Family... at the very top of my gratitude list!

"The love of a family 

is life's greatest blessing!"  

November...

A month where we take time to reflect on all of 

the blessings and wonderful things we have in our lives!  

As I start out my month of gratitude I can't help but reflect on the greatest blessing of all in my life; that of my amazing, awesome, crazy and FUN family and home life!

Tracy and I just got done celebrating birthdays a week ago.

10-20-13... Kimmie turned 43

10-22-13... Tracy turned 45

My mother-in-law must have been inspired to give me this card,

 because that is exactly what I told my family I wanted. 

All I wanted for my birthday was to go for a drive to see the fall colors, enjoy the sunshine with my favorite people and take a photo of us along the river... and that is exactly what I got!
SO, we loaded up in the car and drove to Parker, Idaho to see the beauty.

October 20, 2013

Me and my three favorite guys in a beautiful spot!  

My only other request was that I wanted to go on a ride on our motorcycle with my HOT and awesome hubby!  

Tracy's birthday had some FUN surprises! 

 Only the best for my birthday hubby 

and no birthday would be complete without

 German Chocolate Cake... 

a tradition that Tracy has had since he was just a wee boy!

"Happy Birthday Dear Tracy, Dad...

Happy Birthday to you"!!

Such a priceless sweet card from my Ethan...

After enjoying Cake and Ice Cream 

I went and changed into a cute black dress 

and took Tracy into the living room where there were 45 candles lit on top of our piano and I played 

 Prelude in E Minor by Chopin for him!  

He was amazed and shocked 

as he had no idea he was getting this kind of a surprise.

I think my kids were just as excited as Tracy was, as they knew about this special night I had planned  for Tracy for the past month and I'm just grateful that we were able to pull it off!

(read about his reactions here)

 (this was Ethan's favorite photo that Tracy took)

I sat and played it probably 6 or 7 times 

while Tracy relaxed on the couch. 

It was a heavenly and wonderful moment in time!

I found this sweet note from Ethan on my pillow 

when we went to bed that night! 

I learned something new today...

That I have a "BOMBASTIC" personality!  

It just made me melt!

I love my family so much!

I especially LOVE this handsome and amazing man, 

more than words can express and not only do I love that I am married to him, 

I love that we get to enjoy our birthday celebrations together each year!

I'm definitely the richest most blessed woman in the world 

and it's not because I have a big house, fancy cars, jewels or gold, but because I have this amazing man by my side every step of the way, who shows me love daily, is always doing thoughtful acts of kindness and brings love, laughter, joy, happy memories and smiles to each and every day!

So Lucky and SO much in Love!

24 years ago, the stars aligned and a cute girl from Honeyville Utah, and a stylish dressed, curly haired boy wearing trendy glasses from Rigby, Idaho ended up together in a religion class at Ricks College!
It sounds corny to say, but it really was LOVE at first sight!
As the semester continued on, we longed to see each other every class period, there was a connection... an attraction and eventually the stars aligned again when Kimberly needed a date for work Christmas Party and she got brave enough to ask this handsome guy to accompany her.
 It was history from there!  

I feel SO lucky that after 23 and half a years of marriage our love is so deep and strong!
The LOVE that was abundant on our birthdays that we just recently celebrated was tender and sweet and REAL!  I just feel SO very grateful and lucky that I get to experience such love and happiness and it is something that I NEVER, EVER take for granted!

Here are the sweet tender thoughts of both Tracy and I this year for our birthdays!
Truly priceless treasures to both of us!  

October 22, 2013
Wow… I rarely get teary-eyed but my sweet, Kimberly just gave me the most thoughtful (and surprising) gift I’ve ever received and my cheeks are wet. For the past year or so, Kimberly has been taking piano lessons in an effort to rebuild and hone a talent she hasn't used for decades. A couple years ago, after watching the movie, “The Notebook” together one evening, I suggested that I’d really love to hear her play “Prelude in E Minor (Op. 28 No. 4)”. Of course at that time, she hadn't played in years. Our piano had been sitting fallow. I had long-since forgotten I made the comment but she hadn't… 
It would be a challenge for her 
but she decided several months ago that she would learn it and play it for my birthday. According to my sons, she has been practicing every day for the past several months and keeping it a secret. Tonight after I blew out the candles on the homemade German Chocolate Cake (with homemade ice cream) and we all had stuffed our faces, she disappeared into the bedroom and returned wearing her prettiest black dress. She had carefully arranged 45 tea light candles on the piano and she proceeded to play the beautiful music with such feeling. I don’t mean to get all mushy but it really meant a lot.
 I don’t know how I got so lucky but I am the richest man alive. I truly am! 

Tracy...
WOW! Can I just say that I 100 times LOVE this post!!! I am so touched and feeling overwhelmed with love and joy right now and I as well have wet eyes! 
I love our simple life that is RICH in all of the things that truly bring joy and happiness, that is abundant in many daily thoughtful acts of love and kindness! 
Mr. Smith thanks for being the greatest example of what it means to be thoughtful! I'm SO glad I could do something for YOU that was as meaningful as all of the daily acts of love that you abundantly give to me! I had SO much fun working on my special "surprise", it was an honor to play this for you (it was better than performing in front of a whole concert hall of people), and I hope you love this song, because this song will be echoing through our house for probably the rest of our lives, I love it so much! I'm looking forward to learning how to play more of your favorite songs like Michael Nyman's "The Promise" and "Clair de Lune", and many, many more! 
Thanks for appreciating the little moments in life and here's to many more decades of birthday celebrations, adventures, love and GROWING OLD together!! I love my marriage to you... it truly is my greatest treasure and means more to me than anything, or anyone else in this entire world!

October 23, 2013
I had a beautiful day yesterday. I tried to fly my birthday "under the radar" by hiding it in facebook but it didn't really work. I'm not a huge fan of making a big fuss about birthdays. At any rate, I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many good people that I look up to and learn from and feel support and love from. Thanks to all of you who sent birthday love!!! And, at the top of my list, thanks to my sweet Kimberly who is my everything! I love how diverse she is... if any of you could have seen the wild spectacle she was at the Depeche Mode concert earlier this month, you would have smiled! At the concert, she was going absolutely NUTS (in a good way)... so much fun! I love her excitement and zest for life! Our trip to California and up the PCH was one of the funnest (if not THE funnest) trips we've ever taken! 
I could be with her 24/7 and never tire of her company! 
Last night after I got home from work, she wanted to go for a ride on the motorcycle. It was a beautiful, crisp, fall, evening and we enjoyed leaning into the corners down along the river bottoms south of our house (with helmets on of course!). Later in the evening, I enjoyed the most mouth-watering delicious meal of baked salmon and baked squash followed by her famously amazing German Chocolate Cake. Even later she played the most hauntingly beautiful rendition of Prelude in E Minor, dressed and looking as beautiful as the music she was playing! Such a range of talent and true beauty! 
She is a renaissance woman! 
I love that we get to enjoy and celebrate our birthdays together (since they are two days apart). We have enjoyed this privilege for nearly a quarter of a century! I look forward to many more! 
Life is good!  

My Dearest Tracy,
I feel so overwhelmed with love right now 
and you have brought me to tears yet again! (in a good way!) I still can't wipe the smile off my face as I think of our California trip and our concert. I'm glad you are okay with my over exuberant zest for life, because sometimes I know I drive you crazy! From the age of a young girl, I always dreamed of being married to a man who truly adored and loved me... the kind of a husband that would be so excited to see me after a long day of work and me him! Someone who would love and adore me despite my faults, someone who would make me smile and laugh every day of my life! I have that dream and SO much more with my wonderful marriage to you Tracy Smith! You spoil me every single day!! You leave me love notes, you are always doing some thoughtful thing, even if it's just pulling me aside as I'm cooking me dinner and giving me the biggest hug and passionate kiss (that sometimes leaves our boys saying "Get a room", LOL! ! 
You're the most amazing handy man that I know that can fix anything from car, bicycle and motorcycle repairs, to ANY home repair, to fixing lawn mowers, to designing and building shelves in your garage workshop, to making homemade wallets and belts out of leather, to helping sons with pinewood derby cars and scout projects and homework, and this list could go on for pages! You do all of the little things that make life SO big and I never take any of them for granted! 
Thanks for making me smile AND laugh, every single day!!! 
My marriage to you is my greatest possession and treasure and I hope to always be deserving of such a man! Thanks for the most PERFECT three-day birthday celebration that I have had thus far in my life!!

It's sad to think that we've hit the half way mark of life and that if we stay healthy and strong that we probably only have another 45-50 years. I want to make sure that we make each moment, of each day COUNT and that we are doing our best to soak the most out of life together!

Hugs and Kisses,
 I'll love you forever Mr. Smith!

I survived the busiest week ever and lived to tell about it!

This quote is SO very true 
and I learned first hand what I'm truly capable of 
after the busiest and craziest week 
I have had thus far in 2013!

I have been thinking  
A LOT about a quote that I read when we were on our President's Day weekend.

"Life begins where
your comfort zone ends"!

Now that I have my crazy week behind me I can totally see how much
I have truly grown in leaps and bounds 
by having to majorly step outside my comfort zone and really take on some tough challenges. 

I also learned that no matter how crazy and busy life gets, there is ALWAYS beauty to see each day and simple things to enjoy, if you just take the time to notice them!

The biggest challenge this week was having to perfect a piano solo to be able to perform it at our Stake Conference on Saturday evening April 27th.  
It seems silly that I would have taken on this challenge, especially, since I have only been taking piano lessons for 4 months.  
However, when the girl called and asked if I would do a musical number, I really couldn't turn her down, because I have been in her shoes before,  having to get people to do musical numbers for our meetings. I would have loved to have sang, but I have been dealing with a tickle in my throat and didn't want to risk losing my voice and not being able to sing. 
SO, I started practicing on the 16th and have played the song at least 20 times everyday trying to get it without mistakes. 

SO, with that said, here is my week in photos with descriptions of our events!

  My week started off with having to help with a leadership training meeting on Sunday morning with our Young Women girls and then having to also teach the lesson to the girls in class.
I went from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm with not much stopping at all!

Sunday was a rather WINDY and gloomy day.

However, as the evening came, 

we got to enjoy a gorgeous sky and a beautiful sunset! 

Oh, it's a welcome thing to be able to see such beauty!

We truly live in a beautiful place for sure!

This seems silly, but every time I walked by our table, 
I loved how the bubbles in the water
 looked in the vase that held a single yellow tulip 
that was sunshine on our table for the majority of the week!

My life has been SO crazy and busy,

 that dusting hasn't been done for awhile.  

I noticed that my sweet husband had drawn a heart in the dust.  Every time I looked at it throughout the week, 

it always made me SMILE!!

I was online trying to find etiquette quotes for our youth dinner I was in charge of this week and I instantly thought of my husband when I saw this.
I'm truly lucky to be married to someone who puts forth a daily effort to show me and tell me how much he appreciates and adores me. It is something that I NEVER take for granted!

It was a stressful Tuesday morning 

as we awoke to another scary sight...

that of my sweet Jade experiencing another Grand Mal seizure!  

It wasn't bad enough that he had one, but he had two of them and the second one his ankle was underneath the rim of our parlor stove and as I was getting ready, I heard a loud bang and came out to him having another seizure. When I saw where his legs were I instantly grabbed them and held them so they wouldn't bang anymore, but, unfortunately, damage had been done and he had a burn on his ankle and it was all cut up.  AND he also bit the end of his tongue so bad it was all gnarly looking! :-(

Oh the stress and worry of a parent.  

Jade was out of it pretty much all day and wasn't aware of life until dinner time.  

Here is a sweet note that 

 Tracy posted on Facebook about our day:

"I have never been one to let people see my worry or sadness. I usually mask my worry behind humor and prosaic statements like, "things will work out... they always do"... and to be honest, I really don't worry that much because usually things really do work out but today my heart is truly heavy for my sweet son Jade. He's been having a pretty tough time lately. I have seen a side of him that speaks to some real inner stress, worry and turmoil as he sees others his age preparing to launch into life and go out to seek their "fortune"... whatever that may be. He hasn't said anything but he hasn't needed to. He just hasn't been himself. In the wee hours of the morning today, he had a bad seizure and then another. He banged up his ankle pretty bad and bit his tongue. I am using a vacation day to spend the day with him along with Kimberly. I sure love that young man!"

I felt SO badly that Jade missed out on 
making tie-dye shirts with his class at school today, 
that I helped him make a shirt 
at home that night after he woke up.
 I Love the vibrant colors he chose!

(my facebook status update on Wednesday morning)
It's a brand new day!
...I woke up to happy, healthy kids and hubby!!
...It's SUNNY and beautiful outside!
...There is NO wind and it's supposed to get up to 55 degrees, which means PE kids get to enjoy being outside for activities today!
...As I walked out to my car this morning, with a cup of green smoothie in my hand and the sun shining so brightly on my face, I had an overwhelming sense of gratitude, realizing more than ever how truly and deeply blessed I am and how abundant and rich my life is in all the things that truly matter... Life is SO good!!

WEDNESDAY April 24th was our 

Youth Etiquette Dinner that I was in charge of!

(and wouldn't you know it, it was SO hectic getting it all set up and put together that I didn't end up with ONE Single photo!)

It was a success, nonetheless!

Beautifully decorated tables! (thanks to the amazing and talented women that I work with!)
Fun learning about table manners, how to properly eat a formal dinner 
and how to show respect to each other!

The boys drew a girls name out of a bag and escorted her to a table in the gym.

Delicious dinner of salad, rolls, baked potato with all the fixins', ham and dessert! 

Kids had a ball and learned a lot of great thing!  

These handouts on being a Gentleman and a Lady were what we gave them at the very end.

OH and they also each got a

 Chocolate Dipped Strawberry to enjoy as well!

This old silver colander full of apples 

caught my eye 

in the lunch line at school today.

It's such a great thing to see FRESH fruit 

being served to the young kids!

Thursday night we experienced
 a beautiful FULL moon!

(Yeah, I know, this photo doesn't do it justice, but, that little white dot, is indeed a full moon and I very much enjoyed it nonetheless!

Friday morning I went to get my haircut...
This cool old building is part of the hair salon. 
I LOVE the lichen covered rocks, partial standing wall and old Hotel sign!

WARM SUNSHINE 

on both my face AND feet today!

I LOVE THE SUN!

I SPY... 

a blooming Geranium along with a handsome face 

when I stopped by my hubby's office today! 

Amazing how a little splash of color 

and lunch with your best friend 

can brighten your day. 

Simple things bring so much JOY! 

Picked up Jade's graduation announcements...

They are SO cool looking and turned out awesome!

Can't wait to get them addressed and in the mail to family and friends!

D8 NITE!  
(here for photos and details of our wonderful evening!)

Saturday morning, I spent ALL day long practicing and practicing my piano solo.

I got the biggest and most exciting surprise EVER!

Tracy came over to church where I was practicing

 and he knocked on the window 

and informed me he bought 

Depeche Mode Concert tickets for October 2nd...

Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center!! 

 OH HAPPY DAY!!!!

I thought we were weren't going to be able to make it to another concert of theirs, but thanks to Tracy, I will get to experience one more thing on my bucket list!

I think by the time the day was over 

I had played my song over 60 times!

(I'm  pretty sure my family was sick of it!)

I usually don't dress up fancy, 
but, I pulled out my ruffle shirt, my crystal necklace, my black skirt and tights and got all gussied up to go and play my piano solo!

This was a mirror in one of the rooms of the church that I did a quick practice on the piano before the meeting started.

I loved the message and frame and so I took a quick photo!  

DID I do a perfect job on my song...

well to be honest, NO!  

I did make some mistakes, but all in all I felt good about it, especially, since I haven't played the piano in front of an audience in over 27 years and I only had less than a week and a half to perfect it!  

I can now breathe... 

I DID IT!

I accomplished some REALLY hard things this week!
I FOUND out what I'm MADE OF!

Life is great...

AND hopefully, I won't have another week 

with so many demands all at once!

(at least for awhile)

Grateful for my wonderful and supportive family, 
whom, I LOVE AND ADORE

and who truly are the sunshine and the apples of my life, who are my biggest supports and who are always there to CHEER me on, whatever it is I'm doing!

Life...

It's Awesome, Wonderful and OH so Happy!