Part 2: Smith Christmas in Sedona

We took so many pictures over 8 days in Sedona that I think it's easiest to do a top 20 post here. Lists make things easier for me! So, here we go. Christmas in Sedona... top 20 countdown!

20. Sedona is simply gorgeous!

19. Hiking! Daniel and Rick took the kids along on some hikes. It's one of Luke's favorite things to do, so thanks guys for taking him along! :)

18. Nerf Gun Wars. Rick and Sherry got all the grand kids Nerf guns and they all had fun blasting each other during our stay!

17. SNOW!! My little San Antonio/Vegas babies got to see it snow for the first time! We ran outside when we saw that it was coming down and the kids had fun just standing there while it fell. Luke opened his mouth to catch some snowflakes and told me that they "taste like snowballs." Haha.

16. Playing in the snow and blasting each other with snow balls!! It continued snowing through the night and we woke up to this!

Gunnar pegged Luke in the face, and then after a little retaliating Luke got Seth pretty good. Pay it forward I guess :)

I like this picture of Collin and Ethan! Cute guys.

Ella didn't know what to think of all the snow. She hated that it got into her shoes and made her fingers cold, but didn't want to miss out on anything.

Luckily she had Jake to carry her around.

15. Building a snowman! Melanie and Joe helped the kids, and I think it turned out super cute!

14. Swimming! Crazy that we could build a snow man AND swim during our stay! It did help that the pools there are so warm.

13. Treats. And food. Uncle Joe made delicious chocolate chip cookies, Melanie helped the kids make snowman sugar cookies (Logan rocked his!), we all made cake pops together, and the adults indulged in late night ice cream. Wouldn't be a holiday without junk food! I'm glad Kristen and I got a few runs in so I didn't gain fifty pounds! Each couple took a turn making dinner and everyone did a fabulous job on their night. Ben and Hailey made pork salad, Aaron and Kristen made chicken courdon blue, Mel and Joe pizza, Booner made lasagna, Davey rice and pork chops, and Rick and Sherry the delicious Christmas Eve dinner, and Jake and I made Jake's 'Boo-ya' chile.

12. Girls day out! I love hanging out with my sis-in-laws. I lucked out when I married into the family because these girls are the best. We missed you this time around Jenni! We went to Red Chopsticks and shopped around the outlet mall one day while the guys stayed home with the kids.

11. Games!! We stayed up late playing Family Feud, Scattegories, Trivial Pursuit, Anybodys Guess, and Hand and Foot.

10. Non-stop cousin fun! I love that the kids have so many cousins to play with. Luke says they are all his favorite friends. Gunnar and Luke were attached at the hip this time around and even stayed up until after midnight one night playing marbles together. He really wishes that Gunnar still lived down the street from us.

9. Matching PJs. Probably my favorite pictures from each Smith Christmas!

Pictures are oh, so painful for the kids! Haha. One day we'll get a good picture of the grand kids. One day.

And the 3 year olds together.

8. Silly string fight!! Still makes me laugh just thinking about it.

7. Shredded paper and prizes in the bag game. Does this have a name?? It's always funny to see what everyone ends up with. I think Lily's prize(s) were the most hilarious this year. She pulled out a pregnancy test (wanted to keep it)and power puff girl underwear. Go Lily! haha.


6. Lots of chatting and good laughs!

5. Christmas Eve Program

4. Christmas morning and presents! The kids were all so anxious to see what Santa brought. It made it all the more fun for us big people. Luke and Ella got what they had been wanting from Santa, and Jake and I made out pretty good this year too!

Christmas morning kiddos!

Luke, Collin, and Kate all got new wheels that they had to try out outside. Luckily the snow was gone by Christmas morning and it was actually pretty warm outside!

Ella unwrapping her things all by herself this year...

3. Rick's challenge to read The Peacegiver as couples. Jake and I finished it on our drive back home. It was really good.. who wants it next??

2. Family pictures after church. Always entertaining! Here's the big shot of everybody.

1. Celebrating the birth of the Savior together. So fun to be with everyone! Well, almost everyone. We missed Josh and Jenni's family!

Countdown is on for David's wedding in march!

Christmas Vacation Part 1

We went to Mesa before the big Smith get-together in Sedona to hang out with the Gift side of the fam! It was great hanging out with everyone for a couple of days! Abby was in Mesa working for the week, so we were able to see everyone but Chris who was still working in Flagstaff. Luke partied hard in the orange clubhouse he had been wanting to play in so badly (it is even cuter in person if that is possible!), and grandma Pam and grandpa Paul spoiled them as always. Here's Luke in action...

Ella wanted in on the fun too, and as long as she wasn't touching the buttons inside the clubhouse, Luke was fine with that. He thinks that all the buttons are his. You don't want to get in his way when it comes to buttons and blast off switches.

I wanted to bring home a bunch of lemons from the lemon tree but I forgot. Dang! We had fun picking a few though.

Trying to feed grandma...

Yummy waffles made by grandma...

The kids got to play with baby Amy. They love her! Such a cutie.

Aunt Abby. We love her too.

Mom and dad made a tasty Christmas dinner and we opened presents together. It felt like Christmas Eve even though it wasn't. Pretty fun that we got two Christmas Eves this year! :)

After presents we went on a walk to check out the Christmas lights in the neighborhood.

Luke's legs seem to always 'get tired' when he goes places with his grandpas. I think it's because he likes riding on their shoulders. Thanks dad for carrying him around on another adventure! :)

Luke was loving the bikes this visit too. He thought he was cool stuff cruising around and kept racing this older kid who was there. My dad showed him how to ride down the big hills at the park, and mom pushed Ella around since she wanted to ride a bike too.

Up next, our Smith Christmas in Sedona!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Thanks Abby for snapping this picture for us before you guys took off! I think it's fun to see how the kids grow from year to year.

2008...

2007...

2006...

We sent out cards without any picture in 2005 when it was the two of us. I just kept one from each year. So, there we go. If I lose them (or ella finds and rips them up), we'll have them on here to compare with future Christmas photos :)

5 Years!

5 years of marriage today and I'm still crazy about my hubby.

Happy Anniversary Jake! I love you!!

I was looking through some pictures and it was fun remembering our wedding day. How CRAZY the weather was, how excited we were, advice we were given, and promises we made.

Thanks for being you. I'm lucky to be your wife!

Pictures are kind of blurry since I had to scan them. Oh well.
Also, some fun random trivia... This is the Devereaux Mansion the night of our reception...
Anyone know what movie it was in? Anyone?
Hint: Harry and Loyd had a sword fight in their blue and orange tuxedos
as they walked into this place.
If you guessed Dumb and Dumber, nice work! Haha.
Some of our siblings actually are the ones that pointed that trivia
out to us a couple years after our wedding. Kind of funny!

Random December Fun

I have too much to do today to blog, but here we go anyway! We have been busy around here, and Christmas is coming way too fast! So if I don't blog these pictures now I'm afraid they will never make it on. It's all for the sake of the blog book! haha. Anyhow, we set up the Christmas tree before Thanksgiving this year! Luke begged and begged Jake to "surprise mom" and set it up and eventually Jake obliged. It sat undecorated for about a week, and then we decided it needed decorations. The kids and I had fun making cinnamon ornaments, and they have made our house smell like Christmas. Well, I think they smell like Christmas. When we were hanging them on the tree Luke kept saying, "Eew mom, what is that smell!??" That smell is Christmas dude. And, it smells GOOD.

We made an "L" ornament for Mr. Luke and an "E" for Ella. The rest were snowflakes, snow men, and Christmas trees. Ella has been undecorating the tree since we decorated it, so more and more ornaments are making their way to the top so she can't reach them. That little girl is Queen Destructive. She's always into everything just for the fun of messing with things. We love her anyway :)

A few pictures before church one morning. Nope, the whole box of crackers didn't make it to church. They wish.

Yay for hair that's long enough for piggies!!! (barely) Here's our first attempt.

In the last post I mentioned Ella's love for her baby. This isn't the greatest picture, but I love her expression in it because it's such an Ella face when she's asking me something. And, she's got her baby under one arm like she usually does.

We've been invaded by crickets!! Aaaaa!! The little stinkers find their way into our house to get out of the cold. The kids like catching them and letting them go back "to live with their families." If I find them first, they get sucked into the vacuum.

Luke kept asking how much longer until Christmas, so we made a chain. We're all excited that it's getting shorter! He made a gingerbread house again this year too.

I'm off to do chores and play with kids!

A little too much info on a shoe obsession. I Love Kid Stuff. And Being Santa.

If I have a few minutes to sit and relax, my favorite thing to do is browse kid stuff. Toys, clothes, and over the last few months, it has been SHOES. I mean come on, nothing is cuter then a fun pair of kids shoes right? I would rather shop for my kids shoes then my own shoes. And I love it when their feet grow bigger because, well, that would mean that they need new shoes. I think the only person that might be more obsessed with kids shoes is my mom. We sit and talk on the phone while we look at them online. Fun times! I manage to control my little shoe affair and my kids actually don't have that many pairs. Actually, I think Luke has a pair for church and a pair for play right now. It's just fun looking and planning which pair will be next. Here are some cutie shoes I have been eyeing for Ella lately!

(By the way mom, I forgot the name of that website/brand you were talking about so you will have to get it to me again)

Santa brought her the black and white ones as an early gift a few weeks ago since I couldn't squish her feet into her little silver ones anymore, and shhhh... don't tell Ella, but I've heard the pink and brown ones might be a Christmas surprise from grandma and grandpa.

When I got pregnant with Ella, everyone was telling me how much I'd love shopping for a baby girl. And yeah, it has been fun! But, I have always loved shopping for little boy things too! There are so many cute boy shoes and things out there! Luke's feet have been growing lots lately and he had worn his last pair to the max! Anyway, it had been a long time since I got to help him pick out a new pair, so the two of us had a date night a few weeks ago at the mall. He picked out these white and red Nikes and we ended up getting SIZE 10s. No wonder his little toes were getting sore. He totally skipped wearing 9s. Anyway, here are the ones he picked along with some other fun boy shoes to look at. Err... um... maybe they are just fun for me to look at, feel free to click out of my blog! :)

On to other things, I really love this whole Santa business. I've been trying to think of something Ella would really like, but have yet to figure it out. It would be much easier if she could carry on a conversation! Lately she has been loving her baby. She will carry this doll around with her (usually poor baby is upside down) and will love and kiss her. So funny! I love that little girls love babies.

Luke, on the other hand, has told me exactly what he wants from Santa. A red bike, a gun, and a marble toy. Checking out all the bikes out there for little guys has been almost as fun as shoe shopping! Almost.


And, one more fun kid thing!! Luke has been excited to go and visit Arizona because grandpa Paul built a club house. My dad is amazing because he can build or make anything. My parents love kid things too, so I come by it honestly. Anyway, he built the cutest club house I have ever seen and I haven't even seen it in person yet. Check out the club house! Luke whines that he wants to play in it every time he sees this picture.

Luke requested an orange club house with lots of buttons inside. Still obsessed with buttons. So, dad put a panel of buttons and switches in there along with other fun things to do! I'm wanting to play with the switches and buttons myself.

So, it's out there. I'm obsessed with kid things! What are you obsessed with?