Merry Christmas

Confession

I LOVE Black Friday!!! There is something extremely awesome about waking up at 3:00 to go shopping with about 3,000 of my closest friends that gets me so excited every year, (even stayed overnight once). I get to give the kids to the husband (honestly they usually sleep through the whole thing) and walk away to shop, shop, shop. I really am not a huge shopper normally but this day just seems so great to do it. I love standing in line with people laughing about how crazy it is that we are standing in line at 3:00 a.m. for some stupid toys that our kids will forget 2 days after Christmas. I love comparing notes with my fellow line waiters and discussing the best deals comparing wish lists. Sometimes we even become co-conspirators "Hey if you see the camera before I do will you grab one for me? I will make sure to get the DVD player for you!" (The worst thing is to get in line behind a dud though, that happened to me once or twice BORING, now I make sure and bring friends with me). I have recruited a few people to this way of shopping and that makes it even better because I get to talk about it for weeks before the day. Last year I got to go with my SIL's in Colorado and it was a blast,although I must say it was a lot colder for line waiting. The best part was we were done by I think 8:00 a.m. and then we all went out to breakfast and got to visit and hang out. It is kind of a girls night out in reverse! Such a fun time, and such great memories. I am SO EXCITED for this year!!!! Any others out there?

Slackerville

I think I have picked up permanent residency in a little town called Slackerville. My main excuse, other than having a brand new baby, is that we have ONCE again broken our camera. Last black Friday my husband jokingly asked me if we were going to buy a new camera every single black Friday. I laughed and so "Of course not honey this one will last!" We have actually bought a new camera on black Friday 3 out of the last 5 years!!! Low and behold our latest purchase, the cute red Nikon from last year has bit the proverbial dust. The lens is broken. By this point I could have bought the fancy nikon or cannon one I wanted in the first place. AAAuuuggghh. So now as I sit here with my new baby boy and no camera to capture all of his cute moments I find myself once again looking through the ads for the best deal on cameras. We do have an iphone and my cell phone, but they just don't work the same. No flash and a delay on the picture make it difficult to get all of the adorable moments. So I will be updating the blog with pictures ( a little on the grainy side), we will be purchasing another new camera, and I will be extra nice the the hubby when he asks why we are having to once again purchase a new camera...hahahaha

p.s. Any ideas on deals please let me know!

Cole 2 months

The time is really flying around here. Cole turned 2 months last week. Can't believe it. He is such a fun little baby. The kids still can't get enough of him. He started smiling and hasn't stopped. The favorite past time for the kids is to get him to smile. They make funny faces and tickle him. It is so fun. He is such a big boy too. He ways 13 lbs 6 ozs and is 24 inches long, already growing out of his 0-3 months clothes. Ashlee was in those till she was 6 months!!! He loves to eat and sleep and really likes his swing. He really likes to have things to look out when he gets bored. We are just loving this new addition to our family. Such a cutey!!!

Introducing Cole Smith

Wow time really does get away from me...5 weeks ago today we welcomed our new little one. Cole J. Smith. He was born at 10:15 p.m. on May 21st. He was a whooping 8 lbs 15.4 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. I kept telling everyone he was a bigger than my others while pregnant, but the doctor just laughed and said probably around 8 lbs. My other two were 7.4 and 7.8 and around 19 inches so Cole is our big baby. The delivery went well and baby is great. He has been such a good baby. We are enjoying this so much. The kids just LOVE him. They can't get enough of holding him or talking to him. Ashlee wakes up every morning and runs into our room to see him wake up. She also loves to say a prayer every night for Cole to sleep well. They fight over holding him and who's brother he is. It is so fun to watch how much they love him. I don't pretend this will last long, but I am just enjoying it for now. Well below are a few pictures of our little one. Enjoy!!!!

Photo album personalized with Smilebox

Ashlee's Grey Tooth

Well today was an important day for Ashlee. She lost her first tooth!!! When Ashlee was 2 years old she fell and broke her tooth. This tooth died and left her with a grey tooth in the front. The dentist has checked it and everything was fine, until yesterday...she woke up with a fat lip. We watched it all day and it seemed to get bigger, and bigger, but she really didn't complain about it. Last night I was looking at it and noticed that she had a huge blister on top of her grey tooth. Anyway she had this big blister thing and this morning we called her dentist. He was so nice and said that he would meet us at his office in 2 hours to pull the tooth. So we went to the office at 10:30 and by 11:00 her tooth was pulled and we were leaving the office. What an incredible person he was to be willing to do this for our sweet little girl. She was such a trooper through the shots and tooth pulling. So brave! She is also so excited to show her friends how she lost her tooth. We even had the side benefit of her wanting to go to bed early so she could put her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy!

This is the before shot in the dentist chair.....

This is her after! You can already see how much the swelling has gone down.

Pregnant Me

So I have been extremely lacking in the post department for quite awhile. My only excuse is that my computer no longer "communicates" with my camera so I am unable to upload all of my pictures. I love pictures on other peoples blogs so I keep putting off blogging until I have a picture to post....silly yes, but nevertheless that has been my justification. So my solution to this problem......Iphone!! Many have been asking for the obligatory pregnant picture so I had my husband take a few with his phone. Below is me at about 34 weeks. It is so amazing the technology that is out there. I am now 36 weeks we are getting very excited for our little one to arrive and I must say I am counting down the days. This is the first pregnancy where I have not been working and it is so nice to feel like I am ready whenever he decides to come and not worry about finding a sub for school or finish grading papers. (we are on a slight timeline for a certain SIL wedding, but I am confident he will show up before then!) I have washed the carseat, cleaned the bassinet, washed all of the clothes, and purchased the diapers. Now I just need the little one to put inside them all. The kids are so excited and love to talk to the baby. Hyrum thinks the baby can see him through the belly button and always waves which makes me laugh and Ashlee just loves to feel the baby move. I am trying to enjoy every minute of this time and the wonder that is motherhood. Yes I am tired, yes I ache, but I am growing a new little one and sit in awe every time I realize that I get to share in this process with Heavenly Father.