Young Women's at last!

Allison is now 12!How can my baby girl be so old? I miss her little self dancing and being silly around the house. But I am thankful that she isn't as grown up as many of her friends. She still likes to cuddle, likes me to do her hair, and on quiet Saturday mornings can be found watching cartoons while holding her one of many baby dolls. She has gotten a little "hormonal" this last little while and I'm not sure if I can handle the full blown stuff that is coming our way.

She wanted to invite a ton of friends over for her birthday which was a lot of fun (and loud). Nothing planned worked out because they have their own ideas of fun and games, but it was a blast watching them. We were all excited that she picked Cafe Rio for her family birthday dinner!Allison was very ready to graduate from Primary, but very nervous for Young Women. She is the oldest in our ward for her grade so that meant leaving all of her friends behind and taking a giant leap all by herself. The Beehive class was so awesome to come over on her birthday and brought over a candy bar poster to welcome her. They came by to pick her up for their next activity and made an extra effort to make sure she was surrounded by new friends in YW opening exercises on Sunday.

Saying good-bye

Today we said good-bye to my mom and dad for 18 months. We were a little spoiled in that they went into the MTC 2 weeks ago, but they got to come sleep at home each night and say good-night. But tonight Brendan and I drove them to Salt Lake where they are staying in a hotel for a few days as they complete their training at the Church offices and then they catch their plane to Colombia early Saturday morning. Tonight they came back from the MTC and we had a nice family dinner. Ed's family was here too for a few hours. I made soup and rolls. We took a few photos with all the grandkids, then we loaded the car with LOTS of luggage, and then Allison played, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again," which she just learned to play by herself from the hymnbook. It was not easy to keep our composure during the song. We had a family prayer and then the kids said a tearful goodbye and had to go to bed since it was almost 10. Brendan and I drove them to their hotel in Salt Lake and helped them get situated. It was so hard to let go of our last hug for 18 months. We looked up from the parking lot as we drove away and saw them waving from their hotel room several floors up. I'm so thankful that they are in good health and have such a desire to serve this mission. They are going to be working in Bogota Colombia to help establish the Perpetual Education Fund that President Hinckly started a few years ago. It won't be a typical proselyting mission, but a perfect one for them. They will also be helping teach institute which will be nerve wracking for my mom, but my dad will coach her through it like he does everything else. He's such a people person and I know so much good is going to happen through them being there. They will miss a lot while they are gone, specifically Noah's baptism and Jordan's high school graduation (hopefully no births), but they felt an urgency to leave so they could be home to say good-bye to Jordan a few months before he leaves on his mission. We are all going to miss them, but I'm so thankful for their example to all of us. I love them so very much. What a blessing and privilege to be their daughter.

Passing of a prophet

Last Sunday night after all of my parents friends had left and after my mom and dad were set apart as missionaires, I was downstairs helping my dad with something on their computer when I heard Brendan scream, "OH NO!" It's not like him to do that so I immediately got up to see what happened. He ran downstairs and told us that he was watching TV and it was just announced that President Hinckley passed away. Tears rushed to the surface as we all sat down to absorb the news. Of course this was inevitable as he was 97 years old, but it was a day we all dreaded for a long time. Not President Hinckley. I love him so very much and had adopted him in my heart as my grandpa since I don't remember my own. His genuine love for all of us deeply touched me. I loved his humor and his "normalcy." He was so knowledgeable about the things and problems of today. He said things without any sugar coating, but in a way that made me want to obey and do it, just because he said it. His life was so full of good works. He built almost 100 temples during his presidency. He also built the conference center. He tuned the way the church was viewed by the world by being simple in his words and meeting with the press on many national interviews. He was a sweetheart. He was an amazing example. He was kind. He was faithful. His love and service was never-ending. He was good. He was a hardworker and always optimistic. He was a great leader. He was our beloved prophet - a man of God. His memory and words and teachings will forever be a huge part of my life. His request for all of us to read The Book of Mormon a few years ago changed my life. Before the night was over, both Jordan and Jake had received several text messages on their phones from friends suggesting they all wear white shirts and ties to school the next day to honor his memory. Only in Utah...it was so neat to see them all the next day. Love these kids!
Yesterday morning (Feb.1) was a no school day. Brendan and Ed were going to take the kids skiing. But 1st...Brendan wasn't able to get the day off work, 2nd...Ian spent all night throwing up, so Ed's family was out, 3rd...We woke up to yet another huge snowstorm. Jake was so sad. Since skiing was out, we all went back to bed and slept in a bit. It felt great! As the morning wore on, I kept feeling that we should go to Salt Lake and pay our respects to President Hinckley. His viewing was from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. I knew the crowds and lines would be huge, but felt like we needed to go. Jordan had to work, but I asked Jake and Allison if they wanted to go. Allison immediately said yes. Jake said that he had always wanted to see Pres. Hinckley. He knew that was his one and only opportunity. We quickly changed and grabbed a peanut butter sandwich and walked out the door right about 1:00. Brendan was able to get off work a few hours early and we all met at the Sandy Trax station. We got there just in time to park and literally run across the parking lot to make the train. We were all so excited, yet a little saddened to have the oppportunity to go to President Hinckley's viewing as a family (minus Jordan). We walked the two blocks to the conference center and arrived shortly after 3 pm. We got in the back of a ridiculously long line which was thankfully moving rather quickly. Only to be told 15 minutes later that we had to get in a longer, slower moving line becuse I had a purse and had to get it through security. It was about 25 degrees outside and we stood in the cold for just about an hour exactly. We finally made it in and were led to warm comfortable seats! There we waited and sat with thousands upon thousands of people as the ushers escorted section by section, row by row, to the viewing of his casket. We waited in our seats for 3 1/2 hours! We saw a video of President Hinckley's 95th birthday celebration - twice. Jake and I loved watching as the workers arranged hundreds of plants and flowers for tomorrows funeral. The podium was transformed before our eyes. It was finally our turn! We went up 3 flights of escalators to the Hall of the Prophets. As we approached the room where he was, I squeezed Jake's hand and he whispered, "I can feel the spirit so strong already." That alone was worth the wait and the cold. The smell of fresh fowers permiated the air. The line was split in two and we walked on either side of President Hinckley's casket. Tears filled my eyes and the words "thank you" rang out over and over in my mind.His small, fragile body looked hardly the same as the man who had lead our church for the past 12 years. I noticed that he was wearing his trademark black stoned wedding ring. We had to move quickly through, but all of us agreed that those few seconds of being able to be so near to our beloved prophet and feel of the spirit was worth our 6 hour journey. I was so thankful that we went. I was so thankful that Jake and Allison had this experience. It is one that we will never forget - ever!

It was almost 8:00 pm when we boarded the trax train to come home. We were starving! Jake suggested we go to Chuck-a-rama in Sandy since it's all you can eat. He was talking about all the things he wanted to get before we even got there. We talked about President Hinckley and other past prophets over dinner and had such a great time together.

I loved and will always love President Gordon B. Hinckley! It has been said that Joseph Smith has done more for the salvation of man, save Jesus Christ. I agree, but I have to add that I believe President Hinckley is a close 3rd. What a legacy he left us all.

Mom and Dad's mission farewell

We spent last weekend cleaning and re-arranging our house in preparation for my mom and dad's farewell brunch/open house. I did their invitations and we sent out over 50, not including their current ward members so we were expecting a large crowd. We stayed up late last Saturday making egg casseroles and all the final little details. Their farewell was at 9 a.m. the next morning. My mom asked me to be in charge of giving headphones to all the non-spanish speaking guests. I was so touched by my parents' testimonies and their excitement to serve. My mom paid a beautiful tribute to my grandma and said that she was serving this mission to say thank-you to our Heavenly Father for her many blessings and for all the mercies that He showed to Teta during her last few months. They had been planning to go a few years back, right when Teta got sick so it was a blessing that they were still here for that and postponed putting their papers in. My dad's tender emotions touched us all and I just know how great he'll be in helping and serving. Our house was filled to capacity and beyond with all of their friends and past ward members that came to support them. I'm so glad that we had enough food. They have had so much fun this past week at the MTC. They loved being with all the Elders and being a part of the MTC family. They have been able to come home each evening afer dinner so it's been nice to not have to say good-bye for good yet. Last night was especially fun because it was my mom's birthday. I made her a pumpking/cream cheese roll. I had prayed for weeks to know what to get her. She can't take more "stuff" with her and already has all that she needs. The night before her birthday I had the thought to buy her a locket that she could wear while on her mission and put Teta's picture in it. I found the perfect one at Kohl's with Teta's birthstone on the outside. I was so grateful fo that inspiration.

The latest, not necessarily the greatest

Jordan had his first car accident on New Year's eve. Thankfully it was a minor literal "fender bender" and no one got hurt and there were no other cars involved. He had a fight with a tree and lost. It came about as a result of trying to slide in the snow (like his Dad always does) with a front wheel drive car. Thank goodness it was a tiny tree in our neighborhood (the tree is fine too) and that he didn't hurt anyone or anyone else's car. Hopefully being grounded from driving with friends or driving on dates until he earns enough to pay for the damage will teach him to be a little more careful. The parts were only $100, but the paint job and labor was $250.00. Brendan and I ended up helping him with half of the paint job/labor ($125). He had gone to an early movie with his new girlfriend, Nicole Foster (really cute, sweet girl whom we love) and was coming back with her to spend the evening to celebrate New Years Eve at our house. It's all good now. Jordan is doing really great...We had to make a teacher change in his English class (long story), but he was able to get back up on the honor roll this past term while playing basketball and working two jobs! He works three days a week (about 8-10) hours at the carwash still and he is also refereeing basketball on Wed. nights and for about 6 hours on Saturday mornings! He took the ACT for the first time and just go the results back -- 22 with a 3.9 GPA. Not that great considering you need a 29 and a 4.0 for a BYU scholarship. He still has 2 or 3 more tries before college applications are due so better luck next time. He's busy, but staying out of trouble and really enjoying his weekends with his friends!

Jake is just awesome! He is such a hard worker at school, but has really struggled with test taking in some of his core classes this past semester. We checked into getting him help at Sylvan Learning Center, but it costs more than tuition at BYU!!! No kidding. Anyway, we had good discussions with him and his teachers and have some things in place that will hopefully help him do better. He's certainly trying his best which is all we can really ask of him. He is just about done with his last merit badges and has just started on his Eagle. He is going to be collecting new and gently used pajamas and books for the Women's and Children's crisis center in Orem. His goal is to get it all done before he turns 14. Jake is absolutely LOVING skiing. He saved up to buy a ski helmet and he got a new ski coat and goggles for Chrismtas so he's all set. He's planned to go night skiing this week alone with a good friend (which has me worried sick) but they are good boys and Brendan assures me that they will be fine.

Allison is really growing up. Her wardrobe has really switched gears recently and she looks like a young lady. She's also growing like a weed! She can't wear makeup yet (all of her friends do), but she wears colored lip gloss every day. She has decided to grow her bangs back out again. She is so nervous to go into Young Women's next month mainly because she is the oldest in her group of friends and will be in there for a few months without them. We get to go to New Beginnings next week. I'm so excited for this stage in her life (mainly because it was one of the best times of my life and I'm so hoping it will be for her too.)

8th Grade football

Need I say more...Jake had a great football season as is obvious from these photos. It was great that Brendan was able to coach them again this year. Jake played both offense and defense as right outside linebacker, running back, kick return team, back up quarterback and all other positions that Brendan let him. Jake is such a hard worker and it really paid off this year. He ended up with a winning season and will have these memories with his friends and with his dad forever.

Letterman Jacket

Jordan turned 17 today! No way! For the first time ever he didn't want to have big party which didn't break my heart one bit. We've had enough of the 60+ guests at our house for his birthdays. We had a nice family dinner and then he got a great surprise for his birthday. Brendand and I got him his letterman's jacket! He has earned a letter in debate and football and he hopes to add track in the next year or two. Way to go Jordan!

Homecoming 2007

Jordan was slow at getting onto the dating scene, but lately it seems that he’s going out whenever he has a free night (which isn’t very often, but at least it’s something.) He asked a girl to Homecoming (Krista Shipp) yesterday by getting a super size box of Lucky Charms and wrapping it with a 3XL size whitie tightie brief. He attached a note that said, “Krista, I’ll be “brief.” I would feel really “lucky” if you would go to Homecoming with me.” He had his friend give it to her at school. So today she stopped by with a friend and asked if she could put some stuff in Jordan’s room to answer him. I said, “Please tell me you’re not going to trash it because I’m still finding confetti from his Sadie’s date last November (honestly, I am).” “Plus, he’s NEVER home so I’d be the one to clean it up.” She said, “Well……do you have like a sheet or a tarp and I promise to put it all on that and not get any on the floor.” So I put a big blanket on his bed and she covered it with 10 or 12 boxes of cereal and candy! I attached a picture. Why couldn’t she just have put the poster in his room with ONE box of cereal, spared the money, spared the mess, I don’t know. Crazy kids! I just hope that no one ever ruins his car over a dance.

Best day of his life!

Just to update last night’s football game.

Lehi won the game 47 to 12!!!! Jordan played safety for most of the game and then went in at QB for the fourth quarter. Jordan ran it in for the final touchdown of the game – his first varsity touchdown. It was awesome! Jordan came home saying it was the best day of his life. His injuries are healing and he is feeling good – let’s hope it stays that way. The 2nd photo above was taken right before the snap where he made the final touchdown. The photo of him with me was taken right after the game as he was leaving to go celebrate with his teammates. He had showered and had on his JV jersey so that is why it's different than the other photo. Maybe no one noticed, but I did and I just had to explain it to our posterity:). Homecoming is next week so he’s excited for that. All the hard work is starting to pay off for him.

Lehi routs Ben Lomond, ends loss streak
By Jaclyn OlsenFor the Deseret Morning News
Published: Sept. 8, 2007 12:22 a.m. MDT
LEHI — It was the end of a 20-game losing streak. It was a breakout game for a former quarterback, and overall it was celebration time for the Lehi Pioneers as their football team finally put one in the win column, 47-12 over Ben Lomond. Chris Searle started the season as the Lehi quarterback, but after running back Travis Smith went down with a torn ACL, he moved over and became the Pioneers' new running back. And he made the most of it with 250 total yards in only three quarters of action and three touchdowns. He earned the fourth quarter rest. "He's a good player. We know he's going to give us speed on the perimeter, and he's going to get touches. He's a good addition back there," said Lehi coach Derrick Peyton. It was Searle who gave Lehi the boost it needed to break its enormous losing streak, and he took over right from the beginning, breaking a pair of runs down the right sideline, both of them leading to first-quarter scores. The first he broke open for 36 yards, after which quarterback Jason Demke connected on a touchdown pass to Clint Ash for the first score of the game. The second he broke for 54 yards, which set up his eventual five-yard scoring run. He finished with 118 yards in the first quarter and 150 in the first half.

He then added a score on a 39-yard run in the third quarter before scoring one more time on a one-yard run to put his team ahead 40-12 and give him some rest time in the fourth. But Searle wasn't the entire story for the Pioneers as they came up with seven Ben Lomond turnovers, four picks and three fumble recoveries. Ash scored from 30 yards out after picking up the fumble by the Scots. And the team shut down important Ben Lomond drives with its tough defense. "Turnovers are the key. They kill drives, get stops and then you can grind time off the clock," said Peyton, who added that he was a bit upset with his players in the first half, after they missed opportunities on seven more possible picks. But though he knows his team has plenty of work to do, he's happy to "get the burden of our losing streak off our chests," he said. Calvin Grey, who only played a few downs in his return from injury, also scored on a 12-yard run for the Pioneers, and the scoring finished in the fourth quarter on a one-yard run by Jordan Smith.

Lehi breaks losing streak in big way

Jordan Christiansen - Herald CORRESPONDENT Saturday, September 8, 2007, 2:00 am

Heck with the shoes ... it's gotta be the field.
In a historic night at Lehi, the Pioneers christened their new turf field with a resounding 47-12 pasting of Ben Lomond on Friday night, breaking a 20-game losing streak. "It's nice to get the burden of the losing streak of our chest," said Lehi head coach Derrick Peyton. "It's nice to get the win, but we've got to keep our noses to the grindstone."
Armed with the double-edged sword of turnovers and senior running back Chris Searle, the Pioneers ended the game, for all intents and purposes, late in the third quarter. Leading 21-12 coming out of halftime, Lehi (1-3) stifled a Ben Lomond scoring drive just as the Scots were knocking at the door. Josh Miller picked off a pass at the 4-yard line for the Pioneers, who then went 96 yards the other way, capping off the drive with a 33-yard run by Searle. On that first down play, Lehi quarterback Jason Demke pitched the football to Searle on an option left, and then watched as Searle went untouched for the score.
The Pioneer defense would force three more turnovers in the half and eight in the game off of three fumbles, three interceptions and two on downs. Incredibly, the Pioneers could have had a few more interceptions early in the game but couldn't hold on to the ball. Because of those misses, Peyton might be the first coach to comment that "the defense gave up way too many plays" after an eight turnover, 35-point victory.
Searle was the obvious MVP of the game, running for 238 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries during just three quarters of play. On Lehi's third possession of the game, Searle took the handoff 54 yards on the first play of the drive. After a 3-yard run, Searle completed his single-handed drive with a 5-yard run for his first touchdown. His final TD came on a 1-yard score that brought the margin to 40-12.
Though Ben Lomond has had its own share of football struggles and is now 0-4 this year, Lehi will take any win they can get. August 26, 2005, was the last time the Pioneers claimed victory over an opponent when the beat Snow Canyon.
Ben Lomond stuck with the Pioneers for a quarter, scoring on their second play of the game on a 76-yard touchdown catch-and-run from Max Walling to Victor Jackson. But after a 13-yard touchdown catch by Jared Jackson, the Scots had a horrible time on offense, with the turnovers mixed in with punts and even a missed field goal.
Clint Ash had a great night playing both sides of the ball, scoring a touchdown on a 14-yard pass for the first points of the game, then recovering a fumble and taking it 30 yards to the house for another score. Linebacker Ben Savio also recovered a fumble and had an interception for Lehi. Backup quarterback Jordan Smith scored Lehi's final touchdown in garbage time on a one yard run.

Early JV Football Season

From: Brendan Smith Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 12:22 PM
Jordan won his first JV game yesterday vs. Provo by a score of 14 to 7. Jordan was free safety on defense, QB on offense, and the return man on punt return, so he barely had time to take a drink of water during the kickoff’s, kick returns, quarter breaks, and half-time. He was really worn out last night and could hardly move this morning.

The game wasn’t as close as the score would make it seem though, because Lehi was on the about the 1 yard line at the end of the first half, just after Jordan got robbed of a TD by the ref. Jordan had run about 10-15 yards on a keeper and dove and hit the pylon with the ball but the ref spotted the ball on about the ½ yd line (no, his knee could not have hit the ground). Lehi also took a knee on the 6 yd line to end the game. They really controlled the game will in the second half.

Jordan has been practicing at free safety with first team defense on Varsity so hopefully he will get good playing time tonight @ Provo, we’ll see.

From: Brendan Smith Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 2:53 PM
Jordan has told Leslie that he is for sure starting in the varsity game today as free safety. Congrats Jordan on your first varsity start.
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The following week during the JV game against Tooele, Jordan was carrying the ball down the field and tried to get out of bounds, but was hit and he fell on his shoulder. He reinjured it again from last year and hurt it quite badly. Since they don’t have a back up quarterback, the running back (CJ) went in for about 3 plays and took the snap and then just ran with the ball. It worked quite well, actually. Jordan toughened up and went back in and threw one of his longest, most beautiful touchdown passes ever! He had to sit out during the Varsity game the next day which just about killed him. They lost in overtime which made it even worse!

From: Leslie Smith Friday, August 31, 2007 2:04 PM
Well, Jordan called me from school because he just couldn’t stand the pain anymore and he said that it felt different than when he hurt it last year. He thought it might even be a broken collar bone because it’s so swollen and he can’t stand even the slightest bit of resistance. I took him to the dr. and he x-rayed it. No broken bones. The A/C joint looks a little separated, but he can’t tell how much on an x-ray. He said that it could also be torn, so he ordered an MRI which will be done on Tuesday afternoon. Until then, Jordan will continue to go to physical therapy 3 to 4 times a week and hopefully get the healing process going. He’s back at school and will be watching the game from the sidelines tonight (with all of his other friends that are hurt!) If the MRI shows a separation only, then he can play as long as he can tolerate the pain. But if it’s torn, he is probably out for the season because any further damage would require surgery and we don’t want it to get it to that point. So no football until we get the MRI done. Either way it’s about a 6 week time frame for a complete recovery. BUMMER!

One bit of good news that Jordan was so excited about though…his xray showed his growth plates and the dr. said he’s not quite done growing yet!

9/4/07
P.S. He didn’t have his MRI because his shoulder is a “little” better which probably means that’s its not torn, plus he refuses to listen and not play. He insists that he knows how to fall on his back so that he doesn’t land on his shoulder now and that he will only be playing QB for JV. Plus he’s confident that Ben Lomond has a mostly passing game so that his playing Safety on Varsity won’t be too tough this week. We’ll be on pins and needles watching from the stands.


From: Leslie Smith Friday, September 07, 2007 8:25 AM
If you don’t have any plans for tonight, may I suggest that you come to the party of the year at Lehi High School. This will be the first Varsity home game of the year and from the looks of yesterday’s JV game (39-0) the Pioneers will most likely be able to come out with their first Varsity win in 20 games! Jordan ran 65 yards for a touchdown yesterday, threw a touchdown pass, plus they caught an interception for a touchdown, and 3 safety’s! And that was just the first half. Ben Lomond didn’t have a sophomore team, so after JV played the first half our sophomores went in for the 2nd. It was so much fun and worth the 1 ½ hour drive to Ogden! Jordan is doing much better with his shoulder (now it’s his elbow that’s bothering him.) Tonight he will be trading off as Quarterback with the senior one since he’s a little hurt too. I’m not sure if they will let him play much defense yet.

Tennis Camp

Allison has discovered a new passion....tennis! All thanks to her good friend Lizzy. They have been playing a lot this summer and then we got a great surprise from Lizzy's grandma. She usually signs up Lizzy and her sister for a week long tennis camp by her house in Logan, but Lizzy's sister couldn't do it this year so she invited Allison...all expenses paid. They had so much fun being together all week and sleeping over at "grandma's." The days were long and hot, but Allison learned a lot and will hopefully keep this up for years to come.

Trip to Davenport, Nauvoo, and Chicago

. We have been planning this trip for a long time, but that didn't help us avoid some unexpected adventures along the way!Getting there was quite the trip! We picked up all the kids from their last day of school around 1:00 and made it on our flight to Denver just great! We bought a footlong subway sandwich in Lehi for each one of us and had half for lunch and half for dinner since there is no longer food on any flights. As we were waiting for our plane to leave from Denver to Chicago, we were informed that there was a malfunctioning part that they were trying to find a replacement for. One hour later (waiting inside the plane) we finally took off. When we got there, our bags took another whole hour to make it to baggage claim. Chris said the unions there are ridiculous and they were probably on their lunch break. Let me remind you that by this time it was midnight! We got to the car rental place only to stand behind a lady whose credit card wouldn’t work and it took the guy 45 minutes to even get to us. They were out of cars so they ended up upgrading our rental to a van which was good in the end since we were able to have Chris’ kids swap back and forth during all of our long drives. We were starving by then and so after getting directions as to where to get on the freeway to Iowa, we stopped and got cheeseburgers at Wendys. We then followed the car rental guy’s directions only to get lost in a very scary part of downtown Chicago. There we were at 1:30 in the morning driving who knows where when we notice a cop car behind us with his lights on. Yep, we were speeding even though we had no idea where we were or what the speed limit was. Brendan went on for a few blocks because we were on a busy highway and he was trying to find a safe place to pull over. Well, I guess that in Chicago you pull over no matter what immediately so the cop then called for back up because we were being difficult. We explained our LONG horrible day, but that didn’t stop him from giving us a $75.00 ticket. He was really nice about giving us directions though. So we finally get on our way and realized that the freeway (or should I say the toll-road) had a 45 mph speed limit! Are you kidding me!!! It did go as high as 55 mph in a few places, but since we had just gotten a ticket we didn’t dare go any faster! Chris’ house is 175 miles from Chicago! We finally made it to Chris and Cindy’s at 4:30 in the morning! As we plopped into bed, we heard birds chirping outside and could see the faintest hint of light coming through our windows.

Chris and Cindy were amazing to us. They brought up their old king size mattress and put it in Sierra’s room for us. All the girls slept together in Solei’s room, except we got the best little roommate and had Ella in with us in her crib. Jake and Jordan got the boys bunkbeds and the two little guys slept on the floor. They were great sports about it…except Taron got Jordan back by sneaking in his backpack and eating his entire pack of gum! We didn’t see any bad repercussions from it. Hopefully he’s ok. Their house is so beautiful. Just picture their Saratoga Springs house blown up and add a bedroom. Their neighborhood, I told Chris, is like driving into Osmond Lane! The houses are big and the yards are to die for. They have a rule of no fences allowed and it just makes all the yards seem huge! Plus they must have some kind of unwritten rule about keeping up their yards because EVERY SINGLE house had perfect lawns and beautifully landscaped yards! I’m so mad I didn’t get a picture of it. Cindy, you need to take one and send it to everyone so they know what I mean. I didn’t think our neighborhood was that bad, but now that I have Iowa in my head, our neighborhood yards make me cringe! The area is so great. They have every single kind of store, restaurant, and theater within a few blocks from their house. Once you get out of there though, it’s nothing but cornfields for hours in each direction.

We were blessed with nothing but perfect weather and non stop fun once we got there. Cindy’s email told you all about our trip to Dubuque, the museum, and the funny incident at the drive-inn.

“Brendan and Leslie are here now with their family, we have been having a blast. They got here late late Wednesday night (or more like early early Thursday morning). On Thursday, the first day we had with Brendan and Leslie’s family, we went
to Dubuque to the Mississippi River museum. They had some huge catfish (I thought they were sharks at first glance) and a riverboat you could walk through (with really steep stairs). The kids had fun in a movie theater that sprayed mist and flashed lightning when the storms came. We had slept in a little late so we didn’t have a ton of time at the museum but it was fun for everyone. After that we went out to eat at Pancheros, sort of like Cafe Rio but not as good. We thought we would stop at the drive-in theater on the way home, Pirates of the Caribbean was supposed to be playing and even though Brendan and Leslie
had seen it, they said it was good enough to watch again. When we got to the gate we were about to pay, but the cashier told us it was some credit union membership appreciation night and that we didn’t have to pay, even though we explained that we weren’t members. When we got in, there were free hot dogs, face painting, balloon animals, and a bounce house for the kids, so we felt like we had really gotten a great deal. Finally the previews started, and one seemed to go on a little too long and we realized it wasn’t a preview, but the movie Charlottes Web. I went to the concession stand to ask what happened to “Pirates” and they said it was the Credit Union’s night so they get to pick the movie... so (with two teenage boys who were not about to sit for two hours through a little kids movie), we decided to pack up and get home since we needed to get up early for Nauvoo anyways.

Friday, after stopping at Carthage for the tour of the jail, we went to Nauvoo. Brendan and Leslie took the boys to do baptisms in the temple while we went to “pioneer pastimes” with the younger ones. The girls dressed up in all the pioneer garb (I wish I had my camera) and Taron spent most of his
time in the log cabin drawing on the slates. Then we went on the tours through some of the homes and shops. We tried to get on a carriage ride but were too late. That evening we went to the “Sunset on the Mississippi” which was pretty much the grand finale to the day, it is such a fun show. My mom and I had gone the year before with the kids but I missed the very
end so I never understood what my kids were talking about when they were quoting the skit. I saw it this time and finally know what was so funny. “Whatcha doin?” “Makin’ eggs” “Can I have some?” “Why sure........” You really had to be there I guess. :)

The weather was perfect, a little overcast but not raining. Chris got a call on his phone that a tornado had hit Muscatine (about 20 minutes from our house) and destroyed a lot of houses and the storm had gone through our area also. We were a little bummed that we had missed all the excitement but glad that it hadn’t done any damage to our home while we were gone. On
the way home we drove through Muscatine and saw a car lot that had a bunch of new cars damaged and even one on top of another. There were some signs that were fallen or bent over also.

On Saturday we went to the air show for four hours to see the Thunderbirds. Taron got to sit in a real helicopter. I think most of the kids got a little bored of the whole thing though because it gets pretty old after a while. They did like the truck that races the airplane and spits fire out the back.

Today we went to church with everyone, Ella made Chris’s phone go off in the middle of sunday school and Sandi Naylor (she was teaching) said something about Ella knowing how to push our buttons and it only gets worse from here. Later, Brendan and Leslie made dinner for everyone, a yummy roast with all the fixin’s (I threw in some spinach salad cause I had been craving that). "

Nauvoo was amazing. I wish we would have taken more pictures. The cute missionary that took us through Carthage jail bore such a beautiful testimony at the end. Allison quietly told me that she couldn’t explain it exactly, but that she had felt the spirit really touch her. I guess I didn’t realize that all the missionary couples and young missionaries that serve in Nauvoo are mainly hosts at the temple, visitor’s center, and in all the little period homes/shops. The highlight for us was doing baptisms for the dead with Jordan and Jake. We were so blessed because they told us that a YM/YW group of 85 had just finished doing 850 names and a lady was schedule to come in 20 minutes to do 100 names. We were the only ones in there during that time. After we were done, one of the workers took us out a different way and showed the boys the spiral staircase that goes up 5 floors. He told them to look up and picture their journey to eternity and that they were taking their first steps toward the top by being there that day. It was so awesome. The “Sunset at the Mississippi” show at the end of the day was spectacular. All the missionaries did songs, dances, and skits. Everyone had a great day.

Cindy told you about the air show the next day. It was a bit long, but some parts were really fun. Allison was touched when the Thunderbirds flew in for the first time in the missing man formation to honor the fallen pilots. I did laundry that day and noticed a burnt smell coming from the washing machine. I told Chris and he said that he had turned the hot water heater on as hot as possible so that we would have plenty for all of us. I’m telling you they thought of everything to make us comfortable. Anyway, he went to check downstairs and noticed water was leaking from one of the pipes and that there were parts of the wood that looked scorched all along the water pipes! Yikes! After careful inspection by both Chris and Brendan they discovered that the leaking water was coming from the bathroom floor from when Sierra had forgotten to put the shower curtain inside the tub and had flooded the bathroom floor. The scorch marks were from the plumbers welding the pipes together, but the burnt washing machine smell was definitely from the overly hot water. They said they’ve had it forever and want a new one, but it never dies. Well, thank goodness (I guess) nothing happened to it. Let me just say that our garments have never been whiter though!!

Church was great and pretty quiet since there weren’t 100 nursery aged kids and 50 babies like we are used to around here. It was a little bit of a drive and I just count my blessings that we are able to walk to church if we want to. It was in a weird location because there were about 8 churches all in one block area of all different faiths. We enjoyed a home cooked meal which always tastes better when you’ve been eating out a lot. Caden was funny when we sat down at the table and he said, “Wow, is this Thanksgiving or something!” He even asked us to pass the “turkey” later on.

Brendan and Chris got up early on Monday morning and went golfing together. I’m glad they had that time to spend together. The rest of us slept in and then Cindy took us to the Children’s Museum gift shop so that Jake and Allison could get a Webkin. It’s a stuffed animal that comes with a code that allows you to play a game on-line with other Webkin owners. Her girls had a few already and we figured it would be fun for them to stay in touch and play together across the miles. Jake named his Caden and Caden named his new Webkin Jake. Those two became quite the little buddies on this trip! We went swimming at the YMCA later that day and had a blast. I got the cutest pictures of Taron and Ella at the pool. They closed it to the public for an hour soon after we got there so we all got out and the boys went to play basketball and the girls (yes, Solei, Sierra, and Allison) joined in at an Aerobics class full of women. It was hilarious. Then they all went swimming again when the pool opened back up. Cindy and I had left dinner in the oven which was great since we were starving when we got back. We had planned to go boating but the weather near the lake said it would be windy and possible thunderstorms, but we ended up having a great day.

Tuesday we all got up early to go to Adventureland which is an amusement park comparable to Lagoon and 2 ½ hours away. Chris came up with a great idea. Since everyone had someone to hang out with…except for Jordan… he called up his boss’ daughter (Courtney Richards) who just happens to be 16 and set her up with Jordan. His first blind date. We picked her up around 8am and it took about 3 to 5 minutes of our making small talk until they got comfortable with each other and didn’t stop talking the whole way. You all know Jordan, so that shouldn’t surprise you. She is originally from Draper and just moved out there when Chris did so they had a lot in common. It was so great to have here along for Jordan. They were on their own pretty much all day except they joined us for a few shows and we’d bump into them once in a while. She has the cutest personality and was a perfect match for Jordan. We all had a blast…except for when Sierra’s finger got pinched on one of the rides and it was bleeding really bad. The weather was perfect.

We packed up and left early on Wednesday morning. We wanted to see Chicago during the day since the kids would probably not go there again. The following is an excerpt of what we wrote to Chris and Cindy explaining the last day of our trip. "We spent a crazy day in Chicago. The weather was a little chilly and sprinkly, but not too bad. We ate at the Grand Lux Café and LOVED it! The desserts were especially fantastic! After that, we went to Navy Pier which was a $19.00 parking rip off and then we did a Family Fun House maze that ended up being a $42.00 rip off and it lasted about 5 minutes!!!! We couldn’t believe how dumb that was. We got some great pictures of the skyscrapers and got a nice hotel with a yummy sports grill restaurant that was perfect for a late dinner. The only bummer was that there weren’t any hotels in the area with an indoor pool.

We made our flight just fine this morning, but were delayed taking off because of heavy winds in Denver. We knew we had missed our connecting flight about half way through. But once we landed at 12:12 p.m. we checked the departure screen and our connection had also been delayed and was boarding and scheduled to leave at 12:16 p.m. Brendan couldn’t run with his knee so I took off down to the gate (about 200 yards away) and asked if we were too late to make it on the flight. They said that they were just about to close the doors so I yelled to Brendan and the kids who were coming as fast as possible down the hall. They held the doors for us and the plane took off about 2 minutes after we sat down!!! Unfortunately, our checked on bag was not as quick, but it was delivered to our house that night just as we were getting ready for bed.

We spent a great weekend together until Jake left on Saturday for Arizona to visit with Cameron. Jordan left on Monday at 5:45 a.m. to go to football camp until Saturday and Allison left at 7:15 a.m. for a week at Clear Creek camp. We are all alone and can I say that’s it’s not fun!! We miss them terribly especially at dinnertime when it’s just me and Brendan at our dinner table. We are sure that they are all having a great time though and can’t wait until we get all back together. We don’t have any plans for our empty nester week since Brendan has a lot of catching up to do at work and I have 4 bow orders to keep me super busy and tied down. We’ll celebrate next Monday when we are together again and maybe have dinner at Café Rio!"

Knee Surgery #5!

From: Brendan Smith Friday, April 13, 2007 8:30 AM
Just a few more bits of news; I bought a car yesterday. It’s a 2006 Chrysler Sebring with 22,000 miles on it and I got it for 11,500. I’ve been looking for the perfect car for a while and I’m excited about this deal. I was expecting to have to spend about $18,000 so I’m totally stoked, and it’s a great look and fun car too with a V6 and it gets about 32 MPG on the freeway.

The second bit of news is bad news. I have to have surgery on my knee again. It’s scheduled for May 2nd. The bone from the bone plugs is healing perfectly from my surgery last year but the cartilage is not doing so great. Plus the doctor thinks I may have a new injury on the other side of the knee with a small bone spur on my knee cap on that side that my have torn some cartilage there. Anyway, it should just be a scope this time and should heal fast. The arthritis looks good and the doc thinks that this one could help me avoid ever needing a knee replacement.

From: Leslie Smith Thursday, May 03, 2007 8:36 AM
Just thought I'd let you know how it went with Brendan's surgery yesterday. It lasted about 1 1/2 hours, but we were there a total of 6 because the anesthesia was just really rough on Brendan this time around. He was really sick so they would give him nausea medicine, which in turn would make his oxygen levels drop too much so it was a long cycle of this. By the time we were almost home, though, he was feeling pretty good and had a great evening. He was able to eat really well last night and just rested all evening. Here is the knee stats: His original ACL surgery looks great. Last year's bone plugs are not 100% healed, but the Dr. said they are looking pretty good. This time there were two new things wrong...which we honestly don't know how or when they happened. He had a small miniscus tear which they fixed and the left side of his knee was raw bone and they took a bunch of broken pieces of cartilage that were just floating around. The Dr. wanted to try to take one of those pieces and grow it in a lab to make more and graft it back on, but the area is just too big and the procedure won't work. The next best thing he could do was to drill holes in his knee 1 cm apart which will cause it to bleed, form blood clots, which will form scar tissue which he said is the next best thing to real cartilage. Matt Harpring from the Jazz had this done 3 years ago and he's playing basketball just fine now. It will take about 3 months to see if it's going to work or not. The only other option left is a total knee replacement which would make it not possible for him to run or jump anymore, but the Dr. really doesn't want to do that because Brendan's just too young for that. Pain wise, he's done ok on just Tylonel and had a decent night's sleep considering the huge noisy storm that kept us up for most of the night. He's not on crutches and he should be somewhat back to normal in 3-4 weeks...just in time for our trip to Iowa. Last time the next day was the worst so we'll see how today goes. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. By the way...Jordan will be getting his patriarchal blessing today...so exciting!!!!

From: Leslie Smith Tuesday, May 08, 2007 8:17 AM.
Brendan is back at work and doing REALLY good. His knee is less swollen now than before his surgery. He is really optimistic about everything and other than walking a little slower than normal, you would never know he just had surgery…no crutches…no limping (only going up and down stairs.) Plus you wouldn’t believe that his surgery hasn’t stopped his working out. He still lifts weights every morning and his is down to 200 lbs!!!! I hardly recognize him and I see him every day! He has lost 40 lbs. in 4 months! He looks amazing! I honestly don’t understand his willpower and determination. I’m so proud of him.

Prom 2007

After almost 7 months of being sixteen, Jordan has finally asked a girl out on a date…for Prom, nonetheless. He wasn’t going to go because these date dances are so out of control expensive, but I gave him some great ideas on a low budget. A few of his friends had the same concern so they are going all together and I know they’ll have a blast. We went to Costco and bought 2 dozen pink roses for 14.99 (the regular flower shops charge 54.99 for only one dozen roses). Then we rolled up this poem in a pink ribbon:
K o u r t n e y
Some roses are pink, some roses are white
I would be honored if you would join me
for a fun filled Prom night

We’ll spend the day playing out in the sun
Then get all dressed up for an evening of fine dining,
dancing, and fun

If your answer is yes to going with me,
A pink rose in your hair tomorrow I’ll see
If my offer, however, you must decline
Then your wearing a white one will be my sign.

Sincerely yours,
Jordan Smith

We purposely didn’t give her any white roses so that it would be hard to say no. Prom isn’t for another 5 ½ weeks, but Kourtney is such a cute girl and Jordan didn’t want to risk her already being asked. I remember last year at the 9th grade honors night, she got some award and I told Jordan, “Now that’s a cute girl.” Honor student, athletic, modest, and very naturally beautiful.

Then we went to the high school to deliver it because she was at softball practice. The team said that she wasn’t there, so we then drove to her house. Her mom said that she was at softball practice, but not at the high school because the JV team practices at Vet’s park. So we continued on and found the team practicing on a back field. Allison and a neighbor friend had come along and Jordan thought it would be cute to have them deliver the flowers. They walked over there and asked for Kourtney Blanc. Jordan and I hid in the car parked down the way a little bit. The whole team screamed, “Kourtney you got flowers!” She was playing catcher so she took off her head gear and ran over as the team surrounded her. Today as Jordan was going into his Spanish class he saw her across the hall…she smiled and pointed to her hair where she had a pink rose in her headband! He’s going with these top notch boys and I couldn’t be more excited.

New Calling/Missionary experience

Brendan got a new calling this past Sunday. He has been called as the 1st counselor in the Young Men’s presidency. He says that he will honestly miss being Gospel Doctrine teacher, but he’s excited to work with the boys in our ward. He is over the Teacher’s quorum and has an awesome scout leader to help him out. In fact, it’s kind of funny that the men in Young Men’s right now are pretty much all the husband’s of the women who were in Young Women’s with me a few years back. He’ll have Jake next summer and has just outstanding boys to work with right now. It’s going to be great.

We had the BEST YM/YW activity last week. The youth were each told to get a personal copy of the March New Era and read it cover to cover. It’s all on missionary work and mission preparation. They were given a “mission call” a few weeks ago with last week’s date, but the location to be announced later. They had to sign and return the letter. Then last week they met at the church…they were given engraved nametags and paired off with a companion (not necessarily the same age) and given a “mission,” which was a home of someone in our ward. For example, the two boys that came to our house were told that they would be going to a mission to New Zealand at the Smith home. They reviewed a lesson sheet and some scriptures that the YM and YW presidencies had prepared and headed off. They had a “traditional” dinner from that country at the member’s home and we discussed missionary work during dinner. Then, they gave us a lesson on missionary work, challenged us all to be better missionaries and bore their testimony’s about it. One of the boys that came to us will be going on his mission in August and it was so great to see how mature he is and what an incredible little missionary he is already. Then Brendan spent about a half hour sharing experiences and information about New Zealand so they could learn a little about it. It was so great. Everyone had so much fun and it was so great for so many members of the ward to be involved with the youth encouraging their preparing for missions. Jake even said that he hoped that they do this every year. He went to South Africa, but was a little disappointed when they served lasagna, but loved the experience. Jordan, unfortunately had a track meet and had to miss it. It really made a difference in everyone’s lives…including ours.

The Great Explainer

I got this wonderful email today from Jake's pre-algebra teacher. I'm so proud of my little Jakers!

So, during Math Enrichment today the students were going around the room doing problems in partners and Jake's partner was doing a problem wrong. Jake looked over and saw what he was doing wrong and TOTALLY explained it to him perfectly and his partner GOT IT!

I was really impressed. Jake is doing so awesome! I just had to let you know!

Keep up the good work with him and encouraging him!
Thanks for all you do!
April Duvall


From: Leslie Smith

To:April Duvall:
Thanks so much for the email. It’s not often that teachers take the time to send out a “good news” type message. Your math enrichment class has been the best thing that Jake has been involved in. Thank YOU for all you have done for him and for being (in Jake’s words) “a great explainer.” It’s good to hear that he really does get it.
Thanks!Leslie Smith

Non stop life

February 18 to 24, 2007

Today we went to church and Brendan taught a great lesson on the miracles of Christ in Gospel Doctrine. We came home and had lunch and then Brendan had to leave to catch a flight to Arizona for a business trip. He never goes out of town anymore, but he had to go down for part of the audit this year. He plans on having dinner with Jessica, Joel, and Cassie tomorrow night so that will be fun. Jordan and I went to the Eagle Court of Honor for Tanner Skousen, Harrison Hinz, and Jeff Pinckney tonight. They had a live Eagle come which was so cool. What a beautiful bird that is so close up! We hurried back home because it’s the 3rd Sunday which means dinner at Grandmas! Ed and Maria came over and my mom made her famous tacos which are everyone’s favorite.

Brendan and I left Friday morning to St. George for our annual tradition of attending the Parade of Homes. We usually go down with the Pedens and Campbells, but it was only Pedens this year. We picked up Debra and drove away during a huge snow storm. It took us about a half an hour just to get to the freeway. Thank goodness that Brendan was at the wheel. I always feel completely safe when he’s in control. We saw about 7-8 homes that day and had dinner at the Cracker Barrel. Richard had to work, so he joined us at the condo late that night after he drove all the way down by himself. We saw all the homes and especially loved the basement that was decorated like the Pirates of the Carribean. We fell in love with a master bedroom decorated in tans, browns, and aqua blue. We hope to do our room like that soon. We bought a painting at one of the homes with those colors in it to give us the needed inspiration. We went to see “Wild Hogs” together on Saturday night. It’s one of the funniest movies we’ve ever seen. We had dinner at Ruby River where we had great steak and the best baked sweet potatoes ever! I HAVE to make them at home. The kids had spent the weekend at Ed and Maria’s so we stopped by there to pick them up on the way home. The kids had so much fun. Ed was great and took Jordan track shoes shopping all day Saturday. Shoe shopping with Jordan is a nightmare so I was really grateful that he did that!

Monday I had Activity Days. We watched the mailbox and talked about being good friends and neighbors. I got caught up on all the recordkeeping for the girls.


Tuesday Brendan and I went to Jordan’s parent teacher conference. He has been blessed with the greatest teachers and we have been so happy with Lehi High School. His Debate teacher said that he wouldn’t be surprised if Jordan took State in Debate his Senior year. He also checked his Debate points and told us that he had lettered this year which doesn’t happen very often for Sophomores! We are so excited. I guess we will have to save up to buy him a letterman’s jacket and we’ll be adding track this spring and football to it next fall when he finally will play Varsity. His History teacher told us that Jordan scored the highest in all of his classes on their last test and that he wants him to take AP History next year. I think it will be great. Between his success in history and debate, he’s got a great start toward his law school goal. Even his science teacher had nice things to say and told us that he’s been doing a lot better in there. But of course we are going on 11 years of hearing, “He’s a great student except that he talks too much” from most of his teachers.” What else is new? We are just so proud that he’s so well rounded in academics and in athletics. He’s also really responsible with work and still wants to go to scouts each week that he can.

Wednesday the 28th was just crazy. I spent the morning finishing up bow orders and then I went up to Salt Lake to deliver two and inventory the Sandy store. I got back just in time to pick up Allison. We did homework and then I drove her to musical theatre and went straight to Jake’s Parent teacher conference. His math teacher is expecting her first baby and said that she wants to clone parts of Jake and put them in her baby. Everyone just loves his sweetness and his desire to please and his helpful and kind nature. Brendan picked up Allison on his way home from work since I was still at the Jr. High at 5:30. We had soup and sandwiches and then Brendan and Jake ran to the church to perform the “Haka” for our ward’s Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. I cleaned up the kitchen while they were gone and then we all went to Debbie’s new house to help move her in, but by the time we got there, they were all done. We felt so bad, but we just couldn’t get there one minute earlier.

Did we really do all this in one week?

BIRTHDAY/COLD/COOKIES/SCOUTS/VALENTINES/TAXES/

BASKETBALL/PIANO/MOVIES...

Sunday was Allison’s 11th birthday. With church starting at 11:00 it was a typical morning before church. I don’t know why I went because I woke up with a really bad cold and ended up asking Brendan to take me home halfway through Sunday School because I couldn’t open my eyes from them being so itchy and watery. I came home and rested for about an hour and then wrapped Allison’s presents. We got her a pink reading pillow (which she asked for at Christmas and I bought it then, but forgot to give it to her.) She also got a green spring shirt and matching flowery flip flops. Brendan grilled some awesome steaks for lunch. He always does them just right. Then we went to our monthly Howard family meeting which was great like always. It was really cute how ALL the grandkids sat quietly and listened to the lesson. I think it was the first time ever. Grandma Howard made yummy Valentine sugar cookies for Allison’s birthday that were gobbled up right away. I’m not sure what Allison was doing, but Sadie came up to us and said, “that birthday girl is crazy!” We had her friend's birthday party the Friday before. It was her very first slumber party! She invited Elizabeth, Savannah, Kimmy, and Jessi. We were going to go Ice Skating, but they close from 5:30 to 7:00 to clean the ice so we ended up going miniature golfing at Trafalga instead. It worked out better since it’s much closer and not as crazy. That was a lot of fun and then Allison picked Wendy’s to go to dinner. We then came back home and had homemade German Chocolate cake! It turned out perfect which was such a relief for me considering last week’s cake fiasco. The girls opened presents, played games, watched a movie, and talked and laughed well into the early hours of the morning! They woke up around 8 the next morning and we all had pancakes. Jordan and Jake left around 7:45 together for basketball. Elizabeth and Kimmy ended up staying and went with us to Jake’s game. They stayed until 5:00 that evening. They played “Killer” most of the time which is a game that if you are”it” you have to wink inconspicuously at the other players and if they get winked at they die right there on the spot. The point is to guess who the killer is before he/she winks at you. Jake had a friend over and there were kids all over the place.

I woke up REALLY sick on Monday, but life can’t stop because mom is sick. I had to have 7 girls over that afternoon for activity days. I ran to the store to get a few ingredients for cookies. I had to wear sunglasses because my eyes were a watery mess! I made sugar cookie dough in advance for the girls to just roll and cut out. Even though I had done some prep work, it was still a mess with flour everywhere, but they turned out really good and the girls had a great time decorating them with frosting and candies. We also made homemade Valentine cards for their parents or teachers. I got out all of my pink, white, and red scrapbook paper scraps, my punches, stickers, etc. and let them go at it. I should have made a nice example and had them copy it, but I was way too sick and so not up to it. They all got pretty creative on their own and it was probably better that they got to do whatever they wanted. I had quite a mess to clean up when they left just to have it all dirtied again because I had to make mint chocolate brownies for Allison. My mom was coming home later that afternoon after being in Guatemala for two weeks and so I invited Ed and Maria’s family for dessert to celebrate Allison’s birthday all together. Mint brownies are her favorite, but I was “sugared” out by then. I made the brownies, put dinner in the crock pot, cleaned up the kitchen, and went to bed. I felt bad to not be at the party, but I was dying by then. I laid in bed the rest of the evening and caught up on all my recorded shows. I think everyone had a good time even though I heard Ian say, “Where’s my Essie?” I love that little guy so much!

Jordan went to a board of review on Tuesday to get his first bronze palm. The scout chairman said that he is the first one in our ward to ever get one. He hasn’t really done much after earning his Eagle rank, but I guess he had everything done before and just had to wait out the waiting period. I’m glad he went and then he stayed and basketball with the other Young men.

Wednesday was Valentine’s day and what a fun day it was! I was finally feeling better so that was the best part for me. Brendan and I planned to meet at lunch since we knew dinner would be crazy and more expensive that night. I drove up and met him at an Italian restaurant near his work at Jordan’s Landing. It was so fun to see him in the middle of the day. After lunch he pulled out a little bag of surprises for me…a scrapbook magazine, the book “Sense and Sensibility,” a card, and a CD of romantic songs. He chose that CD because it has the song “Marry You Again” by Joshua Creek which has since become one of my all time favorites! I loved my surprise. We had agreed to just get each other new running shoes which we both needed, so I felt bad that I didn’t do anything extra. We went to Famous Footwear after lunch and got our new shoes. It was a total bummer to have to say goodbye, but we had a great time. That afternoon I took Allison to her musical theater class. My dad called and invited our whole family out to dinner for Valentine’s day. So after I picked up Allison he took us out to Tepanyaki. It was my first time at the new one here in Lehi. It was so fun. Our cook was hilarious. He threw 7 or 8 shrimp to Jordan to catch in his mouth. It was a great day!

I spent Thursday making bows pretty much all day. Brian and Lauren came over after dinner to have Brendan do their taxes. I love seeing them. We always seem to have a great time together. After the taxes were done, we watched Lost together. Then it was reading time and bed time for us all.

As I was getting ready to leave to drop off my bow order on Friday morning, Allison called me saying that she was sick and needed to come home. She had a headache and a stomache. I just have to wonder if she was really sick or just wanted to get out of doing her endurance test in PE because she was pretty much ok once she got home. I left her for about an hour while I went to South Jordan. I left her on the couch armed with the phone, a drink, the TV remote, and a throw up bowl. She was fine.

I got an email from Jordan’s Biology student teacher that afternoon telling me that Jordan had gotten out of hand during their lab and gotten in a water fight with a group of boys during class. The worst part was that he was asked to stay after class to discuss the problem and he had gotten angry and left! What do I do with this boy! He can be so great and do so much good, but every once in a while he messes up big. He can be so disrespectful and the worst part is that he doesn’t feel bad. I don’t know how to teach him empathy toward others. It’s always just about him. I know that teenagers are like that, but he needs to have remorse sometimes. I don’t want him to think that it’s ok to act like this especially with adults. Other people’s feelings matter too. It scares me to think of him acting like this with his future boss or with his wife! I hope that he learns his lesson this time and that I can help him see how wrong his actions really were. I can’t say that I can complain much though. So far, raising a teenager hasn’t been too bad and we have a lot of fun together for the most part. I know that I overreact to situations because he’s my oldest and I haven’t learned to “chill” yet. I’m really going to miss him terribly when he is gone from home in a few years.

Jake had such a great basketball game on Saturday morning. The team he played had 3 or 4 tall kids on it and Jake’s team is full of (as the coach has said) a bunch of midgets. They were down by 10, then it was tied, then they were up by 8, and then it was tied again. They ended up pulling away the last 2 minutes of the game and won by 7! Jake scored a 3 on their second basket of the game. He also scored one other time at the beginning of the second half. They all played their guts out. Allison had her Piano Festival that afternoon. The Boyd’s were there too for Michael and Rebecca. When it was all over John said, “Whew, I’m so glad that was over. That was a lot of stress in our family.” I just laughed and said, “It’s just a piano festival. We’ve been doing these forever with Jordan, then Jake, and now Allison. As long as they feel good about how they did it’s all that matters.” I had to remind myself that Michael and Rebecca are their oldest kids. Everything is such a bigger deal with your first. I need to remember that so that I don’t let Jordan’s “science lab antics” make my world come to a stop! Brendan worked on his Sunday School lesson that afternoon and then went grocery shopping for me and got a video. After dinner we all watched “The Illusionist.” We all liked it but it was a bit predictable and no where as good as “The Prestige.” All in all, I have to say we had a good week

Quiet is good

We’ve had such a nice break from our usual non-stop life! On Sunday we had no where to go and no one was coming over so we all put on our jammies right after church (at 2:00). We had our favorite Sunday meal of hot dogs with Brendan’s guacamole! The kids all gathered around the kitchen table and did their homework together. They hardly ever do that and we totally know that those days are soon to be gone so I had to take a picture. It may seem like a boring event to most, but it was a precious sight to me. Reminded me of the times when they used to spread out their Valentines cards for school and do them all together. Now only Allison does them still. We watched the Super Bowl together and laughed at most of the commercials. All the good ones were during the first half.

Jordan got called to ref 3 games Tuesday night so he couldn’t go to Young Men’s. Jake went and had a fun time. They played the game, Love Thy Neighbor, decorated Valentine cookies, and delivered a few to some families in the ward.

We hadn’t gone grocery shopping in over 1 week and so I went to Wal-Mart and Costco and spent a small fortune. I filled up the fridge, freezer, and pantry but it will all be gone in a few days. Nothing lasts long around here. I ended up cleaning out our pantry while putting away the groceries and threw away a large black garbage bag full of stuff that was either useless, expired, or empty. It’s made me smile all week as I open our organized pantry! I told Brendan that I really want to work as a professional organizer. Seeing a messy closet or pantry or even an entire messy room is such a fun prospect for me. I love that kind of challenge and I love seeing the final outcome. I have helped a few people in our ward each year when we do our service auction and I always volunteer my organizing services. It is so much fun when I have the time. Of course, I hate it when I’m too busy to really tackle that kind of project. It sure would beat making bows all day long, but it wouldn’t be as steady.

On Wednesday, Jordan again got called to fill in to referee the 9th grade boys teams. He has been getting a lot of more opportunities because he is so responsible about showing up on time and not messing around while on the job! It’s too bad that this great referee job is seasonal, but I’m glad that he’ll at least have a great reference to put down on his resume for the future.

I went to Allison’s parent teacher conference on Thursday. I had made it for 5:50 so that Brendan could come, but the auditors are coming next week and he had a ton of work and wasn’t able to make it. She’s doing much better and the teacher has been so good to work with her and make her be responsible. She’s reading above grade leve and the teacher said that our reading aloud each night is very evident at school. I peeked at her desk and I was so happy to see it clean!

I cleaned out our filing cabinets and shredded paperwork from this past year. Brendan finished up our tax return. We are getting $1900.00 back! We are using it to go on vacation this summer, hopefully to go to Iowa to visit Chris’ family and see some church history sights. Then we cleaned out the garage since it was the warmest day of the year so far at about 50 degrees. Winter makes such a mess in the garage with all the tracked in dirt and salt from the roads. The kids played outside most of the day too.

Jordan was supposed to be home at 1:00 but was asked to ref the Shoot Out at the Legacy Center until 4:00. He came home exhausted! Birthday tradition for our family is that the birthday person gets to choose anywhere they want to go together for dinner. Since her birthday was on a Sunday this year, Allison chose to go to Johnnie’s Ribs on Saturday. I don’t think she likes the food as much as the rest of us do, but she loves the scones for dessert. They gave us all a free one for her birthday and took a picture of our family to put on their picture wall! That night as I was putting her to bed I gave her a big hug and told her that 11 years ago she was just about to come out of my tummy and 11 years from now she might very well be a mommy herself! I can’t believe how fast time flies. Brendan and I used to be the teenagers not long ago, now we have a son that age and not too long from now we will be “grandma and grandpa.”

Everyday life is pretty great

I bought more paint on Monday morning and Brendan finished the living room when he got home from work. He also painted the entry way wall. We are so happy with how it turned out.


We celebrated my mom’s birthday on Sunday and I invited Ed’s family and my parents over for dinner. The roll dough didn’t rise and the soup I was attempting for the first time (from a neighbor who tried to remember the recipe) was turning out bad. Fortunately, the rolls finally rose after I rolled them out and made them into crescents and with Brendan’s help and a few extra ingredients, the soup turned out good after all. We played scum afterward while their little kids played with Jake and Allison. I think we made it through the game without my Dad cheating…at least we didn’t catch him this time.

On Monday I had Activity Days here at our house. It’s Allison’s last time in my group as she will be turning 11 soon and moving up to the next class. So sad. We read a conference talk on Faith and then did an obstacle course while being blindfolded so that the girls had to have faith in their friends to talk them through it correctly
Tuesday I got busy the minute the kids left for school. I put our living room back together and cleaned up our main level. I did about 6 loads of laundry (I don’t know how we generate so many dirty clothes around here.) I had to send samples of some new bow styles and colors to my stores and so that took most of the afternoon. I also spent some time emailing Allison’s teacher back and forth when I checked her grades on line and saw that she had 3 F’s! She had a ton of missing assignments and we had to come up with a plan to get Allison back on track. Her main problem is a messy desk where papers “disappear”, a mind that always seems to wander, and a little bit of a chatty mouth that makes friends with whomever she sits by. We spent most of the afternoon working on homework and decluttering her room. After two days of staying in from recess to clean out her desk and working extra hard at home, she has raised her grades to A’s and 1 C. It’s so funny that she has so much work and still struggles with her grades and the boys hardly ever do homework and pull off straight A’s. 5th and 6th grades are definitely the toughest, I think. I worked on bows that evening while the boys went to scouts.
I scrambled to finish up some bow orders on Wednesday morning, ran to the post office to send them off, stopped by the grocery store, dropped by my neighbors to finish up a project and made it back by 11:15 so I could be home when Maria dropped Ian off so that she and Ed could go skiing with Noah and Taya. Ian and I made Debbie’s cookies for the kids when they got back from school. So Yummy!! I love having him come over on Wednesdays. He’s such a funny and cute little two year old and we all love playing with him, especially now that he is starting to talk so good. Allison had a busy afternoon with more make up homework, piano, and then she was off to her Musical Theatre class. Thank goodness Maria got there for Ian just as I was leaving and she took Allison for me.

That night we went to a district wide Eagle Scout recognition dinner with Jordan. There were 82 boys in our area that received their Eagles this past year. Last year there were 86 but that was before the district was split. They were shocked at the high number as they were only expecting around 40 this past year. It could have been a one hour deal if the eating part didn’t drag on for over an hour. The last 20 minutes was awesome. A military officer spoke to them and then they called each boy up, handed them an Eagle poem, had them all line up on the stage for a picture and then a guy sang the coolest song entitled, “You’re an Eagle.” There were a lot of proud parents there! But unfortunately we forgot our camera. Brendan dropped me off at a neighbor’s on the way home for our monthly scrapbook night and I just about finished my Oprah trip book.

Thursday Jake came home from school with a huge smile on his face and a paper behind his back. He couldn’t wait to show me his math test that he got 104/100! He was so excited and so was I! He does well on his assignments, but has bombed every test so this is huge progress for him.
That night Allison had her piano recital. She has been working hard to memorize two songs for a piano festival in a few weeks and she did great! Brendan got the sheet music to James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” and “Goodbye my Lover.” Can’t wait till he learns them. We went to Cold Stone for a treat afterward.
Jake and Allison and I just started reading the2nd Leven Thumps book. It’s not exactly Harry Potter, but the kids love it and Jake needs a lot of practice reading, so we try to read about 10 pages a night. We take turns reading aloud which is great practice for them, but sometimes I lose patience with the storyline.
Brendan has been really busy at work and has had later than usual nights, but that hasn’t stopped him from working hard at SME Steel’s Biggest Loser contest. There are 7 people in it from his office and they each put in $50.00. He has lost 13 lbs. in one month and is currently in second place. He has stopped eating fast food at lunch completely and works out on our elliptical every morning and works out with weights 3 times a week at night. I don’t think that it matters whether or not he wins the money as long as he ends up with healthy habits and a better lifestyle. He makes me tired sometimes just seeing how hard he works at everything that he does. He’s the best!

I went to the Sandy Kid to Kid on Friday to pick up a check for my bows that supposedly had been put in the mail almost 3 weeks ago (so frustrating!) Anyway, I ended up staying there for two hours while the owner unloaded and confided in me her trials of being a single mom while trying to run a store which she is at all day 6 days a week. Her oldest is a 13 year old 7th grader and so that says it all. SO HARD! I offered a few words, but mostly just listened because she has no one to talk to at home and works pretty much by herself. I left feeling SO grateful for my life and for my kids and especially for Brendan. Brian and Lauren called and told us that “It’s going to be a boy!” We are all so excited! Little Jack is going to be so cute and we’re so happy to hear that all looked good.