My friends and the onion.

               My friends came over!  Amanda, AKA Manj, is AJ's older sister, Jake is her husband and Zemri is their precious baby girl.  They have been living on the other side of the country for the last year, for Jake's internship, and now they are back on the correct side of the United Sates.  The side where everyone else, most everyone, lives.  It was a blast to see them again!

Samuel snuck into the kitchen while we were chatting with Manj and Jake and he came back munching on an onion.  So we did what any parent would do … we videoed it.

Last time we saw these two Samuel was a year old and I was almost 20 weeks pregnant, and Manj was 10 weeks behind me.  Look at our little ones now!!

These two are less than 3 months apart.  Can you believe it?!  Lily and Zemri are going to be best of friends.  I just know it.

The best gift ... of all time!!

AJ bought me a gift…

A special gift.

An anniversary gift- for our, you know, anniversary.

And it is the best anniversary gift of all time … like, ever.  Seriously.

Do you want to know what it is?!

Okay, okay, okay!!  I will show her to you.

(Drumroll please …)

TA DA!!  She's a sewing machine!

Ain’t she a beauty?!  I just love her to sewing heaven and back.  What do you think I should call her?

I was thinking something classy, like Phyllis or Augusta or Franny or … Eleanor.  Hmmmm.  Maybe Eleanor, because it makes me think of sewing and it makes me think of Merida.  And Merida is awesome.

Okay, I made up my mind.  Everyone.  Meet Eleanor.  She is my very own, personal sewing machine, and I love her.  Check out what Eleanor and I made together.  It was our very first project.  What do you think?

Bonus picture:

My sweet baby Lily couldn't stay out of the way of my picture taking, so I took a picture of us instead.

How old is Arizona?

It was close to midnight and I was riding in the cab of the truck with my parents.  Everyone else had fallen fast asleep in the camper long ago.  Our conversation had been jumping from topics like, the recent election to regulating bowel movements to Becca’s soon-to-be fiancé, for a while.  We were chatting about anything and everything that came to our minds; to keep Dad awake.

An Arizona Centennial sign passed by and I silently questioned, “How much tax money did it take to put up all those darn centennial signs?!  There are millions of them … all over Arizona!”  And since we were voicing whatever thoughts came to our minds, I said it.

                “How much money do you think they spent on those signs?”

Mom and Dad looked at each other with a did-you-see-the-sign? face.

“What signs, Em?” Dad asked me.

“You know, all those signs they put up for Arizona’s 100th birthday this year.  Haven’t you noticed?  They are everywhere!  How much tax money do you think they spent on those?” I answered.

“Too much!”  Mom declared.

After a short rant about taxes and how ridiculous this tax is or that tax is, Dad brought the conversation back to states.

“You know,” he started, “Arizona was one of the very last sates to join the Union- number 48, I think.  Most of the other states had been states for over 220 years or something.  Twice as long as Arizona.”

“WOW!”  Mom and I said incredulously.

There was a short pause in our conversation, for Mom and me to ponder the overly impressive information Dad had just impressed upon our sleepy minds.  “OVER, two hundred and twenty years?!” I thought.  “That is such a long time.  How long has Arizona been a state?”

“So … how old is Arizona then?!” Mom and I wondered aloud to each other.

“Don’t ask me.  I don't know.” I stated, verbalizing my complete cluelessness on the matter.

Dad sat quiet and unbelieving, a skeptical look in his eye, while Mom and I tried to figure out how old Arizona could possibly be?!  We debated for a minute or two before we were interrupted by giggling.

“What are you cackling about, Charlie?” Mom probed.

Dad responded simply, “100.  Arizona is 100 years old.”

Mom and I sheepishly looked at each other and bust out laughing.  We had been talking about Arizona’s CENTENNIAL sign!

Sloganmaker Fun - Date idea

I first heard of Sloganmaker from a friend of mine and I just had to try it out.  So, AJ and I sat down, during the kid’s nap, and spent like TWO HOURS laughing our pants off!!  Everything was just SO witty.  Here are a few of the gems we thought were hysterical.

Don't play with fire, but play with the Smith's.

Pure Smith family.  Pure power.

Smith's forever!

The Smith family, always the same, always good.

The Smith family is GLAMOUR.

Made like, taste like ... Smith family.

The Smith family makes the world go round.

Smith family - radiating elegance and quality.

Good mornings begin with the Smith family.

Okay, so maybe they are just hilarious the first time around, but they still make me giggle.  Go grab your husband or a friend and make a date out of it!

FIVE Generations

Great great Grandma Mae, Great Grandma Glee, Grandpa Charlie, ME, Samuel & Lily

It is a rare thing, for four generations or more to be alive at once.  Very few people now-a-days, live to be great grandparents, let alone great great grandparents.  My children are some of the few who have a great great grandparent- amazing right?!

Check this out!  I thought it was thought provoking. 

1 YOU
2 parents

4 grandparents

8 g grandparents

16 gg grandparents

32 ggg grandparents

64 gggg grandparents

128 ggggg grandparents

265 gggggg grandparents

512 ggggggg grandparents

1,024 gggggggg grandparents

2,048 ggggggggg grandparents

4,096 gggggggggg grandparents

8,192 ggggggggggg grandparents

16,184 gggggggggggg grandparents

32,768 ggggggggggggg grandparents

65,536 gggggggggggggg grandparents

131,072 ggggggggggggggg grandparents

262,144 gggggggggggggggg grandparents

524,288 ggggggggggggggggg grandparents

1,048,576 gggggggggggggggggg grandparents

1,048,576 ggggggggggggggggggg grandparents

(That is 20 generations right there.)

3 years and 2 kids later...

Dark haired boy.

Once there was a young girl, and she loved a red head boy.  Her red head boy was living very, very far away.  “There will never be another that can bring me happiness like my red headed boy”, she thought … but she was wrong.  One warm August evening, she met a handsome dark haired boy.  He made her smile and giggle, and forget about her red head boy.  At first she was so angry at the dark haired boy.  But it didn't take long before she realized she loved the dark haired boy more than she loved her red headed boy.  So, she ended things with the red headed boy, so he could find his own happiness- just like she had.

Working together

"Laughing" together.

The dark haired boy and the girl danced together, worked together and laughed together.  The more time they spent with each other the deeper their love grew and they knew they were meant to always be together.  One rainy September night the dark haired boy softly kissed the girl for the first time- the girl's heart soared.  Not long after that, on a rainy October afternoon, the dark haired boy knelt down on one knee and asked the young girl to marry him.  "Took him long enough." she jokingly thought.  An eager and extremely delighted "YES!!" was her reply.  Their engagement was a short one, only two months, a blink of an eye really.  Early in the month of December, in the Mesa temple, surrounded by dear friends and family, the dark haired boy and the young girl were sealed for time and all eternity.  

Their marriage was a joyful one from the beginning; filled with love and laughter and good food- mostly.  Soon, they learned they were expecting an addition to their small family.  The very last day of August, and the dark haired boy’s second day of school- it happened.  A chunky faced little boy came into their lives and changed everything.  They thought they had been happy before, but nothing compared to the joy of their son.  December came and went with the celebration of their first anniversary, and in August their chunky faced boy turned one.  A week later, to their delight, they learned they were expecting again.  Their second anniversary and the dark haired boy’s graduation passed, then in May their beautiful, bald baby girl was born.  The dark haired boy and the young girl’s happiness overflowed. 

Chunky faced boy

Beautiful, bald girl

Yet again, another anniversary has come for the young girl and her dark haired boy and their young family.  The beginning of another year to fill with memories of their chunky faced boy and beautiful, bald girl.

A special, “Happy anniversary!!!” to my dark haired boy- I love you forever AJ.