oh, Mexico!

Much to my surprise, when our friends approached us with an opportunity to fly to Phoenix, AZ and then drive to Puerto Penasco, Mexico..........Jamie said YES!! So we did it! I am so glad we did! A wonderful time was had by all. Our kids had never been to beach before. They could have spent every minute digging in the sand and catching crabs under the rocks! AND, lucky for us, the Easter Bunny found us....WHEW! It was a great adventure..... Here are some shots of the fun............and the aftermath!

Casa de Smith and Pogue

They've got Sierra right where they want her!~

Some super cool little dudes!

THIS IS WHY I LOVE VACATION!!

the kids loved the music at EVERY meal!

TRASHED!!!

Some very tired little ones!
THIS IS WHY I HATE VACATION!! (and this is just the tip of the iceberg!)

MINDLESS

Is the fact that I used up my long weekend vacation updating myself on the daily activities of all of pop culture the reason I just had to call Jill to help me with my 2nd grader's language arts homework? (don't answer that)!

bring em on out............how bout them JAZZ!!!

OK.........I nearly forgot we had a blog!!!

I have been wanting to post on this for weeks. We had the opportunity to go meet some of the Utah Jazz players (us and 1000's of our closest friends). The players were very good sports posing for umpteen thousand photos and signing twice as many autographs! Way to give back guys!!! We waited in line FOREVER for D-Will and Korver (my new man!) . (Jamie, you're the only one for me!) The kids had a BLAST! and thought it was so cool to get autographs all over their jerseys and get their faces painted and eat hot dogs for dinner! Being a borderline dorky (ok......really dorky) Jazz fan......I think I loved it the most!

Andrei Kirlenko and Jason Hart

he's tall!

Paul Milsap and Tyrone Corbin

Say cheese noah!

UNCLE!!!!!

I know, I know.... on a previous entry I noted that I love winter! I love the quiet storms where the flakes are huge and you can sit home and drink hot chocolate (HA!)............I love the white snow as it blankets the earth for the winter vs. gray, icky landscaping begging for the sunshine of spring and summer to bring it back to it's intended beauty! So..........yes, I love winter and some of its beauty. I do not wish to retract those statements!

HOWEVER,

It is time to cry UNCLE! ENOUGH ALREADY! 2 weeks ago it starts off with 17 inches in the driveway that took 2+ hours to snowblow (yes, I know how to run a snowblower!), and no lie, every other day since we have had some form of a snow storm to add to the mix!

Adding humor to this winter of neverending precip, this morning my sweet husband went off to snowblow for a friend whose husband is out of town. Looking over to the neighbors he thinks it looks like they are out of town too..........so he proceeds to snowblow their driveway too. Moments later the husband emerges from their sleepy, we dont' get up before 10am house and lo' and behold, they are very much in town...........and the lucky recipients of Jamies service project for the year! hahaha! I have been giggling to myself about this one all day!

I gotta go...........we're building an igloo in the front yard!

New Arrival

We are thrilled to announce our newest arrival at the house of Pogue! After SEVEN months of waiting we have finally been blessed with our beloved BUNK BED!!! Ordered on June 7th, it has been a long, backordered, backordered, backordered, snow delayed delivery, wrong address, finally showed up at our door process. I think Noah had me print a picture of it off the computer daily for the last month or two. We finally had to stop making any references to it so as not to drain the color printer cartridge!!

So here it is!!!

Proud Parents (sleepers): Noah and Parker (Noah finally graduates from the crib!)

Height: really tall, about 60 inches

Weight: ALOT!!! it took all Jamie and I had to move it!

Both Mommy and Daddy are doing well!

my short list

My short list............my short list isn't so short! It usually includes a honey do list at least 5 years old, the undying wish to furnish my home, finish my basement, fix the hole I put in the wall while carrying a night stand upstairs by myself, paint the corners where my kids run and scuff them daily...blah blah blah blah!!! This past week my father lost his only sibling to pneumonia, a dear friend lost her sweet mother in law (i know oxymoron, but so true) and in the end I found my short list......still in the back of my mind , to be truly full of minutia. Little things that really mean so little! Sad, but true, that it takes a sad, almost tragic turn of events to heighten my awareness of this, but the only thing that really matters is family and those loved ones we choose to call family! I am so grateful to have these 4 little bodies to destroy most things within their reach and attempt to drive me completely insane daily! I am equally grateful for those adults in my life who let ME drive THEM nuts daily! (you know who you are.....!) As I listened to friends eulogize their mother/mother in law this week, I walked away praying that I could do better at the little things that mean MUCH! I will put that on my list!~ Does any of this make sense? It has been swimming in my head for days! So for today, a long past due entry to 'the blog', no pictures, just babbling!

As for my short list? It will continue to get longer and the hole in the wall will likely stay until my kids are old enough to fix it themselves, the garage will always be a mess and the basement will likely never get finished!! And that is OK with me! I Love you all!

WHEW!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh the Holidays! Is it bad that I am breathing a sigh of relief that they are over? I have been feeling blog guilt for days, but am so exhausted from the season that I cannot put together a sentence, much less a blog entry! But here goes!!! Christmas is one of my FAVORITE times of the year! This year we were blessed with TONS of snow and many many trips down Grandma's sledding hill with all of our cousins! (trust me, i am not using the term TONS lightly!). Just ask my bro. Tony the sledding trail maintenance specialist...........TONS of trips were made down that hill and many, many fun memories were made in the process!

So.........In light of my present brain dead condition, I am sharing lots of photos of that. In his picture, Noah, reminds us all that it truly is the little things that mean so much! He eats about 20 clementines a day this time of year but I am certain that this is his most favorite one EVER! (look at that face!) Hope your holiday's were extra special! I hope to recover soon and be able to complete a thought process! Until then, enjoy the pictures. lots of love from here!