Last November Post

I didn't post last week, but at least I'm consistant if not right on schedule, right? We'll answer two more questions today!


Have any of your family members died? If so, what did they die from? What do you remember of their death, and what were the circumstances of their death?

I remember three family deaths, although I'm certain there have been more that I'm forgetting. The first one I remember is my aunt Sarah Anne's death. Sarah Anne was my mom's sister that was born right after her. She and my mom always shared a room growing up, and I know my mom considered her one of her best friends. When Sarah was really little, she started having seizures, and was soon diagnosed with cerebral palsy. From the little I remember of her, she was almost always in a wheelchair, unable to feed herself or talk, and she would make loud sounds that scared me. I wish sometimes that I wouldn't have been scared of her so I could have seen what my mom saw in her. When she was I think about 31 years old, she got pneumonia and was in the hospital. They gave her an oxygen tank and sent her home once she got a little better, but Sarah knew it was her time to go. Grandma Sharee said that she kept trying to put the oxygen mask back on Sarah, but she would pull it off and throw it to the side. She died pretty soon after that. I remember when my mom got the call that she had passed away. She was on the phone in the kitchen and I saw her start to cry and walk away down the hallway. My mom was sad for a few weeks afterwards. We went to her funeral a week or so later, and I didn't know why but I cried the whole time. I could tell how loved and cherished Sarah Anne was by all her siblings and her mom, and that she was going to be missed; but at the same time, I could also feel the unspeakable joy that Sarah was finally back with her dad, and that she wasn't restrained by a body that didn't function the way everyone else's did. I almost thought I could feel her in the room with us. My mom spoke at the funeral, and I remember her and her sisters also singing If You Could Hi to Kolob.

The next family member I remember passing away was my Grandpa Conrad. I remember visiting him a lot when we would go to Utah, and looking around his old farm house and barn. I thought it was so cool that they had a barn and silos in their backyard. He would take us on rides on his tractor sometimes. I think he died a year or so after Sarah Anne, and he had pretty bad Alzheimers before he passed away. I loved his crazy thick, white hair and how he would tell us stories when we'd visit him. We always got a Fat Boy ice cream sandwich when we went to his house. I don't remember much about his funeral except that my mom and a few of her sisters sang again and that there was a slideshow of cool old pictures of him. I've always wanted to name one of my sons after Grandpa Conrad.

The last one I remember was the saddest. The oldest boy cousin on my dad's side, Peter, had put his mission papers in and was a few days away from leaving when he was in a four-wheeling accident that killed him immediately. I was over at my friend Megan's house making cookies, and my mom knocked on the door and said I needed to come home right away. On the short walk home, she told me my cousin Peter had died. I couldn't believe it. When I got home, all my siblings and my dad were in the living room, and my dad asked us all to kneel down to pray together for Peter's family. That was one of the most powerful prayers I have ever experienced. I hadn't heard anything except for that he had passed away, but I felt a peace and power in that prayer and I knew everything would be okay. My story here might not be completely accurate, but I felt like recording it anyways. I was told that after Peter crashed, his brother Jacob ran down the hill to get help. On his way down, Jacob saw Peter's spirit, and Peter told him that everything that was happening was part of God's plan, and that it would be alright. Peter had important missions to do on the other side of the veil. I didn't go to his funeral, but I think my dad did. We visited his grave a few years later hen we went to Utah for a family reunion.

What kind of hardships or tragedies did your family experience while you were growing up?

This is actually kind of a hard question. I can think of a lot of hardships in my life right at the moment with a baby, finances, school, etc. And I could probalby list a few that were probably hard for my parents, which are about the same: babies, finances and school. But looking back on my childhood and growing up, the things I remember as a family as being hard were probably moving, and that's about it. We moved I think 4 or 5 times from when I was born until I was in elementary school, a few times around Utah, to Houston and back, and then finally up to Washington. It was always hard to go to a new place with new schools and new wards and no friends, and I'm sure it was that way for everyone in my family. I know my parents don't like living so far from their siblings and parents, and making new friends in a new ward is hard no matter what age you are. When we moved up to Washington when I was 6, it was in the middle of the school year, and that was pretty hard. Then I changed schools again when we moved to the house we're in now on Quinault, and that was even harder. All of that being said, my childhood was pretty rosy and fun. I don't remember ever going without, we always got along, had fun as a family and made do with what we had. My parents have done pretty dang good at keeping us as a family together and happy no matter the circumstances.

More about Mis Padres

This weeks question is about my parents again!

What kind of work did your parents do (farmer, salesman, manager, seamstress, nurse, stay-at-home mom, professional, laborer, and so on)?

From when I was born until I was 6 years old, my dad was going to school to become a Physical Therapist. During that time he worked with my Grandpa Don, doing what he'd done in high school before, working as a brick mason. I don't remember this myself, but my mom told me when I was older that he would go back and forth between working and taking classes. We moved to Houston when I was 5 for him to go to Graduate School, and then when I was 6, he got a job in Pasco, Washington as a Physiscal Therapist for Columbia Physical Therapy. He has worked at that same clinic for the past 14 years, and I believe he's the manager now. I remember visiting his clinic every once and a while as a kid, usually to do the yard work around the building. The company's owner, Richard Wright, would pay each of us per hour that we worked if we would weed/sweep/wash windows/ect. After we were done working, there was a hot tub inside that my dad would fill up and we would swim around in there for an hour or two. Sometimes Dad would roll a TV in and we would watch a movie while we sat in the hot tub. One year, Cameron decided he wanted to go to the clinic's hot tub for his birthday.

After I graduated high school, my Dad hired me to work as a PT Aide in his clinic. It was such a fun experience working with and for my dad after hearing so many stories about crazy patients. I learned a lot from watching him interact with people and caring about them. Even though his job was to take care of people's physical injuries or weaknesses, my dad is a fantastic listener, and I watched a lot of people confide in him and get some emotional therapy along with their physical therapy.

My mom has been stay-at-home mom ever since I was born. I remember many times my dad telling us how lucky we were to have our mom at home and how much she had sacrificed for us, but I didn't truly appreciate it until I had Jasmine. I'm sure my mom was a lot like I am: she had dreams and goals and a career she had been planning on persuing, but she gave it up because she loved us enough to put us first. I have such fond memories of playing with my mom and spending my days with her, and I am so grateful she was able to be at home with all of us. She's worked a few random part-time jobs that I remember; she was a gymnastics coach when I was 6 or 7, and then again while I was in high school, and she worked for Sunset View Elementary school for a year. Right now, while still doing everything she's always done as a mom and wife, she's taking online classes to complete her degree. If I can be half as successful a mom as she's been, I will have lived a happy life. I know my life was so much richer having my mom always home with me.

Two Questions

So last week Ethan, Jasmine and I moved from our apartment in beautiful Hawaii to my parent's basement in freezing cold Washington State. Between cleaning out our apartment, packing up everything we own into 7 suitcases, and moving thousands of miles with a 5 month old baby, and then taking a trip across the state 4 days later, I've been a little busy. So I'll do two questions today :) Luckily they relate to each other, so that should be fun.

1. Tell me about your father (his name, birth date, birthplace, parents, and so on). Share some memories you have of your father.

My dad's name is Clay James Smith. He was born on September 20th, 1968 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Pamela Jane and Don Mack Smith. He grew up in Utah with 10 brothers and sisters, who he would tell us stories about every night before bed as "Daddy Stories". After high school he went to Snow College on a football scholarship, then on a two year mission in the Lima North Mission in Peru. After his mission, he started courting, dating, and then eventualy married his best friend's little sister, my mom, in the Manti Utah temple on October 2nd, 1992. Two and a half years later I was born, their first daughter!

 

Growing up I remember thinking my dad was the tallest, strongest man in the whole world. He could lift anything, fix anything, and scare away all the bad guys. I remember riding around on his shoulders and dancing on top of his feet. When I was 4 1/2, he got into a graduate school in Houston, Texas, and we moved down there for a few years. I remember a few times emailing him while he was at school and getting so excited when he emailed back. I also remember him practicing his physical therapist skills on me before tests and laughing. 

My dad has always been the funny guy, and growing up I was always laughing at his jokes and trying to be funny like dad. He was always making dumb little jokes that I thought were the funniest things in the world. I think I got my sense of humor mostly from my dad and listening to him tease. Now we both joke together and it is so much fun. 

Dad always made sure we all had special time with him, and I have so many fun memories of daddy-daughter dates and outings together. He took me to dances, out to dinner, bowling with other daddy-daughter pairs, and even now that I'm married with a little family of my own, he took me out to lunch a few months ago and then we made a cheesecake together. 

My most favorite memory of my dad from growing up is that he would come into my room every night before I went to bed, and I would tell him all about my day, what was going on at school and with my friends, questions I had, and just my thoughts in general. He would sit and listen as I spilled everything, and he would give me advice and support, then we would pray together. When I moved away to college, I realized just how special those times were, and I missed talking to my dad every night. I knew he was always so busy, and exausted too, but he made special time for me every night and I loved that. 

Now as an adullt, wife and mother, it's so nice to be able to talk to my dad as an adult and appreciate even more the wisdom and advice I can always get. It's funny, but I'm pretty sure no matter how old I get, my dad will always be just that- my dad. I'll be 65 and still calling my dad for advice.

2. Tell me about your mother (her name, birth date, birthplace, parents, and so on). Share some memories you have of your mother.

Genene Mather was born on November 26th, 1972 to Sharee Genene and Garth Henry Mather in Provo, Utah. She was the fourth child of eleven kids, and the first of five girls. She grew up for the first few years in Provo, where my grandpa worked at BYU Provo, and then they moved to Highland, just a few blocks away from my dad. She went to school there, and we've heard so many stories growing up about their little house in Provo with her siblings and friends, and being on the dance team, doing gymnastics, and being a cheerleader. I always thought it was funny that my dad was a football/basketball star and my mom was a cheerleader. 

I remember my first years of life having so much fun with my Mommy. We went on walks, fed the ducks, went to the library, played dress up, walked to the park, cooked dinner, did dishes, and so many other things. I always thought she was the prettiest woman in the whole world. No one could ever be prettier than my Mommy. I always played with her jewelry and pretty things. 

Looking back, my favorite memory of me and my mom was our after school talks. Much like my dad set aside time for me at night, my mom would listen to me after school every day for at least 45 minutes while I was the only one home. I would tell her about everything, going through the day in my head trying to think of cool things or funny stories from my school day. I loved being able to sit while I was snacking and knowing that I had my mom's full attention every afternoon. 

When I went to college, I really missed telling my mom everything, and I would call her all the time. Gradually though, I started getting really stressed out and overwhelmed with life, and for some reason the part of my life I decide to cut out was talking to my mom every day. I wil never forgive myself for cutting her out and neglecting the relationship she had worked so hard to build for 18 years. I remember even lashing out once telling my mom to stop bugging me so much, without even realizing that what I needed was actually to open up to her more. We had a really rough patch for quite a few months that took a lot of time, tears and pain to iron out.

Now, though, I feel like I can talk to my mom about pretty much anything. She's been there for me in the hardest times of my life, carried me through experiences that I thought would destroy me, and had always known just what I needed to make it through my roughest days. After Ethan, I consider my mom to be my best friend. Especially now that I'm a mom too, I appreciate so much all the work and sweat and blood and tears she has put into raising me. She has sacrificed so much, and continues to sacrifice so much for me and my family to stay safe and loved.

I have no idea where I would be without my incredible parents. I have been so, so blessed.