Iris turned 6

As the ever-creative title suggests, Iris turned a big whoopin' 6 this month.

For her piñata she was very particular in getting a chocolate chip cookie.

It was one of those proud-Mommy moments when you realize that your daughter is just like you. There are FEW things I love more then a good chocolate chip cookie.

She had a fun party with her friends here swimming, whacking the piñata

and eating Sofia the First cake.......on Frozen plates. She kept asking for random, non-coordinating things. I love it.

On her ACTUAL birthday we gave her a Barbie and her junk box. It's always the favorite gift. (trust me, this is the BEST picture I got of her smiling.....the other ones were creepy.)

And she wanted ice cream cones with vanilla ice cream. WHAAAAAT?!?!? Vanilla?! 

So we put caramel topping in the cones and then the ice cream. She thought it was the best thing ever.

We love our sensitive, kind, loud-talking and peace-making Irisita.

no. No. NO!!!!

When Brooks started his second residency I made him promise that when he finished it we would fly the WHOLE family back to Utah and see both of our families. We haven't done that since I was pregnant with Aleeya......meaning most of the family has not even MET half of my kids.

There's a lot to plan but mostly my concern has been our CONDITION and my peace of mind when we get there. 

So I made some personal goals/rules of things that I will NOT allow and will NOT happen before we go. 

The first one being......  Kellyn WILL still be in diapers. 

I have always potty-trained right around their 2nd birthday but since her's was in October (and I don't potty-train in winter) I thought I would wait until spring. Then spring came and I thought of the trip and the LAST thing I want when I'm socializing with my family is to hear, "Mommy PEE PEE" and have to drop everything and b-line it for the bathroom. Let ALONE worrying about peeing all over the airplane/airport, and everyone's carpeted homes. But within the last month she keeps taking off her diaper and running to the jon and pees in the toilet.

She loves it because all her siblings cheer and dance for her. Great. just great.

Then when we she has a diaper on and says she has to pee I beg, "Kellyn Just PLEASE go in your diaper". "No, pee pee seat", then she runs off.

This is NOT happening.

AHHHH!

She even POOPS in the potty by herself. Hasn't had an accident in two weeks of her running around without a diaper on. 

Despite all my begging just to pee in her diaper, I think I've failed this one. And I even bought a ton of diapers and had them shipped to my MIL's house waiting for all her diaper-ness!!! Arg. I think I will still make her wear them though. #horriblemom

(ALWAYS wears the floaties)

Another big fat NO is scissors. Mostly because my family is getting pictures done. I'm been kinda paranoid. (My family hasn't had the whole family together is in 15+ years). 

You see EVERYTIME before a family picture something happens.....usually involving scissors.

Mullet #1 in 2010:

Mullet #2 before family pictures:

I don't even have a picture of Kellyn's from last year before our family pictures.

I have literally tried to hide every pair of scissors for the past month and it's exhausting with always-wanting-to-craft girls!

Then you have the let's-skid-my-face-on-the-driveway-before-family-pictures move:

But it's not only THAT...... now I have to be concerned about bees and stings!!! NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO GET STUNG OR HAVE ANY CONTACT WITH POISON IVY BEFORE WE FLY BACK.

DO YOU HEAR ME?!?!?!?

This is actually Iris when she woke up this morning after being stung on her nose by a yellow jacket yesterday.

Mom, wouldn't you just LOVE that face in our family picture?!?!?! 

If I painted it blue it kinda resembles......

But I digress.......

Then Iris came to me and said that her front tooth is just a LIIIIIIITTLE wiggly and how she's gonna keep wiggling it until it pops out.

no. No. NO!!!!!!

PLEASE KEEP YOUR BEAUTIFUL AND STRAIGHT BABY TEETH IN YOUR MOUTH FOR JUST A FEW MORE WEEKS!

I'm begging. I'm desperate and getting close to putting one of the boys' football mouthguards in her mouth to keep her from touching it.

Is it too much to ask to just NOT have a potty-training toddler, no mullets, tooth-full smiles and no abnormal swelling because of ridiculous insects?!?!?!?!

For my family, it probably is.

Last Day of School

June 5th was their last day of school and I thought it might be a fun time to post a few pictures of Aleeya's school outfits. I let her dress herself however she wants as long as it's clean and not ripped, etc. 

Here she is on the last day of school. She added some felt, yellow flower thing to her outfit. Her teacher says Aleeya always makes her smile when she comes to school.

Sometimes she got all fancy with a cute outfit and then added some striped leggings under.

Other times, it was just.......pure-Aleeya.

This was actually her outfit for Career Day (What they wanted to be when they grow up Presentation). Aleeya picked a Mommy. 

However I ASSURE you I don't throw polka-dot tights under my dresses.

This picture doesn't show it well, but this Sunday she had a black eye. I just loved how she owned it with her floral dress and polka-dot tights with sandals.

To finish it off I thought I would post the outfit she wore as we went to Krispy Kreme on the last day of school for the free doughnut day.

If anyone can rock a striped shirt, soccer shorts and zebra-printed pumps, it's Aleeya.

I also had a new 3 ft pool thing set up to surprise them after their last day of school. They were so excited because our neighbors have one and they always want to go over. And it's just plain easier for me then hauling them all to the YMCA. This way, I just stick the littles for naps while the older kids have a blast.

However the littles are the ones that spend the most time in it anyway. Kellyn just wears her floaties on her arms all day for anytime she decides to go jump in. They love it.

And WITH all this swimming action I also stated my mean-mom-rule #784. That is: you can NEVER use a towel after you swim.

(just THINK of all the towels I would always be washing and cleaning from dirt!)

So they are always drying off on the hot driveway. I remember doing that as a kid! haha

Even more then Aleeya's outfit, the doughnuts or the pool, it was a pretty monumental day around here for us. However I didn't KNOW about it until the day before when I get a text from Brooks seeing if I could get his white coat dry cleaned by the next day at 3pm. I asked him what was at 3pm and he said, "Graduation. They're making me go."

I took a picture of him on his way to graduation with Camden. 

Camden has actually been our "gage" as to how long we've been on this medical path together since he was born on the first day of medical school 11 years ago.

Brooks and I arrived in Johnson City city for medical school with our chubby 1 year old, Bronson and past my due date with Camden. We finished it all as a family of 10. 

It's been a SUPER long path/adventure for Brooks and our family and to think the "end" is here is pretty crazy. Brooks worked his HINEY off the whole time but I actually felt like we had a pretty fun and awesome time during it all. Brooks and I grew closer during tricky medical times as he relied on me to keep things going and I relied on him to provide for the family and provide for my (and my kids') emotional/mental stability when he got home. Our constant texting felt like he wasn't away as much as he was since our daily goal was to make the other smile in our texts. (Actually, my goal was to make him laugh out loud to look all silly while trying to work) 

It doesn't really feel like an end either (since we're staying here in our same little rental for a while) but it feels kinda exciting as a new beginning. I'm excited for the more hours/weekends our family will have with Brooks, a little more funds in my monthly budget and the challenge now to get our loans paid off as soon as we can. (because we ALL know Brooks and I like a challenge)

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was pretty......well, MEMORABLE for me. 

Our ward here had a ward-temple date schedule for all ages on the Saturday. It dawned on me that we didn't have anything Friday to do.......and I hadn't spent some birthday $ I received........and my husband is SUPERMAN and can do anything.........sooooo, with all those things together I decided I would do something I've never done before:

GO TO A HOTEL BY MYSELF!!!!!

(I know my mom is probably passed out on the floor now having fainted in disbelief, but it's true Mom. Your daughter that would follow you around EVERYWHERE because I never wanted to be alone, NOW LIKES TO BE ALONE. Oh, and now I'm the mom, I'm sorry I followed you around everywhere. Truly.)

Words can't express how excited I was nor can a picture.....but this is getting close.

I was going to drive down to Columbia and stay there then meet the family at the temple in the afternoon. I stopped by Applebee's for their Asian Chicken Salad (I think I actually like Chick Fil-A's asian chicken salad better now though)

and then went through the drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A to get a Lemonade.

As I drove away he said, "Have a wonderful day"..... I just answered. "Oh yes, yes I will. I'm planning on it."

HE HAD NOOOOO IDEA.

The two hour drive to Columbia I talked on the phone with my two sisters. I NEVER get to do that anymore because one of us always has noise/kids in the background (between the three of us we have  23 kids).....imagine THAT!

Then I got there and I TRIED to keep my squealing down. It was super hard to contain.

I got my jelly bellies, sparkling water and charleston chews and I was READY to watch some HGTV.  (we don't have any channels at our house like that). EVERY TIME I go to the hotels with the family we are either watching ESPN, Animal Planet or cartoons. 

The next morning (after I SLEPT IN. EEEEEEEE!!!!) I sat my lazy self in the hot tub and then worked out in the exercise room (without worrying who was watching my kids!!!) and went to the temple to do an endowment session and some sealings. 

Really, to say "I felt like a million bucks" afterward wouldn't even do it justice.

It was nice meeting my family at the temple too. I was even impressed on how Aleeya did Kellyn's hair  (since Brooks doesn't "do" hair).

I really and truly love this group so much.....and to think they are all mine!

Monday we got with our friends and drove a little over a hour to a place called Sliding Rock. When we saw the pictures online, Brooks and I KNEW our kids would love something like that. It costs $2 per person (to cover lifeguard fees) but if you show up before the lifeguards get there at 10 then you get in free. You better BELIEVE both our vans got there around 9:50!!!.

However getting there early ALSO meant the sun wasn't out in full force. And when you are dealing with water between 40-45 degrees, it was kinda something we should've considered. On the PLUS side, we had the whole thing to ourselves.

Just walking down to it (not even stepping in the water yet) I had goosebumps all over my arms. Then when you step in the water it catches your breath for a bit. It took everyone a while to build up the courage to go down (Emerson went first), but it ended up being pretty fun.

When I say "fun" I mean "crazy". 

I decided we didn't drive all this way to not at least TRY it, so I went down with Royce. He didn't want to go down (smart kid), but Brooks said he would give him a dollar if he did. So here is our slide down. 

  (link)

You keep telling yourself as you're sliding down to keep your face neutral when you hit the water with everyone watching at the end, but there is NO way. You are just unable to not look like you're being slapped by a huge iceberg when you're dunked underwater. You really can't even breath for a little while. haha

Brooks grabbed Kellyn and made her go down.  She didn't really have a choice in the matter. Her face at the end says it ALL! (link)

I will have to say, the best part of Sliding Rock was watching other people go down. Other people started showing up and we would just sit up on the landing and watch their faces when they hit the bottom. Brooks seriously couldn't control his laughter. He lost it every time someone went down for the first time.

Here is our freezing group

We ended up finding a picnic place downstream with shallow/warmer water and a few ledges to jump off into the water for the boys. It was probably the best part of our outing, but we STILL wear our figurative badges of honor for braving Sliding Rock.

While the Cat is away....

I mentioned in my last post that Brooks had gone out of town for a while, but I never said why..... well here he is, with his three brothers who all surprised their dad (for his 70th birthday) with a big ol' golf trip to Alabama. Casey (his brother) really and truly had the best idea ever to get this all together.

While there, they also went to visit the home where his dad was raised. (yes, those are all of them in their Sunday clothes.....some forgot to pack clothes for church. haha)

We would get texts from Brooks on the updates of the golf game (whoever lost had to sleep on the floor in the hotel that night) and also any animals he saw while golfing. This guy Brooks got to come within 5 feet of him feeding him some beef jerky.

And you CAN'T send a picture of a TURTLE to the kids and then not bring it home!!!! They were so sad. haha

And nothing says, "Happy 70th Dad" then hitting him in the head with a golf ball. RA drove ahead in the golf cart and Brooks' ball acted like it had a tracking device for his dad's head because it went straight for him and got him in the back of the head with a HUGE CRACK.

So to the ER they went to get it scanned to make sure there wasn't any internal bleeding..... but how many sons get to say they get to put a staple in their dad's head?!?! I mean really......

 We got a lot of pictures of them eating out

 And of which seafood they were eating that day....this was the crawfish night. (glad he got it out of his system since I will never be making that)

The scenery was beautiful, Brooks said. Not surprising though because everything here in the green ol' south is breathtaking to me. 

 Only my husband can rock stripes with plaid shorts and not care.....

Gabe and Brooks won overall so here are the winners getting their handshakes from the losers.

The two winners congratulating each other. All these Smith boys crack me up.

But BESIDES getting an allergic reaction all over the body, when the cat's away the mice here..... PLAYED. Baseball that is......

It turned out the Championship game was while Brooks was gone. The whole tournament was exciting and Bronson's Majors team made it to the final game. (he's the top right)

We all loaded up and went over to watch Papi play with our boiled peanuts and gatorades in tow.

Because I was a little too into watching the game and then texting Brooks all the updates I don't have any pictures from the actual championship game!! How sad. It was intense and emotions were high (the coaches and fans) but his team ended up losing. So sad. I've had a kid in this league's championship game each year we've lived here and none of them have ever come out with the win.

Anyway, here's pics of Bronson from the rest of the season where usually started as pitcher. The rest of the game played catcher. 

He always had so many little voices yelling "GO PAPI!" when he went up to bat that some of the fans started calling him Papi for the season. haha

With baseball season over we just look at each other thinking, "what? a free night?" We miss it,(I LOVE baseball season) but are also enjoying all the laid back impromtu fun we can now have.

GO TO CHURCH

Please. Just do it. 

Because if you DON'T go to church, then you will pay DEARLY.

THIS, was the lesson I learned yesterday.

Let me back up..... my throat had started bothering me Wednesday/Thursday. Brooks went out of town Friday and my Saturday I was convinced it was strep. I felt awful and knowing church was the next day I needed to get some pills called in and enough in my system so I was feeling better and no long contagious. I got my pills, thankfully. That night we had a nice relaxing movie night watching "Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No good, Very bad Day".

By Sunday morning my throat DID feel better but I had a horrible stomach ache with cramping so I laid down a bit in the morning. I wasn't sure if it was not eating hardly anything the day before (not wanting to swallow) or medicine making me sick or what. Regardless, the "serpent" beguiled me and I decided I didn't have it in me to sit up straight and handle all 8 kids during the first hour of church. 

I would just show up when it was time for them all to go to class and time for me to do the music for the Primary kids. 

As I mentioned before, GO TO CHURCH. If not, bad things happen.

Well during the time the kids would've been loading up in the Yeti to get to church on time, Emerson was climbing in the magnolia tree outside. Screamed bloody murder and told me he got stung by a black bee. He's been stung before and never yelled that loud. Apparently this bee packs quite the sting.

Next thing I know, CAMDEN comes in with three stings from the same kind of bee. Two on his belly and one in his hair. They puffed up a little but nothing different. I told Camden to hop in the shower before church.

Meanwhile I got the younger kids all ready for church. I came in to tell Camden we were all ready and waiting on him and he hopped out of the shower and said, "Mom, I just itch everywhere!"

I took one look at his back (where he did NOT get stung) and I knew we had a problem.

He said it felt like his lips were swollen and it was hard to swallow. I don't panic much, but this is when I obviously started to worry. I looked at his face and he had small bumps and I could see things swelling but I was mostly concerned about his airway.

I quickly called Brooks (who is out of town) and while on the phone with him Bronson comes into the bathroom with blood DRAINING out of his mouth. Apparently his molar fell out and wouldn't stop bleeding. I was just glad it didn't get on his Sunday clothes. 

I could see Camden's whole body starting to get the rash before my eyes. I jumped in the car to go buy some Benedryl at the pharmacy down the road. Turns out my battery was dead so I took the Yeti. I came home loaded him with Benadryl and stayed close to Camden so he could keep me posted on his mouth and throat. Got everyone in the van and we headed to church.

I was just going to be out in the van with Camden to keep an eye on him until I had to go in and teach. When I took the kids to their classes Royce said he had to go to the bathroom. While he was IN the bathroom his aim got a little off and ended up getting his pants, underwear and shoes all wet. 

I was LUCKY that someone had just given me a bag of girls clothes in the van. I went through it and found some heart/navy blue shorts and turned them inside out and found his Spiderman rainboots too. Score. Here I am taking him BACK inside dressed like this.

Camden said he could swallow normal now (what a relief) but it was crazy watching his rash go to a raised/spotty thing.

(in the van during church)

I guess our tire was going awfully flat and had a hole in it. A man in the ward (church congregation) saw it and INSISTED on me stopping by his house to patch it. It was Brother Leckie (70 years old) who has come to my aid MANY times and most often when Brooks is out of town.

While he did that my kids got to play with his son's goats and turtle named Salvador. They really were having a blast.

I ended up leaving there with eggs (from their chickens), goats milk (my kids LOVE it), zuccchini, squash and a private serving of Sherbet made from goats milk. SO tasty!!! My day was starting to turn around. :)

It was nice everyone was so worn out (or doped up on Benadryl) that the little ones napped and a few of the older ones, enough that I could rest when we got home. 

During dinner Emerson said, "We're like that family on the movie last night. All these terrible things happen during the day but we still end up having fun and laughing at night".  

It was sweet. We were having a nice evening playing in the rain, having game night and eating but I think we were just all more entertained with Camden's changing skin. He call him the "Red Dalmatian"

 #owningit

 Had we just gone to church when we were supposed to then I probably wouldn't have ended up with a spotted child. Poor kid had to suffer the consequences of my choices.

The moral of the story is..... GO TO CHURCH

Update: I had a friend tell me that after reading this post it reminded her of this scripture and I can't TELL you how hard I laughed at it and thought how perfect and "spot on" it was:

Doctrine and Covenants 59:9

 9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;