Holiday lights at Thanksgiving point.

Because Christmas was fastly approaching we thought it would be fun to spend a night and go see the Holiday lights. Unfortunately everyone in Utah county was thinking the same thing. There were people everywhere! We had our hearts set on eating at Texas Roadhouse, so as soon as we buckled our seat belts I called to get us in. They told me it would be an hour wait and we were driving from Nephi to Lehi, so I thought that would work perfect. Well when we finally found a parking and I squeezed through the 900 people waiting inside they informed me it would be another 45 min. We didn't have enough time, so we went to Panda Express instead. They too were bombed and we ended up having to eat in the car. At this point I was hating people!

We finally got over to Thanksgiving point and this was the line to get in! Over 45 min to get to the entrance, plus Nikki's gas light kicked on when we were about half way down. My mom kept calling in a panic thinking they were going to run out. We were in separate cars so Casey said if they ran out he would push them and I could drive our car. I can see the headline now "Stupid women goes to drive-thru lights show with no gas...her brother-in-law pushed her instead." Jay Leno would have been all over that! Luckily she did make it through and we were saved from the embarrassment! The kids loved the lights and Cael said his favorite was the toy soldiers shooting the cannons over the cars! Of coarse that was the one I didn't get a picture of. On the way out they had a big display over the road with Santa waving goodbye. Well my mom must have been smelling the fumes from the van, because she asked Nikki what Sania was. Nikki and the kids started laughing and let her know that it was T not an i and it is pronounced SANTA.

After we made it through the show we headed over to see the Reindeer. These must have been the rejects from Santa, because they were not in the Christmas spirit and just laid there. The kids still thought they were cool.

Jarrett Christmas Party...

This year we were over the annual Earl Jarrett family Christmas party. We have had this party my whole life, but we use to have it on Christmas Eve at my grandparents house. It would start out with a big meal and then us kids would play with our cousins downstairs until dinner had been "completely" cleaned up (which was torture and felt like an eternity!) Then the adults would agree that we could exchange PRESENTS with the cousin that we had drew. I remember staring at the list of who everyone would buy for that hung on my grandma's fridge. Oh I couldn't wait to find out who would be buying me a gift! Then when it was time for the party I couldn't wait to find it under the tree. This party was something I looked forward to every year and I would pray that I wouldn't be sick and have to miss it. But like everything in life, times change and the family soon out grew my grandpa's house. Starting in 2005 the family moved the party and the date to the weekend before Christmas which has worked really well. We started having the party in the basement of the School district office, but we again out grew it and decided to have it in the Juab county cultural hall which worked fabulous! We had plenty of room to set up everything and even a place to do our craft.

As many of you know, I'm not a cook! I quickly volunteered to do the invites and craft, which left the real cooks of the family to decided what we would be having! Papa Reid decided on marinated turkey, so we did the traditional yummy potatoes, salads, school lunch rolls (thanks to my mother-in-law), and my Uncle Rodger brought carrot cake. We had PLENTY of food and it was all Yummy!

These are the ornament we did for a craft. They actually turned out good considering I thought them up in about 5 min while standing the craft isle at Walmart the night before the party....Me a procrastinator, No I just work better under pressure! ha ha

Getting ready for the present Relay.

Opening a present with gloves, quickly turned into eating off the paper! It was entertaining to watch!

I'm glad our turn is over for a while and I'm already looking forward to next year!

You'll never believe....

what I found while cleaning out my fridge! While some add layers of clothing during frigid temp, my little Darling chooses to take off layer until she is completely Naked! She feels that wearing her diaper is optional, while her mother would beg to differ! I'm hoping she is trying to inform me that she is ready to start potty training, but then I see her standing by the toilet with her shirt lifted trying to pee like a boy. I guess this Naked time thing is just a phase....hopefully!

Ward Christmas Party...

December 2, 2009
The first Christmas Party of the Season....Yahoo. I remember going to my first Christmas party in the 8Th ward (2004) and I felt sooo uncomfortable. We didn't really know anyone and the only reason we were there was because we were on the activity committee, but man have times changed! Now it feels like just another family party! We always trade with the 2ND ward so they serve us-we serve them. This year we had roast, potatoes, corn, the works..

Waiting for Santa...

We finally got to Santa and of coarse the Smith kids freaked! So I took this cute picture of my neighbor Cooper showing Santa his Toys R Us ad.
My kids will probably be 15 before I will ever get a pic of them with Santa!

The surprise of the night was Cael going up and singing with the primary. He has matured sooo much the last couple of months and I about fell off my chair when he headed up to sing.

On December 13 the primary did their program in Sacrament meeting. Cael had a part and both sets of Grandparents came to watch him. His part was "God's creations blesses us." He had is memorize by show time and did such a good job. Before they went to their seats at the front Cael had told grandma Linda he was going to be ok because he had a lot of candy in his pocket. The sunbeams were on the front row and about half way through Cael kept disappearing behind the railing. I couldn't figure what he was doing until he stood up with his mouth full of candy. He said his part without having to be helped and then gave us all a big grin! The last song must have got to him because he started singing Opera style with his mouth wide open and his head moving back and forth as the words flowed out! I had no idea he liked to sing that much. His favorite song is "I am a builder." I wish I could have got a picture. He loves Primary and I appreciate the leaders for always making it fun. He even loves his 3 Pre-O ring (ctr). We are just hoping he doesn't choke on this new ring like the last one.

Sledding....

Hooray for snow, and a warm day to enjoy it! While Nikki and my mom went Christmas shopping the kids came over to play and the boys spent most of their day outside....which was fabulous! They quickly made a snow hill out of the slope in our yard and pretty much only came in to change gloves. They have been obsessed with Batman and of coarse I only have one pair of batman glove for them to fight over. So I had to be creative and convince Gavyn that the grey pair with green strips was The Riddlers, Multi stripe was the Jokers, and the blue pair was Mr. Freeze's. My plan backfired when they started fighting of the Mr.Freeze pair! Anyway....When Casey got home from work they convinced him to get the 4-wheeler out and take them for a spin. The weather was perrrfect so Halle joined them for a tour of the neighborhood! Kensie missed out due to her over due Nap time, but I'm sure there will be plenty more good days.

First BIG snow storm...

We finally got a big snow storm. You can see the snow on the roof of the dog kennel. We woke up on Dec 4 to 8 inch and it continued through the day and we ended up with over a foot. Then on Monday the 7 we woke up to another huge storm. It always drives me crazy when people forget how to drive in the snow. I had to take my kids to Nikki's and it took me over 45 min to get from my house to Mona. There were cars off the road and a little path for both sides to try and drive on! On the way back to Nephi I took the free-way, which had been plowed, so I made better time.
It was still snowing like crazy when I went and picked up the kids. We decided to have Gavyn sleep over so Nikki wouldn't have to come in early to bring him to school (her tires are not good). Cael loves sleep overs and we have always just had them sleep on the floor, but my dad gave me the idea to have them sleep foot-to-foot. They slept so much better and I didn't hear nothing from them until 7:00 am the next morning.

Unfortunately they didn't call a snow day, but luckily my car has All Wheel Drive and I was able to get them into preschool. There were a lot of the parent who couldn't get out of Wilde-4-learning's drive way. Welcome Winter!

Smith thanksgiving party..

The end of November was a busy time for us this year. We had Kensie's birthday party, thanksgiving, cousin Raylund homecoming, and the annual Smith Thanksgiving party which was held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Casey's grandma has always had her Thanksgiving dinner on a different day so the whole family can be there. Of coarse I had my camera with me so I finally got a 4 generation picture with Grandma Morgan.

Chris and Jakoye's family picture, oh wait Kensie not in their family (she kept sneaking in).

The party was great! We always have fun visiting and eating the yummy food. The Turkey was sooo moist and to top it all off Aunt Tammy made her famous toffee cake...Yummy!