Family...

Jeff, Mason, and I just got back from visiting my sister and her family in Vancouver, WA for a few days.  It was a pleasant and much needed vacation. Seeing and hanging out with my sister, her four girls, and her husband was so great! We just don't get to see them as often as we'd like.  Southwest had a special and it only cost us $60 per person to travel roundtrip. YEAH! I love good deals.

Mason was absolutely adored by his four girl cousins, aunt and uncle! each one taking turns holding him, kissing him, playing with him, and just loving every second with him...
Saturday December 3 Norah, the second oldest got Baptized (which was the biggest reason why we came out there), after her baptism, we all went out to eat at a buffet... Mason was so hilarious...

Andrea, I love you so much! I'm so glad I got to spend all that time with you, helping you with your home, the garage sale, talking and catching up, and eating lunch at Cafe Pho! It was so yummy! I so need to visit you more often so that when it comes to goodbye I don't lose it, and in the future goodbye will be more like see you later or see you soon!

update on pictures

Mason sitting up in the tall grass, one of the first times he sat up by himself... just a few days before we left UT

Sarah and our Masons went on a bike ride, it was really fun, even though that day was so HOT!

the boys had a good time! :)

 

Mason playing with spaghetti... well actually we were playing with the spaghetti on Mason's face... it was so funny to watch him try and grab it off his face, he didn't know what was going on. 

At first he was laughing but towards the end he was crying, this picture is more towards the end. 

I love my little boy because he sleeps in what looks like the most uncomfortable positions....

This is Mason crawling for one of the first times....

Now that Mason has learned how to crawl, he is now learning how to pull himself up to standing using furniture, pant legs, cupboards, walls, anything...  

This day, it was really hot outside, my parents were away on vacation and we had the responsibility to water the flowers, well no matter how hard I tried to keep him from sitting down in a puddle, I just couldn't win... so instead I grabbed my camera and let him have at it... here he is sitting in a puddle and eating the hose... 

Saturday October 8, 2011 Mason's first tooth has come in... it isn't all the way through, but sharp enough for Jeff to notice when Mason bit his nose that morning! ow! 

I tried to get a photo of his tooth, but it is on the bottom and his tongue is always in the way... 

Jeff and I bargain shopped for Mason, we got clothes, sizes 9 mo to 24 mo ($60 for about 100 outfits), a walker (shown in picture), and a car seat (age 3), all off of craigslist!

 Mason having a good time in his exersaucer walker! it doesn't work on the carpet, but hopefully he can use it outside on the cement, at least before it gets too cold!

 This picture is from last night... Mason got a hold of a measuring tape, and just wouldn't let go of it, he was having way too much fun sucking on it!

just today he let go of the wall and was standing... for 5 seconds!

He is looking for something to eat...

New Beginnings

Yesterday Jeff and I met with the Bishop (a bit informal because the Bishop is my dad). And we were extended the call to be CTR 5 Teachers. Today we went to class to meet the kids (7 of them), we didn't teach but did participate a little in the class. They are very bright and intuitive. Mason was a distraction, but he always is. I'm not sure how we're going to work this, having Mason, it seems like at church from noon - 1pm he is the most fussy, so one of us are always having leave the room to take care of him... we may have to tag team it or something... well whatever we do, the Lord will bless us and support us so we can teach the 5 & 6 yr olds.

Jeff went to the primary exercises while I went to the Laurels class to participate in the lesson my mom was teaching: The Many Faces of Dishonesty. Jeff told me later that the primary exercises was very interesting... the music director is CRAZY... she was saying, "come on kids, I want to see you sweat! you're not singing if you're not sweating!" and when she was singing she wasn't even singing the right words to the song and getting mad at the kids for not singing the correct words or for not knowing the song either! Our time in primary sure will be interesting... :)

My mom's lesson was really good, the part that I heard, I had to go to the Mother's Lounge not even 10min into the lesson and came back only to hear the last 2 min. The part I heard, she was talking about the three faces of dishonesty: lying, cheating, stealing... then she went on to talk about being ethical or unethical and who is teaching us to be ethical? One of the girls said that a teacher of hers said, "If you're going to cheat, cheat well, if you get caught you will be punished, but if you don't, there's nothing I can do." -- can you believe this? I had a teacher who said, "plagiarize plagiarize plagiarize, this is the reason why God gave you eyes!" Teachers are teaching students that it is ok to cheat, to lie, to steal, and yet get mad at you if you do it and get caught!

I hope that I can be a good parent and teach my children not to lie, cheat or steal, no matter the cost... to move ahead in the world (school, business, fellow men) it is better to be honest than to be a lier, cheat, or a thief... at least then your consciounce will be clear and the Lord will bless you.

Today is the 10 yr anniversary if 9/11 terrorist attack. Just about all day television networks have dedicated their time to showing footage and documentaries of the day the planes hit the twin towers, how they fell, how america was affected, as well as show the aftermath, clean up, and building up of Ground Zero. Tower One, a beacon for the region, and memorials for the people who died that tragic day. By 2013 Tower One will be completed and will be not only the tallest building in the world: 1,776ft but also the safest!

Even though 9/11/01 was a terrifying tragedy and we are still at war with these Terrorists, America has United together in building our confidence again! I am proud to be an American, grateful that I served In the Air Force (and alive to tell about it), and I am mostly grateful to have a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, a testimony of the Restored Gospel, and an undying love for my Savior!!!

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. ~Mark Twain

Change

Well my friends, a lot has happened since I last wrote. 

July 8, My brother Dustin and his Fiance Natalee got married in the San Diego, CA Temple.  Travis, his girlfriend Jamie, Jeff, Mason, and I drove to San Diego for the weekend to celebrate in their sealing!

Mason learned how to roll over and sit up by himself.

August 20, We moved to Minden, NV - where Jeff will be working for New Valley Property Management doing Accounting, Finance, Bookkeeping, and Analyst work.  So far we like living here in Minden.  The drinking water is the best in the state! the ward isn't so bad, (and for those of you who didn't know, I lived in Minden from Grade 6 to my senior year in High School, and then once over the summer in 2008 for my Internship), I am becoming friends with the parents of the kids who were my age growing up, Even though I lived here once before - I feel like I am living here for the first time - both Jeff and I are excited to experience all that Nevada (northern Nevada and minus the gambling) has to offer.  We are currently living with my parents until we can save enough money to get out on our own again.  In these economic times, I'm just glad that my parents were willing to take us in... I feel like a chick lit and my mother is the hen, opening her wings as we come under them. It is only temporary, but I don't know how long temporary is.




August 24, I cut all my hair off! I am now officially a PIXIE! :)

August 25, we drove back to Utah, had to return the jeep and trailer we borrowed in moving back to Jeff's parents, also, Travis and Jamie got married August 27 in the Bountiful, UT Temple.  It was a short and sweet ceremony, and afterwards, the photographer got straight down to business and we weren't there for very long.  Plus, it was good to see Andrea, Mikke, Ayden, Norah, Ivy, and Lydia again (it always seems to be too far and few between that I get to see them and hang out), and we got to see Dustin, his wife Natalee and her daughter Ashley!

September 3, Travis and Jamie came to NV to have an Open House.  In preparation for that, we landscaped the yard (we - my dad and Jeff), prepared the food - and all that that entails, the decorations, media, cleaned the house and even got to redesign and decorate it! (that was the fun part).  The Open House turned out to be small, but more people showed up than what Travis was expecting, so that was good.

September 4, Sunday Evening, heard from Ashley, (Jeff's sister who lives in UT, but came down to Tahoe for the weekend) that the Lake was having fireworks for Labor Day, so Mason, Jeff, and I went up and enjoyed that with her... Kind of random because I had lived here before and this was the first time I had heard of fireworks up at the lake, heard it from a Utahan visiting Tahoe. 

September 5, Labor Day.  Mason is Officially CRAWLING!!!! Today was the DAY he learned to crawl, and boy is he fast.  He is so inquisitive, eager, interested, and strong.  He gets into everything and everything goes into the mouth! we just love it, and what is even more fun is that my parents are just eating up every second with him. :)

Laughter and Fun

some of the fun activities that have recently gone down in the Smith household! Mason is such a delight!

One of the first times Mason laughed out loud that we got on video

Jeff being so cute with Mason

 Me and Mason having fun on the floor

 Mason doing well on his arms, he's starting to like tummy-time! 

Crimson Trail Hike

 Mason flipping Jeff off and holding my ear... ahhhh

 love his little outfit, he always leans when he's in his bumbo

We just barely got Mason a Johnny Jump Up, he can only handle it for minutes at a time.  Here I caught him having a grand 'ole time

 Last Thursday I got all this food for free, a lady in my neighborhood gets food donated to her from the Food Pantry and she donates it to people in her neighborhood... yeah, I love free food! 

Raining and Pouring...

Is this really May/June weather? Rain, wind, thunder, and lightning showers? Doesn't exactly feel like the beginning of summer, although the precipitation is nice, the cold is not.  

Last weekend, Jeff's parents invited us down to St. George for a mini vacation, we went to Snow Canyon and Zions National Park. 

Sand Dunes, Snow Canyon

Petrified Sand Dunes, Snow Canyon

We had a great time with his parents, Ashley, Travis, and Jamie. The best part about our vacation was the weather - it was 70 degrees and beautiful! We also got to go to the Temple for a session.  The weather was great, warm and sunny, partly cloudy, and the people weren't so bad either!

Mason was really good on the trip, he didn't have a single melt-down and as always was pretty mild. The best part of the trip was when we were on the shuttle bus, in Zions, on our way back to our car, when Ashley got Mason laughing! everyone on the shuttle was admiring our cute little boy....

Also, Jeff and Ashley took part in a practical joke that included all the passengers on the shuttle bus... Jeff commented to Ashley quite loudly, "hey... is that a mountain lion up there?" (of course he was joking!) but everyone thought he was serious, getting up out of their seat trying to see the imaginary lion, "where? I don't see it... where is the mountain lion?" the bus driver almost came to a stop when both Ashley and his parents couldn't stop laughing and everyone finally figured out that Jeff was just joking and even though people laughed, you could tell some of them were a little embarrassed for believing... it was funny! :)

30

Tomorrow is my birthday, celebrating 30 years of living. I still can't believe it! At church on Sunday I asked my class (16 &17 yr olds) how old they thought I was turning, when they said, "22 or 23" I said, "I'll take it!" Not that I feel or even look 30, but wow it will definitely be a special day!

So in commemoration of 30 years, I thought I might share some of the highlights of my life with you.

Birth May 4, 1981 Mission Hills, California

my mom painted my nails red so you'd know I was a girl

 Playing "dress up" with my sister...

I sang in front of a live audience

 In 6th grade I won a drawing competition, the drawing hung up in the Governor's Mansion

 I went to my first dance, and the night before Travis & I got into a punching match... I had bruises all up and down my arms to prove it!

 

  I graduated from Douglas High School in Minden, Nevada 1999

Joined the United States Air Force February 2000

(this picture is from years later, I'm somewhere in the back)

 Graduated 1st Tech School -Information Management - Keesler AFB 2000

2nd Tech School - Services - Lackland AFB 2005

The Air Force took me to:

San Antonio, TX

Biloxi, MS

Camp Niantic Army Base, CT

South Korea... here is their airport

 

and to Hawaii

Went to New Zealand....

 for my mission March 2003 - September 2004

 After Mission went to Utah State University, studied abroad in England and France... 2007

 

 

 

had awesome roommates and parties! Kate, Val, & Brit

 Then I met Jeff 2008

 we had a lot of fun the whole year we dated!

 I graduated from University December 2008

Got married in the Logan, UT Temple March 7, 2009

 got pregnant May 2010

 had Mason Timothy Smith February 7, 2011

and now I am a stay at home mommy who loves her calling in life, in the ward, and from the Lord.

These past 30 years have been WONDERFUL and I hope the years to come are just that and so much more!!!!  I love my family (parents, brothers, and sister) as well as my husband and son!

I thank my Heavenly Father for the life he has given me.  I was blessed to be born in the covenant and to be raised by goodly parents who love and obey the Lord.  I am grateful that I too can raise my son in the covenant and raise him as my parents and Jeff's parents did for us. 

I am also grateful for wonderful friends, I haven't always had good friends, but since moving to Utah I have had the best of friends.  Thank you! You all make my living experience so much more worthwhile - friends and family!