I'd like to thank the academy.....

or just my BFF Jennalou for this honor! Yes, she awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award so here it goes....7 facts about me! #1- My family is everything to me! I'm married to my best friend who treats me like a princess and we have the cutest kids ever! What could be better? #2- I'm passionate about family history. I got the bug a couple of years ago and have been hooked ever since. I first started out by just falling in love with the vintage pictures, but soon found myself loving to read the stories just as much. After struggling to find personal stories on certain ancestors I pledged to keep a journal and this blog was born. At times this blog feels like just one more thing I can't keep up on, but when I sit down and read past post I realize how important it is to record my families history.

#3-I love saving money! Nothing gives me a bigger thrill than watching my total melt away at the grocery store. I have been using grocery smarts for a couple of years and it has completely changed the way I shop & plan meals. This was my most recent trip, I spent $152.17 and saved $148.24-almost 50%. My current record is 81%. Last summer I stopped for awhile and when I ran our year end numbers we had spent 3x the money on groceries during those months. It is totally worth it!

#4-Dr. Pepper....my drug of choice!! It is the nectar of the gods. I love this drink almost as much as this cute couple. Besides what's up with the diet? Anyway, at times I truly feel like I need an intervention so a couple of months ago I went cold turkey and did not drink a drop for 5 days. My findings......I felt no different. So I've decided that life's too short to be without the ones you love and I pray that the Celestial Kingdom has is on tap. Cheers!

#5-I get chest pains just looking at this picture. I am completely terrified of the ocean & big fish. I have no idea why, but going on a cruise someday will be a big challenge.

#6-I have loved studying Ancient Egypt since the 6Th grade. What fascinating people! Egypt is a place I'm dying to visit, but with all the political crap that's been going on there I'm sure Casey won't be booking our trip any time soon. I'll have to just settle for all the History International documentaries that I have on the DVR.

#7-I {heart} anything Disney!!!! No better feeling than standing in line for Splash Mountain with a Churro in your hand. I could honestly go 4 times a year and never get sick of it. I love everything about it (except the big crowds) and will argue with anyone who says it's overrated! I'm fortunate that Casey and my kids also share the love and I look forward to many more magical vacations!

I thought we were over this....

Last month Cael had influenza and ever since it's been one thing after another. It took Cael several weeks to finally kick his bug just in time for Kensie to start. A couple of weeks ago Kensie had Pneumonia and Ear infection so she took antibiotics until the middle of last week. The next day she started with the stomach flu and still is fighting it. The last 5 days I have washed every blanket, pillowcase, pillow, sheet set, pajama, and Car seat. She has thrown-up more than I think I have my whole life. If she wasn't going to the bathroom or puking she was laying down watching TV so I have had time to finish my spring cleaning. We also re-painted my laundry room and started on the basement. This weekend we are organizing the basement and then all we'll have left is the garage. It feels so good to have some of this stuff done. Anyway hopefully we are done with sickness for a while.

Juab Tournament....

Tonight was Cael's last wrestling tournament for the season. He has loved wrestling, but has been acting a little burned out. He has learned so much and hopefully with age he can become more aggressive. He was excited to wrestling in Juab, but I personally feel like he does better when he wrestles kids he doesn't know. Tonight he wrestled 4 kids with two of them being my cousins kids. Before he went out on the mat i told him to take it serious, but sure enought he was smiling just like he was playing around at school. At one point he just laid on the mat like he was watching the clouds on a peaceful spring day. I started yelling at him to get up and pay attention. Drives me Crazy!!! Anyway, he had a good season and has grown so much.

Kensie was still under the weather so Aunt Kalee came and spent the night with her so I could go watch. Thanks Kalee!

Yes, he is smiling....

This is the same kid he wrestled in gunnison.

Winner!!!

Cael & Conner

Drew, Cael, & Nolan

Getting his metal...

Conner White 1st

TK Michaela North Sanpete 2nd

Nolan Miller 3rd

Cael Smith 4th

???? North Sevier 5th

Kindy 500...

For the past month Cael's class has been learning about our country. The flag, statue of liberty, white house, states, presidents,....you know the USA! Cael has been coming home telling all of the fun things they have been learning. He told me about how the "pledge allegiances to the flag" (this is what he calls the flag) use to be black with thirteen stars, and how our president lives in the white house, and asks who all the presidents are on the coins. He has learned a lot and it tickles me to see him so interested in our history. The teachers set up a kindy 500 where each student would make a car and then travel to some of these historic places for a day. Thank goodness I have an amazingly handy husband that was willing to take on the challenge of making the car. They also assigned each kid a state and Cael was given New Mexico. We had to research the state so he could color a postcard, pack a paper suit case, and plan a trip to the state. They then reported back to the class what they had learned. Overall Cael had a blast and more importantly learned a lot about our country.

He wanted a truck, but it turned out looking more like a Diesel.

The final product. Since it's "Jimmer" fever with BYU in the play-offs Cael had to put "BYU" on his truck like his buddies at school. If it wasn't for his friends he would have no idea about BYU since the Smith house never watches sports on TV. This year though we have enjoyed watching Jimmer and actually watched March madness for the first time.

License Plate

Jimmy & Cael

They had a parade for the parents to come watch. Taylor Cowan, Wesley Neilson, Jimmy Rosenbeck, and Melea Ludlow.

Breyer Wright, Phaeton Morgan, and Cael.

St. Patties Day!

We didn't do too much this year to celebrate the irish. A matter of fact I completely forgot about it until I walked into work and was caught without any green on. I made sure Cael had green on before he went to school that afternoon so he wouldn't get pinched. When I told him that he said " Oh No, teacher said No pinching!" I'm glad she had made that clear the day before. Since I was such a slacker on the actual holiday I made up for it the next morning and cooked green pancakes. The kids were thrilled!

Spring time....

This week I worked on my spring cleaning and even though I didn't get as much done as I had planned it still feels good to have a start. A couple of weeks ago, while the kids were sick, me and Casey worked on the kitchen so this week I focused on the bathrooms. I started by scrubbing and resealing the shower and floors and then cleaned and organized both cabinets. I always underestimate this project and when you add in about a million interruptions it ended up taking me all day. Anyway, they are all done now and it feels so good to be able to find things in there.

Good weather also brings some good times with the neighbors. I've said it before and I'll say it again....I love having good neighbors! My kids are never bored and I love watching them play. Everyone has a good time.....

....unless you pee & poop your pants and end up having to spend the spring day inside with your mom! What am I going to do with her?

Bring on the Good Weather!

Gunnison Tournament....

Today was round 2 of wrestling tournaments and this weekend we headed south to Gunnison. We woke up early and cooked Cael a good breakfast before heading down. Weigh-in's were until 9 am so we headed down about 8 which is a typical out-of-the-house time for us, but for some reason this morning I felt rushed. Last weekend Cael struggled and during practice this week he kept acting like he didn't want to listen or be there. We don't expect him to win every match, but we do expect him to try hard every time. This morning he seemed excited to go so I was hoping he would have a better outcome. After they weighed-in we found a seat and it didn't take long for the matches to start. He has actually gained the weight back that he lost from being sick and weighed in at 57 lbs. Cael was one of the first matches and for some reason he decided to be stubborn and not go out on the mat. He has never done this before and I couldn't figure out why. I had over heard my dad teasing him that he was going to have to wrestle a 4th grader, but I don't know for sure if that's why or if he just wanted to be difficult. I could see Casey pushing him onto the mat and by the time I made it down there he was giving this look. I hate this whiny-pouty face! Once again, he said he wanted to come so we expect him to give 100% and not throw fits. He did Ok during the match, but kept acting like he didn't care. The kid ended up winning by points and when Cael came off the mat he was still doing the pouty face. I took him aside and asked what his problem was and if he wanted to go home. He said nothing was wrong and that he wanted to stay. I told him he better knock-off the attitude and wrestle then.

I want to say that it was my pep-talk that flipped the switched, but what ever it was I am very thankful because he went from frowny face to power house by the next match and pinned the kid. He can be so strong if he puts his mind to it.

Gavyn had a bye the first match and won his second by completely dominating the match.

Cael's last match was against a kid from North Sevier that had already beat the kid that Cael had lost too in the first match. I was thinking that he would probably make short work of Cael, but to my surprise Cael totally stepped it up and dominated the kid the whole match. I was so proud of him!! It didn't even matter what he placed because we were just glad that he finally got some confidence and performed his best.

Gavyn's last match was against a Strickland kid from Team Takedown. Gav took him down right off, but got in a bad position and in the end got pinned. He was upset and when I told him he did a good job he said "i'm just havin some bad days...". He is so funny!

We were excited when they announced that Cael had tied for First Place with two other boys!! They all three had won two and lost one. Good Job Buddy!

T.K. Michaela - North Sanpete, Cael, Colton Noyse- North Sevier, and Tyler Harward- Gunnison.

Gavyn took second place, I guess he wasn't having such a bad day after all!

Our little Wasp Wrestlers...

Gavyn, Cael, & Cooper