LSU Trip

Shawn and I got to take off for a rare weekend without the kids in October to see an LSU game.  His parents were here visiting and were kind enough to watch the kiddos.  I had been planning it as a late birthday surprise for Shawn, but with his job and being Bishop, I just had to break the news cause he kept scheduling things!  So he got to look forward to it for a few weeks.

The march with the band down to the stadium is always thrilling.  Love to see that big LSU sign come into view.

Mike the Tiger.

Us on the 50 yard line at half time with Roy King - the athletic band director there. 

We got to squeeze in a visit to the temple right before the game.  Lovin' the white tie schweets.  ;)

The new 300,000 dollar band tower. 

A visit to Baton Rouge would not be complete without stopping by Chimes.

To eat this.  Yum.

We had such a great time!

Time to play catch-up

Ward Halloween Party

2011 Smith Family Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza

This...

turned into this.

This...

turned into this.

This...

will turn into this.

And this...

will one day carve a pumpkin like this.

CUTE!!

 Ready for the big night. 

Here's a little background for those unfortunate few not blessed to have followed my blog from it's inception.  I join ranks with my friend Whitney (http://whitneydibble.blogspot.com/) in declaring that I am NOT "a holiday mom".  Halloween gives me great anxiety every year, although I have to say I am getting a little less stressed as the years pass with this year being the best yet, so yay me. 

My girl Kay knows how I feel about Halloween costumes, so she took it upon herself to take over for me this year.  What a sweetheart.  She picked hers out when we were back to school shopping at the discount store - woohoo!  Thinking ahead - I love it!  (Actually, she knew she would get stuck in a pioneer dress from her dress up bin if she didn't grab the goods while the gettin' was good, so there ya go.  Nevertheless, that was one down, two to go.  She also took care of Aaron's costume for me by declaring he could wear the fireman costume from the YMCA number he was in at Tribute to the Oldies (see previous post).  Two down, one to go.  No ideas for Bekah.  I resort to my usual tactic of rading the thrift store a few days before halloween and hoping they'll have something in her size, but this year I just couldn't bring myself to go.  So she got Minnie Mouse ears cut out of black construction paper taped on a black headband.  With a red shirt.  You can't see her pants in the picture, but they had little mini mouses all over them I swear.  :)   Another year down, 5 more pounds gained (thank you kind neighbors) and 11 months till I have to do it all over again.  Anyone want to trade costumes?!

Tribute to the Oldies

Well, it's that time of year again!  Corpus Christi 1st Ward's annual Tribute to the Oldies.  Always a good time, and this year was no exception.   Here are a few of the many highlights.   Enjoy!

 

Kaylee

First Day of 4th Grade!!

Sitting at her new desk for the first time.

She loves to bake!  She made this cake completely by herself.  I did nothing!!

First day of homework.  She couldn't wait to get started.  I hope that lasts through 12th grade.  :)

Rebekah

Precious thing learned how to crawl with her arms today!  She's been doing the army crawl for a while now.

And lest you think she never cracks a smile check out these two...the latter was about a month ago when she really go into splashing in the tub.