Wowza. This is a photo my sister Delinda just sent from Chicago. This is looking out her family room window to the street below, and she said it's STILL snowing! Crazy!

not sure where he thinks HE'S going...

From CNN.com:

A vast winter storm brought blizzard conditions and record snowfall to large sections of the upper Midwest and Ohio Valley early Wednesday, a frosty testament to winter's fury despite a famous groundhog's forecast for an early spring.
The brutal weather gobbled up travelers trying to make their way on snow-choked roadways and snarled air traffic, forcing airlines to cancel thousands of flights again on Wednesday.
Chicago is at the epicenter of the storm, receiving a record-breaking 13.6 inches of snow at O'Hare International Airport Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Chicago officials warn that more snow is on the way. At a Wednesday morning news conference, Chicago emergency management director Jose Santiago said there will likely be 15 to 20 inches of snow on the ground -- 25 inches in some places -- by the time the storm leaves the area.
A blizzard warning remains in effect for all of metropolitan Chicago until 3 p.m., Santiago said.
The current total not only breaks the previous record of 4.0 inches for that date -- set back on February 1, 1967 -- but it also establishes a new all-time record daily snowfall for the month of February for the city.
The previous calendar day snowfall record for Chicago for February was 11.5 inches, set on February 18, 1908.
The National Weather Service in the Windy City is asking residents not to travel unless "absolutely necessary."
"Reports from media and local law enforcement officially indicate that hundreds if not thousands of vehicles have gone off the roads," the weather service said early Wednesday morning.
Chicago's iconic Lake Shore Drive is currently closed due to poor traffic conditions, multiple accidents and abandoned cars and buses. Raymond Roscoe, chief of staff for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, said it is unknown when the route will reopen.
The blizzard coincided with rush hour Tuesday night, producing three accidents between 7:15 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. One involved a Chicago Transit Authority bus, Roscoe said. The accidents stalled traffic on the northbound side of Lake Shore Drive and the rapidly falling snow completely immobilized the road.
Roscoe said many motorists remained stuck in their cars throughout the night, while others abandoned their vehicles. Police, fire department and sanitation crews spent much of the night pulling people out of their cars, he said. Roscoe said there were no reports of injuries.
"We know that hundreds of people were very inconvenienced and we apologize for that," Roscoe said. "While city personnel worked as quickly as possible, we certainly understand peoples' frustration."
"I want to make it clear that ultimately dealing with this storm is our job," said Roscoe.
Chicago officials warned residents to stay indoors unless it is absolutely necessary to go outside. They said wind chill temperatures are likely to drop to between 20 and 30 degrees below zero Wednesday night.

Good news though (and good job Phil):

Smack in the middle of the storm track is Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, home of a certain groundhog, who has been forecasting the end of winter for more than 100 years. When Phil emerged from his hideout early Wednesday, he saw no shadow -- meaning, according to tradition, that spring will come early this year!!!!!

The Blah-est Day EVER

It's strange the different ways I feel comfort when I miss my sister Shauna. The best is when I have dreams about her, which I did last night. This might not make sense to me later, or to anyone or maybe at all... but I dreamt she came back to life. Almost like God had given her a second chance of sorts. She looked good, like herself, I hugged her which was awesome. It felt very real... when she walked through the door I burst in to tears when I saw her alive. She was very serious, kind of solemn almost. I didn't understand why or HOW she was back... I was super confused and astonished. I asked her if she remembered where she went when she died and she said yes. I asked her if she saw Heavenly Father and what heaven was like and she said she didn't see Him, but that he spoke to her by way of a rock (? I don't know, this is a dream remember) and that she was given a mission for our family. We never got to what that mission was... but the part that stood out to me the most was the part where she said she didn't see God but that she was in a place where He could still speak to her. Then this morning, Randi (her partner before she died) had posted a video she made of photos of Shauna. So... guess what's on my mind today? I feel her with me... not to sound all weird and stuff, but I feel like she's around me today. And I'm grateful for that. I sure do miss her. I sent an email to my mom today telling her about this dream, and she too had an experience of feeling Shauna (and her dad) around her yesterday. I feel like she's reaching out to us to let us know she loves and misses us just as much as we do her.

It's been one of those days.... It was SO beautiful this whole weekend. The weather was perfect. Then this morning and all day it's been foggy and rainy and with all of that gloominess a lot of bad news. News of old friends whose marriages are ending, news of a loss of a friend's father, a friend's baby who was born prematurely and is a mere 1lb... I'm just so grateful for the power of prayer and how if we ask fervently the Lord will bless those who stand in need of comfort, even if it's ourselves we're praying for. I can't imagine what it must be like to go through each one of those trials, but I DO know that the Lord will bless each of His children.
There is some good in the world, not to make light of these other things- but a few months ago I bit down (pretty hard) on a rock/small pebble in my black beans at a Mexican restaurant here called Willy's. I called the manager up and told him what happened, saved the pebble and took it in as a "formal" complaint, which they logged (not sure if they kept the rock though!). But I love Willy's so much I still eat there often. Plus they gave me a free meal for the trouble. SO... fast forward a few months later, I go to the dentist for a check up and cleaning. There's a crack in my top and bottom molars in the filling... from the rock. It's going to cost around $1500 to get these fixed. Fast forward to last week... I got on to Willy's site after eating a delicious burrito and thought "meh... why not see if they'll help cover the cost of my dental work since their stupid ROCK messed my teeth up?" So I went to the comments section, typed in my email address and name and my complaint. I was nice, said I still liked their food and still visited often, etc... but that my teeth were messed up and I didn't think it was completely fair to foot the bill. I told Ryan about it... didn't think anything would come of it- but I got THIS email today:
Heather

Having to go to the dentist sure is not fun! I have had the broken tooth myself several years ago. Please send a copy of the dentist bill to (email address here) and we will start the process to get this wrapped up for you.

We will be glad to see what we can do to help.

Regards

WMG Inc.

(Some names have been changed to protect the innocent) I am pleasantly surprised by this! It doesn't hurt to try right? And thanks Willy's! You've kept my patronage! I'm not sure if they'll foot the whole bill- but any is better than none!
Anyway... I've got a nasty cough with a side of a stuffy nose and headache, so I'd better get to bed. Hopefully the weather is better soon. My poor sister is going to get PELTED in Chicago this week. First about a foot and a half of snow, then possible flash floods from Lake Michigan. I don't think she'll be particularly effected by the flood part because she's far enough away from the lake but it's not going to be pretty. I wonder what Sir Groundhog will predict tomorrow... hopefully Spring will be on its' way soon!

Can Winter Be Done Yet? Please????

It's almost over. January is almost over. Which means, we're one month closer to March. Which means we're one month closer to SPRING. I've mentioned this before, January is NOT my favorite month. I pretty much feel like we should all be like bears and hibernate for the month of January... maybe even February, and wake up and be able to pick up where we left off... nothing skipped, no overdue bills, etc. The sleep would be nice to catch up on, and well- two of the cruddiest months would have passed us by! I know... not going to happen. But how nice would it be to wake up to the earth turning green and flowers blooming and the warm sun on your face? See? Sounds good huh?! To remedy this distaste for these two month, I like to try and plan something to look forward. A little weekend trip or even something for the spring or whatever. Things weren't looking good until we all decided we were having "cabin cravings" and are heading there next month! Yay! And then we're looking at going to Florida in May which I am also very excited about, because we haven't been to the beach in a long while. And I need me some beeee-ach.

What's been going on in our world? Ben went to his first birthday party (outside of daycare) for little Aubrey two weekends ago. He was the only [big] boy there, but he still had lots of fun. He sure does love seeing Aubrey. He also loves his cool sunglasses and orange necklace and other little fun things he got in his grab bag. They had pizza, and cupcakes and Ben got Aubrey a My Little Pony. He did very good at giving her a present. He found the ONE boy toy there, a tractor, and held on to it for dear life while he pushed a baby doll in a stroller a little too!This past weekend Ryan and I went on a date and went to dinner and then watched a movie in the theater. The BEST part of it all (besides my incredibly hunky husband's company) was that it only cost us about $8! We had a $50 gift card for dinner, but ended up only tipping the waitress because we got our meal free. The manager felt like we had waited too long for our food, and we had to send Ryan's burger back for being undercooked. We hadn't even complained or made a stink, and the waitress did nothing wrong- so we were happy to tip her still and get to go back and use our card for reals. The movie tickets were given to us by Jennifer, who also got to hang out with Ben when we were out. We love and appreciate all of our friends who are so good to Benny. AND he LOVES them too. Especially Jennifer, I think... if I dare say, that she is his first crush. :) It's pretty cute. Saturday was a bunch of errand running. Most of our time being spent at IKEA which, I have a love/hate relationship with. I love that store. I love how cheap things are. And inventive too. We found some stuff for Ben's room that we needed but I tell you what.. That kid... made us SO angry while we there. He acted AWFUL, like the worst he's ever been in a store. Granted, he was SUPER tired and hungry... but man... people were staring and watching as if it was their business, he carried on... it was NOT fun. After calming down some, we ate at the cafeteria there, which I love to do. It's SO inexpensive and I LOVE their meatballs. I even had their Lignonberry juice and it was delish! Anyway, Sunday we spent the day with the Terry's. Literally just about the entire day was filled was Terry babyness and friends! It was awesome! Little Savannah was blessed and given a name at Church, and then we all scooted back to their house to get set up, cook and clean for the open house they had for friends/family that couldn't be at church for her blessing. Little Miss Savannah has A LOT of fans, she's already the popular girl in town. The blessing was super sweet and Jacob did a wonderful job. I even got misty-eyed. We already love her so much I could burst in to a heart cloud! Uncle Ryan got her to smile so big and cute in that picture above. I think SHE already loves us too! Yay! It was a special, fun and busy day. Both Sat & Sun, Ben didn't sleep so he was asleep in his car seat with in 10 mins of getting in the car after leaving their house around 6:30. He still hadn't eaten dinner so we had to wake him up so he could eat something before he went back to bed. He ate about half of his food before he started falling asleep in his highchair (is it bad that he still sits in one?) so I got him out and put him to bed. He was definitely a sleepy guy... which sparks tantrums and such. Oh well.
Let's see... what else. We're hopefully expecting a visit from my brother John for a day at some point soon. That's one thing I'm looking forward to! I am super homesick for family right now. And we just love John and don't get to see him often enough!
Next weekend we are going on a double date with the Kranendonk's to see Guster in concert downtown. Benny is going to hang out with Nana & Poppy at a Cross Keys (where they attended high school) basketball game they're going to. I think he'll have lots of fun! And I think we will too!
Well... we're kind of all feeling under the weather. Didn't sleep good, and this week has drug (dragged, drugged... whatever) on and on it seems. It's only Friday tomorrow? Darn. I've got some back posting to do, so don't be surprised if you see entries for the beginning of January that weren't there at the beginning of January!

Eau De Potty

So... I'm not trying to jinx us or anything, but just about a month and a half shy of the *gulp* 3RD birthday of my first born... we're about 98% potty trained!!! Yay! Go us! We have DEFINITELY learned some things we WILL try differently next time around. Like...
-a nothing but undi's weekend (plus clothing of course, especially if it's cold out!)
-not to be lazy, because if we are- the kid will be too
-do NOT get frustrated or give up
Things we seem to have done right:
-pee pee/poopy pills (otherwise known as M&M's)
-cool undi's
-being excited and happy and allowing all the bragging about "peening" in the potty he wants, which included calls to Nana & Poppy and Grandma & Grandpa
-incentives or... bribery, whatever you decide to call it!
-PATIENCE, PERSISTENCE, LOVE, frequent trips to the potty...even out at the store. Which may include crouching in uncomfortable positions while holding your pooping child because they're scared they're going to fall in!
-bringing a few changes of clothing/undi's (or Pull-ups) at all times
-acknowledging there WILL be accidents and that's it's OK. It's a learning experience.

It's quite a trip this Potty Training business. At least it has been for us. We started this when? Oh yah...August! Ugh... It's really mostly our fault I realize, but we're new at this whole parenthood thing and toddler-hood big boy thing. We have a boatload of excuses; work, laziness, work, laziness.... you know. But two weekends ago I just decided it was time. Time to stop fooling around and getting frustrated with Ben because he didn't tell us that he needed to potty and did AFTER he went or not at all. Time to stop paying for Pull-ups. Time to get this big boy of ours in undi's. So... that's what we did. Put him in undi's pretty much the whole weekend. He did pretty good. Had a couple accidents, but soon realized he didn't like how he felt. And even though taking a kid to the potty A MILLION times at Old Navy or Chipotle isn't the funnest thing in the world, it's okay... because he can now tell us, or any adult around him that he needs to pee. He likes to pull down his own pants and undi's down and find a way on the potty, he screams with joy EVERY.TIME.HE.PEES "mommy! I peening!" He loves his pee pee pills, which are NOT M&M's even though we told him they are. He says "no... they not N&M's, they pee pee pills."
Tonight we went to eat at the Zaxby's by our house, which is in the same shopping center as a Home Depot. We were driving around a little and Ben said "I need to go pee!" so he and I quickly got out of the car and went in to Home Depot. I put the toilet seat cover down, he pulled his pants down, I sat him on the toilet... he waited... and then said to me with a cute little look on his face "no pee!!" ugh... all I could do was laugh at that silly face. I said "give it a try... maybe it's still there." and he looked down, then back up and with another silly "O" face said "no, no, no! No pee!" So instead... I went! haha
We've been putting Pull-ups on him for bed, but for the last week he's woken up dry every morning! I want to make sure we've got the daytime stuff down before we go to night time, but we're going to get a mattress cover soon.

*sigh*... wiping my brow... *phew*

Ryan said... "You know, we're going to have to do this ALL OVER AGAIN when we have to teach how to stand and pee" I told him that was HIS job and to let him just go out in the backyard during the Summer to learn!

For all the grief we've been through... I have a little blackmail.My little Pooping Rockstar

2011 Snowpocalypse

Well, this has been a very interesting week for us here in Georgia. For those of you living out west you might think it's no big deal... but we got quite a bit of snow starting Sunday night. I think there was a total of 5-8 inches in our area and then Monday afternoon was the ICE-ing on the cake... or snow... whatever. Freezing rain on top of the snow which has made the driving conditions not so favorable. That and GA is just not equipped for this kind of weather and this much snow so there is an extreme lack of plows and such vehicles to clear or sand the roads. The GDOT did the best they could with what they had, and the even pretreated the roads- but the ground temps were low and so EVERYTHING stuck, and fast. We got about 3 inches in an hour starting Sunday night before I went to sleep and we woke up to about two or 3 more. (this was Sunday night, when it was really coming down!)
Both mine and Ryan's work closed the office, which is pretty much unheard of on Monday, I didn't want to attempt the roads Tuesday because Ryan did and he had to turn around and come home- all the while driving in 4WD. Wednesday Ryan went to work and I stayed home again- there was a sheet of ice on our street in front of our house and Ryan still had to use 4WD to get out of the neighborhood so we were pretty sure that my 2WD wouldn't make it out. PLUS the daycare was still closed, and our good friend Hillary was our backup- but they live in an apt complex that's straight up hill at the entrance and that hadn't been treated. Ben and I played cars between working and napping and keeping warm. I bundled him up in jammies, jeans, two shirts, jacket, gloves, hat and socks and shoes to go out and play in the snow! (Lack of snow gear around these parts...) We made a smiley face snow man with crazy arms (pictured in above collage)!Tues and Wed I did what work I could from home and then today- we left late, but the daycare opened at 8:30 and we ventured out after 9. The neighborhood was still AWFUL, I almost didn't make it out after not being able to get up a hill. I had to back down it and go another way. Ben could tell I was stressed and in a very concerned and comforting way said "it's okay mommy." long pause.... "it's swippery." He's so sweet that kid of mine, and oh so sensitive. I hope he's always like that, he will make his wife so happy! Anyway- we made it out of the neighborhood, barely and to the daycare and me to work slowly but surely. I left work early so that I could avoid night and refreezing and to make sure I made it to the daycare on time for their closing at 5:30. It was better but not better if you know what I mean. Ryan's on his way now hopefully he will be okay and it wont take him nearly as long as it did yesterday to get home!!! Other than that- the snow has been fun, pretty, COLD, crispy, SHINY, glazed, did I mention COLD?

Family Love

I love my siblings. I love these special photos we have of us as kids. I'm so grateful my dad took so many!

(Shauna, Me on her leg, Greg, Delinda and John at our brother Brian's gravesite)

Our Kid Says the Darndest Things...

Welcome to January of a new year! Yikes! Where does the time go!? Ben's been cracking us up lately, especially with the things he's been saying. Yesterday Ryan called for him to help bring the trash and recycle bins back to the house while I was getting him out of the car. Ben yelled out to him "Just a minute! I gotta get out of the car first!"
We've been trying really hard to get him to go to the bathroom when he's gotta go, and to help him acknowledge what it feels like and all. He's been letting himself out of his room lately, which he usually always waits for us to come get him... and this morning he emerged in to the bright light and came in our room. Ryan said "do you need to go potty? Let's go to the potty..." Ben said "I gotta wake up first..." hahaha!If he's eating something he likes; he'll raise his eyebrows, nod his head and smile saying "mmm, that's really good!"
On Christmas we were driving around trying to find SOMEWHERE that was open so we could eat. I said "Hey Ben, what do you want to eat?" to which he replied "Um....... (long pause).... I don't know!" like he really just didn't know!
The other day I said "you're such a big boy" and he said "I'm Ben Smith". (Kind of like "duh Mom, my name isn't big boy it's Ben Smith). He even knows he lives in Georgia! He's super smart even if I do say so myself... not biased or anything.

2010 a year in review

January- had our visit to "the cabin" (Thundering Waters) near Helen, GA in the north GA mountains. We fell in love at first site and have been visiting ever since!

February- we had our "Snowmagedon", and lots of learning about what toddler-hood was going to be like!

March- one of the hardest months of our lives. We lost my oldest sister Shauna and made the long cross country drive in our little CRV to Utah for her funeral. The reason for the drive was not thrilling of course, but being with family to say goodbye to her and seeing our beautiful country was awesome. We celebrated lots of birthdays and (oops) forgot about our 3 year anniversary!

April- (end of March) we went to the cabin again, and celebrated Easter with the Smith side of the family. Ben and his cousins had fun doing their Easter egg hunt!

May-had a baby shower for Hillary, photographed a wedding, went camping and got rained out, heard news of the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico as well as some other catastrophic environmental events like the volcano eruption in Iceland. Also, my big sister Delinda graduated with her PhD from Emory and had visits from her and my brother Greg to celebrate!
June- Ryan's birthday! Had a week of "staycation" and went to the zoo, swimming, saw Little Hunter E. at the hospital, made a blanket fort in the family room, and lots of other fun things! Planted our first (vegetable) garden and were oh so proud of it's development!
July- we had a SUPER fun 4th of July with lots of fun activities like watching fireworks with friends and going to a parade with Nana. Lots of swimming and playing. We spent the day with Nana & Poppy at White Water. They were kind and treated us to a FUN day of water slides and pools! Watching our garden progress and produce the first signs of veggies! Ryan and I had our visit whole weekend away to St. Simon Island to do wedding photos for the Kranendonk family. Had a little stop at the beach and enjoyed the beautiful scenery there.
August- Ben started really changing a lot and growing up including using the potty more often than not. We traveled to South, south, south Atlanta area to pick out a Lhasa Apso puppy for Nana and Poppy and ended up with this cutie that we all named Sofie. She's not even a year old and is much bigger than our Lhasa! We think Ally must be a "miniature" Lhasa... and Sofie is not.

September-went to the cabin, again... and had SOOOOO much fun swimming and tubing in the Hooch. Went to the Sesame Street show at Philips Arena, our A/C went out for a whole weekend, saw some old friends.
October- Ben FINALLY has finished getting teeth. For the love of all that's holy that took forever. The Chilean miners were rescued, there was a TORNADO in my hometown of Flagstaff, AZ (which is so weird still...), we went to the pumpkin patch, Ben sleeps in a big boy bed (The "school bus"), Ben is a pirate for Halloween. We went to the ward Trunk-or-Treat, trick-or-treated in the neighborhood and at the Terry's house. Ryan and I went to the Weezer concert and got like FIVE ROWS away from Rivers Como! ACK! (jumping up and down screaming like a teenage girl!) Had a baby shower for Ashley!
November- my cousin Laura and her two kids came for a quick and fun weekend visit, we spent another COLD Thanksgiving with Delinda in Chicago and had a blast. We got a fun new little point and shoot camera.
December- well, you know... full of holiday fun! We had a very fun Christmas time with our little guy who really seemed to be "in" to Christmas this year! Little Savannah was born!
We had such a wonderful and busy year. A lot of good things to help drown out some of the bummer things. This year taught us more to love our families and friends and to cherish them and every minute we get the privilege of spending time with them. Hopefully 2011 will bring us lots of fun new adventures!

My Dream Man

I'm so grateful that the Lord has sent me the perfect man for me. I am so grateful to have someone who makes me LAUGH on a daily basis. Like the kind of laugh that makes you happy all over. He's a terrifically FUN daddy and has the best sense of humor. I love my man. I am so happy I have him.That face he's making is one of my favorites... isn't he so silly? I told him that was Ben's towel and no he couldn't have it, as cool as it is...

Merry Christmas!

So, I should be in bed. It's 11:00pm. BUT... I had an amazing nap and well, not quite tired yet. The boys are asleep though and we've got the computer in the family room tonight so that we could chat with my family in UT through out the day. SO, it's nice because I'm watching Iron Chef while typing this. I kinda like having the computer in here!

We had a fun/strange day. Not bad strange, just different strange. I had to work during the day Christmas Eve, well until 12:30. It sucked. It was boring and quiet and I missed my boys. That night we drove to Jonesboro with Ryan's parents to Ryan's Aunt Vickie's house and got to see some other family there. It's a family tradition and we missed it last year, so it was good to see everyone again this year. They always make lots of yummy food like lasagna and chili and Uncle Lanny's famous wings. So yummy. After dinner the kids (Ben and his second cousins) opened some gifts, and then we played Dirty Santa. Except for no one was dirty, except for Ryan and I... but it was still fun and we ended up with a $50 Outback gift card! Ben got lots of nice presents from Aunt Vickie and Uncle Tony who were very generous. We enjoyed chatting and enjoying each other's company. Ryan's cousin was a Falcons (the Atlanta football team) cheerleader... I say "was" but I'm not sure if she is going to be again or is or what. Anyway, she's a ball of fun and we watched a little of some shows she was on the local cable stations. Again, it's so great to be around Ryan's family since I don't know them all to well. And they are awesome and kind and generous and welcoming and AWESOME! Ben had a fall while we were there. He was standing on a chair next to the counter and me and of course in the one second I turned away... it tipped back and fell on the ground. He bumped his head but more than anything I think he got scared and my reaction scared him too. He shrieked out in tears and everyone was so worried about him and asking him if he was okay. I put ice on it and Ryan's cousin Jason is a doctor so he made sure he was good, and with in seconds he was back to playing and jumping down stairs! It was also a bit of a struggle to get him to eat, which was incredibly annoying. He's SO fickle when it comes to food. One night he'll pig out- the next he wont eat. And I mean, I get that he's human and maybe he's not in the mood for whatever we're eating- but in our house, you don't really have that option. You eat what we make and if you don't... you go with out. I hate to see him "starve" but I am not going to be a made to order restaurant. Overall, he was well behaved. I had to put him in time out a couple times, but he was pretty good. The threat of no Santa worked! hahaChristmas morning I woke up realizing it was after 8am, and that Ben must be awake and just waiting in his room for us like he normally does on the weekend. But when I went to check in on him he was still sound asleep and I had forgotten that he didn't go to bed until after 10pm the night prior and he was probably still way tired. Ryan was asleep too, so I left Ben to sleep and woke Ryan up and we got everything ready to go for our Christmas morning. He's still young enough that he wasn't SO excited that he couldn't sleep anymore, in fact I don't think he will even be that way next year- but probably the next. I tell you what though, that boy really loves his sleep, so we'll see! We took him to the family room first to do our stockings and to see if he would eat a waffle... the waffle was just an afterthought though- he was TOO excited to do anything but look at all the cool stuff in his stocking. Then we decided to let him go ahead and see what Santa brought him. He was SOOOOOO excited! I'll try and attach video. His face and expression was priceless. He got a motorcycle, a Buzz Lightyear and Woody doll from Santa, movies and clothes from Grandma & Grandpa, a Woody towel from his cousins, books, a puzzle, Lincoln Logs (my choice since I loved those when I was a kid) and some other small things. Ryan got a remote control helicopter and I got a nifty cute camera strap for my camera! We were supposed to have gone over to Nana & Poppy's house after we did our present thing, but Poppy called and said that Nana had been up all night sick. SO... we decided to stay home and hang tight until we heard anything about going over there. We put a movie on after presents and ate a little lunch. We did a chat with my parents and tried to chat with my brother Greg, but to no avail. And then around noon... is starting SNOWING! The last time there was measurable snowfall on Christmas Day in Atlanta was in 1881, when 1.6 inches of snow fell on the city. Amazing! It was so peaceful and pretty and well, it made my heart warm. That was an awesome Christmas present! It was like God knew that I was home sick and that was the best way to comfort me. :) We all took glorious naps... and then quickly realized it wasn't going to be a day with extended family, which... well, was pretty weird. Neither Ryan or I have ever NOT been with family (even if it was with mine or his) for Christmas. It wasn't bad, just different and weird. And, we didn't really have much to eat (that Ryan wanted anyway) so we had to venture out in the snow to find any open restaurants and settled on TGIFridays. Not my idea of a Christmas dinner, but... oh well. It worked and we were together and we had fun. After dinner we came back home and just hung out. Ben played with his toys and we all watched one of his new movies he got from Ashley, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". Cute movie. And that brings me back to the beginning. And now I should go to bed. Hope your Christmas was wonderful!

He's Making a List... checking it twice

I should write a quick note while the rice krispie treats are cooling down. Ryan's out home teaching and Ben's in bed. I'm exhausted. It's 2 and a 1/4 days until Christmas... finishing up some last minute goodies... and then- visits tomorrow night with friends and then Christmas Eve with Ryan's family in Jonesboro, GA. I honestly am the most excited to just do NOTHING but be with family and sit around and be happy on Christmas day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the holidays... but they also wear me out! So does my two year old. He's so sassy these days. [That's weird... a big gust of wind just blew by and it's been a fairly quiet night weather-wise.] Anyway, back to Ben. He's also been SO excited about Christmas this year. He's learned (parts of) Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman and it's A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!! We've actually been able to threaten him this year with "okay... I'm going to call Santa right now and tell him not to come!" when he cries and IT REALLY WORKS! He even got to SEE Santa at the Ward (Church) Christmas party Saturday night! He was a little scared at first... but he agreed to sit with him. He, in his true nature, was shy but wanted to show him his mac and cheese t-shirt. He might've even quietly told him he wanted a Woody Doll and a Buzz Doll. He loved going to Church on Sunday and I had a migraine and we almost left, but decided to stay because Ben wanted to go to Nursery SO bad. :) It's cute. He asks if he can go to Church just about every night. We bought him a book about what the real meaning of Christmas is, and that's been nice and a little challenging to make sure we tie that in to our festivities.I am working all this week which stinks... I have NO motivation. But am trying... My boys are going to come and visit me tomorrow so that gives me something to look forward to.
I had a photo shoot last weekend I haven't even been able to touch. And I miss my family. I keep seeing little reminders of Shauna every where I look. I miss her lots, and wish I could send her a gift or call her so she can hear Ben singing his Christmas songs. But I know she's up there watching and smiling. I will miss my parents this year, and hope that they have a wonderful Christmas and that my siblings do as well.
Side Note... not really having anything to do with Christmas- Ben's been using the potty a little more. I don't feel like we've made progress, but we took a few steps back there for a little while and now he's starting to get excited again because of a new trick we came up with... "Potty Pills". (Otherwise known as M&M's!) I've mentioned before we don't give him a lot of candy and so this is definitely a treat for him. He gets three if he goes one or the other, and 6 if he does both. I think he's figuring out that "going" means candy and I am trying to let him know when to think about when he needs to go. Not sure if it'll work or when it will or what... but we're just trying...
I am telling you what, I'm sick of changing a big kid's diaper. There's definitely a difference between a baby's poops and a kids. Ugh.
Well, on that special note- I am going to bed! Overall, I am grateful for this time of year because it truly has brought the Spirit of Christ in to our home. The Lord has been working very SMALL miracles to some, but so important and wonderful to me. Merry Christmas EVERYONE! I probably wont have the chance to post anything until after Christmas, so I hope it is wonderful!

How Neat is that?

ksl.com - Provo firefighters still fighting tabernacle fire (Gallery Viewer)
Obviously, this was a SAD SAD thing to happen. But look at what the firefighters found and how beautiful and miraculous a thing. Whether or not your are LDS like me, I think you'd still find this pretty awesome! Check out these photographs of a painting of Christ that were found in the rubble of the burnt down Provo Tabernacle in UT.

Hey everyone, just a heads-up... it looks like my days of selling Scentsy are possibly over after this month. It's been a little over a year and while I love the product A LOT, I am not producing enough sales for me to keep "active". Hopefully I will be able to sell again in the near future, but for now I just can't manage the time that needs to be put in to it. So with that being said, if you need anything from my Scentsy site, order now because as of the first of the year it may no longer work! (You can also use the site to buy even if you are out of state.) Also, if you need a Scentsy product for a Christmas gift, get your orders in before Saturday the 18th in order for it to get to you in time! Thanks for you support!
Click here to shop!

A pirate Ship

This is Ben's pirate song he still sings. When my cousin and her kids came to visit, Gracie made up the song and Ben has sang it ever since. ("Yo ho ho, going on a pirate ship repeated)

Sunday Decorating

We got a lovely and inexpensive tree from Home Depot this year, gotta love Promos. We got it on Saturday and then decorated it on Sunday. Sunday was a FUN day of decorating the house and getting it ready for Christmas. We turned the TV off and the radio station that plays Christmas music all month long on, and got to work! Well, I mostly did- but that's the way I like it. As Ben says "that's Mommy's tree". Ryan set up the nativities with care and exactly as they showed on the box. Ben help hang an ornament or two... and touch another one or two! He was SO excited all morning long. He and Ryan ate popcorn and sat on the floor with blankets and watched me decorate and we talked about Santa and Jesus and sang to the music. Ben helped me hang the stockings, and when I said "Do you want to help me hang stockings?" he quickly sat down and started to take his sock off all the while saying "yes, yes I help". I told him not THOSE stockings, and thought it was extremely adorable.

I really love each and every one of my ornaments, most if not all have a special place in my heart and special meaning.That night the crew came over. Ryan made a fire in the fire place (for the first time since we've lived in the house in almost 4 years) and I made Wassail and were able to watch the Christmas Devotional. There was reindeer brownies and hot cocoa too! It was a lovely and Christmassy day! I loved EVERY bit of it! Happy Holidays friends and family!

much needed update

I have a lot to catch up on:

-The week before Thanksgiving
The week before Thanksgiving, Ben and I weren't feeling so hot. Ben had a tight cough and wasn't eating much and just wasn't a happy kid. And the cough wasn't getting better. Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat but didn't think anything of it until Wednesday when I woke up and my throat was super swollen and I was talking weird and couldn't really swallow. Despite the cost of our copay we decided both me and Ben needed to go to the doc. Too bad it's not the same one, because that meant $80 in copays for the day. Yikes! Well, turns out Ben had Bronchiolitis and a touch of Pneumonia and I had strep... random! I haven't had strep in YEARS. That was a LONG day of doc's visits and running to the pharmacy twice, not fun by any means. Luckily antibiotics are free at Publix! Poor Ben's temp rose from 101 to 102 in the doc's office and I got really worried about it. After some Tylenol, animal crackers and a breathing treatment he was good to go and had plenty of energy. One of the saddest things I've ever seen. He did SO good with the breathing treatment though. It makes me wonder if Ben will be prone to asthma. A lot of people in my family have it. I sure hope not. Anyway, we vegged out what was left of the day Wednesday and then Thursday and I had to go back to work on Friday. I was glad we were able to find out BEFORE our Thanksgiving trip and not during.

I just have to note, that the following Saturday we needed to get some yard work done. This was before it started getting very cold and there were A LOT of leaves that needed to be cleaned up. I have to say that's one thing about Georgia that I love/hate. It's cute and all Fall-like, but a pain in the butt to clean up those darn leaves. BETTER though than having to pick up pine needles like we had to in Flag where I grew up. Putting them in trash bags was like putting well... real needles in! Anyway, it was a fun day and it just really felt like FALL which is one of my fav seasons. It was one of those days where I was in a place and world where it seemed like what I pictured life as a family woman to be like. Raking leaves in my front yard with my husband, while my son drove his tractors down the driveway... watching Ryan set a board up at the end of the driveway so that the tractors wouldn't go in the street since our drive way is a tad bit uphill. It was just a neat surreal moment and I loved it. (End scene. hahaha)

-CHRISTMAS!
Well, Christmas season is in full swing. Our trip to Chicago seemed to give us a jump start on feeling the Christmas Cheer. And this year Ben is SOOOOO excited about it. Just all of it; the lights, the decorations, the music, Santa, Snowmen, anything that remotely resembles Christmas time usually follows with "mommy! Look at that Christmas!” It's freaking ADORABLE. He keeps telling people "Santa bring me toys and books!" He's missing the part of the deal where he's supposed to be using the potty completely by then- but oh well, it's still really cute. We put up the decorations this weekend and he was just in heaven. I am so glad, I hope his Christmas Spirit continues because it really does bring it in the home and makes us that much more excited for it as well. Saturday we bought our awesome $20 tree from Home Depot and didn't get to decorate it until Sunday. I had to run errands for quite some time Saturday and left Ben home with daddy, and much to my surprise Ryan had put up the lights out on the house and after Ben's nap Ryan took him out to see and Ryan said he had a look of utter amazement.

Sunday we let him help hang some ornaments. (Another post to come about our FABULOUS Christmas filled Sunday!) I taught him that if he felt like he wanted to touch that he needed to put his hands behind his back. He remembers at first, and then forgets... but I only put ornaments on the bottom that I don't really care about. I just want him to learn to treat things nice and that Mommy's tree is HANDS OFF! Hahaha. Ryan said "Ben, those are mommy's prized possessions... don't touch". That's about right! After his nap Sunday the tree was all decorated and lit and again, utter amazement. Then jumping up and down and clapping, which I've mentioned before doesn't happen from that kid very often, so that's when you know he is IN LOVE. Even last night when we got home we plugged it in and got the same reaction. Too cute. I love it and am so happy he's in to it. Next challenge, keeping wrapped gifts under the tree. I'll keep you updated. He's also really in to Christmas movies too, particularly Elf. The other night I had him sitting on the potty and out of no where he quoted the movie. The part where he burps for a long time and says "Did you hear that?!" He does an impressive burping impersonation. I have yet to get him to do it on video well, but what I do have is still cute. He's starting to memorize more lines from it, probably because we watch it like everyday.

-Baby Savannah

Well, last Thursday December 2nd, Ashley and Jacob welcomed their beautiful little girl in to their family. She was 8lbs 9oz and 20 inches long. Of course, she is beautiful and adorable and cute and all other things good. We, the Smiths, are super excited to have her as our "niece". We got to go visit her lots and they are home now getting used to their new life with a child of their own. They are both completely in love and head over heels for her. This is how it should be of course. Jacob is just adorable with her and Ashley already has the mom thing down and is amazing. We couldn’t be happier for them and I just can’t even wait to see that cute little thing again!

-I am a camera. C amera, camera.
We finally got a new little camera. I know another one? Well, our little point and shoot that we’ve had for years has had it. It still works…ju st not well. I would say a good 75% of the pictures are blurry and it’s just been dropped too many times. We’ll probably end up letting Ben play with it. We got a Canon SD1400 and it’s awesome. It has so many cool features and it’s nice to have a nice SMALL camera that can just fit in my purse as opposed to lugging around my big one everywhere we go.

Another Wonderful Chicago Thanksgiving!

(Sorry in advance for all of the collages, it was just easier to get as many pictures in as possible)

My sister Delinda moved from her first apartment she lived in Chicago, to a new one this Summer and because we had so much fun last year and wanted to see her new place- we asked if we could come for Thanksgiving again this year and she said "yes!" Sadly Jen couldn't be there, we switched places with her and she came here to visit her family.We left noon on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving for the long drive. I had the day off but Ryan had to work so Ben and I dropped him off in the morning and then got some things taken care of before we picked Ryan back up and jumped right on the road. The drive from here to Chicago is supposed to take 12 hours, but with a 2 year old, potty stops and a stop to pick up the new camera ON TOP of pretty awful rain downpours in Indiana... it took us 14 hours. We got there at 2am. Better than 5am like last year though. So, we took a look around the apartment which is schnazzy and then went to sleep. Thanksgiving day we mostly took it easy besides cooking, and even that wasn't a big deal. Delinda and I had to run to the store but other than that we stayed in. It was chilly! Ben was a little bit of a stinker that day. I attempted to cut his hair and he wouldn't sit still and was kind of a poop head about it. So he ended up with a not-so-cute hair cut. I mean, he was just probably tired from the trip and was in a new place and so he was cranky. Anyway, Ryan had asked if maybe we could try something different for Thanksgiving this year. He was sort of sick of the typical turkey dinner. DJ and I still wanted Turkey so we still made that and then I made Ryan a Baked Ziti. Delinda made the turkey and I helped with the sides and made a Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake. The food was DELISH! I even managed to make (from memory) my dad's Creamed Corn. I was pretty proud of myself. There are two pass downs from my dad that we've got to keep going and that's Creamed Corn and his famous Fudge. Thanksgiving night we watched a movie and just hung out.Friday, we bundled up and ventured out in to the city. Ben was super excited to ride the bus and the train. We even got to see a REAL "choo choo" when we were waiting for the train in to the city. The conductor even tooted his horn and dinged his bell for Ben. It was pretty awesome. Once we got to the city we mostly just walked around and did a little shopping. We ran in to some Fur Protesters, AGAIN (we saw them last year too), and saw the windows at Macy's and went in Macy's for a minute. We mostly walked around, it was pretty darn cold though so we stopped in a Dunkin Donuts at one point for something warm to drink and a snack. Before we went in, a man who was asking for helping asked for some change to get a cup of hot coffee. Delinda decided to just buy him a cup and took it out to him. He came in a little while and was very grateful to her and then went out to see what else he could ask for. I was very touched when from watching inside I say a man stop to give him some money, and when choosing between a $1 bill and a $10 bill- he chose the 10. The man asking for the money I think was taken back by it too said a million thank you's shook the mans hand and then they hugged. Delinda and I watched the whole thing and just got so misty eyed. It was neat that he didn't even hold back, didn't ask why, didn't say he didn't have anything- he just did it. I thought it was neat and wanted to remember that. After the donut shop we attempted to walk up the see the river, but got across the street from it but the wind was SO strong and COOOOOOLLLLDDDD that we turned right back around and headed for the "Bean" and the Art Institute of Chicago Museum instead. We'd even thought about taking a tour of the city on a boat the next day, but it was just too cold and Ben was still getting over his respiratory stuff and we thought it might not be a good idea. Anyway, we saw the bean and museum last year- but it's still terrific, and free. :) It's always nice to have connections! We spent a good amount of time in the museum, luckily Ben was pretty well behaved and he even enjoyed it I think. He was quiet when he needed to be and didn't touch when he wasn't supposed to. Only thing was he wanted to be held... like ALL the time. I think he liked the Mayan exhibit the best. If you look carefully in the collage of the things we saw there, you'll see the room that was in Ferris Bueller's Day Off when Cameron is staring at that HUGE painting on the wall. After the museum, it started to get somewhat late so we went to get some Chicago deep dish pizza at Exchequer and Ryan got a deep dish pizza. I had a piece it was pretty delish! There was the most awesomeness waiter there with highlighted hair and those sunglasses/glasses with the jewels on top? He was so charismatic and sure of himself. Delinda and I got a kick out of him. After that we were all pooped and tired from walking so we got back on the train and rode home. Ben sat by DJ and it was cute to see him looking like a pro city boy sitting on the metro with his Auntie.
Pictures from our day.
A picture from the train station.Saturday we decided to stay as warm as possible, so we took a drive up Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan and saw a bunch of different parts of town. We got up to Northwestern University and a cool light house not too far from there. There was a playground so we decided to stop for Benny. It was too cold to stay out for too long though, and Ben was pretty ticked that we had to leave the play ground and one of my "keep myself sane" tactics is to walk away and ignore (kind of, I'm not really- I'm just pretending because really who can ignore screaming and carrying on like that?)... so I did this, Delinda beside me and Ryan ahead. Ryan turned around and yelled "Heather! Ben!" I turned around and the poor kid is standing in the FREEZING cold with his pants down around his ankles! I felt SO horrible, but it was pretty funny too. He "chilled out" after that, hahaha! We got him in the WARM car quickly with daddy while Delinda and I explored a little more...well, for as long as we could stand the cold anyway. We headed back home, trying to find a good hot dog place like HotDoug's, but the stupid people were closed for the weekend. So we went somewhere else and it was just "meh", not super great. Drove around some more, went through China Town and then went back to DJ's place to do some family photos for literally like 10 mins. It was TOOOOOOO COLD. We got a couple cute ones. That night we went downtown to the Christkindlmarket (which is SUPER busy and crowded and crazy). It was fun...just too crowded. But I wanted to get some ornaments, we saw the nativity scene and then left. But it was also nice to have that feeling of Christmas all around us.We watched a movie and ate popcorn and went to bed early, we had a long drive home Sunday. Which actually went quite well except for the the 30 min tantrum in slow moving traffic in the middle of nowhere Kentucky. This was a quiet moment, which there weren't very many of. Ben hardly slept at all for a 12 hour drive. We made it home safe and sound. Had a lovely time, and can't wait to go back. We really enjoy Chicago!