Smith Squad: June 2014

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

May Instagram

The little things of May.....

Spitting image of her momma! Said no one ever!

First time on a bike in probably 20 years!

Grateful the rain held off long enough for us to make our plant people in joy school!

A picture of defeat!

Grandma Tereasa stopped by for a hello and donuts!

She always saves smile for him.

Mother's Day started at 2:45 am this morning with this teething little lady, she snuggled me wide awake until 5. I woke up way late, Eric thought he didn't have bishopric meetings then realized he did, leaving it up to me to get these kiddos ready for Church. Caroline had a major blowout, I swear she saves them for Sunday mornings. And I arrived 25 minutes late to sacrament meeting with my girls....but I got Wicked tickets, candy and a luncheon in RS, handmade cards, and made it in time to hear my babies sing during sacrament meeting. It's a good day, even the 2 am wake up call is a sweet reminder that in the trenches and all I am a mother.

Dad's home early, happy day!

Can't we just skip the last few weeks of school and head straight on in to summer?

Golden hour....

Had his first school friend play date today. Is it weird to be so incredibly grateful for the good friends in your kids' lives? Cause I am so happy for Luke to have a found a friend that just gets him. They just happened to sit by each other on the first day of school, they both go to speech therapy together and they both find "Art" hilarious. Destined to be buddies!

Buying our flowers! It was a madhouse in there!

Off to the Father and Sons camp out, just us girls tonight!

Loving my little ladies tonight.

Tiny dancers!

Sunday morning 10:49.....go me, ten minutes to spare!

One of the best traditions we have is McDonald's Monday!

Pretty sure we have a rule against this.....

Why buy toys.....when kitchen gadgets work so well!

Visiting our Granny after surgery, she's doing great!

Only Grandma would allow painting at 9 pm. She's the best!

3rd grade ice cream party with this boy. I love when he hugs me even in front of his friends. He makes my heart happy.

Making me happy right now...sitting on a blanket with my baby, watching 2 play at the park, one at the batting cages with dad and strawberry shortcake waiting at home. The lazy summer evenings are just getting started.

Babysitting.

10:47 this morning. 13 minutes to spare!

Happy Memorial Day!

Spent the morning golfing with dad!

Love a kid that appreciates a good readathon.

Summer has arrived!

A nice night for a ride!

Monday, June 23, 2014

9th Birthday

Lance turned 9 years old on the ninth of June. His golden birthday, he was pretty excited for it to say the least. Granny came over the Sunday before and gave him his gift of Lego's. We have a tradition on the Sunday before the big day the birthday person gets to choose what we have for Sunday dinner and dessert. He choose steak, baked potatoes, corn, watermelon and rolls with cherry cheesecake for dessert.

Then next morning Eric went out early to get the birthday boy donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast.

He got to open one present that morning and then hold onto the rest until his party a little later on in the day. He choose to open his present from Luke which was Ninja Turtle Walkie Talkies. Unfortunately we had no batteries for them at the moment and he ended up taking them with him so we could stop for some along the way. Then when we ended up buying some at Costco while we were there picking up his cake the stupid things still would not work. A letdown of a birthday gift for sure!

We picked up his very best buddy and cousin Carson for a day at Boondock's.

Had to sneak a picture of myself in with my little nine year old, hard to believe next year it will be double digits for my first baby.

The go carts were up first at Boondocks and if they had to pick a favorite this would be it.

Cutest thing seeing those smiles never leaving those boys faces.

Poor K was quite big enough to go on them and had to wait with mom and dad and Caroline.

But up next was the boats and she was not quite big enough for her own but was able to ride as Lance' passenger.

She was just fine with that.

Bowling.

They had fun the first five rounds or so but quickly lost interest and I had to prod them along to finish our game up and move on outside again.

To mini golf.

You know how with kids usually mini golf takes forever and you end up with lines of people behind you.

Fastest mini golfers ever.

Good heavens there was all kinds of cheating going on and we finished 18 holes in like half an hour.

But they loved it and had fun so.....whatever cheat away!

We had a quick dinner at Crown Burger with Papa Jeff and then headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Smith's for his family birthday party.

Miss Caroline was a good sport all day long even running on very few naps.

More on the details of this present later it was the highlight of my day.

Loves these brothers.

Happy birthday fella.....it's been an amazing nine years.

Can't wait for nine more and then nine more and so on and so on!

About Us

We are the Smith family Eric, Jenny, Lance, Luke and Katelynn. Eric is working for Weber State University as a professor in the Accounting Program teaching tax law courses. As for me I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home with our three children, and spend my days playing with them. Lance is our six year old, a great big brother who loves coloring, playing outdoors and MOVIES, boy does he love movies. Luke is our five year old, he was born at 28 weeks prematurity and has since suffered a severe hearing loss he is currently enrolled in the Sound Beginnings program here in Cache Valley to help teach him to speak and hear with the assistance of hearing aids. He is active and really just all together crazy but in a fun way. Katelynn is our newest addition, our sweet baby girl. We are so enjoying a little pink in our household, and those cheeks boy do we love to kiss and squeeze them! She brings such peace and joy to our home. What can we say life is good!

Book Reviews

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling--Bushman

Four Stars****

I spent the good part of my first semester in DC reading this book. It was one of those things where you look forward to reading parts of it every night because it is so interesting. To me, the most interesting biographies are written by master-story tellers who can weave biographical information into a novel-like account of a person's life. Bushman, who is a member of the church and a professor at Columbia, accomplishes that in this book. That time in my life was a perfect one to read about Joseph's life. He was away from his family for such long periods, often with his wife going through great difficulties without his being able to help her. I felt like I could acutely relate. I was absolutely without power to help Jenny from where I was in DC and there wasn't a lot we could do to change our circumstances but wait for time to pass. My love and testimony for the prophet grew greatly through reading this book and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know the prophet better.

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Truman--McCullough

Four Stars****

This is one of the best biographies I have ever read. Truman is now one of my heros and I am convinced that had I lived at that time, I would have been voting for a Democrat. Truman was called upon to address some of the most difficult issues in our country's history. There are only a few president's about whom you can say, if he didn't make the right decision at the right time, we might not be here now, and Truman is one of those.

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To Kill a Mockingbird--Lee

Four Stars****

Classics are classics for a reason and this is no exception. The imagery created by Harper Lee with her writing is second to none and as you read, it is like watching a masterpiece of art being painted. My favorite quote from the book: "I'm not a very good man, sir, but I am sheriff of Maycomb County. Lived in this town all my life an' I'm goin' on forty-three years old. Know everything that's happened here since before I was born. There's a black boy dead for no reason, and the man responsible for it's dead. Let the dead bury the dead this time, Mr. Finch. Let the dead bury the dead."--Sheriff Tate

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No Place Like Home--Higgins Clark

Four Stars****

I started reading this book to Jenny when she was in her car accident years ago. She couldn't see and the lights were too bright for her so I sat there in the banana chair next to her with a flash light reading this book. We got 2/3s of the way through it and never finished. It took me four years before I was able to reread it. If you like a good mystery that you can't put down, this is your book. Jenny, who is a Mary Higgins Clark expert, says this is one of her better ones.

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The Street Lawyer--Grisham

Four Stars****

Except for The Rainmaker, this is my favorite John Grisham book so far. It really made me think about the satisfaction that can come by helping the poor/needy through using your acquired legal skills. It served as motiviation for me to get involved with the pro-bono opportunities with the bar.

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Remember Me--Higgins Clark

Four Stars****

After I finished "No Place Like Home," Jenny suggested her favorite Mary Higgins Clark book, "Remember Me." This is another good suspense novel in which, unlike my previous Mary Higgins Clark read, I was unable to guess the true villain. What was most interesting about this book to me was the author's using premonitions of ghost-like activity, but in a way in which you were almost hoping that the ghost existed by the time you finished the book. Usually ghosts haunt, in this case it was more of an issue of setting the historical record straight. I also loved the geneoligical twist at the end that gave this book a perfect ending.

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For Whom the Bell Tolls--Hemmingway

Four Stars****

I had always wanted to read this book--a classic in American Literature. It lived up to its billing. This is an account of an American in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War who is assigned to a small band of guerillas behind enemy lines with the task of blowing up a bridge. The book recounts in graphic and disturbing detail the images of war and specifically the political dynamic between the Communists and the Fascists at that time in Spain. The ending is foreshadowed throughout the book, but you still find yourself hoping right until the end that what you know is coming will not be. The book is also interesting in that it gives glimpses into Ernest Hemmingway's psyche, specifically on the topic of suicide. Ernest Hemmingway committed suicide years later so that insight is particularly poignant.

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Divine Justice--Baldacci

Three and 1/2 Stars***

This was my first read by Baldacci. This was a very good suspense novel which was set in Washington, DC and the small fictional town of Divine, Virginia. An interesting feature is the dynamic in which the hunted and the hunter eventually come to understand each other and, through adversity, join sides against an even greater evil--the CIA.

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Great Expectations--Dickens

Four Stars****

Because of when this book was written, reading it is like stepping in a time machine and traveling back 100 years. A classic by Charles Dickens, so you know it is good. Lasting impression: aspirations are not always worthwhile and once you achieve them, you might lose what you realize is most important.

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The Lost Symbol--Brown

Three Stars***

Jenny questions my giving this only three stars, which is not to say I didn't enjoy it--I finished it within a week--but I thought the ending was not a surprise given how his other novels have ended. You seem to have three commonalities in his novels with Robert Langdon: a psychotic bad guy; a suicidal (intentional or unintentional) ending for that bad guy; and a female co-protagonist who would be an obvious fit for Robert from a romantic standpoint, but nothing ever happens.

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The Kite Runner--Hosseini

Three Stars***

This was a very good book that opened my eyes to middle eastern culture--specifically Afhganistan and Pakistan. The ending is certainly not a happy one, but all things considered, is satisfactory. The only reason I didn't give this four stars is because there are some pretty graphic and perverse scenarios which I found quite disturbing.

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A Train to Potevka--Ramsdell

Two and 1/2 Stars**

A lot of people really like this book, and for good reason. The story itself of the author's experience in the Foreign Service in the USSR is quite gripping. My only complaint was the self-serving personal tangents that take up a good chunk of the book and were only tangentially related to the underlying plot of being in Russia. If this book had stuck to the underlying story, it would have been great.

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The Blind Side--Lewis

Three and 1/2 Stars***

I was already familiar with Michael Oher's story before the movie sharing the title of this book came out. I found the book very appealing because of its in depth analysis of football strategy, emphasizing the importance of the left-tackle, but a non-sports fan may have trouble getting through the book because of that detail. I wouldn't say this is an over-the-top feel-good story. What the Tuohys did for Michael was praiseworthy, but perhaps the run it is getting these days is a little over the top.

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The Associate--Grisham

Four Stars****

If you want to know what it is like to worth in a mega-law firm in New York, this is the book to read. As with many Grisham books, an overall critique of a broader matter (life of an associate at a big law firm) serves as the background to a story plot. And the story plot in this particular book is very intriguing: Editor-in-Chief Yale Law Journal is blackmailed to going to work for a large law firm to steal information on one of its biggest clients. Juicy.

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Paul McCartney: A Life--Carlin

Three Stars***

I am a huge Beatles fan and thought this would be a great read. It was, but it turns out sometimes you don't want to know the entire life story of one of your musical heros.

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Moby Dick--Melville

Four Stars****

How could this book get anything but Four Stars? It is a classic in American literature for a good reason. I was surprised to learn that it never received its proper acclaim until after Melville died. It was very good though to actually read the book that has become so engrained in our culture. Classics are classics for a reason.

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In the Heart of the Sea--Philbrick

Four Stars****

After reading Moby Dick, this seemed like a logical follow-up. This book tells the tale of the whaleship Essex, the account on which the novel Moby Dick was based. Essex was destroyed by a great white whale in the Pacific Ocean in the late 1700s. Melville read the account which inspired him to write Moby Dick. Moby Dick, however, ends with the ship's encounter with the whale. This story tells what happened after the collision: the survivors had to make a 3,000 mile trek back to South America in whale boats (larger than life boats, but not much larger). Starvation, mental instability, and even cannabilism are all suffered in efforts to survive. This book really makes you appreciate what hunger and thirst really are--certainly more than the uncomfortable pangs we experience on fast Sunday.

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Oliver Twist--Dickens

Four Stars****

The story of Oliver Twist is a storyteller's masterpiece. You have no choice but to root for Oliver, a young orphan of honest character and sweet disposition who suffers through abuse in an orphanage, deceitful ploys from perceived friends, and seemingly endless bad luck. Reading Dickens is an experience in and of itself--you get so much detail, so many layers of the story, that you feel more than acquainted with the characters by the time you have finsihed the book.

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Angels & Demons--Brown

Three Stars***

Most have already read this book--I supppose I am a few years behind on the Dan Brown train. I found it compelling enough and there is a great surprise ending, but I've done some research (or, that is, have read the research of others) and Brown took a few too may creative liberties with the historical facts for my taste. Moreover, as I mentioned in my review of the Lost Symbol, all of Brown's villains seem to be psychotic, which is a little creepy for me. Sometimes villains need to be bad because they are simply bad and not because they are operating in a delusional state of reality.

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Screwtape Letters--Lewis

Four Stars****

This was my second time reading this book and I feel like there are still parts that are worth re-reading and thinking about. This book comprises a series of fictional letters from a mentor devil to an apprentice devil (his nephew) as the apprentice tempts his assigned subject on earth. Of course, the book is read with the understanding that the opposite of everything the mentor writes is true. This mode of exchange offers a uniquely sharp perspective of our existence because we see things from a completely different perspective. Keen insights regarding man's relationship with god, with family, and himself are plentiful. Each letter is only two to four pages long, and I found myself not able to read more than one at a sitting because there was so much there to digest. Wonderfully done and highly recommended.

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A Tale of Two Cities--Dickens

Four Stars****

Of course four stars--one of the greatest novels in English literature, but I did not know what to expect of this book beyond the famous first lines regarding the best and worst of times. A few moments stand out for me that were described with stunningly majestic prose: when Lucy meets her father and tells him that she is his daughter and the final chapter where the hero of the novel sees the future in a prophetic recount right before his execution. I reread the final chapter two or three times and was continually amazed at how well it is written and how much emotion is drawn out of every word. This is a long book, and is not one that you can breeze through, but the investment of time is well worth it.

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Around the World in 80 Days--Verne

Four Stars****

This novel is a classic that only could have been written when it was written given the onset of modern travel--but it is an absolute adventure. An eccentric and wealthy man, not to mention flawlessly cool and collected, bets his fortune that he can traverse the circumfrance of the globe in 80 days, heading eastward from London. He confronts adventure after adventure, including a stop in Ogden, UT where his servant is preached to by an Elder of the Mormon church. Worth experiencing yourself--give it a try.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

May Instagram

Monday, June 23, 2014

9th Birthday

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