Things are always changing...

I realized it has been quite some time since I have been on here - and quite frankly life has made it very impossible to even find the time to write here. There are have been many things, mostly good and some not so good, happening in our family... but we have pulled through and we are all doing quite well. The biggest piece of news I have is the arrival of our new little one to the family - Ella Rose was born on May 24th (does that day ring a bell to anyone - Happy Birthday to me!). What a sweet blessing this baby is to our family. She is perfect in every way and has brought some calmness to an otherwise hectic life! People have been bugging me to get pictures posted and I must admit - I am horrible at the picture taking aspect of life... but the pictures above were taken on my phone a few weeks ago and I figured something was better than nothing.

Some more news - My Kate is starting Kindergarten... crazy!! I have never seen a kid so ready to face the new world of school. She is literally counting down the days until she starts. I did have to break the news to her yesterday that kindergarten starts a week later than Thomas does - not a very pretty conversation... but alas, she has come to terms with that fact and says she will make it that extra week - but only just barely!

Speaking of Thomas - he will be starting 3rd grade in just a few days. I can't believe he is 8... He is an amazing kid and I marevl at how wise beyond his years he really is. He was just baptized by his uncle last week. What an awesome experience for him as well as our family. He was so excited to be there and to have his Uncle do the honors.

My two year old... Mattie - hmmm -not sure what to say about her except she is two and freaking hilarious!!! That kid puts a smile on my face everytime she opens her mouth. She has discovered her indepence and tries every angle to convince me she is a big girl and can do big girl things - ahhhh... I am going to have to put an extra lock on my door just to keep her inside - that one is a sneaky little bugger who feels that at every opportunity she needs to be outside with nothing on! Oh well, we are working on that - LOL!!

Andrew recently has had Carpel Tunnel surgery on his right hand and will have the left done on Friday - this surgery has been much needed and the relief that Andrew feels just after having one side done has definitely made it worth it. Andrew was able to spend the last several weeks at home with me on "paternity leave" as well as working on developing his business. He does landscaping and handyman repair - we really did have a good summer for just starting and hopefully when his wrists heal, he will be at it again.

As for me - back to work I go... BLAH!!! I really have had a fabulous summer with my kids and my husband. This has been the first time that I have been able to be home with them for the summer and just be able to play. I have learned some important things about myself during this time and I must say I am glad to be me. We all have experiences that throw us for a loop - things we think we will never overcome... but the fact is God does not give us anything we cannot handle - I believe that now more than ever before. I am truly blessed to have my family. Four beautiful children who keep me on my toes and a very loving husband who truly is my best friend. My family is everything to me and I am so grateful for all of them!

New Pictures

It is time for pictues again! I think they turned out so cute - can't wait to see the rest of them!

Oh Katie Katie Katie...

Ok - My cute little Katie Bug... she is my most accident prone child! Again, we were at the doctors on Wednesday for stitches - yes, I said stitches. She was playing in the garage - swinging on a tennis ball Andrew had hung from the ceiling for parking purposes. The string broke and she hit her head on the corner of the wood stairs - OUCH!! I saw it happen...I was walking to the garage to tell her to stop hanging when it broke and she fell (what looked like in slow motion) to the ground, hitting the stairs. Poor girl - it hurt horribly!!! The gash was about an 1.5 inches and bleeding, bleeding, bleeding! So I have Kate screaming because she is in pain and scared, Thomas screaming because he is scared, and Mattie, not really caring about the commotion - singing and dancing around the living room. What a mess!! Anyway, Luckily Andrew was almost home and he was able to grab Kate and take her to the InstaCare and our lovely babysitter let me bring the other two over so I could go meet Kate and Andrew. Again, just like last time - after the initial OUCH! and freaking out subsided - the kid did not cry at all (as can be seen by the above picture taken before the stitches). They numbed her with this cool gel stuff and stitched her up - 6 in all. She did great and was a real trooper. Hopefully we have met our quota with Kate as far as injuries to the face and head go.

Family Vacation

We finally made it on a family vacation!! After 8 years of marriage and 3 kids - we have officially made it on a planned family vacation. We spent a week in Las Vegas - and it was really fun!!! I know - Vegas doesn't seem like the best vacation spot for kids - but I did some research and found a bunch of different kid friendly things to do why we were there. Anyway, we avoided staying at the crazy hotels and ended up in a 3 bedroom condo through Wyndham. My parents joined us on our adventure and everyone really did have a great time.

This is Fremont Street - or old Vegas. If you have never ventured here - you should give it a try. The light show on the ceiling was amazing and the bands that were playing were very good. Old Vegas was kind of like a trip down memory lane- these hotels were all the ones seen in the old movies!! Very fun!

Though Fremont Street is worth the time to visit - do not stay in the hotel in this picture - the Plaza! Andrew and I stayed here years ago because it was cheap - and yes...it was cheap. Didn't dare to take my shoes off while in the room, stinky old smoke smell cheap... I am sure you understand! Anyway - this is a picture of a very cool band that was playing while we were there - Kate thought they were so cool because she could dance to their music!

Cute Kiddos at the Luxor!

Thomas with the cute green M&M. Mattie saw her and let out a rather loud, blood curdling scream which freaked Katie out - needless to say, we did not get the girl's picture with the chocolate candy creature.

At the M&M factory.

Being just plain silly as we wait for the Volcano to erupt in front of the Mirage.

Cool view of Vegas behind the almost ready to erupt volcano.

LOL - On Sunday, we went to walk around the Temple grounds. Katie wanted to touch the water in the fountain - she leaned over the edge and fell head first into the fountain. She was completely soaked!! I couldn't stop giggling because I had this vision of her going over the edge that just made me laugh!! Anyway, she was OK and a little embarrassed, but after about 10 minutes she realized how lucky she was that she was nice and cool and the rest of us were really enjoying the 110 degree heat.

Another picture of here just getting out of her new pool. The cool part about this trip is that I saw one of my favorite Roommates from Ricks College - Becky. She happened to be there with her family when we got to the Temple grounds. Anyway, our kids sure hit it off and we hope to be able to meet up with them again in the near future -the cute little girls walking by Kate are her daughters.

Cool tiger in the Secret Garden at the Mirage.

Kids posing for pictures at the secret garden.

This was by far my most favorite thing we did - the dolphin preserve at the Mirage. What amazing creatures and what a cool exhibit. We spent the most time here because the kids were so fascinated by these creatures. I got some cool video of these guys doing tricks and racing around the pool. What a fun place - would highly recommend this to anyone who is visiting Vegas.

Another cute Dolphin!

Las Vegas has a really cool Children's Museum. This is Mattie - flying her first airplane - genius!!

Hi Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Bill!

Katie doing what she loves most -shopping. It doesn't matter what kind of shopping, she just loves to do it. She spent almost her whole time in this part of the museum.

Thomas and Andrew fixing a car at the Museum.

Well - that is all the pictures I have. I forgot my camera for some of the stuff - but another cool place we went is the Shark Attack at Mandalay Bay as well as we saw the Billagio Fountains and the Caesar Palace "Fall of Atlantis" show. We also hung out at the condo and went swimming and participated in several of the resort activities they had. What a great trip. Our little family really enjoyed spending time together and just relaxing. I think I am ready for another vacation!!

Where has my summer gone???

It is a sad fact of life that when you are having fun - time goes by way to quickly!! School is starting and we are starting to feel the beginnings of fall - yay!! Fall is one of my favorite times of year - purely because of the temperature, however, summer this year was nice. My kids had fun at their daycare this year playing, swimming, etc.. and I just had fun doing whatever needed to be done.
Thomas starts school next Monday - crazy!! He will be in second grade and is starting at a brand new school. He is not too happy with me but I have been trying to get him in a charter school for sometime and finally succeeded. I am hoping this will be a good fit for him since it goes clear through to 9th grade. I like the idea of missing that transition from 6th to 7th grade. I am hoping he will enjoy this new experience as soon as he get used to being there.

Kate is doing well - she is quite upset though that she is not allowed to go to school with Thomas. She informs me everyday that she IS old enough to go to school even though she does not turn 5 until December. There is no changing her mind on this one - so we have experienced a lot of pouting and stomping of feet. Oh well - that is just Kate!

Mattie - she is growing. She has gone from my cute "Q" ball to a full head of curly blond hair. What a cutie!! She is also talking non stop and LOVES to torment her siblings - especially in the car. Her newest word is "bum bum." She spanks her little behind and says "bumbum - mama - tis my bumbum" Anyway - she is so fun and full of of spunk!!!

Life is good at the Smart household! We are living and enjoying our time together. I will make sure to post some school pictures next week.

My beautiful (little) garden...

Isn't it pretty??? I have had so much fun this year planting my little garden. My mom and I read this book called square foot gardening and thought we would give it a try. It has been so easy because this system is so low maintenance - no weeds!!!! Anyway, we have tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes (which we already have been enjoying), strawberries (which the birds are enjoying), green peppers, pumpkins, melons, jalapenos, carrots, and beets. I am also trying melons but they are not doing so hot. I just had to show it off a little because I am so excited that things are actually growing! I think next year we will do two of these boxes.

Last day of soccer

We are officially finished with sports for the summer!! YAY!!! It was fun to watch everyone and Kate did awesome her last game. She was so proud of that little trophy that she kept asking me to take more pictures so she could remember it. Anyway, her little "Green Machines" team did a great job - but Kate did inform me that she was "Done with that" and was ready to go back to dance.