Update on Steve

Steve was able to call Jeff yesterday for Father's Day, of course it was during church but we do have to set our priorities!! He sounds good and says they are getting settled and into a routine. He got his first package we sent and said it only took about 10 days to get so that was good. He loved the card Ian sent for Father's Day with a recorded message and said he had already watched the two movies Brit and Ali picked out. His unit has seen action already but he doesn't talk about that much with me. For now he is safe and well and always in our thoughts and prayers. It was one of the best parts of Father's Day for Jeff - he got to see or talk to every one of his kids!! You really learn not to take that for granted when they are away like this.

Love to you all. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!!!

Write a Soldier!!

Hey, I just wanted to invite all of you to keep in touch with Steve. He is now in Afghanistan and would love to hear from everyone. He is pretty isolated so a card or letter or even an occasional package would be wonderful. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Doc Smith
ACO 112 INF
FOB Ramrod
APO AE 09355

Senior Trip - Cruise Time

So Ali and three of her friends decided to go on a Mexican cruise for their senior trip. Then they found out they need chaperones so another mom (Sue Hoffman) and I went as chaperones. We left Monday out of Long Beach and went to Catalina the next morning. We took a power raft tour around the island and saw Bald Eagles, Blue Heron nests and little ones, lots of scenery and then got out into the middle of a pod of dolphins!! That was a blast! They swam and jumped around us for almost an hour. It made the whole trip worth it.



That nigt was formal night. Everyone cleaned up very nice. We talked a couple of lone boys into taking a picture with all six of us and then, of course, we had to take one of them with the girls. They ended up running into each other often throughout the whole cruise. There were actually a LOT of kids on this cruise on their senior trips.

When we got back to our cabin we had a letter saying that now that the swine flu danger was past, the Mexican government was going to make us dock in port the next day instead of bypassing Ensenada as we had originally planned. We were there from 9am until 10pm. We really weren't excited about taking four 18-year-old girls into Mexica so we took a tour of the blow hole and let the girls do their shopping in the open air market leading up to it. They got their fill and nobody minded not going into downtown. We got back on the ship and did ship activities for the rest of the day. (and ate a LOT!!)



Our waiters were great. They made dinner a lot of fun. I think the girls had a good time even though it did get a bit stressful with four of them sharing a cabin with only ONE outlet!! Kind of funny sometimes. We got to the airport at 10:30 am Friday and our flight wasn't until 6:10 pm. Long day but we are home and slept in late this morning and I even have my laundry about half done. It was really weird not having Jeff on the cruise. I don't know if I would do that again but it was still fun.

Air Show

So on Saturday, June 6, we had the opportunity to go to the airshow at Hill Air Force Base here in northern Utah. It was AWESOME!! The weather was supposed to be rainy and we were afraid they would cancel but it turned out perfect. A little overcast and about 70 degrees with a light breeze! Anyone who has stayed out for something like that from 10 in the morning until 5 in the evening knows how important that can be.

Anyway, Ian had a blast checking out all the planes and climbing in quite a few. He even got to play with a few big guns!! His daddy would have loved it too!!

The little girls (Mady and Brinley) enjoyed the planes until they got too noisy. The Thunderbirds scared them a bit but eventually they just slept through it all. It really was great fun.

June in Smithfield

We actually had a few nice days of weather and the grandkids loved playing out in Grandma's backyard. Mady was learning to blow bubbles and insisted on doing it herself - she got more out of her mouth after drinking the bubbles than off of the wand!! Oh well, what can you do?

Graduation 2009

Well, she did it!! Ali is officially no longer a high school student. We had a great time with lots of family and lots of friends. I am putting up a few pictures now - no way can I put them all up.
Thank you to all of you for your love and support of her throughout the years. We are so proud of the woman she has become.



Aren't grandkids fun! And so is trying to get them to all look in the same direction!