Pete & Leah Smith Family

December Fun!

2012-01-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

Here are a few things we did in December before Christmas.

Pete and I were in the Forgotten Carols as Constance's parents.

Pete replaced a couple windows in 40 degree weather :)

We decorated our tree and Pepper (the cat) undecorated it.

I made this fun little Christmas tree!

We had such beautiful fall leaves this year!

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A Thanksgiving Feast!

2012-01-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

Yep, I know! This is just a little late :) But here it is anyway!

We got pics of everyone that was here for Thanksgiving.

First off was Ken and Julie.

Matt, Mandy & Jacki

Perrin, Hope, Jill & Eric.

All the cousins!

Us!

Jeff & Val & kiddos.

Sam & Steph & kiddos!

Silly girls!

We went to the park to feed the ducks!

Notice what Danika is wearing compared to Elora.

Crazy WA girl!

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Summer Catch-up!

2011-10-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

We had a fun day in the sun with lots of family.

While at the lake we celebrated Julie and Xander's B-Days.

Julie actually went out on the lake.

The kids had tons of fun in the sand.

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July Project

2011-10-03T17:37:00.001-07:00

This was my project in July!

I turned our old microwave stand into an

incubator!

Here is the fully functioning incubator with the newly purchased Quail eggs bought on
Ebay.
The eggs are hatching!

We had 21 chicks hatch!

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June Fun!

2011-06-26T13:00:00.001-07:00

We have Quail!
(for meat and eggs)

Elora lost her two front teeth (and her two bottom teeth:)

........

And here are some new pics of the baby bunnies. They are 5 weeks old.

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Chicken Tractor!

2011-06-12T16:12:00.001-07:00

This is what I've been working on!

I know! It's not very pretty, but it works great!

I used all kinds of scraps lying around the yard to build it.

If you want to see more check out this web page...

http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=87925-scrappy-chicken-tractor

I'm hoping they'll help with our slug problem :)
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Bunny Fun!

2011-05-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

Our rabbit had babies!

Aren't they soo stinkin' cute!!!

They are 1 1/2 weeks old. Their eyes aren't even open yet.

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Elora's Teeth

2011-05-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Elora's been having a hard time eating lately. We had hamburgers the other night and it was quite entertaining watching her eat!

Her two front teeth are loose and two of her bottom teeth are missing.

Her front tooth on the left is just dangling, and it has been for several weeks now.

But she wont let me touch it :P

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May Day!

2011-05-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

So, now that it's the last week of May I'm finally getting around to blogging about the first week of May :)

Every year our little town has a May Day celebration complete with parade, games and venders. The parade just happens to start on our street (right there at the stop sign in the picture).

So every year we stand in our driveway and watch while the kids scramble around picking up candy that people throw at them.

This is the very end of the parade.

Xander and Danika were happy with all the candy they got.

Later that day we went to the DeGeod Bulb farm. They farm Tulips! We bought some plants and strolled through the show garden they have. Then it started pouring right as we were leaving.

My girls!

So, that was our May Day!

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Field Trip

2011-05-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

Zach, Danika, Xander and I were able to got to a WAVA(WA Virtual Academy) outing for Zach's school. We went to Ridgefield Wildlife Bird Refuge and were able to go on a tour of the Long House. We learned all kinds of neat things about the Indians that lived in the area.

It was fun and beautiful, especially since we had perfect weather while we were there!

This is a really old Oak tree!

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Happy Easter Birthday!

2011-05-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

Elora was so excited for her B-day this year, because it just happened to be on Easter!

So, we colored eggs, had a yummy Easter dinner and then had cake and presents!

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Easter

2011-05-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

For Easter our ward had an Easter egg hunt and lunch.

The Primary was in charge and we had lots of fun planning this activity!

The highlight of the day (beside the egg hunt) was a table we prepared of food that Jesus might have eaten.

I learned a lot about how different food was back then and how simple and good it was too!

We even had leg of lamb and it was sooo good!

We also had "regular" food too.
But Pete outdid himself this time with his gorgeous looking chocolate filled, chocolate cupcakes!

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Hatching Chicks!

2011-04-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

In this picture all the eggs have been pipped by the chicks.

The first one to hatch was the green egg!

Zach has named this chick Strong!

This one is my favorite :) Danika named it Chopper.

(this is the green egg chick)

Elroa named this one April.

They are all super cute and I can totally understand "chicken math" now!

If you want to know what chicken math is follow this link :)

http://http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6253275

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Easter Eggs!

2011-04-07T13:32:00.001-07:00

This is our latest project!

These cute little guys should hatch a few days before Easter!

The egg on the left is a beautiful green color, all the kids (and me) are hoping that one hatches, and that it's a girl (there are so many unknowns when it comes to hatching eggs!).

Thanks Emily & Bill for donating the eggs!

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Killdeer

2011-03-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

While we were waiting for Elora's bus, Zach spotted this Killdeer about 5 feet from us!

It's guarding it's nest. Hopefully none of the other kids disturb it.

It made it's nest in a huge field that is fenced off, but it's nest is so close to the fence, right where the kids wander around while waiting for the bus.

Xander was jabbering away to the bird!

He's really good a making crazy faces right when I take his picture :)

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Snow!

2011-03-02T15:10:00.000-08:00

We got a little snow last week, so our yard (and Grandma & Grandpa's house) looked like this.

When Xander looked out the window his face looked like this:
He was being silly :0
Danika showed Zander how to put stickers on his face, so that's what's on his face : )

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February Fun

2011-03-01T16:48:00.000-08:00

During February Pete's sister and her kids came to visit!

It was also Grandpa, Makelle and Mandy's B-days!

So we had a group party!

Noah and Zander had lots of fun together!

So did Makella and Danika!

Danika has a band aid because she busted her chin open on the edge of the bathtub.

(she has more scars than any one else in our family)

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Etsy! Oh yeah!

2011-01-25T16:12:00.000-08:00

I did it! I opened my own shop! On Etsy!

Click on the box above to visit my shop.

I'm trying to add a few things every day so keep on checking it. I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, but couldn't find the time to get everything together.

Now that we have somewhat of a routine down for homeschooling, I'm finding little bits of time here and there(the house is still a mess though).

I'm not sure what the focus of my shop will be yet, but I'm having fun playing around with it.

I got these pics of Danika while I was taking pictures of my Etsy items!

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Just Plain Silly

2011-01-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

Elora and Danika being silly.
Zach wearing the shirt Aunt Amy made him for Christmas.

Pete and I sporting Amy's shirts, aren't we sweet!

And Xander in Amy's shirt!
He has the silliest grin!

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Scripture Time!

2011-01-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

It's that time again!

Time to redo the bulletin board in the Primary room!

December is so busy, we can never seem to get the board done before the middle of January. Last years was really neat, but this years will be even neater! (Is neater a word?) So, I took pics of all the kids and primary workers (including me, last year I wasn't up there. Hehe. Some people questioned why the Primary President wasn't with everyone else :)). Everyone is either reading their scriptures or looking off in the distance like they are thinking about what the are reading. Scattered among the pictures of everyone are going to be 3x4 pictures of scripture stories by Steve Nethercott (I love his pictures). My 1st counselor had this picture printed on a blanket and that's what we used for our background. It worked perfectly. We were going for a Sacred Grove kind of feel.

I think these pics turned out really cute!

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Christmas! Yay!

2011-01-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

Pete's brother's family came to visit us before Christmas! We had tons of fun with them and the kids were especially sad that they couldn't stay until Christmas day. While they were here we had a Polar Express party!

Christmas morning! The kids were a little excited!

After the presents were all opened.

Zach got a terrarium with a Fire Belly Toad and a Salamander in it!

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Finally!

2010-12-10T14:46:00.000-08:00

Our first egg!

Our chickens are finally doing their job!

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Christmas Food Court Flash Mob!!

2010-12-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

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Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-12-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

Waiting for food!
It's all ready!

Pies that Pete & I made.

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Leaves Fall!

2010-11-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago we had a few warm days. The kids entertained themselves for 3 days in a row with this pile of leaves that they worked so hard to rake up.

When I wasn't looking Xander crawled into the stroller basket and was smashing his face against the mesh. He thought he was being pretty funny!

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Spooky, Scary Skeletons!

2010-11-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

This year for our Halloween party we had bone bread sticks and a snake calzone!

And bat cookies!

Danika really liked the cookies!

Then we carved pumpkins and after that went to Trunk or Treating at the church!

Zach was the headless horseman, Danika was Cinderella, Elora was a witch and Xander was a Bunny.

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And He's Off!

2010-11-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

Xander thought he was pretty funny attacking Grandpa!

At 14 months old Xander finally decided it was time to start walking!

Since we don't have a video camera I am showing you with pictures.

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Danika's 4!

2010-11-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

Danika is 4 now!

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CA in September!

2010-10-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

Now it's September!

We went to CA to see the newest "Smith" baby!

This is Wendy and Ben's baby, Dixie.

While we were in CA we visited Riley's Farm in Oak Glenn.
Makella and Danika were so intrigued by this little gopher.

We went to the Yucaipa Market and Grandma let the kids get their faces painted.

Zach looking handsome.

Xander making funny faces.

Xander and Allison playing around.

All the Grand kids with Great Grandma Lowe.

We also took Bonnie and her kids to the Living Dessert. It was only 111 degrees when we left!

The poor baby boys were so hot, we were pouring water on them to keep them cool.

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Cute Little Guy

2010-10-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

Way back in August (again) we had this cut little guy come hang out with us for a while. I think it's a baby humming bird. The mama came around to check on it a few times. It just sat there while we stared at it. We were standing right under the wire, which was only about 5 ft above my head.

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Xander's One!

2010-10-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Way back in August Xander turned one.

This was his fancy "Birthday Cake"!

(Pete made it of course!)

Two of Xander's presents. The goldfish crackers were a huge hit!

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Sequim, WA

2010-08-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

We went camping in Sequim, WA for our last camping trip this summer!

We couldn't have picked a better weekend for it!

It was warm and sunny and beautiful!

This was at Ruby Beach,

the "kids" had tons of fun in the tide pools!

Zach and Elora running along Ruby Beach.

Here is Crescent Lake. It is so beautiful! The water is really that color!

Danika is standing in Ho National Rain Forest. This tree was huge!

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Apple, Apple, who's got the apple!

2010-08-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

It was apple pickin' time last week!

This year I was inspired by my cousin Dana (thanks Dana!) to try making fruit leather with our apples. Mmmm it has turned out so good!

I also made lots of applesauce!

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Chickens

2010-08-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about getting chickens for a while now, but haven't ever been able to get around to making a chicken coop.

Pete's brother Ben and his wife Lacy and his sister Bonnie were visiting us for the summer and were bored one day. So they decided to build a coop for us! Yay, so nice of them!

So we had to get chickens to put in the coop!

They are Barred Plymouth Rock chickens.

The kids have been having fun giving them bugs and weeds!

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24th of July

2010-08-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

Our ward hosted a 24th of July celebration at our ward building (we have the coolest church property I've ever seen).

We had a pioneer potluck with lots of beans and stew :)

Then there were pioneer games and activities!

The kids got to pull and ride in handcarts! This was the favorite activity of the night for most of the kids and miraculously no one was hurt!
This is Elora taking a turn pulling (she's the short one)!

Zach taking a turn pulling!

There were also potato sack races. Zach, Elora and Danika had a race of their own toward the end of the night. It was so funny to watch them!

We gave Danika a head start, but she got passed up after Zach and Elora jumped a few times. Then Danika got all tangled up and just sat down, but she wasn't mad, she was laughing!

I thought that would be it for her but she got up and kept on going, all the way to the cone and all the way back to the start, jumping in the bag the whole way!

I was just really glad to see all that determination that is usually directed at me can be used in other ways!

This is what Xander did the whole time!

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Smith Family Reunion June 2010

2010-07-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

We all gathered here in WA this year.

The weather wasn't that great while everyone was here, so we went to the church and played one day.

Tug-0-War!

This was all the grand kids against Grandma and Grandpa!

Ken and Julie tried really hard, but they have some strong grand kids!

We also played outside the church in the forest and on the baseball field. We found this huge slug! It wasn't even stretched out in this picture.

We picked flowers and made Daisy chains too.

On another day we had a Princess Party for the girls while the boys went fishing.

The Princess Party was really a disguise for a baby shower for Wendy!

The girls loved it and really got into it!

They all got to wear princess dresses and make their own crowns!

We played Kiss the Prince!

These two were just a little too young to go fishing so they had to stay with the princesses.

Val and Xander

Later in the week the girls did get to go fishing!

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Danika's Road Rash

2010-07-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

This girl knows how to do it right!

If she's going to fall she makes it big!

This is actually sidewalk rash, but that doesn't have the same ring to it.

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The big 80!

2010-06-26T12:48:00.001-07:00

Grandma Smith had an 80th birthday party!
She wanted a talent show, so the Great-Grand kids sang Down on "Grandma's" Farm!

This is Makella, Danika and Lilly dancing away while Uncle Matt was singing.

All the Great-Grand kids made a poster for Grandma!

After the party we went to Grandma's house to take pictures in her beautiful garden.

These two are so funny together!

Noah and Xander!

Cousins!

Prego Wendy!

Taking a break from pictures.

All the Don and Reva Smith family that was at their house.

Xander, doing his funny smile!

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Uncle Matt Graduates!

2010-06-08T08:44:00.001-07:00

Pete's brother, Matt graduated from Oregon Institute of Technology!

So we all drove to Portland (it was a good reminder of why I stay away from Portland Freeways) to go to the graduation ceremony!

The ceremony was really nice and I think it was good for the kids to see that it's a big deal when you graduate from college!

Congrats Matt!

After the ceremony we got ice cream!

Yes, Zach is sitting in a baby seat. Danika is really enjoying her ice cream!

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2010-06-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

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Tadpoles

2010-06-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here are our pet tadpoles!

We decided to raise tadpoles, because I thought the kids would really like seeing how they change into frogs and there are tons of frogs around (even in our yard). I thought it would be a good learning experience!

They have been a total success, although we are coming to the tricky part where the tadpoles turn into froglets and have to start eating bugs. So we'll see if we can give them what they need. Honestly, I get the feeling that I'm the one that has been the most interested in the whole process!

We have three tadpoles with tiny little legs and 2 tadpoles with arms and legs.

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Huh?

2010-06-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Danika is always making this face!

I think she likes the reaction she gets from people when she makes this face.

But it really is funny.

This picture doesn't do her justice, but you get the idea!
Oh, and she can only do it when she says "Huh?"!

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Our Feathered Friends!

2010-05-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

We've been having so much fun watching the birds the last couple days!

I love it when the American Golden Finches swarm through our area! They are so pretty!

I made this silly bird feeder out of 3 aluminum bowls I found at the Thrift store. I think it turned out really cute! The birds seem to like it. I just counted 12 birds in it a few minutes ago!

We have a flock of these huge pigeons that fly around here. Every once and a while they decide they need to visit the bird feeders. They are way to big for them and just end up making a huge mess all over the porch! But it is pretty funny watching them try to land in the feeders!

Here's Zach watching the birds!

I was having fun playing around with different settings on my camera!

I was taking all these pics through the oldest windows in our house. So no matter how focused my camera was the wavy windows distorted things a little. In this close up you can really see it.

I love this picture! Two birds coming in for a landing at the same time!

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Mayfield Lake

2010-05-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

It was so beautiful this last weekend that we decided to get out of the house and play a little!

Mayfield Lake has this little beach with a playground about 10 ft away from it, so Pete and I(and Xander) plopped down in between the playground and the beach and let the kids loose! The water is still really cold so no one else was there, so it was a very non stressful trip! Just the way I like it!

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Elora's Lost Tooth

2010-05-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

Elora lost her first tooth!

She has 3 others that are loose too!

She might be a little toothless this summer :)

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Elora's 6!

2010-04-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday!

Elora is 6 yrs old now!

I forgot to get my camera out when she was opening presents and blowing out candles, so these are all the pics I have.

But she had a fun time and got lots of fun presents!

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Who's who

2010-04-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

Can you tell who's who?

(I know, the quality of the pictures gives it away)

But I would say there's some family resemblance going on here!

We were both in Kindergarten in these pics.

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8 Months Old

2010-04-26T13:18:00.001-07:00

Xander is 8 months old now.

He has 2 teeth that he bites everything with!

He is crawling around everywhere and starting to pull himself up on the furniture.

And he never closes his mouth (as you can tell from the pictures)!

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There's a Storm!

2010-04-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

This morning Danika came running to me crying. She was trying to tell me what was wrong but I couldn't figure out what she was saying between the sobs. I could tell it wasn't too serious, I figured Elora did something to upset her. So I distracted her and and after about 15 min I tried asking her why she had been crying. After thinking for a minute she said;

"The toilet was all full! There was a storm in the toilet!!" She was so serious!

The way kids describe things is so funny sometimes!

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7 Months Old!

2010-03-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted any pics of Xander because this is what he looks like!

Snot, snot and more snot(and drool)!

Obviously I decided to post pics anyway!

Xander is now 7 1/2 months old.

He has 2 teeth and is super cute and happy(beside the snot)!

He is sleeping through the night(except when snot wakes him up) and he's sleeping in "the boys room" now!

He crawled a few steps last week and hasn't tried again (and that's OK with me :)), but he is really good at sitting and can almost go from his stomach, to sitting all by himself.

His eyes are not brown!

We aren't sure what color they will end up, but our other three kids all had brown eyes by 7 months.

The last thing I can think of is that his hair is growing like crazy and it's very blond!

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Amy & Danny's Wedding

2010-03-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

If you go to http://molliejanephotographyblog.com you can see some of Amy and Danny's wedding pics. There is one of Danika that is totally cute!
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Amy's Wedding!

2010-03-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

Amy and Danny were married in the San Diego LDS Temple!

(the same place Pete and I were married 9 yrs ago!)

It was a little windy!! But it wasn't raining!

Danika was sick of the wind and the sun in her eyes so she took refuge on Aunt Wendy's shoulder.

Zach was not in the mood to smile :(

Cousins!

Xander and Grandma Laurie

Pete and Amy (notice Wendy dancing with Danny, that wasn't planned).

Elora turned into a dancing maniac. All the people dancing made a circle and she just jumped right in the middle and didn't stop dancing until they turned off the music. She was hilarious trying to copy all the dance moves people where doing!

Elora was so excited that she got to dance with this cute guy.
At the end of the night Elora told me that "I think I made lots of friends tonight!" and "Someone told me I'm going to be a great dancer when I'm older!"

She had sooo much fun and was walking on air as we left!

Uncle Joe with all the older nieces and nephew.

Great Grandma Gilsen with Xander.

Nick and Joe acting normal!

All the Grandkids!

Nick and Rachel's family.

Joe and Lindsey's family.

Nick!

Great Grandma Lowe and Xander.

We took a trip to the Bass Pro Fishing Shop

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Pinewood Derby!

2010-03-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

Zach made his first Pinewood Derby car this year! He loved doing it so much that he wants to do it every month!

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Amy & Danny

2010-01-25T14:33:00.000-08:00

Sitting in a tree.. K. I......

For all of my friends out there that know my sister Amy,

you need to check out these pics of her and Danny!

http://molliejanephotographyblog.com/

If you scroll down to the bottom of her blog and click on page 3 you can see their engagement pics!
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Thought By C.S. Lewis

2010-01-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of- throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

(Mere Christianity, New York: Macmillan, 1979, p. 174)

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5 Months Old!

2010-01-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

Time sure is flying by!

Alexander (Xander) is now 5 months old!

He is such a happy baby and we all love squeezing and kissing him (o.k., maybe it's me that does it the most)!

He is a whopping 17 lbs now and is rolling around everywhere!

He also has the cutest laugh!

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Christmas!

2010-01-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

I got a few pics of the kids seeing the presents for the first time on Christmas morning!

This was our family gift this year. We've all been enjoying it tons!

Especially Pete!

Elora has already learned Twinkle, Twinkle.

Zach loves to set it to the drum set and play around.

Here's Xander with his new Giraffe! He love this thing, especially it's ears and horns! Yum, yum!

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Christmas Eve!

2010-01-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Eve at Matt & Mandy's home!

We had a wonderfully relaxed evening!

We started out with a dinner of fun appetizers, then we made Graham Cracker houses and we finished off the evening with Home Alone 2.

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Christmas Party!

2010-01-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

Elora and Zach talked to Santa. Danika wouldn't go near him!

Here's the kids singing for everyone!

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Oh Christmas Tree!

2009-12-08T10:14:00.001-08:00

We decorated our Christmas tree last weekend.

Here are the before and after pics.

For years I have been looking for the perfect angel for the top of our tree (perfect meaning; really cheap, but not cheap looking! It turned out to be a hard thing to find). I found this little gem of an angel at the Thrift store about a month ago! I was so excited when I saw her! I couldn't believe that after all these years I had actually found her!

Danika and Zach "helping"!

We decorated the tree with a roaring fire in the fireplace and the temp. dropping outside drastically. That night it snowed for the first time this year.

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Zach's Baptism!

2009-12-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

Zach was Baptised!

It ended up that just our family was able to be there from our ward (it doesn't help that the Bishop, Stake Primary President and the ward Primary President are all in his family)! So after the baptism Zach asked, "Was that just practice? Because where was everyone?". Poor Zach.

I thought it was a great family baptism though and even with just our family there, we still filled up 2 rows of seats!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-12-02T10:11:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family.

Tons of yummy food and

so many delicious pies!!

Zach and Elora were a little excited to start eating!

These are the rolls that Matt makes so well!

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3 Months Old

2009-11-17T10:34:00.000-08:00

Xander is 3 months old already! Times flies when you're having fun! He is such an easy-going baby and we love making him smile!

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Happy B-Day Zach!

2009-11-17T10:10:00.001-08:00

Zach wanted to make colorful sugar cookies for his B-day!

Zach got a new Cub Scout shirt for his B-Day! He is so excited to start Cub Scouts!

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Spooky Halloween!

2009-11-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

Elora was a cowgirl for school.

Cute little Zebra Xander!

Danika was serious about being a lion!

Zach & Elora in the costume parade at church.

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Alexander 2 months old!

2009-11-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

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I Love to See the Temple!

2009-11-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

We went to the Portland Temple last weekend! It was gorgeous!

Jackie, Danika & Mandy.

Zach got glasses for school.

After the Temple we stopped at a pumpkin patch!
Then we brought our pumpkins home and had tons of yummy food and carved our pumpkins!

Cooking Lesson!

2009-10-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

Pete gave the kids a lesson on how to make waffles! They were very serious students, and were intrigued by everything Pete was doing. And they all had to have a turn helping!

Zach & Elora's conversation while waiting for the waffles to cook;

Zach: "Dad, look at Elora's bottom and look at my bottom."

Elora: "Mine is way bigger then Zach's!"

At this point I'm busting up in the other room (I can't see them, I can only hear them).

Pete was laughing too, but he could see that they were talking about their little pumpkins that are sitting on the counter.

After dinner I tried to take a pic of Xanders cute smile, but this was as close as I got. It is a cute little smile, but it's nothing compared to his big open mouth smile!

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Happy B-Day Danika!

2009-10-07T10:18:00.001-07:00

Danika is 3 yrs old now!
She got an Octopus for her b-day! Everyone had to "try" it on!

Danika also got stitches for her b-day. This actually happened the day before her party. She walked into a sheet of metal that was laying on the ground and it sliced right through all her layers of skin. So Pete took her to the hospital to get stitched up. She is the first one to get stitches out of all our kids!

She has a nice white bandage mark. If you think this is gross you should be thankful that I didn't think of taking a picture of it before the stitches! hehe!

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Umm, are those My kids!?

2009-10-01T13:07:00.001-07:00

Xander is 6 weeks old now! Danika loves him sooo much (too much sometimes)!

I know everyone's fighting the urge to yawn!!

He's just a little cross-eyed in this pic.

Yesterday Xander started smiling at us(on purpose)! So now all Elora and Danika want to do is try to make him smile! It's so funny to watch them.

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Emery's Baptism

2009-10-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

We went to Emery's baptism this last weekend. She wanted to hold Xander so bad! He wasn't so excited about it.

Cousins goin' for a drive.

Xander and Great Grandma

On the go as usual!

Oak Glen

2009-09-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

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Fun Times!

2009-09-29T09:48:00.001-07:00

My Mom & Amy came to visit and meet the newest addition to our family(Alexander).

I had so much fun while they were here!

We went up to Mt. St. Helens and hiked around. It was so beautiful!
Danika found this rock and decided it was a good stage, so she was singing away! You can see part of the Mt. behind her.

We also went to the Lewis & Clark state park and hiked around.

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First Day of School!

2009-09-08T13:32:00.001-07:00

Elora started Kindergarten today and Zach started 2nd grade!

Elora was soooooooo excited! She has been counting down the days since last week and she couldn't sleep last night. I think she was just as excited about using her new Tinkerbell lunch bag as she was about starting school though.

And proud sister Danika had to be in the picture too!

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Blessing!

2009-09-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Alexander was blessed today at church.

He didn't make a sound during the blessing!

He is 3 weeks old now!

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When did I have 4 kids!?

2009-09-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

It's weird to say I have 4 kids! Why does that sound like so much more then 3?

The kids all wanted to take pictures with Alexander!

They had just got back from picking blackberries with Grandma and Grandpa, so there's blackberry juice all over them.

They all had to have a turn holding Alexander!

Alexander is 2 weeks old now and is doing great!

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Alexander's 1 week old!

2009-08-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

Alexander's fluffy hair!

Tiny feet!

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He's Here!

2009-08-18T18:45:00.001-07:00

Here is me 36 weeks pregnant.

Alexander Timothy joined our family August 17th at 5:29am!

He was:

6lbs 15oz

19in long

This is our Pediatrician, Dr Polley holding Alexander.

All the nurses commented on his beautiful hair.

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The 4th of July!

2009-07-07T14:20:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July the kids got really dirty playing at the park!

Then we came home and squirted them off!

Danika LOVES this swing! She thinks it's hers (2 year olds have such a hard time sharing!)

Danika had fun squatting on the side of the turtle and then jumping in.

We had a delicious hamburger bake off with Ken, Julie, Matt and Mandy. Then we ended the night watching fireworks here in town until 11pm (they went on until about 2am, nine o'clock church came really soon the next morning!) It was fun and soooooo nice to not have the mess in our yard to clean up!

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The Smith Family!

2009-06-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

We had a Smith Reunion with all of Pete's Brothers, Sisters, and their Husbands, Wives and children. There are 28 of us right now, with 2 more joining us in about 4 months! Everyone gathered at Ken & Julie's house (and ours) and we stayed close to home. It was perfect weather and we had a great time with everyone!

Pete, pushing the triplet cousins. Lilly, Danika and Makella are all a few months apart in age. It's so cute to watch them play together.

Pete's sister Wendy and her husband Ben.

We went to a friends home to ride their horses. They had this cool contraption that called to my artistic side!

Wendy and Ben (the two big kids) playing with the goat.

Zach riding.

Lilly, Makella and Danika terrorizing the baby chicks!

Cousins Elora and Lacey loving the goat!

Elora riding.

Here are Ben M., Matt, Pete, Lacy, Sam and Ben S. shooting hoops.

Mandy and Wyatt playing tennis.

Here are all the adults except Ken.

All the grand kids!

Ben, Savannah, Elora, Danika and Lacy paddling around the Toledo Lake.

Elora, Mandy and Matt swinging!

Me 25 weeks prego.

I love this pic of Jon, Bonnie and Makella!

This is at the Ridgefield Wildlife Bird Refuge.

This is the Mile and a half hike we went on at the Bird Refuge. Those little white dots way up the trail are the rest of our group. Pete was nice enough to walk with me as I waddled down the trail. I did make it just fine and we saw some fun birds and animals along the way.

This Turtle was trying to lay some eggs in the middle of the trail, right at the entrance of the trail too.
It had given up when we got back to the entrance.

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Our Beautiful Yard!

2009-06-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Pete walked around the house the other day and took pictures of our yard. It just happens to look really good right now, so we had to document it! One of our favorite things about this house is the yard and here in WA we are only able to really enjoy it 4 months out of the year!

So we are enjoying it to the max right now!!!

Pete didn't take any pics of my flowers, so I added a couple. Hehe.

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2009-06-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of the birds that have been visiting our bird feeders.

The male and female Purple Finch.

The male Black-Headed Grosbeak.
These bird feeders are hanging right outside our Dinning Room window. So we get to watch all the different birds (and Squirrels) that come on our porch. We love it!

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The Faces of Danika!

2009-06-03T13:36:00.001-07:00

Here are the many faces of Danika at 2 1/2 years old!

Danika loves making monster faces!

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Happy Mothers Day!

2009-05-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

We went to the Tulip Farm on Sat. for Mothers Day. It's so fun to see acres of colorful tulips!
Elora was the same color as these tulips!

Here is me at 22 weeks pregnant!

These are one of my favorite tulips!

I really like these tulips too. They are huge, about the size of Pete's hand!

Happy Mother's Day!

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Elora's Photo Shoot!

2009-04-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Here's what Elora looks like now that she's 5!

I like this picture because I think it looks like an old photo that's been hand tinted.

Elora liked this version better.

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Happy Birthday Elora!

2009-04-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

Elora is now 5!

Dad made this yummy Strawberry Pie for Elora.

Elora got cute new shoes and socks! She loves them sooooo much!

Danika really likes them too!

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A few ways you know Spring is here!

2009-04-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

Lots of Blossoms!!!

Uncontrollable bouncing!

Swinging, swinging and more swinging!

Yellow noses!

And lots of happy smiles!!

Yay for spring!

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Danika'a Photo Shoot

2009-04-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

I was playing with different settings on my camera this morning and Danika was my model!

These are a few of my favorite pics of her.

This one was soft focus.

This was B&W (obviously).

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Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T11:40:00.001-07:00

We had a fun Easter with Matt, Mandy, Grandma and Grandpa.

The kids had an Easter egg hunt in Grandma's yard.

We colored eggs at Grandma's house.

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It's a.........

2009-04-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

Boy!

I had an ultrasound today and discovered that our baby is definitely a boy!

Zach is way excited and is now asking when I'm going to "get" the baby.

Just 4 1/2 more months!

Our Ca Trip!

2009-04-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

First off, I love my new Camera!!!

I took tons of pics, and it was really hard to pick only a few to put on here, so I put kind of a lot of pics on. I put different groups of pictures in separate posts, to keep things more organized.

These are pics of us playing around at my parents home and at a couple parks.

Cousins Bailee and Danika.

Codee and Elora.

My rose bush that's at my parents house.

This is the rocking chair that was at my grandparents house when I was little.

I told the kids to act scared because they were ridding a scary dinosaur.

Grandpa Tim reading bedtime stories to all his grand kids.

Joe was playing with Elora.

Both my Grandma's were there for my 30th b-day party (yep, I'm 30 now)!

My Grandpa was taking pictures all the time!

My brother Nick and his daughter Codee are definitely two peas in a pod!

Elora had tons of fun playing with Grandpa Tim.

Danika loves swinging!!

Elora does too!

Zach worked soooooo hard to get up on this bar!

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2009-04-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

While in Ca I was able to get together with some old friends!

Here is me, Monett, Ginney & Marina!

Here are our crazy kids!

These kids had so much fun together!

We went to the Air Museum at March AFB with my grandparents!

Elora, Lindsay and Danika were watching the air planes take off.

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The Living Desert

2009-04-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to The Living Desert out by Palm Springs. The kids loved it!

One of the neatest things we got to do there was go to the Humming Bird and Butterfly exhibit.

This butterfly landed in Elora's hair, then I got it on her finger.

Zach got to hold one too.

We tried to get Danika to hold one, but she was too silly and wouldn't hold still.

I want a Butterfly bench like this in my yard!

Danika climbed right up on this bronze warthog w/0 any prompting. They had these cool bronze animals in front of each of the exhibits, so even if we couldn't see the real animals we could see a life-like version of them.

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Family Pics?

2009-04-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

On the last day we were in CA we tried to take some family pics. This was all we got, mostly just silliness! This first pic is of my Mommy and Daddy.

My baby sister Amy, and me. We had to take pics of us with the same color hair (she's really a blond)!

The girls!!

Mom, Amy and me.

All of the original Gilsens!

Amy, Nick, Joe, me, Mom & Dad!

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On our way...

2009-03-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

We are on our way to CA today for a week long visit!! Yipee!

I got this for my B-day!

So I will be taking way too many pictures with it!!!

I had dreams last night about taking pictures with this camera in CA! That's how excited I am to use it! Hehe!

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New Couch!

2009-02-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

Here is our new couch! The first brand new couch that we have ever owned! We are loving it!!!

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Dinner talk!

2009-02-19T18:03:00.000-08:00

Zach and Elora's dinner conversation:

Elora started out by saying "Chicken is protein, and protein makes big muscles."

Zach "I know that!" "Did you know that under your skin is meat and meat is chicken!"

The End

(Elora's class has been talking about eating healthy all month and yes I explained to Zach that there isn't chicken meat under our skin)

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Silly Faces

2009-02-12T10:14:00.000-08:00

Danika was being funny, making "monster" faces at everyone. I wanted to get some pictures of her monster faces. But my camera is too slow and she is too fast. So these are the silly pics I got. Zach and Elora had to get in on the fun too of course.

Zach took this pic of me. hehe.

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Danika's New Bed!

2009-01-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

Danika figured out how to climb out of her crib this week, so I decided it was time for her to move up in the world. So we set up the toddler bed. She loves it of course. I think she especially loves being able to get up all by herself in the morning!

So far it's been pretty easy to get her to stay in her bed and go to sleep.

Elora was 18 months old when she started climbing out of her crib, that was a nightmare! We had to practically sit on her to get her to stay in her bed! I guess I was expecting something similar with Danika, but I think that since Danika is almost 2 1/2 she is able to understand a bit better. Now if we could just get her potty trained!

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My New Car!

2009-01-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

My old van died for good, so we started looking for a used car that we could afford.

This is what we found, a 2000 Honda Odyssey!

I was not expecting to be able to buy this good of a van, but thankfully it was the right price!

Now is the time to buy a car if you are able! There aren't very many people buying cars so the dealers are bringing the prices way down.

It is sooooo nice to drive a van where everything works in it! And it has two sliding doors! That's a luxury for me! It's also a lot more roomy inside and comfortable for the kids.

Yippee!

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