Shocking-- A new post!

After taking a blog hiatus, OK laziness, I have some great exciting Smith events to blog about!!

Our baby turned 8! Boy, did she ever shine all dressed in white!  Emily so so excited for this day to finally arrive. 

Upon exiting the sacred ordinance, she said "I kinda thought Heavenly Father would make the water a little warmer for me" We just love this witty girl!

 

 So thankful for the many family and friends that came to support her!

This cute girl turned 10!

The kids got a Valentine Dog- Pepper

I was called to be YW Camp director and got to go with my cute little girl.. cuz she is turning 12!

We had a ball together!

This guy turned 14!

He took 1st place in his weight at wrestling!

..and is starting High School this year!

Todd and Shayne went to see Jimmer play with all the Smith Boy's.. and they won, that round at least!

Mama starting bring home a paycheck.. working for a Dentist.. in Ahwatukee!  I've realized me and rush hour are not a match made in heaven!

This handsome guy has survived a tailbone surgery, started a new job and became Mr. Mom in the mornings!  Which is no easy feat considering he has 3 daughters to get out the door each morning!

So, as you can see, we are all alive and well and very busy!

Mom's Trip 2010

Todd's little brother Kevin is the last one in the family to reproduce.  When we found out that he and his wife Laura were expecting, all the sister-in-laws starting planning a surprise trip back east!  It seems like we'd been planning and thinking about this trip for forever!  The weekend finally came....and it didn't disappoint!~

We flew into Baltimore and spend our first day touring our Nations capital in the cool rain.
We got to go hit all the sites.  Washington really is an amazing place. 

(Laurie, Stacy, Me, Lindsay, Janet)

The last and only other time that I've been to DC, was for Kevin's wedding and we had all the kids with us.  We dragged them all around the National Mall but this experience was a bit different.  No kids whining, no potty stops every 15 seconds, and no big crowds. 

Thanks to the raining day, we even got tickets this time to go up top of the Washington Monument.  Amazing views.

The real reason for the trip was to surprise Laura for her baby shower.  With a lot of help from her hubby we pulled off a huge surprise! 

(Lindsay, Me and Stacy)

(Lindsay and Laurie)

Us Smith girls have never taken an all mom trip before.  We did some major bonding, a ton of laughing, great site seeing and of coarse some shopping!

Kevin and Laura live in Annapolis, MD.  Home of the Navy campus, beautiful sail boats, gorgeous views, amazing crepes and a fun town feel.  We toured the Navy campus which by itself is an amazing place!

Couldn't you just die for this view in your back window?  My view at home is of Panda Express and a gas station, I think I'd rather see this view everyday hands down!!

This is memorial hall on the Navy campus.  I had a bit of a moment in here.  The photos on the wall, the stories of heroes, the feeling in that room was a strong spiritual moment.  As I read and saw everything that this hall had to offer, my mind went back to my son who is now a teenager.  In the not to near future he will be making some major life decision's that may lead him down the path to Navy.  I'm just praying for BYU and and mission but I'll love and support him either way!  War.....Mission..... hmmmm.  I loved this plaque behind me "Don't give up the ship"  that saying is profound! 

Our trip was an amazing get away!  I feel so much closer to all my sister~in~laws!  Together we sure can have a ball!! Thank you all for an amazing trip, and mostly thank you Kev and Laura for giving us a great reason to come!!

Helmets, Pads and Cleats

Fall is finally in the air and Saturdays at our house are
spent on the field(s) and court.

Shayne finally convinced me to let him play some "real" football.  No more flag.

I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to stay put on the sidelines if he happened to take a hard hit... but as I've now learned... he is plenty big to take the hits and really good at giving the hits!   

Emily starting playing soccer and loves every kick!  She scored her first goal on Saturday and she was all smiles!!  Our Emily has some serious soccer skills!

Megan is playing volleyball, finally a kid that loves a sport that I love to play!  Lucky girl gets her mom to be her coach, some days she doesn't feel so lucky I'm sure!  I've got to get a picture of her in action, she's really great! So until then, she is sure growing up fast!

Ashley is waiting for softball to come around!  She can handle that a bat like no other!  Action pictures of her coming soon too!  Until then, she wins the prize for super supportive sister!

The back to school blues

Today was the start of a new school year!

The endless school supplies were bought, the backpacks were packed and the ever important first day of school outfit were layed out ready to go. Excitement and fear were in the air. We had a little laughing and a lot of nervous crying, but what girl doesn't do that right?
  This is a big year for us!

Shayne is now big man on campus.. 8th grade!

Megan is big gal on her campus... 6th grade!

 

Ashley is headin to 4th grade!

and Emily is heading to the doctor! 

Our poor little girl has strep. 

What a way to start off 2nd grade!

I'm hoping and praying that this is NOT a sign of things to come!!

After school report:  Everyone (minus Emily) had a great day!  I love when that happens!!

Roadtrip

Every two years the Smith family has a big fat reunion. Every comes to a designated spot... this year Yellowstone!

We even "rented" another boy to tag along for Shayne's sake. 15 girls and 3 boys can sometimes be a bit much for a kid ya know!

We played in many rivers. We even tubed down a clean, non glass filled, non drunken river!  You can't find that in Phoenix!  The best was when we broke out the air mattresses and tubed down on those babies!  The kids thought that was the best!!

Aunt Laura is adding to the girls in the family with a new baby in November.  So the little girls had a surprise baby shower for her one night.  They had each come with a little "offering" for the newest little cousin.  Such a fun night!
 

Most of the grand kids at Mesa Falls.

Great Grandma Grace even joined us for this reunion!  We had a great time getting to know her better and her knowing our kids better.  She is a true trooper!  For being 80 something she went everywhere with us!

Yes, Shayne is taller than me...

The stinky mud pots.  Emily's face says it all!

We were in the typical bison traffic jam..

The red beauty is Kevin and Laura's car.  We were right behind them.  This bison wasn't so fond of Kevin's red car!  He snorted and growled at the car for a good 15 minutes or so!  We all wanted to have an up close view of a bison... I guess we got our wish, multiple times!

In one of our bison jams, Shayne spotted some bison fur on a near by tree.  Lucky for us, he got out and grab some for a souvenir.

Old Faithful didn't disappoint.  Funny, I thought it shot up higher when I was a kid!  The wind was blowing so hard that the blast was more of a sideways blast instead of the straight up in the air kind of blast.

We made all the Utah stops..

This stop about gave a few dad's a heart attack!

BYU Idaho..

got to love the free magazines!

We had the BEST time!!

A boys dream come true

Shayne marked off one of his dreams this year as he got to attend a football camp at BYU that was lead by former BYU players.  Since we were heading to a reunion anyway, we decided to leave a day early and let Shayne ooohhh and awwww at some of his football hero's!

Getting a pep talk from Max Hall.

Shayne and Dennis Pitta.  Dennis was Shayne's coach all day!  His team played against Johnny Harlings team and Shayne made an incredible diving catch.  He got high-fived and patted on the booty after his catch, isn't that the right of passage in the football world?

Max Hall and Shayne
He had the time of his life!  He got great tips and hints and some new found confidence that will last him a lifetime!

11

Eleven short years ago, a little tiny girl entered into our family...

and just look at her now!!

Growing up with all brothers I never thought I'd have a little girl of my own.  Megan is like the sister I never had.  She loves to go anywhere and everywhere with me!  She is my shopping buddy, my best helper and loves so many of the same things that I love!

She's a smarty pants that excels at school, and loves to read. 

She's as witty as they come and the one liners she comes up with on the fly makes us smile.

She is an artist and a musician.

She loves to cook and bake and is learning how to sew.

She makes a mean batch of brownies and she creates some dang good stuff.

She's our responsible mind of reason and a great peacemaker.

She loves to play basketball and volleyball and is learning to hold her own in the wrestling department with her bother and sisters.

Happy Birthday to our one and only

Mag-mo

Megs

Maggy-pie

MJ

and

Megan

We love you!!