Almost There

I have not posted anything in a long time. My due date is Aug 5th but I have an induction date for July 27th. He can't come till then because I have a parade of homes home I need to finish up before he can come. Hope I make it :) Its been so long that I will just post some photos of fun things that have happened with little bits of info with them. I can never get the photos and words to line up the way I like them to so sorry if it doesn't work out. Leiden and I spent some of our allowance money on a zoo pass this year and this seems to be her favorite part everytime we go. Jake signed us up to go to the pricess festival with a few of Leidens princess friends. Grandma Smith took Leiden and I to get our first pedicures ever. Her feet were too short to reach the tub but it was super fun to share that first moment together with my mom. Thanks MOM!!! The next photos are just memories that we found while cleaning out one of our closets. This is when Jake and I were dating. I think we were at one of his sisters dance things in this one. This is Jake at his Bachlors party with his guy friends and Britney Spears. This is me and my best friend Julz grabbing free garb. I painted my friend Andreas girls room. We dont have much of a backyard of our own so we try to make the best of what we have. This is us cementing in some stones in front of the gate. I can barely sit down there I am getting so big. Jakes favorite day in the entire year is the fouth of July. To wrap up the night he and Jeremy decided it would be a good idea to have a firework battle. Luckily there was no casualties, just a burn hole in a t-shirt.

Lots of Traveling

We have been doing a lot of traveling over the past month or so. Mostly for work but we try to turn our work trips into vacations too. First we went to Saint George for Jake's company and brought along the Jacksons for entertainment. We shopped and hiked and just had fun hanging out. Then we went to Las Vegas for the Furniture Market and it happened to be my 30th birthday. We talked my parents into going with us and showing us a good luxurious time. I use to go there often with my family growing up. Seems kind of weird but Vegas used to be more family oriented. For me it still has that feeling as long as you go Smith style :). We rode up with the Smith and so we had to take a shuttle to Saint George to meet up with the Seethaler family. Jake and I thought we could walk to the airport in Vegas to catch the shuttle. We were way wrong. I can't believe we didn't take a photo of him and I with our hobo backpacks and pillows in hand walking on the side of the streets. I would guess we walked 5 miles before running out of time and feeling defeated enough to get in a taxi. When we got back home our friends the Hubbard invited us over for some cake to celebrate two birthdays, or so I thought. When Jake opened the door I saw all my friends had gathered for a big surprise party for me. I had told Jake I didn't want a party becuase I didnt think I had enough friends to make a good party but I was taken by the people that came and I almost cried. (very rare mind you). Leiden has been learning so much in school. We are minimalists with our possessions so we take photos of all the cute things she brings home - and then trash it. She wanted curly hair so I braided and curled her hair at night like my mom use to every sunday for all 4 of her girls. (Thanks Mom!!!:) We found out this last week we are having a boy. One thing that will be nice about that is we only have one boy name picked out so hopefully it will stick. Giving someone a name is too much of a responsibility to me. I know too many people that don't like their names.

A new member

The biggest news since I last posted is that we thawed out some embryos and one of them took. So we will be adding a new member to our family around Aug 5th. We are super excited but Leiden is taking a little time to warm up to the idea. We keep telling her its not a Baby its a new friend for her. and she is ok with that idea. Jake and I are really excited though. Because of this new addition my Boss (ie Jake) has fired me from my everyday job. I now am a stay at home mom that only goes into work 2 days a week from 8-12 and by appointment. It is so fun to stay home with Leiden and play. My side of the family tried to do a nativity this year. All the kids did such a good job it was realy cute. Jakes mom and dad got 2 new puppies. The best part these puppies is that we can show up, play with them, and then leave them for someone else to do the real work. Thanks to Jakes mom we got a membership to the childrems museum in Salt Lake. This is Leiden putting on a play for us. We took Leiden iceskatting for the first time. I normaly like sport activities but skating is realy not for me. We took a Saturday off from work and went sledding. Our dog Jack is the best ever. I have never met a more friendly tolerant dog. Jake built a snowman his same height. It was so funny to watch, it was like he was 8, he called his friends to come over to see if they could help him make a bigger one. I was asked to do another booth at this years design expo. It was fun but a lot of work, Leiden is the best side kick this is her helping me dry the seams in the drywall. Thats about it. Everyone remember my birthday is coming up. I'm turing the big 30. I think this is the time most people start lying about their age. Maybe next year I will turn 30 again. :)

Missed November

Here we are in December and I missed November and the very end of October so here comes that backtrack. Seems like every year Halloween gets stretched out longer and longer with more and more activities, but we like all the fun and candy. One of my favorite parts is an adults only Halloween party one of our neighbors organizes. The best part of this years party was a lipsink from our host dressed up as David Bowe (the goblin king) from the movie Labyrinth. He sang Dance Magic Dance and it was unforgetable. It's all I can think about when ever I see him now. Leiden was excited to be a giraffe again this year so that made my job easy. I doubt it will fit again next year though. The young men in our ward had an activity that tested all ranges of their abilities and earned points for doing the best in each catagory. I remembered something my brother used to do with his friends in highschool and thought it would be a good addition to the YM activity. Its titled the Cocoa Challenge. Each YM had to try to consume a spoonful of Cocoa. Needless to say I had a cocoa cloud lingering in my kitchen and many boys in our back yard throwing up. I dont think I ever threw up on YW when I was growing up. Hmm maybe there is something wrong here. Jake turned the big 30 this month and we had a Wild West themed party complete with an eggnog bar tender, cowboy duels and animal roundups. The day before his birthday the heavens parted and a miracle happened in my kitchen. I made a cake that didn't sink in the middle and formed it into a cactus for the party. We are ending the year of 2009 and every year Jake and I try to set goals. He set one for himself that I thought was unabtainable given his body type, but Jake, unlike myself, always makes good on his goals. He wanted to have a 6 pack by the time he turned 30. Here's the proof.

One Shot

Jake reminded me today of a photo I fogot to post. This is on our trip to arches with the Ashbys. Arent they so cute. What a pair.

Parade Home and Super Heros

I finaly got of few picts of the home we did with Holmes for the Parade. There was a lady that came into my store last week that said oh my gosh I was so inspired by the house and colors that I blogged about it. Super flattering. It really was fun to do and a designers dream but when you are in it doing the work it is still work. You dont get to do everything you want because there is still clients involved but I love the way the house turned out and the items they integrated like the barn door just becuase that is not something I can typically suggests and then get to see it really happen. Then 4 days after I got back from Cyprus we had a 1/2 marathon. Everyone one

was so good to dress up as a Super hero and support our little activitie. It makes up feel so cool. :) I was super surprized how close every one stayed together. I mean relatively, Braden Bronson won of course (dang young kids) then 15 minutes after him I dragged my sorry bones across the finish line with a time of 2hr and 27 minutes. I dooped Rebecca Gardner into sticking with me for the run right till the end when she somehow found the energy to finish strong but then she got suckered into everyones congrats and forgot to cross the timers line.(sucka) And then there is Simone who obviously does not get the rules of participating in the Seethaler events because everyone knows that if you beat me you dont get to participate in the next one. (Seriously get a clue :) she had an outstanding run. I was really proud of everyone and was greatful for our lovely support staff. Especially our traveling water boy (jakes dad). Fun fun.

London and Cyprus

Last month I got to go to London and Cyprus. So here are a few highlights and photos from the trip. First we went to London and were able to see a few of the typical touristy spots. We had to chase down this guard after he was relieved from his post. He was walking so fast and it was obvious that he did not want to stop for photos but hey my mom rellly wanted a photo so we ran him down :) (poor guy) The phone booths might look cute but they are filled with porn and numbers you can call for more fun:) We took a tour of the queen palace and I thought it was so weird that not one word was spoken about princess Dianna. (We asked our taxi driver why not and he said the general thought of the people there is that she was killed by the Queen and so that is why they dont mention her at all. Weird. Sounds like something out of an old fairytale book or something (mot real life) After 3 days we traveled to Cyprus and this is where we stayed. Just teasing that was next door. Here are the cute little little boys we came to see. I think they are my best buds now. This is the local market where you could see people actually hacking away at the bloody meat in the back moving their knives from one bloody animal carcass to the next oh and a box of fish in a crate in case you have a hankering for that. My favorite part about Cyprus is explained in this green sign. They drive on the other side of the road and sit on the wrong side of the car so my sister did most of the driving. My mom and I attempted a few times and I don't think that I have ever laughed so hard in my life. My dad was so funny. As walked around the ruins he had his nose in his Iphone. This is how he spent most of his time, trying to find out how to get from here to there for us so we wouldnt get lost and playing phone games. :) My favorite thing we did in Cyprus was boogie boarding in the Mediterranean. We visited a few ruins and climbed a ton of stairs. That is my sister Celest defacing a historical sight. Just teasing!!! There was no info at a few of the sites we went to so we decided this particular ruin was a urinal and she is demonstrating. All and all it was fun but I missed my family at home. Thanks to everyone who helped me with Leiden.