My Little Wiener's

Baylor and Sparkie are "mysmithfamily" pets. Both of them are miniature daschunds. You know wiener dogs! Cameron got Baylor as a birthday present when he was 7 yrs old. Baylor is now 15 years old. Sparkie came along about 13 years ago. We named him "Sparkie" because..... What do you call a wiener dog with balls of steel? SPARKIE. And yes, he is all that. I wanted to post about them because we've had them forever and they're getting old. I think they deserve a spot in "Me and My Smith Family"

Poooooof!
Life as I knew it changed that fast! One day things were going along as usual. In fact I was getting a little bored with it all, my job, my home, my life and the next thing I knew my husband (who wishes to remain nameless) and I are sitting in a hospital room talking with a team of doctors about the "C" word. CANCER! We were blindsided! We never saw it coming! That quick! One day things are going along, la, la, la, and the next day the rules of the game have completely changed.
His prognosis is good and we are very optimistic. Interesting...it's in his body but "we" have cancer. I see life differently now. What I once viewed as "hard" doesn't look too bad. I'll take my problems over his. And how can I complain about cleaning the house, going to work, mowing the lawn, caring for our children? He's dealing with chemo and radiation therapy on a daily basis and still going to work. He's my hero.

ME, ME, ME, I WANNA TALK ABOUT ME!

So...I'm at the Mesa City Cemetery last week, I know strange place to just "be at" but let me explain. I am an avid genealogy buff. I love researching my family history. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find much out about "my" ancestors. Anyway I volunteer as a photography contributor for a website called "Find a Grave". It's an awesome website that allows you to search, and if your lucky, find members of your family that have passed on. I have found many stories and photographs that I otherwise would not have had access to.
My email in-box was filling up with requests from people across the country who wanted me to take pictures of headstones. On Tuesday I loaded my camera gear up into my daughters beach cruiser bike basket and off I rode to do my thing. It was a great ride down the canal to the cemetery and so much easier to hop on and off a bike to take the pictures then in and out of a car. A bike is the way to go. While I was there taking my pictures I met the nicest couple, Rick and Rose. When Rick and Rose take trips to different cities they like to look up famous people who might be buried in those towns. Who would have ever thought that Mesa Arizona had anyone famous buried in the cemetery. They led me to the grave of Wayland Jennings. You know, "Mama don't let your babies grow up to be cowboy's" and the "Dukes of Hazard" theme song Wayland Jennings. I also got a little history lesson while I was there. I learned the story behind the "Miranda Rights Act" A famous court decision that took place here in Arizona, and as a result came the act of having ones civil rights read to them if one should find themselves on the wrong side of the law. The man, Ernesto A. Miranda is buried in the cemetery. You never know who you might meet, dead or alive, when your at the cemetery.

Deck The Walls

words to live by

Awesome MySpace Comments & Myspace Layouts

RING! RING!

Today, Christmas, we honored the tradition that most families of missionaries honor, "the ringing of the phone" that is, we "my smith family" got to talk to our missionary in Washington! The phone call was definitely the highlight of the day. Our family, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, and friends all waited for a turn to talk to him. Each of us started out with the same question "how's it going"? Austin is enjoying his missionary experiences. Some of Austin's friends came over to talk to him also. It was so great to see them all again and it just made me miss him even more. They all went up to his room and laid on his bed (just like old times). I've included some of the pictures I took when everyone was talking to him.
Christmas with the family was great. It rained and rained all day which made the day seem even more homey.

Elder Austin is having the time of his life on his missionary adventures. Today he experieced his first real snow storm. A blizzard hit the area he is serving in, Sultan Washington. So much snow fell that church was cancelled.