Happy Holidays!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a new year. It has been a great year for the Smith family.....so bring it .....2010!

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

It was great running into you in Leavenworth!

My little brother wouldn't take his picture with you and he was kinda cranky about taking a picture with this GIANT bear as well!

But anyway, we all had a great day in Leavenworth. We hung around downtown for a little bit.

We also took at couple family pics (check out those mountains in the background-AWESOME!) When it got dark, we watched the Tree Lighting Festival.

Every building and tree was covered with lights!

On our way back to the cabin, it started to snow. The next morning, we woke up to this.

Thanks for the candy cane, Santa!

Love,

M

Leavenworth

We are going here.

We are really excited......

because we will be doing some of this....

and maybe a little of this....

and we will probably have a little of this with a little of that.

Looking forward to spending some time with good friends in Leavenworth!

Four Cousins

These cute little Smith cousins look like they are having a blast! I asked C when he wanted to come home. He said......... "never".

Well, M & C are coming home Saturday....whether they want to or not! ;)

Kennewick High Homecoming Parade

We are big time....not really, but it was fun!

We are high society folk....

I just opened a bottle of wine...

and I'm cooking hamburger helper for dinner.

Cheeseburger Macaroni in case you were wondering. :)

BLUEBERRIES

I bought 2 lbs. of blueberries at Yokes for 3.98. I was a little nervous about buying such a big package...but it was a great price.

My kids love fruit so it's nice to have fresh fruit during the summer! I figured I could make smoothies, add them to yogurt, etc. M and I ate some this morning and they were delicious!

Tonight we (M, C and I) made blueberry muffins with a streusel topping.

They were very tasty!

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries ( I added 1 ½ cups of fresh blueberries)

Heat oven to 400°. Prepare streusel topping (listed below). Grease the bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups or insert paper muffin cups. Beat milk, oil, vanilla, and egg. Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix just until flour is moist. Batter will be lumpy. Fold in blueberries. Divide evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of the streusel topping and bake 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins.

Streusel Topping
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons firm butter or margarine1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix all ingredients until crumbly.

summer break!

Today was my first day of summer vacation. It was great!

I took the boys to the park to play and then they cooled off with a swim in the pool. After swimming we had a picnic lunch and sat by the river in the park swings. Fun times!

I'm sad....

I just missed out on a fabulous offer.....

A work conference in San Fransisco.

I cannot go because the conference is the same week as our family vacation. I shouldn't be sad but it's a bummer to not be able to go!

Spring Break Cruise!

About 3 months ago, we went on vacation and we had a fabulous time! We sailed on the Royal Caribbean-Liberty of the Seas. It was a beautiful ship and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Here's a little run down of what we did on the cruise.

Friday March 27th--Derrick and I drove to Portland for our red-eye flight. We had some extra time in the airport so we read a little and tried to stay awake until our 11:59 pm flight!

Saturday, March 28th--We switched planes in Houston and then finally made it to Fort Lauderdale around 10:45 am and boarded the ship a little before noon. Everything went really smooth. We ate lunch on the ship and wandered around to check everything out. We set sail around 4 pm and then unpacked our luggage and got ready for the welcome aboard show before dinner. There was a comedian and we laughed quite a bit--Derrick is good about remembering all the jokes--I'm terrible, I can never tell jokes! After the show, we went to find our table in the dining room. It's always fun to have dinner at a large table because you get a chance to meet other couples. We sat at a table with a couple from Canada and another couple from New Jersey. Derrick and I were the "old people" at the table. Both of the other couples were just dating and didn't have kids-but they were fun company! The food served in the dining room is great. Derrick loves ordering the lobster, steak and even eats dessert every night! I like to try new things on the menu and I haven't had anything I didn't like! After dinner, there was a parade on the promanade--it's amazing the stuff they do on these ships! We had a great first day but we were very tired--it was a long day!

Sunday, March 29th--We spent the whole day at the pool, we had great chairs right by the pool--the adults only pool :)--and we spent the day reading, drinking and enjoying the sun! We got a little crispy and realized that if we were going to survive this trip we needed to apply, reapply and then reapply some more sunscreen! :)

After our relaxing day, we got all dressed up for formal night and headed to Chops for dinner. Chops is a speciality restaurant on the ship and everyone raves about the steaks. I made reservations for Derrick and I and the food was fabulous! The cheesecake was very very yummy but I was so full....I hardly ate any of it. I should have taken it to go!

Monday, March 30th--One of the exciting things about a vacation without the kids is the opportunity to sleep in! So we took advantage of the opportunity and we slept until noon! Once we got up, we dropped our stuff off at the lounge chairs by the pool and then headed to Johnny Rockets for lunch. Derrick and I love Johnny Rockets. I know that it's a common burger joint for some but we look forward to cruises that have a Johnny Rockets on board. Johnny Rockets has the best burgers, fries, onion rings and APPLE PIE. It's to die for! Needless to say, we love Johnny Rockets! After lunch, we checked out the sports deck including the wave rider (surfing), the rock climbing wall, basketball court, and miniture golf. At about 3 pm, the ship docked in San Juan Puerto Rico, but we didn't get off the ship! I made calls home to the boys and Derrick and I just relaxed by the pool and read.

Tuesday, March 31st--We had another relaxing day at sea and spent the day at the pool.

Wednesday, April 1st--We arrived in St. Martin around 9 am so we got off the ship early (9 am is early on vacation, right?) and took a catamaran excursion. We had a ton of fun....snorkeling, swimming and they even had an open bar! The beaches in St. Martin were beautiful! Derrick and I have been to the Caribbean before, but we loved St. Martin. Doesn't the water look AMAZING! Can't wait to go back! .

Thursday, April 2nd--We spent the day on Labadee which is a private island owned by Royal Caribbean. Labadee is really pretty and we enoyed walking along the beach collecting seashells for the boys. We laid in a hammock, took lots of pictures and had a very relaxing day!

Friday, April 3rd--Our last day on the ship! We spent the day at the pool, of course! We woke up early to find a good spot by the pool. It was a hot day so we spent lots of time in the water!

Check out Derrick's hairy chest--when M saw our pictures he asked "why does daddy have sea weed all over him". Silly kid. :)

Silly kids!

I love this picture! M being silly and C checking out his big brother!

My Little Guy

This is my little guys who just turned 3! Isn't he cute!

We went roller skating for C's birthday but he wouldn't skate! Silly kid couldn't bear to part with his shoes.

Here's a list of some of C's favorite things:

Favorite foods: He's kind of a picky eater. But he always likes fruit. He loves bananas, oranges, apples and pineapple.

Favorite toy: his "alligator" (john deere gator)

Other favorites:

His love-love(blankie)

His bear

the pacifer "passie" he had to give up but still asks for from time to time.

KEYS!

playing with tractors, trucks, motorcycles etc

playing outside

Stuff C says that cracks me up:

"Don't worry about me, I fine."

"Hey mom, guess what?"

love it!

my love it list:

1. my new wallet.

right now, it's in my purse. my old wallet is also in my purse. i have not had time to switch out my wallet but i'm lovin' the new wallet. isn't it cute!

2. lush http://www.lushusa.com/

des and i were shopping the other day (in bellevue!) and we went into this store called lush! we were offered a hand treatment with some fabulous products (cuticle cream, body scrub and body butter) and we loved it. i was tempted to buy everything because i'm such a product junkie, but i was good and only bought one item. the sales clerk did give me a sample of one of their facial cleaners (angel's on bare skin) and it's great too! It exfoliates (ground almonds) and has a nice lavender smell, very fresh and clean. i've been checking out their website lately (a little on-line wishing) and they have a store in portland so i'm going to be visiting lush very soon!

i think i'll buy this for sure!

3. real simple

my april issue came today. i've already posted once about this magazine. love it!

on realsimple.com you can:

• learn the best way to deal with stubborn stains, from candle wax to coffee.
• organize your kitchen in a few steps
• find the recipe your looking for in an instant
• discover uncommon new uses for common household and kitchen items
• learn the peak time to buy artichokes, cherries and other fruits and vegetables

click here for a free trial issue!

4. target

i visit target frequently. probably too frequently. i look forward to checking out the target ad every sunday. last sunday, C wanted to go to target....how cute is that? so we went to target. i bought new sunglasses and three new books for the trip. can't wait!! we also bought neck pillows because derrick and i have a red eye flight. but guess what? today, when we were at walgreens, we found better neck pillows so we bought 'em. now i have to go to target so i can return the neck pillows i bought last week. bummer!

What's for Dinner?

I'm making pork chops with rice and cream of mushroom soup. This dinner is one of Derrick's favorites. I haven't made it very often so I'm always worried about the pork chops being cooked properly. We'll see how it turns out!



Lately I've been so busy at work I don't have time to do much for dinner on the weeknights. I usually try to plan out our meals on the weekends so I don't have to put any thought into it after work. So far this week I've planned for grilled cheese and tomato soup for one night and chicken quesidillas on another night. Not too exciting, but easy!



Also coming up this week.......M is turning six on Tuesday!

Wow, it's amazing as a mom to watch your kids grow!

Cruzin'

Cannot wait until March 27th!

I just booked a vacation for Derrick and I to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. I'm so excited!



We're going on a Caribbean cruise over spring break.



Before we leave I have to finish my National Boards. I have about 2 months to finish my portfolio----AHHHHH! I'm freaking out. I have to finish before we leave for our trip because my portfolio is due March 31st.