A day in the life of the Smith's

I have taken some random photos the last couple of weeks and they seem to have captured a bit of our day-to-day lives, so here you go.  

  

We were teased with a bit of warm weather and had to take advantage.  There is nothing like swinging on a spring day!

   

I was in the bathroom getting ready when I heard the following conversation.  "Good hiding spot Ella!"  "Mom, come find us."  I walked into their bedroom and could not find them.  Suddenly I saw a little hand pop out form under the crib.  I lifted the crib skirt and there they were.  Ella had crawled under there and is just short enough to sit straight up.  It was their best hiding spot yet.  It made my day!

  
Bathtime is always a joy.  It makes everything better.  Kayt is showing off her muscles while lifting her weight and enjoying the power of shampoo.  Ella is just happy to be splashing!


 

Kayt has started preaching to us like King Benjamin, Samuel the Lamanite, a missionary - you name it.  She stands on the couch or the toy box and boldy declares, "Jesus is the Son of God and he loves us.  Heavenly Father wants us to be happy.  I know the church is true."  Scott and I chuckle but both can feel the power of her testimony already.  

From time to time we go a little too long and Kayt has a hard time staying awake to eat.  Thank goodness for the afternoon nap!!!  I still don't understand how she can do this but you would be surprised at the number of pictures I have like this!

     

Our little ball of joy.  Pick anytime of day and you can bet this is what you will get from Ella.  She will be smiling, spitting, laughing or yelling but very rarely crying.  She is the happiest baby I have ever seen.  

 

So Long Elder Orr

So, the Smith family has gotten very involved with the missionaries in our ward.  We have them over for dinner several times a month and they usually stop in once a week.  We also have the priviledge of taking them to church and ward activities.  There are only two families from our ward that live in the same area they do and they don't have a car.  We really have enjoyed it.  I was talking with Scott today about how I didn't see us being so involved with the missionaries when we came out here.  It has truely been blessing and we have loved every minute of it.  They are so fun to be around and they bring such a good spirit into our home.  

The other day though we had to say good bye to Elder Orr.  He has been in our ward as long as we have lived in Columbus.  He is such a great guy and a fantastic missionary.  We will miss his pep talks and crazy phone messages (because I am awful at answering my phone!).  

Kayt finally goes to BALLET

My Prima Ballerina!!!

Again, I will be posting in pink in honor of my born ballet star, Kayt!  After two weeks of having ballet class canceled (due to the weather conditions) Kayt finally attended her first ballet class.  It was a super success.  The girl has found her calling.  My shy little Kayt has blossomed.  At one point in class they were given the chance to do a solo in the middle of the circle.  A few girls went and were very shy and reserved.  When it was Kayt's turn she got up and twirled, lept, posed, balanced, twirled...until the teacher had to remind her it was someone else's turn.  It was so fun to watch.  

Kayt loves watching herself move in the mirror and has found every opportunity to dance at home now too.  I often catch her working on her plie's while she is playing.  Almost everyday we turn on a variety of music and all rock/dance out.  Even Ella gets in the action, shaking and bobbing for all she is worth.

It was a big step in momdom to take my daughter to her first ballet class.  It was a little weird but very exciting.

Winter Weather

It has been incredibly cold here in Columbus which I was not prepared for.  I thought that I was headed for warmer climates.  Granted we do not have the three feet of snow that Rexburg has, we are definitely experiencing harsher weather than I was braced for.  The cold is sooo cold here.  I am sure that sounds cliche but I seriously have never felt a colder 30 degrees.  It just cuts right through you.  The snow has really been minimal but people here do not know how to handle it. Everything literally shuts down.  Schools, businesses, day cares, dr. offices, you name it.  Even Scott had a day of college canceled after an ice storm hit.  I couldn't believe it. 

We did however take advantage of the snow while we had it.  My dear, ambitious friend Sarah and her little boy Adam got us Idaho girls up and moving in the winter weather.  We have a little mole hill just outside our house that is perfect for leisure sledding.  We also have the bike path that when covered in snow provides a nice cross country ski track.  We took advantage of both.  

After we had been out for a while Scott asked how it was and I thought for a minute and replied, "it was really fun."  I have always enjoyed the snow but found the hassle of getting all bundled up took some of the joy away, but it really felt good that day to just spend some time playing in the snow.  I don't know if Kayt having so much fun made it all worth it, the company I was in, or the beautiful sunshine and glistening snow but it was really the first time in awhile I just enjoyed it.

Here are a few picks of our fun winter escapades. Poor Ella, reminded me of Randy on A Christmas Story, "I can't put my arms down"  just kept running through my head.  Good thing she can't talk I guess!

       

Basketball!

For the first time, I, Scott, will venture into the blogging world.  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  

This past Tuesday Kayt and I went to an OSU Men's Basketball game vs. Purdue while Kristen and Ella entertained the Relief Society.  We had a blast.  Other than freezing on our walk from the parking garage to the stadium, it was an exciting night.  You can see Kayt's frozen smile next to the huge Greg Oden.  She was still warming up while we waited for the game to start, poor girl.

We were in the student section, where we got a few looks at first.  But after Kayt went right along with the OH-IO! cheers, everyone was thrilled to have a mini-fan.  I was a pretty proud papa.  Also, because there was a gorgeous little girl doing all the little cheers we were on the jumbotron a lot.  It's strange how everyone looks for their "moment" when the camera is on them.  You immediately have this urge to act out of character (think crazy fans screaming and dancing on the jumbotron) or say something stupid (think local news).  I think I composed myself pretty well.

Anyway, in the student section you only sit down during TV timeouts, so I held Kayt the entire game.  All fans got a rally towel to wave, so Kayt was going crazy.  By halftime she had burned a lot of energy, and I had too trying to hold on to her little wiggle-butt, so we got a bratwurst. Someone has to teach her that fatty meat is OK, as long as it's delicious.

Now here I have to interject something about the game itself.  Ohio State has a young athletic team that is fun to watch but their lack of experience shows sometimes.  Purdue, on the other hand, was ranked #12 in the country and is probably fundamentally superior to OSU.  The game was tight going into the last few minutes and all of a sudden the crowd kicked into another gear. It seemed that everyone finally realized that this could go down to the wire.  OSU started attacking the basket, making foul shots, and playing spirited defense.  The game ended up going into overtime with Ohio State eventually winning!

Kayt liked the basketball well enough, but she LOVES Brutus Buckeye, the official mascot of The Ohio State University.  I think he's basically a living cartoon to her.  While everyone else was screaming for the players or at the ref, Kayt was screaming, "BWUUUTUUUS!"  Although we were close to the court, we never got his attention.  After the game we were going to try and find him but he exited pretty quickly.  Still, Kayt was determined.  One of her favorite books lately is The Little Engine That Could.  She kept telling me, "I know we can find Bwutus Daddy.  I know we can."  Well, we couldn't so Kayt got a new white OSU beanie after the game.  This was mostly a guilt purchase for having frozen her on the walk to the arena, and for failing to find Brutus.  I justified it by reasoning that it surely had gotten much colder and I didn't want to tempt fate twice by freezing her on the way back to the car too.  She can't get sick, right? Right.  Kristen has now instituted a "No more beanie rule."  We have a few.

All in all, it was a wonderful night.  We watched some good basketball, had some good food, saw Brutus in person, didn't get sick, and didn't embarrass ourselves on the jumbotron.