I think the highlight of 2004 for the DeBirks was the marriage of John and beautiful Lynda (now DeBirk) John, Dan, and Larry had worked night and day to finish John's home/cabin near Oakley in time for the wedding. The setting was absolutely gorgeous! I'm so happy for John and Lynda -- they both deserve some happiness!
As to my own family -- my granddaughter (Callie), husband (Matt) and 2 little boys, Luke (3) and Charlie(1), have moved to Lakewood, Colorado (suberb of Denver), after Matt graduated from Temple University Dental School in Philadelphia. He joined a dental clinic in Lakewood, and loves earning some money, so he can start paying back his college loans. They can drive to SLC in a day, so we're fortunate to see them more frequently. My son Scott and his wife, Lori (Luke and Charlie's Grandpa and Nana), who have been living in St. George, have built a beautiful new home in Washington, UT, and can now accommodate the whole family when we come to visit. They are doing well working off 3 Internet sites, all of which they created.
My daughter, Sally, and I traveled to Minneapolis, MN, in July, where she participated in the U.S. Transplant Games, and garnered 3 more medals to add to her collection. November 2004 marks the 11th year since our transplant surgery, and we're both doing great! What a blessing this is for both of us! Also, Sally and I accompanied my son, Todd, and his wife, Marianne, on a quick trip to Tacoma, WA, to watch Abbie play soccer for the U. of Puget Sound; she's now a sophomore. Abbie's my youngest granddaughter. Her sister, Amanda, is a senior at SUU (Cedar City). We're looking forward to seeing everyone at Christmastime!
Again, thanks to Dan and Dee for hosting the annual DeBirk Family Christmas party. It's wonderful to keep this family tradition; Bill would be so happy to see us gather together, and we feel his spirit with us -- especially when I pass out the "Dutch chocolate letters!"
Happy Holidays to all of you!
Merry Christmas from the John DeBirk household.
We're doing about the same as last year. Rob is 25 married and in the honors program as the U. His wife Anndrea will graduate this spring. Mike graduated in engineering and is working at Utah medical, he might go back for his master this fall. Joanna went to Hawaii this summer to "study"at BYU Hawaii., and is now at the U to start her junior year. Rob, Anndrea, and Joanna are going to celebrate Christmas in Paris this year. We finished the cabin on may 26th and Lynda and I got married on the 27th. Life is wonderful, hope you all have a great Chirstmas.
This has been a good year for us, it is a blessing that we are still together so many people our age have lost their husband or wife and are alone.
We sure are lucky. I know we are getting old and sometimes we are not fast anymore and even forget things but that is normal when you are 81 years. We still enjoy many things , family is the most important thing in our lives , we love our children, grand-children and great-grandchildren and it is fun to have them come home and visit us.
It is also special to have zussies and a broertje. We had a good time together in Florida at Tina's home with Jack and Oeke, Ansje and Demoyne and Tina and Ralph. It was too bad that Nelly and Maurice could not be there. We wish all of you a merry Chritmas and a Happy New Year and we hope to see you all Saturday Dec 4 at the Sinterklaas party.
I like the apartment I am living in, it is very comfortable. Allen is doing well in school, he had a good report card and is already in 5th grade.
Charles moved to Oregon with his girlfriend, we don't hear much from him.
Reasa has an apartment in the same complex, she is living there with Julian who is already two years old. Reasa is working on her degree for Medical assistant, it will take 2 years to complete it but it will be worth it.
The year 2004 has been a great year with many blessings and challenges. We arrived home from Brazil just before Christmas last year with our son Jared in tow. What a great experience to visit that beautiful country and visit with people Jared baptized and fellowshipped. The day we arrived Jared and a companion and a sister from the branch picked us up at the airport and drove us to the Angra dos Reis, a beautiful town on the coast with hundreds of islands. That evening Jared had a baptism of a couple he had taught. What a payday for us to witness this humble couple being baptized by our son.
Ernie and Anneke are still running their business and it is still going. Ernie has an added interest in helping people who are disabled and handicapped. His Ability Foundation is slowly but steadily growing. He works with the Humiatarian Center and other organizations by repairing and cleaning their donated medical equipment and then places the equipment with individuals and schools that have a need. He especially focus' on children and their needs. He has placed many wheelchairs, walkers, tumble forms and other equipment with children who are in need of the equipment and have no other financial avenue to get the equipment. This last year he has helped over 300 individuals. Ernie works as the Executive Secretary to the bishop and Anneke is still the Relief Society President which keeps them both busy.
We want to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and may you have a prosperous new year.
All things considered, we have had a pretty darn good 2004. We escaped the winter doldrums to La-la land - Los Angeles - in February where we cruized the palm tree lined boulevards in our rented Mustang convertible (whose top, sadly, remained in place due to some unseasonable cold So. Cal. weather). Still, it beat the freezing Utah weather. We spent the summer beautifying our year and planting a garden. We also spent five wonderful day in beautiful Nauvoo in June. We loved it!
As summer turned to fall we wiled away the mild evenings in our backyard - which was newly enclosed by an alabaster vinyl fence installed by our own hands (and our neighbors'). We watched many a sunset from our patio preceded by countless hours of reading novels (in Korrin's case) and listening to albums ( in mine).
Fall signaled a return to school for both of us. Korrin excelled in her Web design studies at SLCC and I inched closer to my master's degree in communications at Westminster. I will graduate next spring. We've juggled our schedules (and our one car) to get to night classes and to fulfill our ward missionary responsibilities. Now, as fall expires, we have the best news of all: we're going to be parents!
We want to be the first to wish you and yours a happy, safe, and memorable holiday season.
Many things have happened this past year. First Ben finally graduated this past spring from the University of Utah with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering. Elizabeth thought that this day would never come and it took a long time getting here. He was employed at Watson Pharmaceuticals, but he got laid off soon after school ended and Elizabeth's hopes of not working ever again were shattered. He soon he had a couple of leads with other companies, but finally by the end of the summer he was offered two jobs and now he is employed with Weider Nutrition as a Process Engineer. This company makes many vitamins, power bars, etc. Ben is enjoying his job and is learning many new things each day. Also this past fall Ben ran his first marathon and he made it across the finish line under four hours and still alive.
Elizabeth is still working at Primary Children's, but she is now in administration as a medical secretary in the Emergency Department and the Rapid Treatment Unit. She is learning many new programs and enjoys her job. She started back in school this past summer and is looking into getting a masters degree in Speech Therapy.
One new exciting thing that will be happening this next year is that we are going to be having a baby next May. We are both excited and scared at the same time. It will be a fun adventure. We don't know if it is a boy or a girl yet, but if it is a girl it will be practically perfect just like her mother and if it is a boy he will be mischievous just like his father. So we will have to wait and see.
Marc married a wonderful, beautiful young lady on March 4th of this year in the Salt Lake Temple, Karrie Bertoch.
Thanks to Marcs' work he and Karrie were able to afford going to Australia for their honeymoon, they had a wonderful 2 weeks in sunny Australia. Marc is still working part time at Skywest airlines and part time with his Dad. Karrie works with a doctor and does his medical billing. They moved into the basement of Karrie's parents home out in West Valley and have a very nice big 2 bedroom apartment to live in. Together they teach a primary class. They bought a nice Volkwagon Jetta, and Karrie liked it so much she learned real quickly how to drive a stick shift. Marc also bought a used older Mitsubishi Eclipse for a pitance and he gets to drive that.
Jared is now working full time and going to school in the evenings at BYU extension here is Salt Lake. He bought himself a car and is enjoying life. He plays the piano so beautifully that is has been an added blessing to have him home and listen to his beautiful music. He is such an easy going person and a lot of fun to be around.
Emily graduated from Murray High School and is attending the University of Utah and thinking about going into a Nutrition field. We are learning a lot about the bad things we are eating. She joined an LDS Sorority and is making new friends at the U of U. She was called as the pianist in church and does a great job there. She is so creative she has painted two bedrooms in the house interesting colors, she adds a lot of sparkle and pi-zazz to our home.
Sonny is still working for Wal-Mart and Susan still working part time with Praxair. We are enjoying our home in St George and the warm weather. Each trip to Salt Lake reminds us of how nice it is in St George. (very little traffic and lots of sunny days) we have now replaced our children with dogs & cats (they mind much better) and you only have to feed them once a day!! However we do miss being part of all the family gatherings and seeing the grandkids grow, but hope one day when Sonny retires we will be able to spend more time with the family. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Cassy is now living with David West and they just had a little girl in August, they named her Cheyenne West, she is very advanced for a 3 month old baby. She is a very happy and always smiles and needs to know about everything going on around her. Nate is now 4 and is looking forward to going to school next year. He is very athletic, and looks like he will be a future NFL player. He is a typical big brother and likes to tease his little sisters. Arienna is now 3 and loves to pose for the camera, she auditioned for a modeling career and was accepted, now Cassy and David are trying to come up with the money for her portfolio, she loves dressing up and fussing over herself.
Rodney is no longer in the Military, he was discharged in June and is still living in North Carolina where he found a job that pays pretty good and he is working with the Military doing communications( the same thing they trained him for in the Military). Inna is still in Germany where her and Rodney are trying to get the paper work completed and filed so that she can come back to the States to live with her husband. Rodney is a very lonely husband and wishes his wife could be with him. They have a huge phone bill. Inna is only allowed to stay for 3 weeks at a time and its is very expensive to fly back and forth to Germany. So she can only come visit her Hubby a few times a year. They are hoping that next Summer Inna will be in the States permanently. But in the mean time Rodney fills his days with work and his dog.
It's been a busy and fun year here. We went on a family vacation before Scott left on his mission. We went to The Grand Canyon, Zion's National Park and to Bryce Canyon. The weather was great and we had a fun time. It was very beautiful.
Doug is keeping busy at work and enjoys working with the youth in church. Tina is busy sewing and when not sewing on names and numbers for a sports company, she is busy sewing and taking care of her family. In March Tina was released from being a primary teacher and is now second counselor in the Primary. She really liked teaching the 4 years olds and misses it.
Jason got married to Mary Hammond on October 23, 2004.
Scott worked for Macey's until July. He is now serving a mission in Baltimore Maryland area. He's thoroughly enjoying his missionary experiences and enjoys being in Maryland.
Rachel is in the ninth grade and loves school. She also enjoys being an only child. She especially enjoys not being teased constantly by her brothers and sister. It now happens only when they come to visit. Rachel couldn't wait for Jason to get married. She now has claimed his room. It's bigger downstairs.
Have a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous New Year.
Wow! This year has flown by. It doesn't seem like January should even be over yet!! Regardless we have done quite a bit this year.
Alex will be two in January. He is in Nursery and FINALLY will go all by himself with out mom and dad!!!! He is a busy little boy and loves to be involved with everything. He loves to play ball and trucks and really anything else that he can take apart and put back together or throw. He loves to look for the moon, buses, flags and semis. He also loves to help with the shopping by giving his input on what is "cute" and also with pushing the cart around so he has access to everything at his level. He is a very good boy and we love having him as a part of our family.
Brian is still working at the University of Utah and keeping very, very busy. He has been working on getting a meta cluster up this year that is worth around 2 million dollars. He is in charge of running it and trying to keep all the users happy (which is impossible). He also is the Assistant Secretary in the Elders Quorum, and in charge of putting together our wards picture directory. Brian keeps busy with dealing with all the issues that our grass throws our way and keeping the yard looking good.
Shannon is at home with Alex and keeping very busy with him and all the house stuff, running errands and trying to keep everyone happy. She is still teaching piano lessons and now has seven students of all different levels. She was finally released as pianist in the primary and had a short break from callings. Was in charge of her wards Super Saturday and was just recently called to the Primary Presidency as the 2nd Counselor. Not sure what is all consists of yeat but getting less and less freaked out after every meeting.
As a family we did a lot of fishing, working in the yard and took a trip to San Francisco (except Alex took a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's). We have kept very busy this year and before we know it next December will be here. We hope you all had a wonderful and safe year and that you have a happy and safe December.
Mary and I recently got married on the 23rd of October. Since then both of us have been very busy. Mary works full time for ballett west in their costume shope as a sticher. Mary is also currently attending SLCC working on finishing up her generals.
I (Jason) am working for the Law Firm of Bennett & DeLoney (full time) in their IT department. So, I pretty much work on computers all day long. I am also attending the University of Utah (full time) going into Information Systems within the Business department.
Because of both of us being so busy we don't have time for much else. We are having fun and getting used to being married.
The Bradley Family have had an interesting year. Everybody is doing well and we are still plugging along. Michael is still at Kennecott, working hard. He doesn't really like it. Our business was a struggle to keep going. With Michael working at Kennecott and at the business and trying to sleep in between. It was killing him. So we decided to close shop and move the business to our garage. It has been a whole lot better. He can sleep when he wants to and pick the work he want to do. It's been great. Ellen is still sewing for Anneke. She will probably do it till she dies. She took on another challenge and became a Avon Lady. So if anybody needs anything from Avon give her a call.
Ben made the decision in January 04 to become a Marine. But first he had to graduate from high school and he did. It was wonderful to see him graduate. He had 3 months of summer fun and then it was off to boot camp on August 23. His letters have been interesting. He had a hard time at first, but he made it. He will graduate from Boot Camp on November 19. We are looking forward to seeing him in San Diego for his graduation ceremony from boot camp. He will be home for 10 days and then its off to training camp. He is going into driving. What ever that is. The only thing that I don't want to happen is that he is shipped out to Iraq.
Erica is a senior at West Jordan. She is very active in everything she can get into. She is planning on going to college, maybe SUU in Cedar City. She is working at Little Caesar and she is not sick of pizza, yet.
Kristine is in 9th grade at Joel P. Jensen. She is having a fun time at school too. She finally got her braces off. What a smile!! For our vacation we went to Nine Mile Canyon by Price. What a interesting canyon. If you every want to see a lot of pictographs and petroglyphs, Nine Mile Canyon has them.
We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year.
This year has been great. We are all in good health and are thankful. Mark is still working at OWATC and plugging away at college classes. Jane still has her cleaning business and cleans 2 buildings with her children 3 times a week. They are learning how to save and spend their own money! She is still the ward music chairman, and loves it.
Zjani graduated early and has been attending WSU since Fall 2003. She has also been earning her cosmetology license and will be done in December. She has plans to attend USU sometime next year and continue her education in Nutrition.
Zach has been busy raising steers, and most recently a cow and calf. He bought a cow that was with calf and was so happy when she delivered a heifer calf in September. He just got his steer that he is going to be showing in the Weber County Fair next August. He is planning on having the Grand Champion, but if not just wants a good price per lb. for his steer. He has good grades and is just a happy, good kid. He also earned his Eagle this summer.
Coleton is in 7th grade and still playing competitive soccer. He loves to run and is fast. We are looking forward to he and Zach being on the same track team this spring. It will be fun to see who wins! He is adjusting to junior high and likes it much better than grade school.
Marijka is in 3rd grade and learning her multiplication facts. She is getting pretty good at them. She loves school, mostly for the social stuff. She was baptized this past June and was so happy to do so.
Levi started kindergarten and thinks it is just OK. He would rather stay home most days and just hang out with Dawson and mom, but I make him go. He is doing really well and has many friends.
Dawson turned 2 this year and is like the energizer bunny! Either he is more active than the rest when they were his age, or I am just OLD! We are so glad to have him help us stay young. He is so much fun to have.
We are thankful for all that Heavenly Father has given us, and feel truly blessed to live in this country and have the freedoms and blessings we have.
Jack and Oke are doing well, we’re both still healthy which is a blessing at our age. And we do keep busy. The first thing we did this year was move Oke’s mother into the St. Joseph Villa Apartments. That was quite a job, but we got it done and now she is still on her own, but can go downstairs to have dinner if she wants to and there is 24 hour supervision, which makes us feel better, for at 99 years old you never know what can happen. We still love to travel and it gives us peace of mind while we are gone.
In February we went to Desert Hot springs again for two months, and on the second day there Jack broke his ankle. Three weeks on crutches and six weeks in a “sport boot”, and all was well again. In late June we took our trailer to our R.V. park by Coalville and left it there, we really enjoy it.
In September we had the misfortune to have someone run a stop sign, which totaled our car. Luckily no one was hurt but we had to find another car A.S.A.P. We found a Buick LaSabre and we both love it.
We went with Ans & DeMoine, Louk & Paul to Ralph and Tina in Florida for a week. Kind of a family reunion, and we had a great time being together. Just this week we’ve returned from a week in Puerto Vallarta where we had a great time relaxing on the beach right in front of our hotel. We were also privileged to see one of those great big turtles come out of the ocean, dig her hole in the sand and lay her eggs, 116 of them. That’s an experience! We really enjoy traveling and seeing new things and hope to be able to do it for many more years. We have certainly been blessed this year, and thank the Lord for all of our blessings. We wish you all a very pleasant Holiday Season.
This has been a pretty casual year for Brenda. A trip to Cabo last May, a recent trip to Hawaii to relax before the Holidays and the rest of the year has been filled with work. A penny saved is a penny closer to retirement.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.
Brittany and Matt are doing well. Matt's business is doing great and Brittany loves working for her mom. There's nobody else she would rather work for. (ha-ha)
Tyson has moved out into a cute little house with his dog Mosey and has recently started working for Verizon. If you need a new cell phone, go see him at the Verizon store in Jordan Landing.
It has been a busy year for us, our son, Eric, met a wonderful young women on the internet and they were married last march. They immediately set off for her hometown, Copenhagen, Denmark. Eric has been working very hard on getting his residency and was also recruited by the missionaries to assist them in presenting the first discussion to some of their contacts since he does understand Danish. He sounds very happy when we speak to him and they are expecting their first child next April, they are also planning on being married in the Temple next March. Not bad for an internet contact.
Crystal started her junior year at Skyline this year and has also been accepted in the Academy of Finance. She is a member of DECA and plans on doing her internship next summer. Crystals’ goal is to graduate High School with a diploma and an associates degree. Looks like she shouldn’t have any problems with that!
We have also had a minor change in our lives, we decided to move and found a great place in Heber City. We found a 10 year old home on an acre of land and moved in over Labor Day. We are still trying to get organized but we love the house and the area. It has a wonderful view of Mt Timpanogas from the front and farmland and animals out the back.
We wish you all a wonderful holiday and a prosperous New Year.
Not much news to report here. Danny still works for Hunter Douglas in the Marketing Department and Linda Rose still works at SAIC as an engineer.
We had a really nice trip to Zion's in April with the kids (an annual event). We also took an extended vacation in September (also an annual event). We stopped a couple days in Zion's, then drove to Salt Lake to say hi and meet up with everyone. Then we drove out to Great Basin National Park for 4 days of camping and hiking. The kids also went to Great Basin with some friends, and a couple of Danny's brothers and their wives showed up and one of our friends with his wife and her sister and husband. It was quite the gathering and we had a lot of fun with everyone. After we all split up, Danny and I headed for the Eastern Sierra for another week of camping. We stayed at Tioga pass and spent the days hiking around Yosemite, Devil's Post pile, Mammoth and Bodie. It was a really great two weeks! Now we are redoing our kitchen.
Caleb and Jennifer have been really busy between work, school, remodeling their home and having fun.
Dylan and Jaime are expecting a child any day now. It will be a boy and they have decided to name him Thomas Jace. They have been really busy getting everything ready.
We hope that everyone has a safe and great holiday and that 2005 brings everyone health and happiness.
Hello from warm, sunny, Oaxaca, Mexico! It seems almost impossible that we have been here a year, in fact today is the completion of our first year, Oct. 30. The older we get, the faster time seems to go by! I remember as a little girl just waiting for Sinterklaas to come, and it seemed like forever before the 5th of December arrived! Louky was the best poem writer in our family, and with each gift, there was a poem also! It's neat to have these good memories!
Wish we could pop in and be with all of you. It's neat that this Sinterklaas tradition is continuing, and we keep in touch once a year. We are realizing more and more in this great calling we have here in the temple, that the most important things in life are our families! It's really the only thing that we can take with us to the other side when the time comes! Let me share an experience we had the other day.
We had a family come to the temple for the first time. The oldest son had received his mission call, and the parents decided that this was the time they would all go to he temple and be sealed as a family for all time and eternity.There were seven children, the missionary was 21, and the youngest was 9 years old. They all traveled by bus for 7 hours, arriving in Oaxaca around 5 p.m. While the six children waited in the waiting room, and watched some videos, the parents and son received their endowments. After the session, the parents were sealed to each other, and then the other 6 children, dressed in white, entered the beautiful sealing room. As they knelt around the altar and placed their hands upon the handclasp of their parents, and then heard my husband speak the simple, but beautiful sealing ordinance for each of them, there was not a dry eye in the room. After that, the father hugged his wife and each of his 4 sons and 3 girls. He spoke to them in such a powerful, personal way. He told them with much emotion of his love for them, and how they all must keep the commandments to have this sealing come true. It was so touching and beautiful. The Spirit of the Lord was felt. Then they all got dressed and caught the ten oclock bus back to Salina Cruz. What a special memory for that missionary to have during his mission! What a blessing it is for us to work in such a holy place, no wonder the time passes by quickly!
May you all have a wonderful Christmas, and may we all remember the reason for the season! This little babe, born in a stable, can make such a difference in our daily lives! May we love and revere Him, and pattern our lives after His. We love you all!
Life is good. We are so grateful for the bountiful blessings of family, friends and faith. We’ve experienced a year of hallmark events including joyful celebrations, extraordinary opportunities and noteworthy achievements. We feel very blessed! And just have to brag about our kids!
Matt completed his master’s degree in history at the University of Utah, receiving the research award for the college of humanities. He left in August for Georgetown University in D.C. to begin work on a Phd program. He also published his first article in a historical journal. We are enormously proud of his achievements, but even more gratified with his lovingkindness, gentle humor and open heart.
Amy graduated from Weber University, receiving the award for top student in the department of interior design. A month later she married her high school sweetheart, John Pilkington, in the Salt Lake temple. It was a joyous event made even more so because Amy had the blessed honor of having her grandfather perform the sealing. We were so very grateful that Grandpa Bowman received permission from church headquarters to travel to Utah with Grandma Bowman to marry John and Amy. It was beautiful ceremony, glorious day, and wonderful reunion for the Bowmans. John and Amy are incredibly happy.
Maurice was called six months ago to serve on our stake high council. He welcomes every opportunity to work with our ward and stake neighbors. He thrives in serving the community by organizing roofing projects for neighbors, gathering resources to provide for needy families, and serving as a state delegate at the Republican convention. He’s our constant source of support and inspiration. And Rosanne needs that as she continues to work with dozens of at-risk, struggling readers every day at Washington Elementary. What an exhausting, wonderful job!
Hopefully, the past year has brought you blessings of love and joy, also. We offer our best wishes for a blessed Christmas and for a joyful, peaceful year to come!
As another year zips by we are so grateful for all. We never have a dull moment at our house, and we have had a very busy year. Consequently, time flies. Aaron has almost been home for a year from his mission, and on December 8th our Rachel is leaving to serve a mission. She has been called to the Ft. Worth, Texas mission. We are amidst the final preparations now, and she is excited to serve. We will miss her. She will leave an enormous hole despite the fact that she is such a small bundle. Everyone in our family is doing well and growing up way to fast. We are grateful to be part of the Sinterclas family tradition.. May the Lord bless all of you this coming year with happiness and peace.
Another year has gone by, and while I don't feel any older, I have noticed that the kids have gotten a bit taller and a little bit wiser (or so they think). There is never a dull moment at the Bowman household, what with work, school, sports, music lessons, friends and the like. As Lastenia and I drop off to sleep every night, we're just happy that we made it through another day. We are excited to visit Grandma Nellie and Grandpa Maurice in Oaxaca this coming January. It should be quite the experience flying with five kids into the heart of Mexico. We keep informing the kids that we are having a Dutch Christmas this year (no toys, only food and candy) to pay for the trip. We feel very blessed and are grateful for our good health, family ties, and for the joy the gospel brings in our lives. Merry Christmas to all!!
Our big event this year was moving into a brand new home. We now live in Woods Cross, Utah. Troy and his brothers did some sweat equity on the house, and it looks great! We are enjoying it a lot. There is a wonderful feeling in our neighborhood. We are getting to know lots of nice people, and our children are making new friends.
Our kids are growing up! Rebekah is four, Lindsay is three, and Eden is 18 months old. They are all so sweet, and each one has her own personality. We keep busy with them and enjoy them so much. Rebekah and Lindsay both like to dress up. Rebekah loves to decorate and have tea parties. She also likes to draw and write. Lindsay likes to pretend and to sing and dance. Rebekah and Lindsay are developing computer skills at a young age, playing all sorts of games and printing out pictures to color.
Eden is a sweet and cuddly little girl. She likes to help put things away and is very obedient. She says more words every day. She imitates all of us, and it's so fun to watch her. Eden also loves to read books!
We had fun spending time with most of the Bowman family, including Grandma and Grandpa, this summer. It was great to have so many family members come to Salt Lake in June for Amy and John's wedding. Our children got to know their cousins better and made some great memories.
We are so thankful to be a part of this great family. We wish all of you the very best this holiday season.
Once more this year we were given the wonderful opportunity to go on a 6 month humanitarian mission to the island of Kosrae in Micronesia. Our assignment was similar to last year with the addition of an extended three months to strengthen the branches. We loved our experience there and those beautiful island people will always hold a special place in our hearts. While there, we contacted a couple we worked with in the Orlando temple and encouraged them to replace us as full time missionaries in Sept. They accepted and we are now enjoying their journals as they cope with the adventures and challenges the island offers.
An awful lot has happened to us since we left Kosrae. Three days after we came back Ralph's mother died and we immediately went to Washington DC to tend to the funeral arrangements. We had been praying that the Lord would allow her to stay on this earth until we came home. No matter how old a parent is, (and she was 95), it is a very emotional thing to go through. Yet we are infinitely grateful to our Father in Heaven that all this happened after we got home and not while we were still so far away. We feel his hand in all of this and thank Him for answering our prayers.
When we were ready to go back home after the funeral, hurricane Jeanne was hitting our area in Florida. The electrical power was interrupted for some days so we stayed in DC with Ken and Jen for a few more days. We came back home just long enough to survey our damage from the hurricane when we received the call that Ralph's brother had died. That was a huge shock. It was so totally unexpected. He was just 18 months younger than Ralph and we had just seen him at mother's funeral and he was fine then. He lived in Connecticut so we needed to fly there to be there for the funeral. Ralph spoke at both his mother's and his brother's funerals and did an amazing job.
It is hard to believe we left Kosrae just 2 months ago and all these things happened so close together. Our hurricane damage was about $2000, but that is so minor compared to the damage so many people suffered. Many people around here lost their roofs or had extensive flooding inside their homes and we had none of that so we feel blessed and fortunate to get off relatively easy.
We had really been looking forward to having our family come to visit us and it was great to have Lauky & Paul, Oeke &Jack, Ansje & DeMoyne here in Florida. It has been a long time since we were able to spend a whole week together and it was absolutely delightful. The weather was great and the week flew by all too quickly. We hope to make this a yearly event!
We are now spending the Thanksgiving holiday with Ken and Jen who will take off for a week to the Virgin Islands after Turkey Day, and then our good friend Louise will come from Ogden to spend a week with us in DC. We have planned a marvelous time touring the sights in this great city together while Ralph holds down the fort.
We are looking forward to spending the Christmas holiday with Art and Care. It is always special to have Christmas with them and their six children as well as Ralph's two daughters and their families who live in Ogden. We marvel how blessed we are to have 20 grandchildren who are all such healthy, happy and well-adjusted young people.
We have so much to be grateful for. How blessed we are to be 70 years old now and enjoy excellent health and happiness together. Best wishes to all this Holiday Season!
Jessica (18) lives at Grandma and Grandpa. She was sure her life was over. 48-hours after starting school, she was ready to give up and come home. “I have no friends!” she wailed. We suggested she give it at least 72-hours before giving up entirely. Maybe she should call her cousins too. She did. A day later she called and told us, “I have friends!” Now she loves Weber. The honor’s program classes are her favorite (they let you talk). She attends a student ward and feels at very much at home with her “FHE” family. She recently got a job at the hospital and they work around her schedule. Grandma and Grandpa say, “She is a joy. She cleans up everything. She is always helping. It is wonderful to have her around.” We hold up her picture and say, “you are talking about this girl, right? The same one that associated picking up her room with plague, pestilence, famine and transgression of child abuse and labor law?”Our baby has grown up. Joshua (16.9) is a Junior at Park City High. He is first chair violin and Concert Master in the high school orchestra and plays with a wonderful orchestra group in Salt Lake too. He got hired at his sister’s old job on Main Street and puts half of his pay away for his mission (and uses the other for “stuff”). Jessica’s old boss, who had previously avoided hiring boys, gushes, “Josh is wonderful.” A mutual friend of ours said to her (after hearing it for the umpteeth time), “Shut up, OK, just SHUT UP! Josh is not a normal teenage boy,” she laughs. Of course, she back tracks, “I mean that in the best way possible.” He often has his friends over at the house for videos on the weekends. We love having them there. He recently got his grade level performance tests back and had so many 100% levels (state levels are near 65%) that his dad wondered what he was going to do for his last two years of high school. This summer he and his sister, Sarah, flew to Virgina to stay with Art’s brother and their family for a week or so. (They are flying out in February to spend a week skiing with us.) They bummed around DC and spent a lot of time in the many museums in the area.
Andrew just turned 15. He is a freshman now and adjusting well to high school. As always, he is full of life. He teases his brothers and sisters in fun, but he has a tender heart and doesn’t like to see others have their feelings hurt. This summer he worked on his basketball skills and hopes to have a growth spurt sometime soon. While we were in Huntsville for the 4 th of July, he bid on some tickets for the Jazz and won four VIP tickets with parking, pre-game dinner and second row, center court seats. He saw Denver get whacked and saw Stockton’s jersey retired on the 22 nd. His schoolwork is very good. His last report card was all A’s and –A’s. Not an easy thing to do at PCHS. They work them hard.
Sarah is 11 and in sixth grade, her first year of middle school. She has most of the same teachers Jessica, Josh and Andrew have had. So they were ready to love her when she walked in. Sarah likes to read in quiet corners and yet she likes to be in the mix of friends and family too. Her smile is infectious and she laughs a lot. She likes her dad to read to her at bedtime and he likes the books she chooses. She had a blast in Virginia with her cousins this summer and can’t wait for them to come out this winter. She plays viola and piano and practices without being told. She is amazing.
Rachel is 6 and in first grade. She is learning to write phonetically. (Reading her work is almost like reading inter-net chat.) She has a wonderful teacher who genuinely cares for her and is a lot of fun. She likes going to school and eagerly shows us her assignments and projects when she gets home. She has started playing “bitty-basketball” and is one of the tallest players on the team. But sometimes the boys don’t want to pass her the ball as much as she would like. So, she hangs out under the basket, nails the rebound and puts up about 10 points a game.
Matthew is almost 4. He has started going to Miss Sherry’s pre-school four days a week. He loves getting out the door like the older kids do. His backpack is absolutely stuffed with boots, snow clothes, lunch, a blanket and a toy. Sherry is a friend of ours who has a very small pre-school program that spends a lot of time on great little projects that are fun for her students. She loves Matthew and he loves her. He is like a little vacuum for knowledge and yet he is probably the most sober of all our children. He thinks a lot. You can see the wheels turning in his head.
Carolee likes the people she works with at ARUP where she does bench tests on samples sent in for small batches of unusual clinical tests ordered by hospitals all over the country. Her schedule gets her home in time to pick up Matthew and Rachel at school by 3pm. ARUP is considered the 65 th best place in America to work. Her benefit package is very generous. She still teaches Matthew’s Sunbeam class and treasures it. Carolee has lost almost 20 pounds of accumulated “baby fat” over the past couple of months. She looks great and feels better too. Way to go Carolee!
Art is still doing Real Estate and Mortgages. Recently, Lorinda, Carolee’s sister, referred friends of hers to Art. They wanted a home in Park City and were a bit nervous because friends had warned them “mortgages and home buying is great once you are done, but it is horrible while you are doing it.” It was their first house and they were not sure they could do it because they were living in London. But it wasn’t nearly as bad as they were warned it would be. Art got all the designer furniture (over $80,000 worth) thrown in on the deal and negotiated a price that came in well below appraisal for his clients. Now they have a wonderful 5,500 square foot house with views of three ski resorts. They were so appreciative of how easy Art made the whole process that they actually took the unusual step of buying him a present! We have gained new friends and will enjoy visiting with them when they come in from London. If you have any questions about real estate or mortgages, give him a call. He works up and down the Wasatch Front (78% of his clients come by referral) and he is happy to answer questions, even if you don’t use his services.
Greetings from the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., where we’re looking forward to four more years of lower taxes, economic growth and mangled language.
Ken is still doing patent litigation at his D.C. law firm. He’s been traveling on business nearly every week since Labor Day, but enjoys swimming with the family in the new backyard pool in between trips. He swapped his Mustang for an Audi – still had to be a convertible, but this time a more practical all-wheel-drive.
Jennifer is enjoying a bit of new-found freedom this year, with all four kids in school full-time for the first time in 16 years. But with the kids doing sports, church, music and community activities, she still runs a busy after-school taxi service. Jennifer is trying to rediscover her muscles in the gym and on her daily walks since she isn’t lifting babies anymore. She’s still leading the elementary school’s supplemental art program and ignoring the laundry room as much as possible.
Chelsea , is sweet 16, a junior at our regional high school for science and technology, and juggles four AP classes with varsity volleyball, soccer, self-taught guitar, and the dating scene. With seminary at 6 a.m. and several hours of homework each night, she usually sleeps until noon on Saturdays. Chelsea will soon have her driver’s license, so beware on the roads! She’s starting to look at colleges, and we have a twinge of melancholy when we realize she won’t be at home much longer.
Spencer , who will be 14 in January, is an eighth grader. He hung up his soccer gear this fall in favor of football equipment, and received the end-of-season football coach’s award for being on the field for every play of every game – linebacker, guard, and special teams. Spencer continues to play the trumpet, paintball and computer games, while bemoaning his teachers who have the nerve to actually assign homework.
Kirsten will be 10 in February. She’s in fourth grade, and is still as gregarious as ever. She continues with piano and added the cello to her musical pursuits this year, but gave up soccer in favor of tennis. Kirsten is relentlessly pursuing our family getting a dog, so she’s been researching breeds and “hounding” her mother continually.
Garrett , who will be 7 in January, is a first-grader and becoming a great reader. He still loves taking things apart and pestering his siblings. Garrett enjoys swimming with his family and playing soccer. He still wants to know the how and why of everything, and especially enjoys delving into non-fiction books to satisfy his curiosity.
This past year we enjoyed a spring break adventure touring the Church history sites of the Midwest, spent a week on a Lake Powell houseboat with Ken’s first missionary companion and family, and Ken & Jennifer went on a 21 st anniversary trip to St. John while Grandma Tina & Grandpa Ralph held down the fort.
We wish you a holy holiday season and pray for peace during these turbulent times.
Another year has gone so fast!
We “downsized” to a town home this spring. Our town home is on a beautiful river, overlooking a mangrove island and is only a short distance from the ocean by water. We have a dock in our backyard, Our boat sits there and at a moments notice, we can go out to the ocean to snorkel, fish, or just enjoy the water. We were lucky to have Ansje and DeMoyne, Jack and Oeke, Paul and Louky all visiting Tina and Ralph. They all came to see our new place and we took them out for a boat ride. Everyone had a great time and Louky got a new hairstyle!
As you all may know, it can get a little windy here in Florida from time to time. Our back to back hurricanes created quite a bit of havoc down here.
Fourteen days without power can be interesting. Virtually all employment is shut down. There is no fresh or frozen food. PB & J on crackers with warm soda was a lucky find. All frozen food had to be thrown out because the core of the first hurricane lasted over three days and without power, you couldn’t cook any of the thawed food without power. The sewer systems don’t work without power, and started backing up in areas. Water could not be sanitized so only bottled water was safe to drink.
Gas is very hard to find. The gas stations that could pump gas ran out, the lines for fuel stretched for up to a mile at times. The ports were closed. Florida’s main source of petrol is by ship.
There are no traffic lights, its not that they didn’t work, they weren’t there at all. They had all blown away. It is amazing that without visual cues, how easy it is to run through intersections. All intersections became four way stops. Try doing that with 16 lanes all heading toward each other. We were under mandatory curfew at dusk for weeks. Driving at night was way to dangerous. Huge power lines and trees were down all over.
Without power, few businesses could open, so there was no work. We were lucky that my employer continued to pay me even though we were unable to open. There wasn’t much to do besides try to clean up the debris. Does anyone need firewood, we have lots down here in Florida. We don’t have a fireplace. We were lucky enough to find a generator after the first hurricane. We powered our house and our neighbors house with it. The generator wasn’t powerful enough for air conditioning but that was alright. It was nice to have fans and a refrigerator and a radio to listen to. We learned to appreciate the little things like, ice. Ice is something you really enjoy after cutting up all the firewood we had in our yard. As a note, if you or any of your families were involved in the massive effort to restore power to Florida after our four hurricanes, words can’t express how much we thank you. We cheered every power truck that went by.
We must admit, the second hurricane that hit the area we live, was a big surprise. We usually watch these for weeks before they hit shore, but this one was heading away from us. We even quit tracking it. Suddenly it turned around and came back with only 36 hours notice. If any of you watched these hurricanes (Frances and Jeanne), we live basically where they both hit shore.
By the time the second hurricane came through, we were all pretty exhausted. The power had just been restored. We were slowly getting supplies back in the stores and there were no gas lines. We had returned to work. Huge piles of debris were everywhere and the cities were working hard to remove it as fast as they could. But we now had learned what to do. We live in an area that is an evacuation zone during even a minor hurricane. So during the second hurricane, we evacuated to Disney World! We knew to empty the freezer and take the contents with us during the second hurricane. Our hotel had a full kitchen, so we dinned on baby back ribs, and steaks while in Disney World. We snuck the cats in (don’t tell Mickey!). On our way back to survey the damage, we picked up supplies to get us through the powerless days. But with a generator, it was pretty tough to complain.
We were lucky to have all of our family and friends survive, mostly intact.
If any of you every come to visit, please bring a blue tarp. It is our new state flag, almost every roof is flying one.
It is hard to believe that another year has passed by and it is time for Christmas and the family party!
At the beginning of the year, Ansje has back surgery and had 3 of her lower vertebrae fused together! It was a lot bigger operations than I had expected and took longer to get back on my feet than I wanted. If anyone is considering back surgery, talk to me first!!
DeMoyne has had another season of racing his birds. He went to Holland and was able to go to several different lofts in Germany, Belgium and Holland. He was looking for birds that would be able to race long distances and feels that he found some and will be breeding them for the coming year of 2005.
We were able to take a weeks vacation to Florida in October. It was great to be able to spend time with Tina and Ralph and also have Louky and Paul and Jack and Oeke there at the same time. It had been a long time since we had the opportunity of all being together.
I had two new babies born in our family this year. Alexandra, whose parents are Jen and Mike and Tierney, whose parents are Kim and Jeremiah! DeMoyne also had two babies born in his family. Candyce, whose parents are Ann and Steve Jaynes, DeMoyne's youngest daughter and Brynn, who was born to Krista and Dustin, DeMoyne's oldest grand daughter. DeMoyne now has 2 great grand children and 11 grand children. In my family I have 11 grand children. It is always amazing to me how quickly your family becomes larger and larger. You start with two people and end up with many, many more!
DeMoyne and I would like you wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a New Year full of happiness and joy!
This has been an eventful year for us. We had a new addition to our family, Alexandra Adriana Blanchard, who was born on January 24th, 004. She has been a joy and has such a quiet, peacefulness about her.
Jennifer was offered a great job and we decided that I would stay home with the kids and Jen would work! Jen loves her job. She is working for a real estate developer in Las Vegas and is learning new things each day about how some people make their money work for them and other people work for their money!! It has been a great experience and she loves her job! In the meantime, I am staying home with the kids and am a Mr. Mom! It has been a great experience and has also been a learning experience. I never realized that 'a Mom's work never gets done'! No matter how long you are at it, there is always something else that either needs to be done, or should have been done. I always thought that staying home would be great, and very easy! It's not!!! I recommend that every father has the opportunity of staying home and taking care of his children and the Mom's responsibilities for at least 3 months and you will have a brand new appreciation for what a mother does on a daily basis.
Aaron, our oldest, is in 2nd grade this year. He just received a reward for excellence in reading. There were only 3 children at his school that received this award and he was one of them. He also has an amazing mind for numbers, pretty soon he will be better at math than Mom. He loves to play on the play station and would sit and play games all day, if he could. Aaron plays soccer, sports are not first on his list, play station is and spending time with his dad.
Samantha is in kindergarten this year and loves school. She is playing soccer and is one of the best players on the team. She is very aggressive and doesn't allow any other player to push her around. She is also taking dance and loves her dance class. She likes to be the boss and takes every opportunity to let her brothers know that she is in charge! She tries it with her dad too, but that doesn't work to well.
Shawn is our 2 year old and has his own language (we are still not sure which country he comes from!). If he wants to let you know what he wants he can speak very clearly and make himself understood. He is very smart and very curious. He can get "anything" he wants, he just pushes a chair to whatever is high up and climbs until he gets what he is looking for. As a parent, he is a challenge to keep up with. He is his Dad's best bud and loves to go wherever his dad is going. We have to be careful to keep the doors locked (with the lock very high) or he decides that he is going to find out what is out in the world to see!
Alexandra is our baby and is very observant as she watches her older brothers and sisters. She 'scoots' wherever she wants to go. She would rather walk, but she hasn't quite figured out how to do that yet. She is a very loving baby and we enjoy her very much.
Mike is going to school working on becoming an attorney. This will be a long haul but well worth it when I am done.
We want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!
This has been a wonderful year for our family. Matt has started his own business called Titlest Electric. He now has a crew of about 5 to 6 full time and some part time employees. We have been very fortunate and had a great deal of work. Having my own business is wonderful and rewarding, but also very time consuming. If anyone has any electrical needs, let me know and I will come and see what I can do for you.
Natalie has been a stay at home mom and has been tending kids. This year the two oldest kids have gone to school all day and being home with just one of my children is quite an adjustment. Brendan has been attending pre-school two days a week and the kids are just all growing up so very fast. It has been great to have Matt home more since he has started his own business. Even though he works a lot of hours, they are spent doing a lot of paperwork at home.
Jayden is in second grade this year and doing very well in school. He is a really good reader and loves school. He is also playing soccer on the same team with his cousins and is learning the rules of the game and loves to work hard at making a goal. He turned eight years old this September and is being baptized and confirmed by his dad. He is his dad's best friend and loves to spend time with him.
Brooklyn is in 1st grade this year and is learning how to read and how to write. She is a U of U fan and loves to tease her brothers about the games that the Y is losing and the games that the U is winning. She loves to color and draw and is very good at it. She is also playing soccer for the first time this year and is doing very well. She makes lots of goals in each game and works very hard to make her team win. She is also taking dance classes and loves to perform. This year she is going to take singing lessons and we hope that she will do well.
Brendan is four years old now. Time goes so very quickly and it doesn't seem possible that he is already in pre-school and next year will be going to kindergarten. He loves Jayden and wants to be just like him. He loves BYU football, because Jayden loves BYU football.
We want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
Jeremiah has finally finished with school! He has his license to be a pipe fitter. We have a new addition to our family, a little girl! We named her Tierney Otomi Bailey. She looks just like her dad and her dad is very proud of her. She had a bunch of hair and it is naturally curly, Mom is having a lot of fun putting bows and fixing it her hair pretty.
Braxton and Jordan are in the fifth grade this year and are doing well in school. They are both playing soccer and are on a competition team.
Jeremiah has finished his schooling to become a journeyman plumber. He loves coaching Braxton and Jordan's team in soccer and plays soccer himself whenever he can. He is working for Coates Brothers and bids the jobs for them.
Kim is a stay at home mom and tends kids to help out financially. She is enjoying her little girl and loves to fix her hair in different ways and dress her up to always look cute. She is a 'soccer' mom and attends all of the games for the boys. Sometimes she feels like that is all that they do, go to one soccer game after another. She loves to decorate her home and has painted almost every room in the house since they have moved in.
We have added to our family this year. Our little girl, Tierney, was born on March 1, 2004. She has 3 older brothers that love her very much and even as young as she is, she is in control of the family! She looks just like her daddy and has a lot of curly dark hair.
Braxton is already 10 years old and is in the 5th grade this year. His favorite subject at school is 'recess'! He is doing well in school and is involved in competition soccer. He is a forward and loves to play. He has been working on his footwork and has good control of the ball while running down the field. His team has been playing their games all over the Valley. Some games are in Orem, Ogden, and Centerville. He loves his little sister and helps his mom take care of her after he gets home from school.
Jordan is also 10 years old and is the 5th grade. He and Braxton both have the same teacher. Jordan is a good student and enjoys reading. He plays soccer on the same competition team with Braxton. Jeremiah coaches the team and they practice at least 2 to 3 times a week. Jordan is the goalie for the team and he does a great job!
Colton is 7 years old and is in the 1st grade this year. He does very well at school and loves to go there. He has lots of little friends at school. He is learning how to read. Colton is also playing soccer, plays on a Rec team and one of his teammates is Jayden. They have been playing teams that are older than they are and have not lost very many goals. He wants to be just like Braxton and has been working on his footwork in handling the ball. He is a real "go getter". He loves his little sister and helps his mom with her.
We want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
This has been an eventful year for us. We were living with Kim and Jeremiah in their basement, but as they have added to their family, we needed to give them more room and now live in the basement of Jill's parents' home.
Jill is working for a mortgage company and is moving up the ladder there learning new things in the mortgage field. She is doing very well in her job and has had several promotions. She is also taking classes via the internet.
Ben is still working for Arizona Tile, but has moved back outside instead of being in the office. I am going to school at the Community College and am working on a degree in pharmacy. I am working toward becoming a pharmacist. Now that I am no longer working in the office at Arizona Tile, I now have a more flexible schedule so that I can concentrate on my schoolwork and getting my degree.
We would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!