Grass is better than dirt.

I have been waiting to post pictures of my yard because I wanted my flowers to be perfect and my lawn to be cut nice in diagonals. But after two months of Cedar wind blowing my flowers over and trying to convince Kody that diagonal cut lawns make bloggers happy, I realized it's never going to happen so I should just post the dang picture. So here it is! TA DA! Kody and I sold our first home 2 years ago after having it on the market for only 3 weeks! We were unprepared for it to sell so quickly and were homeless. Kody's parents took pity on us and let us move into their gorgeous home until we decided what to do. They gave us their downstairs which is bigger than the house we had sold. Plus they have a pool! It was way fun but we were overstaying our welcome so we bought some land and built our home. We moved in Dec.19, 2008. We have been living with dirt for the last year and a half so this summer we finally put in our yard. We love grass much better than dirt. Mostly I love anything better than dirt. Don't be fooled because we still have a lot of dirt in the backyard but hopefully next summer we will have replaced it with some grass too. Look carefully and you can see my wagon with flowers in it. I won that thing at the Mule Deer Banquet. I won it in the auction and have never been so proud. My neighbors didn't know how cute it was going to be in my yard. Tyler Albrecht even dared make fun of it. But I showed him. Check out how cute it is. (Don't be jeal) Also check out my weeping cherry tree. They have those at the White House you know. (PS I know jack about trees but I did read that on the Internet.)

This pic is of our side cement. Please ooooooh and aaaaaah and act as if you've never seen cement before. Thanks bye.

Random stuff

So this post is just kind of random stuff that I didn't share before. I am sad that summer is over and I want to share some last minute summer fun pics. But before we get to that I have some news...(Drum roll)... Taya is 16 pounds! Yes, you read it right! She is gaining weight like never before! And there is more. How can there be more you ask? There just is. She is walking! She started walking on Labor Day in the evening. She just took off walking all over our upstairs. I don't know why she wouldn't walk downstairs but I think she liked the carpet or something. Anyway, Kody was watching the football game and yelled to me to come up. So I went up there and she was tottering around like no body's business. It is so cute. Then on Thursday I took her to the geneticist in the morning and she weighed in at 16 pounds 1 ounce! Then in the afternoon I took her in for her 15 month well check at her pediatrician and she weighed 15 pounds 13 ounces. She did poop twice between the appointments so I am going with 16 pounds even. Her dietitian gave us a menu and some things to do to bulk up her food, and it is working. We add sugar to sweet things and butter to anything we can, and give her carnation instant breakfast in her whole milk. Plus we shove down anything else she'll take. Her head size and weight are still not on the charts but she is in the 30th percentile for height! Yay! She is a skinny girl with a pin head, but she is long! We see the cardiologist again at the end of the month so I'll let you know about that when it rolls around. McKoy started preschool again. I will post pics soom. We decided not to send him to Kindergarten yet. His bday is the end of July and we think it is best to wait one more year. He loves his new preschool and is going with his best friend/cousin Taylor (Kim's guy). My friend Natalie Person's little guy Hadley is going there too. They are all three playing soccer together as well. Kim tends all of them when they get out of school along with Mataya and Hadley's brother Madden. That's what she gets when she quits her job to be a stay at home mom. She is now my employee again. I love being her boss. Anyway, Kody of course is hunting like crazy. He is bow hunting because that's his baby but he also just got back from a bear hunt in Arizona. Then he is doing the muzzle loader and the rifle of course. All this hunting talk is making me tired. I am so lucky to be married to a man that's favorite color is camo. (That's me being sarcastic) I really do like my husband. He has really come a long way. I just like to tease him because I know he reads this blog occasionally. And as for me, I am spending my days teaching 26 first graders how to politely pass gas in a social setting and what to do if they have a booger that must come out. You think I am joking but I am 100% serious. I teach them other stuff too but everyone knows social skills are important. Well that's all for now. Bye. Mataya just being gorgeous. Click on the pic to see her lashes. They are so black! (And to see her food stuck all over her face.)

This is our lovely fam. We are swimming at Kody's parents' pool. Koy is being a dork in the photo and Kody's farmers tan and shaved head has GQ for men calling. PS if you look close you can see Kody's pacemaker scar. At the July Jamboree Koy discovered he can climb to the top of the rock climbing wall and push the alarm. He is 5 years old! Of course I forced McKoy to have fun like I always do at the lake. I am such a great parent! This is McKoy knee boarding at Lake Powell. He cried at first but then he loved it! This is Kody and Mataya 4 wheeling at my mom's cabin in Pinto. Mataya looks like she could care less but she really likes it.

Sitting on the porch at Pinto. Kim didn't come but my mom had Taylor and Milee. My mom's cabin is soooo cute. I always feel like I'm on Little House on the Prairie. It's not a mountain cabin so sitting on the porch is a different experience. I love it!

Erin took us all out catching craw dads. The kids had fun but mostly Kody was having the most fun. What can I say, he likes to hunt.

McKoy's not sure about it.Porch monkeys porch sitting.

More porch sitting.

I took this pic of Milee when we were out catching craw dads. Then I spruced it up on my photoshop Kody got me for my bday last year. He just installed it for me last week and I love it.

Too cool for school...wait I guess I'm not

So another year has begun. This is my fifth year teaching first grade at Iron Springs Elementary. After this year I will get a pin from the district for five years of service and then it will all have been worth it. I hope you can hear my sarcasm. I really am excited about this new school year. Last February I started entertaining the idea of leaving the school for a stay at home teaching job. I interviewed and was offered the job. Because I was actually thinking I was going to take it, when I left the school on the last day in May I said goodbye to my classroom. I thought the next time I see this place I will be packing up my things. Because the school was built when I was hired I am the ONLY person to ever teach in my room. I have taught over a hundred kids how to read and write in that room. I know you are thinking this is getting mushy but I SERIOUSLY started to panic. I want to be at home with my kids. I want to be the one to drop McKoy off at preschool and rock Mataya to sleep. But for some reason my body decided to react to stress regarding Mataya's health and the decision to leave my secure job, for something I might hate. I freaked out basically and had to seek professional help. (Those of you reading this that might have your child in my class- breathe easy. I am totally back to normal now. Well as normal as I'll ever be.) Anyway, after MUCH debate, and when I say MUCH, I mean months of craziness, I decided to stay at the school. I looked into the stay at home thing and decided it wasn't for me. Everything I hate about teaching such as travelling for professional development, computer work, grades, graphs, charts, emails, is what the stay at home thing is all about. It's like computer management for students which is not me. And they work in the summers which is against my morals. I have a strict no summer working rule. I leave my school in May and don't return until August. I know there are teachers out there that are way dedicated in putting in extra hours but not me. (Now people will probably pull their kids out of my class.)Plus I don't know what kind of mom I would be if I was trying to work an 8 hour day and trying to give my kids attention. I love being in the classroom and getting to know my students so well, we cry when we leave each other. (Sometimes tears of joy-JK I'm being so sarcastic today) Anyway, my wonderful neighbor that does the stay at home job thing was so great to help me get the job and then I turned around, and turned it down. What a crazy I am! But I know I made the right decision for me. The reason I know is because I am able to finally sleep at night without running to the bathroom constantly with diarrhea. Sorry, too much information as usual. I think this year will be soooo great. My sister is tending my kids for me which is another story. But I couldn't be happier because my kids love her and she loves them. Mataya seems to be doing well health wise and so I must say this year will be great! You are probably thinking I must be taking some kind of medication to be this positive about life, but I'm not! It took a while, but now I know if I have to work to provide for my family, it's going to be in the classroom. Yay!

McKoy is 5!

Koy's 5th birthday party in Janet and Kary's backyard. Having fun! My little guy on his big day! All the kids McKoy 7 months- Kody is showing a little leg. Woo woo!

Koy 7 months- He fell asleep waiting for lunch.

Koy boy 7 months

Koy and papa Kary carving pumpkins. Koy is 3 months.

Koy at 4 months

My mom and Koy have the same bed head! This is at my mom's cabin in Pinto.

Koy 4 weeks

Koy at 4 weeks old

OK my little man is no longer that little! He turned 5 on July 22nd! I can't believe how time flies! McKoy has been our little buddy for so long now it's impossible to remember life without him. He really is such a special kid. Here is how he came to be:)

I became pregnant after a couple of years of marriage and I was surprised and terrified. I was also so excited! You know how it goes, your first pregnancy is just so exciting. I remember Kody and I were on our way to a Redmen football game and we stopped at a yard sale because they were selling baby stuff. We didn't buy anything because we had only known we were pregnant for a short time but we were so happy. My neighbor and friend Malesha brought us her bassinet to use and my grandma made our baby booties and a little sweater. We were so excited! ...

Then I lost the baby.

I was devastated of course. I was consumed by my grief and couldn't think that I could ever get over it. But time passed-very little time- and I was pregnant again. This time I wasn't quite as excited because fear had taken over and I was afraid of another loss. But after a scare at Christmas time things went pretty well with my pregnancy.

I got really fat and when I say really fat, I mean really fat! It was my first lasting pregnancy, give me a break! I was working and in the Elementary block at SUU. We found out we were having a boy and Kody was so excited. Some dads are mature and say that they don't care what the sex of the baby is. Kody is not. He is anything but mature and he wanted a boy sooooo bad. He made it known that he MUST have a son. We did the prenatal class at the hospital with my sister who was also pregnant with a boy and my friends Natalie Persons and Rachel Urie. So summer came and we were living in Enoch. My due date was July 30th 2005. We took long walks every night together with our two dogs. As my due date got close I decided I wanted the baby out. I tried everything to have him early (Clearly I've learned my lesson about early babies but at the time I was stupid OK) When I say I tried everything I mean EVERYTHING. Don't make me get gross because this is not that kind of blog. I even drank Castor Oil and clogged my in laws master bathroom toilet. Not a pretty picture. Anyway, I had my membranes stripped on July 20th which is Kason, my brother in laws bday. The doc said if the stripping works then I would have the babe within 24 hours.

Hold on let me back up. The reason the doc said he would strip my membranes early was because I was going to be student teaching in the fall and I wanted to have time to spend with the baby before I had to go back.

So the next day, after the stripping, Thursday the 21st I woke up with mild contractions.

I called in to work (I was working at the Justice Court in those days. Good times)

At about 11:00 am I decided I should go to the hospital. Let me explain it was my first baby and I thought I was in serious labor. So of course they sent me home after the nurse nearly killed me stripping them AGAIN.

So that night I was having more contractions and decided to go back to the hospital. What do you think happened? You guessed it, they sent me home AGAIN. I was only at a 3 and they gave me a Lortab and some Ambien and said get some sleep. How in the crap could I sleep? I was in so much pain. So I went home and labored there. I took the meds but they didn't help. I was hurting and couldn't sleep. My neighbors Malesha Hunter and Amy Garfield came to the door to see if I'd had the baby and I heard Kody tell them they sent me home...twice! I was so embarrassed! I remember laying on the couch writing down the times of my contractions on a book with a baby on the cover. The baby had tons of hair and I remember asking Heavenly Father for some hair on my baby's head. At about 4:00AM on July 22nd I couldn't wait any longer. Kody drove me to the hospital. When we were walking in Dr. Sanders was walking in too and he was my doctor. I remember feeling bad for him because it was so early in the morning, and then I felt bad for myself because I was in so much pain. (PS I broke up with Doctor Sanders after I had McKoy. That is a different story) When we got inside I begged them to let me stay. They checked me and I was at a 5! Yay! They let me stay! After I got my drugs and was resting peacefully I began to get some serious visitors. My mom and sister Kim, my mother and father in law, my sister in law Bresha, my aunt Jeanette and cousin Tayzha, my aunt JoAnna, my sister Erin, my grandma and grandpa Rosenberg, my grandma Taylor, my step mom Shelley (my dad was in Chicago), my little brother and sister, my best friend Nicole and her mom Linda, our friends Shad and Melanie Rollo, and possibly many others came and were standing right outside my door during the birth! Luckily the hospital is very nice and allowed all those people to line the hallway. My sister Kim filmed the birth and my mom, Kody's mom and his sister Bresha were all present during the birth. Of course when it came time to film Kody had forgotten to charge our camera battery! Don't worry he only had 9 months to charge that thing and a full 24 hours of contractions but he still managed to forget.

Can you sense a little frustration?

Deep breath

So our kind friends Shad and Mel had their video camera with a battery they let us borrow.

I had it in my head that I would only have to push for 15 minutes because I had been present at my nephews birth 20 days earlier and my sister only pushed that long. However, McKoy wasn't quite so fast. I don't know how long I pushed but it was longer than 20 minutes. So I am pushing along and Kody is holding my very epidural numbed leg when he suddenly feels sick. The people in the hall hear the nurse, Caralee Lions say are you OK?

Of course they think she is talking to me, the one in labor!

But no, she is talking to Kody who had become light headed after watching the baby crown!

What a wimp!

So they rush out and bring him a little juice box and a chair to sit in.

When he sees his little juicy wuicy and his chair he totally drops my leg!

Which of course slams down on the bed because I have no control!

Luckily my mom steps in and holds my leg while Kody rests.

Kody manages to get himself together long enough to actually see our son born and take his first breath. He cut the cord which was a miracle because he doesn't do well with human blood.

He can gut and skin a deer but anything human and it is all over!

We had talked about naming the babe McKai but changed it to McKoy at the end.

Our sweet baby was born 7lbs 7oz 20 inches long with the name McKoy Kary Smith. Kary is Kody's dad's name.

And guess what?

He got the hair I had asked for!

Tons of it! He looked like a monkey!

I decided to go home after one night even though my sister recommended staying for 2. My mom stayed the first 2 nights at our house with us. That first night I regretted my decision to come home because NOTHING can prepare you for the first night. Even though my mom was helping, I still had to nurse the little guy and that meant ZERO sleep. (I learned my lesson though. After having Mataya I stayed at the hospital for 15 nights!)

Janet, Kody's mom stayed on the third night and helped.

When I went to watch McKoy's birth video for the first time I discovered that Kody had actually recorded over half of the birth with McKoy's first bath! What is with this guy? He was quite the rookie I tell you!

I was able to stay home with him after student teaching for the first year of his life.

It was truly the time of my life.

He was really an amazing baby!

He slept through the night at 2 weeks old! Really! If you don't believe me you can come read my journal. (I kept a journal back then) Now of course he didn't sleep through the night every night that young, but he really was a great sleeper.

He started walking at 10 months old and started climbing out of his crib shortly after. I used to lock him in his room and twist the light bulb so he couldn't turn on the light because he would crawl out of the crib and turn on the light in the middle of the night! What a little stinker!

He no longer does that of course and sleeps in a big boy bed in our new house.

He makes me laugh every day. He is such a sweetheart!

He LOVES babies!

He is sooo cute with Mataya. He talks to her in a high pitched voice like I do. It is adorable.

He is super smart! He remembers everything I say. Which is horrible.

He loves to sleep on the tramp with his dad or play swords and guys. Kody is so fun with him and they play endlessly together.

He really is my best little buddy!

I prayed so hard to get him here safely.

Thank you McKoy for teaching me how to be a mommy!

I love you more than you'll ever understand.

Happy Birthday!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! That is one hot Granny Ju! Woot woo! PS that's my mom. Here she is, Miss America! So cute right? Talia gave us the outfit for Taya's bday. This is Kim's little girl Milee. She looks exactly like her parents and she likes to tease and won't smile when told to. (PS Kim is my sister) My handsome little guy at the parade. McKoy and Taylor at the parade. Taylor is Kim's little guy. Miss America and her daddy. This is another Miss America. This is Jaxyn my cousin Talia's daughter. Isn't she beautiful? She and Mataya will be in the same grade. Miss America and her mommy.

Mikey's water balloon toss game before it started. Notice people are still smiling. BTW that's not Talia in the front that is her mini me Cheyenna. They look identical. Almost.

The water balloon toss in mid throw.

This is Jeanette breaking a balloon on Richard. If you know Richard you would know this is hilarious.

My brother's daughter Gracie. She is also going to be in the same grade as Mataya. She is too cute.

McKoy and my little sis Brianna doing sparklers in my driveway. This wasn't actually on the fourth of July but I felt like the sparklers made it belong to this post.

A little boy that had a little too much fun on the fourth of July. Sometimes they sleep in the cutest positions.

Ok so the fourth was way fun as usual. I heart the fourth of July so much. We do the exact same thing every year and to regular people it seems stupid but to me it is the time of my life. I make fun of our traditions but I secretly love them. When I was six years old we moved to Canada for 4 years. During that time I was so sad to miss out on our family stuff and ever since we moved back I haven't wanted to miss a thing. Most of my family on my mom's side lives here in Cedar. We get together nearly weekly for someones birthday, a ball game, holidays, or just to hang out. It's not just a few people. We are talking about thirty people or more. Anyway, the fourth is no different. We all go to the parade in the morning. We all park at my grandma's/aunt Maye's/aunt Guyla's house. They all live next door to each other which is on 100 East across the street from the park and city library. It makes parking easy. At the parade we sit in front of Lin's on the corner by the old KFC. (It's now 2brothers communications) Then we walk over to the the park. We set our lawn chairs up in the corner by the pavilion where the Lions club parks their trailer. Many folks think the trailer is ours, and have even asked to use the bathroom in it. However it doesn't belong to the redneck clan surrounding it. We just like to sit there. We eat on average three park burgers each. We walk around and have a mini high school reunion. We see people we haven't seen since the previous fourth of July. It's a great time had by all. In the old days we ran the races but they haven't done the races since McKoy was 2. When I ran the races as a kid I would win a dollar or sometimes a little plastic trophy. Good times. Anyway, after a few hours of mingling we pack up our chairs and head down the street to my Aunt Maye's house. It is between my grandpa's and my aunt Guyla's. It's actually the house my grandpa grew up in. Five kids in a two bedroom house. Crazy. Anyway it's been remodeled and now has 4 bedrooms. So back to the fourth of July. So we sit at Maye's eating watermelon and Popsicles. We sit out there all day. (But this year I had to take my kids home for a nap after a couple of hours.) Then we head to someones house for a BBQ. This year it was Kim's house. I think it was last year too. So it's a BYO meat party. (Bring your own meat) We barbecue steaks and everyone brings a salad or dessert or something. We eat A LOT! This year Kim's husband Mikey wanted to play a water balloon game. Everyone had a partner and tossed a water balloon back and forth while getting further and further away from each other. The last people with their water balloon still in tact won. It was fun except it sort of turned into a water balloon fight and it was like 9:00 at night and it got cold. Ok so then we do redneck fireworks on Kim's driveway and watch the city fireworks. Last year the cops came because we were letting of illegal fireworks my cousin got in Wyoming. Like I said it's a redneck party. Most people would think these activities are boring but if you knew our group, we are pretty easily entertained. If you wish to participate in any of the above activities you won't have to wait long because we do the exact same thing on the 24th of July. And anyone is invited. We have seriously had all sorts of crazies join us and won't mind if you want to also:)

More Mataya Stuff

Mataya hasn't gained weight like the doctors wanted following her heart surgery. Last week we went to the doctor every day except Friday. She has had extra heart beats since her surgery and her cardiologist wanted to know how many she was having in a 24 hour period. So she wore a heart monitor so we could get that info recorded. When I took the monitor off it left these big rash looking marks. I think the sticky things where the leads were, took off a little skin when I peeled them off. It was sad. A few days after, the skin started peeling and it looked like I had let her get a sun burn. Anyway, after the monitor was removed I had to take her to St. George to a geneticist. She asked us a million questions about our family. She wanted to know how tall my siblings were. When she asked about my brother I simply said he is a giant. Clearly if you know anyone in my family you would know we are anything but small. (Picture Grandpa Bud if you will) Of course Kody's family is shorter than mine but still not tiny folks. (OK maybe Janet) Then she measured Mataya. She weighed her and measured her length but then she also measured how long her fingers were, how long her toes were, her legs, arms, head circumference, etc. It was interesting to watch and much different than our other doc appointments. She needed blood of course (they always do) and wanted a urine sample. She is going to see if she can find a genetic defect that is making her small. I'll keep you posted. (Get it posted? This is a post. he he)

Summer Fun...Finally (WARNING! Lots of Pictures)

This is all of us at the Angels game. These pictures are all backwards. Sorry. Kary and Koy at the game. Our Fam The boys Those ladies sitting behind Kody were hilarious. They were trying to talk to Koy but he couldn't understand them. We laughed the whole time!

McKoy with his prized ball!

Kody giving the ball to McKoy.

We went to the game early to watch batting practice.

Eating at Joe's Crab Shack. (No I did not eat that little guy but Kody and Kary sure did)

Mataya just kicking back on vacation.

McKoy didn't want to wear the bib because he said it was for babies.

Feeding our faces.

More feeding our faces. Eating at a cute little 50's diner at Huntington Beach.

Summer Lovin'

McKoy digging for shells.

I love this pic. Kody is holding Mataya and Kary and Koy are going for a dip.

McKoy got buried in the sand.

This picture is so cute! Grandma and Grandpa with the kids. PS Kody is getting scorched in the background.

Waiting in line at Disneyland. This is a cute picture of my boys.

Taya having a crack while we wait for the guys to get off Space Mountain.

Chip n Dale's tree house. Not the strippers the OTHER Chip n Dale's. This was a family trip!

Having lunch at the Hungry Bear in Disneyland.

McKoy saying Hi!

This was in Toon Town.

How cute is this picture? Just hanging with Mickey and Minnie!

We went to California for a family vacation last week. It was a blast! Kody's parents went with us too. We stayed at the Fairfield Marriot right across the street from Disneyland. We went to the beach the first day. Kody got totally fried! His front and back were lobster red. I got a little burned on my legs too. The next day we walked across the street to Disneyland. It only cost us $6.00 to get in thanks to my dad and Shelley. They gave us Disney gift cards for Christmas. They were going to come with us but my dad had to be out of town the weekend we ended up going:( Anyway, Disneyland was so fun! McKoy loved it! It was his first time. Mataya was super good too. I was nervous she was going to give me trouble but she just hung out in her stroller. The last day we moved to a new place. Kary and Janet got a condo at their time share. It was soooo nice! (Thanks guys) Then that night we went to an Angels game. We arrived early to watch batting practice. A ball was hit and Kody and another guy went after it at the same time. Neither of them got it and it fell into the field. The guy wanted to fight Kody over it. He said some stuff and caused a scene that made some of the players look. So when another ball was hit into center field one of the players turned and tossed it up to Kody. The player then said to the guy trying to fight, "That's what you get punk!" So Kody gave the ball to McKoy who said, "Dad, what do I do?" Then Koy turns and throws the ball back onto the field! It was so funny! Everyone in the stands started laughing. Well the player got it and threw it back up to Kody. So all was fine. The next day we drove home. We got stuck in traffic for an hour and half! It was horrible. I had to go to the bathroom pretty bad. By the time we were able to get off the freeway I had to go really bad and so did McKoy. So Kody pulls over at a gas station in Baker. It was 109 degrees and I could see the line to the bathroom was all the way outside. So we drove across the street to a different gas station. Koy and I go running in and there's a line at this one too! The person at the front saw that McKoy couldn't hold it so she let us go first. He went and then he waited while I went because I didn't want the people to think we butted in line for me. So I'm sitting there and McKoy leans on the bathroom door and it falls open. There are about 5 people looking at me on the pot! I can't shut the door because in order to do that I would have to stand up. So someone in line comes and shuts the door while I'm scolding my son. I'm so embarrassed that I rushed as fast as I could to get out of there. So I come out of the bathroom and Kody is holding Mataya getting some treats. We walked around for a little bit then we got back in the car to go eat. When we got to Dairy Queen I went to get out of the car and Kody grabs the back of my pants. I turned to see what he was doing and he had toilet paper in his hand. Then he said there's more! And he pulls out about two feet of toilet paper from my pants! I was in such a rush to get the H out of the bathroom that I somehow got a bunch of toilet paper stuck down my pants! The best part is I walked around the gas station in front of all sorts of people with it hanging out the back! AND that is how the trip ended.