The Smith Saga: JUNE

June 1- Little Red Century

This annual ride raises money for cancer and all the proceeds go to Huntsman Cancer Institute. This ride became more meaningful to me personally after my best friend died of Breast Cancer in Feb 2018.

During this ride I had moments of emotions wile riding thinking about Harmoni. I thought of how strong she always was, especially the last year of her life. She continues to inspire me and it gives me the strength when I think of her life. It gave me extra pep in my pedal that day.

(Left to Right: Kelly, Meredith, Allison and myself)

As meaningful as this ride is and was to me, the true highlight today was having Jesse and little Fynn there.
Jesse offered to drive me and my girlfriends up to Logan and spend the day up there. It truly was so wonderful. It gave me a sense of security, safety and love. Jesse was there at every rest stop doing whatever we needed. He was there when Allison fell/crashed her bike and needed to be bandaged up.

Jesse too pictures and video all along the way. And cheered me (and my girls) along side with Fynn. One of the moments that almost brought me to tears ( and oh I wish it could have been caught on video) was when Jesse would drive by and Fynn had his head poked out the window with the biggest smile, shaking the cow bell and yelling so loud "Go Mommy!" and "Wooo!". Oh it was honestly the cutest thing.

He was a hit with all the ladies handing out the finishing bracelets at the finish line. It made my heart melt that day. I feel blessed to have the family I have. Jesse couldn't have been any sweeter that day. It truly meant the world to me to have him there all day. And to sacrifice his whole day just for me and my friends? Honestly, he's the greatest!

Ya know? Harmoni rode Little Red one year. I believe it was the year before she was diagnosed with cancer. The year she was going through chemo I rode in honor of her. And I will never forget the phone call that I got right after the ride. She told me "Next year I want to ride with you!" Little did I know that she physically wouldn't, but spiritually. Every year!

June 4- Summer Bucket list

We put together a summer bucket list. Since last summer was spent solely on the remodel these kiddos got jipped out of a family memory making summer. Even Jesse. Actually Especially Jesse. He's sacrificed alot of time the past year away from his boys. He wanted to make up on it.

So making ice cream was one of the first things crossed off the Summer Bucket List!

June 7-9

Fynn got this weird eye infection. It came out of nowhere. By the time it got to this point is when we got a little concerned. Jesse took him to InstaCare and they suggested a antibiotic ointment. But I will be forever nervous to give that kid any antibiotics becasuse of what happen to him in Jan-June 2018. HSP was not fun.

So we just watched it and home remedied it.

... and eventually it started o go down.

A few days later and her was looking back to normal. The poor thing looked a little Quasimodo-ish!

June 10 -Lego City
These are our new tenants. A single mom with 4 kids moved in. And the summer was difficult for 4 of them and the 3 of my boys to learn boundries. I think they first felt like they were living with us, not renting from us. By the time school started things got ALOT better. But the summer posed some pretty patient testing moments for us.

But they loved playing with my boys. This one particular day they came up and all 7 of them started building a Lego City together. I thought it was cute!

Jun 11- Fynn's First Swim Lessons

Don't be fooled by these cute smiles because Fynn HATED swim lessons. The whole summer he slowly grew to trust Jeri, but it was tough.

He wouldn't let her further than 6 inches away from him. He was always grabbing on to her when he wasn't supposed to and crying more than the other kids.

But when he would do what was asked of him he would get a smile on his face for being brave. It was quite the emotional half hour for him.

Also Jesse (and I) got some siding up on the addition. I stained every single one of the Cedar planks while Jesse installed them.

This picture is our inspriation for the siding. We love the Cedar look and the white mixed in there. We will eventually tear off the old siding on the origianl part of the home. But for now we are looking really classy with the mismatch look our house has going on. Still no stairs to the front door. So we either go in through the garage into the messy addition (that had collected piles of stuff) or we walk up the dirt hill to get in through the side door. One day I will look back on this and laugh. We have grown so used to the house being half done. What is it really going to feel like when we start getting things finished?
We also started the processes of getting a construction loan about this time. And I'll tell you what being in December, we are still in the process of that. It's been a painful and patient testing process. So when people ask "So hows your house? Are you done? " ... it's painful to say "No not even close".

June 15-
Jesse was featured on SLCFD fb page. I was proud. It said...

"The morning routine(even on Saturday) of every on duty Salt Lake City Firefighter involves extensive equipment checks, washing the apparatus, and making sure we're prepared for anything. Below, Local 81 Firefighter/Paramedic Jesse Smith makes sure the rig is in top shape and ready to go.

We serve this community and we value your trust-call us if you need us, we'll be there!"

Cool huh?

June 16- FATHER"S DAY!!!

"The Sacred Title of a Father is shared with the Almighty." -Ezra Taft Benson

I love that quote because thinking about Jesse sharing the same title as our Heavenly Father. It's a pretty neat role! These 3 boys don't really know how blessed they are to have Jesse as their Earthly Father!

I love that my boys get to have a Father who is able to be home with them during the days to teach them how to work, to play with them, to be kind and loving.

I love how much he loves being a Dad. I love that he desires to be with them and to be present.

I love when he shares his tender testimony with them about the Savior and what's in his heart.

I love that he is a worthy Priesthood holder and it's in our home. It gives such a sense of security and safety.

I love that he provides and protects.

I love the man that he is! He is a Father Figure that these boys will forever be grateful for. He is their HERO! And he has so many qualities to look up to.

I found the notes that the boys wrote.

happy fathers day,

I love you. you are a

good dad. you are a good

guy and a good

firefighter

I hope

you can have a

great day. I love you

-Cyrus

______________________

Dear dad,

you are the

best dad I can have

a greay day I LOVE

YOU!

guess how much

I love you.

right your answer here

I Love you

-Fynn

The front of Ryker's letter:

Dad, #number one/Best dad/FF/BFF

I love every day when

you come home! I'm always sooo

excited when I hear the car

coming back. I'm so happy we

have the chance to celebrate you!

I'm so happy that heavenly father

sent me to you! I hope you have

a great day! Thank you so much

for giving everything for this Family!

Love,

Ryker

And the back...
Wish you The World!
Love you sooooooooooooooooooo much!!
Happy
F-antastic
A-thletic
T-eacher
H-eroic
E-ntertaining
R-esponsible
S-pecial

D-fender
A-mazing dad
Y-oung

Those letters just warm my heart.

That night we went to Jesse's parents house to celebrate Father's Day with Mike. We had a BBQ in the backyard and the boys got to roast marshmallows over the BBQ. Who needs a fire to roast marshmallows when you've got the grill going?

They were certainly enjoyed by the boys...

...and grandma. Haha

Mike is such a good dad. I love him for loving me like one of his own daughters.

Loved this sunset as we were driving home.

Jun 17-
Emigration Canyon was unreal how green it was. We had had quite the wet winter and spring. When when Meredith and I got to the top of EMI that morning I was totally shocked by how thick and green the mountains were.

They looked just like Hawaii's mountains.

That afternoon we decided to cross off another thing on our Bucket List. Have a picnic! And Jesse suggested going to Farmington Pond. Which we hadn't been there before. So it was time for an adventure. We dropped all our work stuff and head for the hills.

We ate lunch and they boys played in the sand, pumped up the raft and skipped rocks.

One of the other Bucket List items was to discover a new waterfall and we found a small one running into the pond. So we counted it. lol

Jun 20- Puppy Update

We got a few pictures sent to us from the breeders on how our puppy was growing. July 13 felt painfully away for the boys.

He is so yummy and cuddly.

Yup, now we just needed to settle on a name. Jesse was thinking about Tymmi. But then my SIL who is pregnant at the time (still not know what she was having) got after us telling us that she dibbed the name Timothy for her possible unborn son. So we couldn't name our dog Tymmi. Lol. So back to the drawing board. Thankfully we still have a month to figure it out.

Jun 26-29- Girls Camp
Thoughts that I wrote down at that time:

"All the sacrifices it took for me to be at girls camp the whole time was all worth it. This group of girls, both leaders and young women are incredible. I've been a YW leader in 2 other wards and never before have I experienced the unity and love that we all have for each other. No joke, the Laurels, Miamaids and Beehives all love being together. There's no class division really. I'm in awe of it. The leaders are all so much fun, spiritual and we all get along so well. Honestly it chokes me up to play a part in it.

The theme our Camp Directors picked is "I am..."

We focused on that verbiage and how powerful it is when followed by a positive statement. Reminding is all that we are beautiful just as we are and that we are enough.

I am a daughter of God.
I am a believer of the Book of Mormon.
I am striving to follow Christ!
I am competitive!
I am loving!
I am a friend!"

"The first day we were there we were given pieces of paper that were little squares that we were to paint by letter. There were 100 tiles papers to paint. That night the devotional was about The Great I AM and all of our painted tiles came together to create a painting of our Savior Jesus Christ, The Great I Am."

The sunrise hike did NOT disappoint.

Jenny and I have this thing ever since last year's girls camp where we attempt this yoga pose amidst nature. And this picture just means alot to me because Jenny has been such a good friend. Like a sunrise I know she will always be there.

3 of the 4 YW Presidency women. Natalie Miller is the President, I'm her 1st councilor, Jessica Wells (not in the photo) is her 2nd councilor and Jenny Noall is her secretary. We make a pretty great presidency. We all get along really well and it's been so fun to work together.