Merry and Bright

I LOVE this time of year. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. And I don't just mean I love this time of year like the way you love nibbling on frozen cookie dough (although we all know sneaking a bit or two every now and then is quite divine), or love playing Guitar Hero, or love a good kickboxing class (okay, so that's a close one). I mean I LOVE this time of year. Like the way a 4 year old LOVES Disneyland on his very first visit...it's magical. (Or the way I pretty much STILL love Disneyland, according to Kody. Come on.. it IS the happiest place on earth.) I'll admit, I broke down and started playing Christmas music this year in October... I just couldn't wait any longer! Holiday cheer, baking goodies, lights and decorations, playing secret santa, sipping hot cocoa, leaving christmas goodies on neighbor's doorsteps, holiday traditions, I love it all. Maybe we let the light of Christ shine just a little brighter through us this time of year... and maybe a month-long Christmas sugar rush excites my sweet tooth into a delirious fit. Either way, there is so much goodness floating around from Thanksgiving to New Years, and now that I'm officially on a 2-week break from dental school, I can enjoy every minute of it!

A quick fall wrap-up: Residency and dental school schedules resulted in a busy autumn that flew by. We got through Kody working almost a month of night shifts, equating to us seeing each other for about 1/2 hour a day...so glad that is over with (for now)! I guess we figured we'd adopt a pet to give us a little more responsibility at home before we take the plunge into parenthood, and now we have quite a playful little 'leopard' roaming around the Smith household. For Thanksgiving, almost all of the Rex clan gathered here in Phoenix for the week. Such fun times filled with lots of card playing, cooking, bocce ball, eating, Harry Potter, running, and even a little Turkey bowl action. And the last three weeks I've been busy finishing up Cardio/Pulmonary, Renal, and Dental Anatomy classes - I think I had 12 tests in the last 3 weeks... I'm loving dental school, but I'm definitely ready for a study break!

A few pics from our trip to Utah in November. We were able to meet up with our favorite friends from Grand Cayman... so fun to reminisce on island life and meet their darling little Oliver!







I dressed up with some other dents for a Halloween party...and proud to say we made our costumes ourselves.


After 6 years of marriage, we finally have a REAL, full-sized Christmas tree to enjoy. I think the biggest we had prior to this was a 2-foot potted rosemary 'tree'. So pretty excited about that development. We even decorated it to Christmas music and sat and drank hot chocolate afterward by the light of the tree. (Kind of hard to do with a 2-foot tree.. :) Let the Christmas traditions begin!

I caught Kody whistling while he works...






Meesha had to make sure our tree was a good one...




May your hearts be warmed by good tidings of great joy, and the twinkling of Christmas lights. May you be surrounded by those you love, and may your days be Merry and Bright.

Introducing...

So, it has come time to settle down, establish some roots, act like grown-ups. What better way to do that than introduce something into our lives that's small, doesn't like change, and depends on us for almost everything. Without further adieu I present...















Meesha! The newest member of the Smith clan.

A little update

So... it's been a little while. Studying about phosphofructokinase, chylomicrons, or insulin resistance has pretty much been my life as of late, along with the occasional workout or break time spent with my personal M.D., who himself has been found delivering babies, draining abscesses, and trying to squeeze in some occasional sleep while working night shift for 3 weeks. (Sorry, didn't mean to use the words 'abscess' and 'squeeze' in the same sentence... actually while we're at it, he drained an abscess on the 'left inner buttocks' of a rather large man yesterday. Good man, that Kody Smith. Good man.)

But the last two weekends we decided we needed a break... we headed up to Utah for a BYU football game (and the Cougs actually came through for us) and spent time with Kody's brother and his family for the blessing of their newest daughter, Evelyn. This weekend my mom came into town for a girls' weekend at Time Out for Women with my sister and her two daughters. Such a great time. Uplifting, fun, rejuvenating. Just the ticket.

I'll post some pictures soon. But in the meantime, be sure to eat your veggies and get some exercise. Maybe these kids can convince you...







p.s. - Is anyone else counting down for the holiday season to begin?? Christmas music, playing secret santa, delivering goodie plates, lights and decorations, getting together with loved ones and relishing in the Spirit of the season... I've been waiting all year long!

Going Back

Then...And now...Coco & Jamers, back then...

The LDS kiddos, today...


A few weeks ago I hopped in the car and drove back home for the first time in a long time. Not to Camarillo where my parents live now, but back to the streets where I rode my bike and first learned to drive, back to the school yards where I ran track and played softball, back to the neighborhoods we used to toilet-paper in high school and to the house where I spent the first 18 years of my life. Back to Orange, CA for my 10 year high school reunion. So good to be back. I know it's best to live life focused on today and what lies ahead, and not to dwell on days of the past. But sometimes it's good to reflect on the people and experiences that helped to get you where you are today.

After 10 years of being away, I loved seeing old friends and classmates and noticing, for the majority, how happy people were. Life hasn't necessarily been easy for everyone or panned out the way they expected, but it was great to see people in a good place in their lives, content with who they are, over the drama of high school, and just doing well. Maybe still figuring things out, yes, but just happy and doing well. And mostly, I loved seeing my girls. I had the best group of friends in high school, and while I've moved away and lived elsewhere since I first left for college, I still feel so fortunate and blessed to have each of them in my life. We still can get together after so much time and feel like nothing's changed. Girls just need girls. To have a few close friends can make all the difference in the world, and I'm so glad I had that during High School and still today.



If you had told me 10 years ago that I'd be in dental school and living in (and loving) Phoenix, AZ, I would have laughed. Funny what life can bring and how much can change in 10 years. And it's funny how much can stay the same.

Six Years Later

Happy Anniversary to my one and only. You are my dream come true. So "give me your forever" and "come away with me" all over again...


... and they lived happily ever after.

p.s. If we look tired in this picture, it's because we are. Kody was just off a 30 hour shift at the hospital, and I was running on 3 hours of sleep after my head & neck anatomy final (welcome to life as a resident doctor and dental student). But he took me to a gourmet restaurant perched on the north hills overlooking Phoenix valley. Such a perfect night... and on Saturday morning we slept and slept and slept.

Sweet Sedona

I think I just found my new favorite weekend get-away. Sedona is about two hours from Phoenix, and we'd been wanting to explore 'red-rock country' since we landed in AZ two months ago. We drove up with the Bradys and spent the day jumping off cliffs at Grasshopper Point and slipping n sliding through the natural waterslides at Slide Rock. So fun. And Sedona is beautiful... the Phoenix landscape has definitely grown on me (yeah, never thought cactus was very nice to look at before... still working on that one) but that red rock against the mountain greenery was so picturesque. We're ready to go again soon, wanna come?

There go Scott and and my nephew Ben...

Here's my neice Emmy... her hair is rockin in this pic!

Don't ask me why I stick my arms straight out when I jump... probably not smart when you hit the water.

Love this picture... we're all doing our random knee-jerk reaction jumping poses... Scott looks like he's trying to balance on a tight-rope, Taralee flails her legs and does mini-kicks in the air, I throw my arms straight out like I'm trying to fly, and Emmy plugs her nose and just steps straight out.

My nephew Sam sliding through the 'waterslide'... he was trying so hard to stay above water :)

And so it begins...

We finally have decorative cushions on our couch and an actual guest bedroom. Kody now receives calls asking for Dr. Smith. Larisa has retired from her over-seas law firm. We even splurged and finally have internet on our phones. And now, it looks as though we've finally caved and started a blog. There's no turning back now.

It appears as though.... we have arrived.

Welcome to Smithology.