Smith Family News

Yesterday as I was planning for our weekend trip to St. George, Adam tells me that I need to call my brother. I asked if he knew why my brother had called and he said yes but that I just needed to call him to find out why. I immediately picked up the phone to call him and as I was anxiously waiting for him to tell me the exciting news of them expecting their third child, I instead got the way too detailed account of how he chopped off the top of his finger earlier that morning at work! I could feel the vomit rising in my throat as he told me every last little detail not once or twice but three times. I was nervously pacing through my house while biting my finger. Now you may be saying to yourself "how does a guy who manages dental offices for a job cut his finger off while at work? - that must be some paper cut!" - Well let me tell you how it happens - you take some paper out to the garbage, wait for a big gust of wind, and just as the wind is slamming the door shut - you stick your finger in the door and voila you've successfully detached the end of your finger from the rest of your body. Now ya know in case you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to lose a finger quick. So, as we were ending our half hour or so conversation about how he picked his finger up off the ground, and how he put it back on and how he was telling jokes to the EMTs and nurses to cope with the enormous amount of pain that he was in - there was a bit of an awkward moment. What do you say to someone who has just severed their finger? - "Oh wow, that really sucks!?", or "Well, I'm glad you're ok - at least the part of you that's not in the garbage!?" Anyway, that was the crazy news that ended my day yesterday - It wasn't easy falling asleep last night with all the gory images in my head. Love ya Ryan - get well soon and be more careful!

Okay - sorry to those of you who look at my blog and have had to endure listening to Dancing Queen every time you check to see if I've done an update. I feel like such a slacker mom cause so much has happened since the big dance recital. I would like to say my excuse is that I had pneumonia and strained my back which almost completely put my out of commission for an entire month, which is true, but really I was having problems downloading my pictures off my camera and am not smart enough to troubleshoot on my own. I had to wait until Adam had 5 minutes to help me, and considering how long it took to get it done - you can see how often Adam has 5 minutes to spare - I don't say that facetiously - he really is a busy man. Like I said - lots has happened, so here we go. At the beginning of July we went with Adam's family on their annual Park City trip. Lora had fun crafts for the kids, we went swimming lots and took a ride down the alpine slide where Adam rammed the guy in front of him, attempted to play a softball game before dark, and went out with the girls to get pedicures. Thanks Paul and Kathy! So, after park city I came home for about 4 days then took off again with the kids to Wild Wonderful West Virginia for Grandma Camp. It was so good to go back to my roots - I realized how much I miss it there except for the humidity and being attacked by bugs every time you step out the door. Anyway, it was a good time - my mom had fun activities planned for every day and by the end of the week we were all completely exhausted. We went to Carter Caves, the county Fair - where Aulden made out with a goat, a movie, a childrens' discovery museum, the library, the park, swimming, shopping for new school clothes, had a birthday party for all and had lots of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad - we had a great time!
And if that wasn't enough for one summer - there's more! Hallie's first day of Kindergarten was on Aug. 5. She looked so cute and was so excited - especially to ride the bus (Her school had to bus all the kids to a different school for the first two weeks while there was some construction goingon). When telling Adam all about her day she said it was boring but that she liked her teacher. So far, as best as I can tell, I think she's enjoying shcool and is learning quickly.

Our next big event was Aulden's 2nd birthday. He totally loves trains so we got him a train set and Thomas birthday cake, and had Adam's family over for a little party. Happy Belated Birthday Aulden - we love you so much.

Finally just a funny little note - the other day as I was putting Hallie to bed and in the midst of her "mom, one more question, mom, I need a drink of water, etc." she said to me "mom, tomorrow I want you to do something to flabbergast me!" She then told me that that meant to be surprised and then made a surprised look on her face with her hands on her cheeks. I've been laughing about that one for days. Those are the moments that I seriously live for and don't think that me or my kids would survive if it weren't for those moments.

Oh, and I almost forgot we also celebrated Adam's birthday. We went to Brian Reagan (it was hilarious) with Marsha and Brady and Lora and Josh. It was so much fun aside from all the coughing that I was doing every time I laughed and then moaning because my back was hurting - ah the joys of getting older! Anyway, then we had his family over for a raging party complete with cake and ice cream and the works - nothing's too much for my honey bunch. Happy Birthday Adam! I love you!