Dean livin it up in Virginia

Dean is now residing in Virginia at Warrant Officer School. He is disliking every minute of it. Here they are gathering up their outdoor gear as they will get to sleep outside under the stars in a few weeks, rain, snow, aliens, etc. He hasn't sent any pictures of his room yet, but it is a sturdy room with beautiful white cinder block walls and mold growing on the ceiling. All courtesy of U.S. tax payers. He gets to get up at 4am and help shovel snow, go to classes then back to his lovely room for homework. Truly is living the high life.

Draper Temple

We took the kids to the Draper Temple open house. It is hard to get a pitcure of the front of the temple since it is surrounded with white tents so you don't have to wait in the cold. This is the front door and I was able to snap a quick shot.

These are pictures I took off www.lds.org I didn't take a picture inside, BIG no no. It was really neat to be in the celestial and sealing rooms with our family. It was a very moving experience. Being that we may not live where there is another open house and that our kids are getting older and will be off on missions and to college, it may be awhile before we are all in the temple again together. Then with Dean gone to Virginia, it was a great reminder that we are sealed forever.

The chandelier is Austrian crystals. It is radiant.

Can you spot the difference?

BEFORE

AFTER
No we didn't take them off Makenna and put them on Rhett, although it may have saved us some money. But the orthodontist said no.

The other Christmas gift

Allison, Troy and Kai welcomed Reese Evelyn on Christmas afternoon. Makenna and I drove in to Salt Lake to see her and bring Kai back to our house. She sure is cute. It snowed on and off all day and while we were driving home there were times I wondered if we would make it. There was so much snow I was driving 20 mph. Fun!!!

Christmas '08

Checking out what Santa left.

So many gifts, so little time.

Caden got a new bike. He is way to big for his other bike so he was really excited that Mom and Dad delivered and got him the one he wanted.

This is where Daisy loved to hang out. We'd find her amongst the gifts sound asleep.

Who cares that it snowed all day, you have to go out and at least try it.

Christmas at the Smith's

Thought I'd post some pictures of how we decorated for Christmas. We hadn't put up our village in years, due to we didn't have it in North Carolina and we just couldn't figure out where to put it here. This year I decided to at least put up the houses and building above the kitchen cupboards, we loved how it looked.
I think they are playing the Wii, I'm loving the ability to put garland, lights and bows on all the furniture.

This is Makenna's doll Jackie Rhett. Long story short, she got this doll when Rhett was born and she stayed with Jackie, hence the name. Every Christmas the doll becomes the Baby Jesus. The insects go with a Christmas story that my Grandma Ruby gave me about the birth of Christ. Email me if you want a copy, it's really great and kids love it. This has become a favorite in our home, we put it right by the piano so we can all see it everyday and remember why we celebrate.

Yep, they are bowling pins. We took old bowling pins we got from the bowling alley and painted them to look like snowmen. Dean's is the penguin.

Our tree!!! Each year the kids get a new ornament, the result is a very full tree.

Our stocking hanger that has been 5 years in the making. I started it in North Carolina and never finished it. But not this year, go me, I finished it and used it.

Sea World

While in California we took the kids to Sea World. Anheuser Busch does 1 free day a year for military families, we took advantage of our free day. Adele, Josh, Anna and Piper met us there. Although you wouldn't know that Piper was there since there aren't any pictures to prove it. The kids really had a good time and it was great weather.

Opps!!!

I've been trying to update, but for some reason I can't add pictures. When I get it figured out you will see pictures of Sea World, Christmas and our quick trip to Idaho. For those of you who care, which better be everyone, Dean leaves a week from Saturday for Virginia for his Warrant Officer School. Promise to work this out so you can see what we are up to.