cELebrAtE

{Alice in Wonderland 2010 Vogue issue}

Today is my sweet Father's birthday.

Oh how I love my Dad.

He is perfection in my eyes.

What I would give to be as good of a person as Dave Smith.

While he was visiting us over the weekend I was blessed to have him and Adam give me a blessing. He always taught us kids the importance of have the power of the priesthood in our future homes and I was so incredibly happy the day I married a man who shared that same attitude. To have them stand together in this act was a day I will always cherish. I seriously am thankful for the strength our religion gives me.

I love you with all my heart Daddy.

Happy Birthday!

P.s. I would wear this party dress in celebration... if I had it of coarse.

fEEdiNG ouR faCeS

(photo by Rus Anson)

We had a super fun weekend with my parents. We definitely ate some grand meals including...

John Wayne Tacos

Omelets

Ribs & smoked apple bacon turkey from Goodwood

Steak & baked Idaho potatoes

Buckwheat pancakes {gluten free of course}

Sweet potato fries from Gurus

... basically we ate like kings.

P.s. Oh what I would give to be able to cook in that lovely oven!

tRaVeLERs

{Photography by Rodney Smith}

I found out today that we have company traveling to come see us for a few days!

My brother Nick and his adorable family will be joining up with us tonight. I discovered some weird things about myself this morning while anxiously cleaning our little home in preparation for their visit.

When we have company I get a little OCD. I found myself cleaning EVERYTHING. We are talking from ceilings to floors. Along with the normal vacuuming and dusting I watered our one and only plant that I never water, I changed all the burnt out light bulbs, and washed all our rugs. What the?

Do you have any weird corks about yourself when people come to visit your home?

CuZ

I just love my sweet cousin Ky.

I love the memories I have of us as little girls playing with our American girl dolls and jumping on the tramp for hours. Growing up She lived in Arizona, so one summer I worked around the house for my parents and saved up enough money to fly out to visit her and her family. I'm thinking I was probably 9ish. Later her family moved to Logan so we would take turns in the Summer going to each others homes and staying for a week to hang out. Those were probably the only weeks out of the Summer that I would ride a bike {I have a random fear of ridding bikes... go figure}. I love, love memories especially with this chicka!

tWenTY eLEveN

We spent new years eve with my awesome parents in Salt Lake City. Adam had to work until later than hoped for so he ended up meeting us at our hotel and from there we headed to C.P.K {California Pizza Kitchen} at the Gateway, for a delightful dinner. I swear you can never go wrong at that restaurant. We then ventured to the theater and enjoyed watching the movie The Tourist. Once we got back to the hotel the new year was around the corner. We counted down with our drink of choice and enjoyed fireworks from our window. 2011 welcome!

tHanKFul mEMoRieS

This is late but if I don't post now I will forget detail down the road.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving Holiday. We spent this year with the Densley crew including My mother-in-law Vicki's family. It was a super nice dinner held at their house. I was in charge of the sweet potatoes and was more than excited to splurge on those babies. Everyone ate, enjoyed each others company and conversations, and watched a movie {kids down stairs and adult upstairs}. P.S. my sister-in-law Tiff made me a gluten free pie. Hello! It was amazing, as is she. After the party died down I headed to the land of Rupert. Adam had to work all black friday and Saturday long... we are talking 9-9. So, not wanting to spend the weekend alone I decided to spend it with the Smiths. I got there late Thursday, but just in time to hear the plans for early morning shopping. We all went to bed around midnight and arose at 3am! For real. We all packed into my sister-in-laws suburban. The shoppers were:

Driver - Mono

Music DJ - Bay

Singer - Brod

Dancers - Bubba {and the three above}

people laughing their faces off - Dusty, Dae, Suz, Trick, Sydda,

We all pilled in, drove to Twin Falls {45 minute away} and divided up. Gareth and I went to Wal-mart, Suz and Dae headed to Maceys, Dust, Bailey and Brody attempted Target, and Nick was dropped off at Shopko. We all ran like crazy people to grab our assigned items and quickly checked out. The worst of the store was defiantly Target due to the INSANE lines and surprisingly Wal-mart was a piece of cake. Afterwards, we all headed to IHOP for a bite. It was so much fun, but there was no way I wanted to take pictures that early in the morning. {kicking myself about it now though}. None of us were able to catch up on sleep that day, due to little kids at home waiting to play. Sweet ol' times during Thanksgiving of 2010.

sNow

What's Christmas without snow? Sadly, there wasn't much snow on the ground this year... so we simply put on our gear and drove to the snow. It was fun getting to watch all the kids try out their new stuff and learn how to ski or board. We all ate a hug breakfast after presents, including our traditional deer meat, and then took off to the mountain top. A grand Christmas day indeed. Those that suited up were:

Bubba

Suz

Macey Lou

Marmar

Dusty

Kynlee

Trick

Ronan

Adam

Squid

nEw GeAR

This year Adam did very well, as usual, with my gifts. Some favorite presents from him were the purplie, furish scarf, the little mustard yellow purse, and my RVCA shirt. My brother Nick and his family stayed the night at my parents as well, so we were able to have little kids around. Nothing beats the spirit of Christmas in little ones. It was super fun watching them go crazy unwrapping presents. It took me back to the years of trying to guess in the dark what Santa had brought from over the upstairs loft {pictured in the second to last pic}. Ahh... good times! Apparently, the toys to be had this year were pillow pets, zhu zhu pets, and toy story and tangled dolls. Whatever happened to just the plan old Barbie doll or baby?

ACtiNG the ParT

I love that more and more kinder are joining the Smith clan. We finally have enough kids to cover the parts of the nativity scene. It is great way to remember the true meaning of Christmas and to celebrate just that.

The Cast:

Mary - Mckynlee

Joseph - Ronan

Angle - Melrose

Baby Jesus - Cabbage patch doll {Lucy was fussy}

Wise man - Crew

Shepherd - Hendrix

Narrator - G-brid

OUtinGs

It's fun getting out of the house during the Christmas weekend to get some fresh air. One activity that we decided to take on was bowling. Let's just say that Adam secretly kicks butt at bowling. I swear he had to have been on a league once upon a time. My favorite part of the game is the shoes... maybe that's my problem. I also loved getting to go to my brothers houses. One night a few of us headed out to Oakley to see my brother Cam's family before they all took off for AZ to visit his in-laws. Another day we had dinner at Dust's and later watched a movie at Nick's on his grand TV. The boys had a fun breakfast adventure Christmas Eve morning. My cute Dad took them all out to get briskets and gravy. On their way home they stopped by to save G-bird and Grandma who had gotten a flat tire in the midst of their early morning shopping spree. My favorite outing was very simple. It was just Adam and me going to get some curly fries from the grand Burgers Ect. On our way home we mapped out where we would love to build someday {fingers crossed}. Yes, outings are always needed and always enjoyed.

gaMes and suCH

This year we completed three puzzles. I don't know when we started putting puzzles into our holiday routine, but I sure love it. It's fun sitting around for hours and in the end accomplishing something with our time. We also shared a few mean games of sequence. I'm a huge fan of this game, one reason being that my Dad will join in! Adam and Grandma pretty much rocked everyones socks off one night so when Gma gave Adam and I sequence for Christmas we were more than tickled.

nEws

Some of the best news during the Christmas season was from some of our closest friends. A group of us all got together for a sleep over and Christmas dinner and while we were randomly going around telling about our favorite Christmas story, Kirk {our friend} says the following...

"Our favorite Christmas was when we told all our friends we were pregnant."

pause.

HELLO! Get out of the way because I'm coming in for hugs along with four other chickas.

I just loved getting to have these cute little darlings around over the weekend. I can't get enough of them. I think Adam was getting a little worried at how often I was holding them or talking about them. Haha little does he know I do it just to put him in a worry.

fAmILy

I loved getting to spend some time with these two pretty ladies whom I usually don't get to see around the Christmas season. My cousin Hayley was visiting in Logan for a couple days and we were able to stop by my Uncle Gary's and visit, watch my most favorite Christmas movie {White Christmas}, eat a yummy breakfast, and enjoy being around some Griffin family. It was short, but very sweet. My dear Grandma Mary came from Arizona and spent a few days with us in Rupert. I LOVED getting to have her be with us on Christmas day. It was such a special treat for all of us.

iNSpiRiNG

POWER OF PEOPLE

I have a cousin who is truly inspiring to me.

I have always had this dream of running a half marathon {note that I said half and not full marathon}. I'm not a huge fan of running so I don't want to be kidding myself. Have I been working towards this goal as of the last 6 months? No sir. You have to get yourself to the gym in order to do that. Do I swear on my life to change this starting next week? Better believe it!

Stacey just blogged about her latest marathon she ran in New York City. Man alive she rocks! The thing that really kills me is that she has four adorable children and is still at the top of her game. She has worked so hard at getting to this point in her life and I am in awe over it.

Thanks for inspiring us all.

aMAZinG

POWER OF PEOPLE

Over the last couple of weeks I have been very moved by an act of love given by my sister-in-law. She has always been an amazing person to me. She watched over me through my years of "finding myself"... always giving the advice I needed to hear.

Susie was a surrogate for a couple and just gave birth to their two twin boys. Seriously, could there be an any kinder act of love out there? I think not. She is now recovering and all is well with her and the babies. I get goosebumps every time I think about the sacrifice her and her family just went through to help another family out.

When I got the text from Bubba {my brother} saying all was well, I just started crying.

Life is amazing.

Love is amazing.

She is amazing.

DRiVEn

POWER of PEOPLE

Today...well a few hours ago was my oldest brothers birthday {also my sweet Grandma's}. Our last visit to Idaho included a trip out to Oakley to see his wonderful family above. I LOVE the small town of Oakley Idaho along with all the old houses. It has been fun watching Adam develop this love for small town life. While we were there we ate some yummy food, had a good visit, and took some fun pictures.

When we left Adam made the comment about my brother...

I have never met someone more driven then Cam.

I couldn't agree more.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the power of people in my life. The power people have through example. My oldest brother has set a powerful example in my life. I have been trying to find an answer to some things for the last couple months and after our visit to Oakley I no longer need to worry. I'm about ready to put my car in drive and take off.

Love You Cam. Hope your day rocked.

bAby LUcY

Introducing the newest member to the Smith clan...

little Lucille

She is such a sweetie.
I already love her so much.
I had fun playing with her over the weekend.

Happy
little
noteS

I'm so thrilled for my big brother and his cute wife.
I love that Lucy always has her eyes open checking life out.
I can't stop looking at this picture...it makes me love everything about life.
Baby headbands rock.

OcTobERneSS

So October for me has = pure craziness.

I have been busy with my most favorite thing ever... check it out here.

Trying to keep up at work.

Taking a photography class on Thursdays.

And last of all working like a busy little bee trying to make what seems like a billion different headbands for the upcoming Minico Craft fair in good old Rupert Idaho this weekend.

Come check them out on Saturday!

Happy
little
noteS

My little niece Rachel has the cutest baby rolls ever.
I love challenging myself.
Education is gold.
October is the perfect time of year.

WiND

Call me crazy but I love wind.

It makes you really breathe, and I for one sometimes need that.

A few Sundays ago my lovely Mother was visiting and we drove through the Alpine Loop. It's an amazing drive through the American Fork Canyon to the Provo Canyon. And of course, we had to stop and take a little stroll around Sundance.
I got in some good deep breaths that day, as the wind was perfect up in the mountains.

Happy
little
Notes

Sundance is one of my favorite spots in Utah.
I'm not a big camper, but I love taking drives and occasional hikes up the mountain.
I love running the Provo Canyon trail.
I love visits from the G-bird.

piCK me Up

MONDAY...

Mondays have always been hard for me.

I don't know why, but I always wake up on the wrong side of the bed.

That's why I decided I needed a little Monday pick me up.

Ahhh.
Now I'm all smiles.

Happy
little
Notes

I adore my newest niece Melrose.
Red heads are lucky.
I love baby smiles.