Experience

As I have been reflecting upon the past couple of months, and my job hunting experiences, parts of Doctrine and Covenenant 122: 5-8 came to my mind...

 5If thou art called to pass through ^atribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in ^bperils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;

 6If thou art ^aaccused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to ^bprison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like ^cwolves for the blood of the lamb;

 7And if thou shouldst be cast into the ^apit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the ^bdeep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to ^chedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of ^dhell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee ^eexperience, and shall be for thy good.

 8The ^aSon of Man hath ^bdescended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

The yellow sections were things that came to my mind, and then the green section is what came to my heart. 

I know that we must pass through certain experiences to strengthen us, and bring us closer to those around us.  I am thankful for the knowledge I have of the atonement, and I know that Christ knows every feeling I have felt, even the feeling of inadequacy and the "BIG L" feeling.  Glad for the tender mercies of the spirit to make us feel better and remind us of the never ending love and mercy of our loving Heavnly Father. 

Mission Tour/Graduation Trip

As most of you know Stephanie graduated this spring with a degree in Elementary Education and an emphasis in mathematics. 

Scott served in the Washinton Kennewick mission, which covers most of South Eastern Washington, and parts of the North section of Oregon. 

We headed out around noon on Friday April 29th, since Stephanie was 25 weeks along, we decided to split the trip up a bit so that first night we stayed in Boise.  The next morning we headed to Kennewick, we got into town about 3:30 and Scott took us around.  We visited the temple, then went and found the converted chicken coop he lived in, then we enjoyed a walk along the beautiful Columbia River.

On Sunday we headed to Yakima.  Scott served for about 7 months in this area (two different transfers)  We were able to attend one of the wards he served in, and then they had a break the fast so we were able to socialize with a lot of the people he taught/served with in that area.  We stayed with the Russell's (Scott's mission parents)  on Sunday and Monday night, they treated us just like we were family.  Momma Russell always had a beautiful breakfast for us, and made up a room just for us!  Here is a picture of momma and pappa Russell, Kadee their daughter, and momma Russell's nephew.  Also a picture of Brittany, Bill and Sean the Russell's daughter who Scotty helped reactivate while on his mission.

On Tuesday we made our way to Seattle.  We took a 60 mile detour to visit the village of Leavenworth, very worth the detour!  Heading into downtown Seattle we stopped at the temple, what a beautiful, and huge temple!  When we got to the hotel we were both so tired we just relaxed and watched NCIS that night.

 

Wednesday was a day at the ballpark...  Scott is a diehard Mariners fan, and so of course we had to go down to the field and do a tour.  While we were waiting for the tour we were in the team store, and of course one of the workers convinced Scott that one game was not enough, so we went and got tickets for that evenings game, our seats were on the front row in left field right by the bullpen.  The following are some of my favorite pictures of the tour, then a picture of where our seats were, and a few pictures from the first game we went to. 

We went to the game a little early and were able to see the Rangers do batting practice.  Scott had his mit with him and was amongst all of the little boys fighting to catch a homerun ball.  I sat up higher to avoid the craziness, but low and behold I got a ball, and Scotty didn't...

Thursday it was kind of a dreary rainy day, but we ventured out and walked to the space needle, we went up to the top, but don't think we would do that again, it was too expensive, and we didn't get much out of it.  Then we went on "The Duck Tour" this was worth every penny, you ride in an old WWII land/water craft and tour the whole city both land and water. 

We went home and took a little nap (mostly for Steph's sake because she was so tired).  We went down to Pike's place to see what that was all about then we headed to the baseball park again.  We were able to catch some of the Mariner's batting practice, and then settled in for another game.

Friday we geared up for the trip home.  We went from Seattle to Boise, boy was that a LOOOOOONG stretch!  Thank goodness Scott drove.  When we got into Bosie we went and visited one of Scott's best friends and they threw a baseball for a while.  We went the rest of the way home on Saturday.

Overall we drove almost 2000 miles, very fun, and I would do it again in a heart beat!  So glad we did this before our little girl comes along, it was much easier without having to lug everything around for adults plus a baby.

One year older and wiser too?

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday!  What a fun day!  I slept in until 9:30, then I got ready and headed up to Park City.  Scott was at a conference at PCHS so I went and picked him up and we went shopping at the outlet mall!  It is so very fun to shop for little girl clothes and such, just makes me even more excited for when our little girl comes into this world!!!!  Then we headed home and got back around 4:30 and rested for a bit.  Then we went to a breast feeding class, very informative.  Then got home around 9 and put a totinos pizza in the oven to split and watched Tangled. Scott had never seen it, and he admitted that he liked it! 

As I reflect upon the last year, I cannot believe how much has changed.  We moved in November, found out Ashley and Kyle were expecting in November, found out we were expecting in December, went to the Tran-Siberian Orchestra concert, student taught, graduated, and now job hunting!  WOW can I just say it was a great year, but I am looking forward to an even better year, hoping to have a full-time teaching job, and we will have our little girl with us!  So exciting!

30 Days and Counting!!!!

Yay! We are getting closer and closer to welcoming our sweet baby girl to this world, tomorrow we will have 30 days left until the due date!!!!  We get to go and have an ultrasound and stuff checked on Thursday the 14th, so we will let you know how that goes!

So much has happened since the last post...  Stephanie graduated from college on April 22nd!  Yay!  Scott got an internship with the the Salt Lake Bees, not his dream internship, but it is a foot in the door!  The summer is sliding away so very fast, and life is starting to change.  We are hoping that Stephanie gets a teaching job so Scott can eventually quit his graveyard job, finish his school, and find a "real" job.  We will keep you all posted on the dealings of our lives. :)

Hello World!

This is my first attempt at my very own blog!  Things are very exciting within the Smith household. Stephanie is graduating in 16 days!  Scott found out that he is on track to graduate December 2011!  We are thrilled to be expecting a beautiful princess this August!  Hopefully Stephanie will get a job teaching in Weber School District and Scott will play "Mr. Mom" for a little while.



Here is a picture of our little princess!