Mischief, Head Wounds, and the Vienna Boy’s Choir

 

I am behind on the blog so here is my short and sweet catch-up version on the daily humorous occurrences of the Smith Family!

MISCHIEF:

I caught Landon doing this on November 2nd:

Please ignore the mess… Landon was so proud of himself for getting up on the table, grabbing the phone AND getting his Daddy’s Army patch. What a stinker!

HEAD WOUNDS:

Ryan took Landon out to play on Halloween Day and didn’t believe that Landon needed to hold someone’s hand to make it safely down the stairs.

After Landon fell down two stairs and got this on his forehead, Ryan believes me!

Coloring.  

Singing AND playing the piano at the same time. He turned the Primary Songbook pages every once in a while to find a new song to practice. (Don’t ask me why he enjoys wrapping cords around his neck. Maybe it’s the new style.)

VIENNA BOY’S CHOIR:

When I heard on the radio that the Vienna Boy’s Choir was coming to Salt Lake only on November 3rd, I checked out ticket prices ASAP (yay for student discounts!) and then called Ryan. He wasn’t too keen on the idea but he knew that I have wanted to hear them live for a loooooong time.

So he took me!During intermission at Abravanel Hall with the Salt Lake Temple and blown glass artwork in the background.

Lookin’ good!

We were sitting on the second tier very close to the stage. I wish we got a picture of the boys but no photography during the performance was permitted. The choir sung everything from the Beatles, to Baptist spirituals, to Vienna composers. They sung beautifully and even made us laugh from time to time when one boy yawned while he was singing three times. We had a wonderful time. Thanks Ry, for taking me to this concert!

Bathroom Door Hostage

 

November 12th, I gave a music recital for my Provo students. The recital went very well and I was and am pleased with their practicing and performances.

After the last guest had left, I began to clean up. I finished vacuuming and noticed the house was suspiciously quiet. That’s when I realized that the bathroom light was on but the door was closed.

I turned the knob and one of my worst fears was confirmed: Landon had locked himself in the bathroom. The reason this has always made me nervous is that Landon can’t turn the knob to get the door open again.

I pulled the bobby pin out of my hair and tried to pick the lock to no avail. I called my mom and she suggested a crochet hook. I couldn’t get that to work either. I got down on my hands and knees to attempt to see what Landon was doing in the bathroom and hoping he wasn’t getting into the bin that held the chemicals under the sink. As soon as I looked underneath the crack of the door, I saw little chubby legs with a plunger next them. Then he proceeded to put the plunger into the toilet. I heard lots of water spilling onto the floor and then heard the sink turn on and off.

I stuck a candy bar under the door to get his attention and told him I would give it to him if he would turn the bathroom door knob. He tried but couldn’t quite turn it. So I ended up calling University Police and they sent someone from Wymount Housing out to open the door.

Ten minutes after I called, they came to open the door and Landon started crying right before the guy opened the door. When I went into the bathroom, Landon had gotten into some medicine that burns when you put it on and his lips were bright red and he stuck his tongue out a lot so I think he ate some as well.

This child has taken me on so many adventures these last 21 months that I am slightly timid about his teenage years. Thanks, Landon, for helping me to have an exciting life!

Pumpkins, Cougars, and Peter Pan

The Tuesday before Halloween, we carved pumpkins with Michael, the man from Korea that Ryan is tutoring in English. Michael works for Hyundai and is on a special tour of the US right now and has been in Provo from September and will be here until December. He is very kind and took us out to dinner. So this day, I made dinner and we carved pumpkins together.

 

The final results…

I made this Landon look-alike :)

Michael carved the Korean flag on the back of his American flag pumpkin.

Ryan’s Superman Pumpkin. 

The Thursday before Halloween, BYU put on a party for the children of students. Ryan had class, but Landon and I went and played lots of games, petted a snake at the Reptile Presentation, and bounced in the bounce house. 

Someone said, “Look, the pumpkin looks like he’s pregnant with a pumpkin…”

     Landon LOVED Cosmo and every time he looked at him, Landon laid his head on my shoulder.

 This year was Landon’s second Halloween, but it was the first that he really enjoyed! He loved trick-or-treating in our ward. In the beginning, he would trade a piece of candy he already had for the one he would take from the bowl someone was passing out. Later he realized he didn’t have to give one to take one. But I think his mentality is a good lesson; when we take, we need to give back!

“Where’s Captain Hook, the scallywag…”

  “Oh, there he is…wait, who is this Peter Pan impersonator?? Take a picture of this, mom!”

“I stole a sucker from Captain Hook!”

“I’m glad you’re here Santa, I wanted to get started on those presents early this year. I want a Rice Krispie Treat….Thanks, you’re good!”

Happy Halloween from the Smiths!

Thanks for reading!

Emily

Tea Rose Home Giveaway!

Today, Sachiko from Tea Rose Home is hosting her 73rd Link Party. She writes a beautiful blog and come up with so many amazing products that I usually read her posts with my jaw dropped.

A Link Party is when I upload a link of something I created onto her blog. Then she has a giveaway for those who have entered.

I decided to upload this creation.

As I have mentioned before, I got the idea from the farmer's market here in Provo but they were selling the hats for too much. I had all of the yarn I needed already, so I decided to make my own.

I have made them in all different colors with different variations. They look adorable on!

Thanks, Sachiko, for allowing each of us to show off our creations!

Emily

Family Pictures

Our friend in the ward, Nicole, took our family pictures this past week. She was able to capture The Boss's happy-go-lucky personality and got some great shots of Ryan the Lion and me even though we shivered through the whole thing! She was so easy going when The Boss was screaming and running rampant through the garden.

Thank you, Nicole, for taking such lovely pictures and making us look extremely good :)

Check them out on Nicole's blog here.

Thanks for reading!

Emily

Go Cougars!

This past Saturday, we took Landon to his first BYU Cougars football game. He LOVED it and we picked a great game to go to because the Cougs one by over 50!

Ryan’s brother Jared gave us the tickets and Landon enjoyed playing with him during the game.

The Cougars had just made a touchdown which caused Landon to make this face!

Happy BYU fans.

Jared and Landon “glowing” with happiness at the game.

I love this huggy picture.

Enjoying cotton candy.

This will probably be the last BYU game we get to go to with Ryan as a student. It was definitely a bittersweet game for us. Thanks to Jared and Ryan’s dad for giving us the tickets!  

Liebster Blog Award

I was given the Liebster Blog award by my friend Becca from If work permits.

She blogs about crafty things, her family, and always has cute pictures up. Becca has a great sense of humor and that is one of the main things I love about her blog. It always puts me in a good mood!

The Liebster blog award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.

So now it's my turn to pick 5 people who I think deserve this award {with less than 200 followers}…which will be hard since all of you are so popular!

Drumroll please…..the award goes to:

1. Michelle at Michelle moments. I have no idea how to see how many followers she has! She is a dear friend and I have known her since third grade. We lived about a block and a half away from each other for most of our childhood and teenager-hood. Michelle was my maid of honor at my wedding. I love her blog because she depicts life as it CAN be…she’s always making the most of her life and enjoying every moment. I want to be more like her!

2. Christie at Christie and Josh. Christie and I met our freshman year of college at BYU. We had our first babies about a month apart and she is due for a boy this December! She was also a bridesmaid at my wedding. I love her and her family. Her blog shares what is most important to her, her family. Thanks, Christie, for sharing all the sweet things that happen in your life!

3. Domanique at Ballet Flats and Baseball Caps and http://Thesweetestplacecakery.blogspot.com. She is amazing with cakes and has a talent for crafty things. Plus she’s really funny! I have known Dom since high school and I have admired her ability to smile even through the hard times. Her blogs are great; they are about her family and her hobbies.

4. Jenny at The Teaching Studio - We Teach Piano. Jenny was my accompanist at BYU when I was taking voice lessons. Her blog is great for other music teachers or if you want to learn more about piano yourself. She includes activities that are especially wonderful for young kids. Thanks Jenny for helping me teach the youngsters!

5. Tatiana at Brazil Sweet  Meetings. Tatiana is pretty new to Utah from Brazil and we met in our ward in Provo. She makes these beautiful cakes that look like they will melt in your mouth AND she’s having a promotion this month! Check her out.

To keep this award going and pass it along to other new deserving blogs, the recipient must now recognize five other bloggers with less than 200 followers that have really stood out in the crowd.

The rules for the Liebster Award are:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

Thank you, amazing friends, for your fantastic blogs. I love reading them and I know everyone else will too!