Jen's trip to Texas June 2014

When friends move many states away AND have a new baby ... those friends need to be visited! I was so lucky to be able to go to Texas and visit Don & Jenny, their girls and meet Oscar Dean! It was one of the best weeks I had had in quite a while and I came to realize how important friendship is - no matter the miles in between. 

Dennis and I had been told that Texas is hot and humid in the summertime and boy ... was it ever!! It was so humid that my skin was wet after walking outside! Ugh! 

Don & Jenny picked me up from the airport and when we got home, we took a boat ride across Lake Conroe to have dinner at a restaurant with some of Don's family. It was a very fun way to start my vacation. 

As soon as we got back home, I gave the kids the gifts that I had brought for them. Ava squealed with delight when she opened her Frozen blanket! And Jaina put her backpack on right away and loved it! Oscar didn't really know what to think of his airport/airplane blanket! 

Every morning, Ava & Jaina opened my bedroom door very quietly and peeked in my room. When I glanced at them, they ran and jumped into my bed and we snuggled until Jaina said that she wanted Churos (cheerios) or maybe it was Surl (cereal) for breakfast. 

We visited a fun Children's Museum, we went to a water park, we went to the mall, we looked at a condo for sale, we went swimming in their community pool, we went shopping, went to Vero .... Lots was done in that week. 

When I returned home to my desk job, which was quiet - I really missed the chatter of the little kids, the coo's of Oscar and the conversations between Jenny and I. It was hard to leave, but I absolutely loved my time with my friends!

On the boat heading to supper!

 Ava opening her Frozen blanket 

Jaina wearing her pack-pack

Morning snuggles with these two ... this was a great way to wake up!

"Jen need coffee?" This little girl would make me coffee every morning! What a sweetie! :) 

A crane on the dock

Taking off - and Don's fishing poles are in the picture too! I think the only thing Don caught was a snapping turtle!

This looked so weird - looking at the water from the living room and seeing a tractor on the water! What?!? This tractor went back and forth all day long hauling dirt! 

My camera lens fogged up because of the humidity!  

Ava was a pro at putting Oscar to sleep - he loved when she sang to him!

Oscar Dean! He was such a chunky, adorable baby!

Water balloon fight!

Sister snuggles! These two love each other so much and yet would sometimes fight so bad ... and then love each other again! That's the way it goes with siblings! Ava and Jaina - you both are super lucky to have each other! 

Oscar Dean laying on my lap chatting with me! Most evenings, I would hold Oscar and just talk with him! It was so much fun seeing his smile and hearing his coo's!

Jenny made kombucha while I was there! Yum, homemade kombucha! 

We painted!

Ava and Jaina doing the dishes

Waldo - family of 5

Eating lunch at Vero before taking me to the airport for my return flight home! I was super excited to see Dennis and tell him all about my time, but super sad to be leaving my friends. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends and look forward to when we can see them again! 

Kaiden Joel Smith

Our handsome nephew, Kaiden Joel Smith, was born May 25, 2014. Dennis and I headed over to Boise the weekend after he was born to meet him. Of course, I loved him the moment I saw him and held in my arms. I told him about all of the fun things that he and I are going to do when he gets older, which include going to monster truck shows and football games together. Unfortunately there is not a picture of me holding Kaiden, but I know that I did hold him! He was such a handsome baby!

Dennis meeting Kaiden

Look at his cute face!

Jon and Tamara said his legs were frog legs! 

Jon, my younger brother, looking at his son! It has been incredible watching Jon be a dad. 

Kaiden going on his first walk with his parents and uncle Dennis and auntie Jen! 

Celebrating Grandpa Smith's birthday

After Tamara's shower, we all headed to Emmett, ID for dinner and birthday cake in celebration of Grandpa Smith's birthday. It was a wonderful time! 

Tamara and Mandy

Emily, Nate and Jon in the background

Steve and Marlene have a beautiful place in the country

Their awesome farmhouse

My grandparents holding hands! They hold hands often - I hope Dennis and I hold hands when we get older too!

Some of Steve and Marlene's neighbors really wanted a kiss! 

Family pictures

For a while, I had wanted my family to get pictures before any of us kids had kids of our own. I think the main reason for this was to show that there was a time that no grandkids were present in the Mel Smith family. I've seen friends and family who Dennis and I used to hang out with our friends pre-kid and post-kid too. I honestly cannot remember what we did before our friends had kids. We were able to fit in a photo session with Kyla Sorenson while we were in Boise. I would highly recommend her as a photographer. Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day.

No captions are needed on these photos! I have a wonderful family and my brothers and sister in laws are such good looking people! I am so lucky to have a family that cares for each other so much! I just wish that we could see each other more often ... work and time gets in the way. We'll need to have more pictures of the family taken to keep updated on the new member(s) being added! 

One very busy weekend in April 2014

There was this very special weekend in April of 2014. It was a weekend that every minute was filled and when the weekend was over, my heart was filled too. It started out as the weekend of Tamara's baby shower for my nephew. Mom and I were putting the shower on so I knew it would be amazing since mom is very good at decorations. Then Tamara sent the invitation list and sis-in-law Emily was on the list. To make a very long story short - the whole Mel Smith clan was in Boise for the weekend. We ended up having family pictures taken, went to brunch, celebrated Tamara at her shower and then celebrated Grandpa Smith's birthday at Steve and Marlene's house. Here are some pictures of Tamara's shower. I'll add pictures of the rest of the weekend in another blog post so this one won't be way too long! 

Tamara wanted to have a tea party for her baby shower. We were able to collect all of these wonderful tea cup sets for the shower. 

Here are some of the decorations that Mom and I made

These sewn circles were a lot of fun to make and made cute decorations!

Mom wrapped BABY in burlap - super simple and cute

The food table 

Tamara with the yummy food!

Here she is - and that baby bump is my nephew! 

Grandma Smith was able to make it to the shower - a special guest indeed.

Mandy, Tamara's sister from Wisconsin was able to make it out for Tamara's shower.

We Skyped with Tamara's mom so that she could be a part of the shower.

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of Emily who traveled from San Diego to be at the shower.

Tamara made thank you favors to the guests of her shower. Coffee and tea! 

A close up of the coffee bags

And a close up of the tea

Another picture of Grandma

Tamara with some presents

The stack of presents - my nephew is well loved

And my sweet mom who did so much for this shower for Tamara. I would put another shower on with my mom again! I love this lady!