A little bit of April birthday and a lot of Baptism! Essie! Christie & Noah too!

 We just took Essie's birthday present up to give her when we went up to go to her baptism on Saturday, May 7, 2022.  It was such a fun thing to go and be part of this wonderful day with her and for me, it was the first time seeing their brand new house!  So exciting!  Essie's a sweetie and we are so happy to see her take this step toward her heavenly home.   It was also great for me to see the beautiful fireplace that Paul and Bean build in this new house!  It was just a great time all the way around!  

Earlier in April, Christie celebrated #34 and then Noah had put his birthday off to celebrate in April too.  #13 actually took place last year, but he wanted to wait for a special present to be available before he actually celebrated.  We celebrated Noah's at a family dinner.  

May Birthdays!

 Unfortunately I don't have a birthday picture of Kaebri.  She is the first of the May Smith birthdays, but this one was taken pretty close to her birthday!  Sounded like she had a happy #20 in the mission field.

 

 

Next came Trigg (10) and Zade (14).  Trigg is way into yo-yo's right now, so Derek pointed me to the perfect one for him.  And Zade was needing a next book in a series - another good tip from Derek.  These are awesome kids and they seem to be doing well after having been through some tough times.  Love them all lots.  

First hike in a long time!

 Paul and I took a really nice hike yesterday up the Browse road.  It was the perfect weather - not too hot and mountain breezes keeping us cool on the sunny day.  We ended up doing about 6 miles.  We went up a new section of trail that has never been accessible before - The Wet Sandy trail.  We just hiked up it for about 20 minutes after lunch.  We had heard there was a big boulder down in the road from the forest service, but never did find it.  Maybe they had already taken care of it.  But we had such a nice out in the forest with no one else day.  The streams were cold and we soaked our feet in one and sat by one to eat our lunch.  We found some new good camp spots too.  We were pretty tired by the end, but it was good to get out!  There were so many pretty flowers along the way!

We came across this sign in what had looked like a good camping spot along the Wet Sandy Trail.  Guess not!  We skedaddled out of there!

Grand 'Edventure' dates - Trigg, Eliza and Torin

We had fun singing in the car, eating ice cream and then going to Snow Canyon State Park to participate in the Scorpion Hunt activity.  We had a great ranger that shared info with us and led us on the hunt for scorpions out in the sand dunes.  It didn't start until 8:30 and we didn't go out hunting until it was full dark and we could spot them with black lights.  Eliza was pretty scared about it at first, but by the end all 3 of the kids were having a good time.  The ranger also took time to point out and tell some about of the constellations which Trigg really enjoyed as well.  It was good to spend some time with these three.  

Good byes are hard

 We had one on April 19th when Derek's mom, Marie Smith, passed away in the night and Kevin found her gone in the morning.  She had slept in another room because she had a bad cough and didn't want to keep him awake.  What a sad thing for him to find her gone.  Of course we know she is not gone forever, but just gone from him and all the rest of us until that time when reunions happen in the future.  She didn't want a funeral as usual.  They just had a viewing and then a graveside for family and close friends.  Kevin gave a sweet talk there and they had a white dove ceremony which was really beautiful. We joined them in a very nice lunch at the church afterwards also.  I'm so sorry for Derek to have lost yet another important family member; Lenae, his brother Trevor and now his mom.  She was such a sweet lady and so good to the grand kids.  They are going to feel a huge void yet again.  We are all going to miss her every ready hugs and smile.  

I have to say here too that another passing touched my heart recently.  I sat by a lady at one chemo session that had been down a long hard road with pancreatic cancer.  I found out in our conversation that she had been a building inspector that Paul had worked with.  She had lost her husband quite early and became an inspector to support herself and her kids for the rest of her life.  She said she was doing this last round of chemo just because her kids wanted her to try one more time.  She said she was ready to be done if this one didn't make a difference. Her kids were all grown up and doing well now and she was ready to go and be with her husband again.  When I saw her obituary in the paper, it touched my heart knowing she had fought the good fight, but was now reunited with him again.  

Up, Up, and away...

 ...in our beautiful balloon!  Today was the day we redeemed out Christmas 'gift certificate' for a balloon ride.  We went with Heather Watkins Confetti Pebbles Balloons of Utah and she gave us a great ride.  Her cute family were her crew and they did a great job!  It was a perfect early morning ride and we were amazed to see what the view looks like from balloon aloft view!  Kind of crazy to figure things out from such a new vantage point.  Lift off - we barely felt it and when we came down it was just as smooth.  We tried to come down at a different spot first, and then the wind shifted and that was not an option at that point...so we drifted over to another spot and she put us down.  Sights along the way included seeing Ferf out running with her ladies.  Heather took us down low enough that we could converse with them!  We saw the temple, sunrise, the neighborhood mountain top trails, the ponds in backyards that we didn't even know were there, the meandering of the river and so much more!  The fields were so pretty - some green and some plowed.  On our way to land we even saw what may have been a homeless camp along the river, or it may just have been Spring Break kids trying to save money camping along the river/bike trail.   At the end of our ride they have a funny little tradition:  we kneeled down on a blanket and after Heather's little girl demonstrated how, we had to put our hands behind our back and reach down with our mouths to pick up a paper cup full of sparkling cider and drink it all up with no hands!  It was funny!  She recited the Balloonist Prayer before we started.

The winds have welcomes you with softness. The sun has blessed you with his warm hand.  You have flown so well and so high, that God has joined you in your laughter and set you gently back again into the loving arms of Mother Earth!  

It was a really fun experience and very interesting to see it up close and personal.  I've watched one land before a few years ago with Trigg, but this was the real deal just for us.  It was and expensive gift to give and we really appreciate the opportunity to have such a fun and learning adventure experience gift!  

Grand Edventure with the Smith Kids

 

We had good times with Tasia, Zade and Trigg at Fiesta Fun - miniature golfing and then at Dairy Queen for treats afterwards.  We went on the last day of our school Spring Break!  It was a fun time and a great way to finish it off!

Juanita Brooks - and fun with her family

 Had a great Saturday starting off with going to the Juanita Brooks statue installation program! She was well deserving of this honor! She is relevant today as one speaker put it and was a great catalyst in helping a hard situation begin the healing process. She took the heat with grace and stood up for truth. It was fun to have some of her posterity and their friends stay at our house (my grand nephews)! We also got to hang out with the grand nieces and a girlfriend and boyfriend! It was like being back in the good old YSA days! (Paul is photo bombing in one shot!)

Tasia, Zade and Trigg - the Champions!

Tasia, Zade and Trigg and a big weekend of winning!  Tasia went to a State Skills USA competition and her team took 1st in State in the Quiz Bowl competition.  Zade and Trigg had a Karate competition and they each took Grand Champion in their belt levels!  Great job all of you on doing the hard work to get it done!!!

March Birthdays - Ferf, Sarai & Joel celebrated!

We went over and had a little celebration with Ferf and some of the kids for her birthday that day.  She said she usually cooks her birthday dinner/makes her dessert anyway, so she did.  We hope to get her out to a dinner/lunch she doesn't have to cook soon.  She made chocolate strawberries which everyone was happy to enjoy with her!  Happy #44 Ferf.  You are amazing!!! and we love you!!!

Sweet Sarai turned 11 and we had a little evening of birthday celebration at our house for her with a chocolate chip cookie/cake and milk.  She loves all things tiny and was pleased with her tiny gifts and panda socks!  She's a sweetie and we love her and kind of hate to have her grow up.  But, she'll be just as sweet a Sarai forever I'm sure! Happy #11!  

Next up was Joel celebrating his December 26th 8th birthday on March 26th the next year!  I got confused and tried to make it his #9 birthday!  We had such a nice day that day.  We went up to go to the Cedar City Temple to do sealings and got their a little early.  We ran over to Sportsman's hoping that just by chance they would have a pair of the boots, the only boots, that are comfortable for Paul with his poor arthritic foot.  And, there on the shelf, was the right boot in the right size!  I had called a month or two ago when the internet told me that they had one pair at that store in stock that was his size and the right boot.  They looked and looked and said they didn't have it, so finding it still there felt like a little miracle.  We bought them and made it right on time to the temple.  We had a great sealing session with only one other couple there.  We got all of our couples sealed - some from my side and some from Paul's.  And I felt something on one couple on my side and one on his side that I have never really felt before and I was sure that it meant that those two couples were accepting their work and happy to finally have it done!  It was sweet.  We changed to go home and then decided to get a drink.  We had to go through a waiting room...and there, waiting to do baptisms, Tasia and Zade Smith - our grand kids!  It was so crazy to see them there and we got to hear about some really cool activities they had been competing in and had gotten big awards for.  We probably wouldn't have even heard about it otherwise as they don't brag on themselves very well.  Then we went over and had such a fun evening with the Randall's celebrating with Joel. (Joel went around hugging everyone after he opened his presents.  It was very sweet.) We even got to go out and watch him shoot off a rocket for a school project he's working on.  It was really a very perfect day!