Team Smith

There are many pics of Savvy and I because she is not 4 ft tall. Now you are wondering, what does her height have to do with pictures? When you take two kids to Knotts Berry Farm and one of them can ride lots of rides because she is 48 inches tall and the other one can't, you split up for half the day! I got lots of Savvy time today :-)  Matt and Cass did join us for a few of the smaller rides too.   Back in Monrovia we had dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant. They had a kid's menu item that said "U Make it, We Bake it". It was exactly as it sounded. The girls made their own pizzas at our table, then their pizzas were whisked away to bubble to perfection in a brick oven.  My red sangria and pomodoro angel hair with shrimp was incredible!

Roadtrip! One of my favorite parts about roadtripping is stopping in the middle of nowhere for snacks. We come across the best spots. Usually fresh, local produce, jerky, deep-fried delights, and pickled veggies. From Reno we headed south and made a stop in Bridgeport, CA. Thanks to the cashier at the gas station we found a playground where we ate our packed lunch and let the kids run around a bit. Cassie spotted a bald eagle. A real bald eagle. By the time I got my camera out, he was just a dark speck in the middle of the frame. He was beautiful up close! We stopped at McDonalds for dinner where we asked for small cones for the girls and were given behometh sized swirls of ice cream. 10 hours from when we first began, we made it to Ellie's house! Monrovia, CA is beautiful. Everything is walkable. We walked to a farmer's market and the girls latched on to Auntie Ellie, refusing to leave her side and pepper her with questions. They were in ...

Hands down, one of the best birthdays ever. This year I took advantage of every free birthday treat that came my way! I am sharing this with you, so you too may enjoy a day full of fun should you choose to sign up for free stuff and wanted to know where to go! 1. Free drink from Starbucks 2. Free car wash at Mission on McCarran- just show ID. 3. Free $10 at Cost Plus World Market- Must spend a minimum of $10 and be in their rewards program. 4. Free $10 at Labels Consignment Boutique. No min purchase required. 5. Free 6 pack of cupcakes (chocolate or vanilla) from Raleys Grocery Store. Must be a reward member. 6. Free bundtlet at Nothing Bundt Cakes. 7. If you get your teeth cleaned at Sala Dentist, along with the free floss, toothpaste, and toothbrush, you get a starbucks gift card! 8. Discounted pedicure at SOAK. There are a couple more I did not take advantage of, as they were out of the way or there was not enough time, but these were my absolute faves. And here is anot...

Has it really been 72 days since our last blog post? Wow. I won't even attempt to catch y'all up on 72 days worth of info. It would be dull in a repetitive kind of way. Lots of work, lots of school, lots of fun hanging with family and friends; that about sums it up. I will tell y'all what happened with Daisy... Daisy was doing ok the first two weeks were home. Her behavior started to decline about week 3. Little was known about the first 5 year of her life aside from the knowledge that her previous humans spent no time with her and she was in isolation quite a bit. She had been at the sanctuary for about a month before we scooped her up. Life became stressful. Daisy did not like anyone if their names were not Matt, Jeannette, Cassidy or Savannah and in that order. Friends could not visit with out her losing her mind. Walks could not be taken without her barking and pulling to go after any living creature spotted.  A trainer from the sanctuary came out to our house...