Once in awhile, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.”
Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. (Elizabeth Stone)
When in doubt, choose the kids. There will be plenty of time later to choose work. (Anna Quindlen)
CONGRATULATIONS!!
21 February-- WEDDING Hadley Smith and Zach were married. Manti temple.
21 February 2015--NEW BABY Benson Montana Barlow- 7 lbs 9 oz, 21" (Natalie & Kenny)
UPCOMING WEDDINGS
20 March-- Liam Smith and Shaila will be married. Salt Lake temple. Reception the night before (19th).
24 March --Ryan Smith and Abby will be married. Salt Lake temple. Reception that night (24th) in Sandy.
OTHER IMPORTANT DATES
March
4 Lola Timmins (probably the most quoted relative in our house)
7 Sawyer Peterson (Boston and Craig's)
11 Marissa Moody
13 Catie and Steve anniversary
18 Jayden Peterson (Boston and Craig's)
19 David Smith
20 Sam Ricks and Asialene Smith
22 Ole Smith
26 Molly Baker
29 Dakota Twiss would have been 19. Extra prayers for Brytten and the family please.
MISSIONARY UPDATES
Cameron (no longer in California....) finished his mission and came home on 11 February. He gave 2 homecoming talks (ward he grew up in and ward where is family now lives.....) The reports I got was that he did a great job and that he is adjusting back to civilian life.
Gavin in Mexico--I love it here and am learning incredible things everyday. Also we finally have a family committed to go to church next week. Its been really tough here but I think we finally have some people that we can truly work with.
Kieren in Brazil--good story--The Lord worked another miracle in our ward. Ever since Julia´s baptism, the young women have been getting really excited about missionary work. They all went together (including Elizabeth!) to make visits to less active young women and resolve differences that have been between them for years. That takes a lot of courage. The result? A group of young women that had two sometimes three members has now almost quadrupled in size. There was hardly enough space in the young women´s room. Young women that had not been to church in years were there on Sunday, listening attently and preparing for the upcoming youth conference.
One special miracle was Cristian´s framily. We visited them Saturday. He has not been to church in years, but has such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. He faces a lot of opposition but knows what he needs to do. We challenged him act on the precious gift of his testimony. His home teachers have never stopped visiting and the young women went and visited his daughter as well on Saturday. We challenged his 9 year old son to wake up early and jump on his dad until he comes to church.
Sunday morning we arrive and as we enter the gates, we see a car pull up. Out steps Cristian and João (son). His daughter had already gotten a ride with the young women. We gave João a high five and asked if he jumped on his dad. He smiled and said " I didn´t even need to!" Cristian was met with hugs, smiles, and old friends nearly in tears. It was a beautiful moment to see the whole ward rejoicing in the return of the one. We all rejoiced knowing that the small efforts of everyone combined had brought to pass this wonderful event.
She finishes her mission shortly and comes home on March 12.
FAMILY UPDATES
Thanks to those who have sent updates....
Kelli Campbell posted on Facebook--
My little man, growing up so fast... We had a crazy busy weekend last week (Feb 7th), so I'm a little late posting; a milestone weekend with Keyton's baptism and all of the grandparents visiting!
Karen Ouimette wrote of Cameron coming home from his mission. Also, Just wanted you all to know that Sam's back surgery went well. The "new" injury was older than they thought so the cartilage was hardened instead of soft, so that was a problem. It was harder to get all the pieces so surgery took twice as long as they expected, however, it was a success. He went into surgery at 1:00 pm on Monday the 9th, and came out at 3:00 pm. Recovery was to be for an hour, then to a room, but they couldn't get him to wake up. They finally just brought him to his room at 5:30. Luckily they managed to get him to open his eyes for a second or two, then he was out again. At 3:00 am he woke up and was starving, a good sign, yes?
He came home at noon on Tuesday and immediately got his computer up and going. From bed he worked for 5 1/2 hours. Then every day since, he has worked just about 6 hours (I know, he's crazy). He can lay or walk, just no sitting for 10 days. Then he can start sitting for short periods, no more than 20 min. at a time. His "back pain" that was the reason for surgery is completely gone, Yay! But, he is in extreme pain at his incision and has ringing in the ears and his legs fall asleep when he gets up to walk. We'll have to see if that continues in week two of recovery. All in all we feel good about it all.
Cara caught up on her blog posts. Too too many to share, so check them out. But here are some favorites of mine.
We provided music for the gingerbread display at the Winter Quarter's Trail Center again this year. Love this tradition! Barry joined us on the cello this year, which was super fun! And Liam opted to play the saxophone instead of the piano. Oh, and Amalie plays the piano now so she joined us too!
Had our first official snowstorm of winter. And it delivered big time! Church cancelled on Sunday and school cancelled on Monday. The kids sure lived it up!
Sometimes you get the bad end of the deal in a big family. Luckily, Hyrum couldn't care less. He was just happy to go "ow-side"!
I keep catching Hyrum and Barry playing with Mr. Potato Head. Love it!
Dan and Val--Val--I got released as Stake YW President last Sunday. I had been in for in between 4 and 5 years. It was a great experience and amazing blessing in my life.
( Mother's note here instead of in the mission update.....) I know you will get Kieren's update on the explosion she was in as she tried to relight their stove and how she was in the hospital with 2nd degree burns. That letter made me cry because she was still so grateful for everything.
Ty just finished his duty to God and will be awarded that in his priest quorum meeting soon. He did a great job and used the program to set some great life changing goals.
Alysia has been working on her first quilt for a personal progress project and is planning on sewing a ball gown for the valentines disney character dance. She wants to go as Cinderella and she is getting up Ty a costume to look like RobinHood that is very good.
Dan--I worked to cut down the bar table so it fit the bar stools we have. I carved away free hand with the chain saw and it actually worked pretty good. I got it bolted to be secure and leveled and it looks great. You would be proud of the size of the mess I made with wood chips.
I then turned my attention to finishing the shelves in the old grill area so we could have all the AV easily stored. I even made the bottom shelf a roll out shelf! I used all the leftovers from [a kitchen project I did for a ward member]--tops and pieced together a few places. But had just barely enough for the main parts. Val likes it and so do I. (Carol's note-- these are so so cool!!!!)
Severin Nelson on facebook--After two months of assessments and interviews, Hamilton has been granted admission to the Special Music School at the Kaufman Music Center for kindergarten starting this fall. It's the only school of its kind in the country andLissa and I are so proud of our little guy for this accomplishment. Over 500 children applied and they accept only 14. Looks like we're not moving to the suburbs quite yet! about Kaufman Music Center
Ole wrote about his new grandkids and of awards.....
Ryan's business, Recyclops, was awarded a $5,000 grant for being a promising new business through the entrepreneurship program at BYU.
Davis' business, Cotopaxi, just won the "Non-Tech Start-up of the Year" in Utah.
Congrats to both of them!!
Boston--My life is so routine and, let's face it, BORING to others, that I sometimes feel it is lame to share it! We are happy with our routine, boring lives though. My kids all absolutely adore Danyka. They always request that I take pictures of them with her. So here are some pictures of each of my kids with the baby. :)
Troy is my 'involved' child. He is in a community choir, an art class, and 4-H.
Jayden is learning to read, plays very creatively, and loves all things boy!
Sawyer switches from taking care of her babydoll to taking care of the real baby all day long. She loves to swing (she could literally be pushed on the swing for hours!)
Danyka is 2 1/2 months old already and smiles and chatters at me. We are all in love!
Carol and Bryce-- There has been a lot of snow and ice here in the last couple of weeks. Topped by the coldest temps we've had in years (woke up to -9 one morning) so the snow and ice don't melt. This area only has about 1 snow storm (of more than a dusting) a year, so we dont have snow removal equipment like many other areas. The ice storms and snow paralyze the area until it can melt off. Lots of cancelled school days. I've missed a lot of work because I wont drive an hour south in ice and snow. On the good side, I've been home to help with the kids, the new baby, and to QUILT!
Katie You know you've lived in Las Vegas too long when your 4-year-old looks out the car window at this and asks, "Is it spring? There are so many growing things!" Ouch
I hope that's all anyone sent. I always feel terrible when I forget to add something someone sent.
Everyone, work hard, study hard, pray hard!
Carol
Carol
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