before i go....

last week, we celebrated craig's 29th birthday. i surprised him with tickets to the mariners game. we had so much fun: eating garlic fries, rooting for the guys (they WON) and spending the evening together. (tagg+mariners game=not something i would find enjoyable just yet)

earlier in the day, we went to lunchbox. its this hole-in-the-wall-but-some-of-the-best-food-ever burger place. after eating a couple sweet potato fries, tagg focused all his attention on my shake. its a good thing that motherhood has made me a better food sharer.....

last nite, craig went to a birthday party for one of his dental friends. jeans: his dads. perfect t-shirt: value village. shoes & hat: tuckers personal 80s gear. nASTY facial hair: all craigs doing.

the dental students. craig looks like he kills people. and the scariest part? pretty sure that isnt craig's hand touching his stache.

the latest trick i am having my little puppy do is to go thru this book and show off his skills.

k. off to girls camp. dont even get me started.....

dinner+movie+babysitting=one expensive evening.
but so worth it to hang out with friends. i cannot get enough of these people. very entertaining.

the girls. i cant wait to enjoy some great summer fun with them!

moment of silence
i am usually known for being THE source for up-to-date celebrity news, so i was pretty sad that brooke had to break the news to me that michael jackson had died. poor guy, he was one hot mess for a good chunk of his life. but before jacko went wacko, he gave us some classics. i am off to listen to thriller to pay my respects.

some of my favorite men.....
celebrating fathers day, 2009. i was stoked (yes, i just used that word) to pull out my newest cake plate for the occasion. these men are so important to me. i am so grateful to have them in my life.

happy fathers day

to one amazing: da-da, husband, son/brother-in-law, hard worker, priesthood holder, student, & best friend. we all love you very much, craig. 

where is the vip parking?
tagg, conked out on our first major family road trip. craig, tagg, and i just returned from our week long vacay in utah. we had a boat load of fun.

one of our first stops in utah was the byu bookstore. i have to go there to get their fudge and more importantly, do some intense people watching. its the best in the country (fudge & people watching).

we also had to eat at texas roadhouse. when craig and i were attending byu-i we would eat there every friday nite. the hot rolls with cinnamon butter are to die for. clearly tagg thought so.

after dinner, tagg wanted to take a drive around the parking lot. this was him, yelling at me because i was telling him he had to get in his carseat.

that nite, we drove up to the new draper temple. it is such a gorgeous temple and the view from up there is amazing.

we couldnt get enough of the "homes" all around the temple. they were all bank repo'd and halfway finished/abandoned. ohhhh, utah.

craig and i loved staying up late watching tv/movies. but only after craig checked his baseball fantasy cast. we have our priorites, k?

friday was cowabunga bay's opening day. the weather could have been better but we still had a blast.

this is me, going down my favorite slide at the park. i was so tired at the end of each day from running up the stairs to get to the slides. i felt like a little kid.

tagg was obsessed with the place.

he especailly loved the lazy river. all the water at cowabunga bay is heated so he felt like a king lounging around in a big heated pool.

my little fish.

at the riverbottoms, right after a scrumptious meal at bajio.

tagg, giving his grandpa a kiss.

hahaha. this picture make me laugh every time. taylor and i look like a freaking couple.

blue lemon is mom's favorite place to lunch with her friends. she really wanted us to experience it. the peanut butter nanimo bars were fabulous. we ate here while the boys walked around cabelas.

saturday nite, we met up with our good family friends, tana & rob, at the pie.

tagg reaaaaally loved the cinnamon pull-a-part.

the smiths.

later that nite, my parents watched tagg so that craig and i could catch a movie. on the way into the theaters i noticed smart cookie was still open. yummy.

sunday we walked around temple square.

the weather wasnt that great, so he had to duck into the visitor center for a couple minutes. seems like craig was pretty happy with that.

after the rain stopped, we walked around to the big pond in front of the temple. tagg kept trying to dive into the water so i had to keep him occupado.

cutest kid, ever.

uncle tay tay. having taylor in utah made the vacation sooo much better. we all love spending time with him.

we met up with jessica and max in slc on monday nite. tagg and max had a wonderful time running around in the fountains at the gateway. tagg especailly loved the mist.

the dramatic goodbye. max wanted to give tagg a hug..... i guess he didnt know his own strength!

the last day in utah just happened to be our four year anniversary. we celebrated by going back to the waterpark one last time.

me, getting soaked by the bucket.

tagg and craig. taking it all in. 

we were sad to leave. i think tagg and i will try to make it back to the park again this summer.....

the other best place in the country to people watch: university mall. look at the crazy in craig's eyes. he loves it.

before i left, mom wanted me to give her a cupcake decorating lesson. we got off to a rocky start, but now i think she is well on her way to becoming a cupcake pro.

our anniversary cupcake.

craig was quite bothered that the cupcake only had one candle instead of four. one of these days, i am going to beat the literal-ness out of him!

tagg made this bed all by himself on the car ride home. he is getting so big. i loved our first smith family roadtrip. too fun.

the sun came out for a little bit......
and we had a complete blast! i can already feel my sunburn (pretty impressive since we only had sun for about three hours.......) and tagg is wiped out. but the waterpark was amazing. 

all packed and ready for God's country
yesterday, we packed our car to the brim and headed out on the 13 hour drive to utah. i gave tagg a B- for his attitude during the trip. he didnt really appreciate being in such a confined space for the whole day.......but thats ok, because once we got here we were going to play play play at my dads new waterpark in draper. except that it is POURING RAIN. heres hoping the sun will follow us from seattle.......

self indulgent? yes. necessary? of course.

cute little baby shower, right? really wish i could have been there.....

oh wait, i was. i totally spoiled myself and flew down to san francisco at the last minute to be at jocelyn's baby shower. i just couldnt imagine having to settle for pictures of the event. and it didnt dissapoint.

jocelyn was the cutest guest of honor. not to mention one sexy pregnant lady. jocelyn got so many adorable gifts from her amazing san francisco girlfriends. baby smith is going to be one pampered little girl. this was jocelyn's face as she opened my gift to her......

a baby girl quilt. i started to make this quilt a little over a week ago (with the help from my mom) and was binding it right up until i had to leave for the airport. it was fun to make but even more fun to see jocelyn's reaction when she opened it. 


pictures of the quilt.

the girls at the baby shower. they were all so sweet and did a fantastic job on the decorations and the food. it kinda made me wish that we would have gone to UoP so that they all could by my friends too.

the second we got home from the shower, i made jocelyn show brady the quilt. especially the label on the back that read: "look tagg smith up in about twenty years"

the next day, jocelyn had to go into work early. so i slept in and caught a bus into the city all by my lonesome. i was a nervous nelly about the bus situation not going smoothly so i laid out my bus money like an hour early.

by noon, jocelyn was off work and we walked/shopped around union square. i felt badly about making a pregnant lady tour the city with me all day (after a late nite out at the shower and an early morning at work) but not badly enough to let her go home!

we did rest our feet for a little while in the center of union square. until we had had enough of the mannerless bum.

jocelyn took to me one of the best restaurants i have ever been to. it was incredible. we pretty much ordered up the entire menu. but it was worth the hefty bill, i am still thinking about the chicken mac&cheese dish.

even though we were stuffed up to our eyeballs with food from dinner, i had to make caramel crack for brady and jocelyn. i even brought some of the ingredients from home because i wanted it to turn out just perfectly.....

yeah, but it didnt! the entire batch burned. i was so depressed. there is NOTHING like a failed recipe. especially when you are trying to impress.

the next morning, we enjoyed breakfast at one of my favorite places in san francisco, la boulange. it is so yummy. i wish they had it here in seattle.

look at the shirt i found! i didnt buy it because it was missing a "g". still cute though. whats up with my crazy eyes?

i LOVE street fairs. the crafts, the food......

and the people. the little lady in the background was modeling the "clothing" sold at her shop. san francisco has some of the craziest people i have ever seen.

this is on the balcony of jocelyn's place. quite the view. we were so lucky that the weather cooperated the entire weekend.

i was so excited to eat at taylors. my favorite part was the egg bun and the girl who almost lost her life because she made the pigeons fly towards jocelyn.

the smiths are some of my favorite people in the world. they are such a riot and i can totally be myself when i am around them. i really wish we lived closer together.....

THE picture. i will miss our traditional pictures behind the ferry building. 

"no, dont turn around, this is a candid!" kinda takes the "candid" out of it.

 
i was so glad to spend a couple days with jocelyn before they leave san francisco. and to be able to see her cute little pregnant belly. she is such an amazing friend and i love her so much.