Home Sweet Home

Does a bear poop in the woods?? Beanie does.

Cool cave we found

Puddy was in heaven!

Little boys have this amazing ability to get dirty in minutes, its what makes them unique.

Scott and I watching them just be kids..

My beautiful girls..

My cute family.

Ollie and his doggy

Soyer is singing the theme song from Indiana Jones in this picture, wish you could hear it.. da da da da.. da da da Its important to add the sound effects to every move you make in this life.. it makes it better.

I need a new camera, this doesnt do it justice

self explanatory

Saturday morning I went running up Millcreek Canyon with Erin, Gretchen, and Grettys sis in law Becca. We went on the pipeline trail and i realized that i have'nt been up there since what i like to call my more "foggy" days. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! And so i decided while running through the trees that not only do we take this gorgeous state we live in for granted, but that i dont give my kids the opportunity nearly enough to soak it all in.. So needless to say, I took them all back up there on sunday for a hike. The pipeline is more of a flat walk, so its perfect for litttle ones and they can enjoy the beauty of it in their own little way. We are so blessed to have these beautiful canyons just minutes away from us. As I was running on Saturday, the song "In God's Country" came on my ipod and it was one of those perfect moments. The scenery, the endorphin high, and the realization that i truly live in one of God's most beautiful places.

EAGLE OF THE MONTH

Oliver was chosen to be the Eagle of the month this month. This is when the teachers choose 1 child from their class who has done something to prove that he is worthy to be eagle of the month. In Olivers case, he has learned all his letters and numbers and is reading really well, which is why his teacher said that he was chosen. We as parents arent supposed to tell them when they are chosen. So I took Oliver over to the school on friday afternoon and to do this, I had to take him away from his precious Indiana Jones game on the Wii, and it is never a good idea to cut Oliver off from something he is doing without a fair amount of warning.. So he angrily walked over to the school with me, getting more and more irritated that i wouldnt tell him why we were going there. I had to laugh to myself because i know my son, and i know that as angry as he is, he is going to feel SO special when he gets there and he realizes that HE was chosen. Chosen to get a special award from the principal, that consists of 3 gift certificates to some great restaurants, he gets to choose his own pencil and airhead candy, and then he gets to stay and have a pizza party with all the other Eagles, and with the principal of the school. Thats pretty big time ya know? So when they called his name, i loved the look on his face as he proudly walked back to me holding his prizes, forgetting all about his anger, forgetting all about his indiana jones game for a minute. My little Oliver is his very own person. He is my big hearted, very passionate, very smart little man. And I sort of love the fact that im the only one who can steer around his many moods and know exactly what to say and what to do at any moment to make him smile.

Graduation Day!!

I CANT BELIEVE MY BABY IS NO LONGER IN PRE-SCHOOL!! That means 2 things, that I have no more babies and that i am getting old!

Soyer and Adysen were born 10 days apart. They came into this life together and they have been by each others sides ever since. They hit all their milestones together, they have grown up together and played together and in their heads, life is always going to be that way. They started pre-school together, hand in hand, keeping each other safe. Being each other security blanket. Being the best of friends. And Im going to miss driving them to school, hearing their conversations of tooty heads and pee pee brains.. the giggling and the stories. The phases they've gone through. Im going to miss Ady saying "Lysa, Lysa can i tell you something?" before she starts any kind of story. And im going to miss Soyer telling Ady little lies like "Ady, if you touch this, its going to blow up and we will die." {it was a tire pressure gauge} And Ady responding by saying "Lysa, Lysa, can i tell you something?? Is it really going to blow up?" And then Soyer laughing and telling me that he just trickted her. And then they both giggle and giggle. They were the only two in the world at those moments and im going to miss it.


So as Soyer was handed his diploma, i got a little choked up, this means it the last pre-school days of my life. My baby is going to Kindergarten, without Ady, all by himself, on to new adventures. On to new memories.

I watched him nervously trying to remember his big part for the last program of the last day of the year. And i smiled at the memories of those two.

I laugh when i see his little naughty side coming out as he starts to get comfortable saying his part..

And i wonder, do they really get it? Do they really realize that they will be separated next school year? That they will have to walk into their big new schools alone? I know they will both do great, but i have to admit, ive loved the fact that my little beanie has had his Ady with him thus far, i knew that if nobody else would play with him, Ady would be there. I knew that if noone else would laugh at him, she would. And i knew that he would always have someone to sit by. Im grateful for their little friendship and im going to miss when they were the only two people in each others little worlds..

To our Grandpa Smith, with love..

{as a side note before i get started, i thought that i could figure out a way to organize this better, but its not happening today, as you can see}

It is Memorial Day weekend and today we drove up to Kaysville to visit Grandpa Smith's grave. This post is going to be dedicated to him. Paul Grant Smith. An amazing man. A man who was taken from us way too soon. A grandpa who always had a smile on his face and a giggle in his heart. As i watched his wife reverently look down on his grave i couldnt help picture his warm smile looking down on the site of his posterity visiting him.

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  As his son threw his daughter up in the air, just to see a smile on her face...
  
  

As his wife thoughtfully picked the purple iris' that he had planted from seed and placed them in a vase on his headstone...






As his grandkids found the wonders of a wiggly worm near by....

As his darling new daughter in law tried to run from the camera in her giant cast....

As his granddaugter was learning to stand all by herself and possibly at any moment take that first step...

He watched and smiled as his grandkids who only left him a short time ago, looked upon his grave and wondered what their grandpa was like...

He must've wanted to reach down and put his arms around these little precious babies...

And then around these precious babies of his own...and his beautiful wife...

I remember Paul and his sweet disposition, his love for all the kids, his fun grandpa ways, his loving big smile, his pens and notebook in his pocket always ready to write down anything that might hold value later..So to my kids- I wish that you would've known him better, i wish you could've seen that warm smile with that twinkle in his eye, and how he lit up whenever he saw his kids. I wish you could've seen him get flustered whenever they would try and argue points with him, I wish you saw him stumble over words when he would tell us his stories, and how every once in awhile we would get one out of him that was a story about his mischevious childhood days.. and the blushing smiling face he had as he would tell it... I wish he was physically here to give you hugs and watch you grow up, but i know that he is here in spirit and that he watches over you and that he smiles and giggles and cries with you.. I know he loves you and he's proud of you..

So to you Paul and to you Gen, thank you for being such amazing examples of grace and unconditional love and thank you for being such wonderful grandparents, even though you feel like you are doing it alone sometimes Gen, know that we feel him with us too. And we love you both. We look forward to the day to see his happy face again and give him a big hug.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

So i walked downstairs this morning to go for my run, half out of it still and trying to find the motivation to open my eyes all the way, when i looked up and saw this. I got a big smile and a warm fuzzy in my heart. 14 years ago, Scott and I started this whole, big, wonderful mess that we call our life together, and i wouldnt trade it for the world. So HERES TO ANOTHER GREAT YEAR, FILLED WITH LAUGHTER, TEARS, EXCITEMENT, ADVENTURES AND MOST OF ALL LOVE.

Mothers Day 2009

Lovely picture of me, and always darling Gretchen. Cutest mother in law in the world, loving Izzy after she got hurt. Izzy loves to hurt herself, its one of her talents.

Cute daddys, Troy and Scott. We love our men

Aunt JULIE POOLIE!!! Wahoo! We had to give a special shout out to Julie, we were so happy she came to join us and she also kept the birds company, to which we were greatful. And Beautiful Erin, what would I do without her?

Grandma Coo Coo holding baby Stela, right after the birds decided to give CooCoo her own mothers day present of leaving a little poop on her shirt. And always, cute daddy Anthony. Love him. Anyone know any darling girls seeking for a kind, wonderful guy and a great dad? I know one if you do.

Gage and Soyer, again.

Like father, like son, can anyone tell the difference between these two? If you can, ill give you a dollar.

Wheresoever Gage goest, Soyer goeth also...

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Soyer has a LOVE for babies, He cant help himself. He follows them around and kisses them and hugs them and tries really hard to help them, He is always one step behind them, trying to feed them and give them toys.. And he LOVES his baby cousin Gage. I wonder how long the love affair will last, will it go away when Gage gets older?? Or will he always be baby in Soyers eyes. As you can see, sometimes it really gets on Gages nerves, but Soyer would never let that stop him, bc he knows that deep down inside, Gage feels the same way about him. The love affair is mutual.