Braeden's Birthday Party...
We had a great time at the ski hill for Braedy's birthday party on Saturday. You see the warming hut in the background. We put tarps out to sit on and cooked hotdogs.
















Braeden's cake was made to look like a board that he broke in half with a karate chop...HI-YAH!


















You will recognize this skiing ninja as Braeden, aka, Shadow Ninja.
















On Sunday (B's actual birthday) Odell and Gracyn helped Braeden set up his GI Joes in the front yard. Then Odell snuck around back to get the birthday present. This is Braeden's face when he saw it...(Gracyn loves the pink house next door)















The remote controlled army tank was a hit!

I agree with Little Josha's comment, so imagine yourself here, and come see us soon! (pics of Braedy's birthday coming soon)

The Jeep. Odell traded the mini-van for a jeep to run back and forth to the airport. It turned out to be more cost effective to do this than to try to rent something here and pay for parking there. He rents a car in Houston for much less. If we come back (I think that might be over Odell's dead body, though), we will just trade it back for another van or something.









THE birthday party of the year!! This is the sledding party I mentioned that was soooo much fun. I don't know why the fire came out looking this way in the pictures. I guess I moved the
camera with the moving target, and the fire blurred like that and looks really cool.





Cousin, Lauren, sent us "Flat Stanley" that you see in the picture with Braeden. It is a geography project they are doing in school. They mail a Stanley somewhere and we mail him back with a description of where he has been along wtih pictures. Stanley has been very busy in Colorado.
Gracyn was FLYING down this hill and she flew off the sled as I asked myself, "Where is her helmet?????"











Check Gracyn's blog to see her winter olympics!

Hello again!

I keep trying to post pictures, but it isn't letting me for whatever reason. I will try again tomorrow.

Today, Kaegan and I went to Gracyn's class at school and I told them about Kaegan's autism and that he has been invited to their class next week for a special project they are doing on railroads. They had lots of really great questions and were very excited about Kaegan coming to their classroom. Then, KK came in and brought gf/cf chocolate cupcakes to share with everyone. While they ate, I quoted movie lines and let them guess what the movie was. Kaegan had a fun time, and then went to after-school-rollerskating. All the kids wanted to help him and were so kind. It was touching. Tonight, he decided he was "Little Bear" and I told him, "Goodnight Little Bear." He said, "Goodnight." I thought that was interesting because he doesn't respond to a "good night" when he is Kaegan. HMMM.

Hello!
I really need to learn to download pictures myself! I'm waiting for Odell to do that so that I can post some pictures of the fun sledding birthday party we went to. It was so much fun! They had the party at night and sectioned off the road up to their house, lining it with buckets of fire all along the pathway. We would trudge up the long hill, then whiz down on sleds. I barely saw Gracyn because she took off in a whirlwind of laughing girls, and Kaegan took off without me too. He would reach the bottom and say, "I want more sledding!" Braeden and I hung out together (it was dark, ya know). We all had a huge fun time and then came home and opened the futons in the living room (there are two--perfect for guests...) and had a big family slumber party, minus Daddy. We watched the old "Annie" and went to sleep. Much fun had by all! Then, Odell got here the next morning. He will be here in Lake City all this week, then Las Vegas next week, then here the following week. So, it will be awhile before his gets back to Houston. Anyway, keep checking back. I will post a few pictures either today (we are going snowmobiling) or tomorrow (skiing).
Love you all!

So, I don't really have any "new ecards" as the valentine above indicates...I just took this picture off another website to wish YOU a happy Valentine's Day!

Well, his actual birthday is Feb. 26! His party is Feb. 25! Now that we are all confused, try to come anyway!!

Ooops! Braeden's birthday is actually on Feb.25! Sorry! :-)

The Scoop...
Gracyn and Odell will fly to Houston on Monday night, March 20th. They will stay at our house for Monday night. Then, Gracyn wants to make the rounds and visit everyone! Odell will be working long hours, so she will need to bum a bed off of all her friends, including you, Amber! We are hoping that she can spend a night with each friend or combo of friends. She has to fly back on Friday night. This leaves all day Tuesday/Tuesday night, all day Wednesday/Wednesday night, all day Thursday/Thursday night, and all day Friday. She was hoping that there could be an old-fashioned Smith/Smith/Dodson slumber party one night. (Anyone up for the chaos?? Mel?? Laura??) She will plan to spend a night with Hannah and with B and K Nichols too, so a slumber party with Smiths and Dodsons would work best for her if it works for you guys. I wish we could all come, but it is too expensive for us all to fly, and my mom thinks she needs to see us...go figure. Braeden will come another time, and that will be fun! We will be calling you to line things up for Gracyn for Spring break...Let me know if you are available!

Braeden's birthday party will be at the ski hill on Sat., Feb. 25. You are all invited! :)

For those who know Kaegan well, I thought you would smile to hear that he offered Braeden a hug when he was upset!
Love and miss all of you!

Gracyn is coming! Our spring break is March 20-25, and we are going to visit Grandparents in West Texas. Odell has to work that week from Houston, so he will fly from Midland to Houston on Monday the 20th. We bought Gracyn a ticket to go too. She will want and need to stay with friends that week, so who wants an extra kid for part of the week? She doesn't even know yet. I'm telling her today! She will be so excited!

My two dear friends, Anna and Kiah-Belle, as Kiah turns 1 year old!

Odell took Kiah's gift to her and carried out my instructions to take pictures! Isn't she beautiful like her mom?

I miss them.

snow-mobiling...

Here I am on the snowmobile. We were pulling each other behind on a tube. That is Kaegan standing nearby and a McClung kiddo on the tube. Aren't they trusting?









We were out on the frozen lake. I couldn't believe it was so frozen that we could drive snowmobiles out there, but people go out there in vehicles all the time. It is that frozen solid.





More tubing pics. There is Braeden to the left.
And Mabree below.



















Below is a fuzzy pic of me on Mark's four-wheeler. I tried to delete it, but couldn't, so here it is.

Odell on the tube with me pulling him. He was video-ing the whole way. Smart alleck.

















Below is a picture of Kaegan and me on the four-wheeler.

Odell and Gracyn help Kaegan get situated in the tube.






Left, a balloon at the hot air balloon festival yesterday on the lake. We didn't get to ride because the wind picked up, but we sure had fun anyway.

It SNOWED yesterday. About 2 feet!! I sent the camera with Odell to take pictures of Kiah Annabelle Gilmore on her very first birthday, so I couldn't take pictures. But...you can go to my friend, Mindy's, blog to see the snow. www.mountainfive.blogspot.com

Braeden's class had sled races for PE yesterday. He said it was the best day yet! They had hot chocolate afterward, mmmmm! Gracyn's class is supposed to go to the ski hill for PE today, but may not get to because there was an avalanche at the hill yesterday with all the snow, snow, snow. Today looks sunny, and I'm glad for that because Odell is flying to Gunnison in the morning and will have to drive from Gunnison to Lake City tomorrow.

Ricky can't get enough of the snow. I wish I had pictures of him yesterday. He plows through the snow like a wild thing. He disappears under the snow, then pops back up. He comes inside with snow completely covering his curly hair. Such a mess!

Well, my little friend, Kiah, is now a big one year old. I didn't even get to be with her on her special day (sniff), but we called her and sang Kaegan's favorite birthday song to her and ate brownies in her honor and sent gifts via Odell who delivered them and managed to snag a dinner. Thanks, Anna! I will post her cute pictures tomorrow when Odell brings them. I miss those Gilmores!

My foot is much better, and I think I will try skiing tomorrow. It still hurts, and I haven't skiied for about 12 years, so those will be my excuses....

Missin' our Houston friends! (have fun camping, Smiths!)

This is our little abode. Iron Kettle Cabin #1. It looks small on the outside, but is nicely laid out on the inside with plenty of space. It has a good heater...very cozy!














Ricky is an ice skater now!














As are the Smith kids!