Day #4 of Vacation

I know... you're bored with me... but this is for our family journal really. I guess in the scheme of things it doesn't REALLY matter what we did everyday, but I want to remember for some reason.
Before we started this vacation here at home... we decide since we WOULD be home we'd get some things done around the house. Well, the lack of motivation to do such things is overwhelming. It just feels good to do... NOTHING. Today we woke up and got ready and waited for Geoffy to come over and well, quickly realized I didn't have a suitable swimsuit to wear to our outing swimming. So right when he arrived I left to go venture out to find a suit. I did, and as soon as I got back home we left to go swimming. I tell you what, that kid of ours has NO fear of the pool! He just will run in with out any thought. All the while someone is rushing to catch him when he jumps in! He doesn't even care about going underwater, but it sure scares the crap out of us! We are SO glad he loves the water but feel we need to teach him some important RULES of swimming and being in the pool. He talks about swimming all day when he's NOT swimming. Walks around with his swim diapers and swim trunks saying "mommy/daddy, I want to go swimmin'" repeatedly.
After the pool we all relaxed. Ate some pizza (there's nothing quite like pizza after swimming huh?) Ben went down willingly for a nap and the grownups watched a little of the World Cup, Spain vs. Honduras. Those Spaniards sure are cute! Pretty boys! Then pretty much I worked on pictures this afternoon, checked on the vegetable garden and then we ate a yummy dinner. We went for a walk at like 8 and it was still 90 degrees... ugh... it's so hot. I really would rather it be Spring or Fall all the time weather wise. It's just too darn hot in the Summer. Time for bed!

Hopefully, tomorrow we'll find that motivation somewhere and get some things down around this place. BUT... we'll see. We know that a trip to the pool is in order again!

Day #3 of Vacation

Yesterday, we slept in (on accident). It was Father's day but we had already given Ryan a gift with his birthday presents so we went to his parent's house to give his dad his gift. (We also had his mom's birthday present as her birthday is two days before Ryan's... as well as his sister Kelly's.) We promised his dad a trip for the boys (Ryan, Poppy and Ben) to a Brave's game. He showed us his 400ft tall tomato plants... okay they're not really that tall, but they sure looked like someone gave him some magic beans like those from Jack and the Beanstalk! We spent some time there with Nana and Poppy and ate lunch and Ben played with his new toys the spoiled him with.
In the meantime we were supposed to be taking dinner to the Elton's but they called to tell us earlier in the day not to worry about it because they weren't coming home because little baby H had jaundice. We were going to postpone until Monday night. Well, after Ben's nap at home we were about ready to head out the door when Mark called and said because they were staying one more night in the hospital they would appreciate if we could bring them some dinner because they were WAY sick of hospital food. We quickly whipped up some yummies and rushed it to the hospital and then spent the rest of the evening over at the Terry's house.
It was somewhat of a taxing day because Ben not only has hit his terrible 2's but he's also STILL TEEEEEETHING!!! AH! I had NO idea it would last this long! Just as I thought we were all done for a while, his canines all just came in...there's more. He was acting like he was teething but I thought "surely he's going to get a break from his 2 year molars... surely..." nope. I had him open his mouth and right there... in the back right is a molar that's almost all the way cut through. Poor kid. He even said "momma, my mouth hurts" last night and this morning when he woke up. I just pray they'll come quick so we can be done with it all. It's so strange how every kid is different. I think my mom thought I was using teething as an excuse for his occasional yucky behavior because she didn't think it could/would last this long either. But seriously... I guess he just has to take his time with a few things! Like potty training... ugh... I don't want to talk about it.
Anyway... day #3 was good... but now that means only 7 left. :( Sad Face.

Day #2 Vacation

Woke up and made breakfast. Watched Alice in Wonderland. Got ready and went and visited Hillary and Mark Elton and their brand new baby, Ryan's new birthday buddy. Went to the mall to eat. Came home and quickly realized that our son had not had a nap and that he was restless and tired and needed something to do because it was too late for a nap. We went to the Elton's pool and Ryan and Ben swam... well, Ben just mostly jumped to Ryan the entire time. That kid has no fear! I wanted to swim but my swimsuit is broken- BOOOOOO! (Thumbs down!) Ben just LOVES the water! And we're grateful for that! After swimming, they went down the slides a couple of times at the playground there. We came home and did a bath and ate dinner. Put Ben down to bed, and he fell asleep in less than 10 mins and Ryan and I watched Invictus. GREAT movie. BED TIME!

Day #1 of Vacation

This year for our Summer vacation, we made the decision to stay home. A "Staycation". Well, at first I was kind of a little bummed... but the more I thought about it, the more I grew to LOVE the idea. We have a whole 10 days at home! To do... whatever! Our goal, which may or may not happen, is to get some housework done. But it sure is relaxing to do nothing... so we'll see how that works out.

Day #1 was spent today, Friday, as first and foremost- Ryan's 29th birthday! Yay! We all woke up and gave Daddy some cool presents. He ruined his flip flops during the rain storm camping so I got him some new ones. And he's been wanting a map of the United States to hang up somewhere, probably the garage, to pin all the places where we've been/visited. After that we did the not-so-fun part of the day and went to register the cars/motorcycle. Luckily it didn't take long, other than the fact we had to go downtown Atlanta to do it, which I just really dislike.

After Ben's nap, he and Ryan got in the kiddie pool to cool down and play for a little bit. My boys both love the water!We cleaned up the house when they were done, and headed to dinner at Taco Mac with Nana & Poppy (man it's hard not to type Poopy when I spell that out) and our friends; The Terry's, the Kranendonk's, The Burkes, Clint and Geoff. It was so much fun to be with all of our loved ones.

We had Ryan's favorite cake and ice cream at our house afterward- yellow cake with chocolate icing and Cookies n' Cream ice cream. This was the first year in a while we've been in town for his birthday so it was fun to have a celebration ON his birthday with all our peeps!.

Our Yard for 2010, Mothers Day and projects

We decided to "freshen up" the landscaping in the yard out front this Spring and also decided to give a vegetable/fruit garden a try this year. It was nice to be out in the yard in the cool Spring air to do the front. And it was nice to make things look better too. My dad sent us home with some good stuff for the front lawn when we went out to UT, and so far the lawn looks great this year. Also, we decided to do a small (not so small anymore) food garden in the backyard. Everything is growing pretty well! We found a cute little 4x4 Garden "kit" so to speak at Home Depot and planted WAY too much in it. But it's our first garden, together and of our own, AND it was more or less of a test to see if we could even do it. And apparently we can! Our tomato plant is HUGE! Taller than Ryan, and everything else is big and spread out. We lost one strawberry, but the other survived. We might need to expand- but we plan to take a look at doing that during our time off work next week. We got our first strawberry last weekend, (pictured below in collage) but it was tiny and not super strawberry-ish... it was kind of mushy and tart. But it was from OUR garden! Our first born tomato is hopefully going to ripen soon, although now it has LOTS of brothers and sisters to keep it company. The green peppers are starting to grow little peppers... it's all so very exciting for us! We're so proud!Here is it's progress... somehow the 2 week photo got left out... but ah oh well. You get the point. Mother's Day this year we had Ryan's parents over for a nice dinner. They were super sweet and brought us a beautiful Hydrangea plant that we unfortunately failed to plant in time and is pathetically reminding us of that every day dead in the yard! We hope to find a replacement for it soon! Ryan got me a cute little lamp and a sweet card. We also painted the back bedroom finally and that was an awesome gift! Although, Ryan wasn't so in to it- so did the majority of it. But painting doesn't completely suck to me so it was fine. We did it in preparation for my brother Greg who came to visit that weekend for Delinda's graduation (post for that separately)... but also because it was the last room in the house to be painted and really needed it. Here are some before and afters.

From One End of the World to Another

Well, I found these two articles today on the internet. One makes me happy and is very encouraging. The other is sad to me, both having some sort of impact on my history or past- both from different parts of the world!

Uplifting article first about the 2010 World Cup Soccer tournament being hosted by my mom's birth country South Africa! So positive and exciting! Read article HERE. Some of the comments are really neat too, like this one:
June 9th, 2010 1:47 pm ET
I don’t think that the image portrayed by the media of our country is always necessarily correct. We are not a bunch of tyre burning demonstrators or white supremacist farmers. In fact, the colour lines have very much blurred in recent years. From an ordinary “woman on the street” point of view, if we win this Soccer Wold Cup, it will only be a bonus. There is a buzz and an underlying current of pride and joy that is tangible. You see it in the black men teaching white woman how to properly make noise on a vuvuzela and white men dancing next to black woman and everyone singing Shosholoza and Nkosi Sikilela together. The issue of race is alive and well because it is given attention. The moment it is ignored, like a child tantruming for sweeties, it will stop. I personally am sick and tired of the uncertainty and fear unnecessarily created. Yes we have issues and problems with crime, we also have one of the most liberal and progressive constitutions in the world. Come and visit our incredible beautiful country, come and listen to 11 different languages, come and eat food from more cultures packed into one restaurant menu than you thought possible, come and see our beautiful children, the Cradle of Human Kind, Table Bay, the surfers in Durban, the breathtaking desolation of the Karoo and the majestic Drankensberg mountains. Thank you to Madiba and Mr. Danny Jordaan and their team. Thank you for working tirelessly to bring this event to our beloved country with such poise and class. It has united us all like nothing ever has before! Go Bafana go. We are so incredibly proud of you no matter if you win or lose. You already are our heroes. And we will not be successful in hosting this World Cup, we already are successful!



Here is an article I found via Facebook from some friends I grew up with and went to high school with, this is the sad news. My high school, Sinagua High in Flagstaff, AZ is being closed as of this Fall. No more SHS Mustangs and that saddens me. Read article HERE.I had some really good memories there- like all of my wonderful friends and going to Major Lingo with them and Choir and Yearbook; some not so good- like tripping up the stairs between classes (embarrassing!) and the Math Teach that said "n-kay" like literally a thousand times in 5 mins. And while I'd like to pontificate more, I will now post. (*Reminder to self for book- copy and paste the WHOLE article for journaling purposes!)

Delinda, the PhD!

So on May 10th my older sister Delinda graduated from Emory University with her PhD in Art History and African Studies (with Honors I might add!)! This is such exciting news for us as a family because Delinda is the first one in our family (of the kids, no you don't count mom) to get a degree let alone a PhD! We can call her Doctor DJ now! It's also exciting for me personally because I've been along for much of the ride with her. She convinced me to move out to GA with her when she made the move to get this degree here at Emory. Boy am I glad I did, even though I sometimes miss the West coast... there has been many wonderful things that have happened out here. ANYWAY, she and Jen made the trip out here as well our brother Greg. Greg stayed with us and it was wonderful to see him, be with him, bond with him, watch he and Ben bond... it was just good. The ceremony was quick and painless... unlike most graduations. I teared up so much. I haven't seen her THAT HAPPY in ages and I think she was super proud of herself and relieved it was over!!! She's been through MUCH through these last 5 years to get this done. Crazy trips to Angola, moving here and there, lots of late nights of writing, crazy advisers, losing files/half the papers she wrote... but a lot of good has happened for her too. Namely her landing a PRIME job as a professor at the Art Institute of Chicago already and has been teaching there for a little while already. Anyway, before the graduation took place we sat in our seats next to Delinda's friends Liz and Dan and waited but I got up for a minute to call Ryan. Delinda was previously attending the graduate school's commencement, where Arnold Schwarzenegger was speaking. While I was on the phone with Ryan I was at the windows looking out at the street when a parade of motorcycle cops and black SUV's drove by and there he was, with his window down smoking a HUGE cigar!!! I was on the phone still with Ryan and "said, oh... look Arnold Schwarzenegger just drove by!"

She invited Greg and I (who were the only ones that could attend) to go with her and Jen to a Department Luncheon afterward. Unfortunately Greg and I couldn't stay long because Greg's still pretty weak from being sick and also, Ben was at the daycare and they had found some spots on him that turned out to be nothing... but that night we went to dinner and got Indian food. And it was DEE-LISH. MMMMMM, I love me some Tikka Masala. Seriously.
And I am also very grateful for the siblings I have. I missed John and of course Shauna- but was so glad at least Greg and I were able to attend. My parents of course were heart broken- but the funds weren't available but they were there in Spirit! Yay for Delinda!

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

Well, we had a fun weekend. The weekend started off with a party at Ben's school. My boss let people off early, so I was able to leave at 2:30 and go spend time with him while he ate goodies and played in the water with his classmates. It was lots of fun, he was pretty clingy and didn't want to let me out of his site (heartbreaking)- but he got a little wet. Mostly because all the bigger kids than him were hogging the little water things (I don't know what they're called) and took at the water balloons before he could. But we left and then I brought him home and sprayed him down with the hose. That was a lot more fun to be honest! Also Friday was Ashley's birthday and so to celebrate we went to dinner with her and some of our other friends at On the Border. Of course it was delicious and we all enjoyed it, but the best part of the night was going to her house to see her open up her surprise present that Jacob got a bunch of us all together to go in on. A new camera! A nice one too! She was so happy and excited and it was fun to see her reaction. I sure love that chick. She is a great BFF.

Saturday we woke up bright and early to prepare for our first family/friend camp-out! This was the first time Ben had ever camped, and first time I'd ever camped with Ryan OR Ben, AND the first time we have ever taken Ally (our dog) anywhere besides Nana's house or the groomer/vet! We were bound and determined to go this time, because EVERY SINGLE TIME we plan a camping trip, it RAINS. The weather reports didn't seem to promising either, but we'd already paid for our campsites and we weren't going to let it stop us. So we got all of our stuff together (TOO much stuff) and met up at the Terry's and headed to Carter's Lake in North Georgia for a two night camping trip. Our friend Martha chose the sites, we had two, and it was awesome! It was so good to be back in the nature again, I've missed it so. We set up our tent, we cooked burgers and hot dogs on the grills at the campsites and Martha and I made DELICIOUS tinfoil dinners. Ally and Bowser met each other and pretty much stayed out of each others way- mostly because Bowser is still a puppy and wants to play and Ally is a crotchety old woman who doesn't like to play with strangers. SO after being overly frustrated with my adorable 2 year old- we FINALLY got him to go to sleep at around 10pm- Ryan had to lay in the tent with him until he fell asleep. We all gathered round the old lantern and talked, all while being attacked by NASTY Palmetto bugs. Eck, those things are nasty. There were millions of "biders" as Ben calls them, mostly just weird looking Daddy Long Legs... but they were EVERYWHERE. We went to bed, and of course slept like poop. The ground is not comfortable anymore. Time to purchase an air mattress or two! Plus Ben was a floppy little fish the whole night and I kept having to put him back on his pillow for fear of kicking him in the face or something! We had a good breakfast the next morning, and then basically chilled out the rest of the day. The Terry's had to leave early, so it was us, the Burke's and Geoff. We went to the "beach" at the lake and saw the most WT I've ever seen in one place in my life. Wow. Ben had lots of fun in the water though, he wasn't scared at all. He had his little floaties on and sunglasses and he had a good ol' time. After we got back we started preparing and making dinner, Dutch Oven Chicken (thank you Tiffany Reed) and clouds started gathering and it started to pour. The chicken had started to boil believe it or not, and we thought while sitting in our tent that the rain was going to put out the fire and ruin the chance for our chicken to survive. But after not too long, the rain stopped the fire reignited itself and we were back in business. We made our sides and dished up and.... the rain started threatening again. So we ate quickly covered everything up again and got in the tent just as it started to pour again, this time with lightning and thunder. This scared Ally, and Ally being scared concerned Ben. While in the tent he grabbed my cheeks and intently looked at me as if to REALLY get my attention and said "Mama, Mama... go home". NOW, we would've stayed and just gone to bed... but the darn P.O.C. tent we (I) had started to LEAK. UGH... Geoff's did too. The Burke's tent wasn't though. We made the decision (at about 7pm) to pack up and head home, the weather reports weren't promising and we just didn't want to drown in our sleep in a tent! Ryan and Geoff were the best, and got everything in the car in the pouring rain while me, Ben and Ally hung out in our empty tent and watched Sesame Street podcasts and sang songs together. Well, me and Ben anyway- Ally can't sing very well! As soon as we got in the car, Ben fell asleep and we got home safely and went straight to bed. We were POOPED. Yesterday was spent basically vegging out. The house was/is in shambles but yesterday, there was NO desire to even touch it. It'll be clean by the end of the week though... I hope! We all took naps... I believe though, that mine was the most glorious of all of them. Holy Moly (is that how you even spell it?) that bed was comfortable. The pillows were great, the sheet was perfect the wind from the fan... all worked in harmony to woo me in to a beautiful MUCH needed rest. I do have to say that Ben won for the amount of time slept out of the 3 of us. He slept for a whopping three hours, but he obviously needed it. Anyway, we had a really fun time- plan to do it again. Ben was a natural which makes his momma proud. Ally did great, better than I expected. And Ryan loved it too. We plan to purchase a new BIGGER tent (especially now because when setting it up to dry it out the poles all broke... ), some air mattresses and pack less next time and just go when we want. I really have missed my outdoorsy side... we got along really well, and when we were together- I felt a lot less stressed. SO, we plan on getting together more often. :) Believe it or not, I didn't take any pictures with my camera- just my phone, so this is what we get. Oh well.

Another Thoughts Blog!

-every time I eat Famous Amos cookies, I think of my dad. Always have, always will. I guess specifically because he loves the Sandies from them and also I remember getting them out of the vending machine at the City Hall in Flagstaff where he worked and thought it was the greatest snack on earth. Those and Tato Skins when they were still around. Mmmmm.

- I was just reading People online and they were talking about Gavin Rosendale and Gwen Stefani's kid turning 4 and have a bunch of pictures of him and were critiquing his attire and how he's sooooo fashionable. Come on! He's FOUR! His parents or their nanny's put him in that. Good gosh people. Stop trying to make LITTLE kids grownups already!

-There are so many things going on with the earth lately it's really starting to trip me out a little bit. Close to home, the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf and how it's affecting the coastal regions and the wildlife there. One of our most favorite vacation spots in Destin, FL and it could even affect the beaches there! I was struck by something a news reporter said today, that it's almost IMPOSSIBLE (a strong word in my opinion) to get rid of the oil that has spread. So heartbreaking. Also the Volcano in Iceland we heard so much about but then all the hub-bub quickly died down, but is STILL possibly active and could erupt again. I read about frogs blanketing a highway in Greece and slowing traffic! So weird! Article HERE. Just a lot of crazy stuff going on... maybe stuff like this has always happened, we're just more of a

-One thing I've noticed here in Atlanta, is the reaction I get when I tell people (mostly coworkers) I'm going camping or even LOVE to camp. They act surprised, like they didn't think people still did that. And the question I get asked over and over again is "Like camping camping? In a tent or a cabin?" and when I say a tent... they always come back with "you're tougher than I am" or "no way, not me. I need a hotel." The cabin comment gets me though... camping is NOT sleeping in a cabin, unless it's bare-boned and then maybe I'll give you that. Camping is sleeping on the ground, in a tent or under the stars- in my humble opinion.

-I get REALLY tired of lazy people at work. Period.

-I really miss my family. I miss Shauna a lot. I get lots of little reminders of her that I'm so grateful for, but it's hard still. It was her birthday 2 weeks ago yesterday. She would've been 44. But ever since she died (I still hate saying that... wierd I know), I really feel so much yearning for my family. And they're so far away from me. I'm so grateful for my own little family though.

-I love it when Ben randomly busts out in songs that I didn't even know he knew. It's the greatest. Or when he randomly says "hi Mommy", because anyone that knows me knows that I have a habit of feeling the need to just say "hi" to whoever is nearest to me to just break up the silence.

Free Scentsy Product!

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Check out my site at https://smithgirl.scentsy.us/ and let me know if you have any questions!

Cute Benny

Ben is saying lots of sentences now. Let's see if we can remember some of them."I don't want it."
"I see you Mommy."
"Here you go."
"Get down Ally."
"Open the door."
"Hi Ally-bear"
"Thank you Mommy (or Daddy)"
"Where did it/he go?"
"I want my sandals"
"Get the mail"
"Mommy, watch this!"
Me: "where's daddy?" Ben "back there" pointing to the back bedroom.


He sings 3 songs a lot now too; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (with emphasis on the ends of the different lines and especially loves singing it with his Daddy), Happy Birthday (to Ben, sometimes mommy or daddy), and ABC song. And I just discovered today he knows the "No More Monkey's Jumping On the Bed" rhyme too.
He's a little handful of course, he's two and a little boy through and through- but we love him oh so much. I know I say that all the time, but for reals... he makes me so happy. He's got such a great sense of humor. He already knows how to pick on his mama, he loves his doggy, and his daddy, he loves to be outside,He loves to read books (and some times tears them up...ugh...) and he's very sensitive. If he does something wrong to someone else and he's told to say sorry- he has to cry too because he feels so bad. He loves his family, and our friend family. When we drive around curves or corners he'll say "Whooooaaaaa!" with me! He loves his little tent we bought him. He loves to take our throw pillows in there, of which are apparently his because he always says "mine" to them.
I'm so tired right now, that's all I remember and I'll probably need to add to things as we go along. I just can't remember everything and I surely can't forever- so here's my future memory saver!

SLACKER!!!!

I realize I've been a complete bum about writing lately. It seems like I just can't keep up. I'd like to say there's not much going on, but it's quite the opposite. We've taken on a lot of "projects" and have a lot of things to attend to, places to go... that kind of thing.
So with that being said- I hope to cover some of the goings on that I've missed blogging about, but I plan to do them in individual blog posts. I might back date them as well. Here we go!

Look WHO's Expecting!

Ashley, Jaclyn Schaer and I did a Owl-themed baby shower for our lovely friend Hillary this weekend. I hosted it at the house and took care of most of the food, because let's face it- I'm not good at games or other real creative things like that. I got the pictures and food, but that's about it for me. We had a wonderful turn out and we were so happy to be able to do it for Hillary, because we kind of like her a little and are SUPER excited to see this little guy she and Mark are bringing in to the world. She lets me hold and feel her tummy a lot, kind of not by choice! I just love feeling that little person moving around in there and trying to figure out what he's doing and I enjoy talking to him too. It reminds me of one of the only parts of pregnancy I liked! Here are some photos of the joyous occasion. (Although I'm bummed because we didn't get ANY of me, Hillary, Jaclyn and Ashley together!)

Can I get a Woot-woot for Post #400??!!!!

I need to catch up a little bit. We have been so busy lately and will continue to be for a few more weeks. I guess it's good... just sometimes overwhelming when my house gets neglected and dust accumulates and the bathroom fairy has quit because he just can't get through the grime.And things stop putting themselves away, like laundry and mail that needs to be filed... ugh... okay enough of that silly talk.

The weekend after we got back from Utah, we had already planned to go back to the cabin with our buds. It was welcomed and we were excited about it. Nothing out of the ordinary. We just left after work Friday and came home Sunday afternoon. We got out a lot more this time because the weather was really nice. We went down to the "Hooch" a lot and in the field and on Saturday night after grilling out on the deck, had a campfire and made S'Mores. That was Ben's official first campfire, believe it or not. He was very cautious and did great. Mommy (that's me) wasn't feeling so hot pretty much the whole trip so I didn't last too long down there. But it was SO fun and I love doing stuff like that and miss doing it as often as I used to.
The next weekend we enjoyed Easter with Ryan's family. The kids hunted for Eggs filled with candy and $$$$ and Ben won the Grand Prize of $5! It's already in his piggy bank!

The Smith's