Books Read in 2022

Here are a list of the books I read in 2022. The books with an *asterisk means they were book club books. The books with # pound symbol means I gave it 5 stars. I listen to about a dozen of these books a year on Audible. 

1. A Royal Christmas Quandary by Samantha Hastings *#
2. The Hideaway by Lauren K Denton
3. The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story by Hyeonseo Lee*#
4. Silent Souls Weeping: Depression-Sharing Stories, Finding Hope by Jane Clayson Johnson*#
5. The Spirit of Revelation by David A Bednar#
6. The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
7. Off Balance by Dominique Moceanu
8. Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body by Michael Matthews #
9. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
10. the Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
11. Freedom's Ring by Heidi Chiavaroli
12. Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster *#
13. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
14. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles*
15. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
16. Without the Mask by Charlie Bird
17. Lakeshire Park by Megan Walker #
18. The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel *
19. Essentialism by Greg McKeown *#
20. Longing For Home by Sarah M Eden
21. The Invisible Man by HG Wells *
22. See Me by Nicholas Sparks
23. Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
24. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear *
25. The House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea (didn't finish; got 2/3 through and put it down because of loads of bad language and vulgarity)
26. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
27. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham*
28. Christmas by Accident by Camron Wright *

2022 Christmas Newsletter

 

Another year has come and gone. As always there are ups and downs, highs and lows through the journey of life... "the trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." Here are some of the things we've thanked the Lord for in 2022:

• Family time. All of it. The work, the play, the laughing, the visiting. This includes our Garnica family reunion here in Utah and a quick marriage getaway for Scott and me to St George where we hiked in Zions National Park. 
• Friends. Game nights, playing pickleball, going on hikes, running with friends (running w/friends is something Elisabeth and I both do). This includes a trip to Buena Vida orphanage in Mexico to work and play with dear friends. 
• Work. Jane has been tending dogs and other pets, Annabelle cleaning the elementary, Charles is a Subway sandwich artist  and he did an electrician apprenticeship this summer, Elisabeth works at a copy center on campus at BYU, I am an aide at the elementary, and Scott continues to do civil engineering. We are grateful for the gift of work.
• Learning. Elisabeth is studying at BYU, Nora at the elementary, Jane and Annabelle at the Jr High,  and Charles at the high school. Scott read 10 books this year and I read 27 (I listen to about a dozen a year so I can get other things done while I'm 'reading'). 
• Play. Jane is in gymnastics, Annabelle and Nora are in soccer and Charles likes to play airsoft. We love our family and friend game nights, hiking together, and 'pickle-balling'. This also includes a Senior trip: Scott took Elisabeth to England where she loved going to Harry Potter world among other things. I went to Boston with my sister Becca and brother Luis and ran the Boston marathon. 
• God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the greatest blessing of all. He is everything. He adds light, hope and joy even when times seem dismal and bleak. Scott and I loved serving with the youth this past year. He attended Young Mens camp with Charles and I attended Young Women's camp with Jane and Annabelle. Charles attended an adventure youth camp. And now I am loving serving with the women in Relief Society. We're grateful for all the people we get to know and love when serving in various areas. May God fill your life with love, joy and peace this holiday season and throughout the new year. We love you!  

The Smith Family

Scott, Elisa, Elisabeth(18), Charles(16), Annabelle(14), Jane(12) and Nora (10)

Christmas Happenings and Lani and Spencer moved in!

 Elisabeth finished her first semester at BYU! She came home Saturday December 17th and gets to be home for 3 weeks before she returns to BYU! 

This year for neighbor gifts we gave out bags of oranges with 'The Chritmas Orange' short story included. 

We also gave a lucky few neighbors (and co-workers) some sugar cookies as well. 

Jane had her first Xcel gymnastics meet; well it was more of a practice meet. She did great!

We made gingerbread houses one day; we bought 2 kits and graham crackers and candy to make more houses. They turned out cute. 

We were watching Saige so she made a house too. 

Nora had her first orchestra recital. She decided to try out the violin this year. They played well. 

She's in orchestra with several neighbors and friends. 

We got matching pajama bottoms from the store Five Below and did a little photo shoot. 

Thursday before Christmas we drove through Christmas In Color. 

Saturday, Christmas Eve, we did our annual ice skating tradition and we asked the Ludwigs if they'd want to come with us since last year we both went but our appointment times were off by an hour. 

Christmas Eve dinner we made Strombolli and pizza and Christmas Day we had enchiladas, rice, beans and guacamole. 

Elisabeth often sleeps in Jane's room when she visits. 

Christmas Eve we also made our overnight cinnamon rolls, which we enjoyed Christmas morning. 

A month ago, my 26-year-old niece's (Lani) rental burned down. She's been living in a hotel since. The week before Christmas we offered to have her and her son Spencer come stay with us for awhile so she can go back to school and we can help with spencer. She took us up on the offer and the day after Christmas she started her drive to Utah (we had been keeping close tabs on the weather from here to there and they had some storms in Washington so she had to wait a few days). Monday the 26 they drove to Idaho and stayed with Becca and then Tuesday they finished the drive here. 

Wednesday was Lani's 26th birthday and we celebrated with her favorite sugar cookies, plus Grandpa Garnica's recipes for rice, beans, enchiladas and guacamole. She's been busy getting a lot done since she's been here: she signed up for the CNA program and started the online portion, she's applied for multiple jobs, she got her car registered to Utah and we're still working on getting her drivers license (she was waiting on a birth certificate in the mail). We're also still working on getting Spencer all registered for school; with the holidays, everyone is out of office and not working so we may have to wait until school gets back in session. 

December Pre-Christmas happenings

The girls got to go to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point with the youth group. This was an activity I had planned before I was released from my calling in YW and I'm glad they all got to go. I still have yet to go. Maybe next year. 

I work as an aide at the elementary. I'm in the copy room for half the time doing work for the teachers, and the other half of the time is spent out at lunch recess. Sometimes we help teachers with their bulletin boards. This is one we did for Winter. 

Scott and I still go on our weekly dates, as we have during our entire marriage(we used to do more in-home date nights when the children were young, we didn't have family around, and we couldn't afford babysitters). We ate dinner at Aubergine. I love that place. And I love these Kevita drinks. 

Elisabeth got us tickets to the Christmas devotional at temple square. She also got tickets for her and her roommates. 

The lights at temple square are up and beautiful! We weren't sure if they'd have them up this year with all the construction going on with the temple being redone. 

Kassie invited me to go to the Jazz game with her. This was my first time. It was so much fun! A guy from the Jazz team and a guy from warriors team got in a fight, and so they had to stop the game and review videos. And they had a bunch of body guards on the floor while that happened which is in the picture below. 

Kassie was gifted these tickets from her work that morning (she's a lawyer), and they were in a suite which made the experience even more enjoyable! We were able to sit 5 rows back from the court,  they brought us dinner in our suite, which we could eat at any time, and then at half time they brought out dessert. It was such an exciting game! The score was so close the entire game and in the last 13 seconds we were down 5 points, but then our Italian Jazz guy made a three-pointer and then he got the ball back right away and dunked it! So cool! 

It was a snowy night! But Kassie did great on the roads!

Buddy the Elf in the crowd! 

Dad's 96th birthday was on December 10th. We made the foods he made and loved, like refried beans, enchiladas,  mexican rice and guacamole. While we ate dinner we shared memories of Grandpa. Nora didn't have any since she was only 4 when he passed away. Jane didn't really remember much either. I'm glad I have a couple of videos and some pictures too. 

Have I ever mentioned that Jane is getting really good at doing nails? Look at these cute Christmas designs! 

Jane added BeReal to my phone so that she could use it with her siblings and a few friends. I don't use it. I don't even have an account. But I end up in a lot of their BeReal posts/photos or whatever they're called. It take a picture of what's in front of you and what's behind you, once a day at a random time.