Merry Christmas!!

Cooper opening his present for Mommy

He thinks the box is just a drum... haha

Looks like he loves Christmas presents!!!

Our first Christmas as a little family!! And our first Christmas in Washington!

We had a great Christmas! On Christmas Eve we went to Blaine's sister's, Deb, house. We had a really wonderful dinner with everything you could think of, she does lots of hosting (she did all the food for our wedding) so everything was really good and we over ate. After dinner we sang Christmas carols and then read the story of Christ out of the Bible. Cooper loved the Christmas music. When ever anyone was singing he listened and rocked back and forth to the music, it was so cute. Blaine and I were Mary and Joseph and Cooper was baby Jesus. Haha. It was fun and the kids loved being the wise men, angel, shepherds, and camel. Cooper was very well behaved. After we left Deb's house we made some presents deliveries to people we didn't think we would get to see on Christmas day, including the secret Santa we did! Blaine and I both agree that was our favorite part of Christmas. Then it was off to Grandma's house to spend the night!!

Christmas morning we got up when we heard Boyd (Blaine's brother) and his 3 boys going through there stockings. Blaine and I got up and even though i hate to wake a sleeping baby we just couldn't stand it and woke Cooper up! Cooper enjoyed opening his presents or at least ripping paper and trying to eat it. I got him a little "race track" type present and Blaine got him so cool balls, of course he liked Blaine's present more than mine but only because mine was in a box and requires batteries. Grandma got him a duck pillow pet. Cooper also got another little toy, movie, book, and some clothes. I got Blaine a hunting knife and some camo clothes and he got me a Pandora charm bracelet that i absolutely love!! I got three charms one that is a heart that is for Blaine and I falling in love, a garnet for Cooper's birth (his birthstone) and a Christmas tree!! And as if that wasn't enough I also got a pink bike!! :) I couldn't believe it! After opening presents we went back over to Deb's house for a big breakfast and stockings. I was pretty anxious to talk to all my family in VA so we headed home and turned on the webcam to talk to everyone. We talked to my Dad and the entire family that was at his house for Christmas dinner and thanks to technology I even got to see my step mom and mamaw open the presents i sent home for them. After talking with them I got to web chat with my mom, step dad, and little sisters. Talking and seeing everyone with the web cam made me feel like i got to be home for the holidays too! Man I love technology.

Blaine and Cooper took a nap while I made my first ever broccoli casserole (everything from scratch, it was actually pretty involved) I think it turned out pretty good. Then we headed back to to Grandma's for Christmas dinner with most all of the family. It was delicious and so fun. While we were there Jacob called and I got to talk to him for a long time. I am so excited for him to come home!! Can't believe he only has till May left on his mission. After dinner Blaine took everyone sledding, he pulled the sleds behind his four wheeler, they loved it. We then decided to go see Blaine's other sister Debbie and her kids to give them their gifts. It was nice that we got to see almost everyone on Christmas day. After a nice visit there we were pretty tired and went back to Grandma's and gathered up all our goodies and brought them home. Blaine, Cooper, and I all changed into our pjs and watched the movie Wyatt Erp (Cooper got it for Blaine for Christmas) before bed.

It was such a great day!! We had a wonderful Christmas.

side note: on Christmas day Cooper learned how to clap his hands and now does it all the time that we will say "Yay good job" and clap too. And he was standing holding on to the couch and totally walked down it to get to me. When I realized what happened I almost fell over

Loves the balls that Daddy got him

Loved all the faces that he made all Christmas Day

not sure what this face was for, don't take my

picture or don't take my presents

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Blaine giving rides!!

Dannah was here!!

Pictures First:


Cooper asleep after opening gifts!!


Blaine so excited about his presents!!



Cooper helping Dannah with her presents!




What could be in it?..





Dannah!!

So my sister Dannah got to come see me for a few days before she headed home for Christmas. It was so fun to have her, but it was such a short visit. I already miss.






I got some winter pictures made of Cooper. I ordered some copies for everyone that I will send in late Christmas cards. Sorry! But here is the link to see all the pictures and if you want to you can order more or other poses. Just call or email me. myonlineportriats.com/viewsession.aspx?id=88ee207ababcd761b447bb58






She got here on friday, she found a ride right to Wenatchee from someone she knows at BYU-I. We met right after our ward Christmas party (which I made scalloped potatoes for that were amazing!) I had been counting down the days till Dannah came to visit. I always have a count down going on in my head, like right now it is count down to Christmas, then Cooper's first birthday, ect ect ect.






Oh by the way, after a year of talking about it Blaine and i bought a new computer. I love it, it has a huge monitor and is super fast. We picked it up on friday on the way to meet Dannah.






After we got Dannah we came home and talked and caught up on how her first semester of college was. She loved it! :)






Then saturday we got up and did Zumba of course and went to the craft store and did a little Christmas shopping. I finished up some crafts that I had started with a lot of help from Dannah. We made dinner and rented two movies, "Inception" and "The Other Guys" loved them both! Dannah couldn't stay awake through both of them haha.






Sunday of course we went to church and then to Blaine's parent's for dinner. When we got home we talked to Dad on the web cam!! It was so fun and now that he knows how to do it i hope we will do it often! After our chat with dad we went to my sister in law Debbie's for scones to celebrate all the december birthdays! She makes the best scones. It was fun to be with the whole family and for them to see Dannah. They all love her and have really gotten to know her from all of her visits.






When we got home we watched a little tube and made smoothies. Blaine has a vitamix and we dug it out of the basement and made smoothies with all kinds of good greens and fruits! Then we played video games. Dannah played Call of Duty with Blaine and was a natural. I put Cooper to bed. Speaking of Cooper - He is still fighting a nasty nasty little cold. It seems like it will never go away and he has a terrible cough. I feel so bad for him. it doesn't affect his mood too bad but he has better days than others and you can tell when his throat hurts and he just need some cuddle time. The cold and cough have also taken away his little voice!! But with Dannah here he got completely spoiled!






Also.... drum roll please!!.... I have a crawler! Thats right, Dannah put here computer on the ground with Cooper's favorite video on and he army crawled straight for it. I captured the video on my phone and will have to figure out how to load it on my new computer so I can post it. Cooper's other new thing is that he can throw a fit, for example; he is currently sitting on my lap and got a hold of a pen and tried to eat it. I took it away and he yelled and arched his back in anger! lucky me.






Monday Dannah and i did a little more shopping and wrapping and then went back up to Deb's to make christmas treats. Dannah did some crafts while we were up there. she is making some neat christmas presents. Cooper wasn't having as good a day. After we left Deb's we came home and made dinner - fried rice, shrimp, and stirfry veggies. Then Blaine's brother, parents, and a dear family friend came over for card night! We had a good time eating, making more smoothies and of course playing cards. We worked a little bit more on Dannah's crafts and i messed them up!! uh oh. hopefully she can fix them. After everyone left Dannah, Blaine, Cooper and I sat around the tree and exchanged Christmas presents! So fun!! Unfortuately Dannah left this morning even though I begged her to stay! But we had a great time while she was here.

I promise to take lots of pictures and videos on Christmas and post them right away.
Love you all!!

My Birthday and such...

So Christmas came early at the Smith house. After great debate of whether or not to get one, we welcomed a Playstation 3 and Call of Duty into our home on Tuesday night. Needless to say it has not gotten much rest since it got here. Blaine is quickly becoming a forced to be reckoned with in the game. He enjoys his “man cave time.”

Wednesday was my birthday! For the past two years we have gone out and cut down Christmas tree for my birthday and we thought it would be a fun tradition. We have not cared too much what it looked like in the past since we have been in VA the past two years for Christmas. This year however, since we will be home I really wanted to find the perfect tree no matter how long it took. Blaine and I remember this place we had seen last year that appeared to have lots of good trees. So we piled into the truck and headed up the canyon nearest our house. I brought the camera and Cooper’s snow clothes with me I thought I could get some good pictures. We did not make it up the Canyon thanks to a fresh snow!! It was very frustrating. He headed back to the house and scouted our own property for a tree but they were all real Charlie Brown trees. We had plans to go to dinner at Olive Garden but I really wanted a tree so Blaine knew another place were we could go. We went up Mission Creek and finally after a long drive I thought I spotted a good one but it looked impossible to get to. Cooper was asleep so I left him in the truck and went to help Blaine. The tree was impossible to get to, I fell at least 12 times on the way up and back. I only made it 2/3rds of the way up but Blaine got all the way and cut the tree down, he also found another one for our friend Ghilberto and one for his parents. They were not the best but after the rough start and the time crunch to get to dinner we just took what we could and headed out. We at Olive Garden, my favorite, and it was wonderful as always. Cooper is fun to take out because he can entertain himself more. When he was tiny he was easy to take out to eat because he just slept through it but then he got a little older and wanted to be held, got hungry and tried to reach for the plates. But now he can sit up in a high chair, eat snacks, play with toys, and then we usually take turns feeding him dinner while we eat. Cooper eats food twice a day now, breakfast and dinner. After dinner Blaine went to scouts (he is the 11 year old scout leader) and I went to his parents house to visit. Then it was home again.

Today I put up the Christmas tree and decorated it. I think in the future we will get it earlier so that there will not be so much snow, all the good trees won’t be gone and so I can have my decorations out longer.

The tree

Panoramic view of my living room

Panoramic view of my living room

Cooper and Blaine by the tree

Some Videos

daddy giving us a little concert

Cooper tried to eat Eve's face all the time. when we pulled the camera out he got distracted

nativity

Cooper has not adjusted to the time change. He wakes up at 5am. Lucky me.
Yesterday we had dinner with Jared and Christine and their family and then we all went to "Journey to Bethlehem" the Seventh Day Adventist put on. It was not exactly a nativity it was more about what Bethlehem was like at the Christ was born. They had put a lot of time and money into it. It was not my favorite but I have been spoiled by the one in Richmond VA (blaine and i both prefer that one) I would probably go again if they have it next year. It was good to see the community coming together. Cooper got to wear his new winter coat and pants that his Granny Annie got him

.

He loves the camera!!

Trip to VA

Blaine, Cooper and I were able to go back to VA for Thanksgiving! It was so fun because a large portion of my family had yet to meet Cooper. I was very nervous for the flight I way over packed for him, I would rather have too much than too little for a baby on a plane, but Cooper was seriously the best baby ever. He slept for all the take offs and just played on our laps it was great. The flights went by pretty quickly. When we landed Mom and Patrick were there waiting for us. When we got to the house Patrick held Cooper for a long time and Cooper didn't mind at all he enjoyed playing with Patrick's beard.

We stayed with Mom and Patrick wednesday-sunday. It was so fun to be with family. i loved watching everyone interact with Cooper. Ceara got to hold Cooper for a long time while he slept. and Nana came over twice to see him. We went over to Dad's on thursday night to get the car he was letting us borrow and for him to see his grandson. he was so excited he met us at the car!

Sunday after church we went to Grandma Conner's for "thanksgiving" dinner and then over to dad's to stay the week. When we got to Dad's he cried! It was so funny and sweet. He was listening to John Denver and then we walked in with his first grandchild and it just all got to him. Monday Dad took us to Hollywood Cemetery where 2 Presidents are buried, President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis and over 18,000 confederate soldiers. It was neat to see a little history while we were there. We hung with dad. he went hunting with Blaine and Ransom. We went out to see my grandparents and thursday we had thanksgiving dinner with my grandparents. Blaine shot two deer right before dinner so it was the fastest thanksgiving dinner of my life. the women hung out and talked inside while all the mean cleaned and cut up the deer outside. Cooper took a nice long nap with Eve. Afterwards we did some midnight black friday shopping it was fun and insane with baby!

Friday was Anne's only day off so we hung out with here and while Blaine and slept in Anne took care of Cooper and he rolled off the bed. She felt so bad. But he was fine!! :) :)

Saturday we went back over to my mom's house and had a family dinner with my nana and uncle and his family. I think we actually had like 3 of those. On saturday my mom gave me a surprise birthday party and i as actually surprised and didn't ruin it or figure it out even tho when i got there my little sister Caoilainn said "we didnt bake a cake" we spent the night with nana and watched some good movies then back to mom's for the rest of the week!! we all hung out and had fun and its getting late and i can't remember what else we did and Cooper is telling me to wrap this up. Cooper got a little fussy on the way home and Blaine and I had to take turns standing and holding him but he still wasn't even that bad! We are so lucky. But I can now tell that he was spoiled while we were home because now when i put him down or walk away he yells at me!!

But to sum up we had a great time and here are a few pictures!!

Patrick, Coop, and Mom

Anne, Dad, Coop, papaw, Mamaw

Cooper was kinda fussy so Dad played a little guitar

and we didn't hear another peep

Ceara is such a wonderful little aunt

so good on the plane rides!!