Remember that very little is needed to make a happy life. -Marcus Aurelius
Birthdays
24 Kiera (Brooklyn's) 1999
25 Brooklyn
27 Brytten
28 Mary Brighten Timmins (died in 1981)
29 Jenna/Jennifer/Jeni/Jenny/Jenne/Jene/Jehn/Jen/ etc
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT/REMINDER for Smith family
from Boston-
I want to make sure everyone puts the Smith Family Reunion on their calendars for next July. I'm not planning on nailing down the specifics until it is slightly closer, but I want to keep it fresh in your minds!
The reunion will be July 24, 25, and 26, 2014. Grandma and Grandpa will be so thrilled to look down on this event! I'm so excited to see everyone.
Missionary updates
Liam in Madagascar- Alma 60:23: Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the ainward vessel shall be bcleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.
As I have been reading the account of the stripling warriors it has really impressed me how amazingly diligent and faithful they were. Their success clearly was a result of that... just as the scriptures tell us. Yet, this scripture, to me, gives us the reason why. These boys were clean. They were obedient to what their mothers' commanded them to do. They were trustworthy in all things. They lived the gospel with full purpose of heart and loved the Lord above all. They worried not about their physical ablilities, their temporal welfare, or their personal lives. They had a greater cause to fight for and they prepared spiritually for this task, knowing that only through the power of God could they come off conquerors. To me this is a lesson we can all learn and relearn again. As for our strength we are weak, but in the strength of the Lord we can do all things. We must spiritually be ready, constantly have a prayer in our hearts, and be obedient to His commandments. This doesn't mean we don't have to take any thought or care for the physical and temporal. It simply means we must be doing our best, and most of all be worthy of His divine help. I know this to be true.
Cameron in California- (short letter) this was a good week. There was lots of cool things. We had a Zone Conference and learned a ton from it.
I went to a height of 5600 feet yesterday, and slept in an apartment at88 degrees ( I am so glad I am here and not somewhere else because it took
about 2 1/2 hours to fall asleep), but that is because of fun exchanges.
Easton in Canada- I have heard it said that we go out on our missions as boys and come home as men and today I can't help but feel a bit more grown up than I was when I last wrote. The week has been long and filled with decisions and situations that have taught me a great deal and I just feel...different. I cannot pin-point a specific "turning point" moment, but I think this week I became a man. As funny as that sounds, I really feel like I can see the way God has shaped me over the past 15 months. I have realized that too often in my life, I have sat at the stairs of progression and complained about the wall in my way. I wanted things to come easily and without effort. With minimum risk and maximum results. Over the past year I have learned, through trial and triumph that the path to discipleship is not an easy one. That it takes work and toil and effort and heartache and tears and sweat and patience and a whole ton of prayer. That Christ-like attributes do not develop over night and that we won't be perfect tomorrow unless we progress today. I have been taught this my entire life but it wasn't until I really experienced it for myself that it has sunk in. I have learned that the gospel is a path that brings great happiness and true joy. I have learned that when applied, the first principles and ordinances of the gospel and not just a check list to be completed but an increasingly rewarding pattern of living. I am so very grateful for these teachings and for gaining this experience. It was not an easy path, nor will it be, but it has changed my life. I don't know if we realize how lucky we are as members of the church. We should be counting our blessings every single day. So here's to counting blessings, living the gospel and growing up. :)
BLOGS AND LETTERS
I got lots this time. THANK YOU. It was so exciting!
Karen Ouimette sent an update and some pictures.
School has started so the busy-ness is back, but that is good. Kids are busy with their studies. Mikela is in AP and Honors classes. Steffi is doing Concurrent Enrollment Classes, Caden is loving 7th grade.
Sami is in an incredibly difficult anatomy class (or so I've been told by others), but is loving it. She is still recovering from having her gallbladder out on Aug. 27th.
Cam is the same, short letters, but loving his Mission.
Sam is busy, busy, busy with work. Always something new to be done. His brilliance amazes me.
Karen's family kayaking
Karen also represented the family at the Celebration of Life memorial ceremony. Because Mom donated her body to "science"(University of Utah Medical School), her name got to be put on a plaque at a memorial in the gardens adjacent to the Salt Lake City Library. Mom loved that area, so I thought it was perfect. Below are some pictures from that event. Thank you Karen for going! I wish I could have been there.
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Ole had back surgery this last week. He had been in pain for a long time, and it was continually getting worse until the pain nearly incapacitated him. He had tried everything else (physical therapy, a chiropractor, medications to reduce swelling and even an epidural steroid shot in the spine) to help, but nothing did. Surgery was the next step. He was in the hospital multiple days and is now home, resting. The recovery is 6-8 weeks. (Ole suggested to the neurosurgeon that 6-8 weeks meant 6-8 days in his language, but the surgeon didnt buy it. And so Ole is doing what he is supposed to be doing and is taking it easy, and letting his body heal.) Here is an update in his words. .....
"I came home from the hospital Sunday morning still very much hurting but doing well enough they felt it was time to get me home. The good thing is that each day since then I have felt a little better. The bad thing is that at this pace it will take a whole lot of "littles" to get back to normal. I do feel significantly better but am still weak. I am following the doctors orders 100% and being very careful. He says I can sit for no more than 20 minutes each hour for at least one more week then it will go up some. He says I can walk as much as I want. He even says I can drive "if it doesn't hurt", but we're not going to test that one much for another week or so. Pain level is still very uncomfortable but dimming a bit. I have now cut my narcotic meds in half (which he said I should do as I "listen to the body")."
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Stuart must have wanted to keep up with Ole, but even wanted to top Ole's experience! On Tuesday, the 10th, his car was hit (t-bone) by another driver in an SUV. Stu was smashed between the crushed door and the middle consule. He was sent to the trauma center in Seattle where they diagnosed, Fractured pelvis, fractured sacrum, fractured rib and punctured lung, partially collapsed. He was in the hospital until Saturday night. He writes, Our house is not set up for a wheelchair. Some areas I just can't get to and some modifications had to be made (and probably more in the next few days. The downstairs bathroom no longer has a door! Just a sheet for privacy. The 1 inch door prevented the wheelchair form getting in.
Small progress every day, but I have a long path ahead. (Can't use my left leg until December) Right leg will not support me because of the pelvic pain. Leg just crumples unless it is perfectly
straight. The broken rib makes using my arms limited, but FAR better now than when the chest tube was installed.
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Dan wrote-We had a wonderful Ohio event recently. Rain in the west is nothing compared to what we have learned to have as common place in Ohio. Out of nowhere comes a torrential thunderstorm. At first we just hunkered down inside. Then I saw the gutters were overflowing at a tremendous pace. So finally I took the red Cosco stool from Mom, and braved the downpour to clear the tops of the down spouts. After just 10 seconds I was drenched, and had other downspouts to clear so I just gave up on the dry thing. As I rounded the back corner of the house, I noticed our "dry" creek bed. Now realize this is just what we call it as we romanticize what we wish we had by our forest. But to my delight you can see what we had from the runoff of the downpour. A real creek running away down the rocks. It makes me want a recycling river so bad. By the way, do y'all know why Ohio is so friendly? Just say it, we all do here, O -HI- O. We tell everyone HI! (points for poor humor, but it's all I got).
Dan also added a small world story--Our family was at a fireside for the youth tonight of our stake. Kieren was sharing lessons about family history and trying to get the youth to be more engaged. She had a presentation with some screen shots etc. to illustrate her points.
On one of the screens, she had the name of Thomas Ole Smith as part of a family tree. After it was over, a brother (who was in the bishopric in the ward I work with until recently) came up to me. He wanted to know if there was any connection to Thomas Ole (butchered pronunciation) Smith. I told him he is my grandpa.
Well, small world folks. He received his patriarchal blessing from T.O., growing up in that stake. And his wife also got hers from Grandpa as she grew up in Wilson.
Small world indeed.
Robbie, home from his mission, drove across the country to head from Virginia to Utah, where he is attending college (and loving it!) He stopped and visited Dan and Val and family on the way....
Kieren wrote- Robbie and I went to Kirtland last Thursday! It was super fun. We visited the main church visitors center and went through the sawmill, ashery, N.K. Whitney Store, the Whitney home, and a couple other places. We also visited the Kirtland Temple and took the tour. It was a really great time and I think we both really enjoyed the spiritual and enriching experience as well as the time to catch up right after Robbie's mission and right before mine!
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Val's update- Just wanted to let everyone know that we had such a great time with Robbie and Rob as they came through on their way to Utah.
Rob showed me all of his projects that he has been working on on his i pad. He really loved the ceiling that Dan did so he took a bunch of pictures.
Kieren and Robbie went to Kirtland all Wed. as Kieren mentioned.
Skjelse also got hired by Marketecture in American Fork. They just opened up a new building and she is doing a lot with helping businesses set up their marketing strategies and their social media and training businesses on how to do that.
Kieren is excited to be able to be home for a few weeks before she leaves for Brazil. We will send links to her blog as she leaves on the 18th.
Gavin is in his senior year. He is enjoying the acapella group Forte and his cooking class. You can find him on centervillechoirs.org and take the link to forte.
Ty just got ordained a priest recently. He planned a great Labor Day ultimate frisbee morning with all the youth in our area.
Alysia has had a great new friend move in a few houses up from us. She is the same age, but in the grade younger, but is actually a member of the church, so Alysia is SO excited!
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Boston--My baby girl, Sawyer went into nursery today for the first time! Happy that she is finally old enough, and sad that she is already that old! I quite enjoyed my Sunday School and RS lessons today, since I didn't have to try and keep her quiet and occupied.
My brother, Tyson Greener, was called to serve a mission in Gilbert, AZ. I live in the Gilbert, AZ mission!!!! I can't tell you how excited I was when he opened his call to find that out. Just last Monday he left the MTC to come down here. His house right now is just 20 minutes from mine. Also, the Gilbert mission president and his wife spoke at our stake conference adult session, so I went up to meet them after it was over. I told them how thrilled I was to meet them, and how exciting it was to have Tyson in my mission. The mission president said that it would be perfectly appropriate for me to feed him and his companion, take them to lunch, and/or take them to appointments on rare occasions! I don't plan on seeing him much, but just knowing he is here is enough for me.
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Cara-Liam and Ethan had Cub Scout Day Camp recently. Barry was so excited that he was able to go too! I was excited too because that way I got lots of pictures! :)
We had a fun night last night at pack meeting.
The Raingutter Regatta! The boys did great and had a fabulous time!
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Katie-We went to a Las Vegas 51s baseball game while Jene (my sister) and Barb (Connor's mom) were in town. It seemed like a fun thing to do, and the last game of the season was on Labor Day, which Connor had off. Even better, the ITT (ticket discount office on base) had tickets for $8 each, which included a voucher for a free baseball hat. YES! So, we went and had a fun time. It was pretty hot, but we moved over to some seats in the shade, which is the only way we survived. Jene and I enjoyed reminiscing about our childhood, going to baseball games with the family. Emmeline was really good at the game and especially enjoyed getting to eat things like popcorn, cracker jacks, a hot dog, etc. (It was also $1 day, so all those kind of snacks were a buck.) We lasted until the seventh inning stretch (which I could not bear to miss, so we had to stay) and then left.
All the guitar players jamming together.
(funny story...)Emmeline started preschool again! I found a few moms interested in doing it [a co-op] here. I taught the first week, and it was a lot of fun except when Emmeline got tired of sharing her toys and then threw a fit in her room for 20 minutes and then came out and sat in a fabric bucket for the rest of preschool. No big deal. The other girls were playing outside. Emmeline sat like this.
(Carol's note--this story and picture made me laugh out loud. So hilarious!)
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Lissa, Severin and kids went to Utah to visit family.-- While we were there, my brother Davis and his family were visiting from Brazil and my sister Cara and family were visiting from Omaha. Not to mention my sister Janae and family and my brother Tyler and wife who already live in Utah. We had a grand old time hanging out with grandma and grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins. [SP: Sad that we missed Trenton and family. Glad we're meeting there for Thanksgiving.]
Here is a recap of some of their adventures....
- Went to Cowabunga Bay (a water park) with the cousins
- Went to Aspen Grove with the family--had ice cream and sno-cones, rode the little train, played some ball toss games, and explored
- Got some family pictures taken
- Visited Lissa's old friends/coworkers in Admissions and Athletics at BYU
- Had a Fathers and Sons camp-out with the family (the girls and babies stayed at the cabin) [SP: I could write an entire blog post about this. It was awesome. If you ask Hamilton, "What's camping?" He'll reply - "Fire; fishing; peeing in the woods."]
- Went to a barbecue with Severin's old work people from DownEast Outfitters [SP: So great to see everyone again.]
- Had Hamilton's 3rd birthday party
- Left Severin alone with 10+ kids while my mom, my sisters, and I went and got some amazing shaved ice (one of several times we got that deliciousness thanks to Janae) [SP: I still don't know how/why this happened.]
- Went to BYU with Cara and family--saw Grandpa's office, drove around crazily (over curbs, on main roads, etc.) in golf carts, toured the new dorm buildings, had lunch at the Creamery, went in the indoor practice facility, checked out the memorabilia and stuff in the Student Athlete Building (also the football locker room), and walked along the beautiful path at the south end of campus [SP: We learned that Barry might have a second career possibility in all-terrain golf cart racing.]
- Went to a splash pad with the cousins (where, true to his weirdly-afraid-of-spraying-water self, Hamilton spent the whole time on the playground)
- Had a barbecue in the backyard with the family (where Severin practically single handedly made and grilled a ridiculous number of shish kebabs in order to feed this crew) and watched a movie projected onto the back of the house (until we got rained out and moved it indoors)
- Went to a great rec center pool that had slides, a lazy river, a baby area, etc.
Guess that's all. Thank you to those who sent stuff this week! I could use more from extended family....
Work hard, study hard, pray hard.
Carol
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