Our average Thursday afternoon

About a month ago I was just having a rough little day. No big reason, just frustrated with several small things that all put together felt like one big thing. That day I got an email from my sweet friend Carly Cowser Thornock (who took our Smith family pics last fall) wondering if she could practice lifestyle photography on our little family. Of course I jumped at the chance, and immediately my rough day felt so much better! With the boys just having their birthdays I wanted some pictures to document our new 3 and 1 year olds. So for basically free (I paid her one whole dollar so that technically I'm a "paying client"), we got some really wonderful new pictures of our family. We were the first family she did this with they turned out amazing! Carly is an old friend- I've known her pretty much my whole life- so we all felt super comfortable and it was easy to just do our normal thing as she snapped away. I love that she took all these pictures of our everyday normal life.

There are too many pictures to post at once, so I'll be breaking them in pieces. We were planning on making sugar cookies this day anyway. I love that she captured the process: Ben and Chase messing around before hand, making the frosting with my little helper, Chase layering on the sprinkles, Hudson looking longingly at the cookies and then devouring several that Chase snuck him under the guise of being a "good big brother", Ben attacking me with frosting, which is pretty much how it goes down every single time we frost sugar cookies. Thank you so much Carly! These are priceless!

Enjoying Life

One of my new years resolutions was to make sure I'm taking time every day to just enjoy my kids. I almost have a little panic-attack when I realize how fast they are growing up and I want to savor every minute. I've always been a very task oriented check-it-off-the-list type person, so sometimes I can forget to just enjoy the moment, and I don't want these precious little moments to be wasted. 

So yes, there are moments throughout the day of frustration when I just want a minute to myself, but overall I really truly enjoy my boys. I feel so lucky to stay at home with these sweet little blue-eyed beauties every day. I love being part of every minute of their little lives. In the past month I've been playing more hide-and-seek and ring-around-the-rosie and savoring every minute of it. These sweet ones grow up so fast.

I took these pictures of the boys the other morning when we were just hanging out at home. We didn't have anywhere we had to be or any chores that needed to be done. There are toys strewn throughout the house (as usual) and I had two happy kids. I love being busy, but I'm also grateful for mornings like this.

This Guy

This guy turned 29 last week!

Alas, I was in Florida on my girls trip during his birthday,

but overall he had a great day anyway :)

(Wrangling two little boys at church- sounds exciting no?)

I did send him this pic from Florida so he knew I was thinking of him.

Since I missed his actual birthday we had a few alternate celebrations this month-

both of our favorite was the night in early February when I surprised him

with a night away in Salt Lake!

My brother babysat the boys and we had a lovely dinner at Tucanos,

spent a lovely night at the Sheraton downtown and went to IHOP in the morning.

Then I dropped him back off at work and headed home to our two little sweeties.

We had never left the boys like that before,

and it was wonderful.

Then a few days after his birthday we had a little family celebration.

Nothing super fancy. 

Cinnamon rolls (instead of cake- because I have the world's worst 

track record at making my husband birthday cakes) and a few presents.

We shopped a week before and Chase did so well at keeping his presents a secret...

up until the moment he handed Ben the present and said, 

"We got you a new tie daddy! You like your new tie?"

(Also- while picking out said tie Chase kept pulling them off the rack

and saying, "We buy this one, it's $4.95"

The saleslady thought he was so cute,

but not cute enough to let me buy the tie for just $4.95)

And as soon as Chase handed Ben the chocolate we picked out for him

he said, "You can share it with me dad!"

Ben's not a hard guy to please.

Apparently, my dad and brother (who had dinner with him on his actual birthday)

totally forgot about his birthday until my mom called them late that night.

So my dad had Will break the Sabbath and run to the store to get cupcakes 

and ice cream. And then they showed up back at our house at like 9:30

to eat them with Ben, who was very grateful.

As was Chase, who was being a stinker about going to bed and had failed to eat any dinner,

and I'm told he literally licked his plate clean.

The boys and I love Ben a lot.

He's a hard worker, a problem-solver, honest and loving.

And he makes the best biscuits and gravy.

Happy Birthday Babe!

Girls Trip 2014: Amelia Island

We are back from our bi-annual White family girls trip! My mom was in charge this year, which means she picked the destination and did all the planning. She couldn't have done any better- every detail was perfect! We went to Amelia Island this year- a place that no one had ever been before. We stayed in a beautiful resort there and had a blast! Here are my top ten favorite memories of the trip:

#1 The relaxing and smooth flights-sounds a little ridiculous, but every other time I've flown in the last few years it's been with a crazy baby/toddler Chase and usually by myself with Chase, which means it was very stressful. It was so nice to hand the reigns over to someone else and just enjoy chatting and sipping ginger ale.

 #2 Our crazy adventure trying to find Townies Pizza where we ordered takeout the first night.

Kate and I were laughing so hard in the backseat when Heidi had to call Townies for the third time to get more instructions:

"Hi! Is this Patrick? Oh hi Patrick! This is Heidi again!

So we are still lost. We are kind of by a health food store?

Did we already talk about the health food store?...."

Finally we found it, and got to play connect 4 while we waited for the pizzas to be ready.

 #3 Team cheers (or "paws in") that Heidi had us do daily I think this cheer was "best hotel ever" upon getting to our villa and loving how big and nice it was.

 #4 Hanging out at our resort with my beautiful cousins! We had pretty big villas so the first two nights we all stayed in a had dinner together there, which was awesome! And Saturday morning we walked around the resort, checked out the little shops and farmers market and just enjoyed a little sunshine! Plus I love my cousins and anything I do with them is always fun.

 #5 Mini Golf Tournament. Since it wasn't quite warm enough for the pool and beach (although the little girls were brave enough to swim) we challenged everyone to a mini golf tournament right there at the resort. We drew names out of a bag and split up into teams of 4 (or 3 in Kate's team's case). Somehow I didn't get a pick of my mom with her team. I think my team finished 3rd (of 5). Heidi's team finished last and got the loser award of packets of spam.

 #6 The beach. Even though we didn't go in the ocean, on Sunday after church we walked along the beach and sat and enjoyed the sights and smell of the ocean.

#7 A chance to be with all these amazing women that I love so much! We have such a great time when we are all together! We live all over the country now so sometimes we hardly see each other between trips, but these trips have kept us all close over the years.

#8 Getting to catch up with my best cousin-friend Kelly! We've been close since birth and I love her a lot. (She's holding up her prize from winning at mini-golf, girl scout cookies!)

#9 Just getting to spend time with my mom and sisters. I love them all dearly! My mom makes it possible for us to always go by graciously paying for the whole trip. And she's just amazing to be around. Heidi made us all laugh pretty much the whole trip. And we were so happy to have Katie with us this year! I'm glad we got this amazing new sister! Plus we were all pretty thrilled to have the newest Smith girl with us this year- my little niece who is still in Kate's belly! I can't wait until June!

#10- Matching Sweatshirts.

February Fun

Here's a post of a lot of random little things we've been up to lately:

Here is a picture Ben snapped of Chase fake-sleeping. Notice the "road" he made of books on his floor. Chase knows after we put him to bed he's allowed to sit in his bed and read books, but he's not supposed to get out of bed and play (which results in him playing in his room for over an hour before he falls asleep). So he's trying to fake Ben out that he's really been sleeping. 

 Also, every night when we go check on the little guy before we go to bed he's perfectly tucked in his bed just the way we originally left him. We know he gets out of bed, comes downstairs, gets water, plays with toys, after we tuck him in. We have to put him back to bed several times every night. At some point when he decides he's tired enough he just puts himself to back to bed.

Hudson is officially in the pots and pans stage. Chase likes to join in the fun every now and then, and/or scold Hudson for making a "mess" with them. What are big brothers for!

 We've been to the "kid's museum"-as Chase calls it- a few times this month! We went once with my mom and once on our own. Since my mom has come quite a few times with us, Chase always asks for Nana to come with us! I really love this place- so many fun things for my kids to play with. We are loving our annual pass!

 We took a detour one morning while doing errands and ended up at Krispie Kreme. My boys have a pretty intense love for donuts. Chase was ecstatic watching them make them and kept exclaiming "Donuts! They're making donuts!"

 Heidi brought my kids some cute little Valentines, which they thoroughly enjoyed! Chase was super excited to find his little box full of chocolate. Both boys have now enjoyed several pieces of candy! We washed it down with green smoothies- so I think we've got our nutritional bases covered.

A Little Love

A few days ago I was trying to think of what fun activity we could do for Ben's day off. We really try to always fit in something fun with the kids and take full advantage of a whole day with Ben. We decided to jump start some Valentine's Day love. In the morning we made heart-shaped sugar cookies and Chase made Valentines for his grandparents and great-grandparents. He was super proud of them!

Then after naps we frosted the sugar cookies. Chase was on sprinkles duty, which he took very seriously. A little too seriously. Some of those cookies had layers of sprinkles on them! (photo cred to Carly Thornock- she came to take some lifestyle shots of us, which I'm super excited to see and post later!)

Of course Chase's favorite part of cookie making is the taste testing.

He also loved to "make Hudson happy" by giving him cookies.

I think he ate 4 before I insisted he stop giving the baby cookies!

And Valentine's Day wouldn't be complete without a little cherub right?

(Either that or he had a little rash I was trying to give a rest!)

Superbowl

The Superbowl is a pretty big deal in the Smith household. We really look forward to it. Every year we have the same food, the Franks family joins us and everyone has a wonderful time! This year was no exception. I had such a good time hanging out with everyone and eating that I hardly pulled out my camera- so I only captured a small percentage of the people/action that went on. I had to snap a picture with Chase's first crush- Miss Jenna Franks. Needless to say- I hardly saw Chase all night. He stayed right by her side most of the time and she assured me that she loved it as well!

 Tony and Tearsa who are new to our ward came this year as well. They brought their darling baby boy Terrin- who is just a few months younger than Hudson. Chase LOVED Terrin and was very concerned with making sure he had toys and was happy- much more concerned than he ever is about his own baby brother...

 Due to teething Hudson wasn't in the best mood. Unky Will tried his hardest to keep him happy and entertained.

 I put the boys in their cute football shirts my mom bought them last fall. This was seriously the best picture I got of the two of them. Chase is hastily shoveling a brownie in his mouth. He closely monitored those brownies all night and both boys successfully begged way too many out of anyone nearby.

 Both boys loved spending time with Papa at the game. My favorite moment was probably Chase copying whatever my dad yelled at the TV. Picture this tiny boy throwing his arms up in the air and yelling "Are you KIDDING ME!" at the TV- it was priceless!