remember

do you remember when one of your favorite things to do was play with your shadow? i do. we went out to get pictures of a new tutu i made but instead she just wanted to dance with her shadow. i couldn't help but smile with her, she laughing the whole time.

sometimes i wish i could stop time, have her snuggle me forever, kiss me forever. sometimes i wish that she will always want me to sing her songs, tuck her in at night and always be by her side. i wish she could have danced forever today.

oops!

i've been such a slacker with blogging and have not left those of you who may still look at my not frequently updated blog, with only little time. here is my news, we are having a 2littlemammas give away! i've been working on some holiday clips/headbands and wanted to share! all you have to do is click on the 2littlemammas blog site on the side bar and leave a comment telling us your favorite christmas decoration to put up. easy huh? we will draw from the names on thrus. dec. 11th. so tell your friends, family, neighbors whomever might be interested in receiving and then possibly even giving their gift to a cute little one for the holidays. GOOD LUCK!!

my first thought

my first thought was to be mad, i mean i was put out but then i saw her face. peyton covered in my brand new tube of mascara, wearing it proud. she had thought she had done such a good job, you can tell by the, "i'm a big girl, and did this all by my self" smile that covered her face. i couldn't help but laugh. that little face even looks smaller covered in black eye make up, and those little white crooked teeth almost look as white as ross's on friends when he whitened them to much and they glowed. i had to take a picture!



(i feel the need to explain that i was upstairs working on clips thinking ian was watching the girls but peyte well she disappeared, into our bathroom i guess.)

not once but twice...

the abney's have been out to visit us since we've been here. not twice in the past 12 months, not twice in the past six months, twice in 3 months! can you believe it? we couldn't! we loved having them both times. they are so fun to have and we miss them so much; we were thrilled when we got the news they were coming for a second time!

we love these guys. it's so nice to have a couple that we both get along with so well. now that they have Blake it's so nice that the kids all play together so well.

it's funny to think now that we were such good friends with keri before we got married and then we moved and didn't meet spencer until we came back from texas and were married, so it had been more than 3 years hearing about this guy but not ever meeting him. ian and i were nervous the first time we went to hang out with keri and spencer wondering if we would like him or if it would be weird because we had a kid. as soon as we meet him and saw keri again it's like we didn't skip a beat. spencer was just like us. we've been laughing, laughing, and laughing some more together and then letting the boys talk sports while keri and i sneak off to do girl things (pedi's, shopping, gabbing) ever since.

to sum up the abney's first trip i will say that we: laughed, toured the BIG D,laughed, shopped, laughed, watched the olympic trials, laughed, and ate way to much.



found this boy LOVING the water fountains when we went to the harbor, nice.

our dirty rotten kids after a FULL day of shopping. i'm talking 8 hours.

enjoying food.


spencer was so hungry at the arboretum he opted to share ri's fruit snacks.


the abney's had never had a kolache before. they say their pigs in a blanket but they're so not. it's cheese filled sausage wrapped in dough that is served for breakfast. yummy!


yeah that's right we got matching shirts!
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visit #2 went like this. eating, laughing, sports, eating, walking. why all of the walking? why the state fair of course!


not that we don't love our kids but... so nice to go out without them. the sad b.y.u.game


at the fair we first started at the AMAZING petting zoo! there were giraffes, baby kangaroos, goats with 4 horns, zebras. if it was cool it was there!



yum, yum! nothing like a 1200 lbs. pig to get you going on your eating adventure for the day! i thought its ear was a growth at first, oops!



our first eating stop was the chicken fried bacon. yup this is what it looks like, there is bacon under there. it was gross even when dipped in ranch or honey mustard sauce.



next on the list for all you cowboy fans... why meetting the cheerleaders of course! i think they know some really good surgeons.


riley's favorite part!


ian and spencer's favorite part, the fried goodness. this was the fried snickers. they also ate corn dogs, red beans and rice, ice cream, fried smores, soda, hot dogs, aligator kabob things, cotton candy...


the smith's took a break from all of the fried tasties for an apple, the abney's enjoyed some healthy corn.

next there were dog shows, pig races, a night light parade, laser show and then last but not LEAST we stayed all day to see....

i know you can't see and we only stayed for about 5 seconds but what would a texas state fair be without first seeing tony romo followed by his girl jessica simpson...so all i could get were the people in front but i'm telling you she was there. and she didn't sound good.


to make the trip complete we went to on of our favorite dining places, texas road house. we miss going every other weekend with these guys. not only did we like it but peyteon and blake entertained everyone around us, fun for all!

happy belated halloween

to any one who may still look at my lame blog. i saw the 2 cutest ballerina's and had to sneak in a picture, or two.

i don't meant to brag about it being warm outside on halloween night i'm talking 75 degrees warm. the joy's of texas!

it made us think about our last halloween. it was cold, it was fun and it was our last night in our condo. we pulled out of utah a year ago today. wow 1 year, i don't know where the time has gone but at the same time it seems like forever ago we where there.

thinking and missing all of our pals we left, we miss you!

just a few

here are a few things i've been working on for 2littlemammas lately.... i'm really into the wool felt hair accessories, i love them on the girls and sometimes can't resist wearing them myself. and guess what? we are in a boutique in the dallas area, our first one! so excited for the growth and hoping for more.








okay so i know that the button headband is a really bad picture but i sent the button band off to atlanta to be with another little mamma. i loved it so much though i couldn't help but post it.

you know you live in texas when...

you go to sonic for family night to indulge yourselves in the 99 cent shakes and you come home with these....




a million ant bites all over ri's feet. she's hasn't looked at the sonic the same since.

the other woman

so i stood there puzzled, frazzled not comprehending what was going on. i saw her face it was familiar but not registering in my mind who it belonged to, she was blond, cute, fabulous hair, and so familiar then it hit me. i was staring at my friend sarah, my friend sarah from utah. my friend sarah from utah who i was just thinking about, who i was just a couple days before getting sad about. i hadn't talked to her in a while and it seemed as though she was becoming more and more busy, i had just thought about how it was sad for me to possibly be loosing this friendship. then she was here in texas, sarah who did i mention doesn't travel, and certainly doesn't travel without her husband as far as i knew, sarah one of my sarah's was actually in my drive way in my car with my husband!

ian, what an amazing husband i have. so many times misunderstood. my ian who would do anything for me. my ian who's always trying to make me happy. my ian who believed me when i said that i needed a friend, that i missed the friends i had left behind, my ian who listens. my ian, my sneaky ian! ian had gotten in touch with sarah and was first thinking that he would fly her out to be a support to me in march for peyton's surgery ended up flying her out for my birthday. best birthday present ever by the way is to have a friend you honestly don't know when/if you'll ever see again show up at your door. have i ever mentioned that i love my main man? if not i love love love my little ian!

the next few days of summer were not our typical routine and i loved it! the next few days were spent driving around the city, getting caught in a tornado while trying to get gas,eating as much blue bell ice cream as possible, making gourmet pizza at home, getting our toes done, looking at blogs, felting, laughing, and talking talking talking. it was like we hadn't been apart for a day. i love those friendships.

the worst thing about sarah coming was having her leave. isn't that always how it happens? what a cool friend i have to take a few days out of her busy life and spend time away from her boys to come and spend time with me and my family,i couldn't dream up a better friend, thank you sarah!

here are some of our highlights, sarah surprise me anytime.

i know i know

it's way past time for another blog. i don't know what's happened but i've let my life get out of control busy this summer and am trying to get back in my routine and let you guys know that i really am safe and still breathing. i am going to try to redeem myself starting today fallowed by tomorrow before some of us in the fam head out for a quick minute. so the next few blogs will be my the highlights of my summer, i know it's almost cold outside for some of you but school didn't start that long ago for us and it's still hot enough to be summer so i'm a little behind.

so my summer days were going along like this. wake up eat, take the girls running, time for petyon's first nap. after peyton woke up it would be a quick bite to eat at straight to the pool, pool time, lunch time, nap time for the girls. i'm telling i'm telling all of you that i showered 5 times a week at about 2:00 in the afternoon, gross but worth it. so by the time i got ready for the day and the house picked up and my make up on the girls would wake up and it would be time just enough time to start dinner before ian walked in the door.

this was some of our pool time with friends. sorry if you didn't want your picture posted but i'm doing it anyway.




<





everything was going along just like this until one day Ian and i were emailing back and forth while he was at work and then all of a sudden he stopped responding...i didn't think about it to much until i was taking out the trash and saw him pull up into the drive way with another women in the car, i couldn't believe that my husband had another women with him, WHAT WAS HE DOING? WHAT WAS GOING ON?



to be continued.

a special day

happy birthday peyton! i can not believe how much has changed in only 1 year. i can not believe that my baby is 1! i remember everything that happened in my life 1 year ago today. the drive to the hospital. the anticipation of the huge change coming in a couple of hours. the hamburgers in the delivery room for lunch. the conversations taking up the time until we had news. the family that was there to support us on our special day. how the contractions felt. the many epidurals that just didn't work. the very scared resident who tried to convince she was 100% confident in delivering the baby without the dr. the anxiety of not being able to hold my new little one. the relief we felt when we were told that she looked and sounded completely healthy. the first time i got to lay eyes on our miracle baby. the amazing support system and many phone calls we received that day. the phone call from ian telling me that he had just got hit and totaled the car and had to be driven back by a police officer to the hospital (classy i know, my babies daddy getting out of the back of the cop car with car seat in hand to pick up his babies mamma). and of course the fear that my stomach would never go back to it's normal shape.

we have learned so much about ourselves and our families strength from this little girl. we have been blessed with so many laughs from our peyton. we are constantly on our toes and constantly in amazement of her size and strength.

it has been so incredible to watch our little girls snuggle, giggle, laugh, play and completely be glad to be with each other. every morning they are still most excited to see each other, to give each other kisses hugs and company.

happy birthday my not so little but still very small baby! i'm sad i'm going to start counting your age in years now but look forward to the many more amazing blessings you will bring to our family and my life. (you can stay a mamma's girl as long as you want) i love you!!!

peytons secret

ian has been thinking that i'm lying to him lately. okay maybe he doesn't think i'm totally lying, just exaggerating the truth to him. i think everyone else thinks the same too. we have had a few house guests lately (which i promise i'll blog about very soon) and while they're here the conversation comes up that peyton is walking now. we all know what happens when you mention to someone that your child is walking, we all know what the response will be, "oh how exciting i want to see it". i've gotten the same response from ian, and the girls from the ward too. so what's the problem?

peyton won't walk in front of other adults! stage fright i guess. i put her down and all she does is stand there. she could have just been walking fine 2 minutes earlier but all of the sudden "forgets" how to do it when people are watching. so what do i look like, a liar! i usually sit there begging her to walk after i've talked her up and what does she do? she just stands there with a smile on her face as if to say she's not going to play my game.

so this is me proving that i have been telling the truth all along, not even exaggerating the truth... PEYTON CAN WALK AND I'LL PROVE IT!!

*editors note, we did not have 4 more kids! i was just watching a few extra.

do you see what i see?

can you believe it? i made a tutu! i really did it. is it the prettiest tutu you've ever seen? no but it's for my little dancer, special from her mom. now all i need is a leotard to connect it to and then TA DA another decoration for her ballet room! i know, who would have thought six months ago that i could actually sew something. sometimes i even surprise myself.

what i learned @ 26

i feel like i've learned a lot of valuable lessons in the past year. it always seems that when i turn another year older i tend to look back and see what the past year was like, what i learned and who i became because of it so here is my list.

1.i am so much better @ being pregnant then having a baby and no sleep with another child begging for my attention.

2.no matter what i do, no matter how much i work my butt off i can not work my butt off. why does it seem that no matter my body screams, "i need a makeover!" beginning at the top of my legs and ending at the top of my hips where the love handles stop.

3.i listen to old boring music. lately i find myself not changing all of ian's easy listening music when it comes on the ipod and i'm in the car without him. i don't like the songs but i listen anyway (& the worst is when i catch myself singing along, it creeps me out). i have been trying to notice and change the music now that i realized i don't.

4.i really don't think that forney is as small of a town as i did when we first arrived. this is either really scary or i was really bratty before. you be the judge.

5.i really don't need/like drama. i really like my quite very routine very mundane lifestyle.

6.sometimes i drive myself crazy with not having a perfectly clean house 24/7. i know that there is stuff that needs to be done and i'm in a constant battle with myself trying to decide rather i should just take a second to relax or get up and make it right. i'm totally one of those mom's who will let her kid watch 10 hours of t.v. if it means i can have the house the way i want it. i just end up going to bed feeling guilty because i have a clean house but that i'm not a mom who can just let it go and play play play. (except the day that sarah m. shows up at my door with absolutely no warning from my main man, then of course it's a disaster then!)


7.i really don't like mean people they get under my skin. some of you may be wondering why then i married who i married; it's because i think this. ian's not mean i he's just very honest which is a good thing, it just may come out in a not so nice way. i hate when i see people be mean i hate when i'm accidentally mean i just hate it! i hate when others feel bad because i have and sometimes do feel bad and it STINKS!

8.maybe i'm crafty after all. yeah crafty but not always feeling very creative though so i'll keep working on it.

9.i have amazing friends, i love love love my friends talk about a lucky girl!

10.i love love love my family. it's been YEARS since we've been together as a complete family brothers, sisters, in laws and kids. i though have had the chance to see everyone in the not to recent past and i think they're all so fun to have around.

11.i have a lot to learn about the gospel and i feel tired just thinking about it.

12.i never want to move again. i hate packing and even more then that i hate closing on property. moving is long and expensive and overwhelming; to much for a little girl like me.

13.no matter how rough my day has been with my girls all i have to do is glimpse at them at night while they're asleep and it's all worth it.

14.ian and i can produce a small child. a small blond child, THAT IS JUST CRAZY!

15.i'm strong and with emotional and spiritually challenging situations (peyton) with the a little prayer i can feel just fine.

16.i can feel contractions all through labor and survive!

17.i really don't like running. can you believe it? it's true but for some reason i'm obsessed with a morning run and can't give it up.

18.i think that peanut butter blizzards make the world go 'round! i think they're my favorite treat.

18.i don't want to do last year all over again, so goodbye 26 and hello 27!

who would've thunk?

(keri and spencer this post is for you!)
so i finally talked riley into letting me curl her hair. she has been so hesitant but once she saw the final product she was amazed! she kept going back into the bathroom every 2 minutes to look at herself in the mirror she had a huge smile on her face ALL DAY!!!

i had a big smile on my face all day too but for a different reason. why you ask not because she was obsessed with looking in the mirror, not because she couldn't wipe that smile off of her face but because she looks just like Pam from the office with her hair curled. don't you think?

ian's day off

one reason i love ian's new job is because he actually gets to take time off. i love days off. i love that ian has all of the holidays off too! i mean ALL of them, like one a month. every holiday or sick day that ian has had have all been the same. wake up with the girls throw them into bed with us and turn on,"dismee" for them to watch while they're watching we scoot as close to the edge of the bed as we can without falling off. at about 7:45 riley complains that she's hungry and has to go to the bathroom, and peyton has been very close to falling off the bed at least 8 times.

it is at this point that normally ian gets out of bed with the girls gets breakfast and puts them back in front of the t.v. so he can try to sleep on the couch a little longer. at about 8:20 i get out of bed and come out to join the family. i usually feel so refreshed from being able to sleep in so long! (by the way i really don't remember when 8:20 became sleeping in but somewhere along the line it did and it kind of creeps me out.) we all bum around in our p.j.'s until peyton goes down for her first nap at 9:30 and then ian gets riley dressed while i get ready then he has his turn.

after peyton wakes up at 11:30 we still sit around eat lunch put riley down for her nap by 12:30 and then play with pate. at 2:00 peyton is ready to go down for a nap and at 2:45 ri wakes up. so by 3:30 we are ready to go, go where? um i don't know maybe to the next small town over. maybe to wal-mart, or if it's a really special day all the way to target! (that is a 15 minute drive you know). while we are out we eat a crappy burger for dinner and get the girls into bed late.

at the end of the day when we come back down the stairs from putting the girls down i think,'that was really dumb. why did we waste a whole day doing what i do everyday? why didn't i at least do something by myself? i should have gotten a pedicure, we should of gone for a walk, we should have planned something fun. oh well where's the ice cream?'

so after like 10 of those days so far this year we said enough is enough! we are doing something fun dang it! we are getting up and we are making some memories, so we did. we had so much fun, and at the end of the day i didn't even need ice cream! well i didn't need it like i said but i still ate it anyway.

so what did you do you want to know, we went to the dallas arboretum! it's way better then tanksgiving point. it's a huge garden area with cafes along the way. there are fountains, even one for kids to play in, and most importantly lots and lots of shade. i had been telling ian for a while that i wanted to go and he really didn't seem very interested. once we got to the arboretum he had the camera going full force and even talked about how nice and peaceful it was. we got there and had a picnic to start and then did our little tour. there were bushes that looked like horses, butterflies, and even carriages! we ran out of time to see everything but we were sure to end with riley and peyton playing in the water. we were pooped by the end but it was worth it! i think we may have even started a new tradition of taking advantage of days off from now on. here are some of the things we saw that day.

snippits?

that's what i thought as i walked out of the salon (if you could call it that) with the worst hair cut EVER! wait i've actually had a lot of bad ones.

one time in high school i went and asked for, "a few whispy bangs" (trust me it was cool then) and ended up with literally a few bangs that were so short they stuck straight up! i had to sit in my desk with my hand covering my forehead to hold them down.

one time in atlanta i knew a girl with a cute cut so i went to her girl. my hair was so short when i left that when i went to work dressed in a skirt and boots at the outback, one of the customers approached the manager and told him that a man had just walked into the girls bathroom. (it was me checking to see if it was clean).

how about the time i needed my hair dyed back to it's natrual color in huntsville and i sat in the chair forever and at the end when the lady was drying my hair she confessed what she had done. she said,"i went ahead and made your hair lighter then your natural color, your natural color just really washes you out." UGHHHHHHH!

then right before i had riley i went in to get my hair cut. i asked for a fun cut that was shorter then what i had, easy enough i thought. after the cut the girl,who i knew and trusted turned me around and said, "i gave you a mom hair cut this time, you can come back for something fun when after you've had her and she's not so much work."

i've stopped using my words when i go somewhere for the first time, stopped using their imagination and started sticking with the pictures that i find to tell exactly what i want. you know how you have those hot days? those days where you feel hot, like look good hot, yeah well it had been about a year since the last, "hot day" and peyton was pulling on my hair all the time and it was falling out everywhere. i couldn't take it anymore so i decided that with a new cut i would feel a thousand times better. i took in my picture told the owner of snippits that i wanted this hair cut and a little trim on my very long bangs because i wanted to grow them out but had been trimming them myself. i heard, "see you have a really big forehead so you need bangs to shorten it up" thanks, but a trim should be fine.( there went my hot day already if the hair cut turned out the way i wanted).

me in the pre-cut with the girls on easter.


when she was done the lady told me, "hmm, this is a very modern hair cut". i hate it, it's not a line it's not even and my bangs have been clipped back the best i can for the past 2 months and still aren't long enough to wear down. trust me it's bad.

so i ask does anyone know a good place to get a cut in dallas?

back by popular demand...

i know that rileys, " I Am A Child Of God" post was loved by many. Riley loves all of the primary songs and gets upset when we don't listen to,"her" c.d. in the car. I may sound evil but sometimes i need a break. a few months ago ian taught her the,"Families Can Be Together Forever" song and she has been belting it ever since. bless her heart for trying she knows the words but i think she may be tone deaf.

our little ri loves singing so much that on Easter Sunday she went up to the front of the chapel with the primary kids to sing their song (was she old enough to go up? no. did she know the song? yes. did she think she was a part of a choir concert up there with full belting facial expressions? yes. was she at all distracted by her dad sitting behind her on the stand? no. she went to the front of the crowd did her thing and then waved to ian on her back down to where i was sitting with peyton.) so....I guess this is how she hears the "family scripture song" (that's what she calls it) in her head. this is one of her favorites so enjoy.

M.I.A.

the title basically sums up the smiths the past 5 weeks and 2 days. let me explain and update. 5 weeks and 2 days ago our baby finally had her surgery on her lung. everything went better then expected! we were so excited and felt so blessed. the dr. got in and saw that the mass was on the outside of her lung and therefore didn't have to remove any lung tissue. we were informed at her check up that the mass was already slightly infected so she was on her way to pneumonia, we are so glad that it was removed when it was. i learned that she is such a strong girl, she was in the i.c.u. for less then 24 hours and we were released from the hospital less then 72hours after the surgery had taken place, we were told that we would be in for 5 days. she did so good, yes the morphine helped and it was really difficult for us to not pick her up (we were told that it would be very painful for her with her chest tube in so we held her as little as possible). she would wake up and moan and then go back to sleep. the dr. did have to cut her open because she started to bleed during the procedure which we were hoping wouldn't have to happen.

we did have to take her in to the dr. the day after coming home because her chest tube site was leaking and her dressing was coming off. we got help quick and knew what to do if it happened again. like i said we are so happy with the results.

she was uncomfortable and wanted to be in my arms and if she wasn't she was mess! riley also wanted mom because the amount of attention she was getting dramatically decreased during recovery time. i told ian that the week after coming home was by far the most challenging week of motherhood for me thus far. during that week our ward was so generous to us, we had meals brought the whole time which helped tremendously so thank you to them.

the next week i got to play, "catch up" you know clean the house, play with ri, do laundry, try to sleep etc.. the 3rd week the last of peytons bandages came off and so it was rough again and she had to adjust to clothing touching the site etc. but handled it pretty well. the 3rd week she was so happy to get back in the bath so it made the struggle all worth it. the 4th week was a catch up from the 3rd and last week 1/2 us got sick and now are on the mend with the medicine prescribed to us.

needless to say i feel like sanity has been just out of reach. ian has been so helpful and yet so busy himself (he was called as the 1st counselor in the bishopric just before peytons surgery). i love that ian is able to serve. at the same time i am left feeling overwhelmed a lot because i don't have him at home with me as much as i am used to. i do feel like our little family has been incredibly blessed by his service to the lord.
here are some pictures of our little fighter in the hospital doing her thing. she is swollen but still has that same cute face. i am happy to report that she seems to be completely back to normal. she's trying to stand on her own, climbing on all the furniture, into EVERYTHING, and loves loves loves eating baby food! now if we could only get her to gain some weight and get out of those 3-6 months clothes.

happy birthday grandma

we have been blessed, some of us longer than others, with an amazing women named ann. some don't love, or even really like their mother in-laws, but i love love love mine! thank you ann for raising such a perfect boy, you have influenced him so much and because of this i have benefited. i love you because we can just sit and talk and talk and talk. i love you because we can laugh and cry all in the same conversation. i love you because i know you love our kids, and you really know how to make them feel special. so on this day, your special day, i hope that you know how wonderful you are and how much we love you. so here goes ri letting you know that she's thinking about you! HAPPY 30th ANN!

going once going twice

kisses, squeezes, tickles and all rough housing with peyton sold to her mom. i think i've fallen in love all over again with my beautiful baby. for the past week or so i've tried to get as many of the little things in as i could before i could no longer. i'm going to miss them that's for sure!

i feel so blessed to have my ian, a strong priesthood holder in my home to lead and help direct our little family during this time. i am so glad that we have leaders that have taught and aided my family in the gospel in the teachings and blessings that i have received and continue to receive from my heavenly father daily. i am so grateful for the savior and his atoning sacrifice and the comfort and peace that i have knowing that life is eternal, my family is eternal and that there is a plan for you, me and even my little peyton. am i scared, yes i already said so, am i confident? absolutely, why? because of my savior, i know that he lives.

free shirts!

as you all know i had a drawing a while ago for a free felted shirt. with all of 6 comments i had riley pick a name out of a hat and she picked sarah. after finding the type of top that was just right, going through a couple of rounds of sicknesses in our family, and a few visitors and one wedding i finally did it. i sent off the finished products! i wanted to share how they turned out.


i played around and did 2 new renditions of some patterns i already loved. i hand stitched McKays name on the back of the shirt, just in case you can't tell who he is from behind.( kidding!) i know none of us call him Mack but sarah and brian do do so i thought it appropriate. the bottom of the bird onesie says, "chirp chirp" it was also hand stitched.

enjoy sarah....

i think i'll be doing this every few months so keep checking back! if you can't wait be sure to check out our etsy shop, just click on the orange box on the links side and it will take you directly to our site.