Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the...

Gingerbread man time! Every year we try and decorate these cute little guys. The funny thing is no one really likes gingerbread. We all take a bite, maybe 2, eat the candy off of it, lick the frosting, and throw the rest away. (luckily I made the frosting so it was DE-LICIOUS) Oh well, I guess it's all about the experience.

 

Feeling Nostalgic

This week Noah turned 10. I got a letter in the mail from my Stake President giving me Adam's baptism date. I  started teaching Seth how to read. I set up Joshies 2 year well child check...I am feeling nostalgic. I thought I would go one step further with Noah's birthday post and show some pictures of him as he has grown up. It took me 2 days, but I sifted through every picture I ever saved over his 10 years. "sigh" it really does go by so fast...

This is Noah's brand new baby picture at the hospital. He was an adorable baby who loved to eat and hated to sleep. Not much has changed today.

When Noah was 1 he loved to play with cars and trains. His 2 absolute favorite things in the whole world were his binky and his mom. He never left home without them.

I just like this picture. He is still 1 in this one.

This is his 2nd birthday. He really loved Thomas and Bob the Builder. He was speaking full sentences and singing a lot of basketball John. Anyone remember this song? From the Jazz? He loved it!

For his 3rd birthday he was already into soccer. I just can't get over how much hair he has! Still to this day he has so much. I don't hink he will ever go bald. This picture was taken before he bit through his lip so he has his beautiful mouth before the scar plagues him.

This is him at Christmas time at 4 years old. He was in pre-school doing so well. He loved to play legos, and still addicted to sports of any kind. He started playing on his first soccer team that spring.

This is his 5th birthday. He was into star wars and video games at this point in life. I want to apologize for the hair do, but i can't. If you know Noah at all you know that he did his hair (and everything else in his life) the way he wanted to. I have no say. This hair-do is all his!

For his 6th birthday we went to chuck-e-cheese. Noah still loves food, star wars, video games, soccer and is starting to get into baseball, but can't play yet.

He is 7. I can't believe it. He is into hot wheels, and Utah Football!

He finally turned 8 and got baptized this year. He is really getting good at soccer and getting awesome grades in school. We moved to our brand new house in Centerville and he is making a lot of new friends.

His 9th birthday pictures kind of stink, you can probably tell by the one I chose. Noah played on his first baseball team this year and made all-stars. He won multiple awards and trophies for playing chess in tournaments on the chess club.

Here he is the big 10. He is such a handsome boy. I wonder what the next 10 years hold for him.

It's been a while

I haven't bought gas with my Smiths card for a while. When I went to fill up my tank today I had a $1.30 off per gallon reward. It made my gas very, very cheap. When's the last time you've seen gas at this price? I say again, it's been a while.

An evening out

Last month Ben went out of town for a week and towards the end of the week I was spent so I took all the boys out to Chili's for dinner. I saw it as a fun night out to get away from the daily grind. No cooking. No clean up after dinner. The boys picked what they ate so no whining about what we were eating. I really enjoyed dinner.
I had 3 people comment on how brave I was to bring ALL of my boys out in public. I didn't feel brave. I felt relaxed, relieved, and happy. Funny how perspective can do that to people. What seems an insurmountable task to one is doable to another. It was a fun night out with my cutest ever boys!

Fall spoils

This year I was lucky enough to be able to grow a garden. My neighbor let me plant in his plot. He also gave me access to his two peach trees and his grape vines. I tell ya, this fall has been busy but so much good stuff to eat!

Aaaargh you ready for this?

Just made some cute pirate cupcakes for my sisters friends sons birthday. (That was a mouthful;) Just thought I'd share! Have a good Friday!

Upside down faces

Does anyone remember doing this as a kid? It was a rough evening at our house and we all needed a laugh. Bedtime especially had everyone irritated. It must've been divine intervention that I thought of this because I haven't done it or thought about it since girls camp in 1991. Anyway, it was funny and we all got in a good laugh before bed. Maybe consider sharing this with your kids today too.

We also visited San Diego Zoo

I've never been there before this trip, and I LOVED it! It was so amazing. We had a really hard time getting Noah and Adam out of bed that morning. "I don't wanna go to the stupid zoo" said Noah. "Why can't we go to Disneyland again today" Adam says. "ugh, zoos are sooooo boring" they wail. They actually loved it too.

Seth Waited all day to see the crocodiles. He's so excited!

We got to see an Okapi

The flamingos were my favorite, but of course mom doesn't get in any pictures.

The boys hanging with the hippo

Wait, maybe the panda was my favorite!

The kimono dragon was really creepy and weird, but Wilson (my nephew) freaked out over him!

Easter morning at the campsite

It's a new concept to me. I have never celebrated Easter anywhere but at home. This year I found myself and my family in the motor home for Easter morning. Luckily for the boys the Easter Bunny found our campsite and now we get to drive home listening to Easter music. AKA the Motab. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter! More later on our camping trip to St. George and Zion's.

Where oh where can my baby be?

As of late my baby is a baby no more. I find him more often than not digging through a drawer, climbing a shelf, or rummaging through a closet. In this case wedging his fingers into the pantry door just far enough to be able to slide it open, get in and shimmy his way across the small gap. He somehow moved the box of garbage bags out from under the shelf so he could climb up on the box to finally reach his ultimate goal...the fruit snacks...SWEET VICTORY!!

 

Do you see that smile on his face? Oh, you know what you did!

Trophy time!

This past weekend was the 2012 State K-12 Chess Tournament. Most people didn't even realize that this was happening because, well, let's be honest, it's chess. However, our family was keenly aware of it happenings. Noah was registered months ago and it has been the talk of the chess club for a while. It was at the University of Utah Union Building. There were 6 rounds. Noahs' record went like this:
Round 1-win (1point)Great way to start the day.
Round 2-win (1 point)It just keeps getting better.
Round 3-loss (0 points) Lost to a NEWMAN!! UGH!! That's the school everyone tries to beat.
Round 4-loss (0 points) uh oh, was it a fluke?
Round 5-win (1 point) Yeah! He beat a Newman!
Round 6-win (1 point) Really, he did awesome!
He ended up with a 4/2 record, and 18th overall in the 3rd grade. There were 111 3rd graders in the state who competed. He has a lot of potential and just enough of a competitive nature that he was able to do well. His teacher, and coach are both so excited and proud of him. Noah measured his trophy and proudly states, "it is 3 feet 7 inches tall!" We (Ben and I) have never earned a trophy as big as Noah's. "SIGH" I guess there is something to say about hoping that your kids are better than you, but it still hurts a little...Congrats Noah, you smarty pants! 

NOTE: Next time you see Noah, he may challenge you to a chess game. Be ready!

Smarty pants, farty pants

When school started last fall Noah brought home a flier that announced some spots were open for the school chess club. He has always liked to play chess with Ben, but I never thought it would go beyond that. He was interested and they only met once a week after school for an hour, so I thought it would be okay.

Occasionally they attend tournaments and he was finally able to go. His coach says that most kids when they compete in their first tournament leave without any points. They played 5 rounds with 1 point awarded each round. 1 point if you win, 0 if you lose, and 1/2 to each player for a stale mate. He ended up with 2 1/2 points and a medal at the end of the day. 

 It was amazing to me how many kids were at the tournament. The room in the picture held all the kids in grades 2-6 grades. It was a great experience for him to practice good sportsmanship and healthy competition. He is my little smarty pants!

 

We love the Jazz!

Once again we are sharing Jazz tickets with my family this year. Despite the late start to the season it has still been fun. We got to go to the autograph signing party this year. It was so fun to see and meet some of the players. Big Al was our favorite. He was high-fiving the boys and laughing about how small Adam was compared to how big he was. When we walked up he says to Adam, "hey there little man!" He was very nice. We also got to meet Raja Bell, Earl Watson, Jeremy Evans, and Paul Millsap. I made sure I walked upstairs to look at Gordon, even though we didn't have time to  wait in his line to meet him. The boys were so excited to go and to be honest so was I. I very rarely get to meet anyone who is famous...unless they work with Ben in politics. No one that I really want to meet. It was a fun night!

Waiting in line. We are so excitedy! (As Adam says it)

Big Al teasing Adam about how small his shirt was. I told him it might fit on one of his arms.

Raja signing Noah's shirt. He is very handsome! Raja too :)

Just hanging and chillin' with my buddies Earl, and Jeremy. No biggy!

Ben with Earl