Christmas 2017!

We started the Christmas holiday fun with a Girl's night out for 14 and up.  We went to The Outback for dinner and then came back to our house for fun/crazy games, dessert and visiting.  This is becoming sort of a tradition after Thanksgiving or just before Christmas when Brynn will be in town for the fun.  Ferf, as busy as she already is, took on the planning and did a great job!  What a fun evening with wonderful ladies!  (This year Christmas has a new look - with Colony and her children (bonus grand children) joining for the very first year as part of the family.  At the Girl's night Brynnli and Kaebri joined the fun this year.) I didn't get too many pictures of game playing because I was too busy playing!

We usually have a pretty quiet Christmas Eve dinner because Grandma Kurtz can't really handle the noise level of the whole gang.  This year she went to visit Ross and family for Christmas, so we had the whole gang (less the Borrowman's) for dinner.  What a fun evening.  We ate wonderful food that everyone helped prepare and then the daughters/daughter-in-laws had games planned.  We ran out of time before we ran out of games.  It was so fun! (We had a big table in the kitchen and a couple more in one bedroom to accommodate feeding this crowd!)

Clara so wanted to be involved..she was a very cute and entertaining centerpiece!  

After the games the kids gave us their  group gift!  Wow, what fun!  They all pooled together and gave us some great fun times for the coming year...movie passes, dinner card, gas and gift certificate to Jacob Lake!

Afton also had a special gift for Bean...she made him the cutest little bear pillow.  What a sweet thing.  The Randalls made all of us the coolest stone nativity pictures.  What a perfect thing for our family.

Then it was off to bed to wait for Santa to come.  For Christmas day we did our gifts at home with Bean first.  After that we went from house to house to see all of our kids.  We started with Supe and Beacher.  Jay and Brynn were staying with them, so we got both of them at the same time. They also invited us for a wonderful traditional Christmas breakfast of waffles and eggs "lightening rod".

Next we visited Derek, Colony and kids!

 Then it was on to the Lillywhites - Moss and Christie and kids.

On to the Borrowmans...here we enjoyed some beautiful music.  They got a new piano for Christmas and Kennis played a couple of songs.  She is such a great pianist!

The Weavers made it easy for us.  They were down for Christmas dinner with Lance's folks so they just dropped by to see us.

After lunch and naps we were off to visit the Randalls in Enoch.  They let us join them for dinner too
Ellie played for us on her violin and Brady played the piano.  So happy these kids are learning to play instruments!  After we got back we went back we got together to play Hellsapoppin with Jay and Brynn.

The final hooray of Christmas was a little dinner party with the Lillywhites - Jay and Brynn/Moss and Christie.  We went out to a new Mexican restaurant in town.  After that we took Bean back up to Cedar.  It was a fun evening.  Clara was a ball of fire at dinner.  She was cracking me up with her antics.  Jay and Brynn were just trying to keep track of her! Christie and Brynn were doing a wonderful job of keeping the babies happy while we waited for dinner to be served. (There was one more fun holiday get together.  Jay, Moss, Supe and Bean got together earlier this day at Moss's house to play computer games. Brynn and Christie tended the kids while they played.  Who knows...it may be the beginning of a new tradition!)

What a wonderful Christmas we had!  What a wonderful family we have.  Thanks and more thanks to all who helped with planning, cooking, shopping, etc. to make Christmas 2017 and wonderful family holiday!

We are so blessed and thankful to know that because of the gift of Jesus birth, life and sacrifice we can be together as family forever.

November and December birthdays...kind of get lost + Dolphin Arch

Ryan, Zion, Brynnli, Paul and Noah's birthdays got a little lost in the Christmas rush for me.  We were out of town on a rock trip on Brynnli's day and missed her cake party. Ryan, Paul, Brynnli and Noah got presents at family dinners with no candles...we did sing.  Gaige is coming up tomorrow and I will be giving him cash.  He will be happy with it, but I feel a little bit neglectful.  I have tried to simplify Christmas as much as possible this year and have felt good about my efforts, but it still takes a lot of time and thought (and money) to remember everyone we want to remember.  But, as far as birthdays, they will come, they will get older...whether I'm ready or not!  So...happy birthday to all of you wonderful November and December people. We love you all so very much!  (We still have Joel to come, on December 26th, but we will just put him off until March.)

We celebrated Ryan's #42 at the November family dinner!

For Zion (#4) we celebrated the Saturday after Thanksgiving by going on an adventure with the Weavers to Dolphin Arch and then coming back to the house and feasting on leftovers with some of the family who could make it.  

Brynnli (#18), Paul (#65), Noah (#9) got celebrated at the December Family dinner.

At least Gaige (#12) got celebrated the day of at his family cake party!  

Christmas Tree harvesting, etc. with Smith kiddos

Today we set a record for early Christmas tree harvesting.  We actually did what I have always wanted to do and went out the day after Thanksgiving!  The only thing that was missing was the snow.  I think I kind of like wading around in it while harvesting, other than figuring how to get there and out in a vehicle that won't get stuck!  But it was a fun day!  It took longer to get there and back by a long time than it took us to find the tree.  It was unseasonably warm so we had our after tree picnic right up on Cedar Mountain close to where we got the tree.  We had hot chocolate, leftover turkey/roll sandwiches etc.  We all tried our hand at lighting the spider with flint and steel since we forgot the matches.  Bean and Paul were the only ones who could really get things going, but it was fun to try.  

After that we came home and went to see a great/sad dog movie, The Stray. Then we ate pizza, root-beer floats and pie. It was a fun day to spend together.  We had to take two cars, so the kids rotated around and everyone got a turn in the truck with Grandpa.  I'm good at spearheading and getting things put together, but Grandpa is the one who makes it all fun!  

REALLY BIG NEWS! They got married!

Saturday, November 18th...the really big day...Derek Clyde Smith and Colony Sue Perry (Millsap) got married this morning at 11 am at Derek's ward building.  It was very nice with just small numbers in the relief society room.  The same wonderful bishop who conducted at Weed's funeral did the honors.  He has been such a blessing through all of these past life changing years in the Smith's lives.  So thankful he was still in as bishop for this.  All of the kids looked so nice and most of them seemed pretty excited, and some not quite as excited for such a big change.  Praying that all things will work out well with lots of love, work and prayers for all involved.  Derek and Colony are planning on being sealed later down the road when they both have permission.  We really hope this turns out to be a wonderful blessing for everyone involved.  It was nice to meet Colony's parents and find that we had already had some very slight acquaintance with them from being in the same stake in the past.  Hoping our kids can come to terms with some of the hurt they feel from being less involved, and I'm sure that will be the case for all of us as things adjust for priorities.  For now, I'm thankful and happy and hopeful!  It was very sweet when one of Colony's girls actually called me, "Grandma Lillywhite." I hope I can be the kind of person that can show love to Colony's kids in the way that will work for them.   I like this top picture, and the way it has Jesus in the photo too.  I want him to be with this family in  their new lives together helping them to treat each other as he would and have him help them through the rough times and bring joy to them all.  Another favorite thing is the other full family picture with Ty (hope that's the right spelling) with his hand on Trigg's shoulder.  It says to me that some love is already happening here and I so hope it will grow and grow for all of them.  Colony's kids (and Derek's now too!) are Olyvia, Carly and Ty.  I need to learn correct spellings, birth dates, etc., etc. In my heart I do feel that Weed, who loves her family so much, had a hand in helping Derek and Colony come together.  It would be so like her to be looking out for Derek and the kids and helping them to find someone to love and take care of them all.  It would also be like her to want the same for Colony.  I almost feel like she's probably at peace now knowing it is now in place to have everyone taking care of each other.  I do hope they will be up to the task of working through the rough places.

Eden & Ellie Christmas date edventure

We are getting down to the end of the Christmas dates.  Eden and Ellie have waited quite a while, but we wanted to find something we thought would be just right.  The Zion Plein Air Art event looked just right.  They are both pretty artsy.  We had a fun day even dealing with the crowds.  Zion was in beautiful fall colors and weather.  The art was beautiful and it was fun to watch the paintings come to life as we visited and revisited them in their progress. We saw oil, watercolor and pastel works. A couple of the artists, Arlene Braithwaite and Steve Stauffer, let the girls add to their works and that made it really fun and personal.  We also enjoyed the park after the art with a picnic, hike and visit to the gallery to see some of the other works that had been completed earlier in the week.  We enjoyed the artist's art as well as the Creator's art that day.

This artist, Arlene Bratiwaite, showed the girls what she was talking about, demonstrated how to do it and then let them add some sparkle to the pastel with yellow leaves.  

The top left pic doesn't show it, but Eden has a dollar bill in her hand.  The artist, Steve Stauffer,  paid her for her work on his oil painting!

BIG NEWS! They're engaged!

The big news is that Derek and Colony are engaged!  He and all of their kids officially popped the question last Friday evening.  We are happy for them and looking forward to good things coming for both of them and the kids.  It will be a big challenge/adjustment for all involved, but being alone isn't great.  Moving forward will be a positive step in their lives.  We plan to lend our support however we can.  I keep having the feeling that Weed was somehow involved in getting these two together.  I can totally see her doing it.  Now it's up to all of us to make it work out for the best!

Eliza is 5!

Can't believe how fast Eliza is growing up.  She's such a cute, creative, enthusiastic little girl!  Love her to pieces.  Happy Birthday!

Halloween 2017!

So I'm a real party pooper about Halloween now days, but I love to see what the family is doing.  They sent me pics that are so fun!  We stayed home, watched a suspense movie and had one trick-or-treater, and we are still finishing of the candy ourselves.