June 10, 2008
Dearest Family,
Dang, I was going to have a
ghost writer do this letter (Brent or Michael) so it would be funny and
entertaining, but since I waited so long it has become necessary to do the same
old boring thing. Inform you of your
family’s doings over the past year. For
this information I go directly to the source, the standard bearers, the second
generation must take the blame or the credit as circumstances warrant. Those of you who have contributed know who
you are.
First, the important
part. The family party (reunion (?), the word has such a bad connotation,
and this shindig began as an option and I want it to stay that way, so come
only if you want to and think you will have fun) will be held on July 5th of the current year in Ralph’s
and my back yard. That is a
Saturday. The “official” party will
begin at 6:30 with a flag raising (does anyone have a flag they need to retire? If so you may do it with the family here in
the back yard, or you may get the information to me and our family will do it.
Either way let me know as we need a good hot fire with coals and we need to
start that). Previous to that, say 5:30 at the earliest, however,
there will be some play facilities in the back yard. If the weather permits (The weather has not
been conducive to our playing in the water much, it is reminiscent of a year
when on Sept. 17th, we sat in the back of a pickup in front of the
little white house where Kent and Sharon were living shucking every drop of sweet
corn on the farm. Having picked it ahead of a hard frost in a summer that
wasn’t hot enough to bring it to full ripeness we thought we might be loosing
it, because it was still so young. And
then, it was our best corn, and forever after we picked it young and tender on
purpose. Or the year we sat on the
Coleman Ranch under blue tarps and around a fire making brownies in the
trailer, because it was raining the entire time, while the 24th
parade in SLC was so cold that the few people who attended wore coats. ) there
will be a water slide so bring whatever clothes will work for you.
Five heads of families please
think about donating $25 to buy the meat for the party. We probably won’t ask you for it, so you will
need to just do it if you feel you can.
Important for Next Year: I swore
that I was writing this letter early enough in the year that I was going to
request that each family (and smaller units if desired) was to write a family
song (Kent’s family could actually have a competition as they have so many
candidates to write it, Kent and Sharon could divvy up a monetary prize). That would give us 5 songs to sing to each
other. Well, it is too late for this
year, so I am putting in my request for next year. I would like each family to write a family
song that would be fun for you to sing to us.
I will be contacting some of you about writing one for Grandma for her
and Grandpa and their five kids. As we
all have grandkids etc. it will appropriate to include all the generations that
are born.
Food Assignments:
Kent and Lynn: Salads (please confer within families to
vary, and who really cares?)
Brenda: Fruit/vegetables
Wayne: Desserts
Diana: Hot Dishes
Now to family news:
Mom/Sybil/Grandma I’m very sad
to report that Grandma is failing. The
other day she forgot the birth date of one of the great grandchildren. Additionally, she has been known to misplace
a word here and there that she has known all her life and can’t think of right
at this moment. Furthermore, she is only able to weed the garden on the south
of the driveway by lying in the driveway, a very unsafe practice, by the way,
and she can only keep up to weeding the gardens in the back yard. And I bet it has been 6 months since any of
my kids wanted to call and check with her on some obscure knowledge that we
were debating! And she wasn’t positive she’d mailed all the May birthday cards,
so there! See what I mean? It might behoove you to stop by and visit
while she still has some few of her wits about her (or you can wait until she
has degraded to a point where the rest of us are currently)!
Really her health is doing quit good except for the acid
reflux and the arthritis that keeps her hurting. She has been to LeVan a couple of times this
last year but hasn’t traveled anywhere else.
However, Aunt Lois and Bindy were here to visit Mom and stayed with her
for three days. Aunt Lois is loosing her
mental capacity to some extent and Bindy, well, what can we say of Bindy, but
it is a test of Mom’s patience.
One evening, a few weeks ago, many of us in the valley gathered to weed
Mom’s yard and kind of pull the place together for the spring. It was good to see everyone and to work
together in a common and noble cause. We did pull a lot of weeds. Brenda and I (mostly Brenda) is trying to get
something done with the forest. We have
to let the greenery go there, it is just impossible to take care of. But note the park strip and trees on the west
of Mom’s house because Brenda is responsible for getting that mess taken care
of.
Grandma is still taking care of the storage lot and that
keeps her busy. Grandpa has been dead 5
years last January. She still has her
driver’s license, but doesn’t drive at night or to unfamiliar places. She loves you all. You are so important to her, every last
one.
Kent and Sharon First I thought you might be
interested in some of the information from the farm. They are milking about 720
cows. 65 to 70 dry cows. There are about 670 heifers, young stock,
that are being raised. Under cultivation
are about 750 acres of the 800 the farm consists of and about 80 acres they
rent. The crops are: corn silage, wheat
(some for grain and some cut and baled), alfalfa. On the dry ground they grow grain or
safflower (which is a cash crop to sell for bird seed). The farm is being hit hard by the cost of
transportation and feed. A bushel of wheat has gone from $6 to $60. Transportation to move the milk is about
$50,000 a month with fuel prices the way they are. They definitely are being hurt by the policies
in Washington of paying farmers in the Midwest to grow corn for bio-fuel rather than feed and
food and replacing wheat with corn. Also
the refusal to drill or open the oil wells in the US is hurting them even more than
it is hurting all of us. So…hopefully
things will break loose.
Kent and Sharon are still working and living both in Salt Lake
and LeVan. Kent
is the Ward Mission Leader and Sharon
is teaching Relief Society. They spend
most of their time chasing grandkids and ball games. It seems that pretty much
all the family is into sports in a big way.
Alison and Curtis will be welcoming Ben home from mission
in July. Alison is working as the school
secretary. Her health has been better
this year, last year she really struggled with that. Curtis’ work is pretty dead right now. That is discouraging what with the new house
and the payment that goes with it. Jared
has moved up to Utah and lived with Kent and Sharon
for about 3 months but now has an apartment in Provo.
He is spending all his days fishing or sleeping because he works
nights. Katie is a CNA at the hospital
and has a missionary out in the field.
Megan will be a Senior this coming year.
Brian has been dead for 16 years on June 19th. Cheryl and Richard are still in
Panquitch.
Cheryl still runs Main Street, which
is sort of their Bring-in-the-people program.
She is still teaching drama.
Justin returned from his mission on April 16 (where did that two years
go?) and in working in the motel and will return to SUU in the fall. Kyle is doing well as the Zone Leader in Roswell, Georgia
and will have been out a year in July.
Josh graduated from high school this spring and will go to SUU in the
fall. He was All State
in several sports in 1A play. Brianne is
taking drivers training and playing sports and will turn 16 in September.
Brent and Terry are doing well. Spent about 3 weeks in Africa (Tanzania) and England this year. It was a humanitarian thing for the
church. Terry’s engineering students
built (invented?) a coconut oil press, and they took it down and taught the
people how to ue it. On the way back
they revisited Brent’s mission. Zoe is in the American Fork Marching Band and
got to travel to New York
to be in the Macys’ Thanksgiving parade.
Same is playing sports and Daisy will be baptized this year, having just
turned 8. Jeffrey is just a cute kid
playing sports.
Heath and Kathy are fine and still living in the Valley,
because Heath turned down a job managing the park system in Cedar City. It was a lateral move and meant selling their
house etc. and it didn’t appear to be worth it.
Heath is running the parks for Riverton City. Kathy is working for IHC. Heath loves to fish and Kathy is doing a lot
of genealogy. Lindsey is playing the
piano.
Kirt quit his job at the Clements Group (they held it for
3 months hoping he would come back and told him he could) because the Davis
Arts Council offered him the job of Director.
It is not as much money, and he is working harder, but doing what he
really loves. He took a trip to Costa
Rica this year. Jerry is still managing director of Plan B
Theater Company. He was ranked 6th
among the 25 most influential people in the arts in Utah this past year and that list includes
people like Robert Redford. They are living in SLC.
Andrea and Jarom welcomed little Lilli into their family
in May. All is well there. That gives them 4 beautiful girls. They are still living with Kent and Sharon. Jarom is working in the Young Men’s
organization and making money at Novell.
Emma is in 2nd grade, and Rachel and Hannah are busy being kids.
Wayne and Family Wayne is doing same as always. He is serving as the High Priest’s
teacher. Health is his biggest
issue. He found out he has diabetes this
year and of course that is discouraging. Arthritis is his constant companion,
as with the rest of us. He is attending
the temple regularly in his spare time.
Amy was married to Frank Rasmussen of Arizona this spring. The wedding was held in
the church house with family and close friends.
It was a very nice ceremony. She
has two kids. Amy is working in a
doctor’s office.
Julie and Jeff are doing the school and work thing. Julie is working at The Crab Shack and Jeff
is working at Spaghetti Factory and going to school. He was just accepted at the U and is going to
be a college level math teacher. They
are living with Wayne
right now. They have 2 girls and a
boy. Brittany is their oldest and she has opened
her own pet care business. Wayne says he doesn’t know
if she has any customers, but she is 13 and has great ideas and ambitions.
Josh
is a roughneck on an oil/natural gas rig in Vernal. They are drilling for natural gas. He works one week and is off the next. The week he is on he works 85 hours and then
goes home to Layton
for the next week. The have 2 kids and
Shalece is a stat at home mom.
Dustin
has been promoted again with Walmart. He
is doing very well. They live in Casper, Wyoming. They were here in town this spring being
sealed together and with all their children (three girls) in the Jordan River Temple.
Camille is a Stay at home mom, though she does some at home child
care.
Chad is working for Wells Fargo. He is the Team Leader on the Collections
end. Venus is still working for
Comcast. She is up for promotion and
will be able to work from home. They
live in West Valley, pretty far west! They have two children, both boys and one more
baby boy on the way, due in October.
Melissa
is a stay at home mom. She is the
president of the PTA at Pingree
School. Their little boy has just made huge progress
at Pingree. He is so much more
independent. He is really on his way at
this time. Bob is a foreman for a
company that makes huge shipping crates (Wayne
thinks that’s what they make). Bob is
doing really well and they live in Sandy.
Nathan
has no marriage prospects at the moment, but is looking. He is opening his own landscaping
business. Good business to be in these
days, no one does their own yards!
Natalie
is almost 18. She is working on
graduation and wants to attend college this fall. She is looking to go into pre-med and work in
some form of pediatric orthopedics. She
has several boyfriends, but one is special.
Karen
and Jeff are doing great. They live in
Taylorsville and Wayne
has 5 great grandchildren by marriage. I
guess he beat us all!
Lisa
is living in North Salt Lake
and works for the State of Utah.
Brenda and Gary Brenda and Gary are well and as
I write this letter Brenda is in Japan with Jennifer and Randy and
their kids for three weeks. The flight
over took 24 hours. Ugh! Gary
finally finished that 70 day job out in Vernal that took him a whole year of
being gone all week. Gary
is in the Scouts and also the man in charge of building the set for our Stake’s
production of Savior of the World which is being held in the old Valley Music
Hall, which the church owns now and I can’t
remember what it is called. This is a big deal and the set is a big deal. They have just finished their basement and it
is gorgeous. Gary did most all of the work. Brenda is going to teach one more year of
school, a lot to keep the insurance and because Gary is not ready to retire. Brenda is back
in Young Women’s as the Beehive teacher.
Jennifer and Randy are ½ way through their 3 year stay
there. The kids are learning some Japanese
(let’s see if Ralph can talk to them when they get back) in school. They go off for wonderful adventures every
weekend. Trust Jennifer to make sure
they get the very most out of every experience that comes their way. They were hit by a typhoon. But since they live on a concrete base they
weathered it well. Jennifer, can’t you
email me and let me include that experience in the next letter? Their kids are all well, growing, and doing
wonderfully in school.
Holly and Lee are celebrating their little Luke’s first
birthday this June 13th.
Holly was just released from primary president and has been called to
the Activity Committee. Lee is doing so
well in his career. The BLM (?) is
wanting him to move to SLC and work up here (he is in high demand) but they are
sure they want to stay in the country (Richfield)
and I don’t blame them. Who wants to live in SLC if your kids aren’t here? Lee
has had a lot to do with the flood plains and the fires in Central
Utah. Their kids are busy
being kids and ding very well in school, playing sports, swimming and having
fun.
Chris and Allyson are trying to sell that beautiful house
they built and decorated. It is too big
for them, they say! Also, of course, if
they build and sell, then will soon be living in a house with no mortgage. Allyson has gone back to school to get an
education degree in special education.
That would be three of us in this family. Chris and another guy are trying (and will)
to buy the company that they work for.
Their boys are doing well and being kids and having such a wonderful and
fun life out their in Wellsville. Makes
me remember old West Jordan
when all of us were growing up.
Brad and Myrissa are living in Phoenix and Brad is doing so well in his
ob. He has his master’s degree. His thing is water. He was even published in an engineering
magazine! Cool! Very much in demand in
his job. Myrissa is the primary president and participated in some theater they
are doing down there. It was a series of
One Act plays over several months and Myrissa appeared in two of them. Gabriel was in one of them, too. Brad and
Myrissa ran in a triathlon (maybe a half of one, Brenda says). Exactly what
does that mean?? Probably the distance
was only ½ as long as half of a bike, or half of a swim would not be so
good. All their kids are very well and
doing great!
Neal and Lori are well.
They still live in Eagle
Mountain. Neal want to go to work for the Church
Philanthropies. He loves the kids, but the repetitiveness of teaching bugs him.
(That’s why I like teaching more than one subject!) Certainly, if he gets this
new job he will be great at it. Lori and
Neal have taken up scuba diving and spent a week in Cancun. Yeah!
How exciting! Their kids are
good. Kate’s eyes (do all of you know
that she was born with a situation where her eyes dart back and forth quickly,
forgive me Lori, if I am not describing this correctly) are actually doing
better and she can see. She is an angel
and both of the girls are just beautiful and doing well.
Diana and Ralph I am out of school for the
summer, which only amounts to about 9 weeks now, but I really couldn’t do it if
I didn’t have the summer off. Ralph is teaching Sunday School right now. He is teaching the 12-18 year olds and that
is still only 6-8 kids. Our ward has
changed! I’m the Relief Society
president. Ralph is still working for
the church in the maintenance department of the print center. I am still teaching drama and reading. Ralph’s dad died in February. His mom is living in Legacy House assisted
living in Logan (Ralph’s sister is up there), so
we go to Logan
more these days. We took a short trip to
St. George this spring and saw one of my former students in a play at
Tuachan. It was very refreshing. We spent the last six months of last year
remodeling our bedroom and bathroom.
Ralph and the boys did everything except move the rough plumbing. I was very proud of them. They have gotten good with crown molding,
tile, sheetrock, etc. All these skills
come in handy! Of nine grandchildren
only 2 are girls.
Anne and Mike are doing very well. Mike just got a promotion at his work (Fidelity)
and a raise to go with it, so they are happy.
Daniel will start school this fall and he is already reading. Kind of began just like Brent and Mark. Just figuring out that the letters are
symbols of sound and they go together and make words, and then…reading
happens. Anne says the most interesting
thing about her and Mike is that they are trying to exercise and get in shape
and they begin their workout at 10:00 at night.
Anne is also doing another history for an old Bennion Family and getting
paid for it. Mike is in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency and Anne in the Relief
Society Presidency.
Mark and Jennifer have 3 boys and a girl. Mark is still working
for Medicity and doing well. He likes what he does, though he swore he would
never be a programmer. He traveled to India for his
company to do some investigating, etc.
Jennifer is working part time for a day care, mostly because she wants
to be out among people. Braxton and
Kaitlyn, their twins, begin kindergarten this fall. Mark is serving in the Young Men’s and
scouting (he does summer and winter camps) and Jenn is in Cub Scouts.
Michael and Robyn had baby Ethan since last year and he
will be a year old in August. Michael
works for Discovery Research and is now director of IT for them. That is an advancement for him and more money
for his family. Michael is the Elder’s
quorum president and Robyn is teaching Sunday School and working on the
activities committee. Robyn has
graduated from beauty school and is NOW TAKING APPOINTMENTS! Michael and Robyn are working on their yard
and getting it in. It was a MESS! Worse than starting from scratch.
Sara and Dustin have one son, who was one in May. His name is Parker and he is walking and
running all over the place and his favorite thing is to throw everything in the
bathtub while Sara is showering. He thinks he is the funniest person in the
whole world, but Dustin and Sara don’t so much. They are still living in Magna
for the time being. This is very nice
for me, because sometimes I can go to her house for lunch or to get a massage
or to just escape the madness. She is
only a few blocks from my school. Dustin
is working full time for Rocky Mountain Detailing as a steel detailer (Dustin
calls this a glorified drafter) and his bosses like him very much and are
willing to work around his school schedule. He is doing well in school and
should be done at SLCC soon and on to the U of U. Dustin says he personally
turned SLCC into a 4 year institution and that people who are in school as long
as he is are usually doctors. Sara is
receiving all As in Dustin’s English classes, too. Dustin is also in the
Elder’s quorum presidency and Sara is teaching adult gospel doctrine. They flew
to Alaska
with Parker this spring to visit one of Sara’s college roommates. They were gone for a week and had a wonderful
time.
Lynn and
Gail Lynn and Gail are enjoying life in Levan.
Lynn is still
trying to keep the old farm equipment running well enough to farm. The
crazy weather is not cooperating with the crops this year, so we are hopeful
that we will get enough sunshine for the crops to reach maturity. He is
the Levan Fire Chief which is sometimes very time consuming between the
training and meetings required, not to mention that they do get called out on
fires and some accidents. He is serving as High Priest Group Leader. Gail
works at Juab Title and Abstract Company as an escrow assistant, and tries to
keep up with the house and yard in her spare time. She is teaching Sunday
School (16 and 17 year olds) in the ward.
Amanda is living in
Provo and works
for Lowes in the Plumbing Department. She is known in her neighborhood as
the project lady. She provides neighborhood entertainment with her
constant projects like cutting down giant trees with her sawsall and then
tearing the trunk apart with her shovel, or trying to find a backyard where
there was a junkyard. She is winning. Greg (12) was just called to be the
deacon’s quorum president, he happens to be the only deacon right now but we
are still proud of him. Monica is doing very well in the 5th
grade, and Jeff is all boy in the 4th grade. Little RuthAnn (age 2
½) is very small, only weighing 23 lbs, with wet army boots on. She
speaks 2 languages, English and Spanish, usually mixed so no one can understand
her. Amanda sometimes has to call her daycare provider to translate.
Lori is living in West Jordan and works at Ruby Tuesday’s in Park City. This winter she landed a killer job at Park City Mountain Resort as a Mountain Host. It was great fun and she got to snowboard every Friday all winter. The bad news about the job is that the salary was $0. Oh well, the price we pay for our fun. Her husband Cory is driving truck for Handy Trucking and almost every day drives from the Point of the Mountain to Nephi and gets to honk and wave at Gail when she is at work. Cory was just ordained to the office of an Elder and we are very proud of his accomplishment. Cory and Lori are teaching the Sunbeams in their ward. Adam (9th grade) is a typical teenager with hairy legs, pimples and shaggy hair, but he is loved anyway. He skate boards and plays video games. Sierra is doing great in 2nd grade this year. She loves to sing…Lori hopes it will soon be in tune. Paige (2) is talking up a storm and wants to do everything herself. Of course she is not spoiled or anything like that.
Lori is living in West Jordan and works at Ruby Tuesday’s in Park City. This winter she landed a killer job at Park City Mountain Resort as a Mountain Host. It was great fun and she got to snowboard every Friday all winter. The bad news about the job is that the salary was $0. Oh well, the price we pay for our fun. Her husband Cory is driving truck for Handy Trucking and almost every day drives from the Point of the Mountain to Nephi and gets to honk and wave at Gail when she is at work. Cory was just ordained to the office of an Elder and we are very proud of his accomplishment. Cory and Lori are teaching the Sunbeams in their ward. Adam (9th grade) is a typical teenager with hairy legs, pimples and shaggy hair, but he is loved anyway. He skate boards and plays video games. Sierra is doing great in 2nd grade this year. She loves to sing…Lori hopes it will soon be in tune. Paige (2) is talking up a storm and wants to do everything herself. Of course she is not spoiled or anything like that.
Kay and Ryan are
living in Levan. The other day they came to visit and the boys went into
the basement and decided it would be a good idea to turn on the
treadmill. They then took the clothes off of the Barbie dolls and
proceeded to let the treadmill sand the breasts off of the dolls. There
is never a dull moment when they are around. They just finished their
basement and are trying to get a yard in. Ryan is working two jobs, one
roofing, and one building doors at CR Doors & Molding. The Best News
is that Kay is expecting again, and this time, after 4 boys, it is a
GIRL, due on September 5. Branden (just finished 1st grade)
and Jace ( just finished kindergarten) both did very well in school, and Ashton
is excited to start Preschool next year.
Paul and Elisa are
doing well since the quarantine was lifted. Paul continues his world-wide
travels for MI-6’s front company - L-3 communications - under cover as a
simulations I.T. technician, while Elisa mans the Bate-cave and feeds him intel
from home. We are pleased to announce that 5-year-old Emily’s lump was
successfully removed (she is back to her day-job as a tooth model in
tooth-brush ads), and Zachary (3) has finally achieved his black belt in Hun
Gar Kung Fu (he’s a bit of a late bloomer). All in all, they have nothing
to complain about, although that could easily change if a Democrat gets elected
this fall (steer clear of Paul if that be the case!).
Rebecca and McKell had their 2nd boy on
February 20, 2008, they named him Conner, but Lynn was having a hard time remembering his
name, so in a senior moment he renamed him Cromwell, and it seems to have
stuck. McKell is still working at Wheelers in the Machine Shop and
Rebecca is back to work at American Diamond, working nights so they can trade
off taking care of the boys. Caleb is busy being a kid and is in his
second year of pre-school. Rebecca has done a great job of decorating their
house. McKell gets to help, lucky him.
End of family letter for this year! Remember that any of you may send me things
you believe should be included in the letter.
It is important to remember that all of us want to know what is going on
in your lives and while the letter is not a brag fest (family life is not a
competition) things that happen that share your lives, are fun, funny or fuzzy
make great stories to put in the letter.
All my love,
Diana
No comments:
Post a Comment