Thought these pictures were pretty great from the Smith reunion. I especially liked the one of Uncle Kay and Uncle Bob on the porch of the family home. Fun picture of Barb, Shay and Sam. It was nice to see the half here's too.
Deena

 

She's officially ours!

Hey family. How exciting all the treking, dental missions, weddings. It is so fun to see what everyone is up to. I just thought I'd post a little about Brooklyn's sealing and blessing and say thank you to all who were apart of it, whether it was in thought or physically, you all mean so much to us. Brooklyn's birthfamily came up and was able to be with us at this special time too. They are one incredible family. We owe everything to them. In this first picture Brianna Brooklyn's birth mom is the blonde. Here is also Grandma & Grandpa Bodily at the blessing with Brooklyn. Zach gave a beautiful blessing. I was so proud of him. The priesthood is such a blessing in our lives. And last is a picture of Brooklyn at Lake Powell. We just spent a week there. Warm water, fun with Zach's family and many memories. We love you all.
Zach & Holly

Yummy recipe!!!

We made this recipe at the lunch after Brooklyn's sealing. Holly gave it to me, and people loved it so much, I thought it would be nice to share. When Deena shared her apron pattern, I thought it would be fun to share some recipes. Some of the guys might roll their eyes, but some guys cook more than the ladies! Robert's a better cook than I am.

Awesome Spinach & Artichoke Dip

1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, drained, finely chopped.
1 pkg. (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained.
3/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
3/4 cup Real Mayo, ( I like Best Foods best)
1-2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients until well blended.
Spoon into 9 inch pie plate or small shallow baking dish.
Bake 20 min. or until heated through.

Serve with veggies, crackers, or tortilla chips.

Mr. and Mrs!

Beautiful couple. Beautiful day. So happy for the you Angie and Neal. You take our breath away.
Thanks for letting us be part of it!

OPEN WIDE!! Abra sua boca!!

This June me and about 10 other student dentists went to Fortaleza Brasil on a dental mission. It was a great experience. I was able to work along side a dentist from West Palm Beach almost the whole time. We learned a lot and we were able to help quite a few people. I was also able to go visit some people I knew when I was a missionary there. I love the Brazilian people.

TY

Trekkers have returned!!

We have returned from Martins Cove, what a neat experience. This is our family, the kids were all divided up and had different Ma's and Pa's for three days. We all had at least 4 boys and 6 girls in our groups. What a learning experience.



We had about 650 youth and and Ma's and Pa's and other leaders from our stake that went, the missionaries there said that we were the biggest group they have had this year, and they were surprised at how well behaved the kids were and that they could feel the spirit with such a big group, they say that you usually better to have smaller groups, our stake presidency felt the need to take the youth on this trek, all the youth 12 and up. When we were spread out on the trail our stake had a two mile train, it was incredible.




This was our camp, the back 1/4 of the campground was a different group from Utah, the rest was our stake, it was very dry and desolate out there, we will be coughing sand and dust out of our lungs and cleaning out the sinuses for at least a good week.There is dust and sand in everything, amazing.



Each family had a baby that they were supposed to take care of on the trek, this is Jessica and her baby brother Peter Kirkham, he lived until they were just outside the valley. This was one of the hardest parts to me. When the family was told that their baby had died they would have a little memorial on the trail, wrap the baby up and leave it on the side of the trail, and the stake leaders at the end would pick up the babies. It was hard to see those little bundles on the side of the trail (even though they were just dolls) Everybody on the trek had an actual pioneer name, even the dolls.



This is going into Martins Cove, it was a lot bigger than I imagined, it was very peaceful there, I wished that we could have had more time to spend there and ponder and pray, but with 650 people, that was one of the downfalls of so many people, we felt like we had to rush out of there.




Resting on the trail, getting off of our feet was always a pleasure, this day we trekked about 14 miles, definately a tough day for all involved.



Crossing the Sweetwater, Ben is being carried across by one of his 'brothers'. The cold water sure did feel good on our warn out feet, too bad we couldn't just linger in the water a little longer.
Unfortunately I just don't have all night to write about our trip, it was hard, but rewarding, I just couldn't imagine the full extent of what the pioneers had to go through, we had great weather, a little too hot at times, but we still had a breeze or gusts at times to help cool you off.




This last picture is Andrews missionary picture that we are sending in for his mission, he wanted us to include it with this blog. Hopefully the medical papers will all be turned in by the doctors, he will be able to submit on July 2. We will let everyone know.

We were happy to have G ma and G pa Olsen with us. Grandma got Jack to smile. He felt loved. We do too....

Jacks blessing day....

Wonderful occasion. Priesthood blessing. Worthy dad. Good family support. Sweet kids here. Thankful hearts. Good food. Happiness. Shay's cute.

A Fun Pattern

I've been taking some sewing classes. They gave us this pattern, I made an apron from it for Alice and it turned out pretty darn cute. It was fun. Thought some of you might like to try it out. It's a fun Christmas idea. You can get the dish towels at Porters, I think.
Deena