Devil Town

Everybody knows that my favorite television show of all time was Friday Night Lights. Every week, I wept with joy at its sheer awesomeness.  It took place in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas where everyone was obsessed with high school football (and probably other sports too, but that's for another program).  It was all about community, family, Texas pride and great barbeque.  The greatest moment of the whole series was the scene at the end of the first season when the Dillon Panthers won state and the town celebrated by having a grand homecoming parade set to the tunes of "Devil Town".  It gave me chills. So, imagine my thrill when my sister Jane moved to Childress, Texas this fall - a town that could actually be Dillon.  It is all ranches, school pride, state pride and small town goodness.  Here is a sampling of what we encountered on our trip to little Sam's baptism this last weekend.

 Amber hanging out with grizzly bears and cacti.  I love living in the southwest.

Amber and Miranda at the Big Texan in Amarillo.  Everything is bigger in Texas, particularly the chairs.  And as a sign in the restaurant said,  "In Texas, it ain't bragging if it's true."

The park in my sister's town is totally decked out for the holidays.  Every civic organization has created some fabulous wire and lights creation and they are put up everywhere.  There must have been a hundred creations just like this one.  It was gorgeous.  Merry Christmas, Ya'll!

This was the entrance to the park.  Grandma was enthralled with the poinsettas.

Miranda, Sam & Amber heating up at our fabulous bbq supper. (Thanks, Uncle Carl!)  Clearly we need to teach these kids some better restaurant manners.

One of the town's oldest homes.  You do not know how much I wanted to ring on their doorbell and ask for a tour of a house.  Notice the small "Bobcat Pride" sign in the corner of the house.  I would say 75% of the houses have these signs out front.  The bobcats are the mascot for the elementary, middle and high school.

I saw these signs on a fence outside the most awesome antique shop ever.  I think this just about says it all, don't you?

And here is a typical Childress home with a better view of the "Bobcat Pride" sign.

Here's Bethany just hanging out in the saloon with her buffalo.  Good times!

Bethany, Miranda and Sam just after his baptism.  The cutest bunch ever.  Sam attends a small branch and it was really an interesting experience attending a branch.  Members come from up to an hour away just to get to church.  They are a close knit fun group though.  The best part of our branch experience was when the primary kids ended the "Hello" welcome song with a resounding "Yeehaw!".  I totally cracked up. I bet the Stingels will have a great time living in "Devil Town"!  Now if only we would run into Tim Riggins next time we visit.

Holidays!

Well, another holiday season is almost over and I have not made a post in over a month.  You know how it is.  Parties, Christmas letters, concerts, weekend trips.  Good times baby!  Above is a sampling of  the Thanksgiving pies.  Yummers!  I made 14 and we ended up throwing out the last leftovers about two weeks after Thanksgiving!  I think we'll do cheesecake for Christmas.

Over Thanksgiving, we dog sat for our friends the Hunts.  Their dog Louie is just as cute as he could be and the kids took him everywhere with them.    He was spoiled rotten.  He must have had a good time because when we went to visit him last week, Louie gave us all kisses galore and whimpered when we left.

All of us girls and Aunt Emily went pinecone hunting in the mountains just after the leaves turned colors. It was gorgeous, I must say.  We usually collect acorns but I think we missed our opportunity this year because they were all gone to some squirell's winter lair by the time we got there.  I made the wreath above.  The ribbon was problematic as you can see.

The first weekend in December, we went up for the Hurst Reunion in Blanding.  The girls stole the camera and took a lot of pictures of cousins and door handles (don't ask me).  Here is cute Kaylee.

Miranda getting ready to load up on grub.  We had ham, scalloped potatoes, cookie monster salad and desserts galore.  Never let it be said that the Hursts do not know how to throw a party.

Visiting between card games and white elephant exchange.  I love my family so much.

Before the lunch, we went to Blanding's Christmas craft fair.  It was so much fun. While we were there, baby Chance had a tete-a-tete with Santa.

Bethy & Nauli being silly.

And here is a picture of Sam, Miranda and me taken in the mirror of Sam's new ipad.  Awesome.  Can you see my swollen cheeks.  I just got a gum graft done last Monday.  Never have this surgery done in December, people.  Never!

Family Pictures!

I talked Big Amber into taking our family pictures a couple of weeks ago.  She was very nervous, but didn't she do a great job?  I foresee a fabulous career in her future. :)

Two handsome boys. Wouldn't you know our kids would get old enough so that we don't have to work miracles to get the youngest to smile, but now Aaron is the hold out.  Teenagers!

 Chad in his last official pose with braces (we hope).

 Sweet Miranda!

 These girls love to pose.

 Sisters and friends.

Bethany thought she got the raw end of the deal on this picture because she didn't get to be on anyone's back.

 Spunky Little Amber!

 Look at that smile.

 Aaron looking not totally pained.  I guess that's all we could hope for.

 Bethany does love to be photographed.

We took this under an arch of trees by the Rio Grande.  The colors were fabulous and this arch was custom made for picture taking. 

Take a look at how the boys have gotten since our last photo to the side. I'm going to change that picture, but I wanted to leave it for a week or so for comparison's sake.

 We had to take a picture in the tree!

 By the river.  Amber took one with us looking at the river from behind, but I will have to photoshop my derriere before I make that available for general viewing. :)

This is one of my favorites.   Bethany insisted on taking a picture on this log which she calls the murder log because she scraped her knee really badly one time when we went hiking here and she tried to climb on it.

 Mom and Dad.

I can't decide which of the next two pictures I like better.  One of them will go out with Christmas cards.  I am taking votes.

 
Almost the same, but Aaron is actually smiling.

Happy Fall everyone!

Halloween 2011!

It's time to post Halloween pictures in a completely non-chronological order because apparently my camera has lost its mind and I'm too lazy to organize the pictures manually.  Maybe the camera is  haunted.  Spooky!

So, another Day of ghosts and goblins has passed successfully at the Smith house.  Pumpkin carving was a hit as always.  Chad's pumpkin had a quite intricate carving of the Red Sox Emblem.  If you are his Facebook friend, you can see a close-up picture of it.  If you are not, you are one of only six people left in the country who Chad does not now count among his Facebook Friends.  (Not to make you feel bad or anything.)

 The lighting of the Jack-O-Lanterns, a time-honored tradition!

 Aunt Strawberry Shortcake, the best aunt in the world taking pictures of her cosmetic handiwork.

Aunt Becca and baby Chance.  Isn't he delicious?

What a scary little spider our Amber is.

On the way to the ward Halloween Carnival.  Bethany's quite obviously mad about something that I can't now recall, but that pretty much goes with the territory.

Chance in costume #2.  I guess when you're this cute, one just won't suffice.

Aunt Emily, Amber, Miranda and Collin getting ready for the big haul.  Bethany was with her bestest friend Alia on this night as always and we didn't see her until trick-or-treating was complete.

Mom and the girls at the ward Halloween carnival.  The boys were otherwise occupied with the fanciest and scariest spook alley in the history of La Cueva Ward.  The young men worked on it for weeks and Chad & Aaron didn't get home until 10:30 that night taking it down and cleaning up.

And so we're on to Thanksgiving.  We had a great October, complete with Halloween parties galore (including one at our house complete with 19 little girls and nineteen pillows that were supposed to be used for sitting but ended in being used in one big pillow fight) and all the ding-dong booing we could possibly want.  Good times!

Court of Honor

At last we had Chad's Eagle Court of Honor on Sunday an entire year after Chad completed his project.  It's just as well that we waited so long, though, because now we got to share the evening with Chad's friends Steven, Jared & Ryan.

The cake.  I thought it would be simple yet elegant.  It turned out that it just bugged me the whole night because the top tier was slightly tilted.  So, that's it.  From now on, if I have to make a tiered cake for a wedding or anything else, I'm renting one of those awesome cake stands where you put each tier on a separate plate and it automatically keeps them straight.  It will revolutionize my life for sure.

Jared, Ryan, Chad & Steven.  As you can see, I am the only mom who is not domestic enough to sew merit badges onto a scout sash.  I told Chad he was pretty lucky I sewed his little league patches on his game shirts back in the day.

Jared and Chad's display table.  Chad's was slightly sparse because there are just so many things you can carry when you also have to bring a picnic dinner, two cake tiers, a book full of primary program songs and a backpack full of sacrament meeting entertainment to church.  Luckily, Jared's dad put together a fabulous slide show that covered  prettty much all of Chad's hobbies and hopefully embarrassed him as it was intended to do. :)

Sam and Chad reading over Chad's letters of recommendation.  I didn't know I would get to read them.  Awesome!

Chad giving Sam his eagle pin.  Believe me, Sam deserves it.  No dad ever worked harder to get his child to the eagle rank.  Unfortunately he expended all of his energy and I think Aaron may be on his own. Ha!  So there it is, one down and one to go.  Thank goodness the rest of the kids are girls.