christmas week

craig had the week before christmas off. so what does a smith man do when he has some down time? build a freaking fire in his backyard. it was a good way to get rid of all the cardboard from the move though..... 

the weekend before christmas we went to see that new tom cruise movie. it was pretty violent (especially in light of recent tragedies) but we were still fairly entertained. 

the next night was a perfect winter evening (cold but clear) so went down to university village for some last minute shopping. we all fell in love with these faux furs in restoration hardware so we sat on the couch for a good half an hour rubbing them.

how was i able to sit on a couch for a half hour? because craig had taken the boys up to the cabin for the night!!!!! it made my night even more special knowing my boys were tucked away in the mountains having a blast.

after shopping, the four girls went to a super hip bar downtown that serves (among many other tasty things) amazing warm pretzels and banana pudding. it was so. much. fun.

the next day was sunday, and after dinner we had our annual gingerbread house decorating party. this year however, there was no judging. we decided we cant handle that.

the completed houses. dont talk about mine. lets just say i had to take the high road and share decorating a house with my five year old. im such a selfless mom.

the next night, christmas eve, we hosted craig's family for dinner. it was my first time hosting in our new home and besides a minor melt down at the end of the night, it all went quite smoothly.

tagg loooooooves craig's cousin, tyler. 

after the smiths left, my family came over (hence the meltdown. note to self: one family per night) for a gift exchange and the nativity. tagg scored grillz (i just had to google the appropriate spelling for them) at the gift exchange. taylor and rachelle joined the circus, i mean evening. and the gees were there too!

after the gift exchange, we acted out the nativity. 

once all the festivities of the night were over and the boys had gone to bed, santa stopped by. 

this looks like those effects you can do on the computer where you turn a picture into a pencil sketch. its not. its just horrible quality. but this picture of tagg riding his scooter the SECOND he saw it on christmas morning was too priceless not to use.

my christmas boys.

and jocelyn says i would never post a picture of myself without make up. here it is. lets not split hairs about the fact that you cant actually see my face. im doing you all a favor, trust.

after presents, we all went to my parents' home so we could skype with elder short. it was very fun to talk with our favorite missionary. my first question to him was, "is brandon flowers as attractive in real life as he is on tv?" tucker's answer, "he is one verrrry attractive human being". (tucker is serving in las vegas and had dinner at the killers frontman's home)

christmas day. this was not staged for a picture. we literally all sit on top of each other when we're together.

that night, we went and saw les miserables. it was incredible. 

such a fun and memorable christmas!

snow day

yesterday, we went up to the cle elum cabin to play in the snow with our friends. it was scary getting up there but once we arrived, it was great to be in the snow!

the boys, of course, went straight from the cars to the four wheelers. they had so much fun driving like maniacs through the hills.

megan and sweet little emery.

the moultons. i love this family shot!

andrew and emily's boys, elliot and oliver.

anson reeeeeeeally wanted a shot with him on the four wheeler with his family. he was feeling it in those sunglasses!

i was brave enough to hop on the back while amy was driving......

but not brave enough to go down into a ravine with amy driving. this is me, getting off the four wheeler and walking.

after we came in from the snow, we ordered pizza and the adults played a rousing game of "who-has-it-harder?-men-or-women" while the kids watched a movie downstairs.

when it was time for bed, tagg joined the kids in the bunk room for his first slumber party. it lasted about an hour before i had him come into our room so he could actually fall asleep. they were having so much fun talking! 

after the kids were asleep, amy and i went outside to build our snowmen. the snow was sooooo powdery that it was impossible to make real snowmen... so we improvised. 

in the morning, i woke up to this gorgeous sight out my window.

so i trudged out in my pajamas to get more pictures of the amazing scenery.

and to try and get a better shot of my little guy.

i wouldnt allow four wheeling on the sabbath so the kids played in the snow for a bit before we packed up to head back home. tagg and avery were such adorable nuggets.

only to be outdone by the cutest little nugget ever created. :)

christmas carol

last night was my faaaaaaaaavorite tradition of the season. the christmas carol at the ACT theater. we get dressed up, have dinner downtown (in a perfect world we would go to a fancier place but nordstrom cafe is a easy/yummy choice), walk over to the gingerbread houses in the sheraton lobby and then make it just in time to watch the amazing christmas carol! 

my grandma, linda, and megan at dinner. i was so excited to have my grandma join us this year. 

after dinner, we shopped a little then walked over to see the amazing gingerbread houses on display at the sheraton. 

then we walked over to the ACT theater and took our seats to watch the magic. i snuck this picture of scrooge being scrooge.

when we met up at dinner my dad was pouting that tagg wasnt there. he said he wont see the christmas carol again until tagg comes....... um.... he will be waiting a looooooong time. this is just ONE of the many frightening scenes during the performance. honestly, that would do some major damage to a little child.

the girls after the play.

my dad and mom.

craig, me and the downtown christmas star. why cant it be christmas carol night every night?

finding our tree

it has been a crazy week. we moved into a new (to us. it was built in 1912!) house! and even though we have been running around trying to clean out our apartment and get settled into the new home, i have tried to keep on top of our christmas traditions. (i.e. i am sitting on the cold, empty floor in our old apartment to blog this post. we dont have internet in the house yet....) so last week, we went to serres farm to pick out our christmas tree.

sully got a new coat and was really feeling it.

tagg just wanted to get back down to the shed where there was hot cocoa and a bonfire.

i was just happy when we finally agreed on a tree so we could get back to moving in to the new house. so excited!

snowflake lane and SANTA 2012

it was a gorgeous winter night last wednesday, so we took the boys to snowflake lane. we usually go on a weekend night so it was very nice to basically have the place to ourselves. and allllll the peppermint lollipops tagg could handle. sully's like whhhhat?

my mom and dad came too. such a fun tradition.

tagg couldnt wait for the drummer boys to start their parade!

he didnt have to wait long. :)

then we went down to the street to meet the christmas characters. 

unlike tagg, sully wasnt too sure he wanted to meet the christmas characters. he kept looking over his shoulder and saying "where'd mouse go?"

the lights and music at snowflake lane are straight out of a movie.

photo bombed by a drummer boy. doesnt get more christmasy than that.

except when it snows! which it does every night during the show. tagg was loving it. until he snorted up some "snow" (really some intense soap solution) and couldnt stop itching his nose! right in time to.....

meet santa. luckily, tagg didnt let breathing in fake snow stop him from being the freaking poster child for santa's lap portraits. sully did pretty well too (which after the whole christmas mouse ordeal outside i wasnt sure was possible)!  i was one very proud mama!