Happy 5th Anniversary

Dear Matty,

Tomorrow is our 5th anniversary and I thought I would take the chance to quickly tell you, our friends and family just how much I love you!

I know at times things are rough...heck...who am i kidding, at times things seem unbearable and seeing the future is hard. But know in your heart that you're the one for me. Five years ago our friends and family weathered through a snow storm in Portland to stand by our sides in support for our love and devotion to one another. These same friends and family have stood by us over the last five years and helped us through the many changes our family has endured!

• Our first pregnancy and the birth of Kaiden Matthew! The tears that come to my eyes, just thinking back...wow!
• The news only three weeks later that you were accepted into the City of Portland's Fire Training Program. Nothing could have made either one of us happier at that point in time in our lives.
• You going through training was terribly hard on us, but we made it through and in the end we were graced with the news of another baby on the way. Conley has just been the best addition to the family we could have ever hoped for! My three boys (yes boys....HA) make me tear up daily with happiness.

With all of these changes, our relationship has hit many rocks. These rocks are only that...rocks, bumps, small little obstacles with which we simply need to jump over before we can build an even stronger bond and love for one another. I know we have many more rocks, dirt mounds, hills and even mountains to climb in our future...but please know I'll be by your side every step of the way!

I don't think I've ever shared this with you, but when we're simply having a bad day...i try my hardest to find a quiet spot and replay our first dance together in my head. I listen to the words and remember how tight you held me in your arms. Since the memory is one I hold on to and revert back to, I wanted to share it with you. Below are the words to the song Come Away With Me by Norah Jones.

Come Away With Me

Come away with me in the night

Come away with me

And I will write you a song

Come away with me on a bus

Come away where they can't tempt us

With their lies

I want to walk with you

On a cloudy day

In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high

So won't you try to come

Come away with me and we'll kiss, On a mountaintop

Come away with me

And I'll never stop loving you

And I want to wake up with the rain

Falling on a tin roof

While I'm safe there in your arms

So all I ask is for you

To come away with me in the night

Come away with me

I love you Matty now and forever!

Our Annual Smith Family Sunriver Trip

Once again, the annual post Christmas Sunriver trip hosted by Jim Smith for the Smith boys was eventful! Kaiden and Conley had a wonderful timing hanging out with their grandpa and uncles. But I think they especially liked cuddling up to Callie and Cat (Dave and Jake's girlfriends). As always, Kaiden was the center of attention keeping everyone on their toys and laughing. Conley of course was always trying to follow his big brother or give up and do his own thing. Many photos were taken of the trip, but for now i thought I would just post a few. Later this week i'll post a slide show of the four day event.

Thanks again to Grandpa Smitty for spoiling our boys and giving us the opportunity to get together and play in the snow! We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last year Matt and Uncle Jerod had a few drinks and went outside to build a gigantic igloo. In Jerod's absence, I stepped in to help build the masterpiece of the century! HA We broke one snow shovel...actually, i broke the shovel and we froze our buns off...but we had fun working together and playing in the snow. Kaiden, of course, only checked the igloo out for all of 5 minutes. In his defense, it was super cold and everything iced over by the time he got outside to check out our masterpiece.

While everyone else was at the mountain and Conley was sleeping, Kaiden and I went out to build our first snowman together. Kaiden had a lot of fun and was a super big help!

Can you guess what Kaiden is doing...yep...watching Mickey Mouse!!!!!

Conley got a hold of the puffs and dumped them all over the table. He of course thought it was hilarious!
Matt not to much!

Grandpa and Kaiden looking for Goldbug or Bugger as Kaiden calls him.

Grandpa and Conley hanging out!

Sledding in Sunriver

Sunriver is beautiful as always, but instead of a constant snow fall we've had rain. Which has been a bit of a bummer for getting out and playing with the boys, but we're all still having a great time. The rain stayed pretty light yesterday so the four of us got away and went sledding. Due to the rain, i decided to leave our camera at the house, but a wonderful gentleman took some photos of us sledding and emailed them to me last night. Thank you to Mr. Nelson!!!!! More photos of our trip to be posted upon our return on the 30th!

Quote of the Day!

"Merry Christmas Dad...I Pooped!"

Kaiden Matthew Smith

Here are some fun photos of us today!

Artic Blast 2008 at the Smith House

The end of this Artic Blast is soon around the corner! Matt was able to make it home today from his fire station up on Skyline...yeah! Shortly after he got home we went out to get a few shots of the four of us in the snow. We got a couple good shots, so i've changed our holiday card to capture the crazy weather memory. Below are shots of the house, but later i'll post shots of the boys and us. Hope everyone is being safe, staying warm and enjoying the quality time together!

Jingle Bells II

The other night Kaiden and Matt sang Jingle Bells to Conley and me. Kaiden is turning into our little singer!

Play by play of the days events

A play by play of today's events...for the most part!

Conley decided to start the day off with spitting as he had his morning bottle of milk.

Matt took Conley for a ride in my gym bag!

The four of us walked down to the park for a few rides in the sled!

Post bath time, sitting to eat some dinner. Conley was trying to spit out his spinach and potatoes on me! Kaiden of course thought it was hilarious!

Happy Birthday Uncle Ricky

We tried to get Kaiden to say Happy Birthday to old Uncle Rick, but he wasn't into it at the time. Of course right now as i post this, he's all about saying Happy Birthday Uncle Rick!!!!

Enjoy the silly laugh Uncle Rick...we love you!

Jingle Bells

The video is pretty grainy, but I thought I would still post it. Kaiden likes singing Jingle Bells!!!

Maxim Holiday Party

Matt brought the boys down to join me at the Maxim Holiday Party. I was busy working, but took a short break to spend some time with my family. My boys (including Matt) looked so cute and matching!

Kaiden was so excited to see Santa, but yet when he finally got to walk up to him he got a bit shy and hestitant.

Kaiden sat down and wrote a letter to Santa telling him what he wants for Chrismas. The daily answer to this questions is "TOYS"..."Lots of Toys!"