Trevor

On August 12th my brother Trevor, who we love so much, passed away. He was a loving husband to his wife Holly, a wonderful father to his four cute boys (Garrett-6, Porter-5, Mason-3, and Brody-2), and the greatest brother I could ever ask for. He spent his life serving those around him and brightening the lives of everyone he knew. He was the happiest and most optimistic person I know.
Trevor's tragic death has shocked us all and weeks later I am still having a hard time writing about it as it seems to make it more real. I'm grateful for the gospel in my life and the atonement of Christ that helps me get through this one day at a time. I'm so blessed to have such a close family so that we can pull together and support each other in this most difficult time.
This is especially hard for my own family as Trevor and Holly and their boys were a part of our daily lives since they have been living here in Surprise with us. We lived in the same neighborhood, were in the same ward, our kids went to the same school, and we looked forward to hanging out on the weekends and after work almost every day. Our kids are best friends and we've grown so close with Trevor and Holly in the past 5 months.
We had a wonderful funeral service for Trevor in Spokane on August 21st and a gathering the night before for family and friends to get together and remember Trevor. It was wonderful to see and hear about all the lives Trevor touched. We're making Memory Books for Holly and for Trevor's 4 boys. Along with pictures of Trev's life and talks from the service, we've been collecting memories and stories from all those who have known Trevor throughout his life. We'll all enjoy the memories in our books, but most importantly we hope to help Trevor's young boys know and understand their dad's true character and personality and know how much good he did on this earth in his short 29 years. If you have a memory or story about Trevor, even if it's just a line or two, please email it to me at mds.smith@gmail.com, go to the Trevor Stephenson Memorial page on facebook, or leave it as a comment on my blog. We'd all really appreciate it and it would mean a lot to Holly and her boys, my parents, my brother Matt, sister Amanda, and I, who love to hear what you remember about our wonderful Trevor.

Dancing Fountains

We were lucky enough to have Aunt Rikki and her girls (Lexi, Sydney, and Eva) come visit with Grandpa and Grandma Smith in the fall. We had a great time with them and took them to some of our favorite places. The dancing fountains is the place that our kids always want to go when our family comes to visit, a great place where kids can run around and dance and be crazy. Our kind of place!

Preschool Day at the farm

We weren't able to put Jack in Preschool this year, but Miss Candace was nice enough to let Jack come for a couple "preschool days." This was his first when they went to a farm. He was so excited about it and had so much fun. He couldn't wait to tell us all about it when he got home and couldn't wait to cook up his vegetables!

First Day of School 2009-2010

Bailey was so excited to start school this year. Having a fall birthday and missing Kindergarten last year made her really ready this year. She looked so cute on her first day and got only a little teary when it was time for me to leave her with Mrs. Connelly and her new Kindergarten class.

Nate was very excited about 2nd grade too, and happy to show off his new backpack and lunch box. He was most excited this year about having Bailey come to school with him.

Mrs. Murphy's 2nd Grade Classroom. Although it doesn't show in this picture, Nate was happy to see that lots of his best friends from Kindergarten were in his class.

Coming in to kindergarten for the first time.

I'm very lucky to have these first day of school pictures since I lost my camera just after these were taken. It wasn't until about 8 months later that my friend Allison who works at the school realized the camera (that had been in the lost and found all year) was mine. I'm so glad to have these memories of the kids on their first day!

Cousins

4th of July

We had a great time at the 4th of July Parade in Provo. We had a fun time at the Warne family BBQ that ended with sparklers. Always a hit.

Hiking the Y

We love to hike the Y whenever we make it to Provo. This time Papa Jim and the Sainsbury and Stephenson cousins came with us.

Monte L. Beane Museum

Amanda and I have some favorite spots to visit when we make it to Provo together and the Beane is always on the list. The kid love it, no matter how many times they have been there.

Picking Fruit w/ Grandpa Warne

Nate's Birthday

For Nate's Birthday we went to FiddleSticks. We played miniature golf, rode bumper boats, and drove race cars. It was a blast!

Bites

It's possible that Jack is allergic to ants. What do you think?

Happy 9th

Yesterday was our 9th anniversary, marking 9 years of marital bliss as Matt would call it! Here's some of the stats of the last 9 years


1- Home we've owned


2- States we've lived in, also degrees we earned together at BYU


3- the number you multiply what our home is worth to get what we owe


4- Beautiful children


5- the number of cars we've owned together (Neil, Juice, the Mystique, and current unnamed van and truck), also the number of countries we've visited together


6- members of our family, perfect for sharing a six pack of rootbeer or a box of cosmic brownies, -good thing we didn't throw that off


7- years of parenting


8 -number of years it took Matt to earn a bachelor's degree from start to finish...


9 -happy years together



Happy Anniversary Matt!

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day I got to go by myself to Spokane to spend the weekend with my sister (who came out from Mississippi) and my parents (and brother Matt's family who lives there). My parents have been living in Texas for a while now and are just now making the move more permanent. So, Amanda and I came out to help sort through all their stuff and sell almost everything they owned. We worked so hard from first thing each morning until late at night going through boxes, packing, selling stuff, and having a few laughs at all the memories. It was the first time I have ever been away from my kids, and it was lots of fun to be with Amanda and my parents. We are going to miss their beautiful home that my dad built and the property that my kids had so much fun playing on, but they are on to another adventure... Texas. This is my parents on Mother's Day. You can see where I get my constant eye closing from.

Me, Mom, and Amanda on our first ever "girls' weekend" without our families (Amanda did have her still-free-to-fly son Bowen).

After church we went to visit the grave of my wonderful Grandma Anderson, my dad's mom. She and Bailey share the middle name, Isabel. She was a nurse during WWII (where she met my dad's dad who was a Dr. there) and is buried in the veterans section of the cemetery. She died when Matt and I were dating and he met her just once. These handsome boys belong to my brother Matt and his wife Megan, who are the last remaining Washingtonians in the family (until next month when they move to ID).

I had to leave this super flattering picture of myself on here for the memory of Amanda and I being on the same flight on the way home, completely on accident. We flew from Spokane to Salt Lake together and we were glad to have one last bonding experience! It's so hard to live 24 hours drive from my only sister who I have been so close with my whole life. Thanks for the good times Amanda Sue!