Sticker Monster

Mommy's Little Helper

My little lady is SUPER into helping in the kitchen these days. Every time I set foot in there she grabs her little stool or a chair from the kitchen table and drags it in ready to help. We made cupcakes and we got a little over eager with the frosting. Gosh she's cute!

She has recently learned how to make cheese eggs (cracking them are her favorite) and butterscotch cookies. She's a pro at pouring, stirring and flipping (pancakes that is). The icing on the cake is that she LOVES to wash dishes as well. Yes, I have the perfect child...most of the time!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Mulan will always be the favored movie in the house however Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a very close second. Last month Joe and I took Sierra out on Date Night with us to see her first ever in-the-theater movie. I thought she might be a bit young and considering her performance at Stone Mountain I knew she wouldn't like the noise but we thought we'd give it a whirl.

We picked up Taco Bell (on her her favorite places) on the way so that we could have dinner in the theater. We got a booster seat and there she sat until the movie started and then in was either mine or Joe's lap. We started at the front of the theater but it really freaked her out so we ended up in the 2nd to last row of the theater just to be farther away from the screen. She pulled her "Mommy, I have to pee" trick but once the movie started she got way into it. We had to commentary almost the entire movie to get her excited for all the cool food falling from the sky. The "hamburgerers" were her favorite.

We have been back to see it again since, just once more. Super cute movie! 3 thumbs up!

Trick-or-Treat

This year was Sierra's first year that I took her out. Last year we just went to the Grandparent's houses but this year I wanted to tak her out in my Dad's neighborhood for a little fun. It was cold and rainy but we braved it anyway. She did two houses and then it was time to go back and play with Grandma Sue and Grampy.

The first house we went to was this cute little lady and Sierra was all about her. Went right up, got some candy and gave her a hug! The second house she was not so ok with. Really nice couple came to the door and ohhhhhed and ahhhhhed over her and called all their friends who were over to come out and see her. She was SO embarrassed so we headed home to play some more in the warm and out of the rain.This is what you get when you have fingerprints on the lens of your camera but she's still a 'Lil Cuteness!

2nd Annual Grand Hyatt Atlanta Sales Halloween Party

Last year was my first Halloween working at the Grand so I started office Halloween party. Motivated by wanting to show off how freakin' cute my kid is but also to have a little fun in the office. A few of us have kids so why not have them in the office. This year Anna Banana planned it (she's kid-less for now) and all the kiddies came in costume to have a little bit of fun.

Sierra made friends with 3 yr old Hannah. She's an entire year older than Sierra and my kid is just as tall. I have a monster on my hands. Gosh she's cute!

Cookie making was a big hit with them. She was more interested in the sprinkles and put her hand in the bowl every chance she had but she took the experience very, very seriously.

Next was the cake walk. Si didn't quite understand what she was supposed to do so this is what she came up with...what a funny nugget.

Last event of the day was the pinata. She loaded UP! She had a fabulous time. A little shy around the other kids so she didn't do a whole lot of talking, which is abnormal for her, but we had a great time and she was sporting a super cute look.

Trunk-or-Treat

Cutest Raggedy Ann I've ever seen! Her costume is vintage. Mine when I was 3! The wig is compliments of mine and Joe's hard work. It's an ENTIRE ball of yarn. It truly is a work of art!

This is Sierra's 2nd Trunk-or-Treat at church and she actually went around to all the cars this year to collect candy. She didn't quite understand the fishing thing at the Buttle's car but it was cute watching her.

Kari Bari, Si's cousin, came with Grandma. Needless to say, she wasn't a happy camper but at least she was cute.

Happy Birthday Pumpkin

It took us 2 weeks to carve our little pumpkin friend after we brought him home from the store. It was a perfect Halloween Eve event at our house. Here's how you carve the perfect pumpkin.

1. First you have to plan just what the little guy is going to look like. We took out our marker and drew his pretty little face. It is essential to get Joe's approval before we proceed.

2. Tag Team with with the Hubs so that he can cut off the top. Precision is key here. Make sure you get all the little, hanging pumpkin fibers off the top section first.

3. Get all the GUTS out, but whatever you do, DO NOT SMELL IT!

4. Carve that bad boy up! Everyone gets equal
time with the pumpkin. Keep in mind that when
cutting on the lines you have to make sure that none of the lines stay so instead of cutting inside the lines, cut outside the lines.

5. Add a candle for effect. Place Outside.

6. Kiss the pumpkin goodnight.

Pumpkin Patch

Always one of my favorite times. I used to go to this Pumpkin Patch when I was a kid and I love taking Sierra. Joe dragged himself of his sick bed to come with us and we met my brother and his family and my parents there.

Gotta love these round little orange things. Sierra could have stayed here all day shopping for the perfect pumpkin. She's such a cute little nugget!

Si Si with Grandma and Papa

When picking out the perfect pumpkin it is imperative to get a good look and just get right in there with them, ya know. No thumping needed, just a little sitting to see if it's a good one. She picked out a winner!

Sierra is a big fan of her cousin Liam. She LOVES playing with him, following him around, and beating him up. See how happy she is! But it looks like she has "eyes" for him. I need to have a talk with that girl. That type of thing is definately illegal in GA.

"The BIG Mountain"

Last month we took Sierra to Stone Mountain to walk around their pumpkim festival and check out the laser show. I like going there at least once a year (and never get my way) because that's where Joe and I had our first (terrible!) date in high school. It was super last minute so we didn't take a blanket or anything to sit and enjoy the show but we had a good time even though we were only there for half the show.

Here's the highlights:

We made new friends and had a fun photo shoot in front of the "BIG MOUNTAIN":

The Laser Show was not the highlight because Ms. Thang was scared of the fire, fireworks and loud music. In her defense we were in the VERY front and the music was super loud and booming. She did give us insight into one of her many tricks however. When she is scared or nervous she will say, "Mommy, I have to go pee!" Being a new potty trained baby of course we ran right to the bathroom because we thought she genuinely had to go. Well when we came back and the show was in full swing she turns to me, urgently, and said, "Mommy, I have to poop!". Well, she hates doing that so we discovered she was a big, fat liar and she let us in on one of her little tricks. It comes in handy.

Potty Training Blues

Si has been SO GOOD with the potty thing. She goes in the big potty, she wears cute underwear and she even tells us when she has to go...oh wait, she used to do all that. Now it's in the pants and on the floor. Here's her punishment. Sitting until she produces!

Parting is such Sweet Sorrow

We lost a member of the family last week. Our poor Accord has gone to car heaven. Not only is this little guy deemed unworthy to drive, he is now our little cash cow. We are the lucky recipients of an insurance check for more than we bought the car for. Wa-hoo! Lucky us. Ok, maybe just a cash calf. But at least it covers our cost and then some.

So now we get to go car shopping again, all too soon, and we are not thrilled about it. We are using it as an opportunity to get out and see the world. This weekend we went to Charlotte to look at a few cars that we liked. Fun little weekend. Seemed like ALOT of driving but I guess I only feel that way when I am driving. BORING! Sierra was a trooper as usual but on the way home she was exhausted from two days of no naps. Such a Cutie!

Remembering New Orleans

No, this is not a pre-Katrina post on how fab New Orleans once was. Joe, Sierra and I road tripped to LA in May and I never posted the highlights of our little trip so here we are. We were super excited for the trip. I had to go for work and Joe and Sierra tagged along. We stayed in the fabulous Omni Royal Orleans (because there is not a Hyatt there) and played while I wasn't working. We had never been before and we weren't really sure what to expect but we stayed in the French Quarter, the least affected area of the city by the hurricane. Check out our travels:

We headed out to explore this fabulous, and surprising really a little chilly for May, city. We walked around everywhere and took tons of pictures. Off we go...

Joan of Arc, Maid of New Orleans (1412-1431). Amazing statue right in the heart of New Orleans. Do you see Joe and Sierra in the pic?

Everything there has something about it that is just a little different. The architecture is awesome. Makes you feel like you are walking around a different country. We saw so many cool structures, gated homes, shutters on windows, people living right on Bourbon Street, statues, churches, gates, balconies...everything about this city was just cool.

One night we went to Magnolia Grill, the best fried chicken in the city, and enjoyed a bite to eat outside. Sierra was more interested in the sugar packets, the bike strapped to the awning (did I spell that right?) outside, the street people going by but she did take a bite out of her "Best in the City" chicken.

Yes, we are terrible people and we took our baby on Bourbon Street. What a trashy, terrible scene. We saw things that I NEVER want to see again but there were some cool parts about it. We were there on a week day and it was a total party. I can only imagine what Mardi Gras is like. Sierra and I had picked up some beans at a store prior to going out on the town so we weren't prodded so bare all for beads. (which we wouldn't of course).

While we shopped for beans we checked out some other really cool souveniers to bring home and add to our collection of 'cool trip stuff'.

Got did get a mask for Sierra. She just gets to look at it though so she won't break it.

We had fun with all the voo doo stuff and Sierra even made a new friend. We didn't bring him home with us though. We did bring his voo doo doll brother home with us those. Sierra is not a fan of it and every time she asks me what it is I say, "It's a voo doo doll baby," and she says, "No, mommy! no!". Funny kid.

We even made friends with this Sex-starved Alligator. This is Sierra puckering up with kisses for the Cook.
We went all over the city on the couple days we were there. Experienced the local food and all that the Big Easy had to offer. One restaurant we left had this little guy out front and Sierra and I couldn't resist stopping to put on our "fish face" for the picture.

SUPER HIGHLIGHT of the trip was (besides discovering that Ruby Tuesdays in AL has the best blackberry lemonade ever) was going to StoryLand! How Joe found out about this place is a mystery (thank you iPhone!) but it was the coolest, most randomly weird place ever.

A sweet little park with ginormous statues of nursery rhyme stories and characters and some Disney stuff, but this place was awesome!

Welcome to StoryLand, come on in!

Old Mother Hubbard was there,

Hansel and Gretel,
The 3 Little Pigs and...

The BIG, BAD Wolf,
Pinoccio and the Whale,
Who is this? One of the 7 dwarves? Well whoever he is, he loves me!
Little Miss Muffet, sat on her Tuffett...While Sierra ate her curds and whey.

She tried to awaken Sleeping Beauty,

And got a ride in Cinderella's carriage.

Story Land was awesome!
We explored a few cemetaries as well. I think that was my favorite part. Just amazing places. The tombs are so old and brilliant and amazing structures full of family history. Not our family but, they were still fun to explore.


I must say that the final highlight of the trip was Sierra falling asleep while eating on the way home from the cemetary. Priceless!

Cutie Baby

Sierra is starting to pick up on words like, cute, pretty, beautiful etc just recently and it is so cute to see how she is integrating those words into the things that she says. I think she has it figured out. On Saturday she and I were getting ready to go out and she looked at me and said, "Mommy, you're beautiful." I have the sweetest baby girl every. It brought a tears to my eyes. She is such a sweetie baby!

Kari Bear

My little neice is really coming along. We love us some Kari Bear.

Toot is right

I was just reading the Paget blog and it reminded me of how silly my family is.

On Friday Joe, Sierra and I were chilin in bed after a long day and Joe decided to share a little something with us (a little toot!). Sierra turned to Joe and said, "Daddy, did you hear Mommy's butt?!"

OMG, I need to stop leaving my kid with my husband all day long. He's brainwashed her and now she thinks I'm the smelly kid in class when in fact it is her other parental unit.

The Funny Things She says...

Sierra is really a talker now and everything just comes flowing out of her little month.

Funny Things for today that she said to her Daddy when she woke up:
"I have big snots in my nose, I need Mommy blow it!"

Funny thing from yesterday when we were reading a book together:
Mommy reading: "I'm getting tired Shimmer, I need a break!"
Sierra: "Mommy, I'll take a break on your face!

What the...she is so tough! I come to find that her and Joe have a "break" when they read that book where they take a break from reading and touch foreheads and say, "awww...". And here I thought my baby was being antagonistic with me! Little Punk!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

What's a birthday without cake and candles. This little monkey got it all. We had a great time at her little party at home. She had already had a party with her friends so it was just me, Joe, and Papa Ron singing to the little lady.



She is a great little smiler and actually looks half was decent for this pic. Her grimace isn't as bad as it usually is. We had strawberry cake covered in purple (her new favorite color) marshmellow fondant.

She had a blast serving it up. Something about this kid and knives...she's a nugget. But after we all had a piece she decided to go all culinary on us and made quite a mess.

Her Majesty was served on her Sierra Birthday plate that I made last year and I love it! So cutie!

After cake it was presents time and for us it meant an hour of watching Sierra rip little pieces of wrapping paper off all her presents and handing them them to me one by one. It was awesome and I loved it!

I loved watching her open the photo albums I FINALLY put together for her. She LOVES looking at pictures of herself and we went through two books to showcase all the highlights of her first year of life. We look at them everyday and talk about all our fun times.

Her big gift for her 2nd Birthday was a little kitchen for her room. Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Joe spent hours putting it together and Si just loves this thing. It's awesome! Her Grampy hooked her up with plates and cups, silverware, and 99 pieces of the best plastic and cardboard food product out there. She loves this thing! The microwave is her favorite and she stashes all the food in the oven. She serves us drinks and shares the hot dogs with us. It is priceless! She is priceless and I'm loving this baby of ours. She's so cool!

Birthday Highlights

Sierra has the best 2nd Birthday ever...almost. We had a fabulous day. Joe and I got to spend it with our little monkey. Check out the highlights: parks, museums, cakes, presents. Every kids dream come true.

We started the afternoon at Centennial Olympic Park. I thought it would be fun to play in the Olympic Foundtain. Water shoots up out of the ground and kids play in it. Good times to be had by all. I should have worn my bathing suit becuase I got soaked anyway and Sierra and I would have had alot more fun if I wasn't worried about getting wet. She wouldn't go into the fountains or run around by herself. I had to go. But the water has got to be a bit scary to a Little Bit like Sierra. There were kids everywhere and that freaked her out a bit today. EVERYWHERE.

Joe had fun videoing our apprehension as we surveyed the scene.

We had lunch after we finished roughing the masses and we got ready for the next event...the ImagineIT Children's Museum. Sierra was all decked out, complete with her "I'm 2!" button so everyone would know that it was her special day!

The museum was fun but a bit rowdy for my baby. She was the youngest one, by far, there running around and there were summer school groups there and day care centers and kids EVERYWHERE! Why are there so many kids everywhere!? Geez! It wasn't as cool as I thought it would be and we probably would have had more fun if we had some of Sierra's kid friends with us but we had a great time anyway. She may be a bit yound still for all the cool things the museum has to offer but she made a good effort at all the play stations. Of course we spent the most time in the supermarket/home section playing with our plastic food. Yummy! We packed our basket, we used the conveyor belt, we drove the grocery truck to deliver groceries. We did it all!

Sierra loves, Loves, LOVES to buckle her seatbelt so she kind of monopolized the truck. Some older kid tried to tell her to get out of the truck and got really nasty to her so she looked at him and said, "No boy! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and he left crying! My kid is awesome! Way to stand up for yourself in a lady-like manner Sierra!

She had a great time running all around and got only mildly frustrated when bigger kids ran into her. She got pushed, knocked down, and yelled at but that was nothing compared to the barrage of homeless people soliciting money from us on the way home. Yikes!

As we were leaving the museum we committed to the Peach Lady that we would only buy and eat Georgia peaches for the rest of the summer. We signed our life away and got a peach. Sierra was all smiles!

Happy 2nd Birthday Sierra!

Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday to Me!
Happy Birthday dear Me!
Happy Birthday to Me!

Sierra surprised me and woke up before I left for work so I snapped a few shots before heading out. I had put balloons in her room and in the living room and kitchen the while she slept so when she got up she just wanted to collect all her balloons and watch Blues Clues! (it's a treat to watch BC right when she wakes up because we don't like her to watch too much tv). So she curled up on the couch, gave me her best camera smile, and held tight to thos suckers!

Happy2nd Birthday Baby! We are in for a fun-filled day. Yeah for half days!

4th of July - Final Installment

We finished teh day with our besties at the Indian Hills Golf Club to watch the fireworks. Sierra was a champ last year with the fireworks and didn't freakout so I was excited to see how she was going to react to them this year.
We just relaxed, ate, played a little Boccii Ball, collected a few golf balls (Sierra), and waited for the main event.

Here's Cutie Bootie practicing her camera smile while sucking down an ice pop. Love those things. She shared with me. We had purple and blue. Yummy.There were a few sparkers, flares, ground fireworks going on around us from other attendees while we waited that Sierra got pretty stoked about however those got really old for her and by the time the real fireworks started she had just about had it. She barely watched them. I'm surprised she sat on my lap long enough to snap this foto. But she wasn't feelin' it at all. The funny thing is that for the entire week after the 4th she would say every day, "Mommy, I love fireworks!" Yeah right!

Patriotic Pool Party

Continuing all day strong all day long we jumped to the Foye's for a little splish splash in the pool. Sierra loves her some pool...and some chips, cupcakes, hot dogs, and cake. Silly baby!

We got together with our posse to play. The Beavers, Foyes, and Hutchisons. Good times were had by all. (Don't check out my husband ladies!!!!!!)

Sierra scoped the place out before deciding on what to do first...
EAT! She found a "donut" (icing covered cookie) and went to down. When I chased her down to wipe her up she ran into a corner and stuffed the whole thing in her mouth.

Even Joe got smerf fever and had a bite of the blue. Those suckers were good! I can't resist them either.

Blue, strawberry cupcakes followed poolside and Sierra ate them right off the deck. Crazy baby.

I couldn't resist putting this on here. Look at these little cheeks!

The highlight of my day was doing snakes! I love these things, always have. Sierra thought they were pretty cool. Everyone else thought they were stupid. Love them!

America the Beautiful

I love the 4th of July and now that Sierra is old enough to enjoy it I thought we would give the parade at the Marietta Square a whirl. I used to go there as a kid and remembered loving it so we hauled the fam, Ron, and Paul, Sarah and Mary along for the ride.

I realized the day before the 4th that I didn't have a patriotic outfit for Sierra. What kind of mother am I!? Geez! So I ran all over the place and found cutie little star shorts, a darling shirt and my favorite...sparkly shoes. Who cares if they don't fit exactly right, they are killer gorgeous. My baby is so stylish.

Sierra snagged a great seat, front row, on the parade round and got ready for the main event.

Her cohort in crime Mary was right there beside her.

We were all in place for the highly anticipated floats but more importantly, the candy! Love the candy!

Flag galor were handed out so here are our little Stars waving them proudly. (Sierra calls them Flaggits! No idea why but it's sort of funny hehehe. I think she mixes Wave It and Flag.

The girls watched all the floats, waved at all the beauty queens, teen misses, Tot princesses, veterans, trucks, and politicians. Sarah was getting frustrated when no one was throwing candy and left disappointed at the end. What kind of parades have street sweepers at the end when no one threw candy? Lame.

Joe chased this guy down in the middle of the street to get a good picture. He went after another solider but he almost sliced him down the middle with a confederate sword. For real.

Who knew that politicans ACTUALLY kissed babies?! Not me! It took some prodding from Joe, of course.

By the end of the parade Sierra was spent. We quickly recharged in the car and headed over to the Foye's for a sweet pool party. I'll get around to posting those sooner than later. Good times. I love holidays!

Jealous!

Look what my baby did today with her daddy...jealous!!!!

Celebrating Early

Sierra is almost 2 and since we didn't do a big party last year, we decided to invite all her little friends and do it up right. Celebrating almost a month early to ensure all the grandparents and friends could be there we had pools, sprinklers, cute party favors and a fabulous cake made by the best Mommy in the entire world...ME! (ok, besides my mom!)

Check out all the fun!

We grilled out so we had hamburgers and hot dogs galour. The kiddies had their own table complete with their goodie buckets and all the needed supplies for a 2 yr old party: funky cup, sunglasses, bubbles, and candy watches.

Here we have all the party-goers:

Ms. Sophia.

Hottie Ollie

JakobAnnaliese
Haydon

Eli
Solei (Sierra calls her Lolei)
Hannah Bannan Haymore
Kate
Parker & Lincoln And where are my pictures of Molly & Abby!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!

Sierra had a blast. Lots of Hugs and Kisses were shared - I swear she hugged the girls too!

What can I say? My kid is a lover, not a fighter!

Nice Speedo Eli!

I was excited for the presents but my not so material girl daughter really just liked the paper...still! She would tear off each little piece and everyone wanted to help her, so they did!

She has lots of helpful friends.

The best part, I have to say, was her really super duper cute cake. I wanted to be creative and fun and make Sierra's cake but I also didn't want it to just be a regular cake, I wanted it to be amazing! So I didn't hit amazing, but I go pretty close. Check out my marshmellow fondant super duper cool cake!

It was a fabulous party! We had tons of fun! I can't wait to celebrate on her real birthday, July 15!

Memorial Day Madness

Monday we went Strawberry picking. Here's a little teaser into just how much fun we had. More pictures to come.

BBQ with the Boots

We had a super fun time with our buds the Boots last weekend. Here are the highlights:

They have 5 cutie kids so you can imagine with us and Sierra we had a full house. Sierra loves playing with them though, especially that handsome guy Oliver. He was a bit put out that Sierra insisted on driving on their date but she did and insisted that Sophia tag along as the chaperone.

He was trying to impress her all night. Everything he did was, "Sierra, watch me! Sierra, watch me!" I mean, look at this little stud. Who wouldn't want to watch him?

The girls had a great time playing together. Bubbles are their thing so they more than entertained themselves while the boys grilled up the burgers, and some really salty steak.

Post dinner we had some ice cream fun! Yuuuuuuummy!

We love the Boots!

Beginning of the End

I received this email from Joe today:

"Little bugger has officially taken her shirt of by herself for the first time. I think we are in trouble..."

Potty Pals

Sierra's church nursery friend Solei (who she calls Lolei) came over to play last night so her parents could go out and play. She's a bundle of energy and super smart and we had a blast with her. She's 8 months older than Sierra and is already potty trained so she decided to show Sierra how it's done when it comes to the potty.


We have a few pottys around the house for Sierra to get used to but she's not really grasping the concept, and we aren't pushing it, so Solei took matters into her own hands. She dropped her pants and settled in for the long haul. Sierra followed suit, almost.










Aren't they cutie?!

My Little Fish

Sierra and I definatley don't spend enought time together so I decided to sign up for a 5-week swim class at the local aquatic center. Such a good idea! Every Saturady Sierra and I put on our "baby suits" and head to the pool bright and early for our 30 minute mommy-and-me class.


She was such a fish last year at the pool but she was only one and didn't know any better. Now that she's older she had been resistant to putting her face in the water and even having us wash her hair because she didn't like getting in on her face but I am proud to say that she is back to her old self.







I must say that she is the BEST student in the class and she does look killer (for a baby) is a baby suit.

The first week was sort of...interesting...and so freakin' cold, even I was shivering the entire time. Poor Si got out of the pool and her lips were blue for an hour. She was shaking so bad that I couldn't even get a good picture.






The first week she just got used to the water and by the end she was cool going under water but, look at her now!


She's a master kicker and look at that arm action. Her teacher says she's a natural.

And she even jumps in! She's awesome! And so cute!

Super fun, so glad we did it. She'll be our little water baby this summer.

She's a Funny Baby

My baby says the darnedest things. Every time we pass the giant baptist church in our community this following conversation ensues:

Sierra: Where's Santa? Where's Santa?
Me: I don't know Sierra, does he live in the North Pole?
Sierra: With Jesus!
Me: With Jesus? Jesus lives in Heaven.
Sierra: Santa with Jesus in Heaven!

So for all of you that didn't know, Santa and Jesus are together in heaven.

Neglect!

I recieved this picture today and a call from my husband. He locked Sierra in the car! We didnt' have a spare key and this the picture he took of her from the outside.

Our poor little prisioner!

Thank goodness my husband took my advice (for once) and called 911 (non-emergency of course) to pop the lock. Now the nice fire men at Station 21 are going to get treats from us for bailing out my baby for free.

Preparing for Easter

So last weekend there was an Easter egg hunt in my Dada's neighborhood so we packed up our little rabbit and headed for the hunt. (compliments of my mom. Yet again my baby looks nuts)

When we got there Sierra didn't quite know what to make of it. Eggs as far as the eye could see and she had no idea why. There was pink tape to designate the different age level "hunting" locations and Sierra was so confused. She did a fabulous job with the basket though. Usually if she doesn't know what something is for she just drops it. There was a fair amount of throwing of the basket but we got her to hang on to it long enough to find out what she was to put in it.

Off she went and after a little coaching she was off and ready for the hunt. Her special pink sunglasses were a big help too! Doesn't she look so stealthy!? She's SO cool! It didn't take long for her to load up her basket however after putting 4 or 5 eggs in her basket she wanted to know what was inside the eggs. She could shake the little suckers but once she figured out there was candy inside it was all downhill from there. The eggs didn't go in the basket anymore.

She had such a great time and was so successful in the hunt that she rewarded herself. She's so silly.

Let's Take a Vote

Sierra is starting swim lessons next week and she has to be the cutest baby at the beach - or pool - whichever. We didn't have much selection and I've ordered two more suits just to see if they make the cut but, what do you think? Are any of these cute enough for Si Si McGee? Cast your votes!





She's such an actress. Her mood changes with the outfit.

Our Big Sky Vacation - Part II

The last day of our vacation we decided to relax on the sking and go for a leisurely stroll to Osula Falls. 1.8 miles there and back of switch backs, icy patches, falls on our bum, beautiful views and frozen falls. It was awesome.
(just warning you that the commentary sucks but the pictures are cool.)

Sierra and I walked most of the way together. It was steep and icy in places and she just wasn't a fan of the long walk.

Near the beginning of the trail Si Si took a breather to enjoy the scenic...rocks. She was all decked out in her warm gear. It was about 40 degrees and trekking all over the place made it a bit warmer. She did a great job walking with her Mommy but let's be serious, we carried her almost the entire way.



It was beatiful and we took TONS of pics so here are the highlights:.

Joe's brothers, Aaron and Brian, came up from Provo for the weekend so they were with us. Good times.

This isn't Ousla Falls however it was the coolest thing that we saw on the hike. Isn't that amazing!?!?!

You could walk all the way inside of it and it was just completely frozen. The boys took a look inside while Sierra and I enjoyed the scenic views. We ventured over after we realized it was completely safe and we took a look inside.

Sierra didn't really know what to make of it other that is was really cold and SO COOL, can you tell from the look on her face?

Our little Tree Hugger. So cutie!

Here are my attempts at a photography career. Everything was just so beautiful. Snow everywhere you looked and everything was just covered.

Can you see Brian and Aaron on the bridge?

Sierra stopped along the trail for a breather. Walking on those short, little legs is such hard work! Thankfully, her Uncle Aaron was there to lend a hand.

Joe helped along the way as well. Cutest little picture of my better halves trekking along the trail.

When we were finally ALMOST over with the walk, Si Si stopped to strike a pose. This is her new smile...yikes!

Where are pics of Osula Falls do you ask...yeah, when we got to the top it was a frozen mess and not nearly as cool as we were hoping. Good thing we saw the other frozen cascade or we would have had fun but been disappointed.

Our Big Sky Vacation (don't be jealous!)

Eight Blissful Days in Montana

Our vacation started with a drugged out baby (ain't no shame). She slept almost the entire flight and chilled for the rest of it. It was great.

And this is what we saw flying in, and we weren't even on the "good" side of the plane.

Lost bags, a huge grocery bill, and a beautiful drive into Big Sky ensued as we started out long awaited, anticipated, and prepared for ski vaca.

We took Sierra out the first day before we hit the slopes just to see what she thought.

I'm thrilled to report that she is a snow lover, as long as those gloves are on. She loved being buried in the snow and watching her legs disappear. She thought it was hilarious.

Taking a walk with her buddy Emma was so cutie. They are quite the pair.

We geared up for the first big day of snowboarding by trying on our goggles the day before. Daddy and Sierra, James, and Dan and Emma were really excited. Joe has been wanting/waiting to take me snowboarding forever and although a little (ok...ALOT) scared, I was looking forward to it. He's been outfitting us for months now getting deals on the internet for jackets, pants, boots, gloves, baclavas (what do you call those things?) and everything else imaginable.

And the big day FINALLY arrived. (we are sexy aren't we) Joe says that we might not be the best snowboarders on the hill but we certainly are the best looking! Joe had not boarded in forever and of course I haven't done anything on snow since I was like 12 so needless to say, this was an adventure. We were nervous that we wouldn't pick it up, that we would be eating snow all day, and that we would come home busted, bruised, and wanting to die. The good news is we picked it up quickly and we did green runs all day but the bad news is that we ate snow all day and came home busted, bruised, and wanting to die. We had so much fun. Thank goodness for helmets because we both took some video worthy falls. I smacked the back of my head HARD on one of our first runs right under the ski lift. Embarrassing? No way. At least I got back up but talk about headache when I got home. My last run of the day started with a smack to the front of my head and I cried all the way day the mountain and ended up walking like 50 yards at the bottom because I didn't have enought momentum to take me to the bottom of the hill. My husband was so proud of me though and I am proud of me too! I'm a snowboarder!!!! Well, at least I was on Monday.

Tuesday was a breather day. Aches, pains, nausea, and more aches. Wednesday we were snow bladers! Hot ones too! Joe started the day without me because I was waiting for the babysitter to get off school so I could hit the slopes. Look what I missed!!!!

My hotty husband posing for the camera with his BFF Dan. They are getting pumped up for the grind park and the tricks they are about to do.

Here is my honey gearing up for his first trick...

This is our stellar photographer Dan with the great action shot (yeah, WTF is right)...

And here is the landing...

Here is me doing the same trick. I'm a pimp! (so what if I was a little more cautious at a slow speed, I DID IT!)

We had a fantastic day snow blading. I didn't wipe out once but I'm still glad I had my helmet.
It may look dorky but it kept we warm and had built in headphones. It was Brittney and PCD all day long baby.

Look at how beautiful this place is. That is Lone Peak behind us.

We weren't as sore on Wednesday as we were on Monday. The day actually made me want to go out and do it again. Snowboarding kicked my booty but I did pretty dang good for never having one lesson. =)

Thursday (today) has been our R&R day. We took Sierra out again for a romp in the snow.

She is so cute in her snow gear. It's a wonder she can even walk in all of that.

She's not a fan of the gloves that's for sure and if she flaps long enough they come off. She's just so cute all bundled up.

We made snow angels, which our little angel did not really go for.

We sledded too! We had a great time. She's such a trooper. We took endless videos outside today and tons of pictures. She liked eating snow, flapping her mittens off, burying herself in the snow, and getting snow thrown at her. She is so silly. We even got a few good shots of her actually smiling at the camera. What a cute little face.

"It's Brocolli"

My baby is just the cutiest little thing!

Happy Halloween!

So I'm a little slow on the blogging...big deal.
Check out the cutest baby in the world!

Hillcrest Orchards

Our favorite family outing in October, a first time for us, and hopefully a tradition for years to come. We packed up the kid, a few other couples, and a few other kids and off we went to Elijay for a little apples, a little country, and a lot of good 'ole country fun!

Sierra learned how to...


milk a Cow,










weigh her fatness on a cattle scale,
drive a tractor,








the difference between a LIVE animal...and a CONCRETE one,















that she's not fast enough to catch her
own dinner just yet,

and that Daddy routinely displays a lack of good sense.

Anticipating Things to Come

So we've been abscent for like 6 months, so what. We know you missed us, we're back. Here's a preview of things to come.

Hippo Walk

This little guy has been sitting in our living room lonely and waiting ever so patiently for Sierra to give him a whirl. She's finally stable enough to go with it instead of tumbling to her death when he speeds away from her.

Gosh she's cute.

First Steps

Sierra has been trying to be mobile for a couple of weeks now. She'll take steps here and there. We think her first real, major, honest to goodness step was July 7. We were in our living room and Joe said,"I think that was her 1st step..." Whether we are right or not is a different story but that's what we are going with.

So here's a video in all her glory on July 20 after we celebrated her birthday showing off for the camera. (mom, this is for you!)

Uh-Oh!

Oh my gosh, she is the cutest thing ever!

Happy Birthday to ME! I'm 1! I'm 1! I'm 1!

Today I am 1! I'm a big girl! I'm a big girl! Let me tell you all about my day...

I got woke up by my favorite Mommy and I got to have my breakfast bottle with my favorite Daddy! It was awesome! He snuggled me and loved me and I never snuggle and love (i'm not the cuddly type), but I thought since it was my birthday I would snuggle my Daddy while I had my bottle.

Next I got all dressed up in my "Fun to be One" birthday hat and my pink dress and then the most awful thing happened...Momma took me to the doctor! Everyone thought I was SO CUTE and everyone told me "Happy Birthday" but then I had to get 3, count them 1-2-3 shots in my legs! AND they took blood out of my foot! Can you believe that?! On my birthday! It was sucky!
Then I got to spend the WHOLE day with my Uncle Josh! I slept A LOT because I was exhausted from my trip to Las Vegas (that Mommy probably won't blog about for like 3 months) but we played a lot too! I LOVE playing withUncle Josh!

When Mommy FINALLY got home from work we got the party started...ok, let's be real, everyone is out of town and Daddy goes to school at night so I'm having a month long birthday celebration and today was just the beginning. I didn't get any presents (that will come later) but I did get to go to dinner with Mommy and Papa Ron!

I got my own highchair with a special birthday balloon on it and I got to order all by myself! I ordered beans and rice. (my Daddy is going to love my diapers tomorrow!)

I got to eat all the chips and salsa that I wanted. I LOVE chips and salsa! They are so delicious! I sort of made a mess on the floor but the muchachos didn't mind because I am so dang cute!


Since it is my special day Mommy and Papa Ron were at my beck and call. Everything I pointed at they gave me. See...that's my pointing...mostly at Momma's water because I love, Love, LOVE water out of a straw. But I pointed (and grunted, of course) at other things like Momma's food, chips, and salsa. Oh, and the lemons in the water of course! I LOVE lemons. They taste silly on my tongue!

In the middle of dinner Grandma called and I got to talk to her! I miss her. She's in Nauvoo for 6 whole weeks and she can't see me but she called me to wish me a happy birthday! It was a great surprise! -Excuse the food on my chin! I was so excited I forgot to wipe it off! How rude of me!



I got a little excited at dinner and started acting really, really silly as you can see. I started sticking my tongue out at everything, even the ceiling fan! I was so silly that I even started laughing at myself.
I don't know how I got so funny...probably from my Mommy? (at least that's what Daddy would say)





The best part of the dinner was the sopapilla! The head muchacho brought it to me and I even got a candle and everything! I'll learn, someday, that candles are for blowing out and not for touching. I almost got hurt as I was making my wish but Mommy saved the day! She's the best! And boy was this stuff d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! I ate and ate and ate! Yummy!





I'm so glad Papa Ron could hang out with me today! He's the best Papa Ron in the whole world and I love him!




I really had a great birthday! When I got home there was a HUGE bouquet of Happy Birthday to me balloons and I was so excited about that! I LOVE BALLOONS! They are so tight!

I finished off the night by reading one of my favorite books with Mommy. Well, she kind of sings some words out of the book while I look at the pictures...see, I told you we are silly!


Soon I will have my party and some cake and open the presents from everyone! Now that's a story worth waiting for...

Happy Birthday to ME! I'm 1! I'm 1! I'm 1!

New Tricks

I don't even have anything to say about this pictures except...How the heck does she do that?!

Yeah, she's a weirdo!

"What, momma? I need to get clean, don't I? No, I don't think it's weird that I beeline for the shower every time I'm on the floor..."

Memorial Day Fun

I don't think we've ever told the world that Sierra is a HOOVER vacuum. She will eat anything. Seriously, ANYTHING! We had a killer BBQ at my Mom's house for the holiday and little Miss Sierra sucked this pickle dry before she devoured it.


Her daddy loves to give her just about everything, including anything hot, spicy, or surprising, but nothing phases her. After pickles it was time for dessert...



Onions. Yuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
She is such a little weirdo!

Then we had a photo shoot in the front yard and this was her best shot.
Now that's a face only a Mother could love...

Pomp and Circumstance

Last weekend we had ourselves a little road trip down to Florida for Brian's (Joe's littlest brother) graduation from high school. Congratulations Brian! On Thursday, May 15 we left the house at 2pm and off we went on our 10 hour drive to West Palm Beach. It's always and adventure so here's some of the highlights.

We ALWAYS stop at Cracker Barrel for a book on tape. (Did you know you can rent those suckers for like 3 dollars a week or something like that and then just return them when you're done? I know Mom, the library is free, but we don't have time for all that!) So we stopped to get a little road noise and while Joe was perusing the selections, Sierra and I settled into our rockers for a rest. We were exhausted. We'd been on the road for like an hour!

Yes, Joe dressed her today and yes, everyone at CB thought she was a little dude but hey, I think she's freakin' cute despite the fact that she could pass for the cutest little man ever. Gosh she's cute.

So off we went with no end in sight. Sierra didn't sleep a wink! She knows long, no-end-in-sight road trips are exhilarating and she didn't want to miss a minute, so she skipped her nap. She did great playing with all her toys and relaxing in her car seat. FINALLY we got to stop again (way after dark) when Joe decided we were starving.

Steak-N-Shake? I really pride myself on how cute my kid is but OMG she is a total boy sometimes. We had a great time eating our fries and place mats and crayons. Family dinner at its finest? (and really, can her nostrils get any bigger? they are like canyons on her face. "Hellllllllooooooo in there") She's so cute!We got in really, really, really late but Sierra was up bright and early, and this is how she greeted us every morning... "Hello Mommy and Daddy! Are you up there?! Are you awake?" She is so silly. She would just stand there talking to herself until I moved and acknowledged that I was in fact alive (unfortunately) and not still sleeping. Sometimes Sierra and I have our best times right when she wakes up and Daddy is still asleep. That means breakfast! Ummmm...delicious. Who wouldn't want to wake up to that face everyday? Hello...me! That's why she has her own room.

We did a lot of chillin' while we were in Florida! 3 of Joe's 5 brothers (I know, 6 boys, kill me now) live in FL. David, James, and little Brian. We were hoping to get to spend tons of time with everyone but with work, oral surgery, graduation, bird-flu, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah we didn't get a whole heck of a lot of time to hang out with the boys. Well, not as much as Joe would have liked but just the right amount of time for me. =) Symptom of coming from a small family...lots of people yelling simultaneously make me nervous.

We did get to go to Uncle Demitrious' first soccer game of the season. He is our 6-year-old nephew and the toughest, nicest, sweetest, buck-toothest kid you'll ever meet. He asked me to be his girlfriend this weekend and I said yes! We don't have a picture of him in his uniform but he was awesome! Of course we got pictures of the babies, tho. And they didn't win but he showed us some sweet moves. They were victorious this past weekend though, 4-1!

Jayden is Demitrious' sister. 15-months-old and Sierra is as big as her! Actually, Sierra is bigger than several babies down in Florida, and we think it has something to do with the water. My kid is a chunky hoss. Jayden is a little cutie. She's this cute little thing with these adorable blue eyes and toothy grin. She's definitely a keeper.

Sierra wasn't much for the game so she hung out with Jayden on the blanket and basked in the sun with her hat and SPF 50 of course! (What kind of mother do you think I am? Don't answer that!) She did like banging on the bleachers though. Sounds excite the heck out of her. Our little future Stomp member!

Sierra is such a little lover. All weekend she hugged and open-mouth kissed little Jayden. That's just what she does to other kids, and we think it's cute. I think Joe's Dad captured a few of those pictures so I might get around to posting them but we'll see. You know me.

Since Joe and I are the pastiest people you'll ever meet (ok just me) we were hoping to get ample time in the sun but that didn't happen. We did get to go to the beach though for two short sessions and Sierra LOVED it! This is the first time I've let her go onto the sand and into the water. But I have the necessary supplies for my Fair Skinned Sweetie - Sun Suit with matching hat and of course SPF 50 lathered all over her body. Here's some before and during shots.

She had to kiss the dog good-bye...side bar...Joe's Mom and Dad have two BIG DOGS. Sierra LOVES them. She screamed at them and tried to kiss them, poke them, pet them, and crawl on them. They usually weren't having it but she tried SO HARD to be by them all the time. I thought they were going to scare her you-know-what-less but she thought they were so freakin' cool!

Yummy, Sand!

First you look at it...
Then you taste it...

Then you Vogue!


Sierra LOVED going in the water. We weren't quite sure how she would react but OMG she loved it. She loves the bath and it's kind of the same thing (only much COLDER) so I thought she would like it, but not this much. She loved wading deep with me and Joe, she liked sitting on the beach with us, but best of all she loved wave crawling! So exciting!



We had a great time and Brian's graduation was awesome. We were so proud of him that we forgot to take any pictures... Suck!

We were sad to leave the beach but happy to be heading home at the end of our trip. We were even more happy that we could stop and take pictures with this 13 foot stuffed croc! Huh? And freakin' old as you can see from the deterioration of the thing. We love stuff like this, World's Largest Ball of Twine, here we come!

Should we Intervene?

Joe and I are upset because it's almost like Sierra's new boyfriend just walks all over her...















and other times it seems he's just showing off. Jerk!

Finally! See! It's True! She crawls!

Newsflash! I'm a full-time working mom and I just don't have all the time in the world to work on my blog, even though I'd like to. So, I apologize for the delay in putting all this exciting stuff on here. Sierra is totally mobile. She's a crawl-o-manic, but only when she's wearing long pants. Our rug and wood floors aren't the kindest on her little knees but she's doing just fine. I doubt walking is in the near future, I mean, come on, we are just getting her used to crawling. She stays pretty much to just a few places. Our shower is her favorite. Any time she's in our room she'll beeline for the shower. She is SO weird! She's not really into following us all around yet. Anywhere she sees a remote control or cell phone she'll go but it's pretty much living room only. Rarely do we find her far from her comfort zone.

This video is from May 4, the day she actually started crawling. She shuffled/scooted, whatever you want to call it the day before just a few millimeters and now all of a sudden she is off! She was rather slow at first. It took her until the 5th of May to be able to get to the crawling position without pushing off from anything. She had to have some pressure on those feet to get into position but on Cinco de Mayo she figured out how to work her little abs enough to pull those legs in all my herself.




I'll have to post some more of the Little Miss on the move in all her glory - Fast and Focused. Her new thing is crawling with one knee and pushing off with a foot instead of a knee. I'm telling you, the floor hurts her knees so if she doesn't have to crawl she wouldn't. They get so red, poor thing. More to come. (Happy now Reva? She crawls!) =)

OH NO!

She's on the move folks! Oh dear! It's the beginning of the end! Video coverage to come!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I'm trying to figure out how to make this blog a little more pleasing to the eye because it has looked pretty generic. Bear with us and let us know now if you love (yay!) or hate (arrgh!) something we've changed!

I Can be Cute...See!

Sierra is so freakin' happy all the time and it's taken her FOR-EV-ER to start laughing (which she's been doing for a bit now like a big girl). She used to pant like a dog or cough which we discovered was a form of laughter for her but I've never caught it on video until today. We were playing peek-a-boo with her looking for me over the side of her crib and laughing hysterically (is that how you spell that?) when she could finally see me again...



She's so freakin' cute, I could eat her face!

The Many Psycho Faces of Sierra Smith

We must admit that Sierra is one cute kid...except when she does this...



And this...or this...um, this?...

And of course hopefully she'll learn (no thanks to her dad) that the following are not very becoming either.

Random Cutenesses

Just a few pics I couldn't not share. She's getting so big...

This is Mommy and Me stay home from work day! So much fun.

Girlfriend had some, still has some, crazy diaper rash so all weekend ( this is so old that "all weekend" means like a month ago) she hung out in her birthday suit, even though it was Easter, and just showed us tricks all day. She is SO talented:

St. Patrick's Day was fun. It was dress Sierra up like a boy day! Oh my gosh, my little baby looks like a boy! I can't help it that she doesn't have any hair! I bought this super cute shirt that says "I'm Charming" on it, and coupled with jeans she looks like a hot little man. Joe always wanted a boy so now he has the best of both worlds. Girl one day and boy the next. Am I giving my kid a complex?!

This is all TOTALLY RANDOM did I mention that?
So Girlfriend has a cute little boy friend. Yes, those are two separate words. Boy...friend. Not boyfriend. Jones Raisor is her little friend, we've featured him as the super baby on our blog before. Remember? The one that crawls monkey style who is 2 days older than Sierra and who is about to start walking any day now when Sierra isn't even crawling? Yeah, that's the one. They are so cute together. He tries to steal her toys and she mauls his face with her little hands. Adorable.

Joe is going to kill me for putting this picture up but I think she looks like a little freak, in a cute way. This is what you get when you mix chocolate and picture taking. Are we bad parents for putting up fugly pics of our kid? (ok, am I a bad parent?)









Last but certainly not least, and I promise I'll be more diligent...Sierra's big new trick that she'll never do again because she's so lazy! Her daddy is SO PROUD of this. "Ta-Da! Here I am! Look at me!" She's so awesome! And what a cute bum too! (don't stare pervs!)

Up Close and Personal

The picture you have all been asking for...check out those daggers! She's so cute. Two more are coming in on top but we haven't been able to get a good shot of those yet.

"My, what Big Teeth you have!"

My baby is cutting three, count them...one, two, three teeth! She won't keep her mouth open long enough to let us take a really long look let alone take a picture so you are going to have to take my word for it. The front middle right incisors starting coming in like 10 days ago followed by its neighbor the left incisor. Then much to our surprise Joe discovered yesterday that she is getting a top left incisor that is not the front tooth, but the one just to the side of it. She is a tooth making machine. And she's not crying, fussy, crazy or anything. She's so cool!

Video Response to the Paget's "Alphawesome!"

Sierra watched Solei's video and got jealous. We don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but our baby is pretty smart too!

Mexico or Bust

We put our pictures up from the vacation FINALLY. Scroll two posts down.

Peek-A-Boo! I See You!

Oh what fun we have with Daddy! Our little girl is hilarious!

Baby Food!

It is true that we have been giving Sierra big people food to suck on and chew on and make a mess with, but I figured it was about time to actually feed her and help her work on that thing we all call swallowing. This week is the perfect opportunity because I'm working from home today and tomorrow so I'll have 4 full days of working on this with her until I let her Daddy and her Grandmother start on this fun new stage.

So here you have it...

Breakfast was bananas (I should have given her broccoli for breakfast but it just doesn't seem like a breakfast food to me). I know she likes them but I didn't think she would do this good. She ate the entire banana that I made for her. Yes, I made for her. My baby-food processor is the bomb (thanks mom). She downed half a banana in no time and loved every bit of it. She even opened her mouth after swallowing each bite. And the amazing thing about it all is that she would suck the food off the spoon like a big girl, I didn't have to scrap it off her gums to get the food in her mouth. She's a champ!

Then for lunch I decided to mix it up a bit. All the books say (and yes I go by the books) that I should introduce one new veggie every couple of days to ensure there are no allergies blah, blah, blah. Well, I think that's stupid so for lunch we had

Corn, brocolli, and cauliflower. Yummy!




So, yes, a lot more got on her during lunch than breakfast and she wasn't really feelin' all the veggies, but it's a start.

Gotta love her!

My 1st International Vacation!

We figured you'd want a blow by blow of our very first family vacation so here it is.

We hopped a plane in Atlanta for Cancun but there was some waiting before hand in the airport. Good thing we all LOVE food because that's what we did to pass the time - eat!

Then it was time to get on Sierra's very first airplane! How exciting! I was actually a little scared considering I didn't know how she was going to behave. She's super chill however I don't want to be "THAT LADY" whose child is screaming bloody murder on take off and landing. How terrible. She LOVED the airplane. The fact that she can stand up and smile at the people in the row behind her really made her go crazy! She was SO HAPPY about that. Someone to smile at her other than her parents and grandparents. What a treat. She loves strangers. Especially smiling ones. She did great though. Take off, landing, air pressure, didn't phase her at all. My ears bothered me more than they bothered her. She was all smiles the entire trip. She didn't even have a nap the entire day.

We got to Cancun and to our hotel with little incident, ok, there was one but we don't want to talk about it, and of course we devoured the entire room service menu when we got there. I think for the 4 of us (duh, my mom and step-dad traveled with us) we ordered 8 entrees. We are big fatties, but that's what you do at an all-inclusive resort...EAT!

The next couple of days were a blur. All we did was eat, Eat, EAT!!!

They had all kinds of great food there. I had pink grapefruit, bananas, oranges, nachos (yes, that's true), and anything else I could get my hands on. And trust me, I wanted to eat EVERYTHING. Daddy and Papa Ron LOVED the buffets and Mommy loved teh sugar french toast, but nothing is as healthy as the fruit I ate all week long. This is what I looked like every meal with all this food. A baby's paradise!


By the time we left I was stuffed, but in between meals I found time to do some other things.

I spent some quality time at the pool with my family. Don't worry, I put on alot of sunscreen so I didn't get a sunburn at all. So I showed off my bathing suit to everyone and everyone LOVED me! Perfect strangers wanted to hold me and love me and be my 'Auntie' and 'Grandma'. People are so silly. I was the talk of all the ladies at the resort though.

I learned how to swim too! It was awesome! I had my swim assistant so I could chill in the pool at not have anyone bother me. I look like I didn't enjoy it, but trust me, I did! I had so much fun. I don't know why I have such a weird look on my face. I am so silly. I would just kick my little feet and be lazy in the pool while everyone watched me. It was like being in a huge bath except it was a little colder than my bath, ok, a lot colder than my bath. I took a few dips without this thing and dunked myself underwater. Not to shabby for my first time.

I watched some cool shows and made some new friends while I was in Cancun as well. (check out that one dancers butt...it's like a ham...HUGE!)

Grandma really liked the show. I thought it was pretty sweet too. They changed their outfits like every time they did a new dance. They clucked like chickens sometimes too when they were excited. It doesn't look like I enjoyed myself, but I did!


I met these characters on my way to the beach. I wasn't even scared of them. They were on their way to a wedding. They throw fire!
And then...I FINALLY made to the beach. I had been to the beach in Florida before, twice, but I wasn't old enough to go on the sand and now I'm finally old enough! I'm big! Check me out, you better believe everyone on that beach was!

I had my sun tan lotion on, my sunglasses, and I was such a looker! I loved the feel of the sand on my toes...and my hands, the sun on my face. This is the life!
So, after all this fun we were exhausted. We had a great time and I can't wait until we can go again next year! Only 333 days until we leave!

Viva La Mexico!

Hit you up when we get back! We'll think of you while we are chillin' on the beach!

Playing Catch Up!

It has been a BUSY month! Wow, it has really flown by. So, nothing super exciting to write, But I just wanted to put up new pictures of the Bug. More to come because we are heading to Cancun tomorrow! YEA! Vacation! Beach! Sun! TAN!!!!! ...Oh the tan!
So check her out...again...!

Sierra LOVES to eat stuff that we do, or try it anyway, so we let her. Why not? She doesn't do rice cereal but she'll eat stewed tomatoes. She's so silly. She'll gnaw on it to get the juices and then she's not quite sure what to do with the rest.

Snow Day with Sierra. Her first Snow Angel (or is it Angle...I can never remember, yes I am retarded!)
And she wasn't too interested in snow, as you can see. She was trying to practice her upchuck reflex with a little help, yummy pine straw. She really did stick it all the way down her throat and gag.

It's ALL ABOUT ME!

It's been TOO long because now Sierra has all these new tricks and all this stuff happening in her groovy little world that we just have to share. Check her out!


















She can do it now! All by her self!

And she LOVES to eat. We haven't really started her on any food, no rice cereal, none of that, but any time we put something in our mouth she wants to do the same and since Joe is determined to have her have eating habits totally different than mine, he gives her veggies to chew on.

Joe gave her a fresh green pepper. She gnawed the heck out of that thing. "Arrrrrr".

Look at me! Look at me!

So we are trying to teach Sierra how to sit up. I realize this isn't something you can actually teach a baby, but she's just not figuring it out on her own. We have done everything we can for her!! We got her a Bumbo seat...she likes to fold over and twist through the arm hole. We sit with her and she likes to topple over. Her grandmother got her a booster seat and she likes it, until she gets bored (like 5 minutes or less) and leans to one side and whimpers. Oh baby...well, Joe has been staying with her and to my surprise look at what he has done! She sits! Ok, don't be totally deceived. If he gets her on a soft surface at just the right depth she is supported and can usually sit up for a bit on her own. Isn't she the cutest! But eventually she will topple over and just lay there on her face, side, or back. She won't even cry if she faceplants into the bed and we don't get her up right away. She just smells or tastes the blanket...what a wierdo! =)

I sat by her today while she sat in the middle of the Boppy and that seemed to work for awhile, surprisingly. Twenty whole minutes! She's still more comfortable on her back but hopefully some day soon she'll be sitting up on her own and the new perspective on life she's been getting will be a permanent part of her day! Wish us luck!

I Love Santa!

Joe took Sierra to sit on Santa's lap last week. Yes I am a bad mother, I couldn't go because I was working but my fabulous husband was a champ and got it done. She is so cute I could just Eat her UP!

This is the REAL Santa too! 25 years at North Dekalb Mall. He's the real deal. Joe used to get his picture taken with this Santa. So precious that he's still there to get a pic with Sierra.

Baby's 1st Christmas

So Sierra is only five and a half months old so Christmas wasn't that exciting for her. It was more exciting for me because I got to open all her presents! I LOVED it! I think baby toys are so fun! The best part of the holiday was (and I know I'm supposed to say family) that I was off work for a whole week and it was GREAT! I loved hanging out with Joe and his family and Sierra and I FINALLY got to read the final Harry Potter book! I have not read one of them, I usually listen to them on CD (yes, I am lazy!), but I read it and I loved it!

So here are some holiday highlights...

We went to Florida for the holiday. Really wanted to get in the Christmas spirit so we though 90 degree weather would do the trick. ;)


We went to the beach twice, Sierra's 2nd and 3rd visit. She wore her pretty little white sun dress, her pink bathing suit, pink crocs and darling bonnet. She was so cute and dressed to impress!

We hung out and watched the boys play in the surf.

We love sporting our sun glasses.

She didn't go in the water this trip or even get in the sun that much (yes, she has an overprotective mother) but I don't want her in the sun with such fragile skin. She's just too precious to burn. We did get her into the arms of her extremely handsome daddy by the water though. Maybe next trip she'll actually go in.

After such a hard time at the beach and playing with her 3 uncles, 1 aunt, and 2 cousins, she was wiped (like every day) so she would stretch out 3 times a day just to take a little snooze to rejuvenate. Gosh she's cute!


She had a great time with Jayden who, once again, wanted to touch her at every opportunity. She would reach her hands out and grab Sierra's face and ears and just about anything she could get her hands on, in a good way, but still, they haven't learned how to play nice yet. But they sure are cute. Jayden is 10 months and I think Sierra could take her...their size differential is minimal, anyway.

The main event in Florida was Christmas, Sierra's very first. As my family tradition goes, Santa leaves our stockings by our beds in the morning, so when Sierra woke up on Christmas morning she had her very first stocking propped by her bed. And yes, I made myself, Sierra, and Joe stockings with the instructional help of my mom, but I sewed those suckers all by myself and I am SO proud, enough of that. Sierra loved it, as you can see.

She wasn't too into her presents, but I was! I loved opening her presents! She got some GREAT stuff! She did however, LOVE the wrapping paper, with our baby you could give her anything and it would end up in her mouth, just like this poor stocking that Grandma Paula made for her. (don't worry, I'll get some wrapping paper action shots up here soon) .

Ms. Pat got her a barking, singing dog that she goes crazy for. I think this toy is the one that will make her crawl because when it goes off and she's laying on her stomach, she'll kick and push her feet and move like a millimeter because she just gets so excited!

We had a great time in Florida, but after 5 days we were ready to come home. We got to celebrate all over again with my family. Pictures from that to come...they are good!

So it's...

Christmas Eve and we are in Florida. It's 85 degrees and we were at the beach today. Doesn't even really feel like Christmas. Of course, it's 76 degrees in Georgia today, so we are glad to be at the beach.

We wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. If you are our nearest and dearest you probably saw our Christmas virtual card, if not, check your email for the link. Merry Christmas, we love you all. Really, REALLY cute pictures of Sierra to follow. Her first picture with Santa (she was SO cute!), her 2nd trip to the beach, her first Christmas, her darling dresses, and so much more.

Love you all,

The Smiths

Roly Poly

Sierra is just full of new tricks! Little Si Si has been laying on her side in her sleep for like 2 months now. At 3 months I thought my little baby was just going to roll herself over but of course she didn't. Check her out in her favorite sleep position...

So, we've seen barely any attempts to roll over while she's playing on her blanket. She kicks her legs a lot but no sideways action ever, ever, ever in the day time...maybe once, perhaps. So we've been asking her if she'd like to roll over and we practice going from her back to her front. Yeah, she's not feeling it, ever. She's not super fond of tummy time. She does great until she realizes that her hands are as accessible on her stomach as on her back so when the mouth finds the hands her face is just down in the blanket and there is no return.

Well, I came home from work today and Sierra was in a great mood, as always (thank you Babywise) when I got her up from her nap. She shrieked a bit at us while I did some unwinding with her and Joe, and then she and I went to the living room to play. She was lovin' life (yes, that means she was naked, except for her diaper) and enjoying her naked feet. Well, I was just sitting there watching her, not interferring in all the fun she was having, and all of a sudden, her feet went up to her hands, she turned on her side, then she put her legs in a scissor kick, put one arm down by her side, and rolled over! My little baby rolled over all by herself! She turned to face me and got the biggest smile on her face! I was the first one to see her roll over! I was afraid I would miss all the "firsts" when I went back to work. Oh my gosh, it was so awesome! I got all teary (i'm a nerd, I know) but it was awesome!

So Joe runs out of the bedroom, camera in tow, trying to catch her on video with her new trick and she just laid there staring at him. 45 minutes later we put her in her crib to see if she'd do it and sure enough we go this video, the 2nd time rolling over. Gosh she's cute!

My baby girl is all grown up!

Turn up the Volume

So Sierra learned a new trick yesterday! Yeah, yeah, so she's sideways in the video, so what! Turn your heads, or the screen, but really just turn the volume up so that you can hear her. Silly baby.

Snow Bunny

I know my kid is cute (admit it! She's cute) but I never new just HOW cute she actually is until I found this hat for her! Oh my gosh! She's so cute! We leave so very early in the morning and her bald little head just needed some cover so I finally found a hat that was big enough for her HUGE head. She had a cute cap, knit-thinger but she outgrew it and all the little baby 0-9 month one size fits all (yeah right) didn't fit her. So I FINALLY found this hat and for the first time her little head is cute. I mean, she looks like a real girl instead of a bald-headed (really cute) baby..."girl, right?", people say to me. She is so delicious! I could just eat her up!

This Little Piggy...

Our little Sierra just can't get enough of her toes. Any opportunity she has to suck on them, she does. At first it was just naked piggies, now it's naked, socked, dirty, clean, whatever. She just wants them in her mouth ALL THE TIME. After playing with them for a month she finally realized that she could contort her body enough to suck on her big toe and as if that's not enough she'll add a finger in there just to have everything she needs right in her mouth! I must admit...that it is the CUTEST THING that I have ever seen. So flexible, Sierra Smith!

Bumbo

Our daughter is a freak, and we mean this in the most loving of ways. This week, we decided to by her one of the ever popular Bumbo seats, but the generic one, BeBe Pod. Supposedly it's supposed to help babies develop their back and neck muscles on their quest to sit erect. Sierra love, Love, LOVES to sit up, with our help of course. She gets bored just laying around looking at the lights and all the toys we hang in her face. She loves for us to lay by her and talk to her and play with her but we figured she could be a more intregal part of the family and participate in sitting up activities with us like eating dinner or cooking, ya know, stuff like that. So we got it for her and she liked it at first but she's not digging it, probably because she's crazy and can't sit in it right.

Here she is on Thanksgiving. She just sort of sits in it and then slouches to one side. Her butt goes one way and her shoulders go another. It's really funny. Today she reached for a toy on the bed while in her seat and she was completely hanging out of the chair but totally content just hanging there. So we'll see how she likes this chair for now. Hopefully it will help her on her journey of life, but really we just want her to sit up unassisted because she loves looking at the world and if the Bumbo can't help her then what can?

I love to pee!

So we were late to church today because Dingleberry here decided it would be funny to pee on herself as soon as daddy took her diaper off to change her. Usually she doesn't saturate herself but, she did, and it went all up her back and into her not-hair. (Nasty!) So, Joe decided to put her in the shower. Her first shower! Oh my gosh, our baby cracks us up!

(Side) Sleeping Beauty

This girl needs to learn how to roll over! For almost 6 weeks now she has been sleeping on her side like this. Let me tell you, the first time I went in to check on her and found her like this I just about died. I got frantic and thought she would roll over in her sleep, smother her face, and not be strong enough to turn it to the side to breath.

Just one Wednesday though (Dec 5 - I'm publishing this sort of late after the initial idea) she rolled half over while she was awake, which she just does not do. I was shocked...more so that i was there for it (give me a break!, I'm a working mom) than anything else. It was awesome! Her little legs were moving and then they just turned to the side. Her face was turned, cheek to the blanket, and gosh, if her little arm wasn't in the way and attached to her body, she would have made it! So we'll see how long it takes her from this half roll, in the day time, to actually do it. And it typical Sierra fashion, she'll do it once and then not again for awhile.

F-E-E-T...Feet!

Sierra found her feet a few weeks ago and it is the cutest thing, just like everything else she does. She's usually not this grabby with her feet because she's usually way more into them when she doesn't have her pants on. Don't ask me why. She can even get them all the way up to her face and suck on her toes. She is such a sick-o but it is sort of cute, in a gross way. Who am I kidding? I used to suck on my toes I am sure. She drools alot, ALOT, as you can see from the pictures, so anything she can get in her mouth to gnaw on, she does. It is quite adorable until you realize she has a ball of spit in her hand ready to give to you, or until you realize that her outfit is completely drenched with saliva. She LOVES touching your face too so it's oh so nice after she's had her hands in her mouth and they are caked with spit and she decides to love your face. Like I said, what a little sick-o.

Check her out up close and personal.

Playing Catch Up!

I am SO behind in my blogs. There just isn't enough time in the day for everything. So let's play catch up on my Sweetness, Sierra and check out all the fun things we have been up to.

So Halloween was Sierra's first holiday. She's our little Bug Bug so it was only fitting that she was a Ladybug for the occassion. Courtesy of Grandma of course.

We have been watching UGA football every weekend and Sierra LOVES to watch football with her daddy. He scares the you know what out of her every time Georiga scores a touchdown but she's a Big fan.

We are getting ready for our trip to Cancun. If I make my sales goal for the year then we get to go on the Omni Sales Incentive trip to Cancun! Viva la Mexico! So Sierra has been trying on suits (ok, just this one) to make sure she looks goooooood catching some sun on the beach. Grandma picked this out for her. She is the cutest little thing. A baby girl can't be without a bathing suit!

We applied for Sierra's passport last week and she look fabulous in her picture. Did you know you're not allowed to smile with your teeth in passport pictures anymore? Appearantly it distorts your face and that's just not allowed. Lame! So she couldn't smile but she was looking awesome!

We need to get her some floaties. She already loves to bath so I don't think she'll love the swimming pool too if the temperature is right. She'll be the cutest girl there by far!

CREEEEEEEEEEPY!

My mom is SO hilarious! We are lucky enough to have my parents (both sets) live nearby to us and my mom watches Sierra for us while Joe is at school and I am at work, which turns out to be ALOT of the time. I always wonder what they do all day and now I know. Apperantly they have more fun at Grandma's house than we originally thought.

This is Sierra, with a CREEPY, Chucky looking face, with my mom's doll from childhood, Candy Cane. (I'm actually surprised they aren't wearing matching outfits!

What makes this pictures so sick and wrong (in a good way Mom) is that she DID dress me up when I was a baby with Candy Cane and posed me with her. Believe me, this isn't the only picture I have like this. At least Sierra looks cute. I just have a "DUH" type look on my face but Sierra looks nuts! She is so cute though. She looks like such a big girl and like she's up to no good. (11 weeks)

"my" look-alikes?

this is me when i was 6 months old!
and these are my celebrity look-alikes!
yay!

My 1st Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We took Sierra to the pumpkin patch today, the same one I used to go to every year. She was hungry so she wasn't a happy camper but at least we got a cute one of her sort of. We even bought her a teeny tiny pumpkin. How cute.

So Cute!

I know I'm biased, but my daughter, our daughter, is the cutest thing I have ever seen! Her gummy little smile, her big fat cheeks. Oh, I just want to eat her up! She's delicious. True, she looks a bit like Urkel (M.C. Hammer last week, Urkle this week) with her pants jacked up, but come on, she's a baby for goodness sakes! What am I supposed to do, lowride her! I don't think so!

She started laying on her side in her sleep! Before we know it she's going to be rolling over and then...CRAWLING! Ok, it's a bit early for that but she'll get there soon enough. She's loving playing with her toys and LOVES the playyard her Aunt Bethany got for her. She grabs things and stares at everything. She's our developmental, adorable little Bug Bug! Don't you think so?!

Stop! Hammer Time!

My baby looks like M.C. Hammer in these pants!

So I wanted to be all festive with Sierra's 1st holiday but they only had a 3-6 month pumpkin sweatsuit. The top is so cute, it has a jack-o-lantern face on it and the hoodie has a stem on the top, transforming her into a little pumpkin.

I did find this really cute onesie. She's my Itsy Bitsy Spider! I have these little pumpkin slippers too that match the outfit, but she hates having things on her feet so the shoes come off in .02 seconds every time. I think they look like temple slippers (but orange). The outfit as a whole is adorable but I don't really think orange is her color.

Maybe some day I'll have another kid that this outfit will fit better. I'll post another pic of her next week in the full ensemble.

I think she thinks her right side is her best side as you can see from the pose she's giving. Really it's just that a massive amount of drool is coming from her mouth and she wanted us to be sure to get it in the picture. She's adorable even when she's gross!

I have the most drooly baby ever, and she's not even teething. Heaven help us when that starts!

We've Got a Talker on our Hands, Folks!

So Sierra started talking. It's been a few weeks since she's really been talking (since the beginning of October) but it hasn't been until today that I've been able to capture her on film. Check her out!

She is SO cute! She talks EVERYWHERE now! She talked to me (mandy) at the end of September one Sunday for like 45 minutes. I would make a sound and she would make a bunch of them, just like the video, but for 45 MINUTES! Amazing! Seriously, it was SO cool! The night we left for Florida she talked to Joe in a real converastion and imitated every sound he made, literally. He would say, "Oh, oh, oh", and she would say, "oh, oh, oh". He would say "Ah, ah", and she would say "Ah, ah". It was amazing. Today she woke up on her own and I found her talking to herself in her crib.

We have a baby mirror in the car so that we can see her and she can see us if we turn around and look in the mirror. It has a monkey on it. She'll stare up at Mr. Monkey and talk to him every time we are in the car too...

She is just a developmental machine! On Thursday she discovered her hands and it was amazing that I saw her looking at them. I was pumping gas looking at her through the back window and she was just staring, fascinated, at her hands. It was the first time I had ever seen her do that. Then yesterday she was out with Joe all day and he said she didn't stop looking at them all day.

Our little baby is growing up and it is so fun to watch, she's just SO cute. She fixes on things now and I don't know when that happened but it seemed like she was going to have eye problems because she was supposed to be looking at us and she wasn't and it was so frustrating. I would say, "Ok Sierra, look at me and I'll feed you", but that never worked. But sometime within the last month she's been fixing on things and looking at everything. She'll follow anything you hold in front of her face anywhere you move it, and today I layed her on the floor and walked behind her and she moved her head to look where I was going. She's so cool!

And just look at her. She's so soft and cuddly. I mean, how could you not love this face; those cheeks, those eyes, those chubby little legs. She looks like one of those wrinkley dogs. I love her!

ROAD TRIP!

So this weekend we took our first road trip with Sierra down to Florida to Joe's family's house in West Palm. Aaron, his really cool and really attractive (but definately not as attractive as my husband), fresh off the mission, really needs a girlfriend at BYU, younger brother just got off the mish from England. Joe hasn't seen him obviously in 2 years and I have never met him so we made the trip with 3 month old Sierra in tow. Let me tell you all about our little trip.

Well...we left last Friday morning REALLY, REALLY early at 2 a.m. We thought we were being smart in our planning because it's an 8 hour drive, we wanted to miss traffic, and we wanted to maximize Sierra's sleep time so we wouldn't have any surprises for our first time on the road with her. Why didn't we leave earlier do you ask? Well...I work all day long and Joe goes to school all day long so we needed to catch some zzz's before heading out.

Off we went at 2 a.m. By 6:30 a.m. we were barely into FL and we were stuck in killer traffic. This is how we passed the time...

We played with Sierra for a bit. She was supposed to be sleeping but I think the stop and go woke her up and she wasn't going to miss all the fun. Little did she know that we'd be sitting there looking at her for 2 hours. So what did we do besides look at how cute she is do you ask? Well...

We taught her how to drive of course. I think she's a pretty quite study because she was doing great in the stop and go traffic we were in for, did I mention, 2 HOURS! She has a hard time with the pedals but her steering skills aren't half bad ya know, for a 3 month old.

We FINALLY got to West Palm, 11 hours later, checked into the hotel and had no time to relax before we were on the go. Exhausted but on the go. Sierra met all sorts of people on our trip.

Great-Grandma Paula,

Her cousin Jayden (who tried to attack her) and her Aunt Dianna, her Uncle Aaron, and TONS of Grandma Leigh Ann and Grandpa Jim's friends. Aaron's Homecoming shindig was Sunday night so EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER was ooooing and aaahhhing over Sierra. It was really cute and for being passed around so much she did surprisingly well.

So the whole weekend we just hung out and played. We went to Brian's (Joe's youngest brother) band competition on Saturday night. We went to Clay and Marcie's house for dinner on Friday night and met that part of Joe's family. They are the nicest people and we had SO much fun down there. Nothing brings a family together like BBQ and chocolate cake. Mmmmm...chocolate!

On Saturday we went to the beach. Sierra's first time at the beach. We weren't there very long because I forgot her bathing suit (yes, she does have one!) and it was sorta windy for her so we went for a bit to watch Joe and Aaron battle the waves and then we left.

We had a really fun time on our trip. It was a short time to drive such a long way. Sierra was such a trooper. The ride home was a bit rough becuase it was during the day and she pooed her pants REALLY BAD on one leg and she didn't know it until we stopped at Chick-fil-A and took her out of the car. ALL UP HER BACK! She just LOVES overflowing her diaper. She's so silly.

But we made it back in one piece and maybe we'll make the trip again...some day.

Weekend at Bernies

My kid cracks me up! Maybe we are cruel and unusual people but I love, Love, LOVE dressing Sierra up to look sort of silly because she really can't do anything about it. She doesn't cry when I do it so I know deep down she likes it. She may hate the pictures when I show them to the first guy who wants to take her out but she'll get over it...in time.

HILARIOUS! Look at my cutie daughter just chillin. Her Grandma got her these cool shades before she was born and her little head has been too small to really wear until now. It's still too small but at least they stay on...sort of. She doesn't like them, but she doesn't not like them. She chills at them though and doesn't cry or fuss or anything with them on. But this picture is such a Weekend at Bernie's photo that I just couldn't resist. (gosh she's cute!)

The Ideal Couple

So Joe and I are looking for that "ideal couple" who we can be friends with for the rest of our lives. Ya know, go on trips together, play games together (I mean come on, we have NO competition when it comes to playing spades), have our kids play together...ya know, the token couple who is as cool as us. People (ok, my parents) try to "fix us up" with people or suggest different couples however we haven't found anyone who we think is our kind of couple. How hard is it to find a couple where both of us like both of them and vice versa? IMPOSSIBLE apparently. We are pretty cool, or so we think. My husband LOVES to talk so maybe we need a quieter couple, or perhaps someone who is as verbose as he is. And I need another M.I.L.F. to hang out with, I mean, when I'm taking a walk with my kid, I need some more eye candy besides me and Sierra! =) LOL!

Does the perfect couple even exist? We've been dating some potentials however we haven't had any 2nd dates. Having a kid doesn't even hinder us ya know, it's not like she's a crazy face and scares people away or anything. Maybe we're just too picky. Well, we know what we like at least. So just in case anyone is reading this, this is our personals ad for the perfect couple:

SWHC seeks SWoWHC w/child
fun, adventurous, silly, talkative, gamey
love to travel, sports - play and watch
Cool W.House types please
Try anything once. LDS a plus
attractive required (yes, we are superficial)

Pork Chop

She's all I talk about but OMG she's SO big! She's the cutest baby ever!

Work Sux!

So going back to work really sucks however I've found a few things that are actually pros:

1. I can catch up on my reading (mags, books, etc) while I sit for a cumulative of 1.5 hours as I produce and pack my mommy juice
2. I can keep up on my blog while I'm bored. I can't access the site but if I write my posting and then go home and actually post then maybe I won't get hate comments from Dug and Jessica anymore. =)
3. I drink more water while I'm at work because I'm so freakin' bored that going to the water cooler is actually a fun field trip from my desk

Yep, I think that's about it. I don't know why I thought the list would be long! I do actually do work at work...sometimes however sales is not rocket science and anyone who can go to work and actually work all day...wow...more power to ya. I am just so efficient that I'm finished by lunch and then really bored the rest of the day. Ok, that's not really it, it's that I get up so freakin' early that by lunch time I am about to crash. I get up at 5 or 5:30. depending on the day, and who wouldn't be tired by noon?! I long for the days where I would wake up to feed Sierra at 6am, go back to sleep, get up with her at 9am, switch on Kelly and Regis, and just chill with Sierra and eat breakfast. Gosh, being a stay at home must be really cool, but I must admit, I might get a little bored. I miss being able to work out everyday and getting enough sleep and not being totally busted at the end of the day. I mean, I did miss pay day every other Friday that's for sure but I think the cons far outweigh the pros. (and I hope my boss doesn't find this and read it)

Go Dawgs!

So it's football season and all I can say is...GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!! There is nothing better than SEC football. I know technically I should be a BYU fan considering I went there but let's fact it, I can't even be a fair weather fan to BYU. What can I say, loyalty obviously means nothing to me (when it comes to football anyway). Saturdays are sacred in our house. Joe settles in on the couch, I try to make his favorite game day food just right, and it's football all day long starting with GAME DAY on ESPN. The day usually includes watching games where we always root for the underdog, whoever it may be, but we always go for the SEC team no matter what. We make fun of the Big 10, I'm not really sure why, but it's overrated and that's all I have to say about that.

We've only lost once so far, and that was an embarrassment. We did however pull it out in OT to beat Alabama. Ha! Go Dawgs! We went to the 1st game of the season and we realized that we're not as young as we used to be. We sneak into the student section so we can actually cheer and be obnoxious and really enjoy the game and Joe, Dan, and I realized that we may not have it in us much longer. Oh my gosh, 4 hours of standing up, it does a number on your legs. I had a hard time this year and I was wearing flats. The past two years I have worn stilettos and 4 inch wedge heels and didn't complain once. I guess when you're trying to impress a boy with your long legs, tight booty, and stellar cheering skills it's fashion first and comfort ummm...last! My how marriage changes us. Ok, not that much however I would never wear heels to a UGA game ever again. Girls are so silly.

Anyway, so now we need LSU to lose to Florida this weekend so that everyone in the SEC will be on equal playing groud with one loss...well, Kentucky too. The suite at the Georgia Dome is calling my name and we will be there to watch UGA in the SEC championship for the 3rd year in a row (well the 3rd year in a row that we would be there to watch). Then on to the Chick-fil-A bowl baby. Oh how we love football season.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...!

Well, I have to go back to work tomorrow. SUCK! Sierra is just 9 weeks old and the thought of sitting in an office all day long while she gets to stay home and play without me is just SO unfair! I mean seriously, I haven't had a spring break since college and these last 2 months have been so much fun! I get to sleep in, watch Regis & Kelly, go shopping, work out, make dinner for the family, play at my parents house when we want to, and best of all...not go to work. It's been fantastic.

Sierra is such a wonderful baby! She was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks and the 3 weeks before that I was getting up only once in the middle of the night to feed the little bug. She's perfect. Our whole Babywise technique worked like a charm and Joe, Sierra and I are very happy. She's so happy all the time, except when nap time is nigh, and she started smiling which makes her SO MUCH FUN!

But back to this back to work thing...hopefully everything will work out going back. While I am a bit unhappy, not excited, depressed about it, hating life I must admit that I am sort of looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, and making money again. Who knew a bank account could go from overflowing to bone dry. =) Oh well. There is alot to be done before the end of the year. Deals to make and contracts to sign. I'm trying stay positive and hey, if I hate it, I can always quit and work for my dada. Then I could be at home with Sierra all the time. I just don't want to miss anything, ya know. What if she crawls without me or talks without me, rolls over, or sits up for the first time without me. =( I just...I don't want to miss it! Look how big she has gotten! She's going do all her growing up while I'm at work.

Summer Vacation!

We've had a pretty spectalular couple of weeks! I cannot remember the last time I (mandy) actually had a summer vacation. Sierra and I get to play all day long and Joe has been out of school on break for 2 weeks and we have had so much fun together! We sleep in and get up when we want to, eat when we want to, relax, sit by the pool, go to the gym, and just chill as a family. It's fabulous! We are lovin' life! We have spent 8 out of the last 14 days at our friend Dan's lake house at Lake Oconee and it's been so nice to just chill up there. We went wake boarding last weekend and both Joe and I were amazing! What can we say, but we were! We have so much fun up there.

Joe's vacation will be over on Monday since he's going back to school but I have at least another month with Sierra and we have ALOT to do in a month. We are going to paint the nursery, learn how to sew (because I'm determined to make Sierra's Halloween costume this year), clean out and organize all of Sierra's stuff, lose some more baby weight...well...the rest of it anyway, and teach Sierra how to look at us, and how to smile for real.

Here are so more pictures of our little Bug, as we so fondly call her. A couple of things we recently learned, or realized, about Sierra is that she LOVES to fall asleep on her daddy

And...

She LOVES the bath! She just chills in her little tub and looks around. She loves it! She let's us wash her all over, even her hair without a fight. The only time she cries is when she has to get out.

Swaddle Freak

So our little girl is the most darling thing I have ever seen! She's crazy, if I haven't mentioned that already, but she's is so darling. For someone who is only 3 weeks old she has tons of personality. We are getting to know her newborn likes and dislikes, some which she made very appearant from the beginning. She LOVES to be awake. For the first few days of her life all she would do is lay around and look at us all day long. She wouldn't sleep or cry, she would just stare out into space with her big blue eyes. (very abnormal of a newborn we thought). The fact that she was always awake surprised us because we thought newbies were supposed to sleep ALL DAY LONG. But she never cried so we didn't freak out about it.

We heard swaddling was the key to life with new babies. As you can see, we weren't that great at it...




But that's ok because she hated it! She always, always, always, gets out of her blankets. It's SO HILARIOUS to watch. It's like a crazy person trying to get out of a straight jacket. She'll wiggle and grunt (eh, eh, eh, eh) until she is free with her hands and then she'll work to get her feet free from the blanket and from her socks also. I don't know what it is with her but she hated having the socks on her hands (so she wouldn't scratch her face) and hates having socks on her feet. I don't know how she does it, but she goes into the blanket with them on and out she comes with them off!







She is getting used to being swaddled now because she's discovered that in the middle of the night when the air conditioner comes on and she's all uncovered that she gets REALLY cold so she likes it a bit more now however at first it was the worst thing on earth that you could do to her. She just wanted to be free. I mean, she had been squashed for 9 months so it's understandable.

Sweet Little Baby Face!

Our darling little girl! Can you believe that we are parents!? (yeah, we can't either!)

Sierra Jean Smith
Born: Sunday, July 15, 2007 @ 2:42 AM
8 lbs. 7 oz.
20.5 inches long
14.5 inch head (yeah, she has a HUGE head!)
Healthy in EVERY WAY!

She's perfect in every way! She's crazy, but perfect! We have so much fun with her every day seeing all the funny things that she does; the faces she makes, the noise (oh, the noises!), the funny way she sleeps and we are in awe of just how cute she is!

We will have SO MUCH to post about her I'm sure. We are so happy to have our newest edition and we'll see how good she is and maybe, just maybe we'll have another one...some day...WAY in the future! =)