To Whom it May Concern......

Dear Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch,
I want to apologize for my puppy girl, Sookie Loretta Smith, jumping in one of your many swan lakes. I promise she was not trying to eat any of your endangered swans or ducks....she was trying to make friends. You see, her dad thought he could let her off of her leash and she would stay by us.....your lake was too tempting for her and she HAD to jump in.

I want to thank you for making us feel like we are in Ferngully each time we walk your lovely trails. I am scared of birds, however, I do not run when I see random geese walking RIGHT next to us on these said trails......we are in Ferngully for goodness sakes, those birds must be magical! Here are some lovely pictures from our last visit to enjoy.

We will be visiting you again soon.  Sadly, I can not guarantee Sookie will not jump in one of your lakes to make some feathered friends.  Until then.........

The Smitty's

Blind Side

I am sure everybody has heard Sandra’s speech about her beloved husband (who turned out to be a DBag), but at the time it was a really sweet and a heartfelt thing to say about him, how he had her Blind Side. I have realized I am one lucky lady.....I not only have a husband (who is NOT a DBag), but I also have several ladies in my life who all have my Blind Side. It feels amazing and words on a blog can not express how I feel about every one of them (and even if I don't mention you on this blog, I still <3 you). They know who they are and how much I love them. Tonight I received an award at the AJFD Board Meeting....in front of an audience….gasp!!!!! For those of you who know me, know I HATE being in front of an audience.....I almost peed my pants.

BUT......

I love how one Green-Eyed Lady is VERY protective of me if anybody says anything remotely bad about me or the work I do, she goes into full blown Mama Bear Mode. She loves me so much she even made me go to the Board Meeting tonight and accept an award for creating our new website (http://www.ajfire.org/). This lady is so special, it feels amazing to have her stand by me in every situation, even if I don't want to stand in them (i.e. like in front of an audience at a Board Meeting)!

I love how even though one Brown-Eyed Girl is about ready to pop, chases around a baby girl that could steal anybody's heart, and teaches 6 year olds all day still wants to hang out with me and her "niece" because she loves us, even though she would rather sleep.  What an Angel she is to do everything she does and still be an amazing friend.  Even though she won't find out the sex of the child growing in her belly to appease me...I still love her! She is also just as excited as me to go see a fabulous movie with me and only me on May 27, 2010.….can’t wait for that!

I love how one Blueish Greenish-Eyed Girl can laugh and laugh and laugh with me even when I do something stupid like forget my ID on our special date night. Which of course meant we couldn’t get into any bar to celebrate our evening out. She loves me so much she still got up early the next day to keep me company in her bikini at the AJ Pool....even though it was hotter than heck....all for the name of love.

I love how my Peacock-Blue Eyed Mama counts on me to help her with mundane things and can’t go a day without seeing me or my baby girl…..she is my hero and always will be. I am proud to have come from her womb and I will hopefully be just like her when I grow up.

Of course I love MY Blue-Eyed Girl and how even though it was the most boring thing she probably ever sat through....she stayed with me at the Board Meeting just so I could see a friendly face in the audience.  Did I mention I wanted to vomit in my mouth because I was nervous?  I also love how when I was up front of the audience posing for pictures, the only face I could see in the crowd was her and only her. She was smiling away because she loves me.  Also, this little lady is a VERY good politician...right now she is fighting for the rights of hamsters everywhere.

I love how my Blue-Eyed Boy is always proud of me and still thinks I am the hottest thing since sliced bread....even when I don't have my eyebrows drawn on.  He takes care of our family and works his butt off so he can spoil the crap out of us, sometimes I forget to tell him how proud I am of him. He is my forever and I am the luckiest girl because of him and only him.

When I was up in front of the audience receiving my award tonight....I wanted to Single White Female Sandra Bullock and thank all of these people for having my Blind Side, but I didn't give a speech.  I was too busy trying not to pee in my pants and vomit in my mouth at the same time, however, if I did pee and vomit at the same time the BEST part is.....these people would still have my back!

The house that built me.....

Don't you love that song? When I hear it, I think Miranda is singing to me and only me. 
I go home to the house that built me everyday, I am lucky enough that my Mama still lives there.  She not only watches our blue-eyed girl after school in this special house, she also watches our puppy girl, the huge backyard is Sookie's classroom.  What would we do without our Nana and her house on Grand Dr.?

I was born in this house.....this little house with two rooms and walls of brick.  I have pictures of my Mama in her bed, the bed she still has in her room holding me only hours old.  How cool is that?  Now granted....I was born in the bathroom, but still cool right? 
Most memories I have growing up involve this house.  I remember camping in the back yard with my sister, swimming until 2 a.m. with my Mama watching letting us have as much fun as possible.  Or the days where my Mama couldn't take the mess of our room so she would make us go in and shut the door....checking on us every hour to see our progress.  We cleaned but we mostly talked and played. 
The backyard is a magical place....full of bike and go-cart ride memories.  It also has a small pet-cemetary in the very back....4 dogs, 2 goats, 1 pot belly pig, a couple guinea pigs, a rabbit.....fish, turtles.  I loved every single one of those animals, and I still can visit them in the magical back yard when I need some cheering up.

The day James and I got married, Cassie came over to stay the night with Buddy.  I remember walking in the next morning and her still all snuggly in our bed with our Buddy Joe....I was so excited to wake her up and tell her that we ran away and got married.  Although, she already knew......it was still fun to wake her up and tell her.

My memories of being pregnant with Calista and being on bed rest for 8 months are in this house.  Not a fun thing really to have to stay in bed for 8 months. However, laying in the same room I grew up in waiting for James to come home or my Mama to call me to check on me and tell me everything would be okay made it not so bad. 

One of my favorite memories during my pregnancy was after a cardiology appointment that was not good in any way shape or form.  My aorta had grown considerably and my chance for surviving labor was getting more grim.  After this news, my Mama, my James, and I left the office and went to the house that was waiting for us with open arms.
We laid in bed, me in the middle and them on both sides of me....the two people whom I loved the most and the daughter I couldn't wait to meet kicking away in my belly just laid there in the same room I played Barbies in.  We prayed and laughed and cried......hoping it would be okay.  We stayed there all day...it was a day I will never forget, thank God for that day.
The day we brought Calista home from the hospital was to this special house.  This house is just as special to her as it is to me.

I have spent a lot of time in this house the past couple of weeks trying to help My Mama get her brand new computer working.  Her office is my old bedroom....although it is white now, when I walk into that room it still looks pink.  My day bed is still there and I can't help but want to curl up and  lay under the window and be still.  I remember playing on our Commodore 64 while it sat on our fancy new computer desk, which my Mama still has in her office.  Funny now I am in this room fixing her new computer when she used to teach  me to enter information on our Commodore to play a game.  OR when the Easter Bunny left a riddle on the computer to where all the eggs were.....

I love this house, and I do believe this house loves me.

Easter aka Thanksgiving

We had a marvelous Easter.

This Easter I realized I am so thankful for my life.

There are times when I feel sorry for myself.

Sometimes I think I need a baby more than I need air.

Sometimes I want to be a stay at home mama to not miss a thing

of my Blue-Eyed Girls life.

Sometimes I think if only I didn't have Marfan Syndrome...

If only.

Today was amazing.

So amazing, IF ONLY, I NEED, and I WANT moments are gone, I think forever.

Moments like these....

Take them away.

Dying Easter Eggs....is fun.

Realizing how much you love your family is fabulous.

Finding Easter Eggs the next morning with your puppy sisters, pure bliss.... 

Calista is a funny little lady.

She likes to be different from other 9 year olds.

She prefers to dress like Punky Brewster.

She likes to wear red shoes with purple pants and a skull with a bow on its head will most likely be somewhere on her outfit....

You get the idea.

James and I decided to put our foot down on getting a dress that may make her look older than she is.

We were "mean" and made her get a respectable little girl dress for Church.

BUT her shoes....her shoes were all HER (and so was her blue nail polish).

Then she stole my heart yet again....

She likes to take pictures and pretend I am a model.

She says things like "Good job, smize more oh good...that will be a fabulous shot."

"You look just like Alice, Mama....courtsey like you are Alice!"

All of this before Church.....

It only got better.

The service was wonderful, full of Hope and Love.

We ate yummy food at Crackers...go there mmmmmm.

Off to the park we went to take in the lovely day He rose for us.

Moments like these...where she looks like such a little girl.

Oh how I cherish moments like these.

When James is the photographer....he likes to catch me off guard.

He will say "Jasmin" really quickly so I will look up and he can catch me looking goofy.

It usually doesn't work.

If it did.....most likely I wouldn't post those pictures, this is MY blog!

I love it when Mr. Smitty says my name.

Normally we say Honey, Baby, etc....

When he says Jasmin, my heart skips a beat and I instantly smile.

Calista is now at her Nana's spending the night.

Another perfect day with an amazing family.

Good-bye IF ONLY, I NEED, I WANT moments.

xoxox-

Mrs. Smitty

P.S. I only put ONE picture of my handsome husband in this blog...he doesn't like to appear in such things as Blogs or Facebook Photo Albums.  Today, I was nice.  I am not promising anything in future posts :)