The Smith's are a pretty amazing family. Ryan & I have almost been married for 18 years. I can't believe I have been in this family for almost 22 years. I'm grateful to have four wonderful sister-in-laws & four incredible brother-in-laws. Not to mention Four Fantastic Nephews & seven Gorgeous nieces.
I'm so grateful for Amber. She really did a fantasticjob! It's a tremendous blessing having new family pictures.
Jacob has really grown up this past year. He's such a wonderful young man. He played Cal Ripkin baseball this spring/summer. He has been living at the baseball field. We have enjoyed watching him play. He is my best friend. I love hanging out with him. We have certain shows that I DVR & we watch just the two of us. I love that he likes to spend time with me & talk & talk & talk. I just taught him how to play Rummy. He always ask if we can play cards. Now when he's at Grandma Bette's he plays cards with her. I think she enjoys it as much as him.
I'm so grateful to have Marli as a daughter. She is the sweetest girl & extremely thoughtful. She seriously cracks me up. Most of the time when I'm laughing at something she said or did, she looks at me totally serious and asks "WHAT"? I always wanted a daughter and I know Heavenly Father picked her just for me. I have been serving in the Activity Day program though church. Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to day camp with Marli & 19 other 8-11 year old girls. We took our Activity Day girls up to Krupp Hollow. It was a blast. There was absolutely no drama & all the girls were so kind & thankful that we took them. The weather was HOT! We managed to make sure we stayed hydrated by drinking plenty of water & everyone enjoyed the day. We played horseshoes, shot BB guns, made survival bracelets, learned about the solar system/constellations. Panned for gold. Survived a super hard obstacle course. Had a picnic lunch. Were thoroughly entertained by the scouts. Who knew Scouts could be so hilarious. Their skits & songs had me laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my cheeks.I was shocked at how much they crammed into one day. I'm thankful that such a great camp is so close to our area. The cotton trees kicked my allergies into super drive. Luckily I had taken Allegra before I left home. The girls gave me a hard time that I wore open toed shoes. Then when a huge bottle fell on my foot & split my big toe open they really gave it to me. I think it was actually karma that cut my foot. Just minutes before it happened, I was joking with another leader that I needed a nap & was going to pretend like my hip went out. Gotta watch out for that Karma...she'll get ya everytime.
I am so grateful for these Beautiful kids. They get along so well with each other & everyone they come in contact with. I'm always asked what I have done or do to have such well behaved, considerate kids. Honestly I don't think I can take any of the credit. I have been extremely blessed with the most Awesome children.
I told Ryan I wanted a serious shot of Conor. Then I stepped back and he helped Amber capture this. It reminds me of Sweet Jaxon so much. I love it!
Conor is always saying the cutest and funniest things. I absolutely adore his personality. Last night he took a shower without me knowing. Apparently he asked Marli for help...he wanted to surprise me. So he comes running in my room with just a towel on. He yells "Surprise"!!! Then he asked me if Jacob took a shower. I told him yes. So he proceeded to inform me that Marli took a bath & then helped him shower. He said "Mom, all your kids are clean & delicious...Isn't that delightful"? I cracked up. He loves to help me whenever he can. He is my shadow & I wouldn't want it any other way. It was pretty delightful cuddling with three clean kiddos.
I absolutely Love this picture of Ryan And his brother Eric with their Dad Papa Reuel.
