Christmas Present Ideas

I had an inspirational moment today. We had to prepare a bunch of potatoes for a lunch we are doing for church. The whole family was helping. Holden and Bailey were washing to potatoes, Parker was wrapping and Brayden was poking. When we were all done Bailey and Holden wanted to have one, so I gave them a small one and Bailey went to put Holden in the bath. I heard him playing with something in the bath that I thought was a ball or something. Then I realized he'd been playing with that potatoo the whole time. He was in the bath for 30 minutes playing with a potatoe! Who needs expensive Christmas presents when you can by a bag of potatoes for $2.49!

Halloween

Halloween was great. We had a ward party the weekend before and the kids got to test out their costumes before the real thing. Parker and Bailey both went trick or treating with friends and got a ridiculous amount of candy. No one child should ever have this much candy. Brayden and I took Holden around with a few other families. Last year he was more about diving onto the grass and posing (he was batman) inbetween houses. This year it was all about the candy. He was running from door to door. It was all business. Now is when Brayden and I gain 10 lbs eating it all to save our children from cavities and health problems. We are such good parents!

A day at the gym

Something you never expect your child to say.

As we are walking to the child care inside the gym, with lots of people milling about, Holden is saying over and over, "mom let me pinch your chubby but", as he is trying to pinch my chubby but. So I'm shushing him and trying to dodge his little hands at the same time! Fun! Just a day at the gym.

Bailey's Baptism - Sept 5th

Here she is early in the morning. She was baptized in Lake Michigan. We had to be at the lake by 8:00am. So it was a crazy morning. But everyone was excited that we were finally able to see her get baptized. And no one was sick! We had Grandma and Grandpa Smith and lots of friends!

Always posing

Lake Michigan in the background

She's just been dunked. It was pretty cold. When she got up out of the water she skreeched and some said she's got the spirit with her now. It was funny at the time.

After the brunch at the church we had her pose for more pictures. It's she gorgeous!

First Day of School - August 27

First day of preschool for Holden. All the moms were walking their kids to the door and fussing and mines says, "I don't want you to walk me. You stay in the car. You don't get out da car." (we drop off at the door and an aid comes out to get them.) He's Mr. Independent.

Parker and Bailey's first day. Same thing! What can I say. I've raised confident, independent, and very cute kids!

Lessons from a 4 year old

I was just getting Holden dressed and he started singing a song that I think we all should sing every morning. It goes like this (to the tune of a song from Phineas and Pherb on the Disney channel), "I love myself, I love myself". Over and over again. With I love mom, I love dad, thrown in there every now and then.

Bailey's latest

Parker had a baseball game last night. There was a playground by the ball park (Northfield community center) and she and Holden were playing over there. She came back and told Brayden, "There are these boys that were 3 or 6 years old and they were telling me that they could beat me up because they know karate. And I told them, you don't know karate, I know karate and I could beat YOU up." (she took tae kwon doe in 1st grade) This tells me two things. My daughter doesn't know the difference between a 3 year old and a 6 year old and she can apparently defend herself! Good stuff.

Funny Kids

We went to the beach with some friends last Monday. I look out in the lake and Bailey and her friend Sophie are playing in the water being all cute. And then I realize Bailey was "Baptizing" Sophie. I guess she's so excited for her delayed baptism that she decided to practice. So then Sophie, who is about a foot shorter and 20 lbs lighter than Bailey, takes a turn doing the baptizing, but she can't hold Bailey so it ends up that she just shoves Bailey under. It was all pretty funny.

Then on the completely opposite note. Bailey was mad at us tonight and in all her rage she was telling us that she hated this family and she wished she was never born into his family, which unfortunitely we hear often. But then we hear a new one. She screamed, "I want a new family, I'm waiting for my new family." And she's still waiting!

Holden was asked to give a talk on Temples. So we were asking him what is a Temple. He says "a House of God" we think great he knows his stuff. Then we ask what do you do in the temple? He says "you talk to each other, and say Happy Birthday, and give pencils." So much for boy genuis.

Memorial Day in Cleveland

One more older post and THEN I think I'm caught up to the end of July. I told missed a whole vacation. We end to Cleveland to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I highly recommend it. We had so much fun. The kids LOVED it and Brayden and I really LOVED IT. You can't take pictures of inside but here are some of the lobby and even the lobby was fun. Cleveland is an odd city I have to say and it's impossible to find food there. I didn't love it. But the Hall of Fame was so worth any inconvience we experienced.

Yes, that is me acting crazy in public. That's what Bon Jovi does to me!


I am raising models!

I swear he does this on his own.

After we rocked out in Cleveland we went to Kirtland and saw the church sites. That was fantastic! We learned a ton and it was really fun to see the store and houses and see how they lived then. The kids were amazed of course. No Nintendo, no mirror's in our room!
We had a great tour of the Kirtland temple. I didn't get a good picture of that one. We didn't know what to expect since our church doesn't own it but they were very informative and just stuck to fact. The tour guide was really nice. I'm really glad we had a chance to go inside. It was a great Memorial day weekend trip.


The Whitney's home

Holden's Birthday - 5/21

I can't believe I forgot about my little guys birthday. I'm really getting the mother of the year award this year.

He turned 4 and had his first friend party. All the sunbeams in his class basically just ran around for an hour and then we had cupcakes and presents. Helpful hint: 4 year olds will eat the cupcake wrapper if you don't pull them off. He had a party at school and wanted to share ice cream with his friends. He had a super fun day, got lots of fun toys and no one was injured. It was a big success.





His party with his Spiderman cupcakes

His preschool party

Grandma's are the best!

Bailey's Non-baptism Weekend

Nothing can go normal in my world! Thursday night (7/23) Bailey started throwing up and complaining of a headache. She then threw up about once an hour for the next 24 hours. My parents and brother where coming for her baptism Friday. So they all show up and my daughters is still very sick and incoherent. I'd try and have a conversation with her and she'd fall asleep or start throwing up. She couldn't function.
We send a series of emails to everyone saying her baptism is postponed, we thought she'd be better by Sunday morning.
Brayden took her to the doctor Saturday morning thinking she just needed an IV or something because she was dehydrated. I thought after that she'd be on the mend. WRONG. The doctor said she needs to go to the ER now. She might have Meningitis. By this time she wasn't throwing up she just had a horrible headache.
So they did blood work and a CAT scan. They both came back fine so they had to do a spinal tap. She's 8! I'm so glad it was Brayden instead of me. I had taken my parents and brother into the city to a museum and was getting up dates from Brayden. I know, I'm getting the mother of the year award! Anyway, she was a brave solider and didn't scream to loud then they stuck the needle in. Brayden said she felt a little better after that. I guess it relieved some of the pressure she was having on her brain. It came back positive and she had viral meningitis. They wanted to admit her because the test show some bacterial traces (or something suspicious) and they wanted to be safe. By Sunday she was home and don't remarkably well. They had her on some heavy pain killer in the hospital and by the time we got her home she had no headache.
Just like that. Within 3 1/2 days she was horribly sick to back to normal (basically). It was a crazy time. I'm so thankful that my parents and brother where here. They are so amazing and just took control so I could just worry about my only daughter. Brayden was so sweet with her. She loves her dad.
So everyone left Tuesday morning and she still wasn't baptized. We have it schedule and in the next 6 months I'll do a post about it. It will be a great day I'm sure!

We brought her some new toys to cheer her up. The nurse all would wear masks to come in and Parker, of course, had to wear one. That lasted about 10 minutes and then he was tried of it.



This is the point were Bailey said "Mom I don't want to take anymore pictures." I know I'm crazy. I have to document everything. I stayed the night with her, we had our girl time.

Caught Up

Wow! You'll have to go to Older Post to see all the post I did tonight. That was a marathon. I'm tired and my body hurts from sitting here this long. But it's done. I'm caught up to July 18th.

There's still the big craziness that went on the weekend of Bailey's suppose to be baptism. And yes I did take pictures of my daughter in the hospital. She officially thinks I'm crazy. I'll write more about that later. That will give you a reason to come back and look. It won't be another 2 months promise!

Boise

After a super fun 4th of July weekend at the Stewarts we went to Mom and Mikes and had some quality time with them. We went to the Discovery Museum which was great. And then got attacked by geese while eating lunch in a near by park. That was traumatic, especially for Meighan who was getting nipped my geese.

Then, the King reunion was at a reservior near Boise. It was a goregous campsite with the water really close, grass, and trees. It was very pretty and private. The Hopes brought their boat and the kids couldn't get enough.

Parker learned how to body board with the help of Uncle McKay, while the girls planned their next adventure.

So cute, loving is daddy.

They cooked hot dogs and smores over the fire. We had the horseshoe touri as usually and Parker played for the first year. He and Breanna did better then a lot of us. It was sad to go home but the party has to end sometime.

After Boise we headed to Utah to see Grandma and pa Smith. It was good to see them, even if for a short time. The next day we said goodbye to Kevin again and headed to Cheyenne, then to Des Moines, then home. After 24 days, 8 different homes/hotels, and 2 reunions, a sealing, and 2000ish miles we were all pooped. This picture was not staged, it was totally on their own! I have to treasure these rare moments!

Holden's funnies for the day

I had to take a break from catching up (11 blog entries today), write down the conversation Holden and I just had. He was in the bath and told me he wanted a hair cut. (Don't get to excited dad) I said no we can't cut your hair today. He said his hair wasn't "cool". He said I need it like dad's. He needed it to show bones. Which I'm thinking is Braydens bald spot. This went on with some other choice words that I can't remember. Finally, the conversation turned and now he wants colors. He's going on and on about colors and rock stars. Then I realize he's talking about the time, months ago (the pictures on on the blog), when he and Parker got mohawks at the hair place. So I ask him and he confirms. He said "when it's good morning time I want a mohawk." I told him it's church tomorrow and he can't wear it there and he said "You will do it in the good morning time and then I will just mess it up." He's totally thought this all out.

The other funny thing he's started saying, when he's just out of sorts, is "You're killing my life". He told me that when he got wolken up from a nap today. He was buzzerk and he told me "You're killing my life mom".

July 4th

The start of our 3rd week we left Tahoe and headed to Boise excited to see our King family. They had a great day planned for us starting with at neighborhood parade. With a fire engine and police escort.

Then to the reservoir in Eagle (or something).

Then fireworks by Scott. We are all lucky to be alive. No, it was an excellant show, just a little wild at times. Boise is a little crazy on the 4th. Who would have thought.

Brayden was so excited to do sparklers as you can see in this picture.

Nothin' so great!

Lake Tahoe

We are now in week 2 of our 3 1/2 week western United States vacation. We had a family reunion in Lake Tahoe, which is were my family vacationed as kids. We were in a nice cabin this time instead of camping, which was nice, I have to say. All my siblings and their kids were there. Some of us hadn't seen each other in over 3 years. It was a great time. Here are some highlights:

Posing at Emerald Bay. She got on top of these rocks and knew exactly what to do. Diva!

Holden "falling" off the rocks.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get this picture. Holden decided right then what he needed to "love" me and then dad. This was as good as it got.

Mom at her finest! This was the loot for the Smith Games. We had games and Smith dollars and everything. The kids LOVED it. Yes, even the 14 year old. Though she won't admit it out loud. That's a 14 person table by the way. And it was full! Mom and Dad you're the best.

Parker's big fall. He was doing a trick or something (we don't know exactly) on some rocks by the cabin and fell inbetween the rocks. He had strapes and cuts all up and down his left side. It was pretty scarey. Good thing we have an EMT in the family!

David Hassilhoff came to visit.

Holden drove a jet ski at Baldwin Beach.

The girls buried eachother at Pope Beach.

Parker and Tyler found crawdads. We set them free unharmed. Traumatized but unharmed.

Also, we went to a campfire, just like we use to as kids. This one was about bears and my nephew was convinced real bears were going to come and eat him. He cried the whole time. So sad.

Dad with his key holder thing around his neck all weekend. Sometimes the keys weren't even on it. It's his securely blanket, we all have one.

We had a talent show which was great and a birthday/anniversary party for my parents and brother/nephew.

There are so many other fun things, but I can't go on forever (even if I am my father's daughter).

Dad's bag

You know you have a problem when you have enough balls and tee's in your golf bag to supply an entire golf touri and you have left overs.

Typical Holden

We are still in California here at a shopping center. We were just at Target and we're going to the Game Stop. We turn around and Holden was walking behind all of us in his own little world. He had his eye's closed and was trying to walk. He was bumping into things, like the garbage can here and talking and singing while he was doing it. It was so funny. We all just watched for a minute, until he caught us and yelled at us. You wonder sometimes (or most of the time) what goes there a 4 year olds mind!

Discovery Kingdom (about June 24ish)

The kids got to feed the dolphins. This is Holden very seriously giving it some instruction.

Yes, that's my boy about to kiss a dolphin. How many mom's can say that!

I know we're so cute. Sitting on the Thomas the Train ride, all for the little guy.

So I guess I forgot how wet you can get from the whale show. I took my little ones all the way down to the top part of the "wet zone" thinking we'd get a little wet. Yeah, I was soooo wrong. We were drenched in the first 30 seconds. Holden looked at me like "what the heck mom"! We high tailed it out of there, but he was brave and went back down to sit with his older brother and sister. I went to sit with my mom!

Apparently we were way into touching the animals this time. They all looked a little stressed out the whole time. Bailey wasn't sure about having to sit in the front. Poor girl. They all survived. Good times are always had when Carol's around!