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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Christmas day!

i am not a fan of enormously large posts, so i try to keep mine manageable and hence, i decided to give Christmas day a post to itself. i love Christmas day. it's the one day of the year that there never seems to be a frown in the room- yay!

santa did not disappoint. he still comes for us big kids and fills our stockings. we all get candy, beef jerky, almonds, and a movie in our stocking every year. the nice thing about the movie is matt and i have a blue-ray player and katie has a dvd player and somehow santa knows this so he gets us blue-ray/dvd combo packs and we all get to split the movies. i got toy story 2, matt got cars, and katie got the lion king. i also got a penguin coach key chain and a usc snow man.


santa also came for evan!! he came last year for evan too, he's such a wise old man. he brought evan a photo album, sing-a-ma-jigs, a puzzle, leg warmers, suction bowls, a penguin sippy cup, and teethers. in his stocking he got cars 2! he racked up for a first Christmas in my opinion and he showed us how much he loved it all by trying to eat every last thing. here is his loot and the eating:







this year was extra special because Christmas fell on a sunday which meant we got to go to church that morning. we only had sacrament meeting and it was a wonderful hour. we had 3 speakers, one on the pre-mortal life of Christ, one on the mortal life of Christ, and then matt spoke on the post-mortal life of Christ. all of that was spread out with a lot of singing of Christmas hymns. all of the talks were wonderful, especially matt's if i might say so. he did a great job. we took a picture of the whole family, but it's on my dad's phone. sorry!

then we came home and changed back into our pj's- it's the only day of the year i stay in pj's all day! katie and i made sunday dinner, a delicious spiral ham, salad, green beans, mashed potatoes, and the pink stuff. after we all felt that our tummies were satisfied (and, a Christmas miracle, katie cleaned off the table!) we went to the tree to begin opening presents. i played santa and off we went.

we got tons of stuff, and all great stuff! i got a beautiful mirror, a book, lots of money, a picture, a new journal, picture frames, jewelry, a game, a scarf... everything a girl could ask for! i got matt a new watch he got a tie from katie and new tires from my parents along with other little goodies. we got nice sushi serving dishes... we just had an excellent Christmas! evan opened the rest of his presents, and he had a lot! lots of toys and books- exactly what he needed and loves (because goodness knows that boy needs NO clothing except pjs, which he got 2 pair of!).
my moms gift from my dad- a new pair of sunglasses! (they went and picked out ray-bans today) 

grammye in her gift from matt and me (the cape) and katie (the broach)

we ended the evening by playing games, pool, and ping pong at my parents new house. we discovered that poppie, my dad, and my mom are really good at pool and as for matt, katie, and me- not so much. but we had lots of fun none the less! and while matt and my mom played in the ping pong finals, katie and i enjoyed monopoly on her new ipad. it really was just fun all around!

 mimi and her man

daddy and evan being silly before bed time 

my mom, katie, and me all in our matching Christmas pjs!

i love Christmas and look forward to it all year. i am so thankful for the knowledge that my Savior was born and still lives! what a beautiful thing to know and remember at this sweet season of the year. i hope all of you enjoyed your festivities just as much! now i hope you all have a wonderful and happy new year. much love from our family to all of you who love us enough to check in on us and read about our blog- thanks!

pre-Christmas celebrations!


i am determined to get the Christmas post up in december... so better late than never right? same went for my Christmas cards, i sent them out on Christmas eve! but Christmas always has been and probably always will be my favorite holiday to celebrate. not only is it so significant and sweet to think of the humble beginnings of my Savior, but it has always been the "big" holiday in my family. now with evan, things only got a million times better! so here is a summary of all the celebrating that went down before Christmas day...

the first Christmas present was "opened" on december 23. that's when my parents bought evan his "big" christmas gift from them, a jumper! so we went ahead and put it together- he LOVED it! he's in it as i write this post.



                   
then there was Christmas eve. what a fun day! since my parents were busy moving into their newly purchased home here in seneca, matt, katie, evan, and i spent the morning just hanging out at our house and we all watched the polar express together. evan loved it (he is such at tv junkie if given the chance)


then we did something we've never done before, we went out for Christmas eve dinner. my mom said she did not want to have to cook or clean, since she had spent the last couple of days doing nothing but unpacking, and everyone was into the idea of going out, so we did! we ate at copper river, it was delicious! there was a sweet old man sitting at the table next to us with his family who kept talking to my grammye about evan. before he left he gave evan $1 as a Christmas gift, isn't that so sweet! anyway... i think we may see a new tradition around here for Christmas eve.

matt's plate, my plate, and katie's plate- all three of us with out filets!

then we went back to our house of an age old tradition in the natella house- opening one present on Christmas eve. we couldn't do that until we completed another tradition though, katie and me changing into our matching Christmas pj's which our parents buy for us every year (and have since we were babies). (in case you didn't know this, katie and i have always have been treated like twins, and we like it that way!) this year, of course, they bought evan pj's too! he stole the show... such a cutie pie!



finally, we began the opening festivities. i opened one of katie's gifts to me (as i always do) and here is what i found-

she made these for my craft room! i love them!

then we let evan open his gift from us. matt and i decided to start our own tradition with the Christmas eve gift. we are going to give our children a book every year, specifically now and for the next few years a Christmas book. then we are going to read the book! as they get older, we may change to a book they want and a game for us to play that night, but that's a new smith tradition. so we let evan open his book. i did not expect a 4 1/2 month old to be so into and good at opening a present, but he was all over it!




all of that work finally led up to "the night before Christmas"



then i read it out loud to everyone. it was a great Christmas eve! i loved every minute of it. so full of happiness, which is what the season is all about, joy and happiness and the people you love, which is exactly what this night was for me.

Monday, December 12, 2011

accountability

here is my talk on accountability. i gave it in the seneca ward on 12/11/11. take a few minutes and read it!



Good morning brothers and sisters. I am excited for the opportunity to speak to you all today. To begin, I would like to tell you just a little about myself. My name is Kellye Smith. I am originally from Lexington, Kentucky but I moved here from Columbia with my husband this summer when he accepted the band director position at Seneca High School. Then, in the middle of band camp, we expanded our family with the birth of our first baby, our sweet boy Evan. I now am so blessed to be able to stay home but I did work before. I have a degree in music education from the University of South Carolina and was a band director in Charlotte at a private Catholic high school. One of the more interesting parts of working for a private school was attending the school-wide, mandated religious services. I hardly remember anything from these occasions but I doubt I will ever forget one mass I heard. We had a visiting archbishop from a nearby university delivering the message for the mass. He was preaching to a group of high schoolers and did a very good job of making it relevant to them and talked about choices. He explained to them that we all have choices to make daily, some more significant than others. He talked about choices prophets of the bible had to make and how the students could learn from those experiences of the past to help them make better choices today. As he began to close his sermon he quoted John 14:6 where Christ says “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” And then he finished his sermon with this line, which I will never forget- “So frankly, you can either choose to follow Christ or you can all go to…” and I will let you all fill in the blank. He then sat down. In a high school gym filled with 1200 high school kids, you could have literally heard a pin drop at that moment. At first I, like everyone else in the room, was completely awe struck that he had actually said that, especially to a group of teenagers. But the more I pondered on it throughout the day and heard kids talking about it, because it was certainly the topic of conversation for the day, I began to realize that he was exactly right. Elder Randall K. Bennett of the seventy put it a little more eloquently in his last general conference address when he said “In reality, we have only 2 eternal choices; choose to follow the Savior of the world and thus choose eternal life with our Heavenly Father or choose to follow the world and thus choose to separate ourselves from Heavenly Father eternally.”
       The key word in both of these men’s quotes is choice. Our Heavenly Father gave all of his children the gift of agency, meaning the ability to choose and to act for yourself. Elder Bennett continued, “Your eternal destiny will not be the result of chance, but of choice.”
       Choice is a wonderful gift; it was given to us from the beginning and will continue to be ours for all of eternity. Our use of this gift determines our happiness or misery in this life and in the life to come. Lehi, the first great prophet of the book of Mormon, stated that with agency, we are “free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.” And while we are free to act, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.
Although I know very little about science, I do remember Newton’s third law of motion which states “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” In life we can liken the action to a choice and the reaction to consequence and just like the reaction is an inevitable part of motion, a consequence is an inevitable part of choice. A major difference between the law of motion and this law in our life is that in motion, the reaction is immediate but in life, it is not always so. Sometimes it can take days, weeks, even years to see the consequences of our choices, but they will come, for good or bad. Choices of good and righteousness lead to happiness and peace, while choices of sin and evil eventually lead to heartache and misery. Allow me to share 2 simple examples from my own life. First, a bad choice. When Matt and I were engaged, his family all got together for Memorial Day. This was the first time I was going to meet a lot of his extended family and I was not happy because I thought I desperately needed a haircut. In my desperation, I decided to let Matt cut my hair before we left. This was a bad choice with immediate consequences. Not only was my hair now very short, it was also very crooked. Needless to say, I have never repeated that choice. Now, a good choice. When I was a child, I decided to keep a journal. This is a habit I have maintained throughout my life. Although sometimes when I’m writing at night I feel like my words are pointless and mundane, I cannot tell you how many times I have read back in my journals and been helped by my own words, feelings, testimonies, and experiences that I forgot I had even had. So while this choice does not generally bring any kind of immediate reward, not only have I helped myself but also I hope that my words will mean something to my children and their children some day.
Although neither of my examples necessarily have eternal implications, many of our choices do. President Thomas S. Monson has taught: “I can’t stress too strongly that decisions determine destiny. You can’t make eternal decisions without eternal consequences.” “Wrong choices delay your progression and lead to heartache and misery. Right choices lead to happiness and eternal life. That is why it is so important for you to choose what is right throughout your life.”
The last statement I just quoted is from the for strength of youth pamphlet under the heading “agency and accountability”. The young women’s program of the church focuses on 8 values, one of which is choice and accountability. In both of these, choice and agency, which are essentially the same thing, the word accountability follows. What does accountability actually mean? Webster defines it as “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions.” I’m not sure that definition is 100% correct. Willing or not, you are accountable for your actions, and in the end you will be the one who must answer for all the choices you made, the good, the bad, and the ugly. The for strength of youth pamphlet continues, “You should not blame your circumstances, your family, or your friends if you choose to disobey God’s commandments. You are a child of God with great strength. You have the ability to choose righteousness and happiness, no matter what your circumstances.”  The tag line in the personal progress book for choice and accountability reads “I will choose good over evil and will accept responsibility for my decisions”; first the choice, then the accountability.
Accepting responsibility for our actions is also a sign of maturity; perhaps this is why is a focus in both of these programs for the youth of our church. Elder Derek A. Cuthbert of the seventy, in his 1982 general conference address, said “It is not being accountable that brings maturity. It is realizing that we are accountable, acting accordingly, and being prepared to give an accounting to those in authority over us and eventually to the Lord himself.”
We are accountable for not only the choices we make, but also for how we use our talents and time and how we treat those around us. We have a responsibility to develop the abilities and talents our Heavenly Father has given us. President Joseph Smith, the prophet of the restoration, said “God judges men according to the use they make of the light which he gives them.” I remember from my junior year of high school seminary class, which was over the New Testament, discussing Matthew 5:15 in relation to the use of our talents. “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” Brothers and sisters, are we hiding our light, our talents, under a bushel so that none, not even ourselves, can receive the benefit of the gifts we have been given? Sometimes, when I am asked to play the piano for church, I think to myself “again? Do they think I can do nothing else?” and then I think back to my 6 year old self who, while watching the organist in sacrament meeting, leaned over to my mom and said “I want to learn to play the piano so I can play for church someday.” Not only do I feel accountable to my Heavenly Father for the gift of music in my life but also to my parents, who put a lot of their time, energy, and money in helping me to achieve my goals, and even to myself, because of all the time, energy, and money I have put into music. So for those reasons, I always say yes and honestly, I’m always happy I did.
We are accountable for how we spend out time. We should not be idle with our time and we should be willing to work hard. God condemns idleness and is not pleased with those who are lazy. He said in doctrine and covenants 75:29 “The idler shall not have place in the church, except he repent and mend his ways”. We should find a proper balance between work, recreation, and rest. I think of my dad when I think of someone who knows how to use their time wisely. When I was in high school, my dad owned his own construction company, was bishop of our ward, and still managed to be highly involved in the field crew for mine and my sisters high school band. I don’t think he ever missed a football game or a competition in the five years we were involved. He and my mom also made time for each other by doing little things together often. And in all of that, he still saved a little time for himself and was able to keep up with his hobbies. He was and continues to be a great example to me of how to not be idle and to make the most of the time the Lord has given you.
Finally, we will be accountable for how we treat others and the service we render throughout this life. President Gordon B. Hinckley said “I would hope and pray that each of us would resolve to seek those who need help and lift them in the spirit of love into the embrace of the Church, where strong hands and loving hearts will warm them, comfort them, sustain them, and put them on the way of happy and productive lives.” The Savior stated “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” Our opportunities to serve and love are endless. We can show our discipleship at church, at work, in our communities, and most importantly, in our own homes. President Thomas S. Monson taught “what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationship with those who mean the most to us.”
In conclusion I challenge each of us to evaluate the choices we are making and their consequences by asking ourselves these questions from Elder Bennett’s talk:
Am I seeking divine direction through daily scripture study, pondering, and prayer or have I chosen to be so busy or apathetic that I don’t take time to study the words of Christ, ponder them, and converse with my Heavenly Father?
Am I choosing to follow the counsel of the living prophets of God, or am I following the worldly ways and the opposing opinions of others?
Am I seeking the guidance of the Holy Ghost daily in what I choose to think about, feel, and do?
Am I consistently reaching out to assist, serve, or help rescue others?
Brothers and sisters, as stated earlier, our eternal destiny will not be determined by chance, but by choice. The good news is, it is never too late to choose eternal life.
I bear my testimony that I know the things I have spoken today are true. I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father and the restoration of His true and living gospel.
       In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Friday, December 9, 2011

4 months old



wow! i cannot believe it's been 4 months that we've had the best little baby ever!! he has grown a lot. he's so much fun. he's got the best little personality. and he's SO loved!! so here are his stats:

he weighs... 17 pounds and 8 ounces! wow! that's a big kid (95%)

his height... 25 and 5/8 inches! wow! he's a tall little boy (75%)

some facts about the man:

-standing is still one of his most favorite activities

-he is officially in all 3-6 month tops/ pjs but still in some 0-3 month pants

-he eats 4-5 8oz bottles every day

-he is done with size 2 diapers.

-he loves anything bright- which includes books, the christmas tree and... the tv! the good side of that, he will sit and watch at least half of sesame street every day, which gives me at least 30 minutes to get stuff done!

-he talks ALL the time. i swear it sounds just like he says "hi" all the time. i can't wait until he means it!

-he will put pretty much anything in his mouth. he loves his fingers.

-he rolls over very well

-he can lean himself forward if he's propped up so, you cannot leave him attended if he's not laying down

-he has no consistent night schedule. he goes to bed sometime between 6-9. wakes up sometime between 5-7. sometimes he sleeps through the night, sometimes he wakes up once, sometimes twice. we are working on it.

-he cracks up! and he does not have a little baby laugh, he has a deep cackle! it's awesome, watch my video on facebook to witness.

-he definitely knows who his daddy is. he stares at him when he gets home if he isn't holding him, he will just watch matt's every move. it's super sweet.

so those are just a few stats. we started him on baby food this week and are looking forward to him being able to sit up all on his own soon (he's SO close). he really is awesome. i could not love anything more, seriously. if you haven't met him, make a trip to seneca and see this boy!






Monday, December 5, 2011

evan's christmas tree

i made a christmas tree just for evan! i wanted to put a small tree in his room but wasn't sure what ornaments to put on it so, i made them! and here is the process/result

first, the inspiration- pottery barn of course!


then the supplies- all from michaels which means- martha!!



then i sanded the metal, splashed on some glue and glitter, put some stickers on the mat, and printed out pictures of the 12 days of christmas. here is day 1.


i had this star and a white tree from my piano recital last year, but the star was purple so, i turned it red.


next i made a tree skirt. i cut out the number 1-12 in felt, backed them in felt that i also cut out, and then made them glittery with glitter glue.


then i made the other 11 days of christmas, put it all together and....


baby's first christmas complete with his own personal tree! he stares at it while i rock him, which makes me very happy.


Saturday, December 3, 2011

evan and santa


evan met santa today at the anderson mall. he did a really good job! when i first handed him to santa, he was not happy about that. santa turned him around to look at him and he scrunched up his face to make the "troll" face, puckered that bottom lip, and let out quite a wail! i took him back from santa, took all of 5 seconds to calm him down then i placed him in santa's lap, facing away from santa, and slowly stepped away. then he was fine! he would only smile when i was right up next to him, so never when i was far enough for them to take the picture, of course. but he's still such a cutie!! merry christmas!

Friday, December 2, 2011

evan's nursery

we have lived in our house for 3 months now and i finally have 1 room finished! it's my sanctuary- a room i feel no stress in and actually makes me happy. what i especially love about it is that it's evan's room. he's the best little baby and he should have the best little room- and now he does! we officially hung the last picture up this week so now i can share pictures of my favorite room with all of you.

this is the view when you enter the room. doesn't it make you happy too?? the walls are a super dark navy blue on top and super bright white on the bottom. we always planned to have chair rail in his room and it just worked out that when we bought the house, it was already up in this room. the rug is one he will eventually be able to play with his cars on. it really brightens up the space.


here is his changing station. the center picture says "i am a child of God" with a picture of Christ to the left, the salt lake temple above and a picture of president monson, the prophet, to the right. and that's his USC build-a-bear, named cola, on his changing table that his AK brought him in the hospital. he talks to it while he's getting his diaper changed.


his beautiful, small crib. i love his bedding too- it's perfectly boy without being themed, exactly what i wanted. i really love this crib- it's so nice and it's not huge like every other crib we saw. also it has a great drawer underneath that holds all of his blankets and swaddlers and such. this picture doesn't do the crib or bedding justice.


the most amazing artwork ever!! my aunt joyce painted these for him- they are way more than i ever imagined. isn't she crazy amazing? he loves to look at them, but i may love to look at them even more. 


the wall opposite his changing table. this is my favorite spot in the house- in the rocking chair grammy gave us. we sit there and read at least one book every single day. my mom made the curtains and they have the madras on the top and the bottom- i love them, i wish i had the top in this photo. the picture of Christ with the children was the final picture we hung in his room because we finally got it from grammye's house. it hung in my room my entire childhood and now it will hang in my child's room! my dad bought evan the bookends, which you can't see very well but they form a fire truck. the cars and airplanes on his dresser are just vinyls, but i like them! and the adorable monster art on his dresser is something katie and i bought him at the scarecrow fest here in seneca in the fall. the picture frame is like a ferris wheel and allison gave that to me in middle school.


this was the first picture i bought for his room. it's from target (of course!) and i love it! i would do the alp it hangs on the wall right next to the door. i initially thought that if i did do a "theme" i would do the alphabet. instead, his room has just morphed into all things boy- and i love it that way. it's got cars, planes, sports, animals, monsters, plaid- it's just all boy.


one more look. i love this room so much!!! now if i could just feel that way about the rest of my house... someday i will. and as i do, i will share with you all!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

best friends

okay this post is certainly late, i really wanted to get it up in the month of november but, as usual, i am a day late and these days, also a dollar short! but that's another story...

thanksgiving was last week. matt and i always go to kentucky for this holiday to spend it with his family. so we loaded up wednesday morning and headed for lexington! matt and his brother were going to see the uk basketball game wednesday night which meant that i planned to spend the whole evening and night with my best friends! first stop was the moore's house, none of them had met evan yet. debbie had made us (allison, lauren, and me) some yummy soup to eat and of course, there is always good bread and dessert at the moore's (because they're all super skinny and can eat it!). it was so nice to be back in their home- it had been a year! but they couldn't keep evan all for themselves so we moved on to the wemyss' home. here we all 4 were reunited- it was so great. we just sat on the wemyss couch and tried to pick a name for lauren's baby-on-the-way. we definitely had a lot of fun with that. it was WAY too short of time, but great none the less.

my best friends since 1999! (ha, that sounds ridiculously long ago...)

so the third, and final, stop for the night was of course the shaw's. sue had made some yummy cookies we all partook of and then evan and i spent the night there. it really was just like old times, hanging out on the shaw's couch, eating cookies, and just being together.

all three of the homes of these beautiful girls and like my home away from home. i didn't grow up near cousins or aunts and uncles but to me, these girls and their families are my extended family. i feel completely comfortable when i'm in their homes and/or with their families, because i feel like, at least in spirit, these homes and families are mine too. i remember when i was in middle school (which is when i met all of them), i said to my family that we would be best friends forever (of course, middle school girls created the phrase "bffs"). i also remember my uncle and my mom and telling my how hard it is to really stay close to friends from your childhood (why were the trying to squander my 11 year old dreams!), but i knew then we would prove them wrong and look at us now, all grown up and on our 13th year of friendship.  i could never replace these girls because we have something that's can't be replaced, deep rooted, true love for each other. it has certainly been tried and tested over the years, we've endured fights, boys, band, middle school, high school, hundreds of miles of distance, college, jobs, marriages, a baby (and soon to be another), tears, laughs, and everything in between but through it all, and some may say against all odds, we have remained the bbhc. i really hope that we can make this picture possible more than just twice a year. i love you all!