Get Ready for the Update

So...I have to give myself a bit of break after having to do Christmas all by myself this year, giving a talk in church, giving a lesson in church, Scott giving a talk in church, hosting company twice and teaching my online class. However, I have been a very bad blogger. Who does not post about two birthdays and two holidays? So here you go, my vomit update (for lack of a better word). Proceed with caution.

National Christmas Tree

The first snow of the year here we decided to go into the city and see the National Christmas Tree. People are afraid of snow so that meant small crowds. It was great. We went to the national arboretum and say an incredible train display in fairy forest made all out of plants.
Then we went and say the tree. It was a great time.

Arlington National Cemetary

Each year a company in Maine makes wreaths and drives them down to be placed on older sections of Arlington National Cemetery. They ask for volunteers to come and help lay them and remember our veterans. This year, we got to participate. It was awesome. Going to Arlington is always an overwhelming experience. This time it was nice to say thank you in a very small way.

God Bless Us Everyone!

Our Christmas this year was great. We were more than a little sad we would not be celebrating it in Idaho but we had a great time out here. I had all of the shopping done before Monday the 21st so the last week was spent just having fun. We made snowflakes and cookies, and chocolate covered pretzels. We went to a party for the BYU bowl game. When went to a live nativity at a baptist church up the street and to the Christmas lights at the temple. We sipped hot chocolate and read Christmas stories. It was just so fun.
I think what I have like most about this Christmas is being able to read the stories, from a book my mom gave me a few years ago, by the light of Christmas tree each night before the girls went to bed. When you don't have places you have to be, you have time to do little things like that.
Scott and I spent weekend before Christmas finishing up homemade gifts. He would burn videos on the computer while I made the girls baby carriers. It was just so fun. And we listened to Christmas music and talked about past Christmases. I know it sounds lame but we really were straight out of movie.
On Christmas Eve we did a Nazareth night, Scott's families tradition. Kayt was Mary, she has been prepping for the role all month. Ella was a Sheppard. I was the angel and Scott was Joseph and the Wise men. Kayt was insistent that we act out the Christmas story as Scott read it. I am glad she was. It was so nice and calming and really helped us focus on Christ.
Then it was opening up Christmas P.J.'s and off to bed. I still get excited to open the present on Christmas eve, even though I know exactly what it will be. Scott's grandma gave us our Christmas p.j.'s this year and they were perfect.
Kayt was so excited she could not sleep. Every sound she heard shot her straight up in bed, peeking out the window. She was so concerned about going to sleep she couldn't go to sleep. Scott finally had to go in a lay by her and rub her hands to get her to calm down.
Much to Kayt's excitement Santa came to the Smith house! Kayt and Ella were so excited. It was so great to watch their eyes pop as they saw what Santa had left. They are both so pleased with the simplest things. I wish we didn't loose that along the way. Every little detail was the coolest things they had ever seen. They were extra kind and sensitive all day. Ella literally did not stop hopping around until she went down for a nap around 3pm. It was so sweet.
Later that day Cody and Skye Beckley our good friends that live in Maryland came down to spend the day. They had Christmas dinner with us and spent the night. We played games and ate treat and watched movies. It was great.
Saturday we went to Annapolis, Maryland. It is the coolest place I have been out here for sure so far. I loved it, even though it was raining the whole time. It is so old and right on the harbor and so quaint it was awesome. We ate a place called Sofi's crepery and checked out the navel academy and boats on the water. It was so fun. After Annapolis we sadly parted ways. We love the Beckley's. Again, they are our family away from family!!
We finished our Saturday at the Frost's home, one of Scott's mission companions and good friends of ours. They invited us to the big Christmas feast with his whole family. It was great to see them Ryan and Alie again.
Finally, Sunday was our ward Christmas program. I started singing we the ward choir and have loved it. I really like to sing. It has helped me get to know more people as well. The music was beautiful, the spirit was strong and the meeting was made perfect by Scott's fabulous talk! HE was bit intimidates being the only speaker on the Christmas program and coming after, Jenny Baker a super accomplished Violinist played Ave Maria and the choir sang and wonderful vocal solos and....But Scott did fantastic. His message was so simple; each of us needs to decide each day to let Christ into our lives. We each get to decide if we are going to get caught up in the details of running our lives or if we are going to step back out of the wind and feel the love of God.
All in all, it was a fantastic Christmas, filled with the glow of Christmas. We had time to do the little things, visit some widows in the ward, go to nativities, read good stories, sing the Christmas songs, talk with family, watch Christmas shows. Just enjoy each other and remember Jesus. We are so blessed.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

We experienced the first white Christmas in 20 years in Washington D.C. this year. The week before Christmas the snowstorm of the decade hit the D.C. area and dropped 3 feet of snow in 24 hours. It was incredible. We couldn't get in or out of our parking space it was so deep. The Smith family was giddy with excitement. We put the snow gear we had on the girls and headed out for a night time stroll. Kayt could not stop tromping through the deepest snow she could find and yelling the few Spanish words she knows at the top of her lungs. Ella just shuffled along, proud of here trial she was making. It was so much fun. It was so quiet, a real rarity around here, and peaceful. It just put us in such a Christmas mood.

Thankfully the snow stuck around until the Saturday after Christmas. The girls and I took the time to build a snowman out on our porch on one of the warmer days. It was pretty fun. Ella still is not sure what she thinks about snow but Kayt would play in it all day given the chance. She was so cold after our walk we had to put her feet in cold water before we could put them in warm. But she was upset she had to come in. Crazy girl!!

Happy Birthday Dear Scott....

Scott has a poorly positioned birthday! I don't think it is any secret. This year however, I did not want to just remember it was his birthday but to make it kind of special for him. So.....I made him a cake and invited friends over to share it with us. I know, I know this was going above and beyond. (what a poor wife I am) This is a major improvement from past years though.

It was a great time. We have some great friends out here and it was so nice to have people around that really care about him. Our home teachers stopped by just before the party got rollin' and stayed for cake and ice cream. It was so nice of them. We have great home teachers for the first time ever. I think we have had more visits here than in the past 5 years combined. They are fantastic.
The highlight of the party however was Kayt's gift to Scott. She has wanted to get him a prince costume for a year now. I thought the need would die down but every time I asked what she wanted to get him it was a prince costume. So, we headed to the thrift store and came up big!! Kayt was so excited. I would pull a few options off the rack and she would carefully decided which looked the best. After we purchased the costume she exclaimed, "daddy is going to look so handsome." Handsome and fancy are the latest additions to her vocabulary.

Scott is such a good sport. He tried the costume on for everyone to see and has worn it several times since to play with Kayt. Does a dad get any better than that?!


Scott and I went out on his official birthday for our first date in 3 months. By the time I got to his work and he got out of his meeting we were able to grab some cheesecake at cheesecake factory. It was as good as we had both remembered!!! It was so nice just to be with him. I think Kayt was as excited about me going out on a date with Scott as I was. She sat in the bathroom with me and gave me hair and makeup pointers and told me what shirt I needed to where. She had one all picked out the looked "fancy". As I was leaving she said, "mom you look beautiful." She is such a sweetheart. She has gone on many dates, with her "prince" since.

It is a little scary how much kids follow what you do.

Anyway, all in all a great birthday!!! I love you Scott.

Happy Thanksgiving to us

Thanksgiving was slated to be great this year as we planned to celebrate with out good friends the Chaffee's. However, we were super suprised when we got an early morning phone call telling us Scott's mom, dad and cassi we coming out. Our first visitors!!!!!! And they were going to make it in time for Kayt's birthday.

We had a fantastic time. Kayt's birthday was great. They treated us to a great restaurant just down the street called Artie's that has the best Creme Brulea I think any of us have tasted. Then we have Kayt's birthday cake and presents afterwards. This a great way to end the day for me. I had previously locked myself out of the house with no keys to get back in. Fortunately a good neighbor helped me out. (watch for a "my own worst enemy" post soon)

The next day was Thanksgiving and we had a great feast. It was fun having a lot of hands in the kitchen and puttering around as we put on the big dinner. I love the details of Thanksgiving. The homemade cranberry sauce, dough leaves on top of the pumpkin pie, cranberry salad. All of the little details make the dinner I think. Once again Scott did a great job cooking the turkey. It is a good thing her can cook meat because I sure can't. The Chaffee's, our family away from family, came over and celebrated with us as well.

That night we went in to the city to see the monuments. They are the best at night!!! The next day we went and did a little touring of the city. I think the crowds were a little overwhelming for some in our group so we cut it short. It was just too much.

Saturday morning we headed to the great park up the street. It was so fun. I love that my mother-in-law loves to play as much as the girls do. They always have so much fun playing pretend, swinging on swings, chasing each other around. I like to just sit back and watch them all play. Scott was able to dust off the old basketball shoes as Cassi gave him a run for his money on the court.

It was such a great holiday. Thank you for taking the time to come and see us. I know it was not convenient but we loved having you here.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Happy Birthday my Little Princess

Kayt Sherrie Smith turned 4 on November 25th. I can't believe how big she is getting. She can do everything now "because I am 4." It is like magical switch was flipped. I ask her to go and get dressed and she does, tights, shoes, hair brushed, sweater- The whole nine yards. And...she usually matches. She puts her dress up on by herself, plays by her self, goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night without waking us up, plays at friends houses. I could go on and on. I have to say I am very excited about her new found independence. Especially since she is still just a sweetheart! No new attitude, just independence.
When I take the time to just sit with Kayt and listen to her sing and have her ramble on to me (a quiet minute is a wasted minute in Kayt's book), I just want to squeeze her. My heart is so full of love for this little girl that I just feel overwhelmed, if that makes sense? I never new I would love my children this way. There are times a lay in bed at the end of the day and feel so sad another day has passed, they are another day older and I won't get this one back. I almost panic when I think of sending her off to Kindergarten. Thank goodness it is a year and half away. The thought of not having her talk my ear off all day with tales of pretend really makes me sad.
Kayt is seriously the sweetest thing I have encountered. I don't know anybody that feels as deeply as she does. Every emotion comes form the deepest corners of her heart. And she has no troubles sharing it.
Kayt has blossomed into a little socialite. She loves to perform and will sing primary songs anywhere, anytime, to anyone or not to anyone. It doesn't matter, if she feels like she will sing. She loves to make up songs of her own, usually about Jesus and her family. She loves family home evening and won't let a Monday pass without it. Anytime we go to a park or play area she instantly scans the area for potential friends. When she finds them, she marches right up and introduces herself and the fun begins.
The other day we had a friend over for dinner. She sat down by him at the table and frankly asked, "so how is your work going?" Then waited for a response. She told me dad "congratulations on having your own car work, that is amazing." It cracks me up. She loves people, the camera, princesses, family, babies, pretend everything. The world is truely her oyster. She asks so many questions I can't keep up some days. Kayt is truely my little angel. I can't imagine a world without her and I am thankful everyday that I get to be her mother.

BIRTHDAY DETAILS
Kayt had her first friend party this year. She had 3 friends over for a tea party. It was great. We had little sandwiches, pink lemonade and cupcakes. The girls came all dressed up and made crowns and jewelry. Kayt loved it.

We had Scott's family come in for Thanksgiving and they got here just in time to celebrate her birthday with her on the night of the 25th. It was so great to have family here. Kayt loved playing with grandma and grandpa and Cassie.

For pictures of the event. Watch the smile box!!

The holidays are here....

This is an earlier attempt at getting caught up but it has the locking myself out story so enjoy!

Well it is that time again. The most wonderful time of the year?! No this year it truely has been, Thanksgiving anyway. Scott's mom, dad and sister Cassi decided to make the cross country trip to spend Thanksgiving with us. I am not exaggerating when I say tears come to my eyes when I hear the news. I have been so homesick this move and having family around was just what I needed. It was a great 4 days.

Getting ready for company is always such a chore but I only locked myself out of the house one time, so things went well. I dropped Scott's car off to have the window fixed and quickly walked the mile home so I could finish Kayt's birthday cake before Scott returned from the airport with his fam. I was doing so well on time I thought I might even get all the beds set up. I got to the top of the stairs, looked in my purse, and realized "hmmm" the house key was on Scott's car keys which is back at the shop! AWESOME!!!!

Now this is the second time this has happened to me/us. The first time Scott was home and he charged at the door and it opened. So I thought, I am a good size girl, I could pop this door open. After 4 attempts at ramming myself into our door, I reaigned myslef to the fact I needed a key.
Thank goodness our kind neighbor, rode his bike to the shop and got my key for me. Thank goodness for friends!!

I got the cake done just time for everyone to arrive. Kayt had a fantastic birthday!