One Wicked Marathon Weekend

Summer 2008 ended for us with a bang. We combined two trips into one by traveling to see Wicked in LA the same week of the St. George Marathon.

LA/WICKED - Our family had a short but great time in LA. We visited the American Girl store - one of Megan & Emily's favorites. I picked the Cheesecake factory to have the pre-race meal - one of my favorites. We were able to meet up with Sean's mom, sisters and nephews. It was fun to see them. Wicked was an awesome production!! The girls loved it. At intermission they were doing the "toss-toss" scene with their hair. I hope this is the start of many broadway shows to come. I know Sean is totally converted...or he will just grin and bear it!

Before/After pics : I feel quite chipper, after race - Not feeling so hot!!!

ST. GEORGE/THE MARATHON - I have always wondered what it would be like to run a marathon. Well now I know - although the question remains whether it was the first of many - or simply the first. Who knows??? I enjoyed training through the summer and getting in a little better shape. One of my goals was to run up "Veyo Hill" at about mile seven without stopping. I was nervous because I really did not do any hill training. I'm proud to say I made it and continued to run/jog the whole course. At mile 21, when I was really feeling it, Sean met me on the course to finish my run. WOW!! My legs were dead - the up and down really got me. It was exciting to see my husband. He helped me get through the race and finish strong; although for the first time in our marriage, he did all the talking. The marathon as a whole was a great experience. I couldn't move very quickly for about a week. So far I haven't done any more running and we will have to see what spring brings.

Northridge School Carnival

The highlight of the year for most kids is the School Carniaval.

Megan and Emily look forward to this everytime and they have

a blast. I thought I would get involved this year - I volunteered

to help cordinate the food for the Carnival. When I did volunteer

I quickly thought of all the good people that could help - and of course

there was wonderful help!!!!

My sister Keli Anne suggested to have a traditional bake sale,

which was new to the carnival. This was a great success - She

sold everything!!

Thanks to Janae and Crystal who were in charge of the scones,

which were also an added item to the carnival. A HUGE sucess!!

It is so fun to have more neighbors going to Northridge. Also

a big thank you to Shauna for jumping in and helping at a

very busy time. It was hot and there was a line the whole night.

I don't know if they will sign up again. That crazy Laura Lee!!!

What did she get us into?????

Chad was the master chef!!! He was behind that camp stove

for 2 1/2 hours.

I did manage to talk Sean into coming for an hour. I know

he was busy and had other commitments but it was fun to have

him there for a short while. I know that Devin made it

to help also - thank you to him too. Megan and Emily both had their

hair sprayed different colors - one of their favorite things to

do at the carnival. I think they thought it was pretty cool to be able

to come into the kitchen all the time - it was like a backstage pass or

something. We went through 110 pizzas, 500 cans soda, 150 trays

of nachos and 300 otterpops. Overall the carnival was a huge success and

a great fundraiser for the PTA. We couldn't do it without all the parents

and wonderful vounteers!!!!!!

a

One Special Day, One Special Baby

Sept. 7th will always be a special day in our family - Baby Richie's Birthday. We all went to visit Richard Arlen on Sunday after Stake Conference. Tania and Rich are such strong people and have the hope and faith that they will know Baby Richie. Megan played the violin and we sang "I am a Child of God" and Rich gave a family prayer.

The girls love visiting Baby Richie and they are also learning the purpose of life and what happens when we die. It makes all of us want to be better people. I think of him often and

love him so much. A friend asked me when a mother gets over losing a son or daughter - my answer was NEVER. I know that Tania and Rich think of their first born everyday. They are still not pregnant again but I have faith it will happen this year. It will be such a joyous time in our family. After we went to our house for a BBQ and some birthday ice cream.

It was a very special day, I know these kids will not forget.

A Little 80's Attitude

Friday night the girls went to a surprise birthday party for one of their friends, Marina who was turning 8. The invitation said to come in a 80's costume. We went to Savers to find a costume - the girls thought that was pretty fun. It was hard to think about all the costumes I could have come up with if I was at home - with all my old clothes. Everything that I wore in the 80's is still in my room right were I left it - the acid wash jeans with matching jacket, leg warmers, polo shirts, pink jean jacket, bermuda shorts etc. So for me to go to Savers and spent $20 on eighty's clothes was not that fun to me. The girls had a wonderful time at the party - Sabine and Allison put on quite a party. Megan and Emily came home with make up and hair all done up. What a flash into the past!! Good times!!

They Go Their Separate Ways!

Back to School 2008

We are now into the 3rd week of school and the girls are loving school. They started out the year in the same class with Mrs. Kerr on the AM schedule - last year they were on the PM schedule. All their friends from last year were on the PM schedule again so they girls did not get to see them. Megan and Emily asked me everyday "Mommy can you ask the principle if we can move to PM." I went and talked with the principle and then I got a phone call. The only way that we could move to the PM schedule was for the girls to move to separate Core Classes. So after seeing long faces everyday that I picked the girls up from school I let go my ideal of having twins in the same class and we moved to the PM schedule. Now Megan is in Mrs. Iman's class and Emily is still in Mrs. Kerr's class - they are together for their specialty classes like art, music, and computers. So far they love having their own space in their classroom and different homework - they can't tell on each other. Megan is doing the orchestra again this year and is having so much fun. Emily joined the Art Club - a before school program, which she loves!! We love Northridge and the opportunities that the school offers for Megan and Emily! Here we come 3rd Grade!!!!

The Big "35"

For some reason I'm not too concerned about being 35 - turning 40 will probably be a little different. There are times that I think it would be nice to know what I know at age 35 when I was 25. Life just keeps getting better and I like to think I'm getting a little wiser, more thoughtful, more forgiving, more kind and loving - just always trying to improve. Sean spoiled me with a wonderful birthday weekend, on Sunday he surprised me with "Wicked" tickets. So looks like we are headed to LA just before the St. George Marathon. I'm pretty excited to see that broadway, even Megan and Emily get to come.

July 4th Celebration Week 2008

We kicked off our Independance Day Celebration with the 4th Annual Neighborhood Party. We all love this tradition, the girls love decorating their bikes and riding in the kids parade - Sean loves the fireworks. It is great to come together as a neighborhood and have a great time!! The next morning we woke up at 5:00 am to catch a flight to LA to attend a family reunion and spent a day exploring LA. After landing in LA at about 9:00 we went straight to the LA Zoo. After that we met up with my sisters families - Keli Anne & Sarah Jane and went to the American Girl Store, to the new Kit Kitridge Movie, and out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Of course the guys went shopping in other stores and to see a different movie - Hancock. The next morning we woke up early and went to the beach. After the beach we headed to our Family Reunion at my Uncle's Ranch just outside of Santa Barbara.

Best Mother's Day

When I was little we would ask my mom what she wanted for Mother's Day - her response was always - "A Clean House." I now have a new understanding of what she meant. I'm so excited when the girls will just start helping with house and yard work. When they help they learn a sense of accomplishment and actually enjoy it. I just need to figure out how to get the girls to work more often. This year for both Mother's and Father's Day they were so helpful and thoughtful. It beats any gift that I could be given. I feel like that is one of the greatest gifts my parents taught me is how to work, work, work. Since I don't get to raise the girls on the farm - we will have to find different ideas. Although Emily asked me the other day; "Mommy - next year can we go to Grandma's house for a whole month and work on the farm."

JACK

The girls have been asking for a dog since about age 5. We have tried to put them off with other pets like the hamster, bird and fish. But they finally talked us into Jack - a Mini Aussie. So far he has been a great puppy - puppy being the key word. He does everything that puppies do but we still love him. Our book of study is "Good Owners, Great Dogs" I'm hoping that this will help us figure out everything. Wow it is a lot of work!!!!!

End of School Year

I have taken a long blogging break - so I guess it is time to do a little catch up on my journal. We ended a very positive school year at Northridge Elementary. The girls passed 2nd grade and are excited to move on to 3rd. They had a lot of fun meeting new friends and loved all their fabulous teachers. Miss Harris put on a wonderful year end class party - LUAU!! She had crafts, games, sno cones, and of course Hawaiian haystacks for lunch. It almost made me want to be a teacher again - I used to love to put on parties for the kids. This year Megan and Emily participated in art, science and music specialties - they loved them all. They also loved Field Day!! It was so much fun - Emily ran in the relay for her class.

Neighborhood of Fire IV

Get ready for the 4th Annual Independence Day Celebration! This year it will be on July 1st, starting at 6:30pm. As usual, there will be a fabulous BBQ, children's (big and small) parade, face painting, and fireworks.

All present and past neighbors are invited. If you have moved away, come back - at least for one night! We need to surpass last year's crowd of 320+ and we want to catch up with what's happening where ever you are now.

Wear red, white and blue; bring a salad or dessert; decorate your stroller, wagon, bike or other favorite ride; and bring something legal (or mostly legal) to contribute to the fireworks nightcap.

Finally, if you have a favorite song or artist, make a suggestion and we"ll add it to this year's playlist.

God Bless the USA!!! (and Canada - at least this night)

Spring Break 2008!!

Spring Violin Concerts

I figured it was about time that I sat down and updated my journal. I don't scrapbook so I figure this is close enough. I think it has been a year since Shauna got me and the rest of our neighborhood blogging - I just love looking back at past blogs. I would never have this history if I didn't have the Poynter Times to blog on. April started out busy with a Northridge School Orechestra Concert - there were 2 day time performances and 1 night performance at Oak Canyon Junior High. I'm stil so impressed and amazed at the talent Mr. Huish with his orchestra. Unbelieveable!!! They played many different songs - Lion King, Tarzan, Stars and Stripes and my favorite Cannon in D. After my niece Kristine went to the Christmas concert in December she decided she wanted to play the Cello. The girls have had a great time being in Orchestra together - Kristine was also asked to sing a solo with the orchestra. She was amazing!! It is fun to see these little girls grow up and develop different talents. After this concert Emily has decided that she would rather play the flute. So she is starting flute lessons next week. No more Violin for Emily - I think she is pretty happy about that. So all the girls can have an orchestra of their own - flute, cello, violin. Kind of FUN!!

Just before Springbreak the girls had their Solo Recital. I was a little nervous for both of them - everything turned out just fine. Both Megan and Emily did a great job on their songs!! Yipee!! We haven't practiced the violin or piano for 2 weeks, I think the girls and their mommy needed a break. We will get going again next week.

Small & Simple Things

A Few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. While preparing this talk many of the gospel principles became more clear to me. I have continued to study - this time with more meaning and with more understanding. It is so exciting to feel this peace in my heart. Although I still have much to learn it is wonderful to have this knowledge. General Conference this weekend has been such a great experience - spiritually enlightening. I thought I would share some of my talk - in the process of preparing this talk I had many experiences that taught me. I would like to start by telling you a little bit about the home I was raised in. It is a small, simple farm house – making up only about 900 square feet. It has 3 small bedrooms, each close to the size of the walk-in closet we have now. We had a nice size living room and kitchen and a very small bathroom and a hall. There were 6 kids in our family, and as you might guess, the three oldest and my parents got bedrooms, while the three youngest did not. My younger sister and I would pull out the couch each night, while my sister Tania would take the cushions we removed and sleep on those. There was a stove in the living room that we would gather around to get warm and just talk as a family. I have many fond memories – even though the arrangements were pretty simple.

A few weeks ago I traveled home to Canada for my nephew’s baptism. I attented church in my old ward - almost feeling a little envious that my brother was raising his 5 children in the same simple farm house. I thought for awhile – I am who I am today because of that little house. This is the house where my parents taught me many of life’s lessons - I gained my testimony, learned to love the gospel, gained a deep understanding of the importance of family and relationships. I thought, “How can I have the success my parents had without that little house.” Perhaps my little house could be used as an object lesson. Through small and simple things, great things can come to pass.
The Lord occasionally gives us trials to accelerate our progress! We are all blessed with trials – each of us struggle in one thing or another. Trials are given to make us better, refine us to help us reach our divine potential and become more like our savior Jesus Christ.

A little over a year ago doctors told us that we had less than a 1% chance of having more children. Although I still believe in miracles, this was devastating to me and I have searched and pondered to find answers and peace. I have gone to see many natural clinics, had my blood tested, taken a variety of vitamins, tried different ways of eating and various exercises. If the book or web site said that it would improve infertility, I did it.

Ultimately though, I have learned to rely on the Lord. I have come to understand that having another baby may or may not be part of His plan. I know He is in charge and if it is part of His plan, it will happen. Along the way, I have also learned to have a little more compassion for others – one of those being my older sister Tania.

In September 2006, Tania got married to a wonderful man at 35 years old. To their excitement, within a few months of their marriage, she got pregnant. The day before her due date, I met her at the hospital just as she was getting wheeled in, overjoyed to be having her first baby. The nurses started their routine of checking the baby’s heart beat, but they could not find one. Their baby had passed on just hours before her contractions started. Tania delivered her baby still born. This precious baby brought us closer to Christ and reminded us once again of the importance of small and simple things.

The Savior said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Sometimes we have the tendency to think that the more serious the problem, the bigger and more complex the solution should be. If we will think of the scripture Alma 37:6 “that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. I know now that it was not my small and simple house that taught me – it was the simple principles of the gospel that were taught in our home.

I hope that we can remember the resurrection and the power of the atonement. There have been many times through the past few years that I have felt the healing power of the Atonement. I know that we will be given the strength to bear our burdens and draw closer to the lord.

Smith Family Farm 2008

Easter Celebrations!

Easter is such a special time it is like a renewal of life. We see new plants come up and want to start new on different things in our life. This year included all the traditional activities like coloring Easter Eggs, Easter Egg Hunt and of course the Traditional New Easter Dress. One defining moment that our family had this year was learning that the Easter Bunny is not real. We have been saving money for a Spring Break trip to LA to a visit to the American Girl Store and a day at Disneyland. The girls have been involved in the budgeting and have earned money for the trip. In the budget I had only $10 for their Easter basket - a little different than years past when there was no budget. Well on Easter morning the girls were disappointed in what the got in their baskets. (spoiled little brats - mostly my fault, I had given them too much in the past) Emily went to her room and shut the door - later she slipped a note under the door saying "I'm not coming out of my room for the rest of my life.... P.S. I might have liked these gifts when I was 5 years old but not when I'm 8." At that point Sean felt it important to share the little secret. He explained that it was Mommy that filled the baskets and only had a certain amount of money. The girls felt very sad and apologized for acting so ungrateful. The lesson I learned was not to give your kids to much to soon. Wow quite a day! But it was good for our family to learn this lesson. It also gave us another opportunity to focus on the real meaning of Easter. The day ended by the girls TOTALLY looking forward to next Easter. Now that they are in on the secret, they can't wait to play Easter Bunny themselves!

The Leprechaun Trap!

This year the girls homework assignment for about 2 weeks was to create a Leprechaun Trap. They love to cut, paste, tape, color, paint and make a mess. In the end both Megan and Emily ended up with great traps that they did all on their own. They said that this was one of their favorite holidays. Kind of FUN!!

A Little Time Away from Home....

The Children's Club Show at the Javits Center in New York

I think that it has been about 6 years that Mom and I started going to New York. Our first trip was the October after the September 11 Events. It is always fun to get away and experience the City. Of course there is work involved - we help mom haul all the suitcases down to the Javits about 1 1/2 miles from our hotel. We used to walk and drag the suit cases and any other miscellaneous racks, photos, bags we needed for the booth because we did not want to spent the money on a cab. Now we have it down to a science - take a cab and go early to set up - the booth is set up within 2 hours. Unlike our usual 4-6 hours of setting up. Oh the things we do - it's all about learning to simplifying. It is fun to work with Mom - she is a definite business women. Also this is the Trade Show that I get myself into too much trouble - ordering dresses for the girls at the beautiful dress companies for wholesale. I figure they are only little girls once!
After we set up there is always time to head down to China Town - one of my favorites. There are certain vendors we go to every time - each serving a purpose, sunglasses, purses, jewelery. This is a picture of our purse Lady - Mimi, she is the only one that we will buy purses from. She has the best ones at the greatest prices. It is so funny because I will call her when we get down there and she says meet me at the corner of Broadway and Canal. She gives my mom a hug each time and just says How are you? about 5-6 times. It is a long walk up the stairs and a definite experience. It is so much fun because Katie has joined us on a consistent basis and she just loves to shop. We are always looking for the closest ATM. After each day we pull out our days purchases and have a little fashion show. Too much fun!!!