Another Book Recommendation

Thanks to Dani who recommended this book to me. I loved it! It's a quick read because it's not very long but it's also a pageturner. The downside - it's the first book of a trilogy and the second book doesn't come out until Sept 1st. Anyways, it's set in the future and each of twelve districts is required to send a teenage boy and girl every year to these Hunger Games in which all 24 contestants have to fight to the death until there is only one left. All the games are televised as entertainment. It's really an intruiging world. There is action, romance, and a desperate struggle for survival. It might not be as captivating as the Twilight series was, but I do predict you'll be hearing more about this one.

I'm always looking for more recommendations for a new book! Let me know if you've read anything good lately.

Texas Trip

My parents moved to The Woodlands, Texas in 2007 but this weekend was actually my first time visiting them. I brought Camy with me and Merrick took a day and a half of work off to watch Avery while we were gone. We missed each other but I had a great time visiting my parents and my two younger sisters Ashley (the RM) and Katie (the high schooler). Here is a pic of the three of us:

While I was there I got to do some fun things. I went to the Houston Temple with Ashley one day. It is really pretty.

We also got to eat at Benihana's for dinner one night! Yummy! It was really entertaining and Camryn loved the chicken fried rice.

The Woodlands was a really nice place! Who knew that Texas could be so wooded? It's really incredible how many trees there are, how green it was, and how TALL the trees were! You can't even see stores and restaurants from the side of the road sometimes, they have to put signs on front of the trees so you know where to find them. This picture will give you an idea of how many trees there are:

Camryn was a trooper. Even though the flight there was pretty much torture for both of us, she did great while we were there. And of course, she was spoiled with attention because she was the only grandkid there.

I also got to be there for Ashley's homecoming talks. She gave talks in two wards in one day- and with two different topics! She definitely has the "missionary glow" about her and didn't want to watch a lot of TV with us. Although we did talk her into watching Enchanted for the first time. She seems to be just enjoying all the little things you take for granted when you're away from home, and away from the USA. It's great to have her back! And it was really nice to spend time with Dad, Mom, and Katie too. They've missed their kids having us all spread out so far this year. But it won't be long... Jordan gets home from Switzerland in November!

Ben and Jerry's

I love ice cream.

I love Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

I love free Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

iBienvenido Hermana!

My sister Ashley is home from her mission to Rancagua, Chile! Hooray! I'm so excited!!

At least I tried...

So today after church I at least attempted my Easter dress pictures. Here's the best I got.

As you can tell, spring has yet to arrive in Wisconsin. It was nice this week but today was gloomy rainy again.

Funny story: Right after we got home from church we told Avery to go potty, as usual. She took her tights and underwear off and went. Then I insisted that before anyone eats or changes (see previous post), we do some pictures outside. So I run out with Avery and Camryn. Avery was barefoot but I didn't care, I just wanted some pictures for 2 minutes. I notice the grass is a little wet but I tell her to sit down anyways. She sits on the damp grass and says to me, "Mommy! My bum is getting wet!" At which point I realize that not only is she no longer wearing her tights and shoes, she didn't even put her underwear back on! Oops! I guess I was in too much of a rush. So needless to say, she ran back inside and got the rest of her clothes back on. And then I got my cute but not so great pictures taken. :)

An Overdue Easter Recap

Unfortunately I have no cute pictures of my girls in sweet pink Easter dresses.

My vision- Two cute girls running around the yard on a sunny Sunday afternoon looking for brightly colored Easter eggs, dressed in their finest.

Reality- Avery changed out of her dress within minutes of returning home from church and changed into her hot pink princess dress-up dress (which she wears for at least 4 hours a day, by the way). And Camy's dress was stained with multicolored drool (courtesy of some jellybeans) about 2 minutes later.

Luckily I still have a few not so perfect pictures to document that we at least did, indeed, celebrate Easter at the Smith residence. First, we went to the Sussex Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday.

*** Clarification: There were no Easter Eggs and no hunting of any kind. There was, however, one really long line of people collecting coupons, balloons, candy, and stickers in baskets and Piggly Wiggly bags.

Oh and instead of the Easter Bunny, we were graced with the presence of the GW man, due to Sussex's recent acquisition of our very own George Webb Restaurant! Avery wouldn't go near him.

And for good measure, here's a picture of Camy in one of her Easter dresses. She had two so I had them dress up for Saturday and Sunday.

The Book Thief, Zusak

I just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and I highly recommend it! It was so intriguing and the writing style was quite refreshingly unique. It's about a young German girl living in Germany during WWII and it is written from the perspective of Death. It should definitely be on your reading list if you haven't read it already.

Zoo Trip

Merrick got off work early yesterday so we decided to take a trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo. It was sunny but windy so we still had to bundle up a little but it turned out to be a pretty good day to go. Avery had a great time looking at all the animals. Camryn wasn't as excited but she still was a pretty good girl most of the time. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

We could not get Avery to look up at me for this picture. She was too excited to be a baby giraffe.

Camryn got to stare right into the Cheetah's eyes. He was walking along the glass next to us - it was pretty cool.

Avery loved this little zebra chairs. They were actually foot massagers for 25 cents but she thought they were the coolest. She even got her blanket out and made herself comfortable.

I thought this picture turned out pretty cool. She was looking at some fish that were bigger than her.

And of course, the day ended with someone getting hurt. Poor Camy fell on the sidewalk and smacked her head right into the cement. OUCH!!! It got scraped up and had a little bump there. Poor baby. She's pretty brave though and only cried for a few minutes.

True Wisconsinite

Camryn is the only one in our family who was born in Wisconsin. Therefore we found it fitting that one of her very first words was "Cheese!" Whenever I feed it to her she says it for me. So cute. She's a true Cheesehead!

Hopefully her next word won't be beer.

New 'Do

I cut my hair on Saturday. Probably one of the shortest haircuts I've ever had, but I really like it. My hair has gotten much thicker and wavier after having two kids, so it just takes too long to do it when it's long. My hairdresser even says I have enough hair for three people.

Check out Avery's reaction:

She walks up to me, feels my hair a little, and after a second of thought proclaims, "You look like Dora!" ... Great. Not exactly what I was going for, but oh well. :)

I know it's kind of out of focus, but I love this picture of Camryn.