Smith
Family
2016
As usual, 2016 has flown by. This year was our
year of traveling (last year was a baby year…Ryder). We started out in February
driving down to Florida for Disneyworld! We stayed with friends and went to
each of the four parks with them. Addilyn and Levi had a BLAST. We didn’t go to
Magic Kingdom until our third day. So until then, they kept asking where the
castle was! Their faces were pretty priceless when they finally laid eyes on
it. We truly had such a great time with our family and so appreciative of our
friends who helped make our trip possible. We even sneaked in a day at Daytona
Beach. It was nearing sunset so it was pretty strange having the sun set not on
the ocean (like Lori is used to).
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| Seeing the castle |
The last week of March we went north this time
and stayed in New York City for a week. We stayed with Scott’s brother Aaron
and his wife Caitlin in their tiny, true-to-NYC-apartment. We made it work with
our family of 5! We had so much fun riding the subways and being true tourists.
Lori wore Ryder in a front pack while Scott pushed Addilyn and Levi in our
stroller. We got really good and folding the stroller fast and then going up
and down stairs. Scott’s true New Yorker walking speed came in handy. The
highlight was spending Easter with Uncle Aaron & Aunt Caitlin and the other
half of our week seeing Lori’s brother Brian! Uncle Brian was there for a
student field trip. It was great being able to leave the kids with A & C so
we could have date nights in the city.
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| Brooklyn Bridge |
May brought our month of birthdays. Addilyn
turned 5, Levi 3, and Ryder 1!! We celebrated as usual with a party at our
house. Everyone brings a dish to share instead of a present and then we play
games in the backyard. Also in May we took a short trip to West Virginia. Then
Memorial Day was spent with the Western’s in Atlanta helping with their new
house (specifically their stairs).
In June/July, Grandma Jadwin flew in the day
before Lori’s birthday. We spent our time with her in true southern-summer
fashion…swimming. We took a week and spent it in Savannah, GA! When we had
pit-stopped on our way to Florida and realized how much history there was and
how great it’d be to go with Grandma since she teaches what happened there. It
was hot hot hot. The best days we all agreed were spent on Tybee Island, which
is right there. Grandma loved the warm Atlantic Ocean and our kids had a BLAST
in the waves. It was their first times swimming in the ocean. We even got to
swim with dolphins! While in Savannah, Grandma & Grandpa Smith, Uncles
Gunnar & Isaac stopped by on their way to Florida to go on a cruise. We
showed them a bit of what we learned while we had been there.
Then Lori
decided we needed to take a spontaneous trip to Philly. We spent the weekend
with the Busby’s who moved to WV. We visited the Smithsonian with them and went
tubing down the river by their new house. Both kids and parents had so much
fun. The true reason we headed their way was to go to the Philadelphia PA
temple open house. We stayed with Lori’s cousin Jason and his wife Nora (who
was about to have their first baby!) in Philly. After the open house, we went
to the market and stood forever in line to get our cheese steaks and then a
dozen Amish donuts. The donuts did not make it all the way home…
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| West Virginia |
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| Philly Temple |
Thanksgiving break we went to Atlanta, GA for a
Smith family reunion. All 8 siblings, all 6 spouses, all 18 grandkids, and 2
grandparents stayed with Shirley and Erik Western. We had a wonderful time. The
cousins loved spending time together. And the Georgia weather was so nice for
them to play outside! The newest Smith grandbaby was even there! Lori gets to
brag and say she was the first (after grandma) to hold the adorable 1-week-old
Joel Smith!
Christmas we plan on not going
anywhere…surprise surprise! In the end we took 6 trips. We visited: Florida,
NYC, West Virginia (twice), Georgia (twice), and Pennsylvania. I told you it
was the year of traveling.
Scott- Scott celebrated 5 years at B/E and 1
year in his newest position as Senior Certification Lead Engineer in his new
department. He has not regretted his choice to change groups and take on this
new challenge. He has shown his worth time and time again. Scott especially likes
the people in his new group and his boss. They have their own book club where
they read/listen to books/podcasts on leadership and other life-managing
skills. Scott has been busy outside of work doing dad duties and showing the
kids how to fix and build things around the house. They love spending time with
dad! His newest hobby has been flying his new quad-copter that he got for his
birthday.
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| Flying in a glider plane |
Lori- Lori enjoys planning. Maybe this is why
we’ve gone on so many trips? She also has been adjusting to the new life of
having school-aged kids and having other after-school activities. It’s a
balancing act of house projects, managing the kids and her calling in Young
Women’s at church. Somehow she figures out how to do it all….or at least appear
to! Lori spends her time planning and doing awesome family activities. We have been
so lucky to have the job Scott has so that Lori can be home with the kiddos.
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| Mother's Day |
Addilyn- #thisgirladdilyn finished preschool
and started kindergarten! She loves all of it. Whenever we ask her what her
favorite part of school is, she always says, “all of it!” We get to enjoy
visiting her at lunch too. Scott even makes the effort to have special lunch
dates with her. She’s allowed to invite one or two friends to sit with her in
the booth when we come. It has always been someone different, which shows how
great she is with her friends. Along with school Addi has also taken up ballet.
She adores every moment and is over the moon while she is there. We’re pretty
sure she wants to be a ballerina. At least for today.
Levi- #levisantics is busy busy! With Addilyn
gone during the day, Lori has had to teach him how to play with his younger
brother. It’s nice that he has a back-up friend, even though Ryder is still
figuring out how to play with him too. Levi likes to play at the YMCA, do a
dance class there, and he has his own ‘school’. Levi is participating in a
pre-school co-op with some friends. The group has gotten a little smaller with
one of his friends moving, but he loves it still. Earlier this year he broke
the base of his first finger in his right hand and wore a cast for 6 weeks.
Then just a little bit ago he split his chin open at a birthday party. He’s
healed up perfectly thank goodness. Levi has a great imagination and likes to
build things and play with his cars. He’s also an excellent climber.
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| washing an airplane |
Ryder- #ryderjadwin is huge. This sums him up.
At 18 months he was 30#s and in the 99th%tile. He likes to be one of
the big kids. Ryder has a really sweet personality and is starting to talk more
and more. He’s such a love. When Ryder sees his older sister and brother do
something, you know he is right there to try and do it himself. He loves
climbing on the table, licking our dog Lily (gross, I know, but I had to
mention it. He’s just returning the kisses), and he’s quite the dancer.
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| doing big kid stuff |
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