Elizabeth's 8th Birthday!!!

My Attempt at School Pictures

I am no Stacey Gooch!!!

I needed to take some school type pictures of the kids because they haven't had any done for a long while. The thing is, I hate school pictures. They don't show your child's personality. They are completely staged and posed and they are expensive to boot. So I took my cheap digital camera and took some fun pics of the kids. Threw the pictures into black and white so that their features were accentuated and told them to have fun. This was the result.

The Latest of Ginger with The Kids

Introducing Ginger The Boxer

Yes, you heard me.  We are getting a puppy.  After close to two years of being without Charlie, our awesome Black Lab, we have decided we have been dog free for long enough. 

Ginger kind of just fell into our laps in a sense.  We saw her parents being walked about six months ago down the street and stopped the handlers and asked if they planned to breed them.  I got a call on the 30th of July telling me that they had their puppies.  At the time, William and I weren't sure if now was the time, but a week later Tia, the handler, not Ginger, called me back and I was weak and said we are coming to pick one out.  She is beautiful and really has a very sweet personality.  She doesn't have the most beautiful markings in her litter, but she is the most beautiful personality for our family.  Ginger's nose is half white and half black with a thin stripe of white that reaches up her forhead.  She has white toes, and a white chest, and the funniest thing is she has four to five white hairs between her shoulder blades.  I sure hope that they stay.  It's really unnoticed until you are close.    We can't wait till she can come home and be part of our family.  So here is our crude video of Ginger.  Enjoy. 

Click Text Below for Link.

Ginger 4 Weeks - You Tube

Keep It Simple--Stupid!

All growing up, I heard this phrase.  My parents would shout it from the roof tops.  Mostly shouting, because I was a stupid child, and didn't like to listen.  Well things as of late, have been complicated.  My fault of course.  I have a couple of successful looking cakes, and I get cocky!  So when my niece tells me in January that she wants a cake with Blue and Green polka dots on it, I think, "Noooooo Problem."  However that turned into nothing short of a disaster. 

Then we all know what happened with Sydney's butt cake. 

So now here it is, David's birthday.  My baby.  My only son.  The other man in my life. 

He wants a Tron Cake.  Tron?  Yes, Tron.  Crazy looking motorcycles, computer type gaming stuff.

  What kind of cake can I do with that.  I have an aversion to black icing.  I can't stand doing black. 

 So I decide to 

Keep It Simple.

I hear my parents mantra in my head.  I bake a sheet cake, ice it white.  I did a little black for effect, and the electric blue for accents.  Ta-Da!  Add a couple of die-cast vehicles from the movie and you got a Tron Cake.  

Thank heaven that David is 6 and pretty much anything impresses him.  And, it was recently brought to my attention that I must have been concentrating really hard because I spelled "Birthday" wrong on the cake.  My confidence is obviously not back to where it was and I wonder if it ever will be again.  But at least he had a yummy cake.  Yes I did too.  Can't resist that Buttercream Frosting.  It's the nectar of the gods.  

As for David, my baby. 

 He isn't anymore.  He is growing rapidly and I miss the baby-ish things that he used to do.  He still loves to "fly" things all over the house.  He has really taking to building paper airplanes lately.  I find them EVERYWHERE!!!  He even shot one off in church a couple of weeks ago before I could stop him.  What a turkey.  Of course with William as his father, what did I expect?  

Happy 6th Birthday David.  I love you. 

Life's a Scream

Long Long Ago......

about two months ago.

A mother dreamed of her children being obedient and considerate of their mother's OCD. Their rooms were frightfully messy.

Lurking under beds I could see hairy monsters peering out.

Behind the toybox I could hear the piercing screams of the damned. Venturing to the closet is the most dangerous of all treks that I would take. The doors eerily creaked as I anticipated something jumping out. And then...

AAAAAAHAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

No floor. I could have sworn there was a floor in this closet, but yet I can't see it. Oh the humanity. What a terrible sight. The Gore!!! The Terror!!! The Killer Dust Bunnies!!!

Okay so I am being a little dramatic. But it was a sight to behold. Wait, no it was not.

I made a deal with the kids.

"You keep your rooms clean between now and Halloween and you can have new costumes."

It might have been too much to ask, but a mom can dream can't she?

You are correct in assuming that my wishes and hopes were dashed. No my kids didn't keep their rooms clean for even a week.

Oh Well.

But I had to turn into the Devil because I had to follow through. UGGGGGHHHH!

That is the one part about parenthood that drives me crazy. Follow through. Without "follow through" we are powerless. The little monsters would have free reign of our homes, our neighborhoods, our country. I couldn't let that happen.

I put on my devil horns and tail and proclaimed that new halloween costumes were not happening.

The screams of horror that came from those sweet faces could have softened the most hardened of hearts. However, I was a mother with a mission. I must resist their evil powers.

So Halloween approached and still I stuck to what I said. No new costumes.

All right so I slipped up a little bit.

I bent a tad.

I caved in slightly.
I compromised.

I purchased red shirts for them and got them horns and tails.

The spawn on the devil was a most appropriate costume choice.

So my children got to participate in our church's trunk or treat event.



The sad part of this story is that later I had to fight those monsters, and the killer dust bunnies myself. Apparantly my spawn don't clean well enough to appease my OCD demons.

So much for making my children take responsibility. As far as this out of control mom is concerned, I plan to justify. My children didn't get what the wanted to be for Halloween so I won. At least my house is tidy again.

Northern Pacific Time Zone

When Lewis and Clark blazed a trail across the United States, they didn't have a friend calling them from the Pacific Coast saying, "Help me make decisions about my new house." I didn't have to cross the entire country to get to my friend in Lewiston Idaho, but I did have to convince my husband to take time off from work to take me so that I could help her make decisions about her new house. The trip was fun, but more than anything it was nice to just take a drive.

I decided that we should take our time and enjoy the drive. That was like asking an elephant to walk a tightrope. William gets behind the wheel of any car, and if there is a destination he wants to get there in the most efficient and timely manner possible. FAST! I did manage to make him stop a couple of times though. Our first stop was the nicest rest area that has ever existed. The restroom was so clean I wouldn't be afraid to put my purse on the floor. There wasn't that "rest area" smell and the tile on the walls and the bathroom fixtures made you feel like you were in a five star hotel. You almost expect a bathroom attendant to offer you a mint on the way out the door. We had to stop and breathe for a moment, however, it was a bit chilly so off to the next great stop.

Driving to Lewiston from Boise is only a five hour drive. But you know kids. The "Are we there yet" phrase started as early as Caldwell. Which is only 10 miles from our front door. Finally about half way there David asked for the map so that he could let us know if we were lost or not.

After you cut through part of the Payette Forest you come to a quaint town on the Salmon River called Riggins. We stopped to stretch our legs and let the kids check out the good sized river. There were several fisherman on the water regardless of the 50 degree weather. The kids even watched a kayaker suit up and launch into the frigid water. Some people just can't resist the call of the river.

Now comes the quick stop that my husband couldn't believe I made him take. My friend Jill makes this drive frequently to come to Boise and Las Vegas. There is a camp ground along the Salmon River that she can't resist saying. Skookumchuck. So she text messages it everytime she passes it. It is such a fun word to say that even ex boyfriends still text her when they pass the sign. It's a tradition that shall never die. I will pass this on to my posterity.

Skookumchuck, It's just fun to say.

Going North through Idaho we cross a bridge to cross the Salmon River. As you cross this bridge there is a sign. Now entering the Pacific Time Zone.

WHAT!?!?!?!?

We are going North, not West. Wierd. So while remaining in Idaho and heading North you enter PST. Yah wierd.

After some more beautiful scenery. Gorgeous forest, rolling hills, awesome railroad bridges that look like they were build hundreds of years ago. You start to smell a pungent stench. "What is that?" you ask. Well I will tell you, it's the smell of money to the people of Lewiston. It's the mill and paper factory. Wow.

This little town on Lewiston is home to around 30,000 people and it is really a beautiful place. It sits nestled between the Snake River and the Clearwater River that converge at the north end of town. What a little piece of heaven.

Once in Lewiston, we got to ride on the river and watch my best friends brother do his last run of the season (I say season, cause he will be back on his boat in December). Crazy kid, it was only 57 degree water. But the kids had a blast on the boat. The colors on the side of the river were gorgeous.

Seeing my friend and helping her out was great.

Thanks to Mike and his family for letting us raid his house and roast his marshmallows. Thanks to Jill for letting me boss her around for the weekend. It really was a great road trip and visiting the Pacific Time Zone was fun.

Falling Fast for Fall

Well Fall has been eventful and seems to be ongoing in the series of events that are unfolding around the SMEK family.

First and Foremost Sydney's Jurassic Sized Tonsils have been removed and placed in a Medical Museum as the world's largest tonsils to come from an 8 year old. A couple of months ago, I took the three monsters to the doctor to have all their vaccinations and pre-school checkups done. When the doctor looked down the throat of my oldest chaos creator, she couldn't help but say those words. You know the words that come from a doctor's mouth that create panic. "Holy Crap" She then proceeded to tell me that she couldn't see down Sydney's throat, her tonsils were in the way. I chuckled. The doctor then asked me if I ever noticed that when Sydney talks it sounds like she has a sock down her throat. WOW I am a terrible mom. No I didn't notice. Why you ask. Because she has been talking like that since the day she was born. The doctor immediately gave her a prescription for allergies and then made an appointment for me to take Sydney to see an ENT doctor. That visit went almost identical to the one with her general practitioner. HOLY CRAP. That was said again. This doctor than stated that Sydney's tonsils were kissing. AHHHHH how cute. "We need to take those out of there." She said. She then proceeded to tell me that Sydney couldn't possibly be getting enough sleep with those golf balls down her throat. We made the appointment and she had her tonsils out on Tuesday of this week. Her father and I made the decision to take a look at these monster glands that they had just extracted from my daughter. The nurse reached in her pocket and pulled out a sandwich bag with the red walnut sized tonsils. I was amazed, poor William was more astonished that this woman had been carrying these things around in her pocket. Poor Will!!! She is still recovering and seems to be doing okay, but she is still choosing very little to eat. Normal they all say.

Elizabeth will have her own little adventure here pretty soon. She is scheduled to go have a tooth removed from her upper gum. She has to go to an oral surgeon to have it done, because not only has the tooth not grown in yet, but it's an extra tooth that is growing upside down. That's right is backwards. You should see this crazy x-ray. The adorable little creature also reached in her mouth the other day and yanked out one of her top teeth and so right now she looks like an adorable little trailer trash toddler. What a cutie.

Trick or Treating was.....well a treat.

The kids got to trick or treat with their Daddy for the first time since we moved here. William has worked nights since we moved her and this year he has a near normal schedule so he was home in time to walk around the neighborhood. The kids were thrilled and they looked adorable.
My mom convinced me to dress up for her ward party to really throw them for a loop. It worked no one guessed who I was until the lights were turned on and one of the ladies that I play volleyball with recognized my eyes behind the makeup. That was a real treat of a trick.

William's schedule at work is really interesting right now. His shop manager quit a couple of weeks ago and then the shop foreman quit too. They are supposedly opening up their own shop. This left a couple of huge gaps open and William jumped right in and filled one of them without hesitation. His general manager is just so happy with him right now. I am too. He is working a ton more hours but he is moving up in the company and that is good. Also I think that this is the position that he ultimately would stay at. He doesn't want to go into upper management because of all the crap, and he LOVES to work with his tools and he still can do that with this position.
We were really worried that this new kink in William's job would throw a wrench in our plans to make a trip to see the family in California but we will be heading for California this Thanksgiving and boy are we excited to see the family again.
Totally looking forward to that.
So there it is for now. Ups and downs and some in betweens. More than that Life is good and it continues to get better.