Disneyland!!!

Well, it has been over a year since our last post. Oh well, I guess better late than never.

As you can tell by the title, we went to Disneyland in January. It has been a while since Kevin has been and none of the rest of the family has been (Kendra has been to Disneyworld).

Let me just start by saying, it was amazing. The whole family had a lot of fun. The only tough part about the timing is that Kendra is with child (due in early May for those who didn't know) and wasn't able to go on some of the rides. But we got through it.

We were able to go to both Disneyland and California Adventure. Our favorite ride was Pirates of the Caribbean. It is a pretty amazing ride. We also enjoyed the Peter Pan Ride, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Matterhorn Bobsleds, and the Alice in Wonderland teacups. Here are some highlights of the experience:

Alex didn't like meeting the characters. After, though, he loved the princesses- especialy Snow White whom he saved from the Evil Queen. 

Taking a flight with Dumbo.

Pausing to eat.

Meeting one of Kevin's favorites.

Yes, that is Rapunzel casting her gaze on Alex.

Fantasyland

Meeting Belle.

 

About to take a Wild Ride with Mr. Toad.

 Lightning McQueen!

 

 

It was a fun time and we can't wait to get back to the Happiest Place on Earth.

Why is life so crazy?

Halloween!!! One of Kevin's favorite holidays. We had a great time dressing up. Kevin was a hockey player. Maddy was Cinderella. Geneva was Tinkerbell, and Alex was a soccer player. I also dressed up as a soccer player, and Alex was basically my Mini-me.

Well, since the last post, we have bought a house. Not only bought, but gutted and put in a brand new kitchen, took out 2 walls and patched the floor. We have learned lots (how to: demo, drywall and tile being some of the major ones) and are loving our own space. Below is the ripped out kitchen:

A week or 2 after we moved in both sets of Grandparents came to see the new place and spend Thanksgiving with us. It was a crazy, fun, busy week.

After they all left we had a chance to decorate our new home for Christmas. A few days before Christmas we had a surprise. SNOW!!! We even had enough to build a snowman (which we did).

We had an awesome Christmas. We opened our stockings and presents from Santa Claus then went to church. After church we came home opened our presents and had lunch and naps/quiet time. What a wonderful day! Kevin was able to take a few days off of work (a total of 11 days at home, NICE!!!) to spend with our family. We went to White Sands to sled. We had a few bumps and bruises, but we got the hang of it and had a great time.

We spent New Years at home. It is not really safe to be out on the roads, ya know what I mean? We watched a movie that Kevin got for Christmas, The Adventure of Clutch Powers. It is a Lego movie and the kids (and Kevin) LOVE IT!!! After we got the kids in bed we watched Captain America which Kevin also got for Christmas. (Which is an AWESOME movie!) It was awesome to just be at home with nothing to do but hang out and have fun as a family. However, now that the new year is upon us we are about to kick it into high gear again on the house. We are going to finish the cabinets (endpieces and laquer) this week. During the week we will prep to paint and paint in the next few weekends. Then we will really start to work on the yard. Kevin is excited for this part. I am hoping to catch some of his "yard work" enthusiasm (catch it? It is a disease right?). We are also planning on having a home warming party sometime in February or March.

A brief update on the individuals in our family:

Kevin: Working hard on many fronts. He works for the city 40 hours a week. His calling as ward clerk keeps him busy a few nights a week and of course his never ending "honey do" list.

Maddy: Loving school!!! Learning more and more words all the time. She is also very interested in taking some type of lesson soon (ex. swimming, dance, tumbling) she hasn't decided yet.

Geneva: Sad to say, I think that girl is done napping. It is waaaaaaaaaaay to much of a fight and she falls asleep so well at night when she doesn't nap. When she does nap, she stays up and pesters us until 9 or 10 pm. She loves playing outside. Good thing we have a backyard now. She is my wild one and I love her to pieces!!!

Alex: I think he is ready to potty train. Hooray!! Maybe I will have to take one or 2 days and not work on the house and just get the job done. So much money to be saved from diapers and wipes. Yup.I just need to do it. He is a great little boy. He loves being outside also. One of the few understandable words he says is "outside". He also frequently says: dog, please, more, momma, dada, manny (Maddy), uh-oh, sit (he has a hard time staying on his bum), paci, hi, and bye-bye.

Kendra: Working on the house, keeping the house clean and keeping the kids happy take up most of my time (just like any other stay-at-home mom).

Hope you all are doing well. It is almost a guarantee that if you are reading this we are missing you and wishing that we lived closer!!! Love ya!!!

We are bad at this!!!

So we are really bad at this whole blogging thing. Another update for you anyway. We have had a really fun and sweaty summer. In case you forgot, we live in TX now and it gets really hot here. We are blessed that there is a pool at our complex and we got to go swimming almost everyday.

So here is a brief summer recap.

June: Swimming, swimming, and more swimming. Kevin's parents, sister and grandmother all came for a visit. We went to Carlsbad Caverns and to the zoo and many other things that this late in the game I cannot remember.

We also celebrated Alexander's 1st birthday (BIG BOY!!) and my birthday. We got a webcam so that we can chat with family long distance.It is really fun and the girls LOVE using it. Also Alex started walking in June right around his 1st birthday. That was pretty exciting.

July: Swimming, swimming, and more swimming. Did I mention that my kids love to swim? To this day I can put little Alex in a lifejacket and let him go and he will float onto his back and kick and giggle for a couple of minutes. Of course, I am always standing right there but I let him do it anyway because he gets a kick out of it. Anyway, we went to the zoo many times and we even went back to Carlsbad again in July. We went househunting twice in July. (More info to follow on that.)

August: The kids and I spent the 1st half of August in Idaho visiting friends and family. We went to a family reunion for both sides of the family (one each Saturday we were there) and had a great time. I am pleased to announce that while we were in Idaho I actually felt cold. That is right folks, I know what "cold" feels like again and it was a glorious experience. I enjoyed wearing my sweatshirt and slippers in August. It was amazing and I can't wait until I feel "cold" again. It is not likely to happen anytime soon, but at least for now I am comforted by the fact that we are able to turn the air conditioner off at night and sleep comfortably. Anywho, we really enjoyed Idaho. About 2 days before we went to Idaho we were successful in our house hunt. We put an offer in on an awesome home the day before I left with the kids. To make a long story short, they eventually accepted our offer and I will never again try to buy a home long distance while on vacation. Whilst we were in Idaho Kevin was plugging away at his job and doing amazing stuff like passing probation and becoming a full-fledged employee. He called and told me that he didn't pass and I nearly had a heart attack. I didn't think it was particularly funny, but he did. (Way to go Kev, ya got me!!)

When we returned from Idaho (The kids are absolute "road warriors", the didn't even watch a movie on the way back. I drove all by myself on the way back. That's right, no other adults, just me and 3 kids for 2 days.) Maddy started school. We got back and 2 days later we went to meet the teacher and 4 days later she started Kindergarten. She is getting so big. She is at school from 8 am to 3:15 pm. We miss her being gone all day, but she loves it. And her teachers are great and she is making new friends, all positive notes about school. No fights to get her out of bed or anything (I know that at least Christy is jealous). The worst part about school is that I have to drive her and then walk her in to the cafeteria and pick her up from the cafeteria. It is time consuming. It breaks up my whole day in a bad way. Oh well, it is the price we pay for a great school and area to live in.

We also got to go camping with our ward. It was wonderful (and cold, did I mention how much I like being cold). I miss camping, we will probably try to go camping again after we move into the new house. It doesn't get very cold here so we can do that!!!

September (so far): We have just been doing our normal thing. School and chores and park and all the good things in life. Kevin went hiking with some friends twice (one day trip and one overnight). He heads to Oregon this weekend for the sealing of his sister and family (they adopted boys). I will be scrapbooking and Visiting Teaching and eating brownies for the 2 days that he is away. Then we have a weekend at home before I go on my very first ever MOMMY WEEKEND. That is right, no kids!!! I will sleep and read and sleep and read and maybe soak in the hot tub if I can haul my hind quarters out of bed. Should be great fun!! I am really excited.

Tomorrow we are getting real family pictures done. I am excited about this because Alex is a year old and there is no good excuse for not having an updated picture.

Hope that everyone is well, and (cross your fingers) we will try to at least update the pictures more often. Gotta go make dinner and do the laundry for the photo shoot!!!

Adios!!!

All the new things in life!!!

Well, as everyone knows we recently moved to El Paso, Texas. To save time and space I will give you the highlights of our life during and since the move.

It was sad to say goodbye to friends and family, but we were thrilled to have a "real" job. We could not be more excited the Lord answered our prayers. Kevin is now working for the City of El Paso as a Planner. (Sometime he might go into that since nobody knows what that is.) It is exactly the position that we were hoping he would get. He loves going to work which makes all of us happy. As for the actual move. . . Kev drove the UHaul (with no cruise control, YIKES!!!) with help from his Dad. The kids and I spent a week in Idaho Falls with my family before a weekend romp in West Yellowstone. It was hard to be away from Kevin for so long, but good to have one last hoorah with my family. (I have never lived far from my family,so this is particularly hard on me.) Then we began the 3 day journey to TEXAS!!! Thank goodness Erin (Kevin's sister) was able to come along. She was so helpful!!! And now we are in Texas and all moved in to our new apartment.

Maddy turned 5 in March. We celebrated with a butterfly cake and a few presents. She is such a big girl!!!

Geneva turned 3 in April. We went to the zoo and had a Mickey Mouse cake. Geneva got lots of games for her birthday and the kids love playing them!!

A few weeks after we arrived Alex got a killer fever. I took him to the doctor, but there was nothing obviously wrong. He woke up the next day just fine. Actually better that just fine. He started crawling. It was incredible!!! And now he is taking an interest in getting into everything and he even likes to stand on his own a couple times a day. He also likes to be a little brother to his big sisters.

This last weekend we traveled to Cloudcroft, NM for the day to escape the heat of the city. On the way there we traveled through a border patrol checkpoint. Our apartment is located about 3-4 miles from both New Mexico and Mexico so we were pretty surprised to run into a checkpoint an hour away from home. However, our obvious whiteness (blond hair and blue eyes) got us through pretty quick. It was odd/funny though to see a drug-sniffing dog checking out my minivan. We had a great trip and enjoyed our"hike" to Bluff Springs and the girls loved playing in the water. I would love to make the trip again in the near future.

As we were getting the kids ready for bed on Saturday Night we found out that Maddy had a loose tooth. She had not said anything about it but it was so loose that it came out that night and the toothfairy made its first appearance in our home. It was very exciting for everyone involved.

Since being in El Paso we have been to the zoo several times and we went to the Wyler Ariel Tramway.

I have busted out the sewing machine recently to create drapes/curtains for the bedroom. Mine and Kevin's bedroom gets the afternoon sun (which is killer). I sewed together a large blue sheet and a large blacksheet and now you have to turn on a light whenever you go in there, but it stays nice and cool. I also just hung drapes (again made from sheets from the local thrift store) in the kids room. One half is a lion king sheet and the other half is a purple leopard print. Classy, I know.

And I think that is all the happenings. We are adjusting to everything pretty well. It hit the low 90s the other day and I thought "Well, the heat isn't too bad today." Yup, my body is adjusting to Texas weather just fine. I will be excited when the pool opens. (If it actually happens before the real heat hits!!) We are enjoying the ward. Kevin was called to be the ward financial clerk and I am in the Primary (again). Maybe someday I will graduate from Primary like all the other kids.

For now we are enjoying life and Kevin's 3 day weekends. The parks here are covered in sand, not woodchips and they have huge shade structures over them so they are really nice to play at. We go the park about twice a week.

But, right now Alex want to eat and go to bed, so I sign off with an appropriate . . .

BYE Y'ALL

Changes

Well, here is just a quick update. Pocatello will soon be beind us. Kevin was offered a job as a planner with the City of El Paso, Texas. So, we are packing us and moving this weekend down there. It will be a little bit daunting, but we are all excited. The whole family is all doing well. We will be updating the blog a little more often now that we won't be searching for jobs all the time. More updates will be coming. We wish everyone the best.

Odds and Ends and Going Ons

Well, I think that I am going to be averaging a blog about every two months. Hopefully, it will get better. We shall see what will happen. Here is what is new with the Smith family.
Little Alexander is not so little anymore. He is now a big boy. Maddy and Geneva at his age were smaller. As Kendra has put it, it is fun to have a big baby. Alex got his first haircut today. He really enjoyed it and didn't cry at all. He also likes to play and splash in the bathtub and rock out to the Beach Boys. We (especially Kendra) are trying to have him sleep through the night. He still likes to wake up and eat (Did I mention that he is a big boy?)
Geneva is a funny little girl. We recently decorated for Halloween and we have a fake spider. At first, she was terrified of it and wouldn't go near it. Then Kendra worked her magic and now she gives it kisses and even told it good night one evening. She also is starting to go potty in the "big girl potty." She, like her Daddy and Grandpa, are obsessed with Legos. She gets a huge smile on her face and loves playing with them.
Madeleine is our little student. She has been going to preschool and loves going. She then tells us what she learned and she is getting smarter every day. Soccer just ended for her and she really enjoyed it. She didn't seem to interested in taking the ball away from the other team, but she was always willing to play when the other kids wouldn't want to. She is also always helping with Alex when he gets a little grumpy.
Kendra is doing an excellent job for only getting a few hours of sleep each night. She may seem half asleep during the day, but she keeps plugging along. She and the kids (along with a little girl from our ward) were rear ended this last week. The other driver decided he should pick out the gunk out of his dog's eye and ran into the minivan. No one was hurt and there wasn't a lot of damage. So, all of you readers, don't clean out your dog's eye gunk while driving. (Just do it at home.)Kevin is doing okay. He did have an interview in Philadelphia about three weeks ago, but still hasn't heard back yet. He has also changed some of his tasks at work to have a little more peace and sanity. There is not a lot of prospects on the job front, unfortunately.

Overall, we are a very blessed family. We really have nothing to complain about. Heavenly Father has blessed us and we will keep on doing what He wants us to do. We wish the best for each of you and your family. (Expect another update in two months).

End of Summer

Well, here is the latest updates. It has been a while and I apologize for that. Life has been a little tiring.

The whole family is doing well. As you can see, little Alexander has turned into a manbeast. He sure is growing and becoming a little ladies man. He likes to grunt and recently has taking to showing off his dimples.

Little Geneva is really mischevious. Her language is really coming along and she has even taken to eating her vegetables (at least more often).

Madeleine is growing up as well. She has taken swimming lessons this summer and has recently started playing the beautiful game (soccer). Here she is after just scoring her first gggggoooooooooaaaaaaallllllll!

We have also gone camping this summer and have tried to play as much as we can. Since it has been a while, here are some pictures to let you know that Kendra and Kevin are still around:

We hope that you all are doing well and hopefully we will be able to update this a little more than once every six months.