Saying Goodbye

We'll I guess it's official. We are moving to Colorado! We have to be out by the 29th of Dec. Nothing like packing up the day after Christmas. We have spent this week saying goodbye to friends and family that we will miss terribly. On Wednesday I had my Grandma over for dinner. My kids have really gotten close to her these last few months and we are really bummed that we are moving now that she is so close. On Friday we had a play date with my friend Christine and her two girls, Taylor Elise and Rylee. On Saturday we had cousins Taylor and Tori at our house for a final sleepover. We had a nice dinner and then watched "How the Grinch stole Christmas." And finally tonight we went over to Nate and Maribeth's house. I have known Bernice and Maribeth since 8th grade. We have all found the gospel and it is amazing to watch each other's families grow in the church. This is such a bitter sweet time for us. We are excited for Corbin to have a new career, excited to be in a better school district, excited to have a house with a backyard, excited to be closer to other family members, and excited to get to experience a white Christmas and January and February.... okay maybe not that excited. I was born and raised in good ol' sin city and I have lots of great memories here. So it is off to bigger and better things for the Smith clan, but we will miss all of you very much.

Fantasy Fudge

I have only one thing that I bake at Christmas time and that is fudge. Elise was a huge help this year. And by help I mean she licked everything. Oh I take that back she did do lots of stirring too! I feel like this time is very special between Elise and I because it's the only time of day we get to be alone when the little ones are napping and I know it's not going to last very much longer especially since she will be in school all day soon. I hope that she will remember these little moments that we shared together. I hope that when she is older she will tell people that she remembers making fudge with her Mom at Christmas time. The Fantasy Fudge recipe I use is on the back of the Marshmallow creme jar. Just in case you would like to make a memory too!

Gingerbread House

Usually we do our Gingerbread House first to officially kick off our Christmas season, but getting a tree came first this year. We love getting together at Grandma's for family night and decorating our gingerbread house. Grandma's years of cake decorating experience really come in handy. As you can see our little Ella is really starting to come out of her shell.

Trimming the Tree

After seven years of having a fake pre-lite tree we decided to go and buy a real one this year. We did go look at fake trees, but they looked so sad compared to a real one that smelled so good. The girls had so much fun getting all the ornaments out and they especially loved putting the angel on the top. Now every time I look at our tree I get a warm feeling inside and we have decided that we will only have real trees from now on.

Pump It Up

I recently took the kiddos to Pump It Up here in Vegas. It's an indoor play area with huge bounce houses and slides. The girls loved the slide! So for an hour and a half that's pretty much all they did. Easton was stuck to the cozy coupe. So I know what we are getting him for Christmas.

Princess Easton?

Easton loves to play with all the girls toys. He walks around all day with a purse and he recently discovered crowns. I hope we're not giving him some kind of complex.:)

Wedding Weekend

It was quite the wedding weekend for us as Corbin's youngest brother Jordan got married on the 7th. It was so great to see so much family especially Corbin's oldest brother, Ryan and his family that traveled from Florida. We were happy to find out that his wife Shayndel is expecting baby #3, a boy due in April. Thursday night was the rehearsal dinner at the Claim Jumper where Jaimee presented all the bridesmaids with beautiful neckaces and then Friday was The Crazy Wedding Day. Our whole family was in the wedding. Corbin and I were both in the wedding party and Elise and Ella were flower girls and Easton was a ring bearer. You are not going to believe that I didn't take any pictures. Hopefully we will be getting some soon from Uncle Jim who was the photographer. There are a couple pictures of the girls getting ready. Elise's hair turned out so cute. Can you believe that in 6 years I've never curled it! On Saturday we got together at Corbin's parents club house and had a nice dinner and just hung out with the rest of the family. Ryan and his family didn't have to leave until Tuesday so there are a bunch of pictures of all the cousins. Grandma was in heaven having ALL 5 of her grandkids together. I am so excited that Jaimee is now a part of our family. I have to say that I have been so lucky with my sister-in-laws. I love them both!

Colorful Colorado

We are finally back home after 2 weeks in Colorful Colorado. We first spent Thanksgiving with my Mom and sister in Grand Junction and then we were off to Littleton for the rest of our time. We woke up a couple of mornings to snow, which the girls loved. We also went to the Children's Museum which is ten times better than the one in Vegas. We highly recommend it the next time you are in Denver. Now it's time to focus on the wedding we are all in tomorrow and maybe do some Christmas decorating as soon as I hear back from our property manager. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now getting into to the spirit of Christmas.