The Smith Family Blog

Saturday we went to the Stake pioneer day celebration. It was a lot of fun. They held it at a park in Medical Lake which was right on the lake. The girls spent most of the day in teh water, which is not very surprising when you know my girls. Kami was able to convince Julie McKee (one of the young women in the ward)to take her out in a kayak with her. Kalaree was finally the young women and had to hang out witht hte older kids. She even ventured over to the cliff that all the teenagers were jumping of of. o way would she ever jump, way to much of a chicken but at least she was ablet o "hang out" with them now. Sunday was pretty uneventful. My talk went fine. I, of course, got a ton of compliments, but really lets be real who is going to come and say to you, "wow that really stunk." However, the speaker after me was rather dry, good talk but not really exciting. So I think that helped make me look a little better. We had some new friends come over for des

I have gone 5 year and 51 weeks without speaking in sacrament and that shall come to an end this Sunday. How sad is that? I was sure I was going for some church record or something. I even get to talk on pioneers and women serving in the church. What keeps coming to mind is selfless sacrifice. That is all I can think of when it comes to how those two tie together. So I am thinking of talking about how much the pioneers gave and how little is asked of us. We shall see, it is still formulating in my mind. I will finalize something tomorrow and then practice it for a few days. We also had a tragedy today. The dress that I have been crocheting for Kami had to be frogged (taken out) all the away back to the beginning of the skirt. I was doing this one stitch wrong and when I realized how to do the stitch it was already 11 inches into the 20 inch skirt. I guess I could of just finished the skirt doing the stitch wrong but then I would always know it was wrong every time I looked a

Tomorrow is DH's birthday. So I made plans to take the girls and go birthday shopping. I ended up getting him a set of luggage. I know doesn't sound real impressive but he has been traveling a lot lately to go see his dad and these were a nice set. Anyways, then him and I went to my favorite antique shop and we found this great bed. It is one of those iron ones with the canopy. I always wanted a canopy bed. So I told dh that I wanted it for my birthday gift (I know 2 weeks early.) This bed is gorgeous and the real kicker it was only $40. Unfortunately, once we got it together it was to big for our room, but I kept the headboard on it and once we move I can have my dream bed. This is the first birthday in a long time I got something I really wanted. I am starting to think this may be the way to birthday shop. Okay I figured I would also update on the wart. We took off the band aid for another treatment and it is starting to look so much better. Kezri keeps thinking that the nex

Kezri has had this wart on her toe for over a year. She had it canthicured 3 times. She has had it frozen off at the dermatologist 5 times, they injected it with chemotherapy once (it doubled) they tried this oral medicine that is suppose to kick in her immune system. They won't laser remove it since her body would still be carrying the virus and so they are trying to get her to fight it off naturally. The newest treatment is they canthicured it, which cause the wart to blister up. Then we have to put this stuff on it called mediplast. It looks like mole skin, you buy it over the counter at the pharmacy. We leave that on for 48 hours then take it off cut away the dead stuff and then put it back on for another 48 hours. She is walking around with this mediplast, then a band aid, and then we are adding duct tape to keep it on. I took pictures of it today. Warning this is very graphic.

David and the girls made a trip to Barnes and Noble to pick up the latest Harry Potter on Saturday. They got there first thing in the morning and said that it wasn't that bad of a crowd. David read from the time that they got home till I finished up my second draft of my thesis at 2 pm. At that point he allowed me to read and I stayed up all night reading and finished the book at 5 am. I won'[t be posting any spoilers. Not for a few weeks anyways. I do have to say that I did enjoy reading it. I was disappointed in some parts that seemed to drag on and in some that were repetitive. But all in all I had a hard time putting the book down. David has been keeping the girls busy while I work on my thesis. They have made trips to Mobius kids, Silverwood, river park square, and the mall as well as to the park etc. I am so blessed to have such a great husband that has really helped while I do all this work. Just a couple of more weeks and I will be done with all of this and fin

After being up for almost three days straight I have submitted my first draft to my chair for my research. I know that I will end up doing a hundred more rewrites on this one but the first submit is crucial in that I am officially started on this thing and there is a great likelihood I will finish it soon. I really am starting to hate the inside of my bedroom and I feel like I haven't seen the outside at all in the last few days. But at least it is moving right along. Kalaree is still doing great on her diet. She has lost a few more pounds and is starting to really feel great about herself. Kezri's warts are all really gross. We will know tomorrow what this mediplast does because we have our first look at it since starting this treatment. We go through a ton of band aids right now on that girls. Thank goodness Costco sells them in bulk. Kami is still being really clingy which is really starting to worry me. Last night when told to go to bed she came and hide inside o

I am so swamped right now. I have two days to get my literature review and my methods section done for my research project. I feel like I am constantly on the computer, which of course I am. David and the girls have been great but I feel awful for having to kick them out of the house. They are taking day trips everywhere. Today was Mobius kids and tomorrow will be at Silverwood. Who know what the next day will be. Kezri had her dermatologist appointment today and it didn't go as I thought it would. I was sure that they would finally laser remove it. But nope they used a razor to cut off the dead part and then used the canthicur to blister it again. Now we have a thing called mediplast that we have to place on it starting tomorrow and then duct tape (pink, of course, since I allowed Kezri to pick out the color of her duct tape) that on it to keep it on and then in two days take it off and razor off the dead stuff and start again. We are going to try this for 6 weeks and se

Well the appointment went as I had thought it would. The doctor doesn't think that he will find anything and that Kalaree should follow up with the dietitian. He is going to run a thyroid test and a fasting glucose to be on the safe side but figures we won't have to worry about seeing him again. In a way it is good news but it still leaves a bunch of questions. Kalaree is doing well on her diet. I am so impressed with her and her ability to stick to this. She has been losing weight, she was down almost 18 pounds but then this morning (2 days after weighing down the 18 pounds) she is back up 12 pounds. She hasn't added any new calories and she is still working out. It is this sort of thing that had us going to the endocrinologist in the first place. I am glad that he didn't find anything but sad that it is not an easy fix. Kezri has an appointment tomorrow with the dermatologist to hopefully come up with a solution for her warts. I am thinking it is going to ha

Kami's primary teacher from last year threw a princess and prince party for the kids that were in her class last year. Carrie (Sister Alexander) is my age and has never been married or have any children. She was new to the family ward when she was called to teach Kami's class and she hated that she was called to that calling. However, by the end of the year she loved those three kids, they were "her kids" and she cried when they released her to be the singles representative for the ward. She, however, still comes down and says hi to "her kids" and every now and then throws a mean party for them. At this party, they started by making their crowns and the boys made their shields. Then they had to fight the dragon and get across the moat. They played a game of kiss the frog which was rather cute. The princess/prince was blindfolded and the other were given an animal to represent with one being the "frog" then they all made their animal sound wh

We had a family day at the movie the other day. Of course with Harry potter having opening day David and Kalaree had to go see that. Kezri not wanting to miss out begged to be included in the movie trip. Kami was excited to just spend time with mom. I then decided that there was no reason that she couldn't go see Ratatouille with me since it started 15 minutes before Harry Potter. So now the reviews: Harry Potter: Dave said that it was good however they have left a lot out of the movie (granted there is no way they could include everything but at least include Peeves.) Kalaree loved it but said it was rather a sad one (of course it was the book made me cry.) Kezri said it was scary. Ratatouille: Kami said she loved it and wants to buy it, however her actions within the movie said something different. She asked to go potty twice, was climbing all over me and for part of it turned around backwards watching the light come out of the window above us. I would have to say it was

I have been crocheting a lot lately. I finished a shawl that I started just for the fun of it and then I started a dress for Kami but stopped that to test a pattern for a website (mostly so I can get patterns for fre.) THis test item was a halter top and sunhat. I still have to work the sunhat but I finished the halter today. It is in Kami's size and she loves it. I did it in a lime green and accented it with purple. I think it turned out very pretty. Now poor Kami has to learn how to wear it over a t-shirt. I also have been working on hairbows too. I made one to match this halter. I know the pattern has a hat but I also like hairbows and Kami has a dress the bow will match too. I will have to get a good picture of the shawl and post that here in the next few days. Now off to work the hat and get back to the dress that is just sitting there waiting for me.

Oh how I wish for a good dental hygienist. Both David and I had our teeth cleaned today and we got got the worst hygienist around. I have never left a teeth cleaning feeling like I would of rather had my teeth pulled. Yet today was just like that. I should of known better when she started by saying that if I needed to be numbed she could. David had to go for the topical numbing but he has always had sensitive teeth, but after going without it I wish I had. For the majority of the cleaning she was drowning me with the water drill. She had the suction thingy there but she wasn't picking up any of the water, so here I sit drowning and she doesn't get it when I make her stop so I can actually swallow. David said his was the same way she kept going and he was gagging and choking. The good thing behind this was that at least we were able to see what type of treatment the girls would get before we switch them over and had them all afraid of the dentist. I just means that whe

For the last three years David has wanted to go up and see the Gardner Cave. It is almost to the Canadian border and is the third largest natural limestone cave in Washington. They give daily tours there. So we decided that Saturday would be the day. The drive was not bad at all. It took us 2 hours to get there. We stopped in Metalline to let the girls get out and play. Mostly because Kami was complaining of a tummy ache and after all those windy roads I was concerned with car sickness. We then ate lunch at a little, yet very busy cafe in Metalline Falls called Cathy's Cafe. Their lunch was really good and they even had those brain teaser on the table to keep the girls busy while we waited. We then headed back to the caves that were between the two towns of Metalline and Metalline Falls. The cave was a short walk almost straight uphill. It was this big hole in the ground. They had upgraded it and had installed all these metal stairs so that you could go down and inside.

We have been really taking it easy since it has been so hot. I am so glad that we planned ahead and bought the extra A/C units. The main unit keeps freezing over and they have already replaced it once this year. So the bedrooms have become our rooms of salvation from the heat. We have been at the pool everyday this week. It feels good to get in the cold water with the outside heat. I have been working on a couple of crochet outfits for Kami. One is a dress and the other is a halter top. The halter top I am actually doing as a pattern tester for a company. It allows me to get the patterns for free. I just have to make the pattern up and take a picture of it. I should be done with it tomorrow. Then I can get back on the dress that I have already started. David went up to the Varsity scout camp last night to be an extra priesthood leader. He loved it. Since he never had the opportunity to participate in scouts as a child it is very interesting to him what they do. Kalaree has started a di

Kezri found "Flutters" dead this afternoon. Kezri was playing outside with some friends of ours and they pulled the wagon out from under the stairs and there laid Flutters in the bottom of the wagon. From what we can guess since we placed the box with the bird in it on top of this pole next to the upstairs porch, Flutters must of tried to wander down the stairs and fell into the wagon. The baby never chirped so we didn't know it was in there or we would of tried to save it. David and Kezri took it to the woods and gave it a burial. I am so glad that the girls understand the cycle of life, none of them took it to hard.