Life in general

Here the kids are practicing their skills at the skate park
Rangi is still looking pretty skilled
Three guys that I love headed up to the top of San Gorgonio
Rangi doesn't do anything BUT intense in every sport he plays and that includes broom hockey at church. (13 stitches later, 1:00am and my visiting teacher all helped out with his intensity).
We finally renewed our passes to the happiest place on earth because Caroline is at the prime age and we couldn't deny her any longer. All three kids with no cavities also added to the celebration!
I have been working in the yard, planting fall mums, and making ghosts that light up, to make it look like fall here. Unfortunately this picture only documents Rangi's handiwork in trimming this cute tree we thought was an out of control bush. We did not plant the yard so we have to figure out what everything is... in this case a pygmy date palm and we love it now!
Enjoying our first Dodger game! ( Hey I was raised in an Angels family) We were lucky enough to be given great tickets, and take only the two oldest to a game!

L.A.County Fair

This year at the fair we had a variety of life and death encounters ... the shark
The heat... it started out hot!
The T-Rex... you can see that Rangi and I are leaning away from his deadly jaw.
Maybe the most deadly was an actual taste of chocolate covered bacon, not as bad as it sounds, turned out to be not so deadly.
THE MOST DEADLY... worlds biggest chili cheese fries, and giant turkey leg... heart attack on location could occur!
Rigdon still alive and kicking after punishing the whole turkey leg, as for the chili fries...the plate was just as bare-we are watching our cholesterol levels until the next fair.
Caroline was the only thing to be feared in the petting zoo. She would hug the animals with a death grip until they fled for dear life.
Itch attack is what I would be afraid of here, but the kids climbed happily over and through the hay "maze" for quite awhile.

And if you are afraid of crazy kids... run now!

We also encountered deadly sales people which is why I am now the proud owner of THREE poodle gloves (designed to make house cleaning a walk in the park) lightning should have struck the sales booth making it more dangerous than the food.

Despite all of the danger we would risk it again to be with good friends, free parking, fatty foods and farm animals!

Dear Garage Sales...

I LOVE YOU!!! Yes I got this table that seats six comfortably at a garage sale. I stained the tabletop and seats darker to match my cabinets. I love garage sales. My husbands family introduced them to me when we were first married, and I have been in love ever since! With garage sales that is. I now have a friend that may love them as much as me. One mans junk is another mans treasure... that is our mantra. I can't wait for the next one, have I mentioned I love garage sales and finding deals with someone who is as excited as you are just adds to the fun!

Apple of our eye...

Jillian truly is the apple of our eye! We love her so much! She turned 8 months old on the day I took these pictures ( took me a while to blog). She is now 8 1/2 months old. She claps her hands, signs "more" when she is eating, pulls herself up to her knees (time to lower the crib) and always wants to be where the whole family is. She will happily sit outside on the grass and watch all the kids play.

October...

October is the best of all

In the fall

Colored leaves come tumbling down,

on the ground

footballs flying in the air,

everywhere...

Everything a month should be

Haunting skies and Haunting sounds

Haunting colors all around.

Cool by night and warm by day

there could be no better way...

-Jane W. Krows

Happily Ever After! (Utah #3)

Rachel was stunning! She looked so elegant in her "old fashioned" dress. Rachel and Danny were married in the Salt Lake Temple on August 22nd. It was a great day, and the Salt Lake temple was so beautiful!
The kids couldn't wait to hug them. We love Danny because he is so playful and loving with our kids. It should also be noted that Danny did the most awesome rap at their wedding dinner the night before. He surprised Rachel and rapped in front of 100 people. I was laughing so hard I was crying, partially because it was so funny and partially because it was so romantic. The rap lasted over 3 minutes!!! That's a lot of rapping for a white guy!!!
Have I mentioned that I LOVE these two little best friends!
We all enjoyed lunch at the historic Lion House Cafe after the ceremony, Rangi especially enjoyed his "Brigham's Favorite" pioneer sasparilla!
The red headed girls.
The reception was so whimsical, with flowers and little details everywhere. My girls were like fairies...
Here's a really chubby fairy...(Jillian)
The famed family picture. Everyone in the Smart family spent weeks helping to get the backyard ready, because we are so far away this rockwall is the only thing we were able to help with, so I thought it was fitting that we take our picture here. Turned out pretty good if you ask me (the wall that is).
Caroline was definitely feeling like a fairy, she loved having her own bouquet and the flower wreath on her head. She danced around the yard the whole night taking in all the whimsy she could find from the grandkids garden to the fountain to all the lights.
The grandsons...who knew that such a boy heavy family would end up with so many grand-daughters! These boys sure are cute though!
Jillian loved man handling Rangi's boutiner. I know the feeling, I just want to kiss her to pieces sometimes because she is so beautiful!
What a bunch of hotties... sorry Ricker but this picture totally makes the tux's worth it!
hotties and a hunchback (3rd one in)
This kid loves fire!!! I don't know who was more excited about the sparkler departure for Rachel and Danny... but regardless it was awesome!
Happily ever after...

9/11

Yesterday, the kids all wore red, white and blue to school (actually for that matter we all wore red white and blue) It is a school tradition. Olivia also got to say the pledge of allegiance on the intercom for the whole school. She was so excited she signed up weeks ago and kept asking me when it would be her turn, which I had no answer for and that is why I missed hearing it. She told me she was shaking the whole time! Pretty funny and cute! I also went and met Livi for lunch (me and you Beetle) because she is a little nervous to buy. It was fun to eat with Livi and her friends, and to see all the kids in their red, white and blue. We had a gorgeous night also, there were lots of clouds and a beautiful sunset which we were able to enjoy while tailgating with friends before the R.C.H.S. football game. It just seemed like a day worth documenting (for me).

Surprise!

I almost forgot that one of Livi's best surprises was that my sister and her kids surprised us by showing up at the party!!! They also spent the rest of the weekend with us having fun!
Here is Rig on scout night at the Quakes the only bad surprise of this night was that there was a flag ceremony beforehand that I didn't ever hear about because e-mailing me is not a way to tell me something. I was really bummed, but Rigdon never even knew and we ended up having a great time and ending with one of the best fireworks shows ever!
Here is Livi and my mom (grandma LeeAnn) celebrating their birthdays together (only 2 days apart). We sure love you mom and hope you always know it!

Party pooper scooper...

Livi really wanted a dog party as the theme for her birthday, reluctantly I agreed, but it was actually a lot of fun. The kids all brought a pet animal that they decorated for the dog show. They then showcased their animals to "who let the dogs out" on the stage. Each child received a trophy for their "award winning dogs"!
Of course Rangi thought beating a dog was the best part of the party!
You guessed it, hot dogs for lunch!
And my cake decorating skills should probably be locked up at the pound! (actually Marja thanks for the inspiration). Livi had a great time, she has great friends and loves her new presents! Thanks to everyone who came!!!

Look who's six!

Livi wanted to have her birthday dinner somewhere they would sing to her, so we chose BJ's because we knew you got an awesome dessert for free on your birthday...what we didn't know is that it comes with one lonely candle and NO song. So sorry Livi better luck next year.(She did get an awesome birthday rap from her aunts that can be seen on Rangi's blog).
As you can see here she got some make-up that was immediately used to doll up Caroline for her birthday dinner out.
AND you may wonder if I have gone looney (yes actually I have) she also got a dog!!!*
Cupcakes to share with her class because we started school obscenely early (August 10th). She is SUPPOSED to have a summer birthday for which I also had to send in stuff for in JUNE!!!(for kindergarten).
* Why a dog you may ask? Well my sweet husband promised Livi a furry pet for her birthday about 6 months ago. She never forgot and as the big day got closer the furry pet had to be chosen. Knowing that I would be the major caretaker of this pet, despite the fact that my husband made the promise, I had to choose well. No hamster or anything else that would smell up the inside of the house and have a cage to be regularly cleaned. Rabbits, well we've done that before and they are more work than you would think and not always friendly. Then we got an offer hard to refuse... a two year old dog belonging to aunt Roxanne with a return policy you can't even get at Costco. So far so good. He puts up with quite a lot from the girls and other than attracting flies we like him a lot!

P.S.

Does anyone else get frustrated when they have spent the whole day cleaning and the house is trashed ten minutes after the kids get home? I may as well have been eating Bon Bons and watching T.V. by the time my husband gets home.

Schooled!

School bells are ringing loud and clear, vacations over school is here

We hunt our pencils and our books and say goodbye to fields and brooks

To carefree days of sunny hours, to fields and butterflies and flowers...
Yes it's true another school year is here and we are back in full swing (like it or not)! The first day always brings a lot of excitement, especially because our good friends go to our same school. When our first kids started kindergarten it didn't seem like a big deal that we went to different schools, but as fate would have it we are now both at the same school and I couldn't be happier!
I love to snap a picture of the kids at their desks, what a cutie!
Livi kept asking me if they were going to go easy on the first graders on the first day. She was really worried, but came home and said they went REALLY easy on us!
Shocker to me is that Caroline is in pre-school!!! (She started in September which is when I still believe school should start, that is why I waited to do this post...wink,wink)
She was the MOST excited, she loved her first day and told the kids about it as soon as she saw them. I can't believe how grown up everyone is getting!!! And what have I been doing you ask? EVERYTHING! Actually I have been using this time to overhaul the house and get really organized. Hope it last longer than a week.