A few shots from our trip to California

Andrew and I had our first weekend away without all the kids. We flew to San Diego to see Andrew's sister and her husband be sealed in the beautiful San Diego Temple. We left the kids with my Mom and Craig. They thoroughly spoiled the kids by taking them to the Science Center and shopping and Church and let them watch movies, etc. They even managed to keep their sanity! Very impressive.

I'll admit that I suffered from a lot of anxiety before we left the kids and I am very grateful for all those around me who put up with my over reaction. It was comforting to know my kids were in great hands and I did manage to really enjoy the weekend.

We arrived late Friday night and picked up our rental car. I love National Rental Car because of their Emerald Club! When I made our reservations, I paid for a 2-door standard but as an Emerald Club member, we were able to choose the 7 seat Dodge Journey without any extra charge. The extra seats turned out to be quite handy for our trip as we often had 5 or 6 people in the car. After that, we drove from LAX to our hotel in Santa Ana. We booked reservations through Priceline at the Doubletree Hotel ($45 a night which was 55% off their website rate!) and it turned out to be a very nice place to stay! The warm cookies were a bonus, even if they were a bit too crunchy for my taste.

Andy and Jamie at the San Diego Temple

The Smith Family

Saturday was spent in San Diego for Andy and Jamie's Sealing. It was a beautiful ceremony and it was so neat to have the Smith kids there at the Temple. I took a few photographs after the ceremony. I would have liked more time to shoot everyone, but we were late for the dinner.

Jamie and Andy by the Beach Bonfire

Steven Staring at the Fire

David by Firelight

Later that night we all went to a bonfire on the beach. I really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun hanging out and practicing my low-light photography skills. It's pretty difficult, but I did manage to get a few neat shots. The silhouettes below are the result of some of the experimentation I did. I look forward to trying that again in the future.

Dave and Logan

Steve and Crystal

Here are a few candid shots from the bonfire:

Awwww!

Hand Talkers

The Smith Brothers

Dave in a Cave

We left Sunday afternoon after hanging out and attending Church. It was a quick trip but was just long enough to have a good time and catch up with family and friends. When we picked up the kids, it was obvious that Ty and Ella really missed me. Their hugs were very tight . . . and I have to admit that I loved it! Bri and Arick were pretty happy to see us, too. It was a great weekend and it's good to be home.

Congratulations Andy and Jamie!! Thank you for letting us be a part of that amazing event. You are kind, generous, and wonderful. You deserve every bit of happiness you get!

Pet peeves

Just wanted to share some of my pet peeves in life.

1. Shoes and socks being left all around the house.

2. Buying/finding items at the grocery store that have already expired.

3. Doctors incorrectly billing the wrong amount. Seriously, four in the last few months have been billed for higher amounts than they should be.

4. People hurting other peoples' feelings because of their opposing political affiliation. Ridiculous.

Ten for Tuesday

Seriously, I am so behind on blogging things. I have just had a crazy few weeks and blogging has not been at the top of my list. So here are 10 random bits of info.

1. Our little patient Ella is healing well physically, but I worry about the emotional toll it took on her. She has had two nightmares now that were obviously her reliving the stitches. She was screaming for me and thrashing and would shout, "My hand! My hand!" and "My mommy! My mommy!" Those two sayings are exactly what she screamed during the stitches and it totally breaks my heart that she is having nightmares about it.

2. I took a picture of Ella's stitches to show Andrew and when Ella saw it, she said, "Poor thing baby, so sad"

3. We went to a " trunk a treat" last night in the freezing cold. The kids loved it still, especially that they got to go around three times (or seven if you were Arick).

4. I discovered pink grapefruit Jelly Bellies and they are now tied with my other favorite Jelly Belly flavor, Juicy Pear.

5. I am starting to sell stuff on Ebay again, as well as on Craigslist. A little extra cash for the holidays never hurt, but I am mostly looking forward to reducing the stuff I have to clean up.

6. I am sad to hear one of my favorite shows, Pushing Daisies, might be canceled. I wish they would cancel some of the other muck that is on tv.


7. Have you seen this jewelry? This is totally on my wishlist. I love it. I would choose the light blue, pink and white crystals instead to make it just right. Type in "hand stamped silver jewelry" in the search box on www.etsy.com to see lots of beautiful jewelry in this style.

8. The kids have been requesting that I make the pumpkin soup I posted earlier. That is a huge deal!

9. Andrew and I are going to California soon sans kids and I am a bit freaked out being away from the kids.


10. I discovered a new herbal drink that I love. It is called Gingerbread Spice and with a little sugar free French Vanilla creamer, it is perfect. Just in time for the chilly mornings around here.

Our little patient

Last night was one of the days that I am sure will not make her favorites list. Just after the older kids got home from school, she tripped on her way to give me a hug. When she put her hands down to catch herself she place her hand on a trash bag ready to be taken outside. Unfortunately, an opened can left a horrible gash in her hand. I won't go into the gory details but essentially she had the cut as far as she could without hitting bone or muscles/tendons. She need six stitches to close it up and she screamed the entire time. It broke my heart.

Curry Pumpkin Soup

I love pumpkin based soups so I came up with this recipe for the cooking group I go to. It was delicious. Try serving in a pumpkin for a fun presentation.

Curry Pumpkin Soup

INGREDIENTS:
3 tablespoons butter
½ large onion, chopped finely
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons Madras curry powder
2 cans low sodium chicken broth

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 cup Half and Half (fat free is fine) cream
2-3 tablespoons white sugar to taste
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Saute onions until soft. Stir in flour and curry powder until smooth. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble. Gradually whisk in broth, and cook until thickened. Stir in pumpkin and half-and-half. Season with sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring just to a boil, then remove from heat. Garnish with roasted pumpkin seeds (optional).

We are back from Atlanta!

We had a wonderful trip to Atlanta and I just had to share my favorite picture. Our visit to the aquarium was such a wonderful experience. We attended a special event hosted by the conference Andrew was attending that was held after the Aquarium closed. Our kids were the only kids there, so no competing for prime viewing space at any of the exhibits. And the food . . . OH MY HEAVENS! I had some of the best steak I have ever tasted. The biggest blessing though was that Andrew got to experience a little piece of Atlanta with us. It was great.

Enjoy the photograph (click on it to see it bigger), I will share more this weekend.

8 Favorite TV shows...
1. Monk
2. Psych
3. House
4. Pushing Daisies
5. 24
6. House Hunters
7. Good Eats
8. Any tv show that gets Ella's attention and keeps her out of trouble

8 Favorite Restaurants...
1. Sushi restaurants in general
2. Outback Steakhouse
3. Los Hermanos
4. The Cheesecake Factory
5. Tucanos in Provo
6. City Limits Diner in Stamford, CT
7. The Melting Pot
8. Panera Bread

8 things that happened yesterday...
1. I sorted 8 laundry baskets of misplaced items.
2. I snuggled with Ella and Ty.
3. I found friends on Facebook.
4. I made black beans and rice for dinner.
5. I worked on finalizing details for Super Saturday.
6. Organized papers.
7. I watch the Mentalist and thought it was pretty good.
8. I talked to Brianna about following directions better at school.

8 things to look forward to...
1. Jamie's visit to Nashville this weekend
2. General Conference
3. Less bugs
4. My photo session tomorrow
5. Our upcoming trip to Atlanta (hopefully we will have not troubles with obtaining gas)
6. Super Saturday
7. Fall Decorations
8. Hot chocolate or in my case hot french vanilla by Stephen's

8 things I love about Fall...
1. The leaves!
2. Apple picking (hope to go this weekend)
3. Pumpkin bread
4. Hot soup
5. Buying and making Christmas gifts
6. Lower utility bills
7. Thanksgiving
8. That my kids are in school

8 things on my wishlist...
1. A clean house
2. To paint my bedroom and bathroom.
3. To get my attic space organized.
4. A trip to Disneyworld with Brianna.
5. To get more sleep
6. A massage
7. Ella will start playing with toys and not my stuff.
8. Lots of fabric for my quilt projects.

Amy Butler Fabric for the girl's room
Heather Bailey Fabrics
Cotton Blossoms
Fabulous Fall - oerfect for my fall decor plans


I tag Cristina, Sandy, Gail, Kory, Ashley, and Sarah.

The tree that once was

Here is a pic of the tree that cost me a chunk of money. Money that would have been so much more fun to spend on a trip to Disney World. Ty, however, thought it was a great way to spend money. He had such a fun time watching the men use such "cool tools". The tree fell down a week ago and thanks to a neighbor who heard the first pop warning sound, kept my kids far away from it. The tree fell down about 30 minutes later.

My cousins

These are some of my favorite cousins. Our lives don't intersect often but when they do we always find it easy to chat. When I was little and we visited them in New York, I thought they were so much fun to be around, that I wished I could stay with them forever.

Hello!

So I have lots to share this morning!

-My mom and Craig attended the family reunion on Saturday and oh how I wish I could have been there. I adore my extended family and I wish I could know them so much better. We lived so far away from everyone so seeing each other growing up was very limited. I swear I have the most fascinating aunts of anybody. My mom said the reunion was wonderful and apparently several members of my extended family read my blog. How fun!! I just wish they all had blogs that I could read too. I miss having Grandma Ella D's letters, mixed up facts and all, so I could keep up with how everyone is doing.



-I found this picture of Brianna in my files and I love it. It isn't perfect but it is so her. The ponytail that she is determined to do by her self and the fly-aways from running around.

-I am missing Connecticut right now. Every year at this time we would go apple picking at our favorite farm. We would fill ourselves up with apple cider and apple fritters and pick about 20 pounds of our favorite apples: mutsus, honeyscrisps,empires, and more. Fabulous times indeed.

-Andrew was gone this weekend for a trip to Utah to see family and attend a conference. He partnered up with his brothers to surprise his parents and Andrew said their reaction was exactly what he wanted. On Saturday he had an almost perfect day. He met Ty Detmer (the inspiration for our little Ty's name), he went to the football game with his two brothers and his dad and of course BYU would smother the other team 44-0, and then he got to help his parents around the house (which he loves to do, must be because he is the first child). He got home safe and sound last night. Thank heavens! I am not good as a single parent and I don't like not having him around.

-I am struggling with getting a good night's sleep lately and I am just done with it. I don't want to say the word tired in reference to myself again for a long time. I dislike the fact that I can't just exist on 4 hours of sleep and be done. Yawn. Other than that, life is great!

Super Saturday Crafts

Here are a few of the crafts we are working on as part of a special event the Relief Society is hosting on November 1st. The items that are not shown are a darling heart shaped door hanging, the other options for the tiles, and a different FHE board. I am in charge of planning this and it is a lot harder than it looks. I am currently putting together an order form and hope to get that mailed out to the sisters tomorrow. What fun!

Google Reader

Okay, so you might have noticed that the blog has changed its look today. Well I have spent hours trying to figure out why my blog is not accessible by Google Reader. I have no clue how it got fixed, but I think it got fixed.

If you use Google Reader, could you add my blog and see if it updates for you? Please let me know if it works.

Special shout out to Sarah with an h. You should be able to now use this address on your friends list and have it update like the others. Let me know if that works.

Little Miss Sassafras turns 2

(This post is a few weeks late due to my hard drive failure and all the headaches that caused.)

Ella is two! And a mighty terrible one at that. We have never had a terrible two year old before, usually just the terrible three year old kids. However, three older siblings have helped Ella to grow up a bit faster just so she can keep up. Here is a list of the wonderful (or not so wonderful) things that Ella does:

She has figured out how to undo almost every childproofing item we have in the house. We thought we were safe because Ty is still trying to figure some of these things out. What a stinker!

She adores emptying out an entire box of cereal. If she gets to the frosted shredded wheat, she will lick off the frosting and put the wheat part back in the box. She does the same thing with oreos with the cream filling. Ewww!


Ella is ridiculously hard to photograph when it is me photographing her. These photos were very hard to get. They aren't perfect but at least you can tell what she looks like. I promise she does smile.

Ella is still a peanut and fits 12-18 month size clothes.

Ella is obsessed with Care Bears.

Ella loves blankets (a.k.a. Banket or Gankie). She can't go to sleep without one and she will wake up in the middle of the night if it isn't covering her. She is starting to show a preference for two pink blankets we have, but usually anything soft, including a towel, with suffice.

Ella gets at least 4 cup of water on my floor everyday. I would like to know whose ingenious idea it was to have a water dispenser on a fridge that doesn't have a lock, grrr.

Ella is talking very clearly and using sentences. We find her chatter to be the cutest thing about her. She loves to say prayers and repeat after us during scriptures. The funny way she says the Book of Mormon names has us all giggling.

She has to eat cereal and cheese everyday as those are her two favorite foods. Noodles come in a close third. She is no longer on formula but drinks powdered milk and water.


She loves to snuggle and expects to be snuggled when she wants it, even if it is not convenient for you.

Ella is a fish. When we go boating, we anchor the boat for a while. Then we hang out, jump off the back deck and swim, which makes her extremely happy.

We all love and adore this little girl despite all the trouble she causes. In the end though, the joy and laughter she adds to our home is worth more than the trouble, so she is a keeper. Our family just wouldn't be complete without her.


This is as close as to a happy face that Ella shared with me. Stinker.


Ella is staring in awe at an apache helicopter that is flying near us.


Ella does not think my attempts at getting her to look at the camera are amusing. Anybody else's kid and they are fascinated, but Ella, no way! I officially diagnose her with PKS . . . Photographer's Kid Syndrome.

Five for Friday

1. I am sick with a terrible head cold.

2. I am totally going to make felt food for Ella for Christmas this year. I hope to get her a kitchen and the food would make the perfect addition. You can see this cute food here: Cute felt food!



3. I have been visiting www.etsy.com, www.craftser.org, and www.marthastewart.com a lot this week to help prepare for Christmas gift making and craft day for Relief Society. Lots of fun ideas and I can't wait to get going on my gift making extravaganza for the Holidays. I always try to include a little homemade item when I give gifts, so much more fun than buying everything.

4. I am really looking forward to Church being in the morning again this next year. Sunday afternoon naps will be possible again. Yay!


5. The fifth fact is a tip. My favorite backup plan for dinner is Knorr's Pesto packets (thanks to a friend, Ruth Ann who introduced me to this years ago) that you can buy at the store for about $1.25. I can throw in shrimp or cooked chicken to make it even more filling. The best part is that the kids love it too, especially in their lunch since it works well at room temperature.

Andrew's dream room

Oh, did I say Andrew? I meant Ty. Right. We received our Pottery Barn catalog in the mail recently and later on we heard, "Oh cool!!!! Mom I want this room!" from Ty. Of course, being the huge fan that he is, I wasn't surprised that he needed that room. However, he told me it in that little 4 year old voice. You know the voice, the one that has magical powers and makes you want to cave in to whatever the voice is asking for. Or maybe, Ty has a little bit of the 'force'? Either way, I am now researching how I can create the look for cheap.

Buggies

Ella is convinced that the raisins in Raisin Bran cereal are buggies, but it doesn't stop her from eating it. We were all laughing about it this morning, and then one of the older kids said, "What if she thinks she can eat real bugs?" Well that quieted our laughter down real quick and we kept repeating to Ella, "Those are raisins, not buggies." Good times.

Ten for Tuesday

1. At about 4:45 p.m., I witnessed the neighborhood pit bull escape from his home across the street and attack a neighbor. When I saw the pit bull dash out of its yard, I slowed the car down to make sure that my neighbor, who was outside chatting with another neighbor, would be okay. As soon as I saw the dog bite her leg, I started honking my horn like crazy to scare or distract it. The dog came towards my car and I pressed the gas a little. That scared it away from the car and from my neighbors. I'm glad it worked! My neighbor seems to be okay, but there was quite a bit of yelling between the husband of my neighbor and I believe the owners of the pit bull later that evening. I plan on visiting my neighbor tomorrow to make sure she is okay. Talk about unwanted excitement in the neighborhood . . . not to mention an unwanted, attack pit bull!

2. I have discovered a great new children's CD. It is by the popular band, BNL. You can hear samples of the songs here. While I'm not thrilled with the name of the band, their music is teriffic. My kids LOVE the "Popcorn" song.

3. We asked Ty what he learned about in Church on Sunday and he couldn't remember. So we tried prompting him with some questions. "Did you learn about Moses? Did you learn about Noah? Did you learn about John the Baptist? Did you learn about _________? (insert Bible name here)" and he would always say "Yes." We asked him "Did you learn about Luke? and he started to laugh and said, "Mom! We don't learn about Star Wars at Church!!" (Of course I meant Luke, the author of one of the Gospels.) We got a great laugh out of that one.

4. Ty is obsessed with Star Wars.

5. I finally figured out a way to protect our games for the Wii/Gamecube and our DVDs. They are always being scratched and it has cost us quite a bit! I bought a locking CD case and I'm the only one with a key! The case is called Vaultz and you can buy them at Walmart. The kids have to bring me the game they've been playing to exchange it for another. It's working great so far. I just may have figured out a way to stop Ella from playing "scatter-the-expensive-games/DVDs-all-over-the-floor."

6. Ella has earned the nickname 'Destruct-o-girl' in our house. I seriously can not keep up with the carnage she leaves behind sometimes. The other day, I was cleaning stickers off of my wood floor and while I was doing that, she emptied out a box of cereal. While I was cleaning that up, she got in more trouble with another contraband! I have never had a stinker quite like this one. Of course, with three older sibling leaving her easy access to everything (i.e. forgetting to put the cereal boxes away in the locked cabinet), she pretty much has free access to things that were only dreamed of by our other 'destruct-o' kids.

7. When you lose your hard drive and you have to start all over, you quickly learn what you miss the most. I miss my bookmarks and my organized mailbox folders. And autofill for email addresses is such a time saving feature. Sigh.

8. Brianna is getting moody and I don't like it. I have been reassured by parents of other 10 year old girls, that this is very normal, but that is only slightly reassuring becuse they also say that it just may get worse. :( She is constantly testing me and her emotions jump from low to high to low again. Ugh!

9. We upgraded our satellite to more channels for the football season. I am so excited to have Monk, Psych, and HGTV back!

10. We all seem to be getting sick. Yuck. Andrew and Ella have it the worst. It is the back-to-school cold rearing its ugly head again.

Update on my computer

Apple repaired the hard drive and I have my computer back.  I won't know until next week how much data is recoverable.  I do have some data on my back up hard drive but not all of it.  I have learned lots of important lessons, most importantly to back up the entire computer, not just pictures.  It is going to take me weeks to recover from losing all of this.  Yuck.

A little surprise was waiting for me when I turned on my iMac.  They upgraded me to the newest operating system Leopard at no extra cost.  

This can't be happening!

Well my iMac broke. One year and two weeks after buying it, it is dead. The hard drive apparently doesn't exist. At first I didn't worry, because I have an external back up hard drive. But then I noticed, the hard drive wasn't attached to the computer and I suddenly felt nauseated. How long has it been like that? Ugh. The longer it has been disconnected, the more lost files there will be. This can't be happening.

This can be incredibly devastating to me. As I am unable to access the external hard drive, I don't know how much information I have lost so all of the worst case scenarios keep popping up in my head. Not good for my general emotional health.

I am hoping that it is only a loose connection somewhere and that is it. That would be the best answer. I am taking the iMac to Apple tomorrow, so please pray that this isn't a disaster.

Arick's Baptism

Today, Arick was baptized. It was such a nice day and the program, as well as the baptism, was wonderful. Aunty Maren talked about baptism and my good friend, Cristina, spoke about the Holy Ghost. After Arick came up out of the water, his smile was so big. I asked him if he felt different later and he said he feels 'grown up'. I just hope the he remembers the joy he felt forever.

Grandpa Craig and Gigi took us out to dinner at the Olive Garden restaurant afterwards to celebrate (thanks for the yummy meal!). We were all so full that we had to turn down the free birthday ice cream and told them to just sing the birthday song.

Seriously, whose kids do this?

Warning: the following post is about potty training and is not to be read at meal time. :)

I know that I am behind on my posts and pics . . . I'm just too tired these days. But I wanted to share a little bit about Ella. Yesterday was her second birthday! I can't believe my baby is TWO! Well, she received a "princess potty" as a gift. I really have had no desire to potty train Ella since she's my baby and since potty training has historically been pretty difficult and messy. Plus, she's only two . . . still quite young. However, Ella has been giving us signs that would indicate that she may be ready, in a few months, to take this big step.

Well, Ella has had us all fooled. That girl was so excited for her potty, she stripped down, sat on it, and did her business without the slightest problem. This potty has music that plays to encourage the potty-goer . . . although meant to be a reward, it kind of scared the pee out of her the first time she heard it! Andrew and I had a good laugh!

When we told her she was all done and we took her off the potty, the little stinker cried because she wanted to stay on it. Seriously! What kid just starts using the potty without being bribed or prodded to do so . . . and then begs to just sit there?!

Today she has been determined to keep using the potty and has had great success. She hates her diaper and wants to wear a swim diaper because she thinks they are underpants. Could she go without a diaper all day? Not yet. But in 24 hours she has had more success than our first three kids combined! Seriously, this just doesn't happen!

Yet, as exciting as this is, it makes me a wee bit sad (pun intended) to see my Ella leave babyhood behind (again, pun intended).

10 for Tuesday

1. My sil, Maren, takes more pics of my kids than I do. See them here.

2. Arick turned 8 this week and I did not take it well. I was teary eyed all day. He was spoiled with lots of fun gifts and attention. Brianna did not take that well at all, you would have thought she was 3, lol. I sense preteen emotional drama coming on.

3. Brianna and Arick started school yesterday. They both were assigned teachers that they adore, mostly because they are 'anti-homework' teachers. I can tell that I am going to like those teachers as well.

4. Brianna earned a Hannah Montana Piano book as a reward for her consistent piano practicing. She is beyond thrilled.

5. My favorite part of the Olympics so far is watching Michael Phelps. That guy is seriously amazing at what he does.

6. 5th grade girls are lame. They are obsessed about having boyfriends. Brianna is not (that we know of), thank heavens, but how long can I 'protect' her from this insanity? Ugh.

7. Andrew received a new calling at Church. He is now the Executive Secretary. I am sure he will enjoy this calling immensely.

8. My current obsession for food is frozen corn. A whole bag for lunch . . . yummy! My friend Gayle shared with me a corn on the cob recipe that I adapted to what I had around. I sprinkle olive oil, southwestern spice mix that I have, lime juice, and a little salt on my hot corn. It is so tasty.

9. Ty is obsessed with Star Wars. He wants to watch the movies over and over again.

10. Arick is finally clicking with the guitar. Like his teacher said 7 months of 'nothing' and then magic happens. He is doing so great now. I was very close to stopping the lessons.

I've been tagged

My friend Sally tagged me.

Enjoy!

3 Joys

1. My membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I love going to Church on Sundays. It is my absolute favorite day of the week! I know that my family is stronger because of our faith and that we are better people because of the Gospel. I love serving in the Church. I love the people who attend. Most importantly, I love my Savior and I have a strong testimony as to the truth of this Gospel.
2. Photography. I can't tell you how much photography has benefited my life. I love to learn and I can learn something new everyday in this field.
3. Spending time with those I love. Dates with Andrew. Book Night with a group of wonderful ladies. Spending the day shopping or cooking with a friend. 'Girl's Night Out' with Brianna. Going to the park with the kids. Reading with Arick. Sunday dinner with Gigi and Craig. And so much more.


3 Fears

1. A house fire. A few years ago, I used to unplug everything before I went to sleep. Silly, I know.
2. Dying young. I don't fear death but I fear what I leave behind. I can't stand the thought of leaving my kids to grow up without me.
3. Spiders. Enough said.



3 Current Obsessions

1. Photography and getting my business off the ground. You can see what I've done so far at http://www.amylynnsmith.com.
2. Watching the Olympics.
3. Cute hair for Brianna. I've recently discovered the world of hair-style blogs for girls. While I've accepted the fact that I may never, ever learn how to french braid, these blogs have shown me hundreds of other ideas that are just as cute!


3 facts

1. I am not an outdoorsy person but I adore camping if the weather is right. Waking up to the sounds of birds chirping on a cool crisp morning and the smell of smoke from the campfire (Andrew wakes up with the sun, so he always gets our campfire going in the morning.) is nirvana to me.
2. I ate at the Cheesecake Factory twice this past weekend (Thanks Andrew! Thanks Mom!) and both times I ordered the same thing. The Ahi Carpaccio on the appetizer menu. I pair this with the bread and some cheesecake (usually a half of a slice) and that is dinner. It is by far one of the most amazing things I have ever ordered from a restaurant. Yum!
3. I do not like to get water on my face. Andrew finds it hysterical. I have had five bad swimming experiences. Couple that with my fear of drowning and it doesn't seem that irrational. Right?



I tag Maren and Ashley.

I'm going to Pheonix

Yesterday, my Mom and Craig surprised me with an early Christmas present! I am heading to Phoenix in January for a week to attend the Imaging USA conference!! This is an awesome conference for photographers and I am so incredibly excited to go. A week of 12-hour days studying photography and the business of photography . . . that's my kind of vacation. Did I mention that Anne Geddes is going to be presenting there?!!! Good times ahead. The scary part is being away from the kids for a week but I will have all of those classes to distract me. Thanks Mom & Craig!

An old photo of Bri

So I found an old photo of Bri and I just wanted to have fun with the processing. Enjoy! (I promise the original photo is not that interesting.)

Odds and ends

Here are some photos that I have been meaning to blog for a while now. Enjoy.


Brianna riding a horse at a birthday party.


Ty falling asleep on the floor with his head on his teddy bear after a hard day of canning food storage.


Brianna performing at her music recital.


Here is my most recent picture of Auntie Maren.

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.