December flurries

Well, I was obviously wrong in my last post regarding snow accumulation in DFW over Christmas!! It continued snowing throughout the day (between 2-3inches) and the evening temperatures got into the 20's and we did indeed have a WHITE CHRISTMAS the next morning! The news team said this is DFW's 1st white Christmas in 84 years. Needless to say, it was beautiful and cold, but unfortunately provided pretty treacherous ice conditions on the roads. Mike and I did travel to and from Fort Worth and Grand Prairie twice on the icy roads and thankfully arrived at our destinations safely. Christmas Eve driving around 9:30pm was definitely worse than 9am the next morning, but bridges remained icy until the afternoon of the 25th when the sun helped to melt and evaporate a lot of the ice. We hope that you all had safe and wonderful Christmas celebrations with your family. We really enjoyed the time with our families as well. Mike and I gave each other a brand new Cannon camera this year in preparation for the coming arrival of Ryan as well as an iPod speakers docking station where you can place your iPod on the speaker stand and it charges your iPod while also playing the music through the speakers like a stereo system. We took a few pictures of the snow and us opening our gifts on Christmas morning so I will try to post those soon. We are back to work for 3 days this week, although we may work from home Tuesday afternoon due to more inclement icy/snow weather expected in the afternoon. I would hate to get stuck driving on the Dallas highways in ice during rush hour. No Thanks!! We are planning to celebrate the New Year just the two of us this week with steaks, roasted potatoes, steamed green beans w/ almond slivers, salad, & rolls. We have bought our champagne (sparkling grape juice for me!) and even some individual pints of ice cream to enjoy for dessert. We are planning to have a relaxing evening and maybe even enjoy a "Redbox" rental. In case I don't post again before the end of the year; we wish you and your family a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! We hope 2010 brings many blessings and wonderful times for you and your family.

~Emily

Merry Christmas to all.... and to all a good night!

It's Christmas Eve and REALLY COLD and SNOWING in Grand Prairie, TX- the second time this season! This kind of weather is certainly not what we are accustomed to. Too bad it isn't cool enough to actually accumulate and make the ground look pretty for Christmas. Well, it's been a nice and relaxing week off of work for Mike and me. We have spent a lot of time catching up on sleep, getting things done around the nursery, watching Christmas movies and football games, visiting family & friends among other things. It is hard for me to believe that Christmas is already tomorrow. Toby has enjoyed our time at home as well since it means more cuddling and play time for him. We also realized this week that this is the most time we have spent together at home since we moved here in June. Pretty crazy how time has flown. So far this month we have celebrated my work Christmas party in Addison, TX the 4th, the Smith cousins Christmas brunch at our house on the 12th, our friends' Christmas dinner at Simply Fondue the 16th, and the Swan family Christmas in Comanche, TX on the 19th. Tonight we are celebrating the Roberts' side immediate family Christmas at my parents house in Fort Worth. We plan to exchange gifts, go to a Candlelight Service, & enjoy a tasty meal together. Tonight Mike and I will spend our first Christmas at our own home without traveling or staying in someone else's home and wake up and share gifts with one another first thing on Christmas morning just the two of us. We are excited that this is a new tradition that we will have especially for Ryan's first Christmas next year. Later in the morning we will be going back to Fort Worth to Mimi's house for the extended Roberts' Christmas and lunch. Around 3pm Christmas day, we will drive out to Plano to spend the rest of Christmas with the Campbell side of the family. My mother in law has a large dinner planned for Christmas which will be delicious and probably enough to feed an army (not just the 6 of us!). Haha. We will stay with them Christmas night and part of the next day so that we aren't having to drive back and forth. On the 26th I hope to do a little shopping with some of the crazies and buy us a large pre-lit Christmas tree for next year. We will also be spending some time with the extended Campbell side on the 26th. Then, it's home to unpack everything and relax and enjoy the rest of our vacation time from work. Well, now that I've laid out our crazy schedule for you all, we would like to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas! Remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season! We are so thankful that our Lord and Savior sent his Son into the world to pay the price for all of our sins because without Him we would never be able to experience life with our Heavenly Father. Thank you, Jesus, Emmanuel.

~Blessings, Mike & Emily

Swan family group photo- Dec. 19th

Annual Swan cousins picture- Dec. 19th

The original Smith ladies- Mimi with her sisters-in-law

Next generation Smith Cousins Christmas Party- Dec. 12th

Youngest generation- Smith Cousins Christmas party- Dec. 12th

Belated Thanksgiving pictures

It is your lucky day- two blogs in one day! This year for Thanksgiving we traveled to Ruidoso, NM for a relaxing vacation with the Roberts' side of the family. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to have some time away from work to spend with family, do some shopping, and to catch up on some much needed sleep! For Thanksgiving lunch, we went to the Country Club and joined some of our extended Smith side of the family for a fabulous buffet Thanksgiving meal. Mike enjoyed getting to go back for numerous seconds. I think he might have missed his mother's sweet potato casserole though, and looks forward to her making it in a few weeks for Christmas. We both thought the turkey was so tender and some of the best we'd had. Overall, a successful Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures for you!
~Emily

Emily & Mike outside the club with the lovely mountains

The siblings on Thanksgiving day

The whole family- Don't we look big? Can't wait to see next year's picture!

Me with my sisters- Maggie (21) & Lauren (27)

First Baby Shower

On December 5th I had my very first baby shower! It was hosted by four of my "besties" Lauren, Mara, Mariann & Melissa. The shower was so pretty and I know all the hostesses worked so hard to plan everything and put it all together. Thank you so much ladies for such a wonderful celebration for our upcoming little guy, Ryan. Everything was so cute and "boyish" which was a lot of fun. They had streamers, clothes lines with little baby onesies hanging from them, an adorable diaper cake, a picture frame with a baby picture of Mike and me, and of course yummy food! We played Bingo for present opening time and a pacifier game where you had to refrain from saying the word "baby" or your plastic pacifier necklace would be taken from you. I had as many as 5 or 6 at one time, but wound up with only 3 in the end and I believe my sister, Lauren won the prize. Thank you so much to everyone who came to the shower, I was so glad to get to see each and everyone of you! We are also very thankful for all the lovely gifts that we received that will help us to welcome little Ryan into this world. Now for a few pictures that I have collected from my camera and Mariann's. Enjoy!
~Emily

Two of my hostesses- Lauren/Twin, Emily, Mara

Beautiful table layout with our baby pictures

Two more lovely hostesses- Mariann, Melissa, and Emily

Such a cute ducky pajama outfit

Ryan's new bouncer- Mike already put it together!

Ryan's new boppy chair- I love these! Can't wait to see him in it!

Some of our wonderful guests- Sonja, Kaitlin, Karen, Maggie, Angela & Elizabeth

Gift opening time

Some more beautiful shower guests

Me getting to hold precious Logan (Mariann's almost 3 month old)

3D/4D sono picture post

Many of you may have already seen these photos from facebook, but I wanted to make them available to my blog readers as well. Yesterday Mike and I went to El Centro College to get a 3D ultrasound done. They are a teaching institution that allow expectant mothers to schedule appointments and give their students an opportunity for experience and to add pictures to their portfolios for future job placement. Our technician was named Lenor and she is graduating on Friday and hoping to find a sono tech job in OB. General stats for Ryan (approximate of course since via sonogram) a little over 4lbs weight, measuring right at 32 weeks, EDD- Jan. 28th, heartbeat 158bpm. Overall, it was a really neat appointment and we were so glad to get to see him again since it has been so long since our last sono. The cost is only $30 so if any other expectant mothers in the DFW area are interested I would suggest looking them up. They recommend weeks 28-32 for the best 3D pictures from what I have read. Enjoy the pictures!! :)
~Emily

Sweet little Ryan's face

Cute little hand in front of his face


Precious Ryan

Another face shot

Side profile face shot

Umbilical cord colored for veins and arteries

Ryan sticking his tongue out

Leg bone

Heartbeat 158bpm