Arizona Trip - Day One: Out of Gas!

Well, we made it! Lila was once again a trooper on the plane! She really is proving to be a great little traveler! Mike keeps telling her that she has been in more states at 8 months old than he had been in most of his childhood! We do enjoy traveling a lot and we are so grateful that she has taken to traveling and gotten her "wings!" It will make things so much easier once she gets a little bigger!

Ready to go!

Checking it all out!

My very own seat!

We arrived in Phoenix around 3:00. Once we stepped off the plane, you arrive outside, Lila squealed and kicked, she was so excited to be out in the sunshine again! We got all loaded into the rental cars, 11 people, 15 bags, 2 strollers and off we headed to our vacation home...so we thought! While we were en route we learned that the house didn't have gas, uh oh?! What did that mean? Well it meant that the owner 'forgot' to pay the gas bill. At this point it was about 5:00 and we were told that he paid the bill and that we could head to the house to take a peek and see if we wanted to stay for the night. Once we got there we opened up the front doors and everyone kind of looked at each other and said "BRRR!!!" The house was at 52 degrees!

After some discussions with the property management company they got us a temporary house to stay in until the gas gets turned back on, but the kicker of it all is it is a 3 bedroom house! Remember, I said above we have 11 people and 15 suitcases to stuff into a place and still have room to sleep! We all decided it was probably best to head off to dinner, have a few cocktails and then reassess the situation! We pulled up to our temporary home after a few bottles of wine and decided that it would do...it was at least somewhere to rest our head, not only was the first house out of gas, so were all of us! And honestly, if we didn't have such a big group to accomodate, it isn't too shabby! I think we all agree, a little bit of sunshine can go along way, even when your plans get a little wrinkle in them!

The "temp" house!

Ready for a dip?!

View from the back of the house

No matter where we end up staying, we are with our family, enjoying some quality time together which was the whole reason for doing this trip. Being here last year we had just found out we were having a baby girl, so it is that much more fun to bring Lila back to Scottsdale and show her around!

A Very Merry Christmas!

We had a whirlwind Christmas this year! We had 8 celebrations to attend, yes 8 that isn't a typo! Even though we were extremely busy, we were surrounded by our family and to say we have all of that extended family really is a blessing!

Last Sunday found us in Lamont celebrating with the Smith side of the family. This is by far our biggest group, so there is a lot of storytelling, laughing, joking and a mean White Elephant exchange! It always makes for a fun way to begin our holiday celebrations.

Christmas Dresses!

Uncle Mike & Ruby

All of the Smith Cousins (21 of us) and Grandma!

All snuggled in on her handmade blankie!

YES those are Snuggies and YES they are big fuzzy hats!

Christmas Eve found us opening up our home to my Mom, Terry, Jason, Jen, Celia and the girls to celebrate as a family. We had breakfast together and it wasn't long before the girls were anxious to rip into their presents!

Posing with the presents!

Three Christmas Angels!

Hmmm...a little big!

After we were all done unwrapping gifts we all got cleaned up and headed to St. Mark's for their Christmas Eve service. I really enjoy going there around Christmas time, it really helps solidify the Christmas spirit for me, most of the service is singing and they have a band to help jazz it up. At the very end the congregation sang Silent Night, they had handed out candles to everyone and lit them and dimmed the house lights, it was beautiful! Lila was mesmerized by the candles and to see the lights flickering in her eyes about brought tears to mine!

Anticipating Santa's arrival!

After church we headed to Jason and Jen's for a favorite holiday tradition of mine, chili, Mexican stew, Christmas goodies and family! This is something we have been doing for a long time in my family and it really wouldn't feel like Christmas without it.

At last! Christmas morning! The day we had been anxiously awaiting to open gifts with Lila first thing in the morning. Little did we know, Lila had a gift for Mommy and Daddy and slept in until 8:00 so...Mommy and Daddy slept in until 8:00 too! Whoops! We had to be at my Dad's by 9:30, so gifts were put on hold, we both agreed that next year that cannot happen as you can bet she won't let us out of the house without unwrapping her gifts.

Vegging out on Christmas morning

Scoping out Santa's deliveries!

We got to my Dad's Christmas morning to a massive Christmas tree with presents galore! The Christmas tree was 20 feet tall, no joke! Unbelievable! As you can imagine, there needed to be A LOT of presents under the tree to make it look full and full it was! This year we decided that for the adults our gift to one another would be a family trip, so this Christmas was really focused on the kids! It was fun to turn all of our attention to them and watch them unwrap and squeal in delight!

A proud Dad & his girls!

The BIG gift!

Christmas puppet show...BRAVO!!!

After our morning at Dad's we headed north to Strawberry Point to the Harvey side of the family. We weren't sure if we were going to make it there with the expected weather, but we ended up getting a lot of rain and not as much snow/ice that they had thought. So, off we went! Once again, yummy food and presents were on the agenda! We had a nice time catching up with family and Lila enjoyed every second of snuggling with Jorden, one of her favorite people!

Oh yes, more presents for me!

Saturday, the day after Christmas was the morning that we opened presents with Lila and the puppies! The puppies, in true tradition, open first! They were pretty excited to find a new rubber bone, two frisbees, another heavy duty toy, cookies and new collars in their Christmas loot!

What's in there?!

Thanks Mom & Dad for our great stuff!

Then it was Lila's turn to open! She enjoyed opening all the practical gifts from Mommy & Daddy: clothes, socks, jammies, etc. but all of the fun really began when she opened up her presents from Santa! He did good for his first year delivering toys to the Eddins household!

Oooh, I love the color!

Now were talkin', TOYS!!!

Yum...this makes a nice chew toy too!

After our nice relaxing morning at home we loaded up the car and were off to the Eddins get together. It was really nice to stay in town and have a casual get together where we could relax and truly hang out. This is our smallest get together and it is nice and cozy! Once again, we were inundated with great gifts and Lila got spoiled, spoiled, spoiled! Her pile of presents was three times her size!

Reading her new book with Daddy!

Look at all my presents!

And last, but certainly not least, on Sunday the Zumbach family Christmas was in store. For the last time, we loaded up the car with presents and were on our way to Anamosa. It was a bittersweet get together with the loss of Albert, Mike's grandfather, earlier this month. I must say everyone did really well and even though Albert wasn't there physically, you could feel his presence, it was comforting. Lila had some quality time with her Grandma Betty and enjoyed getting to know her aunts, uncles and cousins on that side of the family.

Spending time with Grandma!

Look Ma! More presents!

A creative way to reuse bows!

It is hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone! We ran ourselves ragged and once again, Lila blew us away with her amazing attitude and patience. She was running on fumes and still somehow managed to plaster a smile on her face Sunday night when we got home!

Home at last!

As I write this, I might be exhausted from all of the running around, but I wouldn't trade any of it because it means we are surrounded by people who love us. We are truly blessed to share this Christmas with our beautiful baby girl and look forward to many more memories as we continue to share in old traditions and create new ones of our own!

We hope your holiday was filled with as much LOVE and MAGIC as ours was!

A Christmas Tradition

This weekend marked the date of a special tradition for the holidays. My sister-in-law Jen, two nieces Celia and Ruby, and 3 of my bestest girl friends were off to Strawberry Point to bake Christmas cookies with my Grandma Harvey!

Grandma's little helper

Sleeping on the job!

The frosting queens!

We always have a great time and come home stuffed! Both from sneaking bites while baking and also from indulging on Grandma's famous homemade pizza! Lila didn't join us this year, but I do hope it will be a tradition that will live one well into her childhood! I know it is one that I look forward to every year and I can't wait to share it with her as well.

The rest of the weekend was devoted to getting some things done around the house and putting a nice sized dent in our Christmas shopping. It isn't getting any warmer here, in fact late this week it was very cold! We have no choice but to bundle Lila up in several layers, her bunting, mittens and a hat! She doesn't love it, in fact she hates having her mittens on, but we keep telling her it is for her own good!

All bundled up!

A special Happy Birthday to my dear friend Jackie, her birthday was Saturday, December 12th! We hope you had an amazing birthday, it is your last one as a twenty-something!