COMBINED FAMILY ACTIVITY

As families...we try to do things together...Joint effort to satisfy ALL participants...Jared, Angel and Nathan...know how to "peacefully" spend time together...(smile)

Going...Going....GONE! (Nathan)

Rollers

So I missed Sam rolling over on his own for the first time. I was putting things away and I heard him grunting. He had been happy playing by himself for awhile so I figured it was time for him to do something else. I walk in the room and he had his arm stuck under him but he did roll on his own.

"Fay" - Tropical Storm - August 21, 2008

Another shot of the yard...

Can see the leakage on the roof line in the spare room...

We are getting wet INSIDE as well...Spare room

Another area of the pond...spilling over...

Middle of the yard...

Hope you can tell...all of this is under water...tree stuff floating on top...

Tried to get it when the gusts of wind would happen...but...this is the best I could get...

Pond area

Here are a few pictures I took MUCH earlier, today...(It is now after 10:30 P.M.) It is STILL RAINING...Never quite had this much rain in over 20 years...I know in areas of Florida...RECORD RAIN...streets are UNDER WATER...FLOODING terribly in several areas....Homes....CARS.....ruined...Sewage coming up in the streets and homes...

So far...we aren't in that situation...but, as you can see...we are getting our share of rain...

I took these pictures over 5 hours, ago...and like I said...the rain HAS NOT let up since then...

I will take more pictures in the morning...I will let you know...if "rafts" will be necessary to get around...(smile)

NATHAN!

Nathan came home from the doctor a little different!

Happy Birthday...Joshua!!!

Today, Joshua turned 29 years old....Last year to enjoy his 20's....How QUICKLY time has flown by....I tried to upload a couple of other pictures...but, lots of techical difficulties...so...at this time...this was the only picture that uploaded...This picture was taken in early MAY 1982 - Joshua, you were nearly 3 years old....

Pappy Remembers

I remember building Mama's flower boxes in front of our house. Jenny and Sarah would sometimes come outside and see what was going on. There would be big piles of yellow sawdust from cutting the landscaping timbers. The girls "discovered" this "gold" and had a delight playing in it. Remember?

Some People do NOT know when to come out of the RAIN!

With Tropical Storm "Fay" - possible HURRICANE - near our border....of Florida....we are having "effects"...at this time...However....then...there is your FATHER....pressure washing in the storm....Hey...what can I say? This BLOG is entitled..."Smith Family CRAZIES"!!!! (smile)

Emma - is "5" years old today!!!!

Happy Birthday, Emma!!!! I had taken these TWO pictures at our Thanksgiving "2006" Campout...I thought they were really cute!!! I know these is NOT UPDATED...pictures..but, we are waiting on your PARENTS...to POST UPDATED pictures...(hint...hint!) (smile) Anyway, I LOVED these pictures...and wanted to show them off!!! (smile)

Well....Fire Chief.....I was just.......huh.......

Remember those pictures I sent of your "father's" "cleanup" fire? Well...it seems...it did more than just burn up all the OLD stuff in the yard....Your dad nearly set our ENTIRE yard on fire....The flames had gotten so HIGH...that.....well...the picture speaks for itself....

SNAKE....

OK...enough "spiders"....Now we can concentrate on the "other" nasty villians in Florida...SNAKES...This little guy even "posed" for this camera shot of him in OUR POOL!!!

SPIDERS!

For Caleb:

Temple Presentation

Click here to download my temple training Powerpoint presentation given at stake leadership training (must have Powerpoint)
Temple Training Powerpoint

Click Here to see show in your browser (if you don't have Powerpoint).
Temple Training Web Browser

Click on Slide Show in the lower right hand corner and the first part will run automatically. When you get to the Church Handbook of Instruction, you will have to click through the information.

ENJOY!

Mama's FAVORITE Child

Mama's Favorite Child (smile)

OPPS....It started to RAIN....(smile)

OPPS!!!! It started to RAIN!!!! (smile)

Yard Cleanup - Hmmmm....

OK...OK...I know where our SMITH SONS....come by being "piros" NATURALLY....These pictures...give full evidence....of who was the "Master TEACHER"....(smile)

The POOL is back in SERVICE

Papa and Nathan

Angel and Nathan

Garvin, Hyrum, and Angel

Hyrum, Angel, Jared, and Nathan

Nathan LOVING the pool

Today, we all ventured into our pool!!!! (Yes, that includes me...) (smile)

Youth Temple Trip

Had a really tender experience, yesterday....Garvin and I went with the YOUTH to the temple...I actually did BAPTISMS for the first time in a VERY LONG TIME....I was able to be baptized and confirmed for BOTH of Darryl Pierce's GRANDMOTHERS....and Hyrum was baptized for BOTH of Darryl's GRANDFATHERS....PLUS, I did the work of my ONLY AUNT...Barbara Jean HEISEN (Dominguez)....She was ALWAYS KIND to me...VERY SUPPORTIVE...when I need KINDNESS....so with these "sensitive" feelings I had for her....as I went under the water....and was pulled up....someone told me....I was "beaming"....I will soon do the rest of her temple work....and then...have her sealed to her parents...my grandfather...Wallace HEISEN...and my grandmother...Dorothy ACKER....then, my grandparents will have BOTH of their DAUGHTERS sealed to them...my mother being the other daughter....May they ALL realize what a GIFT this is....

Sam

Mom, so you don't feel bad about the OTHER grandchildren not liking your turtles... Sam likes them.

Our Swimming Pool - NO MORE FROGS OR POLY-WOGS

Taken: July 7th

Taken: July 7th

Taken: August 5th

Well, it has been a VERY LONG TIME......but, your dad was able to stop the leaks in our pool....It took, AFTER "10" years...to finally take ONE SUMMER SEMESTER off...to get a few things FIXED here at home...The POOL...has been a very SORE reminder...how little time we have had to fix things around here....But he drained most of the pool....found 2 cracks and around the light fixture...got them "sealed" up....Now...You can see the DIFFERENCE...We can ACTUALLY SWIM in the pool, now!!!! Come on over!!!!! We will have a POOL PARTY!!!! (smile)

Notice what's in his hands!
One of my favorite pictures.

I dedicate this to Dad

Odds and Ends

Loved this painting in the Bishop's Storehouse

Can't resist a sleeping baby - Nathan and Jared

Rick - Fran Miller - Mama - Garvin

Fran Miller and I - "til we meet again"

We had alot of different experiences this past week...from working in the Bishop's storehouse - family stuff - Rick and Fran moving to MISSOURI - Leu Gardens for me - cleaning up the yard - looking at possibly our new home - showing of our current home...and many more...Wish I could have captured each of our moments...but, here are just a few...

(Top Picture) Joel eating some 'Teddy Grams' and being silly...are we not perfect for each other? *Sigh* (Middle & Bottom Pic.) we went to 'Y Mount' and watched the sun set, we didnt climb the 'Y' we just drove to were we could park and watched the sun go down and watch all the lights come on...NO we did NOT make-out...

"Christmas Carol"

"Christmas Carol" has been a SMITH FAMILY favorite for years...A tradition to watch at LEAST ONCE A YEAR...This month's First Presidency message...President Monson mentions the "Christmas Carol"...He believes it was INSPIRED OF GOD......("May We So Live" - August 2008 - First Presidency Message)

"As we remember that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God,”8 we will not find ourselves in the unenviable position of Jacob Marley’s ghost, who spoke to Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s immortal Christmas Carol. Marley spoke sadly of opportunities lost. Said he: “Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!”
Marley added: “Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!”
Fortunately, as we know, Ebenezer Scrooge changed his life for the better. I love his line, “I am not the man I was.”9
Why is Dickens’s Christmas Carol so popular? Why is it ever new? I personally feel it is inspired of God. It brings out the best within human nature. It gives hope. It motivates change. We can turn from the paths which would lead us down and, with a song in our hearts, follow a star and walk toward the light. We can quicken our step, bolster our courage, and bask in the sunlight of truth. We can hear more clearly the laughter of little children. We can dry the tear of the weeping. We can comfort the dying by sharing the promise of eternal life. If we lift one weary hand which hangs down, if we bring peace to one struggling soul, if we give as did the Master, we can—by showing the way—become a guiding star for some lost mariner.