Jumpin Jacks

We went to Jumpin Jacks in springville. The kids love it! They had such a blast! We did go on a friday and when there was no school. The place was so packed. I think they need to have an age limit also. The older kids where running over the younger ones, it was a bit crazy!!

Wyatt and Clayton going down the biggest slide.....they had sooo much fun!

Clayton even climbed to the top of the biggest one! He is now prepared to climb the mountains of life! The other kids were a little impatient though!

Ice Castles at the Zermatt Resort

We had quite an adventure yesterday. We headed up to Midway to see the Ice Castle. It was amazing. It was really hard to look at it..very blinding. We should of went at night..they light it all up. And it was a cloudy day too so that made it a little hard for the pictures to show up. But he has a blog that have amazing pictures in different lights.
http://brentsicecastle.blogspot.com/ Check out his blog.

We weren't planning on going up, so I didn't bring a coat. It was much colder in Midway. So I improvised. Its funny I always prepare for my kids, but not for me. They all had their winter coats. Than we ate our picnic lunch that we packed. It was a lot of fun.

The Bean Museum

We had the opportunity to go to the bean museum today. The kids loved it! We had a good time looking at all the different kinds of animals. Josh was able to come too. We went up to Midway too, to see the Ice Castles at the Zermatt resort. Then we went to jumping jacks in springville. We rounded the day off by sleeping over at Grandma and Grandpas house(they are in Florida). So we had to crash there house and have a big pizza party and watched holes and hoodwinked. Tons of fun! More pictures to come!

This is a liger"its my favorite"

We had an Awesome day!!

Our adventure and Wyatts hunting

So during Christmas break we decided to go for a drive. So we went and Josh's brother and his wife and my in laws. It was a lot of fun and a lot of snow. I got freaked out a bit. But Josh is an amazing driver, especially in the snow. I need to break down and learn how to drive well in the snow but i just let him do all the driving. Thanks Hun. It was beautiful. We even helped some one get unstuck. An old truck they found. The snow was pretty deep.

This is an old mine bunker.

Josh got stuck, apparently there was some kind of rock monument..who knew under all that snow..lol

We saw lots of cows.

The kids had a lot of fun in the car

Wyatt went hunting with josh, grandpa, and his two great uncles. They were hunting rabbits. I was so amazed how much they hiked in the crusty snow. He is a tuff kid. I think they went about 3 miles. They did get one rabbit. And I'm so glad i didn't have to cook it or eat it. He loves hunting and being out with the guys.

NNAAACCCHHHHHOOOOO Christmas party!!!

We had our annual Smith Christmas party. Its always so much fun. We do a white elephant exchange and than the grand kids exchange. We came home with a huge Garfield and a computer mouse(cat and mouse..lol) And some Disney movies. It was so much fun and so much food! Jake and Zack are serving their missions in Mexico somewhere(I don't know the names of the cities) they sent over masks for all the boys..it was so fun!

Two of them went off and changed into some wrestling outfits and gave us a show..lol. It was so funny!

The night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. Josh loves setting up for Christmas. Santa leaves treats all over and sparkling cider. It was a nice Christmas.

We are so grateful for all that we have. We have been blessed! We have had our ups and downs this year. But we grew and learned through our experiences. We are happy and healthy and truly grateful for the gospel in our lives. We are grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. We love and appreciate our families. They are so loving and supportive! We think of all of you often and pray for everyone in their own trials. We are also grateful for great friends.

Winter weddings and christmas wishes

So last night i did some arrangements for a reception. They are definitely different. You know what, I have no idea what kind of flower it is. I wanted to say an Iris but I googled it and it doesn't look the same. So if any one knows please tell me. The wedding planner picked up all stuff for the arrangement.
Its such a simple arrangement. I struggled with how to work with the cranberries. I liked to say I came up with the idea, but i could say the flower did. The stem on this thing is huge..big enough to hold some of the cranberries down. Figured this out when i was on to my second arrangement and trying to get this flower to stay in place. We ran out of lemon leave towards the end and ended up taping a ton of the bear grass to it. It actually turned out cute. Josh didn't get those pictures. Oh and this was the first time i made them at the reception center, It was hard to focus with so many people coming and going preparing for the wedding. It turned out great though.

Merry Christmas from the Smiths..Clayton says it all! He is such a cute kid!

Being more Christlike

My sister in law sent this to me and I thought i would share. It was perfect!

Christmas Thoughts

http://www.santasearch.org/texts.asp?Do=4&TextID=1046 (click on the link)

Enjoy, I thought this poem was cute. I shared it with my kids.

Some december fun

Last night we went to visit Josh's grandma up in Salt Lake. We always have fun at Grandma Greats house. We also went to Temple square and got this amazing parking spot..like that ever happens but we did this time. So enjoy the pictures. The weather was great!

Grandma great in her new pjs. I'm so glad she like them.

Dad having some fun with the kids.

Clayton the Cowboy!

Hailey will be such a great babysitter when she grows up. This is Payden one of the little boys I babysit..he is such a sweet heart.

And Oh the snow we got last week. We got at least 20 inches. It was so fun!

Me and Hailey made a snow cave. no worries, we were being save. Its a small hole. She had so much fun!

Christmas is coming

The kids favorite past time now is looking at all the toys in the ads and cutting them out in hopes that Santa will get them for them. But recently Mom informed them that Santa only can bring 5 gifts. So now they are saving the rest, they say for next year. ( To clarify, the kids get 2 gifts from Santa, one from grandma and grandpa McDonald, and two from us this year)

Crazy Weather

Our weather has been crazy. I think we are finially settling into winter! We went from snow to really nice days at the duck pond to now snow and cold.

Deal or no deal...that is the question

This is an addition to my previous blog on NEVER, ever. Now for the past four months I have been jumping on the bandwagon on saving money when I grocery shop. And believe me, I have been doing pretty well. My food expenses have not increased but, I'm bringing home so much more food. I actually have food storage with out spending more. Anyways, I'm always up for a good deal. So, when black Friday presented itself, I thought hey I'll try that. Stores and toys are one big fat LIE! I really believe they hike up the prices before hand, than it looks like your getting a wicked awesome deal. OK
Example....(I'm glad Wyatt can't read really well yet, because I'm revealing his gift.) We got him a remote controlled Jeep. Looked pretty cool. The deal sounded awesome. Its original price was 69.99 on sale black Friday for 34.99. WOW that is an amazing deal. I was pretty happy with that purchase until I got the last Toys r us ad this past week. LOL. Same toy, original price 41.00 on sale for 26.00. I was like WHAT!! you have to be kidding me. Oh well. It is what it is. I did try the black Friday and I have my own experience to say NEVER EVER!!!!

NEVER, ever...

Oh do I wish I had my camera tonight. Tonight was the start of The Black Friday, I thought it would be a great idea to save some money, boy was I wrong. I got to Toys r us about 10 minutes before they opened, I thought that would be good enough. I guess I have never really talked to someone that actually shopped the black Fridays. I swear there were at least 600 people waiting for toys r us to open. I drove 20 minutes just to turn around. When I got home I thought I would check to see if I can order some of the items on line. I did some research earlier and I couldn't, but with a hopeful heart I checked again. And walla I could. Ahhh the awesomeness. So I will NEVER EVER in a million years go out to wait in a line just to save me 50 bucks. Now I have to go to bed just to wake up again about 3am to order the killer items for my family's present to my mother in law.

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