Christmas Fun

We thought it might be a hard Christmas since so many in our family wouldn't be able to be with us—but it turned out to be a good day. Shellie, George, Abby and Caynen and Scott came and stayed for two days, and we had lots of fun. Abby and I had our first cooking experience with Abby on Grandma's cooking chair. We made George's favorite whole wheat pancakes (Grandma Barrett's famous recipe), read from the scriptures, opened gifts, ate lots of good food, and also lots of junk food, and just enjoyed being together. George wanted to make sure we played the infamous Smith Christmas chimes on Christmas Eve, but we didn't have enough people to do a song without George having to play two chimes at once (he's very coordinated in every way, except for chime playing!). We planned to play them when we had the bigger group, but we forgot! Our friends, Ron, Pauline and Sharise let us crash their Christmas tradition of going to a movie on Christmas Day, and we all watched "Marley and Me" together. It was great hearing a few sniffles coming from tough guy Ron sitting behind us. My nephew, David, and his wife, Taylor, were special Christmas angels and volunteered to babysit Abby and Caynen while the rest of us went to the movie. After that we went home and prepared and ate a turkey dinner. We ended up with 12 people there, but we lost two when David and Taylor's baby thought he wanted to come and she went into labor. It turns out the baby was just teasing—he didn't actually come until New Year's Day. We had lots of fun, but we sure missed Mike, Bri, Trent, Garret, Zach, Kenny, Christan, Bailey, Corbin, Drew, Brian and Emily.

Another Smith Law Enforcement Officer

Kirk and I travelled to Salt Lake for Brian's police academy graduation, where Kirk was able to present him with his diploma. Brian was honored as one of the top graduates academically, and he would have been one of the top physically also, since his scores in every area were above 95% —except in flexibility he was only 35% (he can barely touch his toes!). I think we'll start calling him "Stretch." Since he's a really good athlete, it was fun for us to tease him about that! He is glad to be finished with the academy and working at the Utah County Sheriffs Office.

Thanksgiving in Virginia

We loved spending Thanksgiving in Virginia with Kenny and Christan and the kids. The flights were smooth and on time, the weather was beautiful, and the turkey dinner was yummy. Christan even made her traditional "Chicken Noodles" (did I get that right?) and homemade apple pie. The very best thing was just hanging around the house playing with & hugging kids (well, Kirk loved watching football with Kenny and finding 2-million-year-old shark's teeth, too). It was great snuggling Drew - and by the time I left I think I figured out how to get him to sleep (so I guess I'll have to come back to use my new skill). Kirk and I loved making gingerbread houses and trains with Bailey and Corbin. Bailey also sang for us, but I don't know how to upload the video—I'll work on that. The kids took us exploring in their backyard—which is a beautiful forest with lots of trees and a big lake. Kenny said we just missed the famous fall leaves by about 10 days—maybe we'll catch them next year! Thanks Kenny & Christan for being such great hosts!

Bailey put her Dad to sleep.














Grandpa and Corbin and Bailey put more frosting in their mouths than on their gingerbread!


Grandpa loved wrestling with the gang.




backyard paradise.

cool dudes!

Grandkid Time

Kirk and I were able to enjoy some extra grandkid time right before and after the wedding. Bri is amazing — she brought her three boys (by herself) on the plane from D.C. so they could spend a few days with us before the wedding. It was great to hug and snuggle with Zach. Sometimes when I was packing him around, but not really paying attention to him, I would look down and he would be smiling and staring at me, just waiting to catch my eye, and then he'd grin even bigger! So cute! It was great hanging out with Trent and Garret. They loved jumping on my couch (they were shocked I said it was O.K.), picking pomegranetes and grapes, and making grape juice and cookies with Grandma. On the day before the wedding, they hung out with Grandpa Kirk all day at the Dinosaur Tracks Museum and McDonalds, and home watching movies, while Bri helped me get ready for the big day. Then, the week after the wedding, Shellie shocked us by coming up to stay at our house for 3 whole days (24 hrs. is usually her max). She decided to get away from the dusty remodeling going on at her home, so we got the benefit of extra time with the kids. Abby loved playing the piano with Grandma Nonie and snuggling Grandpa Kirk. She looks so much like Shellie did when she was that age. It was great to have more hugging time with Caynen (I sure love rocking babies), and listening to his cooing!

Open House in Lehi

We had a great time at Brian and Emily's open house in Lehi on Saturday night. It was wonderful seeing so many friends that we hadn't seen for a long time. We saw dear friends from the ward we attended in Kearns over 25 years ago - that was great! We loved reconnecting with our friend Beva, who was the reason we finally started family vacations when our kids were younger. We also got to visit my cousins and some of their family that we hadn't seen for quite a while. Kirk even had some former BYU Cheer squad members stop by - wow, that's a blast from the past! And I had one of my best friends from high school who made it. My only regret is that I was so busy gabbing (imagine that!) that I didn't think to pull out the camera until the very end - and even then, I only got a few pictures. And most unforgivable . . . I only got one picture of Mike (the Army wouldn't let him off for all the Friday events) - and its not even with Brian and Emily! I guess we'll have to photoshop him into the wedding pictures.

Wedding Day Images

Wedding Day and Blessing Day

Caynen Kirk Abittan shared the spotlight with Brian and Emily—he was blessed on their wedding day! Since we had almost all of our family and friends together, we decided that would be the perfect time to bless Shellie and George's little guy. I know that family on earth and family in Heaven were all happy to to see our precious baby boy blessed and a new eternal family started.