WOW!

It has been a LONG time since I have updated you all - sorry for the delay :)  Things here have been very crazy with the launching of my new business along with Matt’s insane schedule.  I have been forgetful lately and unorganized which is NOT me, but alas, that’s what happens when you are all over the map with activities, household stuff and crazy travel plans.  Along with all of that, my computer decided that the hard drive needed to get corrupted (again!) which makes for 3 times in 4 years.  Needless to say, I have been spending tons of time getting everything switched to my new computer and it has been a pain.  Technology is GREAT when it works but we rely on it so much that when it doesn’t, we are lost.  Me especially since I use my computer 24/7 for EVERYTHING from work to watching TV and movies while I work out.  To be without is feels so strange and I am glad that I am almost done getting everything on my new laptop.  I will be most relieved when it is complete.

Aside from our MAD crazy lives, we have had a lot of fun that you all have missed, so we want to share with you!

Matt was actually home on Father’s Day this year so we had a nice day relaxing in the pool with my parents and grandparents, Chris and Justin and our cousins Brandyn and Cameron.  The kids and dogs swam and the adults watched (mostly) and talked.  Braelyn has been very into surfing since she saw a Barbie surfing movie and since there aren’t any places to try surfing in the desert, we improvised.  My parents got her a boogie board at Costco when they were in CA and we hold it for her while she pretends to be riding the waves!  We had lots of good food and a bit of a respite from the HOT weather.  Braelyn wanted to get my dad some new plants for their back yard this year so she went with him to Home Depot to pick them out and then helped him to plant them.  Mostly my dad was doing all of the work but it’s the thought that counts :)  She also helped make her grampy a HUGE sugar-free peanut butter cookie that took up the entire cookie sheet.  She loved making it because she could use her hands to smash it down onto the tray - getting her hands dirty is always enjoyable for her!

After Matt being gone for 27 out of 28 days from May-June, we decided to take a trip with him so that we could spend time together as a family after being separated for so long.  We made the short flight to San Antonio, TX and stayed with him for 5 days.  The weather was hot and very humid which is a departure from our dry heat here so Braelyn wasn’t too thrilled about being outside.  We very briefly visited the Alamo and Matt and I could have spent hours there but she kept asking when we were leaving the ‘old building’ and when we could go to the Riverwalk to take the boat ride which cooled us off a bit.  We went to a dinosaur museum which she loved and she kept tracking down the paleontologist and telling him things she knew about dinosaurs.  He was very impressed with her knowledge and vocabulary and he jokingly told her to fill out an application for the afternoon shift to work there - LOL!  Matt’s cousin Alicia and her daughter Mackenzie came to join us at the museum and for lunch at Rainforest Cafe.  Braelyn’s favorite activity was to feed the ducks on the Riverwalk and I think she would have been perfectly content to do nothing but sit and watch them all day.  Since it was so hot outside we decided to see Toy Story 3 in IMAX and 3D - we have never done that before and it was great, although Braelyn ended up taking her glasses off halfway through the movie.  It looked totally blurry to me without the glasses but she didn’t seem to mind at all.  The last day there we went to an official Texas boot store and got her a pair of her very own cowgirl boots.  We found the PERFECT ones for our little princess - pink with rhinestones!!  She had also picked out a wonderful hat that was lined with feathers and included a built in tiara - LOL, so Chic!

The day after we got back from Texas, Braelyn had her summer dance recital.  Only she and 1 other girl participated from their class so it was a little duet!  They did 1 tap number and 1 ballet number to different Beauty and the Beast songs and it was so hilarious.  They actually performed their routines the best that we had ever seen the day of the recital and Braelyn was very excited because I fancied up her hair and she got to wear makeup.  She really is our little queen of drama and loves dressing up and using accents and dancing and singing.  I am signing her up for a theater class in the fall because I truly think she is made for the theater - LOL!

Matt has been so busy this year, I don’t think he has had time to think straight.  His scheduled travel ends in August so we shall wait and see what the ‘off-season’ has in store.  The Dbacks have made some management changes so we are up in the air with knowing exactly what the future holds.  That is the nature of the best with this business; you don’t really ever know what tomorrow is going to be like, so, we wing it and do the best we can.  I have stayed busy with Braelyn’s activities, trying to visit with friends and doing some agility with Casie.  It has been so hot lately, I feel as if I am torturing her by making her go to class but luckily we have 3 more weeks and then a break for the rest of the summer.  We are at the point where I can start registering her for some events and as the weather cools off, I will probably get involved in some different games and courses which is exciting.  I have been working with her for over a year now and it’s nice to see all of the hard work pay off.

We hope you all have been enjoying summer and staying cool.  We miss you all and hope to catch up when our lives quiet down in a few months.  Love to everyone!

Lisa

Happy Spring Everyone!!

It has been awhile since I updated our blog SOOOO…. I figured I better hop to it so that I don’t get angry notes from friends and family asking why they haven’t seen or heard from us - HA!

We are getting into the swing of having Matt traveling and scheduling good family time with him while he is here, as limited as his time at home may be :)  He was in Portland for 5 days to start off and then was home for 2 and back out to CA for a week, then starting Thursday he will be home for about 6 days before going back out on the road for 10 days - what a life! 

We have also taken our semi-annual trek to the Desert Botanical Garden Butterfly Exhibit where Braelyn was SO excited to have a butterfly land on her shoe AND her booty!  She was dressed in yellow which we were told was the butterflies’ favorite color - hence they landed right on her bum

We went to the zoo for my brother’s 30th birthday as a family which was a LOT of fun and the most absolute PERFECT weather for seeing the animals AND riding camels (see the pictures!). 

There have also been a lot of fun ‘Braelyn’ moments to capture from her tennis lesson (which was classic Braelyn - no attention span, laying on the court, talking to all of the kids instead of paying attention!) to her dress up outfits, to dousing herself in MUD at the cabin - - we are talking completely covered in what I like to call ‘industrial strength’ BLACK mud from the waist down!!  Luckily I had her dressed in brown and that made her happy because the mud was “camouflaged in her brown outfit!”

Anyway, this is short but hopefully sweet & I hope to have more to show and tell about the next time I write!  We are sending good thoughts your way and hoping you take time to smell the Spring flowers - - the ridiculous temperatures of Summer will be here before we know it!!

Love to all,

Lisa

Hello Everyone!

We have had a busy month Matt is back into the swing of work trying to keep up with Spring Training and college baseball tournaments and we are trying to get back into the swing of him working again!! He usually has 1-2 games per day and has 0 days off this month - crazy!

B is starting tennis lessons and continuing on with her dance/gymnstics and swimming class. She actually got moved up a level in swim and now she is an ‘Octopus’! Uncle Chris isn’t her teacher anymore and she is the youngest in her class. 4 is the youngest age for an Octopus so she is really doing well. They are starting backstroke, freestyle, butterfly and side breathing. She can swim across the pool multiple times using different strokes, on her front and back and every which way! She really loves it too and it’s great exercise so everyone is happy

We just got back from a really fun trip to San Diego where the weather was PERFECT and we got to see some of our favorite people. We stayed for a few days at a resort in Carlsbad, courtesy of the Az Dbacks and B and I had a great time when our cousins Sara and Emma came to visit for the day. The girls played on the playground, in the sand and generally just ran around and wore each other out which was GREAT for Sara and I as they were asleep within minutes of hitting the bed.

On the weekend we went down to La Mesa and stayed with Tom and Sheri and got to spend a bit of time with Devyn and Kyleigh too, which was heaven for B as she LOVES other kids We spent Sunday at Seaport Village which was a lot of fun with all of the boats, birds, fountains, and of course, the carousel. There was also a man who rescues exotic birds that had them all on display along the water and if you stopped, he would let you hold a bird on your shoulder. Braelyn had the BEST time doing this and she was really happy when he put a little green bird named Lola on her arm. the bird was chirping and she thought it was talking to her!

We also made a trip up to my parent’s cabin after all of the snowstorms they have had so that we could see all of the snow. We were NOT disappointed as there was snow up to our knees; plenty for sledding, snowballs, snow angels and snowmen. Casie and Braelyn had a blast playing in the cold weather together. When it got too chilly, B came inside and did some baking recipes with me that she enjoyed and were pretty easy so they kept her attention. Grandpa Gary built her a snow cave/igloo that she thought was really cool and she and Casie played inside of that and had a good time.

I am staying busy with keeping schedules straight, setting up travel plans and overall just running our crazy AZ Smith household while Matt is off working his tail off! I am still doing agility with Casie and trying to fit in seeing friends and having playdates when we can. I am working with Braelyn on writing and reading a few days a week, very casually and she is improving dramatically. She can write all of her upper case letters and numbers 1-20 and she is really getting the hang of sounding out letters to read her words. Phonics are next I fear - yikes - flashback to gradeschool

Hope everyone is well - we hope to see you soon!

Love to all,

MLB Mama

Well, I remember writing her Birthday post last year and thinking that 4 years old was so far away BUT today the day is here

We had a great time at Braelyn’s party, despite the rain and she was so excited to have everyone here to celebrate, thank you all for coming. To those who weren’t able to join us, we hope you enjoy some pictures……

We love our little girl so very much and are amazed at the beautiful person she is becoming. Thank you to everyone who spends time with her, loves her, thinks about her and supports Matt and I on our parenting journey. She is the light of our lives and we are so lucky to have the time to be able to spend with her and see her grow, learn and change everyday. Being a parent is the most amazing job in the world and I am so glad that I spend each and every day with my daughter! She is perfection and I love her from the bottom of my heart. Happy Birthday Beetle Bug!!!

We hope you are having a good Valentine’s Day weekend!

I have some short video of Casie doing agility that I wanted to post and some funny pictures of Braelyn getting into mischief - pretty much an everyday occurrence as well as baking with Nana.  Enjoy your weekend and Happy Heart Day!

Hope you enjoy our slideshow of family pictures taken this morning

My cousin Lauren took them for us out at the park that we hike at - she did a great job SOOOO, if you ever need great pics taken, you know who to call!!

Love to all!!

So it’s been a little while since the last time we gave an update on all things “Desert Dwelling Smith” and about a hundred times longer since I was actually the one putting fingers to keyboard. 

First of all, Happy New Year to everybody and we hope that 2010 is full of health, happiness, and success for all of you.

And now for the update …

Christmas for us was a good one.  We spent Christmas Eve with Lisa’s family at Gary and Bonnie’s house where we were able to see Lisa’s Uncle, his wife, and their son Cameron (who we hadn’t seen in far too long).  Christmas morning at our house was fun, as it always seems to be every year.  Braelyn was surprised with a handful of treats from Santa and we were able to just take our time and relax together as a family … for a few hours at least … we ended up hosting Christmas Lunner at our house with about 20 friends and family with a fun potluck, bocce ball tournament, and a fire outside on the patio.  It was cool to have so many good people come together and just enjoy each others’ company.

Lisa, Braelyn, and I packed up and headed home to SD for the week between Christmas and New Years and were fortunate enough to see lots of family and friends while we were there. 

We took a family trip (my Mom, Dad, Devyn, and Kyleigh along with L, B, and me) to the Wild Animal Park which Braelyn absolutely ate up.  We took the safari tour, heard Lions roaring, got to touch an African Boa Constrictor, got mooned by a handful of Gorillas, fed Ducks, rode the Carousel, and about died from heat exhaustion (the forecast called for something near 60 degrees but ended up roasting our fully clothed selves with a very January-esque 85).  It was a good family outing as none of us had been there since Devyn was in Middle School (10 years ago at least).  Braelyn also decided she wanted to get her face painted … pretty darn cute in my biased opinion.

My parents hosted a New Year’s Eve open house and we were able to see Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends, and Neighbors … all of whom we haven’t seen in too long … it was awesome to get caught up.

Braelyn and her Gramma Sheri spent some time baking cookies, playing in the front yard, and playing with lots of toys … Braelyn enjoyed having her little cousin following her every footstep for the week too.

Since we’ve been back to reality, Braelyn continues to keep us busy with her dance/gymnastics classes, swim classes, and play dates with her friend Esteka.  We also had another fun annual excursion with Jack and Betty (Lisa’s Gpa/Gma) when “Disney on Ice” came to town - Braelyn hasn’t stopped talking about it nor has she quit pretending to skate around the house.

As this is a rare update with me as the author, I’ll try to give a recap of some of my job/role changes since the last time I posted:

After spending 2009 away from our Major League team for the first time in 5 years; I was running around scouting High School and College players in preparation for the Draft as well as covering and reporting on a handful of Minor League teams in case trade opportunities were to arise and/or to gauge our interest in Free Agent acquisitions.  I really enjoyed my time and was able to earn a more involved role within our scouting department.  2010 will see me covering 21 professional teams (5 Major League, 16 Minor League) for trades/free agency as well as seeing some of the top amateur players in the country as we prepare for the Draft (it sounds extremely similar but it is different, I promise, though it’s hard to explain).  Long story short, lots of travel, lots of writing, lots and lots and lots of baseball … and lots of opportunity.

I’m just enjoying every minute of the off-season right now since my time at home runs out on April 8th.  Braelyn is such an incredible little girl and Lisa, with very little help from me, sets such a wonderful example of what a caring, loving, genuine person embodies.

Long winded I know, but at least I hope you feel caught up.  Best wishes to you and yours …

Matt

WOW!  It’s been awhile since I posted and we have been b-u-s-y!  We had a great Thanksgiving with about 25 people and we hosted so it was a full house.  Our construction is finished and our extra room looks great!  We have to paint the stucco on the outside and get our patio cover up, move the office furniture and hang a few pictures and then we will be DONE!  It will probably be after Christmas that we get everything finally moved and in it’s place, but we are making progress each day

Since Matt had shoulder surgery about a month ago, we haven’t really decorated too much for Christmas.  We have put up 2 blow up decorations in the front yard, but that’s about it.  Luckily our next-door neighbors have a very festive front yard so Braelyn gets her nightly fill of lights by going to visit them. 

We also made our annual trek to ZOOlights at the Phoenix Zoo which we all think is pretty cool.  They have a new exhibit for the Kimodo Dragons which Braelyn was VERY excited about.  They are pretty scary creatures actually, but she loved them and climbed on the life-size statue and gave it a kiss :)  She also decided that she wanted to ride a camel with Grandpa which was pretty funny because she was so very excited for it.

We have been listening to Christmas Carols almost every day because we have a radio station here that plays them from Thanksgiving through the New Year and Braelyn is really into listening to them this year.  This works out great for me because I absolutely LOVE Christmas music and frankly I needed a break from the Magic Treehouse CDs that we have been listening to in the Durango for the past 6 months!!!  Braelyn is also getting really good at singing the carols so I decided to film some of her repetoire….. (more to come later!)

She is also becoming a ‘double-threat’ to the entertainment world by singing and now DANCING!  She had her winter recital last night at her dance school and again did really well.  It was so great to see her onstage performing and having such a good time.

Matt is doing great following his surgery.  He saw the doctor this week and got out of his sling - finally!  His doctor was really amazed at his range of motion and pleased with all of the physical therapy that he has been doing with the Dbacks trainers - they definitely have him on the right track.  He still has some minor pain but is able to sleep better out of the sling and he can start lifting things and using his arm again, slowly but surely.  He has been going into the office on and off for the past few weeks to try to be available to the staff and get in the flow of working again.  He met with his new boss a week or so ago and they put together his schedule for the upcoming season.  He will be out of town about 25 days per month from April-August.  There are a few trips that Braelyn and I can make with him to some west coast cities so that we can see him more often and explore some places we have never been but, it will be another challenging year having him gone so much.

I am staying busy with Braelyn’s swim and dance classes and my agility sessions with Casie.  We have moved into the intermediate class and she is the best pup in it.  It is fun to actually start running mini-courses with her and see how well all of the training and time I have put in is paying off.  She is not the fastest dog but she is the most consistent, never missing obstacles, so that will be beneficial if I ever decide to compete with her. 

After the first of the year I am going to start taking B to the library 2-3 times per week to do some home-preschooling with her.  When I try to do educational things at home, she tells me that she ‘doesn’t want to learn’ so I have to be sneaky with what I ‘teach’ her.  I think that getting her into a different environment will allow me to work with her on some things like reading and writing.  I want to get her into more of a learning routine but not overdo it so I think that the library will give us a bit of what we need.

We will also be starting her in tennis lessons when she is 4 in February because she actually has a bit of natural talent with a racket.  She has been asking to try tennis lessons for a few months now but the clubs won’t start them until they are 4, so we have to hold out a bit longer.  She is still a really strong swimmer and hopefully will be moving up to be an ‘octopus’ as soon as she can dive and grab the rings from the bottom of the pool without Chris’s help.

We hope to have some family holiday pictures to post in the next week or so, hopefully before Christmas!  Have a wonderful Holiday and we hope to see you all soon!

Love,

MLB Mama

Happy November to Everyone!

We just got back from a week long California extravaganza which included a lot of visits with friends and family and a very fun trip to Disneyland to see it decorated for Halloween and to do some trick-or-treating with Mickey and the gang!

We have never done trick-or-treating with Braelyn before because she is not one to eat candy BUT she really wanted to dress up and go out this year so we figured, what the heck! She wanted to be Tinkerbell which is right in line with her new fairy obsession so of course, mom obliged! On Friday of our trip, we went with Tom and Sheri to the trick-or-treat party at California Adventure Park which consisted of parades, characters dressed up in costumes and several trick-or-treat stations around the park.

Braelyn was lucky enough to be in the parade and to dance with Pinocchio and a very friendly pink witch. They grabbed her out of the crowd and showed her some funny Halloween dances. She was SO excited and kept looking over at us and smiling.

She was also VERY into standing in line and getting her candy. We hit all of the candy stations and her bucket was totally full by the end of the evening. She only ate 1 thing out of the entire bucket and divided up the rest for her sweet-tooth relatives!

We also did a 2 day pass to Disneyland on Monday and Tuesday and got to see some shows, go on all of her old favorite rides and even experience a couple of new rides. She finally agreed to go into the Tiki Room and even wanted to go on Pirates of the Caribbean. She did really good with both, only hiding her face once or twice which is a real accomplishment for her. We tried to get her to do Nemo but she told us that she would only do that when she turns 4.

We did our annual Princess lunch as well and she was picked to be the one to greet all of the princesses when they come out. She stood at the front as the royal announcer told everyone her name and that she would be helping him, then each princess came out to our table first. She was really happy about that and would run up to them the second they came out from the back.

We had a lot of fun but were worn out from all of our activities and it took us a few days to recover once we got home!

Matt carved a pumpkin with her on Friday and she wanted to go out again on Halloween night to get more candy!

We weren’t sure that we would take her out because she had been sick all week and was still coughing and sneezing that morning, but after a 4 hour nap her heart was really set on going out.  We dressed her up as Minnie Mouse and I think that her costume earned her extra treats because after only 7 houses, her bucket was full. Again she ate only 1 thing and we put the rest away for everyone else.

We have lots more pictures to share of things we’ve done with friends and family and I will update everyone about Matt’s surgery next week. OR maybe I will make him dictate it to me since he still owes everyone an update on his new job!! We hope everyone is doing well and that we will get to spend some time with you during the upcoming Holiday season. Goodbye for now!