Basketball Camp

Arick and Brianna had the opportunity to attend basketball camp a while back and they had a great time, Arick especially. Hopefully they can do this again next year.

Food storage

This year we have been focusing on following the counsel of our Church leaders to be prepared for adversity (you can read more about it here at www.providentliving.org). We have put together 72 hour kits (we assembled ours using this guide from Red Cross) , we have 3 months of basic pantry staples on hand, and have put a side a small amount of cash for emergencies. Included in the food storage is what you see in the photo below. We purchased things like flour, wheat, sugar, beans, and rice in bulk and packaged them in cans which are cheap and pest free. The kids had a great time helping us fill the cans, label them and sort them.

Here is a blog with some great recipes using common food storage items: http://everydayfoodstorage.blogspot.com/

Trader Joe's

My happiness has just increased 10 fold. I just found out that Trader Joe's is coming to Nashville! I absolutely adore this store (http://www.traderjoes.com/) and I really look forward to eating healthier foods at a reasonable cost. Woohoo! Leave a comment and tell me your favorite products from Trader Joe's so I can add it to my shopping list.

If you open a package of Oreos and find. . .

If you open a package of Oreos and find only the chocolate wafer cookies with the stuffing licked clean, then you can bet that Ella has found your cookie stash.

Grandpa Craig's cake

I forgot to share this story with you all and I want to remember it, so here it is.

A scene at Gigi and Grandpa Craig's house in the spring. Before you read this, you must understand that we eat dinner there almost every Sunday. They serve yummy food and usually buy a fancy dessert. Well Craig has always joked with the kids that he slaved over the dessert in a hot kitchen for hours. The kids all know it is a joke and we all laugh.

(Grandpa Craig) "Arick, look at this cake that I spent all day making. It is seven layers and it is called a layer cake."

(Arick) "You should call it a liar cake."

Fox Blood

So here is a little story thanks to Brianna that made me chuckle.

A conversation in the car with Brianna.

(Brianna) "Mom, can I have corn starch, corn syrup and red food coloring?"

(Me) "Why?"

(Brianna) "So I can make [fox] blood?"

(Me, thoroughly confused) "Brianna, you do realize that doesn't make real fox blood?"

(Brianna) "Mooooooooooom!, I don't mean F-O-X blood, I mean F-A-U-X blood."

(Me) Ha-ha-haa-haaaaaa

(Me, after getting some air in my lungs again) "Brianna, F-A-U-X sound like FO, it is French and means fake"

(Brianna) "Well can I make some? I want to freak out Arick."

(Me) "No"

Seven things for Sunday

Okay, I am so backlogged on posts I will have to catch up this week. But here are seven things to share with you.

1. My anniversary was wonderful. Andrew and I stayed overnight in downtown Nashville at a beautiful hotel. We walked around downtown for a bit and then had dinner at The Melting Pot. Andrew then surprised me with tickets to the Gin Blossoms concert playing at the Wild Horse Saloon. I first heard their music on my trip to Russia 14 years ago and I have loved the music ever since. It was a really great concert and even Andrew enjoyed it considering it wasn't the Beatles. We got back to the hotel late and it was so nice not to have to put kids to bed. Andrew was a sweetheart and let me sleep in the next morning until I wanted to get up. We checked out of the hotel at about 10 and we had some time left to play before we had to go home and face reality. Andrew asked me what I wanted to do and I said "Let's go to Bass Pro Shop!" Andrew gave me such a shocked look, out of all the places I could go to, I picked that. Ha. It was a lot of fun and we managed to buy a fishing rod and reel for Andrew, lots of lures, and a case for my bow, as well as some targets for archery practice.

2. I am obsessed with fishing and archery. My mom purchased a boat a while ago, and on our first trip out, we did some fishing. I have been 'hooked' ever since, in fact, we all have. The kids love it just as much as I do and Andrew loves it almost as much. I will admit that I am the worst at it in the entire family. I have lost more lures than anyone, I hold the title for catching the smallest fish, and the second fish that I caught yesterday was totally not due to my own skill, since I hooked it by its fin. My mom gets a good chuckle every time she sees me fish.
My archery obsession is newer, since I only got my bow 2 weeks ago. It was a gift from Andrew. Brianna has been taking archery lessons off and on all year, and I was fascinated with it. I would have used her bow, but she shoots left handed and I need a right handed one. I was thrilled with Andrew's gift and I am having a great time learning. We freaked out our neighbors a bit, but they were fine when we told them we were not hunters. You can see the kind of bows we use here.

3. We spent 6 hours on the boat Saturday and had a great time. We caught 4 fish I think, but my favorite part was the tubing. Maren and Ty were particularly hilarious to watch and they had me laughing so hard. Good times.

4. My sister, Heather, and her 2 kids are here for 2 weeks. We have lots of fun stuff planned.

5. My brother, Marshall, and his family arrive tonight and will be here for the rest of this next week. They were just in Disneyworld for the very first time, and I so wish I could have seen Marshall enjoy it. Every year as kids are Dad would have us sit down and plan our trip to Disneyworld but we never actually went, so this is a dream come true for him.

6. My sil, Maren, arrived last Tuesday and will be staying with us through Christmas. On Wednesday she interviewed with the Nashville Symphony for a tech support position and was offered the job on Thursday. Yay! What a great start to her stay here. We are all adjusting well to having her here.

7. My new favorite cookie is a homemade coconut oatmeal cookie, delish!

Happy 12th Anniversary to us!

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary, yay to us! I am so excited because Andrew and I are going on our first overnight without kids in 10 years. Andrew is surprising me so you will have to check back tomorrow to find our where we went. My bag is packed and he should be here any minute to pick me up. Woohoo!

Why am I not posting so much?

Okay, I admit, the blog has been low on my to do list. So what has been keeping me so busy? Well the kids are on summer break and we have been doing more stuff together. I am also getting ready for Andrew's cousin to visit us on Thursday night, my brother and his family's visit this weekend, and Andrew's sister, Shelley, coming to live with us next week. My sister and her family will be visiting at the end of the month too. We are so excited to have all of these loved ones visiting. Shelley will live here about 6 months to get a fresh start on life. The kids are so excited to have someone new to dote on them. I am excited too, since she has promised to babysit so Andrew and I can have a weekly date night. Woohoo! We all adore Shelley and we can't wait for her to get here.

In addition to all of this, I have had lots of sessions recently and I have been busy working on my new website, www.amylynnsmith.com. I have been shy about sharing my new website but now it is mostly done. Please check it out and let me know how I can improve it.

I promise this little lull won't take much longer. I do have lots of pictures to upload and some fun stories to tell, I just need to finish getting my house ready and my sessions edited and ordered. Thanks for your patience.

Happy Father's Day!

One thing that I wish my kids understood more is how blessed they are to have Andrew for their dad. He has always been the one who wakes up in the middle of the night to tend to sick kids and clean up after them. Nightmares, no problem, he is up there in a flash to calm them down. He loves to spend time with them and looks forward to seeing them when he gets home from work. His new favorite activity is to go fishing with them and if they could, they would all be out there every night, together. He drives the older ones to school, he takes time off of work to attend all of their little school events, and he loves to take them out for a suprise treat (with orders that they can't tell mommy what they ate). Most importantly though, he tries his best to raise our family with faith. I am so grateful for all that Andrew does for our kids. Happy Father's Day sweetheart.

Skadoosh!

Andrew wanted to add a quick blog post about a great movie we saw on Saturday evening. We got to see a Kung Fu Panda & Indiana Jones double feature at the not-so-local drive in (stixville!). Our good friends, the Stovers, invited us. The price was very right . . . $7.00 for adults and $4.00 for kids 6 and up . . . for two movies! Are you kidding? We pulled our truck backwards and got to sit in the bed with lots of pillows and blankets. We paid $5.00 extra to bring in food from the outside world (Pizza Pizza from Little Caesars!) It was great!




Back to the super-important topic at hand . . . Kung Fu Panda is the funniest movie I’ve seen in a very long time. If there hadn’t been a lot of people around, I just may have busted a gasket from laughing so much. I can’t get the movie out of my mind. It was classic Jack Black without being too goofy. The hilarity factor was way off the charts and I highly recommend it to anyone needing a comedic pick-me-up. I may not be able to wait for it to come out on DVD . . . anyone want to go to a movie with me?

http://www.imdb.com/rg/videos-title/summary//video/screenplay/vi933888281/

Indiana Jones, on the other hand, was pretty disappointing. I won’t spoil it for you, but the car chase through the jungle (which took 8 weeks to film) was amazing (even if it could never happen) but the premise of the film was pretty lame and disappointing for a Lucas/Spielberg collaboration.

Go see the Panda!!!!

Five for Friday

Just some quick thing to share with you today.

1. Today is my last day of being 31. I am headed out tonight with my friend, Cristina, to celebrate. We are going to the Frist museum and out to eat. I am really looking forward to this.

2. I have been blog hopping today and found a site that I totally adore: http://todayscreativeblog.blogspot.com/

3. My mom and Craig bought a boat and we are going out in the morning. We are all really looking forward to this. It is a pontoon boat that seats 15 people so we will have plenty of room. This will definitely make living near a lake much more fun.

4. I am in a huge mood to purge, organize and decorate. I will share with you the changes around here as I get them done.

5. Just when I thought are doing well financially, my freezer starts leaking water, my air conditioning breaks down, and medical bills pile up. Don't even get me started on medical bills, ouch!

Our resident smarty pants

Today was the awards ceremony (as well as the last day of school) at Brianna and Arick's school. Only the 3rd through 5th grades participate which made Arick sad. I was supposed to be there but I was locked out of my car, so Andrew hurried over to support Bri and apparently she needed lots as she won LOTS of awards. Here is the list:

Principal's List for the entire year award (1 of 4 kids in her grade to receive it, must have straight A's for the entire year)
Top scores in Science
Top scores in Social Studies
Top scores in Math
Top scores in English
Geography Bee School Winner
Art Award
Music Award
PE Award
Top Accelerated Reader for 4th Grade
Top Accelerated Reader for the entire school with 341.8 points (70 points higher than second place)

At the end of the ceremony, Brianna resembled Mr. T with all those medals around her neck. She was beaming to say the least.

Our beach vacation

We went on vacation last week to Wilmington, NC to visit Andrew's sister, Jamie, and her husband, Andy. Andy's daughter, Emma (7), was able to spend time with us too which my kids loved. It is about 10 hours to drive there. We spent time at the beach, visited the local children's museum, made scones, played the Wii, and just hung out. We had such a great time and definitely look forward to visiting again.

Verizon or AT&T?

We are almost at the end of 2 year contract for our cells and we are trying to decide who to go with next. We love AT&T and the idea of getting the iPhone is a huge thrill for me, but it seems like most of my friends and family use Verizon and I love being able to call for free.

So if we talk even if it is once a year, please leave a comment and let me know what service you use. Thanks!!! Can't promise anything, since the iPhone is pretty tempting.

FHE at the park

Here are some pictures from our latest Family Home Evening at the park. The weather has been perfect lately. We had a great time together. You can see the pictures bigger if you click on them (blogger is making these photos darker than they are, so excuse that, I don't have time to find out why). Make sure you don't miss the picture of Ty with his new haircut.

Notice anything wrong with this picture?

Ty decided to play barber today and cut his hair. As you can see in the photo, Ty has learned that Mommy and Daddy don't like when he plays barber. Oh well. Andrew has always wanted to try a really short (bolo) summer look for the boys and now he has an excuse.

Five for Friday

Here are five facts for me to share with you this Friday

1. Arick was hit by a rock thrown by a bullying 12 year old in our neighborhood. He ended up with 2 stitches (hit right between the eyes) and a whole lotta ice cream. He is fine and is proudly showing off the threads to all who are interested.

2. I am currently craving Stouffer's Stuffed Green Peppers, yum.

3. Ella loves to ask "Where is it?" and when she find it, she says "Dare it is!". She is also becoming attached to blankets and shouts "Gankie!!!" when she finds one and wraps it around herself.

4. Sickness has been rampant in our home, but Andrew got hit the worst, as it has left him with terrible vertigo.

5. I learned to make cinnamon rolls this week and it isn't too hard. They taste much better than any I have bought.

Here are some photos to enjoy.


Ella loves shoes, especially to take them off and put them back on.


Brianna and all her craziness.


Ty and his melt-you-heart smile.


Arick reluctantly letting me take his picture. Probably the last one without braces, which he gets next week.


Arick just after he got hit by the rock. Look at how sad he is, by poor little buddy.

She won't stay still

Ella loves to be outside and loves to run, especially away from me and then back to me.

A photoshoot early in the morning

Had an early session this morning. This young man is in our church and it excited to graduate in a few weeks. I couldn't wait to share.

Have I really been gone that long?

I can't believe my last post was over two weeks ago. I will admit that these last two weeks have been incredibly busy but wow! Hope you all haven't felt abandoned.



So today, I just have to share this photo of everyone's favorite 4 year old taken with my new camera. I have some adjusting to do (buttons and dials work differently). I also got a couple of new lenses so that will keep me busy as well. I am so excited and I feel like a kid at Christmas. Every morning I wake up so excited to play with my new 'toy'.

Prepare yourself, you will be seeing lots more pictures this week.

Boo Boo gets a boo boo

Boo Boo, aka Brianna, is home recuperating today. Here is the story:

Apparently, Brianna's class was playing a game of tag during P.E. in the gym. Well, Brianna was flying around the gym (totally winning, that's my girl!), ‘cause she’s a little speed demon, and the girl who tagged her did so a little too hard and Brianna went flying into the bleachers! She really whacked her head and bruised up her shoulder, arm, & hip. The school called me and, to make a long story shorter, Andrew ended up picking her up from school.

Then it got interesting. Brianna started to throw up! And if you know anything about head injuries, throwing up is not a good thing. Again, to make a long story shorter, I ended up taking Brianna to the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville for a CT Scan! Fortunately everything looked clear and they expect her to fully recover within a few days, but she did sustain a concussion and is staying home from school today due to the fact that she is still throwing up and is sore. Sheesh!

Happy Birthday Grandma Rita!

Happy Birthday! We hope you had a lovely day!

How you can get a $5 Target Gift Card

I am busy starting up my photography business and one thing that I am working on is my logo. I love the work the designers have done for me and I would love to know what others think. I have started voting on my photography blog (link is in the top right column) or here. After one week I will randomly choose a winner and I will send them a $5 gift card. Make sure to put your name in the comment so I know who you are.

Our Church

Recently, I was asked by our Bishop to photograph our Church for the website and for some other projects. I don't normally do buildings and I was excited to give it a shot. Yesterday the weather was perfect and I was able to capture this. I am pretty happy with the outcome. I admit it was fun to not have my subject trying to run away from me.

Arick has chosen a name

(until I get a pic of Arick's frog, this one snagged from the Internet will do)

Arick has chosen a name for his frog. He has two frogs now. Fireball is his tomato frog. He also has an Australian Whites Tree Frog (as you can see, it isn't white). This tree frog is his second one, as his first one, Crikey (get the Australian link?) died. It took him a week to figure out his name, cause how can you top Crikey? So drumroll please. His name is . . . Leaf Arickson. Ha!! Leaf cause he matches the leaves and tries to hide in there. Arickson speaks for itself. I love kids with a sense of humor.

One of the little joys in life

One of the little joys in life is when my bracket beats Andrew's bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament. I called Kansas and Memphis as the final two and Andrew predicted UNC and UCLA. I predicted Kansas to win, but honestly I am already thrilled with how far my bracket has come. Considering I don't watch basketball at all, I think I did pretty good.

Andrew would like to add that this is an annual ocurrance. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to beat me . . . even the year when I based my picks on team colors. :)

Just had to share!

Well I would have just left this on my photography blog, but I am too excited to share. I was able to photograph these adorable twins and hang out with their mom. You can see more photos of this session on my other blog: amylynnsmithphotography.blogspot.com (link is to the right as well).

Tuesday Ten

Today is Tuesday and I thought I would list ten things that are going on around here.

1.Well you will all be happy to hear that Ty is doing fabulously. The weekend was rough but and the mornings are still bad but he is healing nicely.

2.Ella is speaking in two-three word sentences. So far we understand "Thank you Daddy" and "more cheese".

3. Tonight we were given the wonderful gift of a piano. It is used, but it is beautiful. Now Brianna's teacher can stop asking us to get a real piano. I am sure it will help her play so much better.

4. Taxes are done and by some miracle we are still getting a refund. I had to check it three times.

5. Brianna slept over at Gigi's house on Friday. Craig's granddaughter, Tori, was there as well and the girl's had a splendid time. We took them out for Japanese food and a trip to the Science Center the next day and wore them out.

6. Arick went to the store on Saturday to replace his beloved frog, Crikey. He has yet to name him, but loves him already.

7. Ella has adjusted incredibly well to nursery. This by far has been our easiest child to transition into nursery.

8. I, Amy, am enjoying my new calling at Church. I am the Relief Society 2nd Counselor and am over the Enrichment program. I am busy getting several activity groups started, getting the humanitarian project stuff together, and such.

9. Andrew is busy in his new calling as Ward Mission Leader.

10. New and exciting things are happening in my photography business, look for more details in the next few months.

Ty update

Ty is home and doing great. In fact, after Ty woke up from the surgery, he asked Daddy, "When am I going to get my tonsils out?" I am so glad that he is pretty much unaware of what was done. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Prayer request

Ty is going in for his tonsillectomy tomorrow and we could sure use prayers for a speedy recovery and a calm mom.

Also, Arick's favorite pet frog died today. He tried so hard to be brave and not cry, but as soon as I hugged him, he couldn't hold back the tears. It just broke my heart. We will get a new frog soon. We had some crickets that died within 24 hours of buying them, and we believe those crickets that the frog ate before we discovered the problem, led to his early demise.

My little model

Brianna was a great sport today and let me take lots of photos of her in Nashville. The session was mostly a bust due to equipment failure, but I did manage to get these shots.

Ty's interpretation

For dinner tonight, I served sushi (my friend Cristina came and taught me a favorite family recipe, it is delish) and fresh pineapple. When Arick asked what we were having, Ty quickly jumped in and said "Porcupine-apple." Can't argue with that one.

You're Invited

Just a little note to let our friends and family know, that you are more than welcome to visit us here. I would love to play hostess to new visitors.

Papa and Grandma

Andrew's parents came for their first visit to our home this last week. We had such a great time together and the kids loved having them here. Some highlights of the week, included:

-Family Home Evening with Papa beating us all at a memory/visualization game (with ease I might add) and eating Andrew's yummy cookies.

-Visiting the Civil War site where much of the Battle of Franklin was fought.

-Having them here while Andrew and I received new callings (I am the new Relief Society second counselor and Andrew is the Ward Mission Leader). Papa was also able to participate in my being set apart, which was a special moment for me.

-Eating tasty fried green tomato BLT sandwiches, yummy fried chicken and fried okra at the famous Loveless Cafe.

-Brianna and Grandma having a late night party reading all of the joke books that grandma has sent Bri over the years.

-Watching Planet Earth and snuggling with Papa and Grandma.

They left for Utah this morning and we are missing them already. We are so blessed to have such loving family.

Our home part 1

Well, I was able to finish 90% of my spring-cleaning list before my in-laws arrived. I still have some vertical surfaces to clean, some vents to vacuum and some touch ups to do, but I may leave it for a rainy day. Here are the results and I am glad to finally share some photos of our home.


Here is our master bedroom. We do plan on painting the walls a different color soon. I haven't found the wall art or the lamp that I want in my bedroom yet. The glider is being replaced with a black recliner in the next couple of weeks. We are just waiting for it to be delivered. Eventually, I would like to hang sheers on the windows and get a rug. Ella and her crib (I know she is 19 months but I get nervous being away from her) will finally move to the room she shares with Brianna.

On a side note, the bedroom furniture was delivered this last week and it means the end of broken plastic drawers and baskets to hold our clothes. It is so much easier to keep our room tidy now! I love my bedroom so much. I hate leaving it and so does the rest of the family. No matter how many times I tell my kids that the bedroom is for Mom and Dad only, I still find them in there lounging on my bed, reading books, and watching t.v.



This is the living room. Our plans for this room include more seating, a coffee table, and a rug. We will have to move the piano to another part of the house and shift the bookcase to where the piano is for those plans.


This is our dining room that we made into the office/craft space. We do wish there was a door to hide the mess but at least it doesn't get in the way of family life now.


This is our bonus room over the garage. It is the one room that I don't feel the need to keep as clean since we do a lot of playing here. I will share a picture of the other half of this room in the next post so you can see all the things we do in this room.

All in all, our home is coming along nicely. A lot of the plans I mentioned could take years to complete, but that is what makes the process so fun.

P.S. Papa and Grandma arrived safely . . . the kids are beyond excited!

Spring Cleaning

Twice a year I get in my spring cleaning mode. I clean as many nooks and crannies as I can stand, try to get everything put back into its proper place, and sort through clothes, getting rid of those things that are worn out or are too small. It is, at the least, a seven day endeavor and I feel so great when I am done.

Here are some interesting facts about my current spring cleaning (all numbers are estimated as I often give up counting when I get to a certain point):

25+ batteries and I have no clue if they are dead, used or new
Over 40 blankets(many of which were baby blankets and are now being donated)
21+ pairs (and sometimes just one in a pair) of gloves/mittens (which only get used a few times now in TN)
At least 150 pens and pencils in about 15 different places. That would explain why we could never find one when we needed it.
Lots and lots of coins (I will add up the total later and edit this)
Easily over 1000 items that were not in their proper place.
16 times today that I have asked the kids if they are done. 16 times that I have heard "No".
Over 20 socks that were finally reunited with their mates. Woohoo!
4 boxes leftover from moving have been emptied and crushed. I swear these boxes just appear out of thin air.
All Library books have been located, phew!
We are still missing 3 things on my "to find" list and it is driving me nuts!
6 garbage bags full of broken items and various other junk.

And just to make sure that you don't think that I do all of this by myself. Andrew is a big help too. Andrew has been patching up the wall dents and doing touch up painting. He has refinished the top of our kitchen table that looked awful (thanks sweetheart, it looks beautiful!), he has helped organize the medicine cabinet and the garage, and he put in a new garage door opener. Now if only my kids were that helpful! Getting my kids to help has been a huge tug of war but I am winning.

Ty's tonsils

Andrew and I took Ty to the doctor on Monday to discuss his sleep apnea and snoring. Ty's tonsils are definitely a problem so we have scheduled surgery for March 25th. The doctor thinks that his tonsils are partly responsible for his slow growth and the swollen lymph node that has been on his neck for 2 years now. Hopefully this will help alleviate the problems. This will be the first time any of our kids will be under general anesthesia so I am a bit nervous. Ty is four and should handle the recovery well, unlike his Auntie Jamie who just had hers removed and had a rough time. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Just one of those days

I am a very happy person but I still have those days and today is one of them. In the last 24 hours, I have made too many mistakes, I am exhausted and overemotional, and a bit overwhelmed. I just wish I could crawl back in bed and stay there until tomorrow.

Three years ago I proposed to Andrew

It was three years ago today that I proposed to Andrew. Wait, haven't we been married for almost 12 years? Well, yes we have, but in case you haven't noticed, today is Leap day. Back in February of 1996, another Leap year, when Andrew and I were dating, I came across an article that said something similar to this:

"There is a tradition that women may make a proposal of marriage to men only in leap years, further restricted in some cases to only February 29. In 1288 the Scottish parliament under Queen Margaret legislated that any woman could propose in Leap Year; few parliament records of that time exist, and none concern February 29.[1] Another component of this tradition was that if the man rejects the proposal, he should soften the blow by providing a kiss, one pound currency, and a pair of gloves (some later sources say a silk gown). There were similar notions in France and Switzerland." (wikipedia)

Oh that sent my heart and head spinning. What if I didn't have to wait for Andrew to propose to me? We had discussed marriage by this point but he was being so elusive about any kind of time frame. So I finally decided to go ahead and go for it.

The first time I asked him to marry me was in the hallway of my apartment. Andrew was not impressed and pretty much told me it wasn't romantic enough. So that night we drove up to go shopping at Crossroads mall and visit Temple Square. It was incredibly chilly, 9 degrees with awfully cold winds, and we were both quite nervous. After gathering some courage (I always appreciate how hard it is for guys to propose now) I finally did ask him, even on bended knee. He responded with a bit of a lecture, which really confused me. He said something to the effect of, "If we do this, it is for eternity, divorce will never be an option and if you can accept that as well as this, then yes I will marry you." The word this in his answer meant the diamond ring he was holding in his hands. Andrew had been planning to propose the next night and that is why he had the ring with him.

Obviously, I accepted his conditions and he accepted my proposal. Less than four months after that, we were married for eternity in the Laie Hawaii L.D.S. Temple and lived happily (for the most part, hehe) ever after.

Every Leap year since that night we have celebrated our engagement and those celebrations have been some of my favorite moments in our marriage. However, our plans tonight have been canceled due to the strep throat epidemic at our house (all four kids have it). So to mark our special anniversary, I decided to share our story on our blog. I am so grateful for that night three long years ago that two young, naive kids decided to spend the rest of their lives together. It has been an incredible journey ever since.

And to Andrew: I love you sweetheart, thank you for saying yes.

My new photography blog

I will be posting my photography work on my new blog amylynnsmithphotography.blogspot.com. I have included a link at the top of the sidebar as well. I want to keep this blog about our family and the new blog will help showcase my business better.

You may have also noticed that I have decided to go with the name Amy Lynn Smith Photography instead of Amy Lynn Photography. That is due to the fact that there are four other Amy Lynn Photography businesses on the Internet.

Tornado Clean Up

I just wanted to share with you a picture of Andrew helping with some of the Tornado cleanup. They helped by burning wood piles and cleaning debris, as well as moving piles of metal within 20 feet of the road so that FEMA will pick it up. Andrew was in awe of the destruction the tornado caused.

If you click on the picture you should be able to find Andrew. (There is a light dusting of snow.)

Layered Salad Reuben-Style

Layered Salad Reuben-Style

Simple & Delicious

Here’s a fun twist on the traditional seven-layer salad that’s great for large gatherings any time of year. It combines lettuce and tomato with Reuben sandwich fixings. I like to buy pastrami in 1/4-inch slices at the deli counter and chop it up at home, but you can use leftover corned beef instead. --Amy Smith, Avon, Connecticut

SERVINGS: 12

CATEGORY: Salads

METHOD: Baked

TIME: Prep/Total Time: 30 min.
Ingredients:

* 4-1/2 teaspoons butter, melted
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 2 cups cubed rye bread
* 1 package (16 ounces) ready-to-serve salad greens
* 2 cups chopped pastrami
* 1 large tomato, diced
* 1/2 cup sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained
* 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
* 1 bottle (8 ounces) Thousand Island salad dressing
* 3/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the butter, salt and pepper. Add bread cubes and toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer in an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Cool.
In a large salad bowl, layer half of the salad greens, pastrami, tomato, sauerkraut, onions and dressing; repeat layers. Sprinkle with croutons and Swiss cheese. Yield: 12 servings.

Please note: I found the recipe and picture on Taste of Home's website (I am still keeping my cookbook to prove my famous-ness). You can find it here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Layered-Salad-Reuben-Style

Leave a comment and let me know how you liked it after you have made it.

A lonely cowboy

Ty came up to me today in this getup and told me, "I'm a cowboy and I need someone to play with" Aw, melt my heart.

18 months old

To celebrate 18 months, here are 18 facts about Ella:

1. Ella is a genuine sweetheart. She loves her brothers and sister and gets so excited to see them.
2. Everytime the front door opens she says, "Hi Daddy" as she has associated that sound with Daddy coming home.
3. She loves to shower all of us with hugs and kisses.
4. Her smile and laugh, as well as her dancing, can get anyone out of a bad mood.
5. She can speak so many more words now with some recent additions being Gigi, toy, eyes and ewwwww.
6. She loves her baby doll.
7. She also loves to play with cars, much to Ty's annoyance.
8. She loves shoes. The shoe fascination is funny because she loves to put everyone else's shoes on and hates to take them off, but she loves to take hers off (which is not appreciated in the car or the store).
9. Her demeanor is pretty easy going and happy but you can tell when it is naptime/bedtime as she gets quite persnickety.
10. She is a healthy eater although the scale still doesn't prove it. I am just ridding her closet of all the 6/9 month clothes.
11. She did attend nursery at church for the first time and she adored it. Andrew and I were able to do our callings much more effectively and the quiet was nice. Hopefully the transition will continue to go as smoothly.
12. She is scared of things that roll towards her, especially cars.
13. She loves to scribble and it can keep her busy for hours.
14. She has chewed off almost every eraser on a pencil in the house.
15. Her favorite food is mac and cheese.
16. She still sleeps in our room since I am too scared to have her sleep upstairs.
17. She is often the first to fold her arms for prayer. Of course, as soon as everyone closes their eyes she makes a break for it
18. She has PKS which is "Photographer's Kid Syndrome" which means that anytime she sees me with my camera, she hides. She is also a wee bit scared of the camera.

Stuffed nose, literally

Ella is such a stinker. Her newest fascination is sticking things up her nose!!! Where did this come from? I can't trust her with anything as she has used napkins, toilet paper, wipes and today it was bread!! Besides Arick's famous "bead stuck in his nose" incident, I have never had an issue with this. What gets me though is that she keeps doing it. I can't imagine that it feels pleasant enough to keep doing it. I may just have to go buy her a nose plug, lol.

I'm kind of famous, kind of

I was shopping in Walmart the other day and discovered the book section. Since I am trying to eat healthier, I focused on cookbooks. I picked one up and quickly flipped through the pages when I saw the recipe "Layered Salad Reuben-style" and I thought, "That's odd, I won honorable mention once for my recipe with that title." Then it hit me, that it was my recipe! I looked over the page and sure enough there was my name "Amy Smith Avon, CT" (where I used to live). My recipe can be found in a cookbook in most Walmarts, that is so cool. I did receive $25 for my honorable mention(the contest was in Taste of Home's Simple and Delicious magazine). However, I am starting to feel that my $25 recipe was a bargain for them, especially since I bought the cookbook for $13, I guess I only won $12. Funny thing though, I have made that recipe only once, the night I created it from leftovers, so I actually needed a copy so that I could make it again.

Happy Birthday Marshall!

Just wanted to wish my brother a very happy birthday! I bet this year will be your best yet!

A great blog for clean reads

Brianna loves to read, as do I. I want to make sure that she reads books that are at her reading level but that don't introduce mature content she doesn't know about. Finding books that are quality and clean can be a struggle. On a whim I typed in clean books on google and up popped this great blog: http://cleanreads.blogspot.com/

I love what this blog is about. I have read some of the books on their list and I have found their reviews to be very accurate. So if you are looking for good clean reads for your kids or for yourself, then I highly recommend visiting this blog.