Certainly today won't pass with out me thinking about the many blessings in my life. Most importantly family, friends, and the gospel. I'm Thankful for the Savior and My Father in Heaven. I'm grateful for family heritage and for my Freedom. Though we live in a very stressful time period on this earth I am happy to be an American with all of the rights and opportunities that I have. I am grateful for a wonderful warm home and food to eat and clothing to keep me warm. I am so grateful for Kerry and our relationship, it's hard to believe we have been together now for over 30 years.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and Thanks for your blessing in my life.

There are only certain times during the day that Quate' likes to snuggle, unless you happen to be Rachel. The other day Rebecca wasn't feeling well and was just vegging out on the couch. Quate happened to be in one of his snugly moods. His fur is the length that we all like because it is the cutest and I saw this and thought it was so cute. The cutest picture had Reb's face in it and she threatened me not to use that one. He's so cute and my little bud after all that's what his name means!

What you can't see is that she was scratching his ear and he molded himself into her leg for more.

Another Year

Earlier this month we went to Dave and Jessica's to celebrate her birthday. Shortly after we got there Dave and the boys started to frost her cake. I love to watch Dave with the boys you can tell how much he loves them and loves to be with them. He is so patient and loving with them. They are always doing something fun together.

Grandpa looks on as the decorating begins.

The Face

Blowing out the candles

And this video is too cute to pass up.

Happy Belated Birthday-fun evening!

An Early Thanksgiving

For the first time in as many years as I can remember most of our family will be gone for Thanksgiving this year, or at least at different family gatherings. I have to admit it is a very strange feeling to say the least. Rosemarie decided to have all of our family who could over for an early Thanksgiving this year. I am so glad she did because we were still mostly together to celebrate the season. Cyd and Ken we missed you as usual and are very anxious to see you in a little under a month.

After dinner we all just relaxed and visited for awhile and of course there were all of the desserts! Traditional and non traditional.

As always Rosemarie was sending food home with everyone, she is such a great hostess.

Kerry and Jessica were deep in discussion probably about the "Twilight Series" but it almost seems like he's doing the "Teapot" song.

Everyone found a comfy place to relax and let dinner settle, most readers are in one book or another of the series and there was a lot of discussion about the books and the movie.

Dave and the boys played with the car blanket and the school buses as well as each other.

Just loungin' around

Aren't they cute?

Grandma Stevenson and Patti in their own discussion.



Cameron and his own book while the girls were captivated by vampires.
Before we left Caleb and Spencer got most of us to go downstairs to play a roaring game of Duck Duck Goose, it was a lot of fun and we all laughed pretty hard. It was a really great evening. Thank you Rosemarie and Patti for the lovely dinner.

I am especially Thankful for my family this Holiday Season!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Growing up too fast

Before I went to Honolulu this last time I went to Jessica's for a little while to play with the boys. I love spending time with them as much as possible and as often as possible. They have some favorite toys that they love to play with, just like all kids do. This little guy has always been curious about how things work, what makes them go...I have said since he was crawling that he would be an engineer like his Grandpa for that reason.

When I got home I again went to their house to spend some time with the boys. I was amazed at how his play had changed in just three weeks time. He was doing such intricate things and it took a lot of time and patience which is pretty amazing for his age. I just sat and watched him with amazement as he explained everything he was doing and why. I tried to sneak up on him to take these pictures but he saw me from the corner of his eye. If the house is quiet you will know where to find him.

On Sunday we went to watch him sing for the Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting. He was where most of us could see him very clearly. I would have guessed every one in the rooms was watching him until I noticed the Grandparents in front of us watching the other direction! He was adorable and sang so well. It seems like yesterday I was straining to see my girls doing the singing. They all grow up too fast.

Good Advice

"If you can't say nothing nice, don't say anything at all!"
Something I have always told my kids and I need to remember
to be better at myself!

It's hard to win a game when you beat yourself!!

Revenge is sweet, watch out next year Utah Utes.

So after reading the series (I am on book four currently) out of curiosity I decided to go see the movie. Rebecca and her friends went and got in line at about 8:00 in the evening and Kerry and I joined them just before 10:00 and were allowed into the theatre at about 10:40. After getting warmed up and almost going to sleep while waiting the movie finally started. First of all I don't like Edward and I realize for many He is the perfect man but I think he over played the part and it was too humorous to watch him for me. Too much of the story never played out and I just really didn't feel the relationships ever developed. It was fun to see pictures of the Northwest and it was ok but I certainly didn't enjoy it as much as the young women in the audience. The best part of the movie was listening to the adoring young girls especially the 23-25 year old woman next to me who was with a date and I thought she was going to pass out in the first 5 minutes of the movie, so funny!!! Her date laughed at her as much as I did, poor guy. A lot of hype about a medicore movie and series of books.

The Biggest Loser

I have never watched this show for more than about ten minutes. Tonight not feeling well and just laying on my bed I watched about a half an hour of it. I am just curious to know from those of you who watch it what you thought about tonight's elimination.

I went to a craft boutique on Saturday with some of my girls and came across a wooden plaque that had this painted on it "Daughters are proof that angels exist!" Of course I had to buy it to put in my new kitchen, I sure do love them.

50 is the new 30?

So I hear people say all of the time that 50 is the new thirty, that it is a new beginning for them.... So how come insurance doesn't think so? After my yearly check up my Dr. recommended a course of action for my health plan, apparently my insurance company doesn't think that I am worth that course of action and is fighting everything they can to keep it from happening. My Dr. said she would go directly to the Drug company and everywhere she has to in order for me to avoid other complications later in my life. She is awesome as for my insurance company can't live without it but it appears I can't live with it either. (Sorry for venting again!)
;) ;) :0!

Last year this time Rebecca brought home the Josh Grobin "Noel" CD and I fell in love with it. I really feel in love with the song Thankful and it so fitting with this time of year. I just thought I would share it with you. Happy Thanksgiving!

"Thankful"

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
.And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more
There's so much to be thankful for

Just like old times

My sister in law gave my sister a set of wooden Amish people quite a few years ago. I loved them so much that I made a set for myself. My girls have all decided that they want a set for their homes as well. I have been promising to make them for a little while now and tonight I finally set down to start painting them. After making and selling crafts for a number of years I had not done anything like this for awhile after getting burned out in the process. It was fun again and it is nice to have that feeling again. Maybe I will venture back into doing crafts again for the fun of it not to bring in extra income.

Storm Clouds

Often I watch out my kitchen window as I am cooking or cleaning up from cooking (sometimes a never ending job) and I can see some of the most beautiful sights as I look at Mt. Timpanogos. Sometimes I wonder if my neighbors think I am watching their homes when in reality I am looking above at the ever changing mountain. On Monday of this week I was again looking out the window and watching a storm come in. The clouds moving across the mountain were breath taking to me. I always see pictures in my mind and hope that I can begin to photograph them and do them justice. This is my try at capturing these images.

Winter is truly here but on occasions like this I just admire it's beauty and am grateful the snow is piling up there (not here) for the water next year. One of the many things that I am grateful for.

I am new to the blogging world and it has been very fun until just after the recent election. It has allowed me to come into contact with old friends and to make some new ones along the way. With recent events I have decided to take my blog private and will do so within the next couple of days. There have been some local stories on the news and I was already thinking about going private but events this week have caused me to make this decision during the night. I will be sending personal invites to those that I know, in case I miss anyone you can contact me at lauri.s@comcast.net if you would like to be on my blog list. For those of you who remain on the public side of the blog be very careful about the things that you post such as pictures, names, dates, anything personal or even opinions that may differ from those who may be reading, and or stalking.

Hawaii Update

The rail system passed in the election on Tuesday, what that means for us is still uncertain. With all of the stress of the vote the talk of us moving over there kind of hit the sideline and we are waiting for the talks to resume. So we don't know when they will want us to come over or if it is still in the works. For now Kerry will keep flying over and I will go with him from time to time. We'll keep you all posted with the details as it happens, but for now the project goes forward and Kerry has a job. He will be working on the rail and he is one of Caleb's hero's because he is working on a train project.

Genetics and Such

I really like having many of the "Smith" genes like height for one. This weekend I am really sick of one of the genes that my dad passed along that being sinus problems and or allergies. I had a shot on Wednesday for a sinus infection and it hasn't even touched the problem so I probably will be headed back on Monday. When I asked my Dr. about the problem he said yeah your whole family inherited this from your dad. I haven't sneezed this much since allergy season last spring. I feel like someone has hit me in the face wtih a baseball bat because the pressure is so bad. Unfortunately I think I have managed to pass this wonderful gene down to some of my girls, sorry. I guess Hononlulu is an answer to that because I don't feel this way when I am there. In the mean time I missed the last BYU home game for the season because I didn't feel like sitting in the cold. I really love to go to the games.......I even slept through most of it at home because of the cold medicine to quote Jess "grr just GRRR."

It's official Winter Is Here!

It's kind of hard to see but it was actually snowing quite hard when I took these. It is a new season.

As I have been reading from various blogs today with some frustration and some admiration this song came on from my playlist. I really like this song but it hit me kind of hard today. This has been a particularly rough political season and there have been lots of hurtful and nasty things said from every party and every supporter. Decisions have been made and now we all have to "Dream Big" only we can make a difference in our own lives and only we are responsible for whether we are truly happy or not. (we can blame unhappiness on others but it really is up to us.) It has been snowing here, I really don't like snow, I have lived with it for many years, but Mt. Timpanogos never looks prettier than it does with a brand new snow cap on top of it. May we all "Dream Big"

Dream Big

When you cry be sure to dry your eyes
'Cause better days are sure to come
And when you smile be sure to smile wide
Don't let them know that they have won
And when you walk, walk with pride
Don't show the hurt inside
Because the pain will soon be gone

And when you dream, dream big
As big as the ocean blue
'Cause when you dream it might come true
When you dream, dream big

When you laugh be sure to laugh out loud
'Cause it will carry all your cares away
And when you see, see the beauty all around and in yourself
And it'll help you feel okay
And when you pray, pray for strength
To help you carry on When the troubles come your way

And when you dream, dream big
As big as the ocean blue
'Cause when you dream it might come true
When you dream, dream big

Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band

Witch Village and Trick or Treating

Last year at Halloween time most of the females in our family went to Gardner Village in Salt Lake during a school holiday we drug Spencer and Caleb along with us. They decorate it so cute for the seasons. Caleb remembered it from last year and called it "Witch Village" he wanted to go back this year and see the witches. So on Tuesday of this week we went up and met Natalie for lunch. The meal was less than satisfactory but the outing was fun. I'm thinking that this will have to become a tradition for us with all that can go from the family.(Cyd we missed you agian.) While we waited for Natalie to get there we went down and watched the water wheel.

If he could have climbed into the water he would have!


Two of my sweet girls!

Watching the ducks from the covered bridge

Still watching ducks and the flying witch from the rock wall by the stream.

Just clowning around.

Watching the cat and the mouse run around under the witches skirt.

He looked just at the right time!


Once again drawn to the water.

Anxiously waiting for the Jelly Bellies to be divided up.

Oh the sun is so bright.

Lots more witches.

What's cookin?



Last the best of all the game, the pony rides!

At least Spencer liked it this year.



Later that night we went to our family ward dinner and "trunk or treat" and I asked that the boys come and go with us, I just wanted to show them off!

Spencer was scared by the guy in our ward who dressed up like the Grim Reaper and so he wasn't very interested in eating.

As cute as he was look at the duo!

And then the real fun began.

Spencer seemed to perk up when the trick or treating began.

Look at those muscles!

Rachel and Cameron all dressed up to hand out candy. Rachel's inspiration in Abby from NCIS and Cameron's makeup and hair were great I just didn't get a close up of them.

Almost done.

On Halloween I had an appointment with Dr. Dave and they were dressed up for the day but I was the only one with a camera.

The first trick or treaters at my house "Captain Cook" and "Spider Man"


Grandma had treat buckets that matched their costumes with lots of fun things other than candy for them. It was great fun to plan it out.

Looking through all of the treasures.

Rachel after school, her kids loved the costume.

Just can't get enough of the Captain

Before heading to their own neighborhoods the Great Niece and Nephews went to Trick or Treat at Rosemarie's house don't they all look adorable?

Rebecca finally decided to be Wilma Flinstone for the day, here she is before she goes off for the evening party at Los Hermanos.

Though it is my least favorite holiday it was a fun week and day with the kids. Before you know it Christmas will be here. I haven't even begun to get ready but am very anxious for Cyd and Ken to be here for a couple of weeks.