Matt's new tattoo

This is a Celtic Cross for Matt's Scottish heritage. It is the cross for the Isle of Iona. It has a pretty neat story, you should definitely google it, but I will sum it up as best I can. Basically an Irish Priest was banished from Ireland for his involvement in a battle and he went to the Isle of Iona. This is where an extraordinary conversion of many pagans (Scottish mostly, but also English and Irish) into Christianity took place. The Priest (along with a few others) started a monastery on this Isle of Iona. So there ya go! Another meaningful Celtic tattoo =)

My new tattoo...

So I finally did it! And I love it! I wanted something tasteful, but that had meaning for me. This was definitely a good choice I think. In case you can't tell, its a shamrock, but also an Irish knot. I'm (part) Irish (kanaly), and the shamrock is the Irish Christian symbol of the Holy Trinity. It was used by St. Patrick to teach the pagans about the Trinity. The Irish knot symbolizes eternity... and the three hearts inside the shamrock are for Jake, Hailey and Matt! So there ya go! It wasn't as painful as I expected, and it was pretty fast too. The tattoo artist was awesome! And of course this made Matt want another tattoo! He's planning his "sleeve." =) Ok back to our last night of child-free relaxing at the beach!!! =)

Love,
Ash

Afternoon at the boardwalk

Vacation Part One- No kids allowed!

As a graduation present, my mother has been nice enough (or crazy enough, you pick... read on) to take our two darling angels while we go on vacation from Monday-Friday. Friday morning we will meet her to pick up the kids and have Part Two of our vacation with Jake and Hailey. So far it has been pretty relaxing. We started out the week by heading to Atlantic City, where we managed to only spend $100!!! Can you believe it? Yeah, we're that good! lol... we obviously left without the $100 but it lasted us a while on the slots and roulette wheel.
We played at the Borgata, then around 11pm headed to Ocean City, Maryland (well Fenwick Island, DE actually). Needless to say, we were taking turns driving and keeping each other awake. If you notice in the picture below, we are sharing ipod earphones because the radio wasn't working. Matt was lucky enough to be serenaded several times throughout the trip... usually the chorus to every song we were listening to... he loved it! lol, haha.
Tuesday morning we slept in (well I was up at 9:45... it was the best I could do). Then we laid around for a while, showered, headed to the outlets then to outback for dinner. Oh and somewhere in there we went grocery shopping... Harris Teeter is awesome by the way! They have samples all over the store! This was our breakfast since it was 11am by the time Matt was up and ready to go grocery shopping. =)
Wednesday we went back to Rehoboth (after sleeping in and laying around again... and watching Into the Wild) to go to Walmart. We picked up stuff to fix the bikes, a bike trailer so we can pull the kids along, and a new bike for Matt. Then we went around town and came home for a bike ride. Then to Harpoon Hannah's for dinner... which was amazing!!! After that we went to a tattoo shop for prices... so more details on that later. Then we came home got our bikes and went up to play basketball... I lost in case you were wondering. =)
Today is our last day without children!!! So we have bigs plans! lol, sorta... I'll let you know what we end up doing later. Maybe I'll post pictures too =) Hope everyone is having as much of a relaxing week as we are.... I still miss my babies and can't wait to see them tomorrow!!

P.S.- Jake has managed to climb over gates and knock them down to escape his bedroom at grandma's house... so mom seems a little tired! lol thanks again mom! I called her Tuesday morning and she said that Jake climbed over the gate and went all the way to her basement in our old bedroom where missionaries are currently staying. They were nice enough to bring him back up to bed, where mom heard them and came in. Next night, after mom put two gates up, Jake climbed/knocked them down and mom got up the next morning to find Jake sleeping on the couch. I think he might have been looking for us, which is incredibly cute and kinda sad... but really funny when its not happening to us! Thank you thank you thank you mom! We owe you! =)


Love,
Ashley

Happy Graduation!!!

So it's official... I am a college graduate! =) I have received my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Eastern University. =) I am very excited! It was a wonderful ceremony followed by a great party thrown by my family at my brother's house. Thank you so much Mike and Michelle for all of the work/cooking/cleaning/entertaining you did to celebrate my graduation! And thank you to Mom, Steve and Heather for all of your help with the party and with the kids during graduation! A special thank you to Jen and Kristin for making the long trip up to PA in traffic to be at my graduation... it really meant so much to me!!! And to everyone else that came and/or brought food.... thank you!! And of course for all of the wonderful gifts and cards, thank you thank you thank you!!! I love you all!!! It was so special and it meant a lot that you all were there to celebrate this with me. It was a long 2 semesters to finish this up, and I could not have done it without the help and encouragement of my family and friends. I'm so excited to be done!!!!! =) Anyway, here are so pics below....








More pics at:
thekanalysmithfamily.shutterfly.com

9 years...

This weekend marked the nine year anniversary of my Dad going to heaven. I was reminiscing and thinking about the last couple of days/weeks/months around his death. For those of you that don't know, he was on the heart transplant list at Hopkins when he died. For years we prayed for him to get a new heart, and God definitely answered our prayers (just not in the way we thought). As much as I miss him, its so wonderful to know that he doesn't feel the pain of heart disease anymore.
A couple of months before he passed away I was in Sunday School at church and we were just going through this book asking everyone different questions. My question was "Who is your hero?" My answer was my dad for so many reasons... the main reason was that no matter how much he suffered, he rarely complained or showed signs that he was in pain. To the point that he would drive himself to the hospital if he was having a heart attack. I didn't know at the time how bad of condition his heart was in. Anyway, so it got back to him that he was my hero, so for weeks when he was leaving for work I would hear "Come give your hero a kiss goodbye, I'm going to work" lol... he had such a funny sense of humor.
Love you and miss you dad! Wish you were gonna be here for graduation, but I know you will there in spirit!