Mom & Keith

It is hard to believe we have been home from our mission for three months. 

 We are appreciating our home and it's conveniences.  My recovery from 

rotator cuff surgery is going slow but as expected.  In 2 1/2 weeks I 

can start using my right arm.  I certainly was not born to be a lefty!!  

I have physical therapy twice a week...then another month of retrenched

 upper arm. The one upside to this is that I have watched a lot of HGTV

 and I am making lots of plans for much needed updating on the old 

homestead starting with the kitchen.  We had three trees taken down in 

our oak grove.  They were the smaller ones and having them gone has 

opened things up in the backyard quite a bit but without sacrificing 

shade where it is wanted.  In the spring we will make more improvements.

  Keith's balance problems seem to be improving with the physical therapy

 he had and exercised he is doing. For those who may be in the neighborhood

 at Christmas, the local family will be sharing Christmas dinner with us 

and you are invited to join us if it is convenient.  If you need your gift

 exchange list, let me know.  Start thinking now about that.  Let your 

family know when to expect those gifts.  Let them know if finances could

 be a problem.  Home made is great. We love you all so much.  Please take

 care of yourselves.  Love Mom and Dad Walburger

Bryce & Laura

Hey family.... just wanted to let you know that Jordan is officially an eagle scout

now.  He passed his board of review with flying colors.  He earned a total of 33 merit

badges over his scouting career.  We are so proud of him and all his hard work and 

 sacrifice.  We all went to Ice cream to celebrate.  Also last month Spencer 

totalled his car right near our house.  Some lady was flying  by on the right shoulder

 and slammed in to his side.  Spencer got hit by the airbag and  some glass but he is 

just fine.  We just got him a little  mazda protege'.  He really  likes it a lot too.

  We just thank the Lord that he was ok.  Every one else is doing  great.  We are 

starting to get cold and had to turn on the heater this week but we know  that it

 is all a part of living in the mountains. We love and miss you and we'll talk to  

ya later.  Love the SLC Westover's 

Charlotte and Jared

Welcome Baby Samuel Booren!

Hi Family,

We would like to officially announce that our 3rd little boy was born Sept 3, 2009. Sorry if you are hearing this for the first time. We sent a mass text message with picture on the 3rd And I've been a litte preoccupied since then... But I wanted to let you all know that he's a very health happy little boy. We named him Samuel Joseph Booren. He was born at 12:09 pm, 7lbs 8oz, 20.5 inches.

We will be blessing him on Sept 27, 11 am Sacrament mtg. With probably food a gathering following. (Anyone up for a second reunion?!) I know most will not be able to make it, so I will accept congratuations in the form of diapers, or checks. :)

I'll attach pictures. We love and miss you all already!

Charlotte

Mom & Keith

It is hard to believe we have been home for two months. I miss Arizona and the friends we made there but I am also grateful to be home. We have really been busy moving moving back in and putting the yard and garden in shape.

The Reunion was a great memory maker and went by too fast. With the help of Maria and Marissa we expanded the size of the patio. Thank you again for all your help. I am grateful for having such great kids and grand kids. I am continually amazed at how you keep your focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a blessing you all are to me.

Andrew and Joel stayed two nights with us while Charlotte and Jared were busy giving birth to Samuel Joseph. He is so cute. The boys were great, never complained or fussed. Tonight they and Casey and family came over to dine on the leftovers from the catered bar-b-q which I had frozen. I wish more of you lived close by. I love it when we get together.

This Thursday I will be having rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder so I am cleaning and preparing food for my days of recuperation. For the first three weeks I have to keep it immobile though I will have some exercises to do. It will be three months before it is completely healed.

We are grateful to have new callings. Keith is teaching the Gospel Essentials class and I am the Primary Activity Days leader for the girls 8-11 years. It has been fun.

It is good to be home.

Love G & G Walburger

Maria & Kelly

The month of August was great. We loved going to Oregon and visiting with everyone. What wonderful memories we all made! Since we have been back we have enjoyed the last weeks of summer by reading books, hanging out with friends, sleeping in, staying up late watching movies and going to the state fair. Megan and Marissa started on their new soccer teams. Marissa has won her first 2 games and Megan has won 2 of 3 games. She is enjoying getting to know new girls on her 9th grade soccer team. We had fun at the state fair eating and playing. Our favorite treats were the chocolate covered bananas, chocolate covered strawberries, bacon on a stick and lemonade. Today was David's 5th birthday. Amber made a couple great cakes for him (Harry Potter themed and Spiderman). The kids are not quite ready for school to start, but they only have a day left of vacation. Life is about to get really busy! Check out our blog (click our picture on the right) to see more pictures!

Fun at the State Fair

Megan's first high school soccer game

David turned 5!

Casey and Andrea

Hello family. We sure do miss you all! We've recovered from the reunion and have kept busy with swimming lessons and end of summer activities. Casey's business is wrapping up it's busy season and I must admit, though the money decreases (quite drastically some months) I have a significantly happier husband who's home just a little more often. So that's good! Thankfully, we've been furiosly putting money away for those slow months. As I type this I am waiting for a babysitter to arrive so that I can go to the hospital and meet Baby Samuel Booren. I'm excited to hold a little newborn! We had a little party with the boys and aunt charlotte the day before they went in to the hospital. The girls and I made a cake and uncle Casey bought the boys Lego Star Wars T Shirts. (As well as something for the baby). I think he enjoys buying Star Wars stuff for someone who actually appreciates it. The girls could care less about Star Wars stuff. School starts next week and everyone is anxiously waiting to see who their teacher will be. I have four girls in school this year so it will be a quiet house with just Lydia and me! Well, that's about it. Have a great month and we miss you!

Andie & Layne

Okay, yaa, I know, I'm pretty bad.  Life has been nonstop lately and our heads don't seem to be anywhere close to our bodies these days.  We're still here at the "ranch" but our house is on the market.  No Idea where we will go if it sells, but with the amount of attention our home has been getting it doesn't look like we will be going anywhere soon.  No one has been to see the house in about a month.  We kind of hope it doesn't happen.  I'm looking into boarding horses here and I don't know if that will go down too well with potential customers.  Layne has been interviewing and sending resumes but no one is biting.  He's working on his business and looking into buying an agency or something.  
 
Our time has been full of baby horse and trees.  Sage had a beautiful little colt 3 weeks ago.  He is sweet and adorable and looks just like his mom.  The name debate has raged for weeks but it looks like he will go by Antares.  It is a large red star in the constellation Orion or somewhere and means the rival of Ares (I guess because it's red like Mars).  I still like Cowboy or Little Jake after William's character in the play we were in (he reminds me of William) but Nicole wanted something more dignified and majestic sounding.  As far as the trees, the pine beetle has struck our place and all of this area pretty well.  Layne bought a chain saw and has cut down, with Loren's help, about 50 trees, and has been spraying the rest with some anti-beetle stuff.  Wev'e all been hauling trees down the slope and loading them into a trailer and then unloading them at the dump.  We've done about 10 loads so far and have 2 or 3 more to go.  What fun.  The hardest part is keeping everyone moving!  The play was great fun!!  We made lots of friends and did some new things and hopefully left a good impression of a Mormon family with the rest of the cast. 
 
Loren is at Takashin leadership camp for boy scouts.  This is his 3rd and last year serving on staff.  He's senior quarter master this year.  He loves it.  Its a two week gig.  The first one is set up, the 2nd week is when the participants arrive and they (staff) get to teach them how to be leaders.  It was kind of neat when I dropped him off to see the respect the adults and other staff had for Loren.  He was a leader there.  Weird and exciting to see him growing up.  After camp he's home for a day and then we're off to EFY.  The plan so far is for the little kids and I to hang out in Utah for that week so I hope we get to see mom and Keith and Jeremy and whoever else will be in town.
 
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.  Love the Kertamus Crew

Hyrum, Nicole and friend

William and cast mates from "Annie Get your Gun"

Antares

Sage and Antares

Arizona Connection

This will be our last report from our mission.  We leave early Thursday morning and head for Monument Valley, Canyonlands and Arches National Park.  Then on to Salt Lake.  We will be traveling on Father's Day so will be out of reach by phone. Yesterday we had a great day with several couples from our little branch going to the St. George temple.  We traveled home by way of Zion's National park.  I am continually amazed at the beauties of this world!  I will have to do a whole album just on them. Tomorrow we clean our humble home, on Tuesday we send more things home by UPS up at Page and while there, visit Antelope Canyon.  On Wednesday we say our final goodbyes to the people we have taught, then pack up the car. We will arrive at Bryce's home Sunday evening.  For the first 3 days we will do more sight seeing and visiting the Family History library to visit with Keith's cousin and a third cousin of mine who is the niece of Elder L. Tom Perry.  He is my 2nd cousin once removed!  Wow.  That was quite a discovery.  She said that my great grandmother and his grandfather where brother and sister.  When we get home we want to start working on family history so we are taking advantage of these few days to mingle with those who know our histories and hopefully get copies of whatever records are available.   We will celebrate Niel's birthday with him and Christy on Thursday June 25, then join with the Walburger clan for a much anticipated reunion.  We got word today that David Walburger is being deployed to Iraq at that time so will miss the family get together.  He will certainly be missed.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone and going to the Ocher Mt. Temple  open house and getting reaquainted with those we haven't seen for a very long time.  On Sunday June 28 it looks like we will get to greet the older Westover grandkid cousins coming to attend EFY together.  How fun!!  And all eight are staying at Bryces. That may be our time to exit unless they need our help transporting them the first day.  This next week and a half will be crammed full of great memory making events and activities.  We hope our stamina is up to it! Our final goodbye from Inscription House Arizona, Elder and Sister Walburger

Casey and Andrea

Hello family. We are busy, busy, busy planning the reunion. Casey stayed home from church with a fever and sore throat. When I got home, he was planted at the computer, frantically scanning old photos in for the "grandma Bea and family" slide show. Tomorrow, he's meeting with Rawlin to get more pictures. It's a lot of work but i think he's secretly enjoying it. We've had a great month. Jillian turned 9, we spent a great evening at Papa's Pizza with Grandpa Mel, and for Memorial day, we went mini golfing and then to a BBQ with the Booren's. We also got the flu (the puking kind) all at the same time. That was fun. Casey is SWAMPED with work. He is working 14-15 hour days and then going to do Bishop stuff at night. (I think that's why he is sick today...doing too much) I have to remind myself that the busy season only lasts a few months and that it is very much a blessing even though we miss our husband and daddy. The girls get out of school this Friday. We are leaving the first of July for a 10 day stay with my parents in Utah. (Casey is staying home) So, we are sad that we will miss Grandma and Grandpa's big homecoming. Casey will be there to give you hugs for us though! I'm attaching a few pictures of the kids...one at Camp Putt, the other at Hendricks Park. The rhodies are in bloom!

Arizona Connection

Thank you all for the birthday wishes through calls, cards and e-mail cards. I had a great day and even had a big party with the Sr. missionaries though they didn't know 'till they arrived that it was my birthday. Our going home party was an adventure through 4-wheel drive country to get to Eggshell arch which is in a canyon behind Inscription House. We can't get to it without going around to the othere side of the canyon. See the picture attached.
After our trek of 6 miles we came back to Inscription House Chapel for a picnic of home made subway sandwiches and fun visiting. We have a great group of Sr's. We will miss them.
We are winding up our teaching of several inactive families and next Saturday we have a baptism of an 8 year old we taught. It will be in Page and we are doing the planning because we have a brand new Primary presidency and they don't know what they are doing. Training them is my goal before we leave. We have one of our reactivated elders going to and addiction recovery program so if he sticks with it he will be a success story. There are so many problems on the reservation that you have to feel good for the small advances that our presence here may have brought about.
We have made many friends and we will keep in touch and keep them in our hearts and albums.
We are anxious to see everyone in a few weeks.

Love to all!

Bryce and Laura Update

Hey family. We are all getting excited in utah for the fun family reunion. From the schedule we got emailed, it looks like casey and charlotte have been busy busy. It looks like everyday is just packed with a lot of fun.. We will have to pull out our disco clothes. I should have my clothes from the seventies,,, oh wait those clothes probably would not fit since I was only 11 or 12. any way we we'll have to find something with a lot of paisley's or bell bottoms it looks like.

Our kids only have 4 days left of school and then they are out for the summer. Our kids have a full schedule this summer with efy, vacations, priest camp for spencer-not to mention spencer is now a swimming instructor and life gaurd at the local pool and many other youth activities.

We are also going to california at the end of june to go to Six Flags in the Bay area with all our cousins on Laura's side.
We hope you are all doing well and looking forward to seeing you in August.

Maria and Kelly Update

April was a busy month with Megan and Steven's 14th and 12th birthdays, our 18th anniversary, Marissa's basketball games, David's T-ball games and Amber's track meets. I also enjoyed a wonderful few days in Provo with a great sister and a couple great sisters-in-law. It was so nice to be back at BYU. The classes were great and uplifting. Charlotte and I shared a dorm in Helaman Halls. Good times. Kelly survived on his own with the kids. Amber was inducted into the Honor society last month,too. We are so proud of her! Megan was named a student of the month and was given a presidential award for achievment in academics. The kids enjoy the trampoline being back together again now that the snow is gone. Yeah! We love spring! Megan sang a solo and played her violin in her final choir concert of the year. She can really make beautiful music. We are so excited to see everyone this summer. The kids are dying to play with cousins! Here are some random pictures. Check out our blog for some more.

Charlotte, Niel and Maria in Utah

David at T-Ball

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Steven

Amber signing her Honor Society Pledge Book

Niel and Christy

I'm writing this update from Aspen, Colorado. I'm attending something called BoostCon. You may be wondering what I'm doing here, and why Christy and Charlie aren't with me... After several months and lots of applications, I finally had some good interviews. One was over breakfast with a couple guys from a company in Orem called Gwava. They liked my resume and pretty much offered me a job right then. They said they would get back to me within a few days with an offer. I was pretty excited, and I told Christy that I wanted to take that job. However, there was another company that also wanted to interview me. I spotted a job posting on Monster.com for a company called Magpie in Salt Lake, and called up the recruiter in charge of it. I saw that I was a pretty good fit for the position, but the recruiter didn't think so. He sent them my resume anyway. Eventually he called back and told me they wanted to have me do an interview with someone from HR. That seemed to go pretty well, and they called me back for a technical interview with a few of the software engineers. They asked me programming questions, and made me write stuff on the whiteboard. I guess I did well enough there because they called me back for a 3rd interview, where I took a programming test, and then they took me to lunch. This was last Tuesday. Later that afternoon, I got a call from the HR lady I interviewed with originally with an official offer from Magpie. I told the guys at Gwava that I had received this offer, and they rushed to get something together by Wednesday afternoon (April 29th). After examining all the pros and cons of both offers, I decided to accept the one from Magpie. So I called to tell them I wanted to accept the offer, and they told me I could start Monday, May 4th. So I wrapped things up at Sensory Sweep, and my last day was Wednesday (before I actually accepted the offer.) All of Charlie's friends were sad to see him go. Poor Charlie won't get to go to work anymore. Thursday morning I got a call from Mike, the guy who interviewed me, and he asked if I was still planning on starting Monday (yesterday). I told him I was, and he told me he wouldn't be there because he had this conference to attend. Then he asked if I wanted to come along. I was pretty speechless. Of course, I said I'd love to go. So me, Mike and Brad, another guy who interviewed me, drove out Sunday afternoon, and I've been in Aspen ever since. Magpie is a subsidiary of TD Williamson, an oil and gas pipeline engineering company, so they have plenty of money to spend. All the meals in Aspen are pretty expensive, but the company's paying for them, so we've been enjoying the free food. This trip has been a great opportunity for me to get to know some of the guys on my team. Christy and I are so relieved that I actually have a paying job now. We've been extremely blessed. I still can't believe I'm in Aspen, and I have a new job! It might take a while to sink in. In other news, we're going to Pocatello, Idaho on Saturday (after I get back) to pick up a sister for Charlie. She's a pomeranian/chihuahua mix and looks just like Charlie. Who knows...she might be his long lost sister! I better wrap this up and leave something for next time. We love you all!

Casey and Andrea update

Hello family. I just got back from the most wonderful "long" weekend.
Charlotte B. and I were able to go out to BYU to attend Women's conference.
We met Maria at the airport, and Christy the next day. We spent the whole
week feeling spiritual and listening to great messages. I would highly
recommend Women's conference to anyone that can make it down to Utah next
year!

Casey was so kind to watch the girls for me for 4 days! The Relief
Society learned that he was going to be alone all week and so they surprised
him with a few meals! Casey was amazed that they would go to the trouble!
He did really great though and I came home to a clean house and two videos
that they had made and edited. They are so cute! The video is titled, "The
Fellowship of the Thing."..written, produced and edited by Casey! In other
news, Jillian celebrated her ninth birthday. The girls also had a voice
recital for their amazing teacher, Aunt Charlotte. We started a blog
(westoverfamilyseven@blogspot.com) and on it, I posted the four songs that
they sang for the recital. Head on over and check out their angelic voices!
(Not to mention Aunt Charlotte's amazing piano skills!) We are continuing
to plan the reunion....we have a theme now but we'll keep it under wraps for
a while! Hope all is well with your families! (I'm attaching pictures of
Easter Sunday, the tax day "tea party" that Charlotte and I attended,
Jillian's birthday and Women's conference. enjoy!

Arizona Update

Navajo Mountain

We have been very busy with teaching almost every day, but it is frustrating because they are friendly but at the same time are indiferrent to the message. They don't want to go to the trouble of changing thier lives, even though it would improve them. We hope maybe we are planting seeds that one day someone else will harvest. We are looking forward to coming home, though we are concerned for this branch because they are loosing several of their strongest families due to the economy. They are teachers at the local schools and are being let go.

Last Saturday the branch had an activity to climb Navajo Mt. I decided I would try it though I knew I wouldn't make it to the top. I managed to hike uphill about 1 mile. That may not seem like much but I did better than I thought I would at an altitude of between 8,000 and 9,000 feet and very steep

We are planning an excursion to see Antelope Canyon and Eggshell Arch on May 23rd as a farewell party to us and another couple. They did the same trip last fall but we missed it due to Keith's grand daughter's baptism.

The weather has been crazy. Winter is still not letting go and I think we are skipping spring. I am looking forward to working in my garden.

Love to all

Niel and Christy

Hi family. The last few months have been crazy. I've been looking for a new job because my current job isn't doing so hot with the current economy. The company has shrunk from more than 200 employees a year ago to less than 30 now, mainly because the company can't meet payroll on time anymore. We're still doing OK, and I still get the occasional paycheck every once in a while, but I definitely need a new job. I've had lots of interviews, and I believe there are going to be some job offers soon. If it weren't for our house and the bad economy, we would've sold by now and moved to Oregon. Maybe someday we'll get to leave Utah.

In other news, Christy has been the gospel doctrine teacher for a few months now, and she really loves her calling (she's really good at it, and her life experiences make her a perfect fit to teach Doctrine and Covenants). I'm still the ward organist and financial clerk. We just had stake conference, and Elder Hales came and spoke to us. He's an amazing teacher and speaker. It was a great opportunity to get to hear from an apostle. Elder Jones, an area Seventy was also there with him.

Christy's starting up as a Stampin' Up demonstrator again, and with all the knowledge she's gotten from her job in the call center at Stampin' Up, she's hoping to be able to turn it into a small business. If any of you want to order stamping or scrap booking products, Christy would be glad to help you out.

Love you all,
Niel, Christy and Charlie

Charlotte and Jared

I'm a bit late, but I thought I'd contribute anyway. At this very moment I have four little boys ages 2-4 sitting at my table playing playdough. Jared's sister, her husband and three of the their kids are going to Salt Lake for General Conf. and we're (I'm) watching their two youngest who are the same age as Drew and Joel for the next four days. I'm just not sure how much giggling about poo poo and pee pee I'm going to be able to take -- when does that stop being funny to boys?

I'm about 18 weeks along now in this pregnancy and I really can't complain. I have it pretty good when it comes to symptoms and side effects, although this time around I have developed a completely non-itchy rash on my face as a bonus gift. If I never looked in the mirror or touched my face, I wouldn't know it was there. And while it doesn't hurt or itch, I do have to look in the mirror periodically and I look like I have a mustache. I'm sure I notice it more than anyone else. The doc says it's just one of the hundreds of random skin conditions that can come with pregnancy.

Jared got all gung ho this last week and mapped out our yard and figured out our garden for this years harvest. So far we've planted the early spring seeds outside, and started some seeds inside.

We're so happy that Casey and Andrea stocked up on food storage for us. We know exactly where to go when disaster strikes! I've been having a lot of fun giving Jillian and Charlotte voice lessons. It makes my job so much more fun when they already have natrually beautiful voices. You are all invited to a recital on the 18th (I guess I should ask Andrea and Casey if that date works --- well, does it?).

Things are great here. We're very happy with our tax returns this year. Because Jared's bonuses get taxed so heavily, we get a lot of it back at tax time.

Can't wait to see you all this summer!

Maria and Kelly

March is over and we are ready for spring. All the snow was melted until we got two inches today. Bummer. David didn't seem to mind. He put on his snow clothes and went out to play with Zoe (our dog). We spent the month doing the usual. Amber and Megan both had choir concerts, Megan had a symphony concert, Steven earned two more merit badges and achieved the rank of first class in scouts. Amber was accepted into the high school honor society! She is applying for the art honor society as well. That girl is smart and talented! The kids all got great grades for their second trimester. Amber, Megan and Kelly went to a young women's winter camp in Wisconsin and had fun walking on the frozen lake and making new pajama pants (the girls). Marissa fell and got a hairline fracture in her left wrist (she is left handed). Luckily, a brace was all that the doctor recommended. She was able to swim with us at the water parks in Wisconsin Dells for spring break, all indoor, of course. David wasn't sure he would remember how to ride a bike since it has been so long since he actually had a clear street and warm enough weather to try it. He remembered, just like riding .... you know the saying. He loves to ride around our cul-de-sac for as long as I will let him. He especially likes going through the puddles so the mud can splash straight up his back! Kelly has been working a lot and keeping busy with the bishopric. Some Sundays are just crazy with all that we are involved in. Two weeks ago Kelly had meetings starting at 9 then choir at 12 (I am the semi-permanent substitute choir director), the choir sang in sacrament meeting, Kelly taught High Priests group, I taught the 10-12 primary class, filled in for primary and nursery music, then Steven had a priesthood preview until 6. Most Sundays are not very restful! We are happy for the chance to serve in our ward, though. We are looking forward to eating in the backyard, taking bike rides, playing outside at the park and feeling warmth from the sun. For more pictures and updates, check out our blog. Just click on our picture at right.

This is a picture of Amber and her friend Jentry Johnson on frozen Clam Lake in Wisconsin













The kids getting dumped on at a water park in Wisconsin Dells.

David won the Pretty Pretty Princess game!

Casey and Andrea

Hello family. Hope your March went well! Spring is bursting here in Springfield. (hard to believe for those of you still in snow). The daffodils are up, the lawns are green and lush, and the plum trees are covered in pink flowers. It's a great time to be in Oregon. Unfortunately, the majority of our Spring Break was rainy. We did manage to do a few fun things though. Our family and the Booren family went up to Salem to play at the AC Gilbert Discovery House. (I attached a few pictures) Afterwards, we rode the carousel and went to Dairy Queen for dinner. It was a lot of fun. In other news, our garage has been completely transformed. We have gotten on the food storage kick and when my dad was in town, he built wall to wall shelves in our garage while my mom and I blew $2000 on food storage. (We'd been saving up for this project for a while) We loaded the shelves and the freezer with food storage. We have a long ways to go to get our years supply but it feels so wonderful to walk out to the garage and see so much food. With the economy being as shaky as it is, we've decided to postpone any major changes to our home and just save our money. We have enough money saved so that Casey could be out of work for a year and we'd be able to pay our bills. It's a good feeling...we hope we never have to use it! We are so grateful for our many blessings. There are a lot of folks struggling here in Oregon. Monaco Coach, Country Coach and I think Marathon Coach have all gone out of business. A lot of members of our Stake lost their jobs in the last month because of it. Casey is trying to throw work at as many people as he can, but our business is down significantly as well. I guess people don't want to throw big corporate picnics and parties in a recession.. Who could blame them? To sum up, despite the economic worries, we are all happy and healthy! We count our blessings every day and are so grateful to be members of such a wonderful and hopeful church. We also love all of you and can't wait to see you in August.

Bryce and Laura Update

Hey family. Hope all is well where you are. We have 70 degrees one day and then 4 inches of snow the next. We can't wait for it to warm up. We almost have everything done in our house. We tiled spencer's bathroom and repainted it as well, and then have almost totally finished our kitchen. All that is left is the can lights in the cieling. Dad was here last weekend and put in our new front door. I just need to paint it. We are also rewiring the garage to add more plugs and then finally rewiring our breaker box and adding a shower surround upstairs. As you can see we have been very busy. We were not sure that we wanted to stay here, so thus the reason we are finally fixing it up. The kids are getting impatient for the summer and have just 2 months left of school like everyone else. It will be great to see all the cousins here for EFY. Hope all of you are surviving winter and are healthy.
Love the Westovers of Salt Lake

Arizona Connection

Spring on the reservation is nutty!! Last night we had a snow storm
after a day of incredible winds. We woke up to 5" of snow this morning.
Then the sun came out and most of it was gone by this afternoon. The
same thing happened last Sunday. The winds were so strong, there was a
fog of orange dust and sand clouding our view as we traveled home from
Stake Conference in Page. That evening it started to snow. Crazy!! We
traveled 150 miles today to interviews with Pres. Beck. We took the
elders serving in Kaibeto, about 20 miles north, with us. The Sr.
couples provide a potluck lunch for everyone at these meetings. In three
weeks is our Zone conference and Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the Quorum of
the 70 will be a visitor. He will not just be a guest speaker but will
be a trainer on the Atonement. All the missionaries were given copies of
two of his Ensign articles and a page of questions with the answers found
in those articles. It has been marvelous to gain a deeper understanding
of just what the Atonement can mean for us, beyond cleansing from sin.
Did you realize that the Lords grace is the enabling power that makes it
possible for us to overcome ourselves and progress. He is lifting us as
we put our lives in his hands. That is what faith is for because he
can't help us until we exercise faith in him, believing He will be there
to lift, and strengthen in every area of our lives. We are looking
forward to this visit to be taught by one who understands this doctrine.
We finally bought a Navajo blanket or rug. We visited a little old lady
who way sitting and weaving at her loom. She is a member but hadn't been
back to church since her husband died three years ago. Her son was there
and helped us communicate. She showed me how she washed, dyed, hand
carded the wool then spun it into yarn on a long spindle. This was a
true Navajo blanket. The others I had seen were finer and more
professional but the yarn was bought at the local craft store. As I
looked at this one I purchased I could see pieces of twigs woven into it
because the carding didn't get them all out. That made it even more
genuine. It is a horse blanket but since I don't have a horse, it will
go on a wall. She and her son are coming back to church. He has an
alcohol problem and we hope to get him help to overcome it. We now have
a Sr. couple in the mission from the LDS Social Services who provide this
help.
We hope all is well in your home. Love to all.
_____________________________________________

Bryce and Laura Update

Hey family, just a quick update. We finally got our kitchen done, although it still needs the can lights put in. I'll show you more when it is totally done. Also this is Jordan's Eagle project. He made a bunch of games and art projects for the kids at Primary Childrens. And finally, Friday was very warm, so the kids decided to run through the sprinklers.
Love, the Westovers

Maria and Kelly Update

February, already gone? Wow. We keep plugging along. We have dealt with sick kids on and off this month, but I think we are all healthy now. Steven had a fun scout winter camp that Kelly was able to attend. They played capture the flag in frigid temps. but they didn't seem to mind. Kelly and I attended a stake Valentine dance and we had a great time dancing all night. Our feet were very sore the next day. Steven babysat for us since Amber and Megan both had paying gigs that night. Amber and Megan both participated in a choir festival for their respective grades. They enjoyed singing with other talented singers who were serious about singing. Kelly and I realized that school dances are horrible after chaperoning Megan's 8th grade dance. We were offended by some of the very suggestive dancing going on. Our kids really have to be strong to 'be in the world but not of it.' I spent Thursday shoveling 6 inches of fresh snow in 6 degree weather while Kelly was in San Diego enjoying 75 degrees. After meetings he was able to visit his twin brother and his family for a couple days. Winter will end someday, we think. Marissa had her first basketball game yesterday and loved it. She really likes to play basketball and actually has a good shot. Friday night I had a primary class party for the two oldest primary classes, Steven's class and my class. We made homemade pizza, played games and ate brownies for dessert. I think the kids enjoyed getting to know each other outside of church. We had a good time. I have attached a picture of our winter wonderland. Enjoy!

Casey and Andrea update

Hi everyone! We have had a pretty good February! We celebrated Allison's 5th birthday and my 36th birthday. On Allison's birthday, we pulled out a bounce house, I made a "Max and Ruby" cake and we had 8 of her cousins and friends over. (We were watching Drew and Joel for the weekend so they were both there anyway!) The only sad part was that Allison came home from school with a fever. We doped her up with Tylenol and went ahead with the party. We just kept her away from everyone as much as we could. We felt bad for her because I think she really wanted to just go to bed. For my birthday, Casey took me to our favorite restaurant, "Hole in the Wall BBQ." (They'll be the ones doing some catering for us at the reunion-Casey did some trade). Anyway, the other notable event this month was the refinance of our house! We lowered our payment by $500 a month and pulled out some money. We got an amazing interest rate (4.875%) so we're pretty happy! We are going to save the extra cash in the hopes that we'll be able to do some home improvements before the reunion. (We're watching the economy closely to try and decide whether to use the cash or just save it for a rainy day.) We have had a blast planning the reunion...I know it seems early but we had to put all of our deposits down by February 1st in order to get the parks and the roller skating rink. We were also very lucky to get the temple on the day we wanted...they fill up very fast! All of this planning has made us realize how much we miss you all! August can't come soon enough! (I include a few pictures that you may have already seen on facebook...a few of Allison's birthday, one of the Allison and Lydia dancing in a downpour and one of the girls one morning before church.)

Arizona Update

We attended the local "Flea Market" with the Kaibito elders. We walked around and would talk to the venders and after making friends would give them a missionary pamphlet. We encouraged the elders to get out into the crown and "OYM" but they didn't want to leave their vehicle with it's display. After that we tried to find some people on our list, without success. We did run into an interesting woman we met last week, who chattered almost incoherently in a form of Navajo English and whose eyes didn't seem to work together very often. We were suprised to see her in one of the homes we were checking out today. We first met her a couple of days ago when we picked her up on the highway and gave her a ride to the Sr. Center. No one was there so she asked us to take her to the Clinic which is near where we picked her up. On the way she asked us to turn into a drive so she could see her sister. Her sister turned out to be married to a former branch president. We will be giving him a ride to church tomorrow and possibly his wife and a granddaughter. I am sure we will see this little lady again, her name is Susie Tso. I will take a picture of her when I get my camera back from being repaired. It quit working so took it into Best Buy last week. I bought their warrenty on it so it will be repaired or replaced.
We did some exploring this afternoon trying to find Eggshell Arch which we learned is close by. We drove all over dirt roads without any luck. When we got back I checked on Google Earth and realized that I was reading the map I printed earlier, upside down. It is west of us instead of east. I felt very dumb. I know that the top of a map is north. It just looked like we were suppose to go across the street. We will try again next week. I have been wanting to explore the canyon behind us since I heard it was there. The weather is starting to warm up so we are venturing out more.
This last week was a bit disappointing because three of our appointments forgot we were coming and were not home. "Bummer!!"

Scripture of the month: D&C 50:24 Discuss it and write what you think it means. It states clearly what we have been experiencing.
Love to all.

Reunion Calendar

2009 Reunion Information

Dear family...

We are actively planning our family reunion for this August. There are a couple of activities that we wanted to make you aware of because some preparation needs to be made. The official reunion will begin Tuesday, August 11th. We will kick off the reunion with a visit to Great Grandma Bea. We are trying to put together a slide show for this event. We have some pictures of Grandma Bea given to us by Aunt Joyce but we need more. If you possess any pictures of you or your families with Grandma Bea would you please scan them and Email them to us? We would truly appreciate it! We have some pictures of her last few birthdays...going back to 2002. Before that, we don't have a lot. Thanks a lot!

Second, on the last day of the reunion (Friday, August 14th) we have made an appointment to do baptisms for the dead at the Portland temple. Obviously, this will include all youth over the age of 12. (we are arranging for all younger children to be babysat at a nearby home). As the family has grown, this will include over half of our group!!! This will give the adults six months or so to get their temple recommends current...if they are not already. Also, as the time draws closer, Casey will Email you with instructions on what to do to get Bishop interviews for your youth. Furthermore, the temple has asked us to provide up to 80 names of our own!! Do you guys think in six months we can come up with that many names to be ready to go through the temple? If you think you have some family names that have not had their work done, will you Email us and let us know? If we as a family can't come up with some, I'm sure we can find some from members of our ward. (It would be pretty neat if we could make them family names though). We are making Portland the conclusion to our reunion so that those that are travelling back home can leave from Portland if they want to get home before Sunday. If not, you are all welcome to come spend Sunday in our awesome Ward! We have a pretty cool Bishop!

Sandwiched in between these two days, we have a ton of fun activities! It should be a great reunion and we can't wait for August!

Thanks guys!
Andrea and Casey

Bryce and Laura Update

Hey family. We miss all you and can't wait til this summer to see ya'll.
We are really loving talking to all of you on FB. It has been great joking and reading all your creative blogging going on. We really do have a weird family when it comes right down to it. The Blog has also been great too. To see your pictures and hear about you and your kids and see them growing up has been priceless.
We in Utah are in the process of redoing our entire house. We have ordered a new kitchen which comes feb 26th. We just had our roof fixed so that it doesn't leak, retiled the downstairs bathroom, fixed my car, repaneling the sides of our house and maybe painting this summer and then re-sheetrocking our living room due to the previously mentioned roof leak. We really thought about moving but decided to stay and fix up the place so we might want to stay. so needless to say, we are really busy right now with the house.
Jordan just finished his Eagle project and will turn it in this week to Primary childrens hospital, and Spencer just finished his junior yr of swim team. Adam and Kaylee are in piano together and really enjoy it as well. Me and Laura can't wait for the warmer weather to come back soon. Be Safe and can't wait to see you all soon.
Love Bryce, Laura and kids
We also added more pictures to Lauras Face book page.