Sisters, Cousins, and Fireworks! Oh, My!

July 4th my sister Dawn and her two amazing kids came for a visit. We spent a few amazing days together, and I was reminded, once again, why living so far away is so hard. The kids had a fabulous time together, and Dawn and I reminisced over wine. Our time was much too short, but I'm grateful for the opportunity.

4th of July!

Laila's first sparkler!

Cora with a sparkler!

The kids had a chance to light a few sparklers and throw snaps on the ground. It wasn't much, but my kids are still little and in AZ, we don't light much on fire!

The girls (Cora and Laila) were on a baking streak the entire visit! They started with chocolate chip cookies and strawberry cupcakes with strawberry icing. All from scratch!

Strawberry cupcake with strawberry icing!

Cora and Laila icing cupcakes together.

Who doesn't love a good game of "Mustache Smash"? Aunt Dawn and Little Dustin had a fun time playing this together.

Dustin and Aunt Dawn

Dawn and I spent an evening listening to oldies, drinking wine, and looking through old photos and notes. It was refreshing to have sister time, it's one of the things I miss most about home. Seeing a familiar face at the end of a long day. I call her all the time just to see how she's doing. I wish we could do this more often.

Sisters.

We completed a few adventures during their visit! The Science Center was on our list but one I wasn't sure we would get to. It's pretty expensive for just a day's admission, so when we realized Dawn's membership would get us all in for free, we couldn't pass that opportunity up! The kids truly loved it, we've only ever been once before so the kids had plenty to explore! I'll spare you photos of every exhibit. But these were my favorites from the day.

Heading to the Science Center!

I love photos of people walking together. Look at this group. It makes my heart so happy.

Group Photo at the Science Center!

This was as we were leaving. Do you see my Godson? He's HUGE!! Joshua, you can stop growing now!

And the baking continued. We raided the refrigerator and pantry and made the most epic cupcake of my baking career. Blueberry lemon cupcake with blueberry icing and a candied lemon on top. It was the hardest, yet most rewarding baking I've ever done. The girls did an exceptional job! I was impressed!

Candied lemons!

The final product!

We didn't stop there! Banana chocolate chip cupcakes were next! I always have tons of bananas in the freezer so this was a no-brainer! The icing was a swirl of chocolate and peanut butter. Can you say, "YUM!!"? This was my favorite of the week hands down.

Banana chocolate chip cupcake
with chocolate peanut butter
swirl icing!

Laila and Cora enjoyed spending time together, it was so neat seeing them bond over baking, music, and all sorts of things. Giggling and playing, it made my heart full. No visit would have been complete without a sleepover in the living room!

Laila and Cora

Dawn snagged these hilarious stick on mustaches at the dollar store and broke them out the day they left. I laughed until my stomach hurt as Joshua busted out his Swedish accent and pretended to be "Sven". The kids were trading 'staches like pokemon cards, it was hilarious!

Kenadi!

This may be one of my favorite
photos ever. My silly boy!

No visit will ever be long enough, and I miss them daily, but I'm so glad we had the opportunity to spend time together this summer!

June 2015

School ended for us the third week of May, and the adventures began! We decided to go to 25 places this summer, since we didn't take a family vacation this year. I won't bore you with photos from each one, just rest assured we did make it to 25. I was sure we would run out of time, but we succeeded!

June also brought us "National Donut Day"! Who doesn't love a free donut? 

Free donuts!

These girls. They're too cute!

June was the beginning of the long stretch of visitors as well. My friend, Melissa ("Bitch"), came in for a week! I had such a great time seeing her! We celebrated her presence with nothing other than tacos and tequila! Margaritas and tacos for the win! I'm so glad she chose to spend part of her vacation with me. 

"Bitch"

Yes, it was yummy.

While Melissa was here, she splurged and got herself a tattoo! While she was under the needle, the kids and I tried a new coffee shop. "Bergies" was a neat little place, the outdoor scenery was beautiful. The coffee wasn't as delicious as I hoped, but I would try it again.  

"Bergies"

 Here's a cute photo of Kenadi. Why? Simply because I can. This little girl puts a smile on my face every day. 

Occasionally, the kids convince me to make pierogi. It's a labor of love and it's hell on my back, but they love it when I make them. This time, they even helped! I may grumble through the whole process, but it's something I grew up watching my mom doing, and I'm grateful to be able to share it with my own kids. 

Pierogi making party!

They're beautiful, I know.

June brought a plethora of hot days and swimming galore. Cookouts and friends. Adventures and ice cream trucks. 

May 2015

May is flying by! It seems like every day brings a new adventure!

Soccer has finally ended for all three kids! The last set of games were rained out (bizarre for AZ, I know), so they were finished the following week. Laila, Kenadi, and Dustin have all received their trophies and are looking forward to their next season already! Instead of taking individual photos this year I opted to have one photo of the three kids done together. I have one to frame and a few for family. It turned out better than I could have ever hoped for! It was a long season of practices five nights a week and games nearly every Saturday, but I'm super proud of how well the kids did! We made it!

Spring Soccer, 2015

School is also over for the summer! The day before school was released I attended an award assembly for Laila. She has worked very hard to keep her grades up and it shows! She received an award for the Principals List (all A's, all semester) and she also received the President's Education Award! How phenomenal! She couldn't believe it was actually signed by the President of the United States! Starting in 4th grade the award is available. She said only a few kids in the entire school received them, and she was surprised to hear her name called. I don't base her achievements on letter grades, I tell her as long as she does her best, I'm happy. She sure is a smart cookie!

Principals List! All A's!

President's Award!

We usually celebrate the end of the week with "Sonic Friday", I drive the kids over there for Happy Hour, half price drinks! It's just a fun way to let off the stress of the week and prepare for the weekend. School let out on a Thursday, so I knew I had to do something special! Starbucks it was! My kids are coffee junkies (decaf, of course!) like their momma, so it was only fitting to celebrate the end of a great year by spoiling them with a special treat.

Starbucks for the girls!

School and soccer are over? You know what that means! Time to stock the kitchen! The kids are growing like weeds and it's hard to keep up! My regular shopping store has become Sam's Club! I buy as much as I can there in bulk to save on the cost, and the kids went with me this time to help!

Take a look at that shopping list!

My super shoppers!

Stay tuned for the "25 Adventures" we're doing this summer, #smithfamilyfun if you're on Facebook! I've planned 25 different things for us to do in the valley this summer to that we've never done before! I promise to spare you a thousand photos and just do one photo collage per event. May, June, and July is ours for the taking!

April Recap: 2015

Just when I thought things couldn't get any more hectic, April rolled on in with a fury! Between soccer practice 5 nights a week and 3 Saturday games, this momma is wiped out!

The kids have done exceptionally well with soccer this season. They've been such troopers sitting through each others' practices and games!

Go Team Lightning!

Go Team Firehawks!

Go Team Lions!

Laila had her quarterly endocrinology appointment and things are still going fine. It's hard to believe that in September she will have had diabetes for 5 years! Anyway...at Laila's appointment, Dustin taught Kenadi to tie her shoes. It literally took one try and she had it!

Way to go, BooBoo!

April brought with it some seriously warm weather! The kids took their first swim of the season and loved it. I stayed on the side the whole time and still haven't taken a dip in the pool yet. Nothing more than my feet have been in. These pics were taken at my friend's house, her pool has a built in jacuzzi. Fancy!

Laila!

Kenadi!

Dustin!

Last fall when Jenn and I saw the Counting Crows (a dream come true, that was!), a band we've never heard of opened up for them. "Daniel and the Lion" played a few songs and after their performance, met in the lobby. Jenn and I each bought their cd and chatted with a couple of the band members, Jimmie and Makayla. They both autographed our cd's and promised to return to Phoenix one day.

As promised, they came back! As soon as we saw the tour date listed, we bought our tickets! They performed a few new songs and a few songs off their album, Death Head. After the performance they met with the fans and chatted a bit. I bought copies of their other cd's, all EP's and only 4 songs each. They have been rotating through my car cd player all month. Love it!

Jenn and I were able to chat with each of the band members and they all signed one of my cd's. Everyone's really great and personable, and so humble. Here are a few photos from our night out:

Daniel and the Lion

Jimmie!

Daniel (he's the only one who doesn't sing)

The band, minus Daniel. Bizarre, right?

April brought with it another accomplishment. I completed my very first 5k! I didn't train to run, but I did run about a third of the race. The rest I walked with my friend Billie Sue. We had a great time in the bubbles and even though they made the ground a little slick we made it out alive!

My goal by the end of 2015 is to be able to run an entire 5k without stopping. I have a ways to go but I'm working on it!

My first 5k!

That's me, and Billie Sue!

Goodbye, April! See you next year!

Girls Weekend!

I felt like I was truly losing my mind. My stress level was off the charts and I felt like I was suffocating. Drowning. Losing myself. I needed a break and didn't know what to do, so I text the one person who I knew would understand, from experience, the life of a mother. The sinking feeling of not being appreciated, unnoticed, of the relentlessness of being tired.

Nessa. My best friend in Nevada. She was feeling the same way, I just knew she'd get it. We take turns visiting each other, it's not much more than a 4-5 hour drive between us. Our last visit was spent together as 2 families, something we've never done. It was a great time, but neither of us got a break-which was the sole purpose of our weekend getaway.

I sent Nessa a message and explained just how desperately I needed to get away. We quickly agreed an outing was in order. She needed a break, and why should one of us miss out? Flagstaff, here we come!

We met up on a Friday evening and the rest is history. We laughed until we cried. We made memories I'll never forget. We shopped, ate, drank, relaxed and explored. We talked, laughed, cried, and made memories. I left that weekend in a puddle of tears knowing it'll be months before I see her again. No amount of time spent together will ever be long enough.

Below are a few of my favorite snapshots from the weekend. I took over 50 photos! Flagstaff was beautiful but my company was what made the trip phenomenal.

We made it! Let the fun begin!

Snuggling. Laughing. Friends.

Bottle 2? 3?

Bottle 4. It was for sure bottle 4.

Did we really drink all that?

The view was breathtaking. 

The little things. Like a coffee with your bestie.

Love. This. Chick.

Soap!

Soap!

She brings out the best in me!

Breakfast!

Best. Crepe. Ever.

Wine tasting!

Wine tasting!

Mmm...Moscato.

We went crazy in the candy store!

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.