Giving Thanks.

Just want to post how grateful I am for my family and for my wonderful husband! He is such a wonderful man, friend, husband, father, example, and inspiration. I am very thankful for how hard he works to provide for his family. I am so lucky to have him as my husband.

I am thankful for my children. Some days they make me crazy but I am still so very thankful for them. We worked hard to get each of them here and I am lucky to have such fun kids. They all have different personalities that make our family what it is. I love how each of them can make me laugh. I love what good people they are growing up to be.

I'm very thankful for extended family on each side. It is so nice to have family close by to spend the holiday season with. I am grateful that we have good relationships with all of them and enjoy their company.

I'm thankful for our friends. Thanks for putting up with us and being there for us always.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!

OUCH!!!!!!!

This morning my little Raegan had just taken a shower, and went downstairs to get dressed by the warm fire. She bent over to put on her undies and her cutest little bum pressed up against the HOT glass front of our fireplace. OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH. First, I had her go put her bare bum up against our french door because I knew it was cold - we are very fortunate to live down a private street as I am sure most people would not appreciate the view. Then after re-assessing that it was a nasty burn I did all the necessary medical things and even called the doc to make sure I didn't need to take her in.


Lesson for today - DO NOT get dressed in front of the fire. Get dressed - THEN go sit by the fire.

I am sure she will kill me for putting this on here but as you can see I tried to fix it so you can't see ALL of her little booty.
*She is doing fine btw.

Provo Halloween Half Marathon

Today I ran the Halloween Half Marathon. It is probably the prettiest run I have ever done - absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I am thankful that Adrienne ran with me and kept me going - I could not have done it by myself! Around mile 10 I got pretty tired, mile 11 I was wondering what the heck I was doing and how I was going to get the last 2 miles in and mile 12 I decided that if I stopped to walk I would just lay down and not finish hehe I even sprinted across the finish line :)

There were an insane amount of runners (over 2500!) a lot of them dressed in costume. I wasn't dressed up but since Adri was I borrowed her makeup and zombied up my face.

I did not train as I should have - I think I ran 3 times in the 6 weeks before this race haha NOT a good plan. Still that being said I think I did ok, officially the 1/2 marathon is 13.1 miles but my gps said I ran 13.7 and I am going with that! I finished in 2 hours 25 minutes and 5 seconds. Not too shabby if I say so myself! I really want to do this run again - with more training for sure! I'll post more pictures later (need to get them from Adri because I didn't take a camera!

Fall Baseball/Tball

This fall we put Tre and Xander in a small rec league for baseball. Darrin was Tre's coach and Rob (from work) was Xander's coach. It was fun and crazy to have them do this - I think they both did pretty good. Definitely a change from watching Haiden - hehe.This is pretty much what Xander does during his entire game. Well I take that back - during the first 5 minutes he won't let anyone else get the ball, then he moves on to talking with his belly button, then the raspberries start and stay till the end.
The above 2 pics are just delightful, if you can't quite tell - Xander is grabbing a team mate and belching into his ear. Yeah. Super.
Not sure exactly what Tre is doing - 1st it looks like he is excited that someone hit the ball, second looks like he is running slow motion but he hasn't moved.


Darrin is telling someone to go where they are supposed to go :)

TOTAL slacker mom!

So I am a terrible mother! Thursday (the 7th) was Tre's birthday and I didn't post anything. I am awful!

So here it is a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRE!!!
You are 9 years old. I can't believe how fast you are growing up. You are a great kid with a tender heart. You want to be a "game maker" when you grow up. I can absolutely see you doing that. Your favorite things in the world are computer/wii/play station/dsi games. I am proud of the boy you are growing up to be. I LOVE YOU!

And - in anticipation that I will yet again be a slacker I am posting this in advance:
Happy Birthday Xander (10/14)
You are going to be 5! Where does the time go? You are growing up fast. You are a little 'Dennis the menace" you have a very mischievous side to you. You are a funny boy that tells stories and make people laugh all the time. I LOVE YOU!

Pep Rally!

This week one of the other football mom's and I were in charge of the pep rally for Haiden's team. We chose "dig in for another win" or "There's no MESSING around in football" actually we didn't have a slogan, we just had the kids make a mess hehe. We put 10 gummy worms in each pie tin and covered them with whipped cream. They then had to get them all - WITHOUT using their hands - to win. Coach Petty won - hands down no contest. I think the boys all had a great time and I loved that all of the coaches participated. I am sure the parents were just thrilled with our idea :)

Football!

With fall comes FOOTBALL! Not only is it seemingly endlessly on tv, we have Haiden playing which means practice and games 4 or more times a week! He is loving it! His team is doing great (the blog is on the right side if you want to check it out-- hawks2010). I love this picture that was captured at the last game. #24, that's my boy! He is such an athletic kid - it is so much fun to go to his games and watch him do what he loves.

RED ROCK RELAY!

This weekend Darrin, Rob, Janell, Natalie, Alicia and I (Snow Car) ran the red rock relay with - Kim, Dana, Lee, Jeff, Darci, Diana (Sun Car). It was so much fun! I had great people in our car and had loads of fun with them. My legs were 7 miles, 5.8 miles and 5 miles. I feel ok about them. Everyone in my car did FANTASTIC! We are already planning another one hehe

1st Day of School 2010!

Well it is here, the first day of school. All I have to say is WEEEEEEEEEEEHOOOOOOOOOOO. hahaha just kidding. I am excited for the kids to be back in school but I will miss having them home too.

Haiden - 5th Grader! (SERIOUSLY!)


Tre` - 3rd Grade


Raegan - 2nd Grade

1st Day of Preschool!

Well, summer is winding down. I am a little sad and a little happy hehe. I am looking forward to the structure again, I feel like we have just been in a whirlwind of go go go all summer long. I am sure it will still be go go go but with slightly more structure and organization (I HOPE!).

Today is Xanders first day of preschool. He would NOT let me take a good picture - the little stink. See how he is smiling but trying REALLY hard to be ornery.

Park City 15K - Trail Run

Yesterday, Natalie and I headed up to Pretty Park City for a trail run, it was the first 15K we've done as well as the first trail run. It was SOOOO pretty! Right as we started there were a few hot air balloons going up. Beautiful weather, really challenging hills (UGH I SERIOUSLY HATE UP HILL!!) and some awesome down hills hehe. It was really rocky and both of us tripped a few times, much laughter between us, a few hoots and hollars, lots of words of encouragement - overall a great run!

Deseret News 10K

Yesterday my awesome friend Natalie and I ran the Deseret News 10K. The first one for both of us. It was so much fun. We arrived at 6:00am (the race was to start at 6:05 but these things never start on time right???) We parked, got out and started walking the 1/2 mile + up the hill to the start line. Just a little into it the motorcycle cop says to us "You better hurry it has started" and Nat and I laughed thinking he was being silly. NOPE, it had started!!! So we booked it up the hill to the start line (AGAIN UP THE HILL!!!) hehe So, we ran a good 1/2 mile before the race even started. We were DEAD last at the start line, seriously the cop car was behind us. We kicked up our speed and passed a bunch of people though so it was ok hehe.

We also had this great plan that we would both drive, we would park my car at the finish and then drive her car up to the start so that we wouldn't have to wait for the bus. WELL being the organized and smart thinking woman that I am, I put my keys in my purse (that we left in her car) and her keys in the pack that she carried. Turns out, her keys won't work in my car! So... We waited for the bus to take us back to the startline.

Other than those two mishaps we had a great time, it was an awsome run and I look forward to doing lots more of these in the future. 1/2 Marathon here we come!
Us after SPRINTING to the finish line - we ran 6.39 miles in 1:05:39 - pretty dang good I think!


Us on the bus after our brilliant plan failed.

My Cute Kids

For fathers day I had the kids each make a picture frame for Darrin and I took pictures of them. I think I have pretty cute kids :)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!

18 YEARS! WOW. It has really gone by so fast, even though I feel like I have known Darrin forever I can't believe we have been married for 18 years. I was very lucky to have married such a wonderful, intelligent, kind, hard working, loving, AMAZING man!

I was going to scan in some pictures but my scanner isn't connected to my computer and I don't know how to make it work so.... you get these instead :)

Kaboom! Dance!

Today was Raegan's dance recital. Typical to my ditziness I forgot the camera and forgot to take a picture of her this morning. I borrowed this pic off of Adrienne's site (thank goodness for other prepared moms!)

Rae did really good and it was a ton of fun to watch her perform! I am very proud of her for getting up there and doing her thing. This was the first year she has been able to take dance. I am not sure if we will do dance again or not, might try gymnastics for a bit. Who knows!

Summer fun!

Along with everyone else we are busy busy busy! We are still full swing into baseball, Haiden's team is actually going to the little league World Series in Colorado! WOO Go team! A few weeks ago Haiden got hit by a line drive while running from one base to another- here is the lovely mark it made (ouch)


Dance is almost finished (I'll put pics up on Friday), School is out, We have a new baby (My nephew Dexter- he is perfectly adorable!) I started a new job etc. etc. etc..

Today we looked out the door and found this:
Aren't they CUTE! We have had a mama duck try to lay her eggs TWICE on top of our roof. Not a super place for a nest. This mama duck made a nest right next to our front door. I worried about kids, dogs, cats (and still do) but the eggs hatched today. I am excited to see the cute little babies roaming around our yard :)

Woo hoo

I actually do have pictures for this post but being the disorganized mess of a mom that I am, I can't find my cable to download them soo..... anyway.....

Tre and Raegan both learned how to ride their bikes (without training wheels) this past weekend. I think it is such a fun 'right of passage' for kids. I distinctly remember my blue bike with the clouded banana seat and high rise (can't remember what those are called) handle bars.

Super proud mom moment :)

Stuff and Things :)

Crazy days at the Smith house :) Bear with me folks, this is a long post with lots of pictures (it is my attempt at catching up). It is also in reverse chronological order - oh well.

First we have Raegan's birthday party. We had twelve girls attend. We made these cute desserts - thanks Pioneer Woman for the idea. The bottom is a pot with pound cake, ice cream and crushed oreo cookies. Then the girls got to decorate their 'flower' to put in the pot.
Here we have the scavenger hunt for the goody bags. I had 10 clues, I think the girls finished in about 2.6 seconds.
I'm not exactly sure what we are doing here, either decorating the sugar cookie, or decorating their flower pot.
Just a cute pic of all the girls.

Next on the list we have Haiden's baseball game. He was in a tournament again this weekend - it was for Autism Awareness. Fun tournament and I was sad to miss his games on Saturday. Notice anything similar in the two pictures?

He is ALWAYS sticking out his tongue. He did really well and the team finished in 2nd place. He even hit one to the fence! I'm really proud of all of the boys. What a fun group to watch!

Ok, here is our annual trip to the "Easter Cabin" We always do an easter egg hunt, this one is of me telling the teens to WAIT, WAIT, WAIT
And here is my younger munchkins going - we have to go in separate groups because it is VERY competitive and people get ran over. I honestly think the adults have more fun hunting for eggs than the kids!

Ok, this was on our return trip from the Ragnar. We decided to take the kids to the Grand Canyon. It was REALLY cold but fun to see.

Below - nice panoramic picture with the beautiful canyon behind us..... and some lady's bum.
PHEW! I think that is it for now and I am caught up. All the kids are busy with lots of things right now. Haiden with his baseball, Rae with her dance and now baseball and Tre/Xander are soon to start swimming lessons. Darrin and I are just running around trying to keep up with it all. Lots of good times :)