HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

HAPPY BELATED VALENTINE'S DAY!

I love celebrating LOVE! This Valentine's Day we finally made some treats to take to people...yummy cookies and cupcakes!

We started the day with heart shaped pancakes! The kids were very impressed with my ability to make hearts with the pancake batter! It was a fun start! After we got the other kids off to school, it was my rotation for preschool with Brigham's group! They are such cute little kids, and we had a lot of fun!

Below are all of the kid's (except Lydia who is in middle school and does not have a valentine's day party) valentines that they made to hand out to their friends and classmates! I got the idea from a friend of mine! I thought it was a clever idea! Take a picture of the kids looking like they are holding a sucker, and then stick a sucker in it! LOVED IT!







We sure are grateful for all of our friends and families that we love! I am especially grateful for my forever Valentine! Steve always is good to spoil me on Valentine's Day! He got me flowers and a spa certificate! Can't wait to get some TLC!

Otis is blessed...

How blessed we feel to have this little miracle join our family! He is such a good and sweet baby, and we just feel so lucky everyday we got him! We blessed him on January 8, 2012, the day after Loralyn had her baptism, so it was a busy weekend!

The next couple of pictures were not taken until March 6, 2012, but I put them in because we can see his blessing outfit better than the group ones I took on his blessing day!

He is such a happy baby! We get smiles from him whenever we make eye contact! He is not greedy with his smiles either, so all that is required is making eye contact (sometimes talking gets a few giggles with the smile!) ! What a blessing he is in our lives!
This is his sign language for "I am hungry mom." He is so good not to just start crying! We hope he keeps this wonderful trait! :) He will start by just sucking on one of his fists, trying to put the whole thing in his mouth... if that doesn't work, he adds the other fist, to really emphasize he is hungry! If that doesn't get my attention he will start to complain a little! Not enough to cause too much commotion! Because of this, I can cart him and nurse him anywhere! It is really convenient for the mom! :)
So, this cute hat came with the blessing outfit! On his blessing day it was a little big, but at you can see, in true Schmutz fashion, his head has tripled in size since birth! When I put it on for these pictures, he hardly fit in it! I loved the cute hat, and Steve didn't! He tried to take it off as he was taking him up to the circle for his blessing...I quickly put it back on with a "you better keep it on" smile to go with it! :)
I really wanted my sister Kristyn to come help me make an outfit for Otis! She had done such a fabulous job with Ray's, that it would have been great to have her come again! Well, I found (after looking everywhere) this cute little knitted one at Baby's R' Us. I loved that it was a pail blue! Steve still doesn't like it! But, it was a great find for me, because it saved me the heartache and headache of trying to make one without Kristyn here to make it! :) As you can see, he is really close to outgrowing his outfit! It is a good thing I finally got around to snapping a few pictures of him wearing it! :) Time is just flying way too fast!
I just had to add these three little troublemakers! Brigham, Tessa, and Ray are the cutest monsters in town! :) You can especially see it from Brigham and Tessa! They are the funniest little trio. Brigham tries to get Tessa's attention, and Ray gets it! :) She loves Ray, and will hug and hang out with him all day, but when Brigham comes around she will put on the cold shoulder! It is so funny! As they have gotten older, she will play with Brigham on a good day, but always has the most love for Ray! Future love triangle? Quite possibly! :)

This is them on the porch of our church the afternoon of Otis's blessing! CUTE KIDS! :)
Here we are with Grandpa and Grandma Hall and Grandpa and Grandma Schmutz! We have been so fortunate to have them both here in town! Grandpa and Grandma Schmutz are making plans to move to St. George, Ut, and the kids are really going to miss them being so close!
Here is a lot of the group that had come to support little Otis! The Peterson family, Grandpa and Grandma Hall and Schmutz, Uncle Lucas and Aunt Mary, Uncle Matt and Aunt Caroline with Brentyn, Uncle Jonny with girlfriend Karla, Uncle Sam (and Aunt Anna and kids, but she stayed in the foyer with them...), Uncle Michael, and Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Dave and kids were their too but had to leave before pictures, and The Dickerson family came, but also had to leave before pictures! We were so grateful for all of the support! It was a full weekend, and we loved that everyone took the time for both of our kid's big events!
Here are most of the men who stood in the circle during the blessing! Uncle Dave is missing and Bishop Sloan and Brother Devenport. It was the first baby we had to put "fillers" in on the Hall side, because only Grandpa Hall was there to represent! We have been so lucky to have Uncles from both sides live in Albuquerque, up until a year ago...all the Hall side families moved out of town! We missed them, but are grateful for the family we call friends and the friends we call family that made it to the blessing! :) And we are so grateful for priesthood holders to help in such a special occasion! :)
Here are a few shots of Steve and Otis a couple of weeks after the actual blessing! I love this one of Otis smiling at his dad! He loves Steve! He will follow and smile at him whenever he is in the room! Dad has got to love that! :)
Between the cute round eyeballs and the chubby little hand, I could just eat this little boy up!
Daddy is such a gene hog! :) I am sure glad I married such a handsome guy, because all my kids are apples that didn't fall far from their daddy's tree!

It was a beautiful day that we celebrated with Otis's blessing! I am reminded everyday what a miracle we have in this little boy! I love Steve and am so grateful he is worthy to hold the priesthood, and can bless my babies when they come into this world!

It Was Worth the Wait!

Loralyn turned 8 on October 17, 2011, but had to wait until January 7, 2012 to get baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...and if you were to ask her, she would say, it was worth the wait! She has been so excited to get baptized ever since she saw Lydia do it 4 years ago! Because I had Otis, we missed the dates for her to be baptized. Back in November I asked her if she wanted to go ahead and get baptized, or wait so I could feel good enough to do some of things we have done for all our kids. She wanted to wait, so it could be a real celebration, and she was not disappointed! I have never seen Loralyn happier! She woke up earlier than on Christmas day, and was smiled in anticipation and elation at the up coming event from the minute she opened her eyes! She played in her basketball game, and after couldn't wait to get home to start getting ready! It is fun to have a little girl getting ready to be baptized! We get ears pierced, necklaces, fancy dresses, and hair do's to match! I LOVE it! And was so glad that she waited, so I could be part of her special day! So we got her looking like the little princes she is, as a daughter of our Heavenly Father, and she got baptized! I am grateful that she decided she wanted to follow Christ's example. I know that she doesn't know the full extent of what an impact this decision makes on the rest of her life, but she does know it is the right decision! I am always amazed at the faith of a child. No wonder they are who we are suppose to emulate. And after seeing the pure joy that radiated from Roo on this special day, there is no doubt in my mind that she new and felt her Heavenly Father being pleased and happy that she took her first and crucial step to returning home to Him! I have seen Loralyn happy lots of times, but I have never seen her elude with PURE JOY for an entire weekend...until now! How grateful I am to be a member of this TRUE, the one and only true church that has all the keys, principles, and the priesthood that existed in the church Christ came to earth to organize. I don't know how I would parent without the correct principles that having the gospel gives me! How grateful I am to know that I have a Heavenly Father who knows all of us as individuals, and gives us those warm and wonderful inspirations from the Holy Ghost when we are doing what is right. It was so evident in Loralyn's aura that was exactly what was happening to her! She was being reassured by her Heavenly Father that this was the right and good choice! And for her, I think having Otis postpone it was one of the Lord's tender mercies! She really had those three months to think about getting baptized, and get even more excited about it than I think she would have had she been able to get baptized right away! What a beautiful and happy memory these pictures bring...

Loralyn with her dad right before she got baptized! I had made Lydia's dress that she got baptized in (with A LOT of help from my friend Sharee), and was stressed about being able to get a dress done for Roo (because of the timing of being really pregnant or just having had a c-section!), so you can imagine the thrill I had when I found this very cute simple dress at Dillard's while looking for basketball shorts for my other kids! Seriously, another tender mercy! And she looked so cute in it!

I LOVE this one of her kissing her dad! There is nothing like little girls with their dad!
Our family after it was all done! It still amazes me that they are all Steve and mine! :)
Roo with her Grandpa and Grandma Hall. She had Grandma Hall give the talk on the Holy Ghost, and Grandma Hall did an amazing job! She had given an awesome talk earlier that morning for a Relief Society stake class too! We were grateful she did double duty! Grandpa Hall was one of the witnesses for her baptism! We love their influence in Roo's life!

Here she is with Grandpa and Grandma Schmutz! She is so lucky to have both sets of grandparents in Albuquerque right now! We know that won't always be the case, but we are grateful for it now! Grandma Schmutz played the piano for the closing song and Roo sang "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" as a special musical number (which was so cute! she did a great job!), and Grandpa Schmutz said a closing prayer.
This is a random shot, but the main reason I put it in was to show her hair! I am sad I forgot to get a better picture of her hair! We have to come up with one that the girls can have before and after they are baptized in water! She was so excited to go with me the day before and pick out the flowers and accessories to go in her hair! Though her little cousin hugging on her is cute too! :)

One of the things she wanted to wait for, was to get out invitations to her family and friends! We were so thrilled and grateful to all that came! I think it was a real blessing for her to look out and see a full room of people that came just to support her! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all who made her day so special! Those things mean so much to her...and to us! We have always felt so blessed to have such wonderful friendships, and the strength that comes from those relationships with our family and friends!

Here she is with the Ritchie family! Uncle Dave was working, but here is Aunt Tiffany, Gabby, Kaiden, McKensie, Ashton, Collin, and Kirra! Roo loves any chance to get together with cousins!
I thought this picture showed some of the joy she was pouring out that day! Here she is with her cousins McKensie and Kirra! So grateful for the fun friendships cousins share!
Here she is with Uncle Matt and Brentyn. Uncle Matt was one of her witnesses! Aunt Caroline had to work, so we missed her there! Roo picked out her program, even who she wanted as the witnesses!
Uncle Lucas and Aunt Mary are so great to show our kids support, and play and have fun! We are grateful they came! They are expecting their own baby!
Here she is with her friend Shaylee! And amazingly enough, Shaylee is a cousin to Roo's Ritchie cousins! It is a small world!
We were thrilled that Ryan Burton made it! He is in her primary class, and had she gotten baptized when she was suppose to, they would have been baptized together! He was so cute after. He walked up and shook her hand and said, "Congratulations!" It was really endearing!
This one should have been up with the family ones! This is her with her Uncle Jonny and his girlfriend Karla (whom Roo ADORES!) Jonny got home from his mission 6 months ago, and Roo has always loved having him around!
Here she is with our bishop, Bishop Sloan! He is so great, and kept complimenting Roo on how happy she was and what a beautiful smile she has! Steve sure enjoys serving with Bishop Sloan in the bishopric! We are grateful he took the time to come and show support!
This one we could have put with the family pictures too, because we just clump the Gariety family in with ours! :) Roo and Daphne had their first play date when they were 4 months old, and we have all been friends ever since! Sharee is the on that helped me do Lydia's dress! So, we have Arthur and Sharee, with Dallin, Daphne, Sean, Hayden, and Sydney, and their little cousin Jemma who was visiting!
Here she is with the Shepherd family! They were so wonderful to take time to come! They put Loralyn's pictures on the gift bag they gave her present in. She, of course, loved that! She and Lucy became good friends being the only girls in their primary class! Sadly for us, they moved out of our ward, so Roo is now the only girl again in her class! But glad they didn't move too far away! She loved that they all came!
Tami and Eric DeGolyer are dear friends that Roo wanted to invite to her baptism! We are so grateful for them! They are such fun friends!
This is the Blair family, Cole and Amandalynn (who is Uncle Dave's sister), Shaylee, Hyrum, and Cooper. Brother Blair was Loralyn's teacher last year, and was SO GOOD to go to all of his primary class kids baptisms, and he would take the other kids in the class to them too! So, she wanted to make sure he got an invite, even though she had gone up to the older class for 2012! We are so grateful for all of our kids primary teachers! They make a huge impact on all those little moldable minds! And I loved that he was so involved with his class's baptisms through the year!

And the Petersons are family too! :) Not on paper or through bloodlines, but by our choice! :) There is a quote: "Friends are the family we choose for ourselves." TOTALLY AGREE! Lydia and Lexi were babies in high chairs when we started hanging out, and Scotty and I have been friends since high school...which now has been a REALLY long time! :) Here is Scott and Alyssa, Kayla, Lexi, Halle, and Tessa!
And this is Roo with Angel and her girls Jovie and Joslynn! She might as well be one of my sisters too! She is such an wonderful friend, and is constantly looking for ways to serve me. How blessed I have been to have FABULOUS friends! We missed Tom! He was at a church meeting. Roo was really cute when she was deciding who to invite. She had spaced Angel's name, but said, "I want to invite the lady that brought us that yummy breakfast dinner after you had Otis. You know Jovie and Joslynn's mom." Love them too!
And this is Brother Rob Sorensen. He is our home teacher, and the kids all ADORE him! He is so great to visit and have something the kids can do! We have painted and done experiments and all kinds of fun things! We are so grateful for his friendship and support! The kids always know he will be there to support! That means a lot!
And one more with dad! Just can't get too many! So grateful Steve holds the priesthood and is worthy to do these saving ordinances for our kids! What a blessing he is to our family!
Here are the cakes we got for the party after her baptism! We bought Dion's pizza and salads, and Alyssa and Angel made frog eyed salad to go with it! (THANK YOU ladies! You are always so amazing at helping me pull off these big events! Just wait until our little girls get married...we are going have some serious fun!) We went over to Grandpa and Grandma Schmutz's house (which Grandma had thankfully offered...since it is big enough for the crowd!) and just had a really great night! It was fun to just hang out and visit! Steve and I left that night and both were just so grateful for our DEAR friends and family, and the blessing they are in our lives! I am sad I didn't take too many pictures of the party! I think I was so busy just enjoying the spirit, the people, and the Dions! What a special, special day we had with our little Roo!

That night on our drive home she said, "Mom I loved this day!" and she has referred back to what a great day it was for her many times since! I hope she always remembers her special day! And that it is just the beginning step to the journey home to our Heavenly Father! I sure love this little girl!

Brigham's Next day Nose!

November 26, 2012:

Just wanted to give an update on Brigham's little shoveled nose! :) The battle wound showed up darker today! We have been calling him "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"!

I told him to point and look sad about his cut up nose! We got the cute smile! So I said, "No, try to do a sad face like this..." (and I showed a sad face.)
And this was the cute little attempt he did at making his sad for the scratch on his nose! The other little scratches you see on his face (and any you may have seen in past posts on Ray, or you will see in future posts on Ray's face) are Brigham induced! He will get a little scratch and he picks the heck out of it (on his own face) and....As for the ones on Ray's face, those are from Brigham clawing, grabbing, and scratching poor Ray. Sometimes it is in a wrestling match, but other times it is just when Ray is sitting minding his own business, and Brigham decides he wants to hurt him. Definitely this cute little guy has some "anger management" or "violent tendencies" happening! He keeps us on our toes!
And these two pictures I just couldn't resist posting because it is proof that no matter how monstrous this little boy can be (and it is pretty monstrous at times! :) ), his cuteness factor gets him out of a lot of trouble! :) Steve always tells me I am a push over with him, my defense, "Well, he looks just like you, only in a three year old body...it is more than any mom could take."
Thank heaven for little boys, no matter what little devils they may be! :)

Seriously, this little smile just kills me! :)

What Not to Use a Shovel For...

January 25, 2012:

This was the day Brigham learned what not to use a shovel for...

It's a good thing it didn't ruin this cute face permanently!

Exhibit 'A': A slash across front of a cute nose...
The victim: Brigham Hall Schmutz The Offender: Steven Ray Schmutz (who has made a guilty plea, but insists it was not intentional, and he should not receive a harsh sentence!)

The Location: The Backyard

The Weapon of Choice: "A Shovel" (Exhibit 'B')

Exhibit 'C': Shirt covered in victim's blood...

The Story: So, I am in eating lunch (a very yummy turkey avocado open sandwich) in peace, because the little boys were out in the backyard playing...and had been for probably an hour! I was thinking, "this is so nice to have good enough weather that they can go out and enjoy it. And, wow, they have not had a mishap this whole time. amazing!" Just as the "amazing" thought came into my head...The screams began. It was Brigham crying, so I knew something was wrong! (Brigham will yell at Ray a lot, but he doesn't cry unless he is hurt.) So, I meet them at the back door, and it was very gory! Brigham had blood coming out his nose, all over his hands, mouth, and shirt! I asked what happened, and Brigham said, "Way (Ray) hit me with a shovel." I turned to Ray, "What happened Ray?" Ray responded, "I accidentally hit Briggy with a shovel." I ask, "How do you accidentally hit someone with a shovel?" Ray proceeded to explain he was playing with the shovel and Brigham walked into his "slashing" motions. I still wasn't convinced (still imagining our long garden shovel as the weapon of choice, and how he was even "slashing" it around)...then I told Ray to go get the shovel that hit Brigham. That is when all the pieces came together. It was just the little garden shovel (thankfully)...Ray was using as his "sword" in Ray's world...and Brigham just tried to jump into the story without Ray realizing it...and Brigham got it right across the nose! Learning...what NOT to use a shovel for! :)

No Worries though...Ray raided the raspberry carton, and all of it was soon behind Brigham. No hard feelings and no grudges! He is a pretty tough little guy! His nose looked swollen and sore! I kept asking him if his nose hurt and he would tell me no, but I know it had to!

Nothing like a raspberry to smooth over any damage done! Brigham sure LOVES hanging out with Ray. And these cute hugs for pictures or to make up from a fight...always turn into a wrestling match! BOYS...that is all I can say!

And my crazy little boys are buddies again! I know that this is not going to be the last time blood and shovels could come into play with these boys! It is amazing what happens when boys get together and come up with "ideas" (generally not good ones! :) ) Oh the posts I'll have when Otis joins in this little dynamic duo...it will be a tumultuous trio! I do just LOVE these little boys! So grateful it wasn't as bad as it looked when I met him at the backdoor! In fact, I was so worried to find out if it was really bad, that I didn't get a picture of it looking so gory, and once I realized he was going to be ok, I was really sad I didn't get the cool gory shot! :)