Christmas Cabin Fun!

This past weekend we headed up to the family cabin for a couple of days and had a blast. Its a family tradition to spend time together up there after Christmas and just play in the snow. This year just our family, my parents and Spencer were able to make it. Even though we were small in numbers and we missed the cousins, aunts, and uncles who weren't able to be there this year we had a blast. Just look at how happy our little Halle was to just play in the snow! Isn't she adorable! The kids seem to enjoy it more and more with every passing year. We could hardly get Mckenna and Parker off of their sleds and off the snowmobiles to go in and warm up! They would tell us there were freezing but just wanted to keep on going.

This year for Christmas Parker and I got a model rocket kit and had a so much fun lighting it off! Nothing like having a Rocket Scientist for a dad, right?!?! Everyone had a literal blast watching the flights and then chasing down the rockets after flight. It is crazy because I used to go up there and fly my models when I was a kid and now I'm doing it with my son. Too cool!

We even got my dad out for a while to play on the snowmobiles! Gotta love his 1973 Arctic Cat Jump suit! lol. Lookin' good dad!

Halle loved being able to get around and play in the snow. Its so fun for Lisa and I to see the kids be able to have so much fun together up there.

Parker got a shovel from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Ken and loved using it. He shoveled snow everywhere he could. It will be fun to have a little helper to shovel the mounds of snow we have at our house.

During one of our warm-up breaks we watched Wall-E. Grandma, Grandpa, and Spencer hadn't seen it yet so we all sat down and watched. They were so cute all in their blankets with their bowls of popcorn. Mckenna narrated almost the whole movie for them. Sorry Spencer....lol!

Here's Mckenna off doin' what she does best! She just took off across the field looking for a snowmobile to tow her around the field on her sled. She found Grandma and Parker when she got to the parking lot! That girl has stamina! HOI! She makes us laugh so hard.

Lisa and Halle had a great time too. I'm so glad Lisa and the kids love snowmobiling. We had an awesome time plowing new trails everywhere we went.

Mckenna loved eating every icicle she could find. The back of the cabin had plenty to keep her happy!

Lisa and I have taken our kids all snowmobiling since they were born and everyone of them without fail have fallen asleep while out for a ride. It was Halle's turn this time and she totally passed out. It must be a sign that she is ready for 80+ mph now. Sweet! LOL.

We did a ton of sledding this year too. The kids loved it. The hill from the backside of the cabin down to the barn was perfect this year. Lisa snapped this beautiful shot as we were hiking to the top. Way to go babe..it turned out great!

Parker got a new sled from Christmas. Here we are testing it out. It must be a good one. Look at that boys smile!

Spencer even busted out the old school sleds. This was right before he face planted in the snow. Too much powder for that type of sled.

The best was when we put Parker and Mckenna on the same sled. They were laughing so hard and wanted to do it over and over again. It's times like that that make the best memories!

Time went quickly but we had so much fun. There was a ton of powder and we're glad we got to spend time with G&G and Spencer. Thanks guys!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a really great Christmas! We started the celebrations on Christmas eve with my family. We enjoyed all we could eat at Tucanos one of our family favorites. We then opened presents at the Grandparents. We drove home to see our beautiful home all decorated with lights. Kev was great and got up on the roof to put up all our lights up. They turned out great and it gives our house such a magical look. The kids opened up their traditional Christmas pjamas and put out the cookies for Santa. Mckenna got reindeer food from a friend to put out in the snow. She was so excited to see if the reindeer got the food today. Luckily our kids didn't get up too early to open their presents. They were excited to see that Santa had brought them just what they wanted. They were content playing with their new gifts all morning. We then went to Foster grandparents to open more presents. After that we went to the Great Grandparents for a Christmas feast and more presents. We feel so blessed to live so close to family. We saw almost everyone over the past few days. The greatest part about Christmas is celebrating it together with them. We hope everyone had a fun Christmas too!

Happy Birthday Parker boy!!!

Our Parker boy turned four years old today! We are so glad that he is a part of our family. He always has a big smile on his face and a hug for everyone! Parker was so excited that he got the new Walle DVD.

I made Parker a space shuttle cake this year. It had his name and age on it! It was crazy cutting the cake up and then assembling it. It was almost like working on a puzzle.

Parker blowing out the ignition on the shuttle!

Uncle Spencer helped Parker set up all his new toys! I think Spence was excited to try them out too!

We gave Parker his own basketball hoop! Here he is making a basket with Grandma!

My little boy with all his trucks! It is great because no matter how many he has he is always excited for another truck or car.


Parker talking with his new Walle robot! It is cool because it responds to your voice and sounds just like he does in the movie.

Holiday fun!

We had a busy but fun filled weekend. The kids got to see Santa at our ward breakfast. They were so excited to tell him what they want for Christmas. Parker told him he wanted a big bike with training wheels. Mckenna told him she wanted a fancy Nancy doll. Mckenna was very kind and asked Santa to bring Halle a talking Elmo. Halle was sick and wasn't there to ask Santa in person. It was fun because the kids also got to see Santa later that day as well. In our city, Santa comes down the streets in a fire truck and tosses out candy. The kids look forward to it every year.
Later that day I went to the BYU womens luncheon with my Grandma and Aunts. It is a family tradition that we enjoy every year at Christmas. The food is always good and it is fun talking with all my Aunts and catching up. This year they had a childrens choir come and perform. They had such angelic voices. There was one little boy who amazed us all. He could hit all the high notes with perfect pitch.

On Sunday we had a family Christmas party. We always have a white elephant exchange. My Grandma ended up with a Dog training DVD. We all had a good laugh about that one. Kate you are the greatest. It was funny because Grandpa Steve ended up with a Whoopie cushion. The Grandparents definitley got the best gifts of the night.

Parker got a cool sword from my Grandma. He loves it and it hasn't left his hands in the last twenty four hours. We just have to keep reminding him not to stab people in the face. My cousin Emily was great and let Parker sword fight her all night. He was having the time of his life.

It wouldn't be our family party without a Pinata. It was Mckenna's turn to take a swing. My favorite part was watching the reactions from everyone around the bat. If you look close you can see Loni & Kayley holding onto eachother with worried expressions on their face.

The twins are here!!

I would like to introduce you to my niece Hailey Rose and my nephew Brady Lee!! They were both born this morning at 1:00 a.m. and 1:03 a.m.!

It makes me so happy to see my brother Mike being a Daddy!! Mike is holding Brady who looks just like Mike did when he was a baby. Brady weighed seven pounds when he was born. He is such a handsome little guy!

Here is another picture of me holding Brady. It is so much fun being an Aunt and getting to hold these sweet babies straight from heaven.

Hailey weighed 5 pounds 9 ounces! She is so cute and I think she looks like my sister in law Amy. She is wearing a cute little bow in her hair like all baby girls should. She is so tiny and peaceful. She just slept away in my arms like a little angel.

Kev is holding Hailey and I am holding Brady. It is great when there is two because we both have a baby to hold. Our kids are meeting their cousins for the first time. They are the first cousins to be born on my side of the family.

Mckenna holding her cousin Brady. She loved holding both the babies and handled it just like a pro. She has experience being the older sister.

Parker was so excited to meet his baby cousins. He has been talking about them being born for the last nine months. My sister in law Amy amazed all of us by carrying the babies for 37 1/2 long weeks. They were both born healthy and didn't even need to be in the NICU. Amy thank you for bringing such beautiful babies into our family! We love them and are so glad they are here!

Mckenna's performance!!

Mckenna had her christmas dance performance last night. They put on the production The little match girl!

Mckenna danced to the song O holy night. She is our beautiful ballerina. She did such a good job. She has improved so much in just the last six months. Kev and I love watching her perform.

This picture is of her class coming out to take a bow at the finale.


These are all the girls in her class taking their final position.

This was one of my favorite pictures I took of her during the dress reheasal. Mckenna we are so proud of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We spent Thanksgiving Day at my Grandma Smoots house. My Grandma gave our family tradition a new twist this year. We pinned the feathers on the Turkey and told what we were grateful for. Mckenna was grateful for our prophet, Parker was grateful for our family, and Halle said "baby" when we asked her.

Halle spent her Thanksgiving playing with the baby doll while we ate dinner. You can tell how happy she was by the big smile on her face. She did come to the table later and tried most everything on her plate.

Mckenna and Kayley eating their Thanksgiving dinner. They had fun making cards for the whole family. It is cool because Mckenna is learning to write now.

Kev and I really enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast. We ate until we could eat no more. One of my favorite parts of the day was when the whole family was singing Bohemian rapsody.(okay maybe not my Grandma.) It is funny because Parker actually knows most of the words to the song. Kev has taught him well. It was great to be with family just laughing and having a good time.

Parker made this picture at preschool. It turned out so cute I had to include it in this post. Anyways, we hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Twilight!!

I went and saw Twilight with a few of my friends tonight. I really liked the movie! I wasn't disappointed at all. Kev has been teasing me endlessly about the whole series. He just couldn't understand how I could like a book about a vampire. He was happy to come home this afternoon and tell me that the movie didn't get the best reviews. The movie has been labeled a "chick flick". I have to tell you that there were a lot of guys at the movie when I saw it. I thought they did a good job of casting the parts. I really liked the cool visual effects of Bella & Edward up in the trees together. I thought that the movie followed the story line of the book really well. I didn't feel like anything important was left out. My friends and I agreed that there was one part that was over the top. It was when Edward was sucking the venom out of Bellas arm. It was just a little too dramatic. But other than that I really enjoyed it and would love to see it again. I was really excited when I saw the new Harry Potter preview. It looks awesome! It is another movie that I am really looking forward to seeing. So what did you think?

I confess I am a shop a holic!!

My friend Kathleen works at Gap and sent me the 30% coupon for friends and family. Thank you Kathleen, I really made the most of it. The sale was Thursday through Saturday. My first stop was Old Navy... Halle needed a winter coat. They were having a 50% off outerwear sale and then I used my coupon on top of that. The coat was orinally $42 and I got it for 80% off. So I only ended up paying 14 bucks for it. I really love getting a good deal. The next day I went to Gap. It is one of my favorite stores. It was like christmas for me. I had the best coupon ever and also a 25 dollar gift card. I found some great things for the kids for Christmas. I get such satisfaction out of finding cute clothes and getting the best price for them.

My sweet Halle...

Today Halle said a prayer for the first time. We were getting ready for lunch and I asked if she wanted to help say the prayer. She would listen to what I said and then repeat the words at the end of the sentence. It surprised me how well she could hear what I was saying and then say it. It was one of those moments that makes motherhood so enjoyable. My little Halle has grown up so much these past few months. It's hard to believe that in four more months she will be two.

Halloween!!

We had a really fun Halloween this year! It all started yesterday with Parkers preschool party. I had fun taking pictures of his class all dressed up. His teacher loved his costume and nicknamed him Jack Sparrow. We started out the day by going to Mckennas Halloween parade. She was dressed up as Snow white this year. Halle was our little Daisy. She actually wore Mckennas costume that she had at that age. It was great to know that both our girls have worn it and it has gotten some use. We had a ward Halloween party tonight. Kev and I decided that this year we would dress up too. We had a really fun time at the church with our friends. They had all kinds of games for the kids. Kev was in charge of the spook alley with the deacons. It turned out awesome. We then took our kids trick or treating in the neighborhood. There were so many kids out there. We bought a lot of candy and it was gone in about an hour. We spent the rest of the night enjoying all the sugar. Holidays are the best!