Braces

                                                                        Braces
                                                                   by Derek Ely

Getting my braces I would say was not the best thing that ever happened to me. My braces have been treating me well. My doctor who put my braces was Dr. Maxwell. I have to have my braces in for 1 to 2 years. When my doctor was putting my braces on it felt wierd because it felt like he was putting on some wierd fluid. After he put in the braces I wanted them off because I thought I looked really ugly with them on. Now I don't care how I look because my teeth are straighter and I can't feel them.

Family Reunion July 5, 2012

This is Claire, Stephanie, Derek, Tate, and Eli.  Here we are at another Smith family reunion.  It is great to see how much everyone has grown.

Derek got this funny t-shirt in Washington D.C.  He loves funny t-shirts.

Here are more of the Grand kids, Stephanie, Landon, Gavin, Brandt, and Asher in the front row.  Claire, Micah, Eli, Tate and Derek in the second row.

Hanna, Adrienne, Claire, Stephanie, and Finley in the back row.  A funny story, Finley would not come for the picture, so her Mom is holding her on her shoulders hiding behind Tate.  Kelly is so funny and such a good sport.  We sure are lucky to have her in our family.  I love to take the kids out to visit Kelly and Eric and their kids.  They are so much fun and easy going.  I also always get a great recipe to try from her.  Eric is always so appreciative of her, he is a great example to Derek.

The whole family.  I sure am lucky to have such and incredible family.

Janna is in the process of adding quite a large addition to her house.  It was great to see it.  I can't wait to see the finished project.  (I know Janna is even more excited to see the finished project!)

This is Adrienne, Claire, Hannah, and Grandpa having a great time together with a dash of Asher thrown in for spice.

Here is Aunt Kelly, Uncle Eric, Finley, and Derek

Derek's Braces

Keeping Hannahand Derek healthy

This has been the summer of the doctor visits.  It's a good thing my job is so incredibly flexible.  Both Derek and Hannah had dentist appointments, Derek also had an orthodontist evaluation appointment to see if he needs braces. . . He does.  Derek had two separate appointments to get his braces on.  They put the upper set on first then schedule another appointment for the lower set.  Both Derek and Hannah needed to get their eyes checked and Hannah needed new glasses so we went for an appointment at the eyeglass store.  Derek got contacts so we needed to go several times to make sure they fit properly.  Hannah also needed to adjust her prescription for her contacts so we went several times for her as well.  Hannah also had a suspicious birthmark on her back that I took her to her pediatrician and then to the dermatologist.  We got her birthmark biopsied and it thankfully came back benign.  Hannah also has been fighting what we all though was a very tough wart.  I have taken that poor girl in about 100 times to get it frozen off.  We finally had that biopsied and it came back as a benign bone tumor!  I doesn't stop there. . .  Hannah fainted one morning.  She got an EKG at her pediatrician and he recommended that she see a heart specialist at Primary Children's Hospital.  I took her there and they wanted her to wear a heart monitor.  Her heart rate was down in the 40's which is quite low.  Fortunately she is OK but he wants to see her again in 2 years.  This picture is of another suspicious birthmark the dermatologist wants us to monitor.  We took a picture of it with a ruler so that we can document and follow it to make sure it does not change shape/grow.
  Whew!

Father's day

We went to the grocery store and bought out the candy section!  We got this great idea for Father's day from pinterest

These are pictures of the backsplash.  It is so nice to see it coming together. 

Author on my plane

This is picture of a passenger manifest I had today.  I had a great author on my plane today.  He is the author of the the Lightning Thief series and many others.  He was so niche and so excited that I recognized his name and expressed the joy my kids have received from reading his books.

I sure do love my job.  The kids were so excited.  It was neat to be able to share this day with them.  I was very grateful that they are interested in me and my days.