HAPPY BIRTHDAY Elizabeth!

Well, today's the day! We want Elizabeth to know how much we love her and are grateful for all she does as a wife, mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, aunt, friend, neighbor, and Young Women leader. We have a lot of fun things planned today...we'll let you know what we've had up our sleeves.

Again, feel free to leave a comment or two about why Elizabeth is so absolutely wonderful.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart and Mommy! We love you!

D & E's Movie Reviews

Recommend:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: simply a poignant, powerful, amazingly well told movie about two boys during the Holocaust. It was so emotional that while we highly recommend it, we probably couldn't bear to watch it a second time (like Hotel Rwanda and Pursuit of Happiness). A must see.

Swing Vote: well done, entertaining movie that really was representative of the political landscape we find our country. Who knew Kevin Costner could play the hick role so well?!

The Secret Life of Bees: Elizabeth said it was a sweet story; I, unfortunately, didn't make it through (even though I rented it--we'll need to finish it up another time).

Australia: Entertaining enough, despite Nicole Kidman (who I cannot stand for the life of me). Beautiful scenery.

The Express: who doesn't like an inspirational sports movie? Can anyone say no to that?

Okay:

Errand of Angels: we were expecting something like the Best Two Years--the best LDS film out there. Not remotely close.



X-Files: this looked like a movie whose stars and producers just needed to make a little quick money. Mediocre story with mediocre performances, especially if you were a big fan of the television show.

Henry Poole is Here: Intriguing storyline with some good moments.

Avoid at all costs:

Brideshead Revisited: Horrid, putrid, pointless, terrible, horrendous, painful. Do I need to go on? It was so awful that they should have called it Brideshead Visited--I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to visit his place a second time. The tagline says "...everything comes with a price." The price of this movie was two+ hours that Elizabeth and I can never get back!



Lakeview Terrace: disturbingly disturbing. Samuel L. Jackson can sure pick them...

Thank heavens for the Red Box (and the codes...we've not paid for a movie in four+ years; let me know if you don't know what we're talking about here). Feel free to comment if you've seen any of these movies and your thoughts. Let us also know if there are ones we should add to our ever-growing movies to see list. And no, Twlight and High School Musical Three don't count as movies...

Elizabeth's Turning 30

Yes, our sweet wife and mother is on the verge of the big, gigantic, stupefying 3-0. Friday's the big day. As she departs the wonderful decade that has been, feel free to jot down some thoughts, memories, condolences, or well wishes in the comments section to our Elizabeth this week! Make sure to also vote on the poll to the right. I'll be so glad to have another 30 year old in this house!

Kadenceisms and Tayahisms: Can't Keep Up!

Kadenceisms:
"I can't even saw you Mommy!"
"Daddy-your hair is pokey!" (in the mornings)
"t.r.e.a.t." (we can't spell that word out, she knows it herself!)

Mommy: "What do you want for dinner?"
Kadence: "IHOP!"

Tayahisms:

Tayah's bedtime routine: We jotted down Kadence's a while back and thought we'd do the same for Tayah. We do the signs for the main words (some of the few that I know) and she does them right back. Here's our nightly routine, one that makes every day better.

Daddy: "It's time to go to sleep in your bed."
Tayah: "time...sleep...bed."
D: "Daddy loves you (blows kiss)."
T: "Daddy...love...Kadence too. Mommy too (blows kiss back). I got it (usually referring to her baby doll and doggy)!"
D: "Night night!"
T: "Night night!"
D: "I'll see you in the morning, okay?"
T: "Okay!"

Daddy/Daughter Date and Elayna's Baptism

Here's Kadence on our monthly date at, guess where, McDonald's.



Playing hide-and-seek.



Sisterly love.



Two weeks ago, Elayna got baptized. Where has the time gone?! We can't believe she's already eight. We are so proud of her!



Danny, Mary Sue and kids.

Okay, friends and family, we finally have our photos ready to go! Here are photos from Kadence's third birthday. First, some profiles of Elizabeth's culinary creation--a Cinderella cake (talk about aliteration).



Front view...



...and back (Cinderella's used to modeling).



Our princess is prettier...no offense to Disney fans out there.



Kadence needed a little help blowing out the candles. We're so glad to have had many friends there to help with the chore...



...as well as to celebrate!



She chose McDonald's for dinner that night, or as she lovingly calls it, "Old McDonald." What a fun day for our fun girl. We love Kadence!

February 2009 Nuts and Bolts

February 2009

Kadence had the biggest news in the Smith Family this month: she's officially potty trained! It only took a little less than two weeks and we couldn't be happier. She is very proud of herself and rightfully so. She continues to go to her weekly joy school class and loves it, along with library trips, excursions to Jumping Jacks (a fun indoor playground full of slides and fun toys), and ward playgroups. She really is a great big sister to Tayah and they have the best of times playing together. We celebrated her third birthday, much to her daddy's chagrin...where does the time go? She had a fun neighborhood party with her little friends (and a neat Cinderella cake Elizabeth concocted) and dinner out as a family. Her three year old check-up showed her very healthy, minus an umbilical hernia. Our doctor thought it was naturally go in, but it looks like we'll be having surgery to repair it in March. We sure love our little Kadence.

Tayah is such a sweet, loving baby. She enjoys being cuddled and gives hugs and kisses freely (the latter complete with loud sound effects). Unfortunately, she's just as good at throwing tantrums that make her red-hair disposition proud. She looks up to Kadence and tries to do anything she sees her big sister do. Tayah is fairly good at entertaining herself for little periods of time. She is Kadence's potty assistant, which leads us to only hope that she will be an easy trainee. We love watching her daily progress full of new words, songs, and little phrases. She is one smart little cookie and is enjoying Nursery each week. We are so grateful to have this little spirit in our home.

Elizabeth put in a lot of work and preparation to the Young Women's New Beginning activity and it was a huge success. She also went up to the Draper Temple Open House with the girls. She manages to keep busy, believe it or not, with our girls. She also enjoys getting together with neighborhood friends, working on home projects, doing some crafty things, and enjoying the occasionally good weather outdoors.

I'm still putting in time at both jobs, with some hope for some good news in March. It has made for incredibly busy, nonstop days. I'm so grateful for my patient, supportive wife and daughters. We constantly have amazing experiences together as a bishopric. It is such a joy to serve with great people.

We had a full month of events and experiences: ward baptisms, funeral of a great sister in our ward, some date nights (Young Ambassadors concert, ward temple night, parties with friends), a bishop's fireside, Dad's 60th birthday, watching Bronco Mendenhall's live BYU-TV fireside, a food drive, NBA All-Star weekend (okay, just David on this one), Jazz games (ditto), a pair of BYU Basketball games as a family, Stake Emergency Preparation fireside and fair, Blue and Gold banquet, Elayna's baptism, movies, a new laptop purchase (after having major issues with our previous computer), ward conference (including a bishopric musical number), stake conference, and just great times together.

Life is wonderful, isn't it? We love you all!