Going Private

I have decided to take my blog private! I will "privatize" it on Friday, September 12th - that's in two weeks. I am still a little suprised about this myself, and I wouldn't do it, except that I have a friend who showed me a really cool way to make it easier on those who still want to view my blog. Here are the steps to take if you want to keep reading my blog:

• Leave a comment with your email address so I can invite you! (I won't publish these comments so your info won't be out there for the world to see.)
• If you use Google Reader change my blog address to http://smithupdater.blogspot.com/
• If you have my listed under your "friends and family" list to change the address to http://smithupdater.blogspot.com/

From now on, each post I do on this "real blog" will be announced on the http://smithupdater.blogspot.com/ blog. I will put a link on the "updater blog" that will take you directly to my "real blog." This works out really well because you are always notified of new posts and don't have to take special "trips" to view my blog only to find that there are no new posts.

Obviously if you don't use Reader you don't need to worry about the second step, but I would appreciate you changing the address on your friends and family list so that if anyone is trying to find me they can comment on that blog and I can invite them to view the "real one!"

Hopefully this works out well for everyone and if you are confused, please let me know so I can clarify! Thanks. :)

Busy Busy Busy

This week has been so crazy and busy that I feel like it should be over but it is only Wednesday!! Scott started school this week so we haven't seen much of him the last few days. He also (nicely) offered to work for two extra days in order to train the person they hired to replace him so we had to squeeze that in too. This makes my life more challenging in many ways but mostly because I get to deal with Stephen all by myself for 95% of the day which is so exhausting! I really miss Scott being home!

In addition, we have been staying at my parents house with my youngest sister, Celsea, while my parents take my other sister, Chery, to BYU. Celsea and I have both been so sad and really miss her already. The nicest part about staying here is that my wonderful mom prepared several meals and froze them so I don't really have to worry about cooking or groccery shopping for the week!

Stephen has not been sleeping well here and has become EXTREMELY accident prone - I can't take my eyes off of him for a second because he will more than likely hurt himself. For example, the first night we were here he tipped over a stool and it landed on his toes, crushing one of his little toenails pretty badly. It looks so gross because it has turned all black. I think I will take him to the doctor tomorrow because it looks pretty swollen and weird. Then, (I hate to admit this one) he got his hands on Scott's razor and cut both of his thumbs! They are minor cuts but he was bleeding for a while. I do have to say that we never leave razors within reach at home but when one is staying somewhere else it is easy to forget! Stephen has also become a mountain climber since comming here and I have caught him "about to fall" more times than I can count! Hopefully we survive!

(Sorry! No pictures because I didn't bring my camera!)

Grandma's 80th Birthday

Last weekend we went to Thatcher, Arizona to celebrate Scott's grandma's 80th birthday. This was also another day trip - the drive is about 3 hours each way and we had Scott's brother Josh and sister-in-law, Shay ride in our car with us. We had a lot of fun and Steve was even really good because Aunt Shay and Uncle Josh brought their portable DVD player and the movie "Cars" - a big hit! The whole trip all I think I heard out of him was "vrrrroooom!"

The "kids" (Scott's mom and aunts and uncles) threw a big lunch party for Grandma at the church. There were a lot of grandkids and great grand kids there as well. It was fun to see the cousins and have our little ones play together. The "cool place" for the kids to hang out was on the stage so I spent most of my time watching Stephen to keep him from falling. We tried to get all the little kids together on this set of stairs for a picture - it was a battle as each kid would sit for only a second and then run off. Miraculously, Stephen stayed put the whole time and was grinning for every picture. You will notice that he especially likes the one where he is the only boy with all the girls! Grandma looks very good for being 80 - I hope I still look that young when am 80!

BYU or Bust

My little brother, Allen, (okay, little isn't very accurate, he is 6' 4" but younger than me) is leaving for Provo tomorrow. This comes as a big surprise for all of us including him! He just graduated from BYU in April and was preparing to attend ASU law school starting today. Well, on Friday afternoon he got a phone call from BYU saying that they had decided to accept him at the last minute! Very exciting news as BYU's law school is higher ranked than ASU, not to mention thousands of dollars cheaper. So, the poor kid had basically today (Monday) to get all of his affairs in order - ie. return text books, drop out of classes at ASU, find a place to live in Provo (a trick when you aren't there!) not to mention a hundred other little things. He managed to get the big stuff taken care of and now he will drive up to Utah tomorrow and start school on Wednesday! I am so sad and already missing him - I thought that we would get to hang out a lot for the next few years but now he is going to be far away again. I think this is all made so much worse when you add in the fact that my little sister, Chery, will be starting at BYU as a freshman in a week so she is leaving too. Luckily I still have my baby sister, Celsea, to see often. Sigh, I know this is normal family stuff but it is still so lonely! Good luck to Allen and Chery!

Stephen and the Shoes

Lately, Stephen has been finding a facination with shoes - Mommy's flip flops, Grandpa's shoes, Daddy's shoes, Uncle Allen's shoes, pretty much any that he finds. I know that a lot of kids do this but when it is your own little one you find it so adorable and remarkable! Allow me to share some of his funny little "shoe moments."


These pictures show him wearing his new Sketchers that light up with flashing red and blue LEDs when he steps - they are still a little too big for him but he loves to put them on and run around the house - you know that the flashing lights make you run faster don't you?

Then, here he is wearing Mommy's Sunday shoes - high heels even!

Motorcycle Hottie

We are so happy to have found another motorcycle! This one is in much better condition than the other one and is waaaaaaaay cheaper to insure! It is perfect for our needs and I have to say that Scott looks pretty hot when he rides it. For anyone out there who knows about motorcycles it is a Yamaha FXR 600R. I don't know what it means but there you go! More pictures to follow of Scott on his new ride.

The Pain

On Friday afternoon we sold the motorcycle. We got the same money for it as what we put into it so it was a good thing! (Apparently, motorcycles are much easier to sell than cars because we only had it listed for a few days.) Even though we were glad to sell it, it was still kind of a downer because we really liked that bike and now we are going to have to find another one! Then, on the same day, Scott had to turn in his two week notice at work since classes start in two weeks. SO SCARRY! We were both in tears over the whole thing because now we are going to be sooooo poor and living off of student loans for a long time! My poor hubby was having a very sad weekend but seems like he is back to normal today - he is busy so he doesn't have so much time to thing about everything. I have come to the conclusion that change is painful - no matter how many changes we go through it hurts every time! Hopefully all of this stress, planning, and sacrifice pays off in the end!

Super Bike

Last Friday we bought a motorcycle. I know, busy weekend huh? It is a 1995 Honda, CBR. We found it on Craigslist for a very good deal, and as you can see from the picture it is very cool! The purpose in buying this motorcycle is so that when Scott quits his current job (which gives him a company truck) to go to school full time (in less than a month!!!!) he will drive the motorcycle around so that I will still have the car to drive to my little part time preschool job. Well, now we are selling the motorcycle after owning it less than a week. Its not what you think - Scott didn't wreck it and it still runs great. We called to get insurance for it and the insurance lady (who we love) said that because of the year it should be pretty low to cover it (we were thinking $20-$30 a month). So after a short time she called back and said she was surprised but it was going to cost $109 a month!!! (Just for the baisic stuff to keep you legal!) Apparently, we bought a "super bike" which are very expensive to insure. Whatever. So it is back on Craigslist and, yes, we do still plan to buy another bike after this one sells. How do we get ourselves into these situations?

Duncan, Arizona

Last weekend we went to Duncan, Arizona for a family reunion. It was the Smith/Lunt reunion for Scott's dad's side of the family. If you don't know, Duncan is a tiny little town in Eastern Arizona, about 30 minutes past Thatcher and Safford - about a 4 hour drive for us. It was quite an adventure as we carpooled with My sister-in-law, Brooke, her husband, Justin, and thier two kids Talan, and Atley (aged 2 years, and 1 year). So yes, countin Stephen that is three kids, all under the age of three, in one car for a total of 8 hours in one day! Let's just say that there have been more enjoyable trips on other occasions. While we were in Duncan we went to a parade (collected tons of candy), visited the grave sites where many Smith ancestors were buried (the kids didn't care for this part because they were hungry and we wouldn't let them climb all over everything), ate lunch, and visited with family. By the way, this whole adventure started at 5:00 am so when we got home we were very TIRED! Here are some pictures of the experience:

Waiting for the parade to start.

Scott's Grandma and Grandpa Smith's headstone.

In the car - this happens to be on the way home - Stephen's facial expression clearly shows his feelings.

Under Construction

If you check my blog and it looks strange or bad or weird it is because I am working on making my own background. I am tired of trying out stuff on my blog and it not working and then changing it back to something that looks normal so what you see is what you get for now! Obviously, I don't really know what I am doing so please don't laugh at my efforts. I am determined to learn how to do this. I am also practicing my new hobby of digital scrapbooking and still have a lot to learn. One day I will get it right!