Read, Read and Read Some More

According to my records (thanks to Goodreads) I read 83 books this year! Some of my favorites were, These Is My Words, The Lightning Thief -Percy Jackson series, Outliers, Wednesday Wars, and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

I got a bunch of new books for Christmas, can't wait to get started.

Smith Family Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Made even better because we were able to spend it with extended family this year! Dave's parents kindly took us in and we were so grateful to be able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with them.

Due to our dubious health, the usual Smith Family Christmas Eve party was pretty much cancelled but Dave's sister Kristin and her husband Brian were kind enough to risk their own health and let us stop by for a visit on Christmas Eve.

Paige and her cousin McKenna

The Guys- Tom (my dad), Dave and Brian

Kristin and Payton - gorgeous smiles

Grandpa and Grandma Smith

After leaving Kristin's house we headed back to Grandpa and Grandma's Smith house to get ready for Santa. Also, Ashley started feeling "sick" which meant we had to get home quick!

Once at home, the girls opened their new PJs, a Christmas Eve tradition, set out a plate of cookies for Santa, read the story of the nativity from the scriptures, and then were off to bed. We all woke up to this in the morning:

Paige opening her American Girl Doll

Ashley opening her new iPod Nano

the girls enjoying their new snugees from Grandma & Grandpa

Of course, the day didn't end with the opening of Christmas presents. Our family headed over to my dad's house for a big Christmas Day Breakfast, with my dad, mom, sister Katey and brother Rylee.

Preparing made-to-order omelettes

and homemade scones

After a good breakfast and fun times, we headed back to the Smith's to clean up and get ready for Christmas dinner. We ate dinner with Dave's parents and his brother Scott and sister Katie's families. We enjoyed a delicious ham and turkey dinner followed by some serious game playing of Bop-It and Catch Phrase.

(Thanks to appetites not fully at 100%, we were blessed to enjoy time with family and eat good food, but not end the day feeling overstuffed and overindulged!)

Christmas Vacation Part 2 - The Good Stuff

Despite the previous post, our Christmas vacation wasn't all doom and gloom. Believe me, every chance we got, we tried to do something fun. Considering that we had to plan our activities inbetween illnesses, we were able to do quite a bit:

-GINGERBREAD HOUSES

-THAI FOOD

-PRINCESS AND THE FROG and AVATAR (only the "big" kids got to see Avatar!)

-PLAYTIME WITH COUSINS

-SMITH FAMILY CHRISTMAS BINGO

-SUGAR COOKIES FOR SANTA

-HILL AIR FORCE BASE MUSEUM



-BOONDOCKS - bowling and arcade center

-CARD GAMES

-TEMPLE SQUARE

-CROWN BURGER

Christmas Vacation Part 1 - Merry Sickmas

Christmas Eve - Dave, Paige, Ashley, and the "throw-up bowl"

This year our Christmas vacation to Utah was no "Griswold Family Christmas" but we did have our share of mishaps. Our mishaps didn't involve Christmas lights or squirrels they involved coughing, vomiting, toilets, throw-up bowls, etc. Our family was sick for almost the whole two weeks were in Utah. We obviously didn't make for good company or house guests. Just ask Grandma Smith who washed our sheets mutiple times, made us chicken noodle soup, and basically put up with us throwing up all over her house. Grandma's misfortune was our good fortune as we were very lucky to have someone to take care of us! SORRY, BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH!

We actually arrived in Utah a little under-the-weather. I had been battling a cold since the first of December, it wasn't getting better and I had also passed it onto Dave. By the time we left for Utah on Dec. 16th, I had been diagnosed with bronchitis and the constant coughing had strained the muscles in my neck causing them to painfully spasm. After a difficult flight, Dave and I arrived in Utah in less than our best condition. Our respiratory colds, were only aggravated by a weather inversion in Utah that resulted in the second worst air quality in the nation. Dave, with his cold and asthma, had a hard time even going outside.

Little did we know that this wasn't the worst of it. A few days into our trip, Paige woke up vomiting and was very sick the whole day. We felt bad for her until about 36 hours later when Ashley and Dave got sick, and not to be left out, me about 8 hours after them. We were so sick that it was basically every man for himself---you couldn't worry about anyone else because you felt so horrible yourself. I won't give too many gruesome details, but I have never been so sick in my life! This stomach bug lasted about 24 hours and made you violently ill as your body purged everything. I might have thought food poisoning but there was nothing that we all ate in common and once the vomiting and other stuff stopped, you still felt icky for a few days after.

Good Times with Dave and Paige - sick on the couch


The Family Christmas Eve party was cancelled, as no one wanted to risk catching whatever we had, but fortunately, the worst of it was over by Christmas Day and were able to enjoy some time with family.

Looking back we can now laugh at this whole experience. This will be a Christmas that will keep in our memories, as we of course recognize that our difficulties are of small consequence.