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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.