Living in Happy Valley

Family Reunion 2010 Photos

2010-08-15T15:24:00.003-06:00

Samantha and Selah

Angels among us...

Tea Party 2010

Back row left to right:

Eliza (Heather) Sophie (Aaron) Hannah (Erika) Emma (Heather) Grandma

Middle row:

Cosette (Kirsten) Sara (Erika) Savannah (Heather) Emily (Erika)

Front Row:
Samantha (Erika) Selah (Heather)

2010 Family Reunion in Utah

2010-08-10T11:41:00.008-06:00

We spent a couple of weeks with most of our children and grandchildren coming and going.

What a wonderful time we had with them! It was close quarters, since they all live outside Utah and we only had the condo to share.

For those of you out of the loop, we had a house fire that occurred June 1st where our garage burned and the rest of the house had significant smoke damage. Therefore, it was unavailable for guests or any activities.

We were scattered around Provo, Orem, Alpine and Salt Lake. Somehow we were able to find places around the area to have great activities together. They hiked Y Mountain (Erika did it twice), played at the Provo water park, visited the BYU Creamery, had a couple of BBQs, Girls' Tea Party, boys' outing, Thanksgiving Point, Missionary Training Center for food and blessing Lucy Claire Smith (Aaron & Erin's 4th of July baby) in the executive conference room of the MTC and other fun bonding experiences.

We're already planning the next one! The cousins really needed to have this in order to become reacquainted with families living far away from them. As an update on the geographic locations of each of them:

Aaron and Erin moved to Bellevue, Washington where Aaron is now working for Amazon

Allan and Jennifer moved to northeastern Pennsylvania also working for Amazon

Kirsten and Ryan moved to Temecula, California

Heather and Matt are still in Atlanta, but could possibly move next year.

Erika and Marshall are still in University Place, Washington, but will probably move next year after Marshall completes his residency program and the Army takes them away.

Stephen and Stephanie moved to Yelm, Washington where he joined a dental practice.

It was amazing to have so many in Utah considering the diverse places they live. I guess that shows they will move mountains to be with their family!

Kirsten was our family photographer at the reunion and took some beautiful ones. We haven't seen most of them, but hope to share them soon.

The Smith Family in Perpetual Motion

2010-05-03T09:59:00.003-06:00

Life in Happy Valley is changing a bit:

Aaron and Erin moved to a new house in Holladay just before Christmas. They were very happy living there and awaiting the birth of their new daughter. However, Aaron received an offer he couldn't refuse in Seattle working for Amazon, and he starts in just about 2 weeks!

He's already found a buyer for the Holladay house, and Erin and he are taking a house hunting trip next weekend! What a whirlwind transfer of locations!

Allan (an Amazonian first) and Jennifer are taking a house hunting trip to Pennsylvania for their planned move with Allan's exciting new opportunity at their brand spanking new super-fulfillment center. Allan and Aaron will overlap one week in the same building in Seattle.

Kirsten and Ryan are back in southern California and loving being there. They've been living in Upland, but are planning to move to Temecula (near San Diego) soon. Kirsten's already signed her boys up for Pop Warner football this summer in Temecula. I guess she means business!

Heather and Matt are still in Atlanta. Matt is now in Belgium with the SS on a business trip. It may not be too much longer before they're transferred, possibly out of the country.

Erika and Marshall are still in Washington while Marshall finishes his residency program in June 2011. They'll still be there long enough for us to visit one more time before moving on with the Army. We're hoping for Colorado, but I don't think the Army is considering us as having a vote.

Stephen and Stephanie are in Michigan, but will be moving to Washington in June. Stephen has accepted a position with Dr. Marlin Kay, and is over the moon about it. We are so pleased that we will be able to see them often, since it isn't that far away. We'll have three of our children living along the I-5 corridor!

Everyone (except for Allan and his family in Pennsylvania) will be home for our family reunion in July! What a treat! Aaron will be blessing their new daughter here in Utah that weekend.

Just when we think our children are settling down, they're all moving again! It reminds me of trying to keep the Primary staffed!!!

2010-01-08T23:15:00.005-07:00

Stephen and Stephanie were able to visit the end of September and stay through General Conference weekend. That's the first time we have seen them for nearly two years.

Stephanie sees to it that the boys have lots of cultural experiences wherever they live. They're seeing the high spots of Michigan, since moving from Philadelphia. They'll be moving again this year. We'll share the news when we find out.

This was taken when they were in Utah to share the splendor of the view from Y mountain.

Stephanie is in the Primary Presidency and Stephen is an assistant finance clerk in their ward. He spends more time in the ER than he does at home! It's a good thing Stephanie is organized and plans fun activities for those 3 active boys they have. They have a ton of energy, and so does she.

This one was on Y mountain, too.

2010-01-08T23:08:00.005-07:00

Erika and Marshall have visited this year with the kids. We look forward to more of the same this year. They are all busy. Marshall with his residency program, Erika with the kids, Primary presidency calling and coaching Hannah's soccer team, with Tyler as her assistant coach.

Tyler's big news was that he turned 12 in November and was ordained to the office of a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood.

Erika's great at sending pictures of their activities, but I think my favorite one this year was of a field trip Emily took with her kidergarten class. She isn't afraid of anything!

2010-01-08T22:59:00.002-07:00

Heather and Matt's family grew by one in 2009 Sumner is adoreable, and fits right in with the rest of the family. Four in school and 3 pre-schoolers at home. It's a busy time with all their activities, work and church. Emma and Eliza are taking piano lessons and enjoying swimming, soccer, basketball and track. Their parents are leading the way with their running and sports, also. No lazy bones in that house! Matt is serving as Elder's Quorum President and Heather interprets in her ward in American Sign Language as well as an activity day leader. Savannah and Brower have been enjoying some sports, as well. Ira and Selah get their exercise running their mother ragged! I hear that Sumner is an angel.

2010-01-08T22:49:00.004-07:00

Kirsten and Ryan moved down to southern California last summer. Heather and Erika flew out to have a girls weekend together in Newport Beach. Nice!

We miss them, but they are enjoying the warm weather and beaches so close at hand. We hope to see them soon, but I think the snow will have to melt.

The boys both played football, and had a great time. Kirsten got a new camera and has been taking lots of pictures. I hope she's ready to photograph each family next summer for the reunion. She has the only good camera of us all. Besides, it will be good practice for the budding photographer.

2010-01-08T22:23:00.004-07:00

We're glad that Jennifer isn't afraid of the freeway and is willing to drive down with the kids for a visit with us. We took them to the MTC for a fireside, which they loved! It's great to see them once in a while. Christian turned 14 in June and was ordained to the office of a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood.

Allan flew down one weekend by himself to be ordained by his dad to the office of a High Priest in the Melchizedek Priesthood. He has been called to the high council in their stake.

Nathan loved Halloween! He didn't eat any while trick or treating, and came home to separate it all into like candies. He couldn't get enough of his pleasure of the view!

2010-01-08T21:13:00.005-07:00

It's already been one year at the MTC! Impossible! We have had one wonderfully exciting year. So many changes and memories made. Serving a mission in Provo has its advantages. It's a place that everyone likes to visit, so we see friends and family more often than we would otherwise. We have been blessed throughout our lives, but it just continues to get better!

We feel like we've found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We have seen most of our children and grandchildren this year. Aaron and Erin live in Holladay, so we get to see them the most. Just this week, Sophie was baptized and confirmed. It was a blessing to be close enough to be a part of that ordinance.

Aaron and Erin have a musical and intelligent progeny. We look forward to the new member of the family joining us in summer 2010. Most of the family will be here to greet the one Sophie is hoping will be a little sister. Brendan was ordained to the office of a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood in June. He and Damon were in the local production of "Annie", which was great to see.

BYU Football

2009-09-30T17:29:00.003-06:00

We have season tickets for the 2009 season! We're hoping for stellar performances from the team, and good weather for the home games.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-23T10:24:00.004-07:00

We have been busy being trained since returning from Atlanta at Thanksgiving, but we wanted to decorate for Christmas, anyway. It will be two more years before we have a full blown Christmas tree of our own, so we took pictures! Our mounds of snow outside make it especially Christmassy.

MTC Transfer

2008-12-23T10:06:00.002-07:00

We were called to meet with Elder Holland in his office the first week of August 2008. We couldn't imagine why, so the wheels began turning. On our way to the appointment I came up with the idea that there was a calling that the church was having difficulty filling ( a "green beret mission"?), so Elder Holland was given the assignment to extend the call, knowing he could get anyone to say yes. I thought it might be somewhere in Africa or maybe Kiribati (Christmas Island). When he extended the call to the Provo MTC, we were grateful and relieved. Now that we're close to actually beginning our service, it has become daunting. It will be wonderful living near the Provo Temple and close to the MTC, and being with the fulltime missionaries everyday. We begin our training 12 January 2009 and begin our service 16 January 2009 for two years!

Family Portrait

2008-10-07T16:33:00.003-06:00

This was taken at the Salt Lake Temple April 2002 when Stephen and Stephanie were married. We're hoping for a new one in 2016 for our 50th anniversary.

Family Reunion April 2008

2008-10-07T10:09:00.009-06:00

We were surprised to have most of our family with us during General Conference week this spring. Some of the grandchildren hadn't met or it had been a long time since they'd been able to get together. It was a joyous occasion and we all made a joyful noise!

Ralph took the eight and older ones to lunch at the MTC cafeteria and then to watch Sunday afternoon session in with the missionaries 19M, which is the largest meeting room at the MTC.

All 12 of our granddaughters were with us in April.
Front row L to R: Sara, Savannah, Sophie, Josie and Emily
Center row: Grandma Smith and Selah
Back row L to R: Katie, Hannah, Emma, Samantha, Eliza, Cosette

Twelve of our 15 grandsons were able to come to the reunion.

Front row L to R: Ira, Nathan, Luke
Middle row L to R: Grandpa Smith, Sawyer, Beau, Brower
Back row L to R: Damon, Roman, Christian, Brendan, Tristan, Tyler

Stephen and Stephanie and their three boys (Thomas, Hewitt and Donny) were in Philadelphia preparing for Stephen's graduation from dental school and Stephanie had just given birth to Donny on 24 March. I guess they were a little busy at the time.

Washington February 2008

2008-10-07T09:36:00.006-06:00

We were invited by the Lacey and Olympia Stakes to participate in a recognition program of present and past stake presidents. What a wonderful opportunity we had to see old friends and to spend time catching up. That was our first time back since we moved to Utah in early 2000.

This is a photo of those young "punks" as they were when they were called to serve.

This is a picture of them seven years later when the stake was divided and Ralph was called to be the president of the new stake (and was promised by Elder Pace that the clock was still ticking and not reset). Elder Steve Pond accompanied Elder Pace for the change.

We were, also, able to spend some quality time with Erika, Marshall and their five children. We attended a school program, Tyler's basketball game, Cub pack meeting and many more fun activities before heading home through the mountains.

St. George in June 2008

2008-10-07T08:58:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful time driving down to St. George for the first time since we finished our Utah Provo Mission in 2003. We stopped along the way to visit the missionaries at Cove Fort and met a couple from Washington we had known while living there. We love it there!

We scheduled a "double date" with our dear friends, Beau and Kathy Woodbury, to attend the beginning of the 2008 season at Tuacahn. "Les Miserables" is one of my favorites and was masterfully performed by the ensamble. We all had giant slushies that lasted the whole performance!

It was a short vacation, but Beau and Kathy were the perfect hosts, making it restful and fun.

We first met Beau and Kathy while Beau was presiding in the Washington Tacoma Mission in the late 1990s. They were pressed into service in 2000 when Ralph presided in the Utah Provo Mission to be a counselor in the mission presidency over southern Utah. After serving there for about two years, Beau was called as director of the Kirtland Historical Site. During a visit with our children who were living in Philadelphia, we drove to Cleveland and Kirtland to see for ourselves the special place they spoke so fondly about. We were lucky enough to have them take us on a personal tour of the site and to spend two days with their senior couple missionaries and them. What a memorable time we had in Kirtland.

We couldn't leave St. George without stopping by to see the completed renovation of the St. George Temple Visitor's Center. There we met Sister Ruiz, a young Sister missionary from Mexico. There was a stunning sculptural exhibit there at the time! Such talent!