Macey's Flat Me Visits the Prophet

For Activity Days, Macey and her Activity Day group made "Flat Me's".  Their leader, Sister Shaw, thought that it would be neat to make them and send them to the prophet.  They sent a note that said they wished they could be in the presence of the prophet.  But since they couldn't they would love to have a picture of President Monson and their Flat Me's.  Off it went and a few weeks later they came back. Sister Shaw got up in Sacrament Meeting to share what had happened. I knew as soon as she started talking that she had received the pictures back. I started getting teary eyed (then cried).  What a special picture and memory to have. Macey was lucky enough to be seated right next to President Monson (in the red shirt).  We aren't so lucky to really sit next to President Monson, but I can feel his spirit just looking at this picture.  Seated left to right: Flat Macey Smith, President Thomas S. Monson, Flat Janiel Prime and Flat Ali Reeve.

B. . .Y. . .U . . . Cougars! Go Cougars!

We hope a little cheering from the very depths of Florida will give a boost to our BYU football team!  We love BYU football.  It is the one sport I can follow and actually know something about.  I can usually tell what the penalty is when it happens - offsides, pass interference, etc.

This is one of the first games we watched from our living room with Macey all decked out in all her BYU apparel!

 As a treat John bought tickets for all of us to attend the BYU vs. Florida State game played in Tallahassee, FL. We were able to attend the fireside put on by the BYU Football team the night before the game. It was literally standing room only. This is Parker & Macey after the fireside standing in front of one of the buses after the players had loaded.



Fall football in Florida = HOT! It was probably one of the hottest days we've had. We were all hot before the game even started!


Good thing we brought sweat rags to mop our brows! We took refuge during half time by the concessions in the shade trying to cool down a bit.

Our Dad Is Our Hero and More!

I had to go into John's office for something.  He had an apple in his lunch.  He proceeded to tear it in half with his bare hands.  I was amazed!  In all these years I don't think he had shown me this trick of his.  I had him give me the apple to take home to Macey to show her.  She thought it was the coolest thing.  She wanted her own demonstration!



She didn't waste any time in making use of the 'cut' apple by devouring it as her after school snack!

First Day of School 2010

This year Parker is in 6th grade and started middle school at Oak Ridge Middle School.  Macey is in 4th grade at Laurel Oak Elementary.

Did anyone notice the missing shoe in the picture?  Too funny!
I must have been hurrying him to get their picture taken as I was headed out the door to get Macey to the bus that day.  Macey catches the bus at 7:51am and Parker at 8:29am.  There are two bus runs for the elementary bus.  Macey's is the second run but that also means she gets home later after school.  She gets home at 3:15p and Parker at 4pm.

We've been down this path before.  Parker and Macey are about exactly where Riley & Austin were in school when we first moved to Naples, FL ten years ago! Time just keeps passing by.

Parker was excited about middle school and has adjusted well to having 7 classes each day with different teachers, textbooks, notebooks, locker and all that comes with it.  He makes friends easily and for the most part has learned to "be like a duck".  Let the insignificant things roll off his back.

We had a little incident a couple of weeks ago - I got a call from the Dean of Discipline.  Parker had punched a kid in the arm and swore at him.  He was more upset that he had to tell me!  Some kids started ribbing others about girls.  Parker liked a girl last year - sorta - it really just resulted in them being really good friends.  Well they started ribbing him about it at lunch.  It made him mad and he told someone to "go to hell."  Yikes. Where did that come from?  That is way out of character for him.  Well that someone then told his friend, the girl, that he said it about her.  Not good.  The ribbing continued in band.  Parker ended up punching the kid and telling him the same thing again.

It didn't escalate.  The boys are on friendly terms.  Parker was able to talk to the girl and make sure she knew what he said wasn't directed at her.

John had told him last year when he was getting 'bugged' that he would rather that he stand up for himself and deck someone if he needed to.  Not that I disagree but then there's the school rules and those two don't always agree.  In the end it was a good learning experience and an opportunity to talk through things and how things might be better handled in the future.  Thus the comment to "be like a duck."

Swensen Family Reunion - June 1010

We had some fun pictures taken at our Swensen Family Reunion at Shepherd's Creek in Texas. It's been so long since I updated I thought maybe I could add just a few new pictures real quick to give a preview or new things to come! It's amazing what a good camera and a good photographer can do!