Christmas Day!

With a smile like that it's like Christmas every day! We love how happy Ellie is when she wakes up... especially on Christmas morning!

We know she has no idea what's going on but it sure looked like she was having fun!

Attacking all the boxes around her.

She found it's pretty easy to get the paper off once she soaks through it.

A Crawl Ball! This will be tons of fun when she's mobile!

Ellie is very loved and received many sweet gifts from her family. Cute clothes, toys and books. She really liked her Christmas book too!

We had a wonderful day with our sweet Ellie; making memories we look forward to sharing with her as she gets older.

Ellie and Mommy

Ellie and Daddy

Merry Christmas to our little angel! You are the best gift we could have asked for!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve!

Tonight we had dinner with the Clarksons and Humbles and played games. It's fun that a lot of our friends have little babies or are expecting babies soon.

Spencer was even able to chat with his brother Andrew who is currently serving a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Yekaterinburg Russia. He is doing well and will be coming home in July 2011.

We copied my sister's tradition of having the kids open one present on Christmas Eve. They always get new pj's and I thought it would be a fun tradition to start for our little family.

mmmm wrapping paper! Everything goes right in her mouth these days!

Thanks mom and dad! I love them!

Time for bed!

Five Months Old

Ellie loves her bath time! She kicks and splashes and gets us all wet in the process. She is a big fan of her naked time too... easier to get a hold of her feet!

Can't get enough of those toes!! It's almost impossible to change her diaper without her rolling over or eating her toes! And she has such a tight grip that it's like playing tug-of-war to get her feet back to put her diaper on.

Looking cute in her white Sunday dress!

She likes to be propped up so she's sitting up. She can really see what's going on and is very curious about her surroundings.

Picking out our Christmas tree.

She's able to hold herself up just a little bit before tumbling over.

Ellie the Elf

She had tons of fun shopping for gifts for her daddy and cousins.

She loves smiling! Smiling is her favorite!

Ellie has learned to recognize her pacifier and her bottle. When she sees them she gets very excited! She was even squealing as she attacked her pacifier but mellowed out as soon as the camera came out!

Ellie is so fun to see when she wakes up in the mornings! She wakes up so happy and smiley! Last weekend Spencer got her out of bed and she was very playful and happy. Spencer's trick is balancing her in his palm, not my favorite but she seems to like it and isn't afraid of it at all. She loves spending time with her daddy!

Trip to Utah

Happy Thanksgiving!

We made the 14 hour drive to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with Spencer's family. Ellie was terrific on the drive up and back, only crying a couple times! She was very entertaining in the car; we love listening to her chatter.

We stayed with Spencer's cousin and her husband who are expecting their first baby in May 2011. They liked having a glimpse of what life with a baby will be like.

We also spent time playing games, visiting Spencer's aunt Maxine (who was hilarious), going to see the new Harry Potter movie (Ellie's second movie) and enjoying the beautiful winter weather and snow.

Our sweet Ellie turned 4 months old the day before Thanksgiving

Stats: weight 13 lbs 14.5 ounces (50-75%)

length 25 3/4 inches (95%)

head 16 1/2 (75%)

She's rolling over all the time from back to belly and even rolled over 3 times in a row (back-belly-back) showing off for her Grandma and Grandpa Smith. She loves to talk and is learning new pitches every day. She's still a fantastic sleeper and is loved by all her family.

I've always wanted to see the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City and we finally got to!!

The temple is absolutely breathtaking. You can't help but think of the Saints that built it and all the sacrifices they made to build this House of the Lord. It's amazing!

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/saltlake

All bundled up... she's ready to check out the lights.
I was so proud of our little girl. She didn't complain about being out in the cold once!

Grandpa in heaven with two of his newest grand babies!

A special shirt from her auntie Trina!

"Ellie your smile is brighter than any Christmas Tree"

We agree and we love the cute shirt too - thanks Trina!

Spencer, Ellie, Corissa, Martha, Graig, Tyler, Casey, Taigan, Jacob, and Hilary Smith

Taigan's special day was Sunday. All his family gathered together for his blessing. Tyler gave him a beautiful blessing. He is such a sweet boy and will grow up to be such a good example to so many people.

New warm Sunday dress with red leggings... so cute!!

Lovin' Grandma Smith!

I fell in love with Tags! He was very sweet and peaceful and I loved holding and snuggling him since I knew I wouldn't see him for a long time! This is Taigan and his beautiful mama Casey.

Can you tell they are related?!

They are all SMITH!

Ellie adored him too! She would not stop looking at him!

Family Day

We are so lucky to have all our family living so close together. Until now we all lived in the same state. Two weeks ago my brother moved to Arkansas to start his new career working for the University of Central Arkansas. We are so proud of him achieving his goals and will miss him dearly. To say good-bye we had a full day of family time starting out with a hike at South Mountain.
Ellie loves being outside and was a good sport on the hike.

the Rasbands

Watching everyone exercise is really exhausting so she napped with Grandma Lori.

Party time!

The Rasbands hosted a fun going away party for Christopher's family and friends.

I saw this onsie at Old Navy the night before the party and she just had to have it for her uncle Bucky!

too cute!!

I love my little brother!

Bucky and his girls Ariah and Eire'

Must be tough being loved my so many ladies!

We LOVE you BUCKY!

Gilbert Days 5k

On 10/19 the gals and I ran the Gilbert Days 5k. It was so fun to do a run as a family!

Alexis (10) also ran with us!

Katrina and Alexis made a bet to see who would finish first between the two of them. Can you see who won the $10?! She did great! Her first 5k and she ran it in 33 minutes!

We all survived and had a great time! I'm sure there will be more family races in our future.