The Bob

As many of you may know, we are expecting a little girl very soon, so I had one last chance to sneak away and do some hunting before my season comes to an end. So why not make it an adventure. 25 miles into the Bob Marshall wilderness in MT would do it. We left a week ago last Wednesday for the Danaher camp of WTR Outfitters in the Bob Marshall wilderness complex. We rode 25 miles on horseback and enjoyed a primitive but comfortable camp for a whole week. The hunting was tough, it was really hot for this time of year and the elk weren't practicing their normal yearly ritual of rutting.



All and all it was a tough week but I did manage to take a pretty nice bull on the third day. One of five guys that was there and the only one who was successful in taking an elk. I love the chase for elk, they are such a majestic and challenging animal. Oh failed to mention that I had to rebuild the hitching post after my guide's colt spooked while tied to it and torn the thing out of the ground. I guess I earned my wages while I was there. Hope all is well with everyone. Talk to you soon.

Catching Up

So much has been going on lately, and I'm way overdue for an update.

1. Had my baby shower, which was awesome and I had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends. Thank you everyone for the adorable little outfits, blankets, bows, and other cute girlish must haves!--I have no pictures of this event, I'm waiting for my mom to mail them to me...hint, hint mom! Also, I had a shower that my darling friends at work through me, I really hate this picture, I look like a fruit bat. Seems like every prego pic of me includes the dreatful double chin...ahhhh!

2. Celebrated Garrett's 3rd birthday party at Avila Beach, it was a relaxing day. Good food, great weather and wonderful company!
3. Belly continues to grow and I'm getting closer to d-day (4 weeks left)! So far the pregnancy has been going great, no complications! I was so nervous that I was going to get that toxemia like with Garrett, but so far so great! My only complaints include: soar feet, fat hands, and indigestion...yuck! Oh and one more...NONE, and I mean NONE of my pregnancy clothes fit anymore, the belly is just too huge.

4. Nesting--The whole nesting thing has been getting a little out of hand. Got both of the kids rooms painted and decorated, including their bathroom! Made the kids curtains, love how they turned out! Actually hired someone to paint the living room, hall way and entry way. Painted a little table and chairs for Garrett, installed carpet in the master bedroom closet, and learning how to manage cleaning this house...never ending! Back story on master closet is that when we moved in there was no flooring, just concrete and a tack strip...needless to say it was not very safe or comfortable on the feet.

5. Decorating for Fall! I love this time of year. Crisp weather, cool nights, a slight stillness in the air, oranges, yellows and reds grace the landscape. I jumping ahead and have already decorated the house for fall. I can't wait to wear pants and sweaters again!

6. Planning for baby. I'm trying to still figure out how we will coordinate sleeping times, feeding time, attention time for both kids...I really hoping for peace in the house and no toddler breakdowns!

7. Garrett just had his 3 year check up and here are the stats:
28 pounds=13 percentile
3 feet tall=14 percentile
Healthy and growing strong!Here is a picture of Garrett today, he picked out his shirt and said "this is my golf shirt mommy"


8. Here is a pic of Aaron coming home from work, on the bike! Go Aaron!

We are very happy in your new home, love the new ward and are getting so excited to welcome a new addition into our family. Things couldn't be better!

M&M's

Ah ha! Gotcha, I bet you thought this was going to be another funny story of Garrett and his pranks. Well, I am sitting here after just coming home from a week long trip in UT on a moose and muley hunt. (FYI- Sarah just said that no one would know what a muley is so here's the definition, mule deer, aka muley for us country boys) Anyway, it was a great trip, we had snow and rain and even some good weather at times. The writer that I took shot a shiras moose which is the smallest subspecies of moose in North America.

The next 5 days were spent trying to find a trophy mule deer which was not an easy task. We walked about 10 miles a day in all the different weather conditions but to no avail until the last night. We spotted this buck coming out of a canyon to feed and after a couple of minutes its was decided that he would be a good buck to take. He is an old deer that probably wouldn't have made it through the upcoming winter.

This was a dream hunt for me as growing up I loved to look at old photo's of Papa and Great Papa who hunted in what was considered to be the the mule deer mecca time period. The 1960's, I used to watch slides of their hunts and the trophies they shot over and over again. Then we would go out to Papa's garage and look at all the horns of these trophies. This hunt in UT was a reflection of those times that Papa shared with me when I was a kid.

It was a great trip, but it feels so good to be back home and in the arms of the two and 3/4 people that mean the world to me!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Wild Thing

I have a copy of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE from my childhood. Recently, I shared this book to Garrett and now he is hooked. I think today alone we have read "the monster book" six times. I love that Garrett is getting so into books, he asks questions like "Mommy is Max naughty?"

Garrett is my little wild thing, which is why he probably loves this story so much...autobiography:)
On a side note, my goal is to keep a better record of funny things Garrett says, so here is the latest:

1. I'm telling a joke to my family, some political joke I heard the other day, right after the punch line Garrett turns to me and says "Mommy, that's not funny". I said (while holding uncontrollable laughter)Garrett that isn't very nice to say , he replied "It's just not funny for kids!"

2. Just today he came into the playroom, where I was checking my email and says nonchalantly:

"MMM, mommy"

Yes, Garrett

I made a mess

Where, in the backyard?

No in the house, sorry

Love the honesty! Turns out he dumped a container of bubbles on the table...thank goodness it wasn't peanut butter.

3. When Garrett passes gas, he says immediately afterward "excuse you Mr. Whale"

4. He calls Lemonade, "Yummy-ade"

5. Elevators are called "the up and down"

Happy Birthday Little Man

Garrett,

Today is your 3rd birthday! I woke up this morning remembering the day I gave birth to my sweet little boy. You were 5 pounds, 15 oz., but despite how small you were, you were healthy and strong. The minute I laid my eyes on you I was immediately in love, I never wanted to let you out of my arms. Now that you are three, I still never want to let you out of my arms, if you would let me I would cuddle with you all day long. My favorite time is spending the morning with you watching cartoons, sharing a blanket and a bowl of cereal. Your favorite is the "bee cereal" (Honey Nut Cheerios).

You love your life. Your best friend is Koda, favorite food is mac and cheese, you smile all the time, you love TRUCKS, are scared of monsters, love to sneak into mommy's make-up drawer and paint the bathroom, and you are so excited to become a big brother.

You are so full of life and love for the world around you. You wake up every morning in the sunshine and say "Mommy, wake up, it's a sunny day!". You brighten my life, and your daddy's life too. I love every piece of you and promise to always be the best mommy for you. Happy birthday my Weezer.

Love,

Mommy

The Penny Incident

Today while Garrett was in his car seat he managed to find a penny and swallow it. Yes, he ate it. I only now this because:

1. He told me "Mommy, I ate the money"

So, in a panic (since Garrett was crying and vomiting) I call the doctor and ask what to do, the reply was not what I was looking for, she said to wait it out and look for the penny in the diaper. Oh that is just great, frantic 8 month prego mother has to wait it out to see if it passes. If it doesn't then that means surgery.

Ok this last week of "incidents" is going to send me into labor...Maybe I can get a two for one at the hospital for having more that one family member admitted at a time.

Anyhow...let's just pray for that penny to come out!

For Rent: One Toddler Who Loves Peanut Butter

When I asked Garrett what he was thinking getting into the peanut butter, he said to me, "mommy, I was painting!"

When they are that cute, it's hard to get mad:)

Our Newport Beach Vacation

One word...Paradise!

Breaking Dawn

Stephenie Meyers latest novel came out in stores on Aug. 2 as part of the Twilight series. This one, Breaking Dawn, was so great I could not put it down. Now I'm all wrapped up in the characters again and have to wait until December until the movie comes out!

All you Twilight fans out there, can I get a whoo, whoo!

Fergie Dorks at the Fair

The Mid State Fair was the last two weeks and we were able to take a few trips. First, I went with my sister-in-laws to see Fergie in concert, as you can tell we have "G-l-a-m-o-r-o-u-s" shirts (it's a song she sings). We had a total blast! I think the audience consisted of 95 percent women. We had one guy in front of us, who you could tell was a total Fergie fan by his comments "Oh yeah girl, you hot" and "shake that thing momma"...oh dear Fergie, watch out!

Then last Saturday we went to the fair again with Garrett to the Rodeo. Garrett loves seeing all the animals and rooting on the cowboys at the rodeo. We had a great time, can't wait until next year!

Introducing the New Host of Wheel of Fortune

Beach Baby Smith

We had a great day out at Avila Beach last Saturday. The weather was perfect, it is days like these that we feel so blessed to live in such an awesome area. Garrett loves the beach, as you can tell from these pictures, he is quite the comedian.

GLASS CREEK

Most all of my childhood memories have to do with one place, Glass Creek. A small government campground (this means you don't pay but there are no flushing toilets either) just above Mammoth Lakes, CA. My family has been going to this campground for sixty plus years. Sarah, Garrett and I have been fortunate enough to go almost every other year since we have been married. I would go every year but the no flushing toilet thing doesn't go over well with the Mrs.

Anyway, we drove last thursday afternoon up to camp, stopping in T-town to pick up Chris, Mandi and Miss P. so that the whole family could be together. Sounds fun huh!!! Shelli and Robert had already gone up there since they don't have kids they can just jump in a go. Must be nice! Well seven hours later and I think at least 12 potty breaks we were in camp, 10pm and ready for bed.

The next week I spent allot of time fishing. Oh how I wish we had some streams around here that I could fish like I did in the Mammoth Area. Garrett was the 5th generation to catch a fish out of glass creek and believe or not he did it all by himself. All I did was put the bait in the water and he held on and reeled it in.

From late night games of uno, papa 2 riding down the hill with Garrett and Peyton, all the girls and there vacation readings, us guys and our fishing obsession, or let me rephrase that, "fishing quest", to evenings by the campfire. Even an big bull elk to take pictures of on the drive home! I love this place! It was pretty hard to leave, but it always feels good to be home. I love my family! Miss you all and can't wait until next year!

We love IT!

Well, we are finally settled in just a few more pictures to put on the wall and some rooms to be painted. Yeap that right Garrett and Lily's rooms are getting painted this weekend with the help of Grandma Debbie.

We are really enjoying the new house although my honey-do list is as long as the Great Wall of China, no joke. But I guess I have the rest of my life to complete it or maybe not! The backyard is where the work has to go but everything in due time. Right now its summer and we are enjoying every minute of it.

Open invitation for friends and family to come visit. We enjoy the company and we have plenty of room now. Talk to you all soon!

OUR LITTLE FISH

We have been thoroughly enjoying the summer. Even though we moved into our new house, life still is moving. For the past two weeks Garrett has had swimming lessons. More like 30-minutes of time for him to splash and get wet. Which if you know Garrett he loves the water, matter a fact he will jump right in no coaxing needed. It has been a lot of fun, and his teacher even said he should have been in the level one class because he already has a lot of the concepts down for kicking, moving his arms and he even likes to go underwater. He is our little fish, if you want to entertain Garrett for hours, water is the way to do it. Whether its a pool or a garden house he loves to get wet. Hope everyone is having a great summer.