Utah Jazz Blog Post #4: Toughest Job in the NBA

Sorry, again, if you're not a Jazz or basketball fan. Here's my latest article!

http://www.jazzbots.com/web/2009/09/29/the-toughest-job-in-the-nba/

Smith Family Weekend!

First, make sure to vote on our poll to your right! T-minus 11 days...

Last weekend, from Saturday through Tuesday, we had our first Smith extended weekend vacation! We thought it'd be wonderful if we took a mini vacation together and it really was wonderful. Dad and Donna rented a few condos for us at the Miner's Club in Park City. The weather was perfect, and the company wasn't too shabby :). Here are some photos.



Here's Grandpa with five of the seven grandkids. Kadence and Tayah were very familiar with Main Street from our May vacation there.



It wouldn't be right if we didn't ride the trolley. Here's me with Tayah, Elayna, and Aubrey.



The girls and their cousins on the train up at the Park City park (where the Alpine Slide is).



What, a carousel photo. Get out of here!

Other things we did: some attended the BYU/FSU debacle, some went down the Alpine Slide, others the ski lift ride, church together, swimming, walks, outlet stores, Kimball Art Center, lots of food, movies, and plenty of laughter and memories. Family is wonderful!

Utah Jazz Blog Post #3: A Record Not to be Broken

Two entries, two days in a row. Sorry this might be boring to some of you out there, but feel free to read! Again, here's the URL in case clicking on the title above doesn't work for you:

http://www.jazzbots.com/web/2009/09/22/a-record-never-to-be-broken/

Utah Jazz Blog Post #2: Improvement From Within

Here's my second entry, just added to the site today. Click on this blog title to get there, or paste this into your url:

http://www.jazzbots.com/web/2009/09/21/improvement-from-within/

Last time, I got some fun and interesting comments from a few readers. Feel free to add yours. Go Jazz and thanks for reading (especially those who aren't Jazz or basketball fans...and for you, there's still time to repent!)!

Can't Write These Down Fast Enough!

Like most parents, I think it'd be great to record everything our girls do and say. Here's a small sampling of the things they've cracked us up with this week...

Tayahisms:
-"Is that my Daddy?" (her question everytime the phone rings!)
-"Oh noooo!" (very dramatic)

Kadenceisms:
-"I just want to stay here forever and forever." (anytime she doesn't want to leave...)
-"I can run away guys!"

Daddy: "Kadence, what should we name our baby brother?"
Kadence: "Bubble gum!"

Kadence: "Daddy, why don't you not come to Lake Powell with us?"
Daddy: "I'm not much of a swimmer sweetie."
Kadence: "Oh, I can teach you how to swim Daddy!"

And our favorite...both girls absolutely love "We Will Rock You!" by Queen. So funny to watch them try to recite the lyrics while clapping their hands. We sure love our girls!

It's about time...

I know I'm long overdue for an entry, and I figured I'd better do it now before our little boy makes his big entrance. It has been a busy summer with lots of activities with family and friends. At the end of July, my grandma passed away and I was able to ride up to Northern Idaho to her funeral with two of my sisters and my brother. We drove through the night to get there and then left the night of the funeral to come back to Pocatello where I then drove back to Springville for the day to meet back up with David and the girls. The funeral was a really good service with all my uncles participating as well as my grandma's brother. It was good to be with my parents, siblings, and many cousins and reflect on the life of a woman we all love so dearly.

After the funeral (on a Monday), they allowed a travel day to drive down to Soda Springs to have a graveside service on Wednesday. David and I met the family there that morning for the service and were even able to show the girls the geyser (sp.) going off that is next to the cemetary. After a great service there we went to the church where the Torgesens had a meal waiting for the family. What a wonderfuly family we have!

We continued from there to start our family reunion that David and I were planning with Russ and Aspen. We had 58 people, 36 of which were 11 and under. We started it off by going to the Oquirrh Mtn. Temple Open House and then continued down to Joseph, Utah where we were staying at "The Old Church". We had lots of fun activities there at the remodeled church and went on a hike at Fremont Indian State Park, and some even participated with the locals in floating "down the canal" aka irrigation ditch. It ended all too soon, and David headed back up to work and the girls and I continued our adventure by heading down to Lake Powell with about 2/3 of my family.

We had a great time at Lake Powell (although we missed David, and could have done without some screaming/crying spells that our girls seem to enjoy so much:). We built lots of sand castles, buried Mom's feet in the mud, taking little rowboat rides with Mom, lots of treats from Granny, and rides in Gramps' boat. The girls were really good about wearing their lifejackets whenever they were near the water-in fact, they loved them, so I only ever had to remind them a few times-they were usually begging for me to put them on, and I had to coax them to take them off to eat:) I even took the girls on the tubes (or "pancakes" as the kids were calling them this year) and they really liked it. Every time we went in the boat, Tayah would scream in excitement as soon as Gramps started going fast. After we came home the girls couldn't stop talking about Lake Powell and Gramps' boat. They can't wait for next year! Here are some pictures of us on the tubes.

Utah Jazz Blog Post: What Could Have Been

My first Utah Jazz blog article was posted online yesterday. Go ahead and click on this blog entry title and it will take you directly to the website. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to leave a comment and/or pass this link along to those who might enjoy reading this. Go Jazz!

Utah State Fair

For the fourth year in a row, we fulfilled our annual tradition of visiting the Utah State Fair. What a fun family time! Besides, where else can you be immersed in smelly livestock, tattoo parlors, carneys, gigantic produce, deep-fried everything, and tractor pulls? It's also a great opportunity to eat cholestorol-raising, grease-laden, sugar-saturated, against everything the Word of Wisdom stands for food that you never would entertain eating. We had a wonderful time together! Here's further proof of that:



Here's Kadence trying her luck at the wheel. She and Tayah both won t-shirts!



Watching a bear show!




Here is yet another carousel photo...I think this is the fifth time we've been on one this summer!



And it wouldn't be right if we didn't include a photo of this year's butter scultpure!

August Nuts and Bolts

08.01-08.02: What a fun, enjoyable family reunion we had on the Torgesen side. While it got cut down from our original plans, we still managed to cram in great activities, food, games, and, most importantly, family time. Every member of the family was there for at least part of the week and the girls loved their time with their cousins. Elizabeth did a lot of the planning and was pleased with the end result. We love family time! I headed back the night of 08.02, while Elizabeth and the girls headed down to…
08.03-08.06:…Lake Powell! They had even more fun being with family down where it’s hot and wet. My three girls relaxed and played in the sun. While they were gone, I caught up at work and spent some time in SLC with Sarah. We went to a few movies, went shopping, and had a great time together.
08.06-08.07: Unfortunately, my conference at Utah State just missed seeing my ladies return home. I had a very enjoyable, productive time with other Annual Giving officers from schools in UT and ID. Managed to have some Aggie ice cream…pretty good stuff! It was really good to be reunited with Elizabeth and my princesses that night. It took Kadence and Tayah quite some time to get used to being back at home, resulting in some sporadic sleeping nights and fun behavior during the day. All worth it though!
08.09: Participated in the Aspen Grove Beckham Lodge dedication, with Elder Holland speaking and presiding. What a beautiful environment for a spiritual meeting.
08.11: We really tried to pack in a lot of fun activities this month. Each Tuesday, we made it to Thanksgiving Point for fun activities. Today was the Farm Country with farm animals, wagon rides, and a chance for the girls to take a spin on some ponies.
08.12: We all enjoyed the Smith FHE at LaRae’s new house. We were thrilled to learn of Lora and John’s big news two days later. Not as thrilled to hear of LaRae’s illness, but glad she’s doing better.
08.13: We hit the Utah County fair in Spanish Fork and the girls loved riding the ridiculously expensive rides. So fun, though, to watch their reactions to each ride!
08.14-08.21: Enjoyed having our sister-in-law Ayrin and her seven kids stay with us for a week. The girls had fun playing with their Baltimore cousins and again took some time readapting to being back to status quo after they departed.
08.15: Spent a nice, quiet afternoon taking in SLC taking in the Church History Museum, Temple Square, and the Conference Center. It’s so close and there’s so much to see. We had dinner as a family at Danny and Mary Sue’s to celebrate August birthdays.
08.16: Elizabeth and I attended a wonderful Stake Standards Night with Elder Hammond, formerly of the Seventy, speaking to the youth with his wife.
08.17: Finally (six months after we ordered ours online) had our free KFC dinner courtesy of Oprah. Education Week begins (I call it the Mormon’s Mecca as thousands of people make the pilgrimage to campus).
08.18: We could not believe how beautiful the Thanksgiving Point gardens were (or how expansive…didn’t allot enough time to see it all). The girls loved meeting the BYU cheerleaders and Cosmo at the annual Cougar Kickoff.
08.21: I attended an all-day meeting at the Church Office Building for LDS Business College, followed by an interview at Energy Solutions Arena with the Utah Jazz. A few days later, I was offered a writing position for the utahjazz.com blog. It’s a side opportunity, one that I am very excited for. Go Jazz! Later that night, we went to a very entertaining dinner theater at the new Covey Center in Provo. After a nice dinner, we were treated to a improvised western play. Quite a hoot!
08.22: Hit one location after another in an errand-filled Saturday. Went out to dinner and then to visit Jordan and family at Sheldon and Sarah’s. It was great to see him!
08.23: Loved participating in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication. It was indeed odd to not have any other meetings, but we had a great day together. I checked tickets for the stake and met Elizabeth inside while Dad and Donna watched the girls and stayed for Sunday dinner afterward.
08.24-08.26: As part of BYU’s University Council, I attended numerous meetings and retreats. Elizabeth and the girls came to the University Breakfast and I sang in a quartet for our BYU Advancement meeting.
08.25: The Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point left a lot to be desired of, but we can now say we took Kadence and Tayah there.
08.26: Elizabeth and I attended a ward lecture on food storage.
08.27: The whole family had a fabulous time at the bishopric BBQ. There was amazing food and plenty of water games for the kids. What a choice group of people to serve with.
08.29: Elizabeth went to Lora’s baby shower while I went to a work lunch.
Other than that, we continue to get more and more excited for our baby boy. Kadence has a good grasp on what’s about to happen, and while she talks about him all the time, Tayah is probably going to have a little shock to her world as she knows it. Elizabeth is doing remarkably well and just gets tired in the evenings. She hasn’t let up one bit with her activities, projects, and being the best mother in the world for our girls.
Kadence is a sweet little three-year old and loves playing with Tayah. She is always singing, dancing, twirling, and loves anything remotely related to princesses. She has been very up and down with her sleeping and unfortunately had a week where she was in our bed a lot. Not fun. She’s also had her many moments where she helps her parents’ hair get prematurely grey. We sure love her though!
Tayah is constantly expanding her vocabulary and it’s hard to guess that she’s just two. She plays almost better with older kids. Ever since Lake Powell, she has been Daddy’s girl and wants to follow me everywhere and to be held. Love it (for the most part)! Her red-headed disposition is impossible to ignore!
I manage to stay busy with church and work. We are loving life and look forward to autumn!

Jon Schmidt and the BYU COUGARS!

Like most of you, we were thrilled at the miraculous, underdog, unexpected, faith-promoting shocker/upset of a victory Saturday night by our mighty, mighty Cougars. What an amazing win that hopefully is the precursor of the season ahead...let's make it a special one. I'm always proud to be a BYU Cougar, but even more so today and this week!

Elizabeth and I went to the Jon Schmidt concert at Thanksgiving Point Saturday night (yes, during the game). What an amazing pianist and entertainer. It is always incredible to watch or listen to something so truly great. I admire those who make their talents into works of art and do it so well. We've been to many of his concerts and this was really one of the best...and not just his concerts, but all concerts I've ever been to. It was that good! Hopefully the link works, but our personal favorite song right now is his Love Story Meets Love Story (it does! Just click on this entry's title and it'll take you to a You Tube video). When he premiered it Saturday, the crowd went crazy. Standing-O for four or five minutes. Really electric.

We have had a great weekend and look forward to being together today. I love my family!

Babies and Swiss Fun!

Yesterday was a wonderful day on many fronts. First, I had most of the day off (worked last Saturday), so we embarked on a four-day weekend! Our great friends, Kevin and Kristi, were being induced. So Kadence and Tayah's best friends, Maeli and Haeli, came over to be with us in the morning.



Here they are in their element!



Afterward, we headed up to Swiss Days in Midway. It's been an annual tradition, but this year, we're missing Ryan and Amanda. It was still a lot of fun, but we missed you guys! We thought going in the morning would be good, but were we ever wrong. CROWDED. I was a blip of testosterone in a sea of estrogen. Good food, music, and booths. Not the greatest photo, but we had a fun time there!