Have your cake and eat it too...

With my YW activity this week I've had that wedding cake sitting out and Gavin was very good about staying away from it. He just wanted to talk about it a lot. I was in the kitchen and I hear him say, "Yum! This is good wedding cake!" I panicked for a second thinking he'd gotten into it, and then realized I was in the kitchen and it was safe and sound. I go look and this is what I see...

What an imagination! Apparently Max is just 'delicious'!

Disclaimer: No babies were harmed to produce this cuteness....

Just like mama....

Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOATHE, HATE, DESPISE Birds. I'm creeped out just thinking about them. We had yet ANOTHER Easter egg hunt this past weekend (the last few Smith activities seem to be after the fact....it's probably just hard rounding the herd up...) and this is Gavin trying to get an egg...

Not too sure about this

Um....they are coming over here....
He finally sucked it up after some encouragement from dad....

Enough Said...

Apparently someone wants a little extra attention....

YW Activity

Last night was the first combined YW activity my advisor and I had to plan. Well, alright, it's really the first activity we have had to plan so far. I was pretty nervous about it to say the least. I don't know why I stress over things so much. I seriously wish someone would make one of those "chill pills" they are always saying to take...

We had the leaders drive and each car had a coin. The directions were to flip the coin at every stop sign or stop light and if it landed on heads you would turn right, tails turn left. The goal was to make it to the Jordan River Temple and they had 30 min. If they didn't make it there by then they were to stop flipping the coin and drive straight there. Our car made it out of Riverton to the S. Jordan Wal-Mart Parking lot, up to Sandy and then we ended up on the freeway. We had to bend the rules a bit seeing as how there wouldn't be a stop sign or stop light in our near future on I-15 (!) and just got off at the next exit. Eventually we just had to stop and drive to the temple where we met up with everyone else. No one had made it there by flipping the coin. (Although one group actually did make it to the Oquirrh Mtn. Temple!)

Once at the temple we talked about how we need to have a plan and follow a map to get to the temple. We can't just 'flip a coin' for all the decisions in our life. In order to prepare for a temple marriage we need to follow the 'road signs' that Heavenly Father has given us. I had a bunch of road signs printed and had a couple of the girls holding them up. They each took turns reading what was on the back (a Do Not Enter sign: Do not enter into temptation. Under construction: Your Future is under construction. It also said more than just what the sign was.) I shared my testimony of temple marriage and the plan was to have each girl write a letter to herself while she was at the temple to save until she was married but it was FREEZING so we went back to my house to do it. Before we left I told them all that we had followed the road signs and made it to the temple where we were married and now we were going to go back to my house for the 'reception'. Back at my house we had wedding cake and punch as our refreshments. I gave them each a picture of the temple with this poem printed on it and a penny glued to it:

So many paths, so many doors,
And choices all around.
Eternity, the perfect goal,
Is earned and not just found.
Call "Heads or Tails" while in the air,
The coin toss helps you choose.
Yet if you make your choice like this,
You'll be the one to lose.
Just stay along the narrow road,
And keep your choices straight.
When planning for eternity!
Don't leave it up to fate!

By Vicki B. Wright.

Not going to lie...I thought it was fun. I sure hope the girls did too!

My awesome advisor couldn't be there but she did a FABULOUS job making our wedding cake for us! I couldn't have done this activity without her and everyone oooooed and ahhhhhed over her cake. I hope she knows she was missed!

Getting ready...

Mom requested I blog so this is what's on my mind at the moment. I'm getting so excited for Gavin's birthday this weekend! We're having an UP birthday party since Gavin LOVES (quite possibly an understatment..) the movie. He is always talking about Mr. Fredricks (I'm no sure if 3 syllable words are hard when you're 2 because he has a hard time saying Frederickson) and his house flying.

I don't want to give away all of the details until I have pictures, but let's just say the day will include A LOT of balloons! Here is a picture of the invitation. It obviously has our address, but since my blog isn't private...I'm keeping that a secret :) There will be 16 little ones if everyone comes. Not sure if that will be fun or crazy! At least the weather looks like it will cooperate. Now if we could just not get so much wind around here!

I can hardly believe that my first baby is turning 3! I don't know where the last 3 years of my life went...it feels like it has just flown by. He is so amazing and he seems so grown up and smart to me. I know I am bias as his mother, but I think he is amazing. His speech is fabulous, although I was telling my mother in law tonight that I sometimes wish he would just stop talking for a minute! He amazes me with his imagination. He is so creative and always playing pretend. It's fun to be able to play with him at this stage in life and see all of the things he comes up with. I love the funny things he says and how when you're totally not expecting it, he can be so incredibly sweet. I don't want to miss a second of this.

Check back soon for the big party update!

Hunting...Eggs!

Today was so much fun. It could have been really lame and boring since Keith was working, but we were able to enjoy the day with a lot of friends and family!

First we had a fun little egg hunt put on by 2 cute girls (upcoming Beehives!!!!) in our ward. They invited a few kids in the neighborhood. Gavin loved it! I kept telling him we were going to go find some eggs, but he didn't really get it until we were there. He was so cute running around picking up eggs. Thank you Jaussi family!

Then we had another hunt at my grandma and grandpa's. They did the cutest thing this year and put these papers in some of the eggs. They all had something you had to do or tell Grandpa in order to earn a dollar. I got a video of Gavin doing one of his tasks, but it's kind of hard to hear. Instead (if you are so inclined) you can watch him hunt for some eggs.


We had a weinie roast after with yummy salads and then played egg toss. Egg toss is one of my favorite traditions that we play every Easter at Grandma's. I remember being a kid and playing and I always have a blast. It was fun to watch Gavin throw some eggs around, even if he just like taking the eggs and throwing them at a tree. Maybe he'll figure the game out next year! I usually don't end up with egg on me, but I got it pretty bad this year. It was a blast. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for all you do!

Easter Cookies

My goal lately is to be a more fun mom. Let's face it....I'm really not a very fun person, I'm sorta lazy. So in a desperate attempt I faced making my most hated cookie ever...The Sugar Cookie. I knew Gavin would have fun with the cookie cutters so I just went for it despite all the nagging voices in my head reminding me how much I loathe making the dough, rolling it out, cutting it, baking them, waiting for them to cool, making the frosting, frosting them...do you see my point here? I think what saved me is that awhile ago I scored some free boxes of cookie mix. I picked out the sugar cookie kind figuring that would make the process a little better. It really did! I think I will admit that I may have even had some FUN. Gavin sure enjoyed it and that made it all worth it! The original plan was to make all of these cute little egg cookies with the baby chick popping out...I got as far as 4 and then got too impatient. And they never look like they do in the pictures. Maybe I should start photoshopping my frosting smooth? We should have made more of those bunnies...I only cut one out thinking they would be a pain, but he turned out so cute! Fun Mom Attempt #1: Successful!