Smith Family

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

I'm Baaaack!

For the last few years I haven't been able to log into my account, so thus, no new posts. Last night I contacted blogger and received a reply today with the correct login information, so I can finally play catch up on here. We are currently waiting out this coronavirus pandemic, trying to stay sane, but we are alive and well, and still living in the same home (minus a few kids). Sierra and Tate tied the knot over a year ago, and Solei and Corey are taking the plunge next week!

Image may contain: 8 people, including Solei Smith, Chris Smith, Sierra Smith and Tate Smith, people smiling

Image may contain: Tate Smith and Sierra Smith, people smiling

Image may contain: 5 people, including Corey Hunter and Solei Smith, outdoor

Image may contain: Solei Smith and Corey Hunter, selfie, outdoor and nature

Caden graduated from Lone Peak last year, Hallelujah! He is currently a pizza delivery guy and video game aficionado.

Image may contain: 3 people, people smiling, people standing and hat

Image may contain: 2 people, including Chris Smith, people smiling, people standing and hat

Taron has taken up the drums and become quite the pro, playing in a band with his friends. He also got his drivers license, watch out!

Image may contain: one or more people and people on stage

Ella has a good group of friends who like to hang out and draw together (this quarantine is torture for them). She also finally tried the surf board and ripped it up.

Image may contain: outdoor, water and nature

Image may contain: one or more people, people sitting, ocean, sky, outdoor, water and nature

Well, obviously there is a lot more than that... new dogs, Solei's mission to Cali, a couple cruises, foreign exchange student Selka, Sierra's trip to China, new boats, new bikes, lots of concerts, 25th wedding anniversary... but I gotta call it a night... we'll get there eventually.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Flying High at Lake Powell 2014

Back in 2014, we took a vacation to Lake Powell with Debbie's family and Jason's brother (Justin Hadley), who met a guy at the outhouse with one of these flyboards. A few of our clan were lucky enough to try it out, and here is the evidence. First one is Solei, then Chris, then Sierra.

Back in Business

I had lost access to my blog for a while, but after some fancy virtual maneuvering, I've found it again... I'm glad to be back in business, I have a lot of catching up to do!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Yard in Progress

We are making progress on our yard, it's a lot of work since it is about an acre of land and needed a lot of retaining... but we've got some fun things in the works and now that the grass is finally in, we can start to enjoy them. Yes, there is still a lot of work to be done in the planter beds, which are still just full of dirt and a few trees, but that will come over time.

I'll start with the backyard (its my favorite part)... Here is a view off the back deck of the fire pit/trampoline area:

And a view off the deck of the "Luge" (sledding hill)

A few ground level views of the fire pit and trailhead steps:

And the trampoline I've had since I was 16 is now a permanent fixture, it's an old friend but better quality (and bounce) than the ones they make these days...

My kids call this area the "race track", it makes a great spot for a croquet course...

I didn't want a vegetable garden that was too conspicuous, so we tucked it down in the bottom corner of the lot, and I also have lots of room in side planters for plenty of fruit trees, etc...

Here are some views of the large area on the west side, a great area to set up our badminton/volleyball and games:

Here are some front views, still a lot of dirt to plant in, but we'll get there eventually. I really think our landscaper did a great job with the design, I love the flow of the yard...

Here is the East side, another large grassy area to kick a ball around...

All in all, I am pretty excited about how it turned out, after two years with no yard to play in we are loving this!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Flashback to Christmas 2012

I know we just got done with Christmas 2013, but apparently I haven't really posted anything for this long... Here are some photos from Christmas 2012...

On Christmas Eve we were invited to talk to the air traffic control center in Salt Lake City to talk to Santa on the phone as he made his journey across the globe. Thanks to Scott Hawkes for sharing this special opportunity with us.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

I haven't posted for a while, and a lot has happened... we've moved back to Utah and built a house... it's nice being back closer to family but we had to give up a few things to come back and it wasn't easy, but we've been blessed. Everyone is doing well, I will write more updates later.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Busy-ness as Usual

It's been so long since I've blogged and the task of catching up has been daunting, so I thought I would just snag a bunch of the photos we've taken over the last few months and throw them on here with minimal explanation... nothing too exciting but at least it'll save some of our memories...

We had a hailstorm last spring with marble sized hail...

The kids had various performances at the Fine Arts Center. This was Caden's, titled "It's Saturday" and I thought they did a great job, very impressive...

Ella had a Kindergarten fine arts night at her school...

We put our beautiful home up for sale...(sniffle)

Taron on the infamous "senior picture train tracks"

We ate Amish Microwave Popcorn that I bought in an Amish market...

Ella had her first dance recital...

\ Sierra had fun with mom's camera...

And her friends...

Solei turned sweet 16...

We played on the beach of Lake Michigan...

We discovered a natural playground a stone's throw away from our new home...

We visited the parade of homes in Utah and Michigan to get ideas for our new home...

We spent the night at a cousin's cabin and rode on their insane zip line...

Sierra developed an eye for photography...

But photos weren't the only thing she shot...

We watched as mountains burned all summer long...

We visited an olde world festival...

We celebrated 4th of July at Grandma's, like usual...

We utilized our Pass of all Passes...

Watched as our house grew up...

Scored VIP seats at a pro soccer game -- Go Re'al!

Sierra had fun with butterflies...

We all had fun at Lagoon...

Boating with cousins...

And summer ended all too soon... back to school...

The Mind of a Child...

When Solei was a toddler, she found some bark that was lying at the base of a tree and said in disgust, “Ooooooh! Tree poo-poo!”

When the girls were little, we were taking a walk with the dog who was bombarding Sierra with her friendly but slobbery kisses. Frustrated, our sweet little Sierra yelled out “NO KINA, I'M NOT YOUR ICE CREAM CONE!”

Telling Ella how to crawl, Caden explained “But I’m four, so I crawl standing up.”

I was sitting with Caden one day and I told him that the couch used to be a cow (it is leather), and I said (half jokingly) “did you know that cows turn into couches?” To which he replied, “No they don’t, they turn into pies!”

Watching the Tabernacle choir sing during conference, Solei (who was 8 yrs old at the time) said that they should sing “Do as I’m Doing” (with all the motions, I’m sure).

We put in an underground fence for the dog and Caden (age 5) saw us burying the wire. We then put up little white flags to mark where it was. A few days later he went outside and turned on the hose. When I saw him, I asked him to turn off the water. He looked at me questioningly and asked, “Until when? Until the fence grows?” He thought it needed watering!

Taron (2) looked at the varicose veins on grandmas legs and said, “owy... lightning!”

When Caden was 5, he would ask if he could go play with his friend in the morning, and I would sometimes reply, "No, it's too early". Well one day he finally asked me "can we not play on 'too early's? Can we play on 'one early'?"

Sierra told me one night that when she was little, she used to think the word “couch” came from the word “cow”, and that our couch had a cow inside (partially true since it is leather). She would try to sit down carefully so it would not run away. She thought the wood parts inside were it’s bones and the black pegs on the bottom were the feet.

Sometimes Taron (age 2) would find dog poop and say “Eew! Dog poop!” and then proceed to stomp on it as if it were a bug.

Caden (age 5) and I were talking about the sounds letters make and he asked if I knew what the sleepy letter was. I replied that I didn’t and he said, “It’s the Z... when you go to sleep then the Z’s come out of your head. And there’s a big round white thing too but it’s invisible. Maybe he had been reading too many comic books...

Sierra (age 8) made a Halloween card for her friend and wrote ENSTINE (meaning Einstein) on it, I thought it was an odd thing to put on a Halloween card so I asked if she knew who Einstein was and she said "Isn't he the guy who made Frankenstein?"

Caden (age 5) asked if it was a ghost who said the sacrament prayer because he couldn’t see anyone at the podium but he could hear the voice.

When Taron was 2 he would always respond to an “I love you” with “Much”.

Taron (3) woke up one morning, started to play and when I asked him if he wanted a pancake, he said, “Oh yeah, I was supposed to be hungry!”

Dad was singing “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam” and Taron said “Jesus likes sunbeans, they’re delicious!”

I was teaching Taron (5) how to read, and came upon the word "loose". I told him, "the two O's say "oo" and the E is silent. Slowly and deliberately, he sounded it out........"Loooosssilent".

Caden had been learning to tell time in school and was asking me about the big hand vs. the little hand on the clock. Apparently Taron was listening somewhat because he held up his right hand and asked "is this the big hand?"

Ella (4) came up to me with some of my reading glasses and said "Mom, when I put glasses on, I still don't know how to read!"

At a restaurant, Ella was impatiently waiting for her food and, looking for the waitress, she asked "when is the human coming back?"

One morning I said, "Ella, come look! There's a wild turkey in the backyard!"
Ella (excitedly): "Can we kill it?!?"
What kind of daughter am I raising???

Ella mistook another guy for Chris and was about to follow him to his car, but soon realized her mistake and said, "I was about to follow the 'not dad'".