Happy New Year-2009!

It is just past midnight and I am the only one still awake. Curt and the kids were determined to stay up, they even bought a bag of candy and treats at the store! So much for getting a big kiss on New Years. I was noticing the expiration date on my credit card and it says 11/10. I can't believe we are almost to 2010, it seems like yesterday that we were celebrating the new century. I am so grateful for all I have learned since becoming an adult. I was telling Curtis the other day that my life has not even gone the way I had it planned, but it has been so much better. I have gained wisdom and a better knowledge of who I want to become through our hardships and our joys. This life is truly about just loving the Lord and taking care of our relationships with each other. That is what I have found that gives me true happiness and joy! Happy New Year!

blessing pics- cont'd.

Aunt Lesley (my sis) and my sister-in-law Darci, who is holding Lesley's baby Will- he is 3 weeks older than Christian.

Chelsea Kohli (Smith family), and Cameron Garrett

Some more cousins at the party- these girls are from the Smith family.

Some of the Garrett cousins- the girls came in the house crying that the boys were being mean and hitting them with the hippity-hop, so Curt went out on the tramp and took down the boys. Yea for Daddy!

This is Aunt Gina- Curt's oldest brother's wife

Papa and Grams Smith

Tag team!

I always have pictures taken with him when he is ready to eat and crying-not fair!

Christian's blessing

The Proud Parents
Sleep in heavenly peace

I love when babies really start to smile!

Isn't he yummy!

December 7 was such a beautiful day. Christian was blessed and the weather was warm and sunny. We were so lucky because the next day we got lots of snow and have had it ever since!Curt and I were so impressed at the support of all the family. Our families are getting pretty big, and we were thankful the kids could play outside. We enjoyed the day so much. Christian is such a bundle of joy. He is the easiest baby to read because he cries when he is hungry, poopy, or tired; and if those 3 things are taken care of he is a happy camper! Thanks Uncle Mike for taking most of these pictures!

Happy 10th Birthday Skeetos!

Kemp Curtis Smith-November 28, 1998- I went into labor the night after Thanksgiving- and he was born the following morning at 8:03 a.m. I decided to go natural, and I knew if I didn't go for it with the first baby then I never would. I remember feeling so nervous to bring him home and being in awe of what a miracle life is. Right from the get-go Kemp has made it so easy for us as parents, Thanks buddos-We Love You!

My Mom, Lana and Craig, and the Chaston's (our friends) came for homeade brownies, Kemp's Favorite! Notice Kemp is trying to find his inner panda (you know, Kung-Fu?) Crazy kid!

Tough guy, eh?

A whole decade has gone by since Kemp was born and it really seems like yesterday. He has been the biggest blessing of a child, Heavenly Father knew just what he was doing sending Kemp's spirit to our family! Kemp's birthday always seems to fall right close to Thanksgiving. He was so sick with the flu this year. He loves meat and was incredibly bummed out when we started to eat. On Friday he was starting to feel better so we took the kids with some friends and saw the new Disney movie-Bolt. Kemp has been wanting to take friends from school and go to Classic Fun Center for his birthday. We weren't sure if it was going to happen since he got sick, but I phoned some of his friends and Curtis took them all on Saturday. Sadly there were no pictures (I bet Curtis was too busy playing). We did get some pics of the cake and those silly boys!

Cami the photographer

My girls will sneak my camera and take pictures with it and most of the time I delete them. I could not resist posting this because I heard them in the kitchen taking the picture and Cami was trying to get Kerstyn to do exactly what she wanted, saying things like "O.k., Kerstyn hold the bottle up higher and closer to your face, now kiss the bottle like you love the soda, turn your head more towards the camera, now hold still!" What cuties they are!

Twilight movie

Thank you to my sister-in-law Sara for making the plans and getting the tickets to see Twilight at the theater this morning. I took Christian to the movie with us and I forget how easy newborns are to take to the movies, he just ate and slept! Sara's mom babysat our girls and we had a blast. I am no longer embarassed to say that I am infatuated with this story because I have seen Twilight fans that put me to shame! I can't believe how people get into this. We were cracking up at this girl sitting by us, because she was making comments about Edward the whole time, like when Edward talks about how he could hurt Bella just by touching her, this chic says, "Edward can hurt me any time he wants!" I should have read the book again before I saw it because there was tons of stuff I had forgotten, but I loved it any way! I'm glad about how clean it was since all these young teenagers are obsessed. Well, for a book that I started reading as a skeptic (come on, vampires-yeah right) it has certainly occupied plenty of my reading time and a little bit more!

Kemp's Science Fair Project!

We are so happy that Kemp wanted to do the Science Fair this year. He loves Chemistry and experiments, so we found a project about testing household items with red cabbage juice to see if they would be an acid or a base. He got a participation ribbon and hopes to place next year now that he has some experience and an idea of how to make the project better. Curt and I had a good time helping him. It was something that you definately have to invest the time in. I'm really glad he did it. It was cute to see him preparing the night before for what he would say to the judges. Great job son!

Shout out for Kemp and Cami!

So I noticed that a lot of posts lately have been in behalf of Kerstyn so I need to give equal attention to Kemp and Cami. We had parent-teacher conferences this week and Cami's teacher said all she had to tell us was that Cami was a perfect student. I thought that was very sweet of her teacher and of course I agree. Cami is one of those persons who is very self-motivated to succeed. I have to be very careful how I go about scolding her, because she beats herself up enough as it is. Yesterday she noticed me trying to fix dinner while helping the kids clean out their hamster cages and Christian crying in the background for his diaper to be changed, so she just went and got a diaper and changed him all by herself without me asking. I can't say enough for the moments when my children just sense a need & fulfill it, What a daughter! Thanks Cambo! Kemp had equal praise from his teacher in 4th grade, but she mentioned that he would be an exceptional student if he could just button those lips of his. I felt the need to apologize for that one, cuz let's face it, it's genetics folks! For as long as he has lived on this earth (probably in the pre-existence as well) Kemp has been such a compassionate, sensitive young man, and his teacher shared how pleased she is with the way he treats the kids who have a hard time fitting in. There is a boy at school that gets teased for his weight, and Kemp always stands up for him. He tries to be so responsible, and with a husband that travels quite frequently, I appreciate him more than he'll ever know. Whenever Curt is out of town I'll say to Kemp that he is the man of the house so he can call on someone to say the prayer, and he sucks that up! Skeetos-I'm so glad you are my son! I am so blessed in my life to have wonderful parents who love me, and have taught me that I have a father in heaven who loves and cares for me. He has watched out for me in so many ways, and that has sustained me throughout my life. If there is one thing I absolutely don't want to fail at as a parent, it is that making sure my children know they are LOVED, no matter what! So I hope and pray they will know that from me when they grow up, if nothing else, Ha!

Kerstyn the comedian

I think I need one of those side bar things on my blog just for all the funny stuff Kerstyn says! Our family loves the Discovery channel, shows like Man vs. Wild, Dirty Jobs, How it's Made, and so forth. Yesterday I was changing Christian's diaper and it was-what we call- a blowout, which means the poop was everywhere! Kerstyn looked at it and said, "Mom, this should be on Dirty Jobs, huh!" Oh, this girl of mine brings me so much laughter! If you haven't seen the TV show called "Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe" then you probably aren't thinking this is very funny, sorry!

How boring would life be!

I love having children and the amusement that I receive! Kerstyn went with me to take Christian to the Dr. today for his 2 week check-up. We went to Wendy's for lunch and Kerstyn was talking about how good Christian is and how he hardly cried when they pricked his foot. She said that he likes Daddy the best in our family. She then changed her mind and said he likes her the bestest! I said, "What about me?" to which Kerstyn replied, "Oh yeah, he likes you the most of all cause you have all the milk!" I can't tell you how hard I laughed at that one. How true it is, as long as everyone's bellies are full then Mom is the best-haha!

Kerstyn's party at Fat Catz in Ogden

Glow in the dark golfing

Kerstyn doing the bumper cars.

Playing around on the arcades.

Curtis took the kids on Saturday for a little celebration of Kerstyn's B-day. They also went bowling and Kerstyn had a blast. Kerstyn usually isn't allowed on the bumper cars cuz she is too little, but I think her dad swung a deal since it was her b-day!

Happy Halloween!

I stayed home with the baby and passed out candy while the kids went with Curt to trick or treat.

Kerstyn and Kemp trick or treating. They went to Curt's parents' neighborhood and they were passing out like full bags of m&m's and candy bars, lucky!

This mask looks pretty funny in this picture, but it was freaky looking. Curtis was shocked that Kemp wanted to be the grimm reeper, he has always been a our sensitive boy.

Kerstyn as a Barbie princess, what else do you think she would be!

Cami-for the second time in a row- is Hannah Montana, the tween sensation!

Some of the Smith cousins at Grams and Papa's house. They had pizza and watched Kit Kittredge, American Girl. I miss having all the energy of a child on Halloween. Curt and I stayed up to watch a movie after the kids went to bed, and I can't even tell you what it was about cuz I was asleep before it started. It sucks to be getting old!

Christian is a week old!

A few pictures of Christian coming home this week. As you can see there is plenty of help to tend to Christian's needs. The kids made a cute sign to welcome him home. I also love the picture of him sleeping. He loves to tuck his hand up by his face like that. Cute, cute, cute! I so wish babies did not have to grow up so fast.

Holy Cow! Kerstyn is 5!

Showing off her crown from preschool.

I just love this girl's dimples. It just makes me want to smile!

This is Kerstyn's favorite Birthday gift by far!

Kerstyn turned 5 on the 29th and with the new babe here we kept it low key. This daughter of ours has brought so much excitement and life in our family. When she was born into this world in 20 minutes I knew she was anxious to be here and not miss a thing. Her zest for life and thrill with even the smallest things has been so good for us as a family. Curtis will ask who wants to go with him to Home Depot and she will jump up as if he has asked her to go to Disneyland! Curtis calls her his Home Depot girl. Her singing and dancing around the house and her imagination are such a joy. Just to give you an idea of her imagination, one Sunday Kerstyn didn't want to go to primary, so I told her to tell her class about the exciting day we had on Saturday. When the teacher asked Kerstyn what she did that was so exciting, Kerstyn preceeded to tell this story of being kidnapped by a bad man and her parents were trying to find her and were very worried and then the bad man dumped her in a garbage and her parents found her! Where in the world she came up with this story- I have not a clue! We went to Gateway to Build-A-Bear and that is what I thought she would tell her class. We were just rolling hysterically while her teacher was relaying the story back to us. She said one thing was for sure she sure had the class' attention. I'm so glad Heavenly Father sent her to us! Our family could not be complete without our little Georgia peach! Happy 5th Birthday sweetie-pie! We love you!

Yea, Christian is here!

Christian Robert Smith was born Friday Oct. 24 at 10:55 a.m. he weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. and was 19 1/2 in. long. He was an interesting birth for me since I decided to have the epidural instead of going natural. I have to admit that getting the epidural was a frustration to me and some of the effects that come with it have been bothersome, but hey I didn't feel any contractions so I can't totally complain! He has been the most pleasant baby so far. He has this cutest wimper and pouts his lips when he is upset. I think Curtis and I are so much more at ease with this baby. I was worried I wouldn't be in the groove after a 5 year gap after Kerstyn, but he is just a total joy. Curtis' job has more flexibility so he has been hanging around more this week. My sweet hubby is the most organized person I know. He has gone thru and done a fall cleaning and the Girl's room and Kemp's look so great. I loved bringing home a baby to a home in order, it is not my area of expertise, so I'm glad I married this man! Kemp has been just the helper I thought he would be, asking me constantly if I am feeling good, and if he can do anything for me. He is so careful and responsible with the baby. Cami has been so great with the drama she gets from her bossy little sister about who is holding the baby more. Yesterday evening Cami was holding Christian and Kerstyn was pouting the whole time (mind you she is home with him ALL day long!). So Cami says, "Kerstyn I'm tired of holding him, will you?" That's my sweet Cami for ya! Kerstyn has assumed the role of Mother over this baby, which I knew would happen given her obsession with babies. No jealousy here folks! She wants to do everything for him. She amazes me for her age, how well she holds him and her gentleness. You can tell he loves her company. We apologize to those who we haven't had time to contact, the overwhelming part of this baby is just the fact that it is number 4 and I feel limited on the time I have to myself. I feel like a dairy cow with the amount of milk I have with this baby. I rented a breast pump and it has made a huge difference, so I am probably busy pumping if any of you are trying to get a hold of me, so give me after this week to get acclamated! Love you all! Thanks for the phone calls, gifts, cards, etc.

Crazy Hair Day!

It was crazy hair day at school for Drug Free Week! I had fun with Cami's hair. I wanted to put little ponytails sticking up all over Kemp's hair, but he said- No Way!

Just an update!

I had a parentology(?) ultrasound on Tuesday and the radiologist was able to get a good look at the baby and measure him. She said that he is dead on for his measurements compared to how many weeks I am and that everything looks great. I feel much better now. I think I am going to have him early, but who knows, sometimes my gut feelings are just anxiety and other times they aren't.

3 weeks to go-Yea!

I had my 37 week check-up today and my doctor is a bit concerned that at my last 3 visits I have not had any weight gain. He wants to do a couple of tests on the baby to make sure he isn't stressed for any reason and also a more extensive ultrasound to make sure everything is right with my placenta, umblical cord, fluid and so on. I feel really good but am also concerned about the weight gain, usually this is the time in my pregnancy when I gain a lot, so hopefully everything is fine. He is definately very active, so that is a good sign. Worst case scenario is that he needs to come out right away, but if there is a problem I figure they can help him more on the outside anyway, and at least I am only 3 wks away!

Cami and Kerstyn- Future Royalaires!

My little sisters Lana and Lesley did this Roy High drill team dance clinic when they were little and for the past 3 years Cami and Kerstyn have been doing it, they love it! The drill team girls show them a routine that they learn during the week and then they perform at halftime of the football game on Friday night. Since I really don't get into dolling my girls up very much- they soak this up-we do hair and make-up and I have fun too! I couldn't find my video camera and just had my regular camera so this has to do. Wish I could have put a video up of the actual dance, they were so cute!