The Rummage Sale

Koen Evan Smith

2011-09-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

Everyone, meet Koen Evan Smith. He was born on August 30th at about 4:40 am. He was 3 weeks early and he is perfect! Welcome to the world Koen! You were born into a strange family but we're fun and we sure do love you!

5 Years

2011-08-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

Today was our anniversary. We've been married for 5 years and while sometimes it's been hard and life hasn't turned out how we planned, it's been a great 5 years. So at the risk of sounding cheesy, thanks Zach. You're the best and I love you.

One Year

2011-07-26T20:30:00.001-07:00

Our fake family photo. We took a similar one last year with Jude.

I recently had my white coat pinning ceremony. The actual pinning doesn't mean very much except that I've made it through my first year of PA school. Probably the hardest year of my life and hopefully one day I will be able to say it was worth it. Now if I can just make it through one more!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

This is my dad. He's a superhero. Now, not everyone is lucky enough to have a superhero for a dad. I am. Since today is Father's Day, I thought I'd take the time to tell everyone a little bit about him.

Squareknot has many super powers:

Life Saving. Squareknot worked very hard and sacrificed much to develop this power. As a child I remember Squareknot ripping the ears off my stuffed bunny so he could practice sewing them back on. This is the level of commitment he has shown to his super power of life saving. I hope one day to be as good at saving lives as he is.

Teaching. This may seem like a strange super power but that is because it is so rare these days. Being a teacher is one of SK's greatest powers. He is always teaching. Growing up I sometimes didn't appreciate being woken up at 6:00 am on a Saturday etc. but I now know that Squareknot was using his superpower to help me learn important lessons.

Defying Death. Squareknot has defied death many times. Just ask him. He's been in snowstorms on the top of a mountain and almost died...but didn't. He's gone on an 18 mile hike with a 98% blocked artery in his heart and almost died...but didn't. I highly encourage anyone to ask Squareknot about his superpower of defying death; just make sure you have lots of time to listen. I'm glad I've had the chance to witness some of these events because it has given me a love of adventure!

These are just 3 of Squareknot's superpowers. A few others are cooking, knot tying, working, knowledge, wisdom, story telling, encouraging and the list goes on and on. If you want to learn more, check out his super hero tutorial.

Happy Father's Day Squareknot! You sure are my hero!

Providencia

2011-06-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

A few years ago Zach and I hiked the Inca trail. While on the hike a couple told us of a small Colombian island off the coast of Nicaragua called Providencia. It's the third largest reef in the world next to Australia and Beliz. This year when trying to decide where to go on vacation we remembered their suggestion and decided to go. It was quite the adventure. We ended up having an island pretty much all to ourselves for a week.

It took 4 plane rides to get there, the last of which was in this tiny little thing. I was terrified but it was actually not too bad.

This is the place we stayed. We had made reservations at another place but it was very far from town, pretty much everything so we went here instead. It was awesome. We had a room on the third floor that overlooked the beach. Did I mention there is not a single shower with hot water in all the hotels on the island.

This was my favorite beach, Southwest Bay. We spent most of our afternoons here. There were times when we literally were the only people on this beach. That was a little weird at first and definitely took some getting use to.

Our second day we took a boat tour of the island. One of the stops was a tiny island called Crab Caye. It had beautiful views from the top and we got to snorkel all around it.

One of the days we hiked around a small island connected to Providencia by a makeshift bridge called Santa Catelina. It is famous for being the place that Pirate Morgan had landed and hidden treasure. You can see the cannons etc. There's a rock formation that they call Morgan's head that we snorkeled out to.

Another fun thing we did was hike to the top of the Peak. It's the highest point on the island and ended up being about 8 miles round trip. We had a native guide who spoke very broken English but was so friendly and so much fun. He knew everything and even opened a coconut up for us to drink and eat on the way down. This is a view from the top.

The next day we did another hike around the Lagoons of the island. This was my favorite hike. It had great views of the reef and the water. These island are the 3 Brothers Caye. No one is allowed near them because of some birds that live on them. While hiking by the water we also saw some turtles and a huge sting ray. Our guide was a local guy they call Nino. He was very rasta.

This island is famous for their crabs. Every year starting now the crabs come down from the mountains to the beach, leave their eggs and head back up to the mountains. There are crabs everywhere and when I say everywhere, that's what I mean. They are all over the road, walls, trees...everything! This pic barely gives you the idea of what it is really like. NUTS!

Our last day on the island we rented a scooter and went all around. There is only one road on the island and it goes all the way around. Zach drove and I got to tell him to stop wherever I wanted so I could take way to many pictures. Most people on the island get around by moto so there are a thousand scooters on the road.

It rained on the island almost every day we were there. That was a little frustrating but we managed just fine. The one thing I was disappointed about was that there was no sunset when it rained. I love sunsets and wanted to see one. Thankfully, it cleared up on the last day we were there and there was a spectacular sunset!

Some of my other favorite things about the trip

1. FOOD! The food was amazing! Fresh fish, crab, shrimp, lobster...you name it, they had it and it was fabulous!

2. Language. The island has 3 languages: English, Spanish, and an English Creole mix. It was amazing to hear the natives speak this language. I couldn't understand a word.

This was a great trip! I remembered how much I love adventure. I'm already starting to plan our next big one!

Birthweek

2011-05-11T12:40:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a great day but the great thing about it was that it was the end of about a week long celebration.

Last Thursday Mom and Dad, Tessa and Zach surprised me with a trip to the Melting Pot. I've always wanted to go there. It was amazing! We spent almost 3 hours eating. Who could ask for anything better?

We started with 2 kinds of cheese and breads and veggies and chips. Then we moved on to the main course. This is Zach with his tempura battered broccoli.

Mumsy and Papi at the end of the dinner portion. They look like they are in a food coma because they are.

I got 5 chocolate covered strawberries that were as big as my head. They went great with the white chocolate fondu and the smores fondu. It was awesome!!!

On Saturday Zach's mom and dad came down and took us out to dinner. We went to a little burger joint in Scottsdale called Delux. It was awesome. The chi was amazing and they had some of the best french fries I've ever had!

Monday night Tessa came over and read me Dr. Seuss's happy birthday story. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not 3 baked potatoes.

Tuesday morning Zach woke me up with breakfast in bed. He made cottage cheese pancakes! I spent a day at school. My school friends took me out to lunch. Then for dinner we did the traditional Joe's restaurant trifecta starting at Joe's Farm Grill.

Desert of Salt River bars at Liberty Market.

And dinner for today at Joe's BBQ.

It was a great birthweek. What more can a girl ask for?

12 Years!

2011-05-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we celebrated Preston's 12 year anniversary of his heart transplant. I think it's been a great 12 years. The party consisted of good people, gourmet soda and Tessa red velvet cake. I think those 3 things are perfect for a party celebrating Preston's life.

Here's to another 12 + years better than the last.

Mindi and Jude. Jude was way to into his cookie to smile.

The red velvet cake complete with Zelbie decor. Yes, the fox is giving the owl his heart. (The cake was amazing by the way.)

Do you think this could be Preston's son?

And this pretty much sums it up!

Easter

2011-05-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

Easter was pretty laid back this year. The easter bunny visited our house early in the morning and brought us some candy and socks. At church we had a good/interesting musical sacrament meeting. Then we had a fun family dinner with some games and that was it.

Easter is actually my second favorite holiday, next to Christmas. Not that I need one but I like having a special reason to think about Christ and the resurrection and to be especially grateful for that. This easter was no exception.

Here's me with my special Tessa bag basket. I love it!

Zach and his basket. We tried the snickers eggs this year. They are delicious!

Impromptu Triathlon

2011-04-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

A few Saturdays ago, Zach was participating in a sprint triathlon. He went to check in on Friday evening and when he saw the course decided that I would love it and should participate. Since I was going anyway (for support) I let myself be convinced. We had a great time. I didn't get any pics of Zach since he is waaay faster than me but he was nice enough to take some of me. It was a short tri, 300 meter swim, 8 mile bike and 2 mile run. Zach's goal was to finish in 45 minutes and mine was to finish in around 1 hour. We both did great; Zach finished in 47 minutes and I finished in 1hour and 1 second which was the top 20! For me that is awesome!

PLACE PLC/TOT  NO.  NAME          PLC SWIM    PLC   BIKE    PLC   RUN    TIME

16  10/22    149 SHANON BROWN   42  7:54    20   33:37    21   18:30   1:00:01

Here's Zach and I before the race.

Me on the bike! My bike's name is Lightening because it's so fast.

Me at the end of the run. I ran it in 9:15 per mile. For me, that's super fast!

Both of us at the end.

It really was a great triathlon. Anyone who really wants to do one but is a little nervous, it's perfect! There's only 150 people and it's shorter than a normal sprint tri. It's very chill and the location is great, right through a beautiful neighborhood. I would highly recommend it!

Spring Break

2011-03-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

As I sit here in pharmacology trying not to get too mad I realized that I hadn't blogged about spring break. (I needed to go to a happy place in order to calm myself down.) I had such a lovely spring break. It started with a few crafts, which I will show you in another post but the real fun happened when the Bade's came to visit. It's been 2 years since we've seen each other and it was great to hang out.

We went to Jesterz!

This is a picture of one of the places we went out to eat. We also had pasties, Joe's Farm Grill and lots of good homemade food. I didn't need to eat for a week after.

Once the Bades left (insert tears) it was time to hang with the fam. We took Jude swimming. He loved it but he mostly loved hanging out by the railings in the 7 foot deep area. You can imagine how this would be a problem since I am only 5'6".

These are the g parents. They were down for a few days and it sure was great to hang out with them! Love these two. They are truly one of a kind. (Each of them separately is one of a kind and both of them together is one of a kind too!)

All in all it was a great spring break and much needed. I'm now 2 weeks back at the grindstone and getting closer and closer to the end. Yay!

Birthdays and Unbirthdays!

2011-03-03T08:15:00.000-08:00

Now that finals are over, I can actually take a breath and hopefully catch up on blogging. Not a lot has been going on with all the studying but I did miss blogging about Mindi's birthday. She turned 31 on Valentine's Day. We had a little party with good dinner and dessert! I made a chocolate chip cookie pie. It was pretty good. Anyway, happy unbirthday today to Mindi but here are pictures of her real birthday!

This was Mindi's birthday banner. Can you tell I do not have her or Tessa's craftiness ability. This was the best I could come up with.

Mindi opening her presents.

Happy Mindi!

Jude putting Mindi's presents on his head. It was sooo cute!

Ethan's Run

2011-02-13T20:17:00.000-08:00

Today I ran my first "official" 10K. It was awesome! It wasn't the fastest I've ever run a 10K but it was half uphill and it wasn't my slowest time either. I was pretty happy with my results.
The actual run was only part of the awesomeness of this race. It was the cause that made it even more awesome. Ethan's Run was set up to benefit children with congenital heart defects so it hit very close to home. Zach and I debated doing it because of the money until I heard that a couple in my old ward had just lost their first baby to one of these defects. Well, that broke my heart and I wanted to do something to help. In these situations, there really isn't much to do but at least I could pay a little bit of money to help someone similar to them. The atmosphere at the run was amazing. There were tons of families all wearing shirts supporting their little kiddo with heart problems.
While I was walking around before the race I ran into an old Sunday school teacher of mine. She told me that she had recently lost her little girl. I was amazed at how strong these families who had lost their little ones were. Not that they weren't sad or having a hard time but they were out helping others. I really don't think I would be able to do that. It was very overwhelming to me. I am so grateful to know that families can be together forever and that these little children aren't lost. They are with a loving Heavenly Father waiting for their earthly parents to come to them.

Birthdays and Brothers

2011-02-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

This is Jude and he's my nephew. He is the best baby I've ever known, always happy and smiling and glad to see you. Just look at that face! Yesterday was his first birthday!

He got owl cupcakes for his birthday. I think he liked them. Just look at him stare those crazy owls down!

He even got to eat one all by himself. We were slightly worried when he stuck a whole half of an oreo in his mouth but he handled that cookie like a champ. Do you think he came to the right family?

Jude also got another surpirse for his birthday. He is going to be a big brother! That means that I get to be an aunt again and I am soooo excited!

Happy birthday Jude! I don't know what we ever did without you!

Good Day

2011-01-20T20:52:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day at PA school. You don't very often have great days at school (it's really hard) but today was one of them. It was my first day of ACLS training and it was awesome! We learned how to intubate a patient (stick that metal thing into their throat and a tube down their trachea) and how to run a code on a non-responsive patient. (That means the patient was dead on the table and my team and I brought him back to life.) I have been very nervous about this part of training for a long time and I was even more nervous after our instructor told us he's made people cry before. It turned out great. It was a blast intubating and I did pretty darn good when it was my turn to run the code. Thank heaven! It's nice to have days like today occasionally that remind you why you are putting yourself through all of this. Today I'm excited about being a PA!

On a funny side note. I was talking to Zach about all of this and he asked, "were you doing all of this on people?" I responded, "oh no, it was on mannequins," to which he said, "Oh good, I was thinking you were going to have to practice all of that on me!" This boy really must love me if he was willing to let me practice intubating on him! Maybe someday I'll take him up on that. :)

The Big 26!

2011-01-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

My little Zachary is 26 now. It was a quiet day for us. We did the Joe's birthday trifecta, which consists of eating at each of the 3 Joe's restaurants. They give you $10 toward your bill so the whole experience cost us about $25. We tried to do a little triathlon but that epically failed when I crashed on my bike. So we ran 7.5 miles instead. The rest of the day we chilled with Tessa and played the Wii and watched some shows. It was a good day.

Breakfast at Joe's Farm Grill. I would highly recommend their breakfasts to anyone!

Zachary and his spoils. Yes, that is a Yoda desk protector and and R2D2 USB port.

Lunch at Liberty Market. Zach was very hungry. Yes that is a shirt that detects if there is WiFi around.

Dinner at Joe's BBQ!

The day ended with amazing Texas sheet cake at Preston and Mindi's and the movie "How to Train Your Dragon." Highly recommended.

Happy birthday Zachary! You are my favorite of all the peoples!

Christmas

2011-01-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from our Christmas Eve celebrations at the Smiths. All of the boys got superhero capes! It was awesome!

Dear Tessa

2010-12-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

Dear Tessa,

Glad as I am that you had the chance to go to China and see lots of new places and meet lots of new people, I am even more glad that you are coming home. I have missed you! That is all.

Love,

Shannon

Turkey Trot

2010-12-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

I finally got my pictures from the turkey trot this year. It was my 2nd year running it and I beat my time from last year by over 3 minutes. That may not seem like a lot but for me it is, especially for a morning run. Zach and Squareknot ran it with me. They did awesome. Squareknot even finished 4th in his age category

Before the race with Craig, Bart, me and Zach

Me finishing the race. Don't I look like I'm running so fast.

Look, I'm still smiling.

Me and Squareknot.

I can't wait to beat my time again next year.

Christmas Trees

2010-12-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

This years Christmas tree hunt was as fun as the last few have been but maybe less cold. Zach came with us this year. It was very fun to have him. We started early in the morning, ate a great breakfast of biscuits and gravy at a little diner in Payson and then off to the woods...

After hours of searching we finally found our trees.

Zach had to haul it all the way down the road.

It's always fun figuring out how to tie 3 trees to the top of the car.

Meet Kevin. He isn't perfect and he's a little smaller than usual but I love him.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Birthday Preston!

2010-12-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

Preston turned 30 on November 25th. To celebrate we had a huge turkey dinner with stuffing and mashed potatoes and the whole works.

We played Prestardy (Preston Jeopardy).

Preston with all of his presents.

Such a cute family.

The boys went for a bike ride. I really have no words to describe this one.

Happy birthday Preston. You're a ninja big brother!

Crack Friday

2010-12-05T18:56:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving this year was awesome! There was lots of food, fun and family. More to come on all of that later. The day after Thanksgiving we had a craft day. Seeing as how it was also black Friday, we named the day crack Friday. We black Fridayed it in the morning and then got straight into the crafties. I think it was a very successful and enjoyable day.

This is about what the dining room looked like all day long. Needless to day there was no family dinner at the table.

And here are our spoils:

Fencepost Snowmen. Zach says the middle one looks like a gangster.

Wood Pumpkins. These were sooo easy. I stole the idea from a blog but I can't remember which one.

And these little Santa paintbrush ornaments. We found this and many other ideas on a wonderful blog called Craft Goodies.

Hard Things

2010-11-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

I just finished one of the top 5 hardest weeks of my life. Finals week is very difficult to describe. You know how in college, you study hard for finals and then when they are done you feel so releived and full of energy because you are done. My finals are not like that. By the time I was done, this morning at 8:30 AM, I was exhausted. There wasn't even enough energy left to be excited. All is well though. I passed and actually did pretty well. My family is also down and they helped cheer me up with a great day of shopping, hanging with Jude and Joe's BBQ. You can't get much better than that. Now for a week off filled with Christmas tree hunting, Thanksgiving, craft day and hopefully some period films and relaxation.

This is a picture of my pharmacology professors trying to get us to lighten up. I applaud the effort but by this time we were such zombies that I think it was lost on us all. It's much funnier now, 3 days later.

Smiles

2010-11-01T18:55:00.000-07:00

Anytime I feel a little glum I look at this and smile. I thought I'd share my smile inspiration so you could smile too!

Supermen

2010-10-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Zach and Squareknot did a triathlon at Lake Powell. It was awesome! They both did such a great job and didn't even finish last. Mom and I were there the whole time watching, running back and forth from the swimming station to the biking station to the running station. Then there was a lot of standing around which would have been wonderful...except that it was pouring rain almost the entire time we were out there. I think I shivered so much that I burned as many calories as the men did throughout the triathlon.

Mom and I had planned on casually watching as we sipped our hot chocolate by the fire but that was not going to happen. Who knew triathlon spectating was such hard work!

Zach and Squareknot before the race.

Squareknot as he finished the swim. He wasn't last! He was only 4th to last.

Zach sticking out his tongue at the end of the bike. You may think he's doing that because he's tired but really he's drinking the rain water that is coming down. He doesn't want to have to stop to hydrate!

Squareknot racing to the finish!

Really, it was an awesome trip and I'm so proud of these Supermen for doing so well in really awful conditions! They've inspired me to do another one!

The National

2010-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

Concerts in our family are kind of a tradition, except not. I guess you could just say that we really like them. I'm sure my brother, Preston, lost count of how many he's been to long ago. I love them because there's just nothing like hearing an artist perform live. There really isn't. There is so much energy and excitement and it's makes you have to move and dance (even if you don't know how to, like me).

Anyway, last night Zach and I went with some good friends (John, Stephanie and Travis Nunley) to see The National. It was a great show! I learned long ago that if you try to hard to take pictures and video, you miss the songs. I did, however, manage to snap a few for Tessa's sake.

This is Zach, Travis and John. It was Travis's first concert!

A small portion of my favorite song that they played, Fake Empire.

Crafties

2010-10-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

This was my craft project over the weekend. It was lots of fun and I think they turned out great. I love to use lots of bright colors and these blocks have lots of pretty bright colored paper. I hope Stephanie likes them!

Midterms and Mi Comida

2010-10-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

I had midterms this week. Six of them. Let's just say that whoever came up with the idea that graduate programs, especially medical ones, should have one week where every class has a test, is an idiot. Why we can't spread this out a little more, I'll never know. Anyway, with that little thought I'll just tell you that is was a difficult week. But, I got through it and did pretty well.

My reward was a sweet little Ecuadorean/Peruvian restaurant in Phoenix. A few weeks ago, Zach came home telling me about this restaurant he had found. The article said they cooked authentic Ecuadorean and Peruvian food. What could be better? (For those of you who may not know, Zach served his mission in Peru and I served in Ecuador.) So Friday after Zach got off work we headed out.

This place was amazing! It was a little hole in the wall with Ecuadorean banners etc all over. The family is from Ecuador and grandma is the cook. She prepares the food when you order it and it is very authentic!

Inka Cola! (Zach's favorite South American drink.)

Yes. Those are giant patacones! (One of my very favorite Ecuadorean foods.)

Zach had lomo saltado, which is his favorite Peruvian dish.

I had seco de pollo, which is very, very common in Ecuador. It was just as good as if my Ecuadorean mamita had made it, only better because the chicken didn't have any bones! (And yes, that is fried maduro on the side.)

It was a wonderful reward. Dessert was Cold Stone ice cream and then we went and visited Mindi and Preston and Jude until about 2:00 am. It's been so long since I've been able to sit and chat and not feel bad that I wasn't studying. I loved it!

My Kitchen Table

2010-10-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my kitchen table. I've been trying to find a way to convey what I've been up to lately and I think the chaos that is my table does a pretty good job. This is PA grad school in a nutshell. The majority of the table is covered in notes, books, diagrams, computer, highlighters, 3 hold puncher, backpack etc. That is symbolizing how the majority of my life is taken up by studying, learning, and other such activities. You'll notice, however, that there is a small corner taken up by Zach. He and the rest of my family pretty much take up the rest of my life. For the next 2 years at least.

Some interesting things about being in PA school:

I remember every disorder or disease by tagging them to someone I know who has it.

I found myself describing the crap you sometimes have in your eye when you wake up as mucopurulent discharge and I actually know what that means.

I have to look into noses and ears and I like it.

Last Tuesday my day consisted of a lecture on suicide and another one on cancer and I wasn't that depressed about it. This Tuesday it consisted of a lecture on death and dying and another one on cancer and I still wasn't that depressed.

To put it simply, life in the Brown house is a little bit different and a lot more stressful but despite all that, I love what I'm learning. There isn't much else I'd rather be doing...except maybe traveling the world but that will come later and by then I'll be able to save your life if you happen to go into shock while traveling with me!

Reminiscing

2010-09-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

I have been reminiscing about my mission quite a bit lately. First, I've been craving Ecuadorian food. Second, my mission is having a reunion this coming conference weekend, up in Utah. Third, the sisters who served with me recently got together, also up in Utah. (It's around this time of year that I wish I lived there.) Fourth, my trainer, who is now a mother of 2 and has a great blog for you mothers, also just posted about missions. Perhaps you can see why it's been on my mind.

I wish I could explain or describe the greatness that is being a missionary. I'm not a mom/dad so I don't know how it compares to that but I have never experienced a better feeling. Even after being home almost 5 years that feeling hasn't gone away. I still think, talk or dream about my mission every day. I'm not some incredible member missionary or anything like that; that isn't what I'm saying. I guess I'm just trying to say that there is no other way to have that kind of experience. And it's the kind of experience that sticks with you and changes your life.

Anyway, enough reminiscing for me. Here are a few pics for you to enjoy and perhaps laugh at!

Me in my 2nd area, Duran. There were a lot of mosquitoes here...and dirt roads.

An afternoon of service. Isn't this the quintessential picture of missionaries doing service in South America, complete with cane huts, machetes and dirt!

Me with my first mamita, Hermama Victoria and my first baptism, Leyla. This was about 2 weeks before I went home. I was lucky enough to take Leyla through the temple.

Me with my last companion, Hna Ruiz in my last area, Manta. She had never ever been away from home before she left on her mission and I was lucky enough to be her first companion. This pic happens to be on Thanksgiving Day.

Triathlon

2010-08-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

This last weekend Zach and I swam/biked/ran our first triathlon. It was a small even in the valley and we had a blast. We swam 600 meters, biked 15 miles and ran a 5 K. Below is evidence that we actually participated. Thanks to my mother for sticking with us the whole time so we could have some pictures!

This is us before the swim.

Zach swimming. He was easy to pick out because he was the really white one.

Zach in his first transition. Squareknot even let him use his bike. Ooooooo.

This is me swimming.

Me about half way through the bike. Check out all the cool gear: gloves, helmet, sunglasses, camelback, ipod. I was so cool. Zach finished before I even started so Squareknot was nice enough to bike and run with me.

Me finishing my run.

Me after the run. I'm still standing and I actually felt great!

Both of us at the end. Zach has been done for a good 3 hours but I had just finished.

Zach ended up getting 22 overall for the boys. I don't know what I got. I was just pretty proud that I finished and that I wasn't exhausted or dead afterwards. I'd love to do another one and set some sort of goal. I took this one pretty easy because I wanted to make sure I could actually do it without dying. Life goal accomplished!

Projects

2010-08-25T15:27:00.000-07:00

This has been my project as of late. I've been very worried about it since it is the first one I've done for a little girl. I think it turned out adorable. This is a nice sneak peak for Stephanie. I hope you love it. I'll be bringing it this weekend. Ryenn's are on their way. I'm just waiting for more blocks.

Millions of Peaches

2010-08-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

This past week my parents came up to the valley to catch a flight to Boston. The night before they came my Mom told me that she was going out back to get me some peaches. I invisioned a small grocery sized bag with a few peaches in it. I was wrong. Whem my Mother says she's bringing you peaches, beware! I ended up with a huge luggage sized bag 2/3 full of peaches. Well, I was determined to use them as I have not in the past. As a result, I created/copied a few culinary masterpieces. They were delicious!

This is a Phyllo Fruit Tart from Gina's WW Recipes. It's like fruit pizza but the crust is Phyllo dough and the top is drizzled with white chocolate. Healthy, easy, delicious! What more can you ask for. Preston, Mindi, Zach and I polished this baby off in one sitting!

This is a peach cobbler recipe that I found on all recipes.com. 745 people had reviewed it and given it 4.5 stars. I figured 745 people couldn't be wrong so I gave it a try. It was awesome!

I've also been baking peach bread and muffins all week for freezing and this little man has been my helper.

I don't usually share recipes because, let's face it, I'm not a good cook but these were so good (Tessa standard) and pretty that I wanted everyone to know about them. I do have to say that I don't want to see another peach for a very very long time.

Summer

2010-08-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened over the last few months and instead of trying to post about each separately, I decided to do a nice little picture collage. This way, all of the important stuff gets remembered and you don’t have to fall asleep reading what we’ve been up to. It really has been a great summer!

I passed my midterms with flying colors and got my white coat! Thanks to Zach, Preston, Mindi, and Jude for coming to support me!

Also, special thanks to Preston and Mindi for letting us borrow this adorable child for our pretend family photo.

Zach and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. Zach got the old Disney Afternoon cartoons.

I got this sweet camelback! I can't wait to use it.

We sent Tessa off to China. This may or may not still be a touchy subject since Tessa has been living with us for the past 3 months. We may or may not miss her like crazy. Probably may on both of those. Thankfully we have Skype and can talk to her rather frequently. She is not allowed to go away again. (The picture is of us at the airport at 5:00am. I hope that explains some things.)

This is Tessa walking away.

My friend Ticia had a baby! Her name is Isabel and she is beautiful!

I was also able to pass my finals and have finished my first term of PA school. I am now on a 3 week break and am lucky enough to be watching this adorable guy. He is so much fun and I'm glad to have him around to keep me company.

So there you have it. Hopefully there will be more exciting things in the future and that I can make some time between study sessions to keep everyone up to date.

Dad

2010-06-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

Many people aren't blessed to have a father like mine. In my opinion no one is blessed to have a father like mine. He is one of a kind. Happy Father's Day daddy!

Brains

2010-06-14T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today I played with brains. It was my first day of PA school and let me just share a few thoughts. My first class at 7:00 AM today was anatomy. Let me just say that my first thought, as my professor started lecturing, was, "How do I take notes?" That does not bode well.

Next, was anatomy lab. That class consisted of the professor asking questions to which I responded, "I have absolutely no idea," or "I have never learned that," or "I didn't know we had those!"

Lunch was ok. I worked up the nerve to sit at a table with a bunch of people in my lab group. They all knew each other but none of them knew me and I knew none of them. I ate my lunch and off I went as they continued with their conversation.

Physiology came next. I was feeling better when I finished early and took off for home. I was in my shorts and tshirt and getting ready to do a little relaxing when I realized I had left my power cord for my computer at the school. The next hour was spent retrieving it (thank you Tessa). Now I am home already feeling guilty that I'm not studying. I think I just learned what it really feels like to be overwhelmed.

Craft Day

2010-06-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago Tessa, Mindi, Jude and I had a craft day. It was so much fun. We started at about 9:30ish and didn't call it a night until about 10:30 pm. Zach and Preston even joined us. They didn't do much crafting but it was great fun to have them there.

Mindi made some alphabet and number blocks for Jude.

My big projects were name blocks for one of Mindi's co-workers. They turned out really good.

Finished product.

All in all it was a great day. Tessa was our craft ninja and taught us everything. She even took the best pictures so for full details, see her blog

Memorial Day

2010-06-07T07:56:00.000-07:00

This Memorial Day Zach and I went on a hike. We took a trail starting at the Peralta trailhead and ending just above Weaver's Needle. The desert was gorgeous, so green and colorful. We loved it!

Below is Weaver's Needle. Just before we got there we met a family and one of the little girls, probably about 10, says in a very excited voice, "You're almost there and it's AWESOME!" She was right.

Day Camp

2010-06-06T19:54:00.001-07:00

This is Zachary after two hours of cub scout day camp. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Celebrations!

2010-05-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Zach and I took a trip for my birthday/I'm starting school in a month and won't have time to do anything for 2 years. We headed out to California and had a great time.

Our first stop was the LA temple. It is such a gorgeous temple and huge!

Then it was off to Disneyland.

This is a picture of Zach on one of our favorite rides, Toystory Midway Mania. Long lines but soooo much fun! You get to shoot those little cannons.
This picture isn't even close to showing the amount of strollers that were parked here. I've never seen so many strollers in my whole life...combined!
This is my birthday haul. Thanks everyone for making it so great!

Tummy Time

2010-05-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Poor Jude. Tummy time was just too much for him on this particular day. He fell asleep mid sentence.

Easter

2010-05-02T18:35:00.000-07:00

This year we got to spend Easter with my grandparents. Zach had a mission reunion conference weekend so we decided to head up to Utah. We didn't have tickets for conference and instead of heading off to Salt Lake to wait in a line hoping we could get some, we kicked it with G and G Simmons in Manti.

Our first morning Grampa made us stuffed french toast. It was incredible and beat out any restaurant stuffed french toast I've ever had. You can tell by the look on Zach's face!

I love this woman! Grama has become so much fun! She is always entertaining us with her antics. I'm lucky she's my grama!
Grampa has had so much more time for his culinary creations since he retired and we are the lucky benefactors. He is so talented in so many ways and one of the kindest people I know.

This is Zach's Easter basket. He had a lot of fun searching for it. It was particularly difficult time since he didn't know all of the hiding places!

This is Sylvester. He's the cat that doesn't really belong to Grama and Grampa but they take care of him anyway. Grama made sure I took a few pictures of him along with everyone else.

Grama and Grampa had fun searching for their basket too. They found it a lot more quickly than Zach. They were also ninjas when it came to egg hunting!

It was a great Easter! You don't get much better than being with family!

California Poppies

2010-04-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

As some of you may have gathered, I love Arizona in the spring. This last winter we had a lot of rain so the flowers have been spectacular, in particular the California Poppies. Entire hillsides are covered with them making it look like the hills are on fire! In all my years in Arizona, I've never seen it look like this and these pictures don't come close to doing it justice.

The Alchemist

2010-04-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading this book. It already has and will change my life. I loved it and highly recommend it to everyone.

First Hike

2010-03-29T22:04:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Squareknot and I took Jude on his first hike. We took him out to Usery Park and walked along the trail for about a mile. As you can see Jude was very excited. He could hardly contain himself.

He was practically bursting out of his carrier with excitement.

He worked himself up so much that he passed out. Arms and legs dangling!

All in all it was a very successful first hike. It only took 2 full days of sleep for Jude to recover.

Shorts

2010-03-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

Today I am wearing shorts. I love Arizona in the Spring and the signs of Spring are everywhere. I captured a few with my camera this past weekend. I put my life in peril to get the peach tree pictures. They were swarming with bees!

Fantasy Baseball

2010-03-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was fantasy baseball draft weekend. Let me tell you, it was serious business in our house. For a full 2 hours my parent's living room was transformed into the command center! Stacy and Zach had their 6 different Excel spreadsheets, their 2 laptops and the television. It was quite the event!

Great Recipe

2010-03-09T09:33:00.001-08:00

Zach and I have been trying to eat a lot healthier the last few months and I've found a lot of great recipes thanks to several blogs that are all on my blog list. Anyway, yesterday I tried one from Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes that was wonderful and didn't feel like diet food at all. I was so excited about it that I wanted to share with everyone.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 9 • Serving Size: 1 roll • Calories: 188 • Points: 4 ww pts

9 lasagna noodles, cooked
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
15 oz fat free ricotta cheese (I like Polly-o)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt and fresh pepper
32 oz tomato sauce
9 tbsp (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

A Little Bit of Sunshine

2010-02-26T12:20:00.000-08:00

I love Arizona in the spring. It is one time of year that I know exactly why I live here. Lately the weather has been so beautiful that I wish I could pass it on to all of my friends that are stuck in the cold and snow. So for those of you who are, here's a little touch of sunshine OR you can always come visit me!

Weather forecast for those of you who aren't already jealous:

Today

Partly Sunny
High 71°F

Partly sunny. Highs 68 to 73. East wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Partly Cloudy
Low 47°F

Partly cloudy. Lows 43 to 51. Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Saturday

Increasing Clouds
High 72°F

Increasing clouds. A chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs 69 to 74. East wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of measurable rain 30 percent.

Saturday Night

Chance Of T-Storm
Low 47°F

Showers with a chance of thunderstorms. Breezy with lows 42 to 52. Southwest wind 20 to 25 mph in the evening...Becoming around 15 mph after midnight. Chance of measurable rain 90 percent.

Sunday

Showers Likely
High 64°F

Partly cloudy. Showers likely in the morning...Then a chance of showers in the afternoon. Cooler. Highs 61 to 66. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of measurable rain 70 percent.

Isn't this just heaven on earth. At least for the next few months!!!

Elinor

2010-02-21T20:10:00.000-08:00

Everyone...I would like to introduce you to Elinor. Elinor is an antique refrigerator. I LOVE antiques. For me, they make a home feel homeyer (yes, I just made that up). We found this beautiful girl in an antique store and I immediately fell in love. I grew up with one of these in my parent's living room, only theirs is a lot bigger. Elinor is very small and fits perfectly next to our couch. She is a very welcome member of the family.

Doting

2010-02-18T15:02:00.001-08:00

I do not dote on my husband nearly enough. In fact I'm probably much better at teasing than doting. But, truth be told Zach is an amazing husband and deserves a little praise.

Zach and I aren't huge Valentine's Day fans. We don't do anything big but we do think it's a fun excuse to do something nice for each other. This year Zach put a lot of work into my gift. He sent me on a scavenger hunt! This is actually the second step. The first step was written on the mirror so that when I took a shower and the bathroom got all steamed up, I would see it. I didn't get a pic of that. Anyway, first clue:
I'm skipping the in between steps but I did want to highlight the fact that he hid the second clue in a file on the computer. I love nerds!!

My scavenger hung ended with this:
You can't see the little Vincent Van Gogh key chain that he got me. He's tucked in the flowers.

It was a great Valentine's Day, thanks to Zachary.

Scouting Spirit

2010-02-14T18:01:00.000-08:00

Zach and I were recently called to cub scouting. Without getting too detailed, I'll just say that I'm not really enthusiastic about cub scouting. My father, on the other hand is and he was nice enough to teach us the "Scouting Spirit" song. He does such a good job, I wanted to share it.

Now, I ask you...how can you not have the scouting spirit after that?

Happy Birthday Zach!

2010-02-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

I'm a litttle late blogging about Zach's birthday but it must be done! My husband is now 25, which means that for the next 5 months he is only one year younger than me. I had such a great time surprising Zach this year. With me starting school in June I had to make sure that he has plenty to keep him busy during the time I will be studying. That is why he received every book he could ever want. (Well maybe not EVER but he did get about 15 new books.) He also got some exercise equipment, cloths and a GPS. He is one spoiled guy but at least he deserves it!

This is a picture of him with all his spoilage. We went to Applebees for dinner. He really wanted the blonde brownie for dessert. He loved it! Happy birthday Zach, you are awesome!

Jude Redding Smith

2010-02-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

The much anticipated Jude Redding Smith arrived yesterday, February 9th at approximately 2:00 PM. I may be a little bit bias but that is one cute baby. Welcome to the world, Jude. We are so glad you are here.

Tree

2010-01-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

The Simmons Christmas tree is a big tradition in our family. It started with my Grampa, then my Mom and now my brother and I do it. Each year my tree has gotten bigger and bigger. Last year's filled up half of the living room (not exaggerating). This year's was even bigger but luckily we had more space for it. I'm not quite up to the number of bulbs my mom has but, not to worry, I bought 13 extra boxes of bulbs at the after Christmas sale at Hobby Lobby. Next years tree will be even better!

Christmas

2010-01-01T18:50:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. Everyone was there but Stacy and Doug. We didn't do a lot but more than relax and play games but it was great just being with the fam.

All of us with out new pajamas.

Zach's big surprise was his flat screen tv. He was expecting a bike. I did a lot of tricky hinting so that he would think that.

I had a great time making these blocks for Jude.

My dear padre. This is a frame made by Tessa out of old moulding from Grampa Simmons' store. We all got one and they are beautiful!

Here's an owl broach that we found for Tessa.

I just love Christmas time. I am already counting down the days until next year.

Smith Christmas Weekend Extravaganza

2009-12-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was the annual Smith Christmas Weekend Extravaganza. I love this weekend. Basically it starts with tree hunting and ends with exhaustion. There's also tons of shopping, eating and fun having in the middle.

This is my tree. It's a lot bigger than I thought. For some reason they always look much smaller in the forest. It is HUGE! I can't seem to get a small tree!

Here's the famous Sandra Smith tree. It will look amazing with all the stuff she puts on it.

We also celebrated Preston's birthday! He got Scrabble and a bike! You can see how excited he was!

We ate at Joe's BBQ. It was good. You will notice that there are a lot of empty plates!

This is what we all felt like at the end of the weekend. And yes, Squareknot is laying on the diaper cake Mom made for Mindi. I have no explanation.

All in all we had a great weekend. We hit all the stores we could and even got to go see Preston perform/direct at Jesterz! I already can't wait until next year!

Baptism

2009-12-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

This is my little adopted niece Annalise. She just got baptized. I'm never disappointed at baptisms. I've been to a few and I always think that since I've been to a few this particular one won't be so special but they always are. Every baptism is special. I always feel the Spirit and it's always especially strong. Annalise's baptism was no different. This little girl was taking a very important step and her Heavenly Father was very pleased with her. I'm glad that I could be there to see it. Congratulations Annalise. You're such a special girl and I love you!

Moving

2009-12-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Guess what...we've moved but not to New York. We've decided to stay here in Mesa. I have to say I'm a little disappointed but excited too. Making decisions is hard but in the end both Zach and I feel a little better about staying here than moving. I guess we'll just have to wait a little longer for our adventures. Anyway, I'll be starting school in June so I'll have some time on my hands the next few months and I'll be filling that time getting my new apartment all set up. Moving is always an interesting experience. Below you will see Zach stuck below the mattress he was trying to put into the truck. If this was a video you would hear him yelling for help and see me running to get the camera. He did finally get out without any damage to him or the mattress.

Below you will see my closet.

And this is Zach's closet. I don't think I need to explain much. I sure do love this husband of mine!

Turkey Trot

2009-12-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I ran my first 5K. I know that's not a lot to most of you out there but it was to me and it I'd never done it before. I ran the whole thing and did it in 35 minutes!

This is after the race with Zach and Squareknot. As you can see I'm still standing and yes I'm wearing my Dad's alien hunter doorag.

This is with my best bud Aubrey. I was so glad I got to see her because I don't get to very much. She's amazing and ran it in much less time than me. She's even run a half marathon! What a stud.

Bishop Allen

2009-11-30T21:27:00.000-08:00

Bishop Allen is one of those bands that is beloved by everyone in my family and recently we all got the chance to go together. We had such a great time dancing and singing. Squareknot even came. He really wanted to dance to "Rain," which they played first for us. Squareknot got down! They put on a great show and if you ever get the chance to go see them...even if you have to walk for miles and miles...I would do it!

This is all of us after the show with our shirts. Dad is doing the "Rain" dance!

One of the opening bands was also enormously entertaining. I don't remember their names but here is a clip of one of the many dances they did for us. It was awesome!

Slot Canyons

2009-11-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we went up to Southern Utah for a visit to the slot canyons with my parents. We had such a wonderful time. We went to 3 different slot canyons and took a bike ride through a beautiful part of Bryce Canyon. We had a blast! Below are a few of my favorite pics.

This was the first slot canyon we visited, Buckskin Gultch. Gorgeous!

Notice that I was the first one up!

This was us before the bike ride down Red Canyon. Squareknot told us it was a 4 mile ride all downhill. What he failed to realize or mention was that the bike trail had been extended 4 miles, all of which were uphill. It was beautiful though and we had a great time!

The beginning of day two was a hike to Upper Calf Falls. It was a beautiful hike and a beautiful waterfall.

This slot canyon was called Peekaboo. Perhaps you can see why.

The only picture we have of all of us. There aren't a lot of places to put a camera when the walls are 100-200 feet straight up!

This slot was called Spooky. It was so narrow I was very concerned that we would get stuck. It was definitely spooky.

We finished up this trip with a quick walk to Horseshoe Bend. This is an annual trip for my parents so anyone who wants to go next year is invited! We don't eat at any chain restaurants and there is a lot of hiking and walking but it is a one of a kind experience.

Decisions, Decisions

2009-09-28T15:33:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a while since I last posted. Let me see if I can catch everyone up. I stopped working at my old job and have been enjoying some home time. Since I last posted we have managed to blow the engine in Lucia, my Mazda (not my fault), fix it, wreck it and fix it again. In the mean time we traded in our old Saturn for a new 2008 Nissan Sentra. Her name is Iggy and I love her. Not only is she beautiful but she was a great deal!!!
We also helped my brother and sister in law move into a new house and got the exciting news that we are going to have a nephew. Mindi found out that she is having a little boy! We are very excited and have already began spoiling the child with cloths and stuffed animals. Mindi is 5 months pregnant. We are so excited for Preston and Mindi and can't wait to welcome little Jude or whatever name they decide on into the world.
I have also continued my quest for PA schools. As everyone knows I was accepted to Albany Medical College earlier this year and I just found out that I've been accepted to AT Still University's PA program here in Mesa. So now the question is...do I stay here in my beloved Arizona and start school in June of 2010....

or do I venture completely out of my comfort zone and try a brand new city where we have no family or friends or anything really and start at a brand new school in January????

I am well aware that the decision is ultimately mine and Zach's but if anyone has any constructive advice, I'd be very open to hearing it. I have to decide within about a week and needless to say, I'm a little bit stressed.

Finishing Alaska

2009-07-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd quickly finish up Alaska. Skagway was probably my favorite place so these pics really don't do it justice. In Skagway we went on a hike and a float down the river. It was very cool. There are a few pics of Price Reupert which was our Canada stop and a pic of the glacier we saw. It really was quite an amazing trip. We had a great time and I hope to go back again.

Chopped

2009-07-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

If any of you watch the Food Network you know what show I'm talking about. It's another one of those reality tv shows involving chefs. Basically, there are 4 chefs and one gets cut after each course of a meal. They cook an appetizer, dinner and dessert. This weekend Tessa challenged Dad to a Chopped competition. It was quite the event. They cooked dinner and dessert.

Dinner Ingredients: pork chops, bacon, avocado and a special cheese we found.

Winner: Squareknot

He made chili rellenos with spanish rice and guacamole. It was as good as it sounded.

Tessa made a 3 cheese, 3 meat breakfast taco with avocado, tomato salsa.

Dessert Ingredients: Sugar Cookie Dough, Brie Cheese, mango and coconut.

Winner: Tessa
She made a cookie sandwich with a cream filling mixed with brie cheese, mango, strawberries, and coconut. It was covered with strawberries and chocolate. It was amazing.

Squareknot made a mango raspberry cobler that was very tasty.

In the end it really was a split decision. Half of us agreed that dinner was the most important meal and therefore, Squareknot was the winner. The other half passionatly disagreed and said that dessert was more important and therefore, Tessa should win. It was a very close competition. All in all they both did amazing!

Our "Wii" kend

2009-07-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

It's official, we have a Wii. About a month ago I told Zach that maybe we should give each other a Wii for Christmas. I had no idea the stream of events that would set in place. Needless to say, we did not wait 6 months before buying one.

I've hardly ever seen Zach so happy and excited.

The other part of our "wi" kend was Wicked! On the 4th, we had 8th row seats to see Wicked at Gammage. It was one of the most incredibly moving performances I've ever seen. Any of you who havent' seen it, I highly recommend it and sitting up close really is that much better!

Juneau

2009-06-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

When I asked Zach what the blog title should be he said in a very Mexican accent, "It was really fun...ju know?" I said no. Anyway, to proceed with our trip, our second stop was Juneau. It was a beautiful place and a lot smaller than I thought it would be. We all ended up doing different things. Dad, Zach and I went on a bike ride, Mom went on a photography trip, and Tessa and Tasha hit the town.

Our bike ride was amazing. We started at a ski resort up on the top of the mountain and rode all the way down. We got a view of the Mendenhall Glacier from 9 miles away. Even that far away it was amazing! We had a little bit of time afterward to shop and Tessa found some amazing truffles and I found some huckleberry ice cream. It was a very successful trip!

This is a quick pic of the mountains around Juneau.

Zach with all his gear on.

Dad with his gear and the glacier in the background.

Me and Dad with our pant legs rubberbanded so they don't get caught in the chain.

All 3 of us adventurers.

Happy Anniversary!

2009-06-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Today was my Mom and Dad's 31st wedding anniversary! Way to go Dad for not screwing it up and way to go Mom for being charitable and patient! Just look at what you're 31 years have accomplished. I'd say you've done pretty well!

We love you and here's to another 31 years!

Ketchikan

2009-06-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

Ketchikan Alaska was our the first stop on the trip. We all decided to go kayaking around some little islands. It was incredible!! The only disappointing thing was that Mom and Squareknot promised Tessa and Tasha some good looking guys for our guides...instead we got Eric with the missing teeth, father of a 2 year old and Betsey the Amazon woman. They did end up being very capable guides and even let us kayak a little bit longer than we were supposed to. I believe in this instance the pictures will speak for themselves.

Tasha the blueberry...

All of us with all our gear before heading out in the kayaks.

Zach, me, Tessa and Tasha. You can see some of the islands in the background.

It was very scary taking your camera out to take a picture while the kayak was rocking back and forth.

Two bald eagles...Preston named them Sandra and Squareknot.

It was our favorite excursion. We even got to see some whales. Awesome!!

Congratulations Tucker!

2009-06-07T19:53:00.001-07:00

My brother in law, Tucker, got his mission call this weekend. He's been assigned to labor in the...

Argentina Resistencia mission.

I'm always jealous when new Elders or Sisters get their calls. I wish it could be me starting out on that incredible journey. Congratulations Tucker! It'll be the best, hardest, most rewarding, most challenging and all together indescribable 2 years of your life. Enjoy every minute because it goes by way to fast and it will be over before you know it!

Alaska

2009-06-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

Though I'm still not fully recovered from our trip, I thought that it was time I said a few words!! WOW! That's really the only one that comes to mind. Alaska is some of the most gorgeous country I've ever seen and not at all what I thought it would be. I have so many pictures and stories that need to be shared that I’ll be breaking them up into a few different posts. We’ll start with Seattle!

We started with dinner at Bambuza (thanks Chelsey). Two things to notice in this pic. The enormous asparagus and the guy in the background with the wolverine hairdo! Awesome!

We then took a tour of the Seattle Underground. I would also highly recommend that. It was very interesting.

We didn't have much time for anything else but we did manage to fit dessert in before we went to bed!

The next morning we headed straight for the market!

This was the best clam chowder Mom, Dad and Tessa had ever had!

Graduation!

2009-05-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

It is finished. Zach has finally graduated and I am officially the wife of a mechanical engineer. Thanks to all who came to support him and to those who have helped along the way!

(I do have to point out that the graduate is holding his diploma upside down!)

Shannon's Craftiness

2009-04-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

I am by no means a creative artsy person. I would like to be and sometimes I pretend to be but, in reality, I buy my cute things. Every time I go to Safford I have to make a trip to my favorite store, The Gingerbread House and see if there is anything I can't live without. These were my latest. Thanks Tessa and Mindy for convincing me to buy them (like it was hard). Even though Easter is past, I still had to hang them on my wall. They do not have names yet so if you have any suggestions please pass them on. Anyway, thanks to whomever used their crafty gifts for the benefit of me!

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

I am by no means an ecology freako but this was so cute it had me wishing everyone a Happy Earth Day!

Happy Birthday Stacy!!

2009-04-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Stacy 30th birthday extravaganza! We were lucky to have every member of the fam there but Doug, who was quite missed. Her actual birthday was today, April 20th. It was a true Smith celebration complete with dancing, singing and really really good desserts!! Here's a breakdown in pictures and video.

We started with some really really good food: brats, quickie pies, salads potatoes etc.

When dinner was over we moved to the hat decorating portion of the party.

Aren't we just the typical family. Who needs matching shirts?!

After the hat decorating we moved on to the piñata. The night before Stacy had instructed each couple to 10-15 things to put in the piñata. The only things we weren't allowed to put in were rocks, glass, and nails. Other than that it was fair game. We had little juicers, steno writing pads, lint rollers, pins and rings. All of the items were quite useful and I don't see why everyone does that instead of filling them full of candy. Below is a pic of Squareknot during his turn. We are using a genuine samurai practice sword (thank you Collin).

Once the piñata was broken and we had collected our goodies we moved on to sidewalk. Below is a picture of Squareknot on top of the Tetons.

Presents came next. This one is of the potato masher Stacy got! Wooo potato masher!!

This is Stacy's huge musical Star Wars card.

These were the 3 amazing desserts alluded to at the beginning. 3 cakes for the 3 decades of Stacy's life. The first one on the left is a 3 leches cake. 3 leches for the 3 decades of Stacy's life. The middle one is a lime cheesecake, mmmmmm. The one on the right is a Tessa red velvet cake which was exceptionally good. (Those of you who have had Tessa's red velvet cake know that is saying something.) We couldn't adulterate the cakes by putting candles on them so she blew out a stand alone candle.

Interpretive photography.

All in all it was a great weekend. Happy birthday Stacy. Thanks for letting us celebrate with you.

Easter... A Little Bit Late

2009-04-20T20:47:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pics from our Easter. The Easter Bunny still found us even though we were living so far away.

Shannon got Mary Poppins and some Reester Bunnies. (The Easter Bunny knew she was too good at sniffing out where her basket is hidden that he didn't even try this year.)

Zachary got to go on a egg hunt around the living room.

Then he got to go on a hunt for his Easter basket that was hidden.

It's a good thing we don't have kids yet because I don't know if Zach would be willing to let them find any of the eggs!

A Weekend with Hot Chocolate

2009-03-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, there is a band called Hot Chocolate that wrote a song about believing in miracles and being sexy etc. Well, this particular song sort of became the unofficial slash official song of the weekend. Why would this particular song be the song of the weekend... because Preston and Mindi tied the knot on Friday. It was a marathon weekend with 2 receptions, a luncheon and a sealing. There was lots of running around but everything turned out great. Only one more reception left, May 2nd in Safford! It's shaping up to be one heck of a party!

Congratulations to you both and Mindi, welcome to the family!

The Arizona Trail or "Just one more mile!"

2009-03-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my father recruited Zach an I to go hike a portion of the Arizona trail with him. When he first approached us about doing this we were very excited. We enjoy hiking and don't get the opportunity very often so we jumped at the chance. My understanding was that it was going to be about a 11-13 mile hike through the Arizona desert. What I forgot to factor in was the extra 4-5 miles that you always need to calculate in when going on a hike with Lynn Smith. All in all it was a perfect day for hiking and we got to see some gorgeous country. Even though we all have blistered feet and couldn't walk on Saturday night, it was very worth it. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

This is us starting. Mom dropped us off not knowing if she'd see us alive. I made sure to tell her she'd been a great mother and had raised me well. Notice how fresh we look. I still have my sweater on.

Dad in front of a tall mountain. We walked past that mountain or should I say, around it.

Zach was in charge of the GPS and would give us updates along the trail. They had plotted out about 7 points along the trail and the GPS could tell us how far it was to the next point. The problem was that it was plotting distance in a straight line and we don't walk in a straight line. Zach would tell us we had .6 miles to go to the next point. 4 miles later of twists and turns and switchbacks we still had .2 miles to go.

Beautiful country!

This rock formation is called Hole in the Rock. Notice the pile of rocks we are standing by. It's called a cairn or as my Dad called it a cairnbeaner. They are set up along the trail to help hikers know they are on the right path. Dad couldn't remember the name at first and then Zach tried to correct him but I was so entertained by cairnbeaner that I made sure we yelled it out every time we passed one on the trail.

Painted desert!!

See that little bump of a hill right above my head. Our destination was past that and trust me it's farther away than it looks. It's a big hill. You'll also notice I'm sporting a hat. I don't really like hats but this one is very colorful and Zach aptly named it my Dr. Seuss hat. Well, after that, who wouldn't want to wear it!

This is the grave of the guy who died on the trail last year. His belt broke and that was the end of him. That's our destination, Picket Post Mountain, in the background. It's still really far away.

This is Dad napping during one of our breaks and that is Picket Post Mountain in the background. Notice how it never seems to get much closer. These last few pictures were not taken in close proximity of each other.

Ok, this one is the same spot as the last one but still.

This is us at the end.We're more tired than we look and we are now on the waaaay other side of the mountain.

So the final milage total, 17! Next week it will be up to 20 and when I end up telling my kids it will probably be about 35. All in all it was a great trip with good conversation, great company and spectacular country but rest asured, next time I won't forget to calculate the extra 5 miles!

Don't You Hate It When...

2009-03-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

You get these letters and there is nothing you can do about it!

Lots of "New"s

2009-02-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

Zach and I had a wonderful time in "New" England and "New" York this past weekend. We say plenty of "new" things, ate plenty of "new" foods and have plenty of "new"s to share.

Last weekend started with a red eye to New York and then Boston and Doug was so nice to pick us up from the airport. We were able to spend the day with him and Stacy and had such a wonderful time! She taught me how to make this amazing bread which you'll see later on in what she made us for breakfast on Sunday. (Amazing is all I can say.)

Stacy took us to the Macchu Picchu, a Peruvian restaurant by her house. It was the best Peruvian food we've had here in the states and even beat a lot of what we had in Peru. It was very authentic and made both of us miss South America a lot. They even had Inca Cola!

Doug took us for a ride to see the Boston temple. It was beautiful and much bigger than we thought.

We got to meet Rosemary and Lily. They are vey nice cats and it was fun to watch Doug and Stacy interact with them. At one point Stacy wanted to throw away this piece of paper that the casts had been destroying for the past week or so but Doug wouldn't let her because Lily likes it so much.

Sunday morning we went to church at Stacy's ward. It was one of the funniest experiences I've ever had. Her ward takes in MIT so it is full of really really nerdy guys and their really pretty wives. Oh, and babies. . .hundreds of babies. They had 4 speakers and one of them was a sister who apparently was a mechanical engineer because Zach was enthrauled by her talk the entire time and kept nodding in agreement as she talked about Newton's laws and how a flywheel relates to spirituality. I on the other hand was wondering who the heck Newton was, where he had come up with these laws and what was a fly doing on a wheel, it would surely get squished.

When we got home we had this heavenly breakfast waiting for us. This is caramel french toast made with Stacy's homemade bread. (As I'm typing, Zach's mouth is watering and he's trying to eat the picture on the screen.) I'm just going to let you all imaging the wonderfulness of this. You'll have to go visit Stacy to get it and let me tell you, it's worth the trip.

On Sunday afternoon we headed out to Worcester. I had my interview there on Monday morning. It was nice drive through frozen Massachusetts. My interview went as well as can be expected. I never know if I do well or not. I should hear in the next few weeks from them. Below are a few pics. We found this really cool cemetery. It was huge. It was pouring rain and cold but I had to have some pictures.

See what I mean, HUGE!

As soon as we were done with the interview we booked it to Albany. Zach was irritated because he isn't 25 so he couldn't drive the rental car. I had to drive the whole way. We really liked Albany. It the capital of New York but doesn't feel like a big city at all. I went by the school to see what it was like. I was a lot different from Worcester but I wouldn't mind going there if that's where we end up. Below are some pics from Albany. Most of them are at night because we were so tired by the time we got done with my meeting at the school that we went to the hotel and crashed for a few hours.

The stop lights were scary. They were just hanging on a wire swinging back and forth waiting to crash down on your car the minute you drove under them.

Tuesday we manages to squeeze some time in New York City into the trip. We made a quick trip to the Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty and then to John's Pizza and Rocco's bakery. It was a quick trip but well worth it!

The Many Faces of Zachary Brown

2009-02-25T22:21:00.001-08:00

During a recent game of Cranium the following sequence took place:

Do I remember what he was trying to act out? Nope and I'm pretty sure the time ran out without me even venturing a guess but I sure was entertained.

Albany

2009-02-11T21:03:00.000-08:00

I just thought I'd introduce everyone to my possible future home. I just got accepted the the Albany Medical College. They only accept 30 students each year and classes start in January of 2010. We're very excited.

Carrots!!

2009-01-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a salad with lettuce and carrots completely from my own garden! It was a very exciting moment for me. The carrot was huge, at least compared to what I thought it was going to be. Since it's been a while I thought I'd post some pics of my garden and, most particularly, my carrot!

This is my broccoli! There's no broccoli but the plant is huge!!

Lots of lettuce!

Here's to life and it's little victories, like carrots!

Happy Birthday Zachary!

2009-01-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

It was Zach's birthday on Thursday and it was a good one! He is now 24 years old. They do grow up so fast.

The festivities started at midnight with the opening of one present. He was alright with waiting until later but I'm always so excited to see his reaction that I made him open one.

Unfortunately we both had to go to work but I did manage to text him happy birthday in different languages every hour just so that he wouldn't forget it was his birthday. As soon as we got home he was ripping into the rest of his presents. I had such a fun time shopping for him this year. I didn't get him anything he asked for but I think he was pleasantly surprised.

A camper stove from my parents (AWESOME)

It was a Daniel Craig movie birthday!

Lots of lower calorie snacks (we're trying to eat better).

He also got scrabble and I had one of our paintings from Peru framed for him. I think all of the excitement has him confused. He was trying to eat the movie instead of his snacks.

After presents we had a great dinner with his dad at Macayos and then it was home to watch one of his new movies (either one had Daniel Craig so I didn't really care which) and play Scrabble which he kicked my tail at (I'm out of practice).

Saturday we continued the celebration by going to see Lion King at Gammage with his family. It was AMAZING. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. We got to go to Cheesecake factory afterwards where Zach opened his electric razor (yay!) from his parents and we got to eat lots of cheesecake!!

All in all I think it was a good birthday and for the next five months he is only 1 year younger than me.

Happy birthday Zach! I love you!

Car Trouble

2009-01-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

Well I have a lot of catching up to do and so it may take a few posts to get there. I don' t know if any of you have recently had car trouble and been stuck on the side of the road for 6 hours with nothing to do lately but that situation makes for some pretty creative entertainment. On our way home on Christmas ever my car was having some issues and we had to wait for 6 hours while my Dad and our good friend Joe came to rescue us. I'm very glad we had my camera or we would have died of boredom. Below is a little slide show of what went on.

We read separately.

We read together.

We almost got in a car wreck!

I don't have much comment on this one.

We Blair Witch Projected.

Once again, no comment.

We ate red velvet cake (there was only one fork).

We guarded our minds so that the aliens couldn't read our thoughts (thank you M Night.)

Zach had some strange thing explode out of his stomach!

We listened to the iPod. Bryan Regan comes in very handy.

We even shared some cake with Tray. He liked it.

As you can see it was a very eventful 6 hours and I regret to inform you that this is just a very small taste of the events that occurred. Just be glad you weren't there.

Christmas Music

2008-12-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

I always love the Sunday before Christmas because there is always a special program with lots of Christmas music. Today was no different. I love Christmas music. I grew up with it being a huge part of Christmas, thanks to my mother. There is one song that I heard several years ago that has become my favorite. It's called Breath of Heaven and my favorite version is by Amy Grant. Well, some member of the church, being the creative people we are, put the music to the Nativity movie the church put out. It's a very moving little production and I thought I'd share it with you today.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Texas, Here I Come!!

2008-12-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

I'm going to Texas. I got my first interview for PA school at Texas Tech in Midland, TX. Yes, I know that the main campus of Texas Tech is in Lubbock but the PT school is in Midland. I know it's just an interview and I'm not accepted but I didn't even expect to get an interview with Texas Tech so I'm very excited. The blessed event will be on January 6th and it's an all day thing. My mom has kindly offered to go with me. (I still can't figure out when in the heck I got old enough to do this stuff by myself.)

This is the letter:

December 8, 2008

Dear Prospective Student:

Congratulations! Your application to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, School of Allied Health Sciences, Physician Assistant Program has been processed and reviewed. We are pleased to invite you to participate in an interview to select candidates for admittance into the class that will matriculate in May 2009.

Interviews are being conducted on Tuesday, January 6, 2008 at the TTUHSC Physician Assistant Program on the campus of Midland College in Midland, Texas. Orientation will begin promptly at 8:30 AM and interviews will be held throughout the day from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM in the Dorothy and Todd Aaron Medical Sciences Building. You are expected to be present for orientation and assignment of your interview times. You will sit through 3, one-on-one interviews with PA faculty members. Each interview will last no longer than 15 minutes.

Current students will be on hand to answer questions, give tours, etc. Light refreshments will be served and there are several restaurants in close proximity for lunch.

It is important that you RSVP to this invitation by 12:00 p.m. Friday, December 19, 2008 by calling or replying by email to:

dawn.jankowski@ttuhsc.edu

If you have any updated transcripts, please send them to:

TTUHSC SOAHS

3601 4th St MS 6294

Lubbock TX 79430

Attached to this email you will find a list of local hotels and restaurants as well as directions from the Midland International Airport to the Midland College Campus.

Congratulations! We look forward to meeting you on January 6th!

On a funny note, upon hearing that I had an interview in Midland, my father contacted a real estate agent the very next day and had her email him a listing of about 25 houses that are for sale in the area! Oh how I love my father!

On a serious note, I'm actually scared to death so any little prayers would greatly help.

Here's to life and it's little victories! Yay Texas!

Christmas Tree

2008-12-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

This last Friday I went Christmas tree hunting with my parents. It was a very fun experience and Zach and I got our 3rd tree. There are no pictures of the actual cutting of the trees for reasons I can't explain right now but the rest of the trip is documented.

We start with the where's Lynn picture. Squareknot knows how to blend in.

We almost had some pictures of Dad and I dragging the tree to the car but Mom had the camera on video sooooo, no pictures. (It's really ok Mom. The trip is well documented:))

Here we have the trees on the car. You'll notice the branch sticking through the window. Mom was sitting in the back seat and had a rather interesting time getting in the car.

We drove all the way from Payson with the car like this. Dad and I were in my car and Mom was following us on the highway. I could always tell which car was her because it looked like the car had horns on it. It was funny.

This is the tree before the trimming. It quite literally took up half of my living room. It didn't look that big in the wilderness! Zach didn't want to cut anymore off but it had to be done.

The finished product is much better. Not up to Sandra Smith standards but it's getting there.

Yay for Christmas!!

A Christmas Weekend

2008-12-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

This last weekend was the Smith Christmas Weekend. Every year sometime in December my family comes down to Phoenix and we play around for the weekend. This year was a great one! It started, for me, on Friday. I took the day off to go Christmas tree hunting with my mom and dad (more on that later). We went up by Payson to find our tree. It was a very nice day with a few weird twists. One of which was seeing Santa Clause get pulled over for speeding. Anyway, the road we took was right along the Mogollon Rim. Beautiful!

If you look closely you can see my father's head peeking out from behind the rock. Mom and I tried to get him to stay away from the edge but Squareknot can't shy away from adventure!

A very cool stump we found.

We got back into town in the early evening and Tessa was already here. We sat around for a while and contemplated how the tree we had cut for me took up half of my living room (again, more on that later). Then we met up with Preston, Mindi and Homer for dinner at the George and Dragon or, as Preston calls it, the Georgian Dragon. It had some traditional English food. I had the pasty. It was gooooood!

After the Dragon it was back to our house for ice cream and the typical Smith conversation. Zach fell asleep pretty early on. He's still getting the hang of our amazing ability to talk for hours on end.

The next morning was a blast as well. Zach got a call during dinner on Friday from the ward exective secretary wanting to know if we could come to tithing settlement at 8:30 AM and he actually agreed to it. It turned out to be a good thing because we got up and going early. As soon as we were done with that, Dad, Tessa and I headed to Target for some Mt Graham Family Practice Christmas party auction shopping. It was great! 5 carts, $2000, and a target credit card debacle later we were out of there. It was very intersting as we checked out to see that each of our carts reflected our own personalities. Just imagine what was in Lynn's cart!

Once that was over we headed to Costco for some sample tasting and jelly bean buying. There were some good samples on Saturday!

This is us at lunch at Rubios after Costco. We convinced Preston to let us eat at a chain restaurant. He may not appreciate me posting the evidence of that on my blog but I like the picture so there you go.

Our next stop was Tempe Marketplace for the annual $5 gift search. I'd go in to a little more detail but you can see the evidence below. I think I got the coolest gift!

We were all pretty tired by then but it wasn't over yet! We had a slideshow of Preston and Mindi's trip to Ireland and let's just say that I'm jelous and now want to go to Ireland. We ordered pizza for dinner and my good friends Richie and Ashley came over so that they could go to Jesterz with us. It was a great show! Preston was in rare form. Those of you who weren't there really missed out because all of us got to see Preston with a tooshey! (If you want more details, ask me later.)

Sunday was a good day as well. Tessa stayed and hung out with us. We made peanut blossom cookies with lots of different kinds of Hershey Kisses. I recommend the hot cocoa or cheescake kinds. They went the best. We had a good game of Scattergories and Clue.

The last part of the day was a trip to see the Mesa Temple lights. They were gorgeous, as usual.

Isn't she gorgeous!

So that's my very long post about my amazing weekend. It was such fun and really put me in the Christmas spirit! Thanks family of mine for everything and Merry Christmas everyone!

The Best Thanksgiving Ever

2008-12-01T21:11:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving I've had with my family in 4 years. I was so excited about it beforehand I could hardly stand it. I'd been dreaming of my mom's rolls and mashed potatoes and gravy! There is always a chance that you're memories are better than the actual food but this year did not disappoint. Everything was amazing. Our cousins the Detlors were down as well and we all had a blast. There were lots of games, movies, shopping, solving the world's problems and sleeping. You can't get better than that.

Dad carved the turkey.

Mom and Mary did everything else.

It was sooooo goooood!

This was dessert. This isn't even all of the pies.

This is what was left after just the first round.

There were several funny moments this weekend. During dinner I asked who wrote the song "Blowin in the wind." Tessa responded, "Bob Dylan slash Robert Zimmerman." Dad then responded, "They wrote it together?"

Keenan was also very entertaining. He really wanted to play Pit. At one point he was very frustrated that no one would play with him and proceeded to shout, "I want to play Pit, JANET!" Only he didn't really say Janet but something that sounded similar. Keenan is 6. We asked him after what he had said and he swore that he said Janet. We still have our doubts.

During one of our 12:30 AM Rook marathons, Zach was having quite a hard time focusing and decided he needed some brain food. He went and got some cranberry muffins with the special cranberry muffin sauce. The sauce is made of butter, cream and sugar. It's called celestial sauce. After finishing the muffins, Zach proceeded to tell me that I needed to learn to make the sauce because he's very excited about the many things he can put it on: pancakes, quesadillas. . .

We were surprised by a visit from my very good friends Ashley and Richie. I haven't seen them in quite a while so I was very excited that they were down for Thanksgiving and came over. We had a great time reminiscing.

This was the sunset on the way home on Sunday. It was such a fun weekend that I didn't even mind going back to work today! And that's saying something.

It is Finished!

2008-11-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

It's finally done! Yes, it's true, my PA and PT applications are all done. I've turned in all transcripts, letters of recommendations, GRE scores, applications and supplemental applications. Today I mailed the last ones. I'm quite excited but quite nervous as well. I thought you all might want to know where I applied:

Albany Medical College - Albany, NY
Arizona School of Health Sciences - Gilbert, AZ
Daemon College - Amherst, NY
Marywood University - Scranton, PA
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences - Worcester, MA
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center - Midland, TX
Northern Arizona University - Flagstaff, AZ
Touro University - Henderson, NV
University of St. Francis - Albuquerque, NM
University of Texas Pan Am - Edinburg, TX

There you have it. Now it's just a waiting game. I don't really expect to hear anything until February or March but I'll be sure to let you know. I really hope something works out but if it doesn't, that's ok too. If anyone has connections for mechanical engineering jobs in these areas, send the word our way.

Being Sentimental

2008-10-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, my brother, Preston, is an amazing musician. I am not just saying that because he is my brother. One of my favorite things in the world is to listen to him play and sing. When I was first in Mesa he used to come up to visit his friend Scott and they would both come over and play for my roommates and I and we would cook them dinner (usually french toast). Those are some of my favorite memories.

He isn't the best singer in the world but his songs sure make up for it. He's a very sincere and entertaining performer. Anyway, Tessa was down a few weeks ago and Preston came over to see us. He played for us and I got it on video. This is one of my favorites but I say that about all of the songs he plays. I thought I'd share this with everyone so they can enjoy Preston's talent. This is not a Preston original but it is good anyway.

Zinnias in Bloom

2008-10-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

My zinnias have started blooming. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Zach refused to be my model for the pictures today so you all get a shot of me. I highly recommend zinnias for those who are plant challenged. They are very easy and require almost no effort or care and they are beautiful when they bloom.

Zach (Morrison) Brown Music Video

2008-10-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

For those who are interested. Here is the video of Zach's concert.

School of Rock

2008-10-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

Zach's cousins Brandon and Jennifer have their very own school of rock. They teach guitar, bass, and drum lessons and then put their students into bands and teach them rock songs. Once a year each band has a concert. They really don't have any vocal students so they have Zach and his other cousin, Sterling, come and be the singers. Some of the kids in the bands are as young as 8 years old and they really do a great job. Some of the songs they sang were Day Tripper by the Beatles, Detroit Rock City by Kiss, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Metallica, Woman by Wolfmother, Ace of Spades by Motorhead, Lay Down by Priestess and several others. Here are some pictures and, yes, my husband is the one in the strange wig.

I had a video of Zach singing but I couldn't get it to load so unfortunately you don't get to see it. If you come to my house I'll be glad to show it to you.

Conference Lovliness

2008-10-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

I love October conference because it makes me think of cooler weather, which we have been enjoying for the past few days, and it makes me want to make fall deserts. I decided that I would for the first time make cinnamon rolls. They turned out ok but I definitely need to practice more. We also had Tucker here this weekend and in between texts he helped us make our Halloweenees! They were delicious.

So now conference is over for 6 months. It was a wonderful conference and I'm loving President Monson as a prophet more and more. I watched the program on BYU tv about his life and it was wonderful. He has definitely been prepared to lead the church. It was a great and very relaxing weekend and now all I have to say is bring on the holidays.

Gardening Update

2008-10-03T17:56:00.000-07:00

This post is mostly for my mom. She's always so good about asking me how my garden is doing so I thought I'd give everyone an update.

This is our coriander.

These are our pansies. They really are pansies because they are taking forever to grow. I'm actually not sure if they are pansies or weeds.
These are cauliflower. They are slowly growing.
These are our carrots. They are popping up all over the place!
These are our broccoli. They are my favorites!
And, these are our zinnias. They're huge!!!!
These are my bougenvillas. When I bought them they had a few flowers on them and looked pretty good but when I brought them home and potted them they immediately lost all of their flowers. I was worried that they were dying but they really have perked up and are just about to go crazy. Yay!

There aren't any pictures of my lettuce or spinach because the didn't come up. I guess it was too hot. We just replanted them so we'll see how it goes.

The Weekend

2008-09-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know, I'm applying to graduate school to become either a physician assistant or physical therapist. I'm very excited about both and have spend almost all of my free time looking up schools and getting my application ready. It's a lot harder than you think because there are so many little details that go into an application. I still have lots to do and since it's getting kind of down to the wire I took Friday off work and went down to Safford to get some very important things done. I wasn't able to do all of them but I did get most of them and I even got to shadow my dad while he saw patients. It was great! I can't wait to start school again and learn some of this stuff.

Here are a few highlights of the weekend:

My parents have become avid bike riders and my dad woke me up on Saturday at about 8:30 AM and we went for a 10 mile bike ride!

Mom is in Utah so Dad was in charge of lunch. He made macaroni and cheese. It was amazing!!
This is Tessa's second batch of mint brownies. Yes, they taste as good as they look!
How on earth could you say no to either of these faces. Should I have kids some day I hope they can't do this because I'm done for.

Snape, Snape, Severus Snape

2008-09-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to this little video and decided that it must be shared with those I know best. I'm not going to say much about it I just want you to watch it and enjoy. I do have to put a little disclaimer though; if you watch it you will be singing along to it all day! Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I give you The Harry Potter Puppet Pals in The Mysterious Ticking Noise . . . .

The Raping of the Tress and Other Stuff

2008-09-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a fun week here in the Brown house. Tuesday night Zach and I went to our first time share presentation. It was actually fun. They sure are good salesman and seem to have an answer for everything but in the end we said no and walked away with a $100 gas card and 2 plane tickets to anywhere in the United States including Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Yay!

Wednesday night was Counting Crows! WOW is the best word I have. This was my 4th concert and the only complaint I have is that they didn't have near enough time to play. They are so fun to see live because even if you know all of the words to all of the songs, you're always surprised. Adam always does something new. Below are some pics for those of who who didn't have the privilege of being there live.

Here is the crew that went from left to right: Mindy, Preston, Mamma, Allison, Tessa, Zach and me behind the camera! I actually took another picture right before this one and Preston is making a normal face but it was too dark! Oh well, this one is way more entertaining!

Thursday was a sad day in our house. Gregory McDonald, the man who wrote the "Fletch" novels, died. We celebrated his life by renting and watching Fletch. We laughed our guts out! I highly recommend both Fletch and Fletch Lives to everyone. Here are a few lines that you probably won't find funny until you watch the movie:

Pathologist: Ever seen a spleen that large?
Fletch: No, not since breakfast.

Stanton Boyd: What kind of a name is Poon?
Fletch: Comanche Indian.

Fletch: I'm John.
Gail Stanwyk: Ohhhh, John. John who?
Fletch: John Cock...tos...ton.
Gail Stanwyk: Thats a beautiful name.
Fletch: It's Scotch/Romanian.
Gail Stanwyk: That's an odd combination.
Fletch: So were my parents.

This week has been a beautiful week in Phoenix, which is odd for early September. It's probably been in the mid to high 90s with a nice little breeze all week. That being said, we set out to do a little more yard work. We have a nice big rose bush in our front yard and a different big flowery bush in our back yard. Well no one has really bothered to take care of them so they've kind of grown out of control and really needed to be trimmed. I'd trimmed the rose bush earlier in the summer pretty far back but my dad said that I needed to trim it more. Well since it was such a beautiful day, I decided that today would be the day.
I need to explain that I was taught to trim by my dad. My mom recently told me a story that explains that way he trims and I thought it fit rather nicely. When my parents were younger they were managing some apartments. One day my dad went out and trimmed the trees and bushes in the fall so that they could look good in the spring. The owner drove by, saw what had happened and called my parents saying, "Somebody raped the trees!!" My dad explained that he had done it and not to worry because the trees would look great in the spring. With that story in my head, I set out to rape my trees and rape them I did! Once again, I should have taken a before picture because both bushes were about 6 times the size they are now. I filled an entire big trash can with the trimmings. Here you go Dad! I hope I've made you proud!

This is my rose bush. It's just a bunch of sticks!!! If you look close you can see the zinnias I planted onthe sides of it.
This is the bush in the back yard. It's been so long since it was trimmed that it was just covered in dead stuff. I cleaned all that stuff out. Doesn't it look good!

Well, that was our week. Zach is now in his office doing homework and I'm about to clean something. I hope everyone had a good week!

Gardening

2008-09-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

A few months ago our bishop announced that in November we are going to have a ward fair. The catch was that he wanted every family in the ward to bring something to eat to the fair that they had grown in their own garden. Zach and I didn't have a garden so we had to plant one. We decided to start very simple and built a square foot garden. I didn't want to get in too deep because I've never gardened by myself and I certainly am not my parents or grandparents. We planted cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, lettuce, spinach, coriander and some flowers (zinnias and pansies). We may end up bringing just flowers to our county fair but at least we're trying. Anyway, we do have some sprouts and I am very excited about them. The big sprouts are the zinnias but hey, at least something is growing.

Our garden!

These are the zinnias! They're huge!

If you look hard you can see the broccoli and califlower sprouts.

This is a Where's Waldo. There is one little carrot sprout. Can you find it?

On top of the gardening Zach and I have finally had time to work a little bit on the backyard. A few tennents before us got the great idea of laying some bricks to create a little patio area. The only problem was that they got about half way done and stopped. When we got here everything was overgrown, most of the stones were covered in dirt and there were weeds everywhere. We pulled the weeds and finished laying the stones. I also got to buy some flowers to put on my new patio. I'm very excited about it. I wish I had some before and after pictures but you'll have to settle for after pictures. Those of you who saw it before know that this is a huge improvement.
I've discovered I like gardening and working in the yard. It makes you feel good. We're still not done but at least it looks a lot better than when we got here.