New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve brought lots of friends and family, who came and went during the night. We had a delicious meal (when it was finally ready) and then ended up playing the wii for awhile (Austin’s Christmas gift). Wii boxing was probably the most entertaining to watch. I took a couple pics of Connor because I have yet to post about this new nephew (as of October). We ended up awake until about 1:30 a.m. It was fun just having family & friends around.

Trip to Rexburg

 My little neice, Holly, was born a month early because she was having a really hard time growing. She came home from the hospital last week while we were in Logan, so we decided to take Christmas weekend and go up to visit her. We all had fun playing together and getting to know her a little better. She’s a month old, but still looks newborn. She was such a little miracle!

Little Mozart Part 2

Cadence got a little piano from his grandparents for Christmas. He LOVES it! What is really cute is he actually turns the pages of his songbook and moves his fingers like he's really playing something grand. In order to encourage him, I always clap when he plays. Sometimes if I don't pay attention to him right away, he'll go over to the piano and start playing because he's sure to get my attention then. He loves music so much.

Christmas 2009

  After getting back from Logan, it seemed like Christmas was already over. Austin and I decided to open a present a day until Christmas. It was actually kind of fun and meant Cadence had plenty of time to enjoy a new present, before opening another. We are so grateful for all of the thoughtful gifts we received this year. We’ve had a fun time playing together with all of them.

Merry Christmas

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Three Happy Years & on to Eternity!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Christmas in Logan

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Introducing the next... Stevie Wonder!

Stake Musical

Make a Smilebox slideshow

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

On a regular basis I change things in order to update everyone, in addition to changing the background to fit the season (or my mood). If you visit the site often enough, you've probably noticed a lot of additional changes. SORRY!! I have been on a search for a better template and a more permanent background so I have more time to post. In all of the construction, comments were lost for awhile. I am happy to announce that you can again comment on our site. Please do! We love hearing from you! Additionally, I hope the site is a little more instructive to people who don't know us as well and more helpful in providing access to the resources our family uses in daily living. I hope you find it in the future to be more user friendly. In the meantime, thank you for your patience. HAPPY BLOGGING!!! ~A. Smith Family

Baby Prodigy

Okay, so maybe not a prodigy, but definitely a rising musician at only 10 months old. His first full composition is entitled Counting. Notice he plays a harmonic 2nd two times, then bangs a triplet (three), then plays four times, then (with mommy interupting), five times, consistently expanding the interval. Go ahead and count along with him!

It's fun just watching him experiment. He experiments with the pedals (with his hands). If there is music on the piano he will turn the pages and start playing, then stop and "switch to another song". He sings and dances while he plays. My favorite part is, if he knows I'm recording, he loves to come and watch the video. After it is over, he usually heads back to the piano to do try again. It's so rewarding watching our baby take such an interest in something we love so much!

This week - more food!

I keep my camera handy and try to grab pictures of whatever we are doing during the week. This week - more food! Maybe it's just easy to grab my camera, or it's my latest creative outlet, but it seems all we do is eat! Austin is also busy with his new calling and Amy is the stake musical (which is next week & FREE). But alas, here are some great pictures of some YUMMY chicken and dumplings (Austin was sick last Sunday)

and a fun video of Cadence "baking bread" with mommy.

A blog a week

  I am trying now to get at least one blog post per week. So much is going on that it’s hard to know what to write about. Here are a few highlights. Cadence was given his first not-broken piece of bread to eat. It was funny watching him try to chew the huge chunks he’d bite off.

  We had the Thompson’s for FHE on Monday. If you haven’t heard, I have a Halloween curse of not being able to cook good food (I think it mostly has to do with pumpkins). This year, instead of using a real pumpkin, we baked some carrot cake in mini-bundt pans, cut up some snickers bars, dyed some frosting, and VOILA! Eatable jack-o-lanterns without a huge mess or a pumpkin curse! So much fun!

  On Friday night, we had a HUGE craving for pizza. With Maria over, we whipped up a YUMMY homemade Margherita pizza (mozzarella, tomatoes, & basil). Austin’s been gone so much this week with his new calling (and his old one), that I was feeling a little lonely. The pizza & the company were DELCIOUS!

Eat, drink, & be merry!

It’s no sin how we have been eating lately! Though our garden has some struggles this year (mostly the gardeners not taking the time to tend it), we had so many friends who shared the harvest with us! Combine that with some great grocery store deals (Amy has been couponing) and we have had an abundance! We have enjoyed making & eating yummy food, but also in sharing it with others who are in need. We are so grateful for the Lord’s bounteous blessings! We are especially grateful that he trusts us with so much, and love to pass the blessing along.

Two bags of apples from Barbara Edwards tree! We enjoyed making apple pie, apple crisp, apple tuna sandwiches and we still have one bag left! You know what they say, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” (cadence did get sick, but he doesn’t like apples.. so there you go!).

3 HUGE zucchini from Sharon Gibson’s garden. We froze a lot of it and have enjoyed some yummy Italian food & zucchini bread.

Amy has been baking bread with the red kitchen aid mixer her mom gave us at the beginning of the year. It came with a bunch of recipes that are just yummy!

Not the strawberries we planted in the garden (the birds ate those), but some yummy homemade strawberry jam (of course they were on sale). Cadence enjoyed them frozen for awhile, but it finally cooled off enough to want to can.

A pork butt for .78/lb, bacon, lunch meat, and the list goes on. In fact, the most recent purchase is 40 lbs of chicken thighs for $10.00! With great deals like these, we’ve got an additional freezer on our wish list for Christmas this year!

The Lord wants us to be self-reliant. We love saving money on food, sharing with others, learning to grow, and cook yummy food. Not to mention the family togetherness and nutrition that it brings to our family. We are always happy when we keep the Lord’s commandments and we can testify that learning to be self-reliant really brings us peace of mind.

Cadence @ 9 months

My beautiful baby boy is growing up so fast! Cadence is a world of fun right now! He is crawling, pulling up, squatting down, eating leaves (and anything else you don’t want in his mouth), and laughing a bunch! Due to his recent mobility, he’s also been getting lots of bumps and bruises. He pulled a small heater on his face and cut his lip open all last week (phew!).

He can sign “more”, “milk”, “bye bye”, and has just started “finished”. He also claps and says “yay” when he likes something. He doesn’t like apples, but will pretty much try anything (especially if his dad thinks it’s yummy) (and still no teeth in case you are wondering).  He likes to help with the dishes and just this last week was helping mommy my sweeping underneath the desk (he can easily see all those pens he dropped).

  He’s such a fun, curious little boy who is just as active as his parents! In fact, sometimes I have a hard time keeping up with him! It’s hard to believe he’s now been alive as long as he was growing inside of me. It’s bittersweet watching him grow so fast, but he is a happy, healthy little boy & we are so grateful to have him as part of our family.

He really gets around!

The cutest kid ever and now one of the most curious!
He has really learned to get around this month!

Here are some prayer/bedtime humor videos. An overtired baby and a mom & dad who couldn't stop laughing at him. He loves using his mouth to help him pull up.

Here is the curious jailbird trying to break free.


The invincible! Once he sees the camera there is nothing stopping him! I love watching him fall and get back up again.

Go GREEN!!!

I'm cheering, not talking about saving the environment (though we encourage you to be environmentally responsible). Many Wednesday nights since the end of July we have been on the softball field cheering on Austin's EQ (that's Elder's Quorum) softball team who played in the Provo City League. The green comes from the colors of their jersey's, loaned to us by Matt Thompson's work - ESG.
We had a great time with members of our ward cheering for Austin. He had a great time playing 3rd base, playing with his dads old glove, and smacking some good hits! Unfortunately, the only games that they won were forfeits, but there was MAJOR improvement throughout the season. In fact, just today they won they stake tournament against the other wards! We are so proud of them!

We're hoping we get a chance to do it again next year!

Jenny’s Shower

  So I decided my sister-in-law, Jenny, needed a shower. She’s not dirty silly, she is having a baby!!! We are excited to welcome the little tike (yes, a boy) into this world! He is expected some time around October 23, 2009.

Not quite crawling

Well, here you go! Our needing incentives, not quite crawling, happy little critter.

My Biggest Fan

Our stake is putting on the production,

and today I was practicing "Much More" from The Fantasticks for my audition. I quickly found the cutest little eyes peering up at me from underneath the piano. Cadence had crawled over, rolled under the piano, and was staring up at me smiling. When I would stop, he would clap! Talk about making mommy feel good, especially after being out of audition practice.

We definitely picked the right name for him! He LOVES music!! In fact, in his activity center he has some animal buttons. They make a different noise if the more you press them. He has figured out that you have to press the "cow" button 4 times, in order to hear mommy sing "Old McDonald". He watches and dances the whole time. His favorite animal is the "dog" (I think because I make different types of barking sounds). He has also started to experiment with the piano. What a fun little musician we soon will have. For now though, he is just my biggest fan.

Puzzle-mania!

After doing 2 puzzles on vacation, Austin decided he wanted to do another. While up at bear lake, we bought one, but didn't really get to much of it until we got home. We chose this puzzle because it matches Cadences room and Austin was set on displaying after we had finished. He also has a puzzle made by the same company that he and Kory together, hanging up at his office.

Dinosaur Museum

If you live anywhere in Utah (and maybe even if you don't), I'm sure you heard about $2 Tuesdays @ Thanksgiving Point. At least, it seemed the entire population of Utah was there! I even thought with school having already started there would be much less people. Of course, I was wrong. Utah loves cheap (even better free) so you can always expect a crowd. Cade & I had a lot of fun spending time in the museum. Andy, Jaylyn, & Sadi joined us too! We only wish Austin could have enjoyed it with us.
They have so many fun activities for kids! I am definitely planning to go again when Cade is older. Check out the picture of the dinosaur the kids are putting together! They have lots of different, stuff-animal-like dinosaur parts so kids can design there own. Plus a fossil dig, a hands on erosion (sand and water) area, a mural, an eye spy, and the list goes on. We had a great time!

Bear Lake Trip

The annual bear lake trip with all of our Illinois friends. We always stay in Kory Dopp's grandparents cabin. They are so nice to always let us use it. This year, the word got out kind of late so it was only the Dopps, the Hix's, and us. It was the first time that everyone who went was married though! We're all growing up.
We had a nice relaxing time. Most of us decided to go to the pool instead of the beach. Of course a round of golf and shakes are tradition as well.

We all had fun taking turns flipping each other in the pool.

We visited Taylor and Jon for dinner on Sunday and then headed home. We were so grateful for the beautiful rainbow. At one point on the drive, you could actually see two at the same time. Cameras just don't ever do mother nature real justice
(or at least this camera/photographer doesn't).