Happy 7th to EVIE

Well I'm a little behind in posting this....but here we go anyway!

Our Evie girl turned 7 years old on March 26th! 

This year Evie wanted a Dolphin cake. Dolphins are currently her favorite topic/animal. She told me a couple months ago that her only dream in life was to see a REAL LIFE DOLPHIN. (I think that this is one dream we need to make come true for our sweet little girl. I told her I would work on it and see what I could figure out. I think this means Sea World, here we come!) So, thankfully Uncle Raymond came to the rescue and helped me make a dolphin cake. I am really going to miss Raymond if he ever moves away. He has bailed me out the last couple of birthdays with his artistic abilities! :) Thanks Raymond! 

The Friday before Evie's birthday we were lucky enough to go to the Hynes' cabin and hang out for the afternoon with some fishing and hiking. I think that everyone had a blast. Ada was so funny. Someone threw her line out right when we started and she just started reeling it in as fast as she could and about half way back it tugged. She froze with these big round eyes and she and I reeled a good size fish in the rest of the way. As you can see from the picture she wanted nothing to do with it. When the fish was inched closer to her she quickly inched in the opposite direction! Evie caught a couple fish too. She actually doesn't consider that she did because when she caught them she wasn't the one that actually threw the line out. She did reel them in so in my book that is catching them. I guess we will just have to plan another fishing trip so she can OFFICIALLY catch a fish! 

The 26th fell on a Monday, so we celebrated on Saturday since Maki and Buddha were in town. Everyone came over and we had yummy food, an awesome dolphin piñata, and great company! Evie's big gift from us this year was a new bike. She is a little timid on it still. The goal is to have it conquered and Evie riding it around by the end of the summer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!! 

A little about Evie.... She is one of the sweetest most caring little girls I know. I don't think there is a mean bone in her body. She always sees the good in those around her and is uncomfortable when she sees others being mean. She is eager to learn everything she can in the world around her. She is such a good example to her little sisters and tries to help and protect them as often as she can. She is always eager to please and wants to be the best she can be. I love her so much! 

I love this picture. Will be one of my favorites for years to come! 

Dance Recital

Evie was in her 1st Dance Recital in June! She was ADORABLE. 

Her class danced to a song from the movie Aristocats.  

She did such an amazing job the night of the recital. I was so proud of her. We spent a lot of time practicing and it was not always a happy and willing experience. However by the time the recital was close and she really had the dance learned she was eager to practice and show us all her moves! All in all it was worth the practice. She did the dance PERFECT the night of the recital. She was so confident in herself which as a mom is so amazing to see in your child. I was waiting in the wings during the dance. She came off stage smiling from ear to ear and said to me "Mom, I rocked it! " She sure did! Then as we were walking down to the dressing room she said "Mom, that felt totally awesome!" I'm thrilled that she had such a good experience and thrilled that she loves being on stage. Being on the stage was always such a fun experience for me and one that I really miss. I'm so happy that she loves it too! Thank you to all the special people in Evie's life who came to see her. She was so happy to have her family in the audience watching. Thank you for your love and support! 

A dream come true

Since I have known Ron he has wanted a Toyota Land Cruiser. Over the years he would look at them online, drool over them when we saw them on the road, and dream of the day he would be a proud owner of one.  Recently Ron's DREAM came true! He purchased a 1970 Toyota Land Cruiser. His cousin Erick bought it several years ago, rebuilt it and made it into a pretty awesome truck. Erick recently decided to sell it and Ron JUMPED at the opportunity! Last month the truck arrived in all it's glory. It had a few hiccups along the way (ask Ron if you want the full story), but it got here and Ron has been beaming like a proud Papa over it ever since.

He has taken it out a few times to play. If Ron had his way he would take it out every weekend and spend two solid days in it. I think once the warm weather comes around that wish might come true as well. He has already gotten it stuck and I also have a feeling that will be occurring more frequently as well this spring/summer.

He has gotten the chance to work on it several times already! I think he loves this aspect of owning the truck too. Ron welcomes any chance of getting his hands dirty and figuring out how that hunk of metal works. I have to admit that I do love the truck as well. Maybe not as much as Ron, but I have always loved the old Cruisers and kind of wanted one. I think that I'm going to have to keep reminding myself of that when hours/days are spent 'playing' and 'working' on it!

Ada and Cate helping Ron on his truck! 

Kansas City

This weekend the whole Smith gang meet in Kansas City! The Kansas City Temple open house is currently being held and we thought it would be a great excuse to see the temple and meet up for a quick trip to all have fun together. We got into Kansas City Friday evening, had dinner and swam in the pool. 

The next morning we got up bright and early (6am, earlier for some of us) to head out to the open house. 

The temple was beautiful! I'm so glad that we were able to all be there together and see it. I hope that it is something Evie will always remember. After the temple we headed back to the hotel for some more swimming. We were lucky enough to meet our amazing cousin Shauna and her adorable little Lincoln for lunch at one of our favorite spots, Red Robin! We ended our trip in Kansas City by visiting Liberty Jail.

(PICTURE COMING)

We were all a little anxious to get on the road. We were hearing reports of bad weather waiting for us back in Lincoln and wanted to get back to town before it started or got really bad. We made most of the journey back without any problems. When we got close to Nebraska the rain started and we actually had to pull over and wait it out for a bit. It was raining so hard that we literally could not see in front of us and the wind felt like it could have moved the car more than we would have liked! It was scary. We heard on the radio that we were right in the area of a Tornado Warning and we all think that we were probably right on the outside of that cell. Once the rain calmed down we got on our way and made it home without any problems. 


It was a fast trip but a fun one with everyone! I am so thankful for the wonderful family I have been blessed with. I love them all so much and can't imagine the crazy world without them! 

Viva Las Vegas

We found out yesterday that Elder Rawlings (Richard) has been called to the Las Vegas, Nevada West mission. He will be leaving in late April for this new wonderful adventure in his life. We are so excited and proud of him. We were so lucky that he was able to open his mission call at our home. Thank you so much Richard for allowing us to be part of this big event in your life. Congratulations!!

the rest of the family on speaker listening