Just another CRAZY day with the 2 MONKEYS!!

These two are water babies for sure! They LOVE bath time! As you can see in the video they are still all hyped up afterwards. They have brought so much joy into our home. I just LOVE them!! Even though life is pure CHAOS...ALL DAY LONG!!


Kader & Chloe after a bath from Rayel Smith on Vimeo.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLEE!!!

I want you to know that I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! You have been there for me through thick & thin. You are the best friend I have ever had. Here's to MANY more memories!! luv ya cuz

Brett,JR,Char & Me

Bryant is 6!!! Happy Birthday SWEET BOY!!!

My SWEET baby boy turned 6. Can you believe it???
After 6 hours of EASY labor Bryant was born around 7 in the evening. My Mom & Ian were right by my side. The room was so quiet & still. Bry had such a strong spirit & didn't even make a peep. He was so beautiful with all of his dark hair & dark skin. What a blessing he has been to our family. His smile lights up the room!
WE LOVE YOU BRY BRY!



Bry was named after my Dad Bryant STEVEN Smith


Bry really wanted a Snowman party?? Go figure...you never know with this kid. Anyhow here are a few pics of the party & oh ya another Ahhwesome cake made by...me:-)



And his most FAVORITE Gift...

Mario Cart!!

Family Canning Day, Simple little story of being prepared

I was talking to my friend the other day about needing to track down the stake caner...I was tickled to death when she said "I have the cannery's caner. It's set up in my garden in the backyard. Come and use it!!"
What a great opportunity it was to teach my children the importance of canning. We dry packed 300 lbs of food! It was so easy my 5 yr. old was doing it by himself. A few days after our canning day Me & Bry were making no bake cookies. "Uh Oh" I said as I opend the quaker oats..."we are out of oats Bry, what are we going to do?"I knew we were out...Bry was devastated. We would need to stop what we were doing and go to the store. Then I reminded him of the oats we had canned..he jumped down off the counter and went to the pantry and got a can of oats. His face was priceless when we opened the can together. He was amazed. He said "we have a store in our house."Simple little story of being prepared


My Boys

Bry-notice the sweat, he's workin hard...can you believe it's November.




Lace canning rice!!

Yeah!!! I got a new camera...

After a couple of weeks without a camera I finally found one I liked!
I can't believe how much I feel like I missed. With 5 kiddos there are ALWAYS
Kodak moments to be ready for.
Here is a little catch up on pics!!

dang camera...never a dull moment

Just a quick update. Sorry in advance for the LONG LONG post. It's not that the past month hasn't been an eventful one...my dang camera broke!! It kills me every time I run to grab it to snap a quick pic & then remember...darn it it's broke. Hopefully I'll have that mess figured out SOON!
What have we been up to hmmmmm. I have canned around some sorta insane number like 300 lbs. of meat. Beans up the WAZUUU, around 24 lbs. of butter, stew, potatoes, applesauce & I am moving onto my next project...veggies & completing my 72 hr kits!! Am I crazy or what. I have defiantly found a new love & appreciation for food storage & preparedness.
I've accomplished my goal!! My "long term storage" is complete!! A month early in fact! I can't believe how easy it was. It's funny how powerful our minds are. I tend to over think things & complicate everything. But I've learned the secret of accomplishing your goals...is just getting passionate about it & believing in what your doing!! Sounds silly but I have grown so much from this little preparedness experience. My absolute must have while I'm canning is Hilary Weeks music!! Me & Hilary have spent a lot of time together in the last little while. I LOVE HER MUSIC!!
I am so grateful everyday for the gospel & for the joy & calmness it brings into my life & my home. This experience has brought so many opportunities to me & I pray I can continue to...listen. GOSH I know I'm telling ya...I'm getting all sappy I just can't even explain how passionate I am about all of this!! What a testimony builder!!
Any how moving on...(before I go on & on & on) Lacey is doing great! She has a 3.8 grade average & was a little bummed that darn B snuck in there. :-) What a great kid!! The Boys are doing awesome! Brenner's football season started. His coach isn't messing around he's got practice 2 times a week. He loves it! It's fun to see that Smith talent shine!! Bry is just always happy & in LaLa Land most the time!! He loves to whistle & is always whistling to some tune. He has really grown in this first semester of Kindergarten. Wow-It's amazing how fast he's learning.
His soccer season just started as well. He is not your most aggressive player but at least he stays on the field this season. Last game he only ran off once to kiss me & hug me & say "I love you Mom". Now how can I get after time for that??
Kade & Chloe are so cute & are the best of buds. They run & play tag with each other a lot. Where one is...there is the other! Kade started to say Baaaaae Bae (hey baby)this week.
He has a lot of Bry's personality. He is always happy & VERY,VERY busy. He loves to sing..he walks around the house singing ashes, ashes. It's cute. Chloe wont say much but I'm convinced she can it's just that if it's not her idea she wont say it or do it. NOW I'm confused because her & Kade get everything the same, I treat them the same. But... she just came with her own agenda. what a stubborn little girl. My boys never acted like this & sweet little Lace wouldn't of even thought about it.
???Really it puzzles me??? It seems every store we leave with her kicking & screaming?? Not sure what to do?? Any pointers?? How do you stay calm when your child is laying on there back, kicking & screaming & going into FULL MELT DOWN MODE IN PUBLIC?? SIGH......It's a great thing.
Last person to update is Ian! He has been working so hard! We are converting our Garage into a big room. Last Sat. in between the boy's games he wanted to put the finishing touches on the framing. I was in the very back of the house when I heard him yelling for me. You know that gut feeling of "something is wrong". Well I was defiantly feeling that when I was running to find him. I knew he had been running his saw & nail gun so before I got to him I quickly prepared myself for the worst and said a quick prayer(in my mind) that his limbs were still all attached.
As I got out to him he was holding is hand. He had shot a humongous nail through his index finger, middle finger & punctured his ring finger. HOLY COW! Inside I was freaking out but I managed to stay calm & got him to the ER right away. Crazy, Crazy! He was very lucky & it just missed the bones in both fingers. I had to leave the room when they pulled the nail out-yuck! So a tetanus shot, a heavy dose of antibiotic, some Vicodin & we were on our way. I found him out finishing his job after we got home- turd. He said he wanted to finish it while his hand was still numb...how safe is that? So He's good He's just pretty sore. We are counting our blessings that's for sure!!
So I have some pretty AWESOME pics! I will post a pic of the xray as soon as I get the "dumb camera" situation figured out.
Sorry for the FOREVER LONG update. Never a dull moment around here that's for sure!!

Miss Chole Kay

Alright today it happened for the 2nd time so it's worthy of a post.

A week or so ago I made a purchase online with my credit card and left the card
sitting on my desk in the office. Needless to say...it disappeared. I looked everywhere for it. Nobody has seen it(funny how things just get up & walk away):)

Anyhow I got out the toaster for breakfast a couple of days ago...
Pretty soon there was this funky smell?? And smoke..I hurried & flipped the toast up and WAAAH LA-my credit card! Ohh & Bry's missing toothbrush.

So this morning...I got the toaster out for breakfast. Put the toast in wouldn't you know it pretty soon..there's that funky smell & SMOKE/fire. Chloe & Kade were sitting up to my bar eating breakfast & watching it all. I ran over flipped up the toast again & found...Chloe's hair ribbon. DUN DUN DUN. The thief was caught red handed. I pulled it out & turned to look at her & she gives me that cute little smile like...oh ya there it is Mama.
I sure do love her!!