The Smart's go to Disneyland!

So we finally went to Disneyland in November of 2009. The kids had a blast and loved every minute of it. Blair and I enjoyed it as well. I got a bit tired of all the people everywhere. At one point I hid in a bathroom stall for just a few minutes so I could have a small space just to myself. I know, I'm weird, never said I wasn't.



Joshua and Aaron thought they were too old to get their picture taken with Mikey Mouse.


Waiting for the parade.

Buckner Family Reunion

This summer my grandparents (Jesse & Barbara Buckner) celebrated their 70th Wedding Anniversary. We have such a huge family and it was amazing to see so many of their descendents all together and knowing that even with as many that were there, there was still many more. My grandparents have played such an important part in my life. Not only because they are my grandparents but because they found the gospel and were baptized, and so by doing that they gave me the opportunity to be born with the church as a constant. I have always known about the LDS church and the principles it teaches. I am so grateful to them for always setting a great example in their daily lives. Many people tell me that my husband reminds them of my grandfather, I consider that a great compliment because Grandpa Buckner is an incredible man.
While we were in Carlsbad we went to the Caverns and it was lots of fun. It is such a huge cave but because there was so many of us we kept running into other family members.

Aaron getting ready for Camp Raymond!

He loves camping however this year his tent leaked and he didn't enjoy it as much. He is very good at being away from us and not getting home sick, I don't know if I should take this as he has been raised to be confident in his abilities and that he will fine without us or that maybe I should take it that he feels like anywhere is better than home!!??? I'm nervous to ask him.

Dropping off Joshua at his Dorm Room for EFY.

Joshua went to EFY in Flagstaff and loved every minute of it. He MC'd the talent show and used his accents. He was known as the Accent Guy - which meant to him that he was famous. I am very proud of him going all by himself and not being scared. He has so many qualities that amaze me.

Jessah turns 6!

The day Jessah turned 6 I asked her if she felt different now? She said, yes - I've waited my whole life to be 6!

We had most our trees in our backyard removed recently. Afterwards, Blair told Joshua to shovel the dirt back into the holes that the trees left. Joshua began to think of an easier way to do this, so he used the hose to fill up the hole and thought he could spray the dirt into the hole . . . The following pictures are the result of his thought process. Needless to say, he learned a valuable lesson. He gained just a bit of wisdom. Joshua enlisted the help of his little brother, Ethan and as you will see, if the mud had been quicksand, Ethan would have been a goner!





Some of you might be wondering where Aaron was while all this was going on. Well, Aaron prides himself with a bit more intelligence than his brother, not that that is necessarily true, however - you don't see Aaron in the pictures do you!! Enough said about that. Ethan and Joshua did have fun together even if I sprayed them off with cold water. I figured that they got an expensive mud bath 'dirt' cheap!

15 Tons of Rock for my Birthday

The night before my birthday Blair left for Catalina Island with Mariah and her 6th grade class. The morning of my birthday I decided I was sick of not having rock in our front yard. I had waited and waited (13 years) and I was going to do something about it. So I called MDI Rock and ordered 15 tons of Black Cherry rock. It would be coming the next day and I was excited. After the phone call in which I ordered the stuff, I started to get a bit nervous. Worried what Blair was going to do when he came home to 15 tons of rock sitting in front of his house that now he would need to lay. I started kind of laughing (don't know if it was because of joy or nervousness) at the thought of Blair's face when I picked him up Friday night at 11:30 pm after spending 3 days with all those kids and chaperoning etc. I started thinking that some of our friends and family would get a kick out of what I had done and also start laughing at the thought of Blair's face. So I emailed a few people. Oh, and in the email I kind of was joking around (because one of the people I sent it to was the Scout Master) that if any scouts needed any service projects I knew of one. Word got around and the Young Men's president called and had set up the project for 5pm on Thursday. I was excited at the thought that maybe I could get all the rock laid and Blair would be even more shocked, however I was a bit concerned at how irrated Blair would be at having us be a church service project. I knew that he would be more upset with me about that than the rock. The idea of it being all done was too great and I said okay, I'll provide the pizza.
Thursday morning I got up and started digging a trench along the sidewalk of our house (3 inches deep by 2 feet wide) and at the last minute I thought how great it would be if I had all of the pipe down and watering system down for the flowers. I ran got all the stuff and a neighbor came out to help me install the major pipe/hose whatever you want to call it. We were just finishing it up when the first crew started showing up. My neighbors said it was like watching bees. At first there was a few and then the swarm came.




Joshua and Aaron worked hard as well and I was very proud of them. Ethan and Jessah even tried to help where they could.




My mother in law came over and helped. She brought the pizzas and ran a got some more plastic. After awhile, and those of you that know and love her, know this about her, but she could not just stand there and watch while others were working. She had to work. I wish I had more of her drive to work.
After all was said and done, from 5 to 7:20 all of the rock was laid. I could not believe how hard people worked. One neighbor of mine said that she was thinking maybe she should join our church! We had neighbors watching the whole time and even taking pictures. They were really surprised that I wasn't paying anyone to help us. The were impressed that many of the people were young men and how they would be willing to give service. I told them that is what our church teaches. As I look at our front yard now and definitely do see how nice it is but the first thing I see our the images of all those that came and helped me. I look at my front yard now and see and feel love and kindness. I was very humbled by the gift that was given to me. The rock I got was very dark and the dirt that is around it was a dark red/orange color that seemed to stain your body.
Jessah said, 'Mom, how did you get your legs to turn colors?' 'Did you paid that ring around your foot?' I don't know if you can see how dirty my face is in this picture or not but I scrubbed my face and feet (and of course everything else) for 45 minutes in the shower. That was some of the strongest staining dirt I have ever seen. Okay, so I am sure that you are all wondering how Blair reacted when he got home on midnight the following evening. He got out of the car and grinned and then said, 'You got rock.' I said, 'Are you shocked?' He said, 'No, not shocked, maybe surprised and that it's all done.' 'Who laid all this rock?' I said, 'you don't want to know.' He said, 'yes I do.' Again, I said, 'no you don't.' He said, "OH NO, YOU LET THE CHURCH DO IT!!!" This is where I was really expecting to get chewed out. But he just shook his head and said, 'how embarrassing.' He hates to ask anyone for help and this was very difficult for him. I tried to help him see that they were helping me too. After awhile he realized how much work it was and really appreciated not having to do it. I think it was good for him to let others do something for him. He was very grateful to all those that helped.