Of course...

I told this story to my friend, Kristi, and she thought I should blog it...

So the other day I had used E's debit card to pay for pizza. And instead of putting it back in his wallet right away, I had set it on top of it, for the moment. I had barely walked out of the room for a mere minute and when I came back in, she had the whole wallet strewn across the floor. I'd gathered it all to put it all back in and noticed the debit card was gone. Naomi is notorious for losing things... when she loses stuff, she loses it GOOD... it takes us at least a week or two to find it.

After searching and searching, we thought we'd give ourselves a day or two to find it. We didn't want to go too long - there's only so much you can do without money.

About three days later, we gave the place a good cleaning. I told Ethan if we didn't find it by now, we should call the bank and have it cancelled so they could send a new one. So that night, Ethan called the bank. They had to verify a bunch of information, of course, to make sure he was who he was. One piece of pertinent information was his driver's license number. He grabbed his wallet to read off the license number. And at the moment he pulled it out to make sure he had read the number correctly, the lady on the phone said it was cancelled... at the same moment he found the debit card BEHIND his ID.

Yeah... you have to laugh to keep from crying.

Look at me go...

I know... TWO posts in one night... Wow!

But I had to post more pics from tree-decorating after Thanksgiving. They were too cute not to share!

By the way, to see a larger version of any of the pics in this blog, just click on the picture.

Enjoy...

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving has already came and went...

This year was especially nice considering Ethan was able to enjoy the whole day with us. He usually has to work so this was a first in years. We were able to sleep in a bit... if that's what you wanna call it... and have a 'Smith-paced' morning.

We then made our way up to Nana's house to help with the preparations of the day's feast. There was alot to do considering the smorgasbord we devour when it is all said and done.

The night before, Jonah was kind enough to draw placemats for us. I was impressed with his variety of pictures... he is so artistic!

Afterwards, we all helped in decorating the 12 foot Christmas tree that was perfectly placed in the front window... like a storybook Christmas tree!

I hope you enjoy the pictures and know that we feel so thankful and blessed!!!

The Zoo in November

It was a beautiful weekend in November... just right to take a trip to the Zoo. Jonah, of course, has been numerous times and still enjoys the animals. For Naomi, she is at an age where she is just enthralled with animals. It was a treat to see her eyes light up whenever we came across her favorite animals. She was definitely not scared of anything... no matter what type of creature or animal we came across. She wanted to see the snakes and spiders up close, just as much as the tigers or lions!

There's nothing like staring at a bunch of animals to help pass the time!

Thankful for my A to Z's...

I've been tagged to do a 'Thankful for Thanksgiving' blog... so here's what I'm thankful for from A to Z...

A: All of my friends & family.
B: Best friend - without her, life would not be complete.
C: Cooks - without them, I'd never eat!
D: Dad - because I'm Daddy's little girl.
E: Ethan - without him, I don't know where I'd be!
F: Food - I could eat all day long if I could.
G: Girls - my homies help keep me sane.
H: Home - as small as it may be, it's home sweet home.
I: In-laws - without them, I might've jumped off a bridge by now.
J: Jonah - he's my favorite little boy!
K: Knowing that I have alot to be thankful for.
L: Lasik - there's nothing like 20/20 vision.
M: Mom - because she's Mom!
N: Naomi - she's my favorite little girl!
O: Options - I'm thankful we have these and live in a free country!
P: Politeness - I hate mean people!
Q: Quirks - without those, nobody would be unique.
R: Reading - I'm thankful that I'm not illiterate.
S: Stars - I need SOMETHING to wish on.
T: Teachers - they've helped shape people's lives.
U: Understanding - that we're all different and just wanna be understood.
V: Vicarious living - I'm glad I can do that through some of my friends.
W: Wine - sometimes I just need a glass... or four.
X: Xtreme sports - to remind us we're alive.
Y: You - obviously if you're reading this, you're someone special to me.
Z: Zambrie - my goddaughter I have yet to meet... and Zingers - who doesn't love thick icing on a wanna-be Twinkie?

Okay... I'm tagging Ronnie... =]

Halloween 2008

I've always loved Halloween... and the kids make it so much funner!

We made a trip to the local nursery (bad idea to buy pumpkins at a Nursery... what were we thinking!) and bought ourselves 4 pumpkins... one for each of us. The kids were pretty cute at the Nursery... running around to check out EVERY pumpkin!

It was a good time prepping, cleaning and carving them. Jonah did a good job considering he doesn't really like getting dirty! And Naomi wasn't very fond of the guts, but she kept watching us... intrigued by the mess we continued to make.

Jonah carved a vampire pumpkin all on his own... and he did a wonderful job! I, of course, stuck with something easy and simple... okay, boring, for Ethan's standards. And Ethan, of course, always gets stuck carving his AND Naomi's. I figured he thinks mine are always too boring anyway, that I may as well let him have at it!

Halloween day was a riot. We were able to attend Jonah's school parade. It's always a riot to see all the different costumes. And Jonah is always such a stud with his friends! The evening was great, as well. The weather insisted on sprinkling on us, but it was at least warmer than usual. Naomi caught on quick... following her brother's lead.

After we'd walked blocks and blocks, we called it a night (although I'm sure the kids could've kept going if we had given them the choice!). The kids sat at Nana's house for a bit going through their loot. We had to cut them off since it was nearing their bedtime.

On the way home, it was pretty funny listening to Naomi babble because of her sugar high. She kept talkin' and talkin'... like she was on uppers and couldn't stop! Once we got home, the kids were finally coming down... good thing it was a Friday night!

Naomi's First Tram Ride...

We were invited by some friends to take a Tram ride. It was Customer Appreciation weekend and for every canned good that was brought, you received a free Tram ticket. And free is always appealing for us... Yes, some of you are thinking, ''Don't you get free Tram tickets anyway?'' Yes, we do.... but it was for a good cause and it just happened to work out that way...

Naomi was a little unsure as we were loading the Tram. Lucky for her, her Dad was holding her tight and reassuring her that it was all going to be okay. Her anxiety seemed to lessen as the heights started to heighten... yeah, weird how that worked out.

At the top, it was FREEZING. It wasn't as cold as the previous weekend, since it had snowed. But on this day, the wind was quite blistering. It was a gorgeous day, but as most late Fall days in Utah are, the weather was quite deceiving at the peak. We were up there long enough to take some pictures and take in the always beautiful scenery... no matter what time of year or weather... the peak is an amazing place to be!

Blog Tag...

Lucky me... I got blog tagged!
I must now tell 6 quirky things about myself...

1 ~ I prefer the toilet paper roll to go over, not from underneath (I know... weird).
2 ~ I'm weirdly superstitious... comes from my Asian Mom...
3 ~ I can't drink tap water... and it has to be cold!
4 ~ I fold my bathroom towels a certain way and if Ethan does it differently, I secretly re-fold them.
5 ~ I have a thing about writing with certain pens... I HATE fine point!
6 ~ I can't text or email w/o proofreading my sentences...

Okay, now that you know I'm weird... I'm tagging Ronnie & Erin!

Jonah's Mid-Terms...

I know you all know how smart Jonah is. But I just wanted to post another reminder...

Jonah received his ''Mid-Term Progress Report'' and he came home with straight A's... okay, so he did get one A minus in the section called "Observes School Rules"... I asked him about it, and he said he was a bit hyper one day. And his other response was, "But it wasn't like I got a TimeOut or anything." So I'll go ahead and let the A minus slide...

Still, to this day, it amazes me how bright he is. He breezes through his homework with hardly any help from us. And his reading skills are amazing!

We're so proud of him!

The Smith's do ''Bodies''...

The ''Bodies'' exhibit is in Salt Lake City... yay! I have been wanting to see this exhibit since I first heard of it from a co-worker who saw it in Vegas.

This is a first-of-its-kind exhibit where visitors learn about anatomy, physiology and health by viewing real human bodies. The bodies are preserved through plastination, which is a ground-breaking method for specimen preservation... basically human taxidermy???

The striking whole-body plastinates in Body Worlds—people who in their lifetime donated their bodies for Plastination for the express purpose of educating future generations about health—allow viewers to see inside the staggeringly complex and completely interconnected network of muscles, tendons and blood vessels that make up our bodies. To date, more than 8,500 people have agreed to donate their bodies to BODY WORLDS for Plastination and use in the exhibits.

It is a fascinating exhibit and well worth the money and crowds... I highly recommend seeing it!!!

2008 Utah State Fair

Yes, the Smith's made it to the State Fair this year. The last time we went, I was pregnant with Jonah... almost 7yrs. ago! It must have been the goat I milked for $1 that kept me away for so long...

This year, a couple of friends wanted to see the Rodeo. Yes... I was dragged to the Rodeo! It was a weird display of animal cruelty, if you ask me! But, I guess that's how it's been done for so long... if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Naomi, surprisingly, LOVED the rodeo. Every time someone came out on a horse chasing a calf, she was up on her feet screaming and yelling. It was more entertaining for me to watch her than the actual rodeo!

After the rodeo, we decided to take the kids on a few rides. The key word is FEW since each ride requires 3-4 tickets and tickets are $1 each. Man, they're rakin' it up at the State Fair! Not only do you have to buy at least 15 tickets, but you also have to give up some tickets for the adult that decides to join the child on the ride. Geez, I should've went into the ticket printing business!

I know what you're thinking... the Fair sounds like as much fun as going to the Dentist. All in all, the kids had a good time. And Ethan and I were able to get our fill of people-watching... the Fair just about rivals the airport as far as people-watching goes!

September 11th

Today will always be a day to remember...
I still remember exactly how September 11, 2001 went for me. I was working up at Snowbird at the time and was pregnant with Jonah. When the news was first hitting the TV, I wasn't quite sure if it was all real. It didn't seem that something like this could ever happen in our country.
I started calling my Aunt, who lives in Manhattan... and my childhood friend, who lived in Queens at the time. More than anything, I wanted to hear what was going on from an insider's perspective. After finding they were both okay, it just seemed that nobody really knew what was going on... and why.
Ethan and I had a quick conversation about it... wondering what kind of world we were bringing our unborn child into.
We just hope this is something that unifies every human being... remembering that life's too short...
We will always remember this day.

Star Wars Siblings

Lately, Jonah has been getting into Star Wars. He has watched both trilogies and absolutely loves them! Jonah was Darth Vader for Halloween when he was 4 years old. So, of course, he's been wearing the costume as his pajamas. He has also been playing with his lightsabers, in case he ever has to fight off any Siths. The other day, he gave Naomi two lightsabers because he knew he could take her with just one. In fact, he told me... "Mommy, I'm a Jedi Knight compared to Sis."

Let's just hope he never turns to the Dark side...

Jonah's First Day of First Grade!

Summer is officially over... yup, it's back to school!

Jonah started first grade last Monday. He was very excited to go back to school. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that Jonah's Kindergarten teacher decided to change grades, becoming his teacher once again. Not only that, his favorite friend from Kindergarten is his class buddy... yes, they sit in two's now in those cute, miniature desks!

It's a wonderful feeling knowing our son is in school all day...and loving it! He's such a big boy now... having 3 recesses (yes, I said 3) and school lunch... we're so proud of him!

The Terrible & Torturous Twos...

Naomi is two! Yup, two!!!

It's shocking to think that our little girl is turning into a toddler. And boy, is she! It's hard to explain how relentless and tiring yet completely adorable she is...

She's learning names... Mommy, Nah-Nah (for Jonah), Papa, Opy, Nana, Tita and Day (for Dave). She's also learning animal sounds. It's pretty cute to hear her sound out what a monkey or rooster says.

She has moved on from the "Wobbler" room at Daycare to the 2-3 year old room. This has been a tough transition... for the Wobbler teachers. They were VERY attached to Naomi... she was their absolute favorite! The other day, one of her old teachers went to visit her and they both ended up crying when she had to leave. She's already breaking hearts at an early age... ugh.

Her biggest challenge these days is keeping up with her brother. Luckily, Jonah is wonderful with her. Of course, there's a constant barrage of teasing, but nothing compares to his love for her. The other day we were driving home from school/daycare and Jonah wanted to finish his leftover lunch. But this of course meant sharing his sandwich and chips with his sister... or maybe he just didn't want to hear her cry and whine for whatever it was he had that she didn't!

Her birthday party was a pool party courtesy of Nana & Dave. It was a great turnout... in fact, it looked like the local community pool since there were, at times, 15 kids in the pool at once! She's our little water baby... having no problem jumping into Ethan's arms from the side of the pool!

She's an amazing little girl... and we feel so blessed.

Chicago Trip

Ethan, Jonah and I were lucky enough to spend a weekend in Chicago, IL with Alan, Heather and Erin. It was a fantastic, yet exhausting weekend. We made the most of our short time there, filling it full of baseball games and sightseeing...

Day One...

We first arrived Friday afternoon and rushed to the hotel to check in. Soon after, we high-stepped it to the nearest train station to rush over to Wrigley Field to catch the Cubs/Cardinals game. Yes, the field is as old and wonderful as imagined. Lucky me, the game went 11 innings. Right after, it was another hustle back to the train station to catch the Red Sox/White Sox game at White Sox Field. This was an evening game filled with hot dogs, lemonade and fireworks. The game finished in the evening... making our trek back to the train station and hotel an exhausting one...

Day Two...

On this day, Saturday, we had an open morning and afternoon before our evening ball game. With this in mind, our goal was to see as much of Chicago as possible. And boy, did we! We started off the day making our trek towards the Sears Tower. This consisted of standing in line for a total of 90+ minutes to enjoy a blissful 30 or so minutes up top. What a view, though! Our next stop was the famous Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse... named for the late Hall of Fame baseball announcer. Here, we were given the in-house treatment since Alan's wife, Heather, has a cousin that has worked here for 11 years. At this point, the boys wanted to head to the ball field early to catch warm-up/practice, in hopes to get autographs and pictures. Ethan's sister wanted to make a quick visit to the Art Institute of Chicago - and since I was fine with missing practice, I was more than happy to tag along. This was my first visit to an art institute, and with the reminders from security that flash photography is not allowed, it was quite obvious. It was an amazing experience...and I felt so cultured and sophisticated! But this wasn't going to last long since it was time for the trek to the ball field. Another evening game, once again filled with ball field fodder...

Day Three...

We had a small window of time in the morning to do some more sightseeing before our afternoon ball game so our last tourist stop was the famous Field Museum. We were able to meet 'Sue, the T-Rex' and many of her osteal friends. After a couple of hours, it was time to head back to the ball field for game 3 of the Red Sox/White Sox series.

Needless to say, it was an exhilirating and exhausting vacation! Jonah had a wonderful time and, as usual, was quite the trooper. We would love to go back to Chicago to see more of the city and, of course, maybe catch an Oprah taping! But if I never eat another bag of peanuts, nachos, hot dogs or cheeseburgers all in the same day it'll still be too soon! =)

Our elementary school scholar...

It's true, Jonah is finished with Kindergarten... our little boy is going to be a first grader!

It was quite the year for Jonah. First, he started off as a Grant Bulldog in the Murray school district. He had a wonderful teacher, Ms. Danelle Keith - who happened to be a very good friend of his Nana's. He loved being a bulldog and Kinderbug.

But with our lives constantly changing, we had to transfer Jonah to a school that was closer to his Daycare. We picked Howard R. Driggs Elementary. Now Jonah was a Driggs Dragon! He would spend the remainder of the school year at Driggs. It took some adjusting, but luckily, Jonah really enjoys school so it was only a matter of time.

At all of the Parent-Teacher conferences we would attend, his teacher would constantly rave about how brilliant Jonah was. Not only that, he was very polite and compliant... which was music to our ears.

At the end of the year, he would have to do an end of year assessment. This is a scheduled 30 minute test to ensure the child was prepared for first grade. Ethan decided to bring Naomi along to play on the playground to keep him company as he waited. But before Naomi could take another turn on the slide, Jonah came out with his teacher... and it had only been 10 minutes! His teacher said that he was the quickest and got a 100%. She'd also mentioned that she yearned for all of her Kindergartners to be like Jonah!

Please don't stop the music...

Naomi is quite the mover and the shaker. If it's loud, has a beat or has any sense of melody, she'll dance to it... or at least move spasmodically.
She still moves her hands to the telephone ringing and if it really has a beat, she moves her head intently.
She definitely has rhythm... something she gets from the Figuracion's.

Jonah lost his first tooth!

It took some wiggling and squirming, but Jonah finally lost his first tooth. When we asked him how much he thought the Tooth Fairy would bring him, his reply was, "Probably five dollars."

Yikes, how times have changed...

Needless to say, we gave him $2 since the Tooth Fairy always gives more for the first tooth. We told him he'd probably only get $1 for every other one from here on out... that is, if gas prices and inflation stay steady or on the decline.

Proud Tee Ball Parents...

What a fun time of year for us. Not only is Jonah back in his Soccer league (and is the star player) but he is also now enrolled in a Tee Ball league. Problem is, we're not sure if this league will actually help or hurt his game...
I should've lied about his age so he could be in an older league. Yup, he's a bit too advanced, I'm afraid, for his team. These kids seem to have never held a baseball before, let alone know how to hit one!
The Smith's (not the Figuracion's) are huge baseball fans. Ethan grew up with alot of baseball in his childhood. His team of choice... the Boston Red Sox. So inevitably, Jonah has been a Red Sox fan since the ripe age of infancy. During Jonah's first couple years of life, his Tita Erin lived in Boston. So of course she always brought home his first Red Sox cap... or his first Red Sox shirt. Because of Ethan's love of the game, Jonah was lucky (is that the correct word?) to learn the game at an early age.
Like most of his athletic endeavors, Jonah was a quick study. When Ethan got him his first tee ball set-up, it didn't take him long to learn how the bat and ball connects. When Jonah is focused, he is amazing with his skills! To be honest, I don't remember him using the tee for very long. Before we knew it, it was underhand pitching that he preferred. And that didn't last very long either. Jonah now takes fast overhand pitches from his Dad. Not only has he excelled in that, he has now moved up to practicing with a metal bat. Now we either need to be in a park or have a bigger backyard because we're losing balls over the fences!

With this being our first tee ball league, we really didn't know what to expect. The competitive side in me always worries about my children's performance when it comes to sports. But I don't know why I ever worry about Jonah. He's good at what he does!

Before the game, they ''warm-up'' by playing catch with each either. And that's when I knew he would be the star player again. Ethan has taught him how to correctly catch a ball or a grounder. And also to ''step-in'' to his throw.

In this basic league, they basically allow every child to bat in rotation once and then they switch. No real baseball rules, just the BASICS. Ethan and I thought his first question after the game would be why they don't play REAL baseball.

So Jonah's first at-bat was pretty funny. He cracked it past the kids... and I'm sure it would've been a homerun. But like I said, this league only teaches the basics. At this point, Jonah has already ran to third only to be told he has to go back to first base so the other kids can practice running bases... LAME. His next at-bat, the coach had the kids back up... it was another proud parent moment!

Since none of the other kids really seemed to know what was going on, Jonah was playing all of the positions! When the other team was batting, Jonah was the only one hustling and even knew to get the ball to first.

I could go on about how outstanding his baseball skills are, but it could get as boring as some baseball games I've had to sit and endure. At least with this league, it's quite entertaining and exciting for me! =)