poochie the skater

my 8 year old brother going on 18 dressed like a skater today.

csusm graduation

i'm done! the cap and gown ceremony was held at the school for the very first time on friday may 20th. the smith's came to see me walk and then took me out to my very favorite bbq place (phils) and then we went and saw pirates 4 in 3D (which was actually pretty good).

i of course have more graduation photos, but this is what i could salvage for now. . . a nice graduation proof :)

the photographer took individual shots of us also, but she failed to tell me that my tassel was covering my eyes and in fact you couldn't see my eyes, or that the stole on my right side was covering my diploma. thanks, but no thanks.

a gorgeous day in OC

blabs and i

after the pinning ceremony the family and i drove to il fornaio (one of my favorites) in orange county. it was just as good as i remembered. i think i stuffed myself to the brim and look about 4 months pregnant but it was so worth it. thanks to g-ma for being so generous and taking us out to dinner! we all had way too much fun :)

number 2 baby!

love these girls. rin, jam, and mel.

phew! i'm done! well for a little bit at least. who would have thought this day would have ever had come? not me that's for sure. i was just thinking about how i've been in school for 6 years straight. i think i'm in dire need of a nice vacation.

today i had my exciting and wet pinning ceremony at a winery where i was "pinned" a nurse. it's so great to graduate with 45 of your friends who you've spent everyday with for the past 2 years. it just had to rain though. . . seriously?? the rain didn't make for a good hair day.

my bestie reiko (mel)

look at the familial support :)

just pinned as a nurse!

passing the flame

hello have you seen such pretty flowers?? they're in my room right now and they smell wonderful. thanks g-ma :)

video chat/birthday/graduation party

the fam video chatting with patty in NC

mema's 9th birthday and my graduation at g-ma's casa

singing happy birthday to mema

bored in the car

strawberries from g-ma for some jam :)

gun show

some kiddies

duck face

a great mother's day

look at her long red hair. here's some of the family skyping.

the tag :)

patty's duck face!

thank you to whomever developed SKYPE. chatting with patty on mother's day was the greatest ever. we got to chat for 51 minutes and we could have chatted for even longer!

she said she LOVES the area and hopes her brazilian visa gets lost on the way to to North Carolina :) the visa IS on it's way to NC and she should be off to Brazil very soon. she mentioned that they've had a lot of scary weather storms and was even caught in a small tornado.

shogun love

bree bailey had a special birthday (the one in the middle). we got a group of her friends and went to shogun for dinner.

you know you're a foodie when. . .

you save pictures of food on your desktop from a show that you watched on a popular restaurant and have it on your bucket list as one of the places to visit. . . heaven help me. . .

if someone ever goes to denver, co make sure you stop by the restaurant "colt and gray" and make sure you order the sticky toffee pudding. just do it for me please because i can't stand to look at these pictures without salivating!

temple night and phil's

one of the perks of going to the sd temple is having phil's approximately 10 minutes away. that means everything bbq. and we all know how much i love bbq.

so pretty at night

my FAVORITE bbq joint ever.

keithy, bro and sis smith

some of the gang

.hannah.

this is about where we were ready to eat whatever we could get our hands on. because phil's is so popular the line is usually way out the door and this was around 10:30 pm.

"come on cinderella! we've gotta get you ready for the ball!"

my brother is going to prom and is wearing the SICKEST suit!

and david is eating the best red velvet cake ever!

who knew my dad was such a poet?

this was sent to patty who is currently on a mission. who knew guato was this good of a poet?

(Repeat as often as necessary to remember why you left on a Mission)

A Lamanite Lymerick

There once was a Mia Maid named Bub

Who filed her small toe to a nub

Cananites always Rap

"________" she did slap (name omitted for privacy)

Sasquatch really loves "Circus Crap"

When she left she needed a big hankee

Because waiting at home was her blankee

Pechanga was scared

The Bubster was prepared

I love Joseph Smith! she'd declared

To Brazil comes Bub, "The Thong Fightin Sister"

Because wearing them can cause "a big awful blister"

Evil Doers will run

Because she looks like a Nun

Portuguese is a real "Tongue Twister"

Her family is minus the second child born

Her Mom, her Dad, her family is torn,

Why the Bubster did leave, and cause them to mourn

But waiting they will, and the Devil will burn,

The greatest Missionary ever,

Soon will return!

Written by the Quorum of 9.5

(carried to the nearest decimal point)

just another day at williams-sonoma

who knew that i lived in a town where you could see two celebs in one day. i sure didn't.

i saw 'the power of love' crooner (he also sings 'cruisin' with gweneth paltrow)

huey lewis

and...

#30 terrell davis. former rb for denver broncos.

(nicest/most handsome guy ever)

he even signed a ws gift card (lol).

this is what you do when you need a break from studying

and the other one . . .

patty's bom viagem party

before patty left for her mission, our family wanted to throw her a 'bom viagem' party or a going away party in portuguese. we were able to have her party at the castle, a previous b & b in wine country.

patty. sister borcherds. keith.

sister borcherds has to be the sweetest most courageous woman i've met in a long time. she went through the most horrific event of her life, but she still continues to carry on and put a smile on her face. she was so gracious enough to let us use her home with such short notice. she also has the cutest accent (she's south african).

dad and some of the kiddies

some of the desserts.

i ordered 4 different kinds of cupcakes from a local bakery that i heard was outstanding.

well, they seriously didn't disappoint because they were AMAZING.

we had red velvet, carrot cake, boston cream pie, and strawberry shortcake

my g-ma also brought beautiful edible arrangements that were so delicious! they added the perfect touch to the table.

and onto the cake. . .

this cake was a.maz.ing. i am not a cake lover, but this was definitely worth every penny and mile driven. the bakery, flour power bakery, was all the way in el cajon which is really far from my house. the cake is a soft white cake with bavarian cream and a thin layer of raspberry and lemon. the frosting was whipped cream with shaved white chocolate. i had them put the brazilian flag on top and have it say "boa viagem irma ricchio!" or "good journey sister ricchio!"

2 of the kiddies eating le lasagne. for the food we had two large lasagne trays, sandwiches, pasta salads, antipasti trays, and salads.

the bar

we had to add the brazilian flag

she'd kill me if she knew i was posting this

we all miss her already and it's been a whopping 2 days.

when she quit her job, one of the gifts that she received was an amazing ipod touch

well, as a missionary, you can't bring something like that on your mission.

sooo....someone has to inherit it right? yep, that would be me.

i was trying to figure out how to work it when i stumbled upon this video.

now, most of you will think she is completely retarded. i don't. it's a family quirk of ours and it did nothing but make me laugh.

i'll go where you want me to go

in front of the mtc

12.1.2010

a beautiful day in la

spent the afternoon in LA today with some friends. the best we could do with celeb spotting was this guy. . .

.larry king.

i have to admit, i was hoping for someone better. lol.

on the other hand, this was a pleasant surprise to stumble upon. it took me a second to realize what it really was!

the la temple. so pretty.

d-land during x-mas

i can't believe this is the only picture we got while at disneyland. all the kiddies, david, and dad.

have you ever been to disneyland during x-mas? it has to be the best time of year to go. stay for the firework show at the end. they even make it snow! make sure you also grab a $3.50 churro . . . really? how can they be that expensive? i guess everything at d-land is. i could seriously eat more than one if they weren't each 500 calories LOL.