saints in sin city

Sorry so lame on the blogfront. I think we are back in business. We'll do a little catch up work to keep things in order!

2008-05-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

Allysan is reading a card for McKay from grandma and grandpa. Her reading skills have just been so great lately! You can hear a typical evening in the background at our house. The end is the funniest because Ally shows us her new pet! Ally wanted to take the after school class called "icky insects." She came home with this huge mother of a bug and a jar and instructions. She loved it and played with it as if it were a real pet, which she really wants. That same night she came in our room crying because she didn't dare go downstairs 'cause she thought the bug was roaming around. So the next day, all on her own, she took the bug back to school. Well, after school she started crying crocodile tears and wouldn't tell me what was wrong. She said she woulnd't tell because it was silly and she was embarrassed. I coaxed it out of her. She was sad because she missed her bug. I asked her why she was embarrassed. She looked at me with her head to the side as if to say "dah!" and she said, "Mom,... it's a bug!" She has such a tender heart and loves animals so much.

Trip to McCall with all the Smiths! We had so much fun, especially the cousins being together, mostly!

2008-02-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

Isn't this so beautiful? This is actually a picture of the ride home from our trip to McCall, but I forgot things enter backwards. Anyway, we had a really nice trip and enjoyed our week in Idaho. I wish I had more pictures but my camera was full. We also went to a really nice dinner for New Year's Eve with adults and then went to bed at 11pm. We loved 2007, mostly because we had our little baby boy who is such a gift. But we have lots of wonderful friends and family and are so blessed to live in this country, and yes, even to live in Las Vegas. We have wonderful opportunities to serve and to strengthen our little family that we might not get elsewhere. But, we sorely miss being around cousins and brothers and sisters, and especially grandparents. Maybe someday... But for now, we get to have awesome visits.
This is a picture not too far from the condo/cabins we stayed in. It is so beautiful I had to take a picture. I usually like people in my pictures. If there are any Smiths that blog and see this, can you send me some pictures of the week? I may blog now, but that doesn't mean I have entered the 21st centurty quite yet, we haven't figured out how to get the movie/pic images off our cam corder to the computer, that's next!

This is Grandma Sandi, the head of the Smith clan! I just loved this close up. Isn't it pretty?
This is the whole Smith clan! We are many! We were only missing one sibling and that is Jesse's sister Cali. We were sad because we missed her homecoming by a week. We hopefully get to see her soon! There are 10 children altogether and...um...14 grand children, I believe! We had a great time at the cabins in McCall. We loved being in the snow, even though we aren't so used to the snow or the cold.

These are the Smith grandkids with Grandpa Garth and Grandma Sandi. P.S. The baby at the top in the middle is a doll! The cute bald baby on the left, is our Adam. Put the next two pictures together and you have quite the clan. We look like the Donner party paving our way through a canyon. Don't worry, no one got hungry on this trip. Quite the opposite, esp. me. I wasted no time eating my way to my winter couple of pounds, I justified that it helped to keep me warm.

It was really freezing! The snow was so powdery and cold. People would sled down and it looked more like a splash than a snowdrift. We couldn't tell if anyone was still on the sled or not! Needless to say the kids went down the least. Jesse even snowboarded a bit! Thanks to his sis. Hilary, who must be very patient! He wouldn't let me take any pictures of it. Next time.

Balloon Festival!

2008-02-17T15:17:00.000-08:00

I love this picture. It is really hard to get Jesse to let me take one. Ally had on quite the outfit. We determined she looked most similated to put it mildly into the crowd that was at the Nascar Race Track where the festival took place!

We went to the balloon festival. It was too windy and cold to launch, but those things are huge! The balloons only go up because of hot air, obviously because they are hot air balloons, but still, that's amazing!

We got to stand underneath a huge dragon that was about to go up. The wind from the fans blowing the hot air were really strong. The warmth felt awesome because it was a chilly night.

We are remiss that we never got to go to the balloon festival in Alb., NM when Matt and Amy lived there. I think we were too poor even to travel to visit family, that is sad! Now they live in Texas, even tougher to get everyone out there. Anyway, we always heard how cool it was so we decided to check it out. Yep, they were amazing!

These suckers were huge. It has always been my dream to go up in a hot air balloon. I have to quick get to it before I turn into a chicken, I get closer and closer to being one every year. We had a lot of fun and let the kids go on some rides and slides. We are proud of ourselves for going because Saturdays get kinda boring around here. So we were up and doing.

Christmas in Utah! We had a special visitor stop by, had a wonderful program, and acted out the nativity. It was so great to be with family.

2008-02-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

This is our Christmas Eve party. This is Grandma Lucille(AKA Lusilly or Loosewheely). Bob and Carol also joined us. Chris and Em were down from Puerto Rico. We love Mexican food way too much.

We went up to Stawberry for snowmobiling. We had a blast but there was so much snow that we got stuck a few times, as did the snowmobile. Can you say, "A Christmas Story."

These are a few of Adam's first steps, right as he turned one year old!

This is Ally and my niece, Jeff's oldest, Ashely. They are buds.

A surprise visitor! Wonder who that could be! Maddie was the only one that knew it was Uncle Chris, probably because Emily was sitting on his lap a little long, while blushing!

The little ones, Adam and cousin Katie, dressed up like the donkey and camel, soooo cute!

Pseudo Santa and Mrs. Claus dress up and are so jolly!

The next few pictures are gingerbread men all decorated up. They took their art very seriously!

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse....

Adam's 1st b-day! He loved the cake. He shared his b-day with Aunt Lexi.

2008-02-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

All the places Adam is not supposed to be! He's a good climber and is so curious all the time. He keeps us smiling; he's so much fun!

2008-02-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

2007-11-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

These guys are rockin' out to our youth dance festival music. They get their moves from their dad!

The rest of these pictures are pictures of our little monsters on Halloween.

2007-10-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

2007-10-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

These are the three bears at Sea World. They were actually freaked out because they thought the polar bear was coming out there! We had so much fun getting wet (well, the baby didn't so much like it). Apparently dolphins feel like hot dogs! Shamu was the biggest hit of all, and makes the biggest splash. Jesse says he didn't have a poncho and he couldn't have been more wet had he hopped out of the shower! Adam had fun watching and clapping along with the crowd. No matter where he is or what position he is in, he is always crossing his ankles, chillin' out I guess!

Life's a Beach! (I mean, life at the beach)

2007-10-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

This is our family in San Diego!

These are our Baywatch Beauties on the Beach.

This is McKay, our Chariots of Fire boy. He loves to run.

This is our baby churro. Adam kept falling in the sand and when he'd get up all we could see were his eye balls. He loved the beach, especially ruining his brother's sand castles.