First Fishing Trip of the Season

This past Saturday Nate and I went fishing up at Strawberry Reservoir. It was such a blast! We got up early and were out the door by 5:35 am. Can I just say that I love being in the car with Nate? We always have the best conversations on long drives. It was so nice to have time all to ourselves and get some fresh air and participate in an activity that we both enjoy. Fishing was fun, but we didn't catch anything! I got two nice bites, but I lost them both. We didn't stay quite as long as we were planning since we weren't having too much luck. It was an awesome morning and we can't wait to go again!

National Sibling Day

So I made a discovery today, did you know that there a national sibling day? I had no idea! I was a little bummed to learn that it was this past Sunday, I totally missed it! So I text my siblings and told them my discovery and that we had missed the celebration. A few hours later my little sister sent me this picture.


Have you ever seen cuter kids! This is us looking so darling in the '90s. Notice the steps on the side of my brother's hairstyle and the sweet bows my sister and I are rocking. I mean, how sweet do we look?!


So I text my siblings back this picture.

This would have been shortly before my little sister was born. The girl in the middle is our older half-sister, she's 14 years older than me. My favorite part of this photo is the look on my brother's face! It totally cracks me up. I text them that we must have just been told my mom was expecting my little sister and that's why Josh has that look of pure panic on his face. This is seriously one of my most favorite pictures! And of course Kelley and I are the only ones responding to the group texts, Josh is being lame, so we're just blowing up his phone with group texts. Oh, the joy of having siblings.

In all seriousness, Tori, Josh, Kelley, love you all and thanks for the awesome memories!

Man Scar

So one Friday evening in March Nate and I had the opportunity to go up to the Sundance Resort and eat at The Foundry Grill. Nate and a coworker had won an free dinner there for themselves and their wives. Nate and I jumped at the chance to go, who can pass up a free date night?! It was so delicious and it was really nice to meet another of Nate's coworkers and his wife. Both were such nice people. Dinner consisted of a charcuterie board, truffle macaroni and cheese, widge salad, filet mignon with broccolini and fingerling potatoes, and dessert. Oh and we both had this awesome fruit drink of pureed strawberries, orange juice, apple juice, and pineapple juice, seriously one of the best drinks we've ever had. After dinner we had to hurry home so Nate could make it to a church basketball game. Well he hadn't even been gone at the game for 30 minutes and I get a phone call from Nate asking if I could look up the hours for the local insta-care. Then he lets me know he had split his head open playing basketball, apparently there was some sort of elbow to forehead collision between Nate and one of his teammates. So I met him at the insta-care and several shots, some cleaning, skin trimming, and six stitches later my babe was good to go. I knew we were in good hands though once we got there and our doctor was Dr. Olsen, that's the same last name as my maternal grandparents. And I have to say, it was the quickest insta-care visit we've ever had. However, I did have to remind Nate that this was the second time one of our date nights has ended with him receiving emergency medical care. Totally unacceptable! Remember his hernia surgery in summer of 2010? Date nights should not end in hernia surgeries or stitches! I'm happy to report that the stitches are out and steri strips have worn off and Nate has a cute little scar on his forehead. Oh excuse me, I mean super tough manly scar. I'm pleasantly surprised he has healed so well, and Nate would like me to report that he's back to playing basketball :)

My 30th Birthday

Yes, it finally happened. I turned 30. I've been nervous about it for a while now and it didn't help that I found my first gray hair a few weeks before my birthday. Correction, white hair, it was totally white, apparently I surpassed gray and went straight to white hair. Goodness. My birthday was honestly so nice though. Nate completely spoiled me and since my birthday fell on a Sunday we had fun all weekend long. My cute sister Kelley and my mom came over on Friday night and had dinner with us and then on Saturday Nate and I went out to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant Chin Wah. So good! Then on Sunday we had a nice low key day of good church services and some relaxing with family. I also got a new church calling on my birthday. I was called to be on the Activity Days committee. We organize activities for girls 8-11 years old twice a month. I just have to say we have some super darling girls in our group. Then of course the day after my birthday I found another gray/white hair! But honestly, I'm comfortable being 30 now. I'm determined to make it my best year yet!

My smokin' hot date at the restaurant.

Birthday date night dinner, so yummy!

First photo of me as a 30 year old!

Valentine's Day

Last year Nate and I had such a good time cooking Valentine's Day dinner at home, that we decided to do the same thing again this year. It worked out well since Valentine's fell on a Sunday this year. Nate cooked steaks for us and I made some asparagus and we also had this super good asiago cheese bread. Yum! I love when Nate cooks with me, he always makes it a fun time for both of us. Love you lots Nathan!

Such cute kitchen help is hard to find :)

Provo City Center Temple

We had an awesome morning today! We had tickets to attend the new Provo City Center Temple open house this morning. It was so good! The building was formerly the Provo Tabernacle. When Nate and I lived in Provo, we would attend stake conference in that building. It burned down in 2010 and has since been rebuilt into a gorgeous temple. It was so great to see the history of the building honored and the care that they took in rebuilding. Nate and I were married and sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple and it has always been my favorite. It was neat to see the contrast between the interior of the Mt. Timp temple and this new temple. The Provo City Center Temple has the great almost Victorian feel with lots of rich woodwork and stained glass. I know this might sound weird, but I even like the cool sage green and gold patterned carpet. It's much smaller than what I'm used to, but extremely well done. I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go. It was just what we needed this morning. We didn't take many pictures because by the time our tour ended it was snowing so hard! We were totally covered in snow by the time we walked back to the car! I can't wait to go back!


We're hoping to adopt, check our profile out at http://adoption.com/profiles/nksmithfamily-1800 and feel free to pass it along!

Jazz Game

Last night Nate and his dad went to the Jazz and Timberwolves game in Salt Lake. Nate's dad has had tickets to multiple Jazz games this season and has taken all of Nate's siblings. Nate and his dad have been trying to schedule a night to go together since November. They finally were able to find room in both their schedules to make it together. Nate said he had a nice time and that the game was good. Nate has eight siblings so it's not often that he gets one-on-one time with his dad. I'm glad they got to have an evening together, quality time is the best.


We're hoping to adopt, check our profile out at http://adoption.com/profiles/nksmithfamily-1800 and feel free to pass it along!

Merry Christmas!

We had such a nice Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve dinner with my mom and little sister, and had a nice ham dinner. Then we swung by Nate's parents' house and visited with them for a little bit. That evening we snuggled and watched a Christmas show before falling asleep. Nate set his alarm for 5 am, like usual he can't wait to open presents on Christmas morning, he's like a kid at Christmastime. As is our tradition, Nate and I spend Christmas morning just the two of us. Nate read us the story of Christ's birth from the scriptures and then we went downstairs to open gifts. We both were totally spoiled. Nate went to take out the garbage and we were shocked to see that there about a foot of snow on our back steps. Nate and I went to his parents' for lunch at 1 pm and it was nice to have his whole family there. That evening we stopped by my mom's place and played some games with my mom and sister. A busy day, but a nice day. We were tired when we got home, but we both commented on how much we love Christmas and love having so much time together at this holiday season. Christmas is always a little hard for us. It such a family oriented season, and it's hard to not have children this time of year. But Nate does a great job of making me feel loved and I'm so grateful to share my Christmas with him.

Christmas morning.



We're hoping to adopt, check our profile out at http://adoption.com/profiles/nksmithfamily-1800 and feel free to pass it along!

Christmas Prep

My favorite holiday is coming soon! I love all things Christmas. My goal is to have all my Christmas decorations and tree up by December 1st each year. Then I get to relax and enjoy them all month long. So this last Monday for family night, Nate and I got to work decorating. We got a new tree this year and I love how big and full and grand it is. The only part of decorating I don't like is fluffing/straightening out the tree branches, but it's so worth it in the end. I've been enjoying the last five days of having the tree on all day. It's so soothing and peaceful to have it on. Tonight for our date night activity we kept our tradition alive and purchased our ornaments and Christmas book for the year. My ornament is called moonlit sleigh ride and Nate's is a really cool three wise men one. Nate picked out our Christmas book this year, it's by the same author that wrote "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." I love having the house all decorated, and with the exception of one person, our Christmas shopping is complete. Now we get to enjoy the rest of the month and celebrate the reason for the season!

Cute Nate getting the tree put together.

Our completed tree, I need to take a better picture.

My new ornament. I love that it sits on a bulb and gets illuminated in the back.

Nate's new ornament for 2015.

Our new Christmas book. We always had lots of Christmas books growing up, so it's been fun to carry on that tradition.

We're hoping to adopt, check our profile out at http://adoption.com/profiles/nksmithfamily-1800 and feel free to pass it along!

Thanksgiving Re-Cap

This year was our year to spend Thanksgiving with Nate's family. We all spent the holiday week up in Park City. I think there was a total of 24 of us gathered together. Unfortunately not everyone was able to stay the whole week, but we had a blast still. Each married couple was in charge of a dinner one night for everyone and an activity. Nate and I made meatball sliders and salad for our dinner and I made a Thanksgiving themed bingo game for our activity. We used skittles as our bingo markers and that definitely was the highlight of the game for the nieces and nephews! Other activities included Bunco, making homemade turtles, minute to win it games, and there were multiple trips to the hot tubs and pool. Nate and I usually hit up the outlets when we go to Park City, but we didn't make it there this trip. For our Thanksgiving meal we divided the labor. Everyone was in charge of a dessert to share and a certain dish. Nate and I made the stuffing, a green bean casserole, and a salted caramel chocolate crusted cheesecake. I have to admit, I really enjoy cooking with Nate. We have a lot of fun in the kitchen and I love watching his cooking skills grow. He'll tell you he's not very good in the kitchen, but that's simply not true. It was a really nice holiday and both Nate and I had a great time with his family. A big thanks to Ben and Katie for making our Park City trip possible! We came home on Black Friday and spent some time with my mom and sister Kelley. No Black Friday shopping for us, it's too crazy. We did get a few cyber Monday deals though. Once we came home, it took me a few days to adjust. It was so quiet at our house compared to Park City! I missed having breakfast with the nieces and nephews and having them come in and jump on my bed. Nate and I agreed, we need some kids to liven up our house, especially around the holidays! All in all, Thanksgiving was so fun and I loved having so much time together with Nate.

One of Nate's many trips swimming.

This is just after playing our minute to win it games where Nate totally cheated!

Nate posing with our green bean casserole on Thanksgiving. Does it still count as a vegetable dish if you add cheese and bacon to it?

My plate, yes, I am a picky eater. No gross stuffing or sweet potatoes for me.

A slice of the cheesecake I made. Nate definitely wants it made again. It's a really time consuming dessert so I told him I can only make it on special occasions.

We're hoping to adopt, check our profile out at http://adoption.com/profiles/nksmithfamily-1800 and feel free to pass it along!