he smells like soap.

I miss the Arizona wamth. There I said it.

Someone in my family (one of my siblings) needs to marry a mechanic. Or an airline pilot.

She-She has renamed Bigdog "Pachacohnie." Or Pacha for short. Mostly this is his name when they play games. Where did she get that?

I adore Krispy Kreme. I adore Krispy Kreme. (yes, I said it two times)

Our garbage day is Monday. Why can I never remember to take the cans out?

Whistle While You Work

2010-01-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

It is official, I am forcing my daughter into child labor. Its true. She now has a chore that ONLY SHE is responsible for. She is in charge of putting the silverware away from the dishwasher. I'm kinda proud of myself for sticking to something that is not convenient, but will give my girl character.

It works like this. Every time I put a load of dishes in to wash, when I unload the dishwasher I put the silverware (minus knives) on the counter so she can reach. She has to stand on a stool to do it. Then She-She does her chore while I put the rest of the dishes away. It has a nice feeling of team work to it :).

And she does a really good job. Usually she doesn't even complain. It should only take 3 or 4 minutes, but she usually drags it out to 10 or 15 minutes. Most of that time is spent making "flower" bouquets out of forks, pretending like spoons are lollipops, and making the knives carry on conversations with each other. This is a typical example of how she lives life, though. She goes at her leisure with any task, or any play, taking her sweet time, never in a hurry. She even WALKS like this-smelling the roses, greeting the butterflies- its cute but a leeeetle exasperating when I want to get somewhere fast.

Lets face it- it would be much easier if I did it myself. No getting the stool, getting She-She, sorting the silverware for knives, making sure she gets started. But its the moral of it, right? All you out there in blog-land, do you have your (3 year old) child do chores or clean up after themselves consistently? I have to admit, I am very lenient when it comes to putting toys away, picking up clothes, or making beds. But, this seems easier because there is a set task, way to do it, and a time and place to do it. So good job to her and me. We make a great team.

Do you see that little blond head at the bottom of the picture?

Bigdog likes to help too. His job is to open all the other drawers and pull out bibs, ziplock bags, and aprons. He is good at it.

Bigdog Photo Shoot

2010-01-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Its a few weeks late, but I took Bigdog to get pictures for his first birthday. He was pretty willing to smile, although we didn't get any big grins. Enjoy!

This is the official portrait. We ordered other poses, but this is the one we will hang up.

Christmas

2009-12-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing Christmas. Sean worked Christmas Eve and through the night which was VERY lonely, but he was able to be home on Christmas so we were grateful. In fact, the kids decided to sleep in (which was like a little Christmas miracle in itself) so Sean got home before they even woke up.

She-She didn't want to come down to see what Santa brought at first. She had been up in the night with a low fever and was content to lay in her bed. We had to almost BEG her to come down so we could start the festivities. But, once we got going, it was so much fun.

Both kids loved ripping off wrapping paper. Bigdog was an excellent help at getting everything unwrapped. We noticed that She-She was very careful when unwrapping anything that belonged to her, but wasn't shy when it came to destroying anyone elses wrapping job.

We had so much fun just being together. It was a thrill to experience that little kid Christmas excitement through Bigdog and She-She. It lasted the whole day and they sure kept us busy.

Santa filled the stockings but didn't leave any presents under the tree. Mom and Dad gave one or two small presents. But WAIT! What is that in the garage! (we moved it outside later)

Santa left a whole swing set in the garage! And let me tell you. I know the elves had TONS of fun putting it together. In fact, sometimes I think the elves might have a hard time giving the credit to Santa when THEY do all the work.

Now, I bet you are wondering, "Do you have some extra kids stashed somewhere because that is an awefully big swing set." And all I have to say is that old Mr. Claus is an amazing guy and this swing set was the most efficient (cheapest) way to go. Even more so than the smaller versions. So this was the big gift that the kiddies recieved.

You also might be thinking, "Hmmmm, it looks COLD out there." Why yes it is! But She-She is a huge fan of swinging and can't get enough. For the next three days she braved the 21 degree weather to play outside for at least a half an hour. Then a snow storm came. But we cant wait until the snow melts again-and even better- until spring is here.

So, we ate good food all day, played with toys, froze outside on the swing set (in a good way), remembered the true meaning of Christmas, and just had a really great time being a family.

Yay For 6 Years!

2009-12-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

Happy anniversary to us! In six years a lot has happened. We earned two bachelor degrees, one doctorate, we moved twice, had two kids, bought a house, made it through med school and started residency. Wow. And more in love than when it all began.

This picture looks ancient because the quality is really bad. It was taken at beloved Mountain Plaza a day or so after we got engaged .

Here is one of our official engagement pics.

And the big day at the Mesa Arizona Temple

What more can I say? We are happily married. :)

2009-12-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures we took in honor of Christmas. Can I just say it is so hard to get a good picture of these little monsters? I know it is the same with all kids. How do you get them to smile, NICELY, at the same time. Actually, it is impossible. Not to mention I am not very good with a camera (more on that later). But- they do look spiffy in their Sunday dress!

Bigdog is staring at spiderman lurking on the ceiling above She-She...I guess.

She-She is comforting her baby Kira.

Daddy is making funny faces.

This might be the winner. They both are looking at the camera in a calm way.

And a dose of sweetness. She-She got this coat from her great grandparents. Very cute.

Mixing Bowls

2009-12-20T10:02:00.001-07:00

I was putting away dishes and left the cabinet unlocked...

Caught!

Making Dinner

"Oh! Now this is a good idea!"

It looks like so much fun, how can she resist?

At Our House

2009-12-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

First of I want to address an issue I have been thinking about lately. It is this. Why do my kids never have clothes on. Actually, it is mostly She-She. Ever since she was little she hated wearing clothes. And in the hot Tucson weather I felt bad forcing her into anything but a diaper. Now, three years later, she still refuses to wear pants. If I get her to put them on in the morning. She'll do something like purposely spill water on them, "Uh, oh. My pants are wet. I better take them off!" I have been pondering this delima because so many times I want to post pictures and either She-She or Bigdog is not fully clothed. It seems innocent but we are trying to stress strict levels of modesty so putting pictures up for all to see is not the best example. Anyway, how do you get your kids to keep their clothes on?

Here are some recent pictures. She-SHe and Bigdog having a tea party. This is almost a daily event in our house. So if you are ever interested, She-She is a wonderful host and you are invited.

Now the latest weather report. A few weeks ago we got a nice snow storm and cold front. We got 14 inches of snow and for over a week the highs never got above 24 degrees. When Sean would leave in the morning it would be around -2 degress. Once it was -7. This meant the snow was very dry (no snowmen yet) and didn't melt. I think it did evaporate a little. Then we got a second storm and temperatures were warmer so finally it was the big day. Here is the the person of honor, made out of snow, standing in our back yard. After Sean had thrown some snowballs, scared She-She inside, and tackled me a few times, we went in and had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. This was followed by warm showers and a tea party where we practiced throwing chocolate covered cashews in the air and catching them in our mouths. It was a magical day.

My Boy

2009-12-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Bigdog turned one! What a big kid. His latest favorites are hiding under a blanket to play peekaboo, and putting toys/blocks/whatever in and out of containers or baskets. He is very good at talking-we just can't understand what he says. He does say mom and dad. I have also heard him say uh-oh, cheese, and boo. As for walking, he is not interested AT ALL. He has been crawling for so long and is very fast. Why walk? He is very active so I thought he would walk early, or at least before She-She did (at 13 months). But he is perfectly happy to buzz around on his knees. I am now thinking that he might wait longer than She-She because I just don't see him walking within the next four weeks. He doesn't even stand on his own.

Anyway, here are pictures of his big day.

This is the face we get when the camera comes out. His cute scrunchy smile.

He has two teeth on the bottom and just cut two more on top

Like the drool?

He is so happy he got She-She's mirror.

The lettering on the cake is made of Air Heads. Note: I thought it would be so easy to cut these out with a pizza cutter-it was NOT! Airheads are either REALLY sticky or very hard. There is no inbetween. I was imagining playdoe...not so much.

He has no clue what is going on

This is Bigdog putting the candle out...with his fingers. Oops. We weren't fast enough and he grabbed the flame. I dont know if it burned him. He just looked stunned but didn't cry. And didnt want to touch the cake after that.

Finally, with some persuasion, he ventured to touch the cake again. Then decided he liked frosting. YUM

Happy Birthday Bigdog!

Magical

2009-12-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Cost

2009-12-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

We were riding in the car today and She-She said, "Here Dad!" Dad reached into the back seat and She-She put her treasure into his hand. It was thirty-seven cents and a message, "Now you can buy our house!" She-She often asks Dad why he has to go to work. Among his answers are, "So I can buy you this house." So there it is.

2009-12-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

We put up Christmas lights last weekend. I think we spent WAY to much time working on them and maybe next year we won't be crazy enough to do all the trees. I climbed on the roof to do the upper story. Pretty crazy, huh? There was only one edge on the steep sloping side that made me nervous. It looks good but I must admit I don't know if we will be as ambitious next year. But, it was Thanksgiving weekend and we were all excited so we started and then HAD to finish. Here is our festive house:

We also decorated the Christmas tree on Sunday. She-She was SO excited. She has seen Christmas displays in stores since Halloween (whats that about?) and could not wait to put up our tree. This is the first year she understands a little about Christmas, decorations, and presents. Every day she asks if it is "Christmas time today." Bigdog was of course enthralled with the neat decorations and was very successful at taking down anything he could reach.

Confession

2009-11-30T10:02:00.001-07:00

Today I was folding laundry that had sat in a clothes basket over the long weekend. This translates to very wrinkley clothes. Here's the confession- I didn't even think about ironing them. I never Ever EVER ever ever ever EVER iron. Sometimes in a rare case the wrinkles are extreme, then I wrestle with the iron. But this is very rare with wrinkles very extreme. I think you could consider it a miracle if I use the steam setting or use starch. Does this mean I'm a bad mom? Or a bad wife? I'm pretty sure it means my family wears clothes that are way to wrinkley. I mean, what would I do if I lived in a time where clothes weren't made of cotton/poly blends that are "wrinkle-free"? What do you think? Am I the only one with this dirty little secret or do you have an ironing weakness, too?

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

I am thankful for so many things. I keep trying, but I just can't figure out the right way to say that I am SO blessed. Sometimes I feel guilty because I seem to have almost EVERYTHING and yet I still find reasons to complain. So I am grateful for a day to be thankful, eat the best food out of the whole year, and gather with friends and family.

This year we gathered at my cousin's house here in Springville with several relatives from my moms side. The food was DELICIOUS. I have to say, I made the most amazing pumkin pie. It looked good AND tasted good. I am very proud.

Thanksgiving could possibly be my favorite holiday.

Once there was a snowman

2009-11-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

First item of business. I know my blog isn't private so I really shouldn't be concerned with privacy. But nevertheless, I am going to start using nifty code names. My sweet daughter shall from hence forth be known as She-She. Its a nickname we use for her sometimes. I don't really know where it came from. The little guy is now Bigdog(or BD if I am lazy in typing). Also a household nickname. And I am ME!

Here is our first snowman. It is about 8 inches tall. She-She was in charge of being in charge and giving directions. Bigdog's reaction was, "Who is this scary woman holding me. I want YOU Dad!" (I was wearing a knit hat, and Big Dog didn't like it.)

Here are a few other things that have happened around our place.

Our little vacation sure did a number on Bigdog. It totally ruined his sleeping habits. Before we left he was such an awesome sleeper. Rock him, sing him a song, lay him in the crib. He would immediately turn his head to the side, close his eyes, and fall asleep. He regressed badly on the trip because he was sick and we were all sleeping in the same room- so I was there to immediately soothe him if he woke up. When we came back he was still waking up often crying. We decided to retrain the poor guy but with no success. We tried the "cry it out" method. He hasn't improved (shortened crying times before sleeping, waking up less), instead he is worse! He just gets MORE upset and cries whenever we start a bedtime routine or walk towards his room. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. We have done this before with She-She and Bigdog and it worked, but not this time.

As for She-She, she is as cute as ever. I love the ways she talks. I like to watch her eyes when she tells me things. Sometimes when she is serious her eyes get real big and look almost crossed. Its so cute. Or if she is really excited they sparkle with glee like she has a secret and she is going to burst. Adorable. Two of my favorite phrases of hers are, "Watch this I do!" Which means she has discovered a new trick which she thinks is clever. Another favorite- "What you said?" I don't know why her words get mixed up sometimes but that is one phrase that has stuck since she could talk.

Road Trip

2009-11-20T20:54:00.001-07:00

Sean had a week scheduled off so we decided to head back to the homeland. Unfortunately Kemp got sick the night before we were supposed to leave. He threw up and had a fever above 103. The next morning we debated what to do. Kemp was acting like he felt a little better so we risked it and threw our stuff in the car. We split the trip down to Arizona in half by way of Vegas. We got a great deal on a motel and stayed the night. It was a good choice because Kemp was VERY sick (why didn't he tell us he wasn't kidding? That he wasn't feeling well before we left?) and there was an ice storm that we missed by going through Vegas.

It was great to see family. Unfortunately Kemp was sick the whole time, and wouldn't let anyone hold him or play with him, and mostly slept. Except in the car where he stayed awake. On the way home (a 10 hour ordeal) he was awake 9 hours. SHEESH!

We are pretty sure he had swine flu. I will spare you the nasty details of his symptoms. Gracie, Sean, and I were vaccinated so we never got it. Kemp had 1 of the 2 doses required for babys, so he was partially immune but not enough, apparently. I would have hated to seen what the illness looked like without being partially immune. Or maybe it wasnt swine flu at all. Perk of being married to a resident-We met Sean at the clinic where Sean checked his ears, etc. and called in Kemps prescription without an official doctor visit/wait.

In Arizona the weather was BEAUTIFUL. A few people commented that it was cooler than it had been but we thought it felt great!! We returned to find that beautiful fall is gone and snow has covered the mountains. It is officially COLD. VERY COLD. How did I survive when I was a kid. I walked to school everyday in elementary school. How did I not turn into an icicle?

Now our fun week is over and it is back to work. I miss being near our families. But, I am so thankful that I do have old and new friends here in Utah to make my life happy. And my sister. She rocks. I am not a huge fan of long drives but I am amazed at how well Gracie does. P.S. Portable DVD players are magical.

Bodily Functions

2009-11-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

(Gracie after she drank a cup of milk)

G- Where did it go!

Me- Its in your tummy now

G- Here? Right? (pointing to stomach)

Me- Yep, thats where all of your food goes after you eat it

G- I want to see it! (tugging at belly button)

M- You can't. The food stays in there while your body uses it

G- I want to see it! It doesn't open?

M-No it doesn't open

G- Oh...it stays closed. It is stuck.

Nexts school lesson: The digestive system.

Love it-Hate it

2009-11-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

(This is not our house, but you get the idea)

Our home has some beautiful wood and tile floors. In fact, our whole house is wood/tile except the front room area and two bedrooms. The third bedroom, kitchen, dining area, living room, bathrooms, hallways, and even stairs are wood or tile.

When we were looking at houses and we saw ones that had hard wood floors or tile, we would mutter "oooooooh, ahhhhhhhh" under our breath because they are so visually appealing. But now our floors and I have a strained relationship.

There are a few reasons I have discovered that wood/tile is not ideal.

#1 They are really hard. My feet and knees hurt after walking all day, especially after cooking dinner

#2 They are cold. The weather is cooling down and I have to wear socks to keep my feet warm which brings me to #3

#3 They are slippery. Gracie has biffed it several times and I don't know how Kemp is going to learn to walk on them without slipping and cracking his head. Not to mention the stairs. They are almost considered a hazard to your health.

#4 They show EVERY little speck of dirt and crumb of food. No hiding that unswept floor with plush carpet.

#5 The areas of wood floor that we have managed to hide under area rugs are now a different color because the sun has bleached the uncovered floors. Oops.

#6 They are loud. Crying, screaming, and squealing echo all through the house. Not to mention the fact we live right next to train tracks (don't ask how we feel about that) and the train noise...not good.

So I think when we sell our house having these beautiful floors will be to our advantage. I hope. What kind of flooring do you have? Remind me why tile and hard wood floors are so great. I think when we buy again in the future I might look for one that has all carpet. Even on the walls. Just kidding.

The Long Haul

2009-11-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

Stats for the last 9 days-

Hours Sean worked- 166

Average of hours worked- 18.5 per day

Longest stretch worked- 40 hours with two hours off in the middle

Times Gracie asked if Daddy was coming home- 1, 123

The Princess and the Cowboy

2009-10-31T21:29:00.000-06:00

Halloween this year was low key. Gracie liked the candy but wasn't too enthusiastic about the holiday in general. She didn't quite get the whole concept so the main event was a trick-or-treating party held at Sean's clinic on Wednesday evening. The party was for employees and their families. The patient rooms in the clinic were decorated in festive Halloween decor for the kids to trick-or-treat through. On Halloween we only went to the neighbors (six or seven doors) mostly just to say we did.
Although- dressing up is always fun, even if nobody else sees you. This year Gracie was a princess/fairy. This was convenient because we had everything she needed for a costume (since she wears various pieces of the outfit daily). Kemp was a cowboy. We tried to do a photo shoot but it was SO HARD to get Kemp to sit still! I don't know if you can tell in the pictures, but he wasn't too happy that we kept putting him back in the same spot on the floor over...and over...and over.

Gracie had special sparkly makeup and stickers to complete her costume. She loved having ear rings. It almost convinced me to get her ears pierced.

Here she added a sticker to her nose. As well as makeup on her cheeks which looked more clown-ish so I wiped it off before picture time.

She can fly!

This is her angry face.

Bowling

2009-10-29T13:07:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine (her husband is one of Sean's fellow residents) set up a bowling playdate for all of us wives. School is in session so all of the kids who came bowling were under five. Which made it...exciting. I wish I could say that Gracie loved it but she actually spent most of the time crying. She was in a mood. Does anyone else have a three year old that is as moody and cries as much as mine? Please say yes. Kemp had a great time trying to escape and crawl onto the bowling lanes. He also liked watching the colorful balls pop up through the ball return. I had never seen this before,but they had these neat metal-bar-ramp thingy. All the kids had to do was set the ball on top and push it down. With that and bumpers how can you go wrong?

Yes, We are from Arizona

2009-10-27T13:04:00.000-06:00

It is a big day for us today. It snowed for the first time! But the REAL miracle was that Sean randomly got a few hours off in the morning and came home unexpectedly. This was a big blessing. I have been feeling picked on lately because it feels like Sean is never home. Really he is the one who is picked on though. It was really special that he could be home while the kids watched it snow for the first time. Well, Gracie saw snow about a year ago but who knows if she really remembers.

Here is our yard. The snow didn't stick, but we aren't prepared for that anyway. We need to buy a shovel, gloves, etc. still. There is a whole list. Shovel, gloves, boots, windshields scrapers, a carseat for Kemp with straps big enough to fit him AND his coat.

Can you see the excitement in their sweet hearts!

Today Gracie is sporting her princess nightgown. I told her she had to wear pants so she grabbed her black leggings. To top it off tennis shoes (no socks) and her new coat.

Gracie's reaction. "Mom! It's winter! Lets build a snowman." Then proceeded to get several books with pictures of snow to show me.

Kemps reaction. Slapping the window because he REALLY wanted to go outside.

We took a drive up the canyon by our house where the snow was sticking. Gracie liked it until the cold wind started.

This is...

2009-10-24T12:14:00.000-06:00

This is...our family. Actually, they are the characters from the PBS show "Super Why." But, according to Grace, it is our family. Dad is Super Why. The hero. I am the spunky, sporty girl on roller blades. I guess I can go with that. Gracie is...well the princess of course! And then our pig is Kemp. The little guy who likes to eat and grunts a lot. I bet you didn't know we were famous and had our own TV show.

This is...Gracie's baby. A bottle of gel with a comb-pillow and mouse pad blanket. She is in a super creative and imaginative phase right now. A sandwich becomes a tunnel and the apple slice a car. The baton becomes a microphone, horse, dumbell, crayon, and drumstick. Which makes me think I don't need to buy her any toys for Christmas.

This is...our "after Sean worked the night" tradition. He comes home after his 30 hour shift and showers. We eat lunch and then crash on the couch and watch a movie while he catches up on sleep. Gracie loves it. Kemp loses interest after a while so he and I do our own thing.

Falling for Fall

2009-10-20T11:13:00.000-06:00

Today we went to Walmart. After tromping ALL. OVER. THE STORE.- I looked down and saw that Kemp only had one shoe on. So, we tromped back ALL. OVER. THE STORE. hoping to find it. No luck. Sure, he almost never keeps them on anyway (as demonstrated). Sure, he would probably grow out of them in a few weeks. But does that make me feel better? Not really.

On another note...

It is fall! When I was little I didn't like autumn. I thought it was depressing because everything seemed to be dying and it was cold and gloomy. Somehow I missed all of the beautiful colors. It is amazing! I love fall! The colors are bright and stunning. Some days are cold but others are absolutely perfect. I was going to steal some pictures off the web (because I haven't had my camera by my side to take pictures when we pass a picturesque spot) but started feeling guilty. So, I will try to take some and in the mean time, try not to feel a little envious as you picture in your head all of the beautiful fall colors surrounding me. :)

Big Number Three

2009-10-13T19:41:00.000-06:00

Gracie is three! I can't believe that I am old enough to have a three-year-old child. When did that happen?
For Gracie's special day Sean got off at 1:00 and we did presents and cake. Then we packed and headed up to Midway, Utah for a retreat Sean's residency was hosting. Luckily Gracie LOVES to stay in hotels so we told her it was for her birthday (happy face). Too bad Dad had to go to meetings-but not that many (sad face). We slept at a quaint resort called the Homestead. They had a little playground, a scarecrow festival (a lawn that was full of creative and funny scarecrows from local businesses) and an indoor pool. Time was short so we couldn't go swimming (sad face) but Gracie still had fun. The weather was crisp and the leaves were changing. A perfect time to spend in the beautiful mountains. Gracie got tons of birthday wishes from Sean's coworkers and knew that this was her special day. All in all a fun birthday (great big happy face!).

Thanks to Aunt Sarah who came over in the morning and played with us! And helped make this fantastic cake.

Gracie is wearing one of her presents- a cinderella dress. She wore it most of the day. What a little princess!

Funny Video

2009-10-11T10:15:00.000-06:00

This is us experimenting with our webcam. Ignore me in my robe. I stay in my PJs and robe til all hours of the morning when its cold. The video is kind of long, but if you hang on until the end Gracie starts to get funny with the different effects of the camera (she can see herself on the screen). The funnyness starts around minute 1:30 in the video. Maybe I'm just her mom, but it sure made me smile.

I think it might be too long and not play very well online. Please let me know if it is not working.

Its A Small World

2009-10-11T08:24:00.000-06:00

Did you watch conference? I got some really great stuff out of the talks. I was suprised that I was still able to absorb a fair amount even with two kiddies tugging at me to get my attention. Gracie was so excited to see Pres. Monson on TV. Not to mention on the local channel through the attena/digital box and not cable. Living in Utah definitely has its perks.

Did you hear the talk by this man? Russell T. Osguthorpe is the Sunday school general president. He spoke about teaching with the spirit and teachers 'saving lives'. At the beginning of his talk he told how his son left to go to work at the hospital and said, "I've got to go save some lives." Well- his son is Sean's attending and on the faculty of the residency. (Just in case you were wondering Dr. Osguthorpe works in pediatric infectious diseases.) Sean actually called him during conference (not while his dad was speaking) because Sean had to work and they had a kid with an infectious disease that they needed to consult about. So my husbands-attending's-dad knows President Monson.

P.S. I really liked the talk.

Newest Member of Our Family

2009-10-05T19:59:00.000-06:00

Gracie is sporting her Colts outfit. She picked it out herself and says that she is a "football dame" (football game player) when she is wearing it.

What is there to do for FHE that costs less than $20 and includes a long term commitment? Buy a bird! That is what we did last Monday. We already had a cage so we just had to go to the pet store and pick one out. It was a spur of the moment decision but Gracie was really excited about it. She named it Mary-Mary. We suggested other names but she would have none other.

My personal history with birds has been bitter-sweet. I got a parakeet when I was in 5th grade for my birthday. As far as birds go, it rocked. I trained it so that it would fly to me when I snapped my fingers. It would sit on my shoulder and was pretty affectionate, for a bird that is. I had it for about two years and then our cat killed it. The circle of life I guess.

Sean and I have had two birds. Neither with happy endings. The first, named Tink (Tinkerbell), was grouchy. We started letting her out of the cage but we found her dead one day on the bottom of the cage. She had a bad habit of eating carpet and pest control sprayed our house that day, so we think the two were a bad combination.

Our second bird was named Captain after Captain Edward Teach- the pirate also known as Blackbeard. We thought it would be neat to have a little bird sitting on our shoulder who was the Captain. We didn't do a great job of training it and one day while it flew out the door. Oops.

But we have big plans for this bird. I am going to train it well. I am also home all day so it gets a lot more attention. Gracie loves the bird and likes to tell her all the news. Kemp thinks it is neat, too. He points and grunts to let us know he wants to look at her up close for a while.

And so we welcome the newest member of our family. Mary-Mary (or Merry-Merry if you'd like).

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See...

2009-09-30T19:48:00.001-06:00

Thats right folks, SNOW!! I took these pictures from our front yard. Last night and today it kept raining on and off. We also got hail a few different times. The forcast says that we could even get some snow down here tomorrow. Crazy? YES! I checked the forcast in Tucson and they were supposed to be a whole 50 degrees warmer than us at around 95 degrees. So we enjoyed cuddling in blankets and drinking warm drinks. At the same time I am realizing how endless this winter might feel.

Have you ever read the book or seen the movie The Snowman? Its about a little boy who builds a snowman and it comes to life. Gracie keeps telling me, "It will snow at our house and I will make a snow man! He will smile and be so funny! And we will fly in the sky with him!" I hope she is just playing and realizes that the book is fictional or else she might be really disappointed.

G and K

2009-09-27T09:49:00.000-06:00

Lately Gracie likes to say, "Let me holg (hold) Tempy." When I set him in her lap she adds, "Take a picture Mommy!" So I do! He will stay with her for about a minute before he gets bored. The pictures with him in the blue stripes were taken right after he woke up so he has a sleepy-eyed look.

Kemp+ELFudge Cookie=Delightful... Doesnt it make you want a cookie?

Is there anything more cute than a baby in overalls? I submit there is not!

Microwave Woes

2009-09-24T21:27:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time...a queen and king lived in Arizona and owned a microwave. Then one day they were going to move to Utah to a beautiful palace that ALREADY HAD a microwave. Since it was much like their own, they weren't sure which one would be best. So, the queen and king had TWO MICROWAVES! The queen-being the wise woman that she was-knew it was no good to clutter their new palace with un-needed microwaves. Since the microwave that came with the palace defrosted MUCH FASTER than their old one, she sold the old microwave to a nice peasant for $20. Time went on. Not much time, only TWO WEEKS. All of the sudden when the queen tried to use their came-with-the-palace microwave...it died. The queen was very distraught that she had chosen to sell the wrong microwave. So that night she went to walmart and bought a new one for $50. UGH. The queen and king mourn that they had to spend $30 to reduce clutter in their new palace, but, as always, they lived happily ever after. The End.

(I thought both of Melanie and Cherie when I wrote this, I know you understand!)

Where Did Summer Go?

2009-09-18T09:08:00.000-06:00

After living in Tucson for seven years, summers became a dreaded time. A time to lock yourself in your house and turn on the A/C as high as possible- or swamp cooler in our case. Three summers I spent outside in the blazing heat while I worked at the YMCA summer camp. Two more summers I spent in the 2nd or 3rd trimesters of pregnancy and tried to resist feeling claustrophobic in my own body as my tummy grew and the ability of our swamp cooler to fight the heat shrunk.

Then came this year. We left Tucson just as it started to get hot and arrived in Utah before summer had truly begun. And now my question is- did it ever come at all? Did I even suffer through one day over 101 degrees? I know I never burned myself on the seatbelt or steering wheel of our car. In fact getting into the car was uneventful when we didn't have to face a wall of stifling hot air. We were able to take walks on any evening we wanted without fear of being drenched with sweat. The mornings were comfortable and dew stayed on our lawn past ten in the morning. After cool nights, Gracie didn't dare leave the house before nine because it was "too cold."

I find myself still bracing myself as I a wait for summer to hit, and then look around and realize fall is coming. Our flowers our going dormant and trees are looking yellow as they prepare to turn all shades of orange and fall off. So was that all Utah could muster up when it comes to summer? I know I was raised in the Salt Lake valley, but when I was little, to me summer WAS hot. After Tucson, I don't know if summer will ever be hot again.

One Page at a Time

2009-09-12T21:44:00.000-06:00

So tonight I scrapbooked for the first time since...well, since before we moved for sure. I am posting this not to display my fantastic scrapbooking skills (as you can see, I have very little). But because I think it means something. It means that we are finally settled into our house enough that I feel like I can do something other than cleaning or organizing or putting away, etc. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot I need to do, but there is enough done that I can focus on other things now.

As for this page, Gracie is about one and a half in the picture. If it looks familiar it is because it has been on my facebook page pretty much since I have used facebook. The page itself is simple, but like I said, I'm no scrapbooking genius. Besides, it takes less time that way. Actually, I am seriously considering switching to all digital books, but I have spent so much money on supplies, that I feel I have to use them for a while more before I abandon them.

Gracie Says

2009-09-09T21:03:00.000-06:00

Here are some more Gracie-isms. She keeps us smiling with her funny personality.

Gracie says-

*When introducing our family to a server at a restaurant, "Dats my Mom, dats Tempy, dats my sweetheart." Yes, Sean and Gracie have a special relationship and are best friends. Most nights Gracie asks if he has to go to work the next day (with a innocent hopefulness that he will say no) and when he says yes she often tells him she will have to go with him.

*"I'm just doing a bad hard day!" Our princess is kind of moody sometimes with the ups and downs expected from a two year old. So this is what she says to explain it. Or she tells us she is sick.

*"Hi big dawg!" Her favorite greeting for Kemp. Sean keyed the nickname.

*"Do you have penguins at your house?" Her question for Aunt Sarah when we visited her house one day. Does anyone have penguins at their house?

*"Stop yelling at me Tempy!" So Kemp is a loud little fellow. He loves the sound of his own voice, espcially when it echos like in our kitchen off the tile floor. He likes to yell at the top of his lungs just for the fun of it. Unfortunately Gracie has never liked loud noises and the hollering gets on her sensitive nerves. The poor girl thinks he his directing his loudness at her.

*"I don't want to be baptithed!" She meant baptized. When we asked why, she said, "The lotter (water) is berry cold." When we told her dad would help, the water would be warm, AND she would get a pretty dress, she said okay.

*"Mom I'm a monster...or a panda bear." This one came out of the blue one day when we were eating lunch. Random

Just Some Pics

2009-09-07T14:12:00.000-06:00

Church is so exhausting!

Little Miss Potato Head

Kemps first cookie. YUM!

Best Friends

(most of the time)

L & D

2009-09-01T22:59:00.000-06:00

(Kemp is born)

Throughout his medical career Sean has never been a huge fan of the OB field. He figured there are women doctors around so who needed him? During medical school, his rotations through OB were not terribly great. When we were researching residency programs if he saw one with a lot of OB work he would make a note to steer away from that program.
This week is Sean's second week on labor and delivery and surprisingly his attitude is gradually changing. Its an amazing thing to see. But, when he comes home and tells me about his experiences, I can understand why he is feeling better about possibly doing OB in at his practice in the future.
He finds it remarkable to be there every time a new life is born. He has done close to twenty deliveries now and each one for him is a neat experience. While in medical school he really only stood on the sidelines but now he is in the thick of it and I think the miracle of the whole thing affects him.
Anyone who has witnessed a birth knows it is really dramatic and intense. To risk so much-when things can go terribly wrong very fast-to bring a precious baby into the world. And then the joy and hallowed feeling when everything is calm again and the parents love their new little child.
Sean gets a unique perspective as the doctor. He likes to watch the Dads and kind of support them. Sometimes there are teen moms who are all alone and he helps them. On a few deliveries there have been emergencies or close calls and things are so beautiful when it all turns out well. We will see what this all leads to, but maybe he will change his mind and do some OB in the future after all. (Gracie is born)

Home School

2009-08-30T10:29:00.000-06:00

The new thing at our house is school. A lot of our friends have kids starting or going back to school, so I decided to do a little something for Gracie. We made her a chart and on the first day I told her that when Kemp went to sleep, we would do her school time. Kemp went down for his nap and then Gracie said, "Let's go see Grammy!" I was a little confused so she explained, "You say I go to Grammy's school!" Sean's mom teaches elementary school and Gracie has been to her classroom before. I felt so bad that she had misunderstood and she was kind of upset too when she realized that we weren't going to see Grammy.

But now, we have done her "school" for two weeks and she really likes it. I try to rotate through the chart once a week (three days) or more if things work out. It doesn't last very long, only 15-30 minutes, but I feel good about having guaranteed Mommy-Gracie time.

Art day usually means painting or crafts. On learning days we practice letters or counting while we color, play with play doe, or play in shaving cream. Maybe I will do some science lessons about the sun or plants or something. On play day we play board games, bubbles, or something else fun.

So that Kemp isn't left out I'm trying to do a little extra for him by reading him more books at nap time (if he will sit still).

THE CHART

Painting

Letters in Shaving Cream

Growing Boy

2009-08-26T14:04:00.000-06:00

(Kemp does have more shirts than this one. It just seems this is the one he always has on when the camera comes out!)

This last week I felt like I somehow missed the first eight months of Kemp's life and now he isn't a baby anymore! The first two months having a newborn are like a faded memory and then the six months after that were so busy. The time was filled with house hunting, moving, and adjusting to residency. And now here we are. He is so big and I don't know when it happened. Sad.

Here are some of Kemps recent developments-

*He is scooting on his stomach (army crawling) all over the place. He has given himself little blisters on his big toes from pushing off the carpet all of the time

*He is finally eating solid foods! It was a rough start back around 4 months. Then we tried again at 6 months and he would only eat table food. Now that he trusts us not to give him gross baby food, he will eat almost anything we give him. He especially loves grapes and pasta. He will eat rice cereal if I mix it with sweet baby food like pears.

*In the last two weeks he has become much more social. He waves "hi" (this started around 7 months), and wants to always be in the same room as Mom or Dad. Before he was content to chill on the floor if he had toys. He still loves to play but wants to be near us.

*Kemp loves to give growly kisses. These are more like biting but it is so cute. He actually growls all the time. If he is playing he will chase us or run while he says "ARGGGHHHH!". If he wants another bite during meals he grunts through his nose with his mouth closed. He also loves to say "BLAH!!!!!" and hang out his tongue. Very funny.

*His favorite snack is lint or paper scraps left on the floor. YUM.

And pennies-like the one I found in his poopy diaper this morning. Who knew? We somehow avoided a disaster there.

Water Fun

2009-08-23T14:16:00.000-06:00

What's more fun than playing in the hose? And that is just what we did yesterday. I know there are no pictures of me, but believe me, I got wet too-thanks so Gracie and SEAN. As you can see Kemp was not into it because he had just woke up from his nap. Gracie's favorite part was filling up Sean's pockets which he then slapped to make a big splash.

Whats On My Mind

2009-08-16T20:37:00.000-06:00

I have several little things swirling through my head, so I will put them all in one disjointed post.

#1 Gracie likes the coolest foods. Does your kid love-

Tomatos

Sour Cream (plain or on food)

Banana Peppers

Green Chile Casserole

Green Olives

Hot Cheetos?

She Does!

(oh, and the other day she told us she "eats bugs" and would like to "eat a kitty for dinner")

#2 Gracie and Kemp are so different-

Gracie- Girl.......................Kemp-Boy (did I really need to point that one out?)

G- Loves to cuddle..........K-Would much rather play on the floor any day

G- For first year of her life in 70 percentile or so

in size (now in 50%).........K-25 percentile

G- Brown hair, Brown eyes, more

olive compextion..............K- We like to call him clear.(blonde hair, blue eyes, very fair)

G-Likes to watch TV........K-Could care less

(even when she was under a year)

I love it!

#3 We went to the Utah county fair. Very cool because it was FREE. Although I was surprised at how small the attendance was and the fair itself was also smaller. We saw pigs, sheep, cows, big veggies, neat paintings, and some bull roping.

#4 We went to the Hoogle Zoo. Good selection of animals, and the animals were actually visable. The very cutest was the baby giraffe. It was less than 2 months old and about Sean's size. My kids don't believe in taking good pictures so here they are.

Springville Fire Station

2009-08-09T20:13:00.000-06:00

Yes-we went to the fire station. Yes-I forgot my camera! I arranged for the wives and kids of all the residents to visit the fire station. Here is a picture that a friend was kind enough to take and email to me. We had a lot of fun touring the Springville Fire Department. Fireman Duke (seen in the background-the only guy) showed us all of the fireman gear including air mask, coat, helmet, pick, hose, and more. The kids also got to climb in a fire truck and see an ambulance. Finally, we went inside to look at this cool fire truck from the 1930's. Gracie liked the whole experience but only from a distance. All of the big, heavy equipment was intimidating for her. She declined climbing in the fire truck and stayed glued to my side the whole time. But, she was excited to tell her dad what we had done that day, so she did think it was neat. I think that most fire stations are open for public tours if you call and ask. And they even slip in some fire safety information for bonus. Try it out!

Doctor Sean

2009-08-05T14:40:00.000-06:00

Everyone is always asking how residency is going for Sean, so here it is.

For the first four weeks Sean did family medicine inpatient. It is usually the most busy rotation so we were a little concerned about him starting there. But, now I am so glad he did. Sean jumped right in and started practicing everything he learned in the past four years. He is doing a really great job. He gets along great with the other doctors and residents. His attendings have complimented him several times on his work. Several patients have also asked where is office is because they would like to switch to his practice! Taking the doctor road is long and hard but Sean really enjoys it. He is also really good at it!

Now Sean is on his surgery rotation. The surgery branch of medicine is not "his thing" for several different reasons so he likes to spend most of his time in the surgery clinic doing consultations. He figures he will able to use some of that experience in the future- unlike the actual operating room (he doesn't plan to do many operations in his office). Several times a week he still goes to the family practice clinic to see patients there, as well.

He works tons of hours during the week. Especially because being on call and staying the night in the hospital adds 30 hrs alone to his schedule. On weeks where he takes call twice, he may work 80 hours or more. We are surviving though. Time is flying by and I have lots to keep me busy here at home. The intern year of residency can be really hard, but so far we are doing really well.

Before I Die..

2009-08-01T15:21:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I have a hard time being patient with my life. I have recently realized that staying home with our kids doesn't mean I can't do other things I have dreamed about in the future. So here is my list of things that I would like to do before I die. I started with a healthy 10 items (plus three) and will add on. Don't laugh. I know they are not that ambitious, but I figure I will start small to make sure they are things I can actually do and cross off. I mean, who wants to be a failure when it comes to something like this? That would be depressing. So all of you out there with blogs- I dare you to make a list and post it, too. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Write a childrens book

2. Serve a mission

3. Change someone's life

4. Go on a cruise

5. Write a hymn

6. Take painting or drawing classes

7. Get a masters degree in something

8. Get an associates degree in business management

9. Coach a youth sports team

10. Work for a charity. Or maybe start my own!

11. Teach elementary school

12. Take ballroom dance classes with Sean for fun.

13. Learn to play the violin

Update

2009-07-26T10:29:00.001-06:00

So here are somethings that have been happening for us in the last week.

1. I took Kemp to his six month appointment. He is now 7 1/2 months but because of the move and insurance changes, I just barely got the doctor thing done. Here are his stats (for 7 months of age)-

Head- 80 percentile

Height- 40 percentlile

Weight- 25-30 percentile!!!

I thought he was smaller than Gracie was at this age, but I had no idea he measured up so small. With his blonde hair and small size, we wonder if he is really a Smithson. Gracie at 6 months was more in the 80 percentile all around. Kemp is a little boy with a big head! We think his small weight is because for the first 5 months he was a MAJOR spit-upper. When he stopped spitting up so much he got the stomache flu. He is also VERY active. In fact he is now army crawling all over the floor. He likes to play so much that I have problems getting him to concentrate on eating. Sean gives him an extra bottle before bed now to try and fatten Kemp up.

2. I was called in our ward to be the ward music leader. This includes leading in sacrament meeting, picking the hymns, and arranging musical numbers. I am actually pretty nervous. I guess I know how to lead, but I get all flustered standing in front of everyone and mess up. Ugh. This is the first time I have gotten a calling and had worries about it. I am considering deligating the leading in church to someone else. Especially because Sean is on call on Sunday about once a month and so I have to figure out what to do with the kiddies while I lead.

3. I am realizing more and more that Gracie is a sweet little girl with a heart full of music. At any time during the day she is usually singing to herself, Kemp, or me. Now she not only sings countless songs, but makes up her own, too. Or she uses a familiar tune and changes the words to tell about her thoughts. If she isn't singing to the music in her heart, she is dancing to it. I get daily performances of her dance routines complete with stage entrance and a dramtic finish-topped with a round of bows.

Modern Technology

2009-07-21T13:22:00.000-06:00

Gracie (in her PJs) checking out our blog

How crazy is it to raise a kid in a world with so many gadgets like cell phones and computers. I know every little kid likes to play with the keyboard, or try to push the nifty power button, but Gracie is older now and things have gone a step further. Is mine the only kid who likes to use the computer? OR MAYBE I should ask- am I a bad mom if I let my daughter use the computer? If I ever leave our blog on the screen Gracie loves to scroll down and look at all of the pictures. What kid doesn't love pictures of themself? Our mouse has the little center scroll down wheel thing on top so she has figured out how to move up and down the page. AND maybe once a week she asks me to play the ABC game. It is a Fisher-Price online game where she can press the letters on the keyboard and hear their name along with an animal that begins with that letter. If you want to follow my bad lead, here is the link.
http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/abczoo/default.asp
And that is how I go about raising a computer geek!

Say Cheese!!

2009-07-15T07:43:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago was a big event in our family history-we took family pictures for the FIRST TIME-EVER! The good news is that we used a coupon and they were super cheap. BUT, it was so hard to get Gracie to smile! Most of the pictures were of her with her mouth wide open and tongue hanging out. All of the attention was on her (trying to get her to smile) and she realized that she could do whatever she wanted and we would still be nice. We BEGGED her, teased, did cart wheels, and here is what we got...not bad.

The official portrait

The cute portrait.

Can you tell Kemp had spit up on his chin? I photo shopped it out. And Gracie's hair thing bothers me, but oh well.

The Kiddies

Fruit of Our Labors

2009-07-11T14:12:00.000-06:00

I am so proud of our little garden, and I think it is really fun to take care of-SO I thought I would do another special post about my developing green thumb.

If you remember, here is our plot when we first planted it....

(we cheated and started from seedlings, not seeds)

About one month later...

Our first strawberry! Actually it was our second, but birds stole our first one. Look how little it is! More like the size of a raspberry

Funny Boy

2009-07-10T07:04:00.000-06:00

We were driving in the car yesterday when we heard Kemp in the back seat start laughing. Sometimes Gracie will smile and "boo" at him to get him to laugh. When we looked back we realized she was just staring out the window, while Kemp was having a blast entertaining himself. He would blow raspberries, and then laugh histerically. Soon we were all laughing. Kemp just thought he was so funny! Here is a little video we got. For the first 30 seconds he is distracted by Sean filming. Then Gracie gets in on it so that he will start laughing again. For about 20 seconds you can see just how much fun he was having. At times when we didn't video it, he was laughing so hard he almost couldn't breathe.

Independence Day

2009-07-05T10:29:00.001-06:00

First of all I want to express that I am so grateful to live in the United States of America. Even if I don't express it a lot, inside I think I am a really patriotic person. I love this country and pray for the people in leadership positions. I am also extremely grateful and awed by those who risk, or give their lives to serve in the military.

Now that I said that, here is how our 4th of July went down...

Horrible picture of me, but for some reason I like it anyway

Provo Parade. I was suprised- it had balloons, floats, and all

DELICIOUS food that Sean made. Ribs, corn on the cob (also grilled), my yummy potato salad...it was amazing

The street fair in Provo. Complete with Star Wars characters, snow cones, and cotton candy

FIREWORKS.

We didn't go to the big show, but thats okay because it rained. We did our own at home and it was fun.

Potty Progress

2009-07-03T22:09:00.000-06:00

OK- I know you probably don't want to read this post- and thats okay. I just have to celebrate because Gracie is FINALLY POTTY TRAINING. I realize I am just going through the same thing as every other parent, but for me this is a big deal!

I was getting so nervous because it seemed every other kid her age was running around in panties. Then, a week ago, she went on the pot for the first time. After the busy weekend I jumped on it and this week she did such a great job. We sing songs, have candy, and talk about it constantly with her, and it seems to be working.

Potty facts-

She wore diapers at times this week (like when we were away from home or she was sleeping)

If we were at home for a while she wore panties

She had 0 *let me repeat* 0 pee-pee accidents

She went poop on the potty once

She has even taken off her diaper to go pee, even though she wasn't in underwear

So now we just have to work on the old #2 part of the whole thing. She is doing awesome!!!!

Intern Initiation

2009-06-28T20:28:00.001-06:00

This Friday Sean finished his two weeks of orientation for his new residency position. On Thursday all the families of the new interns were invited to a park for lunch and a special initiation activity. It is as close as the program could come to "hazing." It was a lot of fun to watch them run through all of the funny challenges and obstacle courses they were put through.

The interns before the wipped cream, water balloons, running, slipping, etc.
Sean at the end of the obstacle course (slip-n-slide). Looks fun, huh?

Sean being "knighted" an intern and taking a "sacred oath."

Receiving his white coat.

The interns after the whole sha-bang.

The whole event was a lot of fun and we loved supporting Sean through it all.

We Went Camping

2009-06-24T14:48:00.000-06:00

Before Sean started work we tried to shove as many activities in as we could. Camping was one of them. On day one, we traveled up to Logan and saw the temple. After realizing Sean and I hadn't brought jackets, although we did for the kids, we spent an hour driving around trying to find a store with some cheap coats in the summer. Finally we drove up to Bear Lake. It was beautiful and really neat, but it also started raining. No Pouring. We hadn't checked the weather. We headed back to Logan. Realizing it would be miserable to camp with two babies in the rain, we started home and tried to keep positive about our fun day in Logan, although we didn't camp.

As we drove past Ogden, we thought, "What the heck, lets just head up a canyon here and see if we stumble upon some camping areas." Again no luck. We took all the wrong turns. Back to Provo.

The next morning after a cozy sleep at home we still had the camping bug. We hadn't even unpacked the car so we headed up Hobble Creek Canyon. We spent the whole day there. We set up the tent for Gracie to play in, had lunch and dinner, played with fire, and explored the wilderness. Again we decided it was much to cold and wet (we had a little sprinkle again) to stay the night. We headed home. But, we were tired, smelled like smoke, and had played in a tent, just like real camping. Between two days in the mountains, it all worked out. And we got to sleep in our own beds!

Green Thumb

2009-06-17T20:43:00.000-06:00

We are so excited to be in our new house with a yard and lawn. I wanted to plant a garden but we moved in too late to start from seeds. I have tons to do (unpacking and a million little projects) so we started small this year and bought already-started plants. Here's how it went.

Before

Sorry about the picture quality

Middle

After

Two tomato plants, zucchini, and strawberries

Gracie had a lot of fun and she made some new friends-

That's right, folks-WORMS. She thought it was fun to find them, hold them, put them in her pockets, name them, and call them her happy family. I've never been really good with keeping plants alive, so I hope our work is fruitful!

G-U-M Yum!

2009-06-14T20:01:00.000-06:00

Set the Scene-Sean and Elaine sitting in front room with Kemp, talking

*Enter Gracie with big smile on her face*

Sean: What is in your mouth?

Gracie: (Drooling) Gum-Gum!

Elaine: What?

*Elaine and Sean's eyes pop out as they realize Gracie's mouth is FULL of gum.*

Sean: Where did you get that!

*Parents rush to kitchen and discover Sean's scripture case on the floor with EMPTY pack of gum and 3-4 empty wrappers scattered*

Elaine: Gracie, you need to give us some of your gum so you don't choke on it.

*GULP*

Gracie: I swallowed it!!!!

Some Pictures For You To Enjoy

2009-06-13T09:49:00.000-06:00

Kemps camping outfit
My exhausted husband and child

Visiting Temple Square

Camping and adoring nature

Eating toes

There's No Place Like Home

2009-06-11T16:33:00.000-06:00

Well, we are into our house! We actually were finally able to move in a little over a week ago. As you can imagine, things have been a little busy, and we just got our computer set up and our phone/internet started. For the next few days I will try to do some catch-up-blogging and tell you all about the adventures in our new home.

You know those moments when things are unusually quiet and you think, "Gracie (insert your child's name) is WAY to quiet right now, something is up." One of those moments happened the other night when we had put Gracie to bed. She wasn't in the mood to settle down so I was suprised when she was so silent in her room after only two or three minutes. She couldn't have fallen to sleep THAT fast. Here is what we found when we checked on her.

What you are looking at is the result of leaving desitin in Gracie's room after changing Kemp's diaper. She always liked to take a little desitin on her finger, spread it on a various body part and say, "I washing myself!" This time she really did get a bath after applying the paste all over her feet, legs, face, and hands. It is designed to be water resistant so we made decent progress and then gave up. The rest rubbed off on her sheets when she slept that night.

Moving On

2009-05-25T09:04:00.000-06:00

This week we are moving up to Utah. We don't know exactally what day we will pull into Provo because our house may not close on time. I can't tell you how disappointing this is to Sean and me. If things go really wrong, our house may not come through at all. Or, we may just have to hang out on the street until the loan finally goes through-which is what we are waiting for. We will stay in Holbrook until things get figured out because our lease here is ending so we have to leave.

Packing up and leaving friends, family, our home, and this city which we have lived in for the past 8 years or so is stressful and very sad. What makes it harder on me is to see how it is hard for Gracie. It breaks my heart. We have been packing up for a few days and she all the sudden started going around the house throwing all of her toys into a box. It took her about 30 minutes to get the job done. When she finished she said, "There-I all cleaned up Mom!" I got the impression that it was her way of dealing with the stress and she thought that if she cleaned up her toys, Sean and I could be finished too and play with her. She did the whole process a second time last night (her toys dont ever stay put away for long). Another time she was having a melt down about going to bed. I asked her what was wrong and she cried, "I just want to go to Utah!" Again, I think she realizes that after the move is done things will be back to normal.

Her room is all packed up with boxes stacked everywhere. This changes the smell in there, too. Two nights ago she was having trouble sleeping again (a common thing in this last week) and I stood outside her door to hear her whimpering, "Don't be scared, ohhhh... Don't be scared....ohhh!" Poor girl. I about started crying myself. I went and got her and rocked her to sleep. She has also started sleep walking- I'm assuming from stress.

Kemp has also become more needy as we spend less time with him and more time working around the house. At times he won't let us put him down at all. I will be so relieved when we are settled in and can give our sweet kiddies lots and lots of time and attention.

Thanks to everyone here in Tucson. I am grateful for all of the friends we have made. We will really miss our families. Gracie will, too. She adores her grandparents and aunts/uncles. It has been a wonderful year with Sean serving in the bishopric and we will miss our ward even more because of it. It is hard to leave.