One (collage) photo for ya...

I promise... I'm gonna post a couple of blogs on the family (and hopefully even on THIS) blog in the next few days... I'm working on getting some awesome pictures together.... AND, since this is MY blog where I can be all about me, I give you a cute collage of "Smith Girls Day" (because I'm an adopted Smith, don't you know...)

Bad mood.

For some reason, I came home from work in a bad mood. And everything is driving me crazy. I have no idea why.

Upstairs neighbor kids and their friends were making paper airplanes and throwing them all over the yard and having a fantastic time doing so. Are they hurting anything? No. So why did I want to scream and yell and strangle them? No idea. I just made my kids go inside so I didn't have to sit outside.

Then I feed all 3 kids a different meal. Easy ones. Without really even talking to them. A bowl of cereal, a bowl of ramen and whatever Tanion had. Did I feed Tanion? Hell, I don't even know...

And I talk to my sister on the phone - who is sick with a nasty cold. She called to make sure I didn't care that she had a cold when she comes to watch my kids so that I could go to Bon Jovi on Tuesday. SO what do I do? Do I ask how Kaylee is doing with her cold and double ear infection? Nope. I lecture her on why she shouldn't be moving so quickly with her new boyfriend because I think she likes him because he doesn't care that she's still obsessive over Sean. Awesome, Mandy. Real supportive.

And THEN I tell the kids that they really need to clean their room cuz I'm in a bad mood and I don't want to yell at them (fair warning, right?) So I decided to throw in the whole "If you do, I'll take you to McDonald's Playland to play" - not thinking that they actually WILL clean their room and I'll have to follow thru. So what do they do? They freaking clean their room! And am I happy about it? NO! Now I have to go sit at McDonald's Playland by myself for the next hour.

SO all of these things that aren't bad (and are even actually kind of good) are making me angry. For no apparent reason. Which makes me even more angry...

***sigh***

Time to buck up and be my normally happy self and get me some McDonald's for dinner and watch the kiddos have fun. Maybe it'll cheer me up.

I want, I Want, I WANT!!!

I was feeling quite crappy this morning and called in sick. Around 10:30am, I started feeling better and decided to catch up my blog-surfing (and maybe even writing!)... A blog I follow mentioned this wonderful site: www.perpetualkid.com/

Here are some of the ever so delightful items you can find there...

SNOOPY SNO-CONE MACHINE

My Grandma Bagley had one of these at her house when we lived with her (so 1987/1988?). I LOVED this thing. And I want one ($16.99 ). My birthday IS coming up... Just sayin...

MONSTER HAND TATTOOS
How cool are these tattoos?!
Can't you just see my boys running around "eating" each other with their hand monsters? Awesome. :)

NinjaBread Men
Yes, please!
How cool are these cookie cutters?
My boys would LOVE it!

Smiley face ice cube tray

YAY! :) I'm all about smiley faces!!

And last, but absolutely in NO WAY least....

Mario Room Decals

Basically a giant sticker that you can put on your walls to make it look like the Super Mario video game. Someday, I will have these. You mark my words! Too spendy for me now ($70.00 for three 26"*40" sheets) but I will. When I can live in my whole house, there's gonna be a game room. And this will be my decor.

SO, have you checked out their site yet?
It's addicting!
Don't forget to click the link!!!
http://www.perpetualkid.com/

Hungry...

NOTE: This is not me.

This is my friend Beeno (aka Robyn) - when she was pregnant with TWINS. This is the picture I look at when I'm sad because she looks so stinking CUTE! and I love prego belly pictures. Doesn't she look like the happiest, most awesomely pregnant lady in the world? She's partially why MY baby is named Robyn, you know...

NOTE #2: I am not in any way, shape or form announcing a baby is in our future. We are done having babies. Now, you may continue reading...

NOTE #3: This post is basically, mostly for me. I just felt like writing while the hubby is playing video games...

So lately, I've been obsessed with Baby Bellys. I live in Provo where EVERY girl around me is pregnant. Honestly, it's true. In my Primary, I think all of our husband/wife teachers are pregnant right now with the exception of 1 (maybe 2) couples. My backyard neighbor is pregnant. My side neighbor just had a baby (like last week). My upstairs neighbor had her baby back in June, but she's still a baby! I have a whole bunch of friends on Facebook who are pregnant right now and I just keep going back to their page to look at their pregnancy pictures... (Yeah, it's bad...)

My baby is 3. She's my last. She's forever my baby. And while I'm happy to see her grow and happy to give away all of my 'baby' things and move on to life with older kids, I'm kinda sad.

I love being pregnant. It's the coolest thing in the world. You GROW an actual little person. You can feel them move inside you! Sometimes you can even see your stomach (and this little person) move from side to side and kick! And you get this awesome stomach that isn't a "Wow, you should lose some weight" stomach, but an "Aw! That's so cool, can I feel it?" stomach. And you get to think about baby names and plan for a baby room and get to be a center of all this excitement. Because you are growing a tiny person. The coolest little miracle ever. And I love it. Even the sickness, because you are sick for a reason. And that reason is amazing.

Another thing, I love babies (and I mean, come on, who doesn't!) I love to hold them and snuggle with them and to watch them eat and to hear them laugh and see them smile...... I just love the baby stage. And before you know it, they are crawling. And before you know it, they are walking, and running and talking back and getting too big!!! DANG IT! It is fun watching them discover all these neat things that they can do, but I love that baby stage.

**Sigh**

Jeremiah and I are done. He was ready to get 'fixed' after we had Robyn, but I was not sure. (I had this whole, 'but I feel like I have another baby out there' stage, but I got over that.) So I have some fantastic, no worries type birth control until after Robyn turns 5. Then we go from there (sorry if that is too much info...) but that'll probably just mean we try other birth control or have Jeremiah get 'fixed'. And, honestly, I'm okay with that. I'm perfectly happy with having 3 kids. But there is something in the air (or water!) here and it makes me want to have a baby again. And after checking out pregnancy pictures for the last 2 1/2 hours, it makes me crave it a little.... That and the fact that my kids are at Grandma Hardman's house for the weekend and I'm not having to constantly deal with drama and attitude the KIDS bring on - that might be a factor. :)

So for now, I'm just a little baby hungry... This, too, shall pass.

"Justin Bieber IS actually gay."

This is Justin Bieber.
And for some reason, I can't stand the kid.
It's nothing personal -
Heck, I don't even know why -
I just don't like him.
(for those of you who don't know, he's this little music star whom,
if I was like 20 years younger, I would probably be in love with - but I'm not.
I'm 30 years old and I can't stand him.)

So Tanion comes home from my friend Heather's house tonight and he's singing "Baby, Baby, Baby, OH" and I recognize it as an off-key version of a song by Justin Bieber. And I look at him strange. He says "What? It's just the 'Baby' song from Justin Bieber."

And me, being the person who is ANTI-BIEBER and hasn't listened to that song EVER by choice (and only partially once that I can think of on accident while at the skating rink), look at him and ask "Where did you hear that song? And how do you know who sings it?!"

He informs me that today at school was a talent show and he heard it TWICE. And now it's stuck in his head and he actually kind of likes it and he wants me to buy him the Kid Bop CD with that song on it. ("Remember, Mom? It's on that TV commercial and it goes, 'Baby, Baby, Baby, OH!'")

I tell him NO on the CD because I don't like Justin Bieber... And he asks why. I have no answer to that question, other than I just don't. Then he asks, "Is it because he's gay?" So I am FLAT-LINED at that. I have NO idea on how to respond or where he heard that or came up with that or whatnot... I kind of stumble over my words and he says "Cuz you know, Mom, Justin Bieber IS actually gay."

So, we all get in the car and I ask Tanion who told him Justin Bieber was gay. He says "Oh, Oliver said that he is gay" and I ask if Oliver (his little friend from school) said that HE is gay or that Justin Bieber is gay. He clarifies that Oliver said that Justin Bieber is gay and that Oliver would know because Oliver is smart and 'he knows that "Baby, Baby, Baby, OH" song'.

So I ask, "Do you know what gay means, buddy?" and he sits for a second and sort of ho-hums about a few things and gives up and says "No. Not really, I guess. What is gay anyway, Mom?"

So, my explanation was "Well, if someone is gay and they are a boy, it means that they like other boys and want to marry a boy. And if someone is gay and they are a girl, it means they like other girls and want to marry a girl." He sits there for a second and proclaims, "Well, Mom, I'm not gay. I want to marry Shandy and she's a girl." (haha!)

Then he asks why a boy would want to marry another boy... And I said 'some just do and that's okay because people should be happy and we should be nice to everyone'. Then I threw in that it's not nice to call people gay cuz it could make them sad or mad. He seemed happy with that little talk and ending and starting singing that darned "BABY" song again! (Dang you, Justin Bieber and your catchy little song!)

Is it weird that I'm having this discussion with my 7-year-old? I don't think I'm ready to talk about birds and bees and sexuality! YIKES! But I do hope he is tolerant and kind to others. I hope that he doesn't get into the labeling and the finger pointing. I hope he turns out to be a good boy who is nice to everyone. Regardless if they are straight, gay or Justin Bieber fans.

(And here's the darn video to that darn song - just in case you wanted to get it stuck in your head - even though I'm not going to listen to it or watch it... and you'll probably have to double click on the video to be able to see the whole thing..

Gratitude

Today is Thankful kind of day for me...

Today I read about 2 separate friends who have had some health scares with their new babies (and I can attest that nothing is more frightening for a parent than the thought of losing your little one.) I also have a friend who is going through a health scare of her own and feeling very lost and scared. I am so grateful for my health and the health of my family...

I was able to make it to Sacrament today. I forgot the peaceful feeling you can get from a meeting full of people sharing their testimony of God and Christ and the goodness in this world. A testimony is made from your faith, health, love, strength and everything else that makes you YOU - being tested. The choices you make when faced with crisis.

I am thankful for the trials (and the outcomes!) in my life. I am thankful for the choices that I have made when faced with many of those trials. And I am thankful for the people who have gone through those trials by my side and holding my hand.

You mean so much to me that I will never be able to thank you enough.

Loves, Mandy.

Blogging (or lack there of...)

Sorry, my few followers... I've not been blogging lately. Not sure why. I have a few excuses, but it basically works out to be that I've been tired and lazy... But no worries, life is good. Just busy.

Sorry. I'll try to be better.

Love, Mandy

Alona's Baptism

DarTanion is 7 years old. His friends are starting to turn 8 years old and getting baptized. I think he's getting excited / nervous / scared about his own baptism. :) We have had several talks over the last few months about what happens when you are baptized.

It was HER big day! :) Ms. Alona Bagley

My friend Heather's little girl (Alona) and DarTanion are great friends. Alona turned 8 years old in September and was baptized at the beginning of this month. DarTanion was really excited to go to her baptism. He wanted to be up front and center to see exactly what goes on. I was able to get a couple cute shots of her on her BIG day and I wanted to post them here to say how EXCITED we are for her to make such a great choice. :)

DarTanion and Alona - cute little friends :)

Alona with her Daddy (Paul) before going in the water

I love this family! :)
Abbi, Alona, Heather, Jesse, Kacen and Paul

Alona's Friends and Family who came to her baptism

My Childhood Sweetheart :)

Lately, I've been going through my house, my garage, the closets - basically everywhere - and organizing things. I'm trying to get rid of things and have less clutter in my life!

ANYWAY, I found this great picture. :) It's of me and my friend Jedd Shepherd. If you knew me growing up, you probably heard about my Jedd. :) We claimed each other as boyfriend / girlfriend from 2nd grade on. I would have other random boys here and there, but I'd always go back to "Jedd is my boyfriend". We actually ended up dating when we were Senior's in High School, but I (kinda sorta) cheated on him with Jeremiah. And I guess it worked out, so that's okay, right? And we're still friends cuz he's awesome that way....

ANYWAY, Long Story Short:

Here is the cute picture I found of Jedd and I back in 6th or 7th grade. And then another one of us together at his wedding back in 2008. Enjoy! :)

To busy or getting lazy?

So I haven't decided yet what's going on...

I've not been the mad woman that I was with checking blogs (like daily - more than once sometimes). Lately, I've only done it like once a week. And I don't really check all the one's I normally would. Just a few here and there. And I'm not always commenting.

And don't get me started on Facebook. This whole week, I've not really been on Facebook for more than - oh, maybe 10 minutes a day... You might think that's a lot still, but for me - that's nothing. That's a speck.

AND until yesterday, I hadn't uploaded the pictures from my phone to my computer for almost 3 whole weeks. Speechless? I know! Me, too!

So yeah, don't know if I'm 'too busy' or if I'm just getting lazy. Hope you are missing me!