Ugly Sweaters and a Bean Sprout

Story of a bean sprout

Bridger loves to eat Black Beans. He eats them a few times a week in a quesadilla with cheese for lunch or dinner. About a month ago after one such black bean meal...I found a shriveled black bean on my carpet next to my potted plant while I was straightening my family room. I figured that it must have stuck to B's shirt while he was eating and dis-lodged itself from the shirt while he was wandering near my plant some time later. I picked it up and tossed it into the soil of the plant and went on to pick up other toys in the room. (why walk it all the way to the trash can when I could just toss it into the soil where it blended in so nicely anyway right?)

Well...as you can see in the photo, We now have a bean sprout that is about a foot long now! When I first saw it a few days ago, I tried to figure out what it could be and then saw the shriveled back bean casing clinging to one of the little leaves! I guess I do have a green thumb after all!

Warning...these next pictures are a little creepy!

Chad and friends in our ward at the Chamber's "Ugliest sweater party"

Ricki and Tony

(this is probably the best photo chad and I have ever taken together!)
The Chambers threw an awesome "Ugliest Sweater" Christmas Party last week!
We Found these lovely sweaters at the local DI if any of you would like to copy our style! I LOVE that chad is so willing to go all out with me. We didn't just do the ugly sweater...I tried my hardest to get my hair like Kelly's and chad was successful at getting his to look like Zach Morris's from Save by the Bell!
It was a radical party! Great food, great friends, and some really ugly sweaters!!!

Thanks Ricky

Best Christmas Toy EVER!!

Last year my Dad and his wife Susan gave Bridger this Little Tike's Nativity set for Christmas! I pulled it out last week while were were decorating for the holidays and it has been B's favorite toy ever since. Every day he goes into his room, shuts his door, and just plays with it!

I Highly recommend this toy! I can pull it out every Christmas season and then put it back away the rest of the year so he doesn't get sick of it!

Gobble Gobble

Let the workouts begin!!! I amaze myself with how much food I can put down and Thanksgiving is certainly no exception! This year we ventured up North to be with Family. We Were lucky enough to get to spend time with all sides. It was so great to get to see Cousins, Family, and Friends that we don't get to see very often!

Sophie (my niece) and B taking Aunt Jan's dogs for a walk around the house

My Brother Tim teaching B how to fold his arms

Chillin, chillin, mindin my business......

After the feast, while I was in a Triptophanic Coma (sleeping on the floor), my Mom set Bridger and and Sophie loose on their own pudding pies!!! No wonder they love her so much!

He's getting so good at folding his arms for prayers...My baby is growing up way too fast!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to all my Peeps....Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I have so much to be grateful for. It's great to focus on whats most important...the things I usually take for granted on a daily basis. To have a Husband who is so good to me, a healthy baby who brightens every second of every day, incredible family members and the BEST friends in the world, a Testimony of Jesus Christ and the opportunity to get to know about the restored truths of His Gospel...I have all I could ever need and more! I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday and may we all take time to reflect on all we have to be thankful for.

Picture Tag

I'm Horrible at actually doing tags, but this one was easy and quick so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Barb tagged me...you take the 6th photo from the 6th photo file in your computer, post it and write about it.

This is a picture of my little buddies Danny & Israel. Chad and I went back to Guatemala in May of 2006 for a few weeks to visit all of the people I grew to love while I taught English there in College(2003). We tried to make it a sort of humanitarian trip and our Ward & Friends were kind enough to help us round up old missionary suits , shoes, and church clothing for kids and young men. (Many of the young men there go on missions without suit cases, suits, or decent shoes) We had three large suit cases filled! When we got there we found my old Guatemalan Bishop and asked him which young men were preparing for missions that year and they all came over and we fit them in the suits...Then we dispersed the other church clothing to those who needed it most in the ward I use to live in. IT WAS SO AWESOME!!! They were incredibly Grateful....I could go on FOREVER about the experience in detail.

Danny(on the left) was only 2 or 3 when I lived there and he use to pretend to be a little Mono (Monkey) to make me laugh, (He'd scratch under his arms and go "ooo eee aaa aaaa" like a monkey) so when I went back to visit, I brought him the toy monkey that is hanging around his neck. He wore it and protected it from the other kids the whole time we were there. Israel (in the blue) and Danny are Brothers. When we lived there, Some of the other Volunteers and I each invited a kid from our little Village (Patzicia) and took them to Guate City to a Movie and Pizza. Israel was one of those kids that came along with us and none of them had ever been to a movie or out to eat or to the city....You can imagine how funny it was to see there faces when they saw the escalator at the big shopping mall where the theater was, and to see their faces light up at the movie screen! I felt like Daddy Warbucks taking Annie out to the movies. Anywho...(like I said, I could go on forever) ...Living there and getting to know and Love those people is probably one of the best things I have ever done and I cherish all my memories. If it was safe or reasonable to do so...I'd move my family there for 5 years and build an Orphanage or something.

These two kids are near and dear to my heart so finding this picture of them in their new church clothes made my day!

I know this picture will make Kayla & Korbi & Micah Smile

Turkey Trot

I managed to talk Chad into doing the Turkey Trot with me this year (swaying him from his usual sat. morning flag football game is no easy task)...and he even pushed Bridger the whole way! It's a fun 5k run that the city puts on every year before Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful, warm morning and a great way to support the local food bank and win a turkey too!

Savoring the Season

I have a Love-Hate relationship with Fall. I love the smells and the soups I get to cook and the colors of Fall, but I cringe at the thought of what comes after it...WINTER! I hate winter so much that I take it out on Fall! I know, I know...If there were no winter then I wouldn't be able to appreciate the summer...no joy without sorrow...yada yada..I get it, I just think some people are built for different climates, and there is definitely a reason I live in a sunny and warm place!

That being said...I DID get to work on my relationship with Fall earlier this week when some friends invited me to go up to Springdale (right outside Zions) with all of our kids. And I have to say that it was very nice to be able to build positive memories. Thank you ricki and Gals!

You might think that taking all these kids to play in the leaves for a few hours would be a nightmare...(Maybe for the Mom's that had more than one kid to chase around it was)...but I thought it was a GREAT way to spend an afternoon!

(plus, I was desperate to get out of the house that day...We're doing the ONE car thing until we get the one that's broken fixed)

Bridger was a little bumbed that he couldn't ruin the big kid's pile of leaves...at least while they were looking that is.

Going Private

I decided to make my blog private by Dec 1st, but this doesn't mean that I want to boot anyone out from being able to check in...so leave your e-mail address on this post so I can add you.

Muchos Gracias!

Butch Cassidy 10k Run

( mandy, me, ricki, ricki's mom)
Today I ran the 10k race in Springdale (right outside Zions National Park). I'd never ran a 10k before this. I'd never even ran over 5 miles before today. All I have to say about it is...that it was fun, hard, I'm annoyed that I didn't push myself harder, I had GREAT running company, and I'm slow. How did I do?...slow, that's how i did. I ran it in 54 min (8.4 min/mile=Slow)

As I ran past the 5 mile marker all I could think was "Why on earth am I doing this???I don't even like running. I could have totally bought a cute new shirt, or gotten a pedicure...But no, I Paid to do THIS?" But then as soon as I crossed the finish line, I was thinking about how I can train to run it faster next time.

It's an unexplainable addiction.

We had a GROOVY Halloween!

I got to meet Mrs America at our Trunk-or-Treat! (Ricki really fits the part)

Us and our Friends Casey & Meridee

I don't know why I Like Halloween so much. I think it's because that no matter how old I get...I can still dress up. With other Holiday's, once you get old, you have to move on and let the kids enjoy the festivities. But not Halloween, it's awesome! I love seeing everyone's costumes, I get such a kick out of the whole thing.

Sad Pumpkin

This is what our pumpkin looked like after just a few days in this heat...I mean FABULOUS weather! I think it looks like an old man's mouth without his dentures

Pumpkin Carving

I've always liked carving pumpkins...my favorite part is scrapping out the insides and roasting the seeds...Yum. (rinse then off then toss them with some olive oil, seasoning salt and chili powder, bake them at 350 for 15 minor so and waala...roasted pumpkin seeds)This year it was fun to have the little Monster get down and dirty in the pumpkin guts with me!

Visitors

As you can tell...Bridger was very happy to meet his new cousin and to have family come to visit last weekend! ...And I can't say that I wasn't excited too. We've been planning this birthday-bash girls-trip for my mother-in-law's 60th birthday for months! Finally...her big day rolled around and everyone made it into town. This is little Lily (Iliana), She is Jason and Clarissa's new baby.
Bridger with Aunt Shantell

All the sister's and sister-in-laws in the family came into town! Shantell flew in from Kentucky on Wed and her and Terra "kidnapped" Mom and drove her down South. Jen drove up from AZ and Clarissa drove in from Ca.(ok, so it wasn't a "no-boys-allowed" girls trip...Jason came too...Chad needed a buddy). We all surprised her at a restaurant, She had no idea that everyone was here and seeing her so happy and surprised was well worth the wait.

We went to Tuachan to see Les Mis...LOVED it (again).

Then on Friday we went hiking in Zions. (we let the boys come along) The weather was great!

me, Shantell, Terra, and Jen (I think Clarissa was feeding her baby)

Mom & Daughters

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM SMITH!!!

I know I'm really lucky to have such a great mother-in-law. Kathy is such a wonderful Grandma and Bridger just loves her so much....actually I think he's a little obsessed with her.

We had a great weekend and can't wait til we can all get together again...even if husbands have to come.

Family Portrait

Last year my sister gave me a family portrait session for Christmas, Awesome gift?....I thought so too! We finally used it last month and here are a few of my favorites. Abby, the photographer did a great job! Her Site is under "sites i like" on the right, it's called AKstudiosdesign. Her pricing is totally reasonable and she gives you a CD with everything which is rare. Thanks Amanda for the gift and Thanks Abby for the photos!

Trip to Arizona

This trip was LONG overdue. I grew up in Tempe Arizona and so we have lot of family and friends there. We hadn't been down since before Birdger was born, so last weekend...we decided to go! We packed as much fun into one weekend as humanly possible. Here's some pics of out trip...

We were cramping B's style by keeping him strapped in his seat for so long, so we stopped at the Hoover Dam. Then we stopped in Prescott to visit Chad's Bro. and his Family for the evening.

We were able to see our good friends the Carusos. Chad and Justin were Mission companions in Mass. They are like Brothers when they get together and it was great to see them!

We stayed with Mandy and Matt Westover and their cute girls Kali(3) and Tadum. Mandy has been my Best Friend since Preschool. We were pretty much joined at the hip all growing up. Her family has always treated me like one of their own and were such great examples to me! When my parents decided to move to Utah after my Freshman year of High school...I was devastated because i was terrified to be without her. We have tried to get together at least once a year since i moved. Even though it was easier before we got married and had kids, we've somehow been able to pull it off!
We left Bridger and Tadum alone for a few minutes and these are the shanangans they got into... bag of marshmallows dumped all over the couch!
It was so fun to see our kids play together! Before we came down, Mandy warned me that Tadum was going through a "rough phase" right now and she was worried she'd try to wrestle Bridger. But little did she know that wrestle is bridger's middle name. They played great together!

All the kiddos on the train....All Aboard?
Sara (Mandy's Sister) and her little girl Ella on the train ride

We took Bridger on the Ferris wheel at the October-fest...I don't think he loved it...
But he did love dancing to the music!
Us and the Westovers at the October-fest in down town Tempe! Great food, music, and beer...no beer for us of course, but i think October-fest is just another name for beer-fest. Don't worry, We got there early and left before the drunkards started yodeling.
"This awesome cake is for me??" Kali had a rockin 3rd birthday carnival! Complete with cotton candy, face painting, and even a blow-up jumping castle. Mandy really knows how to throw a party!
Matt and Chad hard at work on the cotton candy








We took the kids to a new outdoor shopping mall that had fountains and splash pads all over, and I couldn't keep Bridger out of them. He had a blast!

Me and Mandy
Thanks mandy and matt! (and mom & dad painter and the rest of the family) We had a great time! Miss you already Mandy!