Austin's ride!

We finally found a car for Austin.  He has been working hard and saving for over a year to have enough money to buy his first car.  We told him that we would match what he saved and so he was ready a few days after he got his license.  We looked at a lot of cars and a lot of them were a heap of trash.  We were getting a little worried that we weren't going to be able to find something decent in his price range, but we pushed onward.  After 3 intense days of test driving and laughing, we found the one.  He is the proud 1/2 owner of a 1998 Saturn SC2.  It is very well maintained, with a nice exterior and a super clean interior.  The guy who sold it to us is a Saturn mechanic for 19 years and he sold it to us with a 12,000 mile, 12 month warranty.  Who does that on a 1998 car?  It drives really well and is a really cute, fun car.  He is enjoying his freedom and I'm enjoying that he can get himself all the places he needs to go and also help me drive his siblings around.  Here's to Austin and his new ride!

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints in the....

 What an amazing past few months we've had in the Smith family with our awesome youth accepting calls to serve full time missions!  These young people amaze me and they are so strong and willing to serve!  I am so glad we've been able to be there when each of them received their mission calls and found out exactly where they are going to be able to teach the people about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how much God loves each and every person.

First was Ashlee and she is currently serving in the Canada Montreal Mission, French speaking!

 

Next, Andrew (Ashlee's brother!) received his call to serve in the New Zealand Wellington mission.  He reports to the New Zealand Mission Training Center on July 18th!

 

And the very next day, Zachary received his call to serve in the China Hong Kong mission.  He will report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on August 7th!

And we are waiting for one more call to come later this month for Zachary's twin brother Justin.  That will make 4 missionaries out at once with possibly more to overlap the 2 years of service!  These young men and lady are great people and I am so proud of them all!

Chicken Coop

So our chickens arrived a few days before the coop kit was delivered and have been living outside in Jag's crate kennel.  That's 10 chickens in a 3x4 wire kennerl...yuck!  So when the coop kit arrived yesterday I brought it home and started putting it together about 5pm.  Luckily Austin and Ethan arrived home from soccer practice in time to help me!  It was a great kit that was mostly assembled and actually had good directions, so we were able to assemble the run and the coop and put it together in about 2 1/2 hours.

 Once the sun went down, however, it was really cold.  It was actually snowing when we got the coop outside to where we think we want it to be.  Then it got really dark and we were putting it together with the help of the flashlight app on Dave's phone!

The boys and I really did get most of it done ourselves.  Dave arrived home at 6:45 and was just in time to modify the perches that didn't quite fit right and help herd the chickens into the contraption.

It was so dark and cold that the chickens would have rather spent another night in the kennel, but we shoved them into the house and hoped they would "get it".  Some of them came back out and preferred to be under the coop.  Oh well.  I got up this morning and there are still 10 chickens and some of them have figured out how to go in and out.  Perfect.  We'll see if we get any eggs today.
I think it's going to be great!

 Every President's Day we have a soccer tournament and this year was no different.  We travel south to where there is no more snow and let the boys out on the field to remember how to play outdoor soccer again.  It's a fun tournament and it's always so nice to warm up and hope that spring will come to SLC some day soon!

 

The team did really well in their games.  We won the first game 3-0, won the second game 5-0, and tied the third game 1-1.  That put us in the semi-final and we lost 0-1 in that game.  It was a nice tournament and we enjoyed our time in Mesquite, NV.

 

After the games were over we had an afternoon left to explore the area.  We headed out about 40 miles to the Valley of Fire and hiked/climbed around.  We went with a teammates family, the Hathaways and it was a very enjoyable afternoon/evening hike.  At one point the kids took off ahead of us and climbed up the cliffs trying to get to the highest point.  After a while we lost sight of them and Dave had to run up to find them.

 Some of us stayed behind and waited, and waited, and waited for them to come back.  Even after we saw them on top of the bluff it took another 30-45 minutes for them to come back.  It was nice to be able to chat and visit while they were gone.  It really is a beautiful part of the country with all the red rock, wind swept formations there.

 After another night's stay we traveled back north to the cold and winter...blah!  It was a cruel reminder of how much I love the warm weather and don't care for the cold and snow here.  Overall a good time, even though I was sick.

Valentines Day 2013

 We have had a fun Valentine's Day morning here!  The kids made their Valentine boxes last night...one Ipod and one Minecraft creeper (??)  and they turned out so cute.  I got the kids each a little box of donuts with a loving note for them to have this morning since 2 of them leave before I get up!

 My Valentine followed our 18 year tradition of a white rose and McDonald's for breakfast.  This stems from our very first encounter when he brought me breakfast and a white rose when we were at BYU and were only friends.  He's done it every year since and it's become a fun little reminder of how it all started! 

 McKinley said she would be my Valentine too and we dressed all in red for the fun day!

And what a cute little puzzle I got to put together this beautiful puzzle full of nice things about me.  It's been a great morning and I love all these people in my life.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Super 15th Birthday

 Ethan celebrated his 15th birthday this Sunday, February 3, 2013.  We got up bright and early (just like Ethan loves!) and opened presents.  He got most of the things on his list, but not all.  Thanks to grandparents, he got some new clothes and some nice gaming headphones.  We got him new cleats, new shoes, and a Chelsea soccer training top, plus a few other things.  It was a fun celebration in the morning.

 Since Ethan's birthday was on Superbowl Sunday we had a "birthday" party with a lot of our family members.  Everyone came over and enjoyed munchies and some of the game.  At half time we sang Happy Birthday and had cake.

We love having Ethan in our family.  He is the ultimate peace maker and obedient, happy boy.  He's turning in to a fine young man who is thoughtful and easy going, yet driven and determined to find a way to get what he wants.  He is a gentle soul with a wise spirit!  Happy 15th birthday Ethan!

First Gymnastics Meet

 McKinley performed in her first ever gymnastics meet on Saturday.  She has practiced two days a week for 2 hours a time for month for this meet.  All the pre-team girls have been learning their routines and their vaults to compete in this meet. 

McKinley did very well.  She got really nervous on the beam and fell a few times, but she got right back up and went on with the routine.  There was no photography allowed during the meet, so we took a couple staged pictures after.  We are proud of her hard work and look forward to her next meet and watching her compete again!