California and Arizona here we come!

After Jade's birthday she and I took a trip with my dad to California to visit my Grandma and the rest of my family on my dad's side. The drive there took us 13 hours! Thank goodness we invested in that portable dvd player. Jade watched Barney and Baby Einstein the whole way, over and over again. She did really good though and didn't cry once.

This is my cousin's daughter Savannah. She's so smart and loves Dora the Explorer.
Here we are at grandma's waiting for our yummy breakfast of papitas (little potatoes) and eggs.
My grandma Armida, Savannah and Jade.
Jade giving her cousin Charlie a kiss.

Jade loved this walker, she could really get around in it. And it was nice knowing that she could be outside without crawling all over the dirty driveway.
After California we drove back to my dad's house in Arizona. That was only an eight hour drive but for some reason felt just as long as the 13 hour drive.

Dad, Mary and Jade the morning we left for home. We sure had a great time you guys. Love you so much, thanks for everything.

Jade's First Birthday!

It's official, our baby is one! Her official birthday was September 18th. These first two pictures were taken on her actual birthday. We went out to dinner with my family and brought along some mini cupcakes and let her indulge. It was quite a mess, but so much fun.

We had her birthday party the following Saturday at a nearby park that she and I walk to frequently. My sister Cassandra and my dad helped set up the decorations beforehand even though it was sprinkling and very windy. The weather cleared up though and it was a very fun party. We had pizza from Costco, watermelon (one of Jade's favorite foods), and chips and soda. We were so happy that so many of our family members and friends could be there.


Jade was pretty timid about digging into her "smash cake".
We have had such a great year with our baby girl and can't wait for many more years of adventures with her. We love you baby Jade.

Jade's getting so big

Smith Family Reunion

This weekend we got together for a camping trip at Payson Lakes. It really was a fun time. We got there Friday afternoon and set up camp. For dinner Dan decided he wanted to roast a whole chicken and as you can tell by the pictures, he did it. It was really impressive, and tasted delicious too.
That night was super cold, it is getting close to autumn after all. Jade slept in our sleeping bag with us and I was worried that she was just as freezing as I was so I covered our heads with the sleeping bag but then I worried that she'd suffocate so I would uncover us or just hold my arm up for a while to let in fresh air. Needless to say, it was a really long night. The next day Dan said his body was achy, he thinks maybe from shivering!
The next day we rented a canoe and had a blast down at the lake. It's a good thing they had a grassy area there because Jade was getting really antsy not being able to crawl around the campground. We canoed and made sandwiches, it was a lot of fun.
Even though we were planning to stay another night everyone decided that it would be nice just to go home and sleep in our own beds and have all of Sunday to wash all our camp laundry and get ready for the week.
Can't wait for next year family!

Jade is still teething and she really enjoys chewing on things, especially cold things. I gave her some frozen berries to gnaw on and she got a kick out of it, but boy was it a mess.

Even though we have a separate blog for our Hong Kong adventures I wanted to post some of my favorite pictures on here.

Waiting for a 3-D show at Disneyland called Disney Philhar-magic.
The spectacular fireworks. It was crowded but we got a front row seat.

Trying to protect Jade from the rain since she insisted on pulling her canopy down to play with.
Swimming at Dad and Venus' house.

Me doing a weird robot dance.
The girls seemed to always fall asleep at the same time, it was really convenient actually.
Some weird character passing out flyers.
Jade really learned to pull herself up on things while we were there.

Dan carried Jade during part of our hike. We took the wrong trail and had to backtrack for a while. :(
Small World!!!
Taking a trip on the ferry.


Jade absolutely could not get enough of this mango drink. She loved it! She had a hard time with the straw though so I ended up having to feed it to her.
This was a Disneyland. It was a neat water playing area.



Everyone uses umbrellas there to protect themselves from the sun. It does really help we found out but it's sort of an inconvenience carrying an umbrella with you every day. They have a cool water parade here at Disneyland but we couldn't get wet because everyone had their umbrellas out!
We got upgraded to business class on the way out, which was really great because Jade was not feeling well. She cried for a lot of the trip, I'm sort of surprised they didn't kick us back in to coach.

Hong Kong Blog

We dedicated a whole blog to our Hong Kong trip. Check it out at www.hongkongadventuring.blogspot.com. I'll probably end up posting more about it here but for now check it out.