what an arm!

i'm sad how long it's been since i've updated this thing. i got sick, then healthy, then sick again. mat's taken three business trips, my sister came to visit, levi's been sick for almost a month and we took a vacation to seattle (levi and i met mat out there on the tale end of one business trip). it's been a whirlwind few weeks, and now the littlest smith has an ear infection, cold virus, faucet for a nose and a wicked cough. but he's still fun. and he still offers kisses......which i readily accept even when there is snot in them. all too soon, the day will come that he won't want to kiss his mama anymore.
his newest thing is chucking EVERYTHING. he walks up to me with a toy. i cringe, worrying he's going to throw it in my face. he sucked down a sippy cup of water at hobby lobby today, and promptly rocketed it to the lady standing behind us in line. then he smiled. little stinker.
our vacation was amazing. it was our first not-montana vacation in 3 years (i think)......our first 3 member family vacation EVER. we spent thursday through tuesday in seattle, staying on lake union. we rode the elevator, watched the sea planes land from our room, ate lots of seafood, walked a lot and cuddled in our king size bed. levi did good, all except for the first night. but don't we all cry and wail in our first night in a strange hotel bed? we visited family, met lots of new friends, saw some dear old friends, took a trip up the space needle, to the children's museum, the waterfront.....it was excellent. we have lots and lots of pictures, i'll put them in the next post. i'm a lucky lady, with some great friends and two boys in my life whom i love very very much.
blessed.

here's a link to the vacation pictures. hope it works!

heckuva

wow. where the heck has time gone? and where the heck have i been? i've been debating whether i wanted to post-post and pretend i haven't been MIA all summer......but the longer i thought about doing that, the longer i delayed in actually posting. SO....... i've decided to actually be honest and post from the real date. there'd be too much to update, and it's too hard for me to write as if i'm living in the past. ya know?
here's our summer in a nutshell:
* our lawn is now landscaped, and wonderful. our water bill increased by over 200% which was a little shocking, but it's fantastic. we didn't do the fence this summer, but we have a wonderful underground sprinkler system and nice green grass. ah-MAZ-ing
* mat played another season of baseball. it was a dismal season, not much winning by his team. and, honestly, he's getting sick of losing. the jury is still out as to whether or not he'll play again next summer.
* several rockies games, levi does so good considering most of them happen right during his naptime. same to be said for levi in the nursery at church. he does great, but falls asleep in the car before we are out of the parking lot. he just loves playing with the other kiddos.
* several trips down to colorado springs to see our friends, the mcclungs. they are moving in a few days, so we tried to soak up as much time with them as we could. we spent the kid's first 4th of july together, taking fun pictures and laughing. it was amazing. i'm going to miss them.
* a week long visit with auntie katie. rockies games, shopping, and the zoo. just lots of fun times together. her trip was nicely bookended with a road trip up to montana!
* a monthlong vacation in montana (two weeks for mat, a month for me and beezus.) a trip to yellowstone national park, mat and i running another 5k, an ear infection for levi, a sinus infection for me, a 4 day family reunion in big sky, a four wheeler ride.....our trip was jam packed. levi and i flew home, and he did fantastic! i was so nervous, since he was still recovering from his ear infection, but he did great! played with the barf bag the first half of the flight, and slept the second half. wonderful!
* levi's first college football game. we went down to the springs to see AF play...crap i can't remember who they played. it was a HOT, windless, sunny, HOT day, but the kids did really good. nicole and i sat under the bleachers (the only place there was any shade to speak of) for most of the game, but we still had fun.

whew........NOW do you see where i've been? it's been a busy summer, but so much fun. and we've got lots of stuff to look forward to:
* spending some more time with the mcclungs before they move! :(
* a long weekend trip to texas for levi and i to visit my dear friend joy. she's preggo and her hubby was just deployed to iraq for a year. i can't wait for her to meet levi, to spend some good girl time with her, and help her in any way we can!
* planning levi's birthday parties. we will have one in montana and one in colorado......what a spoiled little boy! and on that note,
* we are going back to montana for thanksgiving, so that's something else to be looking forward to! i can't believe that levi's almost one. what a whirlwind of a year, but so amazing. wow.

friday five

top five things i'm looking forward to for the summer
1) getting our yard landscaped!!!! omg, i'm so excited to get it done!! it's been a wish list project since we bought the house. "ground breaking" is on friday. our whole yard will be torn up, sprinkler system installed and we'll lay sod. hopefully we have some friends we can count on to help us instal the sod so we can save some moolah!

2) HeavenFest at the end of july! it'll be the third year we'll go. it's always such a fun time, great bands and amazing music in the colorado sunshine. we are still debating on bringing levi or not, but either way it should be fun.

3) alberda family reunion in montana in august. it's always so good to see our huge extended family, relax in the sunshine and get to introduce levi to everyone. that will also be our third trip up to montana, and probably our longest one. it'll be another long drive through wyoming, but we'll probably be up there for a couple weeks, and levi and i will be up their longer and just fly home (probably) so we'll get to spend lots of good time with all the people we have to see up there. good family and friend time, for sure!

4) more rockies games, camping (hopefully!), bike rides, concerts, fireworks, my birthday, swimming, picnics, laying in the grass, iced tea, flip flops, sunshine, green grass, blue skies and bbqs.

5) JUNE 14th. not only is that my sisters birthday (and i'm hoping she'll come visit around there) but i have a BIG announcement to make..... and that'll be the day i make it. please stay tuned to my blog for more information and the upcoming announcement..... i'm counting on all of my followers and friends to make this project a success!!!

catching up

i wrote a whole bunch of nonsense, and it all deleted it..... i'll write a longer post this afternoon. now, here are some pictures from our trip :) enjoy

it's official

bought our plane tickets this afternoon...
$375
seven days of vacation
i'm so excited i can hardly stand it!