Sister Spotlight: Rachel Howells

Rachel Howells and her cute family moved into our ward in May. Her journey to our neck of the woods is full of lots of awesome stops along the way and here are a few:

She’s the fourth of nine children and was raised in upstate New York. She earned money for her mission as an au pair (nanny) in Germany and, a year later, was called to serve the people of Argentina. After her mission, Rachel attended Brigham Young University in Provo and that’s where she met her husband, Dan, who was a student at the University of Utah. His cousins were friends of Rachel’s and he would often hang out with them. Soon after they were married, they moved to Oregon where Dan attended optometry school and Rachel became a mommy. They lived in Idaho while Dan interned at an Indian Reservation and Rachel finished her bachelor’s degree and had another baby. When Dan became an optometrist for a pediatric neuro ophthalmologist in New York, the family moved to a 100 acre farm where they mastered the art of growing all sorts of vegetables and herbs. They had six children, five boys and one girl, by the time they moved to Utah. 

Dr. Dan is our local optometrist and owns Cornerstone Vision (by Kneaders) and Rachel homeschools her darling children. The family loves to hike, bike, camp, rock climb, and anything else that involves the outdoors. The kids also participate in theater and were just in the Riverton Arts Council’s production of Alice in Wonderland. Rachel helped build the awesome sets. She also enjoys reading and the occasional well-deserved nap. We love having the Howells in our ward and are excited to get to know them even better!

Sister Spotlight: Tiffany Tracy

The Welcoming Committee would like to introduce another sister that has moved into our ward in April: Sister Tiffany Tracy.

Tiffany was born and grew up in Kaysville, Utah, being the youngest in the family of three girls and two boys. She met her husband, Stephen, while going to college at UVU in Orem. They have two children: a daughter named Riley who is 2 ½ years old and a son, Beckham, who is 5 months old.

An interesting story is that her husband, Stephen, served a mission in Seattle and became acquainted with his mission president and his family. After he returned home and dated Tiffany, Stephen discovered that his mission president was Tiffany’s uncle. So many of her family members already knew Stephen before she did.

Since marriage, they have moved eleven times with six of those years living in North Salt Lake accepting promotions with Target Stores. They moved to Riverton five months ago as the manager of the West Jordan Target store.

Some of Tiffany’s favorite things to do are going shopping and doing crafts, and she is now learning to sew. She also enjoys sports and has a mom who is a personal trainer who would love to teach a class in our Relief Society! Her mom works at Gold’s Gym.

Her favorite restaurants are Mexican restaurants; however, she says that she could eat breakfast cereal three times a day. Like with most of us, one of her guilty pleasures is chocolate.

Let us all welcome Tiffany as we see her in the hallway and in our meetings at church. We are fortunate to have this sweet family in our ward!

Sister Spotlight: Holli Waters

The River Rose Welcoming Committee would like to introduce you to Holli Waters and her family. Since they have been in our ward a few months, many of you may have already met Holli.

She was born and raised in Sandy, Utah, and is the daughter of Bryan and Debi Polsen and a sister to Julee Ann Hamilton and Burgandy Keddington who all live in our River Rose ward. She is number five of six children in their family and is the youngest daughter.

After becoming a nurse at UVSC, she met her husband Brayden in 2004. They lived in Herriman for a few years and then moved to Riverton. Her husband works as a Maintenance Manager for South Jordan City. They have three children: Braxton who is 7 years old, Hunter who is 4 years old, and Annalea who is their little one year old.

Holli works from home on call as a Triaje nurse for Hospice receiving calls from Georgia all the way to Hawaii. She is also the director of a Beehive Home in Riverton. As most of us know, Holli grew up in a singing family and loves to sing. She enjoys arts and crafts and is learning sign language.

Her favorite food is roasted veggies with baked chicken, and when asked about her favorite calling, she said it “has to be working in the Young Women’s program.” A few of her guilty pleasures are watching “Real Housewives” and “Fox News,” which helps pass the time away while waiting for calls coming in for work.

It was an enjoyable time visiting with Holli. As we all know and love the Poulsen family, let us all get to know Holli and her family as well. We are so happy to welcome you, Holli, and your family into the River Rose ward. 

Sister Spotlight: Katie DeMonja

Katie DeMonja grew up in Brigham City, UT. She has 2 brothers and 1 sister and is the second oldest in the family. She attended Utah State University and got her degree in technical writing. Katie and her husband, Nathan, knew each other in Brigham City while growing up, but started dating in college. After dating for two years, they got married in the Logan Temple. Nathan is a teacher at Oquirrh Hills Middle School and teaches English and history, and Katie is a stay at home mom. The couple have two beautiful children: Lucy who is 1 year old and Ben who is 3 years old. Katie's hobbies are painting, sports, and playing the piano. Her favorite callings have been in the Young Women and Primary.  Katie's goals for the future are to buy a minivan and a house, paint more often, and study the scriptures. Her guilty pleasures are reading and eating treats. She started running with the 'Stake Fun Run' last spring and is trying to keep it up. 

Sister Spotlight: Olivia Peterson

Olivia was born in South Jordan. She has three older brothers and one older sister, making her the “baby” in the family. She married Kyler Peterson last July, so they are our newlyweds in the ward. Kyler is the manager of T-Mobile in downtown Salt Lake.

She received her medical assistant nursing degree, and is planning on going back to school to receive her Bachelor's degree in nursing, which should take about three years. Before her move to Riverton, she worked at The Huntsman Breast Cancer Clinic.

Volleyball is her favorite sport--she played competitive volleyball in high school--and she still loves to play whenever she gets a chance. In her younger years, she learned how to play the violin. Italian food is her favorite cuisine.

Because her mother is a travel agent who owns her own agency, Olivia and Kyler are able to travel with hotel and other benefits. For instance, to help celebrate her grandparents 60th wedding anniversary, her family went on a Carnival cruise in the Caribbean. She, her husband, and other family members are going to Disneyland this coming week to celebrate her sister’s birthday. I’m thinking that we all need a travel agent mother in our family!

A FUN fact about Olivia: She has always loved Olivia the Pig cartoon character and because of this, on her 12th birthday, her mother gave her a real live Pot-belly Pig! Since her move to Riverton, her pig is staying at her mother’s house.

It was an enjoyable time visiting with Olivia, and we are so fortunate to have her and her husband living in our River Rose ward. Take the time to say hi to her and welcome her into our ward. To know you is to love you, Olivia!

Sister Spotlight: Linda Gallagher

Linda was born and grew up on an island in Rhode Island called Aquidneck Island. Some of her family still live there. Linda is the oldest child in their family, with one brother and three sisters.

Because she and her family grew up Catholic, Linda went to Catholic schools with nuns being her teachers. She became a member of the church after marriage when missionaries came to her door. Five months later she and her husband were baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 Linda has five children- four sons and one daughter. Two of her sons and their wives live in Utah (Herriman and Cottonwood Heights) while the other two live in Boston with their families. Her 16-year-old daughter, Megan, is busy in the Young Women’s program and planning on going to girl’s camp. Linda has ten grandchildren who range in ages from 7 months old to a 7 year old, with three of them being triplets! So she has all babies in her family.

Linda loves crafts, riding horseback, and photography. One of her guilty pleasures is enjoying ice cream. She and her daughter were able to fly to Boston this past April, and Linda is planning on returning for a vacation in August which happily means also driving to Rhode Island to be with family.

It was such an enjoyable time visiting with Linda. What a sweet sister she is! Be sure to say hi to her when you see her in the halls and our church classes. To know you is to love you, Linda and Megan! We welcome the both of you into our ward!

Sister Spotlight: Cindy Cherry

Sister Cindy Cherry has lived in Riverton for four years, but with the new ward boundary changes, she has been in our ward for 3 weeks. She is the oldest child in her family, having two brothers and three sisters. She was born in Florence, Alabama. Since her father had been in the Navy, they moved around almost every year, being in most of the United States. During her high school years, Cindy lived in El Sereno, California (the Lost Angeles area) where there were lots of problems with gangs. Cindy was always scared going to school and glad to be home safe when school was over.

With missionaries knocking on her door when she was 16 years old, Cindy liked what she heard, enjoyed the spirit they brought into her home, and in telling her mom who was Catholic that she would like to invite them back, her mom said, “If it makes you happy, Cindy, then invite them back.” Cindy was baptized a few months later. She lost her closest friend when her mom died at 53 years old when Cindy was 29 years old. She still misses her terribly!

Cindy met her husband when he was serving a mission in the town where she was living. After his mission, he came back for her and they were married in the Los Angeles temple. They have four children: two sons who live with their families in Herriman, one son with his family in Heber City, and one daughter, Dani, who is living with her. Cindy loves her seven grandchildren ranging from the ages of 7 months old to 18 years old. 

Her hobbies and talents are crocheting, making Christmas ornaments, and crafts. Her favorite restaurant is Los Hermanos and her guilty pleasure is Belgium shell shaped Chocolates. She loves sea shells and has them all around her home.

Ten years ago Cindy started working at Church Headquarters at the Joseph Smith building in the Family History department. She had to quit her job and was put on permanent disability since she is suffering from nuropathy from her both knees to her feet having no feeling in either of them. She gets around in her motorized wheelchair. 

Cindy is such a compassionate person with a wonderful sense of humor. She was told what a happy person she is living in her wheelchair. Her answer was “You don’t have to look too far to see people a lot worse.” And...”Life’s a choice. You can make it be crappy or make it joyful. I prefer to live it joyfully!” 

To know you is to love you, Cindy! We are glad that you are now in our ward!

Sister Spotlight: Darlene (Dolly) Kellogg

Here is the spotlight for Sister Darlene (Dolly) Kellogg. Unfortunately, she moved out of the ward recently, but several of you got to meet her and we thought you'd like to know more about her. Thanks so much to Sister Mandy Marquardson for getting to know Dolly and writing this up for us! 

Dolly was born on August 28 in San Francisco, California. When the nurse brought her to her mother, she said, "Here is your little Dolly" (that is how she got her nick name).

Her father was in the military, so she spent a number of years in foreign countries, like Germany and the Philippines. Her family moved to Boise, Idaho, where she graduated high school. It was in Idaho that she was Queen for the Idaho, Oregon, Nevada Appaloosa Association and rode bareback broncs and bulls in rodeos. 

Her husband Bob was her secret high school sweetheart. They met in a graveyard in Idaho and were married five weeks later. She joined the church soon after they were married. They have nine children together and have been married over 50 years. During that time they have lived in over 23 places, mostly due to Bob’s job as a ranch manager. Dolly loves horses as well as all animals. Her favorite place to live was on a ranch in Wyoming, where she had an array of animals. She loved to go camping on horseback in the mountains with pack horses.

Sister Spotlight: Juli Brown

Our sister, Juli Brown, was born in Utah and grew up in Highland, Utah with 2 brothers.  She has been married for five years to husband, Adam, and they have a two year old son named Ryatt.  

Juli injured herself in September 2013 while jumping off a picnic table and is now suffering from back and leg problems.  She has gone to many doctors for tests, X-rays, MRI's, etc since her injury and because of all this and being in a lot of pain is now damaged by her pain medications prescribed by many different doctors.  

She has always loved dancing and working as a dance instructor teaching children at the intermediate level of dancing and does hope to return back to this job she loves in the near future.  Because of her dancing abilities, she received a dancing scholarship.  

She also enjoys singing and has been singing in front of an audience since two years old.  She was in the Miss American Fork pageant twice and won 1st runner-up two years in a row.  

She and her husband, Adam, moved to Georgia a few years ago and also lived in South Carolina & Virginia.  They were glad to return back to Utah because of the many hurricanes and tornadoes they experienced in the South.  

Her husband, Adam, is employed at Vivent Home Security Co. installing security systems in homes.  Some of Juli's favorites are making cookies and her favorite foods are Mexican and Italian.  She also enjoys rock and roll music.  

Juli is such a sweet sister and we all need to get to know her better.  She is now able to come out to Sacrament meeting with her husband and son but because of her injury is not able to stay for the rest of her meetings.  She expressed her thanks for the many sisters who have brought in food and who have helped her...some who she says she never even knew their names.  So want to thank all of you for helping her.  Let's keep Julie in our prayers.  Her main goal in life right now is to get better...soon!

Sister Spotlights: Connie and Heidi

When our River Rose Ward boundaries were changed, Sister Connie Wilson became a member of our ward. She presently serves as a Primary Achievement Day Leader for the 8-9 year old girls. Connie was born in South Salt Lake. She has two brothers and one sister. Connie and her husband had three sons and two daughters. Her first child passed away during childbirth. Her husband passed away 14 years ago. Her children all live in the Riverton area with Connie living with her son Ryan and Heidi and their four children. Two of her children are police officers (a daughter and a son) and her son, Ryan who is our Bishop, works for Deseret Book. She has twelve grandchildren and one great grandson. She has always loved sports. When she was younger, she loved bowling, snowmobiling, riding four wheelers, hiking and camping. She says that anything outdoors was her passion. Connie and her husband enjoyed reading, learning, and studying together history biographies such as The Biography of Abraham Lincoln and reading about many of our Mormon pioneers. For 35 years, she and her husband owned a river rafting company called "The White Water West Rafting Company". She says that "they ran rivers" on the Snake River and other rivers in Utah. Her favorite food is "all foods" but especially Mexican and Italian. Connie says that, "living with her son, Ryan and Heidi and her four grandchildren is like a little bit of heaven." We are so grateful having Sister Connie Wilson in our River Rose Ward.





Sister Heidi Wilson joined our ward when our River Rose Ward split. Her husband is our bishop, Bishop Ryan Wilson. Heidi was born in Salt Lake City and lived there most of her life. Heidi is the oldest of four girls. Her mother and father are still living in SLC. She and her husband Ryan have been married for 17 years. Eight years ago, Heidi, with her husband and four children, moved to Riverton, Utah. Their children are Whitney, age 13, Jayden, age 11, Brinley, age 7, and Haylee, age 2. Ryan works at Deseret Book. Heidi is enjoying her calling as the 8-9 year old Primary Achievement Day leader which is held in Heidi's home. Her hobby is that she loves cleaning her house and being with her family. She also enjoys camping with her family. The Texas Roadhouse is her favorite place to eat. While Heidi is busy with her four children, she also works for Discover Card as the senior collections manager from 6 am to noon. Although all their family will be going waterskiing and May and they all love the outdoors, their favorite vacation spot is Disneyland. She says that she loves everything Disney. We are so glad you are in our ward, Heidi, and bringing our Bishop with you! Thanks for being our bishop's wife and supporting him in this busy calling. To Know You is To Love You, Heidi! --contributions by Barbara Davis, Relief Society Welcoming Committee

Welcome Brunch

We had a successful Welcome Brunch on Saturday, March 9th.  We had a pretty big turnout, but we also missed all of those who couldn't make it.  We ate some crepes with fruit and sauces and quiche.  Then we went around the room and introduced ourselves, sharing some interesting facts about our lives.  It was enjoyable getting to know one another.

Sister Oliver shared her recipe for the quiche:

Crustless Spinach Quiche

Prep time: 20 minutes             Cook time: 30-40 minutes                   Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

½ - ¾ cup onion, chopped (recipe called for 1 chopped onion, as made at brunch, but I would decrease)

10oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

5 eggs, beaten

3 cups shredded Monterey Jack (recipe calls for Muenster, but it is very expensive so I used Monterey)

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9” pie pan.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft. Stir in spinach and continue cooking until excel moisture has evaporated.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. Add spinach mixture and stir to blend. Scoop into prepared pie pan.

Bake in pre-heated oven until eggs have set, about 30-40 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

(This recipe is from allrecipes.com)

February Relief Society Activity: Journals

I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I will try to remember them in the future!

Our Relief Society activity on February 11th was wonderful.  The topic was journaling.  We had three speakers.

First up was Spring, returning to our ward as a guest speaker.  She talked about some of her family's history of journaling and told some fun stories about some of her ancestors.  Then she talked about how she got into blogging as a way of journaling.  If you already have a blog, you can turn your blog into a book.  The website Spring uses is Blurb.com.  Here are her instructions:

First, choose the tool you want to use to create your book.  You may have to do some downloading.

Second, you will be directed to choose the size of your book.  Pricing information is available on this page.  This is also where you choose the title/author of the book.

Third, choose your layout.  You can use one of their starter layouts or create it on your own.  If you select "blog to book", it will give you a page to choose your blog service and your login information so they can directly download the information from your blog.  From there, it will identify your blog and you verify that it is correct.  All of your entries are then retrieved by the system, and a list of your postings will come up.  you can choose which entries to include in your book.  (Note from Jenna, having done many blog books myself using this website, comments that people have made will not show up in your book and obviously if your blog is comprised of a lot of videos, you may want to revise and include pictures too so they can be put into the book)

Fourth, you can select photos from your computer or certain photo sites to add to your book (another note:  the blog to book option will slurp all of your photos from your blog posts to the book, so you won't have to find those on your computer again to put them in the book).

Your book will be presented in editing format.  Edit away!  (Jenna would highly recommend editing and compiling pages that consist of your blog entry plus all the photos that you can put on one page because these books get expensive the longer they are--an 80 page book is about $50).  When you are finished editing, you can click on Order Book.  Just a few bits of verification and your book will be on the way!

Next up was Barbara Davis talking about her experience with journaling.  She included quotes about journaling that she got from the church website.  To see those quotes, follow this link.

Barbara showed us many of her journals and talked about what to write about.  She talked about writing about the things her kids did, including the birth stories, and of her grandkids.  She also told us about typing her journals on the computer, printing the pages out and gluing them into her journals because it's so much faster than writing.  She shared her testimony of journaling.

Last, we heard from Carie Jones' 17-year-old niece, whose name escapes me.  She shared her testimony of journaling also, and it was a beautiful testimony.

If you have more questions about journaling or blogging, I'm sure that Barbara Davis and Spring would be happy to help.  I am also available if you have questions about blogging or creating a blog book. 

Sister Spotlights: Lurbyn Arely Ramirez

Sister Lurbyn Arely Ramirez has been in the Ward for 8 months, her calling is a Visiting Teaching Supervisor.

Lurbyn was born in Honduras, Central America. As a child Lurbyn’s family moved to New York State and soon after that Lurbyn, her mother and sister joined the Church, that was 48 years ago and then they moved to Utah. Lurbyn grew up in Provo, Utah.  Went to BYU and for four years was in the BYU Latin American Folk Dancers Group and has a minor in dancing. She also was a teacher’s assistant in some dance classes at BYU as a student.  Can you tell she loves dancing?

She is the younger of two children. At present her sister is serving a mission with her husband at the MTC in Mexico City as the Mental Health advisor. She worked 32 years for the LDS Family Services and recently took an early retirement. 

Lurbyn lived in San Diego, California, and as a single parent she finished raising her three children: her oldest son who served a mission in McAllen, Texas and after his mission met a girl from St. George, Utah and they were sealed in the San Diego Temple.  Her second oldest daughter met a returned missionary who served his mission in Bolivia, he is from San Diego and they were also sealed in the San Diego Temple and her youngest daughter is still single. So far she has 4 grand-children.  Lurbyn really enjoy her children and grand-children and spends as much time as she can with them.

Lurbyn has served many callings in the church: She has been President, counselor and teacher of Relief Society, Primary and Young Women. She has worked for the Church 17 years and enjoys it very much. She also loves dancing, reading church and health books.  She loves and enjoys life, and she is so grateful to Heavenly Father for she has been so blessed throughout her life and by her family joining the church, she was able to grow up with the gospel in her life.

We are so happy to have Lurbyn in our River Rose Ward.

River Rose Temple Run

January: Attend the Temple and perform a temple ordinance, limited use, or work toward receiving a recommend.

February:  We will gather on a Monday evening (TBA) for a River Rose Ward Family Home Evening.  Please bring a picture of a temple that is special to your family and share the story of why.

March: Everyone (primary children, adults, youth) is invited to participate in our temple art gallery.  Make a sculpture or drawing or your favorite temple.  We will gather to admire our pieces of art, enjoy each other's company, and have an ice cream sundae bar.

April:  As a family, walk the temple grounds, or visit Temple Square.

May:  We will gather as a ward family and watch the movie "Mountain of the Lord."  A movie isn't complete without popcorn and treats.  TBA

June: Ward Temple Week:  Attend the temple as many times as you can during the week.  We will end the week with a testimony meeting to share our experiences.

Tabitha

What an enjoyable time I had visiting with a new sister in our ward- Tabitha Slaughter and getting to know her. Tabitha and her family moved to Riverton four months ago.  While visiting with her, I was impressed how her young daughter, Macey, got out her coloring book and crayons and quietly colored those pages while us grownups visited with no interruptions. 

Tabitha was born in Cerritos, California.  Besides her mom and dad, there were six other siblings.  At the age of 5 years old they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico until she was 12 years old.  She described how wonderful it was to live nearby where the Balloon Festival takes place every year, and how she watched those beautiful, large balloons filling the sky. 

At the age of 12 years old she and her family moved to Woods Cross, Utah and then at 16 years old to Waukee, Iowa.  While in Waukee she met her husband, Eric, who was not a member of the church.  Being impressed with Tabitha’s lifestyle of being a Mormon, he visited with missionaries and was eventually baptized. 

Shortly after they were married in Waukee her husband joined the Army and they moved to Arlington, VA. While there, Eric who was an honor guard, performed many funerals at the Arlington cemetery…usually about six funerals a day. This is where their son, Caden, was born. Caden is now 8 years old.

The army moved them to Columbus, GA where Eric was a drill sergeant at Ft. Benning for two years.  This was their first ward together as a Mormon family.  Eric spent seven years in the Army. They had their second child, Macey, while in Columbus.  Macey is now 4 ½ years old.  

Off to Utah they went where they now live on 134^th Street managing the Storage Units.  Eric is also working towards his Master’s Degree taking classes two days a week at the University of Utah.  Their third child, June, five months old, was born in Utah.

Tabitha enjoys quilting and has made some beautiful quilts.  She also loves cooking, baking, and playing the piano. She enjoys working out which she is not able to do as often as she would like now that she has three small children.  Impressive that she and her husband ran a marathon.

Tabitha is so easy to talk with.  She has a sweet personality.  When you see her in the halls and classrooms, take time to say hi to her and you will see what I mean about how sweet she is!  So glad that she and her family has moved into our ward.  To know you is to love you, Tabitha!

Letter from Caspersons, December 30, 2013, 38 Weeks in Africe

Dear Family and Friends,

 

We've had such a busy month in December that today feels like a real vacation.  We had four people pull in our driveway this morning (three missionaries and their driver) who were on their way to pick up three other missionaries because their visas have expired and they are making a quick trip to Kenya to get their visas stamped their, then they can come back into the country for 90 more days without paying exhorbitant fees for the expiration.  Whatever the case, they were "starving".  We hated to see one elder "starve" because he couldn't have weighed more than 120 pounds soaking wet, but the other two looked like they could have handled starvation for a little while longer.  However, being the nice people that we are, and the fact that we just happened to have some waffle mix in our refrigerator (another story), we fixed them all breakfast and then they went on their merry way.  It wasn't even 9:30 before they LEFT our home, so we were stuck with making our own breakfast again (we hadn't eaten yet....or maybe that shouldn't have to be an explanation...whatever), and then do all of those dishes.  Our favorite thing...NOT!  Nevertheless, they will all be back home tonight in Uganda and the problem will be semi-solved, like many other things in a mission.  It's kind of like being on the telephone on hold and listening to music.  After a while you realize you've been listening for months and it's time to go home and someone else will just have to make that phone call again and listen on hold for their 18 months.  Not much gets totally resolved, but when it does, we're definitely happy!  The visa problem is one of those kinds of telephone calls.  Snore!

 

So, we have attached photos of our safari.  It's definitely not all the photos you will get.  We have some videos, too, but I've been told by other resources (mostly senior missionaries who have kids to help them solve these little computer problems) that we can set up a site through Google that will allow us to download our videos and then you can receive them and play them.  The most famous will be the full elephant sauntering behind us about 30 yards or so.  Wait a minute, it was actually in front of us.  We spotted him from the road while going on a last effort trip to see if we could find a lion to photograph.  So, he's by a tree minding his own business, and we decide (with our guide's permission) to get closer by going off road and getting so we could really film him better.  He was flapping his ears back and forth and the guide said that it was to cool himself off.  He's all alone, and we're in two trucks, we are behind the other truck, but only feet away.  So, this elephant starts to walk from north to south.  He's eyeing us, but doesn't seem at all bothered by us.  It's not like we're talking loud or anything, but we're definitely saying a few things and how great it is to get such a close up shot of an elephant all alone, etc  We're totally out of our trucks, but not far from them.  So, he saunters about 50 yards inbetween some trees and then stops and stares at us.  He turns and looks like he's going to go the other way, and suddenly turns back toward us and starts charging.  WE FREAK OUT!!!  He could have squashed us like ants under a shoe, but instead the guide starts clapping her hands and that elephant (who, by the way weighs between 6 and 7 tons) just stops in his tracks, turns around and walks away.  It was exciting and scarey at the same time.  We're lucky we had bodily control.  I got him on film running toward us a little bit, but I hear myself say, "Uh, OH!" and I turn it off and get in the truck.  We backed out of their and got going pretty quickly.

 

We saw baboons, including a new baby baboon...so ugly it was cute.  But, the hotel people chased them off because the baboons will steal your stuff. They were right by the pool area and I was lounging reading a book and there must have been about ten of them.  Of course, I didn't have my camera, but they came mighty close to where I was and I thought they were going to grab my glasses, but the hotel guy came and chased them off.  They've been known to be a nuisance, but of course, you're willing to put up with it if you have never seen them before.  It's kind of like your kids, after a while you get used to them and then they don't bother you any more!

 

We took the "African Queen" (what else) which was a nice two-decker pantoon boat over to the beginning of the falls.  It was a mile and a half hike up and it was steep, but we seemed to make it ok.  Of course, sweat, red faces, twisted ankles, hurting knees, and bug bites cannot figure in to the equation, as we figured some of us would suffer since we don't hike like that every day.  Heck, we don't hike like that every year, but some were in better shape than others.  You could not stay clean on the hike.  No way...because sometimes you had to sit on your bum just to get down a little rock slope so you wouldn't kill yourself for the climb to the next height.  Nevertheless, all of us who tried the hike made it and it was worth it all the way.  The scenery was beautiful and there were actually two falls that formed into one deep ravine that was more water than anyone would need to provide to electricity for all of Africa, it seemed.  We took pictures at the top and hung around for a while.  There used to be a bridge across the falls, but it was gone, and we decided that we wouldn't want to be the people who designed and built a new one...those waters were rapid.  Someone told us that the tribal kings used to throw people into the falls for kill them and if they didn't die, they didn't worry because they knew the crocodiles would eat them when they got to the bottom.  The river itself isn't that deep.  We saw hippos everywhere and if they would step up into position, they were in shallow water.  Now, the hippos were a little creepy.

 

We could see their eyes everywhere!  The first night we saw them it was getting almost dark and it looked like a bunch of rocks, but in the end, it was hippos.  They come of for air,and if they know someone's around, they get their eyes out of the water to make sure you're not going to attack.  If they had a baby boy hippo, the females would try and keep them out of their little group by literally pushing them away.  The females would protect their own.  And they are huge.  The little baby hippos were so cute, but you know, a brand new baby probably weighs about 200 pounds, so you can imagine what the mamas look like!  We did see one dead hippo and the baby was right by it.  The guide said the crocs will not attack babies because there's not enough meat on them, but they will kill a bigger hippo.  This poor baby didn't know her mama was dead, but we did....we think the smell tipped us off besides being tipped on her side and was in total rigormortis.  Just sayin'.

 

Of course, with all of this adventure, we had a great hotel and had buffets three meals a day.  Some of us would come to the table and ask why we were even there, because it wasn't from hunger!  We had a senior missionary meeting during all of this that was great and also had a little Christmas white elephant gift exchange. Someone actually got "white elephant" book ends.  It was funny!  Another person got their dream gift, a white T-shirt and socks, we got a bag of chocolate chips all the way from America, and Dad got a humanitarian T-shirt.  About a dozen people got salad spoons and forks from the gift shop in the hotel...evidently there may have been a sale on those, but it was hilarious in the end.  By the time people had gotten to number 30 or so to choose their gift, that was all that was left, and of course nobody wanted them anymore.  However, I don't have any, and was thinking maybe I shouldn't have been so stingy about those chocolate chips, but truthfully...I wanted them BAD!  President Chatfield got some toffee coated peanuts and his wife let him keep them but made him share them at our other Christmas party two days later, so he probably got about half a bag to himself. 

 

There's more to all of this stuff, but I'll just have to tell it another time.  Tuesday we had Christmas Eve with the elders and sisters, had 33 plus ourselves and served teriyaki pork roast with pineapple over rice, a tossed salad, rolls, and spice cake with ice cream.  There wasn't anything left.  We also had gifts from the mission for all of them, and because of some special friends in the U.S., we had a bag of candy for each elder and sister especially for them from our friends and us.  We played lots of games, once of which was which was a minute-to-win it game where you had to put a cookie on your forehead and try and use your facial muscles to get it into your mouth without using your hands.  We laughed so hard at that and one elder we thought my wet his pants he laughed so continually.  We watched "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" and "Joy to the World" as well, and had a lot of fun for about six hours, and then we sent them all home before it was too dark as we had elders from some distance who needed to travel home.

 

We've also had a wedding this week and it was beautiful.  It was the marriage of one of the girls in the mission office and one of the guys here in Jinja.  They've been best friends since they were little kids, both served missions here in Africa (they're Africans themselves) and it was a really huge event.  We went to the reception, all of the senior missionaries having made potato salad to go along with the other food.  There was African dancing and of course, karaoke.  We stayed until almost the end and that's when they cut the cake.  The couple and their bridesmaids and best men, etc. come down and they are all dancing and they get to the cake and then they light these fireworks kinds of things that stay lighted for a while.  Then they dancing around the cake and have two chairs at one side.  Then the couple sit in the chairs and they have already sliced some of the cake and they share the cake with each other.  Then they take cake to the bride's family first and serve them some cake.  Then they take cake to his family.  When the bride served the cake to her new husband's family (who were all women who helped raise him since his mother, father and all brothers and sisters are dead), she bowed down and served from the knees, which is the utmost respect.  These women loved it.  When these women got up to tell her family about their "son" Moses, they all danced to their designated area and then they (as old as they were) bowed down to the bride's family.  So, when the bride bowed to them, they were very, very happy about that.  Anyone could have some cake after that, but we left, because December had seemed to be one big, sleepless, getting ready for everything in the world month, and we were just tired. 

 

So, now you see why today seems like a vacation.  We're just doing normal stuff for P-Day..including laundry, etc.  We almost had to go to Rwanda this coming week, but thankfully we get to stay here.  There's not doubt we'll be sent in the future at some point to do something for the mission president, but we're okay with not having gone this soon after so much has been in the works.  We'd like to get back to normal things, like our meetings and trainings.

 

More to come in the future, but for now, CJ, we hope your birthday was great!   Ryan, we're celebrating yours in a big way.  The entire world is taking the day off in your honor, except here in Uganda.  It's just another day to them.  Oh, and Ethiopia...their calendar says that next September it will be 2007.  So, they're behind our calendar a bit, so think of how young you are there!  We were thankful to talk to our kids on Christmas Day and my parents.  We pray for you always and hope things are going well in your lives.  After hearing your voices and seeing some of you through Skype, it was a most rewarding Christmas for us. 

 

Thanks to others who sent Christmas greetings.  God bless all of you.

 

Love,

 

Mom and Dad, Ed and Kim, Grandma and Grandpa

 

 

Mckenzi and Marilyn

Mckenzi Dixon:

In the middle of a cold snap - 16 degrees and snowy - Mckenzi Dixon shared that her favorite vacations involved sunshine and the ocean: renting a beach house on Mission Beach in San Diego for a week and taking a Caribbean cruise. Ah, can't you just hear the surf???   But back to reality...

Mckenzi's birthday was May 2nd and she is a senior at Herriman High School.

When she was in 5th grade, the Dixon family moved to their home on Crimson Patch Way from West Jordan.Mckenzi is the only girl in her family and has 3 brothers. To her chagrin, she is not treated like a princess!

Mckenzi is very fortunate to have her great-grandmother, now 104 years old, still living close by. Another family distinction is that her maternal great-grandfather, Elder Robert L. Simpson who passed away in 2003, was a General Authority who married her parents in the Salt Lake Temple. 

Some of Mckenzi's likes are: drawing, film studies and painting. Shrimp is her favorite food, and like many of her peers she enjoys dancing, movies and music.

On the verge of turning 18 in a few months, Mckenzi has one foot in Young Women's and one foot in Relief Society. If you see a cuddly, dark-haired young woman snuggled up to her mom, Kami, in Relief Society some Sunday, please stop and say hello. Watch for those dimples to appear!


Marilyn Bluth

Marilyn Bluth moved into 5046 W. London Bay in July. She is finding that one-by-one, siblings, children, and other family members are moving to the Herriman area. Marilyn recalls a time when Brigham Young sent a member of her family to settle this area. It is like a homecoming of sorts!

Born in El Paso, Texas, Marilyn's parents moved the family to Utah when she was 14. As an adult she moved to Oregon and lived there for 20 years before moving back to Utah to care for her mother who suffered from Alzheimer's. After her mother's passing she felt it was time to move. And we are the lucky recipients!

Marilyn has three children: a daughter in Pocatello, a daughter who moved next door and is renting the Davis' family home while they are serving a mission in England, and a son who is attending school in Eugene. She has five grandchildren, whose visits are always a delight; and also has a cat, who is more like a child than an animal!

This is a stressful time of year for Marilyn working as a dispatcher for Fed-Ex and trying to get everyone's presents delivered on time! When not working, she loves hanging out with her sister - they laugh and have a lot of fun together no matter what they do. One goal Marilyn completed this year is indexing 10,000 names by December 1st (before work got too hectic). Her sister is an indexer at the prison, so they enjoyed a healthy competition!

Marilyn has a fun personality and a beautiful laugh. She will be a wonderful addition to our ward family!

Madeline

Madeline Kenyon

Madeline Kenyon is bright and buoyant. She turned 17 on August 13th this year and is a senior in high school. 

It can sometimes be difficult to be the oldest sibling - responsible for setting an example, etc., but Madeline is up to the challenge! She has hopes and dreams! She has goals! And wow, is she talented! Madeline plays lacrosse, sings in the school choir and played violin in the school orchestra until life got too busy.

Some of the things Madeline enjoys is Italian food, 80's music, reading classics, dating and going to movies. Having taken French for two years, and now ASL, she has always looked forward to serving a mission. (She is keeping her fingers crossed for France, like her mother!) In the meantime, Madeline is a fabulous babysitter and is saving her money for her mission and college!

Madeline's goals for the future includes becoming a speech pathologist. Being financially wise, she wants to attend SLCC for the first two years of generals, then go to USU. Told you she was smart!

Belinda and Terralee

Belinda Ortiz

We had a delightful visit with Belinda at her home on Duncan Meadows Ln.  She is a warm and welcoming sister, who was born in Southern Chile and her family moved to Northern Chile when she was a teenager. She really loved the place she grew up because it was never winter and the weather was always nice and the landscape was very beautiful.

She converted to the Church when she was in high school. She, her mom and her brother were baptized at the same time. Her mom and sister and brothers are still in Chile. She is one of five children in her family, and she and one of her brothers live in the United States.

Four years after she got married in Chile, she and her husband moved to the United States and lived in Montana then moved to Utah. She was married for 25 years and has been divorced for a year.  She has three children.  Addy is 24 years old, Camila is 22, and Emily is 11.

When we asked her about her hobbies, she said she loves to go walking, and also plays Ping-Pong and tennis. She also loves to read the scriptures and other books. She loves traveling and would like to see as many islands and beautiful gardens as possible.

Belinda said the biggest adventure in her life has been to come to the United States. She really enjoys some of the cultural differences, such as the food we eat in America. She has also experienced some culture shock, such as the pace of life and the weather in the U.S.

We were glad to get to know Belinda.  We are so happy to have her in the River Rose Ward. WELCOME Belinda!

 
Terralee Cazier

Have you been the mom of three very young children?  If so, you have experienced the stage in life that Terralee Cazier is enjoying at this moment.  She is the proud mom of daughters, Evelyn, 6 yrs old; Addison, 3 yrs old; and son, Ammon, 5 months old.  She and her husband are so happy to have their little family. They have been married for 11 years in June,  when they were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City Temple.

When Terralee graduated from high school, she became a dental assistant and hygienist.  She continued working in that field until she was able to become a stay at home mom.  Her first love of course, is spending time with her family.  She also likes to find time to read, but time is at a premium with three young kids.

Terralee and her husband were able to get away for a really fun vacation to California together, without the kids.   They felt very spoiled by getting to stay in a really nice hotel. They actually went to Disneyland (such a fun thing to do as adults alone!).  The thing that was even more fun was to go on a whale watching cruise.  Unfortunately, they didn't see any whales but were able to spot some dolphins.  As much as we love our kids, it is so important to get away with our spouses to enjoy and do fun things together focusing on each other, again.  Then it's always great to get back home to our families, and appreciate the lives that we are so blessed to be living.

Terralee, we are so happy you and your family have moved into our ward.  We are glad to add your children to our Primary and to the wonderful group of young mothers and children who live around you on Duncan Meadows.  Your neighbors are awesome and those of us who live a few blocks away, also are anxious to get to know you better.