Here is Mary's winning pieces of art. She won first place for her sketch of Rosie and Doug and second place for her watercolor of the rain boots.

Easter Picture Parade

Anyone look familiar? Pick a favorite picture from a sprinkling of the

Smith Family Easter Parade.

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Come prepared to have YOUR picture taken at our Easter gathering on Easter Sunday, the 24^th at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Days of '47 Pageant

It's time again for the ever beloved Days of '47 Pageant and we have two Smith Family girls participating. Both Sarah and Rebekah are throwing their very high heeled shoes into the ring (because you don't wear hats in a pageant). It is on Saturday, April 16th at 2:00 and then for a second helping and to find out who the top 10 and the winners are come back at 6:30. There is a new feature this year where the girls have a 40 second moment to talk about their pioneer ancestors and I am actually really looking forward to hearing them. The tickets are free and we'd love to see any and all of you. You can get them from the church website under Temple Square Events. I can't make the link paste in here so you'll just have to go click around yourselves.

p.s. (from candace)
Here's a link: http://lds.org/events/info/0,8197,726-1-785,00.html#
to order tickets online click the button in the upper right corner.

cabin dates

Hello family! I just wanted to let you know that I've put the cabin schedule on the calendar to the right. So far I've only added the dates that Grandma and Grandpa have reserved.  If your family wants to reserve a time, just talk to Becky!

And, in case you're interested, here's a sneak peak of our little girl!

Funky Town!

Kathy and Jannae take us on a tour of Funky Town.

Name that movie.....

Turn up the sound for the full effect.

Winter on the Shores of Lake Michigan

Here is some catch up on Thomas. He left the Lansing/Williamston area the first week of December and headed for St. Joseph/Benton Harbor on the east shore of Lake Michigan (the very southwest corner of the State). His apartment is right across the street from the lake on a road appropriately named Lakeshore Drive. Lakeshore Drive continues around the lake towards Chicago. You may remember on the news about the massive blizzard that hit the mid-west. When they showed shots of Chicago they liked to show the hundreds of cars snowed in on Lakeshore Drive near Chicago.

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You can see in the photos that Thomas has his fair share of snow and ice. He also shares with you pictures of typical homes in parts of the Benton Harbor area. He reports that about 30% of the homes are boarded up like that, and that many boarded up homes still have people living in them. The Michigan economy has really been hit hard and has been suffering for years and is only one of two states that goes down in population each year. But Thomas really loves meeting and talking to the people in this new area. His companion is Elder Kohler from Ammon, Idaho -- so he knows snow and cold.

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They really don't seem to mind the weather. At the beginning the work was really tough because previous missionaries in the area the past year or so were not good missionaries. They have now won over the confidence of some of the members so they get better support for rides, etc. Hopefully, the members will now bring some good contacts for them to teach. They spent a lot of time knocking, as that was about all they had to start with. But slowly they have built up a great pool of investigators and contacts. One week they had 22 follow-up appointments which is way high for their mission. Last week they had 17, so all the work paid off. You may have read his email of February 12 where he reported they had an investigator attend church, which is very good for his mission. They are teaching some promising contacts and our prayers are with Thomas and all the missionaries.

We love Thomas!!

Best to all, John.