Snow Days

This past week most of Washington was buried by a large snow storm.  We ended up having 3 snow days in a row (I think this might be the first time in Pullman history that school was closed due to the weather for 3 days in a row...CRAZY).  The bonus was extra time with Brendan.  This was special knowing that we only have about 6 weeks left before a new little baby will take some (ok probably lots) of time away from Brendan and Mama time.  We read lots of books, played with cars, played in the snow (stay tuned for a post on our sledding adventures), made homemade play-dough, watched Curious George, and had lots of time laughing together.  It was a fun week. 

Portland Reunion

Our dear friend Whitney got married several weekends ago in Portland.  We are so excited for her and absolutely love Stephen...they are a great match.  Jamie's parents offered to watch Brendan for us, so we had an adult's only weekend in Portland with great friends!  We had several friends fly in from various places so it was a fun reunion with them.  Phil and Lou came with their little foster son JJ (4 months old), SO ADORABLE, and a champ of a traveler.  Megan flew in from Colorado and Kim came from Spokane (but has been living in Phoenix for the past 2 years).  It was the first time that Jamie was able to be with this entire group of girlfriends (Whitney, Megan, Kim, Amy and Lou) since spending a weekend with them at Wallowa Lake in June 2009 and the first time Josh was able to see Phil since July of 2009.  Josh Martin captured our time together with some great pictures.  Thanks Josh Martin (see his website for more info: http://saturdaynothing.com/) for letting us use all these photos for our blog.  

The weekend began with an awesome lingerie shower for Whitney that the girls went to while the boys went to McMenamins for burgers.  The afternoon was spent catching up in the hotel room.  That evening, some had to attend the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner while the rest of us found a great local brewery/restaurant...the sweet potato fries and butternut squash soup were SOOO good.  The evening ended at the house the bride was staying at hanging out over wine/dessert (the guys played pin-pong in the basement).  The wedding was the following morning.  We have never been to a morning wedding, but LOVED the idea (we thought the fact that the wedding ended at 3 and Stephen and Whitney had the entire rest of the day together was such a cool thing).  The ceremony was special, the bride was gorgeous, the decorations were creative and beautiful, brunch was delicious, and company was irreplaceable.  We wanted time to slow down a little.  It was fun to see so many past Resonate students! 

After the wedding we traveled back to Pullman with Phil and Lou, Amy and Josh, and Erin...car rides go fast when you have good friends to have great conversation with.  It was a much anticipated weekend that we were sad to see come to an end.  But, we are thankful for time with people who build us up and support us in so many ways--what a joy to have such great community.

Our little reader!

We have a little reader on our hands!  Brendan would have us read all day if we could. 

This past week he said his first sentence, "Read More Book"!

There's been a couple books that have been favorites, but right now he LOVES Curious George! Before Brendan and I could eat breakfast he all but demanded we read all 3 of his Curious George books - what better way for a father and son to start their day.

Thanks Grandpa Smart for the books, we've hardly put them down since Christmas!

New Years

We have a New Years tradition of getting together with our dear friends Kim and Zach.  Unfortunately, this year we were not able to be together on New Years (but we are looking forward to meeting them in Spokane for a weekend soon)!  So, we spent New Years in Pullman.  It was really nice to have a long weekend together as a family.  We felt spoiled by some great time just the three of us (that time is limited with Baby Smart on the way soon).  New Years Eve, Josh and I were able to go out to eat with several young couples.  It was fun to have a dinner out without having to worry about entertaining a 2 year old (as much as we love him).  We then had everyone back to our house to decorate gingerbread houses, play some games, eat some appetizers, and watch Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eve.

We decorated gingerbread houses last year with the Gormley's and Josh's was an epic fail, it turned out to be a bunker instead of a house.  This year there was improvement!  It is always fun to see how creative people are.  We posted these pics on facebook to see if we could award a winner...but never decided who won (which one would you choose?)

This is Jacob's...check out the cool windmill

Jessica's creative chimney

Emi and Josh's gingerbread model of WSU (clock tower, blue heart, bookman, bears)

Jamie's traditional gingerbread house

Josh's masterpiece

It was a great way to ring in the New Year!  We look forward to what 2012 has in store for the soon to be 4 Smart's!