Sunday, February 7, 2010

Baby Smith coming 3/18/10

Shannon has gotten a room ready and we've been gathering all kinds of baby stuff. We're about 6 weeks away from a scheduled delivery (C-section) on March 18th. We picked that day because it's well after the March 15 filing deadline for corporations and partnerships, so hopefully this tax season baby won't get completely robbed of a birthday experience throughout his life. I'll close the office for at least one day, and March is typically the slowest month in tax season so we have that going for us.

We've forgotten how nice it is to not have to deal with diapers and barf and sleepless nights. But we are so excited for this little guy to get here, and we have decided he will be named Walter. Shannon might not admit that in public, but I think she's starting to like the name.

This car seat Shannon is holding is light years ahead of the one we used for V & O. I hope the diaper technology has advanced as well in the last three years. I'd like a diaper that tweets when it's wet or poopy along with a degree of severity, like "@Walters_Diaper: Mild #1, acidity level 0, change me when you get around to it" or "@Walters_Diaper: 911! #2 Creeping up the back! Bring a plastic bag and a new onsie!"

We haven't settled on a middle name yet. Leave your suggestions in the comments, but keep in mind we stick to a pretty convervative naming convention (must clearly identify the gender, must be spellable on your first try, etc).

Monday, February 1, 2010

Did you get one of these in the mail today?

I sent out over 10,000 of these to the fine people of Bountiful, North
Salt Lake, Woods Cross, and West Bountiful. Hernán designed it. I hope
I see a few come back into the office!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Tax Season Kickoff Party at my office today!

11am-2pm. Balloons, hot dogs, cotton candy, sno cones, and cake! Hope
to see you there!

420 N Redwood Road
North Salt Lake, UT 84054

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Client letters are ready to rock!

Shannon worked for hours to get these done. I'm going to go drop them
at the airport post office right now.

Finally, blue skies!

The air quality along the Wasatch front has been the worst in the
nation for several weeks due to the inversion we get here. The rain/
snow got all that gunk out of the air and safely into our water supply.

Tax season is officially here. Yesterday was my first full day at the
office and I had a few clients come in already. If you've got your
stuff ready, call 801-295-6789 to set up a time, or just come on in.
We're at 420 N Redwood Road in North Salt Lake.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Pics from disposable underwater camera in Hawaii

Were we really there a few weeks ago?  These were taken at Hanauma Bay.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Stephanie and Shannon, pregnant and at a bar

Just saw The Blind Side at Brewvies. I was suprised how much I enjoyed
it. There is in fact more to the story than what you see in the preview.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Sparklers fun

Shannon and O stuck with the sparklers while Vinny brought me more
mortar rounds. Can't believe we've only been using pots and pans in
years past!

Happy New Year!

video

This one had my name on it!

Flying J, it's been too long

The albino cowboy tiger guarding the pringles is a nice addition to
the usual dragons and skulls section.

McD's in Evanston

Monday, December 28, 2009

Vinny's new six speed

video

Friday, December 25, 2009

Halo toys for Mister O

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Thanks Landry

Look what Santa just dropped off at my office!

A few more Hawaii Pics

Boogie-boarding at Waimea Bay Beach with Tim was a riot. The beach is very steep, and the waves were pretty big so you would ride the wave to the beach, then the next wave would push you up the beach quite far at a high rate of speed. We were in a fit of giggles the whole time.




Here we swam in a waterfall pool at Waimea Valley (near the aforementioned beach). It's about a 20 minute walk to get there, and the water is pretty cold compared to the ocean, but it was nice to sit under the waterfall and blast all the sand off.

Baby it's cold outside

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Waiting for the shuttle to the airport

Vinny's got my quality ukulele from Costco and our boogie boards (also
from Costco). This morning Tim and I boogie-boarded at Waimea Bay
Beach which was so fun. I'd never actually ridden a wave before but
Tim and I pulled it off while everyone else played on the shore. Then
we all went to Waimea Valley and swam in a waterfall pool. It was pure
Hawaii--pics to come later. Not looking forward to getting on the
plane, or getting off the plane in SLC.

More shave ice

This is at Angel's Ice Cream shop in Laie. Kara's is the last one--
it's the full Japanese special with beans, clear gelatin, some type of
noodle, sweetened condensed milk, whip cream, and a small portion of
shave ice. Flight leaves in 4 hours :(

More fire spinning

video

Spear throwing at the PCC

Dad to be leaving here tonight. Spending an hour at the PCC before
driving around the island one last time on the way to the airport.
Going to stop by Matsumoto's for another shave ice. Go cougars!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Matsumoto's Shave Ice in Haleiwa (North Shore)

Thanks to April for suggesting this place! I had piña colada with a vanilla ice cream base. They also offer sweetened red beans but after I sampled them I knew they didn't belong in my shave ice.

Lots of banana hammocs at Hanauma Bay

That second picture is for Shreeve.

Hanauma Bay

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Hawaiian Hot Dice

Lucy's rules are all jacked up. Amy I miss your bad luck on high-stake
rolls. Tomorrow we're snorkeling at Haunama Bay. Hope to see another
sea turtle. Nick and I saw an eel yesterday and it was as creepy as
the pair from the Little Mermaid (who I'm told are named Flotsam and
Jetsam or something). I love snorkeling. I got my own gear at the
costco here. I've only had one "oh $4!7" moment, and that was when
Vinny and I were in a shallow spot and it was full of all kinds of
creepy things in the coral below us. The water suddenly got sucked out
to sea leaving us beached on the coral. I had to focus on getting
Vinny to deeper water so I didn't have time to go,
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!" or try to quickly develop the ability of
levitation, holmes. I hate to imagine the pokey and slimy creatures we
were laying on for what seemed like an eternity. Later, Nick and Kara
and found a sea turtle and followed it for around 10 minutes which was
incredible. Then Nick and I found a different one, so Nick stuck with
it while I got Vinny back in the water in time for him to see it as
well. I love Hawaii!

Laie Temple

Up before dawn in Haleiwa

I hope they didn't get the cage from Don's discount shark cages.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Fire spinners at PCC

video

Luau Time!

More PCC

This place is awesome!

Ukulele lessons at the PCC

Friday, December 18, 2009

There's no use hiding in the fog...

Waikiki Beach

Punchbowl Cemetery

This National Cemetery/Monument is in the crater of an old volcano in
Honolulu. Very cool diagrams of major Pacific WWII battles.

Kualoa Ranch

This is where they film LOST. In that middle picture you might be able
to see the tower that held the bomb. We rode this Pinzgauer off-road
vehicle up to the top of a lookout and could see for miles. Now we'll
make our way towards Honolulu to pick up Nick at the airport.

View from our deck

video

Thursday, December 17, 2009

The real Dole whip!

At the Dole pineapple plantation

We snorkeled for several hours at Turtle Bay and saw a lot of sea
life, some of it was very creepy but I handled it ok. After that we
had lunch at the North Shore McD's and headed here to the plantation.
They have Dole whips! I hope they're as good as the ones in Disneyland.

Turtle Bay

Yes, it is as nice as it looks.

Pacific Sunrise

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Lani Loa beach house

We're right by the Polynesian Cultural Center, BYU-Hawaii, and Domino's.

We flew 5,000 miles to eat here

Mele Kalikamaka!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Candy bowl typo at the appliance store

Getting a new dryer for the truck shop. What letter is missing?

Monday, December 7, 2009

Jazz vs. Spurs

This is my third Jazz game this year. They've never lost with me in
attendance this season. Will the streak continue? Shannon is pretty
excited to see Mr. Eva Longoria, Tony Parker. She's seen him on TMZ!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Gambling at the Commuter Rail party