I'm so proud of him...

School is out. Yup... Jonah is on his way to being a 2nd grader.

I am so very proud of my little Driggs Elementary Dragon. Let me explain...

I received a phone call last week from the school Secretary. She went on to tell me that there was going to be an awards assembly, and that Jonah would be receiving an award. With that said, she was just informing us of the time in the chance that we may be able to attend. I relayed the information to Ethan. Not really giving it much thought, I just told him to bring the video camera if he could make it. And I'm so glad he did...

As it went, every child in the class received a certificate and a personal award... ''best smile & best helper award'', ''best blue eyes & reader'' or ''best artist''... so, of course, the skeptic in Ethan thought that maybe it was just that every parent was called to let them know of the award. But as it turns out, there was a special award for one child of each class... the ''Dragon Pride'' award. Each teacher was to pick the topnotch student of her class. And Jonah has a class of 24 kids, so I am sure this was a tough decision... but, then again, it is Jonah - that decision couldn't have been that tough. Here's what was written on his certificate...

''Because of you our school is a better place to learn. You have proven to me by your actions that one person can make a difference. I applaud you for what you have accomplished and look forward to hearing even more great things about you in the future.''

Yup... we're so proud of him. His trophy even has his name engraved on it.

We must be doing something right... =)

Naomi's Day...

With E's perks at work, he was able to get the kids their own Burton set-ups... brand new boots, bindings and boards.

With Jonah away in Florida, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to give Naomi some one-on-one time on the mountain. She was a bit apprehensive to put her gear on. So E thought it would be wise to strap on his stuff in hopes that she would understand the concept. Not long after, she agreed to let us put her on her board.

As soon as she got on the conveyor belt (aka ''Magic Carpet'') she was hooked! The word of the day was ''Again!'' She didn't even fuss when she took a spill. She would giggle the whole way up and down. The pictures are adorable, but the video is absolutely amazing...

Enjoy!

Jonah's 7th Birthday

Yes, Jonah is 7!

His birthday gets funner every year as he gets older. This year it was on a Thursday, so it seemed to be a 3 day birthday weekend. He was sent home with birthday cards that were personally made for him by each of his classmates. We felt so proud as there were at least half a dozen cards that said he was the best friend they'd ever had!

The following Saturday was his birthday party. We had it at ''Bouncin' Off the Walls''. It was a great turnout... as most of his birthday parties are.

He is a lucky kid... liked by so many!

Naomi's first day on the slopes of '08-'09

I deserve a plaque, I think...

I decided to take the kids skiing on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It was Jonah's second day on the slopes this year, but Naomi's first.

She fought me from the beginning...

It took Jonah and I an hour to coax her into getting dressed in her ski gear. She wanted to run around in her diaper for half an hour until she wanted to put her thermals on. Jonah kept asking her if she wanted to see Papa at work. She would respond with a 'Yes' but continued to rebel.

After finally getting her dressed and in the car, we made our way up to Snowbird. Once we were parked, I had high hopes that she would want to walk in the snow up to the Center. Yeah, right... I think she thought I needed my exercise that day. I had to carry her all the way uphill.

When we made it to E's office, we got the kids sized up in their skis and boots. It was hard enough for me to get her snowboots on, let alone ski boots. I knew this was gonna be a tough one. Surprisingly, it took only a couple of tries to get her to put her ski boots on... only to have Ethan take them off during lunch.

I thought for sure things would go smoother once we'd all eaten and had full stomachs. Yeah, right...

Once we got out on the snow, Naomi's favorite word was NO. She wanted to take her goggles off... and then back on. She took her mittens off... and then back on. She kept wanting to take her ski pants off... and then back on. All the while Jonah just wanted to get on the ski lift. Luckily, Ethan was able to come out and help me for a bit. He took a few runs with Jonah while I continued to get Naomi on her skis. No luck for me. So I took a couple of runs with Jonah while Ethan took his turn. The most he got was putting her skis on and snapping a pic.

We tried.

Christmas 2008

Christmas was another successful holiday for the Smith's...

Naomi was quite meticulous about unwrapping her gifts. She was sure to get every piece of tape or paper that was wrapped on her gift. She seemed to enjoy all of her presents thoroughly.

Jonah only asked for three things from Santa. And, of course, he got more than that. His ''big'' present was a Nintendo DS... which we are BOTH enjoying. =)

Ethan and I must have been really good this year because Santa brought us a new dishwasher! Either that, or he was sick of our complaining...
My parents and Aunt Gemma (from NYC) were able to spend a week with us and the kids. It was a full house, but alot of fun!

We're so blessed to have our health and new toys and can't wait for 2009!!!

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!!!