rnsmith0906's Xanga

I'm Changing My Blog Account

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 03:45:41 GMT

Ok, I've decided to switch over to blogger from xanga. Sorry for the inconvenience, but if you would like to continue viewing my blog, here is the new link

http://brsmith2009.blogspot.com/

I'd love for you to join me there!

Rachael

Christmas!!

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:38:27 GMT

We had a great Christmas this year! It was really quiet since Brent was on call and we had to stay in Tucson, but it was really fun to get to celebrate at home with Caleb. He loved opening his presents....at least the first 2 and then he got a little overwhelmed. We had to take a break and eat breakfast and then come back and let him open more. It was really fun though! Later that night we had some friends over for Christmas dinner. We had smoked turkey and a Honey Baked ham! It was really yummy but I'm bummed because I forgot to take pictures:( Oh well...here are some other pictures for you!

Caleb and his new outside play gym!

He loves going down the slide!

Brent in front of some of the goodies Santa brought him. He is getting his own office since his partner is retiring so the picture in the background is to go over his desk. He took that picture of one of his trains and I blew it up and framed it.

Caleb....wiped out on the floor in the midst of all his toys. Christmas is exhausting!!

Brent and Rachael before his work Christmas party (a few weeks ago). It's the latest we've been out without Caleb in a really long time. We had so much fun!

We also had some friends from Memphis visit us (Lonnie and Megan) briefly this past weekend. It was really great to see them again. It's been TOO long!!

Lonnie and Caleb after lunch.

Megan, Caleb, Brent and Lonnie...we went to the Wildlife Desert Museum. It was pretty neat.

Me and Megan at the Desert Museum.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

December in Arizona

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:48:27 GMT

December in Arizona is very different from what I grew up with. Instead of singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas", Caleb will be singing "I'm dreaming of ripe citrus fruit for Christmas". We have three citrus trees in our backyard (orange, lemon and grapefruit) and Caleb and I picked some fruit off them yesterday. It was pretty weird to be outside in sunny 70 degree weather picking fruit off our trees in December. It's really nice though and we're really enjoying Arizona in the winter!

Caleb helping mommy pick the oranges

Tasting a lemon...yuck!

Our lemon tree

Our grapefruit tree

Hot Air Balloon Ride!!

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:10:14 GMT

Brent and I had a lot of fun today! For his birthday (in September) I got him a hot air balloon ride. We went this morning and it was AWESOME! Arizona is a great place to fly over in a balloon. We had to get up really early (4:30am) and some friends of ours kept Caleb for us (which was REALLY nice considering how early we had to drop him off). It was beautiful!! We got to see the sun rise and rode for a little over an hour. When we were done we had a champagne brunch. It was so fun! Here are a few pictures of our little adventure.

Trip to Little Rock

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 03:53:46 GMT

Well, I made a last minute trip to Little Rock last week to do some work for my dad's company. Caleb got to stay with Granna all week! (Although I think she's glad she doesn't have a full time one-year-old anymore:) I got a chance to go to Mt. View, AR where my parents recently closed on a log cabin. It is really beautiful. We're spending Thanksgiving there with my extended family and I'm looking forward to being out there more! Here are a few pictures from my trip.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 03:36:50 GMT

This is a pretty late post, but I thought I needed to put some pictures of Caleb's Halloween costumes. I haven't wanted to buy one because he really can't get much return for them (candy!) right now. His Nana and Granna have come through though. The lion costume was made by his Nana. It's a little big, so he'll probably wear it next year but it was so cute we had to take a picture in it anyway. The Frankenstein costume was sent by his Granna and was also adorable on him. We went to a "trunk-or-treat" at church which was a lot of fun and Caleb just roamed the parking lot with a sucker in his hand!

The Frankenstein costume

The lion suit!

I had to throw in a couple pictures of Caleb and Samson. Samson has been so tolerant with Caleb! They are really cute!

Caleb clapping for himself....I guess for riding Samson!

Today...

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:44:39 GMT

Here's a few pictures from our day today.

Caleb before church (In his cute little outfit his Aunt Ashton and Uncle Daniel gave him for his birthday!)

Caleb and Mommy in front of a Saguaro.

Caleb looking at the horses (We went to Colossal Cave National Park)

The view from the opening of the cave.

Inside the cave

The cave was pretty neat. It was a 45minute tour so it was pretty big. Caleb did great as we had to carry him through the whole thing!

Caleb's 1st Haircut

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:20:52 GMT

Well we finally took the little man to get his hair cut! It was WAY over due. He was starting to sport a mullet. He did really well and didn't start to cry until the end. I think the newness of the whole thing was wearing off. Overall he did great!

Before (too bad I didn't get a picture of the back!)

After! (He's signing "all done" with his hands and if you look closely you can see a tear running down his left cheek) He was definately ready to be done!

The mullet is gone!

The mohawk...in honor of Hudson Gates!

The Pumpkin Patch

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:11:00 GMT

We took a trip to Apple Annie's this year again to get some pumpkins and pick some fruit. Apple Annie's is a really neat orchard, pumkin patch/farm. They have all kinds of fresh fruit and vegatables, a fudge shop, all kinds of homemade apple desserts, a giant corn maze and hay rides. We had a great time. I know it's pretty surprising there being an apple orchard and pumpkin patch out here in the desert, but it's true!! We took Caleb there last year when he was 6 weeks old. Here are two pictures that compare last year to this year.

6 weeks old

13 months old

Caleb and Daddy

Caleb and Mommy

Caleb helping daddy pick Asian pears

Caleb enjoying eating the Asian pears

White Boys Can't Dance

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:27:34 GMT

So Calebs trying to get a little rhythm these days. His Nana and Papa gave him a musical floor mat for his birthday and he's started to "dance" to the music. It's really hilarious. He reminds me of Forrest Gump (the scene where he is a kid with braces on his legs and he's dancing with Elvis). Anyway, it's pretty cute! Here's a little video clip!

Here is Caleb in his 'train' hat his Papa gave him a long time ago. He loves wearing it around the house. (His daddy works for the railroad!)

Here is his new big boy outfit. He is being transitioned up to the one-year old class at his daycare and they have to wear shoes all day. They also sleep on a mat, eat at the table, have an arts/craft project in the morning and go outside for recess! I can't believe he's such a big boy!! (It kind of makes me sad:( )

His new word for the week is "owww" traslated as out. He is now saying it whenever he wants out of his carseat, stroller or if he just wants to be somewhere other than where he is at the moment. He still LOVES to say uh-ohhhhhhh (he sings the second syllable), mama, and ah-da (for daddy). He is SUCH a joy and it makes me want to have 10 more like him (of course Brent quickly brings me back to reality:)