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.