A Hiking We Will Go...

Hocking Hills State Park

It had been a long week here in Ohio, Scott had been slammed with school and job interviews, so we decided to go hiking. Our destination was Hocking Hills state park. We read some reviews and this was a very popular place especially the "Old Man's Cave" trail. We were shocked when popular meant people wise. There were peopl swarming everywhere. It wasn't so much of a hike as a nice dirt path courtesty of the public works division during the depression era and the beautiful waterfall was not flowing. However, it was still very cool to see.

The story goes that an old hermit made the cave area his home for several years around the turn of the century. It reall would have been a great place to live. We decided to take a road less travled so we could get the solace we were seeking by going hiking. We ventured down a trail headed for Cedar Falls, again no waterfall but it was beautiful. The tree canopy was changing colors and the ground was covered with all kinds of fun things for Kayt to explore. She walked almost the entire time, singing about anything she saw or did. She jumped off rocks, picked up sticks and climbed up "mountains." She loves the details of nature just like her dad. Ella even enjoyed the trip.

It was a great day trip for us. The hills on the drive there and back were covered in fall colors and the temperature was just right. Scott and I just kept saying, it is not the Mountains but is really is pretty.

Taken by gypsies

Okay- Yesterday Kayt, Ella and I made our first trip to one of the many malls here in Columbus. Kayt and Ella have no winter clothes and Scott needed a pair of jeans without holes for a recruiting event this week. It was also a great way to waste the day. I was a bit nervous about taking this trip alone because it required using multiple highways/ freeways / interstates/ "routes" what ever they are. I am proud to announce that I did it! All by myself, the first try!!! I even turned the right direction off the exit to get to the mall. I was so proud of myself. Kayt was my cheerleader the whole way and was very proud of me too.
We finished our shopping and we were headed back toward the play land area, (see pictures) when all of the sudden I found myself being draped with fragrant smelling shoulder pad things; strapped up with another herb back thing and this women with a heavy accent is asking me if I have any of the ailments on this plastic list???!!!! I'm sitting there thinking what the heck just happened. Apparently a look in the general direction of the island store means "hey I am interested!" So these things on me are packed full of herbs and when heated and placed on certain spots of the body will heal you. Maybe they will maybe they won't but I was not about to buy any. Next thing I know I am surround by like 5 people who work at this station thing (those stores stands in the middle of the mall). They all had the same thick accent and a look like they from the Balkans or something and they just kept appearing and tickling Ella and what not. After the girl had done her little "demonstration" the "closer" came in and tried to wheel and deal me. Eventually I got out of there with only a thirty dollar (they settled for ten) mint pillow thing that really did clear my sinuses.
I was feeling a little overwhelmed at this point, Kayt wanted to get to the toys and Ella was crying when suddenly I am being coaxed into some red, swanky chair-stool and this man is running a straightener through my hair. I instantly noticed a similarity in his accent and dress with the troupe I had just escaped. As I am sitting there trying to kindly get the heck out of there, so I could take care of my girls, the phone starts ringing. Guess who hurries over to pick it up? The deal closer from two stations down!!!!! It all came together. All these middle mallers were together and I am thinking there was some sort of "take her for all she's worth signal" given behind my back as I was walking down the mall!!! This is horrible I know but the first thing that came to my mind after I escaped was...I was just taken by gypsies!
I couldn't help but laugh and call Scott to tell him all about it. I learned my lesson though. JUST SAY NO.
Anyway, Kayt enjoyed playing on the foam/rubber solar system that we eventually made it to. It was so fun to watch her interact with other kids she didn't even know. She joined in with them as they played tag and pretended they were being chased by aliens. She even got them to do some of the techniques used to help "rocket" blast off in Little Einsteins on the pretend U.S. space shuttle. It was so great to watch. She really is growing up.
Oh, and on the way home she posed the question..."who is Santa Clause's father?" How do you answer that?

Kayt on a Moon Kayt on an astroid

Kayt is Growing Up

Today was one of those days were you have ten million things to do and you wake up praying that your children will be troopers through it all and then your dreams come crashing down and you find yourself in a mommy time out. I don't know how many of you have experienced these kinds of days but they are horrible and seem to be coming more and more often. I think it may have something to do with Kayt growing up.

My little baby girl, which she is still called quite often, is not a baby anymore. If you happen to question, she lets you know rather forcefully, "I am a big girl and a noodle (the nick name her Uncle Will gave her)." She is bound and determined to do everything all by herself all the time. She does pretty good with most things but there are somethings she just can't quite get; like combing the back of her hair where her hands won't reach yet. Or, brushing the teeth in the back part of her mouth. So everymorning we battle about me helping her. I have to catch her at just the right moment as to avoid a total "big girl" melt down.

The first thing Kayt wants to do in the morning is get dressed. "Mom I need to be pretty" she tells me and goes to her closet and picks out an outfit complete with shoes and jewelry. She gets herself dressed with little help from me, (I have to lay the clothes out so she gets the tags in the back and the buttons in the front) she then combs her hair and runs downstairs to Scott and asks, "Do I look pretty daddy?" or "How do I look?" or "Tadaa!"

Kayt has also become the worlds best helper in the kitchen. Whether it is doing dishes or cooking she is there. SHe is getting really good at cupcakes! She loves to mix and scoop and taste. We have a cooler in our kitchen from the power outage that she has adopted as her stool. (I have got to get something to replace it.) She drags it to wherever the action in the kitchen is and starts grabbing, chopping, dumping, mixing, washing it doesn't matter just as long as she is doing something. She always sings the song, as best as she can, "when we are helping were happy and we sing as we go." That's about all she knows. Or she'll just make up her own song and sing.

She loves to push Ella in her stroller, make her laugh, give her the binky, sing to her, read to her, give her toys. She is her little mommy. Consequently Kayt is Ella's favorite person.

Kayt also loves to shop, everyday she asks if she can go shopping. We went to Old Navey the other day and she picked out an entire outfit for herself and was crushed when she could only have the shirt because it wasn't as cute without the pants and socks that matched.

She loves to dance and sing and make up stories and play with princeses. She is getting so good at coloring and drawing. She draws pictures of people based off of their eye color. For example, she is always drawn in brown, Ella in blue, me in green ect. She draws faces and hair, and hands and feet. I am going to take a picture of one of her drawings and post it on here because it is great. I was so shocked when I first noticed it. I just thought to myself, "you drew a person, not just a scribble wow!!"

With all these amazing new feats of independence Kayt has started testing limits and I just don't know what to do. I feel so disrespected and unloved some days. I know it is all just a part of the process but it is such an overnight transistion it seemed from "I need my mom for everything and she is the best", to "let me do what I want all by myself." Like I said I know it is good but it has been tough to actually have to argue with Kayt and set some rules and really have to discipline my sweet baby girl. A mean look doesn't do a whole lot anymore. BTW disciplining bites because it makes me realize she is doing something wrong which I never thought would happen.

But Kayt is still my little Kayters and after we battle it out she always gives me a great big love and tells me she's so proud of me and that I look really pretty. All wounds are healed until the next round.

Today we battled and tonight we made up and all was right in the Smith house.

The Modern Conveniences

The tree laying on the line infront of our house, for a week!!!

Well, our power came back on Saturday at 10:30 am. six day after it went out. Yes, that is right we were without power for six days!! Apparently hurricanes hit Ohio. They say that Hurricane Ike traveled across the Midwest and ended up in Ohio Sunday afternoon. It was quite an adventure. There were trees being blown over, power lines snapping, it was nuts. Scott and I weren't quite sure what to think about it. We were sitting in church when the lights went out and everybody just continues as normal. When church was over, one of the members had a tree sitting on his broken windshield and everybody acted like it was normal. We watched outside our window as people rode their bikes and walked their dogs and Scott and wondered "what in the world have we moved in to?!" Three days later when most of the city was still without power I think they finally realized it was a little bigger deal than anyone have thought. As for us, we busted out the camping equipment and weathered the storm.

We took advantage of the power being off to go the Kirtland, OH and the John Johnson farm. It was amazing. I think that Kirtland is the most overlooked church history site we have. God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared four times in Kirtland and we were able to sit in two of the places that it occurred. There was such a special feeling there. It was almost overwhelming. We were able to go to the Newel K. Whitney store and sit in the room of the School of the Prophets, and we saw his home where the prophet stayed. The John Johnson home was the most amazing to me though. It is where the plan of salvation was revealed. It is also the location where one of the most tragic stories in my mind of persecution occurred. It is the place where Joseph Smith was taken in the middle of the night and tarred and feathered while his baby was sick. And his son died five days later form exposure to the cold. There is a powerful spirit there. It was such a faith building, rejuvenating trip for both me and Scott. I came away with a stronger testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that he was the first prophet of this dispensation, that he had been chosen by God to restore the gospel for our time. I know that he saw and spoke to God and Jesus Christ. I know that his life was spared many times so he could complete the work that the Lord had sent him here to do. His life is an example of faith, perseverance and love and I am so grateful to him for never shrinking from his task, even when his life and the life of those he loved was at stake.

We got to stop off at Aunt Lynn and Uncle Wayne's house on our way home. It was so nice to be with family. They were so kind to let us hang out for a bit and they equipped up with a cooler and some ice to serve as our fridge for the next couple of days. It is nice to be close to someone.

I am also proud to announce that we got our final room unpacked and we are officially moved in. It feels so nice. Home is good place to be now. It came just in time. Scott starts school tomorrow and we are off and running. He is really excited to get started.

My lovely Ella

I just wanted to say a few words about my beautiful Ella. She is a shining light. I have never seen a baby who can light up a room with a smile like Ella can. Her whole face sparkles. She loves to play, love to make noise and loves to attack anything within her reach. Everything goes strait to her mouth and there is usually an audible grunt as she tries to stuff it in. She is a hardheaded as Scott and I combined but is so sweet and cuddly as well. She is never content to just sit. She always has to be exploring something. This could explain why she rolled over front to back and back to front all of the sudden on the same day. She is eating cereal now, which breaks my heart. I am not ready for her to be getting bigger yet. She needs to stay my little snuggle bug, but there's not much I can do about that I guess. Oh, and she suddenly stopped taking a bottle this week so if anyone has suggestions, send them my way.
Anyway, I just had her on my mind.

Columbus, Ohio

Our back yard

Well, greetings from Columbus, Ohio. We have been here a week and are finally feeling settled. We got most of our stuff up on the walls last night. It is a bitter sweet feeling for me. It has really made it final, that we are here for at least the next year, which is a little hard to wrap my mind around at times, but it has also made it feel like home a little more.

We live in community called Clintonville that is about a mile north of OSU and about 10 minutes from downtown Columbus. The neighborhood is friendly and we live by a great park and biking path. About a 3 minute walk away there is also a park that we visited several times already. It really is an ideal location for us. We are deffinatley not in Idaho anymore though. As you drive down our street you will see Ohio for Obama signs proudly displayed in every other yard. The one McCain sign is safely displayed in someones front window. That may just be coincidence! There are mostly single people and their dogs!! which go by our house every evening around 5:30 to the big green space next door. We have seen more big dogs in a one week then the whole of Rexburg contains I swear. Scott and I are more and more convinced we will never own a big dog unless it has a place to go to the bathroom that we won't step in it and don't have to pick it up. The comedian Brian Regan hit it on the head when he said something to the effect of, "If aliens come to this planet they would think dogs were the ruling species, they have schedules excercise, lots of toys and someone who picks up their poop!" We see it everyday.

As we talk to people in the neighborhood we get little glimpses of what Clintonville is culturally like. It is very green friendly, excepting of all lifestyles, and very left wing. Today we went to the farmers market, which was fantastic, and really got a feel for the community. We felt a bit out of place but comfortable. On the corner driving home there were groups on each side of the street. One holding Bush War Crimes signs and on the other side of the street was a man with a sign that said, "the left hates America. Honk if you love America". Scott and I took a lap around the block to be the only ones who honked at his sign while a long line of cars kept honking at the other. As if the Idaho liscense plate wasn't a dead give away, we honked. It was a great day!

Last Thursday we went to the Columbus Zoo which was a lot of fun. It is a huge zoo. We were there for 5 hours and still didn't see the whole thing. We bought a pass so we can go back whenever we want. The animals were great. They were all very active. Kayt especially loved watching the Manitee's. They are huge, in the words of Kayt. She even donated some of her potty money to help save them. Another highlight of the day was the gorillas. We though this one resembled our little Ella just a bit, now that she has found her toes, it is a position we find her in often.

All in all, things are going well. We are anxious to get started in school and get more involved in our ward. We went to dinner at a ward members house Thursday night. They live a couple of blocks away. It was a lot of fun. I have to admit, it was nice to get out of the house and socialize some. They were the Curtis's and he is getting a PHD in exotic languages.

The biggest highlight of the week however is Kayt's potty training success. We have only had two accidents since Tuesday morning. Glorious Day!!! We never though it would happen but here we are. Thanks to my cousin Lisa for her potty training advice.

Hope all is well with everyone, we love you all.

moving

Well, I just want to give a little update. I don't have enough time to write all that is on my mind, but I wanted to get something up because I am sure you are all just dieing to know how we are doing? And...I need something to distract me while Scott tries out all the photo templates on his cell phone. So far I have been a pirate, clown, googly glasses girl and floozy mermaid. Wonderful isn't it?
We have officially moved. I never thought is would actually happen but we have successfully gotten through one full day on our own. Scott's parents left yesterday afternoon. It was hard to watch our connection to the 'Burg drive away and realize "this is it". So far though things are good.
We live in a nice neighborhood right by a park and bike path. It's nice to be so close to it and we can get in some good people watching if we really want to. Columbus seems like a pretty great place. The traffic isn't too bad, the noise level is good and the weather is not too hot. We hear we are hitting it at about the right time as far as weather goes. Oh and the grocery store people are friendly. What more could you ask for?
We have started to potty train Kayt also which is a post in and of itself. But lets just say things are getting better.
Well, I have a running date with a few ladies in my ward so I need to get to bed but...we are alive and well and so far enjoying ourselves. Love to all.