EFY or Bust

***Chances that peace and quiet will permeate the Smith household have increased by 20 %, with one of my five children gone for the week. Preston Edward Albert Smith is in Provo Utah for a church camp. The camp is called EFY, which stands for Especially For Youth.  It is aimed at 14-18 year olds.  Preston is lucky enough to have his cousin Sam with him.  I'm sure they will play hard, laugh harder, and hopefully come closer to Jesus Christ.  Peace and quiet for us, testimony building for them.  A win, win.

Looking handsome with his lanyard!

This counselor is trying to convince the boys to sign up for the talent show... he was successful.

Happy Moms!

See, they really are at EFY.

This is Preston's roommate, Tyler.

Ryan is my roommate, but Lesley is my wombmate.

To celebrate the night and the arrival of the Websters, we went to Nielsen's Frozen Custard.

You can tell Ryan and John are enjoying themselves because they both have their legs crossed, all matchy-like.

Enjoying custard, fries, and family.

*** This post is for Monday, July 14th, 2014***

Harold Merrell Stander's 94th Birthday Party!!!

What a lovely day of family!  I don't always get to attend church with my parents, my twin and her family, and my sister and brother in law. What a treat.  The day began with walking to church.  The night ended with a huge family gathering, celebrating my grandpa's 94th birthday.  He was born on 7/11, and he sure knows his way around a slurpee. My cup runneth over.

My sister in law, Shelly and I are pregnant at the same time.  See, we're holding our belly's, so it must be true.

We had some special guests at Grandpa's birthday party.  While visiting my grandma's gravesite on Memorial Day, I ran into a woman who told me about how my Grandfather has influenced many generations of her family.  When he was her father's Young Men's leader, he gave him a silver dollar and some words of wisdom as he departed on his mission.  That was over 40 years ago. He took the coin with him, and every missionary in her family ever since has done the same thing. It's a family legacy... a heritage of faith.  This kind woman came to Grandpa's party, along with several of ehr family members, and shared their story.  She also made this lovely cake, with fondant silver dollars fro decoration. It was such a wonderful moment.

I promise, the candles read "94" to him when looking at the cake from the other direction.  According to my mom, there were around 94 guests tonight, which was incredible!

This is Jayne Brown, the other guest of honor, who shared the silver dollar story with me at the cemetery, and then tonight with my family.

Aren't my relations good looking?!

Lots of grandkids in attendance.

My parents with Opa. He is holding a gift that Jane Brown made him with pictures of the missionaries who took the silver dollar on their missions, and the countries where the served. Totally cool!

Me and my Opa.

Q: What does one give a 94 year old man on his birthday?

A: Postum, of course.

Birthday Weekend

The first half of the weekend has been wonderful.  My Aunt Jayne had a wonderful birthday party today at the Spaghetti Factory, and tomorrow my Grandpa Stander will have his 94th birthday party at my home.  Family is trickling into town for these special occasions, and which means we all get more time with siblings, cousins, and grandparents then we normally get.  Today, the girls went to luncheon, and the boys went to play gold with my Grandfather.  A win, win.

All the boys at the driving range with Opa.

Look how happy they all are! Ryan isn't in it because he is taking the picture.

My Mom, the birthday gal Aunt Jayne, and my Aunt Jeannette.

Silly girls at lunch: Anna Howe, Jade Mathis and Annie.

Gotta love a candle in spumoni ice cream!

Helping hands, happy cousins.

The day ended in a water party, which basically means it was a smashing success.

A Saturday to D.I. for!

It is just so much fun playing with the Howe family. Today consisted of biscuits and gravy, a DI shopping run, lunch at Lewis Park, Baptisms at the Bountiful Temple, barbecue dinner, my parents arriving in town, and The Lego Movie. Everything IS awesome!

Parkin being sily. Anna watching the show.

Anna making sure that Cricket is comfortable.

Owen found the boxing dudes at the DI.  They had a blast with them at the park.

Just as we were climbing inot the car to leave the Bountiful temple, I realized that I didn't have any names for the special occasion. Bummer.  So here is one of Lesley, right in the temple parking lot. Her Daughter, Bella, has prepared over 200+ names for temple work (it's a genealogy thing, and I am so proud of her!)

Movie night: The Lego Movie.  

Howe Time

My twin discovered today how much shorter the drive from Tucson to Bountiful is, than the drive from Bountiful to Tucson (yes, I much prefer prepping a house to have visitors than driving in a car for 14 hours with all of my anxious children, ready to hang out with cousins... Lesley just told me that's a lie.  That the drive must be way shorter from Bountiful to Tucson because it's headed South, which is like driving downhill.  Either way, I am so very glad that Lesley, Benjamin, Bella, Livvy, Holman, Parkin and Anna are all under the Smith roof tonight!  I love my twin and her family!!!

Last day of the kids cooking camp:cinnamon rolls.  So tasty, so fun.

Annie and Cricket (our new family dog) were playing today and Annie took a video of the action.  If the movie won't play, then just picture the world's best dog, and it will be like you got to see the clip.

This sums up the end of a long day, after a 14 hour drive in the car. Ten points to my excellent b.i.l. for bringing my sweet sister to me!

Cooking Classes Galore

Today featured two cooking classes: My kids camp in the morning and a bread class in the afternoon.  Both went very well, and I am so grateful that the kids went first.  They can be a little energetic, which makes them both a handful and a hoot.  The adults are a little bit more subdued, but they are really great at striking the kitchen.  Basically today was a win win.

Mashing bananas.

Kids are cool.

Making tortillas at our bread class. Tasty fun.  And Garth did a great job.

Happy teen!  She must be at a chipperchef cooking class!

News

Q: What did Ryan do tonight with my 5 kids while I was hosting my monthly neighborhood potluck dinner party?
A:  He took them to Wendy's for dinner and then to the store to buy flowers, chocolates, and a card for me, to congratulate me on my pregnancy.  Round 6, baby! Due around March 15th.

What a crazy day.  I am not very far along at all, so this next 8 months will probably crawl.

In the kids cooking class we went over utensil names and uses.

The joy of sifting!

Cracking eggs is fun. I love cracking eggs.

We made pumpkin cupcakes, which were amazing.