Zoo Lights

This year we decided to go and see the lights they have at the Hogle Zoo here in Salt Lake City. We knew it was going to be cold...but it was FREEZING!! There was a slight wind and bitter coldness, but it was fun. We bundled up the best we could (we've added a few items to our Texas wardrobe this past year) and cruised through the zoo to see all the different animal lights.

Many of the animals were actually out and about. Some we snoozing and we just looked at them, but the nocturnal animals were active and moving around. We really enjoyed the reptile house with it's more tropical temperature inside!

We made our way through all the displays and stopped at a few of the heaters spread out around the zoo to defrost our extremities before moving on. All in all it was enjoyable. But I have to say...I'm still a warm climate kind of girl. One night a year is good, but I wouldn't want to do many more.

Merry Christmas from Zoo Lights 2011!

Smith progressive dinner

One of the funnest traditions we have is the Holiday Progressive Dinner. It started about 10 years ago when everyone agreed that we wanted to see everyone else's homes decorated for Christmas. So we started our progressive dinner where we go from house to house and eat all along the way! This year started at Mark and Maylenes with some delicious appetizers. Then it was off to the Carman's for the salad course.


The main dish of ham, rolls, and potatoes was served at Nana and Grandads, finishing up with dessert at Mike and Mischele's home.

Gathering everyone up several times and driving from Lehi, to Highland, to Draper adds a lot of time to the dinner, but it's such a fun event. Plus, it allows us to digest a little while we drive to the next stop!
Much fun was had between all the families and getting together is one of the greatest blessings of the holidays! We are lucky to have such a great family and it's fun to see everyone get along and enjoy each other. Merry Christmas to all and to all...a great night!

Children's Nativity

I was busy running the video camera to capture the fullness of this event, but I did snap a few pictures. It was so cute. There were a lot of angels, many shepherds, and wise men who wandered back and forth the whole time! The kids really enjoy dressing up and the reading of the story is Grandma Pearson's favorite part. She really enjoys seeing all the little children act out the nativity. As for my little ones, I had a really darling angel,

and her brother was Joseph this year. Aren't they adorable?

All of stage right. There were more on stage left, but I didn't get a shot. I do have the video of the whole thing though.

Grandma Pearson's Christmas Party

Grandma Pearson's Christmas party is always a great part of the Holiday season. The family has gotten so large that we now hold it in a church building to accommodate all the families. There are some people that we only see once a year, so it's a great time to catch up. This year we had a wonderful pulled pork sandwhich dinner and all sorts of salad and desserts. The family enjoyed visiting, the kids enjoyed playing, and everyone had a great time.

Lindsey, George and Maxwell Patterson
Jeff and Dave Smith (not related, one of several Pearson Smiths!)
Allison and Jeremy Davenport
Mark, Maylene, and Ellilia Smith

The night ended with the children performing the nativity scenes and then Santa's presents! (post tomorrow!)

Christmas Party

At the beginning of the year I told McKinley I would do one of her class parties. I asked her which one she wanted me to do and she picked the Christmas party! So, today we were in charge of 21 2nd graders for 1 hour of fun. It was hard to do everything we wanted to do in the 1 hour, but we did it. We had so much fun.

The kids were able to do a snowflake craft, decorate and eat cookies, play bingo and musical present (like musical chairs). It was a whirlwind of fun, but I saw lots of smiles and happy faces!


It was fun to see all McKinley's friends and her classroom and how well behaved they all were. We had lots of fun, but it was all organized and manageable for everyone. Merry Christmas!

This is where we were last night! It's one of my favorite musical performances and I absolutely love the songs and the story and the show. I took Austin and Ethan with me this time and I think they enjoyed it. They probably wouldn't admit it, but they paid attention the whole time and even laughed at some of the funny parts. I hope they felt the spirit of Christmas like I did. It was a great way to start of the Christmas season. Now I'm ready to celebrate!!

Thankful for Family!

This Thanksgiving was a wonderful celebration of family. It was a week long celebration with fun, food, and family! We were blessed to be able to spend time with both sides of our extended family this year. A few days before Thanksgiving we headed up to Park City to be with Grandma Libby, Grandpa Irv, and Vicky and Jim and the girls. We had such a good time hanging out and visiting...we didn't take pictures!! We visited the new Utah Museum of Natural History (fabulous!!) and celebrated the twins birthday with ice cream cake!

On Thanksgiving it was the Smith family feast! We had 50+ people over for a big Thanksgiving dinner and desserts. It was a beautiful warm day and the kids played outside after we ate. We all visited and chatted and ate, and ate, and ate. There was a little football and several watched part of the James Bond marathon! All in all it was a huge success and very enjoyable!






We were also able to celebrate Trenton and Maxwell's birthday which actually fell on Thanksgiving day. So Happy Birthday cake to end the evening!