Saturday, February 9, 2008

February 2008 Newsletter

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu


Sid & Jeanne Stephenson

I’m so glad we can have a family chat via the newsletter each month. Thanks to all who are able to participate and especially “hat’s off” to Stephanie in her desire to publish it. It takes time and a little persuasion to get it all together. As I looked over the calendar for this past month, it started off with a special visit from my Linda, and we were privileged to have her during our “New Year’s Eve” celebration. I think the most exciting thing about the evening was breaking open a bottle of Sparkling Grape Juice and toasting one another. She always brings a breath of sunshine into our lives like each of you do when you visit. Sandie and Neil made a ‘pop-in’ visit and we always enjoy them. Dave Farnsworth also stopped in for an overnight visit with a couple of his friends…what a delight that was. It’s just a prelude of things to come when they move back to Mesa. Other than that…we had a couple of doctor’s visits and the exterminator did his monthly round, neither event being too exciting. The coming months look more promising with a visit to the Salt Lake area in March and we might venture even further away later on….who knows? Thanks to all for your phone calls. I think I am going to be like Grandma Watkins and put your name in my journal if you call. That’s just a public announcement that I am keeping a journal again after taking a vacation from journal writing for the past seven years. Just call it a Sabbatical. Oh yes, I am exercising again…not to slim down, but to maintain my bulging waistline. Sid and I count our blessings for the good health we have as we go through the aging process. The Lord has been good to us to bless us with wonderful families like each of you. Keep in touch please…and we love you very much.

Love, Mom and Sid

Sandie & Neil Taft

We had a lot of rain (around 20 inches) and snow through January. Much more than our roads could handle – so they washed away and became impassable. The bright spot is that since the backhoes did their work and now they are fantastic! No potholes or bumps. They are like new…. And we really appreciate them.
Our creek is flowing just in the creek beds now and not in the road. We have over 14 inches of snow on the ground and I feel like we live in the most beautiful place in the world.


Deer and Elk are outside nibbling on my plants and walking through the snow close by.

Neil and I will be able to fly to Utah this month – we are so excited to see our children and grandchildren. Hopefully we will be able to see Shelly and Sherri while we are there. ari and Curtis will be flying back with us for a week. It will be fun to have her home with us.

Meela and Ben are doing great – they both work hard, are happy and so in LOVE!! She has mentioned a couple of dates to us for their wedding, they are just checking on some Reception Centers availability before they finalize their date.

Kris was in a car accident (rear ended) and has 3 broken ribs – I know it hurts – but he doesn’t complain. He is working hard as usual. Allie is busy going to school, working and taking care if the family. Brenton just turned 13 – he is now a teenager! He has grown up so big and handsome. Taylor and Weslie are so beautiful and great helpers to their parents. Clayton is getting bigger and has had a few health challenges this month. Our prayers have been answered and he is doing a lot better now.

Kari and Jeremy are doing great also. Kari is pregnant and having a bout of morning sickness. She is so happy about having another baby. Curtis is growing so quickly and is such a happy boy. He loves his mom so much he s being too far away from her. Jeremy is doing great at his job – they really appreciate him.

It is hard to explain the mixed feelings that I have when thinking about the passing of our dear prophet. We will miss him. I am happy to know that he is with his beloved Marjorie.

We are so grateful for our new prophet Pres Monson and his new counselors.

I have always loved his talks in conference and how tender he is towards individuals. We are so fortunate to live in such a wonderful time.

Love you all, Sandie

Stacy & Greg Hansen

We started January off in West Yellowstone, Montana. We went snowmobiling & relaxed with 3 other families. It was a nice little get away! Koby, Madelyn & Emma are still busy with all of their regular activities. Madelyn is busy with extra practices preparing for dance competition. Koby is spending extra hours at school building the robot for competition in San Diego. School has been cancelled a couple times due to cold weather -18 (with a windchill of -32) & high winds. Please don't let that keep you from visiting! It is cold, but we have A LOT of snow! I am still busy teaching piano. We are preparing for festival next month (where my students play in front of judges). It is a lot of work! It is worth the effort. I am also helping on the Jr. Miss committee again this year. It is a great experience. Greg is keeping busy with work, his church calling, shoveling snow & all the other great things he does to help out at home. I am so grateful for such a wonderful family. This past fast Sunday my sister in law Keri challenged us to fast and pray for every member of our family by name, including children & their children. We did for both sides of the family. We all have challenges in our lives & I want you to know we pray for all of you. We don't know all the struggles everyone faces, but we can all use the prayers. I thought it would be a good idea to have our family do the same next month, if you would like. I love you all & hope you have a wonderful month!
Stacy, Greg, Koby, Madelyn & Emma

Shauna Allen

Well, another family newsletter passes, and I feel like I don’t have hardly any news. I have been working my little buns off trying to get a big software project off the ground for my practice. It has been, OOOHH, so challenging but very rewarding.

Troy and I are still trying to get away any chance we get, though it seems pretty infrequent lately. We have made it to the Dunes and a nice little cabin in the snow for New Years. It is always nice to get on my bike and race people up the big hills. Just the competitive Allen nature that likes to win so much.

The publication came out for an article I wrote in the Vein magazine, if you want to check it out…It’s just a little blurb on marketing, but I am famous now…ha ha ha. http://www.veindirectory.org/magazine/.

I finally hit the year point in my house, and cannot believe how quickly time has flown by. I still am working on decorating a few rooms that have absolutely nothing on the walls. I hope to have things a little more situated this year.

I love my job, and my life, and I love that I live so close to Mom and Sid, though some days I wish I were retired with them. Well… Love ya all, and miss you to the moon and
back


Stephanie & Dave Farnsworth

January seemed to just fly by. We were saddened by the death of Gordon B. Hinkley, but were grateful to live in a time where he was leader of this church. Our lives have been touched in many ways by his quiet example, steadfast leadership, and immovable testimony. We are anxious to gain a love for President Monson as the new prophet. The morning we told the boys President Hinkley died Austin wanted to say a prayer for President Hinkley's family. So he did and as I praised him for such thoughtfulness Chase was feeling left out and informed me, "Mom I want to say a pwayer for Satan so that he will make good choices today". Cute kids.

Dave was gone for most of the month attending conferences. First to Arizona and next to Park City. Luckily we got to meet him up in Utah. The kids and I had so much fun playing with cousins and frolicking in the snow! We made some wonderful memories. Go to our blog to check out some of our fun pictures! Dave has also had to put in long hours at school to complete his thesis proposal and work on his CV. Now the stress is added as he writes his thesis. I can't wait to see his final product. He never ceases to impress. We also celebrated our 8 year anniversary this last month. Time has seemed to fly by and these last 8 years have certainly been the happiest in my life!

I planned and executed our "Meet the Teacher" primary activity this month as well. It is always busy planning and preparing and so much fun to put it on. It was quite the experiences with all my kids in tow as Dave was out of town. I sure miss having a husband :( (too bad Nanci and I can't live closer to each other and be single mom's together!). Anyway, the rest of the month seemed to pass by with regular motherly responsibilities. We are trying to get more organized and check a few other goals off of our new year's list. Having a week long vacation made it easier to come back and get on track! We also found out this month we are going to have baby #4. We are excited and just so you don't ask... we will be happy with either a boy or a girl :) I have actually been pretty sick. I empathize greatly with those who have morning sickness. Mine seems to get worse with every baby. So my spurts of energy are used to maximize productivity. On most occasions though you might find me over a toilet or on top of a wrinkled bed. So worth it in the end....

Austin is still loving school although he has been swamped with makeup homework from our vacation. He is a trooper. He turned 6 years-old this month. I can't believe how the time has just flown by. He is sure grown up. He has almost completed his basketball season and has progressed so much. He is a good team player and really enjoys sports. He is loving his new primary class (CTR 6) and has the most amazing teacher. Austin is always busy trying to figure out how the world and people work. His questions are endless...but we love it. He is working on earning a pass to 6-Flags with his school by reading for 6 hours by the end of Feb. His reading abilities have increased so much since just the beginning of the year!

Chase is loving preschool too. I had a parent teacher conference with his teacher, Mrs. Kim, this month (who was also Austin's preschool teacher) and she had nothing but praise for Chase. I felt bad as she was telling me that Chase could count by two's and had some incredible pre-reading skills unheard of for his age, my response was "Really?". I guess sometimes as parents middle children sometimes get overlooked as we are experiencing new things with the oldest and taking care of the totally reliant baby. After that I have certainly made a conscious effort to equalize time. Chase is a doll and really is so sweet. He is patient in teaching Blakey right from wrong and continues to make his goals each morning of "not saying bad words, no yelling, helping Blake not to hit, & not touching my poo". l love boys! Chase also became a Sunbeam this month. He is doing SO great in primary and sings the words to every song.

Blakey is SO big. Honestly with every month I feel like he grows a year. He seriously weighs as much as some of his 5 year old nieces! He is just a little man. He never (I mean never)is caught with out some type of ball in his hands and will walk up to anyone and everyone and say "catch". He says so many words "ball, catch, hello, c-ya, bye. momma, dadda, dog, all done, more, horse, all the animal sounds, and more". It seems like this is the stage where it is such a joy to realize how responsive they are to you as they follow through with commands like "please go put that in the garbage", "go get your shoes". or what have you. He is the biggest flirt you will ever meet and says hello and c-ya to anyone who looks in his direction with a HUGE contagious grin. He is almost 100% effective in his tactics to get a smile and a "what a sweet little baby" from strangers and friends alike. He loves to be read to and sings himself to sleep every nap and bedtime (even though we have music playing in the background). He is really such a joy!

Hope all is well with all of you!
Love to all...
The Dave Farnsworth Family