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Merry Christmas 2016 from the Smith Family

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
LOVE FROM THE SMITH FAMILY

I LOVE how my Christmas card turned out this year and I just wanted to share it with all of you! It is a tri-fold card, so the digital version doesn’t quite show how fun it is, but I love it!

Thank you to Cheapshot Photography for taking our photos this year and to Pro Digital for the printing of my cards!

J.J. is 14 and is in 9th Grade at Spectrum Academy. He is so excited to be in high school this year and has loved participating in the Occupational Track, where he has been able to experience lots of different career options and go on lots of field trips. J.J. is always at his happiest when he is watching movies and playing on his tablet!

Beth is 11, in 6th Grade, and her last year at Spring Creek Elementary. She still excels in reading and is learning to be a leader. She loves music and sings in her school choir, plays violin in the school orchestra, and does theater (they will be performing Beauty and the Beast this Spring). She is happiest when she is hanging out with friends, reading, or doing some kind of craft!

Joey always stays busy with work. Work has been extra crazy for him this year and for the first time in his life, he understands the appeal of retiring (though it is very doubtful that he will for many many many more years). He is always helping family and friends with their computers. In his rare spare time, he enjoys being with his family, reading, listening to music and audiobooks, and playing video games.

DeDe is still loving serving in the Primary presidency in our ward. She loves to use her talents to create for the Primary, the Ward, the Schools, and sometimes even her family and friends (and occasionally maybe even for herself). She loves movies/tv shows, reading, creating, and procrastinating the housework.

Our family’s highlight of the year was our camping trip to Wyoming this summer. We loved visiting Yellowstone National Park, going river rafting down the Snake River, visiting church history sites, and visiting Joey’s small hometown and sharing his childhood memories. Another highlight was when DeDe got to join Joey on his business trip to California and they got to go out to Alcatraz Island!

 

 

Here’s to Christmas…

A Time of Giving & Believing

A Time of Loving & Remembering

A Time of Gratitude

A Time of Magic & Peace

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Life 365 | Week 52

Monday, December 20, 2010
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Joey came home in the middle of the day with an amazing surprise! He received one of his company’s employee awards this year! And what did he receive – AN IPAD! And not just any iPad – the best one that they have out right now. WOW! He was so excited and I’m just so proud of him. He totally deserves it. It is so fun to see him enjoying it!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010
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It snowed again – and it was the best snowman-making snow – so of course we had to get out in it today! It’s fun having the kids home during the day. We made our Frosty and made snow angels and had a snowball fight and just had so much fun. Unfortunately, it got warmer later in the day, and some of the snow melted away, along with our Frosty. I was so glad we didn’t delay in getting out there and playing!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010
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Today’s activity was to read and watch the movie of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! So in between playing and cleaning, we read the book and before bedtime we had it done, so we got to watch the movie! It was so fun!


Thursday, December 23, 2010
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We did laundry and cleaning today and the kids got to play games on Joey’s little computer. They loved it!

Friday, December 24, 2010
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What an amazing day today. Joey completely surprised me this year – many times he is quite the grinch around Christmas – but this season, he has been so wonderful. I think its because as a family, we have really focused on teaching the kids the real meaning of Christmas – we have been reading scriptures every night and the kids have really responded to Jesus and the Christmas story. Joey went shopping and came home with Uncle Aaron and a whole list of fun things to do today. I did some cooking so that all I had to do was stick the potatoes in for tomorrow’s Christmas dinner and did some last minute cleaning. I also made up a batch of swirl cookies for Santa. We played games, and did puzzles, and watched movies, and read books and just spent the whole day together. We were glad to have Aaron join us. We also took the Trax up to temple square and saw the lights and the wonderful nativity scene they had there. There was such a wonderful spirit on the temple grounds and it was so fun being there on Christmas Eve. On the way home, we picked up Chinese food from our favorite place – Mings Garden – and then we came home and ate it. We opened our new pajamas and got a picture of us in them before bedtime.

Saturday, December 25, 2010
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It was a fabulous Christmas! The kids had so much fun. From Santa, JJ got Buzz and Beth got a Rapunzel doll. And they also received from us – Jessie, Woody, and Bulls-eye, lots of games, movies, and other fun things and we just spent the whole day playing. The Toy Story movies have meant a lot to me and the kids so it was so fun to see Beth and JJ play with their new Toy Story characters! Joey surprised us all with the Wii Sports Resort Game and he gave me the Wii Fit Plus – which I have wanted for a long time! It was a great day!

Sunday, December 26, 2010
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It’s just so much fun to have new things to play with! It was a relaxing day – just spent at church and together.

Project 365 | Week 49

Monday, November 30, 2009
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For Family Home Evening tonight we put up our Christmas tree. It’s just a small 4 1/2 foot tall artificial tree, but it works nicely in our little trailer. We put it up on a storage bucket and it works great. I love blue and silver together and so once again we used the same decorations we have had for years for our blue/white/silver tree. The kids had so much fun putting the ornaments on too. And for the first time in 5 years, I put out my Precious Moments Nativity. The kids were young and I was afraid they would break them and I haven’t really had a place to put it so I haven’t put it out. But this year, it worked great under the tree on the storage box and the kids seem to stay away from it – and so it’s there. I’m so glad – I have missed it and it really reminds me of the real reason for Christmas. For the FHE lesson we talked about the 2nd Article of Faith and started memorizing it. I’m so proud of my kids for getting the 1st one down!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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I can’t believe it is December 1st already and the weather has really started to feel like winter is coming! Beth has even broke out her heavier coat, gloves and hat! She thinks it is time for it snow! 🙂

Wednesday, December 2, 2009
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Another one of those special moments where the kids were playing so good together and even sharing the chair as they watched a movie before bed. I so love it when they are good to one another!

Thursday, December 3, 2009
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My kids are definitely ready for Christmas to be here already and the season is just starting. I know they are dreaming of lots of presents, but I hope I can instill in them the real reason for Christmas.

Tonight Joey and I went to see The Blind Side and it was an amazing story. I loved the movie and I loved being with my hubby.

Friday, December 4, 2009
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The kids wrote their very first letters to Santa today. I helped them spell the words but they each wrote it all by themselves. So cute!

Saturday, December 5, 2009
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My beautiful new niece was born today. Cody and Becki did really well! Mallory Marie Sorensen was born at 5:16pm and weighed 5 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches tall. She is so tiny, so sweet and has us all wrapped around her little finger already. I was able to spend a few minutes with Cody and Becki this afternoon before she was born (running some errands for them and taking Cody some lunch) and then later after the kids were in bed I was able to go over to the hospital and hold little Mallory. I can’t wait for my kids to meet their new little cousin! And yes Mallory – you have made me baby hungry tonight!

Sunday, December 6, 2009
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The kids and I were able to go over to the hospital tonight so that the kids could meet Mallory. They loved being able to hold her and give her kisses. Uncle Cody and Aunt Becki have been so wonderful to JJ & Beth. They are definitely their favorite Aunt/Uncle right now and so this was an extra special time that we got to spend with them at the hospital. I knew Beth would be so excited about her new cousin, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see JJ’s reaction. He was so cute with Mallory and I can really tell that these 2 want a new baby in the family. 🙂