We would like to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday and a Wonderful New Year!

Love,

The AZ Smiths

We thought that with the stress and hustle-bustle of the season, that you might appreciate these Christmas carols and hopefully, they brighten your day!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night

WOW!  It’s been awhile since I posted and we have been b-u-s-y!  We had a great Thanksgiving with about 25 people and we hosted so it was a full house.  Our construction is finished and our extra room looks great!  We have to paint the stucco on the outside and get our patio cover up, move the office furniture and hang a few pictures and then we will be DONE!  It will probably be after Christmas that we get everything finally moved and in it’s place, but we are making progress each day

Since Matt had shoulder surgery about a month ago, we haven’t really decorated too much for Christmas.  We have put up 2 blow up decorations in the front yard, but that’s about it.  Luckily our next-door neighbors have a very festive front yard so Braelyn gets her nightly fill of lights by going to visit them. 

We also made our annual trek to ZOOlights at the Phoenix Zoo which we all think is pretty cool.  They have a new exhibit for the Kimodo Dragons which Braelyn was VERY excited about.  They are pretty scary creatures actually, but she loved them and climbed on the life-size statue and gave it a kiss :)  She also decided that she wanted to ride a camel with Grandpa which was pretty funny because she was so very excited for it.

We have been listening to Christmas Carols almost every day because we have a radio station here that plays them from Thanksgiving through the New Year and Braelyn is really into listening to them this year.  This works out great for me because I absolutely LOVE Christmas music and frankly I needed a break from the Magic Treehouse CDs that we have been listening to in the Durango for the past 6 months!!!  Braelyn is also getting really good at singing the carols so I decided to film some of her repetoire….. (more to come later!)

She is also becoming a ‘double-threat’ to the entertainment world by singing and now DANCING!  She had her winter recital last night at her dance school and again did really well.  It was so great to see her onstage performing and having such a good time.

Matt is doing great following his surgery.  He saw the doctor this week and got out of his sling - finally!  His doctor was really amazed at his range of motion and pleased with all of the physical therapy that he has been doing with the Dbacks trainers - they definitely have him on the right track.  He still has some minor pain but is able to sleep better out of the sling and he can start lifting things and using his arm again, slowly but surely.  He has been going into the office on and off for the past few weeks to try to be available to the staff and get in the flow of working again.  He met with his new boss a week or so ago and they put together his schedule for the upcoming season.  He will be out of town about 25 days per month from April-August.  There are a few trips that Braelyn and I can make with him to some west coast cities so that we can see him more often and explore some places we have never been but, it will be another challenging year having him gone so much.

I am staying busy with Braelyn’s swim and dance classes and my agility sessions with Casie.  We have moved into the intermediate class and she is the best pup in it.  It is fun to actually start running mini-courses with her and see how well all of the training and time I have put in is paying off.  She is not the fastest dog but she is the most consistent, never missing obstacles, so that will be beneficial if I ever decide to compete with her. 

After the first of the year I am going to start taking B to the library 2-3 times per week to do some home-preschooling with her.  When I try to do educational things at home, she tells me that she ‘doesn’t want to learn’ so I have to be sneaky with what I ‘teach’ her.  I think that getting her into a different environment will allow me to work with her on some things like reading and writing.  I want to get her into more of a learning routine but not overdo it so I think that the library will give us a bit of what we need.

We will also be starting her in tennis lessons when she is 4 in February because she actually has a bit of natural talent with a racket.  She has been asking to try tennis lessons for a few months now but the clubs won’t start them until they are 4, so we have to hold out a bit longer.  She is still a really strong swimmer and hopefully will be moving up to be an ‘octopus’ as soon as she can dive and grab the rings from the bottom of the pool without Chris’s help.

We hope to have some family holiday pictures to post in the next week or so, hopefully before Christmas!  Have a wonderful Holiday and we hope to see you all soon!

Love,

MLB Mama