Sledding fun!

After the busyness of Christmas we took the morning to clean up the house a bit and then decided to take advantage of the snow and go sledding!  It was a perfect day, with plenty of snow and sunshine, and a big hill!  We did lots of runs and had a great time.
 

Christmas 2016

Christmas time is always a magical time of year and this year was no different.  Christmas eve we spent the evening with Nana and Granddad having our breakfast for dinner Christmas eve meal.  We also helped Susan with a project of redecorating Jessica's room for a Christmas surprise.  Of course we opened our Christmas jammies, played a game and settled in for It's a Wonderful Life!

Christmas morning couldn't come soon enough...as we were waiting to Skype with Elder Smith!  It was definitely the highlight of Christmas to be able to see and talk with him all the way from Brazil.  It was so great to hear his voice and hear what he has been doing and experiencing in Brazil.  He is doing so well.  He had trouble with some English words and would use some Portuguese while speaking English.  We were all able to visit with him for almost 2 hours, which seems like a long time, until you realize that's all you have for 5 months!  We had no trouble finding things to talk about and kept the conversation going strong the whole time.  We took a family photo, heard his testimony in Portuguese, and shared a family prayer right before we hung up.  It was all perfect!

After that emotional time we took some time out and used our new snowblower to dig out from the 8 inches of snow we got overnight.  It was fun to try out the new toy and eventually that will make it quicker to plow our driveways!

Finally we were able to open presents with the kids here at home.  It was fun to carry on our traditions that you don't get to get your present from under the tree, but you can give a present to someone from under the tree.  We all took turns opening a few presents and enjoying our gifts.

After presents we were able to attend church and enjoy a wonderful musical program, which included McKinley playing a musical number on the piano.  She did so great!

After church we fed the three Elders serving in our branch and went next door to visit with the Smith family who was gathered there.  It was fun to see aunts, uncles, and cousins and wish them all Merry Christmas.  It was a long, emotional, wonderful day that was just about perfect!

Smith family Progressive dinner 2016

  This year for the Progressive dinner we added elements of the Pearson family party since it was not going to be held this year.  It was determined that the Pearson reunion will take place during the summer where we can all meet outside in a park setting.  So we keep our Progressive dinner tradition alive and added the nativity story and Santa's present to it.  It was a great evening!

It was a great evening and I love the new elements added in to our growing family!

Evan's eagle project - Christmas for refugees!

For Evan's eagle project he decided he wanted to do a Giver's Christmas for our community.  He wanted to have a get together where everyone could come and visit and donate items for the Utah Refugee Center.  He contacted the center and found out what the most needed items where and created an angel tree with ornaments that listed the different needs.  He asked those who wanted to take an ornament from the tree and donate that item to his project.  He also had sign up sheets in the three congregations in our church building, an email through the school, and a neighborhood email and flyer that all went out to advertise for his project.  

 The collection night was Monday, December 12th and he had a nice area set up in the circle behind our house.  He had 2 fires, 3 propane heaters, hot chocolate and treats for everyone to come and enjoy.  The response was fantastic and he had a very successful event and collection drive.

The final count was 100+ hoodies, 90+ toys, 50+ books and a large amount in gift cards/cash.  We are so grateful for such a generous community and for all the support.  He is so excited to take the gifts to the center and to know that many, many refugee children will have a good Christmas this year.  It was a good project, he learned and planned a lot, and showed great leadership and organization skills throughout.  Way to go Evan!!

Thanksgiving 2016

Thanksgiving this year was at the Fitlows and it was great!  We had a great gathering of friends and family...wonderful food...with Gluten free, Paleo, and Vegan diet's all accomodated!  It was a wonderful afternoon of eating, visiting, and cheering on the Lion's...who actually won!  I love my family and it's fun to spend the day being grateful for them and all my other blessings.

Halloween Fun!

Halloween eve we decided it was time to carve out pumpkins.  McKinley was still the only one who would touch the guts and she cleaned out both pumpkins.  Then we decided it would be fun to try some designs we had seen that used a drill to simply drill holes in the pumpkins.  We loved how they turned out!

Then on Halloween night, McKinley went trick-or-treating with a few girls by herself.  It was the first time in 20 years that I didn't walk around the neighborhood with at least one of my kids.  Luckily we were able to go down to Mike and Mischele's and help hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters they get there.  And I was able to go down to Bishop Mel's for a hotdog and watch McKinley trick-or-treat to a couple houses.  It was a super fun Halloween...cute Wonder Woman and Evan was an Italian soccer player (he was off before I got a photo!)

Alpine Loop fall drive

I wanted to make sure that we went up and saw the beautiful colors in the mountains before it was too late.  So, after dinner we loaded up in the car and headed out for the Alpine Loop.  A lot of other people had the same idea and it was very crowded, but the views were breath taking.  The kids enjoyed seeing the beautiful trees and hanging out the sunroof winding around the small, slow canyon drive.  We even stopped to take a "family" picture with the camera perched on the top of the car and me running to get in the picture.  Fun times!

 We stopped at a particularly beautiful turn out and the kids hopped on the top of the Suburban.  They thought they were pretty funny.  So I took their picture!  It was a wonderful evening with 3 of my favorite people!

Happy 20th to this one!

Some how this first born child of mine is 20 years old!  What a ride it's been.  Austin is a strong willed, intelligent, amazing young man.  I can't believe it's been 20 years.  He is the one who made me a mother and together we have had so many amazing journeys through this life.  I love his deep thinking and questioning spirit.  I love his smile and the way his eyes twinkle when he is truly happy.  I don't like that he's so far away for school and that he can't just stop by and say "Hi, Mom!".  I miss him.  I am anxious to see what lays in store for him as he becomes a full blown adult and choses his pathway.  I hope it's filled with success and true joy!  That's what he deserves.  Go and make it happen Austin!

Elder Smith's arrival and first area

Elder Smith arrived to the Juiz de Fora mission home and was assigned to labor in Uba as his first area.  His trainer is Elder Santos and his pday's will be on Mondays.  We are anxious to hear from him, but are so grateful to the mission president secretary for taking and posting so many photos and even a video.  We are excited to hear from Ethan next Monday.  He loved his MTC time, but is ready to get out among the people and start teaching and learning "in the real world".

Sister and President Lacerno with Elder Smith

 Elder Smith's trainer...Elder Santos, assigned to Uba, Brazil

Ethan's MTC experience in Brazil

I realize that I keep a blog for Ethan's mission, but that I might want to put some things on here as well so it's documented in my family blog, especially when I print it out each year as my journal.  It would not be complete without updates on what he's been up to.  He's liking the MTC okay and learning Portguese as fast as he can.  He feels somewhat confident in it and then he'll have a real conversation where he will mess up words or not understand anything.  He did say he experiences a blessing of the gift of tongues as was able to speak Portuguese for a full minute without even thinking about it.  He also had a comforting experience in the temple last week where he prayed to feel the Spirit and was immediately able to do so powerfully.  It's been fun hearing about his 3 weeks there so far and his attitude is great.  He's enjoying himself and working hard!

 His MTC district.

Elder Hill, Elder Smith and Elder Rick's (MTC companionship) 

Bear Lake 2016

Another Smith family Bear Lake trip...and another amazing year!  This year was a little different for our family because we had dropped Ethan off at the airport for his 2 year mission the day before and Evan decided to go on his Scout's 50 mile high adventure that week, so we just had Austin and McKinley there with us.  Katie was also gone on her mission, so it was just a little different without those kids there!  But we still enjoyed ourselves so much and it was actually a good distraction to Ethan having left.  The beauty of Bear Lake is so relaxing and the weather was perfect.  Camping with the whole Smith family is such a fun time and we really do have it down to a science with the food, the fun, and the beaching!  

 It's so amazing to be together with the whole family for 4-5 days.  What's really neat is that every single one of those people get along with each other.  There are no long standing disagreements or anything, so it's so relaxing and lovely.  I love to see all the cousins together with the aunts and uncles chatting and swimming and having fun.  It's truly amazing!

This year we had 3 dogs at Bear Lake.  Jag, Belle, and Sam.  And they did so well.  Jag had an especially good year as he learned to hang around camp and didn't have to be tied up much.  He took long naps in the air conditioned camper while we were at the beach.  He did make it halfway to the beach one day, but we took him back up.  Too bad the dogs can't enjoy the beach and the water...they would love it!

The days go by so quickly and before you know it it's time to go home and back to real life.  I'm so glad we can go each year and enjoy the time together.  It's a magical time!!