Jill Smothers Neal » Holiday

She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger…with his binky

Jill — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:43:47 +0000

So, it has been a good 3 and a half months since my last blog…but every girl deserves a little maternity leave, right?
My little guy will be 4 months old on Christmas Day, on which day I will probably sacrilegiously put a little Santa hat my sister gave me on his head and take a million pictures. I can’t help myself. He is so cute and getting cuter by the day me thinks. Today he sat in his swing and talked (and sort of yelled) to himself for about an hour straight.

In the meantime, though, he had the chance to play a part in what is the actual Christmas story. Our friends Dave and Keri have a Christmas festival of sorts at their church every year. Normally Dave gets mistaken for Jesus on a semi-monthly basis, but I thought he and his wife made a great Joseph and Mary that night when they borrowed C for their little station as kids came around and interacted with them. Fun, huh?
Merry Christmas everybody!

Happy Easters!

Jill — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:49:45 +0000

Or Happy Resurrection Day as we evangelicals like to say! Seth and I went to the sunrise service this morning at 6:30 am. I was a little worried that the sun wasn’t actually going to rise during that hour since Easter is so early this year but alas it did.

Sooo….it has been awhile since I have blogged but I plead pregnancy. One of the sisses wanted to see a picture of me so here I am in my 18th week. Not very big but I am really liking that because I am comfortable and feeling so much better in my second trimester in general.

I am in the midst of packing today to leave town tonight and make some scalloped potatoes at the same time for a dinner we will go to this afternoon. I love holiday feasts and am making deviled eggs, strawberry lemonade and the potatoes for this particular occasion. I was tempted to make the potatoes from a box since Seth insisted they were just as good but we’ll see what happens with the a’ la original dish. Seth is funny – I made the eggs last night and when I heard him open the fridge door, I rushed into the kitchen to tell him I had only made a certain amount only to find one stuffed in his mouth already. The man does not waste time. Him and my dad – LOVE deviled eggs. I’ll save a deviled egg story about my dad for another time.

Am going to Vegas tonight for a few days to a bridal trade show – to actually work for a competitor of my old boss Maggie Sottero. It’s kind of a long story but I am hoping that it is a fun time and don’t mind making a little extra money. Vegas on Easter or bust!

And Tigger Brought His Gifts of Incense and Myrrh

Jill — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:25:07 +0000

OK – so I know I am getting a little obnoxious with the pictures of lawn ornamentation, but seriously, I can’t even believe it. Do people just go to the store and buy every “Christmas” balloon on the shelf?

Quote of the day: “When I speak of home, I speak of the place where – in default of a better – those I love are gathered together; and if that place were a gypsy’s tent, or a barn, I should call it by the same good name notwithstanding. ” Charles Dickens

Have a Merry Christmas this season, in whatever home that may be!

Our First Snow and Ruth’s Diner

Jill — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:23:34 +0000

December is almost here and I find myself pleasantly unstressed by the holidays. I have been trying to slow down and enjoy the season a little bit more. Have been watching some Christmas movies gradually (which always includes of course “Christmas Vacation” – I know, so irreverent) and baking cookies as I want to, not out of obligation to give a plate of goodies to everyone I know (that will pile up next to 15 other gifts of sweets they will receive), but just as I get a hankering. It’s been nice – a good change for me.

Seth and I took a couple hours yesterday (our first day of snow in the valley) to go have breakfast up Immigration Canyon at Ruth’s Diner. This place is known for its mile high breakfast bisquits and hour long wait on a Saturday morning. It is the second oldest restaurant in SLC and quite a landmark actually. Back in her day, Ruth was an irreverent, saucy lady who also ran a brothel across from her restaurant downtown in the 1930′s – a churchgoing Mormon lady she was not. The restaurant was moved into a trolley car and found it’s way up the canyon eventually to stay. Before Ruth died sometime in the 1980′s at the ripe old age of 94, someone went to visit her and was horrified to find a gun under one of her couch cushions. After the guest shrieked that the gun was loaded, Ruth calmly replied “Well, it wouldn’t do me much good empty, now would it?”