our top 10 exciting celebrations

10. My birthday: I turned another year wiser... 29, yikes!

9. Preschool Graduation: I love these 9 little monkeys and it was so neat to get to see my own little Cal grow so much this year.  Each of the kids got an award.  I gave Cal the award for being a super reader.    

8. Cal's birthday:  He's 5!  Some mom's throw big elaborate parties.  I guess that is not me.  His actual birthday was several days later on the cruise, but we wanted to open his presents the day before we left. I texted 2 friends at 9pm and invited them to a casual low key breakfast party... He seemed to have fun regardless.  (That is when he wasn't in time out or pouting about the tee ball game.)  

7. Father's Day:  these 3 boys sure are lucky to have such a great dad. 

  6. 1st day of work:  Dr. Doug started residency... boo for long hours and single parenting.  But he does look like such a cute Doctor.

 5.  Ollie bear is 4 months!  Doug's Aunt Mary stitched him this darling sleeper.  (4 months later and I still sometimes find myself in shock... I can't believe he was born in the CAR.)

  
4.  Brothers:  I had no idea 3 boys was going to be so much fun! I hit the neighborhood pool with these little swimmers almost every day.  I love my boys!

 
3.  Rhett is potty trained!!! (Mostly... he still needs lots of reminders.)

 

2. We had an awesome 4th filled with a very hot neighborhood parade, pot luck breakfast w/ face painting, a barbecue with old and new friends and perfect seats to watch the firework show.    

1.  I got me some new wheels! Wahoo! Who knew the swagger wagon could be SO exciting!

Cruise to Caribbean

We love spending time with Doug's extended Smoot family.  It is always SUCH a party!

44 of us set sail out of Tampa, Florida aboard the Carnival Legend ship.

 We had some very fun sea days on board the ship!

High's: all you can eat ice cream, Karaoke, fine dining, strip tease fashion shows, Mafia, the towel animals and daily Chocolates on our pillows.

Low's: Having to go back to the room and pump milk every 3 hours... but we sure did miss baby Ollie and Rhett who were safe at home with Grammy and Aunt Lindy!

 

 1st stop Cozumel, Mexico

High: We visited the awesome Mayan ruins at Tulum.

Low: We never got to swim at that beautiful beach.  And... World War III almost occurred due to mine and Doug's alarm clock dying during the night...

2nd stop Belize City, Belize

High:  More Mayan ruins and Cave tubing with head lamps! Soo cool!  

Low:  Doug's new water proof camera died before he could try it out on his scuba diving adventure with 4 others.  He described the crystal clear water and awesome life below the ocean though in much detail.  :)

3rd stop Roatan, Honduras

High: Intense family volleyball game, swimming, relaxing, and window shopping.

Low: Not getting out of tourist town and seeing much of the real life out in the country. 

 4th stop Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

High:  Seriously BEAUTIFUL ocean water... And no, we are not in a pool.

Low:  Cal screaming bloody murder about getting in the water and missed out on snorkeling and feeding/petting/kissing the giant string ray's.

We had a rocky day discovering the boat/airlines would not let me fly home early from Grand Cayman as planned  (Passport cards are NOT passports!)... but it miraculously all worked out in the end!  

 Cal was lucky enough to celebrate his 5th birthday on board the boat!  Dad made it a special day (I had already flown home.)  Despite the several melt downs, fits, and broken china in the Dining Room, we are so glad we got to have this one on one time with him.  He is such a creative boy who talks of getting his own pet from sun up to sun down.  

We owe a BIGGGGG thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Smoot for a wonderful week!!

texas reunion!

We had such a blast with my parents (and beautiful little sister Lindy) and beautiful older sister Emily (and her awesome family) came to town!  It is fun to be a tourist in your own town.  We had really good luck at the alligator park, had a fun hot morning at the Aquarium, hit up NASA for an afternoon, and spend a couple days in Galveston playing at the beach.

Twilight called: they saw these pictures and got jealous....we will not reveal the location to them though.  :)

I am way in love with these logs and the sun beams coming through the moss filled trees!   

We celebrated the boys upcoming 5th birthdays.  They missed their third triplet cousin Brody though! 

 Not planned matching swimsuits... must be sisters! 

Beautiful baby Remy makes me all the more determined to not give up hope yet for a girl of my own!

A huge thanks for making the journey all the way out to Texas!  

It was a blast! 

(all except for that one toilet overflowing incident...)

take 2 in the little white suit!

Oliver Ben is a lucky little guy.  He was given a beautiful name and blessing recently by his Dad wearing the exact blessing outfit his Dad wore 29 years ago.  We love him so much and are so glad he is in our family. 

 The Ollie fan club that came all the way from Arizona: 

Babies: Oliver, Daddy Doug, & Uncle Ben

Introducing.... DR. DOUG!

Wahoo!  I did it!... I mean, he did it!  :) 

But serious, the med wives and I decided that we deserved a little graduation program just for ourselves as well. 

  So, we BOTH did it!  

The Douger is all grown up.

Everyone's reactions to his graduation have all been the same.  They all want to know when the tummy tucks, lypo, boob jobs, Botox, and prescription meds are going to be available.  :) 

But on a more serious note,  I am so proud of Doug.  He did a truly incredible job the past four years.  He was ridiculously dedicated and incredibly focused.  He had an amazing attitude and wore a very handsome smile all through the late nights and early mornings and long tests. 

(I know I am using a lot of positive adjectives here, but I just need it to make up a little for any complaining I may or may not have done the past 4 years.)      

It was so fun to celebrate together with our families this fun day.  We recieved so much love and support from them the past 4 years as well.  Doug definitely had a big support team behind him every step of the way. 

I think I am going to be switching from 'The Douger' to 'The Doctor.'  

Hee hee!

Good times with our Houston buddies

These are the days I don't ever want to forget.  We have grown so close to these wonderful friends of ours the past four years!  We trade babysitting together, go to the parks together, go out to eat together, go to the movies together, get together for girls nights and game nights.  Help each other out in the many times of need, exercise together, laugh and cry together, graduate together.  Play and occasionally fight together We are looking forward to one more year of Houston memories!!  

a BFF reunion (aka: the perfect mother's day gift)

After two and a half years.... we made it back together again!!!  And I've pretty much been counting down the days since then.  At least one or more of these girls have been there for me since the day I was born, first day of kindergarten, through the elementary school bliss, through junior high drama, through high school's social growing pains, through college roommates, trips to Africa and boyfriend fiascos, and on to marriages and births. 

Carrie gives the worlds best advice ever.  She has been blessed with so many beautiful talents and seriously spends her life thinking of others first.  She also happens to be a stand up comedian. 

Erin is so genuine and real.  She has been such a loyal friend.  She is a very strong woman who is not afraid her wear her heart on her sleeve. She is a really good listener who is always full of empathy and is not quick to judge. 

Tara is manna from heaven.  She is has the bubbliest personality and can't help but just reek of pure joy.  She is the most amazing mother to her 4 beautiful children.  I don't think there is anything she cannot do.  

Paola is so refreshing and spunky.  She is a lover of all people and has a way of bringing out the best in others.  And she also brought me a stash of breast milk for Ollie all the way from VA on dry ice!  I think about all that time pumping...What a friend!!  

And then there is me.  And I'm wondering if I ever shut my mouth the whole time.  In at least half of the 300 pictures of the weekend, my big mouth is wide open... I'm gonna work on that. 

Ohio was so beautiful!  Who would have thought?   We had so much fun visiting the Amish county and meeting the sweetest people.  Can you believe our cute little tour guide Mary!  She decided to convert over to the Mennonites so she could enjoy a few modern conveniences like Facebook. (No joke!) They are such a happy and hard working people. 

We toured around some of the old historical church history sites in Kirtland and learned a little more about the school of the prophets, where Joseph translated the Bible, Emma's daily life of cleaning up the tobacco spit, the Community of Christ church (used to be referred to the RLDS), the Kirtland Temple, and the work that went into building such a beautiful building. 

We spend a lovely afternoon picnicking and touring the John Johnson Farm.  We saw the room where Joseph and Emma were sleeping when a mob came to get him to tar and feather him.  And the room where the revelations for most of the Doctrine and Covenants were given and recorded. 

When we weren't busy touring around, we were really busy laughing our heads off and having so much fun staying up til 2 in the morning every night! We even squeezed in a real tea party just before the airport run.

And just a little bonus of the trip:  we were able to meet and fall in love with each others babies.  I think they had a good time palling around together too.  Oliver and Isaac are only 3 days apart... destined to be second generation BFF's.  And little Elin and Eva were as sweet and dainty as ever.  And I always love to steal a picture with my little Annie girl! 

Medicine for the soul!!  I feel like I can happily do just about anything now.  Bring on that whole mother of 3 boys thing again!