Smith Family

The kids woke up to this huge box on Christmas Eve from the elves. Elliott and I had no interest in trying to assemble a trampoline all night so we decided to give it to them so we could work on it all day. They had a lot of fun being Elliott's helpers Meanwhile Audrey and I were in the kitchen baking some Christmas cookie and getting dinner prepped. We took a break and headed to Freddy's for some lunch. We opened up their Christmas ornaments for the year. Audrey got a Mustang because it's her first year at Hildebrant and that's their school mascot. Brandon got a Cub Scout uniform to commemorate his time in Scouts. Ellie got an ornament, I wish it wasn't turned around, that has everyone in our family. We had received an ornament very similar to this one is 2010 but it doesn't have Ellie in and she hates it. It makes her emotional every year when it comes out that she isn't included in the family ornament so we decided we would...

The kids looked so cute in their Christmas Sunday clothes I wanted to snap a shot. I wish we got a whole family one but I felt so sick. I had come down with a terrible cold but wanted to go to church because I was playing my violin and it's my favorite sacrament of the year. Next year I need to make sure we get a nice family photo on the Sunday before Christmas.

 6th Grade 4th Grade  2nd Grade

In Arizona it was a yearly tradition to go to Bass Pro Shop with my parents and the cousins to get a picture, play around there and get dinner together. We discovered there was a Bass Pro Shop in Katy which is about an hour away and an In and Out just opened up right next to it. The only In and Out near us. Pete happened to have an afternoon off so we decided to be spontaneous and head out.  I was a little concerned because in AZ the time slots to take your picture with Santa can run out but figured we would be okay. I would grab a time slot, we'd eat some dinner and In and Out then come back for our photo. Great game plan! Except when I ran in to get a time slot not only did they not have any, Santa was all done for the day and wouldn't be returning. We were so disappointed, especially Melanie. We decided to all get out and look around, snap a couple photos. Then we headed over to the new In and Out. When we turned into the parking lot there were police officers directing...

Melanie went to Michaels with me to help brainstorm what we wanted to do as neighbor gifts this year. She had more fun being goofy.  We went with hot chocolate and toppings. It was easy and not a mess so I really liked this idea! Elliott and I debated whether or not we wanted to carry on the kazoo tradition. We felt a little embarrassed but thought we needed to go for it! So we asked the Olsen's in the ward if they would come with us and they did. We ended up having a really good time and are glad we did it. It's interesting here because the ward is so spread out we have to drive to each house but it was a lot of fun.

 Audrey had her orchestra concert and did awesome!  She also had her very first young women's interview with the bishop.  On the last day of school I headed into Brandon and Melanie's classes to participate in the Christmas parties. It's very different here in that parents don't plan and put on the party, it's very low key no treats are allowed but parents can come visit if they want to. I don't know the girl on the left but the girl on the right is her best friend Robin. We are sad because there is a new elementary school being built and Robin will be zone to that school next year.  Brandon's teacher did an ugly sweater party and had some fun minute to win it games. She did a nice job planning a fun party. 

 I'm just realizing how I'm never in the photos because I'm always behind the camera. We had a nice simple ward Christmas party. We did breakfast and pj's, watched the newly released nativity the church had put out then did an ornament craft and finished it out with meeting Santa.

Elliott and I had decided it was time for Brandon to know the secret of Santa and bring him into the Santa Club. We went back and forth wondering if we should tell Melanie or wait a year or two, we decided to just tell them together. Our reasoning for this is because out of all the kids she is the one who asks the most questions and has been the most suspicious. She also gets embarrassed easily and we knew that when she found out everyone knew but her she would feel silly. Welp the time came for us to let the beans out of the bag. I had volunteered to help a kid by getting a few presents and figured this is the perfect opportunity to explain what Santa is and that we are all Santa's, looking for opportunities to help one another and keep the magic of Christmas alive. Brandon took the news very well.. Ellie on the other hand.... was DEVASTATED. Sobbing, inconsolable. We tried to tell her this is excited, you get to be apart of the secret club, you can help with the elves on the s...

While we spent our first Christmas in Texas last year, this was our first Christmas season. Last year we bought a Christmas tree a few days before Christmas in front of Kroger and never took the tree out of the plastic pot it came in! We just leaned it up against the wall, decorated it and called it good! This year we wanted to get a nice tree, with an actually tree stand with an angel on top and a tree skirt. Although I hated taking our thankful tree down this was the perfect trade off. The beginning of December and the excitement of the season is just the absolute best.  Because it's more humid here the tree stays really fresh. It looked great all the way up until Christmas. We got the kids their own ornament box to store all their ornaments and they really look forward to seeing their ornaments again and putting them up on the tree. So many memories packed on that tree and the sparkle from the lights just adds something special all season long. 

I really wanted family photos but didn't really want to spend the $200+ to get them done. So I thought I would get my nicer camera and have Juliet snap a few while she is here. Well of course I couldn't find the camera! I ended up finding it in a bag in our closet a few weeks later. Since we didn't have the nice camera she just ended up taking photos on my iphone and I put a filter on them and they turned out grainy after I cropped a little. I was really bummed because I wanted to send out Christmas cards and I just didn't feel like they were good enough but we all looked nice and I wanted to remember them, just wish they weren't grainy so I could put them in the house.

Our very first Thanksgiving in Texas. We were lucky to have Juliet come out and stay with us so it felt like we had a little bit of family here. I have to say though we really really liked having a chill day doing our own thing. We started our day by going to see Frozen 2 in theaters. I love going to the theater on Thanksgiving and we really enjoyed the movie. After the movie it was time to start preparing our feast! This turkey recipe was amazing. I'll never make a turkey any other way. It was incredibly moist and flavorful. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. BEFORE Making everything ourselves instead of potluck style was a little interesting in our small little kitchen but everything was so delicious.  We finished our evening by cuddling up and watching Elf to welcome the Christmas season. Is there any other way? Throughout the month we had been adding leaves every day to our thankful tree. I loved having the reminder there everyday. I...

I am the Box Top Coordinator at the kids elementary school. The last Friday of the month I go to their school during lunch and open a store to exchange box tops for little prizes. Melanie loves when I come and sits up on the stage with me to eat her lunch and help out. Brandon is a little more shy so he'll come up and give me a hug and sit for a min but then goes back to join his friends. Once I get all the box tops the fun has only just begun! I take them home and trim them and get them ready to count. After counting them into groups of 50, I put them in bags fill out the submission form and ship them off. It is an extremely time consuming project. The last submission I did was for about $150 which honestly, for the work involved does not seem worth it. However, it makes me feel good to know that I'm helping to earn some money for the school so I don't feel so bad when I don't contribute to the other fundraisers. They are trying to switch the prog...