I love Easter!  What a beautiful time of year.  What a beautiful message.  What a sweet time with children.  I love it.  This year our Church's General Conference also fell on Easter weekend (a bi-annual event that is always held the first weekend of April and October, where Church Leaders speak and give messages that…

  I devoured this book in 4 days.  It was a page-turner.  The subject matter fascinated me.  I was enthralled with the characters.  And like all good books should do…it made me think about the characters, the subject, the issues raised…long after I had finished (I'm still thinking about it).  My Southern blood and ancestry made me especially…

This morning marked my 1000th post on this here blog – not bad – 1000 records of life in the Smith house – from the Meredith brain – since it's inception in August 2005. Hopefully that means there's been at least 1000 blessings counted. If I was Oprah I would give away a car or…

My view from the grass where I do my sit-ups during Samuel’s speech class. I have 30 minutes each Tuesday and Thursday and I’m determined to use them to my advantage. Trying to lose 10-13 lbs. There…I said it. Now you can all hold me accountable! 🙂

I got Samuel a few gifts for Christmas and his b'day that I stashed away to use at an opportune time.  He got so much at the holidays and is at the age where he didn't notice it being here one minute and gone the next!  (Sneaky mom!).  With all of my trek preparations last…

We had another fun evening of gourmet food in March, with Rebecca and Christi hosting a San Francisco-inspired evening.  I was having such a good time and enjoying the conversation so much that I forgot to take pictures!  Although I did get a few…fun night.

My mom celebrated her b'day at the end of March.  Poor thing had to bring her own cake to our house to celebrate!  We were still recovering from trek and when I invited her over to dinner I asked her if she wanted a cake and she said "oh no!" (not wanting me to worry…

Bluebonnets are one of my favorite things in all the world.  Maybe because my grandmother loved them.  Maybe because they're the perfect shade of blueish-purple.  Maybe because they're true Texan, like me.  But whatever it is – they make me happy.  (Throw in some Indian Paintbrushes, and it's heaven!)  So when a friend told me they…

Today I'm potty-training Samuel. Cleaning the kitchen. Doing laundry. And reading a book. Aaaahhh…life is good.

Last night we all ate at Palio's Pizza Cafe – one of our favorites.  We had Derek load up our bikes onto the rack, so Jacob and I could have a "date" afterwards.  We rode around and then stopped at Yogurtie – a great new little frozen yogurt shop.  Then we rode about 4 miles with…