Yipee! Brian and Emily are Engaged

We're so excited that Brian and Emily have made it official, and are engaged to be married on Nov 7 in the St. George Temple. They will also have an open house in Lehi on Nov 8. Emily was raised in San Jose, California, but came to school at the University of Utah, where she and Brian met through mutual friends on a blind date to Lagoon (Grandpa and Grandma Barrett are excited since that's the location of their first date). Emily just graduated from the U with her master's degree in speech pathology, and she now works at IHC in Salt Lake helping stroke patients with their speech. She is also a talented artist. Emily fit right in with the family from the first time we met her, and we are thrilled to have her join our family.

Where, Oh Where Have Our Grandkids Gone?

Do we have bad breath or B.O? Do we tell lame jokes? Did we drop in unannounced? Did we (Joan) talk about coupons till it made you crazy? Or was it my extolling the virtues of whole wheat bread? A little too much unsolicited advice? Were the kids too messy (soaking wet) when you picked them up? Did I feed them junk food til they threw up?

It was bad enough that we had to travel clear across the country to see MIke & Bri's boys, or drive 2 hours to see Shellie & George's two, but now that Kenny and Christan have moved to D.C., we are totally and completely WITHOUT ANY GRANDKIDS IN ST. GEORGE!! I was so depressed, I had to go gorge myself on queso dip and Dr. Pepper at Chili's (thanks for the shoulder Pauline).

Kirk and I will try very hard to correct our faults (or maybe we'll have to resort to bribery) and enticed SOMEONE to move to St. George with our grandkids someday. In the meantime, I think I'll go check on a job at SkyWest!

D.C. Trip

Kirk and I had a great trip back to Washington D.C. to help with our new grandson, Zachary, to spend time with Mike and Bri's family, and to see Kenny's graduation. We loved watching Trent and Garret catch all kinds of bugs, butterflies, fish, minnows, tadpoles, fireflies, and anything else that swims, flys or crawls (even cockroaches - yuck!). We hiked at the Great Falls of the Potomac, visited the national aquarium in Baltimore, and the battlefields of Gettysburg. We whipped up goodies in the kitchen and shared a lobster and crab dinner with the boys. We added lots of hugging and tickling and had a wonderful time! We miss you Mike, Bri, Trent, Garret, and Zachy!

Thank you Shellie and George for making our trip to Washington D.C. possible! Thanks for always being so generous with all of us. We're so grateful you're in our family - We love you!!!!!.

Three New Grandsons!!

Yeah, all three of my new grandsons are here safe and sound. We are so blessed. It has been a crazy time with babies popping everywhere! Christan went first on July 18 with Drew (we got Kenny here from D.C. 3 hours before he was born),
Shellie came next on the 21st with Caynen (her drama was after the birth - way, way too many stitches), and Bri got her little Zachary here on July 31 (after just about having him on the street!). So the Smith grandsons all made grand entrances into the world. And I'll bet family reunions in a few years are going to be crazy with these three!

36 Years . . . and Counting

It was one of our first dates, feeding the ducks at Utah Lake - and the next thing you know, we've been married 36 years! On June 13, 1972, Kirk and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Since then it has been quite the ride with Kirk - always something exciting going on in his life (playing Cosmo, getting shot at with sawed off shotguns, being chased by crazy guys with hatchets, hanging out with Warren Jeffs, surviving four elections) — and I've just hung on for the ride. Love you Smitty - let's do 36 more!

Summer Fun

On Memorial Weekend we had the whole family, except Mike's family (sure missed you guys!), for Sunday dinner.


Emily kept the kids entertained while dinner was being fixed.


Uncle Kenny had a tickle session with Abby.




Last week Bailey and Corbin and I met Pauline and Brittany and Brittany's two kids, Logan and Raylie, at the new Town Square in St. George. They had a ball wading in the river and playing in the sun.
After getting wet, we all went to Judd's Store and bought ice cream. While we were there, Bailey and Corbin, wanted to buy candy just like their Dad used to do when he went to school at Woodward in the 6th grade. They even made sure they bought his favorite candy, a Sugar Daddy.