Happy Valentine's Day. Kyle worked till almost 10 on Valentine's day so we didn't do anything. I can't really complain because he gave me a beautiful mother's ring right before we went to New York, and we spent the whole weekend togeather. I did get to help the girls make their Valentines, and give them each a little something. We celebrated by getting McDonalds, which I think they liked much more then some romantic dinner. The pictures are from Gracie's pre-school party, which Isabel and I had a fun time visiting. It was a nice day, and I was very grateful to spend it with my girls.

We went to New York last weekend with our friends Bill and Carrie. Kyle suprised me for my birthday last month.
We had so much fun, I loved New York. I can understand why people love living there. There is so much to do in such a small area. I loved all the old buildings, they have so much character. We did so much, and only scratched the surface of what there is. We stayed at Times Square, right by all the shows. We saw Chicago and Spam-a-lot, went to the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, the Met, Tiffanys, Chinatown, Little Italy, rode the Subway, took a bus tour of Manhatten and Harlem, and we could have stayed a week more and not seen everything. I can see how New York is part of the people who live there, like a family member. We can't wait to go back and take the girls when they get older.

Our good friends Darby and Barnard brought home this sweet baby girl on tues. They named her Bryawna, and we are so excited for them. Kyle and Barnard met as freshman in high school, and have done almost everything togeather. They went to college (first Texas then UCR) togeather, were in Medical school at the same time(on different sides of the country). Barnard was our Best man, and Kyle was his, they did their Internship year togeather at arrowhead. Barnard is now a surgeon and Kyle is F.P. And now they are both Fathers of beautiful daughters. Sophia is excited to have a new friend, and we are blessed to see such a miracle happen to our friends.

Christmas was a lot of fun this year, the girls are at such great ages. We spent 3 days opening presents this year. We started on the 23rd with my extended family, the 24th was my parents and sisters, then the 25th was Kyle's family. On the 26th Gracie asked where we were going to open our presents today. I had to explain that Christmas was over, she was pretty disappointed that it only lasted 3 days! We had a great time being with our families. Some of our favorite gifts were, passes to the zoo, Lauren's doll clothes(for Molly), Gracie's camera(which she sticks in Soph's face and blinds her), Isabel doll that talks, and Sophia's play camera. Here are some of my favorite pictures from Christmas morning.

Before school got out for winter break, the first grade at Caryn put on their annual christmas play, The Littlest Christmas Tree. Basically it is about a tree who is made fun of by all the other trees for being too small, but she is the only tree that knows the true meaning of Christmas, so Santa chooses her to be his tree. Lauren played the littlest tree, and sang a solo. She actually brought some of the parents there to tears with her song.(Not her own parents, but some really sensitive ones.) It was very cute, and Gracie got very upset that the other trees were teasing Lauren. We had to explain that Lauren was just pretending to be sad. We were very proud of our tree!

On saturday the 16th Lauren and I went to Mexico with the Flipside. We got up at 5:00 a.m. to leave by 6. We were actually on time even though Sophia and Gracie woke up multiple times and I got less than 4 hours of sleep. We drove down with Dai, Bekah, Lizzie, my sister Debbie, and Devon. Now I'm not a drive a long way just to drive back the same day kind of girl. Claremont is a long way for me. Kyle and I have always talked about exposing the girls to poverty and mission work, and Kyle couldn't take Lauren, so I had step up and put my money where my mouth is. I like my trips to be well organized, with a list of things that are going to happen, but due to unforseen events, I had to let that go.(and it was very hard.) It took 3 tries to get insurance at the border, but we finally got it and went across. When we got to the town, we found the Pastor's house only to find out he was not there. So we decided to head to the church, after a few circles we finally figured out the church had been destroyed. Apparently in June the ground under the church had erroded and the building fell down. So we were looking for something that wasn't there. By accident we ran into the Pastor's wife, and she had us go to the community center. We found out that the Pastor had left his family and gone to the States, we didn't get all the details, just that it was bad. Aaron had talked to him via e-mail, and he had indicated he would be there so we didn't know exactly when he took off. He never mentioned anything about the church either. So it seemed he didn't want to tell us what was really going on. They weren't able to open the community center, so we gave out the presents and did the whole barbeque outside. It was very cold and we had to use a toilet that was a step up from outhouse, (it was one of the nicest in the town) but it was a good chance for Lauren to see how other people live. The girls handed out juice(jugo) at the barbeque, and Lauren and I got to see two of our boxes be opened. We meet the new pastor and made some good contacts. We left at four and spent about 2 and a half to 3 hours at the border. At one point we thought we would be stuck because no one would let us merge. They would literally rather hit the car in front of them then let us in. But Dai manged to get in, I would have been there a lot longer if I had been driving. The girls did great the whole day, I was very proud of them. We finally made it back to the church at 10, six hours later. Next year Dai and I decided Kyle and Mark get to go.

Here are the christmas pictures. Paul took them, and I am so happy with how they turned out. There were a lot of great ones, so it was hard to choose one for each of the girls. It was the nicest picture session I've ever had. Paul came right to the house, set everything up, and we were ready to go. It was so nice not having to deal with some unknown photographer, who would miss all the good smiles.

Rub-a-dub-dub, four girls in a tub.

Sunday was the Christmas musical at church. Lauren played the angel and Gracie told everybody what to do. Needless to say both girls are quite at home on the stage. Lauren said all her lines perfect, and Gracie had an impromtu solo in the microphone and kept all the little ones in line. It was a lot of fun to watch all the kids. I really appreciate Rayna giving all the kids a part to shine. Next year Isabel will be up there, and she might not let anyone near the microphone. I can't wait!

Every year my Mom has all the grandkids over to make a gingerbread house. It's a lot of fun, and the kids love to eat the decorations. They are getting a lot better at actually making it look good. Lauren wants it to look exactly like the box, but that is pretty much not going to happen with her sisters helping. There is so much going on during Christmas time that sometimes I just want to scream, but I know that giving them these traditions will mean more to them then any gift they will ever get.

Christmas time is here! I love christmas decorations, we always decorate right after thanksgiving. Kyle tries to put off getting a tree as long as he can, because I would get one today. This year was a lot of fun, the three older girls were so excited. As I was opening all the boxes Gracie said, "It just keeps getting better and better!" These are the pictures of us along with Devon and Merrick, decorating our advent tree. It's really neat, all the ornaments our part of the nativity. As they put up an ornament we read about it. It's a nice way to get focused on the real meaning of Christmas. So have a blessed christmas season. The Smarts

Thanksgiving was truly a day to be thankful. As I look back on our family's year we have a lot to be grateful for. First of course is Sophia, her birth and now that she is healthy. Second for the health of all our girls, watching them grow-up is such a gift. Seeing the blossoming of their faith is amazing. There are of course many more, but after those two the rest aren't nearly as important.
We started the day at my parents house with my family. With everyone there we have 11 kids 7 and under, so needless to say it is a little crazy. But we love crazy at our house. Next it was on to Kyle's parents, where it was just the grandparents(4 greats, 2 grands) and us. A little different atmosphere. But still a lot of fun. Wendy was worried about two turkey dinners, but I told her even though it's the same basic ingrediants the meals couldn't be more different, just like our familys. I hope everyone elses day was full of love too.

When we were in Cancun all of Kyle's family came with us. There were five generations from the Greats all the way to baby Sophia. Our girls have a total of 10 grandparents. It just amazes me how close they are with all of their Grandparents. What a blessing in our lives to live so close with our family.

Lauren was amazing in cancun, she has no fear and is a really strong swimmer. She jumped waves with Grandpa Steve, dived under waves with Grandma Wendy, and boogie boarded with Kyle. She could swim the whole length of the giant pool. She has great technique, and is really strong. She is probably a better swimmer then me, and I've been swimming a lot longer. Gracie also started to really swim much better. When we first went snorkling she was afraid of the fish, but by the end she was right in there with them. It is so wonderful to be able to give our girls these amazing expirences(thanks Steve and Wendy).