June Phone Pictures

We got home from Lake Powell, and the boys were all fighting over the leftover sweet cereal...so Curt & I were mean and ate it all and took a picture of us eating it...and then we printed the picture out and put it in the empty cereal box haha. (Curt's idea) The boys didn't think it was very funny when they found it the next morning...

Curt also tweaked his knee while tubing at Lake Powell, and it's taken months to heal. (#gettingold)

Duke got groomed for the first time since we've owned him...and it was a big change!!

The poor thing had all kinds of knots and weeds and things stuck in his fur, so they had to cut off a ton. 

He was so teeny!!

Hudson helped me make some coconut macaroons for Collin's birthday :)

Sweet, adorable Hallie girl:

Hudson loves to help me in the kitchen, and he loves to help with smoothies. I turned around this day, and he was scooping the yogurt in, all by himself...no big deal haha! (and he actually did a really good job!)

Smoothie mustache:

Date night with takeout Pollo Loco! My favorite! (and I love that the boys are old enough to leave at home for a little bit while the two youngest are in bed--total game changer with making date night possible)

Another Bronco & Hallie picture. He loves her so much.

Messy hands!

We were able to take my mom & Denex out on the boat with us, and it was fun! And my mom even got on a tube...!!!!! (going VERY slow, mind you, haha)

 

We had a rough night getting the kids to bed after going to the lake that night, and this was the only way Bronco would come upstairs haha. (though at the time it wasn't very funny...)

Curt got a new mountain bike! Like, a NEW bike--not a broken one that he had to fix up! (say what???!) And not even secondhand...!! He started getting back into mountain biking and going on rides every week, and his bike that he got before his mission just wasn't doing the job anymore, haha. But because he had upgraded different parts of that bike over the years, he was still able to sell it for almost as much as he bought his new bike for--which was crazy! (He got the new bike on a fantastic deal, of course.) It was the perfect way to reward himself for getting his new job. ;)

Curt has been riding every Saturday with the bishop in our new ward, and they've done some impressive rides! 

Curt's new bike helmet, with this hilarious sun visor that magnetizes on, haha: 

Who wore it better? Curt or Hudson? ;)

FATHER'S DAY. We went back to church for the first time since covid--it was super simple (just the sacrament and a thought from the Bishopric), and it was very, very safe (masks, sanitizer, social distancing, no singing, no touching anything, sanitizing both before & after, etc). It was so good to see other people (all 29 of us that were there haha), and good to be inside the church building again! But with Hudson refusing to wear a mask and licking (yes--licking!!) the pews and Hymn books and everything...we decided that we'll just continue doing our home church for awhile longer, haha. ;)

When I had Curt look through the different pictures I took of him with the kids, he picked this one as his favorite--even with Bronco about to sneeze and Calvin's tie hanging down and Hudson not looking at the camera--just because he loved Hallie's smile. :) Oh how I love this man and how grateful I am to have him as the father of our children. He loves them so much and expects a lot of them, but he is doing everything he can to teach them to be good, responsible, righteous young men, and I love him for it. We love you, Curt!

Family picture after church, just because someone offered to take it:

For Father's Day night we went down to Curt's parent's house for dinner--it was so nice of them to have us! And Curt got some good pictures of Mike with the kids:

This was a "Curt Smith special" as we've started calling it. He found this gas oven on facebook marketplace for free: they thought it had a leak and just wanted to get rid of it, but Curt was able to find what the problem was--and it wasn't a leak and didn't even need a new part! And then he sold our electric oven for $80, so we made a profit! We had a gas oven in our last house and loved it, and we've been wanting to replace the electric oven in our new house since we moved in...so this was perfect! And we're loving it!

We were able to visit Chad & Lisa, and we put Hallie and the twins next to each other for the first time--it was so crazy, and so fun! I still can't believe these babies exist--that we have a girl, and they have TWINS!! (And the twins are a little less than 3 months younger than Hallie, but they're about the same size in this picture, and bigger than Hallie now currently, haha) I'm so grateful they'll have each other to grow up with!

Here's a short video of them together:

Mom & Hallie selfie:

Dad & Hallie selfie:

Love this cute girl!

Sleeping on her stomach:

And pulling her bow down, hahaha:

Another date night--to this new delicious cheesecake place:

(And rather than just bring it home or sit in the car like we usually do thanks to covid, we decided to sit outside for a change)

First time having the whole family at the table for dinner--with Hallie in the bumbo seat:

Hudson holding Hallie is adorable (and slightly terrifying, haha)--and Bronco will always be nearby because he loves them both SO much:

Curt took the big boys on an impromptu bike ride to Utah Lake one Friday night after work!

I started out behind them, pushing Hudson & Hallie in the stroller, thinking we would see them as they turned around to come back (they were supposedly just going on a quick ride), but after 45 minutes without seeing them come back, I just turned around and went home to feed Hallie. But it was a fun little adventure for all of us. And I was so proud of the big boys for doing such a long ride--Bronco especially!

We had a hard time finding Duke one night and eventually found him in the blanket basket, all cuddled up:

And then he made himself comfortable on Curt like this another time, haha:

We were in need of a distraction/something different one night, so we got some promotional $1 Root Beer floats from Arby's...and they ended up being GIANT, haha! But they were a hit. :)

Something that I love about Curt working from home is that he's able to see and be with the kids so much more--and so I find pictures like this on his camera roll, and it melts my heart. :)

We tried out Utah Lake for the first time--and Collin & Rachel and even Cory & Allie came to join us! It's SO much bigger than Deer Creek where we usually go, so it's much less busy, but then it's also more shallow and the water was pretty choppy. But then it was only 10 minutes from our house which was amazing...so we decided we'll try it out more often, but I think we still prefer Deer Creek overall.

Someday we're going to go to the Lake and I'm not going to have a baby in my arms so I can actually help and participate, haha:

Random Sunday picture--with Duke in my lap and Hudson by my side:

My spring entry table decor:

(because of covid, I don't go to the store to shop for different decor items anymore, or to print out new prints, so I'm just making do with what I have around the house)

And this picture represents the many, many trips/mini date nights to Sonic after the kids are in bed. We (Curt) may be addicted to their flavored sodas that are half price through their app:

And now for some videos...

This is the reason Duke puts up with Hudson terrorizing him sometimes...because he also feeds him, haha:

Whenever Hudson is on the boat, he loves to open his mouth into the wind, and it's hilarious:

Hudson has perfected his spooner spinning...and he can go REALLY fast now!

Curt & the boys decided they wanted to teach Duke to go through a hoop, haha:

And then here's Bronco doing a running front flip on the trampoline:

June Phone Pictures

The first week of June started out with our trip to Lake Powell--best week of the summer! This was the craziness of groceries ($600 worth) that we had delivered to our house and packed up into coolers the night before we left...

Two days after we got home from Lake Powell we found out we were pregnant...!!!! 

(much longer, more detailed post all about that coming soon)

Tucker's bike got stolen (again! second time in the last year...except this time they cut the lock that was holding it! GRRRRR), so he used his Christmas money to go in on this bike together with us--and we got a much more heavy-duty lock to lock it up with

Hudson being adorable and making a mess, as usual:

Calvin got really into/obsessed with blowing bubbles (with bubble gum) for awhile, and his face looked like this on a regular basis, haha:

Hudson started learning how to climb...!

Landen was able to come back and stay with Kelsey in Utah for a week after Lake Powell, before flying back home to Pennsylvania. We did a few fun activities with him while he was in town--our favorite being Lowes Xtreme Air Sports:

I of course had to take another pregnancy test a few days later to confirm it was still true...

When the boys fight and have a hard time apologizing/getting out of the situation, we do what I've called the "Repentance Rug"--where they have to sit on the rug together, each say what they (themselves) did wrong & what they could have done differently, and then apologize to each other and give each other a hug. Pretty simple. But Tucker & Bronco are made out of the same stubborn mold, and when they end up on the rug together, they both refuse to be the first one to say what they did wrong. (I usually just let someone volunteer to go first when they're ready.) Anyway, so this was quite a long standoff--I think they sat there for 30 minutes before one of them finally caved and went first. So frustrating, but so funny now that I'm looking back at it! ;)

For Curt & I's anniversary this year (14 years!!!) we cashed in on a gift my dad gave us last year, and had a little overnight getaway up to SLC! (Huge thanks to Curt's parents for watching the boys!) We started out at the temple, then drove up to the hotel and checked in, walked across the street to go to dinner at "From Scratch" (one of my new favorite restaurants), watched some TV/a movie (can't remember?), and then slept in the next morning before going out to breakfast/lunch (it was pretty late by the time we checked out of the hotel) at The Original House of Pancakes, tried to go see "Aladdin" but it was sold out, and then did some quick shopping before heading home to the boys.

Hotel Selfie:

 Hotel view:

Breakfast:

Unfortunately, right at the very beginning of the getaway, when Curt was changing into his temple clothes at the temple, he tweaked his back really bad and had zinging/searing pain the whole evening/next day. So it kind of put a damper on the whole situation and changed our plans a little, but he was able to get in to see a chiropractor as soon as we got back to Orem, and after that he felt SO much better! Hooray for getting old...not. ;)

Waiting for Curt to finish with some bishopric stuff after church on Father's Day so we could get a quick Father's Day picture before the boys changed clothes:

 Trying to keep Hudson happy by taking selfies, haha:

Happy to be with Dad:

Father's Day 2019--oh how I love these boys!!

 (Tucker was NOT excited to be taking the picture, if you can't tell...)

Since Father's Day fell on the actual day of our anniversary, we had Tucker take a few quick pictures of us as well when Curt got home from his church meetings:

Opening his Father's Day gift...which for the life of me I can't remember what it was now!!

Father's Day dinner with the Smith's that night:

All the boys have always had a crazy/disturbing fascination/obsession with putting things in their mouths...even as they've gotten older. And of course, Curt & I always tell them NOT to--for both sanitary reasons, and so they don't accidentally swallow or choke on anything. Well...Calvin has never taken our warnings to heart (let's be honest--none of them have), and he was playing with a quarter in the car driving home from getting groceries, and it ended up going down his throat and getting stuck. He could still breathe, but it was stuck in his windpipe, and he (frantically/shriekingly) asked me if he should try to swallow it or try to NOT swallow it. I called our Dr. office and asked them what to have him do, and they practically yelled at me to take him directly to the ER so that it wouldn't get stuck and block his airway. I wasn't super concerned since he could breathe just fine and was just crying that it was uncomfortable, but I did what they said and took him straight to the ER...with all four kids in tow. And a car full of groceries in the back. Knowing full well that this ER visit would cost us an arm and a leg. To say I was frustrated with the situation would be an understatement (since I had seen Calvin messing with the quarter and explicitly told him NOT to put it in his mouth...). Apparently I'm just an uncaring mother, since I probably should have been more worried, haha. Anyway, long story short, they were able to check us in right away, and Curt was able to come home from work to meet us at the hospital, thank goodness. And somewhere in the process of getting checked in/starting to watch TV in the room, Calvin relaxed enough that the quarter went down without him realizing it. Face-palm. But of course they still had to do an x-ray to confirm it was in the stomach and not stuck somewhere else. And of course they still had to charge us our $200 copay, and then send us a ridiculous amount of bills afterwards, making us reach our deductible of $500 (in addition to the copay). So the whole situation, where we were in the hospital for maybe an hour total, cost us $700. Kill me now. (And I may or may not have threatened to kill anyone who ever puts things in their mouth and causes us to have to go to the ER ever again, haha. But as I think about it now looking back, the boys really have been a lot better and I haven't noticed them putting things in their mouths nearly as much, if at all since this incident. So maybe it was worth it...?!)

He was embarrassed about the whole thing and didn't want me to tell anyone or post his picture anywhere. But now that time has passed, he tells people himself, so I feel just fine posting this on the blog. ;) 

 There it is! A $700 quarter!!

And just for fun (and dramatics), here's the video clip from our porch camera that caught the moment when Calvin told me about the quarter being stuck. I guess it was a little scary for a few minutes!

Cute boy in a cute shirt:

Group picture as Curt headed off to Youth Conference with our ward:

The morning Curt headed off to Youth Conference, we found out we were FINALLY (after 6+ months) under contract to buy our new (to us) house! He had to come home from helping pack to sign the final documents before heading back to the church:

(And obviously, a much longer, more detailed post about the house and the whole crazy process we went through...will be coming) 

Bronco's graduation from Upstart--the online preschool program he did in conjunction with the regular preschool he attended. He was super excited, can't you tell?! ;)

Checking out a new park for the first time:

Mom & Hudson bathroom selfie, trying to get him to smile:

Hudson was in a really bad biting phase for a couple of months (thankfully he's gotten much better and hardly bites anymore)--whenever he was mad at someone for taking something away or getting in his face too much (usually Bronco or Calvin), he would bite them. And sometimes he would get confused at whose arm belonged to who...and he would bite himself on accident. So sad and terrible, and yet so funny at the same time...

Calvin got to go to Cub Scout Day Camp for the first time, and he LOVED it! (And I was so grateful to his leaders for sending me these pictures!)

Since Hudson learned to climb on top of the ottoman we were originally using to block off the stairs, we had to buy our first ever baby gate. And Hudson did NOT like the feeling of being in jail, hahaha:

Swimming at Grandma & Grandpa Smith's clubhouse pool, in preparation for swimming lessons!

Tucker loves to make shaped pancakes, and he's pretty darn good at it!

This was just a nice evening with the boys playing outside while I sat and watched on the porch. Nothing special, but everyone was happy, and I wanted to document it:

Curt & Collin witnessed a CRAZY car accident one Saturday morning, where a guy started having a seizure and jumped multiple curbs, just barely missing buildings, flew through the air, went straight through a storage shed/small house, and then ran into a cement barrier that finally stopped him. Curt & Collin witnessed the whole thing and were the first ones to get to the car to help the guy, and thankfully he was okay. (minus the fact that he was having a seizure--but at least he wasn't dead, which they thought for sure would have happened after seeing everything he went through!) It was a testimony builder to them that the Lord is with us, even in the minor details of a car accident (since things could have gone so much worse and could have easily killed him).

We'll end with some happy videos.

This first one is of Hudson dancing and "lip-syncing" to a song--for awhile he would just open and close his mouth whenever a song would come on, and all we could guess is he was trying to mimic us in singing the words, hahaha. It was so funny!!

This second video is of a random funny dance Bronco was doing at the same time:

And this last video is of Hudson saying "Dad!" over and over and over. He LOVES Curt and says "dad" and asks for him all day, every day. So I finally took a video to show Curt, haha: