Watch the cutest Nativity Story EVER!

The Christmas Story (2010 HD version) -- as told by the children of St Paul’s Church. Anyone is welcome to show this film publicly, but not change it in any way, nor make money out of it. We also welcome you to view the prequel (2011) Good News of Great Joy

Hope you enjoy these fun videos!

The first set are of B painting the snow. This is a really fun activity -- I just used the big spray bottles that can be used for cleaning supplies (the little ones are hard to push down on the nozzle in the cold with gloves). I filled them about 3/4 with water and then put in about 1/4 bottle of Crayola Washable Paints. They are non-toxic and make great colors in the snow, as you will see!

These next 2 are of B, Matt and my dad ice skating at the Meadow Park Sports Center in Whistler. She LOVED being on the ice and keeps asking me when we can go again. I told her that we had an ice rink here about 20 minutes away and she couldn’t believe that there would be ice skating in AZ!

These last 3 are of our dog sled adventure. These dogs were SUPER excited to be pulling us around -- you will see how crazy and LOUD they got! The owner of the company was our musher and she has 70 dogs that she uses in different combinations depending on what it is that she is doing. They are anywhere from 6-8 dog teams and she mixes and matches dogs throughout the ride. You will see loose dogs running alongside the sleds too -- they go out with her just in case she needs extra dogs along the way.

ENJOY!!

We had such a great trip to Whistler, BC.  Here is a quick video montage of just some of the fun times that were had   We did plenty of outdoor activites despite the temps being in the 20s most of the time.  It was quite a shock to the desert dwellers and to some more than others (me!)!!  We hope these pictures get you in the mood for winter and the Holidays ahead.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to everyone.

All our love,

The AZ Smiths

P.S. Videos to come this weekend…….

I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated to my
Aids Walk Phoenix Profile last month. Because of your generosity, I was able to
almost double my fundraising goal with a total of $180.00. The goal of our team
was pretty simple: to have 100 registered participants each raise $100. On the
day of the walk we had over 200 registered walkers on our team and 20
registered dogs. We were the second largest group participating in Aids Walk
this year (231 animal and human participants) surpassing companies like
American Express, Southwest Airlines and Safeway. We may have come in second in
terms of team size, but what we lacked in manpower we made up for in the total
funds we raised. Our team leader, Barbara Seville, asked our team to raise a
total of $17,000 in donations. This was a significant increase over the
previous years total and would certainly be a challenge to raise that much
money before the deadline.

You are probably wondering how much did our team, Barbara’s
Wonderful 100, raise and donate to Aids Walk Phoenix for 2011? Over $27,000!!!
Hitting and surpassing our $17,000 goal this year made it the 10th consecutive
year Barbara’s Team had at least hit her team donation goal for this event.

While talking with Barbara at one of the fundraising events for
Aids Walk, she told me about a woman, also named Barbara (I’m calling her B2 to
avoid confusion) who heads up another AIDS Walk Team named Team Rychard. The
team is named after B2’s son, who had died of AIDS back in the 1980s when very
little was known about the disease. Each year Team Rychard and The Wonderful
100 are either #1 or #2 in donation totals without exception. The two Barbara’s
sought each other out so they could meet their competition face to face and in
doing so have developed a friendship and a great deal of respect for each
other. The Wonderful 100 have been the top donating team for the past few years
forcing Team Rychard in the #2 spot. This year after both teams had finished
the walk, Barbara offered B2 every cent The Wonderful 100 had raised to Team
Rychard. The two Barbara’s combined their donation totals and under the name
Team Rychard donated a total of $44,206.22.

Thank you all again for donating to me, to The Wonderful 100 and
eventually Team Rychard. It was a great event and is something Justin and I are
committed to participating in every year from now on. Thank you all again. I
sincerely appreciate your love and support.

It was 3 years ago today that Reiley passed away.  It’s true that time does heal but it never completely fills the void that is left behind when someone so special and loved passes on.

Reiley, I hope wherever you are, you are looking down on us and that you know we talk about you often and miss you every day.  I hope you are healed and whole and happy and I hope someday, we will see each other again.

All of our love still,

Mom, Dad and Braelyn

B lost her first tooth on Sunday night   After much persuading by mom and dad, she let us pull it out and was very excited to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy.  She has a couple other loose teeth and so, visits by the fairy of all teeth will be frequent in the upcoming months!

I have held onto this article for awhile now, trying to figure out when would be the best time to post it to the blog. As I woke up this morning and saw the news and internet awash with images and interviews from 10 years ago, I thought that today would be appropriate.  I think it is a good reminder to us all about what life should truly be about and how we need to evaluate the ways in which we spend our precious time.

And She Danced
July 13, 2011by Estelle Sobel Erasmus of “Musings on Motherhood and Midlife”

My eighteen-month-old daughter, Crystal, and I recently attended a reading group at the library where the teacher asked all the moms and their babies to form a tight circle on the floor. I watched as the toddlers ran to sit on the laps of their mothers. My daughter stood a few feet away. I called out to her, and she strode toward me. Then suddenly, and with great purpose she turned around, moved into the center of the circle and began to dance.

I watched my daughter spin around the floor in reckless abandon, her feet moving in a wild motion, to some music in her mind. The music first carried her toward the other mothers and children and then away; I felt her palpable joy. I worried that the other moms would resent my child’s insistence on taking center stage, but I saw smiles on their faces instead of the disapproving frowns I feared. I marveled at the wonder that is my daughter as she moved. She acted so clearly in the moment. No worries, fears or thoughts for the future interfered with her actions.

Had I ever been that way, I wondered. If so, could I be like that again? Could I become as free and unfettered as a child with her whole life ahead of her, ready and willing to be the star of her own production?

I am Crystal’s mother but I already admire her fortitude, determination and intense desire to be recognized as if she were my equal. To me, she’s a complete little person who is already so comfortable in her skin that she draws people in with that very confidence. I suppose it might be credited to me and my husband. Some might say that we’ve instilled in her a feeling that the world is a safe place. Personally, I think she was born that way.

I have always considered myself to be like a kite, freer than everyone I knew, soaring above the ground powered by my own imagination. I was a writer and editor, with few responsibilities besides those of my career. Then I married and had my child. Over time, I have become as grounded as a great oak tree. Yet through my daughter I see my possibilities all over again. With purpose of mind and crystal clear intention she – and I – can do anything.

I fear for her, too. Will the vicissitudes of childhood knock her down, hurt her strong self-esteem? Children can be so cruel. I don’t want her to be bullied, but I don’t want her to be a mean girl either. So what can I do? Childhood is short and there are life lessons ahead to be learned. What can any mother do, but wish for their child a road easier than her own and hope to pave her child’s way along that road with the mortar of the mother’s hard-earned wisdom.

So I watch her as she dances, carrying my heart in her every spin, foot flourish and smile.

Dance, my darling daughter, dance! And take me with you on your journey across the floor and through the years. What mommy knows is that you’re young only once, but if you have the right loving support, you can be young in spirit forever.

Do not take one single breath for granted and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS, ‘dance.’

-Dedicated to my little dancer who always shows me the way that we should all live our life

Happy End of Summer

Just wanted to share some pictures from our week-long trip to CA.  Matt did NO work while we were there so it was his first true vacation in about 2 years since we went to Whistler.  All of the trips we usually take tie-in somehow to games he is seeing in the cities we go to but this time it was purely for a get-away and we all really enjoyed it.

We had a fabulous 30th Birthday party for Matt (Thanks to Tom and Sheri!) and saw lots of friends and family that we hadn’t spent time with in a very long time.  It was wonderful to see everyone and catch up and celebrate Matt turning the big 3-0!

We also spent most of the week in Carlsbad at the beach.  We visited the tide pools as part of our beach unit for Homeschooling and we went to Seaport Village as well as just spending time flying a kite on the beach and building sandcastles and collecting shells.  Braelyn did NOT want to leave and we all miss the cooler weather of the CA coast

Hope you all are doing well and that you enjoy our video collage of the SUPER fun time we had!