Happy Birthday Lauren!!!

Can you believe that Lauren is 2??? The time has gone by so fast!! On Monday night, we had all of our family over along with Lauren's birth families over for some yummy ice cream cake. We had a lot of fun with everyone!

Here's the birthday girl!!

Brycee was trying to teach Lauren how old she is. She was funny and he was getting frustrated. He couldn't understand why she didn't get it. It was easy. :-)

The yummy Cold Stone ice cream cake!

I took the cake out to defrost it a little so it wouldn't be so hard. As soon as I took it out Lauren was ready and wanted it right away. We had to pretty much stop everything that we were doing so we could keep her happy. Here she is waiting patiently for us to sing.

She was ready to blow out the candles when we first put the cake down.

So DANG CUTE!

Lauren's birth mom Brittany and her husband Matt and Britt's mom Mareen, go Lauren the cutest Monkey jammies that I have ever seen!! I forgot to get a picture of her wearing them but I will get one and post it on here later.

They also got her this cute little doggie. She loves it and gives it kisses all the time.

Here's an Abby Cadabby blanket that Brian and I made for Lauren. She loves Abby!

These next two are from Thanksgiving. Since dinner was at 3:00, we weren't able to get Lauren down for her nap. She was a little cranky and very tired. Brian got the computer out to watch Up with Lauren and Jai decided to join them. It was really sweet.

After the movie Lauren finally crashed! This little girl LOVES her daddy!!
Here's Lauren "blowing" out her candles

Here is Laurens favorite funny face.

Here's a random video of Lauren. This totally captures her personality! She loves to read! She says "I got it" to everything! She grunts like she's exerting for every single thing, even if it's just turning a page. And, she also says "ouch" to everything. Hope you enjoy how cute she is. We sure do!

Our house is finished!

Lauren in the pantry, yes Mom and Dad Smith we will be able to keep up the family tradition!

The front door.

The back of the house.

Looking upstairs from the front door.

Upstairs looking at the loft/playroom.

The laundry room (upstairs).

The Master Bedroom.

Master Bathroom.

Master Bathroom Double Vanity.

The Front door from upstairs.

The back yard.

Dining room and Kitchen.

The Pantry

The Front of our house.

A Gickle

Lauren loves "gickles"!! She's so funny!

Found them!

I finally found the videos of Lauren that I have been looking for. Here are a few fun ones. She's hilarious.

They're moving along FAST!

Yep, we're driving by EVERYDAY just to make sure things are rollin' along. And... they are! Yesterday they sheet rocked, finished the roof, and prepped the outside for the undercoat for the stucco. We can't wait to have you all over when it's done. We were shooting to close on the 6th of November but it looks like they have already moved our date up a week. We'll keep you updated.

New House Pics

Our New House

Yep, we're finally moving out of my parents basement. Right now we are super excited but the fear and sadness of moving away from my mom and dad is starting to kick in. Luckily we will be close. I'll try to answer some of the questions that we've been asked but if you have more then just ask.

Q: Where are you building?
A: Lehi

Q: There are so many houses out there for sale. Why are you building?
A: There are a lot of houses out there. We have been very prayerful about the area. We have looked at many houses and have not found anything that we loved. We just didn't want to settle.

Q: Isn't builidng expensive?
A: Some places yes. Where we are building, No. We've pretty much stayed in the same price range. We just found a good builder (Salisbury Homes), the perfect floor plan, and a great area without settleing. The other homes that we were looking at in our price range were from the 70's. Why not buy something new for a few extra dollars?

Q: When are you moving?
A: Right now our closing date is November 7th. That could change. We'll let you know for sure though!

Q: That's fast. When did you start?
A: We've prayed and fasted about this for a while. Signed papers around the 9th of September.

Q: That's even faster? How can they build a house so fast?
A: The builder that we are using works 7 days a week 16 hours a day with multipule sub contractors there at the same time. They are very efficient with their time.

Here are a few pictures of the beginnings. You can watch with us as we post the progress of our home.

Randomness

Since I haven't updated in almost 3 weeks I have LOTS and LOTS of pictures. I really should have done about 10 different posts but I didn't think about it until after I spent 20 minutes uploading all the pictures on here. Oh well, I'm not sure if they will be in order but I'll try.

Brian recently had his big 30! Can you believe it? Brian is now in his 30's. Since Brian is half Pirate, we decided to go to Pirate Island Pizza in Orem. Here are some fun pictures from that night.

Seriously, the most perfect little face EVER!

The WHOLE gang. There were 20 of us.

Lauren did not want to sit in the chairs and eat. She just wanted to wonder around. When we told her "no" she decided that if she couldn't wander around then she would just lay on the floor. Gross, I know. But she wasn't screaming so I guess we have to give in every once in a while.

Over Labor Day weekend we had our usual trip to Idaho. It was a LOT of fun as always. Lauren was so good and had so much fun!

Aunt May-me cooking breakfast.

Camp food is my favorite!! And it's hash browns and bacon. It doesn't get much better than this!

Getting ready to eat.

She got angry because we said no to something so she pouted.

On Saturday Amy watched Lauren for a few hours while Brian and I went out on a little ride. It's always so beautiful!

Don't worry mom and dad. We didn't go too fast.

Amy decided to blog her whole day step by step. While we were out she got Lauren to take a nap with her. Since she had her camera in her tent we took a picture for her. She was supposed to be asleep but she couldn't hold it in.

Here she is really being "asleep".

We were laying in our tent and decided to get a picture of us. We took about 20 until we finally got this one with all of our heads in it.

This is the picture that is hanging in the bathroom.

Don't you love how out of control her hair is?

Aunt May-me and Lauren hanging out.

On our way home we hit Preston and said hello to Eileen (Brian's Grandma).

Here's more of Pirate Island Pizza when it first opened up.

Here are some more from the little water park near our house.

One night when I was at YW's Brian decided to decorate the driveway with Lauren. She absolutely loved it! She had so much fun and got so dirty!

Here's Brian's cupcake that we got for him on his birthday night. It was just the 2 of us and I couldn't find any candles so we used Lauren's candle from last year. He loved my singing.

Here's the "tattoo" Brian got from his company party. Surprising huh?

Jai loves to come over and ride the little quad and Lauren only likes to ride on the back. It was hilarious.

Brittany (Lauren's birhtmom) and Mareen (Brittany's mom) gave Lauren the cutest little dress. It was difficult to get her to sit still but at least we got one cute one.

Family Times

I am WAY behind in my blogging!! I started this post about 2 weeks ago and never got it up!!

Back in July my brother from Minnesota came so we had the WHOLE family together here in Utah. We were able to get family pictures thanks to Will Duris and we went to a nearby pool. It's always fun to be together but it also made me realize that I don't want 14 kids. There were 14 grandchildren from 11 down to 11 months. It was a little crazy at times but always worth the craziness. Here are some pictures of our day.

Daddy & Lauren on the slide.

Emma.

JOEL and little Aaron! Yep, Joel actually got in the water. Here's the proof.

Joely and Little Aaron on the slide. Aaron loved it!

Big Aaron has always been awesome on the diving board. He did front flips, back flips, cannon balls and some pretty high dives.

Grandpa (my dad) even got in with Sammy. She loved the slide. I think my dad went on the slide more than anyone there. He took almost all the kids.

Grandpa and Sammy again.

Aaron and Dallin.

Daddy and Lauren! She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the water!!

Daddy and Lauren, and Aaron and Dallin.

Bri and Lauren on the slide. She had a blast on that thing!

My Daddy-O.

Happy little Lauren after all the swimming was done.


I LOVE that little smile!

Sneak Peak

Our awesome friend Will Duris took our family pictures on Friday. It was a little crazy with 12 adults and 14 kids. HOLY COW!

Here's a sneak peak at the cutest little girl in the world!!

More Daddy-Daughter Time. by Brian

So, with Janelle away for the weekend, Lauren and I spent some time together. I got off work early on Friday and came home to play with Lauren. We spent time in the hot tub because Lauren LOVES to play in the water. She has learned that it is fun to go back and forth between the hot tub and the pool. Daddy's back doesn't enjoy the lifting so much. After pool time it was time for a bath and an early bed time. Lauren doesn't take very good naps with the baby-sitter.

Then Saturday morning we woke up watched some Tinker Bell (JOY AND RAPTURE!!!) then it was off to the Monte L. Bean Museum at BYU. Lauren loved the animals at Cabella's so I thought she would enjoy this place. It turns out she didn't care for it all that much. Most of the time Lauren wanted to jump up and down on the benches. I got one or two goods pictures of her.

Later on it was time to go up AF canyon to the ward party. Lauren had an absolute blast running around the field and playing with the water balloons. She did not enjoy being inside the lodge for dinner or when it was time to go home.

Also, at the ward party, the activities committee did a little skit. They reworded "Old McDonald had a Farm" to "Our Ward has a Garden". With each verse some one came out dressed up as the vegetable we were singing about. Janelle's sister Corey and little Kyle were the pumpkins and Bryce was a Raisin. Needless to say, Kyle was not happy about it, nope not one bit. Sorry the picture is blurry, Lauren was pulling my arms down to get the camera.

Good times with Good Friends

There are few things in life that are better than good friend!!Here are some of my dearest friends. From left to right: Me (aka-JJ to these girls), Brita (or Burrito as I have always called her), Collette, Kellie, and Debbie. Kellie and I have known each other our whole lives but the girls I met when I was around 14ish. We've all been through A LOT together. Burrito, Kellie and I went on our first date together. All of us were out dancing every weekend at the coolest (haha) stake and YSA dances ever. We welcomed all of the new boys into our stake with cookies. Burrito and her hubby carried me though life out here in Utah. When I first moved out here they were the ones who made sure I was ok, hooked me up on lots of dates, and even called me at 2:00 in the morning just to make sure I knew they were thinking of me.

Well, we all live all over. Burrito is in Logan, Collette is in Layton, Kellie is in Huntington Beach, CA, and Debbie is in Pleasanton, CA. It's been 7+ years that I have seen some of these girls and 10+ years since we were all together. We decided that it was well overdue for a get together so- we made it happen. We started our weekend at the SL temple. It was so beautiful and such an awesome moment to be there together. Then we headed off to our condo to eat and spend some relaxing time in the hot tub.

The next day we hit the outlets. Burrito and Debbie are pregnant so we hit Motherhood Maternity first. The girls convinced our "our smallest" Kellie to try the baby bump on. I think she looks cute.

The weekend away was much needed. I missed Lauren and Brian a lot but it was so nice to pick up right were we left off and be so comfortable with the girls I love. Burrito- Brian thanks you in advance! :-)

Our favorite time of the day!!

Brian and I love it when Lauren is asleep. It doesn't happen often enough and it normally takes a while to get this result but we love it!!

I'm just grateful that the super bright flash didn't wake her up.

Water fun with Cousins

The other day Lauren and I found a "water park" or "fountain park" nearby. We decided to meet up with cousins to have some fun. Lauren had a lot more fun than I thought she would! Here she is before the water.

Jai and Lauren exploring the fountains.

Brycee and Kyle fearless with the fountains.

Lauren wanted to grab the water and tried for a very long time to do it.

Cute Jai Jai.

Don't you just love this little face!?



It was a fun day together! I'm glad we went and I can't wait to take her back to play again. Next time we'll see if Daddy can come along. He's always fun!

Update

I guess it's time to get a little caught up, huh? Things have been busy as always and I just haven't had much motivation to blog lately. I'm workin' on it. Sometimes I don't even think that people are even looking at this anymore. Maybe y'all could make some comments and make me feel better. :-)

Well, here's what we've been up to, in no particular order...

Brian's mom had to come back to the states from the Philippines (where she and dad are serving a mission) to renew her re-entry permit. It was really great to have her home for a few weeks but Dad sure missed her a ton! Here we are sending her back home to the Philippines. Brian has decided that next time she comes home he is going to keep her here. He's had to say goodbye to her 3 times on her mission and is ready to be done. They only have 11 months left so the time is coming quickly.

Brian and I haven't had much time to date lately since things have been a little crazy. WONDERFUL Aunt Amy offered to babysit one night so Brian and I could have some time alone. We had everything all planned out to have a really fun night together including a picnic dinner and some time just the 2 of us. It only lasted about 2 hours as we just went to dinner at Olive Garden then came home because we were so exhausted. It wasn't what we had planned but it was fun to be together. Amy is always so awesome with Lauren. She loves her books!





















Seriously, isn't this little girl the cutest thing you have ever seen??

My little nephews Bryce and Kyle are quite the little entrepreneurs. Bryce is all about the money and how much things cost. Together the boys made like $13 dollars on this little lemonade stand. They are funny little guys. Lauren went out for a few minutes to hang out and bring in some customers with her cute little smile.

A couple weeks ago Lauren's birth fathers family had a family reunion. They invited us up, so we spent about an hour up the canyon meeting some of their family. They were super funny and extremely tall! Holy cow! Lauren is going to be so tall! When we got there Lauren took to little Andrea (Lloyd's little sister) right away. They played so well together. It was really cute.

Here is Lloyd's dad (Vernon) and his grandma. It was great to meet her!

This was the 24th of July.

So the rest of these pictures are from girls camp. It was so much fun spending time with our girls. We have the best Young Women ever! We had 22 girls from the ages of 12-17. We had a survivor theme- which is funny because we were in a cabin (a super nice cabin) and we played on the beach all day at bear lake and went water skiing and tubing, and then relaxed at the country club in the hot tub, where the girls took showers. Not much surviving huh? Let's just say that next year they will feel and smell like they are "surviving".

Here are my girls. We were the yellow team!

Isn't this lake beautiful??

Ok, so the first time (and last time) I ever went water skiing was when I was 12. So, it's been a good 16 years since I have been (wow, that makes me feel old), and I am still battling with my foot. Maybe these are just excuses but I did get up for about 20 seconds.

Here was a little shot of a water fight that I deny being a part of. Ok, maybe I was a part of it but I was double dog dared to get another leader as she was sleeping. Luckily, she was a good sport about it.

Here is the country club.



And we also had a rockin' dance party. I was brought back to my teenage years where I used to "shake it" every weekend. The girls had a blast and us leaders had some fun too.



Here is a video that I found that is so cute of Lauren doing "slippery fish" in the doctors office for her 18 month visit.

Seriously behind!

Ok. I know I haven't done a great job at blogging lately. I have not a single good excuse either. I guess I'll show you what's been happening and then update you on what is to come.


We went our yearly "city days". The parade was a lot smaller this year but we had more fun because Lauren was so excited.



Corey & Chris


Mom & Dad

I know I say this every time but look how big Lauren is getting! She is so beautiful!

I love this picture. You probably will want to click on it to blow it up. Lauren's little face is so cute!

Waiting to get candy.



We also went to all the little boutique shops. Lauren loved the walk as she sat so peacefully in her stroller.

Then, on the 4th of July, we (well, just Brian) set off a few fire crackers. Here's Lauren with her Uncle Joely and little Aaron.

Brian- a kid at heart.


Joels kids and Lauren.

Then later that night we found all these little spots all over Lauren. She didn't seem bothered by them at all. She had no fever and no other side effects so we thought we had ruled out Chicken Pox. Now, a few weeks later little Jai has SERIOUS chicken pox- ALL OVER. We are really hoping that Lauren had them and just had a small case. It would be so nice! I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Our lives have been keeping busy. Lauren and I are currently in our second week of Mommy and Me swim classes. We are having lots of fun. Brian was even able to come today for a session. It was really fun to have him there. Lauren loves the water!! She does a great job of kicking and she even goes under the water some times. She loves to sit on the side of the pool while I say "ready, set..." then she yells "do!" (like go but with a d.) It's so fun! We also get daddy up to speed on everything that we learn every night in the hot tub. It was a great investment!!

We've officially started looking for a house. It took us about a year last time so that's kind of what we are planning on. The good thing is that we don't have to be out at any specific time. We can take our time and find something we love! It's been so great where we are but we feel it's time to move on and get something a little bigger. I don't anticipate us going very far. We would actually love to stay in the ward. But we'll see. We'll go wherever the Lord wants us to go.

We are so grateful for all of our family and friends. We feel of your love and hope that you feel of ours too.

California Trip

A couple weeks ago my mom, Corey, Kellie and Philly, and I went home to California for my grandma's 85th birthday. We had lots of fun with the family and we were able to stop at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz for about an hour to soak in the sun and sand.

Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. Memories from my childhood.

Thanksgiving Point Petting Zoo

A few weeks ago we went with the fam to the Thanksgiving Point Petting Zoo. Lauren LOVED the animals as long as she didn't sit on them. She did not like the pony ride at all!

Max, Brian, and Lauren looking at the goats.

Brityn and baby Madeline.

Baby Philly and Lauren.

Isn't this the cutest little smile?!?

18 Month Appointment

Lauren is turning into such a BIG GIRL! It's killin' me. We went in today for her 18 month appointment. Here she is playing in the office.

I love her little personality!

She didn't like the scale too much. Can you believe that she is 25 lbs? She's in the 66th percentile for her weight. She's 33 inches tall and is in the 81st percentile. I joked to the doctor that she was going to be a giant and be very tall. I also told him that she would be taller than me by the time that she was 5. He laughed and told me that I was correct. He thinks she will be between 5'7" and 5'9". That's so tall to me. I'm only 4'11"-- I mean 5'. Hold me!

Confessions

So, I really might just be the most impatient person you have ever met. I was scheduled to get my cast off on Thursday and I was supposed to get a walking cast put on. I talked to him last time about putting a walking boot on instead of a cast and he said that I might be able to talk him into it for my next appointment. So, Thursday was the big day (well, it as supposed to be). On Tuesday I got a little impatient. Ok, ok. Maybe a LOT impatient. So I decided to call the office and see if they had any cancellations open so I could get in 1 day early. They said that the doctor wouldn't be in on Wednesday and I that I had to wait for Thursday. I was pretty set to get in earlier. So... this is where I stretched the truth. I know, I know. I feel guilty now but I had to get my dang cast off!

So, I proceeded to tell them that there was a funeral on Thursday and so they set me up to get in that day (on Tuesday)! I was so stoked! So, there really was a funeral. Someone my mom knew had died but I didn't know who they were. Eeek.

To make a long story short. I repented. I feel remorse. And I have my cast off! I have a big black boot for another month but it's way better than the cast.