Happy to be a Mom!

I love this thought from President David O. McKay

"She, who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions -- deserves the admiration and the plaudits of man. But she who rears a family of beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, long after paintings have faded, and books have been destroyed she deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God. In her high duty and service to humanity, she is co-partner with the Creator himself."


Tuesday, July 29, 2008

more baths and etc



Devin wanted some new picts, but I left the cord at the hotel, so here are some from before we left of a bath. Check out that double chin, cute huh, its even getting bigger now.


Here is Spencer helping me with the laundry, what a big helper.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Asa's Dance

My brother--in-Law Asa is an amazing dancer. This is him in the Canoe pageant at the Polynesian Culture Center. He also does the fire and knife dance in the night show. the video is sort of crazy sorry- this camera is still new.

Hawaiian Bath




Spence needed a bath so us girls gave this little guy a bath! He loved it, he really enjoys baths!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Polynesian Cultural Center

'Asa, my sister Darlene's Husband works at the Polynesian Cultural Center where he dances for the Canoe Pageant and Night Show. Here he is dancing the Samoan section.

Here I am, with little Spencer sporting his little Blue hat enjoying the Canoe Pageant.

And of course little Spencer with his Grandma Smith at the P.C.C.

Pineapple Plantation


Monday We went to the Pineapple plantation. There is only 2 places in the world that you can get a Dole Whip (pineapple ice creae). Here in Hawaii at the Dole Plantation and in Disney Land. Its wonderfully Refreshing.


Here is Spence and I as Pineapple People


Here is Auntie Cheryl with Spencer, Emily and Cheryl visited here for a few days. She has had the magic touch with Spencer.


Here is Mommy and Spencer check out our cool Sunglasses.

Hawaii

Yea the internet works!
Yea we are going to Hawaii


So we left last Sunday for Hawaii. We came to visit my sister Darlene and her husband Asa, they live in Laie. Here we are on the 6 hour airplane ride. Spence was a champ he slept most of the way and hardly cried at all. Yea.



Here we are with Darlene, Spencer and I.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Hello from Hawaii

Well Spencer and I decided to go to Hawaii for 2 weeks while Devin was doing his internship in Salt Lake. We are having a great time with my family, however we miss Daddy a lot!

Now the blogger is having a hard time, I can't seem to post pictures so wish me luck while I figure this out.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Daddy's New Job



Last week, Devin started a new job up in Salt Lake City at the law firm Holland & Hart. He is right across the street from the Lionhouse and Church Office Building. His office is on the 22nd floor, which is the very top, skinny part of the picture above. They have been great to work for, especially since they took me out to lunch 3 times this week. The firm pays for lunch, the attorneys get free lunch, and I don't have to pack a lunch from home. Win, win, win. They have very nice perks like free soda every day, free breakfast every other Friday, and my own office with a view. Everyone there has been very welcoming.
Perhaps the more challenging part of the job is waking up at 5:30 am to catch the 6:33 am UTA bus from Provo to Salt Lake. He has to ride his bike about a mile to the bus stop (he can make it in 5 minutes if he has to), but since the bus pass only costs $30, it sure beats $4 a gallon for gas. We figure it would cost between 300 and 400 dollars in gas if he were to commute every day. As it is, we have already paid for the bus pass by riding this week.
However, every other BYU law student has the same idea, and so the buses get quite crowded. Devin has had to stand on the bus 3 times this week, because there aren't enough seats for everyone. When asked about adding another bus, UTA allegedly said that since the BYU student passes were so cheap, they can't afford another bus for the summer. Lame, but very true.
When Naomi goes to Hawaii (7-20 to 8-2), Devin will probably drive up to SLC and stay with family. That way, he can commute in on TRAX and not spend quite so long on the bus.

Future's so bright, I've gotta wear...goggles?

For those of you that haven't seen The Office, the title should read, "Future's so bright, I've gotta wear shades." Thanks Katie for the shades. We tried them on when he first got home from the hospital, but they were way too big. It looks like they will fit for Hawaii next week. (Naomi and Spencer are going to Hawaii for two weeks with Naomi's family while Devin stays behind to work work work.)





Spencer is starting to smile on purpose now. He's so adorable. We tried to capture it, and this was the best we got. The problem is he shakes his whole body when he smiles, so the camera has a hard time capturing "the moment".


Attempt number 2.
Check out the double chin. All that eatin' must be doing some good. He's starting to fill out in the face and body.
Here is a new form of entertainment we found...for Daddy. Spencer really likes to be bounced on the exercise ball. Sometimes we spend as much as an hour bouncing before he falls asleep. We are glad we've found a new trick for bouncing.


Thursday, July 10, 2008

baby pictures


we went to kiddee kandids to get a picture of spencer in his blessing outfit. our neighbor gave us a coupon so we gotan 8x12 for free. the camera man was great with Spencer, thank goodness since he was crying and upset. Although you couldn't tell from his face, which went from red crying to perfect composure instantly.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Happy 4th of July and Other Adventures

Us at the Ward Breakfast. TC, Ashley, Savanna, Ashley, Devin and Spencer (in the stroller) at the Freedom Festival in Downtown Provo.



Happy 4th of July. The sombraro is mostly for luck...
Here's Chad and I doing insulation work. Peace out.

Here's the attic before I started. The insulation now is up to the horizontal 2x4.
Here's my exciting work in the attic. It only took about 6 hours in the attic.
Here's some of the 60 bags. They weigh 21.4 lbs.
Tim and Aubrey helping us by putting the insulation into the blower.

For the 4th of July we decided to put insulation in our attic. ALMOST as exciting as fireworks, huh. So on Tuesday, we went to Home Depot to purchase 60 bags of cellulose insulation to blow into our house. We received a free rental of the blower for every 20 bags we purchased. We had to pick up the blower and the insulation and we were contemplating having the insulation delivered, until they told us it would be $80. We noticed that we could rent a truck for $19 for 75 minutes and $20 for every hour after that. We decided to save $60 and rent the truck to pick up the blower and the insulation in one fell swoop. We tried to reserve the truck, but they said that they do not reserve equipment, so it's first come first serve.

So I drive down on Thursday night at 5:30 (after a dentist appointment where I had 3 cavities) to pick up the truck, blower, and insulation. When I arrived, the truck was gone, but they said it would be back sometime after 6:15. In the mean time, I could wait and they would call me. He also told me that I needed to have a copy of my insurance card (which I didn't have). So I had to go print a card from Geico. La Quinta told me that I couldn't print because I wasn't a current paying guest of the hotel. So I went to the Marriott and printed off my insurance card.

About 6:30 the truck became available so I went to the desk and filled out all the forms. Then I went back to pick up the insulation...except, they sold out my order. That's right, not one bag of insulation in the entire store. So they called the Lindon store and told me I could drive there and pick up the insulation, but I would have to repurchase the material and get a refund from the Provo store. They offered to give me 20-30 minutes extra time to pick up the insulation. So I got the blower loaded and left provo at 7:30. I got to Lindon at about 7:45 and they did not have the bags on a pallet (as was expected so that it would fit in the truck without tie downs). So one man helped me put the bags on two carts and bring them to the front of the store, but then disappeared, leaving me to load the bags by myself.

Since the bags were not on a pallet, they did not fit in the truck without a tarp to cover them. SO I had to buy a tarp and the recommendation I received was 19 X ??. So I got the biggest one, 19 x 30, big mistake. It was 4 times too long and after 5 requests, no one was there to help me put it on. Finally, one young man who had never done it before (the blind leading the blind) came to help me. We tied it on weakly, and within 5 minutes, the tarp was blowing everywhere. I managed to get it mostly secured with two tie downs given to me by the Provo Home Depot for the blower. By this time, it was 10:35. Home Depot closes at 10:00, and the truck had to be back before they could close. I called them, and they said they would wait until I got back. It took until 11:00 pm to get the truck back to Home Depot. All told, the one hour project took over 6 hours. It was the most frustrating experience ever. Oh and by the way, the tarp cost $50 and the truck was $30, so we really saved no money.

Thankfully, our friends TC and Ashley Perry, (who arrived at 6:30 pm) stayed until I arrived with the truck to help me unload it. Ashley was planning to run the 5k at 7 am in the morning.
Thanks Ashley.

I got to bed about midnight and had to be up in the morning (6 am). Luckily, Spencer did his part and slept from 12:00 to 5:45 am. Way to go Spence...

We had Tim and Aubrey Chavez help us on Friday (4th of July). We got about half of the insulation installed by 10:00 am. We went to the ward breakfast at the park, the Freedom Festival in the afternoon, and then drove up to SLC to visit my friends Diana Leeflang and Stan Bell.

A note about Stan, he is serving in Mosul, Iraq and was on leave for 2 weeks in July. He has to go back until February 2009. It was great to see him and thank him for his service. He has a 16 month old boy and a beautiful wife at home. Thanks Stan for all your hard work and service. We hope to see you soon.

On Saturday, Chad came over to help us finish the insulation. We started at 6 am and finished about 11 am. Naomi and I spent 2 more hours cleaning up. Note to self, put a tarp under the blower, cover all the furniture in the path of the blower line, and have insulation delivered.

Well, if you've read all this, congratulations. The pictures are more exciting.

friends


Our friends TC and Ashley Perry and their daughter savana came over to play. Savana is 6 months and adorably chubby and loved Spencer she kept laughing and trying to grab him. babies are so cute.

jelly bean

We have endearingly nicknamed our baby "jelly bean" and "froggy" which is what he reminds us of especily when he is snuggled up on our chest. This is my favorite way to hold him.



Spencer is a little acrobat when he sleeps his arms are always moving all over the place. he frequntly stretches and hits himself in the face, not to mention wakes himself up. We are trying to swaddle him more so he sleeps more soundly.