New hat from Nonny

Brianna's favorite activity at Nonny and Papa's house:

Friends

One of the items on my "home visit to-do list" is to catch up with friends from high school. Only a few are still in Spokane. April and Kinsey were kind enough to trek up our long steep icy road to hang out with us for awhile. April and I were supatight in high school - we have SO many pictures together doing crazy stuff. If we ever got bored on the weekends, we would just throw on some crazy costumes and go out in public.

Kinsey's baby, Lucie, is just 8 days older than Brianna. They had a great time poking each other and stealing toys.
I wish I lived closer to my old friends!


This last pic might look awkward... and maybe it is... but it's funny cuz this shirt I'm wearing is a gift from April and it says, "my friend April is driving me bananas." I always called her APES and we ran around like monkeys... oh fine. It's funny to me anyways.

First steps!

I didn't believe Brian when he told me a few weeks ago that Brianna took some solo steps. Nor did I believe my dad yesterday when he also informed me of her feat. But today, my doubting eyes witnessed the milestone. I just sat there, stunned, as she ventured away from a table leg into the vast abyss of the kitchen floor. Obviously, no pictures yet. But as soon as I pick my jaw up off the ground and set up a hidden camera (since babies like to stop performing as soon as they see that thing), I will post proof for any other doubters out there. In the meantime, this post is just for posterity's sake (since I'm quite likely to forget, as I have noticed that other moms can't remember the timelines of their children's development milestones....hmmm, I wonder if that says anything about it's level of importance?! :)

Christmas morning

The obligatory no-makeup comfy-jammie messy-hair shot

Meredith and Nonny had too much fun shopping at Gymboree for Brianna
After a couple hours of gift-opening, Brianna lost her patience for breakfast so we had to bring the highchair over to the party.
Dad opening the Smith 2008 family calendar. I made one for all my family members on Snapfish. Seriously, it took me like 12 hours. Uploading, importing, cropping, adding tones, borders, birthdays, anniversaries...but it was all worth it because everyone loved them. And no one has any excuse not to remember my birthday. Nonny and Papa: Santa's best elves
Brianna had a few gifts to upwrap from Nonny and Papa (none from us though - poor deprived Brianna... her callous parents don't believe in wasting money on frivilous superficiality... at least not until she's old enough to appreciate it :) Brianna received all her favorites on Christmas day: paper and boxes to destroy, two long naps, and near-constant adulation from all.

What could be more romantic than a gift of Costco TurkeyJerky...

Little Santa under the tree
"Dig in guys, there are SO many fun things to chew on over here!"

Tubtime...again

I know I've done several "tubtime/bathtime" posts... but here's another one. Sorry - it's just something about my baby playing naked in the water that I find irresistible.

Brianna won’t lay down in her infant tub anymore. Since I dare not allow her to sit directly in the icky bathtub in our Vernal duplex, I cleaned out a small storage bin.
She loves her new tub!

Our Christmas Tree

I love our tree. Easy to transport, fire-resistant, eco-friendly, maintenance-free…
now this is the spirit of Christmas.

SKIING

We had a fabulous adventure last Saturday.

Brian purchased four Park City Mountain Resort passes through his company’s charity fundraiser (just $25 each – one third of the reg price!)
So we grabbed our friends

ditched the babies, and spent a few hours on the slopes.










These are my skis. They’re pink, nine years old, and a gift from my dad. Serious sentimental attachment here – I doubt I’ll ever upgrade (especially since I only use them about twice a year).

Brian rented skis – he only owns a snowboard. He had some initial difficultly getting those dang things on. It ended up having to be a group effort.









Brian and I, thawing out. It’s amazing how cold you can get despite wearing at least 3 layers on every body part.


My ski pass collection. Seventeen on this zipper. So yes – I do wear the same coat each trip. Call me compulsive (I deserve it on more than one count…)










I previously stated “we ditched the “babies”… but I can’t lie – I was borderline-nervous-wreck about the impending separation for the entire 2 weeks it was planned. Not due to any doubt of Amy’s competence in caring for Brianna… quite the opposite – I was fearful of Brianna’s ability to drive her nuts! I could just picture my baby crawling around the beautiful Hunter home, chewing and breaking everything within reach. And bawling the whole time.
Thankfully (amazingly/astonishingly/miraculously), Amy said Brianna was delightful!



She took good naps, ate well, played well with the boys, giggled, practiced stair ascent and descent, and the best part – hung out with their dog Ruby all day. (Brianna adores dogs more than baths, grass, bananas…and probably anything else on earth). THANK YOU HUNTER FAMILY!

In return for their kindness in tending Brianna for seven hours, I came over to their home that evening so they could go have a wild night on the town. Eric Hunter is in the bishopric of our ward, so you know how those types like to party. I played with Judson (6) and Noah (3). Quite the characters. Judson chased me with a water squirter and Noah completely ignored me. We actually had a really good time – I forgot how much I enjoy babysitting!


This was Amy’s look of shock when she and Eric arrived home to find that both their children were still alive and the house intact.
Sheesh, Amy – gimme some credit. It’s not like I’m just some ski bum…

Milestones

A couple more were achieved today:

• Brianna stood up to a freestand by herself from a sitting position without holding on to anything. She's always had to grab something to help pull herself up previous to this.
• Brianna said DADDY when he walked home. Loud and clear. No surprise this is her first word - for the past several months, whenever Brian walks in the door I say, "it's DADDY! it's DADDY!" and since he comes home everyday for lunch and occasional random brief visits, she had a lot of reinforcement. Am I jealous that she's nowhere close to saying "mama"? No. I get to play with her all day everyday. That's my reward.

Name that food...

Let’s play a game.

Can you identify what she is eating?

Ten points to the winner.

Brianna the PEA ?

Last Sunday at church Brian was told by a friend that his daughter resembles the pea characters from VeggieTales.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

wet

So last night we put Brianna to bed around 7 as usual. I didn't help- I was at our final volleyball game at the Rec Center (we lost, but had a lot of fun). I went to bed around 10, only to wake up at midnight to hear Brianna crying. This was really odd, because she's been sleeping pretty well lately. The past few months she usually has slept 10-11 hrs, had a feeding, then gone back to sleep til about 7:20. So when I heard her, I decided it was just a fake wakeup and I would stay in my warm comfy bed.
But then I felt wet.
Like I had wet my pants.
Again, I thought this was odd, since I haven't wet the bed in... SO anyways, I got out of bed and dragged myself over to Brianna's room to peek in. She was standing up and wailing. I went in to her, and she instantly stopped and smiled so sweetly. I begrudgingly got ready to nurse her, (my default sleep strategy) but she pushed away. Confused, I tried to encourage her and my hand felt her bum. SOAKED. I opened her jammies and saw her diaper had come unstrapped on one side so she had totally wet through her clothes. My poor babe was just uncomfortable! So I called for Brian and we cleaned her up. Our little angel went back to sleep without a peep. I went back to our room and was about to crawl into bed when I remembered that I had felt wet too.
But I wasn't anymore.
I don't think I actually ever really was.

Safety first...

10 months!

I probably shouldn't admit this on the blog, since Brianna might read it someday... but hopefully she will realize it's relatively inconsequential:
We forgot her 10-month day.
It was yesterday.

I didn't even realize it til like 10pm, when we landed on planet Vernal after another whirlwind Sunday.
My fellow mommy-bloggers who commemorate each baby month with a post can at least emphasize with my feelings of self-reproach.
Oh well - so Brianna has been with us 10 months and 1 day. She continues to be the joy and delight of my existence. Sometimes when I'm playing with her I feel an overwhelming euphoric giddyness and I pull her into such a tight hug that I think she might pop. Brian concurs and frequently states, "I really like her."

Here is the classic "mommy's helper" dishwasher picture:

Here she is last Monday playing in the grass, savoring the last day of warm sunny weather before winter hit Vernal:

I'll skip presenting the list of recent physical/mental/social developments. Suffice it to say that she continues to excel at pharmacology, white water rafting, has fluently mastered additional foreign languages, and was recently elected Executive Magistrate of Vernal AND Provo.

Transportation

You might want to sit down for this one...
We don't have a car in Vernal.
That's right - no car.
Brian can only use the rentals for business purposes.
So how do we get around in Vernal?

1. Walk
2. Bike

These are pictures of Brian heading out on our bike. Not for a workout (I wish), but just to go to the grocery store to grab a few things. We can only buy what will fit in one bag, tied around the middle bar (notice he already has the bag with him - yes, we bring our own bags. Do you know how many billions of plastic bags are consumed each year in this wasteful world? It's sickening. And they never fully biodegrade. Go ahead - label me a self-righteous greenie. I can handle it).
Doesn't he look cute in his helmet?! I actually won that on a radio contest in Vernal. He doesn't want to wear it, but I insist. Actually, he doesn't really want to ride the bike either. Nor bring his own bags.
Isn't Brian a great sport for putting up with me?! (mom, I know you're nodding your head yes)

love to see the temple, going there thurs-day

Go ahead, sing the primary song. You know you want to.

Thursday nights are temple nights here in Vernal. I still marvel at the novelty of having a temple within walking distance. What a blessing. I remember my first temple trips - we endured a 5 hour bus drive to Seattle. But of course, there are those who would give anything to only have a 5 hour bus drive! The Vernal temple is a particularly beautiful one. It was built in 1984 and dedicated by President Hinckley. He promised that if the saints would be faithful in frequently attending, the Uinta Basin/Ashley Valley winters would not be quite so harsh. According to the long-time locals, that promise has been realized. Which makes me shudder at the thought of how bad the winters used to be, considering how FRIGGIN FREEZING they are now! I know this first picture is horrible - both because of the lighting, and my laziness in not losing the baby weight (this was in June). On the last picture - can you see the sweet little baby head peaking over?

Oh geez.... just seeing the green grass makes me hungry for Spring! It's going to be a loooong winter. And very chilly Thursday night walks to the temple.

Happy Anniversary Vernal Enterprise

Exactly one year ago today, Vernal Enterprise was born.
A brave new Branch Manager drove 156 miles away from his 7 month pregnant wife with nothing but 10 vehicles in his fleet and the name of an oil rigger he could rent a room from.
Today he maintains a fleet of nearly 70, and works his tush off to support his family who happily live WITH him fulltime.
He has spent countless hours cleaning each vehicle by hand,








marketing,


and dealing with some outright crazy customers.



In the entire year, Brian has only been sick ONE day - but still spent that day at the office, hiding miserably under a blanket when customers weren't there.





Congratulations, Enterprise-Rent-A-Car in Vernal! Here's to another year of success (though not necessarily with us being here :)