December 17, 2008.

Liberty had her very first piano recital today. I'm sad I missed it. We still had a bunch of sickies at our house. But Kade and Kayson went and cheered her on and Kade recorded it for the rest of us. Kade said she was way nervous. But, she did pretty good.

December 13, 2008.
The kids had a lot of fun decorating their gingerbread houses. We barely got pictures of them before the candy started disappearing off of them though. The temptation is just too great. Brylee was overjoyed when Dad came home with a plate full of goodies for her to make one too. Our neighbors were very thoughtful to make sure she didn't feel left out despite being sick (Thank You!) I love their idea for the Christmas trees. I'd never seen that, but they used upside down sugar cones covered in green frosting and then the kids decorated them too. How cute.

December 13, 2008.

The kids got to go to the neighbors today to make gingerbread houses. Brylee and I were sick so we couldn't go. Brylee was sooo disappointed and I felt bad for her, so even though she was sick I gave her a sugar cookie to try and cheer her up. Later I saw her with a second one and told her she better not eat anymore. Then she tells me, 'cookies are for sick people, huh?' Oh great, what am I teaching my kids:) I told her no usually sick people shouldn't eat treats I was just trying to help you be happy since you didn't get to go the party. I don't think she believed me. Now cookies are going to be for sick people at our house. Oh brother!

December 11, 2008.
I was painting my room today and had Brancyn in the room with me. I had set him on the floor to play and then gone back to work. When I stopped to check on him a minute later, this is how I found him.

He is only five months old and he was already peeking under the bed trying to find his Christmas presents. He must be a Smith!!!!!

Tonight we gathered around the television to watch the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. Despite Brancyn screaming through most of it, Kayson climbing all over the couch, and Brylee not being able to sit still, we did enjoy it. When it was President Monson's turn to speak, Brylee saw him and leaned over to Kade and said, "That's President Monster."

December 1, 2008

Well Thanksgiving is over and it is on to Christmas!! Poor Thanksgiving didn't get any pictures (as usual). I guess I'm too busy stuffing my face and laying around all day to worry about pics. Not to mention stuffing face pics aren't always the most glamorous. So anyways, on to the fun of Christmas. We started off by decorating the mommy tree on Sunday and then the kid tree on Monday. We also started our count-up to Christmas bags on Monday. The first one had ornaments to make as well as a paper that told us to take a goofy family picture. So here are the pics.

December 6, 2008

My niece, Halle, is getting baptized today. My kids must have been trying to explain this to Brylee, but somehow didn't get the idea across to her. When Kade was putting her to bed, she asked are they going to hold Halle under the water. Kade kind of laughed and said, well she's going to go under the water, but I don't think they are going to hold her under. Then the kids must have also clued her in on the confirmation process and recieving the Holy Ghost because next she told Kade she didn't want that scary ghost. Then this morning as soon as she popped up she said I don't want to be baptized. I guess we are going to have to have a family home evening lesson on Baptism and explain the finer points to her:)

November 17, 2008.

In case any of you are planning on going to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua, I thought I better warn you that it is a major tear jerker. We took the kids to see it for our FHE activity on Monday. The little dog in the movie has her plans thwarted over and over so that by the time we were 2/3 of the way through the movie, Brylee was in tears. She was so frustrated for the little dog. I felt bad that she was so sad, but it was kind of funny that she was so wrapped up in that silly movie. She must be Grammy's grand-daughter. She has a real soft spot for those little animals :)

November 18, 2008

Codi had her baby on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. She was 7lb 2.2 oz and 21 in long. They named her Napuaokalani. Pronounced Nah-poo-ah-oh-ku-lon-eee. She has already been dubbed Napua, noki, and loni. We'll see what sticks. Anyways, Congrats Codi and Kainoa!!!

October 31, 2008

Party Time!

I think the kids had a lot of fun at the party. I know mine enjoyed it at least. I was running around so crazy that I didn't get pictures until everything was winding down and didn't get pictures of everything. (There were fourteen kids at this party!!) Basically we had a carnival. There was ring toss ( a glow-in-the-dark ring around a witches hat), bean bag throw ( halloween bean bags tossed in witches cauldrons), pin the wart on the witches nose, and musical squares (run around 'til the music stops then pick a halloween picture and stand on it). We also hunted for bone necklaces, decorated pumpkin sugar cookies and finished with one of my favorite donald duck halloween cartoons. It was crazy but lots of fun. Happy Halloween everyone!

October 31, 2008


Kade 'borrowed' the superhero cape I made. He wore it to work this year for Halloween. He told everyone he was a little boy. It was kind of fun. The cape would fly out behind him as he rode his bike:)

We started off our evening by first trick-or-treating in our old ward. We had a jack-o-lantern , a fairy-princess unicorn rider, a jaguar, a little devil, a vampire, and winnie the pooh. Then I went home to answer the door for our own trick-or-treaters and make dinner while Kade took the kids around our new neighborhood. The kids made quite a haul and seemed pleased with what they got.Then we had a rush dinner and got ready to welcome all our little guests for our Halloween party!

October 30, 2008

Brielle and Brancyn just love each other (at least until one or the other start inadvertently kicking or hitting the other). They smile and talk to each other and tonight they were holding hands. I barely caught the picture before they let go. What cuties!

October 28, 2008

Kayson, Brylee, Brancyn, and I have started to go to the Nature Park to feed the ducks while waiting for Liberty to finish her piano lessons. There are a few of the animals that have become quite aggresive. I caught a fun video of it here. Sorry about the smudges. I didn't realize that some little finger had touched my lens-thus the smudge. I think it kind of messed up the focus on the camera, but you'll still get a kick out of the video. Make sure you turn it up. Kayson's laugh is half the fun!

October 27, 2008.

Liberty stayed home from school sick today. I told Kayson that he needed to stay out of her room so that he wouldn't get sick, so he parked himself right outside of her door and looked at books with her quietly and talked to her so she wouldn't be bored. What a good little brother. I hope one day Liberty realizes just how much he loves her.

October 28, 2008
Kylie had her baby!!! They were going to take it today, but the baby was big enough and doing well enough last night that the doctors surprised her and said they could take it last night. So She's here. I didn't ask how to spell her name so I don't know if I've got this right, but her name is Jacey Lynn. She weighed in at 5lbs 11oz (i think, i might be 1/2 oz off) and she was 18 and 1/2 in. long. Good size for a month early!!! She is breathing well, but isn't eating as well as they'd like so she is still in the special infant unit. But they hope she will be eating fine within a couple of days. I don't have any pics I can post yet, but I thought I'd make the announcement anyways. Congratulations Kylie and Jake:)

Last catchup Post.

October 25, 2008

I played resturant with the kids for lunch today. I made menu's and served them. I hadn't written anything on the outside of the menus so Liberty took it upon herself to do the covers of the menu. Isn't it cute?

October 24, 2008.

TRICK OR TREAT! It's that time again. HALLOWEEN! The excitment has been mounting all week. Liberty's school carnival was tonight and so we officially got to pull out the costumes. Liberty is a Devil, Kayson is a Jaguar, Brylee a Fairy Princess Unicorn Rider, and Brancyn a Pumpkin. They had fun at the carnival, but are even more excited about the trick-or-treating and Halloween party next Friday. I hope I can deliver on this party so it won't be a flop after all of this build-up!

October 22, 2008

Here's an update of Brancyn. He is getting so big. I think he looks so much like my brother Cheston. Kade says he can see it too, but others have been skeptical about the likeness. What do you think?

Muhvaughny, 6

Kordell, 8

Makenna, 9

Morgan, 11

Here are the other four.

Dana, 12

Achsah, 14

Cheston, 16

Tyrell, 19

Kade, Deidra, Brancyn, Dad, Mom




October 10, 2008.
I have had some people ask

about my siblings so I thought I'd post the latest pics I took of each of them so you can see them. I only took pics of Tyrell on down. The ones that are at home. And Cheston's pic was actually taken in July I didn't get any of him when we went to visit this month 'cuz he was at work when i was taking pics. I hope I got all of their ages right:) It's hard for me to remember anymore

October 10, 2008.

My kids found these silly glasses at Grandma's house and begged me to take their pictures. How silly are they?

Here are the windows. We haven't done any of the finish work yet, and it may be awhile before we get to it. But, we do have light and a fire escape from downstairs. Yay!!!! It's amazing how much light the ones on the south side let in.

September 26, 2008

We finally got our windows cut and Kade started work on putting in our new egress windows. Yay! He thought it would be fun to let the kids help beat out the dry wall where the new windows would be. They sure had fun, but I'm not so sure about teaching them that little trick. I'm afraid I'm going to find other holes in my walls in places I'd rather not have them.

September 25, 2008

Well, I guess it is time to play catch-up a little today. I actually haven't taken too many pics over the last month, but I finally have a few. So this first set is Liberty with her frog. I guess these are at her playground at school and the kids try catching them at recess. Liberty's friend caught this one for her and gave it to her for a pet. I had to disappoint her when she came home by telling her we just didn't have a good place to keep a frog. So she let it loose in our front yard. We found a good place to leave it where it would be hard for predators to find:) Bye, bye frog.