Merry Christmas

Last Saturday morning we woke up and were out the door by 6:00 AM to start our trek down to SLC. We wanted to make sure we were only driving in daylight, as we knew we would hit some pretty rough mountain passes that would probably be snowing. The plan was to drive from Surrey to Middleton ID, were we would stay with our friends.

We were making great time, we went through the Snoqulamie pass...which we really expected to be a lot worse than it was...and headed towards Idaho. We really thought things were going great until we hit Le Grande Oregon. It was then EVERYTHING went wrong. They had closed the highway due to 5 jack-knifed semi's. They said it would be closed for at least a couple of hours. We got there at 2:oo PM and it had closed around 1:30. So we headed over to Denny's to eat and wait it out.. When we arrived at Denny's there was NO snow, when we left Denny's about an hour later...there was probably about 2 inches of snow on the ground!! CRAZY!!

We then headed over to Starbucks to pick up wireless and see if we could find out if the highway was open yet. To our surprise it was!! It was now about 4:00 PM. We decided we better just get going and take it slow, because it was now a good blizzard out there.

The weather was INSANE!! It was foggy and snowy and just NO FUN! As we were driving along we saw a flashing sign saying "curvy roads next 10 miles"

As we approached the first curve, we slammed on the brakes and SLID...I kid you not the ice was about 1 inch thick and VERY slick!

Every time we came around a curve it was parking lot...there were semi's ALL over the road and they were in the way, therefore no one could get through. Se we would have to just sit there and wait for the semi to chain up so he could get out of the way...it was crazy! And this literally happened at every curve in the road. Emma was a trooper!! She was wonderful, seriously the best kid ever!! When we stopped the car we would bundle her up in her coat and her and daddy went and played in the snow...or she just played inside the car, she was just happy to be out of the car.

This picture here is the line up behind us, obviously the pictures don't do this experience justice, but it was the best we could do as it was dark.

This was the front...check out that ice!

We FINALLY made it out of this mountain pass...it took forever. We went about 1.7 miles in and hour and a half!! We were 120 miles from our destination when we arrived at 2:00 PM (pacific time) and we made it to our friends home in Middleton ID at 12:15 AM. Again, we left at 6:00 AM that morning. So we were in our car for 18 hours...the whole drive to Utah only takes 14.5 hours...so yes, 18 hours only to get to Middleton was A LONG TIME!!

The next day we left around 12 noon and got into Draper around 5. MUCH BETTER!! We are happy to be down here and enjoy the Holidays with family!!

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

Love,

The Gordon-Smiths

Book of Mormon

So recently Wika and I finished reading the Book of Mormon, and we are currently reading Doctrine and Covenants. But once we finished reading the Book of Mormon, we decided we needed to not just read the book, but really study it. So every night, after we put Emma to bed Wika goes to the computer upstairs while I sit at the laptop downstairs and we do our "personal study." Wika came across this AWESOME website that really just gives a play by play of the Book. And I thought I would share it with you!

YOU'RE WELCOME!!

click HERE

*once you get to the website, click on "book of mormon commentary*

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!! It's very helpful, especially for when you reach those awesome Isaiah chapters!!

Happy Studying!

Halloween...

She came...

She saw...

She totally CONQUERED!

and...she was pretty stinking cute!

Date Night....???

Friday nights are "date nights" for Wika and myself. We really wanted to go out, however Emma had "other" plans in mind. She had come down with a pretty ugly cold and we didn't want to leave her for the night. She gets VERY needy when she is sick. So this is what we did instead....

We went to Quizno's picked up some sandwiches, came home and had a "picnic"
Emma LOVED it. We set it up in the family room so we could sit and eat and watch a movie. We watched "Fantastic Mr. Fox"...wierd movie, but Emma was entertained as it was animated so that was ok. I know it wasn't a typical date night for us, but really who wants "typical"??

Random Update...happenings in the GSmith household

I know you have all been dying wondering what we have been up to...well today is your lucky day! And boy is it a good one!

I recently was giving myself a pedicure...and of course who also wanted one??
Here is the final product!
I love little toes!

I think we may have found Emma's calling in life...the girl can trim hair!! Wika needed a haircut badly, and well she just wanted to help!! We let her have at it!

I am thinking it may be time to get Emma an ACTUAL doll. She just likes to put her "babies" to sleep. It's really quite cute...

She has to find them a pillow and blanket. She gets them all tucked in and then she sits next to them and while stroking their faces she sings to them. And the song is usually "I love to see the Temple" or even "Teach me to Walk"

SO PRECIOUS!!
(Tigger...and a dinky baby doll)

Pretty much, anything stuffed is a baby. And just an fyi...those babies sometimes join us for dinner where she will have to make sure they are fed as well!

( a moose-in her bed)

And last...October 11th was Canadian Thanksgiving...so I obviously had to celebrate with a Turkey!!I know it's a bit small, but when you are only feeding 5...it was plenty!

So delicious...looking forward to Thanksgiving #2 next month! It's great being

CANA-MERICAN!

OH...so this is Henry, my brother-in-law. He offered to make dessert for Thanksgiving...

this is what he made!!

SO HEAVENLY!

It's Banoffee Pie. (banana and toffee pie)

D.I.V.I.N.E!!

'nough said!

The End!

8 years ago...

I went on a date with this guy....

(*no this isn't a picture of our first date, but it's a good one)

He took me out for shrimp and oysters...yuck...and then he introduced to me Anime....

I didn't care for any of it! I mean...I didn't care for the food, or the movie...but my date?!?! He was pretty HOT! He was a definite keeper!

So 2 years after that "awesome" date, I married that man!

6 years down, and ETERNITY to go!! Yeah...I am pretty lucky!

Happy Anniversary to US!

Here we go UTAH here we go!!

So I know this comes as a big suprise, but we are pretty DIE HARD Utah fans!! I know, you must be shocked!! That's why when my WONDERFUL cousins played, what I would call the best, practical joke EVER on us, I about passed out. It really is that hard to see THAT much BLUE!!

So I wanted to make myself feel a bit better so I made these!

I took them to our ward party, to give them to our BYU devoted Bishop. As well as our friends the Araki's. I too wanted to wish them a very happy Independence Day as well!! :o)

Then once I made those cookies, I was feeling pretty good...but I still needed something else. So last weekend for the game against UNLV we got Emma all decked out in her Utah pride. And well, look at that face, she makes all those bad feelings of BYU blue, GO AWAY!!

We are SO excited for this Football season, can you tell??

GO UTES!

The Fair at the PNE

Every year we get SO excited for the fair...we LOVE it. Yes, we spend too much to get into the fair, and then we spend too much on the food at the fair, and on top of all that, we usually get suckered into one of the demo's and end up purchasing something while at the fair. This year was NO different! We did it all...with the exception of going on the rides, that truly is where we draw the line. They want us to pay $60/adult and $45/child under the height of 46 in. and well, that is just ridiculous. So we didn't do the rides! We did get the food, because who doesn't like fair food, and we did get suckered into a demo!! We purchased a steam mop...but it isn't just a mop it steams and sanitizes EVERYTHING! We LOVE it. We spent one day just taking it around the house to see what we could steam...so much fun eh?

So they had this candy exhibit there...all about the histories of SO many different types of candies...you could just smell the sugar when you walked in. I actually got a bad headache from it. But this picture is of course, Elvis, but it is made entirely out of candy. I thought it was pretty cool.

Emma LOVED the fair also. She got to eat cotton candy, watch "Super Dogs", a parade and go to KC Bear's Street Party!! And boy was it a party!

She LOVED the street party. She got to get out and DANCE DANCE DANCE. Then she got to go meet some of her FAVORITE people/characters in the whole world.

SUPER WHY!

Curious George

Clifford

Care Bears!

(ok, she doesn't know the care bears yet, but she was pink and that is all she "cared" about)

Emma sure loved meeting all the characters...she just kept asking to see Mickey Mouse, so to my sweetheart, we should get planning our trip to Cali or Florida...I am not picky...so Emma can met her FAVORITE mouse!

That's all! :o)

Potty Time...take 2!

So potty training has been going VERY well. She has filled up her very first chart. She now gets to take that chart to the toy store, and trade it for a new toy!

On the down side, no poop in the toilet yet. And I am most certainly not enjoying cleaning poop out of underwear. So, I have changed the chart up a bit. She now has to fill the "poo poo" chart as well as the "pee pee" before she can get a toy. Let's hope it works.

So potty time, TAKE 2!

Ahhhhhhhh....

This is So much easier on the eyes!! Thanks ladies, you got me-GOOD! It's a good thing I love you guys!! :o)

MUTE THIS NONSENSE!

*you also will want to MUTE your computer, this music is just PLAIN WRONG!*

DISCLAIMER!!

I've been HACKED!!

EMILY AND JENNIE...you need to fix this right NOW!

I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth!

This is the MOST disgusting thing I have ever seen!!

Someone save me quickly!

ooooooohhhhh, That's better! I'm feeling better now!

Happy Football Season

Hey Aly. Just wanted to wish you luck in the new conference. Have a great weekend!!

I want to ride my bicycle...

A good friend of ours found us this bike on craigslist...we've been wanting to get one for a LONG time. So a big thanks to MANDY, you are awesome. It's a "run" bike...it has no pedals. It is supposed to teach them how to balance themselves, and hopefully make it so they will NEVER have to use training wheels. (I will keep my fingers crossed.)

She hasn't totally figured it out yet, but the more she is on the the more she'll get the hang of it.

Right now she doesn't really sit on the seat, she just "walks" her bike. Apparently they all start out like that, so it will just take time. She is VERY good about wearing her helmet though, she won't ride without it...such a girl, she needs her accesories.

Potty Time

Yup, it's that time!!

I pray every night for patience...as I am lacking BIG time. We haven't "boot camped" ourselves yet, as the time doesn't allow it. We will be doing that over the long weekend in September.
Until then, she enjoys sitting on the potty and playing with the phone. We've only actually gone twice, in the last week, but hey it's better than nothing!!

I think she looks SO big sitting on her potty!! Pretty cute!!

Wish us luck, I really can use it!!

Does it ever end??

The answer is...NOPE!! It seems like there is always something going on.

I still have pictures from our trip over to Europe that I want to share with you, as well as the CRAZY story of our trip coming home...but I want to let you know what we've been up to lately!!

We finally returned home from Europe on Sunday July 4th around 11:00 PM (story to come later) I had 2 days to do laundry, get my devotional done, buy all the food and re-pack again for girls camp!! YUP GIRLS CAMP!! I was So exhuasted, but at the same time SO excited for girls camp. We had been planning for SO long, I couldn't wait to just finally go and have fun with my girls.

And I made it, I got it all done. (with NO time to spare, literally) And it was all worth it. I LOVED girls camp when I was a young woman, and I loved it as a leader. I LOVE serving those girls!! I am pretty lucky to have them. I LOVE MY CALLING!!!

Our theme this year was "Surrey 3rd E.R." (Eternal Rewards) So we had a Dr themed camp!! It was great!! We had 3 tents, and they each had their own colored scrubs and a "dr" name!! The names being: Transfusion of the Soul, Triage and Life Support. Our youth leaders were great and focused all their devotionals on their tent names, along with the Eternal perspective on things. It was wonderful, and very successful. I couldn't have asked for anything better. The girls I have are INCREDIBLE!! I am SO lucky. They are all such great friends and really rely on each other. The ALL go to different schools, therefore they are the only memebers of the church in their schools. And let me tell you, they are ALL so incredibly strong. I love them dearly!!

I just wanted to share with you a few pictures from our wonderful camp!!

It's not camping without S'mores!! YUMMMY! One of our camp dad's got these incredibly LARGE marshmallows for us to roast, they were AWESOME!!

Here are the most AMAZING camps dad's EVER!! They were so incredible. The one on the left is actually our Bishop!! Great man...except he roots for the wrong team!! He stepped in last minute when one of our dad's had an emergency to deal with at work. And on the right, Bro Herrington. The YM President! He is very supportive of not only me, but our youth! He was there with us all week, and was so great to our girls. He would leave to the store and come back with cold sodas and ice cream. Needless to say, the girls LOVED him!!

Here they are...my amazing young women!! Aren't they AWESOME!! (you'll have to take my word for it) This on the top of Teapot Hill, our annual hike!

These women here, well, are my LIFESAVERS!! They pretty much plannd all of camp for me as I was away for a month!! I love these women SO much. On the left you have Christina, my 1st counselor. Then you have Amber, 2nd counselor. And last, but not least Kristina, Camp Director! I have such wonderful women I get to work with. I couldn't do what I do without them!!

Our last day, (sniff sniff) We were stinky and dirty and just LOVING every minute of it!! After this picture was taken, we hopped in the car and headed to the water park for some more fun...you could say it was our "end reward" (get it...E.R??) teehee

Ahhh, girls camp was wonderful!!

I have to give a shout out to my AWESOME niece, Alex, for coming out here to watch Emma while I was at camp!! We were so lucky to have her come out and stay. We got to keep her another week so we could show her the sites!! Thank you Alex, we love you!!

As for the latest news, well...My dear husband just got called to be the EQP!! What's that you ask, Elder's Quorom President!!! WOW, how do we do it? Me being YW Pres and now my hubby EQ Pres...well we don't know exactly how we do it, we just do!! It's great, he is such a wonderful strong and endearing man. He is going to be such an aweseom EQP!

So again, life is crazy busy over here, but we love it!! We wouldn't have it any other way. (ok Wika would like to NOT be EQP-or at least he says he doesn't, but deep down I know he does)

So if we don't post very often, that is why. I know I say this a lot but I will try, that is the least I can do; try to be a better blogger!!

PS Jenny, don't stop blogging. I love reading your blog, even if I don't always comment!! I love being able to keep in touch through the blogging world!! :o)

More Spain....OKAY!

So we are having such a great time here in Sitges. Playing at the beach and pools and making memories with our family. We are just so blessed that we were able to come and spend time with everyone here in Spain.

Emma, without a doubt, makes us laugh every day. She is talking SO much now, and she is even making sense!! She is also a VERY independant little girl. She really knows what she wants and she makes sure she gets it. This is her in the hotel, mommy and daddy were getting ready for the day, so what should she do you ask? Why not watch a movie...in a drawer!! Where does she get these ideas??

This is the day after I completely burnt myself. I decided it was smart to just stay at the hotel pool and lay under the umbrella. Emma wanted to cuddle up next to me!

That's as far she would go into the water...by herself. We don't know why but she isn't taking to the water like she used to. It's just the beginning of the Summer, so she'll get used to it sooner rather than later.

The whole gang at dinner

Emma enjoying her calamari!! I can't believe how much she LOVES her seafood. It makes me SO happy. I love that she tried it, and love even more that she liked it. She's had calamari a couple of times now. she also enjoyed shrimp pasta. I am A-OKAY with her eating seafood, as long as I don't have too...because I'm not a big fan. Daddy is though so they eat it together.

On Wednesday we took the train into Barcelona for the day. We started our day off at McDonalds...yes we went all the way to Spain to eat McD's. It was noon, and the kids were hungry and needed a bathroom break. So before heading to the sites we had a quick bite to eat. After that we headed to Sagrada Familia. This temple is SPECTACULAR. If you don't know what it is or havent heard of it before, check it out here.

I cannot do this temple justice even if I tried to explain it to you. It really is incredible. Gaudi's vision. A vision that they have been building for over 100 years!! And they estimate it won't be completed until 2026! AMAZING.

Here it is:

The stained glass windows inside

inside again, the detail is just incredible

Our family in front of the "birth of Christ" facade

That is pretty much it for the Barcelona pics...we spent the rest of our day at La Ramba...a touristy street for shopping. We had a great time, but were very exhausted. And the train ride back...honestly how many people can you pack into a train?? Just when you thought it was plenty full, some guy thought "hey I think me and my bike can get on here" WRONG!! He was told otherwise, and wasn't too happy about it. I wish I had a picture of us on the train, but it was so packed I couldn't even get to my camera.

Here is Emma "driving". Everytime we walk along the Paseo, she sees this car and wants to drive it. We finally gave in and paid the 1 Euro for her to ride it. It's a good thing she is so stinking cute!

How do you get a 2 year old to get in the stroller? Give them ice cream!! Worked like a charm!

Here is the whole gang at the beach. Our last day with everyone there!! So much FUN!!

We leave Sunday and head back to Prague, so I will post again when in Prague!

Our Trip Thus Far...

So our trip to Spain began last Tuesday. Monday night we headed down to the Chalupa and stayed the night there. We woke Tuesday morning and started our trek to Spain (me, Wika, Emma and Simon) It was a 15 hour drive, so we decided to do it in 2 days. Our half way mark was in Albertville France. (hosted the 1992 winter Olympic Games) We stayed at the Hotel Le Tetras...it was...interesting. Very small, but it was just a place to rest our heads. It was WAY up the mountain, so much in fact that you wouldn't have known it was June!! Lots of fog and pretty cold, but what do you expect when you're on top of a mountain??

Wednesday morning we woke up got ready and headed out for our last 7 hours. It was 8:30 in the morning, and our trusty Garmin said it would take us exactly 7 hours to arrive in Sitges!! WOOHOO!! That meant by 4 we should FOR SURE be in Spain right??? WRONG!! We got SO lost going down that mountain. What took us 40 min the night before took us 2 hours the next morning. We thought we had to go down the same way we came up. WRONG! The GPS had another way for us to go down and continue our trek...but it took us, and by us I mean the men, a little while longer to come to that realization. That just goes to show, women ARE always right. In the men's defense, they followed her for a good while until she tooks us to a road that was closed...and that is where the fun began. But we finally figured it out and unfortunately we had a lot of time to make up for!! Oh well, what can ya do. We ended up arriving in Sitges Spain around 6:30 pm. Where we finally met up with FAMILY!!

Sitges is GORGEOUS! It's right on the Mediterranean Sea. Every morning we wake up to the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks, it really is rough!! Then we eat fresh croissants with chocolate milk and then it's off to the beach!! Emma LOVES the sand, the water, not as much.

This is what she did the whole time while at the beach.

Getting burried in the sand!

At the apartments (where everyone else is staying) there are pools. And sometimes it's just nice to not get so sandy and just lay out at the pool.

Emma just used her little watering can and kept filling up her bucket.

Back at the beach... Emma on the the skim board

Helping Uncle Richard build a sand castle

getting ready for daddy to bury her, again.

ALL DONE

Now that she is burried, we all now have to wait on her. If she wants her bucket, we get her her bucket. If she wants her bucket full of water, we do that too. She has everyone wrapped around her fingers...even her wonderful cousins. She is pretty spoiled, and unfortunately she knows it!

this is outside our hotel, Emma loves the lions.

We get to ride our bicycles every day, and Emma loves it!! As soon as we wake up in the morning she asks if she can ride her bicycle. So cute!

no trip to Europe would be complete without a doner kebab! (Emma's actually eating a durum, same thing but just wrapped in a tortilla instead of bread) Yumm! We told Emma it was a taco, as you can see...no problems eating it.

So I may have burnt myself...what do you think?? OUCH! I am over it already though!!

Last night the whole family went on a bike ride down along the Paseo...it was a lot
of fun. So we snatched a family photo on our bikes. (thanks Richard)
Emma LOVED the flash from the camera. She kept asking "more lights" She would say cheese and we would get a lot of cute pictures. If we have a lot of pictures at night...that would be why.

Thats it so far. We are having a blast!! We still have 6 days left here in Spain. This Thursday we are heading into Barcelona. Then we leave Sunday to head back to Prague for a week!! Europe is gorgeous. We love it and are so LUCKY to be able to come visit and be with family. We hope you all are doing well.

ADIOS!