Its been a while & figured I needed to make a change (I could not get into it to add to it??)

For Thanksgiving we traveled, which we really have not done since we have moved in... Which has been Great! Though we were really excited to go back to St. George and enjoy the warmth! It was a short, but good visit and we were able to help Grandpa take care of some things.
We were also able to enjoy being at my parents home and finally got to see the horses, and spend time with Family!

We have been enjoying decorating for the Holidays! I was very excited about that (being in a new home and all) that I wanted to by pass Halloween-but did not do that. I am getting more organized! We finally finished our bookshelfs in the basement! (It seemed like forever, and we did not unpack books until we did it, with the exception of the ones in the kids' rooms and ours) Feels Great!

Winter Wonderland! The snow continues to Fall (though everyone says "it is so cold up there" we are actually in the town that gets the least snow! in all of Cache valley!!) The kids are enjoying sledding, constantly! And I tell them, I am in hybernation mode! Though I love to see the snow fall, and I am really enjoying the beautiful white everywhere, I will still just enjoy it from a distance! Our kitties think we are mean too, they want in, they are from St. George, lol, they do not like that white stuff:)

Christmas is so close! I did not even realize it!

So Merry Christmas to All!

Love you all!

Today was the big day! Amira is officially a Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! What an accomplishment! (now she is questioning my spelling, lol, they grow up all too fast!) There is a saying, poem or song that talks about the white dresses a girl wears, 3 white dresses, blessing dress, baptism dress, & wedding dress. But oh, to think of such things... When our nephew (Elder Waite) went into the MTC, it was around that time that I gave Richards nice suit away, because he'd outgrown it... So throwing the two things together got me to thinking, Richard will be mission age in 10 years!
I guess you could say I am very emotional lately, but a simple country song just makes me cry... & thinking of the future, just reminds me of the past... And my how they've grown! And watching them learn, & grow through lifes blessings and challenges. Beautiful things are discovered here, and I cant help but think how much I learn being a part of their lives!
So anyways, hope you enjoy the baptism pictures, hope they turn out better than the birthday ones, lol.
I hope the pictures portray that this little girl lives up to her name, (of course when its important, I mean you should see the way she eats, lol) Amira, means Princess, Belle means Beautiful, and of course Smith means Celestial (so I have heard so many times:)
Ok, so I am a very pleased step-mom!
And I have finally completed some of the scrapbook pages for Richard's baptism, so I will take pics of those and post them...
Happy Holidays Family We Love YOU!!!

Today we enjoyed celebrating Amira's 8th birthday, wow! We had a lot of fun! We went bowling, Richard won both games! We came home, the bikes were in the living room, that took a few minutes, Amira was more excited about the small gifts, till she saw her new bike of course. We sent their old ones to their Moms house, & brought home from her place their first two they got for Christmas our first year, We took pictures of them on their first ones, it was great, they had no idea we had these two stashed away. Then we had pizza, cake and of course the small gifts. Then we played games, That was fun, they are getting quite good at more challenging games.
Amira will be baptized on November 3rd @ 10 am, or possibly 11. We will make room for as many are able to come, and we hope to have a full house!
It is amazing how time flies!