Utah Trip Highlights: part 3—great grandparents.

While in Utah we had the fun opportunity of taking Van to meet almost all of his great-grandparents: the Wakefields, the Frandsens, and the Adams. We're so glad we got to see them and spend a little time with each of them, and we hope someday Van will appreciate getting his own personal photo shoots with some of the great branches of his family tree—who happen to be people we love very much. I loved seeing the contrast of little Van next to our grandparents, and the joy he brought to their faces.


Wakefields




Frandsens






Adams

looks like it's a tradition: President's Day = home improvement day

After Jon and I spent our whole President's Day holiday trying to give our little basement apartment some added character, I realized that's exactly what we did last year. The biggest difference being this year we did things that can come with us when we leave (which also means everything we did at our last place--paint, light fixtures, bathroom fixtures--were all landlord-reimbursed, and all handiwork this year came out of pocket).

Inspired on a trip last June by the way frames were hung at Thomas Jefferson's historic home Monticello, we spent the next 8 months mulling over the idea and finally made it happen. We LOVE the way it turned out, and it was much easier than the painting-the-kitchen-red project we tackled last year. It's a great way to display photos and give a big wall a nice gallery feel.
















This was so easy to do.

• we got the pole for $2.16 at Home Depot. It was plain silver something, and we searched good and hard to find the best deal. Watch out, there are at least 3 sections of raw pole materials, so don't settle on the first you find! I think we ended up getting this near the light fixtures, as opposed to the plumbing poles, curtain rod poles, or closet poles.
• our pole was 1/2" in diameter, 10 feet long. We had some guy cut about a foot off while we were there to save us the trouble at home, but anyone could take a hack-saw to it and get the job done.
• we bought brackets to match our pole diameter. These were also plain silver, and super cheap. We got a small bag of the kind that has a screw whole on each side of the bracket, and then another small bag of brackets with screw holes on only one side.
• we found screws to match the size of our bracket holes. They have sizers there in the screw section. Make sure they're long enough to give proper support for all the weight of the frames. I think we got 1.5" screws.
• black spray paint was essential for the Monticello look we were going for, we spray painted everything black when we got home
• we found some black ribbon at a craft store and just bought a whole spool so we wouldn't run out. I'm sure it would have been smarter to measure how much we wanted in advance, but we didn't want to take the time.

• before hanging the pole, we looped ribbon for each frame over the pole and tied it to the hook on the back of the frame (we did 8 frames). We lined up all the frames on the floor to make sure they would hang where we wanted them to
• with ribbons and frames attached, we put the pole on the wall, marked it for brackets, and screwed everything in. (this is obviously a 2-man job)

Here's the finished product that we LOVE:



























We also got a little crafty with an art print we'd bought on clearance over a year ago at a local art store that was closing. We wanted to spice it up a bit, so we got a blank canvas and some mod podge and after a few coats it almost looks like an original! And by almost I mean not really at all like an original, but you can tell that we tried. A little.

I saw on some mod podge tip site something about putting mod podge on both the surface you're putting the object on as well as the back of the object, and at least for me, that tip should not be applied to mod-podging paper, especially big huge ones that will start to warp and wrinkle before you ever finish coating it in time to put it on the canvas. I was almost in tears when I saw that my first attempt had nearly destroyed the whole project, but the good news is that the paper seems to tighten back up as it dries, thus mostly getting rid of the wrinkles.

Once I got over the wrinkles, I like it a lot. But I would probably use foam board next time instead of canvas, just because it's so much cheaper.

Utah Trip Highlights: part 2.2—Smith family pics

While we were at the cabin with all the Smith family, our amazingly talented sister-in-law Kalli took some great family pictures that we love. It was super bright outside so we're a little squinty in the group pic, (and Van just gave up trying and shut his eyes, so he looks asleep), but we love it anyway. Thanks so much Kalli!! {click on the photos to see them in their full amazingness}





















The Smith siblings show off their jumping skills

a little piece of heaven in the Smith home

"He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home."
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


















































































dinner for 2: what happens when van & dad want to eat at the same time

















we might have a thumb-sucker yet...

as of late

Today marks 4 months of life with Van, and we can hardly believe how much he's growing up! This week he's started rolling from his back to his stomach, and he's hooked. He loves being able to see something to his side, then roll over to get to it. It's the cutest thing ever and I could probably never bore of watching him do it. He's also getting closer to sucking his thumb (we're crossing our fingers), which apparently is a hard thing to do before Van masters remembering that a thumb is actually supposed to be an 'opposing finger' instead of an extra finger that tucks nicely under all the other ones. If he gets thumb-sucking down, we might pay for it in his future dental records, but we would have won the binky battle and replaced the pacifier with a permanent fixture that he himself can put in his mouth. We might be encouraging thumb-sucking. You might have already gathered that.

Van is also discovering his voice and he's been totally into the loud squealing thing this week. Including in sacrament meeting at church, at which point we had to supress his sounds of happiness with a binky. But we love his loud, happy baby language and the little personality that's showing up with it. He's eating like he thinks a famine is coming right before bedtime, which is partially true for him since he's sleeping 10 hours a night on average (love it!). He's growing back some of the hair that he's lost, thankfully. Jon and I had to give him his first hair cut, which I guess is supposedly a big deal and even I was a little hesitant, but getting rid of the toupe-looking patch on top and the mullet-like gathering on the back was one of the better decisions we've made, and we're pretty proud of it.

4 month stats:
14 lbs 12 oz
16.5 inch noggin
25.5 inches (but I swear he's longer, they're not super careful with length measurements)

healthy.
happy.
l o v e d .

This is mostly a post for grandparents and self-documentation, but so as to not bore any readers further on details of our offspring, how about some photos?


sometimes when I'm watching him or taking pictures of him (the poor kid has his own personal paparazzi on call 24/7) I kind of feel like I'm spying on him in his own little world. The world of mobile animals, nursery songs, and colorful rattles. I hope he doesn't feel like I'm violating his space.















how cute is this? He LOVES his swing, which we got from one of my coworkers' grandma's basement (thanks Melissa B.). it's gotta be at least 20 years old, and it's perfect for him. I love this photo because it looks like he's waving. :)

















I know I have tons of photos of these two asleep together, but I can't resist. They're so cute!

Utah Trip Highlights: part 2—the cabin.

The day after we arrived in Utah (in January) we headed up to a cabin in the mountains to spend a couple days there with all the Smiths. When we got there we were greeted by tall snowbanks and a little pathway carved out of the 1-2 feet of snow in advance (thanks Joel!!). We were also greeted by freezing temperatures, but after a couple hours with the fire burning until we couldn't see our breath anymore, we were warm and cozy for the rest of the trip. The cabin was a perfect winter getaway—1 bedroom, 1.5 bathrooms, 21 people—we had so much fun!

All of Jon's brothers and sisters were there, and all of their children (it's so weird that now all the nieces and nephews are becoming "the cousins" instead of me & my cousins...now we're "the grown-ups"! I still don't feel it, that's for sure!), so it was a complete Smith party for the first time since Sep.'06, before Jeremy left on his mission. We had breakfast in our pj's, a big game night playing a memory game with little-known facts of all the Smiths there, and we had a movie night with all of us sprawled all over the floor in front of the fire. The boys all headed out one day for a ski/snowboard day and of course had a blast (check out some pics/videos here, they're AMAZING), and the kids had a sledding day back at the cabin. We loved the cabin and it was so good to finally see everyone again after such a long time. Thanks again Kalli and Joel for hooking us up with the cabin, we owe you guys! The only undesireable moments were when Van screamed in the car all the way there and all the way back. It probably deterred Kalli & Joel from wanting children in any near future, but we promise he's not always like that, guys! :)

{you'll have to forgive me for the large smattering of photos, but I had to show off the sweet shots my honey took. these are almost all compliments of jon and his photog skills}


beautiful winter {I know, I just bashed on winter in my last post, but when the world is covered in white, beautiful seems to be the only way to describe it}


































all the cute kids {ours is the sleeper}

















everyone excited to see the results of our family photos taken by the amazing and talented Kalli {check out her photog blog here} which I'll be posting soon

















game time

















one of the highlights for the kids was some sweet old school nintendo, which of course they caught onto and mastered in seconds.


































the boys with their game faces on, ready for a ski day

















heading out to go sledding...



















































This kid is amazing. He's 3 years old, this was his first time on a snowboard, and he was pro. Like father like son I guess! We were so impressed with his mad skills.



















you have to admit, this is hilarious. And yes, they went all the way down the hill too. Don't worry, there were no sledding saucer wrecks!


















the two we owe the trip to...thanks Joel & Kalli!!

protesting winter

Looks like I'm not the only one hoping for an early out from winter this year, despite our recent typical daytime temperatures in the 30's. I walked outside on my way somewhere with Van a couple days ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by this ambitious purple flower as ready for warm weather as I am:



















I thought it was the only one, until I saw this:

















and these: (with new grass!)

















and these beauties:
















Red rover, red rover, send springtime on over!!! I'd be more than happy to wake up to warmness, don flip flops and short sleeves, and let my child stay outside for a few moments more than the regular rushed house-to-car transfer.

Who are we kidding, let's skip spring and head straight for summer. I vote mid-80's. Sunny.

Any takers?

{ love }

He got me the biggest balloon I'd ever seen, and Van was enthralled by the big shiny floating thing twice his size. He found my favoritest chocolates and insisted I don't share (gone in 2 days). He gave me bright flowers in happy shades of lime green, white, and bubblegum pink. He made me the sweetest card and told me why he loved me. He took me to dinner at a quaint little local mexican place (I LOVE mexican) and let me eat more than I should have. He took me dancing, and little did you know, the man can dance. He knows how to move, knows how to step, and you should see the way he moves his hips. He stole all the old ladies' hearts, all the young girls' hearts, and while he may have forgot to tell me that everyone else ballroom dancing that night would be dressed in red so I was awkwardly the only one in aqua blue, he still stole my heart all over again.

just like every other day.

I love him.

and Van loves balloons. big ones.













p.s. HUGE thanks to our sweet friends Ashlee & Nate who were the brave souls to take on Van's very first night of babysitting. You were pros, and you let us have our own first post-baby date, just in time for Valentine's.

They told us not to do it...

...but you know how that goes. What are we supposed to do if Van loves being held up high over our heads right after he eats? Especially when it produces the biggest open-mouth smile you ever saw? Julie (Jon's sister) was the first to warn us, and even told us how she'd told her son not to do that to his little brother or he'd spit up all over him. But when the baby likes it, we're pretty bad at resisting.

It was all fun and games and even a great source of my joking with Jon when it happened to him a couple weeks ago right before we put Van down for the night. I could see it coming from across the room, there was no way Jon would clear it. And he didn't. New spit up made a lovely streak from his hair down to the middle of his shirt. Luckily he'd turned his head at the last second, so his hair and face were only bombed on the side. We both laughed and got a great kick out of it, and I was just grateful it wasn't me.

But what comes around goes around, and last night while Jon was out doing man things (b-ball) and after I had just finished Van's last feeding, I was playing with him and he was being super giggly and smiley and I was loving it. Until I lifted him up above my head. One second we were all smiles, and then all the sudden I was wet. But that really gross kind of wet that you don't even know where to start cleaning and you don't even want to think about what's on your lips. My only thought was to spit. Spit a lot, spit hard, and spit fast. Anything to keep it out of my mouth. Of course Van got off totally spit-up free. I looked at him after recovering from the initial shock of the smell, and he was sitting there smiling at me, clearly feeling much better. And maybe I laughed. You can't be mad at a face like that, even when he opens his mouth up and drops his dinner on my face. And yes I still think risking the spit-up recurrence is worth the face we get from him when we do the full baby body lift over our heads. So maybe we won't ever learn our lesson.

Just to prove even babies that spit up on their parents are still cute, here's our little man hanging out on our bed with nothing but innocence written all over his face.



















Here's the "leave me alone, mom, I'm resting" look.