Poised & Posed

The September issue of "K" magazine is out, and somebody we know and love is on page 25. WooHoo! 

Our youngest Smithling was asked to model for a local boutique's ad in The Keller Magazine. Of course, we think Millie Girl looks lovely in that Red Raider gear, but she'd look pretty wearing a gunny sack. 

What a "mom" thing to say, huh?

She's a model daughter! :-P

The First Daze of School

Picture this -- It's back-to-school time in Texas and California. Keller High School, University Of Texas/Arlington, and Pepperdine are all back in session.

It was probably way tooo early in the morning to make my Smithlings smile for the obligatory first day picture, but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

I decided to go "old school" and use B&W images. Here's how DAY ONE looked:

The messenger bag is loaded and this guy is ready for the l-o-n-g commute to campus. Look out, 'cause he's all business. Yes, he's a business (not bidness) major at UTA.

 KHS Sophomore

Although the smile is pretty, this daughter came home from Day One with a fever of 103.5º F. Her first day of school will likely be her last for a while. Ironically, on the last day of her Freshman year, she came home with a very high fever and was ill for several days. I think it's safe to assume that school makes Millie sick.

Our West Coaster Snapchatted me this image. Her future's so bright, she's gotta wear shades. 

Okay, pictures are out of the way. Let's hit the books!


Back-to-school update: 
9-2-2014

Millie Girl missed days 2-5 of the first week of school due to the mystery virus. She had a sore throat, fever (as high as 104.4º) for five straight days, and she simply did not feel well. She was seen by three different physicians in four days. There was no conclusion drawn as to what the problem was; however, we do have a long list of what it wasn't! 

Before Millie could return to school, the doctor had to see her one more time. Additional labs were ordered. There is still no conclusive diagnosis. It was determined that she could get back to school without making things worse or running the risk of sharing the "back-to-school-itis" with others, so back-to-school it is.

KHS Sophomore: Day 1 photo retake

 The picture of health? I certainly hope so.

Now you can hit the books.

Malibu or Bust

8-19-2014  -  Day 5: Malibu! We have arrived.

Believe it or not, this is the first time we have set foot on this campus. The decision to attend school here was made sight unseen. We visited all of the other schools that #2 Smithling was accepted into, except for this one. Crazy, I know... Talk about blind faith! This decision was made with a lot of prayer and careful consideration, and there was much input from people who have either attended school here, or who currently work at Pepperdine. Once we got to campus, it became very clear that this was indeed the perfect location for our daughter to be for the last two years of her undergrad education. 

Liesey is living in a four-bedroom apartment with three other transfer students. There was a posse of student helpers who unloaded both vehicles in about 15 minutes. It took a little longer than that to get boxes unpacked and get stuff organized.

After the majority of the boxes were unpacked, we drove down the hill to the main campus. We climbed many, many, many steps from the parking lot up to the undergraduate campus. No, I didn't count how many steps there are, but it is now obvious why Pepperdine students and staff are in great shape!

This is the view looking from the undergraduate campus (Seaver College) up the steep hill to where Liesey's apartment is located.  Look in the upper 1/3 of this photo to see the graduate school and the upperclassmen/graduate student apartment buildings. Yes, her apartment is that cream colored stucco building with the red roof... Ha! Ha!

And this is the view from outside the apartment building, looking down at the campus and the Pacific. I feel "so sorry" for our student. I simply don't know how she will be able to study with this kind of visual distraction.

8-20-2014  - Day 6: More new student orientation (NSO) activities were on the agenda, but three of us ducked out early to enjoy some time on one of the Malibu beaches, literally a few minutes away. The actual new student gets an "A" because she stayed for all of the NSO sessions.

We had originally planned to gut it out until the very last NSO parent-oriented activity was crossed off the list, but we decided that the trio of Texas bound travelers should get an earlier start back east. The new, revised plan would have us leaving about seven hours ahead of our original schedule. 
We had done our part:

1. We escorted the NEW student to campus.
2. We helped her get her apartment set up.
3. We made trips to Ikea, Target(2x), Home Depot, Ralph's, and a couple other places that I just cannot remember.
4. We attended the appropriate number of "NSO" events. Ugh!
5. We had FUN! 

"They" say that parting is such sweet sorrow; however, for us this was a joy-filled farewell. We are confident that our girl is EXACTLY where she is supposed to be, doing what God intends for her to do. Who can quarrel with that?!

Yep, I think she's gonna like it here!

Pepperdine is in our rearview mirror -- literally and figuratively speaking.  Only 1,450 miles to go.

The California Girls are Back Home

8-17-2014  -  Day 3: It was a short 540 mile jaunt from Sedona, AZ, to the greater Los Angeles area.

What a welcome sign!

After we got settled in our room and ate dinner, the NEXT thing these two California girls wanted to do was feel the sand squish 'tween their toes, so we headed to the beach. Never mind that the entrance was closed, and it was really dark outside, we followed the sounds of the crashing waves and checked another item off of our "to-do" list.

8-18-2014 - Day 4: Monday found us in Santa Barbara on a mission to see and do as much fun stuff as possible.  We toured the Mission Santa Barbara, had an awesome lunch, shopped, and made a daytime visit to yet another beach.

El Camino Real -- It's fun to say AND it has a nice ring to it. 
The mission bells seen on the 101 Freeway have been in place since the early 20th Century to mark the original route of El Camino Real from San Diego to Sonoma. 

I sincerely hope it is not disrespectful to the deceased, but this cemetery seemed like a nice spot to snap a picture of my "very much alive" daughters.

Actual skulls and crossbones were often used to mark the entrances to Spanish cemeteries. Thankfully, these are stone carvings and NOT the real thing.

On Memorial Day weekend each year, there is an Italian street painting festival held at the Mission. Over 200 artists participate in I Madonnari. Surprisingly, many of the chalk creations are still quite vibrant, twelve weeks after the event. Here are a few of our favorites:

 Come on in, the water is fine.

Lots o' Rocks

8-16-2014  -  Day 2: Today was a "rock-n-roll" kind of day. We looked at rocks at one location, then we got in the car and rolled to another location to look at even more rocks! We visited the Grand Canyon and Sedona in one very full day. 

Oh! I took A LOT of pictures.

Wanna see?

Pretty grand...

...much canyon.

As we drove from the GC to Sedona, we made a five minute detour at a roadside souvenir shop (...just because) to take pictures of tacky roadside kinds of things. 

We didn't buy anything. 
We didn't even go inside the gift shop.
We got out of our cars, took a few pics and left. 

Here are a few of the results:

They've got the same 'tude.

 See, wasn't that worth a stop?!

Sedona is oh, so picturesque. I don't really need to add many, if any, details about the following pictures. I am so thankful that we got out and took a sunset hike. The colors were incredible, amazing, stunning, unbelievable, marvelous, wonderful, brilliant, fabulous... Oh, you get the idea!

“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” (Isaiah 55:12)

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely hearing a song right about now!

Thank you, God! Your creation is brilliant.

"Purple mountain majesty" is pretty awesome; however, red/orange/gold mountains are majestic, too!