November Nuts and Bolts

Our extended Smith Family has a monthly newsletter. It's been a wonderful tradition for us and helps us stay in touch with everyone's exciting happenings. Here's our entry for November. Enjoy, but first a fun photo of Kadence eating an ice cream bar to break it up!

NOVEMBER 2007
So here’s the story: my Palm is about to “give up the ghost” and with it, November’s calendar. It’s now painfully clear how overly reliant I am on this thing! As they say (whoever “they” might be), technology is great when it works for you. We’ll do our best to put the pieces of November 2007 together for the Smith Family. It’s at least worth a try for posterity’s sake, right?

Tayah is following her big sister’s example by getting cuter and cuter each passing day. She lights up the room with her smiles that she freely gives to her family. She is one extremely cuddly baby, especially if we’re out in a crowd. Although she just hit the five month mark, she’s got a pair of teeth and has had them for some time. Tayah enjoys rolling over from her back to her tummy, but gets a tad confused at that point. One thing at a time! She also had her first bit of solid food in the form of rice cereal. After an auspicious start, she’s developed quite an appetite for it. She’s a good little napper, but has reverted to at least one late night/early morning feeding session. She does a good job at church. We love our little Tayah Boo!

So as to be an example to her baby sister (and to keep her daddy from being a liar), Kadence gets more and more adorable…just when I didn’t think that was possible. She amazes us with her verbal abilities and is quite the little communicator. That’s not to say that we’re remotely spared of little tantrums! She can be one determined girl when it comes to getting what she wants, but I have to admit, it can be pretty cute . Kadence is just a little angel. She is typically very happy in the morning and enjoys pointing everything out. She enjoys playing with other kids. For a bevy of photos and fun accounts of our adventures, feel free to visit our new blog: www.kadenceandtayah.blogspot.com.

Elizabeth and I both had a great November. We’re pretty boring, so we’ll keep it at that. Needless to say, we kept ourselves busy with the girls, our callings, work, and even a little play. Elizabeth is really enjoying serving with the Young Women. She has attended many activities and has taught a few lessons already. I’m doing my best to help us stay afloat in our 660-person ward. I had the privilege of conducting a few baptisms. I spoke at one of our retreats. We also got our annual family portrait taken and had several family outings.

What would a November entry be like without mention of Thanksgiving. For the record, we were out trying to handle quite the messy diaper disaster when the whole Cranberry Rock-off went down. We went against each other and I won, but Elizabeth was pardoned because she was doing the actual changing of the dipe, not I. We had our usual battery of Thanksgiving meals (Wednesday evening and two on Thursday) and loved every minute of family, food, and fun. The Smith Family has so much to be thankful for. We did not go shopping on Black Friday, unlike previous years (although a 50-inch Sony television was calling out our names…).

Seeing as Christmas came so early, we jumped right into Christmas this month. Some of our activities: decorating our abode, hitting a craft fair, the Messiah at Abravanel Hall, the Festival of Trees, the BYU families’ Christmas party (Kadence shook hands with Cosmo…quite the momentous occasion), watching Christmas movies, attending many Christmas parties (two for LDS Philanthropies, one with the bishopric), listening and singing carols, and so forth. There is simply not a better time of the year!