Kieth & Deb Cruise the Caribbeean!

January 10th - 18th we cruised the beautiful Caribbean with 6 of our friends & had an AWESOME time! Here we are on the Princess Kay private Island where we hung out on the beach all day long! How relaxing!

Don't we look smashing in our beautiful orange life vests here?!? Gotta have the drill before you can sail!

Here we are by one of the 'magic' palm trees on a tropical island!

Coming back to the ship after a day of snorkeling at Grand Turk ~ what AWESOME snorkeling I might add!!!!!!

We attended an evening show every night after our supper ~ which we thoroughly enjoyed! The whole trip was just great & we would highly recommend you all take a cruise sometime too!
Deb

Scott's Visit to HAWAII!!!

Papa comes to Hawaii!!! Megan and Papa looking for lava rocks on the west side. Electric Beach

Scott on the west side near Kaena Point.

Diana, Megan, Papa, Me and Emma stop and check out the view of Kole Kole Pass.

One of the days was spent renting a hog and Dad and Diana "rode the island"!

Scott and a huge sea turtle, North Shore.

Papa, Me, Emma, Megan and Tom with a HUGE MONK SEAL!!! Turtle Beach

Papa caught a crab and him and Megan had soooo much fun playing with it!

Diana, Emma, Megan and Papa with a sea turtle. Turtle Beach!

Scott and Diana, west side, Paradise Cove.

Dole Plantation!

Papa and Emma at the laua at Paradise Cove!

We had a fun filled week, don't ya think! A few other stops included Pearl Harbor, Waikki (from the boat, lol) Macadamia Nut Farm, Mackey's Shrimp Shack, the flee market, of course the harley store and lets not forget about China Town , hee hee, hee even if it was cause they got lost. It was so much fun having them...we miss you already Papa!!!

Pheasant Season Opener ~ West River Style!

Every year for years now we Smiths host a pheasant season opener hunting day for the Olivier crew. This year proved to be a very fun time by all who attended! Lincoln was able to come home for it as his football team played on Thursday night this week, and Chancie & Aaron got to come & bring Aaron's Dad with them, whom we all really enjoyed the company of!
Tucker's faithful dog 'Buddy' proved he was a very good 'bird dog' throughout the day so here he is by the day's bounty!
I was gone with Colby to a volleyball tourney (they came in 2nd - did very well!) until the time this was in the beautiful sky - so we missed out on the hunting day, but Chancie & Mom kept the masses fed & Mom captured the photo opportunities here so we have them for posterity! Great job Donna!!! We did get to share the evening & supper with those that were still here to eat at the end of the day - so got to hear the stories. A couple of Lincoln's buddies came over to join in on the hunting fun too so that was even better!
It's been a good day!
Deb

Jay & Nadine got Hitched!!

In a small ceremony in Deadwood...Jay & Nadine got hitched. Jack McCall (the gun slinger who shot Wild Bill Hickok) officiated... it was pretty cool!! :0)

Also in the pic above are Jay & Nadine's best friends who made the treck across the state in their honor!! Congratulations Jay & Nadine!!

Philip was "Capital for a Day"

Look at the nice sign that welcomed the State Staff when they arrived at Philip High School yesterday!
Colby and Dana had a little fun playing some 'game', with the cell phone (after school hours of course! No cell phones allowed during school hours!), some game that is evidently hard to explain - but looked like they were having lots of fun!
Governor Rounds was kind enough to pose for a picture with Colby & we got Dana to stand in too! Thanks Dana! We had a fun day & Colby thought it was pretty cool having you there! Well, I really enjoyed having you there too actually!
This year's All State Chorus members sang the National Anthem at the start of the program & led the audience with the singing of "God Bless America" at the end at Gov. Rounds' request (pictured). Colby is the Philip Alto for All State Chorus this year - how fun! (That will be in Sioux Falls on November 1st!)
At the very end of the evening, Governor Rounds was so kind to pose for a quick photo with some of the kids that met with him earlier in the day for a question & answer period. Wish they all would still have been around (there were 29 of them at the meeting - top 6 or so from each class). But it was very nice to be able to get this picture of at least this many!
It was a very big day for Philip & I think we presented ourselves well. I was the 'photographer for the day' so have many photos to remember the day with!

It has been an extremely busy week and we have our 1st football game tonight & our 1st volleyball game tomorrow night (Miss Colby is SO excited for that!!!), so the weekend doesn't prove to be any slower! (Lincoln had their 1st football game last night - haven't talked to him yet but I heard on the news that they lost - the freshmen are all red-shirting, so stood with the team on the sidelines in their jerseys the way I understood it).
Hopefully by tomorrow though I will give everybody an update on the house - today I have sports buttons to crank out & football t-shirts to sort through - and people to feed at noon...

Have an awesome weekend!!!

Deb

Happy Back to School Everyone!!!

Wishing everyone an awesome year! Bring home good grades!!! make lotsa new friends!! and most of all, have fun and enjoy! Love you all!!! :0)

5 generations!... x 2

Jackie, Great-Grandma Donna, Reece, Great-Great Grandma Brink, Papa Scott, Riley, Brady, KaciJari, Alyn, Great-Grandma Donna, Great-Great Grandma Brink, Papa Scott & Arly

and Jenna's two girls, Megan and Emma are the other 2 great great grandkiddos... are there anymore?!??!

HOW SWEET IT IS!!!

xo!
loves to you all!