CBSmith Family News

A New Thing

2011-03-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

Even after being a full time missionary, I still am not one to parade my religion about like a Snoopy Balloon. But there are times when the influence of the Lord in my life leaves me so in awe that there is no way I could just keep it in my heart.

Several weeks ago, Clifton and I met with our Bishop. There were 3 days between the time when the appointment was made and the appointment itself when Clifton and I contemplated what could possibly be in store for us. Clifton would joke that the Bishop would call me to be the Relief Society president and I would joke back that the Elder's Quorum was being changed and he was going to be the Pres. We both brushed off each other's jests. But in rare quiet moments, I actually felt like Clifton's jokes weren't very funny. I wanted to deny the feelings I had, the little heart palpitations I got when I'd think about the current RS president having served for 4 years and our new bishop talking about change. So, after my Wolf Den meeting that Wednesday, I walked down to the Bishop's office, waited for Clifton, and stewed.

When Clifton arrived the Bishop invited him in the office first. I had about 5 minutes more to stew. Then we traded. I went in and Bishop Goff invited me to have a seat. He chatted with me for a few minutes, asking me how we liked living here, how I liked my calling, then invited Clifton back in. Then the big thing--he knew I had had premonitions--he even said as much. "You've probably had feelings about why I wanted to meet with you. The Lord wants you to be the new Relief Society President." I exhaled and leaned over on Clifton's shoulder and felt the blood leave my head. I really wanted to just lie down and sleep. If I go to sleep then I can wake up and it's all been a scary dream. I was so tired at that moment. Kind of like falling asleep as hypothermia takes over in the moments before death. But all I knew I could do was say I would do my best. He went on to talk about all the things for which I would be responsible. I tell you, the fatigue increased. I hardly recall anything the Bishop told me. We walked out of the office and my legs felt weak. I had to lean on my husband all the way out to the car.

Later that night, after the kids were in bed, I got out the list of sisters in the ward. I needed to select two counselors. Two names immediately stood out to me. That didn't happen when I was called in Primary. It took me days to be sure of my counselors. I prayed and again the names flashed in my mind. Wow! I really didn't know these women very well, if at all. One of them I had only had one phone conversation with about babysitting. Surprisingly, that night I slept very well.

Over the next 2 weeks I began to distance myself from the future and felt like it wasn't ever going to arrive. Kind of the opposite of anticipating a birthday or Christmas Day. What's that called? Dread? I don't really know. I heard from the Bishop that my selection of counselors and sisters for other RS callings had all been approved and they accepted their callings. I met with the outgoing president who briefed me on all the things that are expected of a RS presidency. News Flash: Relief Society is NOT Primary. Deflated ego, humility, ect., are emotions I am currently experiencing. In other words: Boy do I feel stupid. If there was any time I felt like I might actually be able to succeed at this like I did in Primary, I don't feel so now. Wait...I vaguely remember these same feelings way back then in the beginnings of that era. This is just about the time I started feeling the Lord telling me to chill out. My fears about what will become of my family while I am "absent" were stilled somewhat. I am feeling like things won't be so hard. I hope. I have two amazing counselors who have gobs of experience over me. That is why I felt so strongly about them. It's not about me. It's about the work. It will get done. My kids aren't going to die of neglect during this time. My husband will be okay with the burden placed upon him. THE LORD IS IN CHARGE!!!

We were all set apart on Sunday. I hardly remember the words spoken in my blessing. My 22 month old was whining all over the room and couldn't be consoled during the blessing. But I do remember a heavy warmth settle on me. It's okay. I am just an instrument. Maybe the heavy warmth was just the Lord's hand gripping me as he began putting me to use.

Wedding Rings

2011-02-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago there was a news report about two women who became friends after one lost her wedding ring in a grocery store parking lot and the other woman found it and somehow returned it to her. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13987981 The woman who found the ring had initially thought she might keep the expensive looking ring and sell it for money. She and her family were strapped due to the economy. The story jogged my memory of a similar thing that happened to me while on the trip to Hawaii my family took back in 2000 for Christmas.

My parents, that Christmas, decided to take us all on a trip to Oahu rather than buy us gobs of STUFF we didn't really need. I thought it was wonderful. We packed up on Christmas day and left Salt Lake saying farewell to our winter coats and the layer of icy smog choking the valley floor. We spent several days on Oahu enjoying the typical tourist sights, Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Cultural Center, pineapple plantations, and Costco. Mom and Dad surprised us with an additional side trip to the island of Kauai for one day. We left early in the morning and watched the sun rise from our airplane windows. Our good friends, the Carlos's were there staying at the Marriott resort, so we met up with them and went on a tour of the island. We saw the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, had a boat ride up Wailua River to the Fern Grotto, ate lunch at a quaint Hawaiian restaurant, then went snorkling at Poipu Beach. It was here at Poipu Beach I found what I thought would be the only diamond ring I would ever get.

I was in the restroom changing into my bathing suit. As I bent over to pick up my clothes, I saw something sparkle under the toilet. I reached down to pick it up and got a rush of adrenaline as I realized what I held in my fingers was a very expensive diamond ring. I quickly finished in restroom and ran out to our group. I showed everyone what I had found and they all expressed great awe at having made this incredible find. I think at one point I even voiced my fear that this would be the only diamond ring to ever be in my posession. My mom and Brenda Carlos, of course, said I would certainly find a man who would give me a diamond ring and it would be better than the one I was currently trying on for size.

So, I secured the ring carefully in my backpack, deep down hoping I wouldn't have to keep it and feel guilty about it. I felt sorry for whoever lost it. We talked about what we could do to possibly reunite the ring and its owner. We talked about placing an ad in the local paper or making flyers to hang around the park. There was nothing we could do right then so we went swimming and snorkling for about an hour. It was about then I heard my parents calling my name. So I gathered up my gear and walked back to where they were sitting. They were talking to some people I didn't recognize.

My mom introduced me to them, unfortunately I can't remember anything about them, except that he wore a UofU tshirt and she wore a BYU tshirt and that they were from Salt Lake. Mom asked me to show them the ring, and when I did the woman nearly cried. It was hers. Mom had seen them walking slowly around in the grass with their heads bent down. She knew what they were looking for. She approached them and asked if there was a problem. They told her they were looking for the woman's engagement ring. Mom asked them to describe it, knowing full well it wasn't necessary.

I was glad to have that out of my hands, so to speak. I was amazed that the people were members of the LDS church and the luck they must have felt that we had found their ring and wanted to return it to them. Mom often reminds me of what I said when I found the think. I don't remember saying it, but she says I told everyone that I was always hoping to get a ring from "John," just not that john.

A year and a half later I got my own ring. It may not have as many diamonds adorning it as the one I found in Hawaii, but it has a lot more meaning. And it came with a real man. A real GOOD man.

Facing Fears

2011-01-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

I really would like to write about happy and uplifting things. I follow a blog called 71toes.blogspot.com that is all about cherishing motherhood and enjoying the little things in the lives of children. The mom-blogger seems to be a very positive woman who, in spite of her challenges, keeps a bright and sunny perspective on just about everything. I would love to be that way. But all I seem to do is complain and moan and whine about all that is going awry in my life.

So in keeping with my tradition, I will tell you I have nailed down what my very worst fear is in my whole existence.

Do you know what fear you have that makes your heart pump and the adrenaline surge? Have you ever been brought to your knees weeping and crying like a child, tears streaming, mumbling incoherently? I, like many, have a "fear" of the typical things like spiders, the weak-in-the-knees fear of heights, airplane take-offs, and getting cancer. This fear trumps those by leaps and bounds.

Nothing, I mean NOTHING compares to thinking you may never see your child again. Your own flesh and blood. I took Eva with me to Kohl's this morning to check out the sale they were having on Sketchers Shape Ups. We then walked all around the store. I didn't think about using a cart with a baby seat because I wasn't planning on getting much. It was just an opportuninty for us to walk and stretch our legs and not freeze our toushies outside. We stopped to look at girls' socks. She was playing in the clothing racks, trying on big fuzzy slippers left on the floor by someone else, and showing me colorful things she'd find. When it was time to move on to the clearance racks in the boys clothes, I turned around to pick her up and go but she wasn't where I had seen her just seconds before. I crouched down on the floor to look under the racks but couldn't see her legs. I went to the main aisle looking up and down, crossed to the infants clothing and got down again to look. A shopper with her 2 kids saw me and heard me calling Eva's name and asked if everything was okay. I told her I couldn't find my baby and described her. She and her kids started helping me look. They went to the toys to look while I kept searching and calling her name like a crazy woman through the rest of the side where we had been. When I asked an employee moments later to help me look is when I really started to lose my composure. I heard her make a call over the PA system and then it seemed like people started to come out of the clothing racks to help. The mom who first helped me told another woman to stay with me while others went around the store. I was crying, kneeling on the floor, praying and nearly hyperventilating in a funk thinking about all the terrible people in the world doing terrible things to my child. I tried to get up to help, but felt like I was one of those stupid people on tv who get slapped then yelled at to get a grip. Can you picture it?

As I finally managed to stand I saw the wonderful woman who first came to my rescue holding my baby. As she got closer to me I noticed Eva was crying, too. The woman told me she found her lying on the floor in the women's dressing room, crying. I hugged Eva so close as she sobbed and I sobbed. I am glad I had regained enough wherewithal to thank that angel and even I gave her a hug. Even as we left the store my head was still spinning with the remnants of panic and what-ifs.

This is my greatest fear. To lose a child. For some reason it was even worse than taking her to the ER in an ambulance. I knew she was okay then and would continue to improve. She never left my sight. I have a new respect for parents who have a child go missing. Even if mine was only missing for five minutes or less. It felt like two weeks. God bless the families whose children haven't been seen in months or years. And God bless their children.

Enough Already!!

2011-01-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

This past year, and this new one, have brought our family challenges we never thought we would have to deal with. Most of all the health crises that seem to repeat themselves again and again. Not many have been life threatening, but they are just irksome enough to leave one discouraged.

We took Lauren to InstaCare in February last year to get stitches in her chin after she fell off the toilet at my parent's house. The day before Christmas Eve, we took her in again for more stitches in her chin for slipping in the bathtub.

Caleb woke up one morning last winter with a fat lip and achy mouth. We took him to the dentist who told us his tooth was abcessed and needed to be pulled out. The swelling went down and the tooth fairy finally remembered to come. (It was her first time coming to our house.)

Then in August, just after school started for Caleb, he came home one day saying his gut hurt. Through the process of elimination, and help from a priesthood blessing, we decided it was necessary to take him to InstaCare. There it was diagnosed that he had appendicitis and we rushed him up to Primary Children's Medical Center. He had his appendix removed before midnight that same day.

Lauren hurt her foot while jumping off furniture and for a day or two after complained about pain in her foot. So we took her to the same InstaCare for an X-ray, only to find out it was sprained, and there was nothing to do for her except keep her from jumping around.

Now on to Eva. She has had croup twice this winter. The first time, earlier in December, I took her to the pediatrician's office. She was prescribed the typical steroid medication to reduce swelling in the airway. She seemed to get better. Then just a few nights ago, Sunday, January 16, to be exact, the cold she had developed worsened to the point we were scared she wasn't getting enough oxygen. She was so raspy and gurgly when she breathed. We decided to take her to InstaCare, since it was a weekend and afterhours. (All of our crises, when we have been to InstaCare, have been afterhours--go figure.) The nurse measured her blood oxygen and heart rate and found the O2 low and heart rate high. The doctor was alarmed by this, so he called an ambulance to take her to Primary Children's ER. What trauma for poor Eva. She screamed during her breathing treatment, screamed whenever the nurse put the device on her foot to measure her O2 and heart rate. In fact, whenever she heard the door click open, she would start screaming because she knew it meant someone else was coming in to stick something in her face. We were discharged before midnight, and she is doing much better. She still has a cough and stuffy nose.

Back to Caleb: When school started up again after the holidays, he got a relapse of a stomach bug he'd been having on and off since around Thanksgiving. He felt well enough to go to school on the first day back, but by midmorning I got a call from his school. It scared me. I thought he was calling because he'd thrown up or had an accident. Not so. It was Caleb on the phone, but he said he found an itchy rash on his back and could I come to school to take a look at it. Over the next couple of days, we watched it progress across his back, under his left arm and across his chest. He also complained about pain in his arm and chest. We took him to the pediatrician and she diagnosed him with shingles. SHINGLES!? Are you kidding me!! We think it may be a delayed reaction to the chicken pox vaccine. He is doing much better, after a round of anti-viral meds, and the rash is all but gone.

Last of all, I kept feeling a strange popping in my lower abdomen. Last fall I went to a general surgeon and she confirmed my suspicions that I have a hernia that needs to be repaired with surgery. We are going to try to get that done later this coming summer.

So, all these illnesses and injuries are on top of all the colds and stomach flus and fevers we have had. I apologize if all this is such a downer. I just had to get it all off my chest. Please, if you think about it and remember, pray for our family to have a healthier year.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

2010-12-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

For those of you who didn't get a letter and Christmas card because of my negligence, I sincerely apologize. I am posting the letter so you don't miss too much.

Dearest friends and family,
What an amazing year this has been for us. We hope the Lord has blessed you as we feel He has blessed and watched over our family.

Our year began with the closing of the sale of our first home. We thought we had a great home in the works to buy, but as short sales go, it didn’t work out in our favor. So, during the six week period of living in my parent’s basement, we began our home search anew. We happened upon a foreclosed home in West Jordan, about 15 minutes from Clifton’s work. It is a great neighborhood, a great ward, and a great house. We love it here.

Caleb (7) has done so well with our transition this year. He had to change schools twice, but came out shining. He is an excellent reader and loves to be in school. He had quite the adventure around his birthday when we had to take him to Primary Children’s Hospital to have his appendix removed. His maturing sense of humor is starting to show as he tells jokes and plays pranks. This next year he will be baptized. We are very proud of him.

Lauren (3) is growing and learning by leaps and bounds. She has quite a charged personality and on one hand is very independent. She achieved potty-trained status this summer. On the other hand, she is still very much dependent on Mom and Dad for reassurance and encouragement. This fall she began a “preschool” with some of the children in the neighborhood. She loves playing with these preschool friends and is learning quite a bit from school.

Eva just turned 18 months and it amazes us that she has grown so much just in this year. She went from just learning to sit up around last Christmas, to crawling, scooting, walking, to running all in a few short months. Her vocabulary seems to increase every day. For a while her favorite thing to talk about was “puppy.” Now she can identify quite a few animals. She just had her first official day in Nursery at church (we were going for a couple of months—either Mom or Dad stayed to ease the Nursery leader’s load). We love watching her grow and learn.

Susan has had fun trying to make our new home feel like our home. Trying to make all our stuff fit in a differently shaped house has been a good challenge, especially on a limited budget. She was recruited this summer by the PTA president, who attends our ward, to be on the local school’s PTA board. She worked many hours this fall helping out with the Reflections contest. Susan is currently serving the ward in the Cub Scouts as Wolf Den leader.

Clifton has been really busy at work this year. He still is in charge of the twice-yearly Garden Fairs and endless classes and seminars for teaching waterwise landscaping. The garden is expanding once again by adding an amazing education center that will contain his and other offices, classrooms and meeting spaces. He is really starting to get his name recognized—big establishments like Red Butte Garden make sure he is on their lecture schedule. Once again, he put his talents to work when he helped finish the basement in our new house. He says never again will we live in a house without a finished basement! He currently teaches Sunday School to the 12 and 13 year olds.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas season and may the Lord be with you throughout the coming year.

Love, The Smith’s – Clifton, Susan, Caleb, Lauren, and Eva

My new Thai Favorite

2010-09-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

I am probably brealing all kinds of copyright rules, but I must acknowledge the August/September 2010 issue of Taste of Home cooking magazine for my current enthusiasm for trying new dishes lately. So, some of you expressed a desire for the Thai Portobello Chicken Stir-fry recipe that I tried out the other day. MMMMMMmmmmmmmm. . . . . . . . . . . the yumminess lingers in my memory.

I will copy this as exactly as I can so I don't get in to as much copyright trouble.

Thai Portobello Chicken Stir-fry (pg. 72, Aug/Sept 2010 Taste of Home)

submitted by Susan Bazan, Sequim, Washington

Prep: 25 min. Cook: 20 min. Yield: 6 servings

1/2 C Thai peanut sauce
1/2 C teriyaki sauce
1/4 C chunky peanut butter
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
3/4 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
3 C chopped sweet onions
4 celery ribs, sliced diagonally
2 medium carrots, sliced diagonally
1/2 lb. sliced baby portobello mushrooms
4 -1/2 tsp. minced fresh gingerroot
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 C thinly sliced green onions
Hot cooked rice

In a small bowl, combine the peanut sauce, teriyaki sauce, peanut butter, and Worcestershire sauce; set aside.

In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry chicken in 1 Tbsp. olive oil and sesame oil until no longer pink. Remove and keep warm.

Stir-fry the sweet onions, celery and carrots in remaining oil for 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms, ginger and garlic; stir-fry 4-6 minutes longer or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Stir sauce mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add chicken; heat through. Sprinkle with green onions. Serve with rice.

My comments on this: If your family is afraid of vegetables, chop them up smaller, or don't add as many. But the flavor of the sauce masks the taste of many of the scarier veggies, like onions and mushrooms. Caleb kept telling me he couldn't taste the mushrooms, so he was okay to eat them. He had no idea there was a bunch of onions in it, too. My mom and I finished off the leftovers a day or two later and she told me to add this recipe to the regular repitoire for my family. Give it a try and let me know what you and yours thinks.

Fun with InstaCare

2010-08-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

The Alpine Slide in Park City and the children enjoying the Heber Creeper.

We've had quite a year and there is still so much of it left. We've sold a house, moved twice, and now, today, for the third time this year, we've gone to an InstaCare Clinic for some pediatric malady. Back in February we took Lauren to have her chin stitched up when she fell off a toilet in my parents house. Then, of course, a few weeks ago Caleb had his appendix removed. Now, Lauren has hurt her foot. She proclaimed on Sunday she had "sprained her leg" after breaking all kinds of rules and ignoring all kinds of warnings while jumping on cousin Eden's bed. We didn't think too much of it thinking in the morning she would forget all about it. She woke up in the morning still complaining of pain and limping when she walked. Later in the afternoon, she and Caleb were again breaking rules by jumping off furniture into a beanbag. The laughing turned to horrible crying. She had again hurt her foot and the limping got worse. She cried in pain with any weight she put on it. So Clifton took her to the InstaCare, got an x-ray, and found that she had only sprained her foot. But, ya know, it would have been broken if we had decided not to take her, and some would have said we should have taken her. So we took her anyway. Let's hope Eva doesn't need any emergency medical attention. I worry, though. She has a new activity she enjoys tremendously: climbing up chairs to get to the top of the kitchen table and dancing atop the table. Yes, there is an accident waiting to happen.

2010-08-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

I figure if I get one post in each month I'm doing better than I am in my personal journal. We've had a busy summer, with lots of family reunions, birthday celebrations, day outings, hikes, and school. Yup, I said school. Caleb has started school already, July 26, to be exact, and he is already off track and will go back the day after Labor Day.

We were able to get a swing set for the kids. Wow! What a necessity!! They love the thing. I really hope it gets a lot of use for years to come, because we paid a mint for it. (Thank you, Barak and the tax credit.) Actually, the real thanks goes to my parents for contributing to the swing set fund; they gifted some money to the children for their birthdays this year to go toward the purchase of a play set for our new yard.

Caleb recently had some exciting events in his young life. On Wednesday, August 4, when I picked him up from school, he complained of his stomach hurting. I checked all the normal things (Go to the bathroom, get a snack, a drink, take a Tums, go to the bathroom again) but nothing allieviated his pain. Finally when the pain, which had been in the middle of his chest and abdomen migrated to his right lower side AND he started to throw up, I knew it was going to be bad. I called the neighbors to help Clifton give Caleb a blessing, then we took him to the InstaCare. There they took some samples of urine and blood and found him to be slightly dehydrated and had a higher than normal white blood cell count. They told us to take him directly to Primary Children's Hospital. When we finally got there (I got lost up around the UofU) the ER nurses looked at his admitting papers and said, "It's an appy." So, he spent a few hours in the ER waiting for surgery. He went in around 10 pm and was out an hour later. Meanwhile, I had to go back home to get the girls to bed and help my mom, who came to help me. Then it was back to the hospital to be there when Caleb woke up from surgery. He had no problems and woke up groggy, but feeling better. The surgeon said his appendix was a grade 2 out of 5 grades of severity, so we caught it early. Clifton stayed with Caleb at the hospital and I brought the girls to visit Thursday. He came home that night around dinner time. He cried because he didn't want to leave the hospital and all the special treatment from the nurses and the presents and good food. A few days later, you would never know he just had major surgery. He was up and running around and riding his bike. He has three little scars on his stomach from the laproscopes.

Well, summer is fun. Hope you've had a fun summer!

Basements and Birthdays

2010-07-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a more recent photo of the basement all furnished and put together. It's so nice and cool down there. Almost cold. It's perfect right now. It'll be frigid in January.

Grandma and Grandpa Nicolaysen, Uncle Adam and Aunt Shantae, Eden and Hannah, "Aunt" Thressa were all here to celebrate Eva's birthday.

Doesn't this look like yummy fun? Eva's the only one of my kids who really gave it her all and enjoyed her first birthday cake.

Summer's here

2010-06-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

And we still don't have anything fun to do, according to Caleb. There are still no boys his age in this neighborhood. One of the reasons we moved was to get in to an area with more children. Well, we accomplished that, but they are either much older or younger or all girls. Poor kid, he never gets a break from the girls, until dad gets home from work.

We are done with the basement. It is so wonderful. Essentially, our house size is now doubled. We can now park in the garage because we were able to move all our junk downstairs. We sifted through it all, and all we have to take to the DI is a small pile. I was hoping I could relinquish a lot more of my C-R-A-P but I just can't throw most of it away. I guess I can do what most people do--hand on to it until I die and let my kids throw it away.

Eva's walking, Lauren's potty training, and Caleb is getting ready for second grade. I am so proud of my smart kids. They are wonderful. Even when they fight and cry and complain.

Update

2010-04-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

We've been here about one month now. It's starting to feel like home. We accepted a bid for our basement to be finished. They are working on it today. The insulation is going in. I am so excited to have twice the house we have right now. It's going to have a wall of shelves and bookcases and a wet bar. Under the stairs will be a small play space. It has a small door and window, the light switch is down low for small people. But it is a small space. I first thought it would be the place to keep all the toys, but now I think it will be the place they will take their toys to play.

I can't decide where to hang all my pictures. It is a daunting task. I am kind of persnicketty about where and how pictures are hung, so they may not be going up in the super-near future.

Eva is growing like a weed. She crawls and pulls herself up to standing and moves around the furniture. She has just two teeth and loves candy. Of course I don't give her much of it, but she like to suck on licorice and bits of jelly beans. She is the smiliest baby! She is really happy, but only when I am holding her. Any other time, she wails and complains like she's been abandoned. Even with Daddy, sometimes.

We're IN!!

2010-03-11T20:34:00.000-08:00

So, this is the story:

We had been malcontented with our house for a long time. Around Christmas in 2008 we investigated the possibility of moving and found that it would not be possible to make a step up on our present finances, so instead, we refinanced in March of 09. That was okay. By Thanksgiving 09, Clifton had the moving bug again and started looking on the realty website and found a home 5 minutes from his office. We called Kristen Price, our realtor, to set up a showing appointment and we loved it and made an offer. Long story short--it was a short sale and there was corruption all through the bank and the seller's realtor. After 3 months of not hearing anything we gave up and found the one we got after seeing dozens of awful houses. Meanwhile, right around Thanksgiving last year when we looked at the short sale, we thought we'd test the market and put our house up. It sold in two weeks. We were expecting to be in a new house while trying to sell our old one, paying 2 mortgages. Not so. We had to pack everything up and put it in storage and move to my parent's basement. We were there for almost two months.

Our house now is in West Jordan, 5124 West Pebblestone Circle (8700 S). It's not 5 minutes from work, more like 10-15, depending on traffic. But it's not 35 minutes like we used to be. It's 5 minutes from Jordan Landing, which means it's close to the municipal airport and the Nat'l Guard Armory. I hear helicoptors all the time, even as I write. It has an unfinished basement, so we are planning to get that done ASAP with some of our equity. We had enough to make 20% down and some left over which we are using to finish downstairs. It's around 2800 square ft. and it has a garage!!! We can't park in there yet, not until we can move the basement stuff out. It's a rambler, 3 bedrms up and 2 more down. Master bath and a common bath and one more down, walk in closet in my room (love it!!). The kitchen is not as storage friendly as I would like, but that just means I have too much junk.

We moved Caleb out of Orchard Elem. and into Majestic Elem. It's about 5 minutes from the first house we offered on. Whoops! That was jumping the gun a bit. We decided it was worth the sacrifice to drive him there for the rest of the school year just so he could have a little stability. When he starts 2nd grade we'll move him to Jordan Hills Elem. It's just through the neighborhood.

I think Lauren is handling the move the hardest. She is starting to have tantrums and act out a bit violently. I hope I can get things calm for her to start feeling equilibrium. Eva (nine mos. old today) has been sick a lot in the past month. Just colds, but it must be her way of dealing with it all. Clifton and I are overwhelmed. Moving sucks. This week is the Home and Garden Show at the South Towne Expo Center. That's where Clifton is now sitting at a booth for work. He is going out of his mind thinking of all the things he could be doing here to unpack. Oh well, the stuff's not going anywhere. Our 6 1/2 year old phone number didn't transfer as we'd hoped. So we have a new one: 801-280-8585.

Come out and visit!! We're not too far out of the way.

Live Here, Not There

2010-02-18T15:29:00.000-08:00

So, we have given up on the house on Country Mill Ct. We think the bank that is working on the short sale wants to make the property go into foreclosure so they can collect mortgage insurance. Why they wouldn't approve someone to buy the house and get it off their books is a complete mystery to us. So, we went out looking again and found a rambler way out in West Jordan. The day before we found it the price had been reduced. It is a bank owned property, but is in really nice condition. The only (big) downside is the basement is unfinished. On the upside, we know how to do basements! I am so anxious to get in to a home of our own again.

2010-01-19T15:04:00.000-08:00

This is a view of the kitchen from a lookout at the top of the stairs in the house we are trying to buy in West Jordan.

Colorful, isn't it?

These are the occasionally happy children dressed in their new Christmas clothes from Grandma.

This is one excited fairy princess on Christmas morning. This might have been the only time she wore those wings. We will unpack them later and see if she likes them better.

This is the daddy and baby experimenting with the new Christmas loot. Ain't they cute?

Terrible Twos and First Grade

2009-06-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

Lauren is proving to be quite a crazy character. I think it really did start around the time Eva came home. She has a new self-defense mechanism. It goes like this: Scream "Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!" as loud as you can if anyone gets near you or makes you do something you don't want to do. Scream it even louder if you are in a public place like church or a restaurant. I can see this is the start of some really interesting adventures for the "terrible twos." My dad has said a few times that he thinks she's going to be a tom-boy. She does like to get dirty and has this funny mischeivious laugh when she's doing something sneaky. This morning she got into the diaper bag, which used to be hers and is now shared with Eva, and got out a bulb syringe. I was nursing Eva at the time and couldn't retrieve it from her. I pleaded with her to put it back in the bag as she stuffed it up her nose. "Big booger, Mom (ah-choo)," she told me. This happened over and over, each time resulting in a huge and real sneeze. I know you shouldn't laugh at kids when you are trying to extinguish an unwanted behavior, or they will keep doing it for the attention, but I couldn't help myself. I haven't laughed so hard for a long time--maybe since we listened to Jim Gaffigan. So she just kept doing it with the same results which made me laugh more. Poor Eva was looking up at me probably wondering why I was making her meal so shaky.
Eva is doing really well these days. She sleeps four to six hour stretches at night, and depending on when her night starts, I only get up once, maybe twice in the night to feed her. That's good, because she's up for about an hour each time, which is a huge chunk of night that I could be asleep. Clifton hasn't been called on to help for a long time now. I hope he benefits from the full night's sleep he's getting. Eva is already about half a pound above her birth weight and growing visibly. Her cheeks are getting rounder and she's doing really well at trying to hold her head up when she's on my shoulder.
Caleb had his last day of kindergarten on Thursday. I can't believe it's over. I have a first grader now. He's reading and likes to think he's doing "big math." He's trying, anyhow, and he likes it. I'm not sure what he thinks about being in first grade in a month, though. He hasn't yet gotten too excited about eating lunch at school and being there all day. But he hasn't much choice in the matter if he doesn't like it. He's been such a big help to me since Eva was born, I don't know what I will do without him to help me during the day.
They grow up so quickly.
I will post a good picture soon.

On This Father's Day

2009-06-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

I opted to stay home today. Clifton, Caleb, and Lauren went to Corinne to celebrate with Clifton's family. I didn't feel like taking my one and a half week old on a three hour drive. So, now with all the quiet in the house I have a moment to write a few lines in my much neglected blog.

So, do I share the gory details of Eva's arrival? OK...

I had my last doctor visit on Wednesday, June 10. Dr. Cannon and I decided to set an appointment for the next day to induce me. She felt like conditions were good for that, considering I was showing a few beginning signs of toxemia. I got home and by late afternoon I was starting to have more and more contractions that weren't relieved by walking or changing positions. Clifton was keeping track of the frequency by dinnertime. By the time the kids were in bed and we were relaxing I was at 3 minutes apart. I stayed that way the rest of the night. At 11:30 I called my parents to come and stay with the kids. We walked into the hospital at 12:30 am. I think it was within a couple of hours I got my epidural, then it was just waiting and waiting. They didn't want to break my water in the middle of the night. I think they didn't want to wake my doctor in the wee hours, so after a long night of mini naps and several ice chips they got the go-ahead to break the waters. This was around 6 am. That was also around the time my epidural bagan to wear off. I started feeling a lot of pain on my right side with every contraction. I would push the button for extra medication as often as it would let me, but no relief came. The anesthekasjdhot(Spelling) even gave me additional meds, but they didn't work. Oh well...I was pushing by 7:45 or so, and Eva was born at 7:57am. I felt like that was the closest I have ever come to experiencing natural childbirth. I don't recommend it. It hurts a little. But epidural or not, the results are still the same. You still have a beautiful child to snuggle and you still ache after the meds wear off.

She weighed 7lbs. 15 oz. And was 19 inches. It was funny to listen to the nurses guess how much they thought she weighed, "She can't be more than 7 pounds." "She must be around 7 and a half." They were surprised when she was nearly 8 pounds. I was too. She is the biggest baby I've had so far. The other two were in the 6 pound range.

So, she is gorgeous!! Caleb and Lauren adore her. Clifton is such a cute daddy with a tiny baby.

She's a good sleeper, a decent eater and doesn't cry too much. Recovery for me hasn't been horrible. The pain has been managed, I'm starting to get a little more sleep, and everyone has been very helpful. My mom spent daytimes here last week and helped around the house and kept the older kids alive. Clifton spelled me off during the night when Eva just wanted to be awake. The Relief Society in my ward kept us fed for a few days. And I feel like life may some day settle into it's new normalcy. I'm optimistic now...all I need is one bad night to make me feel like the world is caving in.

Well, I hear Eva grunting, signalling that she will wake up soon. I better post this with a picture or I will never get back to it.

Reflections in the Shower

2009-05-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

I really don't have mirrors in my shower, the reflections are the thoughts that sped through my mind as I was taking care of the mundane daily hygiene tasks.

Clifton and I listened to the comedian Jim Gaffigan last night. Some of his topics made me laugh so hard I thought I would wet myself. It made me reflect on the humiliating thing I did in high school my junior year. I entered the Junior Miss Program. I have no performing talents. This program requires some form of performance on the night of the actual contest. In front of parents, friends, boyfriends, and half the high school in attendance. I can't dance, sing, play an instrument, perform magic tricks. So I attempted a comedy monologue. It was about American History. It was downright pathetic. I can't remember anything about what I said, but it was utterly stupid whatever it was. I have no comedic talent either, I discovered then. Why can't I be funny??

I was also reflecting on my children. Why, when Lauren wears even a speck of white in her clothes she manages to get so dirty there that it takes two or three days of pretreating the clothes to get the stains out? Why can Caleb clog up the toilet with paper and have it run all over the bathroom into the hall, down the heater vent, under the vanity and I am the one that has to clean up? Yes, Caleb had to mop a little, but it made a much bigger mess than if I just did it. He used half a roll of paper. I actually CAN laugh about it now. It was pretty awful, though.

I had many reflections this morning. Many of which I thought could have been turned into a comedy routine. But I have yet to cultivate that talent. I only hope that someday when I do write my monologues I can make someone else nearly wet themselves from laughing.

Spring? Where are YOU???

2009-04-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

I thought it was about time I wrote some more. I am really worried that Spring isn't going to happen this year. We have our bulbs coming up in our yard, but we haven't been able to be outside to enjoy their beauty yet. Every other day they are covered up with a half to an inch of new snow. I should be grateful for the snow, but it also means the children are confined inside and don't get the fresh air they want and need because it is still too cold.

We set up the jumping castle earlier this week for them so they could get some physical activity during their long indoor days. They are so funny with it. I like having it, but after a few days they get bored with it and I get tired of having take up all the space in the basement.

I am really looking forward to Conference this weekend!! I almost forgot that there will be a new General Authority. It's been a while since Elder Wirthlin passed away and many of my brain cells have also passed away from being pregnant. I just can't remember things like that. Just last week at a baptism for a little girl in our ward, I was looking at a wall with pictures of all the First Presidency and 12 Apostles and one was missing. I really thought to myself, "I wonder where the 12th picture is? They ought to fix the frame and put it back up."

We'll See if this is going to be the start of something

2009-03-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

I have been told by many that I need to start a blog. I have had this CBSmith Family News Blog sitting here for months just waiting for me to get started. I have no idea what I am doing, but we'll see if it takes off.