Spy Moves, Humble Abode, Dad's Birthday: BYU Game Just for Him

For travel to be delightful, one must have a good place to leave and return to.

- Frederick B. Wilcox

The life of an Investigator/Traveler has its ups and downs

There’s one useful and underrated skill you might need if you decide it’s the life for you. You already have it if your parents put you in ballet when you were a kid.

(Look Natty! I loved you then too.)

You probably got lots of practice walking on your toes in such ballet classes. Or if you just dressed up in tights, a leotard, and ballet slippers every day, you can't help it, tiptoeing around comes easily to you.

This has its advantages. Now you can sneak around and not throw off people's grooves.

(Don't throw off his groove!

Beware of the groove..... the groove. [That one was for you Shay!])

When you walk, being spritely or jaunty has its advantages. You can be sneaky

Random side note: I love to watch the way people walk. Not just sneaky spy moves, but also strutting around like John Travolta on Saturday Night Fever, power walking, prancing, and model walks

(walk off!)

You name it. People's walks are great, kids' included. If my children are spritely and skip around merrily, it’ll be so adorable; I think I’ll flip.

People's Distinct walks: Just one of life's fab things nobody talks about.

The ability to walk around unnoticed is one of the many handy skills you didn’t know would come in handy in life. I hope I’ve opened your eyes.

Unfortunately, detectives' and world travelers' lives aren't just filled with jauntily strutting about. We've gotta deal with lots of colorful people

Life can get stressful

We're going to want some place awesome to come back to for our hideout.

How about a library?

Beauty and the Beast style with a Sherlock Holmes-like study would be all a P.I. would need. I mean, sure... a little kitchen and bathroom tacked onto the back are probably a good idea too, but I can't think of much else.

Said library must have a secret door behind one of the bookshelves that opens up when you push on a certain book

This will lead to a passageway that can be used for quick getaways.

Ok, so I gave away my secret, sort of. But you don't know the right book in this very large library that you'll need to push on, do you?

What if the secret passageway lead to this?

Or what if it was the only way to get here?

Forgive me, I watched/read too many movies and books as a kid about little girls who run away to gardens where they plant lots of flowers.

I wanted my own flower cottage, where my life as a hermit could be complete

I almost forgot! For the P.I. hideout, there needs to be a separate office with a chair that spins. (My house will have lots of chairs that spin, because I may or may not be immature enough to spin on them for fun when no one is looking.) That way, when someone walks in, you can have your chair facing the wall, then turn it dramatically and say, "I've been expecting you."

So I have this friend, no relation, who’s like a total room design addict (...weirdo.) She watches Extreme Makeover Home Edition in awe of the room designs, jealous of the stuff in the kids’ rooms (...such a crazy. I don’t know why I stay friends with her, I really don’t.) She goes to Ikea and nearly hyperventilates from all the ideas she gets (...sort of like that time she went to a Jazz game and was only 5 feet away from Deron Williams and got this overwhelming urge to leap out onto the court. This girl should probably seek help. She frequently has these sorts of psychotic ideas.)

She gets old issues of Better Homes and Gardens and home design magazines for 15 cents from the library, and I happen to know she watched Trading Spaces for fun when she was a kid while other kids were watching the Disney Channel.

Said friend has so many room ideas, it would be a gigantic mega-caboodle. But this kooky obsession comes in handy, cause there are lots of fun ideas for a hideaway.

One place that's like a caboodle is ANTHROPOLOGIE. That place has room schizophrenia. Me too. I love that the rooms are always changing from Indian and Bohemian

to Silky/Cozy, to Antique old style.

Yeah, I pretty much love room changes.

The store always has something rad hanging from the ceilings. Most of the time it's bobbles. This is Christmasy and happy, but why should you just have bobbles and ceiling decorations during Christmas?

Marshmallows?

My cukoo friend practically passes out with giddiness in this store from over-stimulation. Do not go in there with her. You have been warned.

Shelby wants this Ikea room:

And check this one out:

How about a bed that's like a surf shack with a slide so you can slide out of bed in the morning?

(It's from this site, they've got some cool ones.)

A friend of mine, Mandy Greeff, has "love lists" which contain her simple pleasures and favorite things. She has cataloged her favorite room ideas, many of which come from kids' rooms. We agree, kids' rooms rock. (Thanks Mandy, for this post's inspiration!)

Speaking of kid themes, Disney gives us tons of great ideas (other than just Beauty and the Beast libraries.)

I always wanted the Peter Pan Nursery, especially the window seat complete with window

If you've ever seen Swiss Family Robinson

you'll get where I'm coming from with the Disney thing.

There's this fantastic treehouse that has everything you could ever need in it if you're stranded on an island being hunted by pirates

I want a roof that opens with a hatch so I can see the stars, just like the one on that movie.

Speaking of which, who wouldn't want to sleep here just one night?

Glorious.

Beach houses are good for a getaway, but treehouses are paradise for kids. Especially when they’ve got zip lines coming out of them. No kidding, this was like Little Kaitlin/Little Shayna’s paradise

We liked it when there was irrigation water at the bottom and we got to go zooming down in our swim suits. Our hands would get these calloused blisters on them from going on the zip line so much, but it was totally worth it. All the Smith cousins loved to go on the zip line.

And did I mention the tree house? I wish I had a picture. It had a heater and a sink, plus a secret passageway or two. It had a deck and two ladders (One that cranked up and down so you could put it up to keep people you didn’t want to come up out, the other a rope ladder that folded up and could be blocked by a piece of wood.)

It was the coolest. Can adults still like to play in tree houses without being considered foolish? I hope so, cause me and my Dad would be all over it if we ever found a Swiss Family Robinson treehouse in real life to play in. (There's one at Disneyland, but it's more like a museum, plus they changed it to Tarzan's treehouse cause they're lame.)

If I could, I'd get Dad a Swiss Family Robinson treehouse for his birthday. That movie is one of his favorites of all time, and I know he wants that treehouse even more than I do.

But Dad's such a down to earth guy, he never complains about a thing. He doesn't ask for much in life, just BYU tickets.... and I can't think of much else. He loves his birthday because every year, there's a BYU football game right afterward (sometimes even the day of!)

Every year we do our best to make his birthdays special.

I never know what to buy him because he never asks for anything. He lives in a house full of females who can tend to get kind of moody. And you know what? He doesn't even complain or ask for something cool for his birthday.

He doesn't ever buy stuff for just himself, which is weird to us Smith ladies. We like treating ourselves, even if it's just once in a while.

Not Dad. He'll buy food sometimes, but it's usually to share. He also doesn't buy his own clothes. If it weren't for the clothes the women in his life buy for him, he'd only have free T-shirts from BYU games and a couple cheap pairs of Walmart jeans.

Since Dad never brags about himself, I will, since he's such an awesome guy.

Dad went to New Orleans to help build homes for flood victims. He was in the paper because of it, it was quite the humanitarian project.

Dad Worked with lowernine.org

Dad teaches us to work hard, like he does


We loved being carried on his shoulders when we were little


He teaches us to dance

Dad likes to have fun... he loves to ride roller coasters (his girls do too!)


He likes the great outdoors

He fishes whenever he can.

Dad was in the Olympics!

He was at Soldier Hollow

He took his family there.

They had so much fun tubing

He didn't even mind when they were moody teenagers who hid from cameras.

Dad's proud of his girls


Happy Birthday Dad! Sorry this is late. I'm glad you got to watch your team play and win last night.

(And Dad, I'm glad you got to eat some really good sushi. I hope you liked the blue and white BYU balloons.)

Peace, New Resolve, Lovely Day in Salt Lake City, Kait's Good Reports, Happy Birthday Mom! Coming Soon: Aunt Lavina's Interview

My family has needed each other a lot these past few days.

My Aunt Pam tells it best:

"My son, Ross Richard Werner - born June 25, 1982 died 5:00 p.m (PT) August 14, 2010. Ross slipped away quickly and quietly because he cared so much about his mother and his siblings. He didn't want us to have to see him suffer. The hospice worker was surprised that he went so quickly. But that's Ross' way. He was always thinking about everyone else and their comfort.

"As I said my goodbyes to Ross tonight, I felt him smiling and at peace. He wants us all to be at peace because he is at peace and free from pain. If you want to honor him, be happy and be at peace. He loves us all so much and wants me to communicate it to all of his extended family. We will all miss him so much."

This song brought me peace: Sweet Peace.

Aunt Pam put it so beautifully, I have nothing else to add, except a determination.

I will honor him. I've had a hard time being happy, because I have this aching feeling that won't go away. I wish I had gotten to know Ross better.

This lovely thought gets me through:

Families can be together forever.

Think of the possibilities: The endless amounts of time family and friends would spend together getting to know and love each other. I'm excited to get to know my grandparents, all my ancestors... my wonderful family too. If it is really true, and I believe that it is, it's amazing. If it's not... well, then so what if I choose to believe it? It's a lovely, comforting thought.

The day Ross died, I spent a wonderful day in Salt Lake with my Aunt Lavina. I forgot these past months how much I miss Salt Lake City.

Good Report (with some Lovely Simple Pleasures mixed in):

I missed (pined for, not didn't catch) the bus. I missed Trax. I missed my old routes.

I missed my study spots

My favorite book store

I want to live there.

Or here:

I practically do live here during the school year. It's my study haven.

The kid's section has an ice cave and a wooden playhouse where you can go to be cozy while you read. Little Kaitlin would've been all over that.

I come here too... reading, meditating, and pondering happen along with the studying

I miss the Marriott library

My table on the second floor is calling to me.

I've been wanting to live here for a while now, next to Temple Square.

It would be amazing to study by this

Or this

I loved walking by these things

The majestic beauty,

The quiet grace,

The simple, lovely sights

Temple Square is just meant to be photographed.

I brought my mom's very nice, expensive, precious, new camera (Thank you Mom!) I had to do this right and get some nice photographs. Investigative work needs photos.

Passing through temple square and snapping lovely photos was just an added bonus

I could not have asked for a better interview with my great-aunt. In fact, it exceeded my expectations. This is hard to do, I mean, it's Aunt Lavina. If you don't understand the significance of this, you will, when you read about her. This wonderful woman deserves to have a book written about her. There was so much I could have put in, so much more to be catalogued. Someone in our family truly does need to write her story in book form. She has so much material, you know. Not to mention her personal history is already recorded, just there to be used as a great resource.

Just as I knew she would be, she was so full of pearls of wisdom and gems of knowledge and history. I cannot wait to post her interview! I want it to be perfect... but it's coming soon, I promise.

After the interview, Lavina took me to one of the loveliest lunch spots I've ever been to. She is so good at making each one of her great-nieces and nephews feel special. It was almost as if she knew...

Picture this: Audrey Hepburn homages + I Love Lucy 50's style themes + Retro Antiques + Adorable Cupcakes and Café foods

Bliss...

Even their cups of water were cute!

Those fluffy pillows were silky. Silky!

I've decided if I could jump into a pile of silky pillows, I could thereafter live a full and happy life.

Those cupcakes were so tasty...

Pink is not usually my favorite color, but it fit! It was all pink and happy.

Happy Kait

Mini's in Salt Lake is such a swell hangout, I was jolly. (I even flashed the braces. I usually try not to do this for a camera.)

You should go there too if you want to see the things I just told you about. If it's not your cup of tea, I get it... Me, I was happy as a clam.

Aunt Lavina got the award winning cupcake, the Chocoholic. I got the Diva. (Raspberry and cream cheese! Ooh la la.)

That 50's retro had me grinning. They had 50's aprons! You're talking to the girl who was giddy when she saw these

They're from Shabby Apple.

I think I'd cook every day if I could wear that. Or... I'd just prance around, pretending to be her:

Shabby Apple routinely reads my mind, putting out the lovely vision of fashion I'm dreaming of.

My faves:

Old style, movie-like fashion with French, 1940's and 50's references. This to me, is va va voom. Splendid.

Anyhoo. Now that we're done with that self-indulgent stuff, it's a very wonderful, lovely and virtuous lady's birthday today. I owe her everything, including my life.

I asked her which picture of herself she wanted, and she said she'd like this one:

Little Tammy, Age 6

Happy Birthday Mom!

Thank you for loving me, for listening to me, for doing things that make me feel so special. I hope you have a beautiful day, filled with simple pleasures and the many things that you love.