A couple more pictures

Madi's first bath - Daddy isn't quite sure what he is doing.

Proud Auntie!!!

Let me in - I want to hold her!!!!!

Madalyn Becky Smith

Kevin Michael & Becky Kathleen Smith are proud to announce the birth of their beautiful baby girl Madalyn Becky Smith. She was born 12/20/07 at 1:24 pm weighing in at 8 lb. 2 oz and 20 inches long.

Mom and dad are exhausted but very proud of their little girl. More pictures to come as we get them!!!

Waiting for my Daddy!

I just loved this picture. Ian was so excited to see his daddy. This picture tells it all.

He's HOME!!!!

Steve came in last night and it is so good to get him here safe and sound. It was not without stress, there was a great big accident on the freeway and Brittany got stuck in traffic. She was about 20 minutes late - luckily Steve's plane was over 1/2 an hour late!! It worked out great. We waited at the closest place possible where he would come out and had a big banner and a bunch of American flags. It was great. Afterwards we stopped for dinner and came to our house for the weekend. Ian had no hesitation at all in running right up to his dad and giving him a hug. He hasn't let go yet. Brittany loves it - she won't have to do anything for Ian for quite a while now. We are so proud of him and love having him home!!!!!

I can't believe it is the same guy. . .

Well, those of you that saw Kevin at Jade's wedding know that he hadn't cut his hair since before his wedding. It was getting a bit ridiculous. Every time he came over we would offer to buzz it for him. Surprise, surprise, he finally took us up on it!! He really is a good looking kid.

Life keeps going on. . .

No pictures for now but we are moving forward. Brittany is back from Fort Bragg and she and Steve had a good visit. Steve is back in Germany for now but should be home Monday or Tuesday. Monday Alicia is having surgery to fix her broken nose and her deviated septum. She will be miserable but hopefully this will help her headaches and breathing. Becky is down to two weeks tomorrow until her due date so we are all counting down. Mom and baby are doing well. Kevin is freaking out but not too badly. Finals are this week for them so that will help to have them over with. Brandon and Andrea are doing well. We had them up for the weekend after Thanksgiving and it was a lot of fun (ok, we are boring but I enjoyed it). We planned on a quiet Thanksgiving with just Ian, Ali, Jeff and I since everyone is coming here for Christmas with Steve home and all. However, Kevin & Becky ate early at her folk's and then came and ate again at ours later that day. Brandon and Andrea came on Friday and stayed through Sunday so it was a fun weekend. Soon we will have everyone home again!!! Yeah!!!! Love to you all.

Grandkids are GREAT!!

While Brittany has been visiting with Steve in North Carolina, we have had the chance to keep Ian here and it has been lots of fun. As you can see by the pictures, he has a lot of character. He loves being Batman (Jax -the dog- is Robin) and has spent lots of time in his costume. Uncle Kevin even tried on the mask. Ian has decided that he like the Darth Vader mask even better than the batman mask so it makes it pretty interesting. Today he told me that Santa wasn't going to bring me any presents for Christmas because I wouldn't let him go out and play in the snow. I guess I better get better between now and Christmas. We have had lots of fun with him and are so excited to get Steve home to spend time with him too.

He's back in the USA!!!

Steve called this morning to say he is on American soil and safe and sound. They were still on base so we only talked for a minute. Brittany got there yesterday morning (Saturday) and checked right into her hotel and then got a call from the family of Steve's roomate for the last 15 months. They invited her to dinner and then came to get her this morning to take her on base. It was really neat and made it a lot nicer for her. Steve finally admitted to her that even though he had said he was fine hooking up with her later, he was REALLY glad she was going to be at the hangar when they arrived.

He will be at Fort Bragg for a week or so and then back to Germany to check in with his home unit and should arrive here in Utah sometime the first of December. We will keep you all updated. YEAHHHH!!!!

Beauty School Dropout

Ali had to dress up for work on Halloween so she thought and thought and finally remembered the movie Grease. She decided that the Beauty School Dropout was very appropriate for working in a beauty salon. She was surprised that many of her friends didn't get it but all her teachers and her boss thought it was perfect!! She looks good as a pink-head!!!

Jade & Tim's Wedding

I didn't get a lot of pictures but I got a couple of fun ones. Jake and Misty did a great job with the decorations; Jade & Tim's families did a great job with the luncheon and reception and I thought Brent made a wonderful DJ!! It was a lot of fun all around and it was fun to have most of the family there. We really did miss the ones that were gone though. Maybe by the next one - DeeDee did catch the bouquet!


My favorite picture, of course, was Delila dancing with Ian!! They made a cute couple.

Ali's Birthday Party

After we got back from Las Vegas we celebrated Ali's birthday by inviting about 12 of her friends over for pizza, ping pong, presents and cake (well, they can't all start with P). As you can tell by the pictures they had a lot of fun.

Las Vegas Trip

Well, Las Vegas was pretty fun. We took Ali to Monty Python's SpamALot on Friday night and she LOVED it!! Of course I forgot my camera and the only pictures we have of that are on my camera. I will try to transfer them soon. Saturday, we got to have lunch and visit with Grandma Walker and Aunt Doris. It was so great to see them. For all of you who are wondering, Grandma looks wonderful!! So does Aunt Doris but we all knew that. After visiting with them for a while we headed over to the Sam Boyd Stadium where we got to watch BYU trounce on UNLV. I swear the stadium was over half blue. My favorite shirts, though, were the ones that said "Real Mormons are Rebels". Las Vegas has a very large LDS population so I am not sure how many BYU fans were locals and how many traveled like us. Sunday, we walked around the strip for most of the afternoon while we waited, and waited, and waited for Curtis to call us back so we could get together with he and his family. HE NEVER CALLED!!! I am a little upset with him. (I hope everything was ok). So we went back to Aunt Doris's and visited for a little while with them and left all of the stuff I took for Curtis with them so we wouldn't have to lug it all home again. He better go get it soon.

Oh, well, Our flight home was nice. We got back around 11:30 and then got ready for Ali's birthday today. It was a nice trip. Pictures of Monty Python to follow if I can figure out how to get them off my phone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICIA!!!!

Well, I just wanted to take a minute to share some thoughts about Ali's birthday! I can't believe my baby is 17. It seems like just yesterday that she was born. I was soooo excited to finally get a girl. She was my special gift from both my Heavenly Father and my earthly father who spent a short 10 days with her before she came to us.

As you can see by the pictures, Ali has always been quite the character. She had to learn to speak up to be heard over her three big brothers and it has served her well. Jeff & I are very proud of the beautiful (inside and outside) young woman she has become. We love you very much Ali Dar.

Forever your mom and dad

Mom and Dad

It has been a bit hard this week because of the upcoming anniversaries of both Mom and Dad's deaths. They have been and still are such a huge part of our lives. I have been thinking a lot about all that they taught me - by lesson and by example. A few of those lessons are: hard work (even when I hated emptying out the kitchen cabinets and washing EVERY dish because we put one away dirty- we never did it again!); giving; tolerance; patience (at least Mom); humor (when you could figure out if Dad was serious or not); love and ALWAYS accepting us even when they didn't agree with what we did.

We are SO lucky to have had them for the time we did. I miss them greatly but I KNOW that they are right there watching over us, cheering us on in our triumphs and comforting us in our trials. They weren't perfect, and they would be the first ones to tell you that, but they were the best parents you could ask for. I hope they are proud of me and my family. That would be the greatest tribute I can think of - to live my life in a way that would make them proud.

I miss them so much.

Steve

Steve wanted to know why I didn't have any pictures of him on here so I thought I should add some since we are so proud of him and what he is doing. So here are some great shots of Steve and his cute family.

Rantings?!

Well, I agree with Wendy about not always having to have pictures. If that is what is required there will be long times in between my blogs. All of you that read this know that we just spent a week going through Mom's stuff and it was hard but it was also fun to see all of the pictures and remember all the memories they brought back. I can't believe it has been almost a year since we lost Mom. So much has happened. Weddings, babies, illnesses, birthdays, Iraq, and so much more. I know she is here with each of us, helping along the way. I was so grateful for all the teamwork in Missouri. There is no way one or two people could do that alone. Well, that is all for now but I know Mom is close to all of our thoughts so I thought I would share some of mine. Love you all.

Getting ready for the Homecoming Game!!

This is the ultimate school spirit - ok it doesn't quite compare with Zach getting ready for the powder puff but this is the best we could do!!

LOTOJA

Well, I am getting lots of flak from the sisters to get back on here. Sorry I am such a slacker. Oh well. The biggest thing I haven't put on here is Jeff competing in the LOTOJA. That is a 207 mile bike ride from Logan to Jackson Hole. Some people do it alone but Jeff was part of a team. He decided to take it easy for his first time around. They finished right in the middle of their heat and were very proud of themselves. They are even already thinking of doing it again next year!!! It was a lot of fun for the riders and for the support staff - that was all the wives.

Haha. ali's entertainment

haha, this is Ali. I just wanted to share what i did to uh...some boy's car. hehe. I knew my crazy family would enjoy it :):)

Ian

I can't very well make a blog and not include a page for my favorite grandson (I can still say that since Kevin & Becky are having a girl!!)

Kevin & Becky Smith

Since most of you weren't able to attend the wedding I thought it would be fun to add some of the wedding pictures to our blog. Boy, see how good we are at blogging now!!!

Ali's description of our crazy summer :) written by ali haha

So this summer was kind of on the crazy side. The first major event was Kevin's wedding. He got married on June 15th to Becky Porter(now Smith). It was a little bit stressful, but i suppose it was worthwhile to get a new sister in law. She's a pretty cute girl, and her and Kevin are pretty much made for eachother. Although, some might argue she's too pretty for him.....
Next we went on a ten day baseball trip to Ohio with Kevin's American Legion Baseball team. I know Ohio doesn't sound like too much fun, but oh boy it was. haha. We saw four major league games in four different major league baseball parks. We had a blast. And yes, i know you're all thinking it, I did enjoy all the boys :)










After Ohio we had about a week break before Mom and I left for Girl's Camp. Mom was the assistant camp director, and had been planning camp for several months. It turned out great! We went to Heber Valley camp, which technically isn't camping...we stayed in cabins. but we had a blast. One of my favorite things was the high ropes course. It was scary, but really cool. We also did a really cool water front activity. Canoes are probably one of the greatest things ever. haha. But as you can see....no make up allowed. :) (ps..mom was the one with the camera so there aren't any pictures of her)

Well, those were the most exciting events of this summer. We've had a few weeks of just hanging out. It's a little weird to be the only kid at home, but the three of us keep really busy. Mom is always doing something important...not always sure what though :) Dad's been working and "training" for the Latoga, which is a really big bike race that him and his friends are doing. I've been doing the teen girl thing. Dating. haha, and i've been working as a receptionist at a salon too. so that's exciting. School starts thursday, so i am actually signing off now to go clothes shopping! Love always!!! -Ali

Our very first blog

Hmm...well this is our first blog, brought to you by Kim's nagging :) This is Ali typing at the moment, because mom is computer illiterate. SO now it is set up. HAPPY KIM?! jk, love you!