What would you do?

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"

Mark and I were out on a date on night to the Mesa Arts Center. On the way there I was talking about how I had some aspirations for life, and would I ever actually put forth the effort to take the leap and actually do any of these things? How many of us in our lives spend our time daydreaming about doing great things and then let insecurity, doubts, laziness, or just the busy-ness of daily life get in the way of our dreams? That night at the Mesa Arts Center we went into the gift shop and I came across the above anonymous quote. This really struck me. I thought about the difference between those people that do notable things with their lives and those that don't and I believe that the difference is having the courage to fail. And then, the courage to try again after failing. SO, what would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

I have a couple things in mind and I suppose I will write them down so as to make the commitment to doing these things sometime:

1. Write and publish a children's book
2. I have an art project in mind that I want to do and sell at boutique stores. Does anyone know anybody that I could hire to cut some wood into squares for me? :)

First, I know that the greatest thing I can do with my life is to raise my children well and devote my energy first to them. So, that's my first priority, but along the way we'll see what else I might make happen.

Marily

Random Pictures I Love

I feel so behind just now beginning to journal about our family. But, better late than never. Here are a few pictures of our family over the last few years. Enjoy! Dallin as a baby in Dad's arms, October 2004

Family pictures taken for Fourth of July letter, 2006

Dallin is 3 months from three and Adam is three months from well, being.

Adam Alan Smith

Born September 14th, 2006 Adam's uncle Danny is a great photographer. This is one shot he took of Adam.

November 2006

Dallin in front of Grandma Smith's Christmas tree 2006

(Taken by Aunt Shauna)

Uncle Danny took the above two shots of the boys. March 17th 2007

Another cute shot of Adam.

What to do when you're trying to get the laundry done and not one, but both of your little kids climbs into the basket that you need? Well, you take a picture. April 14th 2007


Adam, May 24th 2007

When my sister Dawn and her family came into town for cousin Daniel's baby blessing we all took a trip to Old Tucson Studios. Dallin had a lot of fun running around and riding the train especially. Here he is outside the Courthouse. Feb1st, 2007

We got the boys new Sunday clothes and wanted for months to take pictures of them in their cute outfits on a Sunday afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa Smiths' house. But, after wearing them to church and snacking in their nice clothes for three hours they weren't quite picture-perfect after church. This particular day we decided to put them in different clothes for church and dress them up to go to Grandma and Grandpas'. Dallin really hammed it up and was such a great little model. Adam was a little more stubborn and not so easy to get still. Dec 30th 2007

Well, that's all! Now we're somewhat caught up. Aren't they cute? We have a photo slideshow as our screen saver and I often find myself caught up in watching the pictures of my sweet boys although I haven't changed the pictures for probably 6 months. Somehow I can't grow tired of them.

Dallin's first drawing

Dallin surprised me recently when he showed me his small Magna Doodle and said, "Look Mom! I drew a picture of you!" Sure enough, there were two huge eyes and a line for a "smile." His first recognizable picture! And man, it wasn't even drawn on paper so I could frame it! Then, he erased it before I could take a picture with my camera. At least he was more than happy to draw me another one and I did actually get some photos of those. His little drawings are the sweetest things I have ever seen. I'm sure every parent understands.

To begin

So here, finally I am starting a journal for our boys! More than once when I have told someone about something cute that one or another of them has said I have heard the reply, "You're writing this down, aren't you?" Then follows a flood of guilt which in turn is followed by trying to make myself not feel so bad about it. But, anyway, here it is. This blog will be where I can record the precious and memorable things they say and do. It might be kind of random that way. So, to begin, I will just record a few moments that have not been recorded.

1. This was probably about a month ago.... Dallin was getting frustrated when Adam kept taking the toys that he was playing with and was being kind of grouchy to Adam. I told Dallin, "We have to be nice to Adam. We love Adam. He is a part of our family." I hardly expected such a sincere reply from three-year-old Dallin. With a sad look on his face he said, "Yeah, and if Adam were not in our family, then we would be so sad."

2. Adam is currently 16 1/2 months old. He is starting to say more and more "words." Some of his latest: "boo" for book, "shzz" for shoes, "mo" for no (or for more). He also can copy pretty much every sound-effect that Dallin can make, whether it is a "vroom" for a car or a "woosh" for a plane. He's actually pretty talented in the sound-effect area. Adam is the sweetest sweetest thing ever. He loves blowing kisses and giving shy smiles and batty eyes to strangers at the grocery store. He is our charmer.

3. Dallin is a riot. His number one concern in life is, "Is it funny?" Actually he asks us this question several times a day:

"Mom, is munno a funny word?"

"Yes, Dallin, that's funny."

"Is torko a funny word?"

"Yes, Dallin."

"Is it funny to do this?" (He rams into me with his head)

"No, Dallin, Mom doesn't really like that."

"Oh...but it's funny to tickle!" (Then, he'll tickle me to smooth things over.)

He thinks one of the best compliments we can give him is to call him a goofball. And, in our family, it is a compliment. Actually, we had some little friends over once, Warren and Abigail Jennings. At lunch, Dallin called Abigail a wierdo. Warren kept telling me that Dallin called Abigail a not very nice name, but I didn't really know what to tell him because we like wierdos in our family. And, if Dallin calls you a wierdo, it definitely means that he thinks you're cool.