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Congratulations Kjersti!!!

Kjersti was nominated, along with 4 other students for the "Most Graphically Envisioned" Star Award given at White River High School,

AND SHE WON!!!!!

The School had a wonderful Star Award Assembly today and handed out about 20 different awards to achieving students. Kjersti has really excelled in Graphic Design this year. She has designed some really cool art and really loves that class. All her hard work paid off. The school recognized her in front of the whole student body and everyone clapped and cheered for her. It was really wonderful. I was so happy for her!! She was walking on air as she received her award. Her art work will be on display tonight at the High School during a large art and achievement open house. I am so proud of her. I am so happy that she is being recognized for her amazing talent she has in art. Way to Go Kjersti!!! We love you!!!!

(The video is missing the nominee's names, but you'll get the idea.)

Getting Caught Up (Finally!)

I can't believe it is the middle of May already!! Nothing big has happened in our life, we are just busy living it!! We had a great Easter. The whole family was here for a huge egg hunt and we found an egg we hid last year. No one would eat the candy. I am sure we will find eggs for years to come around here!

Katie is still dealing with her migraines. Not as bad as when they started but bad enough to miss school way to often. We ran several test and still can't find anything that is causing them. On a better note, Katie and I, (her mother), signed up for a hip hop class. Other than not being able to move when it is over, it is a fun class and we are both having lots of laughs!! She recently did a talent show where she accompanied another singer and played a solo. All her class mates though it was really cool. Other than that, she is loving her camera. She sees the coolest things through her lens. These are some of my favorites.

Kjersti has been learning to DRIVE!! Want a scary experience in your life?? Sit with a teenager behind the wheel of tons of metal on the wrong side of the road!! AHHHHH!! Now to be fair, she has only done that once. Once is enough!! She has dived into a book she is writing. It's about dragon aliens from space. Have to love her imagination! She has also been working hard at finishing up all her Jr projects before school finishes. I can't believe she will be a senior next year.

Kazia and Connor are going great. They are looking forward to summer and sunshine. (Which we have had very little of.) The recently spent time with the reptile man and loved the snakes, turtles and alligators.

All four kids participated in their piano concert. They all did a great job. Kjersti and Katie are becoming quite the pianists. Kjersti will become Kazia's and Connors teacher next year. They are all excited about that. Katie enjoys stealing Kjersti's music and working twice as hard trying to out play Kjersti. Kjersti does not find it amusing at all!!

Dave and I are keeping very busy. When Dave is not driving the dump truck he has been rebuilding the sawmill and motor. He has over 50 hours on his metal lethe, machining one custom part for the motor to hook to the transmission, or something like that. All I know is he has loved the challenge and can't wait to start turning 4 foot diameter trees into sawdust! I have started getting ready for YW camp this year. I love being camp director. I am also starting to paint the master bathroom. Finish work is the funnest part of remodeling. In the very few days of sun we did manage to get the garden rototilled. Oh how I love the look of dirt!! It is so beautiful.

Dave and I also celebrated our 19th year Anniversary. I got a tractor with a bucket on the front. YAAA no more shoveling for me!! Dave got a lovely bouquet of flowers. We know how to meet each others needs! Ha-ha!!

Anyhow, now you are caught up. Hope everyone is enjoying their spring. Get out in the Sun!!

Spring Snow

I'm Dreaming of a White Easter!! Easter?? See, now that is just wrong! Where are the blossoms, the buds, the sunshine?? The winter weather won't go away. This was last nights snow storm. I hope it is the last!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!!

Well, it finally happened -- AHHHHHHH!!!!! I am married to an OLD Man!! Dave turned 40 on Sunday. Forty, how could I be married to a 40 year old man???? I have always wanted a sugar daddy, only, where is the sugar??? Just kidding. Here are some of my favorite accomplishments Dave has accomplished in the last 40 years. A Great Wife, (of course!) and 4 wonderful children. His own business. Built his own house. Has collected numerous cars and tractors. Developed an awesome talent in fixing equipment. He's very creative. Has overcome many personal obstacles. Educated himself at school, through practical application, and spiritually. He is becoming very compassionate, loving and caring. Tries really hard and does not give up. Loves spending time with his kids. Dreams of a sawmill and is following his dream by creating a spectacular sawmill. He is very giving and helps others. He has a funny sense of humor. He works so hard for our family and provides many things for us. He's a great person and I love him very, very much. I am very grateful he is a part of my life!! So, I love you Dave. I hope you enjoyed turning 40!! By the way, where is your gray hair?????

I'm in Heaven with my New Found Hobbie!!

I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles!!! I have found a new Hobie. I actually spend hours enjoying it. Installing a new 10 jet, hot tub with it's own heater is the best improvement to this house as far. I can soak for hours and the water temp. never changes. Bubbles are the funnest but adding lavender Epsom salt to soak in feels really good too!!! As you can tell, we have been working on our master bathroom. The walls are not done. They are still in drywall stage and I am mudding and taping all the seams but someday, hopefully by summer, the room will be a warm tan color with one red wall and a soft rose theme going on. I want it to match the bedroom. So far Dave and I have, with the help of my dad, finished all the plumbing in the whole house, the electrical on the second floor and have drywalled our master bathroom and walk in closet, the kids bathroom and shower room and almost finished the laundry room and hallways upstairs. (This is a major reason for not blogging for so long, we've been a bit busy.) It is so nice to have a toilet upstairs for use in the middle of the night and two more showers!! The kids have their own tub now, but can't seem to get them out of mine!! Now the fun start with all the mud and tape that needs to be slathered on the walls. After that it's fun the rest of the way till it is done. The goal is by summer to have the second floor done. Finally some progress on our house!! Anyways, my tub is calling me. A nice, long, hot soak with some candle light and peacefully serenity will feel so good tonight!! See ya!!

Eating Healthier

In an attempt to become a healthy family, we made a few changes in the Smith house. The first one is the way we eat. This was one of my first attempts and the kids loved it. I baked a Chicken breast rolled with a slice of lean ham and Swiss cheese. Topped with a chicken broth and fat-free cream, thickened slightly, sauce with Mushrooms. Then on the side I made baked potatoes, yams, carrots, and onions. I then seasoned it with vegetable seasoning. The kids loved it and ask for it all the time. I thought it was beautiful and colorful.

The second change we made was we joined a gym. I never thought I would with how hard work is just building and keeping up with gardening and the yard, but I have to say I do enjoy the gym. I really enjoy the classes they offer. I go every day, Dave goes when he doesn't work and the girls goal is 3 times a week. We have been working on this now for about 3 months and so far it has been positive. We all feel better and have more energy. I have lost 3 1/2 inches total over my whole self (most of it in my thighs and neck, if I could only move it more to the middle!! ha-ha) Anyhow, hopefully we will keep it up and by summer we should have lots of success.

Happy Birthday Katie!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!

I can't believe my Katie bug is 14 yrs old already. Her birthday was on Jan 4th. I have to confess, after a wild Christmas and wild weather and trying to work on two bathrooms and a last minute trip to Oregon for a truck Dave bought, we almost forgot her birthday. I really didn't forget her birthday, I just didn't realize what day it was. Oops!! So at 8 pm that night after throwing a cake together, shoving her gift in the first thing I found which was an empty Hersey's syrup container, and a few tears on Katie's part (because she thought I forgot), we had a party. When she opened up her money gift, she felt better. She also scored a totally fun board game called "Redneck Life". We played it a few nights later. In this game you roll dice for your name, grade level and occupation. You start off in debt with money from the check and scram and thru out the game you get children, lots of children. The object is to have the most teeth at the end, if you do, you win. Connor, or should I say "Cletus James" won with 16 teeth remaining and Katie, other wise known as "Dottie Jane" came in last with negative 19 teeth. She also ended up with 12 kids, 6 of them named "Daryl" and ended up totaling 5 different cars in the process. "Mary Sue", that's me, finished in the middle with negative 8 teeth. The only brite side to me was that I was able to pawn off my 7 children between CPS and leaving them at an overnighter that I never went back to. It is a totally fun game, however, some of the "situations" you get into kind of hit close to home. Like, burning your grass because it's to high to mow and having a port-a-potty outside because your bathroom doesn't work. Ouch!! We all had a great time and if anyone wants to come play it with us we would love it!! We can see how close your life is to "Redneck Life!".

I just want to take a moment and tell everyone how happy I am that Katie is my daughter. She is funny, positive, smiles all the time and is very patient with our life. She loves kids and is so good with them. I can count on her (most the time) to get her chores done and she is very dependable. She is helpful and willing to pitch in when I need her. She lives high values and I think is a great example of a teenager working on reaching her potential. I love her very much and so happy Heavenly Father blessed me with her!! Your a great kid, Katie bug!!

Rain, Rain Go Away!!

For Sale:

Lake Front Property!!

Great Bargain! Needs work. Potential is high if you like doing really hard manual labor. Comes with really old, leaking and falling down barn, old iron everywhere, and it's very own yacht tied to a docking post.

Please leave a comment if you have questions. Act quickly, seller will not be as motivated as soon as the water disperses and she can quit shoveling ditches!!

Thank your for you interest in this water front property.

The weather man said it might rain here for a few days. I told Dave the little green boat wasn't big enough for our family. By the time it finishes raining in another 12 hours, we will need an ark. At least it is not under the house yet, we're keeping our fingers crossed. However, our house is surrounded by a mote and I had to drive the kids across the street today to catch the bus. It's anywhere from a skiff to a foot deep in some places on our property. They have evacuated lots of lower towns around us. We are somewhat landlocked on the hill we live on. They closed many area's of Hwy 410 and the back roads are all flooded with overflowing creeks that are everywhere around here.

We shoveled rock and used railroad ties at our new rental to keep it dryer. Our poor renter couldn't get out either door because it was about 3 to 5 inches deep right up to the steps. After blocking the front ditch we did make some progress and got the water to go around the house.

Below are some more pictures. Sometimes, you just have to love living in Washington!! Stay Dry everyone!!

Yes, I finally have a moment to get caught up!!

Wow, Am I glad things are getting back to normal around our house! Not sure what normal is but everyone is at school today and that is a great start!! We had an exceptionally long Christmas break this year with the kids getting out almost a week early with snow days and an extra few days off for the holidays. I will admit that when it started snowing again on Sunday night I almost started to cry with thoughts that they would cancel school on Monday. Christmas break was great and I am glad to have it, but with 4 kids, two extra neighbor kids everyday, tons of snow that brought with it multiple trips in and out of the house, cloths in and out of the dryer, at least 20 extra dirty cups of Hot Chocolate a day, "I lost my gloves", "I can't find my boots", "that's my snow outfit", "I want a turn on the sled", and it goes on and on and on!!
Then add to it freezing temperatures that we had not seen in years with the realization that there is no way enough insulation nor drywall installed yet to keep out that kind of cold and with all the cracks that comes with an unfinished house, we could stand on our staircase in the middle of our house and our hair blew in the breeze!! Yikes, we were cold!! We brought in our kerosene heater and all huddled around it like homeless people around a burning trash can. We finally got the temperature up to 56 degrees. So needless to say, just prior to Christmas everything came to a stop and we spent a few days insulating, drywalling and caulking cracks. We learned that cold motivates you and apparently we needed to be motivated to get that job done. We are still working on it and I will post some pictures of the finished product soon hopefully!!


I did get my Christmas Snow. It has been years since we had snow on Christmas day. With all the kids busy with their new gifts, I finally got to enjoy watching it fall in peace and quite. It was so beautiful. Big, fat, fluffy flakes. Where we live, it gets so silent when it snows. I love the peace it brings.

Here are the kids anxiously waiting to come down the stairs Christmas morning to see what Santa brought. They got spoiled again this year. Kjersti finally got a new computer (only after agreeing she had to pay Santa back for half of it!) and the game "Spore". I figure I won't see her again till at least Feb, maybe March if the game is as good as she says it is. The rest of the kids got Wii games and controllers. They can all play Mario cart at the same time now! No more fighting over who's turn it is. Sometimes you just got to love Santa for making my life easier!!Smart, Smart Santa!! Dave was happy with his stash but I got the best gift of all, a self closing toilet seat lid!! You just barley touch it when your finished and it closes nice and quietly!! Ahhh!! I also got a really cool shower head for my new shower we have been working on upstairs. And I have to mention this really cool book that my sister made for me that is a story of my childhood till I got married. It is amazing and has brought back some great memories. Defiantly a gift to cherish. I was able to give a great gift this year. I had a friend come and take pictures of our family, our whole family. There was over 21 people and she did a fantastic job. Because of that I was able to give my mom a huge portrait of our family to hang over her mantel. She cried when she saw it. That is what Christmas is all about, making your mom cry!! So a big thanks to everyone who sacrificed a Saturday to be a part of that for mom. And thanks again Kim for the great pictures. Now that Christmas is over, I will post them soon and share them with everyone.

So that was our Christmas this year. Our new years was fun. Full of food, good card playing and no kids. Just the way I like it. I would have loved to beat my sister more, but some years you have to let other people win! he-he!! I am looking forward to a new year and all the wonderful things it will bring into my life!!