a real shmigift

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Thursday, May 15, 2008

SuRpRisE!!

Jake and Aaron turned 28 on Tuesday! It was a pretty low key day... the boys finished off the school year... Woo hoo! 4th years now! After school we had dinner at Fuddruckers and cake at Aaron and Kristen's house. Then, last night Kristen and I threw the boys a surprise birthday party! A day after their real B-Day since more people could come then. It was fun! Ashley and Dave were nice enough to let us use their house for the party, and Lorna and a friend babysat like 15 kids so all the adults could be child free for a few hours! What troopers. About 20 of our friends came, so it was a great turnout! We had a BBQ dinner and pie... and Aaron led us in a hot game of werewolf. Great practice for the Smith reunion coming up next week! (Watch out Smiths! We're ready... Haha.) It was tricky getting everything together without the guys catching on... especially since Jake was home pretty much the whole day of the party. If it had been held at one of our houses, I don't think we could have pulled it off. Anyhow, it was a fun night! Thanks to everyone that helped. I need to get some pictures from Kristen... she got the pic of the boys walking into the house and the big "Surprise!" but here are a few I took...

Blowing out their candles...

Werewolf!

Aaron... pro moderator

Mandee... defend yourself! haha...

Christi, Aaron, and Matt...

Joe, Kip, and Jake

Michelle, Kris, Joe, and Lyssa...

Happy Birthday boys! I hope 28 is a good year for both of ya! Love you Jake!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Dishwasher...

Usually Luke eats with us at the dining room table, but when I know he'll make a huge mess, we make him eat in his high chair. The other night we had pizza for dinner and his tray was all gross and saucy when he finished... I really hate cleaning the thing off, (although I guess it's easier then cleaning red sauce off the rug under the table) so I asked him jokingly if he would wash his tray. He got super excited about it and really wanted to, so I let him go for it. I didn't think to get the camera until he'd been working on it for quite a while and everything was pretty much clean... wish I had a "before" shot of his messy tray! He did a good job... squeaky clean tray... along with our pizza cutter holder thing and a few other dishes that were in the sink. Here's what I caught of our little dishwasher...
Concentrating on the job...

He loves standing on chairs to look at stuff... ok, ya probably not that safe, but...

Happy and doing a good job...

Done with the mess for a while now... figuring out that playing in the water is more fun

Dumping it all over the kitchen tile is even more fun...

Wow... squirting it out of the faucet is even more fun!...

Look dad, mom let me make a huge wet mess...

Next time I'll stop him after the food gunk is cleaned off of the tray! I was mopping water off the counter top and floor for a while after he finished! He was just having too much fun to stop him. Haha.. If you don't mind a really wet kitchen, I'll drop him off at your house and he'll clean your nasty dishes for you. :)

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Things my little man says...

I love listening to Luke learning to talk. Here are some cutie things he has said lately...

*So, I was cleaning the house in my pjs the other morning and my shirt (ya, it's probably time I retire it until i'm done being prego) had hiked up while vacuuming. Anyhow, my belly was showing a little bit. Luke was across the room and had this really concerned look on his face. He walked over and yelled "Mama, wha happened!?... O Oh!" and pulled my shirt down. Nice. Even he notices that my belly is getting big now. Whenever he sees my belly he's asking "wha happened?"

*I was talking on the phone a while ago and he was eating pickles... he loves them. He came over and put his hands out to me for more pickles and ended up touching my clothes... I said something like eew, Luke, you made me smell like pickles! He just smelled his little hands and got this really big smile on his face and said "MMmmmm!! Mells like pickles! Yum!"

*He loves taking bubble baths lately.... loves it the most when the water in the tub isn't very full yet so he can stand up easily. He called me into the bathroom and said "Mama... more bubbles!" ... showing me that he can stand up and pee in the water... ya buddy, you are making a few more bubbles... sick.

*We have had to make quite a few trips to target and walmart lately... he loves looking at the toys. When we get in the car he' s always asking "a go see buzz toy? an woody toy? an bikes? an bwocks?"... apparently they are his favs in the toy section. Haha. Jake went into his room to check on him the other night and apparently he dreams about toys. Haha. He was talking in his sleep... "wow,.. toys... ya, toys..." he was going on and on talking out loud in his sleep about toys. So cute.

*Another big topic of conversation with him is about the car wash. We had just gotten out of HEB a couple of days ago and he saw the car wash across the parking lot. I didn't know he remembered going there before, but he told us he wanted to "go cawash." I guess he had forgotten that he really is afraid of them. The whole time he was crying and saying "loud water! cary!! (his version of scary) "A go home NOW!!!" Must have been pretty traumatic for our little guy because he keeps bringing up the "cary cawash"...

Tax return, I love you!

Here's our sexy camera we picked up yesterday. I've been wanting to get into photography more, and thanks to this I can! Woo Hoo! It's a Nikon DX40... a basic digital SLR. I'm that excited our pictures will be much better from now on! Yay. Happy Mothers Day, Fathers Day, and Happy Birthdays to us.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

friends, flowers, and sprinklers...

One of my favorite people and her family have been visiting San Antonio this past week. Jess and I were roommates at BYU for 3 years.... it's fun to catch up with old roomies! I finally got to meet baby Taggert. He's such a cutie. Luke thinks he is pretty great too... keeps talking about "baby Tagg". Last night we went to dinner with their family at Papasitos (longest wait there EVER!!) Seriously, we called in at 6:30 to put our name on the list, arrived around 7:15, and didn't leave until after 10:00! Jenni intr

oduced me to Papasito's Chicken Morelia tacos when we moved to Texas... MMmmm.. I wanted them SO BAD last night... searched the menu for them... and they're not there anymore!!! SAD DAY!!!! They were my favorite. Apparently the restaurant stopped making them about 6 months ago. Annoying! They won't make them anymore.

Anyway, the tacos I ended up getting were good but nothing near good old Morelia tacos! I guess that's enough about the tacos... haha. Here are some picture

s we took of the cuties... Tagg and Luke...

Other things we've been up to...
Yard work! Our poor lawn had been neglected all winter and over the past few weeks we've been trying to bring it back to life. We have planted new flowers, fertilized, and cleaned things up. Hopefully it starts looking better! Luke had lots of fun helping! He gets excited when we turn on the sprinklers too. Can't keep himself out of them! He tells me at least ten times during the day.. "a go outside an get wet?!" "and mama get wet!? and dada get wet!?" He LOVES watching us get wet. Jake is a good sport about it and plays in the sprinklers with him. I'm usually not in a sprinkler mood :)
These little star flowers are my favorite. We planted some Zinnias and Geraniums too. Lets hope they live! Seems like the only thing we don't kill at our house is Lantana. Oh, and we got a little carried away at the store with baby girl things already. Went to go and "look" at things and came home with a bedding set and a dress. I'll post a pic of the bedding later... it's so cute!... pink, brown, and white... polka dots, stripes, and flowers. Ya, we're just a little excited! ;)

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Baby is a....

Girl!!! With 17 votes for girl and 10 for boy, the majority guessed right on the little poll thing. :) Good job guys! This pregnancy is just the same, if not easier then my first, so I figured it had to be a boy. It's fun to be wrong sometimes! We're excited for our little girl to come join the family! Can't wait!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Scary??...

When we took Luke to see Horton Hears a Who he FREAKED OUT when the preview for Ice Age 3 came on. really. I've never heard him scream like that. This boy is never scared of things. This wasn't a crying sort of scream... more like I'm scared-for-my-life scared scream that didn't end until the preview was over. His little body was totally shaking. So sad. At the theater, he relaxed soon after the preview was over. For those who haven't seen this movie trailer, here it is... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44t77yLtudE&feature=related
We thought maybe the loud theater sound system freaked him out. Nope. We can't figure out what is so scary about this except for maybe he's afraid of falling?? Or maybe the squirrel is somehow scary? Anyway, we sort of forgot about that until yesterday. We were watching movie trailers on the computer and came across Ice Age 3 again. Luke started screaming hysterically when it came on. Freaked out just like at the movie theater. Screaming, shaking, covering his eyes, everything. He wouldn't even come near the computer for the rest of the day (and he had only watched the first little bit of said preview). Jake asked him about the scary squirrel movie before bed last night and he started crying and freaking out yet again. We're going to be avoiding Ice Age now. Why is it so terrifying??...

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Cutie #2...

So, two weeks from today we find out if our little family addition will be a girl or a boy. Woo hoo! I found out Luke was a little boy when I was 19 weeks along, so it was unexpected and exciting when my Dr. scheduled my ultrasound for 18 weeks this time around! I'm so impatient with this... don't know how people wait to find out when the baby is actually born. I see fun things about #2 being either a girl or a boy. Would love for Luke to have a little brother to play with, and it would be fun to see what life with a little girl is like too. I just want to know! :) So, I put a poll up in the corner... what do you think this little one is?

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Spring Break in Washington...

Jake's much anticipated spring break came and went way too fast! We had tons of fun though! Friday the 28th, right after Jake got off school, we went straight to the airport and flew to Phoenix. Saturday we spent the day with the Smith side of the family. Luckily we barely caught Josh, Jenni, and the boys who were still visiting from CA until Sunday morning. We hung out with them along with the Arizona Smiths at the park. Jenni and I got away for a little bit to do some shopping... I found a cute jacket on super clearance. Score! Sunday we spent the day with the Gift side of the fam. Had a tasty BBQ and hung out with family and friends after church. Weather in AZ was perfect... not too hot yet. I took off for a run around 7 in the morning monday and it was gorgeous running weather... aaaa...I love that there is no humidity there! Monday we met Jake's old mission companion, Brigham, and his wife for lunch at good old Chipotle. The rest of the day we hung out with family. Tuesday morning Jake and I were off to Washington DC. Thanks a bunch to grandmas and grandpas for watching Luke so we could have the week to ourselves! Luke had fun being spoiled by the grandparents!
In DC we stayed with Brendon and Taryn. Brendon and Jake were roommates at BYU. They have visitors all the time lately, so they are the perfect hosts! Seriously! Pros. They gave us a list of everywhere they thought we should visit... and had tons of info about everything. It was great. Brendon has the awesome job of working on President Bush's speeches. Isn't that so cool!? Ya. So, he was able to give us some pretty awesome tours of the White House. I loved seeing all the entertaining rooms in the White House... the awesome flowers everywhere... things like the china various presidents have used. Thanks to Brendon we got to see the West Wing... stuff people don't get to see without White House connections. Pretty awesome. Anyway, thanks again guys for a fun time! We took a million pictures on our trip. Although I narrowed them down a lot to post there are still tons on here, so brace yourself for some favorites! :)
Here are some pics from the White House. Unfortunately, pictures are only allowed in the rose garden, the press room, and outside. Cameras weren't even allowed on our first white house tour.
Us... in the front yard of the White House...

Jake, Me, Taryn, and Brendon in the White House press room...

In the rose garden. The oval office is behind us.

Another cool oval office shot. The rose garden is so pretty... even at night!

Another rose garden pic...

the oval office...

West wing entrance...

On to other DC sites...

We ate at so many good places! Here's Jake at a Mexican restaurant we ate at the first day. I've learned to sit in the spot that has the view of the TV if ESPN is on... otherwise, that captures his attention... like it's doing here.

Washington National Monument....
We FROZE waiting for tickets in the morning to go up to the top of the monument. It was way cool though. The view is worth the wait.

Some shots from the top....
on this one you can see the Lincoln Memorial in the distance...

This view showed the White House...

View of the capital and some Smithsonian buildings...

It was Cherry Blossom festival while we were visiting! I'm glad we got to see the trees this time of year!

We waited a long time for Holocaust Memorial Museum tickets too... AMAZING museum. Just be warned... they spare no details about the Holocaust. Very eye-opening place.

Having fun riding the Metro!

One of our Metro cards... I'm dorky and like to keep stuff like this for scrapping! haha

I LOVE Cosi bagels!!!! We stopped here a couple of times. MMMmmm..

Jake in front of the Library of Congress...

an interior library shot. the architecture was so cool...

We took a tour of the Capitol and thought it was fun that Brigham Young is sitting in there!

Awesome artwork in the Capitol... this pic is of the dome inside...

Outside view of the Capitol...

Korean War Memorial...

Aaaa... more cherry blossoms!

Eating some great Thai food with Brendon and Taryn. Brendon found out earlier that day he's been accepted to Stanford for his MBA, so they're off to CA soon! Congrats again!

We took a tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It was fun seeing how money is made!

I loved all the big old trees everywhere there! Such a nice change from the little scrubbies in TX! haha..

So many cool memorials

My favorite memorial... the Lincoln

We checked out Ford's theatre and the house across the st. where Lincoln died

Arlington National Cemetery

Tomb of the unknown soldier...

It started raining when we were at the cemetery... excuse the hair :)

A few pics from the Natural History Smithsonian...

Hope diamond..

Marie Antoinette's earrings....

dorks at the Imax...

Air and Space Smithsonian... I met a new friend...

stud in front of some planes...

American HIstory Smithsonian stuff...
Seinfield's puffy shirt and Mr. Roger's sweater...

George Washington's uniform and sword...

Nauvoo temple sunstone...

I was sort of skeptical about going to the International Spy Museum.. but now I'm SO glad we went! It was so cool! One of my favorite things that we did actually. All sorts of interesting espionage info and spy gear... go see it! We were there for pretty much all of Saturday before we left to go back to AZ.

outside the spy museum.. it's huge inside.

So, we ended up spending time at the White House (West and East wings), the Capitol, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Natural History Smithsonian, American History Smithsonian exhibit (the museum itself is being renovated right now), the Air and Space Smithsonian, the National Archives, the Holocaust Museum, International Spy Museum, Arlington Cemetary, the Jefferson, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, WW2, Washington, and FDR Monuments, and probably some things I am forgetting right now! It was a crazy week! We were literally running to and from different places to make appointment times and things.

We flew back to AZ Saturday night and stayed at my parents house. It was fun to be away for a little bit by ourselves but it was fun to get back to Luke. Sunday we flew back to TX... grandparents had talked about flying on planes quite a bit with Luke explaining to him where we went while he was at their house so he was so excited to fly on a plane and come back home! Loved looking out the plane window and was so good! Anyway, back to school and Texas life...