Halloweens Past

In honor of Halloween I added my favorite "spooky" song, don't know the name of it but it's the one from Disneyland's Haunted Mansion ride. Just hearing it puts me back to the happiest place on earth!
I hate the fact that kids keep growing up! Halloween just isn't as cute with teenagers. No more family group themes, no more school parades, no more taking them trick or treating (well, that one I can live without). So to add some "cuteness" to my blog, I will revisit Halloween Memory Lane.Cuteness pretty much ended there. Not really sure how Igor, Dracula, and Baby Bop go together but look at Allison's cute little face! Oh well, we try to still have a little fun with big kids now. Here are a few photos from a year or two ago minus the "cuteness" factor.A tradition is to have a crazy meal to celebrate the night. Last year I made Oven Baked Chicken "Witch hands."

Straight teeth coming soon

Remember straightening a paper clip in attempt to make a pretend retainer? C'mon, admit it. I know I wasn't the only one. Instead of being grateful for straight teeth, I was always a little jealous of my friends with shiny silver in their mouth. Now Allison gets to live out my childhood dream.

The Dr. said she'll need her braces for about 14 months. I'm sure the top thing on her Christmas list next year will be to get them off. Her bottom braces will be put on in a few months once the top teeth move out of the way a little bit. So far, she's been great with just a little Tylonel. We're really proud of what a trooper she's been because Allison usually makes it very well known when she is in the slightest bit of pain. Her lips and mouth have done just fine dealing with the sharp brackets. Her biggest dilemma of the whole process was trying to decide what color rubber bands to get.
She chose purple, of course!

"Come What May and Love It"

As soon as I heard this talk in conference I knew I would use this quote for the title of this last game post. I think the anticipation leading up to Jordan's last game was much worse than the actual event (in my opinion anyway). Jordan would probably disagree.

A few of us "Senior Moms" scrambled all day to make this last game day just a little more special than normal. It was crazy for me because I had to also drive Allison all the way down to dance at Timpview High School in the middle of all the prep. work, but Brendan's mom and dad came to rescue and were so great to pick her up afterward and bring her to the stadium so that I didn't have to miss any of the actual game.

We all tried to be positive, but we knew that a win was mostly likely not going to happen as we were playing Pleasant Grove who were already the region champs and had only lost one game all year. But that wasn't the point of the night. Again, Jordan would disagree, but since I'm the one writing this blog, you get MY perspective.

There really isn't much about the actual game to be excited about so I'll focus on the other stuff through the following photos.

Last team dinner.

Jordan sat by his "brothers" and by Janice who is adored by everyone. She has been their trainer (physical therapist) for the last 3 years and is the one responsible for taping them, icing them, massaging them, and being a great friend. They call her the miracle worker.

End of the year baskets given out to the whole team.

Thanks so much for Macey's for sponsoring the team.

Jordan and Kaden Jones (the back up soph. QB).

Great friends and two of the best looking boys on the team, according to me and Kaden's mom, anyway. Whenever anything bad would happen in a game, Kaden's mom would lean over and say, "At least they're still cute!" I'm going to miss my stadium mom friends.

At half-time, all the senior boys were escorted back to the field by their parents. It was such a proud, but sad moment for Brendan and I. As team captain, Jordan got to lead out first.

Each senior gave their mom flowers and a little smooch and then they received a black duffel bag with Lehi Football, their name and number embroidered on it. There are 31 graduating members of the team and it took the whole length of the field to line everybody up.

Tears of love and sadness starting coming out of everyone's eyes after the game. The team huddled together one last time under the "L" for a photo. I tried to take a few more personal photos, but most came out too dark or blurry. There weren't too many smiles on any faces.

These last two photos probably mean the most. Jordan and Bo have been really close since 6th grade tackle football started (back in the day there was only flag football until 6th grade). Jordan was always the quarterback and Bo was the center so their teamwork was essential to every game. Don't ask me why Bo took off his jersey. He's the nicest kid ever and not the scary dude that appears in the photo. Bo's Dad also coached them, along with Brendan, from 6th to 9th grade so this friendship is extra special. And then the last photo is tender because it's of Jordan walking off the Lehi field for the last time.

We still have the team banquet for all the players and their parents to plan and look forward to next month, but the main part is all over. The worst part is not being able to say, "See you all next season."

We have had many talks with Jordan about his future plans and he's not sure if he is going to pursue college football. Of course that would be his dream, but at this point he's not sure if his main objective is to play football just anywhere or if he is ready to put it behind him as one of the best experiences of his life. His coach and the recruiters have said that he has the talent and the grades to get a full ride scholarship playing football, but most likely not at the in state universities. The problem lies in the fact that those out of state schools will not hold a football scholarship for him for two years while he serves a mission. We're proud that he has made that his next priority. That is, after he starts concentrating on his upcoming debate tournaments, AND after he plays another season of basketball on the city and ward levels, AND finishes out his last season of running high school track. He's currently applying to BYU, U of U, Utah State and Snow. There's always a slight chance of getting on a team as a walk-on. We'll see. But whatever happens, we'll all all just try to live by Elder Wirthlin's words, "Come what may and love it.” Thanks to everyone who made it out to his games, for your awesome supportive comments, and for sticking through reading my blog football post after football post. Normal life has now resumed at the Smith home--well, whatever normal is.

Jordan's last game

This picture says it all....

I added "Lean On Me" to our playlist to honor their team theme song. I will post all the details later.

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday and I wish I could give him a hug and say "Happy Birthday Dads!" But I'm not even sure how to get a hold of him as they are traveling around Colombia visiting with Stake Presidents all over the country this month and next. Today also marks their half way point on their mission. So in honor of my Dad, I thought I would write the top 10 lessons I've learned from him so far.
10. Life is too short to not take vacations.
9. Always look on the bright side of things and on the good side of people. Stay positive and good things will happen.
8. If you're tired, take a nap.
7. One of the main purposes of life is to spoil your grandkids.
6. There is absolutely nothing more important than FAMILY.
5. Nothing learned in life is a waste...not even math! He had to say that sentence to me over and over again when I was in high school taking Trigonometry.
4. Speaking kindly, even when disciplining, goes a long way.
3. The key to a happy marriage is to love your spouse more than yourself.
2. When you have kids, never EVER book a hotel unless you have made sure that it has a pool!
1. And in spite of my incredible Dad, I've learned that patience is a virtue...especially while waiting to be seated in a restaurant. Right, family?

I love you Dads. I hope that when you read this, you'll know how much I love you, miss you, and appreciate ALL the many sacrifices you have made in your life to make mine better. You are the best and we are all so blessed that get to call you Dad and Grandpa! Hope your day was great!~

Tonight is it

I’m such a baby. I’ve been misty eyed all morning. Tonight is Jordan's last football game, most likely forever! They’re doing a thing at halftime to say good-bye to all the Senior players and we, as parents, are escorting our boys on to the field. I may not make it through it all…..

Triple Deckers

We just happened to be staying at the same hotel in St. George as our friends/neighbors the Campbells. So we met up for breakfast and then it was time for some pool fun.

This is what a few suds in a hot tub does to people...

And the winners of the chicken fight are....

Jake's triple decker!

Demi's triple decker!

And after many attempts...
Jordan's quadruple decker!!!!

Tuachan

We spent the weekend of Fall Break having a ball . It was SO MUCH FUN to be all together...talking, eating, sleeping...24/7. We just don't get that much time with all 5 of us anymore. We weren't able to join my brothers in California for our traditional Fall Disneyland trip :( , but we made it as far as St. George.

We got tickets to see Saturday night's closing performance of Les Miserables at Tuachan. It's our absolute favorite play and no one does plays better than Tuachan. We weren't disappointed. WOW! It was amazing. We have seen it numerous times and know how it ends, but I was bawling the whole time. Jordan kept teasing me about it. It was dark and we couldn't see each other so he would just reach over and touch my cheeks during the sad parts and say, "Yep, still crying!" Oh, it was just so good, I wish I could describe it.

When we first got there, I wanted to stop and take a nice family photo in front of the huge red rock TUACHAN sign with the green grass and waterfall, but when I suggested it, I got a loud "NO!" (in unison) from everyone. Sheesh! I'm just trying to create memories, guys. Here are a few photos that I managed to get during the pre show....some with cooperation and some with obvious annoyance.

My two favorite actors/characters: Fontine and Jean Valjean

New Member of our family

Nicole and Liz came over today while Jordan was at work to ask him out to Sadie Hawkins. I was so happy that she didn't trash his room with confetti or cereal or other obnoxious stuff. Instead, she gave us a new little family member. Jordan got a fish on his first day of kindergarten that looked just like this one, so it will bring back fun memories. The poster reads, "Out of all the fishys in the sea, I picked you to go to Sadie's with me. Love.... ah you know who." We'll see what Jordan names it when he sees it tonight. Now, the challenge is how to answer back. Any clever ideas?

Lehi Homecoming week

This past week Lehi High School celebrated not only Homecoming week but it's 100 year old birthday. It started out with this fun surprise for Jordan on our door from the cheerleaders.

The team mom in charge of the dinner this week was out of control. She did a burrito/taco spread that would have put Cafe Rio to shame. Everyone got stuffed and then it was time for Banana Cream and Chocolate cream pies! Wow!

Jenny Dew, Marnie Stadel and I conspired together and snuck into the school's homecoming pep assembly Friday morning. How could we pass up the chance to see our Senior boys dressed up in cheerleader uniforms performing for the school? It was hilarious!

They learned a whole dance routine complete with stunts and lifts. It was more of a mess than anything, but hey, they're football players. Jordan and Brennan topped it off with sommersaults at the end. We were so bummed that we sat at the wrong side of the gym and only got the back side of their performance.

(To hear the video without my music in the background go up to the playlist and click on the first button of three on the top left.) I got the evil eye from Jordan when he saw me, but I'm sure he'll be glad to have the memory captured in photos years from now.

The funniest was seeing 255 lb. Bear (Dylan Stadel) in this tiny uniform. Here is a photo of him holding Jordan and Jordan who each way about 170 lbs. Love you guys!

It was wonderful to have a lot of our family come to the football game and support Jordan and the team. We've been SO lucky to have pretty decent weather for both of our boys' games. But last Friday it is was FREEZING!!! We came prepared, but it was still the coldest we've ever been at a game (and we have gone to a lot of games.) Kaden Jones, the back up quarterback was about to go in during the 4th quarter, but when the coach called for him, he discovered that he couldn't talk and was having a hard time breathing. Poor kid got hypothermia! He was taken into to locker room to warm up. The game went from bad to worse and we lost...again. We'll look on the bright side though...Jordan finally connected a touchdown pass to Jordan Dew. We have been waiting for a touchdown from Jordan to Jordan all season. Our Jordan took the snap for the PAT (since Kaden was frozen). It was a bad snap so he wasn't able to set the ball for the kicker. He did however manage to scramble out of a bunch of defenders and ran it in for two points. Those were about the only fun parts of the game, but we're over it now.

Jordan said the homecoming dance the next day was probably the most fun he's ever had at a dance. He went with a group of 16 which makes it that much more fun. We're proud that he was able to get one of his best friends to go on his first date ever! Great times and great memories! We're all having fun during "our family's" senior year. Yes, a big part of it is football, but the assemblies, activities, dances, and friends are what makes it memorable. We're just glad that Jordan let's us all be such a big part of it. Now Jake and Allison know to expect Mom with her camera at their Senior assemblies. Sorry...that's just part of life in our family.

Did absolutely nothing!!

This past Saturday I looked on our calendar and saw that I had absolutely nothing going on. The kids had a few plans but nothing for me.

I slept in and then just sat up in bed to continue reading "Breaking Dawn." I'm finally getting around to it. I stayed in my jammies the whole entire day. Anyone that knows me knows that I don't ever do that unless I'm deathly sick. I did eventually move down to the couch and finished reading an Oprah magazine and then back to my book. I didn't cook anything, I didn't wash any dishes, and I didn't shower until 4 pm!

Brendan went to a Young Men's activity in the morning and then to the BYU game with Jason. They took Allison to play with her cousins all afternnon at Brendan's mom and dads since his sister was here from Arizona. Jordan was gone on his day date for Homecoming and Jake was busy making plans with his friends.

I did have to take Jake to Liberty land (but I did it in my jammies.) He and his friends went to volunteer to work in the haunted house. Afterall, they give you a whole candy bar when you're done. But I guess the point is being able to scare people.

Jordan ran to the store to buy a new shirt and tie after his day date. He was running late and so I pulled my lazy behind off the couch and ironed his shirt for him.

With an empty house and my reading in full swing I realized how nice it was to have a whole day without the TV on! We had scrambled eggs and toast for dinner when Brendan and Allison got home. I have to say I had a pretty great day wrapped up in the vampire world of Edward and Bella!

Never thought I'd say this...

...but I LOVE texting!
After a few years of watching Jordan, and now Jake, compulsively hit the keys on their cells phones nonstop each evening I was ready to scream! It drove me crazy that they would be carrying on "conversations" with multiple people at the same time and never actually "talked" to any of them. It has been a blessing that Jordan's girlfriend doesn't have a cell phone so he has been forced to learn to use his voice for communication.

Anyway, it's been so fun to learn how to text even though my kids roll their eyes at how slow I am. I'm amazed at how I can get a long response from my kids before I have even had time to close my phone.

The whole point I'm trying to make is that it's a great tool to keep in touch with your teenagers. Jordan and Jake text me at least once or twice every single day with news about how they did on a test, news from school, to let me know of change of plans, and even to share heart felt personal experiences and struggles. Sometimes we'll talk about it later, but sometimes it's a long conversation back and forth through buttons on our cell phones filled with questions and advice and a feeling of love and understanding. When Jordan leaves on his mission I'm going to really miss our "daily text chats" just as much as I'm going to miss seeing him. Brendan and I have a great time sending "notes" to each other too! LOVE IT!!!

Like with anything these days, there are some down sides and we are still making Allison wait a while longer before she can have one of her own. I know, mean Mom!

Week In Review

Last Monday, after discussing the upcoming events for the week, Brendan and I got a little insight as to why living a polygamist lifestyle could be beneficial....more parents to get the kids to their activities and be there to support them all. But I guess more wives = more kids so it would feel just about the same or worse.
Monday -
Visiting Teaching
Activity Days at our house 3:45 to 4:45
Football Carpool 4:45 to 5:15
Mascot Bowl 6:30 to 9:00

Tuesday -
Football Carpool 4:45
Dance class at Timpview (East Provo) 5:15 to 7:00
That's a 30-40 minute drive each way!
Young Mens for Brendan and the boys 7:00 to 8:30
YW Standards night for Allison and mom 7:00 to 8:30

Wednesday -
Piano lessons 3:00 to 3:30
Football Carpool 4:30
High School team dinner (that was enough work for a whole week for me!) 4:30 to 6:30
Jr. High Parent Teacher Conference (16 teachers worth!) 4:00-7 :00. Brendan did this one on his own. First one that I have EVER missed. It killed me.
Jake did a cute activity in seminary and wanted to do it for a family home evening for us. Jordan protested, "It's freakin' Wednesday!" We did it anyway. Thanks Jake!

Thursday -
Football Carpool 4:45
Dance at Timpview 5:15-7 :30 (extra long practice)
Varsity Offensive team film review/dinner 6:30 to 9:00 (Our house survived this with the members of the Varsity football team's starting offensive line and no parents at home!)
Jake's Football game at Timpanogos (Orem) 7-9 First win of the season!!!!!! Photos coming.

Friday -
Help run a booth at the Jr. High Reality Town 7:45 to 11:30 a.m.
Time with Gracie and Michele (so fun!) 11:30 to 2:00
Football carpool 4:45 to 5:15
Jordan's Football game at Lehi 7:00 to 9:30
Peden's Anniversary party 9:30 to midnight (party!!!)

Saturday-
Morning Conference
Quick stop at Costco
Drive up to Sundance to spend the weekend at a cabin with great friends!
Priesthood conference and dinner at Brick Oven for the boys. Brendan, Jordan, and Jake love this tradition with their Brendan's dad and all of his brothers.
Stay up till 2:00 a.m. talking, laughing, and playing games with friends.

Sunday
Get up early to start a roast for lunch
Listen to conference over the radio at the cabin (so hard to do when you are used to letting your mind wander because it's so easy to hit the rewind button on the remote). Good thing we recorded it at home...instant FHE for Monday.
Have a great lunch around a huge table surrounded by friends and family.
Deal with cold, wet kids who insisted that the pouring rain wasn't cold and promised that they wouldn't fall in the river!

It was a very crazy, but very fun week for us. Now try to squeeze in making and eating dinner sometime before 9:00 pm, doing homework (Jake had a huge research paper due this past week), laundry, and two hairbow orders and it makes for a very busy life. Thank goodness we are blessed to be healthy and strong and somewhat sane, for now at least, because this week doesn't look any less hectic! If Jordan didn't drive and if we had more than 3 kids I would definitely start shopping around for a second wife---FOR ME!

Pioneer Trek

This post is really late in coming and out of order, but it was a significant experience and one that is definitely better late than never.

I'm sure the Pioneers weren't quite as excited as our ward's youth were to start on their Trek across the plains. It was a lot of work just to prepare for it and our leaders did such a great job. It was fun going to D.I. to look for authentic Pioneer clothing (a requirement) and running into neighbors and friends there all looking for khaki pants and long sleeved plaid shirts. Everyone was allowed 17 lbs. of gear which they had to fit in a 5 gallon bucket. Not much room once you get started. I found these great green buckets at Cabellas with a cushioned lid which was perfect since their buckets had to serve as their only source of seating. I said good-bye to my boys at 5:45 a.m. on August 7th. The actual trek details as told by Brendan and are as follows...

"What an awesome experience!!! We left early that morning and drove through to Independence Rock, a huge rock formation that juts out above the Wyoming plains. The pioneers and people on the Oregon trail would cut or paint their names on the rock as they passed it. It's called independence rock because the travelers knew if they made it there by independence day they would make it to the coast before winter. We all climbed up onto the rock and looked out over the plains. As I looked down, I could see the highway with many cars and trucks driving 80 miles per hour and I thought, "if the poineers could see what I'm seeing, wouldn't they be amazed at the speeds we travel today". We saw many of the cut in signatures on the rock, some dating back to the early 1800's. We ate lunch then drove to Martin's cove and pulled our handcarts three miles to our campground where we enjoyed square dancing and a fireside.

The next day we were led by a guide into Martins cove, where the Martin handcart company tried to take refuge from the early winter storms. Many of the company died there while they waited for the rescue wagons to arrive. What a sweet spirit that place has. The spirit of the pioneers and their great sacrifices.

I loved just being where the pioneers actually travelled. I looked at the clear night sky, with millions of stars visible, and imagined myself traveling with the poineers and seeing the exact same night sky. I thought of the poineers praying that they would arrive safely in the valley soon. In some places you can still see the wagon ruts along the trail. I looked miles down the trail at the ruts going off into the distance and over the hills and imagined walking along with the wagon train, on my way to the Great Salt Lake Valley. How excited and scared they must have felt.

We had one big scare while we were on an activity called the "Women's Pull". It involved having the men pretend they had been called to go with the Mormon battalion and leave the women behind. The women then pulled the handcarts all alone. The boys went up ahead and were told to stand along a hillside and watch "like angels unable to help" as the girls pulled the handcarts up the hill on their own. What an amazing thing, you could see the strain on the boys faces as they watched the girls pull the handcarts up the hill, unable to help. When we finished, one girl in our group had a serious asthma attack and another girl fell down exhausted with heat exhaustion and dehydration. It was a scary moment as our medical people gave her an IV and we all waited for a medical rescue. We were miles up the trail so it took 15 to 20 minutes for them to arrive by motorized cart. Our bishopric gave her a blessing as we were waiting, then we all knelt down and prayed that she would be okay as she was taken away by the medical team. She ended up being okay after they took her back to the main camp and got her inside some air conditioning. We were able to witness the power of the preisthood and the power of prayer in action. We felt a little of the fear the pioneers must have felt as their loved ones would fall ill from sickness and injury along the trail.

Another activity that impacted me was our crossing of the Sweetwater river. We reenacted the experience of the pioneers by having two violinists play "Come Come ye Saints" while our 17 year old Priests carried all the girls and women in our group across the river. For us, it was late summer and good weather, the river was very low and warm, there was no danger. For the poineers, it was early winter, the river was higher and chunks of ice floated past thier legs. It must have been terrifying. For us, it was a reverent, solemn experience that I will never forget.

We then drove to Rock Creek where the Willie handcart company spent time waiting for the rescue wagons. We saw the mass grave site where 15 were buried after a very difficult and cold night, and we saw other individual grave sites. We had a testimony meeting there. I loved hearing the testimonies of the youth, and how our trek experience impacted them and built their testimonies.I recommend that anyone who has a chance to go and see Martins Cove and/or Rock Creek that they take it. You don't have to go as a youth group, you can go as a family or even by yourself. You don't have to pull a handcart if you don't want to. You can just hike to the cove and feel the spirit. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. "

These photos were taken by a good friend and sent to me which I am so grateful for since Brendan didn't have a camera on him. Our ward put together hundreds of pictures and video and put them on a CD for each participant to have. It's so amazing and helps the rest of us that didn't go to feel the spirit that was there. It will be a treasure in our family forever.

Just a few more weeks

I had to put up this cool picture of Jordan, Ben, and Bo that one of the photographers just took during a game opener. I just love these guys...if you can't already tell since I've replaced our family picture for them. But I'll put "us" back on in November. Football season only has a few weeks left and then the mourning will begin in our family. We've always been able to feel better knowing that there's always next year, but this time there won't be a next year for Jordan and most of his teammates. Of course, they would all love to play college football, but the reality is that it just won't happen for most of them. This is it and we are all trying to soak in every minute of it. Ok, I'm not going to start getting all sentimental yet because we still have 4 games left and I'll host the pity party later. For now...it's game time!

Oh, by the way...It was my turn to be in charge of doing the team dinner last night. "WHEW" is all I can say. It's not everyday that I go buy and prepare enough food to feed 100 people, let alone 100 football players. We served pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, potato salad, chips, and ice cream with homemade hot fudge sauce. I had help from 5 fabulous team moms so that was wonderful! Allison and Angelina Dew manned the drinks and did a great job. Everyone was fed and a few got seconds but we pretty much ran out of everything! As one of the moms said to me though, "You could have prepared double of everything that was out and it still would have been gone. If there's food left, they'll just keeping coming for more!" So true. Our guest speaker fell through the night before so I tried to scramble for a fun game for 15-18 year old boys (or should I say "men") to play. I came up with the idea of tug-o-war. We did sophomores vs. juniors first. Sophomores outnumbered them almost 2-1 so they won. Then the soph. played the seniors and the numbers won out again. The soph. team then divided up offense vs. defense and so and and so on until we crowned one champion. It got really rowdy and we had to do several heats over because all the juniors and seniors had a hard time not jumping in on one side or the other. The point was to have fun and build team unity. I think it was achieved. I'm glad it's over though. Boy, what a day!