The Smittcamp's

Videos make me smile

2012-02-02T08:48:00.000-08:00

This one makes me smile. This is life around here. One of our favorite times of the day is when Daddy comes home. This was a little while back when Austin was still learning how to walk.

(Just so you know, the video only works on the computer, not on our phones. Boo hoo! If someone knows how to fix that, let me know!!)

Little update, not much :)

2012-01-29T16:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts! I don't have too much to update you on. Just normal life going on over here. You know breakfast, laundry, clean up, Austin naps, Daddy home for lunch, clean up, more laundry, both kids nap, clean up more, dinner, clean up again, more laundry, kids to bed, clean up some more and do it all again tomorrow. :) Then, of course there is preschool here and there, tumble class, bible study, grocery shopping, family time, sweet friends, errands, etc!!! Goodness!! Tired yet? I am. :)

I do realize I haven't updated anything for 2012, so I have to at least share a couple of pictures.

Here is a picture of us from New Years...

We officially have a walker on our hands. Austin is walking all over the house. He is definitely a little wobbly, which is absolutely adorable, but we hardly ever see him crawl anymore.

In the midst of it all we have managed to have a little bit of fun every now and then. :)

Aubrey's tree

2012-01-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Aubrey Rose sure is blessed with her grandmas. :) One day we get to make gingerbread houses with Mimi. Then, a different day...

Oma brought over a tree to decorate for her room.

Even Auntie Allie helped string the pink garland. :)

Then the next day Aubrey Rose got a box in the mail addressed to her.

It was a PINK tree from my sister, Auntie Christy!!! Thank you Auntie Titi!!

Aubrey Rose LOVED having her room decorated too!

Christmas fun

2012-01-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Before I get started on 2012, there were a couple more Christmas memories to share.

Making a gingerbread house with Mimi

The final product!! So cute!!

When we are at Mimi's house, one of Austin's favorite places to play is under this table.

And go figure...Aubrey Rose collects all the pink ones. :)

Penner family Christmas

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas we continued the fun with my extended family. I promise there were a ton more people than I proof of here, but at least I have some of the fun memories documented!

My sweet cousin Chelsey and Austin

The twins (almost) Austin and my cousin Jeremy

Here are our little cousins at Christmas 2010...

Look at little Jedidiah in the red elf hat! He was so tiny!

Now in 2011, here they are youngest to oldest. Jed now is no longer the baby, he is older than Austin and Symphony! Crazy! Time flies.

Sweet, little Symphony

What started with Jesse taking his little boy for a ride,

Ended with Austin on top, Christopher and Aubrey Rose on the sides, riding all around the house! HA!

We made our Oma's Zweibach (bread rolls). I am so glad you know how to make them now Mom! :)

This is our life these days. There is always someone needing our attention. Ever feel that way too? :)

Chelsey and Jon look like a couple. They are not. HA! They are definitely cousins. :)

Two years in row, Jeremy scored on the pirate ship. Too bad there was not gold in it!!

At least there were smiles later. :)

Speaking of smiles, I LOVE seeing my dad smile. And a BIG smile at that.

Wish I had more pictures, but at least we have these!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-05T03:30:00.000-08:00

This was such a different Christmas for us. Our agenda was a little more mellow. For Christmas we usually go from home to home with at least four stops and three outfit changes. This year we spent Christmas at Blake's parents home and then we my parents home, wearing the same thing ALL day. One of the other differences from years prior is we have a little girl who understands. She is almost 4 years old now. New traditions were made and it was adorable to watch her eyes light up every step of the way.

First we started at home...

Even Mommy and Daddy got to open a present! Aubrey Rose made all of these at preschool for us. The teacher wrapped it up so cute and we got to open all her pretty work. :)

Then, we went over to Mimi and Big Papa's house. After a couple bites of Sticky Buns and fresh squeezed orange juice we got to check out the Christmas excitement.

Big Papa made a fridge to match Aubrey Rose's kitchen he made last year for Christmas.

It came fully stocked with Wawona Frozen Fruit!!

Aubrey Rose and Austin got the cutest cowgirl and cowboy sleeping bags. So cute!

Presents, presents everywhere!

Then, we went over to my parents house...

What a fun Christmas it was. We praise the Lord for so many blessings. God sure is good...today, tomorrow and always.

Birthday party for Jesus

2012-01-01T08:00:00.001-08:00

My favorite kind of birthday party....a birthday party for Jesus.

We got to enjoy this adorable party that People's Church offered for moms and their kids.

They took professional pictures of you with your kids.

They had cute crafts for entertainment and we all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus!

We loved being reminded of the true meaning of the season!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-30T15:28:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Eve we met my parents, Jesse and Allie and Allie's family for a wonderful church service at People's church.

Here are two of my favorite little people in the whole world...

After church, we went and visited our friends house who live in Holiday Lane and has snow on their yard. Aubrey Rose loved it.

Then, we met for dinner with Blake's family. I loved how Blake, his dad and Austin all wore argyle sweater. They looked so cute together. :)

Aubrey Rose loves sitting on her Big Papa's lap. :)

The night before Christmas....

Her daddy LOVES Santa, therefore Aubrey Rose does too. :)

They sprinkled Reindeer food on the grass that she got from her preschool.

They left cookies and milk. This was definitely my first time preparing for Santa, so Daddy showed all of us how to do this. :)

And extra kisses for daddy.

The next morning, on Christmas morning, we had to wake Aubrey Rose up and as she was stretching so big, the first thing she said was, "Did he eat the cookies and milk????" HA!! Oh, our little girl was soooo excited!

Cousin time

2011-12-29T08:00:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite parties every Christmas is our cousin get together on Blake's side of the family. I love it. This year Blake and I hosted. Between all of us there were about 15 kiddos with the oldest being about 7. We just let the kids go wild, running all over the house. I am not sure who had more fun, the little cousins or us big cousins! It is so fun growing old with people you love.

Such a sweet gift...

2011-12-28T08:00:00.001-08:00

Austin has had quite an eventful couple of weeks. Two weeks ago he had NO teeth. Now he is working on FOUR! Two on top and two on bottom. Here you can see the bottom a little bit.

But, that is not the only thing Austin has been working on around here! On Christmas day, he had only taken 1, MAYBE 2 steps. On the 26th, (which was the day before his 10 month birthday) he took 13 steps!!! This boy is going to be walking so soon!

This little boy was definitely one of my favorite gifts this Christmas!

Woods Christmas Party

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends before Christmas, we were able to join the Woods' Christmas Party. Wow! What a wonderful party! Thank you Mike and Susan for the invite and for doing all you do to make it such a FUN party! We loved it!

Here is the Woods family...

Here are all the kiddos that got to join in the Santa fun...

It all started with Grandma Susan reading a story to the kids, when there was a knock on the door...

SANTA came!!

Santa read a story to them and then he...

read through his list and handed out presents to each of the kids.

Here is Aubrey Rose receiving her gift...

She was so happy and has talked about Santa every day since.

Santa gave her a princess toy. After she opened it, she told me, "I dreamed about this Mommy!!"

Austin LOST it anytime he would come near Santa. WOW! Not a fan yet! HA!

My favorite part of the party is when they reenact the story of baby Jesus. So cute! Blake and Blair were in last years performance HERE.

This year, Aubrey Rose was an angel. She fluttered her wings perfectly. :) It was so cute having the little ones in the performance this year!

We had a wonderful night with friends and...

sweet family.

Thanks again Woods' Family!

Christmas continues...

2011-12-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today we are celebrating Christmas with my parents and our Penner extended family. We hope you are having a wonderful holiday!

Merry Christmas to YOU!

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

We want to wish you and your family a VERY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We hope you are able to sit back, relax a little,

spend time with your wonderful family,

and most of all, we pray you are able to focus on the reason for the season.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We praise the Lord, our God, for giving us His only Son, who died on the cross for our sins, so we may live and have everlasting life with God, our Father.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

Praise be to God!! Merry Christmas!!

Santa Clause is coming...

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

We are VERY anxious and excited over here!! We can't believe Christmas is TOMORROW, which means Santa is coming to town!!! Sooooo exciting!

So sweet

2011-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Aubrey Rose got a new doll from some sweet friends. This was her first Disney princess doll. She was in heaven the second she saw it. Then, she learned the doll could sing too. Oh she almost died. About an hour after we opened her up, I was on the verge of going insane because I had heard "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat..." a billion too many times. Thankfully, after a few days, I didn't hear Ariel singing in my dreams anymore, but Ariel has slept every night with Aubrey Rose since. She insists on taking her all around town. It makes her so happy, which puts a smile on my face too.

Before Ariel came to live with us, Aubrey Rose didn't know the words to the song at all. She learned the song in a day. THAT is how many times we ALL listened to Ariel's sweet voice singing to us. We took this video the same day she got her. She cracks me up.

Thanks Blake and Christina!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

2011-12-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

Tis' the Season!!! Last year, I have NO idea why but we had only ONE Christmas party to go to. It was kind of nice to be so calm. This year is back to our normal way of life around our Smittcamp home. :) I think I counted 11 Christmas parties we have gone to and we are only at Dec. 22! HA! It sure feels like the Christmas we know and love around here!

Without further adieu, I give you us in our BEST Christmas attire. :)

The adorable hosts, Travis and Jessica.

(Her Christmas tree on her shirt even lit up, complete with a battery pack and all. HA!!)

Our small group ladies...Jess, myself, Jen, Brittany and Katie

The Patricio's and us

You might be interested in where all four of us below found our lovely Christmas attire. We just called Blake's mom to check out her supply. She did AWESOME at keeping so much quality stuff! :) Thanks Linda!!! Even Blake was wearing his mom's sweater. HA! Love it!

I have NO idea why everyone voted for Garrett and I for BEST "Ugly Christmas Sweater." We thought we looked good!

Thanks Jess and Trav for hosting. Next time I promise I will not come over in a one piece red outfit with Christmas trees all over it. :) Such a fun party!

Austin meet Tree, Tree Austin

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

It started with just getting a picture of a cute little boy in front of his first Christmas tree.

Then, he saw the tree and....

all the fun began!

Oops-sie-Daisy!

Oh dear...okay we are all done.

Hence, the reason ALL of the ornaments have since been raised above Austin's reach. :)

So it begins...

2011-12-20T08:00:00.001-08:00

Austin met his cousin Jedidiah almost 10 months ago.

These boys are 3 months apart.

We both did not know these were BOYS growing in our tummies until THE DAY they were born.

But, God knew. He definitely had a plan.

Sometimes it is REALLY hard to trust His plan.

My favorite part of God's plan is when I look back on the years and see how God worked in my life to get me to today.

Sometimes it is so easy to get wrapped up in the worries today or tomorrow might bring.

I find much comfort in just breathing a deep breath and thanking the Lord for where He has brought me to today, for His Mercies being new every day and for His hand to hold along the way.

Back to God's plan for these two little boys....

This was the first day Austin and Jed met.

The days of these boys just laying there are LONG gone!

They are officially on the go, ready to conquer the world.

And we are praying they choose to do it together. :)

So let it all begin. Teamwork. Togetherness. Bonding. Love. Standing up for each other. Watching out for each other. Hopefully not too much competitiveness. :) And most importantly, learning and teaching others about God and the joy ONLY He can bring.

Family :)

2011-12-19T08:00:00.001-08:00

Parties, parties everywhere!

There are sometimes Aubrey Rose has NO desire to take pictures. Other times she asks for me to take a picture of her. This time below I just picked her up and she squeezed me like I was her favorite person in the world and smiled so sweet. Love her.

And this little boy, I promise he does NOT look this old in person. :)

Christmas decor

2011-12-18T08:00:00.001-08:00

Most of my last years Christmas decor stayed the same for this year, but I did have one of my sweet friends Christina, come over and she helped me switch things around a little this year. I am so thankful for talented friends! Thanks Christina!!

Here is some of our Christmas cheer in collages...

Our wreath on our front door that I made last year...

This year we put our tree in a room we spend a lot of time in. It is just off the kitchen, so even when I am washing the dishes I can see it and smile.

Here is our Christmas tree is standing tall and straight. :)

My dining room has gold, bronze and leopard print touches...

Christmas is almost here! I can't believe it!

Love from your favorite Christmas elves...

2011-12-17T08:00:00.002-08:00

Merry Christmas!!

Here is some extra Christmas cheer from your favorite elves!

Click HERE to see us sing to YOU!!

(And just so you know, I could not get this to work on my phone.
Definitely worth going to the computer for! HA!!)

Time to decorate!!

2011-12-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

We came home from Maui, had Thanksgiving the next day with my family, then got to work decorating the house for Christmas.

Austin and I stayed inside the cozy, warm house, while Aubrey Rose and Daddy worked on the outside.

Aubrey Rose also helped rake the leaves. Not sure if we could get her to do this if she didn't have a PINK rake. She loves that thing!

Every year brings wonderful memories of finding the perfect tree. This year did not disappoint with the memories. We found a tree Blake and I both liked. I told him it looks great, except the trunk does a really good jig-jag at the bottom. He checked it out. He said no problem he could fix it. I said great! We both said perfect let's do it. We brought it home, he fixed it all up, stood it up and then came inside and told me, "You were right. This is the crookedest tree he has ever bought." Just the way he said it made me laugh. Love him! We went outside dying laughing at how beautifully it leaned. Nothing a 2x4 couldn't fix. HA!!

At our house, Blake is the amazing tree lighter. :)

That night we also brought out our nativity scene and learned more about Jesus.

The next day I had some little helpers to help decorate the tree. We put the ornaments perfectly spaced around the tree. We only broke one ornament. Pretty good for having two little ones. We have since raised all the ornaments above Austin's reach. :)

We are counting down the days until Christmas!!!

Maui 2011

2011-12-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

I am finally posting about our week with Blake's side of the family in Maui. I think my favorite part was being able to forget about everything at home and just relax. Well, relax as much as possible while taking care of a 3 1/2 year old and 9 month old.

This little girl was in her own kind of heaven for a whole week. She was a huge fan of "my beach" and

"my pirate ship" as she called them.

Last time we went Maui Aubrey Rose did not want to leave the pool. I am talking major work to get her to go up to the room. This year she focused on playing in the sand and playing in the kid area on the pirate ship. I think she swam one time in the pool. Oh, and she refused to go in the ocean. That silly girl! And by around noon she was done, wanted lunch and then wanted a nap. This whole growing up thing is going a little too fast for me.

We cooked in every night except two of the nights. This year everyone had a different night to cook. Blake and I made Chicken Cordon Bleu. YUMMY!!

Below, the top right picture (with the two fishing poles) deserves some mention. That was my view for six hours. We went deep sea fishing as a family. I got so seasick. It was brutal. What sounded like a great idea, wasn't too great. To top it all off, we didn't catch a thing. Bummer. We all decided next time we will choose a different excursion. Nice to check it off the list though. :)

The week we were in Maui we were able to meet up with our sweet friends the Patricio's. Our trips overlapped one day. We stayed at the same resort too! So random and so fun!

My cousin and her family were in Maui at the same time too. They live in Canada, so this was an extra special treat! We met up one afternoon. Had lunch, the girls played and us adults actually got some fun conversations in too. Perfect!

Thanksgiving night we got all dressed up in matching outfits

Took some fun family pics...

Blake with his brother and sister

Mimi and Austin

So thankful for Mimi and Big Papa!!!

After pictures, we went upstairs and had yummy turkey and all the fixings.

Aubrey Rose's favorite Maui toy she brought home. :)

Our last day in Maui...

Our last night in Maui...

Our last morning in Maui...

Two kids are a lot of work. Blake and I thought much more work out of town, but it sure was nice to relax and unwind in such a beautiful place. Thank you Big Papa and Mimi for blessing us with a wonderful family vacation. LOVE being together!

My new favorite video:)

2011-12-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

Goodness I have missed updating on my blog!! We have been busy!

At our home, Christmas is up, multiple parties have already been attended and most of the shopping is completed. We have even driven through to see the Christmas lights a couple of different nights. We have been BUSY!! My favorite thing though, has been playing with our baby Jesus and our nativity scene. :) This is definitely our favorite time of the year!

Here is one of my new favorite videos. Austin rockin' out. Cracks me up.

Little Indian

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

We will continue with more of our Maui memories later, but first here are a couple of cute pictures from Aubrey Rose at her preschool's Thanksgiving fun.

We had some sweet visitors to come pick up Aubrey Rose that day. These are my cousins, Jeremy and Chelsey. Thanks for being so sweet to her and us!!

Gobble, gobble!

2011-11-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Day we weren't wearing our pants and long sleeves...

We were in our swimsuits and...

Hawaiian attire with Blake's family!

This was Austin's first trip to Maui. Although we found out he had double ear infections while we were there, he was quite the little trooper.

After a week in Maui, we returned at midnight on Saturday night. On Sunday, we got together for lunch with my side of the family for our Penner Thanksgiving.

The little cousins LOVED playing in the leaves...

Aubrey Rose is absolutely crazy about her cousin Jedidiah. She is so cute and tender with him. It melts my heart.

And there was plenty of sweet family time back at the house. This is my brother taking Austin around for a spin.

I can't believe we are almost in December!!!

9 months

2011-11-27T16:50:00.000-08:00

This boy sure makes us smile. He is 9 months old today!

They are changing...

2011-11-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

The leaves are changing colors. The yellow leaves that fall from our peach trees make our early morning walks to school that much more enjoyable. We are loving the change of seasons, along with the change of crisp, cool weather.

Thankful

2011-11-16T08:00:00.001-08:00

This was a cute ad for Wawona which was in a magazine for Children's Hospital Central California. Love these kiddos! And we love that we have such an amazing children's hospital just down the road. We are so thankful.

Surprise weekend

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we got to surprise a really wonderful, extremely deserving guy. Blake's mom surprised Big Papa with a birthday trip to Las Vegas. He knew he was going out of town. He knew he was going with his bride. He didn't know he was going to be with the rest of his family and he surely didn't know he was going to Vegas. :) Linda sure is good isn't she??!!

We surprised Bill at the airport. It was pretty fun to help him put pieces together of our plans for the weekend. So fun!

It started with a glass of champagne....

Arrived at the hotel, checked into our rooms,

changed into our Western chic clothes, then

back down stairs to watch the amazing concert of Garth Brooks. Phenomenal show!

Next day, shopping, shopping...

and more shopping.

Then, we got all fancied up and went out for a night on the town

We had a delicious meal...

at the Mix restaurant.

What a wonderful weekend with some of my favorite people. Happy Birthday Big Papa!

Dress up

2011-11-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

First, she saw the pink hat.

She asked to wear it.

Then, she saw the sparkly heels.

She then chose the dress and the jewelry.

There is something precious about seeing your little girl

wearing her mommy's dress up clothes.

Finally, some love on here...

2011-11-12T08:00:00.001-08:00

They don't get enough love on our blog, but we do have two puppies. Well, I call them puppies. They are definitely getting older, no longer the tiny little things they once were. Whether they get enough love on here or not, we are big fans of them at our home. Austin giggles and wiggles every time he sees them and Aubrey Rose loves to do anything with them. It sure is fun seeing them all together.

Pumpkins on their...

2011-11-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

When we got the cousins together on Halloween, we decided to do one more thing with the little cousins. You know, because they aren't quite old enough to say their opinion. HA!

Here are Austin and Jed...

And now with the girls...

We will not confirm nor deny if there were smiles on their faces as we did this. And by the way, we realize our kids are probably never going to forgive us for this, but we think this was just too cute not to share. :)

We are multiplying!

2011-11-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Between weddings and babies, our families are multiplying like crazy. So fun!! Ever since Aubrey Rose was born in 2008, my cousin and I have gotten our little ones together to take pictures of them on Halloween. Here are Aubrey Rose and Christopher in...

2008

2009

2010

For our 2011 Halloween picture, a lot changed.

Our cousins have multiplied...VERY quickly!

My sweet nephew Jed was added last year... (+1)

My cousin, David and his wonderful family moved back to Fresno.... (+2)

Of course, you know, God blessed us with Austin... (+1)

Then, little Symphony was added to this fun family... (+1)

Which brings us to our 2011 Halloween picture...

Yep, in one year, we went from two cousins to SEVEN!! LOVE it!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

What a sweet tradition this has become! I think this is our 5th Halloween going over to the Patricio's for trick or treating. Garrett and Ashley were so sweet to host again. Thank you G&A!!!

Here are our S'mores costumes we made...

(Thanks to my sister Christy for finding our inspiration for our costume!!)

Blake and I love doing the family costume theme, but I am pretty sure this is our final year of choosing what we want. Our little Ariel, was quite opinionated about not wanting to be chocolate. She told us she "liked to EAT chocolate, NOT wear it!" HA!

Our fun group shot...

Our favorite Super Heroes!

Lightning McQueen and his Pit Crew...they won for the best costumes! Go Donnelly's! If you look close, one of Lightning's sponsors is Wawona. HA!! Love it!!

We love Mustard and Ketchup, but oh, that hot dog...I could just eat him up. So cute!

After a delicious dinner, we were all off for some trick or treating.

We thought our little wagon was a good idea, however our little marshmallow sat good like this for maybe one house. HA! The rest of the time he was happy in our arms. Oh well, we got a cute family picture, so it is all worth it. :)

Another successful, fun Halloween night!! But, don't think I am done quite yet with Halloween 2011, I still have some more fun pictures coming soon...

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-02T08:00:00.001-07:00

We got to go with my family to the cutest pumpkin patch in Reedley called Hillcrest. Oh my goodness...ADORABLE!!!

We went with my whole family which made it even more special. It was such a fun family outing.

One of my favorite things about this pumpkin patch is you have to walk thru corn fields to get from your car to the pumpkin patch. It was so cute!

They had regular orange pumpkins of all sizes, as well as really fun, random kinds too.

This little one was Aubrey Rose's choice.

They had the cutest things to take pictures on of Aubrey Rose

and the boys...Austin and my nephew, Jed

They also have hay rides and train rides too. This place was soooooo cute!

My dad and Aubrey Rose

My mom and Austin

We had such a wonderful time.

Then, it was time to go back through the corn fields one more time.

Can't wait to go again next year!!

Zoo Boo

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Friday night at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. They had an event called Zoo Boo. The kids got to wear their costumes, which made Aubrey Rose SUPER EXCITED! Austin was not as big of a fan of his costume, but we got a cute picture of them, so no prob. :)

Here is Ariel and her best buddy Flounder.

We met my cousins there.

Cutest firefighter and well...

I am pretty sure we all agree this is FOR SURE the cutest peacock in the world!! Oh, little Symphony. LOVE her!

Mommy was so cute and matched the peacock, so I had to get a picture of these too!

We also met my other cousins and our favorite little ladybug and zookeeper.

So blessed by the women my cousins chose to marry. LOVE them!

Us moms with our little ones

The dads with the big kids

My twin cousins. Two of my favorite people!

Aubrey Rose and I. Love that little girl!

Happy Halloween to YOU!!

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween from our home to yours!!

From the first second we started talking about dressing up,

Aubrey Rose knew exactly what she wanted to be.

No question.

She never wavered at all.

Ariel, The Little Mermaid.

The most entertaining part of this decision is before this we barely ever heard about Ariel. Obviously she knew who Ariel is, but she definitely had her favorite princess. The pink one. She used to just call her pink. Then, she later learned she was named Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty has been her ultimate favorite up until this point.

So when she chose Ariel, I was stunned.

And she stuck with it, without a doubt!

(Thank goodness for sweet friends who let us borrow the costume.) :)

Here is Ariel and her favorite buddy Flounder.

Flounder however, had NO desire to stay still for pictures. All he wanted to do was swim away!

We did get to see his eyes one time...

As Flounder swam away, Ariel could have posed for days,

doing...

anything...

we asked.

We hope you have a wonderful day!!

Peach Orchard pictures

2011-10-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

We recently had some pictures taken by our friend Cori with Derksen Photography. Cori sure makes all this photography stuff look easy!!! Thanks Cori for blessing us with memories in our peach orchards to last a lifetime. Such a blessing.

8 months

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our little man, you are getting so big. It is starting to get tricky to take posed pictures of you! You are so fast!

Austin, you are getting into EVERYTHING!! You are pulling out ANYTHING you can get your hands on. And of course, it goes straight to your mouth. Your sister has cried multiple times because you have ruined a couple of her things. One time she had spent a really LONG time working on and coloring a "map." When she walked away, you found it, crumbled it all up with your hands and then proceeded to eat it. Oh, she lost it. She was so sad and told everyone about it for days.

Your work is amazing. I leave you for one minute and come back to this! Goodness! I am telling you, you and super fast!

Austin, EVERYTHING you get into your hands is going straight into your mouth. I forget how long this phase takes! What I do know is we have a very long way to go! It is not good that I am already anxious for this season to be past us. Ha!!

You are getting quite adventurous. The more adventurous you get, the more you get stuck. And then when you get stuck, you get really MAD! For some reason you were stuck under this table. You tried to get up, the table would bonk your head. You tried over and over again, until I came and saved you. You make me laugh!

Aubrey Rose's toys often get in your way too...

Obviously, this one was really frustrating...

but my favorite was this day you could not figure out how to get yourself free from this chair. That bar on the chair really stumped you, and boy were you MAD!!!

You can be rather tricky to feed. Some days you want to be spoon fed (and only spoon fed) and other days you just want to feed yourself.

However, the one thing you really love to do, no matter the day, you LOVE to bang your hands on your high chair tray.

Your sister absolutely loves helping you with anything. She also likes to pick you up and carry you anywhere (whether you want to go or not). You two are adorable when you play together. Aubrey Rose crawls on her hands and knees just like you and you guys go all over the house. She tells you, "Aww-tin, I gonna tickle you. I gonna git chu." And you just giggle and laugh, trying to crawl away as fast as you can! Usually your super speed can't go fast enough, your sissy is just a little faster. I love watching the two of you together. Melts my heart!!

Your smile melts my heart too.

You have officially found the stairs and have conquered them all (with us right behind you of course) many times. You LOVE the stairs!

No teeth yet, but it has been weeks now that I have been wondering if you are teething. Nothing yet though! For about a month you were sleeping EXCELLENT! You would sleep from 7pm-7am and you would take two good naps during the day (at least 1 1/2-2 hours each). Lately though, for probably 2 weeks you have enjoyed giving us a lovely wake up call at about 5am. But, then you go back to sleep after a bottle until 7am.

Every day that passes you look more and more like a little boy. Not much baby left! :(

I can't believe you are 8 months old. Time is flying and it is definitely bittersweet.

One thing is for sure, we are loving every second we get with you! (Even if it includes spit up, poop, or tears) :) We love you Austin James!!

Born with it...

2011-10-20T08:00:00.001-07:00

When Aubrey Rose was born, she was my bald baby. :)

Even at 7 months she had nothing...

At 15 months, Aubrey Rose still had NO hair!

FINALLY at 18 months...yes, a year and a half...

we finally had little curls and we could put a clip in her bangs.

However, when Austin was born, I was not only shocked he was a boy,

but I was also absolutely shocked with ALL THAT HAIR!!!

At 3 months, Austin's hair was still pretty thick.

Even at 4 months, he had plenty of hair.

At 5 months, we realized he had lost it all.
Can you believe that???!!! Yeah, neither could we. :)

(Don't worry, you don't have to sugar coat this for us.

We might be biased parents, but we are not oblivious! HA!!)

Now at almost 8 months, he has grown all new hair and it is coming in lighter! Not blonde, but not dark like what he was born with.

Big Sister's hair turned out just fine...

so we aren't worried at all about this little guy.

But, we definitely learned it sure doesn't matter what you are born with...

Measure it...finally!

2011-10-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have actually had this vinyl sticker for a couple of years. I know, so sad I am finally getting this done. I ordered it from Uppercase Living. We finally decided on where we wanted it. I decided to put it on a piece of wood that we could remove if need be.

Our new growth chart for the kids! So fun!!

First person we measured??? You guessed it!

And so the measuring begins...LOVE it!!

Fall Decor

2011-10-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

My fall decorations are the same from last year, but I did shuffle a couple of things around (so at least I felt like I got some new things). :) I love decorating for the seasons! It puts an extra bounce in my step around the house!

The rest of my fall decorations are HERE or my Halloween Table is HERE.

Fun at the game

2011-10-17T08:00:00.001-07:00

Aubrey Rose and Daddy went to the Fresno State game on Saturday night. We won!! Go dogs!! Here are a couple of pictures from their fun...

Aubrey with Uncle Bradley

This is Aubrey Rose all of a sudden being shy when meeting our Bulldog Mascot, Timeout!

However, her new favorite people are the cheerleaders! Oh wow, she loves to watch them dance and cheer. She shakes her pom poms around the house and yells, "Goooooooooooo Bulldoooooooogs!!!"

Go Dogs!!!

2011-10-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight our Fresno State Bulldogs have a football game. Go Dogs!!!

Cute girls

2011-10-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Love these two together! Love you Auntie Blair!!

It's raining!

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Aubrey Rose got to pull out her favorite umbrella and rain gear a couple of days ago! It was only for one day (we are back in short sleeves again), but she loved every second of the rain.

Made me smile...

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Just a fun pic of our girl...

Tuesdays and Thursdays...

2011-10-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

One of our highlights of our weeks are the walks we take to Aubrey Rose's school two days a week. We walk through our peach orchards to get there. She LOVES to check on her peaches. Pretty soon all those peaches will be off the trees.

After walking through the peach orchards, Austin and I drop Aubrey Rose off at preschool.

Then, Austin and I continue on our walk.

These are some of my favorite parts of our journey. Such beautiful and peaceful views and sounds.

Then, Daddy picks her up in his "little car" as she calls it. This might be her favorite part of her day.

Since Aubrey's school and Daddy's work are right next door, Daddy brings her into the office to see Big Papa and to make copies of their hands. She absolutely loves it. (I get a new set every Tuesday and Thursday.) :)

She has been a huge fan of going to school. Every day, in class, they work on their letters and writing out their name.

One day Aubrey Rose came home looking like the cutest kitty cat.

And when she plays, now she has a new form of creative play. She LOVES to play school. I often hear "Okay class, please listen to me...". Sometimes, she even creates her own classroom complete with students. :)

To say she enjoys school is an understatement. It has truly been a wonderful addition to our world. Around here, Tuesdays and Thursdays have quickly become a favorite.

Birthday smiles

2011-10-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in the mix of the busyness of September we celebrated my birthday. This was a picture from that night, that made me smile.

All together :)

2011-10-04T08:00:00.001-07:00

We took some family pictures with my side of the family a couple of weeks ago. These pictures will always hold a special place in my heart. LOVE seeing us all together.

My sister and her wonderful husband

Austin

Aubrey Rose

My brother and his fam

Oma with her three grandbabies

I had to add this one! My little nephew is cutest little thing!!! Jed, I love your scrunchy nose face!

Thank you Jen Bell for blessing our family with these photos!!!

Harvest Ball 2011

2011-10-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

Harvest Ball is a black tie event we look forward to each year. It benefits the Children's Hospital Central California. As always, the event did not disappoint. LOVE it!!!

Blake and I with Blake's parents, sister and brother.

Some of our wonderful friends joined to help this worthy cause as well.

Blake's brother spoke at the event about his biking accident that happened when he was 5 and the excellent care he and his family experienced at Children's Hospital. Praise the Lord for a hospital in the Valley!

Bill and Linda spoke as well. So proud of each of them!

Such a cute picture of the three of them after they spoke!

Go Dogs!

2011-10-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

I realize I have been little MIA. Sorry about that. Not sure where September went!! I feel like I was just treading water the whole month trying to get a handle on life with two MOVING, busy, fun kiddos. I am just going to pick up at the most recent and hopefully get a chance to backtrack along the way! You don't mind, do you???

Last night the four of us got to go to a Fresno State game! GO DOGS!! It was our first football game as a family of four!

Do you recognize this baby with a headband on??? Yep, this is Aubrey Rose wearing the same outfit Austin wore to the game. Auntie Blair gave it to us before either of them were born and now they have both been able to wear it! Thanks Auntie B.B.!

Above is Aubrey Rose and below is Austin in the same outfit! :)

Austin is 7 months and Aubrey Rose is 3 1/2....Time is flying!!!

Daddy and Austin at Austin's first football game

We got to sit near Blake's cousins, Rob and Katie and at halftime Blair and Julie came by!!! It was so fun to all be together!! Go Dogs!!!

Busy, busy, busy!!

2011-09-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our world has been very busy lately. Busy with I don't even know what, but sometimes a little like I am just treading water. We are finding our new normal in the midst of peach season and Aubrey's new preschool schedule. It will all figure itself out sooner or later. What I do know is this little guy has definitely helped keep us busy. Wasn't he just born???

Austin is reaching for EVERYTHING now.

He has this scrunchy nose smile that cracks me up.

Big sister sure is protective of her little brother. One of her common phrases lately if I am walking out of the room for something she says, "Don't worry, Mommy, I will keep an eye on him." Or if she leaves, she asks me, "Mommy, you keep an eye on him for me?" Yes, sunshine I will. :) Love those two!!

What'chu want??

2011-09-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Aubrey Rose enjoys cooking in her little kitchen. She also likes playing on her cash register that has a fun, little microphone. Whether she is in the kitchen or at her cash register, we typically hear the following, "MOMMY, what'chu want????" I will answer her with whatever comes to mind at that moment. And every single time she responds the same way. "Okay, comin' riiiiiight up!!" The other day she delivered some cake to me like this...

LOVE her!!

These two...

2011-09-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

I LOVE seeing these two together. Makes me smile really big.

Love those peaches!!

2011-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Peach season is still in full swing over here. At our house, peaches have been offered with almost every meal and snack lately. We say, "Yummy in our Tummy!!" :) I love opening my fridge and seeing a box of fresh peaches...

I also LOVE opening my freezer and seeing these from TRADER JOE'S!!!

Of all the products Wawona produces, these Peach and Strawberry Pops (pictured above) MIGHT be my FAVORITE and Trader Joe's sells them!! There is no sugar added too! DELICIOUS!!

We have been having fresh peaches, frozen peaches, Peach Pops, peaches dipped in cool whip, peaches with cottage cheese, peaches in our desserts, we even made our delicious peach crisp....YUMMY in our tummy!

And just in case you are wondering, none of us have gotten tired of peaches. :) Maybe we would get tired of peach season if it was all year long (you know...burning the candle at both ends can't last forever), but as far as peaches, we are big fans of having them any time of the year! :)

Birthday fun...

2011-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

How long has it been since you played lazer tag??? Yeah forever for me! We had a date night this last weekend. We went out to celebrate my brother's birthday. We had a delicious meal at Max's and then got our game on playing lazer tag. Allie and Jesse knocked all of our socks off. Yeah, Allie is quite the gamer. :)

Jeremy and the birthday boy mean mugging looks. Allie you are too cute to be in this pic! HA!!

Checking out our scores....in our group, Jesse took 1st and Allie 2nd. From the beginning of their relationship they always said, Jesse always wins and Allie is always right. HA!!

Happy Birthday Gaga!!

Thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting ALL THREE of our kids. You ROCK!!! What a fun night we had.

We also celebrated one of my most favorite cousins EVER! Happy Birthday Chelsey! Chelsey, Austin and I had the BEST morning together. God blessed us with the most hilarious moments that morning. Stories that if I shared them with you, you would probably say, "I guess you had to be there." HA! Chels and I will probably be laughing about these for a lifetime. LOVE you Chelsey Marie!!

Our professional seamstress

2011-08-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Most of these pictures have made it to the blog at one time or another. But, they deserved another post. A special post. This post is for our favorite Mimi. Our professional seamstress. :) Mimi is incredibly talented! She could probably make these clothes with her eyes closed. Thank you Mimi for spoiling us!!

My newest favorite...Mimi made Aubrey Rose this adorable dress.

Here is the back of it.

She made all 3 of our Halloween costumes last year.

Mimi made Aubrey Rose's Christmas dress

and her jacket.

For Easter, Mimi made matching outfits for both Aubrey Rose and Austin

The newest sweet dress...

Mimi, you are such a blessing to us. We can not thank you enough for not only the sweet clothes you make for our kiddos, but for all that you do for us and them! We love you!

6 months old!!

2011-08-30T08:00:00.001-07:00

Six months old?? Half way to a year old?? WOW! I love how time flies. The days often feel long and tiring, but I absolutely love where we are today. Two busy kids. Two kids needing my constant attention. Two kids I am responsible for on a daily basis, for training in the way they should go, so when it is up to them they will not depart. Although overwhelming at times, (like at JCPenney's when Aubrey Rose throws an absolute fit in front of about 10 strangers because she did not get to press the button to the elevator and the other little boy did...wow!) the sweet moments of the two of them loving on each other and giggling help put our busy world into perspective. I wouldn't change it for anything.

Back to our little 6 month old...Austin, this month, I confirmed your eyes are not going to be blue. They are definitely going to be brown. They started out blue. Our doctor thought they were going to be blue, but sure enough you were just tricking us. They are now dark brown, just like your daddy. :)

Austin, each time you eat, it seems as though you have never eaten before. You seem sooooo hungry!! I can't even imagine how you much you will eat when you are a teenager! I am pretty sure you are going to eat us out of house and home. HA!

Right now your favorites are sweet potatoes. I am already feeling like I need to give you foods you can pick up by yourself. You are much happier if you can do it yourself! Goodness, I already have one determined and independent child...you too??!! :)

Your sister can make you light up like none other. If I am holding you, you kick your legs, almost wiggle out of my arms and you giggle so big. You are starting to show Aubrey Rose when she makes you mad. If she takes something away from you, you sure let her hear it. She is starting to figure it out that you have an opinion too. :)

You are loving your new accomplishments. Crawling all over the house (thankfully you have not found the stairs yet), sitting so strong, and standing up holding onto things. Just today for the first time you pulled yourself up to something. You are starting to follow me wherever I walk to, especially if you are not happy about something.

I forgot how much I love it when my little baby finds me in the kitchen, crawls all the way to me and pulls up on my leg. You just started doing that this week. It melts my heart.

You are already so determined. You know what you want. You get frustrated if you don't get it. The other day your toy rolled under the table and you tried and tried to get it, but to no success. Then, came the little tantrum. You squealed and fussed until I came and saved your day. After you had your toy...immediately back to happy Austin. Oh my little sunshine.

Your hair is starting to grow back. I can not believe how little of hair you have compared to when you were born. Don't worry we love you bald, with a comb over, or with hair. :)

Austin, everything is going straight to your mouth. Aubrey Rose has a tricky time saying her S's, so when she says your name she calls you "Aww-tin." When I saw this picture it made me smile because of all the letters, you pulled out the S. Your name was spelt just the way your sissy says your name. HA! Love it!

You figured out the sleep thing again. Thank you!! We are so thankful! You have been going to bed at about 8:00pm and waking up at 6 to eat, and then go right back to bed until 8am. You do not take a pacifier. When we give it to you, you act like it is a toy. You just bite it and play with it. You also do not suck on your thumb or hand. I honestly have no idea how you soothe yourself to sleep.

Actually, I do know something that you do. In the picture above you are doing it with your right hand. You open and close your hand, back and forth, back and forth. I am not sure why, but you especially do it when you are tired. You do it on all different textures. You do it on fabric, on floors, on your clothes, and when you are tired you do it on your head, behind your ears. I know random, right? But, I often hear you do it in your bed to fall asleep.

You are quite the smiley boy. This past weekend you were quite fussy though, but then today you slept almost all day long. You must be growing again. Love you little man. I am so thankful for your life and for the joy you bring to your daddy and I and to so many others. Happy half year Birthday!! :)

Pictures in the peach orchards

2011-08-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

A tradition around our house is taking pictures each summer in the peach orchards. These have been some of my favorite family pictures ever. Some of my favorites were the pictures we took in 2008, which was Aubrey's first summer born. Now we have Austin as our new addition. Here are a couple of pictures we took...

More swim fun!

2011-08-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had some fun in the sun and pool with our bible study group. Love, love, LOVE these families!!

Fondue with cousins!

2011-08-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday night we had a cousin night with my side of the family. Such a fun time together! We are so blessed with cousins similar in age and also cousins who have chosen some WONDERFUL spouses! Is it normal to all have this big of smiles when you are with family?!

When my cousin married Andrea, our family struck gold. :) She had the vision for this night. She divvied out the food and we all had such a great time.

Fondue night with cousins!

Blake made margaritas

My cousin David and his wife Arris

My cousin Chelsey and Blake

Allie, Symphony, Andrea and my entertaining brother

Blake and I

Oh, Andrea, I love you. Where does she come up with this stuff???? This was hilarious. Split into teams. One person has a cup on their head. The other person has silly string. Most string in the cup at the end wins. HA!!

I am not sure if Jeremy had more in his cup or on his head. HA!!

It was so great! Tons of laughter. Lots of catching up. Just sweet family time. I think our last time together, just the cousins, was up in Oakhurst. Remember that one??? HA!!

Another summer highlight...

2011-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

For the last two summers, some of my dearest friends have come over every Friday morning for some fun in the pool. I love it! The other mommy's love it! The kiddos love it! Win, win all around! This year we have BIG time swimmers! Most of them can swim on their own now. HERE are last years memories and below are memories from this year!

This is definitely a highlight of Aubrey Rose and my Summer of 2011!

Circus fun

2011-08-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

I am definitely back tracking a little ways, but I realized I never posted these cute pics! We got to go to the circus with Mimi and Big Papa! Aubrey Rose, of course, loved it! We got a babysitter for Austin, so he enjoyed his time too. :)

Mimi made Aubrey Rose's dress! It was soooooo cute!!

If you go early you can look at all the animals up close...

You also get to watch the preshow,

meet some of the clowns,

try on some of their clothes.

Aubrey Rose got a Circus tattoo

and a special Circus wand (of course it is pink) from Mimi and Big Papa,

and of course we all enjoyed the show!

Such a fun night! Thanks Mimi and Big Papa!!!

Standing by himself

2011-08-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

My brother is awesome, but when he does this, sometimes my heart stops for just a second or at least I want to close my eyes and have someone tell me when it is over. HA!!

On the MOVE!!!

2011-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Austin is definitely on the move! At 5 months and 18 days he started crawling and I am not just talking one hand forward or one knee...no, he is full on crawling on all fours, all over the place, from room to room. Aubrey Rose started crawling at 7 months and walking at 10 months. Now Austin starts at 5 months?!! Goodness! This boy is not messing around! I mean, really...why sit around, right? True Smittcamp!! That is for sure!

Sweet Carter!

2011-08-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

We have all waited soooooo long for our sweet friends Blake and Christina to have a little one of their own. They are the BEST Auntie and Uncle, to not only their own nieces and nephews, but to kids like ours and so many others. I am soooooo excited God decided it was time for them to experience the world of parenthood. Being a mommy and a daddy, is the BEST (and the toughest) job in the world.

We got to meet baby Carter when he was only about 4 hours old. So precious!! And so tiny!! Actually, he was a perfect size of 7 lbs and 2 oz, but compared to Austin now at 5 1/2 months, Carter looked soooo tiny! Carter, you are a perfect little addition to our world. We love you already!

While waiting to meet this special little baby, we had to entertain the kids somehow waiting for our turn to meet the new little one, so Blake rolled Aubrey Rose around the hospital in a wheel chair. HA!!

What a treat!! Perfect timing! Aubrey Rose got to meet Carter in the hallway as his daddy was wheeling him from the nursery back to mommy. We were at the right place at the right time to meet Carter!

Carter, we are soooooo excited you are finally here!!! We can not wait for all the memories to come.

Another first!

2011-08-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Another first around here! Now that Austin can sit up by himself it was so nice to be able to do a bath together. He is getting so big! Is it just me, or are they starting to look like each other (well, minus the hair! HA!)?

I love you. You're my best frieeeeeend!

2011-08-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that we saw Barney. (Yes, the big purple dinosaur. I love you. You love me.) Well, when we got home that night Aubrey Rose was pretty much bouncing off the walls and singing Barney's song. The entertaining part was she doesn't know the song, so she made up her own words. "You know me. I LOVE YOU! You're my BEST FRIEEEEEND!!"

Actually, the most entertaining part was how she entertained her brother with her song....

(Make sure you watch all the way to the end...it's my favorite part.) :)

Another reason...

2011-08-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

We have loved walking in between the rows of peaches on our way to preschool, but another reason we chose Aubrey Rose's preschool is for this...

Wawona's parking lot backs up to Aubrey's preschool. That means Aubrey gets picked up each day from Daddy on the golf cart! She LOVES it! And if Aubrey Rose is really lucky she gets to see Big Papa at work too! Then Daddy brings her home for lunch! Win, win all around!!

BIG day for Aubrey Rose!!!

2011-08-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today Aubrey Rose starts preschool! She will be going 2 days a week for a few hours. I am excited to watch her grow and learn. She is thrilled to go, although I am not sure if she even knows what this really means. :) This season of school, starting today and going until God knows how long, will feel like eternity from here on out for her. My biggest prayer for her in regards to school are the influences on her life, whether teachers, students or friends, I pray they impact her life in a positive and encouraging way. We are already praying for her friends in elementary, junior high, high school and college that they will help form her in a Godly way. I pray she is a light to others and that her impact on friends and teachers around will bring others to know more about the Lord.

Since today is our first day of preschool, only God knows the road in front of us, but what I am already excited about is our journey each morning to class. Her school is in walking distance from our house, so we are planning to walk each morning. But our favorite part of our walk to school is through the peach orchards. These are Big Papa and Daddy's peach trees!!! The sidewalk we take to school goes in between one of the rows of peach trees. The peaches are growing right now and Aubrey asks tons of questions about them as we travel through them. Here is a little of what our walk consists of...peach trees on either side and two of the sweetest kids to spend some fun memories with. LOVE it!!!

Preschool for Aubrey Rose also means one on one time with this little man. Looking forward to it!!

Weekend update...

2011-08-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we spent in Roseville. We went for Blake's regional tennis tournament. Blake loves to play tennis. It's a good thing he enjoys it because he is REALLY good at it. (And I am not just saying it because I am his wife. He really is.) :) I love to watch him play. The only hard part is we have 2 kids now. 2 kids + quiet tennis match (and I mean REALLY quiet) = not too much watch time for me. But we loved being there with him. Blake's team came in 2nd place. They were soooooo close to taking the whole thing. We had a great weekend with a wonderful mix of sweet family time and fun times with friends and teammates.

Aubrey's shirt says, "You're NO match for my DAD!!" HA!! I loved it! (Thanks for the perfect shirt, Blake and Christina!!)

Don't let Austin's happy smile confuse you too much. Yes, he is my little charmer. He is also my happy, little boy. But, this little guy is NOT a fan of sleeping at hotels. Each night he woke up 3 or 4 times, but one of the nights...oh, that one night...Blake and I both saw every hour on the clock. We MIGHT have missed one hour, but I am pretty sure we saw every other one. It's a good thing, we love him sooooooooo incredibly much! Now we will just pray that those couple of nights away was all he needed to get out of his system. :)

On a better note...he can OFFICIALLY sit up all by himself and he is also officially CRAWLING!!! (Not fast, but definitely getting far now!) Watch out world!! :)

Visiting Brad

2011-08-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went with Blake's parents to go visit Bradley (Blake's brother). It was so nice to see his apartment, his school, his life up there.

Uncle Brad had his car in a car show.

Brad also put the Smittcamp's Model A car into the car show. It is a 1931 Model A and the Smittcamp's have been the only owners. Here are some of the Smittcamp boys...

I wanted a picture of my orange ride and my competition. HA!!!

Here is inside Bradley's school.

It is awesome!

Check what is under this cop cars hood! A barbeque! And it works! Well, the BBQ does, not the car. HA!

Hanging out at Bradley's apartment one last time before heading home...

Thanks Brad for inviting us!!! And thank you for being so flexible to the life with kids. HA!!

Little bit of everything in pictures...

2011-08-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

I told you we have had a little bit of everything lately. Well here is a little bit of everything in a pictures. :) Just fun pictures I wanted to share....

Best buddies!!!

Never too early to learn!!

Fun times with cousin Chelsey!

Bibbity bobbity BOOOOO!!! This is how she came out of her room in the morning. And she told me she had turned the whole house PINK!!! Bibbity bobbity boooo!! HA!!

Little bit of everything...

2011-08-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

Lately, we have been having a little bit of everything around here...

A little out of town.

A lot at home.

A little backyard dinners.

A lot of swim parties.

A little birthday fun with friends and family.

A lot of sweet cousin time.

We have even had a little Barney fun. (Yes, I love you. You love me. Yes, THAT Barney. HA!!)

A little crawling from our 5 month old.

A LOT of drooling and chewing on EVERYTHING from that same 5 month old.

A little training for our 3 year old.

A lot of correcting too,

but A whole LOT of hilarious comments that make me laugh when I lay my head down at night.

However, can you guess what we have had the most of lately???? PEACHES!!!

Peach season is in FULL swing over here. They are coming in by the truck loads. BIG truck loads. Day and night. Aubrey Rose and I have been seeing those Wawona trucks all over town and we have even had friends call asking us to tell the Wawona trucks to get out of the fast lane. HA!!!! It is peach season! We need those peaches and fast!! Aubrey and I play the game of if the bins are empty or full. HA! Love it!

And since every blog post is even more fun with pictures, here are a couple. The other night after dinner we laid out on the grass and I played with my camera settings...

Something's not right here...

2011-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

There is something definitely wrong with this picture....

These HOT summer days, it is not weird to find Aubrey Rose in her swimsuit. It is also not weird to find Aubrey Rose playing with her favorite pink umbrella. However, the combination of an umbrella, rain boots, and a swimsuit on, while coloring, just cracked me up. That silly girl.

Fun weekend

2011-08-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had a couple of sweet surprises. Our first was my sister came into town for two nights! Thursday night she called and asked if she could come for Friday night. OF COURSE!! The following day, after breakfast with the family, Aubrey Rose got another surprise. She got to go on her first train ride! Oma, Opa and Auntie Titi took her for a few hours to Hanford and enjoyed some amazing ice cream. Delicious!

They also got to go to the library. Aubrey Rose had so much fun!

Even though Christy had to go home the next day, the surprises kept coming. :) Auntie Allie and Uncle Jesse were so sweet to spoil Aubrey Rose with a trip to the zoo! I know! How did we get so lucky and blessed all in one weekend?! It was such a treat for me too! Blake worked a ton this weekend, so it was just Austin and I hanging out. It made me wonder multiple times this weekend why I ever thought one baby was a lot of work! HA!

My brother is quite silly and hilarious, especially with Aubrey Rose.

Aubrey is quite the fan of him.

Auntie Allie posted a couple other pics from their zoo fun HERE! LOVE sweet family time!

Thank you for spoiling our little girl this weekend and for blessing us at the same time!! What a treat!

5 months already???

2011-08-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Austin is 5 months old!!

He is our smiley, giggly boy. He is moving and rolling around so much. No crawling yet, but he gets on all fours and rocks and rocks back and forth. It is like his mind knows what he wants to do, but his body just can't do it yet. Soon enough, I am sure.

He has definitely lost just about all his baby hair. We are praying he will soon grow daddy's good hair, just like he was born with.

He LOVES to play in his exersaucer and bouncer. He could spend hours in there. Okay maybe not hours at a time, but hours throughout the day. :)

He really loves his sister. She was who made him laugh in this picture below. Do you see her pink blanket? He was trying to grab it as she was playing with him.

He LOVES to eat. And he has figured out how to sleep! He sleeps from 8:30 to 7am! PHEW!! That makes mommy and daddy so happy!

We sure are loving these two little ones. What a blessing they are to our lives and what joy they bring to us every day.

Need a smile???

2011-08-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Austin fits in perfectly into our crazy family. LOVE this little boy! :)

Love it.

2011-08-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Aubrey Rose and Austin are becoming the best of buddies. It is absolutely adorable. She is all about anything in regards to Austin. He thinks she is hilarious. She loves entertaining him. One of my favorite things is how she can calm him, in seconds. She is such a sweet big sister and he is a huge fan of her. Love it.

Money well spent again!

2011-07-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Last year I video taped Aubrey Rose swimming at 2 years old. Now at 3, I wanted to remember what our little fishy could do this year. Thank you Lord for swim lessons!!!

Last year she used her flippers all the time, which helped sooooooo much! Not this year! So fun!

Swimming is usually the first thing she asks for in the morning. She loves it!!! So thankful she enjoys the water.

Swim lessons

2011-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Aubrey Rose is quite the little fishy!

At the swim school we go to, they train with one on one lessons. She has 30 minute lessons with one on one focus.

I still laugh that after her second lesson (only ONE hour of being with Aubrey Rose), the teacher came to me and said, "Aubrey is doing great. She is such a great swimmer. The thing we are working on the most is who is the teacher and who is the student." I laughed so hard because she figured our girl out to a T in one hour. HA! I am pretty sure I have a leader on my hands!

On the last class they have a parent get in so they can teach the technique and train us how to teach her at home.

Mimi and Austin

They also have an awards ceremony for their newest champion swimmer!!

She was so proud...

We did swim lessons with some of our dear friends. Here are our other champion swimmers...Logan, Peyton and Taylor

We did lessons together last summer as well, so it was fun to do again this year.

Here is our little princess swimmer!

Summer table

2011-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I added a little summer fun to our dining room table.

At least it helps me dream that the beautiful beach weather and breathtaking views are just outside my window. :)

Peach Party 2011

2011-07-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

The Peach Party 2011 was a success! Here are a few pictures from the evening...

Sweet Blake bought Aubrey Rose her own snow cone. B, you are the best! Thank you for making her feel so special!!!

The DeManby's

Peach Party TONIGHT!!

2011-07-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

During the summer months, every Friday night, Clovis has a Farmer's Market. There is outstanding produce, delicious food, and fun family entertainment. Tonight (Friday night) is the annual PEACH PARTY! This is definitely a highlight for the Smittcamp Family and Wawona! Come out and enjoy a peachy night! It runs from 5:30pm to 9:30pm!

Below is our family picture from last year at the Peach Party 2010. I remember this night so vividly. Not just because we look forward to the event each summer, but because I was pregnant. WOW!!! I felt soooooooooooo sick. I am surprised I could muster up a smile for these photos. I felt like I was going to puke the whole night. The combination of the heat and being nauseous from pregnancy, literally sent me home crying. Blake is always a busy man on this day, so I remember my parents came home with me to help put Aubrey Rose to bed because I was so overheated, sick and in tears. No fun!! Little did I know, Austin was the little one who would join us today for the Peach Party 2011!!! Yeah!! Looking forward to tonight!

2010

2009...just good, fun memories from the Peach Party 2009! No memories of being sick...thank goodness. :) Just good, sweet family fun, well and a lot of work. :) Always worth it though!

Aubrey with NO hair even at 16 months! HA!

Again, in Old Town Clovis from 5:30-9:30pm TONIGHT!! Come, stop by our Wawona booth, say hi and enjoy a peachy night at the PEACH PARTY!!

New favorite app!

2011-07-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

I got a comment about how fun the last couple of pictures looked. (Thanks Katee!) I thought I would share with you all! I took those pictures on my Iphone and then using my new favorite app I used a filter to make the coloring look even more fun. The app is called Instagram. Check it out! I love it! Very simple to use and after you choose the filter you like the best for your picture the phone automatically saves it in your photo album.

Here is the picture from the phone...

Here it is with a little extra pop and pizzazz from the Instagram app!

First tie...

2011-07-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Austin wore his first tie. First of many, I am sure. :)

Thank you to my sweet friend, Tracy!! Butterbee Designs is her company and she makes some adorable things for little boys and girls! Love it!

BIG smiles...

2011-07-18T08:00:00.001-07:00

Love these smiles. I also love how Aubrey Rose was waving hi to YOU. :)