my kids & I - week 25

Christmas @ Grandpa & Grandma Riley's

We always celebrate Christmas a few days before the actual holiday at my Dad & Len's, which for us it makes it very nice. Living in the Inland Empire & traveling to the O.C on Christmas the traffic is just TERRIBLE! My Step Mom,Len & my Dad had a very nice spread of breakfast foods for all 17 of us, then my Dad told the story of Christmas to the kids & we opened gifts. Then on top of all that Len made lunch for us all, Chili & lots of goodies for dessert. We really enjoyed our time, it is sure going to be nice to be back home for the holidays with family!

my kids & I - week 24

A visit with Santa :)

Sleepy Brady...

Brady has been getting out of naps at naptime, he just continues walking out of his room, so later on in the day he falls asleep on Nana's coffee table, its super cute to see, but goodness I bet so uncomfortable..but I guess not for him, he's pooped out:)

My kids & I... week 23

In front of our Christmas tree:) ....I am looking forward to this Christmas Emma & Brady really know what is going on & that Santa is going to be bringing gifts for them (But only if they have been good kiddos) Daddy has made some phone calls into Santa telling him when they are good & bad. Emma gets terrified when it is a bad phone call. Haha! I love the reactions on her face! Austy is almost walking, he is just a super sweet lil man! Gosh I adore my lil family & I am so blessed!

Mommy Daughter Day @ Disneyland

My sister gave Emma & I a day pass to Disneyland, we had so much fun! Emma loved having her pictures taken with each princess, Especially Belle! And her most Favorite ride had to be CARS! But let me tell you riding along as the other passenger... it was a crazy ride! We really enjoyed our day just her & I! Thanks Auntie Sissy! We love you!

Week 22

Boy's Birthday Celebrations

Brady is now TWO, he is at the age where he really know's these party's are for him:) He loved having 3 Birthday party's with family & friends, & really loved all his new toys & his cake too!


Austy is now ONE! Gosh this year has flown by! We have enjoyed watching him grow into the lil bear crawler he is now! He really enjoyed his birthday cake with his sister & brother taking licks of the frosting:)

Boys Birthday Celebration @ Nana's

Our boys are just 1year & 1 day apart. So they get to share there Birthday's together forever:) This is just one of the 3 partys we have planned for them. The boys loved there cake Mommy made them & absolutely loved the Thomas choo choo ride on train Nana got them. They got some pretty cool toys they just can't put down. Brady's at that age where he is really enjoying opening gifts! Austy just loves playing w/the wrapping paper..haha!

Austin's 1st Thanksgiving

Daddy's mashed potato's were a big hit! And Nana's stuffing:) I think he really enjoyed trying new things.



This is when mommy told me I was all done & had to go take a bath! Austy was not very happy!

My kids & I - week 21

This week is Thanksgiving, so here we are with our 2olb turkey! Yummy! Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with your family!

Our lil Austy is soon to be ONE YEAR OLD!

It just seems like yesterday that our baby Austin was born & now he is just growing like a weed. Almost walking,eating table foods,cheerful as can be! We just love him so very much. We are so THANKFUL TO HAVE HIM IN OUR LIVES!

My kids & I - week 20

A nice relaxing spot in Nana's backyard:)

Bear Crawler

With only a few weeks away from being one! Austy is now a bear crawler...I'm pretty sure that by his Birthday he'll be walking:) He is such a happy boy! We just adore our lil guy!

Lil Late...Week 19

After traveling 4 days to get back home to Cali...We made it home safe! Still adjusting to time change & getting settled. Hope to see everyone soon! Xo!

Time has come.....

To say goodbye to blogging for a while until we get back home to Cali! Bye! See you all soon! Can't wait! Farewell Iowa........

My kids & I - week 18

haircut day!

Today we went into town to get our haircuts, Brady was really due for a clean up, Emma needed to have all her fine thin baby hair cut off, so it can grow in thicker & fuller, & I wanted to get mine trimmed up & got a few layers around the front of my face. I CANNOT BELIEVE THE PRICE DIFFERENCE FROM GETTING HAIRCUTS HERE & IN CALI, ALL 3 OF US WALKED OUT PAYING 43.00, BACK HOME IT WOULDA BE LIKE 90.00! So while we still can get it cheap I wanted to do so!

I love my hardworkin' man!

Yesterday after a long days work Brian decided it was a nice still evening to burn our huge pile of wood from our pool deck. I had fixed taco's for dinner, he did manage to come in for a 5 minute quick bite to eat, then back to work, he started the fire & withing seconds it was blazin'!! It looked so cool, I've never had such a huge bomb fire:) Those are the kinda fun things you can do here in Iowa!

Austin's 1st Birthday Cake

With the busy road ahead for the Smith family traveling back to California, I decided to take Austin's Cake portraits a month or so early. We just have so much to do the next couple weeks, & The mommy I am, would never want to not have pictures of my baby eating his first Birthday cake:) Enjoy the pics, I really enjoyed watching him lick the frosting & detroy his mini cake. He demolished it down to nothing!

HALLoween Party

Our good friends The HALL'S always throw a big Halloween bash in there Mortan building, it's so much fun to see all the kids & adults dress up. People really get into it, It's great! This year Emma was Hannah Montana & Daddy dressed as her Dad..BILLY RAY CYRUS..HAHA! And Brady was Dumbo & Lil Austy was a Spider. I was the party pooper who did'nt want to dress up. But at the last minute I did..so I wore Brians old Police uniform. We really had a good time playing games, visiting with all our good friends here. We will really miss them all...