Gingerbread Haunted Houses Date Night

For date night tonight Kyle and I made Gingerbread Haunted Houses out of graham crackers.(Graham cracker haunted houses just don't sound as impressive.) We are learning to make them because we are donating a real gingerbread house to the Thanksgiving Point Gingerbread House auction in November. It is for a PTA fundraiser. This is our first attempt at working with frosting in plastic bags with a small hole cut in the corner. What a mess! We learned from tonight's attempts that the frosting you use does make a difference. We used Betty Crocker frosting, which tasted wonderful, but did not have the "glue" quality we needed. If you are going to be cheap, like us, and use bags with holes, at least use freezer bags because the sandwich bags have "blow outs". We also decided that buying frosting tips will be well worth the money. So after we finished decorating we went to Hobby Lobby and found exactly what we need including some really great books and practice templates. This was such a fun and tasty date night activity.

Kyle is amazing! This is his "Shrieking Shack" recreation. I am still wowed by it. He used all his engineering skills to make it look like it is about to fall over, when in reality it is probably the sturdiest graham cracker structure on earth. He is also very good with the frosting. He was able to create quite a few different looks with just the hole in his bag. I can't wait to see what he can do when he has the right tools.

This is my very sad attempt. My poor house did not have the structural integrity necessary to fulfill my vision and so after 3 failed attempts I got impatient and made a sturdy graham cracker "brick". I gave it a roof and a porch and decorated it. It looks so pathetic sitting next to Kyle's work of art, but at least it's scary. :)

Catching up!

Because I have just begun this blog I thought it would be fun to go back and post a few highlights of our life together so far.

Christmas!

YAY!

Kyle was The Sultan in the musical Aladdin done by our stake in February. He did such a great job. I was amazed at his stage presence. It was very hard to be newly weds and him having so many rehearsals, but I am so glad he did. He has so many talents and this is just one of them.

The beard took him a few months to grow and then Kari Benson spent hours bleaching it white and giving him white highlights. It looked great and I have to say he looked so much older. One day after he had it bleached we went to BabiesRUs and Kyle kept mention that people where staring at him. We could not figure out why until we where in the parking lot getting in the car to head home when it hit him. He looked like a very old man with a younger, pregnant wife, and now he was getting into his little black sports car. Mid-life crisis much!?! We got a good laugh out of it.

Kennedy had her Young Women's New Beginning Program.

Carlin and Preston had their Blue and Gold banquet. (Of course they where only partially dressed in their scout uniforms, but that is part of life when kids have two homes to lose things in.)

Kyle started our marriage by showing me what an amazing man he is with his actions. Here he is shoveling snow for a neighbor. He always takes the time to do the little things for others. He shoveled her snow all winter long before he finally got caught.

We decided to have the house painted professionally after I made such a mess of it trying to do it myself. We lived on fast food and sat on plastic for an entire week while the painters worked their magic, but it was so worth it. The house turned out amazing! I love the colors we chose. It feels so warm and inviting.

We spent a few Saturday afternoons at Grandma and Grandpa Grapes sledding with the kids. Well, actually I enjoyed the sledding from the warmth and comfort of the van.

We began decorating the nursery after finding out we where having a boy. It's still not done, but we are getting there a little at a time.

We spent a lot of time out back yard working on our little garden and lawn.

And then the batteries in my camera died and I forgot to buy new ones until the summer was over. So, without pictures, here is a brief overview of what we did. Easter weekend we went to Cove to roll eggs down the hill and have dinner with my Family and then the kids had their Easter egg hunt at Grandma Smith's. Over Memorial Day weekend we went with my family to Island Park to the cabin for a weekend of R & R, without any kids. We went on a shopping spree and bought a new home theater system. We love it! We celebrated our entire families birthdays over the summer. Kyle's kids spent most of the summer at Lagoon with their mom, so we didn't get to do much together, but we did enjoy a nice trip to Montana over the 4th of July to visit Kyle's dad and Alice. Preston and Carlin came with us.


We went on a day trip with all the kids to Tony's Grove and had a picnic by the lake. Kyle and I had lots of fun on our date nights with Katie and Tannin going to see movies that must be watched in the theater and going to dinner. And then, all too quickly the summer came to an end. Bryce started Kindergarten and the kids returned to school.

And now I am all caught up.

Adventures in Gardening

When Kyle bought our home the back yard left something to be desired of. The sprinklers where disabled and there was nothing but dirt and weeds. Kyle spent two years planting grass seed and nurturing his baby lawn. This year we decided to plant flowers and two tomato plants. This picture of our amazing plants was taken about a month after planting them. At this point they where nearly as tall as I am. They grew to be taller than the fence and have SO many tomatoes. They are just now turning red and I am excited to start making salsa with them, hopefully over the weekend.

We are learning to garden by trial and error. Kyle worked at a green house 20 years ago, before his mission, and so he has a lot of knowledge about gardening. We are learning about the importance of selecting plants that do well in the zone we live in. How to keep bugs off the plants with out chemicals and with chemicals, because lets face it...I am fine with chemicals. We have finally begun to win the war against the slugs. They are a nasty thing to have around. I like to think of them as leaches for plants, sucking the life right out of them. But the most important thing we are learning is to ask Marilyn.

Marilyn is my dear aunt who also happens to be a brilliant gardener. Her yard is a masterpiece. I am in awe when I see it. It has little paths that run between flower beds, benches to sit and enjoy the flowers all around, a little garden cottage that looks like it belongs in a fairy tale. She is so talented. She has become my gardening mentor, and recently brought me buckets of starts and bulbs to make my little garden beautiful. Kyle spent one afternoon planting most of them for me. In a couple of weeks he will plant the bulbs. I think there must be nearly 50 tulip bulbs alone, not to mention numerous other bulbs. The garden is going to be amazing in the spring. The majority of the tulip bulbs are unknown in their variety, so it will be fun to see what comes up in the spring. Then we will begin cataloging them and making notes for the next year. Maybe one day, after years of practice I will have a garden like Marilyn's.

Hypnobirthing

On Wednesday I was visiting with a friend of mine, Becky, who is a nurse at McKay Dee hospital, where I will have the baby. She was suggesting anesthesiologists, nurses, etc that I should ask for when I go into to deliver the baby. I told her that I planned on having the baby natural. My first baby was a "natural delivery" in the sense that I did not have an epidural. I was induced and so it was not a medication free delivery. The delivery was painful, but the recovery was well worth the pain as I instantly felt wonderful and was able walk from the birthing room to the mother/baby room. I was even able to participate in a few things they do with the baby in the nursey that usually mom's don't get to be a part of because they are numb. So, I was excited and anxious to try it again. Becky told me about two of her children that where born natural as well. We discussed the pros's and con's and both agree that the natural birth was the better option. (Actually, everyone that I know that has done both has said that they prefer the natural over the epidural birth experience.)

Becky asked me what I had done to prepare for the birth. That caught me by surprise. I had not thought of ways to prepare for the actual labor and birth. I took a breathing class with my first baby, but it was mostly useless and so we had not taken another for this baby. She teaches a class at the hospital on hypnobreathing and said it was a wonderful way to prepare. I was very skeptical to say the least. I so do not buy into most of that new age stuff. However I had just had my feet zoned for the first time and could tell that it had worked to move the baby into the right position, so why not. What could it hurt to read a book and listen to a CD. I don't sleep anymore due to being seriously uncomfortable and so I have plenty of time on my hands.

Today I began reading the book and I have to say, I am really excited to try it. Kyle and I listened to the CD tonight after dinner and I have never been so relaxed. I had a braxton-hicks contraction while listening and I was able to make the pain stop entirely. I am so excited to try it. I was afraid it was going to be something hooky about visualizing colors or something like that, but this method is really just about relaxing and changing the way you think about the entire experience. Rather than it being a painful, tense, stressful experience it is a natural, calming, and happy experience. You are doing what your body was designed to do. I am really excited to try it out during the real thing. The idea of having a calm, peaceful birth is amazing. Can't wait!

Meet The Smith's

As I lay in bed last night, not sleeping, I decided that I needed to have a place to keep the memories of our growing and evolving family. A home for our accomplishments as our family blends and becomes one. (Hopefully!) So, here is a brief overview of who we are and how came to be.

Kyle and I meet September of '08. We went on our first date the day after Thanksgiving and where married on December 5th. I have always been a skeptic when it comes to love at first sight, sole mates, all that junk, but I no longer feel that way. I am so thankful to Heavenly Father for making a way for me to be with him. We brought with us 5 kids from our previous marriages. Kyle kids are Jayden, 15, Kennedy 13, Carlin 11, and Preston 9. My Bryce is 5 and we are currently expecting our first child together, due any day...PLEASE!

Kyle is a manufacturing engineer in the aerospace industry. He is the most amazing man I have ever know. A few of my favorite qualities he possesses are; his strength, his wisdom, his patience, his understanding, his sense of humor, his kindness, his gentleness...the list can go on and on. Basically he's perfect. I have to brag for a moment and say that we have yet to have a single fight. We don't always agree, actually we rarely see things the same way, but we have never raised our voices and had an argument. I think that is note worthy. When we where first married we made a promise to each other that we would not fight. That we would always work things through with patience and understanding for the other view point. This is something that as time goes on we become more and more committed to.

I spend my days at home, my favorite job in the world. I am so blessed to be able to be a stay at home mom. I could not ask for more. My days are made up of my favorite things. I get to start every day with a few moments with Kyle before he leaves for work. He usually give me a back message and a few moments cuddling. What an amazing way to start the day. I clean the house, cook, run errands, and am learning to garden. Kyle comes home and we spend our evenings together as a family. Usually this involves nothing more than a game, watching TV or a movie or going for a walk, but it is the time together that counts. We read the scriptures together every night and off to bed. I love my daily life.

Since we where married we have had many bumps along the way, mostly with the ups and downs of blending families together. This is proving to be far more difficult that I ever would have imagined. There are so many challenges to overcome. This is really the point of my blog. It is a place for me to sound my feelings and share my failures and successes.