Part 2 (Its kind of long)

K I have been a horrible blogger and sorry but here is part 2:) I was going to write a whole blog on everything we got for Christmas etc... but this last Christmas season really hit me hard with all the "commercialism" and I was just sick of it. Sick of what its come to. I mean as we were buying gifts we had planned on really only to get what they asked santa for I mean they are still little so yes its way fun to watch them all excited opening their gifts and really all Olivia wanted was an Easy Bake Oven and doll stroller and Korver wanted a Dinosaur, but I got a lot more than I had thought I did... anyways I was just thinking how we save up so much money to buy toys etc... and see maybe that wouldn't be so bad but I think kids are spoiled throughout the year... well my kids I'm not aiming this towards any one else so please don't get offended with my thoughts... But really we teach them about how the focus of Christmas is truly out Christ and so I was thinking when the kids are a little older instead of buying Christmas gifts we would go on trips to make more memories because with Christmas being over they love their toys but used the easy bake oven  couple times... I don't think she has asked me really to make things with it, its been me wanting to use it:) mostly they still just play with the toys they already had. Olivia just wanted the easy bake oven cause a friend had one. And we did splurge on a toy train table and thank goodness they love that but really the toys didn't matter that much. I think they more have fun opening the presents... I love seeing their reactions but really is that the part of Christmas I want their memories to be? I want it to be more focused on family and having Christ more in our lives. I'm sure when next year comes Ill end up buying them more toys etc... cause yes it is fun to shop for my kids and surprise them but I spoil them throughout the year too so I think family trips will be way fun and better memories. K bet you didn't really care for my view of that... so here is the rest of my family update-

I already told you about the kids but I have some new stuff-
 Olivia went to primary without a fuss!!!! yay finally we will see how long this keeps up. - this is really a big deal if it doesn't seem like it.

And for those who did not know Korver's leg is kind of bowed but slowly straightening. Well because of this his growing pains have been horrible at night! He wakes up just screaming and just cries all night long, and its horrible cause I do give him medicine but it just doesn't seem to kick in we have another Dr. Appointment in February to see how his leg is growing so ill keep you updated.

Mike- Work is going really well. He is so busy with it which is wonderful, sometimes I wish he could get off earlier but I cant complain because I am really glad he has a job, but I think he loves his job too much... I mean come on who really likes to work? jk:)

Me: Still love being a stay at home mom. And have loved making crafts for the busy biddy boutique in Orem- link is www.smittenbyhaleyblog.blogspot.com to see some of the stuff I have been making. I have started going to my ward book club, I know I'm so exciting... I was really excited about going to it. We had to go around to say stuff about us and the books we like... after I was thinking when it  comes to my time to choose the books for us to vote on I might have a problem picking them out only because I like fantasy, horror, mystery, suspense, FICTION books so I figured I'll just pick some books off the "book club lists" online and just looking at some of the titles they have I wonder what other "book clubs" are out there... :) I have my choices for what I will have them vote for but I just have this feeling they will all hate my choices cause some of their favorites are "To Kill A Mocking Bird" k that wasn't everyone's favorite book but I hated that book-probably because I had to read it in school , so any book I was made to read in school I hate, I love reading and always have but every book that they made you read I think its just automatic hate:) The first book we are reading is A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel and since we will be reviewing it next month I wont write my feelings on it so far...and k I'm sure I sound like the biggest complainer but I'm not complaining I just am worried when I pick the books to vote on everyone will just give me that "Really?! you expect us to read any of these" (and just so you know when I am picking out a book to read I usually pick it also if its long because I tend to read fast so I want something that will last at least a day or two... I really like picking longer books because I get so into them and am so sad when I am finished so for example I have been subbing for my mom at the school and my dad brought me a book and when I was down to the last couple chapters I really took my time to read it cause well it was just that good. :)) I just have the hardest time getting into books that are non-fiction unless there is some type of drama to their life. I have always loved reading and I have read non-fiction but I love Mary Higgins Clark, Stephen King, Robert Ludlum, J.K. Rowling, Jack Weyland, and there are others I do like a mix(sorry I don't memorize a lot of Author names especially if I only read one of their books but Fiction is what grabs my attention. So if anyone is reading this post who is in the book club get excited to read some Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings ...:)Just kidding....well maybe I am and maybe I'm not....

A quote to leave you with:

"Next time you are stressed, take a step back, inhale & laugh. Remember who you are & why you are here. You're never given anything in this world that you cannot handle. Be strong, be flexible, love yourself & love other. Always remember, just keep moving forward"- anonymous

Also my little sister Melanie is a missionary serving in Portland, OR. She left to the MTC on New Years Day and now she is in Portland and loving it!

Merry Christmas! (part 1)

I know we still have a week before Christmas but just thought I would give a family update and let you all have a look at our Christmas picture since Im not sure if we will have time to send everyone we love their own personal one:) This is part 1 of this blog post mostly about our kids and in the next one Ill write more about Mike and me.
Olivia: Is the cutest, most adorable 4 year old! She absolutely loves Pre-school and has learned so much! She loves letters and numbers and loves to write her name and try to write everyone else's names as well:) she is our little artist. Loves her polly pockets and playing with friends and Korver. She is so curious about everything always asking questions. This year was the first Christmas we had an "elf" come to our house and its been so cute seeing her reaction for when she finds him, and catching her talking to him:) I seriously love this age! She is so girl, but daddy does have her trained with who our football team is and if you ask her "Who has it better than us?" She will tell you "NOBODY!" (that is from the 49ers for those of you who do not know(or obviously aren't cheering for the right team:))
Korver: Seriously look at him! I could just eat him up all day long. Anyone who says he is not the cutest lil' boy is crazy! He is the most adorable lil guy and I cant get enough of him. He loves his sister so much and wants to play with her all the time! And as you can see in the picture he has to have his two favorite dinos with him ALL THE TIME! He cant and will not a go anywhere without them. He has to take them to nursery and just everywhere- it gets very stressful when we cannot find them! Even though his favorite now has no arms and is about to break in half...He has a ton of other dinosaurs but these two are his favorite- T-Rex! He is all about dinosaurs. Loves any dinosaur movie. Loves to pretend to be a dinosaur, and he loves to play with Olivia and her polly pockets but we catch him eating the polly pockets with his dinos:)

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was so wonderful to spend time with family. I love conference weekend. On Saturday we decided to take a drive up the mountains to look at the leaves, which was probably the best thing ever so we could actually listen to conference without having the kids running around etc. :) it was a really nice drive up to Kamas to the top where we let the kids play in the snow for a little bit. On the way back home we stopped at Dick's to eat which was really yummy. My second time eating there. The kids loved looking at the "rainbow" trees and it was nice hearing the conference talks. Then Saturday night we had our girls night while Mike went with the guys to priesthood session. We made some more book pumpkins and the cutest can craft!!!! It was a really relaxing weekend.

FHE @the Smith Home

Finally a post!  I bet you have given up on me I have been so busy!  So for fhe tonight or lesson was on working together as a family. I find I have to find creative fhe lessons for this age of children:) so we made Apple pie cookies off of pinterest and talked about how everyone in the family needs to work together so we can be together forever. So as we made the cookies the crust represented the parents so first we put the bottom layer of crust down then a layer of caramel then Apple pie filling then another crust on top.  So we explained to Olivia and korver the crust holds the pie all together just like mommy and daddy help hold the family together but we still need the caramel and Apple's Rio make the cookies taste good just like we need everyone in the family to work to keep our family together.  If that makes sense:) It worked really well and sounded more clear as we taught it:) they turned out pretty yummy too:)

Olivias 4th Birthday!

K obviously this post is not of Olivias birthday party but at the end is a link to where it is, so I have been a horrible blogger but just to let you know I am starting to get more into my artwork and so I am starting a "Smitten by Haley" art design stuff where I can draw you, portraits of people, other drawings etc or life stories, basically illustrating for people. For example for my friends right now I have been working on their engagement story mixed with the things they like to do together. It will make more sense when I post pictures etc and this blog will have more design type of things... So my new blog that I will have is http://smittenbyhaleyblog.blogspot.com/ and eventually it will be more professional. On it right now is Olivias 4th birthday party! Its the only post right now so go check it out!

Our Future Baseball Star

 

Korver Loves to play baseball! Today he did so good:) He is getting so big!

Almost 2 Years!

My brother Kevin is coming home from his mission on February 8th! He will be returning from the warm islands of Hawaii... I think he will need to be put in a bubble or something to help him stay alive in this cold weather!!!! He will be speaking on February 10th so if anyone would like to come they are more than welcome to. The address to the Church is 320 West 500 North, Lindon, Ut and the time is 11:00 AM. I can not believe its almost been two years. It has gone by so fast to me! He will be coming home to so many different changes! I can't wait to see him!

Christmas and more...

Hello again. Im going to kind of skip forward to more recent things happening even though its been a while since I have posted. So Christmas was wonderful! Olivia got her pink bike from santa- I will post a video of it later:) Santa didnt wrap it up to look like a bike so when she woke up she was searching for a present that looked like a bike and told us "Santa forgot to bring her a bike"... 10 seconds later walla.. her bike:) We got the kids way too many presents this year- Im still having a hard time organizing where things should go. Korver's first present he opened was a basketball hoop and thats all he wanted to play with! We have to make him open his others, but he just kept going back to his hoop:) Steph and Jon came home for Christmas and it was awesome seeing them! Jon's dad invited all of us to go to a jazz game which was super fun. So my kids love looking at the jazz bear from a distance. We were in the box suites and the bear was going around visiting all of them and when he came to ours he shot a small cannon that shot confetti but it was also super loud! Scared all of the kids so bad! Korver was in tears and Olivia was screaming no! NO! No! (it was at the beginning of the game too so for the rest of the game anytime they saw the bear even if he was clear across on the other side or on the court Korver got so upset for the rest of the game) It was still a fun jazz game though:) Speaking of Korver a little while ago we noticed he couldnt open his thumb all the way and came to find out he had trigger thumb- so it is when your thumb is stuck in the bent position. and he had to get surgery on it. The surgery itself went alright but Korver was not a happy camper at all! As soon as he came out of the anesthia he was screaming and couldnt open his eyes but he did not want to stay there any longer. The nurse let us leave like ten minutes after he was out which really wasn't that helpful since they didnt give me any post op instructions, and of course Korver tore his bandages off right after we left- I thought they would have wrapped up his whole hand since he is only 20 months so he wouldn't have a chance to take it off but they only wrapped around his thumb. We finally got him used to his bandage and it took him forever for us to get it off after that:) Then other news with Korver he may have to have surgery on his legs if he has blounts disease which we will find out next month:( - he is really bow legged and so blounts disease is basically his tibia bone is growing too fast on one side, so we will find out if he will need to have the surgery or if he is correcting himself- with how bad it is. I will keep you updated with what we find out.

Dear Santa

For our letter to Santa this year,  I recorded a video of Olivia for Santa:)
Enjoy!

October Recap

Yes, I am a horrible blogger lately! life has been crazy with photoshoots, Mike's job, keeping up with Olivia and Korver I dont seem to have time to blog. Sorry I only post when its been holidays etc. Halloween was pretty fun this year. We did carve some pumpkins but I was horrible for not taking pictures. And we went to the pumpkin patch. Olivia was the lovely Rapunzel and Korver used her Mickey mouse costume. I had planned to do a family halloween costume but the time went to fast. Olivia got to dress up at her dance and she kept her wig on the whole time. We went to our ward trunk or treat and that was fun, except a little crazy with how many kids were there!!!! Im glad we went though cause thats where we got most of our candy since we only went to a few more homes(family). I have to start planning now on what our family will be next year... here are some lovely pictures from our halloween fun:

 

Future "Disneyland" characters?????...

 

PUmpkin patch picture:

 

 

Korver loved all the pumpkins! Especially the huge ones!!!

 

It was a pretty fun October!

 

 

I promise to do an update on what we have been up to!!!!!!

Family, Hiking, Dance

Our life is crazy lately. Last weekend Amy and her family were up and it was so fun to see them. I love hanging out with Amy! I wish they lived closer. We went on a fun hike up Payson canyon and had some family bbq's. It was a fun weekend.

 Grandma Smith and all the grandkids- Korver was so clingy as ever!!!

 

And I shot my first deer:)

 

 

Olivia still loves dance so much! So we made her more of a ballet tutu so she could feel even more like a ballerina!:) Isn't she the cutest ever!

 

Our Little Ballerina

So Olivia loves dance class!!! And I recorded her this last time so the video below is a little long- but it will give you a glance at how cute she is. I put music to it so you didnt have to hear the other parents conversations since we have to watch through a glass window. So everyday this week since dance class she has been wanting to watch Ballet performances- like the 2 hour russian ballet ones on youtube!!!! She loves it and then she will dance around and try to copy them. So lately classical ballet music plays a lot in our house. And then at night right before bed she will be so cute and tell us she is our dance teacher and teach us what she learned in dance! I love how girly she is!!!!

 

Family, Dance, Work, Sports, Exercise...

You may be asking what are we up to lately since my posts have been super short! Well... we have been keeping pretty busy. Last week Mike and me both got sick with cold chills, sore throat, headaches not fun at all. Luckily our kids stayed hyper and healthy.

My uncle Ronnie came for a visit from Cali. and so we have been hanging out with family. We went to Park City since he has never been and took him on the Alpine Coaster and Slide. We took Olivia on them as well and she loved them! She was my ride partner and we went the full speed on the coaster which she loved!!! We walked around Park City for a little while and then went to the outlets.

Olivia has been loving dance class. The last two times it seriously took her half of the class to even warm up, but at least she wasnt the only one who just stood there:) Then yesterday at dance she copied everything her teacher did the entire class time!!!! I was so proud of her! But I forgot my camera so I wasnt able to record her. It was one of those rushing to get ready mornings! She did so awesome though.

When Mike and me both got sick, Mike was wonderful to take half a day off of work to stay home and help me get better:) Mike has been keeping way busy at work. And keeping up with sports! Anyone want to join his football fantasy league??? Also detailing cars has been keeping him busy too. Anyone need their cars cleaned before the winter season comes???

 Besides the usuall stay at home mom stuff I have been busy with photo shoots! and ward volleyball just started so that will keep me busy on Thursday nights. And then I have started to run! I know can you believe that I have started running??!!!! For those of you who know me with exercising.... we dont mix and so this should come as a shocker to everyone! First I started walking with friends and decided I am not a morning exerciser:) My mom has been my running partner in the beginning and then she cracked her knee cap so while she is taking it easy I have been dragging my sis Melanie along with me:) And then when she cant I have had to go by myself of course but I have been really good about not stopping- which is just easier when you have a partner ya know. So I dont run too far I have mostly just been glad to be able to run a mile without stopping, but now its been between 2- 2 1/2 miles without stopping:) Too all my friends out there who are way into exercising I know this probably seems weak but it is a huge accomplishment for me! I am trying to get into shape so I have been changing my eating habits too which I need to be more strict with! Hey but at least I will eat Salads now!!!(this should come as a major shocker too- me and healthy foods dont mix either) 

Well to all you followers have a wonderful week!!!!

What Does A Doggy Say?

 

Korver has been doing awesome with his animal sounds!...dont really know whats up with the piggy sound but his facial expression is priceless!

 

 

Our Little Dancer!

 Olivia started her first day of dance class today! I think I was more excited than she was but she did love it:) Its only 30 minutes once a week which is perfect for us! For it being her first time I thought she did awesome. She did just stand there for the first half of class trying to stand proper:) and then she finally warmed up! I tried to record her but I had Korver with me and he wanted all the attention so it was difficult to record anything:) The class size is great too! I beleive only 7 girls so not too many.

Crown, Anyone?

I have been in a crown crafting mood lately. Im obsessed with creating crowns- lace, paper etc.

Just had to share it:)