cutting in foot loose in the danger zone

one night a couple of weekends ago, we were heaven-blessed with free

tickets to see one mr. kenny loggins live in concert at the layton city

amphitheater.  the night was beautiful - jacket weather is my favorite! -

and we got to sing and dance the night away.  who could ask for more?

waiting for the show to start...

we had some fun conversations

and when the lights came on we took a little trip to pooh corner...

made the most of the fact that we were in the danger zone

and cut it footloose

and when the show was over we celebrated ourselves home, reminiscing

on the perfect night to end a pretty fantastic summer, and to ring in what is

shaping up to be a pretty epic autumn.

i tend to think that i would've enjoyed myself at this show even if i was solo,

but i know for a fact that being part of a duo with richard made it far better.

an equation worth memorizing:

richard smith + kenny loggins (in layton, ut!) = the night of a girl's dreams

a labor of love

this was labor day last year:

fast forward 365 days and we have little elijah morgan front and center.

last year we were all spending the holiday weekend at richard's parents' house

when megan went into labor - it was seriously one of the most exciting nights ever!

this year we went back to celebrate eli's first birthday in style.

we spent some time at the farmer's market

played in the park

tyson and i took a quick trip to the ministry of magic

and then all but queasy richard took a spin on the carrousel.

took a nice dip in scott & megan's heavenly pool

congregated around the fabulous firepit that dale gave himself for

his most recent birthday...happy birthday to us!

and then got down to business with the presents...

i think he liked ours the best.

we loved spending time with the smith side of our fam for this monumental

occasion.  eli's first year on earth was a hit, and scott & megan's first year

as parents was a huge success.  we couldn't possibly love the 3 of them

any more than we already do.

...and the livin's easy

summertime.

its officially over, but here is some proof that it actually happened:

the sheep-herding side of our family had some visitors from tex-ass last month,

so we decided to welcome them on the high seas of jordanelle, like the pirates

we are.  it seemed fitting since the best week of all of our lives happened together

on a cruise 3 years ago.  we were missing some key players (richard, in particular),

but we were still able to have a helluva good time.

although we have varying shades of skin (and hair), we do in fact come

from the very same gene pool.

so do they.  for a good time, you can still call my mother and her sister, dayna.

chow is so adventurous.  she jumped right off the boat...

but then had a hard time getting back on...

so, being the oldest sister, i took it upon myself to help...

no matter what it took.

don't worry, she got over it real fast.

georgia and shirl run a tight ship, but they're a good time, too.

like mother, like daughter.

even though you might not be able to see it.

the love in our family crosses barriers everyday.

i wouldn't enjoy sitting next to just anybody in byu apparel.

just my grandpa.

another greatest hit of our summer was finding a prime spot for two of

our favorite pastimes (snuggling and watching movies, of course)...

the drive-in

this summer marked our very first trip to the riverdale motor-vu,

but definitely not our last!

feliz cumpleanos, ricardo...bailamos!

richard had a birthday so long ago that it seems like he's practically

29 already.  not really, but this post is long overdue.

its only taken me a little more than 5 years to say this with complete

confidence, but on august 2, 1983 richard smith greeted the world

with a face that probably looked something like this:

i don't know why, but until recently i kept thinking he was born in '82.

dumb.  i know.

anyway, his birthweek started out with pizza for dinner and a ksl special:

his very own secondhand nintendo gamecube.  he looked a little worried

when we had to travel to a sketchy part of ogden to pick up his "surprise,"

but it was worth having him think that his wife had become a

drug-runner for ten minutes.

on tuesday - the actual birthday! - i gave him yet another surprise:

ballroom dancing lessons.  kidding?  not even a little bit.  here is the

voucher i bought online with a groupon (with no consent from richard):

and here is the bloody toe you'll get if you do the same thing to your

husband on his 28th birthday. 

it wasn't really that bad - we both loved our 6-week class!  our teacher's

hips moved like gumbi's, and we made some fun new friends.  not to

mention, we now have samba moves that will shock and amaze everyone

who knows us.  it was so fun to get out of our regular routine and learn

something new together!  plus, it's pretty sexy being able to really dance

with your husband - he's a regular gene kelly...only straight.

we did other little things throughout the week to make richard's birthweek

a special one (his big present from me was an i-pod touch!),

 and we ended things on saturday with breakfast at the

ogden farmer's market.  delicious crepes enjoyed right in the park. 

and we washed them down with the best mint limeaide in the world.

i've always been one to enjoy a birthday, whether its my own or making

it fun for someone else.  and i have to say that when you love someone as

much as i love my man, it makes you wish you had enough money to make

it an entire birthmonth.  happy birthday, richard - 28 never looked so good!

a toast...to two-slice hilly

i'm sure my book club wasn't the only one to read 'the help' before

the movie came out last month, but i'd be willing to bet we were the

needle in that haystack that dressed to the nines in our southern-est

60's attire, held a jr. league meeting luncheon, and then went to see

the movie after.

i've spoken fondly of our themed book club before, but this has been

the best so far.  i raided my mom's closet to borrow my great grandma's

old jewelry - real pearl necklace, giant earrings and broach - and my

mom's old cat-eye glasses (classic!).  not only was it fun for the bc meeting,

but it was great rummaging through all that history with my mom.

here are the girls.  rachel's little sister dressed as our maid, and she even

spoke in a southern accent all night (my friend rachel is 2nd from the left.

i haven't started speaking in the 3rd person).

and don't you just looooove karen's hair?

it was a hoot to find actual recipes from the book's author to make for

our meeting...

minnie's caramel cake (that isn't even spoken about in the movie, but is

 a pretty big deal in the book).  i bought the cake stand just for bc.

deviled eggs...with paprika.

and lavender lemonade (not from the book, but i'd been looking for an

excuse to make it after buying the lavender at the farmer's market...

totally worth it!)

and the infamous chocolate pie...without minnie's secret ingredient!

as silly as this whole thing might seem, i'm having a riot.

as for my thoughts on the book and the movie:

i loved them both.  read the book twice, and i've seen the

movie three times now, and each time i loved each one more.

there were certainly differences between the two, but i wasn't

at all disappointed in them.  celia foote was my favorite character

in both book and movie, and i couldn't bring myself to hate hilly holbrook

in either of them.  i don't think she was right, but i think she believed that

she was, and that's what was sad.  the movie made me love the relationship

between aibileen and mae mobley even more, and they are what made me

a sobbing mess at the end.  i'd recommend the book to anyone, and even

richard liked the movie enough to see it twice.

so, a toast: to themed book clubs, and two-slice hilly!

you can visit me in the heights

when we move to brooklyn.  i've decided that when we live in new york,

that's where it will be.  specifically in brooklyn heights, which is where we

spent our last morning in the city.  i fell in love.  we both did.

we were both pretty wiped, but not enough to waste the few precious

hours we had left.  after richard peeled himself off of our delightful harlem

bed and pulled himself together we headed to the heights.

ever seen 'moonstruck' with cher and nicholas cage?  no?

well then, snap out of it!  its a classic, and in my opinion one of the few

(very few) great nicholas cage films.  anyway, this is the house that cher's

family lived in in that movie.

we weren't sure if the fallout shelter signs are up to date, or

remnants from a time gone by, but either way they made us feel

both safe and worried at the same time.

we had brunch at a lovely cafe just around the corner from

cher's old house/my future home.  it will be our weekend tradition.

richard was pretty hungry...

and so was i...

but he ate his food, my leftovers, and the rest of the breakfast dessert

that we just couldn't resist trying, and i think he regretted it just a little bit.

we walked it off on the brooklyn heights promenade, which is in so

many movies!  this was one of richard's recommendations, and it was

a big, big hit!

our little camera might not be much, but richard can still make it do some

pretty tricky things.  like how i'm in this picture twice?  magic.

that view is one of the reasons i'll be living on this side of the greatest

bridge in the world.  you can't see that from the middle of the city.

my sister was nice enough to support our habit of returning home from

our trips super late at night.  who wants to come back to reality earlier

than absolutely necessary?  no one, that's who.

although we were sad to come home, we are sure grateful for the reality

we have that allows us to go have great weekends like this!

another thing i'm grateful for is this guy:

not only does he understand my love for lots and lots of

cheese (clearly), but he is a major reason that i have so much

fun traveling (especially to this city!).  he is my best friend, and

i think if you can say that you're married to your best friend

then you've pretty much got it made.  even if you don't live

in new york.  yet.