My 30th Anniversary!

Yesterday, on Dec.29, 1978, my husband and I were married in the Salt Lake City Temple. We've been married now for 30 years. Its amazing to me, that our number is so high. I always looked at it as something that belonged to my folks. But its us this time. We have 6 beautiful daughters and 3 are married now. Its been fun to have son-in-laws now! We have 4 granddaughters, with one on the way. Yes, we have been blessed. I should say I have been blessed! I love my girls, but most of all, I love my husband. He has been my best friend and I look forward to alot more years ahead of us. Maybe go on a mission together, who knows what the future will bring! Heres a few pictures, kinda a then and now look at the two of us. Enjoy!

Christmas Day

When all the kids were gathered back at our house, we shot the traditional "everybody wait" picture first, then its dad passing out the gifts, the kids tearing through the wrapping paper, and Lauren with the girls, later in the day, while we prepare for the Christmas Feast! No one goes away hungry from our house! :)

Christmas 2008!

My girls always like to do one goofy pose!

Christmas Eve at the Smith House!

Christmas Eve is a great time for the all of us to get together! We did it at our house and Lauren was the program director for this year. Taylor read a story, Marshall and Ben read about Samual the Lamanite and the birth of the Savior, Dad sang "Silent Night" in German with Jessie singing in English, Shawneen sang us a song with Lorraine playing the piano for us. And me and Dana took pictures. We ate alot and had our traditional Pizza, my green chili, Aunt Eva's tamale's, Serrano's great bean dip with chips and any other snack we could come up with. My diet went out the window from Thanksgiving on. Then we passed out the girls jammies and the boys jammie bottoms, so that we could get ready for Santa! Here is some pictures, hope you like them.

Jessie's Christmas Choir Concert!

Jessie had her last Choir concert on Dec.15th, and they did a great job. Dana did her hair for her and she looked wonderful. I tried out the video on my camera, but as you can see, I need to do better. I did get one song- hope you like it. :)

Thanksgiving day!

Thanksgiving day has come and gone!! All the preparation, all the eating and all the visiting with the family. That's what a love about this day. We started our day by having dad put in the turkey nice and early. Then calling all the girls to go hiking at the Wind Caves. I hope someone took pictures. I didn't go, I was watching Dana's little girls and finishing up the cooking. Then everyone came over and we ate till we couldn't eat another bite! We had Shawneen and Ben and girls, Dana and Marshall and girls, Lauren and Phill, Jamie, Taylor, Jessie and also Paul and Margaret and their kids (Ben's Brother and family) So we had a housefull. Of course, my camera is dead and Jamie has the charger which she can't find. And I started with the Video camera, but got caught up with everything, that I didn't video past 2 minutes!! Oh well, we will do it all again next year. Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving Day!!

My birthday girls!!

Today we celebrated Jessie's and Taylor's birthday. Taylor turned 16 on the 19th and Jessica will turn 13 on the 22nd, tomorrow. We went out for our family dinner to Fuddrucker's, which makes a very good hamburger or chicken sandwich. I took pictures, but its on Dana's camera so I hope she will print them on her blog. Its hard to put into writing the thoughts going through my mind on these birthdays. Since Taylor is 16 now, its a whole new ballgame. She can get her license, scary, and she can date, hopefully with groups of friends. Jessie, on the other hand, will be 13 tomorrow. Bringing forth teenage attitude issues and "what are you looking at?" mentality. Hopefully it won't be too painful. I am getting older remember?! :) All I know is that I do love my girls. From the moment I brought them into this world and into the days ahead. Love you Girls!!

Halloween Pictures!

We had our ward Halloween Party on our street again and it was fun having our kids there to enjoy it with us. Here is some pictures that may be the same as the girls cuz I forwarded them some of them but thats okay. Enjoy...

Okay, last two... I promise!

Can you tell which one is puking? Marshall carved that one and the other is in memory of Lauren, who couldn't join us because her and Phill are in Beeville, TX.

The rest...

Heres the rest of the pictures!

I lost my pictures....

Trying again...

Carving Pumpkins!!

Tonight for FHE we carved pumpkins! Of course, it wasn't quite complete with out Lauren and Phill, but Dad carved Lauren, so she would feel like she was here and now she is! You may find some repeats on Shawneen's and Dana's blogs but thats okay. In the picture of Mia, by herself, she was helping herself to all the seeds. And with Jamies pic, she's doing this with a bad foot :( , all the rest, well, you're on your own. :)

We got PUPPIES!!

Of course, I am a little late with this news, but I wanted the puppies to be a little bit bigger. They are officially 10 days old as of this blog and the pictures were taken a couple of days ago. They are 2 females, with many a name, depending on who you talk to in the family. There eyes should start to open any day now. They are GOOD EATERS! :)

About the cake...

I found this cake while googleing cottage magazines and came across this blog, that I can't remember who it was. But she had pictures of this cake and how to make it, then posted the recipe below it. It looked wonderful and I want to try it. I'll let you know how it is later. :)

Chocolalate Turtle Cake!

1 Box German Chocolate Cake Mix

1 14 oz. Kraft Caramels

3/4 cups butter

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix cake mix according to directions on box. Pour 1/2 batter into greased and floured 9x13 cake pan. Bake 350 for 15 minutes.

In a saucepan cook butter, milk, and caramels until melted and smooth. Pour over baked cake, sprinkle with chocolate chips and pecans. Pour remaining cake batter on top of cake and bake 20*25 minutes loner.

Icing~

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup Butter Flavored Crisco

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup white corn syrup

4 cups powder sugar.

If not stiff add a little more sugar and mix well in mixer.

Posted by Tina Smith on October 15, 2008 at 06:03 PM | Permalink

Jessie's 1st Concert Choir!

Tonight Jessie had her first concert choir for 7th grade. She goes to Poston Jr. Hi. and they held their concert over at Mountain View High School. Her group did pretty good for being the youngest of all the groups. Her grampy, Lloyd and Lorraine were able to come see it too, along with me and her dad. She's the one behind the piano, you can barely see her, but thats okay! :)

Our Extra Truck

Here is a picture of what used to be Dana's and Marshall's truck and is now mine. And as we all know, I already have a truck. So this is the one I am trying to sell. As you can see, I should be trying harder but I am not because this thing is way more fun to drive than my white one. I am not the best picture taker I decided, but you see what it is! :) 2006, F-150 supercab, 4X4, 29,800 miles...

Bath time with my grandbabies!

Thought I show my grandbabies off a little bit! My girls took their babies to the park after conference and then decided they needed a bath and then I took a goofy picture of my girls as they were watching over their kids in my bathroom. They like my tub for some reason. :)

Halloween apron!

Here is the apron I was working on. The Relief Society did something similar for our "Christmas in September" meeting.

addition to my quilt one:

Okay, I just click on my two pictures that I posted of my quilting and it makes them go bigger. So if you want to look closer at the pics be warned I am pretty scary looking as I am holding up my quilt! I think I could be a vampire with my red eyes!!

My finished Quilt!

The other day I finally finished a quilt I have been working on for awhile. Its called a "Crazy Eight" quilt design. Its actually not that difficult to do, just finding the time to do it. Which is why my quilting takes so long. I am giving this one to my daughter Dana, because she has decorated her daughters room in the colors of the quilt. And she painted these cool two-tone diamonds on one of the walls and it just happens to match the green diamond fabric in the quilt. If I can get to the pictures, I will also show what I am working on right now. Its a Christmas quilt and I've got some done, 10 panels, and 20 more to go before I can put it together. This quilt has been fun to do and I am already picked out some fabric to do another one. I also just finished decorating an apron for the Halloween holiday. I've got to get a picture of that on next. Okay, here goes...

Lauren and Phill - Ike who?

Well, after talking with Lauren today, it sounds like they are going to try to weather this Hurricane named Ike. I hope Ike is just a bit of rain and not much else. If you go to her blog, she tells what their plans are. Its weird not being there to help her and I know her and Phill will be fine, its just been my role in life to protect her and life goes on, kids grow up and find great husbands, and I just need to relax! I know this and I can do it. Heck, its not like I don't have enough to think about with the rest of my kids! Today, Taylor's High school and Jessie's Jr. High were in lockdown for a couple of hours because of a home invasion close by. Geeze, louise, what next?!!

"Going to the Temple and we're gonna get married!"

Hi. Today we were invited to attend my niece's Temple Sealing. Its always a great thing to do and experience with your family. I am so happy for my niece Crystal and her husband, Rob to be married for time and all eternity. Our daughters who are married were also able to attend as well as her sister, Ambur and Josh, her husband. I love going to weddings, especially when I am related to them. I hope they will continue to attend the Temple regularly and enjoy the blessings that it will bring them. We love you Crystal and Rob and, again, thanks for letting us share in your happiness. :)

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let my lovely daughter Lauren, to know how much we love her and to tell her HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Today she turns 20. Yes, Its hard to believe! One day she was this cute little toddler who swallowed a nickel and I had to watch for it to come out of you-know-where and now she's this beautiful young lady thats all grown up and married to her fine young man, Phil. They are on there way here to Arizona as I type this. Making their transition to go to Beeville, Texas in a few weeks. I love you Lauren, tu mom :)

Dana's Birthday!!

Dana turned 25 on July 25 (Friday). What a fun day we had. It was our weekend to have the dental staff come stay at the Westin in Scottsdale and the hotel was so nice to stay in. I would recommend them any time. We all got there about the same time and checked in and promptly put on our suits and went to their pool!! The water was a little warm for me but the kids sure loved it. Then we went out to dinner at Bennihana's which was Danas choice. Great food and the babies loved watching our chief. It was also cool to realize that Marshall was talking to his chief in Chinese. What a gift! The next morning we had a big buffet for breakfast and decided to come home to our pool because, can you believe this, it was cooler water!! Anyways, I hope Dana you had a nice birfday and to know that we love you very much. You and Marshall and your 2 babies make me and dad so proud. Love ya, tu mom

Make a Smilebox slideshow