Dear Family & Friends,
We have had an eventful year. We have taken 2 trips this year. The first “get away” was this past February. We were able to see John’s brother who lives
in LA and Jennifer was introduced to the “Shopping District.” The only other trip we took this year was in
July to Jennifer’s Sister Julie where the rest of the family descended on her a
week later for our Annual Burrell Reunion!
From there we went to Denver for the Medical Conference for Hyrum were
we met some wonderful highly skilled Surgeon’s who evaluated Hyrum’s ear. He has a 9/10 score for Atresia (inner
ear). The only way to get any better
would be to actually have the ear canal! We have been met with Complications of
insurance plans. We hope to move forward
with this in January with a change of insurance plans. We also had friends from Florida come visit
in October and the kids had a ball reacquainting themselves once again.
Hyrum is 7 years old and in 2nd grade. In May we
tried controlling Hyrum’s bowel’s with medication instead of flushes. This was successful for 2 weeks, then went
straight down hill ending in a rash the likes we hadn’t seen since he first
started having dirty (I was told that I couldn’t put in “poppy” because it is a
naughty word) diapers. We did the
appendicostomy in August, this has been working pretty good and Hyrum seems to
be adjusting really well. Hyrum is doing
well in school. He loves his teacher and
keeps her on her toes with his antidotes.
She loves having him in her class and we have been told that Hyrum has a
calming effect on her classroom. He
loves keeping track of the “buddy bench” at recess in hopes to make sure
everyone has a friend. Hyrum is looking
forward to turning 8 years old and being baptized a member of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and “follow what Jesus has asked him to do.” Look for an invitation coming in March for
this occasion, so if you want this coming to a different address, email me at jennifermsmith@gmail.com.
Karl is in 6th grade. He is looking forward to turning 12 next
August (he has a ways to go) and getting the Aaronic Priesthood. He loves going to scouts! He convinced his Grandpa Smith who was a
Scout Master of his own ward to take him on a 3 day Scout camping trip…talk
about Cloud Nine! He even got his own
fishing equipment out of the trip. He
will certainly miss his Grandpa for the next 18 months as they have just left
to serve an LDS Mission in England. But
his Uncle Christopher (who lives 2 homes down and across the street) has
already promised to take him under his wing as he is the Ward Assistant Scout
Master. Karl is a great helper around
the house and loves to help out when needed.
As parents we rarely have to ask him twice, sometimes I go to ask him
and discover it already done.
Sarah is in 9th grade and looking forward to
taking her drivers permit test in May when she turns 15. She is already studying for that! Sarah loves
to play the violin and the piano (well mostly). The good news is that she
sounds great. She is able to listen to a
song, and pretty much play it by ear.
This save’s on music that I don’t have to buy. Sarah is very conscious of our Elderly
Neighbors and check on them frequently.
She has such a kind nature to her.
Rachel will be 18 way too soon for everybody in the
family! She is a Senior in High School
and due to some very hard work on her part she is on track to graduate with her
Associates Degree this Spring. She is
hoping to do a BioMedical Engineering Degree at the University of Utah next
Fall. She will be getting her wisdom teeth
out this week as we tease her that she will lose all her wisdom. Rachel is now working on her 3rd
piece of piano music that she has written.
Now we just have to get her to put them on a CD to share. Rachel loves spending time with her family
and friends. She enjoys going to swing
dance club even if she and her cousin are the only ones there that they know.
Jennifer has been working at McKay Dee Hospital in the
Emergency Department as a Critical Care Tech for a little over a year. She works part time to cover our family
Health Insurance. After a year of
learning curve, she can finally say that she enjoys the work and the people. By only working 2 days a week, she is able to
be at home and keep up with the house, the kids and their homework (well
mostly). The kids have been a great help
in keeping the house clean (especially for weekends).
John is still self-employed.
Despite the ups and downs, we have been the most stable doing this than
any other company in the past that’s in a hurry to build a product and let all
the programmers go. We have been doing this
for about 5 years now. The kids have
enjoyed having him around more, as he isn’t able to really work when they are
home! But they do love having their Dad
more accessible.
May you all have a
wonderful Christmas Season with many blessings come your way in the New Year.
Love the John & Jennifer Smith Family
