smith life now

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to St George, Utah. Southern Utah was INCREDIBLE!!!! Freddie was so good the whole was there. He was super happy. We would sing and talk and look outside, and let him play with the tablet for a while to keep him happy. We also had an activity box with paper and a few colored pencils, some cars, books and other toys. It worked well. We also went over all the names of his little cousins that would be there. There were going to be 4 other boys all between the ages of 2-4.




Happy pumpkin!

YAY, we're here!! UNCLE AJ!!!!!! So fun reuniting with brothers, cousins, Aunts and Uncles from Utah and the East Coast. There were about 35 of us and we all stayed in a giant house in Hurricane together. It was so cool and the surrounding area was beautiful. The little cousins all loved this awesome castle room. They were so excited that none of them ate much the whole weekend. haha, it was great though.

On our way to the BIG family reunion for our...great great great grandmother, Josephine Foremaster Savage. My mom was in charge of it this year, so she'd been preparing for about a year and a half!!! 

Blair and Uncle Dave in the back of the truck.


It was at this really cool farm!

Collin helped us get to know Josephine Foremaster a lot better by telling her story from the perspective of her husband, Nephi Miles Savage. It was so incredible. He knew them inside and out and had the entire room crying by the end. He is the most talented big-hearted person I've ever known. Everyone in the room came up to either Collin or my mom and told them how much they enjoyed it.

Jonah and Sarah

My cousin, McKay, started it off with playing the song that Josephine and Nephi dance and fell in love to.



After Collin, my cousin, Ete, played a song he had written about Josephine. So much talent in this family!!!

^^^David, Collin, Spencer, Blair

Hanging out with the farm animals

This was Fred's favorite part of the entire everything. Hehe.

Collin, Fred, AJ and I took a little trip to St. George that afternoon.


We visited the St. George Art Museum and saw an INCREDIBLE exhibit of the photography of Dorothea Lange. It was pretty amazing to see photos we'd studied in art classes for years, in person. It was beautiful.




Then we went to Rigatti's pizza. Oh MAN, it was the best pizza I've ever ever had. I'm so sad it's in St. George and that I can't go there every week. Seriously, if you're ever in town, GO THERE. They make the pizzas right in front of you! Fred LOVED it.




Rain storm in Hurricane that night. Maelo and Freddie dancin and singin in the rain!!

Happy silly family time.

hot tub time. well, I wasn't able to enjoy that glorious hot tub, but the pool was nice, too!


Church on Sunday. The lessons were SO good. Freddie LOVED nursery (he is awesome at going to other wards!) Sunday school was super interesting and Relief Society was wonderful. 

St George temple

Collin at the St George Opera House/Social Hall where Josephine and Nephi danced and fell in love!!

the Tabernacle

28 week belly. so big! feeling great.





Little spontaneous family hike








Saying Good bye!!  Many family members were able to go through the temple and do a session Monday before we left, but a few of us caught a 24 hour stomach bug and were throwing up ALL SUNDAY NIGHT!!!!!! It was crazy awful being pregnant and gagging uncontrollably. (Though I had horrible nausea for the first few months during both pregnancies, I'd never thrown up during a pregnancy till this point.)

Love these cutie pies.

^^^Collin, Susi, AJ, Susan, Dani, Blair



P1040467 from Nikki smith on Vimeo.

Collin won the actor award for the family retreat and got this huge mustache as a prize. Fred was weirded out a little. 

^^^5 buddies!!! Cohen (almost 2), Jonah (3), Maelo (2.5), Frederick (2), Elliot (almost 4)

^^^the sheriff and Spencer

Hoover Dam


Caught playing pat-a-cake with his doggie.



THE WAY HOME was pretty much rough. It was long. We were ALL tired. AJ and  I were still sick from throwing up all the night before, we had to stop a LOT. and Fred was pretty miserable for 5 out of the 8 hours. But then we made it HOME!