Two Lost Teeth

Preston lost a tooth today at school.  He was so proud!  He now has no front teeth.  He says it is really hard to talk, especially the TH words. Adorable.

Preston

Jorja also lost a tooth today.  Hers was a molar that has been bothering her for quite awhile.  She let Mike pull and pull at it until it finally came out.  This is the second time that both Jorja and Preston have lost a tooth on the same day.

Preston started piano lessons again today.  This time he is taking the lessons with a lady on our street.  For the last few years we have had a teacher come to our home, which was wonderful, but I think this will work even better.  It is nice to not worry about keeping everything calm and running smooth for two straight hours.  I think Sister Newman will be really good for them.  Preston was not excited to go at all, but he loved it when he came home.

I dropped Maysen off at her ACT Prep class and then went to Parent Teacher Conferences.  I was able to meet with about half of the teachers for her and Stockton.  I had to leave to go to Young Womens, but I get to go back again tomorrow!

Studio C in the Park

I had fresh homemade rolls waiting for the kids when they came home from school.  They turned out great if I do say so myself.

Mike and I took Jorja to Kiwanis Park to see Studio C's Season 5 first episode.  It was really fun.  The other kids didn't want to go, but Jorja was so excited about it.  It was fun to have Jorja to ourselves.  I don't know if we have ever done something fun with just Jorja before.  I was worried about the weather, but it turned out perfect.

Stephanie & Jorja

 Stephanie & Mike

 Jorja & Mike

For some reason I can never figure out how to use Mike's phone, so all the pictures I take on it are blurry.  After the show, we stopped at Jamba Juice.  Jorja loves that place!  I was surprised to see they have acai bowls there.  I had to try one.  Not as good as in Hawaii, but kind of fun anyway.

Jorja's Last Primary Program

Audrey came over this morning.  I was pretty excited.  Yesterday I asked her if she would like to go to church with us.  I told her Jorja would be speaking in sacrament meeting.  Audrey hasn't been to church with us for a long time.  Audrey asked if we would be up by 8:00.  She ended up coming over around 9:30.  She looked so cute in a nice dress and hat.  She cracks me up.

I thought Audrey would enjoy listening to the primary program.  Sister Madson, the primary president, was really excited to see Audrey.  She asked her if she would like to come and sit on the stands.  Audrey didn't want to.  I don't blame her!  Although, Audrey being Audrey she changed her mind.  Audrey is not shy at all.  She decided she would like to sit on the stand.  We were able to get her a spot next to Jorja, right in the middle of all the kids.  I was so worried about her.  I did not want her to feel embarrassed that she didn't know the songs.  I should have known that Jorja would take care of her.  While I watched the program I noticed that Audrey was singing.  I was shocked that she knew many of these songs.  Jorja had asked different teachers she was sitting by and was able to get Audrey music.  Awesome!

Audrey was also listed in the program.  I knew she had not even seen her part.  I assumed that her name would be passed by unnoticed. Nope.  She got up with the rest of her class.  I was so worried!  I thought, "Oh no!  I hope the words are easy and she can read them well!"  I assumed that the first time she saw the words would be up at the pulpit.  Wrong again.  She got up there as confident as ever, looked right at the audience and said her part.  Completely memorized.  No stumbling over any words.  Amazing.  Incredible.  Jorja had also found Audrey's part and Audrey had it memorized before she made it to the stand.  I was blown away!  It was awesome.

Preston was so cute!  A few months ago he was asked to give a talk on one of his ancestors.  He chose his Grandma Honey.  Preston was asked to give the same talk today.  This was it:  

My name is Preston Hirschi Smith.  I was named after my Grandma Honey.  She died before I was born.  My first name is the city she was born in, my middle name is her maiden name.  She met my Papa when they were in 6th grade.  They got married in the Logan Temple when they were 19 years old.  They had 4 children.  The youngest one was my dad.  I was told that my Grandma Honey was nice and loved her family very much.  I wish I could have known her.  It is fun to learn stories about my ancestors.

Preston was SOOOOO cute!  He accidentally said they met when they were 19 years old.  He caught himself and said, "Ugh!" and held out his hand to the side.  He corrected himself and continued.  It was absolutely adorable.

Jorja did a great job on her talk as well.  She had to look down when she was singing because she kept laughing.  Stockton was making faces at her from the audience.  Jorja looked so big up there!  She is the oldest one in primary right now.  Crazy!  This is Jorja's talk:

January 1, 2010 my family made a goal to read our scriptures every day.  We were 100% for 4 years 9 months and 13 days.  Our 100% streak ended two weeks ago.  That morning my dad felt we should drive to Idaho to see my great-grandma who had not been feeling well.  We piled in our motorhome and drove 4 hours to see her.  We spent a few hours there and then drove home.  We forgot to read our scriptures.

My parents have taught me many ways to stay close to the Lord. Reading our scriptures is one of them.  We are now learning to keep trying even if you make a mistake.  Being 99% is okay too.  Heavenly Father just wants us to do our best.

My parents have also taught me the importance of listening to our Prophet and Apostles.  My family watches all 4 sessions of General Conference together.  We each make a bingo card and my mom buys lots of candy.  That makes conference extra fun.  Conference will be held next Sunday.  My parents asked us to think of a challenge we are having or a question we need an answer to.  We will pray about it and try to find the answer in conference.

I love my family.  I know we can be together forever if we obey Heavenly Father and Jesus.

Jorja, Preston and Audrey did so well.  The songs were beautiful.  I really enjoyed the meeting.  I am so thankful Audrey came with us.  She blew my socks off!  I can't believe this was Jorja's last primary program. Wow.  My kids are growing up!  Next year only Preston will be up there - and he will be in senior primary!  That is bizarre!

Class Cancelled

Maysen had a Saturday lecture she needed to attend.  It was scheduled to be 7:30-2:30 or something like that.  It was a LONG time!  I dropped Maysen off around 7:15.  On my way home I got a text.  I NEVER look at texts when I'm driving.  I was past all the lights and was about to turn onto a T-street when the text came in.  I decided to pull to the side and look at the text.  Very strange for me.  Usually I wait until I get home and sometimes forget about them completely.  I'm glad I stopped.  It was Maysen.  The lecture was cancelled.  The speaker got in an accident on the way there.  It was raining pretty hard.  I was able to get back on the road and turn right around to get her.  I hope the speaker is okay.  Sounds like he is going to have a pretty bad day.

Jorja got to play at Jazzie's house today.  She was thrilled.  She got to help babysit Jazzie's little brother and sister.  Right after Jazzie left, Audrey came over.  Dang it!  We love it when Audrey comes over and we hadn't seen her for awhile.  I invited her inside and we made cookies together.  She told me all about the ghost tour she was excited to go on tonight.  Sounds a little spooky to me.  Once our cookies were done she went and played with Preston until Jorja came home.  I'm glad Jorja got to see her before she left.

Maysen, Jorja and I were able to watch the Womens' Conference together.  We watched it downstairs where we didn't need to wear dresses so we could be extra cozy.  I worked on Amelia's stocking.  I'm almost done!  I really enjoyed watching it with my girls, but I missed doing something to make it extra special.  Maybe we'll have to do something different next time.

Swimming with Heather

Well I didn't actually go swimming with Heather.  She wasn't allowed to get in the pool yet.  Still recovering from surgery.  I sent a late message to all my Utah cousins to see if anyone wanted to come swimming.  Heather was the only one who could make it.  We had a lot of fun though.  Look at this beautiful rainbow!  It was so much prettier in person!

I didn't get a lot of pictures, these are the ones I managed to take.  The kids seemed to have a great time.  We had hamburgers and then swimming until lightning and thunder forced everyone to leave the pool.  Good thing we got out when we did because it sure did start raining cats and dogs once we got inside!

Aubrey

 Eric, Zac, Lily

 Jennifer, Preston, Eric and Jorja who is NOT punching Eric!

 Jorja & Eric, Aubrey, Jennifer, Preston

Zac underwater, Lily and Heather's knee

 Eric, Jorja & Aubrey

Matt came over with Sam and Anne.  We were able to play Dominion. It was fun because Heather was able to play this time.  Last time we played with Zac Heather was too sick to play.  She couldn't sleep, so she just listened to us have fun while she was busy being miserable. Heather ended up winning the came.  We were able to get one more game in before they had to leave.  I am so glad they were able to come! I'm also glad they chose to come here instead of the kids school fall festival!  Thanks Heather and Zac!

Pillowcase

Jorja made this pillowcase in achievement days and is quite proud of it, although she does wish it was softer.

Jorja's pillowcase next to Chelsea's beautiful flower

She was funny when she was telling me about choosing the fabric. Their leaders had a lot of choices.    Jorja was nervous because she went last.  I think everyone knew that fabric was meant for Jorja!  Jorja has been wanting to learn how to sew lately.  I wish I knew how and could teach her.  Not one of my talents.

Dolphin Bananas

I have been trying hard to have a snack ready when the kids come home from school.  Preston has LOVED this.  At first he would make comments like, "Are you going to make something everyday?" Now he walks in the door and the first thing he says is, "What's the snack?" Today I made dolphin bananas.  I can't remember where I saw this, but it looked fun.  I think Stockton ended up being the only one to actually eat the dolphin.  I guess my kids don't like bananas.  Weirdos.

Maysen had an appointment with Holly today.  I wanted her to drive.  I made a comment about how I wish I could see Jorja & Preston's reaction to the snack today.  Maysen said, "Wait, how will you not see them if I'm driving?"  I looked at her and said, "Are you wanting to go by yourself?"  She laughed.  Nope, she did not want to do that!

Miniature Golf

My beehives came to my house for Young Womens.  Kristen taught them how to make friendship bracelets.  I went and found Jorja and asked her to join us.  I knew she would love this.  And she did. I'm excited to have her with me officially in just over one month!  Wow!

Stockton got to go miniature golfing for his activity.  This reminds me of Hawaii.  Steve and Shannon and their family are going to Hawaii in a few months.  I asked Stockton, "If you could only do one thing in Hawaii what would it be?"  Immediately he replied, "Miniature golf". Haha!  Thank you Rachel for taking him golfing.  Apparently he loved it!

Brett Went Home

And that's sad.  After the kids were all off to school, Brett and I made him some sandwiches for the plane and then headed to the airport.  He made it home late tonight to the delight of his girls.  Hopefully we'll get to see him again this summer.

Flowers

John and his family left this morning around 9:00.  Brett, Matt and I worked on cleaning Grandma's house.  I took a few pictures before we left.  One picture I found in a book by my grandma's tv.  I love it!

Grandma & Grandpa

The other is a picture my grandparents have hanging in the spare room upstairs.  They always called it, "Harriett's Room".  At least that is what they always referred to it when talking to me.  My dad gave this collage to them shortly after my mom died.  It makes me laugh because he was just focusing on my mom.  For example, in the family picture in the middle Bubs' head is cut off.  You can only see the top of Matt & John's heads as well.  So funny!

I was able to take a few flowers home.  We put them in the shower of the motorhome and they all stayed upright.  I think we had the perfect amount of flowers, any less and they would have tipped over.

The drive home was great.  Matt, Brett and I played Dominion.  The piles kept moving.  We will have to come up with some kind of tray so we can play it easier while we are moving.  It started raining really hard the last hour of our trip.  After we dropped Matt off in Brigham City.  I walked back to get something and noticed a lot of water on our floor. We think water was coming up from underneath.  It was weird because I would wipe up the water and watch as more water would come under the cabinets.  The water wasn't coming from the sinks, fridge or shower.  We have had the motorhome out in the rain before, but this is the first time we have driven while it was raining.  It's too bad because some of our cabinetry was effected by the water.

On the way back my dad texted us and asked if he could bring up dinner.  Of course!  He brought up spaghetti.  Bubs' family came. Mostly to get Abby's 'fuzzy'.  Abby left her blanket that she loves at Grandma's house and was so excited to get it back!  We then stopped by my mom's grave and put some flowers from my Grandma's funeral on them.  It was lovely.

Ella

 Millie

 Ella & Amelia

 Ella, Lincoln, Millie

 Ella, Abigail, Lincoln, Amelia

 Dad, Stephanie, Spencer, Brett

Matt came by later and was able to play a few more games with us.  We played Pillage and Plunder.  I almost won in a sloop!  I couldn't get a schooner, so I just started attacking merchants.  I was an enemy of every nation.  I had $22,800 when the navy sunk me to the bottom. Only $2,200 away from winning!  I can't believe earlier in the game I had a cartographer in my hand and forgot to play it before I rolled a 3 on a treasure hunt.  Then I would have been victorious!  It would have been amazing!  Mike ended up winning the game, so I guess it wasn't too terrible.

Grandma Parry's Funeral

We said goodbye to my grandma today.  I love her.  I miss her.  I wish my kids could have known her like I did.  Full of life and love and always going, going, going.  Even though she was mostly confined to a couch the last ten years of her life, my kids adored her.  Rightly so.  We had a viewing before the funeral.  The grandkids were asked to carry flowers from the viewing room to the chapel.  It was heartbreaking watching my grandpa say goodbye to my grandma before they closed the casket.  They asked if anyone else wanted to say a last goodbye.  Of course I wanted to, but I thought if everyone that loved my grandma as much as I did comes up now we will be here forever!  My grandma was loved that much.  Preston did go up to see her one last time.  He started walking and then turned around a little nervous.  I nodded to him that it was okay.  He walked over to her casket and looked at her.  He nodded to grandma and then came back to me.  I don't know if I should have come up with him or not, but it was so sweet to watch him from where I was.  Knowing that he wanted to say goodbye because he wanted to, not because I wanted him to.  Bubs also went up with one of his kids, but I can't remember which one.  My Uncle Mark gave a nice prayer before her casket was closed.

Preston, Stockton, Stephanie

 John, Brett

Grandma's funeral was lovely.  Uncle John did a great job officiating. Jackie did her life sketch and Steve gave a talk.  All of the grandkids, great-grandkids and great-great-grandkids sang I Am a Child of God and Families Can Be Together Forever.  That was probably half the audience and the chapel was full!  My Grandpa also talked, which I was impressed with.  I want to put down more details, but there were so many moments that touched me I don't know where to begin.

After the funeral we travelled to the cemetery in Ririe.  My grandma grew up in Ririe.  Sue and Chuck are buried there.  So are her parents. We didn't want to take the motorhome there, so we farmed out our family to different cars.  Maysen and Jorja went with Matt & Sam. Stockton and Preston went with John and Cassie.  My dad, Brett, Mike and I went with my brother Mike.  My dad was a pallbearer.  Everyone of my Grandma's kids were represented.  Terry, Frank and Brad represented Sue.  My dad represented my mom.  Glade represented Kris.  Mark represented Jackie and John and Steve represented themselves.

Terry, Mark, Brad, Frank

John, Steve, Glade, Ron

Glade, Ron, Brad, Ella, Frank, Mark, Steve, John

 My dad putting his flower on my grandma's casket

 Grandpa putting his flower on Grandma's casket

After her grave was dedicated they told us that the dinner at the church would start at 2:00.  I really liked how they let us know the exact time. We didn't have to hurry back.  We were able to look around the cemetery.  I love cemeteries, and there were so many graves I wanted to see!  Plus, the weather was so perfect today.

Stephanie

 Grandchildren flowers

My Uncle Steve took us to Joseph Hyrum Lovell's grave.  He was the first child born after the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.  He is my great-great grandpa.  It is crazy to think he was born right after the martyrdom.  My grandma had great-great grandchildren.  That makes Joseph Smith's time not seem so far away!

My Great-Great Grandpa's Grave

Steve also took us to my Grandma's parents grave.  I was hoping I would be able to see it today.

My Great Grandparents Grave

He also showed us Uncle George's grave which was super awesome! Uncle George is my grandma's brother.  He has a cabin we would go to once a year.  On his grave you can see the slide that goes down the mountain, the barn with the twisty slide out of it, the swing set, the cabin, the flagpole and even the trampoline!  I love it!  We couldn't find the zip line, the waterside or the golf course.  How fun!  We were looking at it with Jackson and Chelsea.  I told Chelsea she needed to design my grave. How fun would it be to have frogs and dragons everywhere!  Haha!  Well, frogs and dragons don't represent me.  I wonder what does?

Uncle George's Grave

It was nice to see so many family members at the chapel.  I collected e-mail addresses and hopefully I'll be able to put together a Parry Post for my grandma.  I feel so bad that I let that slip away.  I wish I could have kept doing it, for some reason I couldn't.  I don't know why.  Even though we were all together, there were so many people I meant to talk to that I didn't get a chance.  Funny how that happens.

Steve, Grandpa, Jackie, John

Mike pointed out to me that it is exactly half of my mom's family in this picture.  Four people living, four who have already died.  It is nice that each of the children have a parent now, and nice that each parent has three children they are with who love them completely.

We got a picture of my family as well.  I wish we could get together more often.  I love it when I get to be with all of them.

Brett, Mike, John, Dad, Stephanie, Spencer, Matt

 Grandma

 Grandma, Sue and Chuck - right next to each other

We watched the BYU game after the funeral.  My grandpa's tv had been cancelled since he hasn't lived here for a few months.  We watched the first part of the game gathered around Brett's cell phone.  I finally woke Mike up and he was able to get the game so we could watch it on a laptop.  It was fun to watch a game with my brothers again.  Especially since BYU won!  My dad, Mike, Skye and Larkin all went back to Utah after the game.  The rest of us stayed and played Dominion.  It was perfect weather, so we set up a table outside on my grandparents front lawn.  After awhile we put chairs by the tv outside and Mallory and Trevor watched a movie.

Dominion at Grandma's

Right as we were cleaning up we saw the Fuller parade.  Jackie, Mark, Courtney, Markell and their families were all taking a walk.  I walked home with them and stayed and chatted a bit before I headed back for more Dominion with my brothers.  For such a sad occasion, today was a wonderful day.