christmas

We were able to spend 2 weeks with Sam's family in St. George this year. We had such a good time getting caught up friends and visiting with everyone.

Gingerbread housesLandon was thrilled to participate in his 1st live Nativity.

Christmas ElvesSanta spoiled everyone!(More on this later...)

The boys rode bikes and cars in the unfinished basement for hours everyday. This resulted in about 6 pairs of ruined socks.

Landon travels so well. This is one ways he entertained himself during the ride home.

smithmas

It was our turn to head to St. George for Christmas this year. Before we left we celebrated at the annual Smith Christmas Party. Food, white elephant, games, and a talent show to boot!

(Brynlee with my mother's white elephant win.)

four

On our 4 year anniversary we had the scouts over for our weekly den meeting, and after that we went to another scout meeting. Needless to say, we celebrated the next day. We ate at delicious Cheesecake Factory, then met up with the family for Temple lights. This year was full of firsts, and the realization we have many new adventures coming our way!

the goose is getting fat

In the above title I am not referring to myself, though it could be argued. It is in fact a line from a jolly Christmas tune, if you've never heard it- look it up. All of this is just my clever way of saying Christmas is coming! It has been so fun to have our own house to decorate this year! We loaded up on Christmas lights and decorations last year at the after Christmas sales. Our front room has 100ft ceilings. OK, not really but it felt that tall when we were painting. Anyway, we wanted to put a huge 14ft tree in it this year. No such luck. Instead we got to send Sam all over the country for interviews (more on that later). Luckily I found this skinny little pre-lit mess for 30 bucks at JoAnn's black Friday sale. Behold, the Shumway family Christmas tree:
Sam and Landon also killed some time decorating the front yard. I was obviously at work while Sam sent the 2 year old up a 6ft ladder... alone.

black friday

I've never been a hardcore black Friday enthusiast. I have braved the early crowds occasionally, but more as company for those much more excited about it. This year however, I wear the label. It started Thanksgiving evening after sifting through mountains of store ads. A rumor was floating around the house that malls were handing out $50 gift cards. This sounded too good to be true, but upon further research we found it totally legit. We headed out. Our plan was to first hit Toys R Us and grab one thing for Landon, then head to the mall which shares a parking lot with Toys. They both opened at midnight and we showed up maybe 15 min early. BIG mistake. The line to get into Toys was wrapped around the entire building, twice. FREAKS! We ditched that idea and jumped into a not so long line at one of the many mall entrances. There was only one rule. Spend a combined total of $100 at any stores in the mall, and you get a $50 Westcore gift card. Sam dashed to Footlocker while I ran (literally) to the redemption line. Just my luck, in line I was surrounded by Chatty Kathy on one side, and Gothopotamus on the other. Sam joined me minutes later, and there we sat in my equivalent to hell for 2 HOURS! The worst part of the whole thing was the horrible dj they had set up in the center of the line that kept reminding us that quantities were limited and we were not guaranteed the gift card. Finally the last 15 minutes they started handing out tickets the the 1st 400 people in line. Wahoo! We got our gift card, then I went to meet up with my mom for some more shopping! I still don't consider myself die hard, but I'm always up for a good bargain!

thanksgiving

I made 2 french silk pies. Oh, and a large portion of green bean casserole. Thanksgiving was delicious! Thanks mainly to my wonderful mother who prepared most of the feast. Small thanks also go out to family members for making my life full, green schlauff (not to be confused with shlom), and of course Dolly Parton for Hard Candy Christmas.

i turned...

For some reason this is the only photo from my birthday festivus. That is me enjoying a free sundae, and yes, that is Brad Pitt peering over my right shoulder. What more could a girl ask for. I got to do a lot of fun things, many of them involved eating food. Yay for getting old!