CYPRESS : Council Honors City’s Family of the Year

Brad and Robin Smith and their three children are the city’s Family of the Year.

Mayor Richard Partin presented the Smiths with a plaque after the City Council announced that they had won the annual Family of the Year competition.

Each year, families are nominated for the honor, and a volunteer committee picks the winner.

Partin, in reading the city’s proclamation, said that the Smiths “have been found to be fine examples of a loving family and active in their church.”

Partin added: “There is a great deal of love and devotion in the Smiths’ home, and the Smiths are a close family who enjoy camping trips and strive to include both sets of grandparents in all family outings and activities.”

Brad Smith, an educational consultant, grew up in the city and attended Cypress High School and Cypress College. His wife, Robin, a homemaker, grew up in Fountain Valley. The couple have lived in the city for the past four years and have two daughters, Amber, 9, and Autumn, 6, and a son, Landon, 21 months old.

Robin Smith said she did not know the family had been nominated until she was told they had won the annual honor. “I was surprised but thrilled,” she said.

She thinks spending time together is essential to maintaining a strong family.

“We plan family vacations and spend quality time together,” she said. “At least once or twice a week we do things totally involved as a family. We also are involved with our girls’ school and things like that.”