Holiday cards

We have loved getting everyone's holiday cards and letters this year. We really look forward to hearing updates on you lives and seeing how your families have grown. We cherish this yearly correspondence from our family and friends, so we wanted to say thank you to all of you who sent us cards & letters. We are glad to hear that 2009 has been good to you and we pray that 2010 will be even better. We love you and to those of you who we don't see often: we miss you!

Christmas

We had the very best Christmas ever this year! I was a bit nervous about since I had decided that even though it should have been a "Smith Christmas", our family was not going to pack up and drive to Boise with them meaning we would be spending it alone. Well, not exactly alone, cause the Stuckis also live here in town, but more alone than ever before. I was comfortable with my decision, but felt bad about breaking tradition. My parents came over on Christmas Eve to open gifts together and say good-bye. Van got an awesome electric ride-on motorcycle with a sweet Harley Davidson outfit from them and a rocking horse that makes noise from my grandparents. Then we had our traditional Eve dinner at the Stucki's where everyone gets to pick their favorite appetizer to make and we just have a munchie smorgasbord all night. We had hummus, chicken nuggets,quiche, home-made ice cream, jalapeno poppers, home-made pizza, and tons of other fun junk-food! Christmas morning was low key and super fun. We slept in and came into the living room as a family to see what Santa brought. Then we had breakfast and opened our presents. We went back to the Stucki's house in the evening after we got everything cleaned up. That night Brittany and Jace come over with thier family to open presents. As always, we got spoiled by everyone! When all was said and done, we all agreed that this was the very best Christmas ever and we decided to stay at home from now on. We loved the slow pace and the intimacy of just having our small little family together on our Savior's birthday. We were able to enjoy each moment without having to rush or change gears before we were read to. It was everything that Christmas is supposed to be and I couldn't have had a more perfect holiday! We hope your was just as sweet!

Santa

Santa Clause came to the library for story time. He read the kids a story and they all got to sit on his lap & get a candy cane. We had seen a few Santas around town and Van was loved to say "Ho Ho Ho!" whenever he saw them. He was excited to sit with Santa, but got only the slightest bit nervous when he got on his lap. He told Santa he wanted a motorcycle. Van talked about seeing Santa Clause for the rest of the day.

My top mom moments of the week:

1. Van asked to poop on the toilet- and he did it!
2. Getting out of the shower to find him on the changing table covered in an entire JUMBO sized bottle of baby powder.
3. Watching Van say his own little prayer after we finished family prayers- arms folded, eyes closed and making up his own words to Heavenly Father.
4. Playing "Guitar Hero" with racquetball rackets while dancing and singing "do doo do doo".
5. Making a gingerbread house at the Library and later finding Van holding the whole thing up to his mouth so that he could suck all the candies off until only cracker was left.
6. Finding Van under the table at the scrapbook store- eating paint!

What a week... if only I had pictures...

Like his mom!

My boy might just be a little bit too much like me- we both really, really love chocolate, in any form.
While we were at the Stucki's house one night eating ice cream, Van got a hold of the chocolate syrup bottle and immediately put it in his mouth, turned it upside-down and chugged! In my defense, he has NEVER seen me do this before- I pour some into a spoon or just drench my ice cream in it, but I NEVER drink it out of the bottle! Honest! And since our child is pretty underweight, we just let him have at it. You've never seen a happier kid! It kind of made think of the Willy Wonka movie.

Tradition

Tyler's mom makes a traditional dinner around Halloween every year, but not on Halloween, because she makes home-made pizza then. But at some point in the month, she makes "dinner in a pumpkin". The whole dinner (ground beef, rice and some other stuff) is cooked in the pumpkin and then you eat it with slices of the squash on the side. I love it- not because it is a fabulous meal, it is rather simple, but more because it is a tradition- and I love traditions! This year, in my attempt to really bring our various traditions together into our home, I decided I was going to make a dinner in a pumpkin too. I let Van help me clean out the pumpkin guts, which was pretty fun, then I beked the seeds which turned out really yummy and then I made the dinner. I ended up using the wrong recipe and it wasn't nearly as good as Julie's, but even if I had used the right one, it still wouldn't have been as good! But it was yummy enough and we all had a good time creating our own family traditions that we can carry on in our home together! And that's what really matters!

Halloween

A skunk. That's what Van was for Halloween. It took us a while to figure it out, but a skunk was perfect! First I bought him an elephant costume at Costco and he really loved it! When we tried it on, it was too small, which is wierd because nothing is too small on him. (He is a very little kid, still under 20 Lbs.) So we took it back and got a tiger that I didn't really love and Van was a bit afraid of it. So I took that one back too. Then I called my freind who has a little boy who is exactly 1 year older than Van to see if I could use his costume from last year. When she brought it to me, it was pretty obvious that it would be too big, but I tried it on Van anyways- and it was too big! So she suggested I borrow a costume from her sister, who was kind enough to let a stranger borrow what turned out to be the cutest Halloween costume I have even seen! Van looked adorable in the little skunk outfit and he loved to see himself all dressed up in the mirror. Plus, I have to admit it fits his personality pretty well too! Thanks Ashley & sis!

October Highlights

What a fun month October was! The weather stayed nice and warmish and we had a lot fun doing various harvest-type activities.

• We went to a gardening store for their harvest celebration, where Van got to decorate a pumpkin, make a bird feeder, dance with a scarecrow and decorate cookies.
• We rode in the truck with Tyler for his Physical Therapy class' float at the ISU Homecoming parade.
  
• We went to a pumpkin patch with the Riebecks. The kids got to feed the horses and turkeys, throw gourds, "fish" for candy, vote for a pumpkin display, run through a corn maze, get their face painted, play in real John Deere tractors and pick pumpkins from the patch.
• We went Trick-or-Treating in Old Town and it was so not worth it!
  
• We made cheesy-garlic-bread that looked like ghosts at home.
• We went to the Institute Halloween party with the Coffins. Van and Libby both won real goldfishes at the "fishing" booth. Van did a cupcake walk and ate the WHOLE cupcake!
• We went to our old ward's Trunk-or-Treat where Van caught on to the whole idea of Halloween pretty quickly!
  

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Van's newest mischief

Van turned 1 1/2 in September, so I though I'd share a few of his latest antics with you:


His sign for "I love you"!
Stealing the beaters at Grandma's to lick the frosting.

Riding his firetruck on his bed, notice the mattress on the floor!

Wearing our shoes all over the house- makes it difficult to find your shoes when your running late!

A very sick baby for a very short time

So on a Saturday night, Van got a pretty bad fever and crashed at bed-time. He ran hot all night long and by Sunday morning, he was over 103 and completely lethargic. I alternated Tylenol and Motrin every few hours, gave him Pediasure and did my best to make him comfortable, but the poor guy was miserable all day long! We just held him and vegged on the couch- it was a tough day for all of us. I was planning on taking him to the doctor Monday morning, but he woke up with no fever and something to prove! He was wild and unruly and totally out-of-control! It was so good to see him back to full health so soon.


Even though it was sad to see him so sick, these pics still make me laugh.

Our Park

We live on Park Ave., aptly named since the end of our street runs right into Alameda Park. We love to walk over there so Van can play on the toys. He likes to be pushed on the swings- and he's only jumped off once... and the cuts on the back of his head were very minor! He likes to jump on the wobbly bridge and follow the bigger kids around. He also likes to pick up other people's garbage- PLEASE throw your trash away! Mostly he loves to climb the stairs and ladders and go down the slides. Van really loves his park. He sometimes asks to go to the park first thing after waking up in the morning. I was lucky to get a few pictures of him playing.

Annual Stucki Family Campout

Every year we get the whole Stucki family together for a camp out. Just as much a part of this tradition is somewhat less than perfect weather- not bad, just not ideal. We went on Labor Day this year, so we wanted a place where that wasn't packed with all the other family campers so we wouldn't have to worry as much about our kids. Good luck with that! Then Tyler remembered a friend of the family who has their very own, fully equipped, private campground out in Arbon. They gladly let us use it for the weekend, and it turned out to be even more perfect than we had all hoped for. There was a fire pit, a picnic table, a clean out-house, lighting, a pond with a paddle boat, plenty of room for the camper and tents, trails to ride the 4 wheelers on, grassy open meadow for the kids to run and play on... and the weather was great! We had a wonderful time and we were so grateful to the Haydens for letting use their perfect little spot for our family camp-out this year!

State Fair

I'm not a huge fan of the fair- too many people, too many smelly people, too many dirty people, etc. But I'll admit I was a little excited to take Van this year. I knew he would love the animals and all the treats. He liked the petting zoo the best, as well as the tractors. He had a really good time in this cute little kiddie area where you can milk a fake cow, groom a fake horse, drive little trucks in corn and bean pits, lasso a bull and drive a mini tractor. We stayed for the Demolition Derby and he really got into all the crashing and banging. It was still crowded, dirty and stinky, but we had a good time anyway!





And I can't write this post without giving a shout-out to my dad who happens to be the absolute coolest "great"grandpa ever, ever, ever! He is so great with Van & I love watching them together!

"Smile"

Van went through this phase in September where every time I tried to take a picture of him, he would show me his tongue. I have a handful of pictures of him, all with his tongue hanging out. I'm still not sure where he picked up on this trick, but eventually it went away.

Our 1st Home

We bought this house in April, after 3 months of looking at about 30 homes in our area. We planned on spending a few months cleaning it and fixing it up and moving in over the summer but we ran into a few problems:

1. There was more work to be done and that we wanted to do than we had initially planned.
2. Tyler was going to school and working two jobs.
3. I am basically useless as far as home repairs and construction go.

We tore out almost the entire upstairs to the studs and re-did nearly everything in the house, including the plumbing and electrical. (Side note: when I say "we" I mean Tyler, so keep that in mind here.) Tyler tore down 3 small sized arch-ways to open up the rooms, took down a wall in our room to make a closet and removed all the old kitchen cabinets. We replaced all the flooring: new carpet in the bedrooms, tile in the bathroom and wood laminate in the living room and kitchen. We cleaned, textured, sealed and painted all the walls and ceilings. Tyler completely tore out the entire bathroom and reconfigured a new one with a bathtub and a window. He also did all the tile work on the floor and in the shower on his own. We hired some local guys to build and install our kitchen cabinets (which cost about the same as rest of the remodel!).

We took one gigantic load of debris to the dump and sent a heaping trash can to the curb every single week, all summer long. We spent hours scrapping nasty-weird brown felt stuff off of the kitchen walls. We went to Home Depot and Lowes almost every day. We ate countless cardboard dinners on fold-up metal chairs in what would someday be our living room. We worked when it was so cold we couldn't feel our fingers and when it was so hot we thought we might pass out. We pulled out trees and we weeded and watered the lawn several times a week. We cleaned walls, windows, ceilings, baseboards, and floors constantly. We burst candles and opened windows whenever we could to get the smell out. Friends, family and our new ward helped out whenever they could. We went home late, tired and exhausted every night.

We ended up moving in the day before Tyler started school for his first semester in the Physical Therapy program. There were a few details that still weren't finished (and some that STILL aren't) but it was good enough to live in and we were out of time!

The first collage is the bathroom remodel.

The second collage is the kitchen remodel.

And of course Van had to help "fix it" too! We tried not to bring him here for most of the remodel, because it was too messy and dangerous, but there were times where we had no choice and he loved every single one of those times. He so badly wants to be helpful and big like daddy and it is pretty cute to watch him try so hard... except when you have to fight him to get the tools back!

Every time I walk into our beautiful house, I can't believe it is the same dark, dirty, smelly house we looked at in March. At the same time I am overwhelmed with pride at the capability of my wonderfully hardworking husband. I am amazed at all the work he did and the exceptional quality of it. He did every single extra project and tedious little thing I asked him to do and he did it fantastically! I love our house, I love the love we put into it and I love having our own place for our little family to be together in.

August Update

What I remember most about August was out trip to Nevada. We drove all night to get there and met up with my parents who were on a motorcycle ride. My dad's whole family was getting together for the first time since any of us can remember to celebrate my uncle's birthday, which is normally an unremarkable thing and not worthy of calling all the family together. But Randy has been diagnosed with cancer and was not given very good odds, so it was time for a reunion of sorts. This picture is my parents and my dad's parents with Tyler, Van and I. The next pictue is just one I took of him in the yard where we were staying.
I finally got a decent picture of Van's Famous Tough Guy pose that I wanted to share with you. (forgive the red-eyes, I was too lazy to fix them at this point. Besides, it kind of adds to the intimidation, right?) He has been doing this since he was 9 months old, and it never gets dull! We tell him to show us though guy and this is what he does. He flexes so hard his whole little body shakes, he holds it for a few seconds than crack s up with us! Love it!
We finally moved into our house- the day before school started! (more on that later, it gets it's own post) One day I went into Van's room and found him in our chair reading stories to himself! I can't believe how big he is getting. He grows more independent every day and he is constantly learning new things. I never knew motherhood would be so emotional!

July Update

More boating.
A trip to Boise.
A visit to Utah.

We went out on the boat a few more times and when Van saw his older cousins out on the tube, he HAD to go for a ride too. I could not believe I was taking my 1 year old out onto the open water for a tube ride, but you should have seen the fit he threw! Obviously, we survived and Van had a great time- he LOVED it!

We went up to Boise for a weekend because Tyler was finishing a job up there and we hadn't seen Scott and Ashton's new house yet. It was good to spend some time with them- it seems like we don't see them much since they moved. We also met up with a family from Tyler's mission in Detroit. They live on a ranch with lots of animals for a 1 year old to see. Van's favorite was the horses, especially since they kept "getting" his hands. They were such a nice family and we had a really good time with them. I feel like I missed out on a lot of Tyler's life before we met, so I loved hearing the stories of him on his mission. We also went to Utah for a weekend to visit more family. My grandma's neighbors have the most amazing pool I have ever seen. It was heated and it had a water slide, a separate kiddie area with underwater benches, really cool lights, fountains and water arches. And probably a few more sweet features I didn't see. Van loved to splash and play in the kiddie pool, especially when the geyser was turned on. I know we have already established that he is a big time water lover, but the delight he gets from it always surprises me. I love being a mom and having that constant sense of excitement and wonder at my fingers tips all the time. He really brings the magic back into everyday life and I am so lucky to experience that through him.

June Update

We went camping & hiking with the Coffins just outside of Poky. I am always so proud of how well Van camps. For a wee one, camping means leaving the familiar comforts of home, the warmth of the indoors, no baths, very few toys and a pretty big glitch in your sleeping schedule. Despite all this, Van loves to be outdoors and really enjoys camping. He also likes to be put in the backpack with Daddy for a hike in the woods.



One of the reasons why we love summer so much is going out on the boat with the Stuckis. We love feeling te heat of the sun, the cool water, the wind in our faces and watching the family play in the water. Van really thought he wanted to get in the water, but after one dip, he was content to just splash with his feet. I love to watch the wonder and excitement in his eyes as he discovers new things and decides what he likes and what he doesn't. It is so much fun being a mom!