I love my husband, hate my orthodontist.

My amazing husband(and uncle Adam) took all four girls to the Jazz game last week and the girls can't stop talking about it. They had so much fun even though the Jazz lost. I have issues sometimes about the fact that Jason and I don't have a little boy for him to do things with, but I have to say that there is something special about daddies and their little girls. I have the most amazing husband and these four amazing little girls who think that their dad hung the moon, what more could I ask for.



I don't really hate my orthodontist but I am getting tired of seeing that look on his face that tells me "ok so maybe your not going to get your braces off today". Three times I have gone expecting to get them off and three times he has sent me away with them still attached:( Actually this last time I did get my bottom ones off so that was some consolation. I refuse to post a picture until they are both off which is supposed to be now the 7th of January, so I guess we'll see.

CANCUN '08

Let me start by saying that if anyone ever gets a chance to go, DO IT! It was so much fun. We actually stayed in a little town south of Cancun called Playa del Carmen, they say it's a little more layed back, not quite the party scene. Anyway it was absolutely amazing, perfect weather, perfect beach, perfect resort, super friendly people, and great food. So fun. We did some touring to see the Mayan ruins, we took a Book of Mormon type tour to Chichenitza and it was so worth it the stuff we learned was unbelievable! We did some snorkeling and alot of just playin in the ocean and on the beach.
Grandma Joan came to stay with the kids and they had a bawl! I called a few times and they really didn't even sound like they missed me a whole lot. They were however very interested in what I was bringing them back. I am so grateful that I have such an amazing mom, it made it so much more relaxing to not have to worry about the girls. Thanks grandma!
I am already looking forward to the next time we can go back(I may be looking forward for quite a while but oh well I can dream can't I).

Happy Halloween

Gotta love Halloween. We always have so much fun, and this year was even better. Why? Because it was still close to 70degrees when we did our trunk or treating. They had games and a chili cook off this year at the church which was alot of fun. Then the kids literally loaded up at the trunk or treat and then at grandmas. Fun Fun!

Yes folks this is just a picture of my kitchen faucet. Why you ask? Most of you who saw one of my previous taggs might remember the horribly ugly yellow(started out white) faucet. It is one of those things that has bothered me since we moved in. So when the handle literally came off in my hand, I was more than excited to call my hubby and inform him that it had given up the ghost. So my loving husband, who absolutely HATES plumbing, spent the night hooking up my new faucet. So I guess this post is to thank him and to thank our plumber who put a cheap a%& faucet in our kitchen:0

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The perfect pumpkin

This is one of the kids' all time favorite fall activities. A few years ago they opened a pumpkin patch out here, and we have had so much fun going every year to pick out our own pumpkins and ride on the tractor trailer. I will have to keep in mind that Monday nights may not be the best night to go, it was really crowded this time, but the weather was good and the kids got their perfect pumpkins!

Thank goodness for Spot Shot

And so begins another season of the kids bringing every type of illness home from school. This is just one of the reasons I hate cold weather! There is nothing every mother loves more than to be awaken in the middle of the night by that all to familiar sound of one of her little darlings barfing up their dinner and then running into, not the bathroom, her bedroom, trailing the vomit. Well last night it was both of the twins. And so I was up all night cleaning sheets, carpet, their entire bathroom(again), and the tile in the kitchen:) I hate, hate, hate cleaning up puke, however, I hate more the fact that they are suffering and there is nothing I can do about it. Shelby is now fast asleep at 10:30 and Halle is laying here miserably on the couch. I hope this is the end(at least for this bout). PS I will spare you pictures for this post:)


I had to post this because I thought it was pretty funny. I of course had left Cassidy alone for about 20 min, she had been watching Dora and all was well when I got in the shower. She came in as I was getting dressed and informed me that Elmo was hungry and that she had given him some breakfast. Isn't Elmo so lucky to have someone watching out for him. I don't think he will go hungry:)(Those are cheezits crammed in his mouth)

GO COUGS!

I must give credit where credit is due. The BYU cougar football team has a way a making my husband giddy as a school boy. There is only one other thing I can think of that can make my hubby that happy:) So this time of year can be very critical as it is hunting season as well, and since Jason didn't draw out this year(we won't talk about that), I am depending on the cougs to keep their streak alive and keep my husband smiling. We took Brooklyn to the game on Saturday and she absolutely loved it. It was so funny to see her asking Jason all sorts of questions about the game and how it works. She quickly learned the words to the fight song and was singing and cheering her heart out. So again I say GO COUGS and thank you for a great Saturday!

A "bleeping" spider

Ok so there I was this morning at 4:00am sleeping like a baby when I was so rudely awaken by a clicking noise in my ear, ya know the kind you hear when you have water in your ear from a shower or swimming. Only thing was I had done neither for at least 20 hrs when I showered Monday morning. After about an hour of this noise and some weird feelings it stopped and I fell asleep again. I got up and got the girls off to school and not until about 8:30 did I start hearing this noise and feeling this strange feeling. By now I am convinced there is an earwig in my ear laying eggs and I will soon have baby earwigs taking over my brain. Well not quite that bad but bad enough, it was a bleeping spider. Now I am not proud of the fact that I used words other than bleeping, but come on who wouldn't right.I went into the bathroom and squirted the squirt bottle in my ear, shook my head, pulled my earlobe down and out came this little spider ALIVE. I really thought I was going to have a heart attack. I mean seriously how HORRIFYING is that. I thought after the fact that I should have taken a picture of the little freeloader but it was too late. That little bugger met his fate there between that counter top and a wad of toilet paper which I then flushed! Needless to say I don't see me getting over this any time soon.

6 random facts?

What only six. Most people think everything I do is random:) This tag was easier than the last so I am going to tag Tammy and Sheramy again, and Jenie, Joanne, Nikola, and Sadie:)

1. I have to shower in the morning, even if I have showered the night before, doesn't matter, have to do it.

2. I actually like watching the barbie movies with my girls, and singing along to the cheesy songs:)

3. I am a horrible speller. ( Yup Jen that sign at Costco is totally something I would do) I did however learn to use the spell check a long time ago.

4. I LOVE movie theater popcorn, I can eat an entire tub by myself, no kidding:) (probably not something I should admit).

5. I HATE cold weather! Hate it, Hate it, Hate it.

6. I love to drive, just get in the car and go, we don't always even have to know where, just drive:) (I know not such a good hobby now days).

Rocks, grass and dirt!

This is what our yard (and I use that term loosely) consists of. We FINALLY got our grass in this year which I was very excited about. We spent this long weekend gathering rocks yes gathering rocks! We did finish lining the grass and the "sidewalk" and it looks much better than it did before. The down side however is the fact that this is probably only a third of our entire lot. What to do with the remaining acre,????. It's going to take us forever. I told Jason "just think one day when the kids are gone and we are retired we will be able to sit back and enjoy this" right?

Tagged

Ok so while I was complaining about not having much to do with Cass home all day, after taking these pictures for this tag (thanks Miss), I realized I could apparently spend more time cleaning (although it would have helped to have done this on Tuesday since Mondays are my cleaning days).

Kitchen sink (Brooklyn is responsible for the dishes, not my fault right)?




Fridge













Laundry Room (also serves as the mud room:)





Bathroom aka my favorite room in the house










Closet aaaahhhhh!!!!









Favorite shoes (comfy and easy on and off:)










Self portrait again aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!






What the kids are doing?
Cassidy is waiting for the girls to get home from school.







The other girls are just getting home :)







Dream vacation no doubt England.



PS I tag Sheramy and Tammy

So I like to post pictures usually because I always have them to go along with what is going on. This, however, is going to be a pictureless post. Why? because I simply don't have any to go along with what I'm thinking. I have been subjected to the harsh reality that my two year old now requires a lot more attention from me than I previously thought. What happens when her three entertainers head off to school, mom must step in. I was so caught up in the fact that the older three would be gone all day and what would I do with all my time. I now know. I had already planned to start the potty training adventure and hope to have that completed in a week or so(she is soooo ready).
It has also come to light in the last week that I have absolutely no life of my own. Now I know that that is what happens when you are a mom but I was looking at my previous posts and realized they are ALL about my kids in one way or another:) And how sad that even when I try I can't come up with anything real interesting to post. I know that I like to see pictures and read about other peoples kids, but I must apologize to those who don't. My goal now is to come up with something interesting to do (with Cass of course). Any ideas?

"It's the most wonderful time of the year"

So how many of you saw the commercial that Staples used to have? The one with the parents dancing through Staples to the old Christmas song "It's the most wonderful time of the year", while their kids pout along behind them. HYSTERICAL! I love it, and as much as I love my kids I feel like dancing. It does make me feel a little less guilty that they were all up at 7:00 dressed with their backpacks on, so they were just as excited as I was. So here are the little darlings heading out to the bus:)

Cheese

I think these pictures are some of the cutest kid pictures, it's to bad it had to be such a traumatic experience for Halle. She is taking a page out of cousin Whitney's book and she ate it hard on her bike today. The teeth had been kind of loose but when she hit the ground face first they were sticking straight out so we decided just to yank them out. If it weren't for all the blood it wouldn't have been so bad but she was pretty freaked out at first. She was in much better spirits later when we discussed the fact that she would now get twice as much from the tooth fairy. See sometimes money can make things all better:)PS obviously the date is wrong on my camera we'll have to see what we can do about that.

"Are you taking the piss?" (Brittish for "Are you kidding me?"

I used that title because that was what my husband said when he saw these pictures.


I have never been one to cut my hair short, I just prefer longer hair on me and my girls (I think that stems from the fact that my mom ALWAYS cut my hair really short and I hated having to play the boy and be Peter Pan for Halloween anyway). So when Brooklyn told me she wanted to donate her hair to locks for love, my feelings were really mixed because I knew it was going to be short because she barley had the 10 inches required. I told Jason there was no way I was going to tell her no if this was what she wanted to do. So I took her down and aunt Kara chopped it off. Of course it looks adorable and she loves it. Dad finally had to admit that even though he prefers the longer hair, especially on his little girls, he thinks she looks so cute.

Summer Fun part 2

First let me say that this post is going to be short ans sweet cuz I'm working hard on my new book "Breaking Dawn" as I'm sure most of you are as well. So last Friday two of my friends and I took our oldest girls, who are all the same age, to Park City to so some school shopping. It was so much fun! Brooklyn has never been much of a shopper but I think as she gets older she is developing the interest especially when it involves spending the day with her friends. It was really cute to watch them together talking and laughing. It does scare me a little to think of what the future will be like when they are teens, but for now it was a lot of fun just to spend some time with her and my friends too.
Our next event would be the Tooele county fair. The girls had been dying to go to a rodeo, so we went down Friday night to the rodeo and to see Wyatt do some mutton bustin. Grandma, Grandpa, and Megan were down there too. So we stayed to watch the bulls and then the fireworks after. Then on Saturday Mandy and I took Charlee and my girls down to the fair. There was so much to do and we all had so much fun. The girls actually rode a mechanical bull (I was so surprised the twins got up there). They got their faces painted, balloon animals, jumped in and on all the bounce house things they had set up, and of course we ate. I have had so much fun with the girls this summer and I get excited to think about all the things we are going to get to do as they get older!

summer fun?

Well aunt Sher is catching her plane to head home tomorrow, and we hope we didn't completely poop her out. We wanted to cram as much in as we could while she was here. So first we took her to the zoo (on the hottest day of the year), and had a blast we did get to see alot of the animals and ride the carousel and the train. Then we took her to the dinosaur museum at thanksgiving point. None of us had been there before and we had so much fun. Grandma Carson went with us and the kids had so much fun with her too. We saw the sea monsters 3-d movie and really liked it. So thanks aunt Sher for hanging with us, we miss you when you go home and love ya alot!

family pics

Always an adventure is the family picture hullabaloo. It has been 6 years, 4 kids, and a divorce since we have had our family picture (on my side) taken. For some reason Jen Lewis agreed to do it for us. It was so fun to see her and Tom and one of their girls, and she did an amazing job especially considering there were 10 kids and my brother Randy who was almost as much work as the kids. So thank you again Jen!!
Here are some of the pics that she took. As a little side note Halle and Shelby do not like to have their pictures taken as I think you can tell.

12 years!!!

What! I know you are all thinking "she is way to young to have been married for 12 years":), it is however the truth. It is so bizarre to think that for the last 12 years I have been living as Mrs. Shannon Smart and for the most part have been a responsible adult(kind of). I feel unbelievably blessed to be married to this amazing man for so long and hope to have many more years together. I know it's cliche' to say that I remember my wedding day like it was yesterday but it is so true. When I look at where we are and how much we have done together it amazes me. Jason is the best husband anyone could ask for and an even more amazing dad. So Happy Anniversary" to the love of my life! Here's to at least 12 more:)

Swimming Lessons

At last. Next to the annual Lake Powell trip, I think my kids look forward to swimming lessons more than anything else during the summer. Brooklyn is rockin the level 5. She is the youngest and smallest in her class but she has been working so hard to pass it. Halle and Shelby are in level 2 and doing really good considering there is like 20 kids in their class, the teachers do the best they can but they spend alot of time holding on to the side. Cass is still to young to do the pre-school class so she hangs out with me until the classes are over then Brooklyn takes her out to play. The lessons are over on Thursday, I'm kind of sad cuz to me it's like it's almost the end of summer:(