The Smith Life

Happy Halloween

2011-11-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

Pumpkins...
We went to the pumpkin patch on a preschool field trip and Chase and Molly picked out their perfect pumpkins. Sadly, Chase's pumpkin didn't make it to carving day- it rotted :(
So on Halloween day (yes, we didn't get around to carving until the actual day of Halloween, but we did it none the less) we went all around town searching for another pumpkin. There were none to be found at any of the stores we tried, the farmers market only had white ones left... I tried to talk those up as being really cool, but I could tell Chase wasn't thrilled when he agreed to get one... so we headed out to the field to look (I should have gone there first instead of trying for a quick store purchase). The pumpkin patch was really bare and every time we thought we found a suitable one, it was rotten or smashed on part of it. After about 15 minutes of wandering around the field, we were about to give up when Chase found one! I was so relieved... It might sound silly being worried about a pumpkin- but I love how excited my children get over our little traditions we do as a family. It was so sweet to hear Chase say how much he loved this new pumpkin, with it's crooked handle-like stem.

Chase was a little hesitant to touch the insides, but once he did he got right to work cleaning his pumpkin out.

Molly loved getting her hands messy and I even caught her eating bites out of her pumpkin top... have I mentioned she likes food?

Costumes:
Molly knew exactly what she wanted to be for Halloween all on her own. I don't know where the idea came from but she was set on it... she would say "a nernaid, so I can swim in Finn's pool." Then she would say "Like this" and do a little body wiggle. It was really cute- especially how mermaid sounded like nernaid. We got the mermaid part of her wish, but didn't get to California to swim in Uncle Finn's pool.
Chase had some silly ideas of what to be... a meatball, a light switch, random things that he thought were really funny to suggest. Instead we found a cool ninja costume.

The Ninja and The Nernaid

Now if I could just stop myself from eating all their candy!

BIRTHDAYS!

2011-10-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

We have ALL celebrated a birthday (since I've last blogged) so here's the re-cap of all the excitement!

Way back in May, was our favorite man's special day...

He is so great!

Chase & Molly were so excited to celebrate.
This was the beginning of asking"is it my birthday yet?" I heard it a lot.
The end of August was mine...
Molly was so cute- she was seriously bursting with excitement. My favorite thing about my day was just seeing how excited my children were. My family & friends are so sweet to me. I felt so loved and had a great day.
Then came September...
Chase turned FIVE!
The day started with the traditional Breakfast in Bed...
this year he chose to have a Mickey Mouse pancake with legs. What??? I was a little worried about this- I can make a pancake but David is our pro breakfast maker and he would be at work. It turned out looking like a bear- but I think the mini chocolate chips and transformer stickers were a good distraction...

He was excited for his BALLOONS!
When David came home from work we headed up to Grandma & Grandpa's house for the long weekend. We surprised Chase by going out to pizza with everyone. It was a lot of fun to celebrate with lot's of family around...

He recieved lot's of fun new toys... including a skate board!

The next day we kept the fun going by having a big family picnic up at Silver Creek Falls Park. It had been a long time since we've made it up there, even though it's only around 20 minutes from my parents house. It's a beautiful place and we had a great day there...

(the line up of cousins... missing 9 of them)
We enjoyed walking around one of the main waterfalls- the path goes behind it and it's pretty cool to feel the mist from the falling water. The kids all had fun checking out the little caves in the rocks.

Happy Happy Birthday Chase!

He is the biggest sweetheart and so funny too.
I can't believe he is 5 already- I love being his mom!
Molly's birthday came at the end of September...
Counting down the days
Breakfast in bed= a Mickey Mouse pancake with sprinkles and another that looked like an ice-cream cone made with bananas. I showed her a picture of the idea so we could do something other than the Mickey Mouse pancakes... that idea backfired when she told me she wanted both. Her drink choice was sparkling pink lemon-aid (from Trader Joe's)
She loved eating in her bed!
She took her time and made it last- I think it was close to an hour by the time she was done. She would take a few bites then look at the 'my little pony' stickers she got (she calls them 'pony tail stickers'), put on some of her new lip gloss or look at her cards again, then eat a few more bites.
While Molly was sleeping David & I hung balloons from her ceiling for her to wake up to.She kept looking up at them saying "it's so beautiful!"
Presents... She wanted a backpack so bad. Her Nana gave her it and she loves it... seriously loves it- she wore it everywhere for 2 days straight along with her new helmet.
This girl is just awesome... she's sweet, silly, crazy, she's whatever she wants to be... she's stubborn, but I love that she knows what she wants and goes after it... I'm so glad she's gotten better at saying please though!
:)

Just a few ipod favorites...

2011-09-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

(click to enlarge)

Little B-baller

2011-04-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Chase enjoyed another sports program at the YMCA...

BASKETBALL

It was a 6 week program like soccer- they had practice the first 3 Saturdays and then the next 3 they played games. I was surprised at the amount of improvement I saw in such a short time. It was so cute to watch the dribbling, passing, guarding, etc..

Everyone received a medal at the end :)

That's Chase's 'hurry, take the picture mom so I can get my snack' face

2011-03-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if her smile is so big

because she was proud of herself

she knew she was getting more chocolate.

Molly has been out of diapers and DRY for an entire week now! It's really great, but at the same time I can't believe she is already so big! She is very independant and likes to do EVERYTHING on her own (this can be great at times or a little frustrating too), but when I tell her she is a big girl- she tells me "No, I'm a baby". I think it's because she loves babies so much. Either way- We are excited to have a break from diapers and proud of our girl :)

A Very Merry Christmas... &... Happy New Year!

2011-02-11T15:49:00.000-08:00

This year we celebrated Christmas back in California. We made it there just in time for Christmas Eve and stayed until after the new year. The entire trip was great... it was so good to celebrate the birth of our Savior with loved ones. We loved being with family and just hanging out. The kids enjoyed lot's of attention from their sweet cousins- they keep my children so entertained and happy. Our time was filled with *traditions*, lot's of laughs, tons of non-stop fun and plenty of great food.

I'm behind on blogging, so I will do my best to remember all the things we did...

The trip started off with a lot of "Are we there yet???"s, seriously we heard the first one less than 2 minutes on the road, followed within seconds by a phone call asking the same thing :) We were all so glad the roads were clear!

Christmas Eve was spent at the Jensen's home in Napa... There we feasted, played chimes*, played the white elephant gift exchange game*, ate rice pudding*- hoping to find an almond, enjoyed being together and felt very grateful for our many blessing including a loving family and friends.

Molly walking the dogs....

lovin' uncle Finn...

Christmas morning was so exciting- Chase peeked out the window right after waking up to check if it had snowed... no snow... but Santa still came! He ate his cookies*, wrote a letter* to all the children in the house and left awesome gifts for all.

Max, Sam, Abby, Kate, Chase, & Molly

David's sister Jenn made her incredible cinnamon rolls* and hashbrown casserole*- so good! We hung out in our jammies and relaxed... then feasted some more that night... followed by a little Christmas program* by the light of the Christmas tree :)

happy boy

Aunt Jane and Rob came up from L.A. for a few days to visit. It was fun hearing Aunt Jane sing to The Beatles on Rock Band, I especially enjoyed the duet by her & Leslie.

creepy cat

Sushi night* David's brother Clark is a chef at the Happy Sumo in Utah- seriously talented and so awesome for making great sushi for everyone...YUM.

On the 30th we celebrated 7 years of wedded bliss :)

I am one lucky girl, no doubt about it!

We spent one day playing at Scandia. Molly loved the tunnels and balls. Chase loved everything especially the Go-Karts...

waiting for his turn to race around

Chase had been wanting to go bowling for about a month before Christmas- we kept telling him we would go with his cousins... He was so excited when we went.

(I have a cute video of him shuffling his feet across the floor, ball in both hands- rolling it down the lane and getting a spare- then high fiving everyone with a huge grin on his face. I just can't get it to upload)

New Years Eve... We celebrated the end of 2010 and the start of 2011 with a big dinner of crab* and ribs- seriously it doesn't get better than that. We had a lot of fun having the Missionaries there and introducing them to the Candy Bar game*.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2010-12-01T15:37:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2010... The day started with David playing football in Roseburg, then we packed up the car and headed up to my sister Tammy's house. We all enjoyed hanging out with family and of course eating! 12 of my parent's 17 grandchildren were there- so Chase and Molly had non-stop fun just running around with their cousins. I was hoping my sister Kristi would go into labor and add to the excitement, but that didn't happen. I have so many things to be thankful for- Our Heavenly Father truly knows us and loves us all.

Chase, Luke, Dawson, Adele, Gabi, Darcie, Emma, Molly, Ryan, Zach, Colton, Daren

*We were so excited to have two neices born on the same day at the end of November. Congratulations to David's sister Adrienne and my sister Kristi :) Yay for babies!

Go Bananas!

2010-11-28T17:11:00.000-08:00

Chase did a 6 week soccer program (that ended in October- so this is a little late) He loved it! His team was called The Bananas and they had great coaches- Heather & Julie. Chase wasn't even shy for a second- during the first practice we over heard him ask "So what's the drill coach?"
They played 4 games and had so much fun.
It was seriously so cute to watch.

Chase and Coach Julie

a little action shot...

Showing Coach Heather how many goals he made...

At the end of the little season there was a team pizza party. The coaches passed out medals and awards... Chase received an award for Fantastic Footwork!

Team picture:

Our cute little soccer player...

Halloween Festivities...

2010-11-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

To the Pumpkin Patch to pick out the perfect pumpkin...

Is this not a beautiful field of pumpkins???

We found one!!!

Time to Carve them...

Forgot to get a final picture- oops! Chase's had a scary face and Molly's had a spooky house.

Costumes, Parties, and Treats...

Little Lamb & Scarecrow

Some friends invited us to a fun Halloween Party- I actually dressed up for the first time in years. David carried a mustache on a stick as his costume (I still need to get a picture of him with it). I'm pretty sure that is the most 'costume' I'll ever get him to wear. Molly's lamb costume took so many pom poms! I bought all that Micheals had in stock and then had to send David to Jo-Anns for more. Chase had all sorts of ideas of what he wanted to be... Kick Buttowski, Oso (huge surprise on that one), a ninja, cop, iron man... He wore his old monkey costume for the first party we went to and we planned to find him something different before Halloween was really here... but after shopping around he said he would just wear the monkey costume again. That worked for me! He's so sweet & I think he makes a pretty cute monkey anyway!

Little Lamb & Monkey

Ready for some treats... or is Chase thinking up some tricks???

At the trunk or treat...

HaPPY hALloWEen!

2010-10-04T15:41:00.003-07:00

Our Little Girl is Two! Happy Birthday

Dear Molly...

Molly is...

*very silly & happy... she loves to laugh and make others laugh.

*a little tease, especially to her brother.

*lover of all animals- she gets really excited when she sees them.

*smart & sweet

*very good at pretending to be a dog everyday- she crawls, pants, pounces around and even gives doggy kisses.

*stubborn, determined, strong

*such a sweet little mommy, she loves babies!

*a fantastic eater

*our little energizer bunny

I can't believe she is already two. She's grown so fast...

xoxo

2010-09-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm pretty sure the summer is over....

I don't think this little guy minds too much though.

I love how children can make things so joyfull.

Good Bye Summer

2010-09-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

It has been a simple & sweet summer.

I'm sad that it's ending... and trying to hang on to these last few days of sunshine. If the cold has to come at least there is hot chocolate and cozy sweaters to look forward to. Hot or cold, rain or shine, I'm happy just being with my wonderful family!

A Day by the River...

2010-07-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

Our friends invited us over to enjoy a beautiful day out by the river. We had so much fun! I'm so happy that summer has finally arrived. This year's weather has been a little crazy. So the coming of warm sunny days is something I am really appreciating. Chase especially loved floating in the raft and paddling the canoe. Molly filled up on watermelon and brownies and had a great time splashing around in the water. It was so fun to just hang out with friends and relax out in the sun.

I think Chase had a smile on his face the entire time!

Molly searching for some more snacks...

Such a perfect spot...

Thanks for the Fantastic Day!

Visitors...

2010-07-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

David's college buddy was in Oregon working and came over to visit. It was so cute seeing David watch out the window for Tom to arrive... We had a good time seeing him, it had been a really long time!

Thanks for coming Tom!

Also our friends the Belnaps came over Memorial Weekend! It was really awesome that they drove all the way from Boise just to see us. Plus they brought a huge box of donuts from VooDoo Donuts in Portland (including a maple bar with a strip of bacon on top). We had a great time hanging out and discovering some new places in Roseburg together. We even got to spend Andrea's Birthday with her :) Like always, the kids played really well together- Chase was so excited when he realized they were sleeping over. He had no problem giving up his bed and sleeping in our room. I always wish I took more pictures, but here are a few...

Good Morning Birthday Girl!

Making wishes...

Lego Time...

Thanks for Visiting!!!

SiLLy SIbLinGs...

2010-07-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

I love how much these two love each other! Chase has always been a great Big Brother and Molly continues to look up to him- she loves to try to do the things he does. They make each other laugh so many times a day. It is so fun to just watch them play together.

2010-07-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

My sister Tammy had a baby girl in June. She is so beautiful and sweet. It is such a blessing to have another little niece and Chase and Molly are pretty excited to have a new cousin. We will actually be getting a few more from David's side of the family this year too- so we are all very excited!

Welcome Emma Elizabeth!

Molly plays...

2010-07-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hide and Seek...

and she is still lovin'

Peek A-Boo...

Adventures in Oregon

2010-05-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

Most of you may already know, but I figured I would update the blog with the big news. At the end of March we packed up and moved up to Oregon... Roseville to Roseburg...

David got a job with a construction company here as a Project Manager. He is really happy to be working in the construction industry again! I'm so proud of him for being such a hard worker and taking care of us so well.
It is really beautiful here, the Umpqua River runs right through town. We are enjoying getting to know the area and meeting new people.
Our camera has been acting a little crazy lately (sometimes it only wants to turn on for a few minutes at a time and then only a few of the pictures taken will upload onto the computer) but here are some of the things we've been up to here in OREGON...
*We spent Easter weekend at my parents house in Salem. The kids had a lot of fun finding their baskets in the morning. Molly went straight for the chocolate and Chase liked his new little cars. We enjoyed watching conference and having a relaxing morning. We hung out at my brother Jeff's house for awhile and then headed over to my sister Tammy's house for a big Easter dinner. The kids enjoyed a little indoor egg hunt (due to rain) and loved playing with cousins. It felt really weird saying goodbye and only having a 2 hour drive home!
*We went to The Wildlife Safari! This was so awesome. You get to drive your own car through the place, twice if you want. There is also a little village area with a petting zoo and a train ride and stuff. We decided to drive through and then go to the village and walk around and then drive through the second time before going home. The first time driving through most of the animals were up close to the road- it was amazing. First we were attacked by the ostrich and Rhea birds, seriously those guys were mean. They came right up to the windows and pecked at the car- we were all laughing and trying to get the windows up fast. Molly got a little scared by a giraffe that stood a few feet from the car and I think we were all a little worried about the large Rhino with the large horn that came walking down the hill as we passed by. Chase stood up with his head out the sun roof most of the time and even made friends with the kids in the car behind us- it was pretty cute hearing them talk to each other. I think my favorite was watching the brown bears play around with each other. We walked around the village area for a while then Chase and I took a ride on the train (the wait in line was about 4 times the length of the ride, but Chase loved 'being on a train'). Then we did the drive thru again. The second time we didn't see as many of the animals out, but we did see the hippo better and the bears had just gotten fed some raw meat- so that was pretty cool to see. We had so much fun- the animals are amazing to see up close just roaming around. Normally you are charged like $18.00 per adult but when we drove up the lady at the gate told us that they had tickets for just $10.00 a car that day- Sweet! We videoed a lot, but unfortunatly the camera wasn't working!

*We hiked to the Susan Creek Waterfall... the camera actually worked all day... then only some of the pictures uploaded- some are better than none though, so I'm happy!

Chase is a little hiker- he was running most of the time and loved being out in the woods. We were pretty shocked that Molly was so content in the carrier- I didn't even think she would get in it, but she was happy the whole time!

*We stayed over on the coast for a weekend in Beautiful Bandon, we were lucky to have great weather. We had a great time just hanging out on the beach- Chase did a lot of sand digging and rock climbing while Molly found shells and rocks along with chasing around people's dogs.

Elephant Rock:

Face Rock:

Hard at work- Digging:

Chase Climbing & Molly's "Cheese"

*And of course we've been doing what Chase loves best- Going to the Park. There is a really cool park near us- It's called River Forks Park, the river runs along it and it has tons of open grass to run on. There are some fun play structures and a huge wooded fort, Chase's favorite area is the sand pit with a huge turtle in the middle.

2010-02-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Happy Valentines Day

xoxoxo

Fall Review

2009-12-14T21:47:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post some of the fun things we did in the fall. Well fall has ended and winter began and now Christmas is already gone as well. This is very late... but here is a little view of our fall...

We took a trip up to Oregon at the beginning of October for my brother Kevin's wedding! We had a great time- ALL of my siblings were together for the first time in years... it had been over 12 yrs since all eight of us were together. It was so awesome to be all together. I'm excited to have a new sister-in-law too! Welcome to the family Morgan :)

Here are a few pictures from the day of the wedding:

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. David's sister Whitney came home for a visit from South Carolina with her family (husband Steve and son Jack). We celebrated Jack's 1st birthday with an awesome party and then went out trick-or-treating. Chase chose to be a worker (not Bob the Builder). It was much easier to get his costume on him than the monkey one last year. Molly was a cute little ladybug, she loved her costume- she had a huge smile the whole time it was on. She also loved getting candy.

Lady Bug & Worker

Molly, Mommy & Chase

Cousin Jack and Molly

Our friends the Belnaps came to visit us! Chase was in heaven having his buddy Eva here to play with all day long. Molly and Olive were pretty cute together too. Molly liked stealing all of Olive's snacks. It's fun that our children are so close in age.

The week of Thanksgiving brought more visitors to town... David's father Bill and new wife Susan came from Florida, brother Gregory and wife Stacy with their children Nathan, Sarah, and Talmage from Arizona, and brother Clark from Utah all came. The whole week was filled with a lot of fun and delicious food. We are very blessed to have such great friends and family and have so much to be Thankful for.

Nathan, Talmage, Sarah, Abby, Chase, Molly, & Kate

Granddaddy & Susan with...

Kate, Nathan, Talmage, Max, Molly, Sam, Abby, Sarah, and Chase

Tiny Tot's T-ball

2009-11-05T13:37:00.002-08:00

T-ball happily began...
Every moment was fantastically enjoyed...

T-ball proudly ended.

Molly's 1 Year Old: Happy Birthday!

2009-10-01T23:49:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that Molly is already a year old. She is so sweet and adds so much joy to our family. Here are a few pictures of the Birthday celebration...

The Birthday Girl:

A cute card made with love from some very sweet cousins:

She's So Big!

Her very own little Cake:

Yummy Treats:

A baby doll from Nana: Honey Pie Huggums

Molly's new ride:

Ready for some cake:

She didn't eat much cake, she picked off a few pieces of the pink frosting and was done. Basically the exact opposite of how she eats everything else (she usually loves to eat a lot).

Turning 1 is hard work...

Happy Birthday Molly, We LOVE You!
x o x o x o

2009-09-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

Tiny Tot T-ball,
more to come.

p.s.
Our Sweet Molly Jane turned 1 today!
More to come with that as well.

2009-09-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

This little guy....

turned One...

two...

and now three!!!

September 2, 2009

Chase was pretty excited for his birthday this year. He's old enough to understand it more and knew all about getting presents and cake. It was so fun to celebrate with him and see him so excited.

His day began with the family tradition of breakfast in bed...

French Toast & Bananas

He opened one present with breakfast...

his favorite movie CARS!

How old are you now Chase?

3!!!

When David came home from work we gave Chase a work bench...

He didn't want to stop working even for a quick picture.

Then we headed over to Wacky Tacky to play. I still don't know why I didn't take any pictures there. It's a place with a lot of tunnels and slides, along with a really cool ball shooting gun area (if that makes any sense). He had a great time playing there with his cousin Kate and buddy Gavin.

Chase picked In-n-Out for dinner. There is never a complaint about eating when it's a cheese burger ketchup only.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream! Chase said he wanted a skateboard cake and wanted it to be blue (until it actually was blue, then he changed his mind... sorry, it was too late!) .

Then he opened presents! Here's a picture of him and his new nail gun.
Chase the Worker

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE
We love you so so so much!

2009-08-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

BOY + BIKE =

2009-07-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

So far our summer has been packed with fun. Here are some of the things we've done so far (be prepared for lot's of pictures)...

CAMPING:
David's sister Adrienne and her family came to visit for a few weeks all the way from Florida. The first few days they were here we spent camping as a family. All together there were 6 adults and 9 kids. We left on Father's Day and stayed 2 nights. The guys were great sports about missing out on their deserved day of comfort and having to set up camp instead. We had an awesome campsite right on the lake. The weather was perfect and the lake was quite since we were there Sunday- Tuesday. We enjoyed yummy camp fire food, swimming, boating, a little fishing and a birthday! Happy Birthday Sam! It's a big task to camp with a large group and we appreciate all the preperation and work put into it-
Thank You Family!

Madeline and Molly

Nana and Chase

Daddy and Chase making the perfect marshmellow for a delicious SMORE!

All the kids, ready to go out on the lake.

Chase playing in the dirt- loving every minute of it.

PICNIC ON THE TEMPLE GROUNDS:

Abby, Madeline, and Molly

Chase, Kate, Carter, Sam, Tyler, Abby, Madeline and Molly

BOWLING:
Abby, Madeline, Max, Chase, Sam, Carter, Bailey, Tyler and Kate

LION KING:
Nearing the end of Adrienne's visit, Greg and Stacy and their children were able to come join the fun from Arizona. We went to see the Lion King (minus Chase and Molly and Greg who stayed home with his youngest son Talmage). It was amazing!!!

Me with my nieces Madeline, Kate and Sarah waiting outside before the show

Nana and the children in front of the huge sign

BASEBALL:
Chase loves watching his cousins play and even though their games are through- he is still very into it. He has added some golf and soccer into the mix...

Two peas in a pod- Sam and Chase

SWIMMING:

David our Mr. Silly

Kate and Molly

Molly and Max- This baby pool is so adorable!

Chase and Sam

Molly Dolly :)

Sarah, Chase, and Kate drying off on the trampoline after a splash in the pool

PARKS:
We've had some fun checking out the different parks in our town. There are actually a lot of really cool ones!
Chase on a bee at the play place behind the new library- it's got a super cute bug theme.

Molly standing in the grass- probably about to sneak that leaf into her mouth
GROWING FAST:
Molly has gotten so big so fast. I can't believe it.

Climbing on everything and being so proud of herself

Just hanging out

4th OF JULY:
We had a great 4th of July. We celebrated the day with family, hanging out by the pool, had a fantastic dinner, the best homemade ice cream and topped it off by doing some fireworks and then watching some big ones over the golf course behind David's sister's house. Chase loved the fireworks again and Molly fell asleep before they started.

*Sparkler Fun*

Hope you are all enjoying your summers too!

*Thanks to Jenn for most of these great pictures!

2009-06-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Disneyland
a few pictures for you to enjoy.

2009-05-31T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hide & Seek with Chase today... Where's Chase? Under the pillows on my bed, all six of his turns. His smile was just as huge each time he was found... the joys of childhood :)

Hit the Rewind Button

2009-05-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Is May really almost over? The last week of April, our friends Eric, Andrea, Eva, and baby Olive came to visit from Boise, Idaho. It was so fun to meet Olive for the first time, she is darling. They met Molly for the first time too! Eva and Chase were instant buddies again, I loved watching them play together. Hopefully we'll be able to get together again soon!
Thanks for coming guys- We miss you!

Then... We celebrated David turning one year older! Hurray!!!

David's brother Clark was in town from Utah and we were all surprised when Whitney (David's sister) knocked on the door. She came all the way from South Carolina with her son Jack. It was definitely a great birthday!

The next week we took a trip to L.A. to attend the graduation of David's brother Gregory from Orthodontic School! We are all so proud of him. Congratulations Gregory!!! While there we went to DISNEYLAND! The very first time for Chase, Molly, and myself. We all loved every minute of it. I especially loved seeing Chase's excitement meeting the Disney Characters. The fun didn't stop there- We had a great time visiting with family and friends, Chase could not get enough of the hotel's hot tub, we went to our nephew's baseball game, and shopped at the Grove.
(Pictures Coming Soon!)

2009-04-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

I decided to hitch a ride with my younger brother Kevin on his way to San Diego to visit our brothers Tony and Ben. It was great timing since my Mom had already planned to fly there for the week to welcome Tony's new baby girl, Lillian. It was great spending time with my Mom, 3 of my 5 brothers (together they can be so funny) and my nephews Tyler (10), Anthony (18m) and my newest niece Lillian (5wks). Chase and Anthony were so cute together and followed each other all around. Molly recieved tons of hugs and kisses from Anthony and loved all his toys. She even learned to real crawl (no more army crawling) while we were there.

Do you see what I see?

These two little cuties...

In my brothers front yard was this little humming bird nest. My brothers were able to watch the whole life of these little guys. My mom would have hanging flower pots on our front porch and I always loved it when a humming bird would fly up and get some nector, I would get so excited. Actually seeing baby humming birds in their nest was awesome! Each morning the first thing Chase and I would do was go out and check on the baby birds. Before we left both birds learned to fly and left the nest- we even saw the second one fly off- it was pretty amazing!

My Latest Favorite Picture...

2009-04-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

2009-04-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

The summer heat came this week... It may not be here to stay just yet, but it's definitely been here for a visit. The other day on our way home from visiting the Folsom Outlet stores we decided to stop at Negro Bar, a park along the American River to try to beat the heat. Chase and Molly had a good time splashing in the water. It was really fun to see some baby geese too!

Skipping Rocks

Little Goslings

Muddy Toes

Little Miss Smiles

2009-03-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

She's almost 6 months!

*Started eating rice cereal
*Gets on her hands and knees and rocks... then she lunges forward and repeats the hands and knee rocking... then lunges forward... It gets her to the toy she wants and is so cute to watch.
*Sleeps through the night (has been since Thanksgiving!) This is so awesome, I am so blessed!

Molly, our happy baby girl...

Mr. Blue

2009-03-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

Chase has a pet! He got it as a reward for going #2 in the toilet- Hurray!

2009-03-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

We are so excited!!!

Chase has been completely dry for over a week now, 9 days to be exact. I was a little worried leaving the house the first few times, but it's been fine. I knew he had it figured out when he stopped and came and told me he had to go in the middle of watching Sponge Bob (his favorite show). Each time he goes he gets to pick a sticker for his chart and gets a few m&m's. He has even earned a few trips to the dollar store and picked out some fun little prizes.

He's slept in his underwear for the past 6 nights and has woken up dry each time. He still doesn't want to go #2 on the toilet and he doesn't want to go in a diaper either, he thinks he can just hold it and not go anywhere. Each time he's had to go this past week he's held it and then finally picked a diaper to go in. I feel so bad for him! If you have any advice to help with that I would LOVE to hear it!
We are so proud of him and happy that he's doing so great.

Quick! Limited Time Offer!

2009-03-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

Another fun blog game!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (Though I hope you will!)
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. {might be a little while}
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. I don't even have a clue what it's going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a homemade gift! It may not be great, but it will be fun!!
* * *Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!* * *

2009-01-29T14:39:00.000-08:00

Lately Chase has been saying... "I'm really really happy!" I love it.
Every morning he crawls into our bed and after first saying... "Tickle, tickle, tickle" and wiggling his little fingers over my arm he says in the sweetest voice "Good morning mommy". It makes everyday a good day.
His favorite song to sing right now is 'I Am a Child of God'. Sometimes it isn't in the most reverent tone but it's still pretty cute to hear. I told him he was my little angel and he said "No, I'm a child of God."

Molly smiles and kicks with excitement each time we look at her- she is the sweetest baby. She watches her big brother waiting for him to look at her and when he does she smiles and giggles, She loves him so much. She's rolling around and sucking and slobbering on every toy she can reach, her hands seem to be her favorite things to go in her mouth though.

Sunny day @ the PARK

2009-01-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

The sun's been shining and the skies have been blue- I love it :)
I enjoy seasons, but the ones with more sunshine and blue skies will always be my favorites. Here are a few pictures I took at the park the other day...

Molly Slept...

while Chase did this...

I love the static hair after the slide.

Daddy helped him with the monkey bars.

Swinging

cLiMBinG.....

Having a blast :)

2009-01-29T14:05:00.000-08:00

Lately it seems like if I say this:
"Hey Chase I want to take your picture, SMILE"
I get this:

Good thing school picture days are not here yet.

Molly’s Blessing Day

2008-12-13T11:54:00.000-08:00

Molly was blessed on Sunday, December 7th. David gave her a wonderful blessing and it was so nice to have family and friends there to share the special day. Cousin Max turned 14 years old on Sunday too. Sharing his special day made the day extra special for Molly, Max is a great example for her to look up to. David's brother Gregory and wife Stacy came with their 3 children from L.A. (this was an awesome surprise!) David's Aunt Jane and Rob came up from L.A. too! My mother flew down for the weekend also. It was so much fun for me to have her here- the last time she was here was when Chase was blessed and that is not often enough. It was so nice of everyone to come- It was a great day!

Molly Jane Smith

Aunt Jane, Lori, Sara, Nana, David, Molly, Emily, Grandma, Gert, Finn, Chase, Gregory, Mike
Bailey, Kate, Sarah, Sam, Nathan, Talmage & Stacy (Jennifer, Max & Abby were there also but missed the picture)

Grandma and Molly

Aunt Jane and Molly

Mix of Recent Camera Clicks

2008-12-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

I took Molly up to Oregon on a really quick trip. My uncle Paul passed away after a valiant battle with cancer. It meant a lot to me to be able to attend his funeral. I was able to visit with a lot of my relatives and enjoyed talking about all the special memories we have of our loved friend. I was also able to see my sister and her family who moved back from Missouri this past summer and my younger brother who returned home from his mission in September. It was a really nice trip.

My best friend from high school got married! It was a lot of fun to go and see her and her family. Also our running coach and his family were there. I usually try to visit him when I go up to Oregon, but it has been over a year since I've had enough time on any of my trips- so it was great to see his whole family. Jeane went on to run at Stanford where she met Carlos who played baseball there. He now plays for the Chicago White Sox, so it was pretty cool to meet him and some other baseball players.

Apple Hill...

2008-12-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

Beautiful..

Calm and Relaxing...

Fun and Exciting... (a little scary at first)

Delicious...

Fall is here... so we took a trip up to Apple Hill. It was a fun day with the kids. Chase had his first pony ride from a pony named 'Big Red'. We took home some of the best apples ever and a caramel apple crunch pie- it was soooo good :)

COsTuMEs & pArTy FuN

2008-11-02T16:08:00.001-08:00

Halloween came a little fast for me this year... The week of, we were still deciding what Chase would be. He told us he wanted to be batman- but he refused to wear the mask I bought or even put on the cape... so we nixed that idea. Finally a few days before the big night we found a monkey costume. He wasn't too thrilled with this and kept saying "I don't want it anymore". I felt really bad, and hoped that he wouldn't dread Halloween each year from being forced into wearing the costume... but eventually he was distracted with others wearing costumes and the huge jump house at the party, CANDY might have helped too.

Max, Bailey, Kate, Abby, Chase and Sam

Thank You Abby - for getting Chase to smile in his costume!

Molly was a sweet little ballerina...

We had a great time at Finn and Jennifer's annual party, enjoying delicious food and visiting with friends. We hope you all had a great Halloween too!

pumpkins...

2008-11-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

Chase was very happy to get a pumpkin just the right size...

He thought there would be candy inside it... no luck.

The finished product...
(We carved pumpkins at the Palmer's house= lot's of fun with family and friends)

Painting 'his' pumpkin...