The Leid Museum, Warm Winter Days, and a SuNBeAm

The kids and I wanted to get out and do something a couple of days ago (hard to come home from a long vacation and get back to routine) so we headed off to the Leid Childrens Discovery Museum.  It's a fun and educational place to kill a few hours! 

They have an area where you can make all kinds of bubbles.  You can even stand inside of a bubble. 

I love watching Luke's facial expressions when he's making them!   

Luke was scared that the big bubble making contraption thing would fall on him or something.  Haha.

 It makes a really loud noise when you let go of the rope to make a bubble. 

Ella loved the bubbles too, but I had to hold her so she wouldn't splash in all the tubs holding the soap solution stuff.  She would go for a swim if she could.  I let her run free in the music section. 

She is quite the little harp player. 

  They have a make-believe town with a grocery store, bank, mechanic shop, an airport, and a few other things.  We spent a long time in the airport again this trip.

We like watching the experiments.  Last time we made ice cream with liquid nitrogen and the kids learned about cold things.  This visit, the experiments were on different gasses and liquids, and whether or not they are flamable.  They asked Luke if he wanted to help and he told them no.  After we left he told me in the car

"mom, sometimes I'm just a little shy."  Love that little boy!

We have to watch the news and see the rest of the country freezing for it to seem like winter around here!  It has been so warm and sunny.  We've been playing at the park and riding bikes every day this past week.   

Luke's poor little butt has been sore from riding his bike so much.  Haha. 

  Last but not least, check out my little sunbeam! 

 No more nursery for this kid.  Last week was supposed to be his first day in primary at church.  He refused to go though and ended up coming to our Sunday school class. 

Hopefully he will be more enthused about going this week!  I may be sitting in there with him for a while.    

I don't think I want randoms checking out my family online.

So, I decided to go private with the blog. Hopefully it won't be too annoying for you guys to see what we're up to! :)

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!