a weekend together...

we had the joy of spending this entire weekend together as a family. it was much needed and so nice just to catch up together. a few highlights...


oh how she loves her new doll! ok, yes, you are correct... this doll was forced in her face for the photo... but they are matching! the picture had to be captured!!



music to our ears!



she just figured out how to walk with this on her own and thinks she is SO big!


this was taken on a day where not one nap was had - so smiles were few and far between! but it was still nice to get out and hike!

sweet times together...

happy new year!

it is hard to believe that another year has come and gone. what a year it has been at the smith household. we are so unbelievably blessed and it has been a year filled with so many fabulous changes and adventures. when i think back on the past year, i am overwhelmed with emotion and humbled by God's grace and sovereignty. He has watched over us, cared for us and made our lives more rich than i could ever dream possible with the addition of our amazing daughter. no words can capture what 2007 was to us, but i will attach a few pictures of the last month or so and lily's face expresses more than my words ever could! so, prepare to embark upon a photographic journey of our last few weeks!...


she just learned how to play hide n' go seek and she is feeling quite clever!

we had our own small christmas in c'ville before we headed home. look at her adorable hat that my friend kristi made for her!! (and of course she found this box of mentos more exciting than the gifts she received!)

the girl would wear hats all day long if i'd let her!

doing a new trick whit taught her... "stretchy-stretch!"

and feverishly signing "more" after every bite of food!

the biber clan

you could say lily was definitely the star at the smith and biber households this christmas... someone needs to have a baby quick so she doesn't think everything is all about her!!

getting ready for the christmas eve service.

some things never change!!

how is this photo not surprising!?

her first christmas morning!!

a sink bath at the bibers!

happy 2008 to everyone! we hope you were able to ring in the year with joy and peace!!
blessings,
the smiths

congrats!!!

my sister ashley is getting married!!!! congratulations ashie!!! i can hardly believe that my little sister is going to be a married woman... i am still not old enough to be married!!
she called us last night with the awesome news... she and jose were snowshoeing in the colorado mountains and he got down on one knee and proposed! i can't wait to start talking about wedding details! i am so excited for you! congratulations!

Griswalds in Cville

Did your lights flicker last night? If so it was probably because our neighbor was stealing electricity from your grid to power his cornucopia of lights-complete with creepy Santa gnomes which eerily resemble Brandon. Our street is part of the Charlottesville trail of lights and so we are blessed by a little friendly holiday competition of seeing who can force more of their neighbors to buy back up generators for the winter. Lily has been visibly nervous, this being her first Christmas and all, that her parents are the only one's without a neon arrow directing Santa down the roof. For some reason cars don't seem to slow down to look at our 2, 3 foot trees with lights in the front.

We are all very excited to celebrate Lil's first Christmas this year and had a lot of fun picking out her first Christmas tree. Surprisingly she's only asked for Mrs. Potatohead (she's gotten quite advanced with her baby sign language). That only means one thing, Dad is going to have a stressful Christmas eve trying to get that thing assembled before morning. Don't laugh if you haven't seen the new millennium edition. I thought I knew my anatomy pretty well but I'm just not sure about all her new parts. I heard they downgraded the man to just a few crucial, utilitarian parts. This proves once again that women are indeed more complicated. Word is that Hillary Clinton was behind the changes.

Anyway, we only have a few more office parties and a few more nights on call before we get to come home for Christmas and we cannot wait! We hope you all are having a great holiday season and hope to see you soon! Love Court, Ry and Lily


Do you see Brandon?

Who doesn't love a penguin at Christmas time.

The more blow up yard ornaments the better.

Are you feeling woefully inadequate yet?


This house is visible from space!

weekend weekend

this past weekend, duke and steph drove all the way from b'town to come and visit us. it was wonderful to have them here and lily loved having some extra company around the house! they had the pleasure of experiencing her antics and it was just great to have them in town... especially since ryan has been working so much recently. he is in the midst of a killer stretch - he is on call all day today and tonight and if he doesn't have the chance to catch any shut eye tonight, he will have slept about 5 hours in a total of 60 hours. can we have a collective sigh for him?... how horrendous is that? so, christmas break can't come soon enough!! but, we did manage to have a great weekend and get a few pics of the past few days...


steph, duke, ry and lily with her first christmas tree! (thankfully she doesn't seem to take after her dad and the tree is still standing and remains unscathed!)


our happy little one!


mmmm... delicious!