Lindsey Rizley

 

 

Lindsey Rizley

 

Lindsey grew up in Davis county. The members of her family are her best friends. There are 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. She is the youngest. They lived in Bountiful until she was 9 years old, and then moved to East Layton until she moved out on her own. At first glance, it may appear that her family was very common to LDS culture, but that isn't so. Both of Lindsey's parents were converts to the church. Lindsey's mother is a fiesty beauty from Ireland. When her mother was 8 years old, she was baptized. She was the only one in her family to join the church. Every Sunday, until she immigrated to America at the age of 18, she would ride her bicycle by herself to church. At the age of 18, she was sponsored by the mission president to come to America. She attended an institute dance and met a non-member boy who had been dragged there by his roommate. This was Lindsey's father. In her true fiesty Irish spirit, Lindsey's mother told him if he had hopes of their relationship going anywhere he needed to meet with the missionaries. So he did, and thankfully so, because now we have the beautiful Lindsey in our ward who has taken so much strength from her parents' examples.

 

After graduating from Northridge High School, Lindsey attended Fran Brown college of beauty, and learned to be a cosmotologist. She left home at the ripe old age of 17 (almost 18) and she and her best friend from high school shared an apartment for 3 years. When she was 21, her best friend's cousin called and said that he and a group of guys were going down to the Moab Jeep Safari. He thought it would be fun if she, Lindsey's friend, would get a bunch of her girlfriends together and come down. Well, that cousin was Lindsey's husband, Nate. The whole group had a fabulous time on the safari and they continued to hang out after it was over. Then about 4-5 months after the Safari, Lindsey and Nate started singling off and the rest is history.

 

Lindsey and her sister who is 4 years older than her are best friends. So when her sister decided it was time to start a family she called up Lindsey and asked her to consider starting her family at the same time so they could have their kids together. Lindsey and Nate had only been married 2 months, so it was a little scary for them, but they said they felt good about it and went for it. That was such a blessing, because as it turned out, they had infertility problems. They couldn't get pregnant even though doctors couldn't tell them why. So after trying for over 3 years and two cycles of invitro fertilization, they were able to get pregnant with their first miracle, Abby. 

 

However, they wanted more kids. Interestingly enough, both Lindsey and Nate had a feeling before they had even met that they would adopt a little boy. They pictured him being a child of African descent. So they went through LDS Family Services and put their papers in. Surprisingly, not long after their papers went in, a birthmother called and wanted to meet them. Shortly after meeting she dropped some flowers and a card off at their house saying, "Congratulations!! You will soon be the parents of a beautiful baby boy!"  She wasn't kidding. 4 days later, she went into labor and on July 24^th they brought home their second miracle, Liam. A sweet blonde haired blue eyed baby – not what they had pictured, but every bit as treasured. Their Abby was only 20 months old.

 

But the surprises weren't over for Nate and Lindsey. When their son was almost 6 months old, Lindsey found out she was pregnant with baby number 2 (Chloe), no invitro, no adoption. So now they have 3 "Beautiful Miracles!" Lindsey says that she always knew Heavenly Father loved her.  That there is a define, personnel plan for each of us. But having children, opened her eyes to the depth of love He has for each one of us. When she experienced the intensity of love she has for her children, she gained a deeper understanding of how much He loves us.

 

Lindsey is a fun, easy going person...with a little Irish fire!  As a family, they love boating and going to her parents cabin at Causey Estates. They boat usually at Pineview for convenience, but really love Lake Powell. They love Disneyland and California, especially the beaches!! They try and get there at least once a year.

 

She also enjoy decorating her home. She is partial to the interior style of country glam. She  loves to cook, but says she could brush up on her baking skills! She loves cooking with all the fresh flavors of Mexican/American and homemade soups. In fact, she has a dream of opening up a soup kitchen one day. She loves canning, and can't wait to have her own vegetable garden and fruit trees so she can stop mooching all the produce from her family!!

 

I completely enjoyed talking with and getting to know Lindsey a little better! I hope you all can have the same enjoyment as well. We're lucky to have you Lindsey!

Recipes from our RS birthday dinner in March 2015

Kalua Pork

1 Large boneless pork roast

approx 4 TBSP or about half of a 4 oz bottle of liquid smoke

1 1/2 TBSP coarse sea salt

1 cup water

place pork roast in crock pot with water. Pour remaining ingredients over the roast. Cook on low for approximately 8 hours or until pork easily shreds. Remove pork from crock pot drain half of the liquid. Shred pork and remove any fat. Return to crock pot and serve from crock pot. You can top with any sauce of your choice and or leave as is.  

*Works well over rice or makes yummy pulled pork sandwiches.

Orange Chicken

4-5 boneless chicken breasts

3/4 cup Orange Marmalade

3/4 cup BBQ Sauce of choice (I personally like a sweeter sauce with this recipe)

2 TBSP Soy Suace

Place ingredients in crock pot. Cook on low for approximately 5 hours.

Coconut Rice

2 cups uncooked Calrose Rice

2 2/3 cups water

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon

1 tablespoon butter

1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

¼ cup white sugar

1 can red beans (optional)

 Bring the rice, water, chicken bouillon, and 1 tablespoon butter to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk, beans and sugar. Stir, and simmer uncovered until the rice has absorbed most of the coconut milk.

Angela Olson

Angela grew up in West Point Utah when it was just a farming community (althought she did not grow up on a farm). In fact West Point didn't even have their own high school, she graduated from Clearfield high. She is the oldest of 4 children. Her mother had them all in 4 years. Therefore, this position of being the oldest in her family really helped define Angela and mold her into the person she has become.

Her dad named her Angela because it meant angel. Her parents would often ask her to remember that meaning. It helped Angela remember to stay on the straight and narrow and she felt a tremendous responsibility to be a good example to her other brothers and sisters. She must have been extremely responsible and good with them because from the age of 8 she was babysitting her younger brothers and sisters. She said right from the beginning she would pray to help others and lift them and to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

Angela was deeply involved with musical everything growing up. She did singing, dancing, musical theater, playing the piano and anything and everything to do with music. Her goal from the time she was very young was to be a BYU young ambassador (they are apparently like performance missionaries and go all over the world performing). She was always working on that goal. Her first year at BYU she went into the audition and made it all the way to the top and was cut. When she asked why they said she was too young. So she prepared the entire year for the audition next year. The next year she was also cut and they told her that her audition was too perfect. That they wanted to see how she recovered from mistakes. She said she didn't know how to prepare for that.

She still felt on track however for a life in performance and had her mind geared toward Broadway. However while attending BYU they had a woman from Broadway come in and talk to the Musical Dance Majors about what it was really like to work there. This woman laid it all out completely on the line explaining to them that if they worked in Broadway they would have to give up many priceless relationships in their lives. The woman herself had given up going to her father's funeral, having children and her marriage. In light of this new information Angela decided that Broadway probably wasn't the best place for her. That what she really wanted to do the most was be a mother.

She then proceeded to change her major as a Senior to family studies. She then married and moved to Iowa state where her husband worked on his PHD. At Iowa State they didn't have a family studies major so she switched her major to Elementary Education which ended up being a tremendous blessing in her life.

When her little 2 girls, Mikayla and Emma were just 5 and 3 Angela's husband left her. That degree saved her. She was able to open up her own pre-school to support them. The pre-school was wildly successful. So successful in fact that she ran it for 12 years while all her kids were young.

She started her pre-school while she and her girls lived in Utah County. The problem with living in Utah County was that all her family was up here and she was tired of living away from them and not having any support. So she put her house on the market and it sold right away. However, right after selling it she met Paul, her current husband.

She met him at a Single Adult dance. He was the only one at the dance who could dance ballroom style. She watched and watched him because she loved ballroom dancing. So after a while she went over and asked if she could have a turn. He was excited to meet someone who actually knew how to do ballroom dancing. They dated and ended up getting married and moving up to Davis County. They both brought two girls to the marriage, almost the same ages, and then the following year, their son Mitchell was born.

When Mitchell was about 6 years old, the spirit started letting Angela know it was time for a change. She came to our neighborhood to interview for the music teacher position at Jefferson Academy. While at the school she saw this community. Since Paul wanted to live somewhere where they could have horses, and Angela wanted to live in the city, she thought this might be a nice compromise for them. So 4 years ago they moved into our ward.

She taught music at Jefferson for 3 years but needing more full time employment and because of strain on her voice she moved into teaching Kindergarten. She has taught kindergarten at Jefferson for 2 years. She loves Jefferson Academy. She loves the patriotic theme of the school and that she'll never have a class over 23 students!

Angela has had so many interesting experiences in her life so I asked her if there was a bit of wisdom or a life lesson she has learned from everything she's gone through. She told me, « I started out with a plan but everything I planned hasn't worked out. I've learned that I really don't know anything, except that I know I can't do it without Heavenly Father. He's the one that knows and all I have to do is my best and he'll still love me. »

Carly Rawlings

Carly Rawlings

Carly was raised in South East part of Bountiful Utah. She attended South Davis Jr. High and graduated from Woods Cross High. (Apparently there are quite a few of her fellow Wildcats in this ward.) She was one of 4 children. Although her parents were not very musical, 3 out of the 4 kids ended up being very musical including Carly. She learned to play and currently plays the flute. She also was very involved in musical theater and even had the role of Anybodies in West Side Story. She says being part of musical theater was very influential in her life and helped make her who she is today, in no small part due to the theater director at her school.


After graduating from high school she went on to attend the University of Utah. She says she went there because it was a very convenient to attend and still live at home not necessarily because her family were die hard U fans. While there, she majored and graduated in English Literature. She found that her college education and experiences really enriched her life. From her studies and associations she was able learn to appreciate others with different opinions and perspectives. She learned to embrace and tolerate differences and that we don't all have to have the same opinions to get along and be friends.


While in College she started working at a low income, at-risk youth program. These were students who didn't graduate from high school but now wanted to go back and get their GED. Because she was the first tutor to work there, she had to her write her own curriculum and run her teaching however worked with each unique student. She said a lot of times she would have to teach these students how to study and help them work through personal issues that were stopping them from actually getting their GED. She said once her students understood that she really cared about them and believed they could get their degree, they became pretty easy to work with. She enjoyed it so much she worked there clear up until her second child was born.


Carly says she married the perfect man, Braden. They met at her singles ward while she was attending her 3rd year of University. His first week at the ward he came and sat next to a friend of hers. Braden saw her and asked about her because she was cute. Since their first date, they have never gone a full day without seeing each other, that was 10 years ago. Incidentally, Braden was "on a break" from a relationship with a girl he was engaged to when he met Carly.


Braden is incredibly romantic. When he asked Carly to marry him he took her to a nice dinner. He then had the waitress bring out a music box he had handmade that played the Ice Theme from Edward Scissor Hands. (Carly had mentioned to him once that she would love a music box that played that song) Written on the note score were the words, "Carly I love you and would be thrilled to have you as my beautiful wife."


Braden and Carly have 4 adorable little boys. They've gone with J names for their boys, Jesse, Jonah, Jude and Jules. Her and Braden were in agreement that when they had kids they would find a way for her to stay home with them. Her favorite part of being a stay-at-home mom is being part of their every interaction. She says marrying Braden and becoming a mom is the best thing she has ever done with her life. Her favorite thing about being married to Braden is that he gives her freedom to be herself. She has taught him to enjoy great literature and movies and he has taught her how to listen to and enjoy incredible music. They are best friends and enjoy being together and learning from each other.


Reading and writing are Carly's most favorite pastimes. She enjoys literature in all forms, and loves to write poetry. We are so grateful to have her in our relief society.