Heather and Evan's Wedding

Heather and Evan were married today. It was a wonderful wedding! We had worked so hard all summer to get the house and the yard ready for the wedding. John build a great mailbox for me because mine was falling apart and held together with duct tape. We got gravel put in the front strip in front of the house and the flower beds weeded and flowers planted. It was such a long, cold spring that the flowers were not as big as I had expected them to get, but they still looked nice. Heather looked beautiful! She and Evan had decided to have a small, simi-formal wedding in our backyard. Her colors were plum and sage. They look so good together. Carolyn was going to make her dress but then Aunt Martha heard about the wedding and she told the girls. Ashley had been engaged before she met the man she married and she had bought a wedding dress that she still had. When she got married she got a new wedding dress so she offered her first wedding dress to Heather. If fit beautifully. Heather and the twins are build just alike. Carolyn added cup sleeves and a higher neck and it was beautiful.




The guys had been joking that it would probably rain on the wedding, but the weather has been hot, hot, and hotter. I watched the news the night before, just to make sure and it was still hot! The morning of the wedding, I went outside to finish some last touches and saw huge dark clouds in the sky. Wouldn't you know it, rain on our wedding. We went ahead anyway. We had to wipe down the chairs before everyone came. The weather was on and off. As everyone got seated and we were about to begin, it began raining again. It stopped during the ceremony and started again after while we were having a small reception on the deck. As people were leaving, the weather cleared up and the afternoon was back to hot again. Everything else went great. We sent Heather and Evan on a Honeymoon in town by giving them dinner at Maddox, tickets to the movie theater and a night at the Howard Johnson Hotel. We kept Jordan with us and watched him for the night. We took him to church with us the next day. He was so cute.

Zoo

We went to the zoo today for spring break. It was fun to watch Little John run from one animal home to another. He had so much energy. We got there early so we wouldn't have to fight the people or the heat. It is going to be a scorcher today. They are predicting 77 degrees. That is really hot for April.href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg5UYO0zECnCet1DBP_3PRXt0P6eMAS5M397Mo0qdhEgtYCdXh8Lp6D-Us6TwHAko_dU9seZ3_iq_0SJ_hk-uaIpTwr-ILp_Ixw02bx39vzmmmF9N8w4OoKUbXIEUOP4IWeGXnt-Os4vo/s1600/CIMG1738.JPG">

April Fool's Day

What a surprise nature gave us. We woke up this morning to a great April Fool's surprise. A ton of snow.

Patrick Henry Hizer

Carolyn and John had their new baby on March 30th at 4:15 pm. He weighed 20 lbs. and was 21 inches long. He is darling. He slept through the night at the hospital. Very unusual.

Tim's Mission Call

Debbie called today and Tim got his mission call! It is so exciting! He is going to the Houston, Texas mission.

Gifted and Talented Conference

Today I am sitting in a Gifted and Talented Conference in Layton at the Davis Conference Center. So far we have listened to one speaker talk for 2 1/2 hours and then we had lunch. It was a chicken and rice dish. It was ok, not great, but ok. They we went back to listen to the next speaker for 2 1/2 hours.

Ben's new room

January 6, 2010
Well, Ben got off to Snow College after a quick stop at the oral surgeon to see how his stitches were healing. He had his wisdom teeth taken out on . Carolyn, John, and Little John drove him down to Ogden to the oral surgeon. On the way there they were stopped at a light and a lady behind them hit them. It wasn't a hard hit but it shook everyone up. The lady's car ran into the hitch on the back of the explorer and bent her license plate. It didn't look like there was any more damage so they didn't call the police. They finally made it to the oral surgeon where Ben was told things looked good and then they left for Snow College. I had found a really nice rocking chair for Heather and Evan and Carolyn and John were taking it down to Snow where they were going to meet up with Sarah and Heather and Evan.

Little John had a great time exploring campus while Ben got checked in.

Ben going to Snow College

Ben is getting ready to go to Snow College tomorrow. For Christmas I registered him for school, applied for financial aid, and completed all the work to allow him to attend school spring semester. He had not planned on going to school until this summer or next year, but he has not been able to find a job, maybe because he won't look for one, and he has nothing to do but play video games all day and night. I got so tired of it, I decided I would help him move on with his life. It is time he became a college student like all of his friends. As one of his Christmas gifts, I found a large box and filled it with college food, top roman and mac & cheese. He was so excited to open his package and so surprised at what he found in side. I told him that at least he won't starve for the first week or two at school. He finally was able to get hold of the housing office today to see where he will be living. We have been waiting for the past few weeks to hear where he was going to stay and when he talked to them today he found that they had lost his housing papers. He e-mailed the papers to them again and they put him in Castilleja, the most expensive dorm on campus, but Ben says that it is also the nicest looking from all the pictures he has looked at. His roommate is from Hong Kong. They should get along great!

John had a job interview at Hill Air force base last week. We are all keeping our fingers crossed. The job is for a facilities engineer. John felt good about the job and should hear back from them in a couple of weeks. He said that out of over a hundred applicants, only six were called back for job interviews. That tells us that he is a great candidate for this job. Now that it is the new year, he has noticed more jobs being offered.

Ben's Graduation from Boot Camp

Summer has gone so fast! I could have cried when I got my back to school letter from Colleen last week. I’m just not ready to go back. I went and got all of my room put together last night so I am ready and won’t have to go back until the first day of school. John got laid off of his job 2 weeks ago. He is really happy he doesn’t have the long commute (2 1/2 hours one way) any more but he is really sad he is not working any more. He fills out 10 to 15 job applications every day but hasn’t had any interviews yet. We will just keep praying that he will find a job soon. I am going to be a grandma again! Carolyn is pregnant and expecting a baby the first week of April. This is so exciting, now I just wish they had insurance. Carolyn has had a hard time with John getting laid off and spends a lot of her time moping around on the couch. It gets really frustrating. I try to be understanding, but I think she would be happier if she got up and did something. We have been taking care of grandma’s yard every day all summer. We have gone through and cut down vines and brush that has grown out of control for the last 15 years. It has been a lot of work, but it sure looks better. We also do all the irrigating. Little John loves running through the irrigation water and playing in the yard. This week we have been painting all the rooms in the house. They really need it. It is going to look great when we are done, but it is hard to get any painting done because grandma wants to help and supervise so she is always right there with us. When we finish painting the inside, we hope to paint around the windows and trim on the outside if there is time. Sarah is going back to school on Friday. I can’t believe that she is already ready to leave for school. She is having a hard time because she has made so many new friends and has a cute boy friend that she would love to get to know better. She keeps saying that if she could stay she thinks that they might get married. I have just told her that if things are meant to work out then they will. She wishes that she could divide herself in half so half of her could stay here and half of her could go back to school. We are all going to be lost without her help. I am going to take her to school on Friday and then go over to Loa to stay with Heather and Evan. Heather is scheduled to have her baby on the 18th. They are an hour and a half from the hospital so if she has not had her baby by then, they will start her because they don’t want to wait and and have her travel that far. I’ll be with her until the 19th, then I go back and get Sarah from school and we fly out to Lawton, Oklahoma to go to Ben’s graduation from basic. We will be there from the 19th to the 21st. We are all ready to go with our tickets and hotel room, then Ben called on Sunday to say that he might not graduate because he has not passed off his push ups. He has to do 30 push ups in under 2 minutes. Right now he is up to 17 push ups. He said that if he doesn’t pass then off by Thursday, he will have to go to fat camp for 3 weeks where he will work on doing sit ups and push ups all day. If that happens we won’t be able to see him during family day. I told him that he better pass because our airline tickets were not refundable and I couldn’t afford to loose that much money. I hope that motivates him. I would think that the thought of having to stay there and go to fat camp would be enough motivation to pass them off. I had hoped that boot camp would help him decide that he needed to go to school and get going with his life. He has the big plan to buy every gaming system that is available and a gaming computer. Then he is going to work at Game Stop and buy all the games as they come out. He wants to go to school and room with his friends to they can all play games together. Oh, boy! I can only hope that he starts to get a better look on life as he keeps learning with the army. When I get back from Oklahoma, I have to take Sarah back to school and then I am going to go stay with Heather for another week. Carolyn is going to stay down there while I am in Oklahoma. I plan to get back on the 29th and then I’m off with the school year. I just have to work it out with Colleen so I can miss all the meetings the week before school starts. I have been working on genealogy in my spare time. I love it and would like to retire and work on it more. Some day I’ll get that chance. I spend a lot of my time taking care of the house and playing with Little John. He is my whole life. I have decided that most kids have a favorite stuffed animal or blanket, but I am Little John’s favorite blanket. When things are bad or he is tired, I am the only thing he wants. It is so nice to sit and snuggle with him or run around chasing him. I hate to go to school and leave him home. I’m going to miss him a lot. I sewed 24 quilts this summer that I am looking for a place to put them to sell them. We have canned a lot of jam, fruit, and tomato juice. I am always looking for ways to improve our food storage. I’m thankful we have it because we use it so much. I think about you guys a lot especially when I drive past your house and see how good it looks, just as if you were there. Teresa, Joy and I are going to do lunch this week before I am gone. Jason and Melissa are expecting their baby in September, but Melissa has been having such a hard time with her blood pressure and health that they were talking about taking the baby early, maybe even this week. We are all praying that she can hold out a little longer.
Aug. 16
Ben is finally graduating from boot camp! It only took him 2 weeks longer than everyone else. We were worried that he wouldn’t make it and then we wouldn’t get to see him before he goes to South Carolina for training. Carolyn, LIttle John and I are flying out to Oklahoma tomorrow to attend family day and his graduation. I am so excited to see him. He is excited also because he has been calling two and three times a day just to make sure we are coming and he wants us to know that he is HUNGRY and can’t wait for us to buy him some food. Little John has an ear infection and it is going to be hard flying with him. We fly into Denver and have a 45 minute lay over before boarding another plane to fly to Oklahoma City. Ben cannot go anywhere outside of Lawton so Carolyn, Little John and I are going to go sight seeing in Oklahoma City before we go to our hotel in Lawton.
Aug 19
Carolyn, Little John and I slept over at Carolyn’s in-laws house in Clinton. Little John had a terrible time an was up most of the night. We were still up at 3:00 am when we got a text from Heather saying that she was heading to the hospital. This is so exciting! I wish is could split myself into two and be with her while also being with Ben. We left Clinton at 5:30 am to catch our flight to Denver and then to Oklahoma City. We got to the airport and got our bags out when I realized that I couldn’t find my purse. It had everything in it. I needed it! The only thing I could think of was that I had left it by the door of the house as we had been getting ready to go. We were trying to figure out a way to have someone go and get it and get it to the airport before our flight when Pat, Carolyn’s mother in law, searched through the van one more time to see if she could find it. There it was. It was between the seats. Thanks goodness for small blessings. We made it to our flight and everything went well. Little John loved flying. He loves seeing new places and traveling. It seems strange that a 22 month old would enjoy traveling like he does. Our flight landed in Denver and we got to take the airport train to our next terminal. That was a fun experience. I am doing a lot of things that I never dreamed I would be doing. Exploring new places, trying new things. We only had a half hour from the time we departed our plane from SLC until we had to be on our plane to Oklahoma, so we hurried through the 2nd terminal to reach our flight terminal. Wouldn’t you know it was clear at the other end of the terminal. We finally made it and sat down to eat breakfast before we boarded our next plane. Just as our boarding flight was called, I got a phone call from Evan’s (Heather’s boyfriend) mom saying that the baby was in distress and that they were going to do an emergency c-section to save the baby. It was so hard to walk on to the plane knowing that my daughter needed me. I talked to Heather for a few minutes as I walked onto the plane. She was scared and Iwasn’t sure she wanted to go through it.jjjjjjjjju uuuu mkjjkjkjkm,jkjk ˙e¨ ¨Ω´ u uuihuiffhufuhhdhdjihhkdhdd ffffgffggøπøƒ øƒøøˆƒøˆ®øˆ®ƒ'em i 3 yggfWyf
(Little John says “Hello”) We boarded the plane not knowing how things were going and frustrated that we could not call to see how things were. When we landed in Oklahoma City, I called to see how things were. They were great. Heather had a 7 lb. 11 oz. 21 in. baby boy named Jordon Asher Smith. Evan sent me some pictures and he is darling. I can’t wait to get home and hold him. I had a rental car reserved at the airport and we drove around Oklahoma until we got to Bricktown. We rode the water taxi that drives around the town through a man made canal. The water was choppy because there was a tornado watch a few towns away. Luckly we didn’t have to experience any tornado’s while we were there. Ben’s graduation was wonderful! It was worth everything it had taken to get us there. We got to spend some time with him sightseeing and just enjoying his company. The first thing he wanted to do was to go eat fast food. Every time I asked him what he wanted to do next, it was eat fast food. Little John attached himself to Ben and would not let anyone else help him or touch him but Ben. The first night we dropped Ben off back at his barracks, Little John cried for an hour because Ben was not with us.

























It sure made Ben feel good to be wanted so much. Before we knew it, time was over and we had to fly back home. Ben was flying to South Carolina, Fort Jackson on the same day we were flying home but not at the same time. We had to leave our hotel at 4:00 am to return the rental car and make it to our 7:00 am flight. The flight home was nice. I wanted to go right down to Loa to see Heather and the baby, but we had our mandatory school days, so I stayed home and did school instead. I can’t believe that summer went so fast and that we are starting another year. I really don’t feel ready. Teresa and I talk about the time that we can retire, but that is not in my future. We saw Calvin Bingham at Arctic Circle on one of our lunch days. He said that hopefully this will be his last year, because this will be 38 years for him. Teresa and I looked at each other and we both went 38 years! That is were we will be before we get to retire. It is so depressing! I have my room together and ready to go as much as I can get it. I don’t have it all the way I want but I don’t see to care. All I want to do is hold the baby.

Jerry and Colleen

Dad called to tell me that Jerry Snow, his brother, had had a stroke. Jerry and his children and some of his grandchildren had been on vacation to Missouri to tour the sights. They were staying in a hotel and in the morning Jerry went in the bathroom to shave. The boys were in the room talking when they heard Jerry's shaving cream can hit the floor and they saw it roll out into the room. Jerry picked it up and a few seconds later it rolled out into the room again. The boys were giving him a hard time about not being able to keep hold of his shaving cream can. One of the boys, maybe Travis, went in to check on him and found that Jerry could not feel his arm. They woke the girls up and took him to the hospital where he had emergency surgery for blocked arteries. He was in ICU for a few days before they decided he was well enough to come home. We went and visited with Jerry, Cathy, Kim, and Jenie and Kim's kids and grandkids. They all were doing great and said "Hi". Jerry looks great. You can't tell that he had a stroke at all. He has movement and feeling back in his arm again.
About the same time as Jerry's stroke, Colleen was out walking in St. George. She got caught in a huge dust devil that picked her up off the ground and dropped her again. She fell and hit her head. The doctors said that it should have killed her. She has been in therapy and is now moving and walking again. She is still going to therapy for her speech. She is a real fighter and has had to work hard to make it as far as she has. She cries easily now and she cries if she is tired, but they hope that will change as she keeps getting better.

Jensen Farm

Today Carolyn and I took Little John over to the Jensen Historical Farm to see the animals. The first thing he wanted to do was to ride the horses. He remembered them from the last time we were here.

After riding the horses, we walked around and looked at the animals, then Little John decided to try the swing.

That lasted about two seconds. He loved seeing the ducks and chickens though.

We went on a tour of the house and he found a toy to play with.

We also checked out the summer kitchen where we tried some delicious cookies they had baked in the old wood cook stove. It was a great way to spend the morning.

June 2009

We went down to Loa to visit Heather and Evan. Evan's mom, Gina, was giving Heather a baby shower. We stayed with Heather and Evan in their home that they are renting. It is small, but nice. They are going to try to buy it. While we were there we went to Capitol Reef and hiked around. We saw the petroglyphs and saw some great rocks. We also drove out to Goblin Valley so everyone could play on the rocks. Sarah, Evan, and I were the only ones who had been there before so it was a great adventure for everyone.