Wonderful Christmas

We had an amazing Christmas week.  We spent great time with family, did our traditional ski day on Christmas Eve and got our pictures taken with our 'special passes'.  A friend of ours got us bolos to ski with.  We felt like royalty.  It was nice.  Thanks Matt!  We also went to Asian Star for Christmas Eve dinner. Yummy!  Christmas day was amazing.  Stephen's first Christmas.  He loved crawling around under the tree and finding all the bows and ribbons to pull off of the presents.  We had an amazing blizzard type storm so it was a great day to stay inside and play games and just visit with family.  I had a few sad moments when I thought about how this was also my first Christmas without my mom, but I have so many other wonderful family members and very fond memories with her.  Once I get pictures off the camera I will post pictures of Stephen's first Christmas!

Almost made it a year

Scott and I finally got callings.  We haven't had callings since we moved from Nashville, and I thought that maybe we would make it a year.  We actually made it 11 months.  We are team teachers for the 14-15 year old Gospel Doctrine.  Scott taught this past Sunday and I'm teaching this week.  I'm nervous.  I like teaching Relief Society and Primary is fun, but this makes me nervous.  I guess that is what callings do for you..  help you with those fears.  We took cookies last week, they seemed to enjoy that (like anyone is surprised by that comment).  We will get most of a new class in January so I don't know how hard I'll try to really get to know the kids in this class.  Doesn't it take a lot longer than a couple hours to get to know a teenager?  Anyway, that is our news.

"Can we shovel more driveways?"

In the last 36 hours or so we have gotten snow, a lot of it.  It stopped snowing yesterday evening.  I could hear my neighbor outside on her 4 wheeler and I figured she was plowing the sidewalks.  She has done a good job with keeping those clear.  I decided to bundle Stephen up and take him in the snow to see what he would do.  When I got outside, our driveway had been cleared by the 4 wheeler, and two girls were out there with their kid-sized shovels clearing our sidewalk and steps.  I brought Stephen out so some were distracted by that, but the rest came to my driveway and continued to shovel.  How funny to see these young girls shoveling snow.  It was a bit of a mess and they were flinging snow on each on 'on accident', but I enjoyed helping them and chatting with them.  Of course I have a couple pictures of Stephen's first bout in the snow.  He didn't seem to know what to do when he got there, so a couple girls were trying to show him how to play.  They buried him a little so show him what to do with it.  It was entertaining.  When we were about done, my neighbor came over to chat and help finish up.  She was talking about going in and having hot chocolate and one of the girls looked up at her and said, "Can we stay out here and shovel more driveways?"  My neighbor said, "Of course you can!"  Pretty funny.

See the "what am I doing here" look on Stephen's face

He was getting cold and finally started to crawl in the snow.  Seconds after this was taken, he face planted, and then the fun was over.

Christmas

I have been feeling a little pressure since I have seen a few people put up pictures of how you have decorated your home for Christmas.  I decided to follow suit.  Most of our neighbors have outside lights on their houses, but we haven't done that yet.  We have decorated inside and here is what we have done:

This is in our entry way (on the other side of the gate from Stephen).  Here is our Christmas music boxes, most of the nativity scenes and other little decorations.  Along with the Christmas cards we have gotten so far.

Here is the garland going up the staircase.  It has all our moose ornaments on it.   There are lights, too, but you can't see that here.  It is right across from the previous picture.

This is Stephen's area.  The decorations he can play with.  

Here is our tree and decorated mantle. I do think it would look much better if there wasn't a Stephen table blockade there, but it looks better like that then it would surround by broken ornaments or laying on the floor.  Currently a chair has been added over on the other side to add to the blockade.

Our  moose-tivity is also up, but I didn't get a picture of it this year, I hope no one is disappointed.

Quirky Tag

So... Scott and I were tagged.  We have to name 6 quirky things about one or both of us.  Here goes...

1.  I HAVE to put lotion on my feet at night, or I can't go to sleep.

2.  I like to have the bed made during the day because I sleep better if I get into a bed that was made vs. one that wasn't.  (sometimes if the bed isn't made, it ends up being a double lotion night)

3.  I have tissues and chap stick in every room of the house.  I am addicted to chap stick.  Not just any kind either.  Most of it is Natural Ice - the cherry kind if I can find it.  I blame my dad.  He got his whole family addicted to it, and now he is getting his fiancee's children addicted to it, too.

4.  I love drinking glasses.  I don't know why.  I just like them.  I noticed when unpacking that I have way too much stemware.  Especially for someone who doesn't drink.  I have a lot of other 'everyday' glasses, too.  We drink out of different glasses each night of the week at dinner.

5.  Everything should be in a certain place.  If it isn't, or doesn't have a place yet, then it can be in a place temporarily until it finds a home, even if that place is left side of the counter.  I am pretty good about finding things right away, out of a bag, cupboard, etc.  It drives me nuts if I don't know where something is.  

6.  This one is Scott's.  He hates the game of tag.  In his honor, I will not continue by tagging someone else.

Reindeer!

We went to Thanksgiving Point for a few minutes this past weekend.  While we were there, we heard that there were reindeer.  We decided to go check it out and see what Stephen thought about it all.  I think he noticed them.  I'm pretty sure the reindeer didn't notice him.  They seemed to be ignoring everything around them except for the hay.  

And.... We're Back!

We are back from our Thanksgiving trip.  We were actually back a few days ago, but I am just getting to this now.  I have already talked about the flight out and Scott mentioned how ALONE he was feeling, so I guess we'll go from there.  As I think I mentioned, dad's house is not baby proofed at all.  So that kept us on our toes.  He did actually have some locks on the cupboards so we did use those in the kitchen.  Stephen didn't like those.  We ended up buying gates for the top and bottom of the stairs.  The sad thing was that they were also Kathy-proof.  She had to yell for someone to help her up and down the stairs.  I knew I needed to go help when I would hear "Jamie! I stuck!"

It was really good to be home.  I went through a few things with dad to decide what to do with mom's things.  We went through all of her really nice clothes.  I put some in Kathy's closet,  I took a few things, and I think Lisa will go through it when she goes home for Christmas.  Then, it will be time to box it all up and donate it.  It really is too bad that I couldn't take more.  Mom had some real nice clothes, mostly the ones she made.  Oh, and I found material.  Loads and loads of material.  There were about 3 piles of it in the closet, some under the bed in the guest room, and a bunch in the sewing room that is slowly becoming more of an office.  (The room is sewing, computer and laundry).  I actually played a little with mom's sewing machine.  I really like using it!  I know I'm not all that great at sewing to merit using as nice of a machine as that is, but I'm sure I could get pretty good practicing!

We did go to the beach while we were there.  It is our family tradition at Christmas to go to the beach and feed the seagulls.  We are attacked every year, but it is something that is pretty fun to do.  We decided to go out there a bit early since we won't be there for Christmas.  We thought it might be pretty fun for Stephen to see all the birds flying around.  We will try to post the video of that later, so all I'll say about it is that he missed it.  He missed it all...

I was able to spend some time with my friends.  That was fun.  We got together before Scott got there and had full intentions to get together after he arrived, but things were too busy for everyone.  Stephen had fun playing with the kids and playing outside.  He doesn't get too much of a chance to do that here.  We don't have a yard yet, and it is entirely too cold for him.  He ate some leaves, they must have been good because he kept shoving them in his mouth.

We spent some time with Beth and it was good to get to know my future step-mother a little better.  Everyone that I talked to at Church is just thrilled for dad and Beth.  He is pretty excited, too.  While I was there, he actually got a date and time set for the Temple.  They will marry on February 14 at 11:00.  I have volunteered to go stay with Kathy so they could go do something fun.  He called me yesterday and said that they are going to St. Martin.  He sounded really excited.  So, I now have my tickets to go out there for the wedding and stay for another week.  

Here are some pictures:

Our little gambler who is about to make another mess in the family room

This kitchen cabinet did not have a lock on it.  It was one of his favorites.  This was Thanksgiving day.  He was helping.

Here is Stephen in the car.  I decided to put him in this to see what he would do.  He could only go backwards and he only ran over himself a couple of times.  But he laughed and laughed!

We were actually able to go through this cabinet and really clean it out.  It had about 500 Southern Living magazines in it.  They became part of Stephen's play things.  He would rip them up, and then the next day there would be fresh ones waiting for him.  It all worked out.

Is there anybody out there?

So I have discovered that I don't do well alone. Actually it is kind of embarrasing to admit, but really, I sort of feel like I am going stir crazy all alone in this house.

Jamie is off in NC, and I am here by myself until Wednesday, when I will brave the holliday travel crowds in what will probably turn out to be a vain attempt to get to Wilmington before the turkey is demolished some time Thursday evening. I should get there Wednesday night, but those airline types can't be trusted at all! In the mean time, I get to hang out here, go to work during the day, and stare at the walls by night.

It isn't all that bad, but I have come to realize how much I look forward to comming home to a Smoken HOT wife, and the funniest little boy ever. Without them here, the house is so empty.

Argh!!!!!

Bumps and falls

Yesterday and today have been fun days filled with trying to child proof my dad's house. He keeps commenting on how different things look. We have had to move just about everything to 'higher ground'. Stephen has gotten really good at climbing stairs and getting past every barrier we have put around them. Today, he got to the top of the stairs before I could get to him and rolled down them. We have been trying to get him to understand going down things feet first, but I guess we are not doing that correctly. He was crawling along and just ran out of floor. Luckily, he rolled down the stairs side to side, not head over toe. My dad's house also has a landing about 6 steps down from the top, so he didn't go down an entire floor. It also seems that it was fun after the inital crying happened because he is still going back to the stairs. Maybe he is trying to conquer them, I don't know. He also keeps falling off of the hearth, but that isn't that far of a fall. He doesn't seems to like it, but keeps going back for more. So that has been the last few days. I'm running after Stephen who is crawling faster and faster each day and having a blast in a new place. New things to explore!

If anyone has any good tips on how to teach feet first and/or the concept of down - I'm open to suggestions! Thanks!

We made it!

Stephen made another plane flight yesterday and we actually made it to our destination! I was worried it might be hard. On our first flight from Salt Lake to Cinncinati, there was an empty seat next to me so they let me take the car carrier on and he actually slept for probably an hour of our 3 hour flight. The rest of the time he was pretty good. We walked the aisle a little, but he was mostly happy to be where he was. We were sitting next to someone who loves babies and she had a good time playing with him.

Once we were on the ground, I found that our next flight was going to leave an hour and 15 minutes later than scheduled. So, I strolled to the food court and had some lunch, then strolled (and rode the bus) to my next gate. When I got to the gate, we found that it was 20 minutes later still. Evidently, something needed to be fixed and the part was coming in on another plane, and we were informed that the part was in the air... phew. Good to know. There was some little very well used play area for children near the gates, so we played over there for a little bit. Stephen was mostly interested in crawling over to people who had books in their hands or tags on their luggage. He also made good friends with the shoe shine guy. He was pretty nice and didn't seem to mind that Stephen was all over the step where the customers sit and he even tried to take his food at one point. He was a good sport and talked to Stephen when he came to play. Well, about 15 minutes from our new scheduled departure, Stephen fell asleep (after a lot of work from me) and he slept for another 45 minutes or so when they finally announced that we could board the plane. His eyes popped right open, and he was up! I was hoping I could quietly get on the plane and coast on to North Carolina. Oh well. The plane was fixed, but was going to be overweight, so could someone volunteer to take another flight? OK, I don't get this. The plane is full, they knew this, I knew when I checked in the night before. What is this overweight thing? What is up with that? It turns out that there was too much fuel on the flight for the destination, therefore it was too heavy. I don't get it. How can it be too heavy? It shouldn't matter where it is going. Shouldn't a plane be able to go anywhere once it is full with passengers, luggage, AND fuel?!?! And, if it did go to the destination that needed more fuel, wouldn't it still be too heavy? I just don't understand. I spoke about this with my seat mate once we were on the plane. He thinks it is all because of the reinforced cockpit doors. He thinks that since most planes were retrofitted with these doors that is has messed up the planes ability to be full. It seems that it could be an option, but I just don't know.

Back to the story. Once I was on the plane, a small one, I noticed that the row behind me was empty, so I thought that once the door was closed that I would move back there to give the guy beside me (that really wanted the aisle, but I said no because I got an aisle seat on purpose and I wasn't giving it up) more room and so that Stephen could have his own seat. He does better that way these days. But, because of the planes obesity, they had to readjust the weight, so two people from the first 4 rows had to move to the row behind me to help the balance. Arg! I was in row 6! I was so close to being able to have my own and then it was taken away. (See why I am bugged by the weight thing?) Anyway, that took too much time to work out and just delayed take off even more. So, Stephen was mellow for the beginning of the flight because he had just awakened before we boared so the first 30 minutes was pretty easy. Then, he was done. He didn't want to be on the plane anymore, didn't want to be held, nothing! He wasn't even calmed by food (this is usually something that works). He would take one of his little snacks, throw his arm to the side, open his hand and let the snack fall to the floor. So, I let him crawl in the aisle. This was a little plane, but I didn't care, I let him go. I didn't let him go too far up and down, but he had a little more freedom. It seemed like mostly business travelers and they were all pretty nice. They would smile and say hello to him and he would grin back. He got one of the pamphlets that tell you what to do in the case of an emergency and played with that. He also ripped up a Sky Mall magazine and I figured it was no big loss. Once we had to sit again, at initial decent, I had to hold him again. Actually, I had to catch him first. He was headed toward the front of the plane as we tipped downward, and he kind of lost control of his crawl. He was still crawling, but going faster and faster! I think he liked it. Anways, he had to be in my lap for the last few minutes and the guys around me were trying to help. It was nice. I had people in 4 different rows pick things up off the floor for me. I felt like the service project. But it wasn't all that bad at all.

Most passengers on this flight had to gate check their carry ons. So the top of the gateway was kind of a crowded mess waiting for the bags to show up. I was waiting for the stroller, and I took the car seat to gate check too, so I wouldn't have to pay to check another 'piece of luggage'. One of the guys waiting for his bag brought me the stroller and car seat, wasn't he nice? He yelled over the crowed, "Do you just have a stroller?" I appreciated it, because I was just planning on waiting for everyone to get their bags and get out of my way. With all that, I was back in time for a late dinner with my dad, sister and future Stepmom. Good ole Southern BBQ! And then a two hour ride home.

Well, North Carolina - you have to deal with me through the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm exited to be here and am glad that my flights had a little drama, but nothing real terrible. It really wasn't all that bad. I just feel like I have somewhat of a story to tell! Now I get to go through mom's things with dad and decide what to do with most of it. Should be an emotional time. Dad already brought out the 2 boxes of cards that he and mom recieved this year. Today I went through the box of cards mom got when she was sick. I had a hard time reading those. I'm sure that the other box, mostly cards dad got after mom passed away, will be harder. And there are more of those! I may have to spread those out. I feel like things are fine and I'm totally ok, then I start thinking about it all, and I cry. Good thing it is more humid here, maybe I won't get too dehydrated! It is all good, though, and I'm so happy that dad is happy and finding a great place for him. It should be a wonderful two weeks!

Cough, Cough, I think I have the pink lung, Pop!

I knew I would love the show "My Name is Earl" when in one of the first episodes, Randy, Earl's dim-whited brother said, "Hey, remember when we found all that pink cotton candy in the attic. My insides itched for weeks."

Well, I decided it would be a good idea to put some extra insulation in the basement ceiling this weekend. I wasn't tempted to eat it, but it sure has a way of becoming bothersom. So, after 3 hours of playing with fiberglass insulation, my eyes felt like someone had dropped sand in them. Thankfully I was smart enough to buy some masks, so I am not really suffering from "the pink lung," I just thought it would be fun to make a Zoolander reference.

Anyway, I am really kind of scared to open the mailbox when Questar gets around to sending us our first gas bill. That is one of the hardest parts of moving in to a new place... What are the utilities going to be? I am sure that adding pink stuff to the basement ceiling will help keep the warm air in the up stairs and that in turn keep the gas bill down. Unfortunately 150 bucks did not go as far as I had hoped, and I figure I still have about 2/3 of the ceiling left. So more itchy eyes for me.

What a weekend!

Dinosaurs!

On Thursday, Stephen, his grandmother, great-grandmother and I all went to Thanksgiving Point to see the Dinosaurs.  It was fun to see the museum and wander around with only one child to watch out for.  I had been to the Dinosaur Museum 4 of 5 times before, but it was always when I was in charge of about 10 kids for summer camp, so I had never really seen the museum.  It is pretty neat!  The only thing that really seems to catch Stephen's eye was the water and sand table.  He would have loved for me to put him in there and let him play, but that was a no go!  Below is a picture of Stephen and me in front of the Utah Raptor.  

On Friday, I had a fun Enrichment Activity.  It was the Fabulous Fall Friday.  It was craft night.  I only sighed up to do on thing.  I picked the cheapest thing and went with that.  I wanted to go, but since we now have a new house and are not really sure how much everything is going to cost, I didn't want to spend a lot there.  But I did sit and chat with my new neighbors, that was fun.  Stephen went to Nursery for the first time.  He seems to do just fine there.  Happy to play and be around other kids.

Saturday, we had a housewarming party.  It was so fun!  People actually came!  Our neighbors all came over, family that is in the area came, and friends we haven't seen in a long time were here.  It was great to visit with everyone.  I didn't get to chat with everyone as much as I had hoped, but it was great fun to see everyone and have everyone over.  I think we have even gotten plates and platters back to everyone who brought them.  That is pretty good.  The kids that all came loved playing in our empty upstairs.  The girls found our costume box...  that was pretty funny.  I guess we could entertain kids for a little while here!

We had a wonderful weekend and I didn't get any pictures of Saturday... darn!  We are excited about our new area and happy to be in our house.    

Another discovery

Stephen has made yet another discovery.  Ahh - how exciting.  Now we have a few more doors to close on him, poor guy!

Reminiscing

Stephen and I had a good day yesterday.  I got our holiday letters ready to go, I dolled up the letter, it was very plain on white paper, you'll see what I did when you get it.  Yes, the one that is listed a couple posts down, yes, I know it is before Thanksgiving.  I was ready to get it done and I wanted to make sure everyone has our new address... Leave me alone!  :)  I ran around this morning to get everything in the mailbox by 10 (stamping, folding, printing, etc) and guess what?  Veteran's day.  No mail or pick up - arg!  They'll go tomorrow.  

Anyway - back to yesterday.  We spent time with my in-laws while I dolled up the letter and Stephen played with his grandmother.  They both love that!  Last night, we went to Salt Lake to go to an Inside the MBA event.  Scott was helping at the Vandy table, answering questions and talking about the program.  I went to say hello to one of my former co-workers.  During the event, Stephen and I hung out in the hallway and he crawled and crawled.  There was a little girl there who wanted to play and all he did was pull on her clothes.  She didn't seem to like that all that much.  He did sit on her feet at one point and bounce.  She really didn't seem to like that!  He seemed to think it was funny.  Boys.  He got to stay up way past his bedtime since we went to dinner after the event (it ended at 8:30).  We went to Market Street Grill - Thanks to Vandy for a yummy (albeit later) dinner!  Stephen ate sourdough bread and banged on the table as we ate.  He was so tired!  I was just glad he didn't cry all through dinner, as he has done in the past.  I guess he does have manners for guests!  

In my head the day seemed a lot more full, oh well.  That was my day and I had a great time.  Scott and I, another former student and an admissions counselor all got to have dinner and talk about Nashville.  I do miss it there.  But I am happy here.  

Oh, one other thing Stephen did yesterday.  He ate a bug.  He didn't get it all the way down, but he did get it to his mouth.  By the time I got it out, it was no longer recognizable.  He cried and cried.  Why is it that he makes 'yucky faces' when he eats normal food (but he eats it, don't worry).  Then when he eats a bug the look on his face is, "Yum.  So tender, such great flavor!"  Yuck! 

Stairs, snow and fish faces

OK, so it has been a few days.  I just wanted to make sure everyone was able to process all the info in the last post.  Stephen and I have had a fun week.  Something new he did this week was climb the stairs!  He has gotten up the first step before, but it a larger step so that was about all he wanted to do, get on that step and sit.  This week, he decided to go all the way up and he loved it!  He would get about half way up and giggle - he does that everytime!  I think we have a climber!  His new facial expression right now is fishy faces, which I love!  That is so fun.  He makes it when he eats, plays and is trying to go to sleep.  I hope it is because his top two teeth are close to coming through.  It has been weeks of swollen gums and I am ready to see those pearly whites!  

We did get snow this week.  Stephen didn't seem all that interested.  He watched and seemed to take in that something different was happening outside, but wasn't excited or scared or anything in between really. One of the things he likes to do is stand at our backdoor and watch school start and end.  I have been trying to get a picture, but haven't been able to get a good angle.  I did get one of him looking at the snow.  I have decided in watching him watch all the kids leave the school that I need to find a play group or something for him.  There is a story hour at the library here in the valley, so I'll go to that this week (assuming he isn't in the middle of nap time).

Here is Stephen looking at the snow in the dim morning hours.  It almost looks like a nice Christmas morning picture since he is in the PJs still, but it is a November morning...

Here he is looking at the school, it is too distracting for him when I get out the camera, but I'm sure you get the general idea.

As far as what is going on with Scott and I, I feel it is the same old stuff.  We got through election day.  It really wasn't that bad since we don't have TV right now, I wasn't too sick of it all.  It all just happened without me really paying attention.  I figured I knew what would happen and I voted and had done my part.  Our house is coming along. We are all moved in downstairs on the main level with pictures up and everything.  Upstairs is coming along.  Since we don't have any furniture for that space and don't really have much to put up there, there isn't that much to do.  We actually had friends over this morning for pancakes and a game of Killer Bunnies (our new favorite game).  I know, I know.  A little unconventional to have people over on Sunday morning before church.  But since we all live fairly close, and have church after 1 in the afternoon, that is the best time to see people!  By the time we get out of church in the evening, we are too tired to do too much socializing.  

I am actually really looking forward to the holidays.  Stephen and I get to spend two weeks in North Carolina with my dad and sister starting next week.  I am not looking forward to flying alone with him all the way across the country, but I'll make it, I'm sure.  Scott with join us for almost a week and we all get to fly back together.  Life is good in the Smith household!

Busy Year!

OK, I am new to this blogging world, but I am all over reading the blogs of others.  This is - officially - my first post.  Scott gave the rundown of the last month.  It has been crazy.  But here is the run down of the year.  This is actually the letter we will be sending to friends and family in the next week or so, along with pictures and our new address.  So, if you don't get this in the mail, let us know and well get it to you! 

So, I guess this is a little bit of a cheat of a first post, but I have to start somewhere!

We’ll start at the end of 2007:

December – We spent the Christmas holiday at my parent’s house. The day we arrived, we learned mom had been diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer. The doctors gave us little to go on, but every medical website we found stated that the prognosis was not good. It was a difficult Christmas, trying to be happy and share the joy of the season with such terrible news hanging over us the whole time. The bright spot came with the wonderful news that Scott was offered a job in Farmington, UT. We were thrilled to have a job offer and planning a sudden move took our minds off Mom’s cancer. We stayed with Mom, Dad and Kathy in North Carolina for another week, but by the time we left, I had given my 2 weeks notice at work, I had a plane ticket to fly out to Utah, Joyce had scheduled me an appointment with a new OBGYN in Salt lake, Scott had reserved a rental moving truck and scheduled some friends to help fill it, Jeff had agreed to fly out to Nashville and help Scott drive our stuff out to Utah, and we had an appointment for a real estate agent come put the house up for sale. As much as we wanted to stay in Nashville, it just was not in the cards.

January 2008 – Scott spent the first couple weeks of January packing and painting our townhouse. By the end of January, a very pregnant Jamie and an exhausted Scott moved into the Smith’s house for a few months while we waited for the Condo in Nashville to sell. The night Scott and Jeff arrived with our stuff, the heavens opened and dumped snow on Utah for about 3 weeks straight.

February – Stephen was born!  He weighed over 8 pounds and had a very head full of hair. “Look at all that hair!” is still the most common phrase we here from people who see him for the first time. The day after Stephen was born, Mom went to Duke Medical Center for a risky surgery that was supposed to at least alleviate some of her discomfort, and at best remove the tumor entirely. Unfortunately, as the surgeons went in, they found numerous other tumors throughout her system and decided to only do things to help alleviate her discomfort.

March – Mom’s condition was up and down for a few weeks following the surgery. It finally took a turn for the worse and Lisa and I decided to take the boys and catch a redeye flight to Raleigh on March 5th. Under 3 weeks old, Stephen made his first cross-country flight to meet his grandma Littlefield. We arrived in Raleigh the morning of the 6th and went straight to Duke Medical center to be with Mom and to support Dad. Mom was in bad shape, but she did get to meet her newest grandson Stephen and play a little with Zachary. When Mom saw Stephen, she whispered “Cute!” 

We decided the next day that it would be best to take Mom home with the assistance of Hospice. Though they were not sure Mom would make the 2-hour drive back to Wilmington, we thought the best place for Mom was to be at home with family. We arrived that evening and sat up through the night with her. Early Saturday morning on March 8th, Mom passed away. Scott and John arrived the next day and we spent a few days preparing for the funeral in Wilmington and burial in Swan Lake, Idaho. Stephen was a great comfort to me at that time, as was Scott and my in-laws Joyce and Jeff. They were all much more of a comfort than I think they will ever realize.

April – Our house in Ashland City, TN got an offer we couldn’t refuse! We are still kind of shocked that we got such a good deal in the sale of our townhouse. The deal officially closed in May and we were free to start looking for new digs in Utah. We were so blessed!

May – We began earnestly looking for a new house in Farmington to be closer to Scott’s job at an ad agency called ThomasArts. The hour long commute each way between Farmington and Park City was very tiring for Scott, so a house within walking distance was going to be a great blessing. Stephen was growing like weed and had his first haircut just before his 3 month birthday.

June – We found a nice house very close to Scott’s work and were really excited to finally get settled in our own space again. Alas, it was not to be… Two days before we closed on the Farmington house, ThomasArts lost a big client had to reduce the work force. Scott, as one of the recent hires, found himself one of the first to be laid off, along with 20 others. Thankfully we were able to pull out of the deal to buy the house without penalty. As a diversion, we started to attend Roller Derby. The Salt City Roller Girls are quite entertaining, but we mostly cheer for Scott’s brother Brad, who decided it would be funny to become a Roller Derby Ref. Stephen loves the action and is a big fan.

July – Only a week and a half passed before Scott started a new job in Park City. He is currently working for Nutraceutical as a Brand Manager. Again – we feel so very blessed!

August – We started looking for a house again in and around Park City, where Scott’s new job is located. As Park City was much too expensive, we found a few properties in Midway, Utah that were in short sale. We put in a few offers with our hopes set on this really nice new house near the Midway Elementary School. The waiting game began.

September – Stephen began to crawl. He would really rather walk, and much prefers when family hold his hands and help him walk around. But crawling at least has relieved his frustration of not being able to move about. Also, the banks finally figured things out and accepted our offer on the house by the elementary school. It was our first choice house! Yippee!

October – We went on a Smith family vacation. Vacation?!? What is that? For one week at Lake Powell, it was nice to not be in charge of much. Cook a few meals and make sure Stephen did not crawl off the boat. That was it, and it was nice. The water was a little chilly for Stephen but he did have fun playing in the sand and dabbling his toes in the water. He spent most of his time in a jumper, fastened up on the roof of the houseboat. He would jump for hours. When we got back into cell range, our mortgage broker called us and told us that our loan had been approved and that we would close the following Monday! That was over a week earlier than we thought. We closed on the 13th and moved in the next day. Stephen is now pulling himself up on anything that will hold him, and some things that won’t. Everything is now moved in, and we are very happy.

Rest of the Year – We will spend Thanksgiving in North Carolina with my dad and sister and Christmas with Scott’s family. We are pretty sure Stephen will walk soon, that is all he wants to do. It has been a trial filled year, but we still feel amazingly blessed. We have a wonderful family and live in a great area. We hope that you enjoyed our “Baby announcement/We’ve moved/2008 Review/Happy 2009” Letter.  Enjoy the holidays and the New Year when it arrives. We can’t wait to hear from you!

October and that Halloween Holiday

Ok, it has been a busy October...

Started the month with a very relaxing trip to Lake Powell. We rolled the dice earlier this summer and selected the first week in October to take a trip to the lake. Actually it turned out to be the perfect time of the year to be there. No crowds, off season houseboat rental fee, 80 degree air temperature, 75 degree water temperatures, and for lack of lots of boat traffic on the lake the water was smooth as glass all day long. Seriously, you could ski perfect water any time of the day. It was a perfect trip.

On the last day we moved the boat back closer to Page, AZ and into cell phone range. Almost as soon as I got service, my loan broker called to inform me that our home loan had gone through and that the trip to Lake Powell would be the last time I get to enjoy a vacation for many years to come... ha! So the end of the vacation turned into a moving planning session. Why does it always happen that when you are supposed to be relaxing and enjoying some free time, something happens that forces you to stress and re plan your whole existence. The same thing when we had to move from Nashville. The job offer came in while we were in North Carolina visiting Jamie's parents, and then we had to plan a move to Utah from afar. Not that we weren't planning to move into our new home, it is just that it happened a few weeks sooner than planned.

So we are now in a nice new home, that is entirely too big for the three of us. But it gives us room to grow. Moving in went fairly painlessly. Jamie really enjoyed opening boxes and finding stuff we had not seen in 9 months. Unpacking is like madlibs.

"Oh, I forgot we had _(insert noun)_ that looks like that!"

and

"In all the boxes you've opened, have you seen my _(insert noun)_?"

But now we have unpacked and mostly arranged furniture, and now we are starting to get over the move in euphoria and starting to realize that after mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities, fuel for the cars and other incidental costs, we now are left with just over $0.38 with which to purchase food. Maybe I will write a diet book when I am all finished... "The Mortgage diet"

Oh well, who couldn't stand to lose a few pounds?

All this fun lead directly to Halloween. Stephen was a little bee. See the photo, and grandma just could not get enough of him. Even great grandma was just tickled by his little outfit. Unfortunately, by the time we got out to start visiting some family friends, Stephen was zoning out and not in the trick or treating mood. I bet he will be more into it next year.  He looked cute and that is all that really mattered.

Rounding out Halloween, Jamie and I did our traditional watch of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein from our very own couches. Actually my tradition consists of watching the first half until the "Putting on the Ritz" scene, and then sleeping through the boring last half of the movie. Ahh tradition!

Happy Haloween

Scott