A Beautiful Fall Day

There is nothing better than a beautiful, sunny fall Saturday! After lunch with Blair (who had to go to work) Abby and I went to feed the ducks at Liberty Park. I love when it's warm and sunny so late in the season. Abby had a marvelous time, as illustrated below!

Abby and dozens of her new friends....

Abby, running up the giant hill...

And, running back down (her favorite part!)

Some of the gorgeous leaves...

And, when you live in the city and don't have leaves of your own to jump in...just go to the park!

What a beautiful fall day...we are so blessed and lucky to live in such a beautiful place!

Anthony Cole Smith 11.4.07

My newest little nephew, Anthony Cole Smith was born on Sunday and I am WAY excited to be an aunt again! He weighted 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 inches long. Mandy had to have an emergency C-section (always scary) but everything turned out fine as you can see by the pictures below:

A close-up...don't you just love his cheeks?!?!


Me, totally loving him...


Being held by Aunt Kati...



Being held by Uncle Derk...

He is absolutely darling and I am excited for Mandy & Tony to have this opportunity. Having kids does something to your life that absolutely nothing else can. I always tell new moms that it is the most fun they will ever have. Everyone else will tell them it's so hard, you never get any sleep and a baby can wear you out faster than anything else. All this is true. However, no one tells you how absolutely fun it is. I remember being exhausted feeding Abby at 2:00am but then having her smile at me or doing something totally cute or just looking at her as I was feeding her and feeling SO blessed and lucky. I always liked little kids (mostly...I did make my living babysitting from age 12 to about 16) but I absolutely, totally fell in love with my first niece, Ellie. I had no idea you could actually love a kid that much! It happened again with her twin sisters, Hannah & Rachel, her sister Sarah, her sister Emelia and her brother Cael. Obviously it totally happened with Abby, and now it's happened with Cole. There is something about a brand-new baby that just takes your whole heart. I can't wait to introduce Abby to him and have her feel the same way. She was excited for me to bring home the pictures I took of him to see for herself. She is WAY excited to tell her kindergarten class all about him tomorrow. Congratulations, Mandy & Tony and SLEEP WELL tonight, little Cole!

Abby, Laughing

I've decided that probably the best thing on the planet is listening to Abby laugh. When something strikes her funny (especially at bedtime) we can easily spend the next fifteen minutes laughing hysterically and not be able to stop. Tonight we were reading the story, "Baby Farm Animals" and I would stop on each page and ask Abby what the "baby" for each animal was, pig - piglet, duck - duckling, etc. She is a smart kid and was getting most of them right...until the goats. I asked what a baby goat was and she said, "I don't know, a goatie?" I couldn't help it - I burst out laughing, which made her laugh, which made me laugh harder. Finally, ten minutes later we were calm enough for prayers and our nightly ritual of calling Blair to say goodnight. So, when I told her to tell her dad what baby goats were...it all started again. Blair was laughing as well and I believe that is the perfect way to end the day! I didn't take a picture of her laughing, but this one is pretty close....

This is Abby on the teacups at Disneyland, and again...laughing hysterically! She is great for entertainment as well as eight million other things that I totally love about her. We are blessed and lucky to have her!

Halloween 2007

Well, another Halloween has come and gone and yes, I am feeling the FULL effects of it tonight! It's not good when Halloween falls right in the middle of the last week of the clerkship! Yikes! So, after non-stop Halloween fun yesterday, it was one of two final exams before the clerkship is over. Tomorrow morning is the last one and then a short break until Monday morning when 15 more students start the rotation. Again, yikes! But I digress....the real story was how fun Halloween was! I sincerely tried to convince Abby to be something "easier" but no, my independent little girl would not be dissuaded...she wanted to be an astronaut! And, as I tell her all the time that girls can be WHATEVER they want, how could I say no? Doesn't she make a GREAT astronaut?





After her fun Halloween party at kindergarten, Blair brought her to work where we had a quick lunch and then she got to trick-or-treat to all my friends in the Dean's Office. We then set off for an entire evening Halloween tour of our friends and family. I think she got more than enough candy for a five-year-old! All in all, it was pretty spectacular and now she is sleeping soundly, probably dreaming of all the candy we've safely stashed in a giant bowl in the kitchen. I can only imagine what she will want to dress up like next year!

Fourteen Hour Escape

As many of you know, Blair works nights and I rarely see him except late at night and on Sundays. We were lucky enough to have a chance to escape to Park City last night and even though our little escape only lasted 14 hours, it was great! My parents were kind enough to tend Abby, even though she has an icky cough.

This is how Deer Valley looks at 7:30am, as we left this morning.

My parents were even nice enough to meet us at 10:00am and bring Abby to her soccer game. This was the last game until spring, so it was not to be missed, even with an icky cough! And, of course it turned out to be quite monumental as Abby scored her first goal! Wahoo!

Here she is, looking very pleased with herself after scoring the goal!

Abby and I celebrated her first goal by going to "Boo at the Zoo" (wait, did someone say she has an icky cough?!?!) with 40,000 other people from Salt Lake. Yes, literally 40,000 people! Check out the crowd behind Abby - that's how it looked throughout the ENTIRE zoo!

Here is Abby, just happy to be out in the somewhat hazy sunshine

And, to round out her busy day she left Blair a few messages on the sidewalk, so he would know how much she loves him.

So, despite a 5-year-old with an icky cough (who is now sleeping soundly, having had some cough syrup before bed), we managed to have quite the exciting few days! I guess life isn't made up of just a few spectacular experiences, but taking advantage of the small, yet very nice experiences that manage to come your way. At least that's what we're learning! Good night, all!

Cancer Survivor!

As I was driving home today, it occured to me that it's almost the end of October...yeah, I know - I'm not too bright and life seems to be moving WAY too fast to have any kind of proper reflection on anything. The end of October should mean Halloween, fall leaves, putting away summer clothes, etc. etc. And, it does -- as well as something else for me. It was exactly this time nine years ago that I was diagnosed with cancer. Yes, I have been a cancer survivor for NINE years! Pretty cool! I had my yearly checkup with my oncologist a few weeks ago and it felt AMAZING to just sit in the office and chat with her. I am grateful beyond belief to have been given the past nine years. Cancer taught me a lot of things - like life is too short and you should definitely spend more time DOING stuff and not CLEANING stuff (yeah, I'm trying to balance that out now, as having a clean house is a good thing!) I've learned compassion for all types of people in all types of situations. I learned my body could heal and do amazing things, like run the half-marathon just a year after treatment. I've learned to appreciate little and big things. Cancer heightened my curiousity about anything medical and that helps me SO much now at work! Blair might tell you that it's a tad annoying because I love to try and diagnosis stuff! The fact is, just working in the hospital is fun for me and surprisingly doesn't scare me because I know that the people there are just dealing with whatever situation has presented itself in their lives and trying to do the best they can. And, the sweetest part of the past nine years was the chance I didn't think I'd get...the chance to be a wife and mom. After cancer, I was just grateful to be here and then I received the greatest gift ever...Blair. And then a year later, Abby. Could one person be so blessed?

So, anyway...that is my rambling gratitude-ness tonight. I've included a picture taken during treatment with NO HAIR! I'm with my friends, Laurel & Melanie out for a fun dinner - and would you believe that I actually went on a blind date like that? Yep - no hair and all! I'm not sure what that says about me, but at least cancer didn't take away my sense of humor...might have even sharpened it over the years! Good night, all!

The Tree

So, I had a great idea a few weeks ago. Because my Grandma is selling her house and surrounding property, I thought it would be cool to have an entire family picture in front of her tree. She has a HUGE walnut tree in her front yard that we've all spent time climbing, "riding" the low lying branches like horses and just generally enjoying how beautiful it is. So, Sunday was it - we were all there (with the exception of Cole, who will be born to Mandy & Tony in a few weeks!) and here are some pictures to illustrate...

Some of the branches...

A few "shadows" waiting to get their picture taken...

A view of my Dad's garden....

And, I guess a post wouldn't be complete if I didn't include something cute from Abby, so this is the scarecrow that she made at daycare...isn't it cute?