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.