Father's Day

Although I didn't get not even 1 picture to document the occasion, we went to the early (7:30am) service at First Institutional Baptist Church to surprise Pastor Stewart for Father's Day.  Mark & I, all 5 girls and Ken walked in shortly before the service began and just as if they knew we were coming our old pew was empty and waiting for us, needless to say we filled it up quite nicely.  Words can't describe how many smiles we received from members who hadn't seen us in years.  Seriously, the LOVE in the air was TANGIBLE! Many told us afterwards how good it was to see us walk in just like old times with the family.

When Pastor Stewart walked in and turned around he looked at Mark first and you could tell he was please to see him, then his eyes moved to me next and got a little bigger with a smile, then he kept moving down the row seeing each of the girls and his eyes and smile just kept getting bigger and bigger (IT WAS TRUELY HEARTWARMING!) He was definitely SURPRISED!  He shook hands with the guys and gave me and the girls hugs and told us how happy he was that we were there.  The music was off the charts and Pastor's sermon was awsome as he preached about Sagging, Sexting & Satan.  He texted me later in the day and said that the Smith Family had definitely made his Father's Day very special and I thanked him for making us feel so loved and so welcomed.

After church we stopped by Mesha's and Reggie's new house to see how things were progressing..

isn't this a GREAT Father's Day photo of Dad and His Girls?

BREAKFAST

We stopped at AZ Bread Company in Tempe for a light breakfast since we weren't going to be eating our Father's Day meal until around four pm.

HANGING OUT

Here's a few pictures of the kids just hanging out while dinner was being prepared by none other than our 2 father's.  The plan started out with all of us preparing something for them two (Mark 1 & Mark 2) but somehow they kicked us all out and did it themselves.  Do you think that means that they think none of the rest of us is any good at cooking or can't meet their standards?  Well, you won't hear me complaning, if they want to do it HAVE AT IT!  Now you see why Mark 1 is the official cook in this family because HE LOVES IT!

I have to insert here a little background info on Marcus & Trey ~ prior to what you are witnessing below, Trey would have nothing to do with Marcus, he would actually turn his nose up at him, turn his back to him, anything to send Marcus the message that he didn't want to be bothered. Now this time home for Marcus and he couldn't get rid of the child.  It's like he just discovered a new BEST BUD, he wouldn't leave him alone.  Marcus was great letting both Trey and Boston climb all over him...

DINNER

Our Father's Day menu: Australian Lobster, Beef Short Ribs, Steamed Veggies and world famous Red Lobster Biscuits... YUM! 










I think that we one day SOON we are going to have to order a BIGGER table for family meals... What a GREAT issue to have!

DOMINOS

the boys enjoying a game of dominos...

POOL TIME

I had to do a slideshow for our pool time pictures because there were just too many great photos to pick only a few or to post individually... but you can always stop the slideshow and see the pictures one by one.

FAMILY GAME TIME

 When we all get together, it is always so much more fun than going out somewhere... and it costs a lot less, too.  Time to PLAY!  The kids chose for our family game tonight the game of THINGS - Humor in a Box!This games requires lots of creativity and it's loaded with laughter.  There are no teams with this game,

everyone is on their own and trying to be the winner.  There are topic cards that are designed to provoke thought and  generate FUN!  An example of some topics:

• THINGS people do for a million dollars...
• THINGS you wouldn't do for a million dollars...
• THINGS your parents forgot to tell you...

Everyone takes turns picking a topic, it is read aloud and everyone has to write their response on a piece of paper that is then gathered by whoever is the "holder."  The holder then reads everyones responses outloud and each player gets a chance at guessing who wrote what response.  There are no wrong answers, just a lot of fun but WARNING you won't believe the THINGS you hear.