Tanner

Yesterday was Tanner Mckay Smith's birthday. Chris says he would have been 34 or 35 this year. Tanner is Chris' brother. I never had the opportunity to meet him. He died when Chris was about 16. Last night we took out his picture and Chris told us a little bit about his brother. Tate and Tanner were so sweet. They both just stared at the picture and were really pretty quiet while Chris told them about their uncle. He told of how Tanner was a cowboy. He told of how funny Tanner was, and how he always made people laugh. Even today when Tate saw his picture he said, "he's a good cowboy." Chris never really talks about his brother. Basically all I know about him I told you in those two sentences. I wish I knew more about him. I am excited to one day meet him.

Ethan's Run

I ran a 1ok at the end of Feb. My first! The run was called Ethan's run, and it benefitted the congenital heart unit at St. Joes. I don't really know the details of Ethan's condition, but he had a congenital heart condition, and he died last summer at 6 mos of age. His mom organized the run. A bunch of ladies from my ward trained and ran it together. Liz, in the middle, had a baby, Jake that was born 4 days before my Tanner last year. He was born with a heart condition, and he lived 3 weeks. He was also treated in that unit at St. Joes. We all wore pictures of little Jakey on the back of our shirts. It was a really neat experience, and I am so glad that I did it! For some reason I am so sensitive about little Jake. I think it is because he and Tanner are only 4 days apart.

Chris was out of town, so I enlisted my sister, Ami to come and watch the boys while I ran. Thank You!

The run was held in Las Sendas, which made the course a bit more challenging. There are some decent sized hills. It was so nice to run down them, not as nice going back up! I wanted to finish in under and hour and I did! (Barely!) So I am not setting any speed records, but I am happy with how it turned out!

SNOW

We went to Pima the weekend of Valentine's Day, and on Sunday we took a drive to Mt. Graham. There was tons of snow. Tate really liked it, surprisingly. We thought he would think it was too cold. He loved building snow towers and then knocking them down. He was actually just talking about the snow again tonight. I think it is so funny that he is starting to talk about memories. I think it is so crazy how they remember such details at such a young age. Tanner on the other hand was a grump. (See L lower pic) He just wanted to snuggle the whole time. We even saw wild turkeys. Chris' niece, Justice, is in the Middle L picture with her snowman. I guess she had been waiting all season to go to the mountain, so I am glad that we went!

ThE ZoO

Tate and Tanner's first zoo trip. My friend Heather invited us to go with them since they have a zoo pass that was expiring soon, and they were trying to get a few more trips out of it. Thank You! We both have two boys pretty close in age, so it makes for a fun time. I hadn't been to the zoo since we had morp there my junior year. If I were feeling more ambitious I would dig that morp picture out and scan it in. Too bad I am not feeling very ambitious.

Clockwise from top Left: The ever popular petting zoo, I love this giraffe picture. Tate has these huge giraffes behind him and he appears to be totally into the map of the zoo. Trey and Tate, Tanner and the tractor, Tate, Trey and Connor.

From top L: Us and the Komodo dragon, Heather and I and the kiddies. ( I think Tate thought he was hugging my leg. ) Tate cracking up about the monkey, The 3 boys staring at the monkey, Tate and Trey. I like these collage things.

Hawaii-the 2nd.

Just a few random shots to sum up the trip. I can't remember what all I said in my last post, so some of this could be a recap.

Can't remember what beach this is. Right outside of Haleiwa. The night we left. BEAUTIFUL.

This is the town where we actually stayed. Waialua. Home of the last remaining sugar mill on the island. I think the sugar mill closed in the late 1990s.

Ever had this soda before? We discovered it a few months back. On our way to our house we actually saw their bottling plant off the side of the road and really close to our house. Kind of random.

We stayed in this little studio behind a house. It was perfect for us, and really affordable.

Chris surfing

While Chris surfed the first day I just hung out on the beach and i kept seeing these fins coming up out of the water. At first I thought they were seals. (Do seals even visit Hawaii??) But then I realized they were turtles. There were 5 or 6 of them together, all really near the shore. They were all swimming around me, and I felt really cool.

I showed a couple of pictures of our Stand up paddle surfing lessons in the last post. This is their van. We actually met the couple that owns the business when we were at church and we went to their house afterward for Sunday dinner. They were so nice. Their 3 little girls were so cute, too. Don't you love this van?
We went on a small hike to Kaena point, which is on the far NW side of the island. We had a wiener roast on the beach. Quite enjoyable.
This is the best picture I could get of both of us. My camera was precariously perched on a rock and it was so windy I was thinking it was going to blow off.


Later in the week we took some surf lessons. The instructor was another lady from church, although we didn't meet her there. The other couple that did the stand up paddle surfing lessons referred her to us. Before we went I was thinking, "do you really need someone to show you?" BUT- I am glad that we used her. I would totally recommend getting some basic pointers from someone who knows if you have never been surfing before. Even just basics like how currents work and where you should exit and enter the water, and basic surfing "rules" for catching waves when there are a lot of people was totally helpful, and made me realize I was (and still am) clueless. I was a little freaked out to go surfing, I'll be honest. But I am so glad that I did. I got up several times, (ok, she helped a lot) and definitely would go again.
Our dream home. O LOVE THIS HOUSE. This is my favorite look, ever. I love houses with huge porches, with steps up to the house. Something out of the 50s, maybe? If we ever build a home it will be something like this. I always wonder why there are not more homes like this in AZ?

We went on a hike to Makapu'u point as well. It is the eastern most point on the island.

Here is Chris playing the Clariflute. (I am pretty sure he made that up.)
The hike was so cool. There were tons of ruins that had dates from the 1930s and 1940s that were written in the cement. I want to do some research to see what the area was used for. While I was in Hawaii i read a first hand account from a woman that was on the island on Dec. 7th, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. I had never read an account like that, written in the first person from a civilian. It was so interesting. I don't know why, but Hawaii in the first half of the 20th century is so fascinating to me. I think that is why Chris and I both love the north shore. It seems to have retained some of the original splendor, without becoming too commercialized. I am such a tourist. But I wish I wasn't. It may sound weird, but part of me feels totally at home there. Like maybe part of me belongs there??? Is this post getting a little freaky yet?

Light house on Makapu'u hike.

View from the top. We could see two other islands from the top. Maybe Molokai and Maui?

Remember the shaved ice I told you about? This is it.

I think this church was awesome. I don't think it is really that old, but I love it because it looks like it could be.

Just behind our house we went for a walk and found this. I still am unsure of what or who it is, and I hope that I did not desecrate something in the process of walking up next to it. Isn't it cool, though? Just in case it is something sacred to someone, I am not going to post the picture of me kissing it :) Besides, Chris was a little jealous. jk.

Our next Hawaii trip is not anytime any the near future. Or the far future for that matter. But I wish it was. After this post I want to go back! I am so grateful that I could go, though. Vacations are not overrated.

HAWAII-take 2.

Hawaii. I love this place. My dad brought my whole family here last June and Chris and I decided to come back. We were going on a vacation anyway with some free flights that we had, so we decided that if the flights were free, coming to Hawaii was just as affordable as going anywhere else for the week! This is the first time in over three years that I am not pregnant or nursing, so it is a celebration- Our first time away from the babies. Not that leaving them was a celebration, but it is a celebration to come on a vacation!

We are here on the north shore, staying in a town called Waialua. It is on the north shore, just minutes from most of the famous surfing beaches on this island. I love how Chris and I vacation. We kind of just take everyday at a time, and do whatever we want. We roll out of bed whenever, eat at weird times, and wear strange clothes. My favorite thing that we do is eat. I am so serious. We are in the middle of a meal and we are talking about what we are going to eat next. Last night the menu was hot dogs with cheese in the middle (Chris' choice) marshmallows and bananas. We went on a hike and then cooked out on the beach. It was so fun! I can't forget to make mention of the shave ice, either. We counted last night and I think we have already gone to get shave ice 4 times. They put ice cream in the bottom of the shave ice and after a few minutes of eating you get down to the bottom and it is this big mushy mess of ice cream, and shaved ice. So delicious. They don't skimp on the flavoring syrup, either. Maybe that is the secret. That and the ice cream. Yum.

The other highlight of our trip has been surfing! Chris went once before, but this was my first time. We also tried "SUP" surfing (stand up paddle) It was really fun, too! We went in this river and I was so afraid to fall in because it looked like there could be giant anacondas waiting for unsuspecting tourists to fall into the water. (Did you ever see the movie Swiss Family Robinson-that's what I was envisioning...eek)

We've done a little hiking, a little window shopping, and we actually found a couple of cool things for the boys. I mailed them two little horses on Monday, so hopefully they get them today. The other thing I found was this little set of wooden fruit that the pieces velcro together, and the set comes with a wooden knife. It is so fun! Tate will love it. They had a display in the store and Chris and I kept slicing the fruit over and over, and then putting the pieces together again and doing it one more time. There was just something so fulfilling about it. Maybe it was just the methodical process? Weird, I know!

More picture and the rest of the trip to follow. I forgot my cord to upload the pictures to the computer.

Birthdays!

Remember these birthday buddies from last year? (1.25)

And this year. I wish I had a better picture of them together from that night.

On Tate's first birthday we announced that we were pregnant with Tannner. I wanted to start this birthday post by saying that "we're expecting, " Not me, but Tanner. He has the cutest, hugest belly ever.

He is so funny. He is so completely different than Tate. I can't explain it. He is just starting to form sounds that are starting to sound like words. His absolute favorites, that he repeats all the time, are "Da" and "Tot" (Tate) He loves Tate! They are so cute together. They are even starting to have mini wrestling matches where Tanner will actually participate for a minute or two before he starts crying.

We had just a small party in the loft. We projected "101 Dalmations" on the wall, and had a little snack bar in the back of the room. 101 Dalmations is such a classic. I bought it that morning, and have watched in several times since. I seriously enjoy that movie. Cruella DeVille is so over the top. My favorite scene is at the beginning, though, where Pongo is trying to "find his pet a mate" and he is looking at all the dogs and their owners in the park. All the dogs and owners resemble each other and I think that it is so funny (and true). It reminds me of a work party that I had one Christmas at my boss' house and my boss and her dog seriously resembled one another. Their hair was the same color and consistency and the just looked like they belonged to one another. I still laugh to think about that.

Chris and some of his peeps around the snacks. Chris is a good sport. The party was pretty kid oriented (101 Dalmations for a 28th bday, come on.) But our Hawaii trip was partially for his bday, so hopefully that made up for it .

After the movie we had cake and ice cream downstairs. I made this birthday banner to be used on everyone's birthday from now on, and I am really liking how it turned out.

Me and the goat (as I affectionately refer to him) I even have this song about him to the tune of that really old song "lollipop"

"Nanner goat, Nanner goat oo lali lali lali Nanner goat. ba dum dum dum"

Even Tate joins in these days.

I really am his favorite person in the whole world. Not to be boastful-but I am. It is a bit unnerving at times; when the only person he wants is me. But I mostly really like it. He adores Chris too. But he still most often prefers me more.

My pictures are a little washed out because of the flash, but Tanner's eyes are so blue. In contrast, Tate's eyes are the darkest brown you ever saw. I think it's pretty cool I have one of each!
The after party. Tanner thinks he is getting pretty big. I love that little guy! And my Chris!