Sunday, January 31, 2016

MLK Day - Haley's and the Smith


Lynne and I planned  play date for MLK day because our kids were out of school, not knowing that our husbands had the day off work so we were so excited to make it a bigger adventure knowing that Chris and Tyson would be there too. We originally planned to go bowling …but so did everyone else …plus some birthday parties. Pinstripes in Georgetown is the fanciest bowling alley I've ever been to and it's also the best! They gave us a complimentary bocce ball game because the wait was going to be 2 hours. The kids were super happy to be together and learn something new, Lynne& me and Tyson & Chris were able to catch up and we were WARM! It was a blistery winters day and we were so happy to be inside. 
After we stopped by Baked & Wired for a sweet treat. Man- that place makes amazing things! Though Haddie had reached her limit and wasn't happy with her own cupcake selection (i.e.- frazzled toddler = frazzled mama in a tight hipster hang out ) Tyson was able to keep his cool and help Haddie eventually calm down and even eat her cupcake- such a relief! Taryn & Logan just love being together so eating cupcakes was just another fantastic way to spend time together. 



Later that day we had a get something (which I can't even remember what) Haddie needed a new winter hat and loved this Owl beanie (um…clearance for $3- yes please!) and Taryn thought Tyson's ASU hat would look better on her. 

It's fun to get in a "bonus "holiday that you weren't expecting to spend together as a family. 

Thursday, January 28, 2016

A little Smith family Star Wars Fun


There has been a lot of Star Wars talk around our house and I believe Tyson has done a great job this past year at making sure we've seen every Star Wars trailer for "The Force Awakens" at least a dozen times. He even watched several Star Wars movies with Taryn to make sure she was being raised right :) The girls love it and we took them to see it! We were surprised they made it through and Haddie at only 2 years old did so great! Only asking to go home 2-3 times, she sat through the movies as if it was nothing. 
We constantly use our light sabers where the girls like to pretend Tyson or I are "Darf Badore."
The girls are also in love with BB8. 




This one makes me laugh every single time!!!
Tyson has an app on his phone that makes these amazing selflie's and also has sound clips from all the characters. Taryn and Haddie point out every Star Wars item that they see in the store and Taryn asks to get whatever it is for Tyson's birthday :)






These are so great!




Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Tyson's AZ trip


Tyson went out to Arizona a few weeks ago because his nephew Jayden (who is more like his brother) returned from his New York mission. Tyson arrived just a few hours before Jayden, Janette & Ken' flight so he waited in the airport with these adorable faces! Oh man- we miss them all! It's really hard living so far from family! Everyone is changing so much. I feel like everyone has braces or they've grown at least a foot!




Jayden returns!!!! 
Just a few days after returning, he jumped right back into school at ASU. We're so glad he's home now! Tyson gave me a brief synopsis of Jayden's homecoming talk on Sunday and was really great at keeping me in the loop of what he and others were up to while he was in Arizona. Taryn & Haddie looked forward to FaceTiming with Tyson every day. 





Tyson took this pano of his parents home. We miss visiting! We don't see Palm Trees on this side of the country. 




Tyson texted me this photo of Caleb who lost his tooth! 
Taryn is fascinated with kids loosing their teeth. There is a YouTube video that she likes to watch about a boy loosing his tooth and accidentally swilling it! We had to make sure that Caleb didn't swallow his.

Tyson talked about how he was trying to get Harper (2 months older than Haddie) to warm up to him. I'm not sure if it worked during this trip but maybe when we see her again this summer Tyson will be a familiar face. Those babes grown so quickly!





Swig

Tyson had lots of fun adventures with family, trying out new places that are now on our "Must Try" list when we go to Arizona this summer, catching up with family and being able to see Jayden after two years! I really can't believe it's been 2 years since we were in Arizona for an extended time. (We made a 30 minute stop after Lake Powell before boarding our flight a few months after but it was so short, I don't count it) 

We're so grateful for family! Even though we live far away, it's great that we can still stay connected through texts, FaceTime and emails. We're all super excited to see them this summer!

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Little firemen, makeup trials, play dough, best friends and hummus feet








The many silly faces of Haddie!




Mama's shoes are always a good idea.







Fall lasted a good LONG time this year and it was wonderful! The slightly cooler weather made for perfect park days. 




Just what every kid should be doing, playing in the leaves!




When we all met up at the park, Ali (another mom) brought Costco pizza for the kids and they were the happiest little bunch there ever was.



Taryn's friend, Ethan, took this photo. It's the cutest little heart held by the cutest chubby little fingers. 


Our girls recently discovered how much fun twister can be. We first brought it out with our friends, the Carltons. We played it several times since. 



Haddie has scootering down now!



And I'm pretty sure that with a little practice, Taryn could totally ride a bike without training wheels. We just have to wait for all the snow to melt!





There are those quiet moments where the girls play so so well together. I try to remember to snap pictures so I can remember that although there was fighting, there was a lot of happy play. This morning as the girls were trying to make each other laugh (their new favorite game), Taryn said, " Mama, Haddie is my best friend. " I love hearing those words!!!!




Speaking of best friends, Haddie and Olivia are connected at the hip and always give each other the biggest hugs when the see each other for the first time that day. They follow each other around and have so much fun together. 




We love Firehouse Subs so it's a really good thing that the nearest one is about 20 minutes away otherwise we would be tempted to go there all the time. This was a special trip when Daddy had New Year's Eve off. 



We were having a picnic on a blanket in our front room and Haddie thought her hummus would taste better on her foot than on her carrots. Ew!




Playdough!




And then this little girl got a hold of my makeup and thought should would make herself "bootiful." She walked around with this adorable little smile, showing off her makeup and was sad when we had to wipe it off at the end of the day. 

Monday, January 25, 2016

New Years Eve & Day



On December 30th, I came down with this weird 24 hour sickness that gave me a horribly high fever which we think was an infection of some sort. Thankfully, no one else got it, and I was able to eat and move around ok but it meant that our New Years Eve was celebrated at home for fear of spreading the fever before we knew what it was. Tyson took the kids to our friends house for a bit so they could play with their little friends and I stayed home resting, because by that time my fever had gone down significantly. When they got home, we did poppers, put on our New Years hats and got out our noise makers. 

Taryn was super excited to celebrate and kept asking all day long if it was time to do the poppers and make a lot of noise. She's always in for a big celebration!


On New Years Eve Day, we went to Duck Donuts..ya know…to start the New Year off right :)
The girls were in a fancy mood, so they dressed in their Sunday shoes, casual dresses, necklaces and hair do's. Taryn asked, "Do I look fancy?" and Haddie said, "Watch me twirl!"


Those duck donuts are so warm and yummy- and rich! 


Just before I got that random fever, I had ran an errand in a part of town we hadn't explored before. We passed this park and Taryn asked me to remember where it was so we could go play there. When we got ready, Taryn was so worried about Tyson driving because "he won't know where the park is!" Tyson and I laughed and reassured her that we would make it to the right park. 

I can understand where Taryn was coming from because this park looked amazing from the street days prior and it didn't disappoint at all! 




Taryn is a climber and will climb anything anywhere. This was her heaven. 


We also discovered this swing we've never seen before. It terrified Haddie, even when she rode with Taryn, and it made me feel sick because I was so scared when I tried it. 



Holding on for dear life! 

So though I was sick and it kinda put a damper on our Holiday plans, we still ended up having a lot of family fun!