Time of celebration

I can't believe it is Christmas eve. I love this time of year. It has come to mean a lot more in the last few years. To be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior. I just hope that I am teaching my kids that that is what is important. One year ago we got the best Christmas present of all, to bring little Eva into our family, and now we have the two most beautiful kids in the world. This will be our first Christmas with just our little family, and it is a great experience. We have been so blessed to be where we are. I hope everyone else enjoys their Christmas as much as we do. Merry Christmas!

Christmas time

Wow, it has been a while. I can't believe that it is almost Christmas. Things are going very well here in Texas. We even got some snow. Not that it stuck around, but it is good to know that the Lord knows we are here. We have a lot coming up as well. Not only is it Christmas, but Eva will be 1 yr old on Christmas Eve! I can't believe she has been here that long. She is a riot.This is Eva with her cousin Brandons clothes on. Elisa wanted to make sure they would fit him.

She is walking, strike that running all over the place, and she does this bobble head thing while she does it. She loves to clap and talk and turn off the T.V. when it is on. That is probably a good thing.
Hyrum is doing great. He loves playing with his friends, and he is doing really great at Tae Kwon Do. He is going to test for his yellow stripe on Saturday. He is really excited. His new thing is doing headstands. He can go into the splits while on his head. It is pretty crazy. He is such a strong little boy. We are really surprised at how much we are liking Houston. Elisa was working part time for a while at a cool seasonal store, but now she is home again, and I am glad. We had a good Thanksgiving as well, although it was wierd only having three people at the dinner table (Hyrum was asleep). I knew I shouldn't have bought a 20 pound turkey. I think we still have some left over, maybe we will use that for Christmas. I am doing well at work. I am almost fully qualified at what I do, so another month or so and I should have it down. I am also working towards getting ready to take the service wide exam for First Class in May. Other than that things are pretty normal around here. We hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas, and a happy new Year.

Veterans Day

Happy Veterans day to all who have served! Especially you dad.

It makes me so proud to wear the uniform of the U.S. Military. Elisa and the kids and I were able to go down to a veterans day parade in which I got to take part. I wasn't in the parade, but I got to help behind the scenes, and to share this day with all those who have sacrificed overseas, as well as honor those who are serving today! We live in such an amazing country and I couldn't imagine not having the freedoms we have. I felt honored to stand there and pay tribute to the awesome men who have served this nation and given so much so that we could have what we have. To members of all branches of the service; Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and of course my Coast Guard brothers and sisters, I say THANK YOU!!!

We got to go out on Halloween with our neighbors across the street and their kids. Hyrum and Eva both loved it. As you can probably tell...

"Dont even think about taking my candy!"

"Did I get a lot of candy? you bet I did."

Eva's happy she got to go trick or treating, but

She is even happier mom and dad let her have that rice krispy treat.

Well, he did wear the mask for a few minutes.

Hyrum Smith, Tae Kwon Do MASTER!!!

Dinner can get a little messy.....

or a lot messy!!!!!

Our first Texan Halloween party--adults only.

Five years, YEAH BABY!

5 YEARS

Well, today Elisa and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. It is hard to believe that it has been that long already! We have been so blessed and can't imagine our lives being any different. We were lucky enough to go to dinner to celebrate (to a restaurant I wouldn't really suggest) but afterwards we went and walked around the Houston Temple grounds. What a blessing it is to have a house of the Lord so close, and to feel of the presence that is there. We are loving Texas, although we miss our families a ton!

The two luckiest people in the world:

And here is why....

Bath time

Getting ready for Halloween?,

and for church!

I think I will try to write at least once a week now. Things are going really well here in Texas. It is hard to believe we have been here a month already. This weekend is Elisa and I's fifth wedding anniversary. Time flies when you are having fun doesn't it. Some fun stuff has happened just in the last week. First off, Elisa was called to be the new ward choir director. She is really excited, and she had a lot of people sign up to sing in church today. She is getting ready to start teaching piano and voice as well, so that should happen pretty soon. Me, I'm still waiting on a calling, but that is o.k. The kids are doing great! They are getting so big! We just started Hyrum in karate, and he really likes it. I love being able to take him, and he is already learning to be more disciplined. He is also making quite a few friends, as you can see. Eva is growing like a weed, and is standing up all by herself. She is even starting to take a few steps. It is hard to believe that she is already almost a year old. Also I will be starting to play in an indoor soccoer league with some of the guys in the ward. They have really taken us in even though we haven't been here that long. I really think we are going to like Texas.

As you can see by all the stuff in back, we prepared for the trip to Texas. We knew it would be long,

Very long......

Very, Very long.....

We did get to stop by and see Grandma and grandpa

Oh thank heaven.

The trip took about three and a half days, and when we got close to Houston, we started running in to people stocking up on gasoline and generators like the end of the world had just happened. I love a good road trip, but next time we're flying.

So I am still trying to learn how this whole thing works, but here is a picture of us at our new house on the day that we arrived. We are so excited to be here in Houston. It has been a crazy couple of weeks. I will try to post more pictures as soon as possible, but like I said it may take a couple of tries to get the hang of this. Needless to say, we love our new house, and our new neighborhood. It is a great feeling to finally be stationary. The last few months have been nothing but moving, so it is really nice to finally be in one place. Of course Houston is so big that it feels like going anywhere is a trip. It is definitely a change from being in Utah, or even San Diego for that matter, but the people here are really friendly, and have been a big help, which is really nice being so far away from our family.

The Smith Family

Just to let everyone in on what we are up to. Elisa and myself have been pretty busy the last couple of months. I am a Operations Specialist Second Class, and coming up on starting my third year in the Coast Guard, and we are on our way to Houston, TX. I can't say that it is all bad, of course having been in San Diego for the last couple of years, it sure is a change. But on the bright side, we were able to purchase our first home, and we are really excited about that. Our two little kids, Hyrum and Eva are growing like weeds. Hyrum will be turning 4 on 18th of September and is getting huge and is still just as fearless as ever. Eva was born last Christmas Eve, and is already getting ready to walk. Elisa has been doing a great job raising the both of them. She is the real strength in the family. The Coast Guard has been really good for us, and we are looking forward to this new adventure.

Getting Started

I hope that this little blog will help those around us keep up with what is up in our lives. As some of you all ready know we are moving to the great state of Texas. Luckily we have been blessed to by a home there, and we are really excited to get there and start this new part of our life. I hope that this site will keep you all informed and can't wait to see what the rest of you are all up to. Don't worry, pictures will be coming soon.