Best DAD Ever!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.. I have the best dad ever! Naturally Father's Day always makes me think of the important fathers in my life and reflect on how they have blessed my life. The truth is, I am really lucky. I have really great grandfathers that I was (and am) really close to. My father-in-law is fantastic. But my dad really is the greatest. 

We have always had a very special relationship, ever since I was a little girl. And one of the hardest things about living in Boston is not being able to see him as much as I used to when we lived in Salt Lake.

So, last night when I got home from work I had a package waiting for me. It was a father's day present from my dad. It was a copy of the book Hop on Pop (which we used to read together a long with a lot of other fun books when I was little) with a note saying that without kids there would be no father's, so he wanted to thank me. And then he included the sweetest letter talking about all of his favorite memories of me growing up. It was the best present ever. I was totally crying reading the letter. Kenneth (not knowing what I was reading) was a little freaked out - he actually made me a sundae to help me feel better. So, I got the best of both worlds - a great present from my dad and an ice cream sundae from Kenneth! 

After receiving this great gift I wish I would have done more for my dad than buying him a card (which I actually mailed today - so it will be a little late). 

If your reading this - I Love You Dad! You're the best ever!!!

I love you as much as a red velvet cake...

Last weekend one of my best friends got married, and thanks to the help of my mom and her frequent flyer miles I got to go to Utah for the weekend for her wedding.  Sadly Kenneth had already used up his 3 wishes asking for time off for all of our other summer vacations (our trip to Maine, our upcoming trip to upstate New York, and our already scheduled trip to Utah in August) so he had to stay in Boston and work. 

We don't usually make a habit of traveling alone - so this was a hard weekend for Kenneth. I was sad to leave him of course.. but I had a weekend of fun in Salt Lake to look forward to, all he had was working at the BU library. 

I think he might of been taking advantage of his situation though, because 2 days before I left he gave me his sad face and said "I would feel much better about you going to Utah without me if you made me a cake.." I, of course, laughed at him for quite awhile. But I also felt bad for him so I made the cake. I think I'm the best wife ever :)

The wedding was so beautiful and it was so much fun to see Jenilee and to spend time with my family. It was actually kind of nice to be there for only a short time.. it took the pressure to spend time with everyone away since I had the beautiful excuse of only having 2 days in Utah. I felt like I had a lot more quality time with my family. It was great!

Look how cute Jenilee and Spencer are: 

This is Jenilee with my cute dad:

Merry Memorial Day

For Kenneth and I Memorial day has always been an exciting holiday. With Kenneth's family we get together every year and decorate the graves of all of their closest family members and friends. We start at the City Cemetery in downtown Salt Lake City and work our way around the valley. The whole family comes - his parents, all of his brothers and sisters and their families. It is so great to get together and talk about the important people in our lives that have passed away.

My traditions come much more from when my grandparents were still alive. Every memorial day we used to go down to the Lehi Cemetery in Utah County and visit the graves of all of my grandpa's family. It was so much fun - for so many reasons. It was fun because a lot of my ancestors were from Lehi and it was really exciting to go to the cemetery and see so many Smuin's. It might surprise you to know this - but I didn't really run in to a lot of other people with the last name Smuin growing up.

It was also exciting because every year my grandparents would tell me the same awesome stories as we drove through town. We would check out the Lehi Roller Mills and they would point out the retirement home that used to be a dance hall and a roller skating rink. My grandpa would tell me again about working at the Kennecott mines and about walking all the way from Magna to the University of Utah when he went to college because he had a basketball scholarship. They would point out all the old homes in town that all of my relatives used to live in. And they would even tell me every year the same stories about my grandpa's mother who taught my dad how to play poker and who used to eat bacon every day. One year we even stopped to visit one of the really old relatives from Lehi.. This adorable old lady named Gertrude who had lots of stories about my dad as a little boy (that may or may not have been true).
Now that Kenneth and I live in Boston we miss these traditions. There aren't really any graves for us to decorate here. I guess we could go downtown to Paul Revere's grave - or maybe Samuel Adams. But it's not really the same thing... So, we were really excited when Kenneth's brother Steven told us that he has been doing some family history and was hoping that we could visit some old burial grounds and take pictures of the grave stones from some of Kenneth's ancestors that lived here in the 1700's. It was so great! It was like a little adventure.. We had to hike through the hills to find an overgrown cemetery in the middle of the woods, and it took us several tries to actually get there.. but when we did it was so worth it. We also found a little burial ground for the first settlers in Newbury, MA - which was where some of Kenneth's other relatives where buried. Here are some pictures of our adventure:







Even though we aren't able to participate in some of our favorite traditions from home - it is nice to find new ways to celebrate things here.

Also - Coming soon - pictures from our awesome trip to Maine!

SURPRISE!

What a great weekend! Which, as I am sure you all guessed, pivots around a HUGE surprise for Kenneth! Kenneth received his Masters degree on Sunday. Since he is continuing on to the PhD program he wasn't going to make a big fuss... However, he finally decided to walk in the graduation ceremony for his program, and his parents decided to fly into Boston to surprise him. Although it took a few little white lies, he was totally surprised!

This is the first secret I have ever been able to keep from him... pretty much ever. We can't even wait for Christmas and birthdays to exchange presents. We just get too excited to see each others reaction. So, this has been a tough secret to keep for the past 2 months. I am just so happy that his parents were just as excited as I was to support Kenneth in his accomplishments. Here they are at Bunker Hill shortly after they arrived. Aren't they cute?

The weekend was so much fun! Although they were only here for a quick trip we were able to have so much fun and do so many things. The weather was glorious - much better than their last visit - which looked pretty much like this:

So, we rode the Swan Boats at the Public Garden, we went to Lexington and Concord, we visited Plymouth Plantation, and we attended Kenneth's fabulous graduation! - which was really the highlight of the trip - I mean, look how cute Kenneth is in his graduation gear:

There was another surprise for me waiting at Plymouth Plantation. Albeit an unplanned one....

Look who we saw pulling into the parking lot:

For those of you who don't recognize this cute little boy.. This is SAM!!! (the little boy I used to nanny for). I haven't seen him since his family moved to Duxbury last September. And although I am totally happy in my new job, I love Sam so much and I totally miss him. I am so glad that I got to see him - and he recognized me! My ultimate fear has always been that even though I worked with him for a whole year, that now that he is with his new nanny and his family is in a new house that he would forget me. But he knew who I was and I got to talk and play with him for awhile. Of course I cried for like an hour after seeing him, but I am still glad I got to see him. He even remembered playing with Indiana and Paul and picking strawberries last summer:

Aren't they adorable? Here's hoping that someday I actually get to have a little boy to keep.

So, hooray for a great weekend! And a week that is getting better every day. Kenneth and I are heading to Kennebunkport, ME tomorrow for some fun times at the beach :)

Do 3 year olds ever stop asking questions?

Penny is coming up on her 3rd birthday - june 9th - only a few weeks from now. And, although she is really very sweet and I love being her nanny, she has acquired this awesome new habit of asking questions about everything. I know some of you are thinking that it is just her child-like wonder and that I should be happy that she is curious... But trust me - if you were the one standing in line behind a large balding man  at Trader Joe's when Penny yelled out "Hey Emily, why doesn't that lady have any hair?" - you would be asking the same thing. Do 3 year olds ever stop asking questions? And yes, she is also having trouble mixing up "he" and "she"- which can add to the embarrassment. 

I like to try to give her a quick answer when we're in public, but she just asks questions about my answer. Here are some examples of our recent conversations: (and remember that these are asked very loud and often in front of the person she is talking about)

Also at Trader Joe's:

Why does that lady have such a big bum? (Me: she doesn't Penny. She is really pretty)

Why is she really pretty? (Me trying to change the subject: She has flowers on her dress. Do you like flowers? Maybe we could pick some out)

Why should we pick some flowers out? (Me: we could put them in the vase at home)

Actually, I think it's time to go. (Me: I just have to get a few groceries before we go)

Why are you getting that? - (She said that about every thing I put in the cart until it finally was time to go.)

During our last visit to Target:

Why is that baby crying? (Me: I don't know. Maybe he's sad)

Why is he sad? (Me: Maybe he wants to take a nap)

Is the mommy being mean to him? (Me: I don't think so Penny. Sometimes babies are just sad)

Why do babies get sad? ................

During our last playdate with their next door neighbors:

Why is this house so messy? (Me: I think they just have a lot of toys they want to share with us)

Why do you think they don't have a toy box? (Me: They probably do. But we are here to play with Kate. Why don't you ask Kate what she wants to play with) ..............

To Kenneth last Friday during our lunch at Panera:

Why do you have a sandwich? (K: I like sandwiches and it's lunchtime)

Why is it lunchtime? (K: It's the middle of the day. Aren't you hungry for lunch?)

What's that? (said as she proceeded to touch every item in Kenneth's Lunch)

Why are you drinking your drink? (K: Because I'm thirsty)

Why are you thirsty? etc.. etc... etc...

The questioning continues as we read books as well. Every page.. every sentence.. Who's that? Why is he doing that? Where's this? I have a question? How long will it take before I am crazy?

Do you think she's EVER going to stop asking questions??

 

Thank Goodness for Grandma.... and for Graduate Studies :)

This has been a big week for our family. I feel like we have been celebrating one thing or another all week. First, Monday was Cinco de Mayo - a big holiday not just for Kenneth and I...but for everyone.We celebrated by having dinner with friends at the fine mexican restaurant Chipotle. I don't think it gets more exciting than that.

Then on Tuesday we had an even more exciting event to celebrate (as if anything could be more exciting than eating burritos on Mexican Independence day). Kenneth found out that not only was he officially accepted into the PhD program at BU (everyone has to re-apply once they complete the Masters degree portion of the program), but also that he has received the Adelson Fellowship - which just happens to be a prestigious fellowship given in the department for studying American art and includes 3 years of funding and a living stipend - Wahoo!

We began the celebration with a romantic dinner at Tasca (a spanish tappas restaurant) and will continue our celebrating on into the weekend with a possible dinner and a movie with friends. But even better than that... he can finally stop pulling out his hair and start combing it in preparation for his scholarly career.

Now it's wednesday and we have one more thing to celebrate, albeit less traditional than fellowships and Independence. 

We are celebrating my Grandma's birthday. She would have been 79 years old this year. She and I were so close that I like to acknowledge her birthday as a way to remember her and all of the good memories I have of her. 

I think it's possible that I saw or spoke to my grandma every single day from the time I could talk. I practically lived with her every summer and when I started to get older we ate lunch together every Wednesday from the time I was in Jr. High all the way through college. She was one of those fantastic grandma's who totally makes fun of you when your homemaking skills are "not the way Martha Stewart would do it" and who would actually say things like "I hope it tastes better than it looks!" But who's couch you can crash on when you're sick and just need someone to take care of you, and who you can stay up late with watching great movies like Troop Beverly Hills and The Thrill of It All.

So, here are some pictures so that you can celebrate our great week and my cute grandma with us. 

We're Moving!!!!

It's official - we signed the papers today! We are moving into 39 Shepard street. We aren't moving until September 1st, that's when our contract ends at our current apartment. But, obviously, the celebration starts now and continues all summer long. 

We have loved our current apartment, it has been a great place to live for the past 2 years.. But it is definitely time to move and it will seem so nice to have 2 bedrooms, a parking space and friends near by. 

Plan now for our awesome housewarming party in the fall!