CHRISTMAS EVE CELEBRATION 2013

Dear Family,

We had the best Christmas Eve celebration with many of our kids and grandkids.  We usually put on a great dinner to which Doug and family, Emily and family, Mike and his gang, Suz and family, Rebecca and family all came with John and his family from Alpine.  I believe we had about 50 over for dinner.

We served our traditional rib roast for the adults, sirloin roast for the kids and I even had a venison roast, (from the deer I just harvested the week before), slow cooked in a German recipe sauce.  I did not tell too many what that was but it was gone!  It was really good! Doug said that was the best of all them meat dishes.  Everyone went to a lot of trouble to bring the sides, buns, salads, vegetable dishes, snacks and of course wonderful desserts.  It was a great joint service with we providing the meat course and everyone else brought an ample supply of goodies.  It was all eaten!

After dinner, we had our program which featured Mike and his family on the Bells playing Christmas songs.

We then had the reenactment of the nativity scene which has been a fun tradition over the years.  Former players in our home In Michigan now have their own children as players.

Keeping up with the times, I read from Luke and Mathew from the scriptures on my iPad.  There is Kaley in the background following the dialog on her iPhone,  Mike hooked me up to a loud speaker so I could read above the din.  (With so many Apple computers, iPads, iPhones and iPods given out at Xmas, our network was overloaded!)  Anyway, it is always a sacred time to read from the scripture about the birth of the Savior and all were respectful.

Here is Tilly and Anthony as Joseph and Mary with Annalise as the baby.  Before we started, I asked Joseph to say the opening prayer,(meaning Joseph Wirthlin), but Anthony stood up and gave an appropriate prayer.  Later when I asked why Anthony stood up, the reply was "well he was playing Joseph!"



We had a huge cast of players including Tommy with an impala hide on his back as the donkey.  Shining stars, Angles, Wise Men and Shepards were all there and it was a great time.  We sang Silent Night (I always sing it quietly in German) and it was on to the next event,

We had a visit from Santa, (this year Johnny Hickey) who passed out candy canes full of M&M's as the treat.  All maintained they were nice and not naughty for Santa.

Then there was the "White Elephant" Xmas gift exchanged.  There were some pretty good item in the pile.  The kids went nuts.  I got a bar of Naptha soap!

Becca and her family celebrated Christmas morning with us and opened gifts.  Mom got an iPhone 5 and is having a ball with it.  I got a belgian Waffle maker and have used it to feed the hungry horde. We went to Suz for breakfast brunch and later went to Cathy's for evening Fondue.  We were pretty bushed after this.  I slept for 11 hours straight. It  has been non stop family fun blast and it is still going on!

Merry Xmas to all, Mom and Dad

HOLIDAY VISITS FROM FORMER MISSIONARIES

Dear Family,

With the holiday season, we often have visits from our former missionaries.  We have known them now for about eleven years and it is always such fun to see them on occasion,  We feel almost related.

Here is Beth Webster who came down from Logan.  She was our fine sister missionary who spent the bulk of her mission in Vienna and was there so long, that the members offered to rent her an apartment if she would stay.  She earned a masters in German Literature and taught.  Now however, she decided to go back to school and get a degree in actuarial science which would be a hot item now.  I thought that was plenty cool.  We all say,"Go Beth, go!'

We had a visit from Shalayne Davis who is here from Richmond Virginia.  She was one of our fine sister missionaries in Germany and a great trainer.  She graduated from BYU, received a teaching certificate, taught and decided to go to law school.  She is in her last semester of her third year at law school in Richmond,Virginia.  She is taking her last semester at the BYU law school but has definitely turned into a Virginia Southern Belle.  We all say,"Go Shalayne, go!"

And then on the same day, we had a visit from Mary Cox and her mother.  Mary worked in Germany and Austria and did such a great job.  Since then she graduated and got accepted to Oxford College in England.  She is working on a Phd in post World War I German economics.  This year she has taken a breather from that to become a Lecturer in European history at Oxford.  I thought that was super plenty cool.  It was so fun to visit with her again and to Mary, we all say,"Go Mary, go!"

So great to see friends and family at Christmas time.  May Heaven bless you all,

Dad and Mom

CHRISTMAS CALL FROM MADELINE, (SISTER HUNTSMAN)

Dear Family,

We are getting ready for our Xmas evening family gathering with many coming.  Paul and Cheryl and family are traveling this Christmas.  They invited Mom and me to be part of Maddie's Xmas call from her mission in Dublin, Ireland.

The rules have been relaxed since we were in Germany.  The sisters are wearing more colorful clothes.  Although very discreet, the clothing rules have been relaxed.

Also there are more lenient internet rules.  This year, Maddie was given an hour to call home on Christmas.  Paul arranged with a senior couple serving in the same zone to put through a call on FaceTime.  Here is the gang anxiously awaiting Maddie's call.  We are all gathered in Paul's home office.  There is Paul trying to make the connection, Olivia, Lauren in the chair, Johnny, Emily, Annabelle and the anxious mom, Cheryl.  Paul tried  an hour and finally the FaceTime phone rang and there was Maddie.

There she was big as life smiling from ear to ear and looked just great!  Each of the kids talked to her face to face.  Oma and Opa had a chance as well and it was so sweet!  Paul and Cheryl had a private chat with her and the call went on for an hour.

At the end we sang our family night song, Love at Home, and Paul closed with prayer. We all said goodbye.  Hard to keep a dry eye.

I do not know what an Angel looks like but I would think she would look a lot like Madeline! It was a sweet way to start our Christmas celebration.  She is always in our prayers as are the other three grandchildren on missions.  Well Merry Xmas to all.  We have our big family dinner and nativity play this evening.

With love, Mom and Dad

ROB AND DAD'S MOST EXCELLENT DEER HUNT

Dear Family,

Well we had the long awaited deer hunt in the panhandle of Texas.  This was Rob's treat.  We wanted to go two years ago but I got a little sick and had to cancel so we finally scheduled for the week before Christmas.  We prepared the rifles and ammo and packed almost everything we owned.  Rob flew down from Spokane and we flew together to Oklahoma City and then drove over to Wheeler Texas.

We hunted from Tuesday through Friday.  The Texas hunts are done from blinds.  This is free ranging hunt and we hunted like we did in Michigan.  We got up and were in the blinds by 6:00 AM and waited for the deer to come out and feed.

Rob got up in a tree stand about 20 feet above the ground and had a good view of the edge of the woods and a field.  He had my sound enhancing ear protectors on and could hear the bucks fighting by the rattling of the horns.  He watched them fighting and sort of picked out the winner and bagged this nice deer at about 70 yards with the 300 WSM.  It was a real nice deer.  We got it back to the camp, dressed it and then drove about 50 miles to a butchery for processing.  We saw a lot of deer but tried to wait for the big one which was elusive this trip.

After spending a couple of days in blinds, we finally went back to the spot where Rob bagged his deer.  We had them set up a blind the way I did in Michigan, (my Taj Mahal).  Plywood floor so one would not sink into the sand, swivel seat and a little heater as it got very cold.

Rob had his deer so he came with me as my spotter in the blind.  Through those small slits, he watched with binoculars and we saw  the deer coming out of the woods into the field to feed late evening on the day before we left.  He looked them over and thought they were pretty good. He dropped the flaps so I would have a clear shot.  I decided to bring home a deer even if it was the the champ in the area.  I  got one with the 30-06.

Here is my buck which is an "eight pointer"  Rob took his deer to a processor to make sausage and jerky.  Since this was the last night of the hunt, we did not have time for this but they partially butchered this by cutting out the backstraps, tenderloins and hind quarters.  We froze this and brought them back on the plane with coolers.

Rob made a great dish of fresh deer liver, tenderloins, bacon and onions.  The whitetail deer is so much more tasty than the mule deer around here and will be much appreciated.

An ice storm came in and it was so bad, they named it.  We however throughout we would drive to Oklahoma city to catch our plane back.  Flights had been cancelled all over the place so we took a chance and drove over there slowly as the rain and ice formed.  There were plenty of big semi rigs upside down in the ditches as we made our way east.  The ice storm hit the Oklahoma City area the worst and the trees were broken and loaded with ice.  By the time we got to the Airport, the car was covered with ice.

We were glad we made it to the airport safely and here is our load: two rifle cases, two coolers with the deer meat, two huge duffel bags and two carry on bags.  All made it back to Salt Lake safely.  Rob was slated to return the next day but was able to get a late flight back to Spokane Saturday night a day ahead of schedule.

It was a most excellent deer hunt' we are mounting the horns and we brought back some venison.  Thanks Rob for this great time.

Now comes all the Christmas activity!

Love to all, Dad

BECCA'S NEW BABY BLESSING

Dear Family,

There has been a lot going on around here with the coming holidays, birthdays and church ordinance work.

Couple weeks ago, Becca and Paul and family came and stayed with us bringing their new baby (our 80th grandchild).  This was for our Thanksgiving celebration but part of the deal was the baby blessing in our Ward so many of the family could be there.  The Bishop was nice to let us do this.

Here are Paul and Becca and little Annalise Rae.  
We filled three long rows in the chapel and there were many there from the Hatch family in the back.  There were 12 in the circle and Paul did a real nice job blessing and naming there cute little girl.

Here are the grandparents so proud of this little girl.  We had a dinner after church and there must have been at least 60 there including the Hatches.  Doug and Mike could not come because of their Bishopric duties but some of the kids were over.  It was like a second Thanksgiving dinner in a matter of days after the first one.  We had two hams and a ton of other fixings and everything was devoured.  The desserts by my great baking daughters and daughter in laws were scrumptious.

Now Mom hast the Xmas tree up, the Creches are out and it is starting to look like Christmas already. Our missionaries are doing well and it is great to hear from them.  They have a certain amount of time on the internet to read all their letters, write one to the Mission President and write home.  The Missionary Department has relaxed some of these rules and have also relaxed the dress code a bit.  All are busy and teaching.

I have this picture of Madeline, (Sister Huntsman), in Dublin, Ireland.  She looks happy and well and getting ready for the Xmas festivities.  She will be in Dublin for another transfer and she is doing well there.  How could one not talk to her?
I will post pictures of the others when I receive them.

We had a quick trip to Spokane;  I got my eye injected and we went to the Spokane Nutcracker ballet.  Anna was one of the "Party girls" and Julia was one of what they called "the Bon Bons" or the gals that run out when the lady with the huge skirt comes on stage except they did not come out of the skirt.  It is always so fun to watch our grandkids in these performances.

Here is Natalie in Portugal.  She is doing great and also teaches a lot.  So proud of these two granddaughters.

 Here are Julia and Anna with their bouquet of roses and prizes after their performances.  Eva has also turned into a ballet Mom driving the girls to lessons and practices.  They were darling!

Not to be too outdone, here ls little Elena in her Michigan Cheerleading outfit that she wears almost all the time.  She wants makeup for Xmas.  We have such great grandkids.

Rob and I leave for East Texas next Monday for a Texas deer hunt.  A lot of the fun is getting ready and doing the preparations.  We had the fine tuning of the rifles and scopes.

Doug and I went to the ranger to do the final sighting in before it became so miserably cold.  Here is a 200 yard target that Doug and I shot.  Not bad for an injected eyeball at 200 yards!.

We leave next Monday  for a five day hunt in blinds and stations.  They say there are a lot of trophy whitetails down there.  Will report on the adventure next time

We are grateful for all our blessings at this time.  We wish you all the blessings of Heaven as you prepare for Xmas.  Remember our missionaries in your prayers.

Mit Liebe, Opa & Oma

THANKSGIVING

Dear Family,

We had quite a Thanksgiving this year.  Doug brought Nate, Spence, Tom, Izzie, and Elena. Emily and John came with Joshua, Caroline and Joseph plus John's father Calvin. Mike and Rayanne brought their family with Rachel, Joseph, Emma, Camille and Michael. Suz and Scott came with their gang, Juju, Zandy, Timmy, Tilly and little Queen Elizabeth. Scott brought an coworker from India. Cathy and Pete brought Phillip. Lili, Amelia and little Henrie.Becca and Paul brought their kids, Abigail, Andrew, Anthony, Austin, Alexander and new little Annalise.

I think that was everyone but what I know is that there were little kids all over the place.  Here is a photo of Opa getting ready to carve a perfectly roasted turkey.

A dinner that is consumed in less than a half an hour takes days to prepare.  In addition to the turkey, I picked up some Turkey legs, brined and smoked them for a variety of tastes.  Those were delicious.  Doug brought over a deep-fried turkey. He had another Thanksgiving dinner later that evening.

I prepared the oyster dressing the day before.  Rebecca and her family came a few days early and was a great help. Rebecca, Cathy and Suz made some pie crusts and here is Becca putting on a really flaky top to a mince pie.  I grew up on Mince pie for Thanksgiving and they are hard to find.  This year we baked one.

Suz made a great pecan pie and Cathy had some perfect apple pies.  These were all the preparations in advance.  We had a 23lb turkey and usual baking stuffed called for a 6 hour roast.  So I set the alarm for five AM.  In the meantime, Suz decided to wake up Becca at 4 AM and they went to Walmart,( I think in their PJ's matching other Walmart people) to buy a turkey roasting bag. So we were all up, I stuffed the turkey and we bagged it and put it into the oven.  They cook a lot faster in the bag and it was done by 10:30 AM so we kept it warm till noon.  Then about noon, everyone showed up with their assigned side dishes and desserts and they were great.  Suz organized the list this year and we had great salads of all types, vegetables, various sweet potato dishes, mashed potatoes and a ton of other sides. I sliced the turkey and we were ready. Rayanne brought up some great salads and mashed potatoes Emily brought the pumpkin pie and tons of rolls.

I expressed thanks for all our blessings and especially the blessing of family and church. A benediction was given and then the serous eating got underway.  Parents helped the little kids and the rest got in line for the spread.

Here is a table with the teenagers.  Three kinds of turkey, several varieties of stuffing and all the sides added to a real feast of Thanksgiving.  Mom of course worked very hard to prepare the house and tables and add a little festive decorations.

We paused and Mom had her Thanksgiving play. I did not get a good shot of it but here it is with the little kids dressed as Pilgrims. They we got out the tons of desserts and by then it was time for a rest.  All took off up to Cheryl's in Deer Valley where they did some serious shopping at the outlets. Not enough boys for a football game.

It was a great Thanksgiving and we thank everyone who participated and contributed.

The next night we drove with Cheryl and Paul to Ogden to watch the first performance of the Nutcracker.  Lauren was one of the red soldiers, Mary Claire was one of the party girls, Olivia was the main buffoon, and Emily Eva was a hit as the littlest party girl.  She was great beaming and dancing all over the stage.  I turned and looked at Cheryl and she was just beaming when Little Emilie came out.  They all did great and it is so fun each year to watch them in the Nutcracker Ballet. Cheryl got us front row seats for this performance and it was so enjoyable.

So we are so thankful for family, the gospel which binds us together and am personally grateful to be around to watch all these grandkids grow up and blossom.

May Heaven watch over you all,

Love, Mom and Dad

CAROLINE DOES AIDA (HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL)

Dear Family,

Mom and I went down to Spanish Fork to see the Mapleton Mountain School production of a musical, Aida.  This adaptation followed the general plot of the opera set in Egypt.  The score and dialogue was strictly pop .here was a  mini orchestra in the background.

The main reason we went to this of course was to watch Caroline (Emily's daughter).  She is a sophomore in high school so did not have a lead but sang in the chorus as the princess ladies in waiting.  She was stunning!

I got the very front seat in front of the first row and took some shots with the Leica Digilux 5.  They let us snap some photos without flash and the Leica excels at that in dark conditions..

Here she is right in front of me doing one of those Egyptian poses while singing.  She belted out her part and it was so fun to watch her.  Somehow she was the only one I was paying attention to.

Caroline was charming and had a lot of stage presence.  I loved watching her!  She was a star in a JH musical production and I am sure next year she will have a lead role.

Caroline has many talents: she went to the state championship for ladies doubles  tennis and almost won it coming in second.  She is also a great cook, had a business selling bagels she baked when she was eleven.

I sat there and my thoughts went back to my mission in Austria long time ago.  On one of our preparation nights, we went to the Vienna Opera.  We used to buy standing room for a shilling (about 25 cents), and then would find an empty seat.  One night we went to see Aida in which performance, Leontyne Price made her operatic debut in the title role.  It was a great night.  I looked around at the balconies and saw several famous German movie stars including the famous Romy Schneider.  That was fantastic.

Caroline was elegant and had such great poise.  Emily and
John and the kids were there and we also spoke with Mike and his family.  Love these little get togethers even the brief ones.  I am so grateful I am alive to watch my grandchildren get older and blossom.

Love, Dad

BUSY WEEKEND

Dear Family,

We had a busy weekend some of which was spent in the Salt Lake Temple.  I mentioned below that on Saturday, we attended Becky Christensen's sealing in the Temple which was great.  We attended the luncheon as well.

Following this, we attended Jeanne Pfeifer's funeral memorial service.  She passed away following a siege of emergency surgery for a difficult problem.  The funeral was different as there was  not body or viewing.  It turns out that Utah along with a few other states do not permit the transport of dead bodies on
Sunday so she was sent back to Michigan where she will be buried next to her husband, Jack.  There was a funeral service in Michigan which Bryan attended. The memorial here was visited by the Michigan crowd who have settled here in the west.  Pam and the kids did a great job and it was a very nice tribute/

There was the adult session of our stake conference in our stake house.  We missed the Sunday session because of conflicting meetings.  Sunday morning, we attended the Salt Lake Temple devotional service for temple workers.  We got up early and were in our seats by 7:45.  This was in the assembly room on the fifth floor and we did not have to be in whites.  It was a great service and the music was wonderful.  The main hall was full as one side of the balcony, well over a 1000.  Elder Ballard gave a moving talk presenting history of his families involvement with temple work since the beginning.  I thought it was wonderful.

We drove over to Cheryl's ward for the Primary program. The theme here was "I am a Child of God".  I took this picture of the practice but it is not a good photo.  There is Johnny in the right front.  Behind him is Emmy with her pretty blond hair.  In the back with back turned and in purple is Cheryl who teaches in the Primary.  Johnny was right in front and just belted out the songs,  Olivia, Emily and Johnny did well with their parts.  We went to Cheryl's for brunch.  They showed me how to make Karen's version of "GermanPancakes" and it was good.  Paul made Fretates (?sp).  Paul is quite a chef along with other things.

We then rushed over to Doug's ward where they had the Primary program.  The Title was the same, "I am a Child of God".  The program was great.  They sang that Primary hymn first with ALS signing, the second verse in French and the third in English.  Spencer (now a Deacon) gave a good talk and Tommy and Izzie also had parts.  It was great!

We are trying to keep up with all the family events and as long as we can we will continue this effort. Becca will be coming up to bless her baby in our ward.  Am so grateful I can be around to be part of these great family events.

Love, Mom and Dad

BECKY CHRISTENSEN GETS MARRIED

Dear Family,

Saturday we were invited to Becky Christensen's Temple marriage.

She married James Fairbanks who is a grandson of the noted LDS Sculpture and artist, Avard Fairbanks.  Here they are; I was not quick enough to get the little kiss as they came out.

Becky was one of our great sister missionaries who spent most of her mission in Austria, working in Vienna and Graz.  She was great, effective and a wonderful example to other younger sisters in the mission.  She wrote the best letters each week and they would usually began with, "Wow President!!, we had an awesome week!" 

She went to Simmons in Boston after her mission and received a Masters degree in social work.  She then worked as a social worker helping immigrants and their families in Boston.  Her office was in Newton Center.  She was such a great hostess when we went back to Boston for the MGH surgical reunion.

They dated for a year and a half and this was the culmination.  James finished dental school and started a practice in West Jordan.  He also sings in the Tabernacle Choir.  Fun that Becky will be in the valley.  We have considered her a bit of the family.  We went to the luncheon and had a great visit with her parents.  These two  are well matched couple and  extremely happy.

Congratulations Becky and James, 

Mit Liebe,  Präs. u. Schw. Wirthlin  (Opa amd Oma)

SUZ'S BABY GETS BLESSED

Dear Family,

There has been a lot going on here in Salt Lake and Utah.  Suz brought her new little baby, Elisabeth Mary Paylor to her ward for the blessing and naming.  Here is Dad Scott holding the little tyke.  He did a great job and we are proud of Suz and Scott.  Rick likes to point out that Elisabeth Paylor not be confused with Elisabeth Taylor.

Here is Suz and "Juju" (Suz's clone) with baby Elisabeth.  That baby with three older sisters is getting total attention and she rules the roost.  Since she rules, she is known as Queen Elisabeth.

She was put 79th grandchild and is a joy. She even has started smiling when she sees me.

Suz made chicken salad sandwiches and we had pretty good sized family group over following the church service. John, Cathy, Mike, Doug and family were all there.  

This has all been a great blessing for all of us and the joy was was all around.  We are grateful for new life when it is possible.  These are the treasures and blessings of Heaven and there are none greater.

Love, Opa and Oma

ANTHONY GETS BAPTIZED

 Dear Family,

Always behind with these blog posts as sop much is going on. We drove down to St. George to be with Becca and her family for Anthony's baptism.  Scott drove our van and brought Tilly and Timmy.  We were grateful that Scott drove.  When we arrived in St. George, I checked the GPS report: 310 miles, average moving speed,78.4 mph, max speed, 93.4 mph.  There is a 80 mph speed limit when you get below Nephi so he made good time.

Anthony was baptized at  a Stake baptism and it was packed.  Luckily his ward went first. Here is a shot of Paul and Anthony in their whites. I love baptisms; Paul did a nice job and Anthony was great.

There was a large group down there for this event.  Cathy and Pete brought their kids as well and we all stayed at Rebecca's.  Here is a shot of the baptismal party with Paul's parents as well.

Becca and Paul are troopers and took such good care of all of us.

We had a great get together at Becca's afterward. She made these cookies of Anthony and they were almost too pretty to eat but they were all gobbled up.

I love to watch Rebeca cook.  She loves each step and does it so carefully and thoughtfully.  She made these beautiful chicken pot pies for all and feed the entire group.  Here is Becca with the  pies.  We went to church on Sunday and then drove bak home with almost the same performance.  I found it better just to put my hat over my eyes and try to relax.  We did appreciate Scott's driving and the kids were really good.

Congratulations Anthony and welcome into the Church.

Love, Opa and Oma

BACK TO SPOKANE

Dear Family,  We had a great visit with Jeff, Tammy, Rob and Eva and the nine kids in spokane this last week.

We travel on Thursday, get a great lunch with Eva and the little kids.  I get dropped off at Rob's Spokane Eye Clinic where Rob does the eye injection.  He injects the anti-angiogenisis medication (that was discovered my friend at the MGH, Judah Folkman).  I am not so nervous when he does this if I do not see the needle coming.  This drys up wet macular edema and I can see better but it needs repetitive injections.

After this we go to Jeff's where Tammy had laid on a gret feast.  They flew in Lobster again and that was just great.  Tammy is getting real good at cooking lobster.  All her kids love it as well.  Simply divine!

The net day we try out the eye at the shooting range.  Rob and I re getting ready for a Texas Deer Hunt in December.  I did pretty well at 100 and 200 yards but will take a rifle that is a bit more inherently accurate.  Jeff is a member of this gourmet shooting range as well and he and Julius had a good time zeroing some rifle.

After this we found an authentic German restaurant (Das Steinhaus))run by a chef from Stuttgart and it was super!  Julius had Geschnitzeltes Fleisch (stroganoff) on Spaetzele and he was in heaven.  We we stayed until Monday, he asked, "Opa, if you go to the Steinhaus again, can you take me out of school?")

Sunday we all went to church in Jeff's Liberty Lake ward.  Rob and Eva came with their kids who like Primary.  For Sunday School we went to the new "Parenting Class".  I kept very quiet and listened to what the teacher had to say.  It was funny to sit there with two sons, one a child psychiatrist and listen to potential errors of parenting.  It was a good class and Jeff held his tongue pretty well.

That evening we had a family night activity with all nine kids cutting pumpkins.  I helped Luke cut his but it was about 4 inches thick.  We did not have the proper equipment, (little kit with serrated saw that you can get at Walmart) so it was tough going.  Here we re scooping the pumpkin guts.  Tammy made great roasted pumpkin seeds.  We had a great trip and it is so much fun in Spokane!!!!

When we got back to Salt Lake, Rick and Gemina and little Luken stayed over night for a visit. Here are Mom and Gemina and "little" Luken who is built like a football linebacker in the 95th percentile in most measurements with his he'd in the 99th percentile, (Rick's brain?".  He is one huge little guy for his age and built pretty solid.  He was just  great little guy, looking around and trying to figure out what was going on.  Rick and Gemina are great parents.  We had a good time with Rick and Gemina going out for lunch and just visiting.We have the best grandkids in all ages.

We go to St. George for Anthony's baptism.

We love you all so much,

Dad and Mom

JOHN GETS SWORN IN AS A UTAH LAWYER

Dear Family,

Today was another red letter day for John who was sworn in as a lawyer in Utah passing the bar.  It was a big deal!  The swearing in took place in Abravanel Hall where the symphony performs.  The lower  level was packed as was the first balcony all around.  There must have been 200 new lawyers admitted to the Superior and District courts.  There were nine judges from the Utah Supreme Court and several Federal District court Judges who were there in their  robes.  John had studied hard for the bar, taking a month off work to study.  Here he is with all his certificates.  There were  two rather good talks given by Judges and then there was the presentation of the young lawyers.  They had to stand and take an oath and I thought the entire proceeding was impressive.

Here is the proud Papa, Momma, and wife Kaley.  I am not sure what this all totally entails but I believe John can now officially appear in court and be part of the process.  Their firm does a lot of defense work for Doctors and hospitals and John is getting a crash course in some of the details of medicine.

We were waiting outside on South Temple street and a fairly large group of Chinese tourists came by.  John said hello in Chinese, one shouted something back and John responded in Chinese.  There was a look of amazement on several young guys faces not expecting to hear fluent Chinese across the street from the Temple on their tour of Salt Lake City.

It is interesting to watch your children grow up and we have been particularly and richly blessed in that regard.  Someone sent this picture they found in their old photo files.  Here was John and Julie not even two years old and now here is John  with family and a career in law.

Tall and strong Oak trees grow from acorns.

We are proud of John and this accomplishment.

We go to Spokane on Thursday.  Time is flying by.

Love, Mom and Dad

JULIE'S TREE AT ANDOVER iS MOVED TO THE FARM

Dear Family,

As you know Andover High School, where all 17 of you graduated, is being torn down and a new high school is planned on that site.

As you can see from the picture, very little of the High School stands except for the science hall.

However still alive and vibrant was the tree the Senior Class of 2000 planted at Andover High School in Memory of Julie (a senior then) who passed away with Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2000.  The tree was planted in the courtyard and has been growing each year.

With the demolition of the school, Mary has been instrumental in trying to save the tree.  She contacted school superintendents, planners, and construction people in an effort to save the tree.  They did not have a place for it in the new High School so Mary arranged for it to be dug up and moved.

The school paid for a tree removal company to come to Andover and dig up the tree.  Here is the huge machine digging into the base to save the tree and the roots.

Here it is on the truck as they left Andover.  This was a big job and we are so tickled that this memorial tree was spared and saved.

Mary picked the spot on the farm on the expansive front lawn, front and center next to the bolder Bry dug up by the old basketball hoop.  These pics were not taken with my Leica but do show what happened.

That is a great spot.  Andover will also bring out the circle of bricks that surrounded the tree.

About two years or so ago, Mom and I visited the awards night at Andover High School, and presented the Julie Memorial Scholarship that Mom, I, and Jon Huntsman funded in 2000. That scholarship, still going,  will be transferred to the new Bloomfield Hills High School.  During the ceremony, I spoke of the award ($1000) given to a scholar athlete picked by the school as Julie was both.  I mentioned that all 17 children graduated from Andover and there was a little gasp.  Mom presented the award. The school holds a deep place in our hearts.  We appreciate their efforts to save this Memorial Tree now on Bryan's farm.

Thanks to Mary, Bry and Andover High School for this effort.

Love, Dad and Mom