Snakes in Trees!

Today Mason and I took Brooklyn to school at 8am. I took Mason to the Dr. for his 2nd flu shot at 10:30am. Afterwards he was a little rattled like kids always are after a shot so I thought it would be a good time to take him for a walk around the Akron Fair grounds. A perfect time to check them out. A lady here in town told me they are about 8/10 of a mile so I bundled Mason up and we started walking.

I thought it was funny cause Mason looked up at the trees and thought there were snakes in the trees. I showed him it was part of the tree and they shake. Mase had fun after that shaking the little snakes. :o)

Here is me and the bug hanging out together.

Peek a boo! It was pretty windy so I bundled him up good.

Here's what the path looks like. Its actually pretty nice. I was pleasantly surprised.

Freaky and scary things...

Jer and I had a huge pumpkin patch this year. I laughed when I saw this one! Crazy huh?
Sunday Jer's youngest sister Shayla was in an accident. We are all so thankful she is alright. It was a miracle she got out unharmed. It was an emotional day for the family. It reminded me of how the Lord really does watch over us all. Shayla it just wasn't your time yet and we love you so much!

Go Rams!

Go big blue! This is mason getting into the game.

This year Akron's high school football team has been doing really well. They are undefeated! We were sitting home on Friday night when Jer mentioned something about the game against Wray (Akron's rivals). I told Jer "Why don't we go?" So we bundled up the kids and drove over to the stadium. I couldn't believe that I was actually excited. I haven't been to a football game since high school. The Junior class was sponsoring a pulled pork BBQ sandwich dinner. It was so good!

Brook and Mason did a good job of getting into the school spirit. Brook loved the cheerleaders. She can't wait to be one when she's older. It got really cold and the kids got tired so we left during the 4th quarter. Akron won 20 something to 0! All in all, it was fun.

To Pee or Not to Pee...

That is the question.
Mason bug is 2 1/2 now and he's been showing some interest in the potty. I thought I'd give it a try tonight. It turns out he just liked sitting on the potty. I have no clue if he understands what he's supposed to be doing or not. Even Brooklyn was helpful by sitting down first and going so he would know what to do. Uggg. Things were so much easier for me when I was potty training a girl.
Mason got up and then decided to sit down so many times last night. Not one time did he pee! Then he was messing around and actually spilled the pee on the floor so I just put everything on halt. I figure when he's ready, he'll let me know just like Brooklyn did.
Man I forgot how crazy potty training can be!

Rack time!

This weekend Jer and I made our coat rack that I've been wanting to do for a while now. Our stand up coat rack broke on us a bit ago and I wanted to do something rustic and simple. We bought a remnant piece of wood at home depot for 50 cents and I got a little wood stain, polyurethane and some black hooks. It was so easy and fun.

I even used the extra piece of wood to make a towel rack for our bathroom. I'm pretty proud of my really easy experiment.

I beat up the wood so it would look distressed and aged. I love it! It was great to be able to make two racks for 20 dollars while just one at a store is over 30. Sweet!

Mom and Me Time!

One of the things that I love about Brooklyn getting a little older is that she absolutely loves to do big girl things with mom. She loves to help wash dishes and vacuum.

Last night she was so excited to help me make dinner. We made homemade Chicken Noodle Soup over mashed potatoes. Its one of Jer's favorites and since he's been feeling a little low lately, we decided to surprise him.

Brooklyn was so cute! She helped peel the potatoes and some carrots, she stirred the chicken while it was cooking and dumped the potatoes in the pot to boil. She is turning out to be such a good helper. Maybe she'll grow up to become a chef one day.

Mason wanted to help so badly. This is him saying "Pweeez Mom?" How could I resist that face? He helped stir a little bit but it was just too hot and dangerous for him to do very much.
Here he is pouting since he felt a little left out. Poor little guy. Soon Mase, you'll be bigger soon enough.

It feels like fall!

One thing I do to cheer myself up after a disappointment is decorate or redecorate. I rolled up my sleeves yesterday and moved furniture and by the time Jer came home I was ready for his help. He helped me cut down our corn stalks and a few of our pumpkins to decorate the front porch to make it Halloween Ready. We sure had fun and for a while forgot how sad we were. Good times!

Disappointments...

This week has been a tough one. As soon as we got home from the Valley Jer got a phone call from the Electric Company in Heyburn, Idaho. The boss (Dan) wanted Jer to drive up as soon as possible for an interview. They were only interviewing 3 candidates so we really felt like jer had a good shot. Jer left really early Thursday morning and after 12 hours of gruelling driving and no sleep, Jer had the interview at about 4pm. Jer was confident that the interview went well. They even offered to pay us back for the gas money Jer spent to make the trip. Yay! This morning Dan called to tell us that it was a really close call. They wished they could hire all three but jer didn't get the job. He wants to keep Jer's resume just in case though.
Jer's call this morning was pretty tough to take. I guess we really didn't realize how much we both wanted this job and move. We aren't giving up though. It felt right so we are going to keep on applying and looking. Eventually.


This is a picture of Heyburn and the snake river.

All about me...

1. First name: Candi




2. Middle name: B. (yes that is the whole name)

3. Last name: Smith

4. Age:

5. Place I would like to visit again: Europe! I can't wait to go back one day.

6. Whats your profession: Stay at home mom and so much more...

7. Favorite vacation spot or where you'd like to go: Mexico again or Peru- I can't wait to see Machu Picchu

8.Where I grew up: Easton,PA- Go Red Rovers!

9. Past Pet: Samson- He was my best friend when I was a kid.

10. Favorite Treat: My mom's cherry Cheesecake! MMMm its been 8 years. I miss it.

11. Worst Habit: I mess with my nails when I'm nervous or anxious.

12. Mood right now: I'm anxious. I can't wait to hear the news!

I tag anyone that wants to do this, especially if you are bored! You just google your answers or look on flickr and pick the pictures that you want to use! Have fun!

Uncle Robert's Cabin

After Granny's funeral, we asked Uncle Robert if we could go up to the cabin for a couple days. He agreed if we'd winterize it before we left. The mountains were amazing! It was especially nice for me and Jer since we hadn't been back since Jer took me to the cabin right after we were married. The cabin and mountains were exactly as I remembered them. All the trees are changing now and I loved all the yellows, greens and oranges!



While we were up there we decided to take the kids for a hike up to the Falls. We had a hard time finding the trail since some cabins had been built and the signs were taken down. We hiked up this really steep hill and realized it was a dead end. I'm so out of shape I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. It was funny though. Soon a man who lived in one of the cabins stopped and showed us the way. The hike was hard but really nice. It was about 3/4 of a mile up hill over rocks and roots. I bet the hikers we passes thought we were crazy to take all our little ones up there. It was worth it though.
this is Mo, Cindy and Aunt Molly by the water fall.

We went for a walk to the river and got a peek at a new cabin being built. The kids had a blast throwing rocks in the river.


Jer "tried" to fish but with all the rocks being thrown it was a lost cause. Ha ha.
We really had a great time with the woods, nature, fires, no TV, no phones and just family. The only thing missing was Jillian, Steve and Addison. I sure hope we can do it again. It was one of the best times I'd ever had.

The funeral

Since Jer's Granny Ree passed away Sunday, Jer and I packed up the kids and we headed down to the valley Wednesday. It only took 5 hours. It wasn't so bad of a drive either. Trips seem much better since we've gotten the van.
Anyway~ Jer was going to help dig the grave by hand but by the time we got there it was just about finished.

Almost all the family was there. Ella's kids and grandkids and lots of great grandkids too. We were able to get reacquainted with so many family members. It was really nice to swap stories about Granny Ree. We were all sad but she has lived a great full life and she is better now.
Later on Jer and I took the kids to Granny's house. They saw the cows, sheep and chickens. Mason loved great grandpa's tractor!

This is Jer inside Granny's house. Don't ya just love the huge horns? ;o)