Poor Talan

(They gave him some Tylenol with Codeine right when we arrived at the ER so it didn't take long for him to fall asleep)

Last Monday Talan fell off the kitchen counter while in his bumbo chair eating lunch and broke his left collarbone.  At first I wasn't sure if he broke anything or was just shaken up with falling. He would try to crawl but it made him cry, and when I would pick him up, he would wince and cry. So I knew something was wrong. But every time I would squeeze his arm or ribs or anything, there was no reaction.  So, I waited about 2 hours after it happened to finally take him in to the ER. They took an x-ray and found a small break in his left collarbone.  They said that there wasn't much to do for the break, so just to keep him from putting a lot of pressure on it and just to be careful with him. 

Poor little Dude!

I am happy to say that it took about 4 days and then he was crawling and being his busy self.  He still winces a little if someone picks him up wrong but for the most part he is almost back to normal.  The ER Dr. told me that I need to take him back for a follow up x-ray on Monday, so we will see how healed he is.

I love the mountains.

Especially when there is a lot of gorgeous snow on them,

(look at this view. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I love the Provo Canyon and Sundance Resort is Fabulous! LOVE IT!)

and I get to go snowboarding on them too!

And I get to go with this totally rad hottie! Britney is just amazing at everything she does! (no really...everything! You should hear her sing. Fabulous!) and she is a pretty amazing friend too!

It has been years...I mean YEARS since I have last been snowboarding but Britney talked me into going with her today! I kind of felt like I was playing hookie, or ditching school (or the responsibilities of being a mom) or something. It was such a spur of the moment idea to go...But really, it was so much fun. That is all I can say about it...so much fun.
It was a lot of fun to reminisce about the days in high school when we use to go up to Brighton for night boarding, boarding in Boise with random boys, cutting tags for only $4.  Those really were some good times!
It was fun to make new memories this time too. Just imagine... a couple of almost 30-year-old girls... talking each other into and cheering each other on as we attempted to go off a jump. But of course, in the end we would either chickening out at the last second or else barely getting our boards of the ground. But we sure did feel pretty cool!

I am really excited to get out to Kansas City and start that new adventure and of course to be with Kyle. But boy oh boy, after today, I am starting to re-think my thoughts on not "needing" to live back in Utah! I know you can ski and snowboard in other states but heck...Utah has the best snow on Earth!

Thankfully I have amazing family members that will accept last minute pleas from me to watch my kiddos. It was definitely a much needed "get out of the house" time for me and I just had a blast! I can't wait for the next time I can go! We leave in 3 weeks so hopefully I can get as much time on the mountain in that I want!

Sunbeams

Kambryn had her first day in the "big primary" today.

(since last week we were down in Richfield)

I was a little worried how she would do, but she

walked right in there and sat by her teacher

and did great.

I have two children in primary. Crazy!

The primary program is going to kill me. I already know it.

 When I picked her up from her class

the first thing she said was

"Mom do you smell that? That room was stinky!"

The lesson wasn't as memorable as the smell apparently.

But she did say it with a smile on her face.

So I will take that as a positive first time sunbeam experience.

Oh and in a few weeks she gets to say the opening

prayer in primary.

We will see how excited she will be to do that.

We will see if this time I don't get emotional walking up to the little stand

like I did the first time with Jantsen. I am going to be one

of those embarrassing mothers I know it. My poor kids.

Jantsen was pretty excited to move back a row in the primary room too.

I remember what a big deal that was when I was little.  

One row back meant one row closer to the older "cooler"

kid part of primary.

One row closer to Jantsen at the age to get baptized...

Stop Growing children!

and one more thing...Talan got a haircut for his birthday.

And when I say a haircut, it wasn't just a little trim. 

Good-bye long shaggy wild hair.

and he looks so cute! But he is always cute to me.

(pictures to come soon...my phone camera didn't do a good enough job)

and he is at the crazy stage where you get nothing out of church

because you are just trying to entertain and control your child.

But 1:00 start time is a lot better than 

last year's early 9:00...at least for the kids and I. We were actually on time!

I love Sundays!

Talan is ONE!

 I cannot believe that Talan turned one today.
My baby has entered a new stage of life...he is a toddler now. Kind of sad.
But what a fun stage he is in too. I can't wait to see what new things he learns and experiences this next year.

We are holding off with the big first birthday party for him until the end of the month when Kyle will be in town. And then we will party for my little T-man!

However Talan, Kambryn, Jantsen, and I went to Kangaroo Zoo this afternoon (I wasn't about to have Talan go the whole day without doing something for him) and he absolutely had a blast. It was fun hanging out with my kids for the day. They really bring me so much joy...having 3 kids is stressful sometimes...okay so lots of times...but I love them.

Well happy birthday Talan. We love you. We love your cool chill personality. We love your toughness and watching you wrestle with your siblings. We love your shaggy hair...but you desperately need a hair cut! You are the cutest kid around! We love you!

Merry Christmas 2010

*CHRISTMAS EVE*
We had a packed house at my parents (if it couldn't get more
packed then it already is)
but James and Cami and their kids
came up and we also had
 Phil and Allison and their kids come
over too.  Although it was packed, we had
a blast!

We had a great traditional ham and cheesy potato dinner

and then acted out the nativity scene.

My aunt has the exact same costumes

that we use to wear when we were little

and now it is my kids that are wearing them

...and Kyle. No one else wanted to be Joseph.

and Kambryn didn't want anyone else to be Joseph either.

(she is a daddy's girl)

But we had a great time and it was wonderful

spending time with family and remembering and talking

of Christ and things that are important to us

during this Christmas season.

Highlights of the night
(most of which I didn't take pictures of...lame)

*tracking Santa on the computer
*traditional matching PJ's
*sprinkling reindeer food on the front lawn

*putting cookies and chocolate milk out for Santa

(Jantsen and Parker outnumbered Kambryn 

with the chocolate milk vote)

 *wrapping presents and talking with 

all my siblings until 3am in the morning

*all the boys setting up my dad's

Christmas present in the garage.

(more like 2 people setting it up and 

the rest making jokes and goofing around...

or so I was told. Ha)

*amazed that 17 people are in our family now...including Jen

(soon to be 18 with Natalie's little guy coming in May)

We had a whole lot of stockings 

"hanging by the fire"

*CHRISTMAS MORNING*

 It started early for me with Talan waking up

at 7:00 (not too bad though)

but alittle breakfast and he was good.

The rest of the crew woke up around

8:00 and then the party started.

Jantsen was happy with his

 remote control truck.

Kambryn loved her "married" barbie

and all the other barbie

things that were there for her.

Give Talan something to climb on

or push around and he is Happy.

Look at that cute shaggy haired kid.

Adorable!

I was just happy that

I had my husband here for Christmas!

 

I think he was happy too!

Christmas 2010

 

*CHRISTMAS DAY* 

We went up to Grandma Nana's Christmas afternoon

and celebrated and opened more presents.

I love hanging out with family! We always

have so much fun!

 

 Hot Item for the year...

Pillow Pets!!

A purple Unicorn for Kambryn

A dog for Jantsen (dressed as Santa)

 Lydia and Eme also got pillow pets.

All the kids were in Heaven.

(those infomercials sure did the trick this year)

Talan loved giving Eme kisses while

we were getting ready for bed.

Big, wet, open mouth, slobbers. 

Eme was so cute too. She would just laugh

and let Talan attack her.

Cousins are the best!

What amazing In-Laws I have (and good looking ones too!)

Merry Christmas!

We spent Sunday evening up at Pa and Claudia's house

with a whole lot of amazing and fun people. But

I didn't take one picture with that side

of the family...agh! 

We had a great evening.  Wonderful food, lots and lots of laughs,

fun games, tons of talking and catching up.

It was a great Christmas weekend for the

Smith Family.

We feel so blessed being able to spend our holidays with

our family.  We love them all and we are so

thankful to know we can be with them all forever!

We are grateful for our Savior, for his birth, his life and his sacrifice

that enables us to return and be together forever.

Nothing is better than that gift!

Kambryn's Holiday Recitals

Kambryn finished her first "semester" (I think that is what they called it) of gymnastics and so they had a cute little performance for her class.

 Kambryn LOVES gymnastics. She loves pointing her toes and walking along the beam and doing all the tumbling. She especially loves hanging and doing pull-overs on the uneven bars. and personally I think that she is really good at it too...but I am her mom and I can say that...but seriously she is good!

 She has gotten so strong in her handstands and cartwheels.  I can see her as a cute little gymnast.  But as long as she loves it, I am happy for her!  Plus having an amazing teacher helps a ton too.  Miss Mel was awesome and Kambryn just loved her.

 Kambryn did a fantastic job during her 3 different routines she performed for us (tumbling, balance beam, and uneven bars.)  We were so happy that so many people could come and support her too.  Thanks everyone!

 Kambyrn is growing up so fast and becoming such a fun and smart little girl.  I can't wait to see her progress more and more with the things she does.

*****************************************************

The week after her gymnastic routines she also had her Christmas Dance Recital.  I love having a girlie girl.  Watching her makes me wish I took dance....oh well, live through your kids right?!

 They performed 3 different dances and then sang a song at the end.  I didn't get any pictures during the dance because I was too busy recording them for Kyle to see...sad that Kyle missed all these things. Cameras with recording are the best.  Anyways, so her 3 dances were so cute. Ballet and tap...adorable!

 They did a partner dance for one of the ballet dances. and then did a super cute ballet dance with a giant stocking! So cute! That was my favorite dance to watch.  She loved that one too.

 The last dance they performed was their tap one. They started the dance as a candy-cane train and Kambryn was the engine.  Adorable!

 Santa came at the end of the dances...but unfortunately he was a 30 year old looking Santa.  A little creepy for me, and Kambryn was not buying it that it was Santa and was not about to sit on his lap.  The look on her face was priceless.  "Heck No am I going to sit on his lap."  Haha. So cute! 

 It took forever to get her to want to take a posed picture...but I knew if she was sitting with Jen she would be fine.  She loves my brother's fiance.  I think Jen is Kambryn's favorite person of the whole family. We were so thankful again for all the people who came to support Kambryn. What an audience for my little 3 year old!

And I had to post this one because Kambryn absolutely hated the splits. She didn't ever want to go to class out of fear of having to do the splits.  But at the end of it all...voila...her she is, showing off her splits.  

I have been so happy for Kambryn and watching her do the things that she loves and enjoys.  I still have hopes for her to play soccer but truthfully if she wants to dance and do gymnastics and cheer leading (which she loves too) then I am totally happy for her.  I love that she is into all that stuff because it makes me feel more girlie too.  She still has a lot of feisty-ness to her and stubbornness which I think makes an awesome soccer player, but we will see.  She is just so fun and cute and we just love our little princess Kambryn.

Wow... where to begin with this update?!

There are so many excuses I can give why I haven't updated for about a month now...the holidays are busy, the whole family being sick, I used up all my free storage in my Google account and I had to buy more, I was lazy... you name it and that would be right there on my list too. But now that the holidays are over, I am sad that I didn't give more effort in posting it all. Because we had a great month with lots of fun, laughter, memories and love. So here is my best effort in trying to remember our month of December.

I started a new tradition this year with the kids. Jantsen and Kambryn each made one of those traditional Christmas countdown chains but we added something new to it. They had to do some sort of service each day and write down what they did on the little slips of paper and save them all in a little "present". Then on Christmas day, we would go back and read what they had done that whole month.

The kids did an awesome job with doing service. I hope they were learning. Although one time Kambryn wanted to open a game and play it but I told her that we didn't have time so she started crying and saying "But Mom, it's service. It's for service!" Hopefully they learned to think of others during this Christmas season.

Helping me put together a box to be sent to the soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

 

Here are some of our other fun things we did during the month. In random order...

 Rode the train around the mall. Nothing makes Jantsen more happy than riding on a train. Those 8 minutes were the happiest of the year for him!

**********

We saw Santa this year...kind of unintentional.  We were out shopping down at the Riverwoods (absolutely the cutest Christmas decorations ever!!) and it just so happens that a little Santa Shack right in the middle. So no lines...it was freezing since it is an outdoor mall...but still. I can say I took my kids to see Santa.

 Kambryn was not nervous at all! I was surprised. She was adorable. Just jumped right up there and rambled off her little list of what she wanted.  A princess doll with a pink crown and a married barbie. She is easy to please.

 Jantsen was cool with sitting on Santa's lap.  You could tell he felt like he is getting alittle old to do it but he still climbed on.  I didn't hear what he wanted, but I am sure it had something to do with a race car or a race car track or a truck with 100 trailers (he asks for that every year.)

Talan was bundled in the stroller and I didn't want to attempt getting him out in case he would freak out at Santa and then I would be left with a crying, cold baby.  He was content with just watching.

*************

My amazing friend Allie and her cute family moved out here to Utah from Omaha. We were so happy that Kyle got his job in KC because that would mean we would have only been 2 hours away from each other...but now with only one more month left of me in Utah, they ended up moving out here. Agh!  So sad, for me. But I wish them the best in Utah!

 But we got together with some friends for her little guy Easton's 2nd b-day. It was fun to catch up and hang out with some wonderful friends. We just need to do it more often!!

****************

We went to Festival of the Trees with Grandma Nana, Kristen and Kara and all the kids.

Seriously some of these trees....well most of these trees are AMAZING!! oh and I can't forget to mention the scones...those were AMAZING too.

 Jantsen liked the sports themed trees....that or else the ones with a train going around them. What is it with him and trains! Go Utes or Go Cougs?!

 Kambyrn of course loved all the girlie trees. Anything with pink or glitter or dolls or barbie or dancing or purses...those were her favorite trees. And she insists on posing like this in all of her pictures.

 I think Kambryn would have been fine not looking at the trees and instead just watching the dancers perform.  She LOVED it! She told me that one day she wanted to dance up there like those girls. What a cute little princess I have!

****************
We put up the Christmas decorations all around my mom's house.

Don't ask me about this picture because seriously
I have no idea whose kids these are.
************************

We played in the snow. I think this winter has been so cold! I feel like I am back in the mid-west with the biting wind and humidity. This is not how cold it is suppose to be in Utah!

And Jantsen is a big elementary tough kid apparently. Why do they have to grow up so fast!

 When they played out in the snow this time, it was a huge blizzard. My dad was shoveling and they wanted to go and help. It was freezing but they were having a blast. I could barely stand being out there for more than 1 minute, they were out there for almost an hour.

 

 Poor Talan could only watch from inside the house. He would bang on the glass and yell at them. Next year little dude, then you can join your crazy siblings!

************

We made gingerbread houses too.  My mom is a pro-gingerbread house maker (out of graham crackers of course) and we put 6 houses together for everyone to decorate.

 Jantsen was very meticulous in how his was going to look. But that is Jantsen...my perfectionist.Jantsen that you have an OCD mom!

 Kambryn, on the other hand, her motto is "the more candy the better!" She is my candy-lover. So between pouring candy all over it and sticking every kind of candy on the house, slathered in frosting, she would be eating it too. I had to supervise her a lot more.

Okay so I found some pics on my phone of Talan's activities for the month....

this is what Talan is usually doing during the day.

 He is our destroyer.

I have no idea how he got that bowl in his hood, 

but it was pretty funny. He just went about his business

with the bowl there.

 And he is also always being "mothered" by Kambryn.

Well that's about all our month of December...

I will get to Christmas and New Years and Kambryn Dance and Gymnastic recital later. But this will do for now. Oh and in 2 days my baby buddy Talan turns 1! Holy stink!