DoTerra

Have any of you used any brand of essential oils? My husband and I have been using essential oils for some time now... and we LOVE THEM!!! Just to give a quick explanation: Essential oils are natural aromatic compounds found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers, and other parts of plants. Each has different uses and some we just like for the smell. We have signed up as Independent Product Consultants and would invite anyone who is interested to call us, e-mail us, or go to our website www.mydoterra.com/chelseasmith. We aren't trying to use our blog as a means of pushing some product on our friends and family, but these oils help us on a daily basis and we thought you all might be interested.

Uses

We, personally, have found these oils can relieve various ailments like muscle/joint pain, insomnia, burns, cold and flu, restless legs, headaches, bad moods/stress (good one for Westin), cankers, sores, ear infections, allergies to name a few. The uses can be endless and we have a book that gives us a guide to all sorts of maladies. Other people have other needs and there are oils for those, but these are the ones that we have needed in our family. They can be applied topically (directly on the skin), internally, and aromatically (they have diffusers that sends the aroma into the air or put it on a cotton ball and smell it).

Why doTERRA?

Other brands of essential oils are good but doTERRA is really the best. If any of you have a certain brand that you like, I would recommend looking into some comparisons. Usually essential oils are what they call "therapeutic" grade, but doTERRA does not use any fillers or artificial ingredients. They test every batch to make sure it is free of any pesticides or unwanted contaminates from various weeds or anything like that, whereas other brands just do random testing here and there. They also make sure and take the oils from plants that are grown under the right conditions and harvested at the right time to get the most effective oils. They also have a great business opportunity.

So if any of you would like to experiment with these oils just let us know. If you would like to sign up you can call us or go to our doTERRA website www.mydoterra.com/chelseasmith. We are also having a meeting on August 5th in Mountain Green. There will be some product giveaways and anyone who attends will get a 10% discount on anything they want to order.

Brazil, There and Back Again...

So much to say... and right now I have barely enough energy to put all these pictures up. I suspect that Westin will come along after and add more captions and details but as for now this is what you get...

We went to Brazil, now we are back home. It was shorter than expected but we had some good times and are glad that we were able to go have those experiences together. Either Westin or I will eventually add to this post, or have a whole post dedicated to why we are home early, but for now just know that we are healthy, happy, and glad to be back in the States.

(I know there are not very many captions... I may eventually add more)

Leaving Salt Lake City

Everyone has hammocks in their homes in Brazil, something we plan on implementing in Utah.

Drinking coconut milk from a coconut

Yes, we ate chicken feet!!! (this is something disgusting, I don't recommend it)

Santarem!!! Our favorite part of the trip.

We took a plane ride to Santarem (Westin's favorite part of his mission) It was awesome. These aren't in the chronological order but still enjoy.

Still in Santarem, the Amazon in the background.

Playing at the members house in Santarem. (this is where Serena was happiest the whole trip)

Church in Santarem

Family Home Evening with the Members in Santarem. They were so happy to have Westin return to visit them. This is where my favorite memories of Brazil are. The members LOVED Westin and had such nice things to say about when he served his mission there.

It was the World Cup while we were there, so we sported our Brazil propaganda.

Enjoy... POST A COMMENT!!!

More updates to come

VIsa's!

Getting our Visa's has been so frustrating. I will spare you all the boring details but just know it cost us twice as much to get our visa's as it did our passports. Also until today we weren't sure we would have our visa's in time to leave. But I am excited to announce that we will have our visa's in time to leave! Yipee! 12 days and counting! Enjoy the picture of Iguazu fall's in Brazil!

LIfe at the Smith's

So we have been living at Westin's parents house for about a week now getting ready for the big move to Brazil. Thing have been going really well, Serena loves having her Aunts, Uncles, Grandmas and Grandpas close to play with her.

Serena loves the bouncer here, she loves it so much that she sleeps in it.

A new found love for Serena is root beer floats. She doesn't seem to be able to get enough of them... we just need to work on her eating them without it getting all over her face.

(Enter Westin) It all started when Serena was bitten by a radio-active spider (not a genetically engineered super-spider like the movie implies). Anyway, after the painful life lesson that involved the death of her uncle she learned that with great power comes great responsibility. So began her crime-fighting career.

There is no way that there could be a cuter Web-Crawling, Cutie-Pie. Definitely Daily Bugle worthy.

Spider-Girl reveals her identity.

She was kind enough to pose for a picture with a lame civilian. Definitely NOT Daily Bugle worthy.

This post is definitely worth of at least double digit comments if not triple. And make 'em GOOD. If not, we will threaten you all with some sort of mystical malady.

Were Moving.....

To Brazil!!!



I know most of you know this already, but I have to make it official by blogging about it. So here are the top 10 questions we've had about it.

10- Why? Well, (among many other reasons) we have always wanted to go down there for more than just a vacation (for those of you who don't know that is where Westin served his mission) and we decided that if we were really going to now is the time to do it, before we have more kids and while Westin is in school and not focusing on starting a career.
9- When? We fly out June 5th and fly back December 17th
8- Will we leave Serena with you? NO
7- What are we going to do down there? Westin will work teaching English, and we will travel all over visiting Westin's mission sites and other fun places he wasn't able to visit on his mission.
6- Where will you live? Belem. (if you look on the map it is up on the top right, right on that delta that connects to the Amazon River) This was Westin's mission and we have some contacts down there who will let us stay with them till we find an apartment.
5- Do you speak Portuguese? Westin does, I am learning... very slowly.
4- What are you most excited for? EVERYTHING!
3- What kind of food is there down there? Fresh fruit, rice and beans, shrimp... all sorts of deliciousness!
2- Are you nervous about the healthcare down there? Not so much, the doctors are very competent they just don't have the means to get big equipment, but if you go to the right clinics you don't really have much to worry about.
1- Can we come visit? YES, YES, and YES!
0- Are you really going to move to Brazil? YES, tickets are bought and we are moving out of our apartment this weekend! (we will live with Westin's parents for a month to save up some money for when we get down there)



We are so excited! If you have any more questions let me know, but post a comment anyway!

Welcome Avery!

Welcome Avery Lu! Although, a little earlier that we had wanted we are happy you are here, you are beautiful and I can't wait to come meet you! Your cousin Serena is giddy with excitement about having you here.

Avery Wallace
6lb 1 oz
19 inches long
April 21, 2010

Also, our prayers go out to Avery's mom Leisa, who will have surgery today to remove kidney stones AND gal-stones! Poor Leisa, she is such a trooper.

Playing Catch-Up

I unloaded a whole bunch of pictures off of the camera today and here is the happy result!

Serena playing at the park. Note: I LOVE springtime!

Me, Serena, and Joseanne playing at the park

Westin climbed up to the top of that weird spiderweb thingy we were playing on. Here he is showing off how cool he is at the top.

The other morning I went in to get Serena from her crib and this is what I found, her STANDING UP! When did she get big enough to do this? I don't know.

Very late Easter picture, and it isn't even that good of one. We had an Easter egg hunt at both Grandma's houses but I only got this one picture of it at Grandma Smith's.

Also, Serena has been so cute when she gets laid down in her crib. She immediately roll onto her tummy and sticks her butt in the air. I couldn't help but get a picture.

Anyway, thanks for looking. PLEASE post a comment.