ward party
this past weekend, was our ward's annual softball/picnic activity. craig was very excited to play! he wanted to show me his "athletic" side, since all i usually see is his "obsessed-with-academics" side. it was great fun. with lots of junk food and watching grown men take a pick-up game of softball a little too seriously. when i took this picture and noticed that the fence ended up being in focus instead of craig, i called it my "jessica rands" picture. because i thought it to be very avant garde of me. :) (jessica, please take this as a compliment, even if you think this picture is hideous.)

remember how i said that some of the men were taking the game a little too seriously? enter my husband. this shot was taken right as he hit a home run. he wasnt holding anything back.... even though he was playing with a bunch of women! it was so cute. he loved being the star of the game.

my parents were contemplating naming my middle brother (taylor) "dusty". they thought Dusty Short would have been the coolest pro baseball player's name of all time. i guess they chickened out..... because as it turns out, taylor ended up being Taylor and i dont think he will be going pro. this is my dad, keeping his eye on that ball!

i was very proud of my mom for getting out there and playing some ball. as you can see, she got on base! so maybe i am the only one in this family that cannot handle any type of organized sport.....

its like fall time
craig took it upon himself this year to photograph louis for his autumn 2007 photo shoot. next year, at this time, there will be another little rugrat joining in with louis for this blessed event. yay.

a nervous breakdown, made right
i have only tried to make recipes from magazines twice now. both times, they were variations of a pumpkin cake. craig and i love anything pumpkin. last year i attempted some intricate pumpkin cake with a honey-buttercream frosting. it was honestly the grossest thing i have ever tasted in my life. the taste still haunts me to this day. this year, i took a chance on a chocolate pumpkin cake with cream cheese/cinnamon frosting with a chocolate glaze. i didnt even get to the glaze part. the cake stuck to the pan horribly, and the frosting turned out to be an ugly brown color (was supposed to be orange....) needless to say, this last attempt at pumpkin cuisine drove me nuts. i was crying uncontrollably and even accidentally hit my brother. (i blame this behavior entirely on my present status of being with child) the only redeeming thing about this last recipe was that the cake (the part i could scrape away from the pan) was super yummy. so, this weekend i made the chocolate pumpkin batter again. this time, i decided i would make cupcakes. and i just used my standard buttercream frosting. they turned out great! with the added pumpkin, they are the moistest (sorry shanna) little things ever. yay! my baking ego is restored.

next time i make these, i am going to try difference halloween shapes. probably pumpkins, bats, skulls, and witch faces. have no fear, i will document those too. but i have found my new favorite frosting accoutrement....... paste food coloring.

craig and tucker, enjoying the treats...... only after i had taken enough pictures of the untouched cupcakes.

are you kidding me?
i dont want to hear about it. it is what it is. i love my kitty, and i want to talk about him. i just cannot get enough of louis's face in this picture. or how some part of him (here, it is his paw) must be touching some part of me in order to sleep soundly (not kidding, this is always the case)

mini high school reunion. more like mini high school people-watch.
so last weekend, i went to an auction that raises money for scholarships in Cory O'Brien's name. Cory( pictured above, on the left) was a good friend in high school and the boyfriend of my best friend, Kirsten. tragically, cory died on August 16th, 2004 from acute interstitial pneumonia. each year, family, friends, and people in the community get together for a golf tournament and auction to raise money for a graduating high school student that will attend WSU. i finally went this year, and had a great time.

this is kirsten and her momma. doesnt her mom look so great? there were so many people there that i havent seen in a long time. it was so fun to catch up!

ummm. so i was a wittle over-dressed. i asked kirsten what she was planning on wearing to the thing, and she laughed and said "i never plan that kinda stuff". so i just wore this new dress of mine, figuring i would fit right in at the Country Club. well, lets just put it this way, everyone else had just finished a rigorous game of golf in the 90 degree heat. pretty sure i was the only one in heels and gold lame. (not lame gold but la-may)

so, as alluded to in the title of this blog, there were a lot of people there from high school. let me just say right now, that i have some issues. one of them being, i have a hard time going up to people (even (kinda especially) if i know them) and starting up conversations. i have no idea why, i guess i just dread the always awkward "goodbyes" (like let's say that the conversation has come to its end..... what excuse do you use to walk away?). so i avoid the situations all together. anyway, boring tangent, but it does explain why i said "people watching". because for the most part i just peeked around the ballroom, looking at people i recognized. except for clayton. clayton is an all around good time (as evidenced in the picture above). i have no phobia of awkward conversation with him. however, when he asked me what my husband was doing these days, and i said "oh, he's in UW dental school" clayton said under his breath "figures". what is that all about?

louis, doing his thang
sometimes grandpa gets a kick out of letting louis outside (louis is STRICTLY an indoor kitty, though he might tell you otherwise). so last week, we couldnt find louis anywhere..... finally we found the little rodent under the backyard porch. he had no intentions of leaving his hovel. finally, tucker scared him out of it. fyi, in the foreground are bits of smashed up apple that my dad is growing in our yard (he is growing whole apples, not bits of them). he is SO proud of them apples.

we were all enjoying the byu football game last weekend, when craig decided he wanted a beverage..... he found a surprise on top of the fridge.

post script. i was up in the attic, going through old books, when i came upon a treasure! my mom and me, in our first photo shoot! so of course, i had to stick it on the fridge for all to see.

this is baby's rocking chair. and when i say baby, it might be kinda confusing because who knows if i am talking about the baby in my tummy, or the baby already perched on the chair. either way, it fits. i got this at an antique shop near my work. i still need to find cushions for it, but it was a great steal, and its (what else?) SHABBY CHIC.

craig and whitney play "animal association" at the fair

last week, craig and i enjoyed one of the last days of summer at the monroe fair. we go to fair 75% for the food and 25% for the animals. we love it! the pictures above are from last year (on the left) and this year (right). we went in the same exact crap photo booth and the same exact

nice-old-carnie man helped us. what can i say? we smiths love our classy traditions.

so this year, i felt especailly connected to the fair animals...... this big guy made me feel a little better about my expanding waistband!

craig absolutely LOVED how this dwarf goat was up in the kiddie treehouse. he couldnt get enough.

this pretty much sums up how i have been feeling.