Grammasita & Clara-bear

There's nothing better than having your mom in town.  I was fortunate enough to have my mom here this past week.  What's even more fun is that my cousin Clara came down with her and completely surprised me!  Fun, fun, fun.  We had loads of fun! 

 

 Some of the exciting things we did were shopped, swam, got pedicures, watched movies and hung out!  Clara also taught us how to play Egyptian Ratscrew - a crazy card game that she consistently beat us at!  We also went up Sabino Canyon and took a couple of drives.

  We miss you guys already.  Please, oh please come back soon!  

Lois was so excited to have her grandma and Clara in town!

Clara and Lois hanging out - Lois loves Clara!

We decided to drive to Thatcher, Arizona to see where the newly announced Temple will be built.  We also saw the birthplace and childhood home of President Spencer W. Kimball.

Lois is such a good little traveler...

She's also figured out that the camera has a bright flash so she squints her eyes in anticipation...

Lois loved having a back-seat buddy.  Clara kept her entertained everywhere we went.  Thanks Clara!  We miss your brightness so much already.

The plaque in front of President Kimball's childhood home

Jason and Lois

...and here's the house!

Me and Lois

* February Happenings *

February was a great month for us!  In addition to celebrating the many family birthdays, we also got to celebrate Avery's first birthday on Valentine's Day!  (Avery is my good friend's little girl)  We can't wait until these guys can play together without wanting to grab each other's hair and eyeballs.  They'll have so much fun together!   

Lois and Avery hanging out

The pretty birthday girl in her heart tights and pink tutu.  

She's a Valentine's baby!

Lois questioning why her mother takes so many pictures of her.

And now for some fun pictures of our baby girl - because she really is that cute.

She loves to squint her eyes and smile

Playin' with all her toys

"Let me outta here!!!"

Happy girl

And a picture of her awesome two teeth.  No more chompers...yet!

HB, Grandpa!

We know that your "real" birthday isn't for another five years or something (when's the next leap year?) and the day we should celebrate your birthday is still in discussion, but we really just couldn't wait to wish you a happy birthday on this very special day!   We love you and hope you have a great day!  Oh yeah.  We also are really glad you were born.  Thanks G&G Wright! 

According to the calendar, this is about how old you really are.  Nice giant moth, by the way.  What a good listener!  Was he receptive to the message of temples?  

Nice 'stache - never seen one so good lookin'.

Man, how did you land such a hot wife?!?  We're glad you did.

Good old San Diego times in the fire truck

Lois is a lucky lady

You've got the grandpa touch!

We love you and are so glad you are in our lives. 

 

Have a great day and we'll be seeing you soon!

HB, Kelly!

*I told you there were a lot of birthdays...

Happy Birthday, Kelly!  We're so glad you joined our family this past year.  We love you and think you are so awesome!  And I really like adding another girl to the Smith mix.  With Lois and Stella, we are now winning the gender tally!  Hooray!  We hope you have a great day!

sisters in matching jammies

beautiful bride kelly

kelly & lois on christmas morning

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom is the greatest woman alive.  I'm so glad she was born and that I was born to her!  I feel so lucky to have her in my life.  Some of her many attributes are that she is talented, strong, creative, funny, courageous, beautiful, loving, caring and most importantly - full of life.  We call this feisty.  We like feisty.

Mom, I hope you have a great birthday.  We wish we could be there to celebrate with you...but you'll be here soon enough and we'll party then!   Thanks for all you do for me and my family.  We are so lucky.

My cute mom and me

Here we are - me as a newborn...  

Thanks for all those years of taking really good care of me.

Family camping trip 

Isn't my mom beautiful? 

 I got all my good looks from her.

Another old time family picture...

What a winning smile...

Thanks for being so amazing.  

We love you!  Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Clara!

*We have a lot of February birthdays in our family - so get ready for a slew of birthday posts!* 

This is my crafty & creative cousin Clara.  She's so awesome and I have loved seeing her grow into such a beautiful young woman!  She is so bright and talented.  She paints artwork that she should sell in stores!  I especially love the paintings of her little rabbits and have a few here in my home to look at daily!  Watch out world, she's going to be the next Beatrix Potter.  Clara is also amazing with children.  When we were home for Christmas, Lois quickly fell in love with all of her fun antics and Clara had her laughing up a storm!  It was so cute.  I also love that she and I both share a great love for a pretty shoe!

We love you so much and are missing you on this great day, but I just wanted you to know that you are one special little lady and I'm so glad you are my cousin!  Happy Birthday!!  

And now, here's some fun pictures of the birthday princess...

Clara and me being goofy!

Look at that long hair, Clara!  Wowzers.  This was at my bridal shower in 2004.

This was a time that we went ice skating together.  It was a blast!

We love you, Clara.  Happy Birthday!

Someone has a birthday today...

Dear Grammy Janny,

I'm so glad that you are my grandma!  I love how you play games with me and let me sleep in your room and chew on all your stuff...

Here's a birthday smile for you!  

...And here are my crazy parents trying to get me to sing happy birthday before I can even talk!  (And yes, my parents do realize that they sound so silly and quite annoying on camera - they are trying to work on that...)  You can also check out my mad clapping skillz in this awesome video.  That's just for you and not for the Aaron Harang doll.  I promise.

Happy Birthday, Grandma.  I can't wait to hang out with you in a month!  Hopefully by that time, I'll have grown some more teeth so I can give you a smile full of chompers and eat all your graham crackers!  Yumm...

I love you!

Your beautiful granddaughter, 

Lois Ada

P.S.  Mommy and daddy also really want to wish you a happy birthday, too...they really love you lots and are so glad you were born!