Happy Mother's Day

I decided I am going to skip tonight and eat the dessert I made for myself. I will write on my day tomorrow. I had a lovely day with my family. Hope everyone else had a great day.

Today Was A Good Day

Last night Brandon and I realized we had no engagements we needing to be today. Hopefully it isn't because we forgot about something. We were really excited about the possibilities of nothing to do. I think it has been since before my upholstery class started that we have had a free Saturday. One of our most favorite things is walking around our flea market at the State Fair grounds and thinking of all the possibilities. I know some people would think that completely drab however we love it. We then ate at Which Which. If you have not been you must try it is delicious. We love Saturdays when we can pick and choose places to go and have no real time line of where we need to be. Here is to hoping for more free fun filled Saturdays. Oh and the Suns won last night.

I've Lost My Marbles

I don't know about other mothers but in our family it is hereditary to lose your marbles. I am sure it goes back many generations. Here is an example of my mom losing her mind. Sorry mom.

It is New Years Eve day. Her and I are headed to the Zoo for some fun with other family. On our way there the DJ on the radio announces at noon they are going to have a hot chocolate toast at the zoo. When I repeated that to my mom she got really excited. Not just excited but almost awkwardly excited. She was also trying to figure out where they would have this celebration and where would they put everything. I told my mom I am sure it will be just in one of the open picnic areas or near the boats. I was a little confused as to why she was asking such simple questions. When we arrive we get there in time to have some lunch and prepare for the toast. Those that know my mom know she is addicted to her hot chocolate. She does not need a diet coke to kick start her day it is hot chocolate even when it is 115 degrees outside. She sees the hot chocolate and starts to question where the toast was and proceeds to walk over to the hot chocolate table to ask the staff where the toast was. It is at that moment that I realized a toast that you give at a celebration never crossed my mom's mind. She was looking for toasters plugged into an outlet that produce slightly crusty baked bread to dip into her hot chocolate. I then tell my brother and sister in law what our mom was doing. By the time she came back we were roaring with laughter. The funny thing she was still confused as to why the Zoo staff kept looking at her strangely every time she asked someone new where the toast was and why we were laughing so hard. Well let's just say this story comes up on many occasions as one of the best examples of losing your marbles or as we call it in our family, Arthellisms, named after my grandma Arthell Bingham.

So back to my day of losing my marbles. I realized tonight I was a whole week ahead of schedule. I asked Brandon to arrive home early tonight so we could attend Brooklyn's school's Spring Fling Carnival. We drove up to an almost empty school and it was then that I realized that it was in one more week. So just think if I am already acting in this manner I can't wait to see what stories my kids retell of me with the more marbles I lose.

The night turned out just lovely after we left the school. We went out as a family to eat and then played with an ipad at Best Buy. Here is to hoping the night can end with a win from the Suns.

It's Been An Interesting Day

Brooklyn started her morning off with her shoes not feeling right. That always brings frustration from her, Brandon and me. Brooklyn also scraped her knees up and recess and had an accident in her PE class. It makes me sad that I can give her a hug when she is hurt at school. After Brooklyn arrived home from school her and I were downstairs finishing homework reading and I may have even dosed off for a few minutes. I was interrupted by Camden and her complaining about a white substance on her face and hands. I realized it was Elmer's glue. Then I proceeded with the questioning with the whereabouts of the glue. I walked up to the office and was surprised with a few large globs of glue on my computer keyboard, desk, mouse, and mirror. It also started to dry up on her body and I realized it was also all over her legs and in her hair. This really could have been a terrible day if I really let it get to me.

I did have some really good things happen today. I was able to attend a Mother's day lunch at Brooklyn's school. She is still at the age where she loves to see us, give hugs and kisses. She also made me a card. It is so fun to see her progress in her first year of school. I also love to watch my girls express their love to one another. Camden loves to run up to Brooklyn when she gets off the bus and give her a huge hug. Brooklyn has no shame and hugs her right back. Dallin is almost perfect all the time. I love his smiles and the way he can calm me down.

What a miserable life I would have as a mother if I focused on the negative things that happen. I would miss out on so much.

Keeps Me Young

Nothing earth shattering happened today. Tonight I spent my evening at one of our monthly Relief Society activities. We are making quiet books. I have always wanted a quiet book but for some reason never had one or maybe I did I just don't remember. I was probably a very obedient quiet child and did not need such things. So I am now starting to make one for my kids. I am really excited to start this project for my kids but secretly I am more excited that I will finally get to play with one during sacrament meeting. Being a mom allows me to still stay some what young. I can play with toys, jump on a trampoline, and make quiet books and say it is for my kids. But really I enjoy all those activities just as much or more.

Well at least I tried.

Today was one of those days where you are happy that everyone is still alive. I was not mad at my kids. I was just blah today. I am proud that I was able to plate a full meal for the family. And the great thing about just being blah today is that my kids still think I am the best mom they have ever had.

I Am Funny

One of the greatest things about being a mother to my kids is they think I am funny. I don't even have to try and I can get them laughing. It may not be that way all the time but for now I will enjoy the silliness my kids allow. My hope is that as a family we can always have good laughter in the home.

Sabbath Day Headache

I may be the only one that feels this way but Sundays don't always feel like the day of rest. It usually begins with a daughter bugged by the way a dress is feeling and is not happy with what she picked out the night before to wear. Or I have a baby who maybe gets 3o minutes of sleep for his morning nap. Today was no different this morning. However I tried really hard to keep my cool with this one daughter as somehow by the time we left for church she was in good spirits and was happy with what she was wearing. We were able to walk into the chapel with just about a minute before the opening song. We were all in good spirits and I think sacrament went well. I always feel like we are the noisy family and people wish we would just take our kids out. I love attending my church meetings however I have really had to rely on my testimony of the Gospel to keep me coming with my kids. Sometimes it would just be much easier to sleep in and truly have a day of rest at home. It is my love for the Gospel and my love for my kids that keeps me going. I want them to have what I have. This last year I have really felt the importance as a mom to find ways to bear my testimony to my kids in simple ways. I love watching them catch on to different concepts. I am hoping this month will bring me more joy through the spirit.

May, The Month We Celebrate Motherhood

Last year one of my friends on her blog for a month wrote about the joys of motherhood. She was honest and some days were easy and some days were more difficult to find joy but she did it. So this month I want to take that challenge and share my joys I have each day being a mother to Brooklyn, Camden, and Dallin. I am starting this month off with photos of all three.

I am still alive!

I can't believe how crazy life has been adding a third kid to the mix of things. I am less stressed but more crazy if that makes any sense. I adore my little guy. I hope to have updated photos of my kids in the near future. Maybe I will be feeling good enough about my body so I can actually make an appearance in a photo or do a family photo shoot. Since I have not taken many photos as of lately I wanted to post some photos I took from my early film days. This is my cute little brother who now holy cow is a Senior.



This next one has always been my favorite. It was fun having a little brother that would pose for me and I no longer had to use random objects around the house like stuffed animals.

Phonebooth

Many of you know that I left my comfy position at IBM last summer for the much smaller Bandwidth. For most of the 8 months, two of us toiled away building out a revolutionary telephone system.

We call it Phonebooth.

Last Friday, we launched to the public. I had the privilege of being at the SXSW Interactive conference held in Austin, TX for the launch.

It was awesome.

We garnered quite a response.

Coverage by Lifehacker, PC World, and tons and tons of Tweeting going on.

There was a pretty cool video we showed at the conference as well....

What is Phonebooth Free? from Bandwidth.com on Vimeo.

Entertainment Center makeover

I have a really creative cousin. Her name is Crystal. For a Christmas gift for her daughter they wanted to give her a nice kitchen play set. However everyone knows how expensive those can be. She found a few how to websites of creating your own play kitchen out of old entertainment centers. I think they may have only paid for paint. Everything else was free. Here is her before and after photos.

Deep Thoughts by Brooklyn Smith

I think one of the best things about having kids is the crazy thoughts that come out of their mouths. Brooklyn has always been very observant and you can see it in her expression even before she verbalizes her thoughts. Here are just a few deep thoughts from Brooklyn.


"One Day I was at the Mesa cemetery with family honoring those who had passed. As I stood by a large two hump tomb. I asked my father what was engraved. He then read the person's name. I then asked if he was sure it did not read "A very large person died here."

by Brooklyn Smith
"On Christmas morning I was given my stocking to open. With excitement I pulled out the gifts I thought would be from Santa. The excitement withered away into disappointment when I realized it was just the things I saw my dad buy the day before at the store. I then proceeded to ask my parents if Santa even came to our house and if they ate the cookies and carrots."

by Brooklyn Smith

"One day, I sat next to my dad preparing for him to turn on the television for us to watch. When I saw what we would watch I yelled out in excitement "Yea! the Olympapedics!"

by Brooklyn Smith

"One day, I sat with my family to watch an event on the Olympapedics. It took a moment of observing the event before I asked my dad a question. "Dad is this a game or are they just really cleaning up?"

by Brooklyn Smith

The curling thought is my personal favorite.

My Babies

We have had a lot of people state who they think Dallin looks like. I wanted to post a photo of each baby that show similarities to each other and their differences. One thing is for sure they are all deliciously cute.
B Girl

C Girl

D Boy


I think they have similar features of cuteness. Do you think my kids look alike?

Happy Valentine's Day

What we look like under our skin.

Warning: Close family members may be the only ones that find this amusing. What we do when we are bored on Sunday.

Dallin is Three Months

I am pretty sure Dallin has dominated our most recent blog posts. He has been a great addition to our family. He is now three months and growing like a weed. He loves being without clothes whenever possible. Both girls are still completely in love with him.

Dallin

We can't seem to keep our kisses to ourselves. Here is one reason why it is very difficult.

Snow Days

This past weekend and first few days were quite fun with the snow fall, weekend laziness, fun in the snow with friends, and no school. We had fun building a snowman. Thanks to our Landlords in Pittsburgh who taught me how to build a snowman the correct way. I think he turned out quite well. I was definitely sore the next day. We had a lot of fun however Brooklyn was glad to be back at school today mainly for PE.

This is how parents that grew up in the Southwest dress their kids for the snow. Grocery bags for in place of snow boots.



Brooklyn was worried her feet were going to ice over. I am not sure she realized it was in the upper 50's for the day. I know that sounds strange for AZ people but 50's feel fabulous after single and teen temperatures.

It's the end for Frosty.

I'm Three!!!

Hooray for Camden. Camden turned three at the end of January. I can't believe how fast three years has gone. She is such a fun girl to be around. She sure can make your day with her smile. She adores her sister Brooklyn and smothers her brother Dallin. She has grown so much this past year into a little girl from a toddler. I can't wait to see the new things she will learn this year.

Sorry I had to post this last photo. It is so disgusting and cute at the same time.

We love our Camden snotty nose and all.