hollyhock goodness

Confession: I know nothing about keeping plants alive, species, etc. These thingies were growing in front of our house and it took all I had in me NOT to mow the ugly beasts over... BUT turns out they. are. magnificent!!! Who knew?! Now I can't stop taking photos of them... ugh! enjoy :)

memories

Peyton (12): This is a good song.... brings back memoriess...

The child is wise beyond his years ;)

hail!

Here are a few randoms from last week. We had a pretty intense hail/wind storm that took some branches and trees down and made some damage to the car sales lot a few houses down. Quite the mess to clean up but we all made it.

Not very good photos of the hail, but it was the biggest hail bits I've ever seen... kinda cool. I was slightly worried about the hail damage to our 1997 suburban... not!

This is what Nash sports when it's 80+ degrees outside and wet :)

 

all about dad-ios

Father's Day was over a week ago now, but this is my sad attempt at catching up... beware... quite a few posts to come...

We were invited to some friends of ours for the day. Good food. Games. Everyone was beat by the end of the day.

I'm trying to remember to have more family photos of us taken when we're all together and dressed decent ;) I hate having my photo taken so I'm making it happen more often so I'm actually in some photos around this house... not so bad I guess!

This is really what happens when we take a family photo :)

dads and kids... Homer was eating. again.  :)

Across the road is a park. The big kids played basketball. The little kids played on the swings ;)

coming clean

A lot has happened in the last month (or more). I don't feel I have shared a lot on this blog in the past, mostly because I never know what is too much and what is not enough.

Let me explain... Our family (Dave, the kiddos, and myself) is quite different than the average family. There are not many 'folks' who appreciate a large family these days, and sometimes the day-to-day life here isn't the same as everyone else. Most of the time I don't share an awful lot about us... maybe for fear of being judged... which I guess I don't really care about all too much. Point beingggg... I'm not exactly sure... ha!

I think I'd like to start sharing a tad more of our day-to-day life, blogging more frequently, etc. That in mind... I want to give a bigger dose of the Smith's :) make this a blog for more inspiration, ideas, sharing, etc. Maybe more of a purpose?!? Maybe that's what I've been wanting the past few months. And now that some changes have been made around here I'll find more time to make this a better blog for you few followers  :)

With all that in mind, one of the *biggest* changes around here... we are adding to our family once again. Most of you know this. Actually, probably all of you readers know this... BUT I'm failing on photos regarding this new addition so we'll start here... Baby #7 is going to be so sad! Sorry baby!

Baby Smith numba SEVEN

due October 9, 2012

Drew getting in on the photos :)

Also... this was completely planned. We're very excited. AND we're totally paying our house payment with all these kiddos!  ;)

Brewers!

Almost 2 weeks ago now we went on a Brewer bus trip with quite a large group of people. Dave, Peyton, and myself have all been to at least 2 games (Dave way more!), but this was Tayt's first Brewer game. He was beyonddddd excited. He had such a great time and was pretttteee tickled with the bobble head giveaway at the entrance. He even reminded me that we should do the photo booth together... kept the tradition going :)

It was *extremely* hot as our seats were in the sun. Had it not been for the breeze, I would not have enjoyed any of the game. It was a great time and I can't wait to do it again! Maybe just the family next time :)

arrival to the stadium. put the big lens on my camera and got these two photos (from inside the bus on the highway). amazing!

deliciousness before the game... fantastic!

our friends daughter napping before the game

and then it was game time!

Peyton trying to flag down Ryan Braun

Dave loved this photo

T looking an awful lot like my Dad...

blurry but the only one of Dave and I. excuse my hair. too hot to care!

us  :)

I tried to sleep on the way home, but sleeping on any bus isn't easy.
Dave had no problems... obviously.

A HUGE thank you to our friends who chartered the bus, the tickets, the meal, everything for the entire trip. We truly appreciate it! (and can't wait to hopefully do it again next year) :)

picnic in the park

Over a week ago now, we had what *finally* felt like a summer weekend. It was B.E.A.uuuu.tiful outside! We took advantage, packed up a quick lunch, and headed to a park not too far from here. For whatever reason, the kids were NOT interested in going. Dave was gone, I had a lonnnnnng day so I told them it was too bad... we're going.  The process of getting there *may* have thrown me over the edge, but I kept in mind that we'd enjoy the time at the park so that kept me going... we did have a good time and to boot, I recall them all sleeping very well that night :) 

Peyton

Chris and Peyton having a heart to heart...maybe ;)

Mallory and her babies (Jax and Drew... darn girl)

This is for my Mom... we got ALMOST all of them looking :)

and then there was a race... a foot race, Casey ;)

 always....