Please support our Family Missionaries:
Elder Cory Metcalf
(info coming)
Sister Marilyn Orme
3738 Glen Oak Boulevard #14
Sioux City, Iowa 51104
Landline: 712-239-1651
Missionary cell: 412-204-3055
Elder Jake Wertner
BrianJWertner@myldsmail.net
***************************************
Mesa AZ Dec. 15, 1985
Dear Tricia, Don and Girls.
It’s Sunday morning an hour before we go to church and we don’t get any mail so thought we would write some. This is our eleventh day in Mesa and so much has happened it seems like it couldn’t be longer than a full month maybe two. Anyway we are fine, the sun is shining and it is supposed to be in the high 60”s today, it has been cold for a couple of days and nights. Well 50 degrees in the day and 35 at night. Is that cold?How are you folks? We hear that all your snow is gone. You can find out about any place in the northwest at the Temple. All you have to do is say “Seattle” and somebody nearby has a child there. Hope that everybody is looking forward to Christmas and that all of you survive.We went to the Temple three days last week. Lots of people remembered us. I walked through the veil the first day and they grabbed me and put me to work. They haven’t done it since though. The temple is closed now until Jan. 2. The temple grounds are just beautiful. I heard they had put up 100,000 of the little lights and really it looks like it. They have a program every night at 7:00 p.m. We have been to two. It’s pretty cold because it is outside and we don’t have very many warm clothes, but we put on lots of layers. Mom even wore two pairs of slacks last night. It’s good entertainment and afterwards we go in the Visitors Center and get warm and watch one of their films and then walk home. We got hurrying too fast because we were cold once and Mom got a chest pain so last night “we watched it” and she was fine.We have had quite a few experiences since we left our little home in Spokane. We didn’t think they were so bad. Marilyn is really responsible for getting us the apartments although we really had to scramble for this one. We wanted to tell her how we made out and tried to call her several times, but got nothing but a busy signal on the machine. I paced up and down in front of the Dairy Queen (where the phone is) until one night the little girls in the DQ rapped on the window and beckoned me in and asked me if I needed something to eat. So I bought a pint of ice cream and came home. Anyway we wrote Marilyn a letter as we did you and told her the same things and I guess she was about to come over and get us and take us to S.B. We finally got hold of a phone and called her and she was pretty well up in the air.We do have a phone, sort of. Everybody in these six apts. Are about like us and they kind of share and share alike. Well I went down to get a phone and they wanted $69.50 to hook it up at the office, the phone jacks are already here. That sounded like a downright gauging to me, so I told them so and walked out. Sr. Gower, the lady over top of us (we are in the basement) had said we could use her phone anytime we wanted, so we used it a couple of times, one day she said she had two phone one on a long cord and if we could find a way to get it down here we could just take one of her phones. I think it took me all of three minutes to get that phone down on our kitchen table. We will pay the phone bill (not long distance). She doesn’t get many calls. So we have a phone, sort of. The number is 602-962-7780. Our time is one hour ahead of yours.We walk to the temple and the grocery store and I walk anyplace downtown but we can’t walk to church. The church sold our chapel to the Jews and it is now a synagogue. They are going to build a new one just up the street across from the temple but it isn’t even started yet. On account of the church, we bought a car but it won’t run. I hide my face and blush with shame everytime I mention that car. First time in my life I ever made a bad buy on a used car. We will let you know how it turns out.We are going to ride to church with Bro. Rodgers across the street and it is about time so will let you know how we make out when we come back.(mom finishes the letter in her handwriting)Dear Family, Now it’s my turn. We came home from church and fixed some soup and cheese sandwich and now it is starting to get dark. The sun was shining when we came home from church. We had our ward teachers tonight since our supper. They were very good. We would like to see you. Guess you are getting ready for Christmas. We have a nice program every night over at the temple gardens. All the brushes and trees are lit up with Christmas tree lights. Dad said he thought there were about 100,000 lights the size of Christmas tree lights, little ones. The palm trees up high are lit up. It is sure something to see. We are invited to Shirley and Bills for Christmas. So we will have fun. Love Mom (she wrote Erva and then crossed it out and wrote Mom)
Dear Orme Family,
Words are so inadequate to tell Stan and Rauna and family how terribly sorry we are about Jared's passing. But I want you to know how much we love your family and we have prayed for your peace and comfort at such a difficult time. I'm so glad that your siblings were able to be with you. And I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation. I was able to drive mom to her mission in Iowa. It was a great road trip! We left Salt Lake City and drove eastward through Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa. It was an easy flat road! We stopped and saw Fort Kearney in Nebraska and we also stopped at Winter Quarters to tour the visitors center, the pioneer cemetary and see the temple. Mom's mission president seems to be a wonderful (extremely warm and welcoming) man. I got to have breakfast with him, his wife and mom before flying home to Salt Lake. Today I was set apart as the ward relief society president. It came as a complete surprise to me...because I was in the middle of a school year, teaching early morning seminary. But wherever the Lord asks me to serve, I'm happy to do it. Joel and all our kids are doing just fine. Jake is heading back to Utah State in January. Whitney is at the Y. Cory is on his mission and doing very well and really liking it. Austin is a Junior in high school. The golf course where he works just closed because of snow, he bought himself a motorcylce (to save on gas), and he was just asked to a school dance by a cute girl. So life is good when you're 16.I hope things are going well for everyone else. All our love,The Metcalfs, Laurie, Joel, Jake, Whitney, Cory and Austin
(The pictures are of Cory in the MTC and Marilyn and Laurie outside the Florence NB temple.)
Dear Family,
We are excited about the Family newsletter and hearing how everyone is doing.
Our family is doing well, we are still in North San Diego. Tim and I are doing great and enjoying are family and the many great experiences that come from having 6 children. This summer we sent our oldest son, Jacob off to the MTC. He is now known as Elder Wertner. We are very excited for his decision to serve The Lord. He is doing great. He absolutely loved the MTC experience. He sent many letters describing how powerful the Holy Ghost is felt in the MTC. On October 26 he left the MTC for Hermisillo Mexico. He called us from the airport and he sounded so happy and strong. Everything a mother wants to hear (and a nana too!) My mom came over so she could talk to him as well. We recieved an email on the 27th from him letting us know that he made it there safe and sound. We are now just waiting for his email letting us know how his first week went. Although there is some violence in Mexico, I don't think it is in his area and I feel a great sense of peace. So I am sure all will be fine.
Our family is doing well, we are still in North San Diego. Tim and I are doing great and enjoying are family and the many great experiences that come from having 6 children. This summer we sent our oldest son, Jacob off to the MTC. He is now known as Elder Wertner. We are very excited for his decision to serve The Lord. He is doing great. He absolutely loved the MTC experience. He sent many letters describing how powerful the Holy Ghost is felt in the MTC. On October 26 he left the MTC for Hermisillo Mexico. He called us from the airport and he sounded so happy and strong. Everything a mother wants to hear (and a nana too!) My mom came over so she could talk to him as well. We recieved an email on the 27th from him letting us know that he made it there safe and sound. We are now just waiting for his email letting us know how his first week went. Although there is some violence in Mexico, I don't think it is in his area and I feel a great sense of peace. So I am sure all will be fine.
Our next oldest daughter Jessica,left for college this summer. This was kind of hard for me because she is only 17. She is attending UVU in Orem. She is living in an apartment in Branburry. She is rooming with a good friend from our ward who is going to BYU. They are having a great time. Very social girls, but we have been assured that her grades are good and she is doing all of her homework.
Our other children, Alyssa 15/Brooke 14/Justin 11/ and Lauren 7, still keep us very busy. A friend of mine asked me the other day, does it seem alot easier with 4 at home versus 6. I said no! The ones who left were my drivers and helpers. We are now finding ourselves driving for early morning seminary and to from every activity. We were spoiled while Jake and Jessica were at that perfect driving age, and I didn't realize how much help they were. We actually do love going to all the activities. Alyssa is running cross country and doing realy well this season. Brooke and Justin are both on club basketball teams and it is so much fun to watch. Tim coaches both of them so it is a family activity. Lauren is playing soccer and we were so happy on Sat. she got her first goal of the season.
Tim is still working for Federal Express, and serving in the Stake YM Presidency, I am still the ward YW President and loving it.
We enjoyed a girls trip to Utah recently and loved visiting the Arrowsmiths home. It is absolutely beautiful. I am glad Tim wasn't on that trip or he would have wanted to leave CA and move down the street from the Arrowsmiths,(Which would be great except our kids would not want to leave their school and friends.) Their house, street, trees and view are amazing. Don was a great host and we enjoyed spending time with Elizabeth and her sweet family.
In closing I want to send our love, thoughts and prayers to the MO. Orme family. We love you and are praying for you.
In closing I want to send our love, thoughts and prayers to the MO. Orme family. We love you and are praying for you.
Love, Heather, Tim and Family
Hola Familia,
I hope all is well at the Wertner farm. OK first off, im Caborca, but not in
the city, we are in the out skirts. We are allowed to go into the city on
sundays for church, and mondays for P-days. Besides that though, we stick to our
area. To find our area, google map it, caborca is on one side, in the middle is
3 small mountains, with radio towers and the other side is our area. Literally
not a single house is made of anything better then cinder blocks. I feel
horrible. When we talk to people their clothes are always dirty, like way
dirtier than justins used to be when he was younger. And that is pretty dirty. I
am sending pictures and i hope you will see the difference between the city and
our side. We have 3 paved roads, maybe 4 actually.
The food is great, its a big meal in the middle for lunch, and then smaller
meals for bfeast and dinner. Lunch is usually at a members. The food is good but
tears you up haha.
Ok a list of things that happened this week that our faith builders, not trials
or bad things, but just incidents to help build faith.
1. 2 days in a row our lunch appts fell through, which is the biggest bummer
ever, sometimes we dont eat breakfeast and so lunch is a big deal, haha
something I look forward to big time! haha
2. This woman that was going to be baptized along with her son, we found out
shes the mistress to this other man. And she has a new born, but its not from
the man shes living with, which isnt offically her husband anyways, it was a
huge bummer.
3. We came home one day after the lunch appt fell through to find that our
power was out. We went to the power meter and found the switches off. So we
thought. oh niños. (children) but we soon found out the power company turned it
off because they thought we didnt pay. So no lunch and no power. Well we went to
get it fixed and we had to go all around the city of caborca to different places
to get it fixed and turned back on but we couldnt do anything about it, so we
didnt have power for 2 days. No fans, yep no fans. haha and yes mom we threw out
the bad stuff from the fridge, so everything.
The weather isnt bad at all. My companion is from mexico and says its hot, but
hey its only hot when you make it hot. Remember that! Well it gets hot in the
cars if we hitch hike somewhere. Its called Ritte, sometimes we have to do that
for appts because of how far away they are.
There is so much dust its crazy! all my pants are brown when i get home from
the day. I will make sure to send pictures of my shoes also. Haha wow cold
showers feel great at night.
We have 10 progressing investigators. Our goal is by the end of this 6 weeks to
have 15 baptisms. Its tough because alot of people arent married, they just live
together.
Some fun things about mexico. First, if i had to complain about one thing it
would be that im not allowed to eat street food, at least not fro like 6 month.
Elder bonney and elder workman from my district in the MTC are in the city
caborca. Bonney ate a sonoran hot dog and didnt get sick, we have cell phones to
report daily data to the zone leaders since we are so far away, he called me and
was bragging about it. Anyways I better not eat anything, because if im
disobedient then thats when something bad will happen to me.
This last week we tuaght like 30 lessons, which is good. But check this out.
When contacting a person on the street you ask them a church question, like
about prophets or eternal families, and then ask if you can teach them in their
house tomorow. Well in mexico they don´t want to let you down, so they always
say yes. SO you get all their information down, and then you have to ask them,
¨realmente pedemos enseñar mas sobre porfetas, en su casa mañana?¨´ Really
can we teach you more about prophets tomorow in your house. You have to say
¨really¨ and then its the strangest thing, about 75% of the time they say no
im busy. Literally the conversations will go, blah blah blah can we teach you
tomorow, and then they say ¨oh yes yes please come teach me and my family!¨¨
and then you ¨get their info and then say ¨ really can we teach you tomorow?¨
and they say, um no i have work, and you think to yourself they were just
totally stoked a second ago!.
Anways, our branch has like 30 members, guess how many investigators we had
come to church, um can you say 12! Thats a new record, by 3 people. It was
awesome. Next step is to baptize.
Ok since I know everyone wants to know about spanish. Heres the deal, Ive only
been here for a week but if the persona isnt old, or super young and is missing
more then 8 or 9 teeth ( which is like 40%) of the people, then I can pretty
much understand what they are talking about. I can speak it decently, but have
just been bearing my testimony, contacting and normal talking, I still can´t
roll my R´s though!
Really though everything is dirty here, as in there is alot of dust, so like
thats why the food you have to be carful with and i can walk arounf my room
without sandals or sock on. I was getting into bed the other night, and a new
friend decided to sleep with me, a nice cockroach was sitting on my pillow. mmmm
breakfeast! ahah i took a picture but i didnt load it to the computer, maybe
next weeks picture.
Love elder wertner
the city, we are in the out skirts. We are allowed to go into the city on
sundays for church, and mondays for P-days. Besides that though, we stick to our
area. To find our area, google map it, caborca is on one side, in the middle is
3 small mountains, with radio towers and the other side is our area. Literally
not a single house is made of anything better then cinder blocks. I feel
horrible. When we talk to people their clothes are always dirty, like way
dirtier than justins used to be when he was younger. And that is pretty dirty. I
am sending pictures and i hope you will see the difference between the city and
our side. We have 3 paved roads, maybe 4 actually.
The food is great, its a big meal in the middle for lunch, and then smaller
meals for bfeast and dinner. Lunch is usually at a members. The food is good but
tears you up haha.
Ok a list of things that happened this week that our faith builders, not trials
or bad things, but just incidents to help build faith.
1. 2 days in a row our lunch appts fell through, which is the biggest bummer
ever, sometimes we dont eat breakfeast and so lunch is a big deal, haha
something I look forward to big time! haha
2. This woman that was going to be baptized along with her son, we found out
shes the mistress to this other man. And she has a new born, but its not from
the man shes living with, which isnt offically her husband anyways, it was a
huge bummer.
3. We came home one day after the lunch appt fell through to find that our
power was out. We went to the power meter and found the switches off. So we
thought. oh niños. (children) but we soon found out the power company turned it
off because they thought we didnt pay. So no lunch and no power. Well we went to
get it fixed and we had to go all around the city of caborca to different places
to get it fixed and turned back on but we couldnt do anything about it, so we
didnt have power for 2 days. No fans, yep no fans. haha and yes mom we threw out
the bad stuff from the fridge, so everything.
The weather isnt bad at all. My companion is from mexico and says its hot, but
hey its only hot when you make it hot. Remember that! Well it gets hot in the
cars if we hitch hike somewhere. Its called Ritte, sometimes we have to do that
for appts because of how far away they are.
There is so much dust its crazy! all my pants are brown when i get home from
the day. I will make sure to send pictures of my shoes also. Haha wow cold
showers feel great at night.
We have 10 progressing investigators. Our goal is by the end of this 6 weeks to
have 15 baptisms. Its tough because alot of people arent married, they just live
together.
Some fun things about mexico. First, if i had to complain about one thing it
would be that im not allowed to eat street food, at least not fro like 6 month.
Elder bonney and elder workman from my district in the MTC are in the city
caborca. Bonney ate a sonoran hot dog and didnt get sick, we have cell phones to
report daily data to the zone leaders since we are so far away, he called me and
was bragging about it. Anyways I better not eat anything, because if im
disobedient then thats when something bad will happen to me.
This last week we tuaght like 30 lessons, which is good. But check this out.
When contacting a person on the street you ask them a church question, like
about prophets or eternal families, and then ask if you can teach them in their
house tomorow. Well in mexico they don´t want to let you down, so they always
say yes. SO you get all their information down, and then you have to ask them,
¨realmente pedemos enseñar mas sobre porfetas, en su casa mañana?¨´ Really
can we teach you more about prophets tomorow in your house. You have to say
¨really¨ and then its the strangest thing, about 75% of the time they say no
im busy. Literally the conversations will go, blah blah blah can we teach you
tomorow, and then they say ¨oh yes yes please come teach me and my family!¨¨
and then you ¨get their info and then say ¨ really can we teach you tomorow?¨
and they say, um no i have work, and you think to yourself they were just
totally stoked a second ago!.
Anways, our branch has like 30 members, guess how many investigators we had
come to church, um can you say 12! Thats a new record, by 3 people. It was
awesome. Next step is to baptize.
Ok since I know everyone wants to know about spanish. Heres the deal, Ive only
been here for a week but if the persona isnt old, or super young and is missing
more then 8 or 9 teeth ( which is like 40%) of the people, then I can pretty
much understand what they are talking about. I can speak it decently, but have
just been bearing my testimony, contacting and normal talking, I still can´t
roll my R´s though!
Really though everything is dirty here, as in there is alot of dust, so like
thats why the food you have to be carful with and i can walk arounf my room
without sandals or sock on. I was getting into bed the other night, and a new
friend decided to sleep with me, a nice cockroach was sitting on my pillow. mmmm
breakfeast! ahah i took a picture but i didnt load it to the computer, maybe
next weeks picture.
Love elder wertner
Nov, 2, 2008
It’s been such a long time since we had the family newsletter going. I’m so glad we’re getting one going this month. Thanks Sarah. I have been looking at some pictures taken 4 years ago. Marilyn, stan, me and steve with donna and don going to Spokane, breakfast at the Felts Field airport, going through the Davenport, then going to Bainbridge island, wa. those pictures brought back such great memories. Then I looked at some pictures taken years and years ago with grandma bagley, doug and lana and heather and haley, Stephanie and laurie, Steve and donna, mom and dad. Can you even imagine those days? Big roast beef dinners in the back yard in the Spokane summer time, or dad barbequeing in the backyard, using apple wood for the best taste. Pictures of assorted folks on dad’s horses, or out in the boat. Wow, those were the days! And now we have all our grandkids, our kids being the mom and dad, time is really something isn’t it?
A Funeral really brings a family together, and tho that funeral was so sad, seeing those little children cry and cry, to see Jared dressed in his Temple clothes, provided some comfort. A family forever. I also looked at pictures from several years ago when sarah and elizabeth and don and I went up to the Tooele Cemetary, and saw the grave sites of our pioneer loved ones. John Kirby and Nettie orme, Sarah Cross and Samuel W. Orme, the Parks and Jean Harvey. One little lane in that cemetery is named Orme Lane. Jared was met by lots of family as lots of family said goodbye to him here.
It’s most sad that summer is over with. It’s Nov. now and summer is a thing of the past here. The tops of our mountains here got snow while we were in church today. At least we can still see our green green grass. The garden is a thing of the past, but we canned grape juice, and made jams and ate good stuff out of it. Next year it will even be better. Our fruit trees are really growing, and I’m sure we’ll get a good crop of raspberries. The grapes were really something tho, just beautiful and only 2 years old. Ok, enough of the farm report.
Oh, also last night as I was going through the house changing the hundreds of clocks we have in this house, I sat down at our old desk in the basement and found a file of old letters from Mom & Dad. Marilyn had just told me a trick or treat story about Mom and Dad yesterday, and there it was in writing, Mom was writing it to me. Some kids had to come back to see Dad with his white hair. That was fun to read those letters. Marilyn and Laurie came up straight from the MTC on fri. night and spent the night with us. We talked all the next day, then went over to see Lizzy’s new little Rowan. So now tomorrow morning they leave on their drive for Des Moine, Iowa. Good luck Marilyn!
BYU football has our nerves frayed, they were suppose to do so well, have only lost one game, but still, they hardly win, always in the last 20 seconds they pull it together. This week is our first basketball game and also our last football game. It will be a cold one! Going to be in the 40’s all this week. this year we decided to get season tickets for men’s volleyball. BYU is hosting the NCAA championships, so it should be fun. Don has been doing lots of golfing and clerking in the ward and works security for byu football practices, and I’m still tap dancing and quilting, and playing piano for our Camerata Musica and playing organ for church. We love our empty nester’s group here and have fun with them. You didn’t know what Camerata Musica is? It’s a music club a gal and I started up. You work all month to perform, and then we play piano, sing, play violin, whatever is your talent, for each other. Performing! It is so good for you. I highly recommend it, good for the brain and the heart – ha.
Speaking of golf, Stephanie, Laurie and I got to go to the State Golf Tournament and see Scott play. It was so much fun. It was up by Park City so it was very very scenic, just a beautiful day, and scott is such a GREAT golfer. We also went to Las Vegas, via Stephanie’s house and went to Phantom of the opera. I could hardly stand it, it was soooooo good! I didn’t want to leave, I was spellbound every minute of it. We stayed two nights in the Bellagio, and swam in the pools, ate the famous buffet, it was great. The night before the phantom, we decided we should see if we could walk down the strip to where the Phantom was playing because we were told the street would be so busy, we wouldn’t make it. well, walking down that strip is something else, not only very very crowded, not only took forever to get there, in fact we didn’t make it, but it was like sin city. I mean, I’d n ever seen such stuff! We began our walk with the beautiful fountains outside the hotel, all set to music, and came back ready to go home and forget seeing Phantom. The next day I called up Lizzy to get directions to the Temple, we needed a little change of pace, and she said, “Mom, we told you, don’t leave the hotel!!” I didn’t remember that. A few minutes later, Jed called, “Tricia, I told you, don’t leave the hotel, there is plenty for you guys to do IN the hotel, you weren’t suppose to leave the hotel!!!” So next time, we are NOT staying in Las Vegas, we’ll stay with Stephanie and cam and scott and matt, all safe and sound, and just jet for a performance and jet right back. quite an experience, BUT Phantom was incredible! We took a little trip to Monterey and Carmel, CA. at the end of summer. What a fun trip, we saw the aquarium, the Hearst Castle and other cool places and then stayed a few days with jessica and family. In June and July we had every single member of our own posterity here at the house except JC who was at a critical point of his research. Imagine, everyone here. It was a wild ride, really something. In the evening we would all sit out in the grass and watch dozens of kids scooter or skate board down our driveway, and no one collided. We went to swimming pools, and ponds, and movies, and ate out and celebrated the 4th and celebrated birthdays. It was truly amazing!
Mon, Oct. 27th was Mom’s 95th birthday. Little Zoe turned one, and Rowan is 2 months old and all the grands in between. General Conf. was amazing! Sept. marked Mom and Dad’s 75th year anniversary. They were married in 1933. We moved into our new chapel just 2 min. from our house. I can’t believe having a church that close. And we don’t even have any kids to drive to church activities. Don and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary and went up to Logan and went to our Temple.
We are still having lots of fun living at our mountain home and BYU and Lizzy’s. We miss katie, jennifer, amy, sarah and jessica, but we’re doing pretty good for two old retired folks. Take care everyone, it was soooo good seeing you last week in Mo. Love you all our united family.
Love, Don and Tricia
Hello family.
I don't have much time, but I thought I would send in a short update. The family is doing great. School is pretty tough, but we seem to be managing. Davin started seminary and the greatest miracle happened when they called Brad to be his teacher. Those two are mighty tired. Emmie started Kindergarten. So, I have one in high school, one in middle school, one in elementary, one in kinder, and a toddler at home. This means 4 drop off times and 4 pick up times. Piano is coming along for Davin, Perry and Josie. Davin recently played for a convert baptism. He did great. Perry plays for young women. Davin is finishing up cross country and ready to start basketball. He is so tall and so skinny. All the protien shakes in the world won't counteract the 50 miles he runs each week. Perry and Josie are fun to watch on the soccer field each Saturday. Emmie is on a break right now but Brad just signed her up for spring soccer. Brody turned two. He is exhausting. Most recently he did some beautiful art work all over my nice chair. Oh, and we must not forget the day before when he used a bar stool to climb up in the cupboard where the scissors are safely kept and then decided to use them to cut the dryer vent. He is beautiful, intelligent, and loving thank goodness. We have been consumed as of late with prop 8. We are trying to make it so California is like 32 other states that protects marraige as being between a man and a woman only. I can just hear Grandpa about now. Who would have thought you would be called prejudice and bigoted for having traditional values and trying to protect marraige as it has always been. We will see what happens. I gave the lesson in R.S. on Sunday, and it was on gratitude. Henry B. Eyring's talk from 2007 conference to be exact. I am reminded of all the blessings I have been given - this family being one of the greatest.
Love to you all from the Guinns!!!!!!!
November 3, 2008
Dear Ormes,
I feel like you all must be sick of hearing from/about me! But alas….I will write my newsletter, ha ha. The last letter that went out was in January. We were waiting anxiously to hear if David got into med school! Well, you’ve probably heard by now that David got accepted into OU med school, and we moved out to OK City! So strange, I mean, never in a million years would I have thought we would move here. But it is SO much fun living next to Amy and Thad. When we drove out here to look for a house we zoned in on a small area surrounding Amy! We found a house that is 6 ½ minutes driveway to driveway. But sadly, it is a different city, ward, stake, school etc. etc. But we really liked the neighborhood and the house fits our needs. Plus it comes with an acre of flat dry weeds! We need to do something with it. We left Utah around August 1st but our home in Utah still hadn’t sold. The realtor didn’t show it ONE time. So me and the kids packed up the van and drove back to Utah to work on selling the house. I was planning open houses, flyers, meeting brokers etc.. I was going to work full time on it….plus I had the bonus of being HOME. So we drove for two days, unloaded the van and went next door to Nancy’s house (David’s Mom lived next door to us). While we were eating dinner the realtor came and showed the house for the first time and sold it! We just couldn’t believe it! So we still stayed for a month and made sure the closing went through…you just never know. Then David flew out and drove us home.
I feel like you all must be sick of hearing from/about me! But alas….I will write my newsletter, ha ha. The last letter that went out was in January. We were waiting anxiously to hear if David got into med school! Well, you’ve probably heard by now that David got accepted into OU med school, and we moved out to OK City! So strange, I mean, never in a million years would I have thought we would move here. But it is SO much fun living next to Amy and Thad. When we drove out here to look for a house we zoned in on a small area surrounding Amy! We found a house that is 6 ½ minutes driveway to driveway. But sadly, it is a different city, ward, stake, school etc. etc. But we really liked the neighborhood and the house fits our needs. Plus it comes with an acre of flat dry weeds! We need to do something with it. We left Utah around August 1st but our home in Utah still hadn’t sold. The realtor didn’t show it ONE time. So me and the kids packed up the van and drove back to Utah to work on selling the house. I was planning open houses, flyers, meeting brokers etc.. I was going to work full time on it….plus I had the bonus of being HOME. So we drove for two days, unloaded the van and went next door to Nancy’s house (David’s Mom lived next door to us). While we were eating dinner the realtor came and showed the house for the first time and sold it! We just couldn’t believe it! So we still stayed for a month and made sure the closing went through…you just never know. Then David flew out and drove us home.
Here we all are at Amy and Thad’s famous Trunk or Treat Party.
David is LOVING LOVING LOVING med school. He has gross anatomy, bio chemistry, human embryology, and then a bunch of smaller classes. He is learning to use his stethoscope, and does rounds with a doctor once a week in his white coat. At school the students are broken down into groups of about 18. Each group has a kind of office suite. They each have a desk and there is a small kitchen. Then they also have a conference room with big white boards to work out their fancy chemistry problems on, and computer/TV. OU is a very beautiful school and the people are really friendly and nice. They are also one of the most team spirited schools I have ever seen. It is really unbelievable. I think people would cut off their arm for the football team if they thought it would help. David studies a lot. He is known to get up around 6:30 and leave and then not get home till 9pm. He wants to get great grades! Here he is at his desk.
The kids are adjusting….slowly! They really miss their old house (where they all had their own room) their friends and especially their school. I miss our ward, my friends and family, and REAL GROCERY STORES. (Here they mostly just have Walmarts). The kid’s elementary school here is really strict and somewhat unfriendly. But we are trying to get used to it and hope our smiles will catch on. I used to hear a lot of “I HATE this school!!” when they got home, but they are doing a lot better now, especially since they are starting to make friends. Rylie wasn’t too sure about Kindergarten, but is being a good sport! She would rather stay home all day (I think her teacher would too! Ha ha). Sterling will start basketball this month, and Alexis and Rylie have done Pom Pom clinic and love it. We still need to find a violin teacher and a good Ballet Academy. We are excited to visit Utah for Christmas and get lots of skiing in.
We had a pretty crazy week last week when Weston jumped off the mailbox and broke his leg. I feel bad that I waited till the next day to take him to the Emergency room, I thought it was just a sprain. He was a pretty good sport though, and had many admirers. He got to choose the color of his cast and said “Geen” when presented with the color choices. So he is learning to drag his leg around and I am spending a lot of time running to him to hand him stuff! He turns
2 this month.
We had a pretty crazy week last week when Weston jumped off the mailbox and broke his leg. I feel bad that I waited till the next day to take him to the Emergency room, I thought it was just a sprain. He was a pretty good sport though, and had many admirers. He got to choose the color of his cast and said “Geen” when presented with the color choices. So he is learning to drag his leg around and I am spending a lot of time running to him to hand him stuff! He turns
2 this month.
Hope everyone is doing great! We love any opportunity to visit with family. It was a sad day going to Jared’s funeral in Missouri, but good to be with family. Aimee’s five children are so beautiful and so sweet. I got to know a few of them when I was there. Our thoughts and prayers are with their family often and with Stan, Rauna, and all my Orme Cousins.
Love to you all!
Sarah, David, Sterling, Alexis, Rylie, and Weston.
Hi Family,
Fall has really hit the northwest. We've had wind and rain storms and power outages already. The four oldest, Anne, Abbie, Isabelle and Josh are finishing up soccer season in this nasty weather. Everyone has had a great year, though not a winning season.
Anne is preparing for violin solo and ensemble competitions after Christmas, she also teaches herself the piano and likes figuring out the guitar. Abbie is taking piano lessons as well as playing the clarinet for the Junior High band. Isabelle started taking violin lessons at her elementary school and is learning the guitar with John's help and some Taylor Swift music. She has really surprised us with how much she can play. Josh is interested in piano and I have given him a few exciting (to him) lessons. He also likes to play the guitar, but plays like the kid in August Rush. Surprisingly it sounds really good.
My new theory on getting the kids to practice is to tell them (honestly) that they "have a gift for music and that we are willing to support that gift by providing opportunity for them with instruments and lessons, etc. However, if they are not willing to put the effort into expanding their gift, then we are not interested in paying for it." Let me tell you, you've never seen someone start practicing so fast!
Josh just quit martial arts. He was so good at it and will get back to it later, but he really likes just playing after school. The instructor called me up because he said it was helpful having Josh in the class because he was an example to the other kids. His school teacher has said some really great things about how helpful he has been this year to the new kids in their class.
Eliza likes to sing and make up rhymes, along with tooting, burping, jumping off the top bunk and watching Power Rangers. She bikes on some of my shorter 3 miles runs. We found a bigger bike at a garage sale so she can keep up now. We started bringing a friend because she would get quite bored with me. At the last minute she was a butterfly for Halloween because we couldn't find a pink power ranger costume. We gave away all the barbies, play houses, and dress up clothes this fall since she doesn't play with them. She does like playing with baby dolls and arranging her stuffed animals on her bed with their blankies.
Last Sunday she and Josh rearranged their room. I was shocked because me and Jennifer used to do this all the time. When Jennifer was 7 and I was 9 we would move our entire bedroom down and then up 2 flights of stairs! None of my kids have been interested in this until now. Josh moved everything in his room except the bunk beds. I was very impressed. He then posted a note for our bestest friends' kids to stay out and clean up their mess in his room. So embarrassing!
I have been busy with my James O'Neal Surgery Fundraising campaign. James had surgery yesterday and things went really well. They weren't able to get the entire tumor off, but can work on it another time. He was losing a lot of blood. We raised over $200,000 for him. This entire story has been a dream to me. Everyone has contributed, but to say that I started it, is unreal. You can watch the story of his surgery here. http://www.komonews.com/problemsolvers
I am also teaching Isabelle's primary class, and have started the kids newspaper at school for the PACE program. So far no articles... hmmm. I am running 3-4 times a week, 4-6 miles each run. Half of the runs are early with 4 other friends. We wear headlamps and have gained some notoriety as the "headlamp group" seen around town.
John marches on as the bishop of our ward. He is gone 2-3 nights a week and all day Sunday, but we have a nice routine and it hasn't been too challenging for our family. We are grateful that he is able to serve our Heavenly Father and can see many blessings and challenges in our lives from it. John started riding his road bike one way to work in August and is continuing to do it despite the terrible weather. We'll see how the cold affects him though. His ride is 18.5 miles on a beautiful paved trail along the water. It is near our house and goes right past his office. John is remodeling our downstairs bathroom when he's home and awake. It's slow going as you can imagine, but it's nice to look at and it will be nicer to use I'm sure.
I can't begin to tell you how sad I was at the loss of our dear cousin Jared. I wished I could have come to the funeral and been there with everyone and hugged his sweet family. My words can't express the sadness I feel. He was such a wonderful man, another fantastic Orme boy. I'm sure grandma and grandpa brought him home tucked between their arms, but oh, how he will be missed here by everyone.
Carry on, carry on! From the handcart saga and prior, to the great loss of Jared, the Orme family always carries on. God bless everyone!
Katie & John Knopf
Anne, Abigail, Isabelle, Joshua, Eliza
KatieKnopf@yahoo.com
206-335-5808
FriendsOfJamesOneal@BlogSpot.com
Anne is preparing for violin solo and ensemble competitions after Christmas, she also teaches herself the piano and likes figuring out the guitar. Abbie is taking piano lessons as well as playing the clarinet for the Junior High band. Isabelle started taking violin lessons at her elementary school and is learning the guitar with John's help and some Taylor Swift music. She has really surprised us with how much she can play. Josh is interested in piano and I have given him a few exciting (to him) lessons. He also likes to play the guitar, but plays like the kid in August Rush. Surprisingly it sounds really good.
My new theory on getting the kids to practice is to tell them (honestly) that they "have a gift for music and that we are willing to support that gift by providing opportunity for them with instruments and lessons, etc. However, if they are not willing to put the effort into expanding their gift, then we are not interested in paying for it." Let me tell you, you've never seen someone start practicing so fast!
Josh just quit martial arts. He was so good at it and will get back to it later, but he really likes just playing after school. The instructor called me up because he said it was helpful having Josh in the class because he was an example to the other kids. His school teacher has said some really great things about how helpful he has been this year to the new kids in their class.
Eliza likes to sing and make up rhymes, along with tooting, burping, jumping off the top bunk and watching Power Rangers. She bikes on some of my shorter 3 miles runs. We found a bigger bike at a garage sale so she can keep up now. We started bringing a friend because she would get quite bored with me. At the last minute she was a butterfly for Halloween because we couldn't find a pink power ranger costume. We gave away all the barbies, play houses, and dress up clothes this fall since she doesn't play with them. She does like playing with baby dolls and arranging her stuffed animals on her bed with their blankies.
Last Sunday she and Josh rearranged their room. I was shocked because me and Jennifer used to do this all the time. When Jennifer was 7 and I was 9 we would move our entire bedroom down and then up 2 flights of stairs! None of my kids have been interested in this until now. Josh moved everything in his room except the bunk beds. I was very impressed. He then posted a note for our bestest friends' kids to stay out and clean up their mess in his room. So embarrassing!
I have been busy with my James O'Neal Surgery Fundraising campaign. James had surgery yesterday and things went really well. They weren't able to get the entire tumor off, but can work on it another time. He was losing a lot of blood. We raised over $200,000 for him. This entire story has been a dream to me. Everyone has contributed, but to say that I started it, is unreal. You can watch the story of his surgery here. http://www.komonews.com/problemsolvers
I am also teaching Isabelle's primary class, and have started the kids newspaper at school for the PACE program. So far no articles... hmmm. I am running 3-4 times a week, 4-6 miles each run. Half of the runs are early with 4 other friends. We wear headlamps and have gained some notoriety as the "headlamp group" seen around town.
John marches on as the bishop of our ward. He is gone 2-3 nights a week and all day Sunday, but we have a nice routine and it hasn't been too challenging for our family. We are grateful that he is able to serve our Heavenly Father and can see many blessings and challenges in our lives from it. John started riding his road bike one way to work in August and is continuing to do it despite the terrible weather. We'll see how the cold affects him though. His ride is 18.5 miles on a beautiful paved trail along the water. It is near our house and goes right past his office. John is remodeling our downstairs bathroom when he's home and awake. It's slow going as you can imagine, but it's nice to look at and it will be nicer to use I'm sure.
I can't begin to tell you how sad I was at the loss of our dear cousin Jared. I wished I could have come to the funeral and been there with everyone and hugged his sweet family. My words can't express the sadness I feel. He was such a wonderful man, another fantastic Orme boy. I'm sure grandma and grandpa brought him home tucked between their arms, but oh, how he will be missed here by everyone.
Carry on, carry on! From the handcart saga and prior, to the great loss of Jared, the Orme family always carries on. God bless everyone!
Katie & John Knopf
Anne, Abigail, Isabelle, Joshua, Eliza
KatieKnopf@yahoo.com
206-335-5808
FriendsOfJamesOneal@BlogSpot.com
Hello, Hello,
As I sit here posting all your newsletters I thought I would add mine to the end. Things are moving along as they do. Isn't it amazing how fast time passes? My mom says it passes slowly for her and always has. I can't even imagine! There's never enough time, never enough money, never enough of anything it seems. I have finally resorted to praying in a closet and locking my bathroom door to eat a candybar or talk on the phone while 30 fingers wiggle under the door. I never thought the day would come! Have I turned into my mother?? Four little ones keep me very busy, but it's also nice that they have each other to play with.
Will is 5 1/2 and is my biggest helper. He will pace the house with Rowan in his arms for a long while so I can get things done. Sam is 3 and helps with the laundry and washes ALL the windows. Lydia turns 2 in a week and only needs her pacifier and silky blanket to be happy. I am grateful for one girl and grateful the rest are boys! Rowan is already 2 months and is soft and round. He sleeps a lot but he seems to cry whenever he's awake. He is a very attached baby and wants to be on my skin at all times. He likes to smile and coo at his siblings and is still the most coveted thing in our household. It is very easy to stay home and stick to our routine - but a little rough if anyone comes over or if we go out!
Jed and I still love teaching the 16-18 year old S.S. class and we have the best ward in the Church. Jed has been working at the Daily Herald paper selling the auto classifieds but really doesn't love it. He has a conditional offer from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol for an agent slot. He is in the midst of a mountain of paperwork for his background check and will have the big board interview in a month or two. If it goes through he will be sent to the academy in New Mexico for 2 months of physical, on-the-job training followed with 2 more months of learning Spanish full-time before we relocate to a border state - CA, AZ, NM, or TX. We're teaching the kids to say hola! We are happy that Jed has found a career that really interests him. Can't you just see him barreling down the desert at 2 a.m. in a jeep with a huge gun sticking out the side?? And no committment to the military! This is his dream job. (He had been trying to get into law enforcement here in Utah but there are some hiring freezing and huge budget cuts right now - so no luck there.)
I'm still doing my usual thing - online marketing in the evenings, photo sessions, proofing pics, and design work on weekends or whenever I get a moment! We're sad to see Fall passing as those beautiful colors and warm days turn to barren cold. Fingers crossed we don't have 5 months of snow again.
Our deepest sympathies go out to Stan and Rauna and family at this difficult time. We are thinking of you and praying for your peace and comfort.
Blessings to all,
Love Elizabeth
