Friday, November 30, 2007
The Cutest Presents Under the Christmas Tree
We've discovered an early-morning trick...Tayah loves being under the Christmas tree in the morning. Here are the girls at 7:00 AM enjoying the scenery.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Christmas Cheer
Merry Christmas! It's funny to see how off-guard cashiers are when I say this to them at the store. It's okay to wish people happy holidays!!
Last night, our little family hit the Festival of Trees. This is an annual event where different families, organizations, companies, etc. donate amazingly decorated trees that are on sale. All proceeds go to Primary Children's Hospital. There was a mesmerizing Christmas spirit there as we walked down aisles and aisles of trees, wreathes, displays, and so forth. Kadence had a ball, dancing to the music, pointing at trees she liked (namely the ones that had anything remotely to do with Cinderella, Mickey Mouse, and Elmo), and seeing a lot of children everywhere. The creativity of some of these trees was remarkable. We absolutely love our time together as a family!
I had an LDS Philanthropies Christmas retreat yesterday, which was wonderful as well. I'm blessed to work with truly choice people. It was my privilege to share a message about my experiences with our donors and the incredible bunch of students I work with at the BYU Telefund. I sure love them.
Sunday night, Elizabeth and I went to the Messiah Sing-In at Abravenel Hall in Salt Lake City. Thanks to Mother, this has become a beloved Christmas tradition for our family, started 12 or 13 years ago. It's amazing that Handel wrote this in just a few short days. Although the music is challenging at times, we both enjoyed it immensely. Thanks to Dad, Donna, and Carissa for tending the girls.
We visited my 91-year old grandmother that same night at the hospital. The doctors found a huge tumor and it's looking like we don't have much time left with her. It's difficult to see someone you love in pain. She has been the best grandmother a boy could ask for. We're praying that she can be in as much comfort as possible.
Tayah ate solid food (rice cereal) for the first time this week. Not sure if she liked it or was just plain confused by it. Here's our angel baby's reaction:
Last night, our little family hit the Festival of Trees. This is an annual event where different families, organizations, companies, etc. donate amazingly decorated trees that are on sale. All proceeds go to Primary Children's Hospital. There was a mesmerizing Christmas spirit there as we walked down aisles and aisles of trees, wreathes, displays, and so forth. Kadence had a ball, dancing to the music, pointing at trees she liked (namely the ones that had anything remotely to do with Cinderella, Mickey Mouse, and Elmo), and seeing a lot of children everywhere. The creativity of some of these trees was remarkable. We absolutely love our time together as a family!
I had an LDS Philanthropies Christmas retreat yesterday, which was wonderful as well. I'm blessed to work with truly choice people. It was my privilege to share a message about my experiences with our donors and the incredible bunch of students I work with at the BYU Telefund. I sure love them.
Sunday night, Elizabeth and I went to the Messiah Sing-In at Abravenel Hall in Salt Lake City. Thanks to Mother, this has become a beloved Christmas tradition for our family, started 12 or 13 years ago. It's amazing that Handel wrote this in just a few short days. Although the music is challenging at times, we both enjoyed it immensely. Thanks to Dad, Donna, and Carissa for tending the girls.
We visited my 91-year old grandmother that same night at the hospital. The doctors found a huge tumor and it's looking like we don't have much time left with her. It's difficult to see someone you love in pain. She has been the best grandmother a boy could ask for. We're praying that she can be in as much comfort as possible.
Tayah ate solid food (rice cereal) for the first time this week. Not sure if she liked it or was just plain confused by it. Here's our angel baby's reaction:
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Baby Jesus
So, to usher in the Christmas season, we've already started watching the regular rotation of yuletide movies. Last evening, we watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas...a holiday favorite of ours. You've got to love Jimmy Stewart (especially when he leads the Mo Tab)! Anyway, Kadence was simply mesmerized by the scene where Willy talks to Baby Jesus. All day today, she's been asking for Baby Jesus. Tonight, we watched Nora's Christmas Gift. It's been years since either Elizabeth or I had seen it, so we figured we'd give it a shot. We didn't realize how very cheesy it is. Oh well. From start to finish, little Kadence kept asking for Baby Jesus and got really excited at the end where we see the babe. What a sweet girl!
Our house is now all decked out in Christmas cheer. We had a ball setting up the tree, listening to music (it's officially okay to listen now, especially since several Utah radio stations have been pumping out the Noel music for weeks already), and set up our numerous nativity scenes. As the song says, it's the most wonderful time of the year!
Last night, we headed to Spanish Fork to walk through a Christmas craft show. It was fun and hopefully is the start of many fun Christmas activities we plan on having during the holidays. So glad Thanksgiving was really early, for it's allowed us to jump into Christmas head-first.
Our house is now all decked out in Christmas cheer. We had a ball setting up the tree, listening to music (it's officially okay to listen now, especially since several Utah radio stations have been pumping out the Noel music for weeks already), and set up our numerous nativity scenes. As the song says, it's the most wonderful time of the year!
Last night, we headed to Spanish Fork to walk through a Christmas craft show. It was fun and hopefully is the start of many fun Christmas activities we plan on having during the holidays. So glad Thanksgiving was really early, for it's allowed us to jump into Christmas head-first.
Here's Tayah riding her big sister/horsey Kadence. 
Friday, November 23, 2007
Entering the Blogging World
Well, to follow the excellent examples of our family and friends, we the David and Elizabeth Smith family have officially joined the blogging world. What a momentous day for cyber history! While it will give everyone a taste of our exciting adventures in exotic Springville, Utah, it will naturally center around our precious little girls Kadence and Tayah. After all, no one cares about Elizabeth and me now that these two have arrived! Here's a little background on our cast's main characters:
Kadence is now 21 months old and already well into her Princess stage...a stage that should last years and years. She loves reading books, playing with puzzles, causing mischief, being cute so her mischief is easily forgotten, singing songs, laying down on her baby sister, and watching Sunlula (her version of Cinderella). Kadence is one little verbal girl. It's so much fun to hear the new things she says each and every day.
Tayah turns five months next week. Like most parents, time has caught us off guard, for she was just born yesterday! She is such a sweet baby. We absolutely love going into her room to pick her up after a night's sleep or a nap. She gets so excited and begins flailing her arms uncontrollably to the point her entire body shakes. Tayah is a very snuggly baby and sleeps quite good (wakes up once each evening, typically around 4:00). We love our girls!
Elizabeth runs our house quite smoothly and does a marvelous job with the girls. We simply couldn't ask for a better mother and wife! She keeps herself busy as well with various projects. She also enjoys getting together with her friends for play groups. She's also the fastest reader I've ever witnessed. We started reading the Harry Potter books (after years of denial, we finally came around to acknowledging that they exist) at the same time. Well, she finished the entire series a month ago, and I'm still slaving away with book four. Once again, she's lapped me!
I (aka David) absolutely love being a father to my girls. There's just something special between a daddy and a daughter (not that I have anything to compare with). I am working for LDS Philanthropies, raising money for BYU and BYU-Hawaii. In fact, I've been with them now for seven 1/2 years...the only place I've worked since my mission to Japan. I enjoy reading slowly, writing occasionally, and playing with my girls constantly. Believe it or not, I also manage to watch a Jazz game every now and then (meaning, almost every one of them...some things remain firm and unmoving).
That's us. We hope this blog will help us stay in contact with our family and friends, as well as perfect stangers and enemies. Check it out often, for we'll try to post often. Thanks for welcoming us to the blogging stratosphere...it's good to be here!
Kadence is now 21 months old and already well into her Princess stage...a stage that should last years and years. She loves reading books, playing with puzzles, causing mischief, being cute so her mischief is easily forgotten, singing songs, laying down on her baby sister, and watching Sunlula (her version of Cinderella). Kadence is one little verbal girl. It's so much fun to hear the new things she says each and every day.
Tayah turns five months next week. Like most parents, time has caught us off guard, for she was just born yesterday! She is such a sweet baby. We absolutely love going into her room to pick her up after a night's sleep or a nap. She gets so excited and begins flailing her arms uncontrollably to the point her entire body shakes. Tayah is a very snuggly baby and sleeps quite good (wakes up once each evening, typically around 4:00). We love our girls!
Elizabeth runs our house quite smoothly and does a marvelous job with the girls. We simply couldn't ask for a better mother and wife! She keeps herself busy as well with various projects. She also enjoys getting together with her friends for play groups. She's also the fastest reader I've ever witnessed. We started reading the Harry Potter books (after years of denial, we finally came around to acknowledging that they exist) at the same time. Well, she finished the entire series a month ago, and I'm still slaving away with book four. Once again, she's lapped me!
I (aka David) absolutely love being a father to my girls. There's just something special between a daddy and a daughter (not that I have anything to compare with). I am working for LDS Philanthropies, raising money for BYU and BYU-Hawaii. In fact, I've been with them now for seven 1/2 years...the only place I've worked since my mission to Japan. I enjoy reading slowly, writing occasionally, and playing with my girls constantly. Believe it or not, I also manage to watch a Jazz game every now and then (meaning, almost every one of them...some things remain firm and unmoving).
That's us. We hope this blog will help us stay in contact with our family and friends, as well as perfect stangers and enemies. Check it out often, for we'll try to post often. Thanks for welcoming us to the blogging stratosphere...it's good to be here!
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