THE SMITH FAMILY

go blazers!

2012-02-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

where's waldo?? i'm in the very back second in from the left :)

so this is me & my choir. we were invited to sing the national anthem at the portland trailblazer basketball game a couple weeks ago! and it was awesome. the portland ensign choir and orchestra is such a cool group to be a part of. it has literally given me back some sanity every tuesday night. i have been away from the music scene more than i would like since graduating from BYU. and i never realized how much i missed it until i found this. i love this choir. to check us out, you can visit our website by clicking here.

we also had an article published about us and this game in the deseret news this past weekend! check it out!!

5 years old

2012-02-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

ok, so while we're on a birthday kick here, i should start at the beginning of the year with jagger's bday. i can't believe he turned 5 this year! he will start kindergarden! and looking at these pictures just blows my mind at how big he is getting and how old he is.

he is a very very smart kid.
he loves to draw.
he loves stories.
he likes to wrestle and play robot with dad.
he started taking piano lessons from mama.
he is still so ticklish.
he loves ella.
he's a great helper in the kitchen.
he is good at cleaning up the many messes he makes.
his favorite song is jingle bells.
he still has a really hard time being obedient.
his favorite movies are toy story(s), megamind, rango, and cars'.
he says sincere prayers.
he has a great imagination.
he loves to play board games.
he loves to go on walks and go to the park.
he likes getting his picture taken and likes to take pictures.
he loves clothes. he picks out what he wears and really cares what he looks like.
his favorite foods are enchiladas and tortellini.
he loves to play pretend (lava, bad guys, submarine, baby, etc).
he has a good heart.

for his birthday, we stayed up til midnight (new years eve) and did some fireworks. played nintendo (old school), and watched rio. his birthday fell on a sunday this year, so we did some presents before church and spent the day relaxing. he requested enchiladas and brownies. later on in the week, we told him he could pick 2 friends to take to OMSI (oregon museum of science and industry). he picked his girl friends he goes to school with (go figure). we had a really fun time and everybody was really good.

and as an ode to jaggy, here's one of his stories he came up with a couple months ago:

once upon a time, there was a little frog with big eyes. and he had a friend named katcho. katcho was a lizard. they wanted to go for a walk. on their walk they found a tiger. the tiger was nice and he wanted to be their friend. all of them, the frog with big eyes, katcho the lizard (who happened to be red) and the tiger went to go play at the park. katcho turned himself green, because that's what lizards do. and then katcho started to turn into lots of different colors, because that's what lizards do. it started to get dark and the rains came from the dark clouds. then they all raced home. the big eyed frog hopped and katcho and the tiger ran fast. katcho got tired of running in the rain so he climbed on the tiger's back and opened his umbrella. when they got home, it stopped raining and the sun came out. they wanted to go outside and play, but they decided to never go to the rainy park again. so they went inside and had lunch.
the end. :)

this is a drawing of blackie the horse who went up this really long sidewalk and jumped off into the pond..alma tells this story in the 'pinkie and blackie' series and jagger just loves it.

happy birthday jagger. you are one special kid.

love you so,

mama

the 1 year old...

2012-02-04T22:15:00.002-07:00

yes, today is our little civil's birthday. i cannot believe it was 1 year ago (click here or here) when he was born! time seems to have flown, yet it also feels like he's been a part of this family for much longer. is it bad to admit that i originally wanted my 3rd one to be a girl?? well, thinking back on those thoughts just makes me cringe, because i can't imagine life without civil. i wouldn't trade him for the most perfect girl in the whole world. plus, i already have one of those :) we love our mr beans so much. we had a really fun day today. will be posting more about it soon. just wanted to share one of his pictures with you of today because he's just too cute. we love you civ!

ps. another shout out should go to my bestie, kristen! only fitting that i have one of my kids on your birthday. love you girl.

pps. you think my kids all look the same? well prepare to be shocked, shocked i say...click here to see some videos of civil 4 years ago :)

sun sun sun!

2012-02-01T15:42:00.001-07:00

what a great way to usher in february! hope you're out enjoying some...

my birthday present

2012-01-31T15:54:00.004-07:00

so i had a birthday back in november...and yes, yes, it is the last year in my twenties! hard to believe, but at the same time i'm looking forward to turning 30! ok, so alma (the sweetheart) got me a gift card to lowes and attached it to a paper that said some things about me he loves (yeah, he's the best like that). and also included a print out of the text conversation he had with his mom giving her permission to paint what is now my piano! we had been talking about it for sometime, but wanted to make sure it was cool w his mom (since she gave it to me when we got married & it had been their family piano for forever). so the best part about the surprise, was having the go ahead, and alma committing to doing most/all of the work to get it done! i had quite a hard time deciding on the color. i thought something really bold would be fun. but alma liked the idea of something more neutral, yet still unique. i was thinking turquoise, powder blue, slate, grey....hmmmm. so we decided on a color called 'academy grey' that looked like a slate. took apart the piano, taped it up, primed and put on 2 coats. it was a beautiful color, but really, really different...like no grey in it at all (the bottom left pic). so i tried to have the peeps at lowes put some darker tint in it, but it didn't work out, so the nice man ended up just swapping out my half used paint can for a new one of another color. (i must have been lookin pretty good that day :) this time i chose a charcoal grey. (insert alma's I TOLD YOU SO here!) and i LOVE it. it looks about a bajillion times better than before. thanks almee for all your hard work and the best present ever. i think i play better on it :)

second page photos courtesy of jagger on the iPhone :)

one more...

2012-01-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

found this little one from Christmas Eve with all the kiddies in their new pjs...thanks grandma!

christmas 2011

2012-01-22T16:28:00.001-07:00

ok, so while it's still january, i'm going to finally get around to our Christmas holiday. it was lovely. now that I've waited so long, i don't have all those amazingly boring (for everyone else to read) details of how our day(s) went, so suffice it to say...it was lovely. what we do best, here are some pictures:

she thinks she's hot stuff in her glasses...just like mom :)

jagger gave v cars 2

civil has surprised me and really, really likes playing with all his new toys..didn't think he'd be that into them.

yes, it was a really fun year with the kids; watching them so excited to open their presents and their reactions to all their cool stuff. the best part was being together, going to church and worshipping the Christ child on Christmas day.

out takes

2012-01-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

here are some pictures we took the same day as our Christmas card challenge extravaganza. we sure make cute babies :)

vienna loves her new pink bike she got from potty training! my favorite part is the baby seat up front :)

{V}

2012-01-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

(ie: vievers, the veast, v v, angel, baby, princess)
yes, she has turned into quite the princess these days. a diva. and i love it. except for the demanding to wear sparkly summer dresses every day (she only has one) and refusing to let any one help her get dressed, and wailing and thrashing and screaming when she can't do it/gets stuck. ok, i kind of love that stuff too. she is getting to be such a big girl. and i love her more than words can express. i can't even begin to describe what she does that makes her so sweet and funny. she is her brothers little shadow, it's so ridiculous. and lately she's really shown an interest in singing and choir and asks to come with me (which i absolutely love and hope she grows up loving music like i do!) see for yourself some of sweet and crazy vienna...

and alma captured these of the lovely while she was sleeping a couple months ago. i just love love love them:

here alma accidentally woke her up

and then she fell back asleep...

...like this :)

what a crazy fun girl she is. our sweet baby v.

a visit from grandma

2012-01-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

she came pretty impromptu & it was fun to have her. she helped me get started on a major project i had decided to do (more to come on that) and had fun with the kids...

one of my faves

jagger, the stinker, refused to take pictures w gma, but gave us this one afterward.

civil civ

2012-01-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

so he's growing at a rapid pace over here...hard to keep up! already he's 11 months, and i haven't posted any pictures of the past couple months. so here's a quick recap:

around 7 months...

around 8-9 months

around 10 months...

and to the present (11months)...

chubba bubba! look at that face...like he's up to something :)

one of my favorite pictures EVER (above)

so there you have it in pictures. i don't really know what to say. we couldn't love this little guy any more. he's certainly thrown me for a loop...as far as what to expect. i thought to myself, 'ok, this is how my kids do things' and he's not following suit here. he's my worst sleeper (at night), already has 4 teeth (others didn't get theirs until they were about a year), actually gets sick/bothered when he's teething, really, really loves food...more so than the other 2...and that's really saying something! he can say dad dad, and when i ask him to say mama, he always says 'dad dad'. little punk. and he has already started to pick up sign! my others didn't sign back til well after a year, so that's been amazing and really nice to communicate a bit better. he signs more and food. and if that doesn't work or he doesn't feel up to it, he has a horrendous scream. but never has a mama loved a baby so much. i couldn't imagine my life without him. we all love him and we're so happy he's ours. he's almost a year, so more pictures will be coming up shortly!! love you c man.

cannon beach

2012-01-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

we went to the coast this past summer on a not so summer-y day. but still had a ton of fun...and it wasn't crowded because of it :) i love the coast. and i loved this beach.

really big slides...

2012-01-09T16:58:00.001-07:00

this girl has no fear.

summer fun

2012-01-07T22:24:00.002-07:00

more of what our last year entailed...

potty training. she's a champ! WAY easier than jagger.

wearing mustaches

smores in our backyard

shooting. old gingerbread houses make perfect targets! :)

drawing with chalk on daddy's grill

daredevil bike riding at the skate park

living it up at the farmers markets, mmmmmm

going for walks and sitting on trees

and more bike riding

multnomah falls

2012-01-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

well, we went, we saw, we conquered...and when i say 'we' i mean alma and the older 2 kids. civ & i stayed behind and enjoyed the view from below.

swing

2012-01-04T22:37:00.001-07:00

alma's been known to build a good swing. a really good swing. it usually entails some crazy high tree, his monkey tree climbing skills, and lots of excitement. this is right in back of our house. the kids LOVED it. like they would cry in between their 'turns'...it was a bit ridiculous.

sun gazer joined us for a ride...

...as well as ella & carter

downtown blossoms

2012-01-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

so the blossoms in the springtime here are just amazing by the river. see for yourself:

circa april 2011

the backyardigans

2012-01-02T22:08:00.005-07:00

some oldies but goodies from right around when civil was born...(nearly a year ago!) i love how these two are not only friends now (a huge feat in and of itself, the first year and a half of vienna's life i didn't know if it would ever happen!), but they are best friends. they love each other so much and have such a great time. they also know how to bug the crap out of the other and fight like cats & dogs. ah siblings!

it's a new year

2012-01-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

...aaaand i'm going to be better about updating...
and it's my jagger's birthday today. 5 YEARS OLD! i have a 5 year old. that just seems crazy. to think my little man came that long ago. he's not so little these days. i just love him. his photoshoot and many, many more things to come. but we are going to be playing catch up a bit over here dear fans. (and by fans i mean fan, aka. mom)

so here's to 2012! it's going to be a great year! i can feel it.
hope you all had a very merry Christmas, we certainly did. here's the latest snapshot that went out in our Christmas cards.

enjoy :)

ps. please don't mind the uber chubby face of mine. we did a 'christmas card challenge' where we took the picture, printed, picked up, wrote our little recap/Christmas message, assembled, stuffed, stamped, addressed, and mailed the glad tidings within 12 hours (whew!). so no, there was no time to do my hair, hence accentuating the round butterball of a face i have.... but don't look at me, look at those 3 super cute weasels i have that gave me said butterball face...totally worth it :)

stevens family fun

2011-09-21T14:05:00.001-06:00

after alicia's graduation, the parentals, sisters and us headed down to salt lake for a little stevens family fun time. we stayed at my grandparents house and did lots of fun things like bowling, boondocks, racquetball, hiking, phase 10, movie night (megamind...one of our new faves), picnic and rides at the park, and crafties. it was fun to be together and play. thanks familia!!

grammy & grandpa looked so glamorous on sunday, i couldn't help but take some pictures...

aside from the amazing view, they also have a wonderful garden...and all the raspberries were ripe & ready for pickin

the outfit jagger is wearing is one that my dad wore when he was that age :)

the following are from throughout the week, caught on my trusty iPhone or by moniquer shneaker

we also got some family pictures while together, courtesy of our best cuz zoë

the end.

{6 months}

2011-09-14T14:58:00.000-06:00

so here's the big sweets at 6 months. he's 20 lbs! so chunky and so solid. he's started to eat solid food and can't get enough...obviously :) he is so content just being around, just hanging out. he's always happy, smiling and laughing at pretty much anything. he's finally sleep trained :) we couldn't imagine life without him. we love you so so much c train.

joyschool

2011-09-13T17:04:00.000-06:00

so we decided not to put jagger back in his original preschool (for a number of reasons) and have started up a joyschool with 2 other moms. jagger is the only boy, which is kind of a bummer, but he knows both girls from church and loved his first day yesterday. i'm a little apprehensive about teaching, but excited too. i'm happy that i could find something to do with him this school year...he's so smart and loves doing his 'school work'...for now :)

and here's a really cute one of ella & jagger at the park a couple months ago...love it :)

lici's graduation

2011-09-11T01:42:00.000-06:00

so after we got back from california, we tried to get things washed, put away and repacked before we headed off on road trip #2. we started that one off by driving to rexburg for my sister's graduation. it was weird being back in rexburg...i missed it a little...until i remembered it was summertime, aka: the good time there. but it was fun nonetheless. we got to support lees, spend some time with the fam, and visit/stay with denise's family.

the new rexburg basketball not-so-mini conference center...

it was pretty loud with all the applause...love this pic of civil :)

civil doing what he does best...spitting up on lici :)

they sure love their aunt licky

do these two pictures embody 'summer' or what?! love this little girl...

Sand octopus

2011-09-02T13:40:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday!!

carlsbad 2011

2011-08-22T23:52:00.000-06:00

so after twin lakes, we stopped a night in slc (thanks mom & dad!), headed down to vegas for some photoshoots (click here and here), then over to carlsbad for stevens family fun week @ the beach. our resort is right across from the beach, so it makes it the absolute perfect vacation with little babes. no big deal to go home for naps, lunch, etc. so we had a grand old time at the beach just relaxing, playing in the waves, collecting shells, and visiting with family. thanks grammy & grandpa for such a great trip!!

(for any family that wants these pics and more, click here and download them off our site :)

civil just chilled in our tent all day every day...poor guy has my skin :)

collecting sand crabs

a sea monster named alma

the book of mormon

2011-08-13T16:34:00.002-06:00

so i'm a mormon. or in other words, i am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. and i know i belong to the true church. the keystone of our religion is the book of mormon. i have a copy. i read it every night. it's another testament (along with the bible) of Jesus Christ. it is a compilation of ancient writings from prophets that tells the amazing history, gives us key doctrines and principles, and most importantly, it tells us of Christ. About when he came to the Americas. What He preached, what He did, and what he wants us to do to be able to live with Him again. i know the book of mormon is true and i love it.

i would invite anyone who is interested or curious to check out this website. it is a great synopsis of what we believe and what the book of mormon is: http://mormon.org/book-of-mormon

moves like jagger

2011-08-11T12:48:00.002-06:00

so remember this post?? i have now come to find out that the latest song by maroon 5 is 'moves like jagger'! it's a pretty catchy song, i like the band alright, and i guess that's pretty cool to have a song about that with your name in it...but you see my dilemma here? what's the deal?? i'm just hoping this song doesn't spark the idea in a bunch of other people to start naming their kids jagger. let me be unique over here ok? :)

and speaking of which, here's a video i got on my phone while in colorado at his cousins house...sweet moves jagger, sweet moves :)

Laundry day

2011-08-10T11:51:00.001-06:00

Back from all our trips and home never felt so good!! Lots of laundry to keep me busy (and kids buried) for a couple days.

twin lakes 2011

2011-07-19T08:28:00.001-06:00

twin lakes this year was a lot of fun! we only broke out the camera the last day (hence jagger in his pjs). here's some of my fave's. family, the rest of the pictures we took are here. check em out and download at will:)

our recent trip to the coast

2011-07-18T16:08:00.001-06:00

so i've been working on this video every now and again...then forgetting about it. but this was one of our recent trips to ecola state park a couple months ago. we are really hesitant to bring our nice gear to the beach, so this was all shot and edited on my phone :)

{3 months}

2011-07-12T11:11:00.000-06:00

c man is now 5 months, so i'm hoping to catch up this week before we go out of town again. here's one of civil @ 3 months...he looks so small compared to now!

catch the rest of the shoot here, or visit our website :)

mother's day

2011-07-07T22:12:00.001-06:00

so we have been busy bees the past 2 weeks. our schedule went something like this:

wed june 22 - leave for idaho, camp
thurs 23 - drive to twin lakes, ID
thurs 23 - sat 25 smith family reunion
sat - drive down to salt lake with m&d smith
sun 26 - visit w monitriy, drive to vegas
mon 27 - 2 photoshoots, drive to carlsbad, CA
mon 27 - sat july 2 stevens family reunion
sat 2 - drive to sacramento
sat 2 - mon 4 stay and visit with deb & tom tom
mon 4 - see some of our best friends!
tues 5 - drive home to portland...never did one miss such a place as i did!

yes, that is over 50 hours of road time my friends...but it took us more like 60+
love traveling with kids. actually ours are really good. almost easier since they are all confined :) and civil is a champ. a chubby champ. you guys should see him now! i'll work on that. lots to catch up on. lots to get done in the next 2 weeks before we turn around and drive to idaho & utah AGAIN!
that's right. we'll be in the burg (rexburg) the week of the 18th, then utah (SLC) over the week of the 24th. so if you want a photo session, holla!!

and now here's to catching up...mother's day :) it was grand. wait...no it wasn't. my kids decided they'd remind me how hard it is to be a mother. but oh well, i did get this killer photo session from my sweetheart. something i will treasure forever. i love my kiddies.

click here to see full session, or visit our website.

preschool

2011-06-11T14:37:00.001-06:00

well, jaggie's done with preschool for now and they had a little 'graduation ceremony' this past tuesday. it was pretty cute. they all did some songs (abc's, sounds, days of the week, months of the year) and were called up & given a little certificate. it was fun to see what they learned and watch a slideshow at the end. i'm sitting on the fence as far as him going back in the fall (i may just do a joyschool sort of thing), but it got me a little misty seeing how big my baby's getting.

good job jaggie! i'm so happy to be your mama.

sweet v

2011-06-10T21:43:00.002-06:00

we received a belated birthday gift for v from kristal. i took this pic to send to her w thanks, but loved it way too much not to share.

click here to get one for yourself!

how was your thursday??

2011-06-09T18:05:00.001-06:00

date night

2011-05-26T20:53:00.000-06:00

so we have made great friends here. and thanks to some of our favorites, we are able to switch off babysitting each week for some actual quality date nighting! and the kids couldn't be more thrilled about it. ella, carter, jagger and v are all the best of friends...and maybe a bit more when it comes to the older two (or a lot more :) so about a month ago, alma took me to see one of his old mission areas, dayton. unfortunately for him, it was one of those places that was looked back upon as simply amazing and didn't so much live up to that just recently. but we did have some great food and enjoyed the beautiful countryside. and took pictures.

accident prone

2011-05-25T14:28:00.001-06:00

the past couple days v has hurt herself in many different ways. she really is being quite innovative about it. this incident is from falling off someone's front porch step onto her face. we never really needed bandaids until this week!! poor girl :)

v's mustache party

2011-05-21T22:55:00.001-06:00

yes, my little angel is 2. and to celebrate, we had a mustache party with some friends at the park. you see, she loves mustaches. i know, it's weird. so for a while now, i've been pulling some of my hair across my face under my nose to make mustache and v thinks it's the funniest thing. she loved to do this over and over again. then it spanned to other things, like putting her fork or a pen under her nose and saying 'mash' with a giggle :) so we spent the morning shopping with the girlie girl, let her pick out her birthday dress, then made her mustaches while she napped. the kids played at the park, wore mustaches for like 2.5 seconds (with the exception of civil), ate some oreo cake and LOVED the bubbles. it was seriously so great to see how much fun our little sweets was having. she is still the biggest joy in our life. we don't know what we would do without her. we look at her every day and discuss how angelic her little face is. everything about her is perfect. like jagger, she just seemed to know that once she turned 2 she's supposed to be a little more difficult and have more tantrums, but she snaps out of them really easy and always says sorry, is so quick to give kisses and to help out. she has started calling me and alma 'weetie' (sweetie) just like we do her...it's the cutest thing :)

happy birthday big girl. we love you so much!

this girl is fearless on these 'wiggle sticks'

and slides...she likes to swing on that bar before letting go :)

this is jagger's girlfriend ella. cute cute ella.

i add my testimony to this...

2011-05-15T14:23:00.001-06:00

so i know it's been a couple of weeks since Easter, but i never got around to posting this.

we believe God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins; to take upon Him every heartache, struggle, bad day, painful experience, or unwelcomed feeling...for US. Christ died on the cross and rose again on that glorious sunday, so that we too can live again. i know this is true. i love my Savior. i know that He lives. that He loves me. and loves you.

to learn more about my faith, click here :)

easter weekend

2011-05-15T12:16:00.001-06:00

so one of alma's seminary students invited us over for an easter egg hunt the saturday before easter. we went for some good lunch and company and the kids had fun finding easter eggs. we were one of two families that participated in the 'hunt', 5 kids total. there were 217 eggs. yep, 217! so my kids came home with A LOT more candy than i had ever anticipated or wanted. luckily the eggs were only filled with one thing each, but still. the kids had a lot of fun. so here's what we captured of the day on our phones :)

bedroom wall

2011-05-14T14:19:00.003-06:00

so we've had this idea for sometime now...but have finally brought it to fruition. not entirely, but a good start for this house. it is travel themed, so all the pictures are places we've been. among the places: hawaii, california, oregon, las vegas, utah, colorado, idaho, wyoming, florida, mexico, vienna and venice. and we hope to add much, much more. i also hope to add this (among other things...), fully equipped w push pins of where we've been.

where do you long to go??

the layout on our living room floor

up on the wall

filled w pictures

influences

2011-05-13T14:36:00.000-06:00

i stepped it up a notch in the motherhood department today :)

an email i had to send to jagger's preschool:

Alma informed me of jagger's big buddy's outfit today upon pickup. I guess it was a baggy sleeveless shirt w some lady in a bikini taking up the whole front. So not only was Jagger looking at an inappropriate image, he was also able to see the boy's chest through the gaping sleeve holes. He also had ripped jeans the entire length of his pants. I understand the freedom to wear what you like, etc at school but we are not okay with this in a preschool classroom. Especially because it's sending a message to Jagger that these things are ok, when we don't think they are. We think this is inappropriate and would appreciate it if you could talk w your students or at least Jagger's big buddies to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Thank you. Jagger tells us he really enjoys preschool. And we do too :)

Nicole Smith

*i am happy to report that we already received an email back and the teacher profusely apologized and said she'd take care of it. i know he can't be sheltered forever, but i want him to know what's okay and what's not, and that we can stand up for the good and right...always.

{2 months}

2011-05-11T16:34:00.001-06:00

and such a handsome little boy!

so glad we took these while this outfit still fit him.

to see the full shoot, click here or visit our website :)

and just for fun...here's the kids in virtually the same pose around the same age :)

jagger

vienna

civil

civil's blessing

2011-05-10T17:17:00.000-06:00

so many people have asked me if we've blessed civil yet, and the answer is yes...over a month ago :) we blessed him the last weekend in march and were fortunate to have both sets of grandparents come in town for it. we played, parked, ate, and visited. it was awesome. and i had empty hands for a whole weekend! alma's mom made civ's blessing outfit and although a bit big, it was incredible (as usual). we were also happy to have tom & deb drive up from sacramento and gwen and george attend sacrament meeting. our little civil is growing up so fast, i can't believe it's already been so long since his blessing!

blessing day: march 27th, 2011

civil getting his first adjustment...which he totally started sleeping better and his jaundice vanished the day after :) true story!

we took advantage of having someone living (as opposed to our tripod) around and asked my dad to capture a couple photos of all of us. the one below is my fave, but i'm thinking about using one of the others to update our photo wall...

mamas

2011-05-09T00:49:00.000-06:00

happy mother's day! here's a few gems i dug up of me and the mama.

my greatest joy is my children. being a mama is tough. real tough. as my little sweets liked to show me today...not quite old enough to realize you are supposed to give mom a break on mothers day...

but it was a good day nonetheless.

and i am dying over this shoot alma gave me for mother's day!! can't wait to show you more.

go trojans!

2011-05-02T16:10:00.000-06:00

so did i ever mention that alma is getting his masters from usc? well, he is and he just finished his first semester. woohoo! he's getting his masters in teaching. and yes we are still in oregon. it's a really sweet program they have where you can do all your placement/teaching stuff from wherever you are. good thing too, because we don't really feel up to another move.

and while school is going great, i am so so so excited for him to be done right now (for the summer). he started the week civil came home from the hospital. so not only was i having to adjust to 3 kids, i also had to get used to him being 'at school', doing homework, and not being available all the time like before. and that my friends, was the harder adjustment. i'm addicted to that alma of mine :) oh, and something else that just isn't fair about any of this is he teaches early morning seminary....had i mentioned that? so he's up super early. meaning, i don't want him to have to be up in the middle of the night helping with civil. and by the time he's done, civil will be sleeping through the night. so yeah, things have been somewhat difficult over here in pinky world, but i'm finally getting the hang of things. that, and i'm making friends so i have some fun and distractions.

...BUT then i decide to potty train v today. not going so well. well, i shouldn't say that. it's going ok. she's already peed on the kitchen floor, in her blanket, in her seat, all over multiple spots in the carpet, and on my bed. but she has peed in the potty a couple of times too. i HATE potty training. it's only 3 and i'm ready to give up. it also didn't help that jagger's been naughty, civil is needy and had a blowout, and alma's been at the dentist. oh, i'm also in the beginning stages of sleep training with civil. what was i thinking?! :)
more to come up on this here blog soon...hopefully.

Happy earth day

2011-04-22T04:57:00.000-06:00

What a beautiful world we live in...especially here in Oregon :)

Something crazy fun

2011-04-22T04:44:00.001-06:00

Alma decided to take the afternoon off and so we needed something 'crazy fun' to do. So we pulled out the tent, all our pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags, AND our tv. And watched a movie...in our backyard :) the tent took up the whole yard. There were a ridiculous amount of sweets and snacks consumed. And we watched 'rocketman'. (You were missed Kristen!)

tv nature park

2011-04-16T23:24:00.000-06:00

a hike w daddy.
i can't believe how grown up he looks in these...

{1 month}

2011-04-15T16:57:00.000-06:00

10 tiny fingers and 10 perfect toes...

1st day of preschool

2011-04-04T10:16:00.002-06:00

I can't believe my baby started school today. No tears were shed, but it was a new exciting experience for all of us. Love you jaggie!

c's homecoming

2011-04-02T22:35:00.001-06:00

this day did not come fast enough. but it came. and that's all that matters.

feb. 18th, exactly two weeks after he was born. a very long two weeks. the kids are constantly enamored with their new baby brother...and so are we. what a little sweets.

jag-man is 4

2011-04-02T00:37:00.001-06:00

i have a four year old.
who absolutely drives me nuts. sometimes i feel like i have the most disobedient child on the planet. but as i've repeatedly stated, when he's good he. is. so. good.
and i love him like no other. man i love him.

he is very smart and sensitive and fun. he's cool. he's sweet. and nobody sympathizes like this kid. he's very protective of his mama. LOVES movies and shaun the sheep (look it up on netflix...promise you'll love it too.) still loves animals and drawing. he will draw the same thing over and over and over again for months, then all of a sudden he decides to draw something different...for months :) he has pig hair, in that it is thick and wirey and sticks straight out, therefore he is destined to have his head buzzed his whole life. which helps accentuate the biggest beautiful blues i've ever seen. his favorite color is 'yellowish'. favorite movies are cars and toy story 3. favorite food is enchiladas. and ella is his girl.

some funny quotes recently:
'i don't want mom to milk me'
to alma with the vacuum, 'don't suck us up' i asked him why not and he says 'cuz we're your kids'

well, we sure do love our big boy. enjoy the pics...somehow v snuck into several? :) to see the full photoshoot, head on over to the website or click here.

lici's visit to the coast

2011-04-02T00:17:00.000-06:00

aunt lici has decided to make it a wonderful tradition of visiting us each new year for jagger's birthday. i can't believe it was only a year ago we were all partying in colorado. (click here or here for pics)
this year we went to the coast, ate cheese and ice cream at the tillamook factory, and went to OMSI. it was really fun, and jagger feels extra special to have her come into town each year to celebrate with us.

OMSI

tillamook cheese factory

the beautiful and freezing coast

christmas in april

2011-04-01T23:02:00.000-06:00

so...its april first. and as i was getting some pictures ready to post of civil, i discovered i had never posted about our holidays. they were fun. and quiet...well, not literally with two children who scream for a hobby, but quiet in that we just hunkered down the 4 of us and enjoyed each other. i had a bunch of video and pictures on my phone from Christmas that i wanted to put on too. so that's what i've been doing the past two nights at 3am. me and civil, making Christmas movies in imovie. and drinking milk. well, just civil. so i finally did it. and one of these days, maybe i'll get caught up with my posts and pictures and website. maybe someday...

our gingerbread house: santas' house (yes multiple santas, check em out)

this is the poor kids reaction when we told him not to touch/eat the house :)

v was serenading us with some festive music

wrapping presents and baking the sweet roll wreath

Christmas morning:

v's 'party dress' from auntie sa :)

bffs

2011-03-23T21:21:00.000-06:00

so we just happened to meet some of our very best friends right around the corner. we moved in virtually around the same time, have kids the same ages-ish and gender, and life was peachy...

then they moved to utah last week.

boo.

we want our friends back!

here was their last play together at the park. v and berkie's outfits cracked us up.

bath time

2011-03-23T21:11:00.000-06:00

a little more of our mr. c

more to come soon...promise :)

the due date

2011-03-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

i don't know what it is about today, but it has been very anticlimactic in the past. both boys, due march 9th. both boys early. big, and early. and boy oh boy do i love them. we're doing great. a lot of adjusting, a lot of playing, and a lot of loving.

civil's birth story

2011-02-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

...so he's home!! and i don't have much to say except that we are so happy to all be together. the adjustment is going to be, well, an adjustment, but i am excited to jump right in, fall into a routine, and just 'be' as a happy family of 5.

the past 2 weeks have been really, really tough on me. and that's about all i want to say on the matter. and to all of you who felt ignored, you were. but know that i still love you and am feeling better.

as far as a birth story goes, it isn't much of a story. i went into labor friday morning around 5am, we dropped the kids off at our friends house (thanks a million ash!), headed to the hospital and got the ball rolling. i had the blessed epidural (which my body reacted to perfectly again), hung out a bit, and 4 sets of pushes later we had our sweet baby civil. this was by far the easiest and most comfortable delivery for me. although i cannot say the same for poor civil. he came out bruised everywhere! his whole face (he's still left with 2 shiners), arms, fingers, toes, bottom of feet, etc. purple. he also fractured his right clavicle! it's this mystery to everyone that was there why he came out so beat up. like i said, it was pretty uneventful and quick on my end...he must have rubbed wrong coming out or something? but nonetheless, he was here.

a series of very unfortunate events happened the next day (which i am not really ready to discuss) that led to him being whisked away to the NICU. there he stayed to learn how to breathe, suck, swallow and be treated for his bilirubin (jaundice). and 2 weeks later, he is now home with us and doing wonderfully. thank you for all your prayers, emails, phone calls (even though i didn't return them :) and thoughts that have been with us. we are doing well and are happy. tired. but happy.

and here are some (or tons!) pictures of civil's arrival:
and please don't judge my massiveness...i just had a baby, remember??

the view from our window

he was really born about 10 min. before this pic...but alma was a little busy just then

day 2

when i got home sun afternoon, i had a baby shower waiting for me from my great friends in the ward!

and a surprise from jaggie: welcome home mommy signs on my door :)

man i missed these two!!

missing him

2011-02-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

like crazy tonight.
happy valentines day.

civil redd smith

2011-02-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

little angel couldn't wait to come. we love him so much. he's getting bigger and stronger every day in the NICU and we can't wait to have him home with us. much, much more to come...just don't know when :)
we are happy and healthy and are truly blessed. please give your family a squeeze. these past couple days have really reminded me that NOTHING else here matters but family. what a wonderful one i have been given.

civil redd smith

feb. 4, 2011

6lbs 6oz, 18.5in

jagger's new bed

2011-01-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

so i married a handy man. yes, we know this. but i still think it's so cool that we can sit down, design something that we want, and alma can produce it. this is the beginning of a 2 phase bunk bed. when the baby comes and we need the crib for him, we'll build the bottom bed part for v...and when i say 'we', i mean 'alma' :) they do so good sharing a room, which really surprised me, so the new babe will have his own room until he's old enough to be moved into the toddler bed. then we can do boys room/girl(s) room.

little ones

2011-01-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

so we now have a girl that's almost 20 months and a 4 year old! where has the time gone?? what complete and utter joys they are in my life. no, not all the time. not even close. but complete joys nonetheless. i have grown so much as a mother and have a LOT more to do, but love them so much it's crazy. i was born for this. and as i posted sweet v's 18 month photoshoot (click here), i was keenly aware that i need to do more photoshoots of my own kiddies. we are good at documenting, but when i saw how perfectly their little personalities were captured and how BIG they are getting, i just don't want to let that slip by. what a blessing they are in our lives. we can't wait to meet our 3rd little one...well, yes we can :)

november 16th

2011-01-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

i turned 28. (shhhh, that's starting to sound old) it was a great day. i told alma what i wanted for my present was a photoshoot. one, so i could have a maternity shoot of babe III, but also i just wanted him to capture what i look like and who i am at this point in my life. i told him he was in charge...which i mostly stuck by :) it's totally different being the one in front of the camera all by your onesie. i felt weird and pressured to get good pictures b/c we only had a babysitter for an hour. so alma, being the supergenious that he is, had me dance. now those of you who know me...or the former me...know that i used to get down. seriously. anytime, anywhere. but i, uh, was embarrassed. weird. plus catching my what-used-to-be-sweet dance moves in still frames made for some super awkward 'poses' even though i'm convinced that's not what it really looks like :) ok, back from my insecure tangent. alma is supergenious because this loosened me up like crazy. after i got embarrassed and danced my pants off, everything else was easy. we just may have to implement this little charm into our senior sessions...haha. so i hope you enjoy. and i only wish i looked like this now! i am just a tad plumper all the way around. maybe more than a tad... mamby jahamby status is off the scale...

oh, and in case anyone was curious, i was jammin out to pauolo nutini's album, song: jenny don't be hasty.

the coast, part II

2011-01-14T23:39:00.001-07:00

here are the rest of the pics that i never posted. i notice it is a lot of people's resolutions to be better at updating on their blogs. i might as well give it a shot too. still lots to catch up on, but enjoy these of mi familia. next post will be some maternity pics...promise. to see some of the rawesome (yes, i made that word up and use it all the time--rad/awesome) landscapes not posted here, check out the website. and leave a comment won't ya, we feel lonely over there :)

peace.

i am keenly and sadly aware that little v looks just like chris farley in this picture...

this view makes me pee my pants all over again.

32 weeks

2011-01-14T00:27:00.001-07:00

And feeling large. It's not just a feeling. I haven't been this big...ever. I am bursting out of my maternity clothes and stuff I wore full term w Vienna. But I am so very happy to still be pregnant and to have made it this far. 2 more weeks and they won't even try to stop labor if it comes. So let's hope for that. Lots to catch up on, but right now I'm just trying to focus on my family, and staying in tune w what my body needs (ie: naps, rest, no stress). The closer it gets to the end here the bigger my kids seem to be getting. It's a good thing we take lots of pictures :) Just wanted to check in and let you know we're still kickin.

our year in pictures...

2010-12-28T23:08:00.003-07:00

date night: las vegas

v turned 1

monique & dimitriy engaged!

old abandoned mattress: las vegas

calico basin: las vegas

father's day

monique's graduation: provo

project i'm working on: pencils & letters

monitriy bridals

walk around the block: las vegas

married in salt lake temple!

swing: terreton, id

twin lakes: idaho

britt's wedding: park city, ut

carlsbad, ca

emma: colorado springs

merf in all it's glory: las vegas

las vegas mountain range

ice box canyon: las vegas

chino hills, ca

picnic: las vegas

hoover dam: las vegas

walk: portland, or

cannon beach: or

astoria: or

mt. view: or

halloween 2010: or

baby #3!

maternity/birthday shoot (more forthcoming :)

v's 18 mo. shoot (also forthcoming :)

Merry Christmas 2010 from Portland!!

Add caption

hope you had a great one!

2010-12-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

the coast

2010-12-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

so i know i'm lame. Christmas is upon us and we are all really excited! and busy. so i'm still playing catch up majorly (on here and the photoblog), but here is a small smackeral of our coastal trip back in october. to see more, please visit the photoblog by clicking here :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

apple orchard/pumpkin patch

2010-11-24T22:33:00.001-07:00

two fun things that one would hope to go to sometime in the fall. we did both...the same day :) it was a long but really fun day. some friends we made here invited us to go with them. they go every year and told us how great the places were. it was quite a drive out over by mt. hood...but worth it in the drive alone. absolute gorgeousness everywhere we looked. but then again, that has been the case just about every day here. i still can't get over how completely lush everything is. and now we're into winter and only half the trees are naked. ahhhh. anyways, here's some pics of the day:

it's a BOY!

2010-11-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

and for those of you who can decipher gender through an ultrasound, there ya go...yep. boys goods up on the world wide web :) jagger totally knows what's going on and is really good at deciphering shapes, etc. so it was really fun for him (and us to watch him) as he pointed out where the babies lips, ribs, hands, leg, etc were. we are all very happy and excited to meet the little guy.

i finally got to the doctor this past thursday (first time this pregnancy!) and it was a fun first half hour being able to see the boy...but after 2 more hours there, the excitement of it all dropped off dramatically. (especially for alma--poor guy was stuck watching the kids!!) first of all, i was seeing the nurse practitioner. which, i know, everyone needs to start somewhere and deserves a great chance...but she didn't really win me over. and i couldn't suppress feelings of wanting the 'real' doctor to get off maternity leave so i could talk with her directly. the nurse was about to let me go after the routine questioning and told me to schedule another appt. in 4 weeks. as she's literally walking toward the door she asks if i have any questions, and i'm like 'yeah' (so come back and sit down lady). i wanted to ask if this is also considered a 'high risk pregnancy', and if they thought everything was okay, and if they wanted to see me in shorter intervals instead of just every month. i told her about my experience with the midwives and what solution we came up with there.
[side note here: i'm not so much worried about things this pregnancy. yes jagger came really early, but vienna didn't. i feel good. and i'm almost to the age of viability right now. but there is still a little precaution in me because of it all. i don't want to have another preemie. and i want to make sure things look good inside and that nobody else is super worried about things.]
so she has to go ask the doctor. and what do you know...she recommends the progesterone shot, which i told her i didn't want to do. so now i've been referred to a 'specialty clinic' for high risk pregnancies so that they can evaluate things and work with me and the drs office. lame. it's so lame because she was ready to push me out the door 20 minutes before i brought anything up. but no, now i need to go see a special clinic and am having the same annoying recommendations pushed at me from a doctor i've never met. lame. so like i said, i want to be cautious, but i don't want to run around everywhere and do a bunch of unnecessary things when hopefully everything will be just fine.

whew, didn't expect to go off so much about that... let's move onto more pictures shall we?? since i am now about 23 weeks, it was the best (and latest) ultrasound i had ever had. things were so developed and we were really able to see him moving around, flexing his muscles, and even giving us a thumbs up!! :) (jagger LOVED this! his grandma taught him how to give a thumbs up and say 'saweet!' about a year ago. and he actually refers to his thumbs as his sweets :) anyway, he loved that the baby said hi to us in the form of a 'saweet!') and i think i have the same due date as jagger! (march 9th) pretty cool huh? let's just say a little prayer i make it there this time :)

ps. thanks to all who voted, it was pretty even! and no kathryn, we are not revealing his name yet...at least not here on the blog. so once again, TBA peeps, TBA :)

is our little pumpkin a boy or a girl?

2010-11-11T20:01:00.002-07:00

i already know. i found out today :) what do you think it is??

ps. picture does not do the belly justice. they are the same size looking from the side!

carving faces

2010-11-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

we went to the pumpkin patch this year with some new friends (post forthcoming). jagger wanted a sad face. i thought v's should look like a girl. we just decided to go with the 'classic' jack o lanterns this year. even though we did most the work, it was still fun.

why oregon?

2010-11-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

this is a question that we have been asked by just about everybody. i say, why not :) actually, with our profession (which i will address in the next paragraph) we have the fabulous fortune of living where we want to live...that is, if we get the go-ahead from the Big Man. our top two choices were hawaii and oregon. we had decided on hawaii the beginning of the year, but then came up with our dream plan of '73 temples'. which we still plan to do. but baby #3 apparently wanted to be here before that big adventure started, so we are happy to have a change of plans...again. why oregon? we LOVE it here. alma served his mission here. and fell in love. i couldn't be happier for a complete climate change from the desert. it is arguably the most beautiful place in the united states.

what are we doing here? what we started doing in colorado and did in las vegas; photography. that is our profession and occupation in case some of you missed it. if you or your husband was an accountant, plumber, graphic designer, realtor, etc. and you moved, i wouldn't assume you got a new job. new as in a different field. yet, when we move, we continue to get asked, 'what are you doing there?' i guess it just blows a person's mind to think we can make a living doing something so enjoyable and 'fun'? we are blown away sometimes too :)

so i hope i answered the inquisitive minds. we are really happy here and excited to put down our roots! we moved into a little place for a couple weeks while we found out which area we wanted to live in and a place that was right for us. (we've since moved to a different house and have been busy with the whole pack/unpack process again, but that will have to be a follow up post :) here are some pictures of us taking the occasional walk on the greenway right behind the apartment.

the humble abode

the stinkface

the belly

the beauty

halloweenie

2010-10-31T21:39:00.000-06:00

hope yours was as great of a Sabbath as ours was. we celebrated on friday with the ward trunk-or-treat. jagger insisted on being a 'sketelon', and v was the only cat i've ever come across that i loved...let alone liked and would hold :) alma was a very handsome and dashing robin hood, whilst me and the baby in tow decided to be a pumpkin (please note my very cool stem/hair). glad it's over and we can move along to more important holidays coming up.

we are fanilows :)

2010-10-30T23:21:00.001-06:00

The ad agency Alma worked for in Vegas gave us free tickets to Barry Manilow a couple days before we left. We don't turn down fun stuff...even if we didn't know many (or ANY) of the songs he sang. I was SO happy to sing along w his last number "copa cabana". Even though he looked embalmed and it was kind of the epitome of cheesy...they handed out glow sticks as we were seated...it was still a lot of fun. And now we can say we are officially 'FANILOWS'.