The Sensationally Wonderful Shawna Whitworth

Shawna was born while her family was living in Brookings, Oregon where her mother grew up and her dad lived while in his late teenage years. Brookings is just over the California border on the coast. She was born the oldest of 4 children including 3 girls and one boy. Her parents moved from Oregon when Shawna was 2 ½ so unfortunately she doesn't remember beautiful Oregon as home.

Her parents needed a change. Somewhere warm and sunny, so they moved the family to Las Vegas and here is where Shawna lived, in the same neighborhood all of her growing up years, until she was in her 20s. She loved growing up in Las Vegas. Her neighborhood was very similar to the one we live in with LOTS of kids. Most of the same kids lived in the neighborhood with Shawna until they were grown. They were all really good kids and they ended up being a great support for one another.

Shawna says she loved growing up in Las Vegas but she doesn't think she'd want to return to raise her own children there. She loved how there was always something to do and she really loved the food. There was a lot of it and it was all very resonably priced. She said on every corner you could buy the most delicious chicken wings. She really misses that. However, everywhere she went she also carried pepper spray because you could never be sure who you might meet up with.

While growing up Shawna wasn't in clubs or groups, she didn't even really think about it. Instead she spent her days going to school, playing with her friends and spending time with her family. Their family was always doing things and going places. They especially did a lot of camping. They went up to Panguitch, Utah a lot to fish, but her favorite camping trip of all was when they went camping in Mexico. Her family and another family packed up a motorhome and pulled their tent trailer behind it and went down to Mexico. They found a nice little place to camp in and met a very nice Mexican family who they paid to watch their motorhome and trailer while they took a train to all different parts of Mexico. Never did they worry about their motorhome because the sons they paid to watch their stuff, slept on top of the motorhome with a loaded gun.

When Shawna turned 16 she got a job at a grocery store as a bagger. Now Shawna wasn't just your ordinary pretty faced bagger, she was good! How good you may ask? Good enough that she was sent to a bagging competition with baggers from all over Las Vegas and California. The baggers were sent to a brand new store just opening up and had to work there for a day. They were judged on correct placement of items in the bags and overall customer satisfation. They were also judged on friendliness and helpfulness. The competition was stiff but at the end of it, Shawna walked away with the 3^rd place medal! Not only did she get a medal, but she also received a bag of groceries and was allowed to wear jeans to work for a WHOLE WEEKEND!!!! (Seriously, you can't make this stuff up)

She continued working at Albertson's for the next 6 years. After 2 years she was promoted to work at Starbucks, but she was a little uncomfortable serving coffee. So 6 months after she was promoted she noticed there was an opening in the floral department. She asked if she could have that job and they gave it to her. So for the next 3 ½ years she worked as a florist doing all the arrangements for school dances, funerals, and weddings. Shawna became really good at flowers.

During that 6 years she worked for Albertson's (which btw she LOVED!) She was going to school. She spent the first two years doing high school but during her junior and senior year of high school she went to a community college high school. Here she only went to school 2-3 times a week until 5 in the evening. In the morning she would work on her college credits and in the afternoon she would work on high school classes. She graduated after 2 years with a good portion of her college done.

One Sunday during her Senior year of College, Shawna and her Uncle who was just 4 years older than her, traveled up to Logan for a baby blessing. While they were driving home, Shawna received the strongest prompting that she needed to move to Logan. It was so overpowering that she asked her Uncle to give her a blessing. He gave her one and it was such a spiritual blessing telling her she did indeed need to move to Logan and there she would meet the man she was supposed to marry. She promptly went to work on Monday and let them know as soon as she had everything in order she would be moving to Logan. Two months later, everything was in order and away she moved.

She started working at a job at a company called RR Donally. The hours were harsh. 3pm -3am. Shawna was unhappy and felt very isolated. She knew she was never going to make friends or meet anyone working there. One day she was visiting her Uncle's Brother-in-law's girlfriend. The girlfriend told her that she worked at a flower shop in Hyrum and they needed some help for Valentine’s Day and asked if she was interested in helping. Shawna went and the flower shop offered her a job after just one day of helping out. Shawna worked at this flower shop until in closed down in December 2008.

In 2007, shortly after Shawna moved to Logan, her ward had a group Family Home Evening that the whole ward was invited to. A group of boys came over and introduced themselves to Shawna and her roommates. A couple weeks after their intial meeting, the same group of boys invited just Shawna over to their apartment to make her dinner. Shawna's roommates got wind of it and told Shawna the better plan was for the guys to come over to their apartment where the girls would make them dinner (the girls thought the boys were cute). The guys totally agreed that was a much better plan. So that Sunday all the guys came over and while they were there, their roommate Mark Whitworth texted them wondering where they all were. They told Mark to come over and eat with them on his lunchbreak from work, which he did.That's how Mark and Shawna met.

From there the groups of roommates just started hanging out. They did all kinds of fun things to together. The guys invited the girls over for the TV show THE OFFICE premier night. Where the guys all dressed up like the office characters. The next week after the premier night, Shawna asked Mark if he was going to be watching THE OFFICE again and he said, « Yes, you should come over and watch it with me. » She went by herself and after that they started dating, not exclusively, but just dating. That went on until April of 2008 when they decided to start being exclusive.

During this time, Shawna landed her dream job. It was at, of all places, a call center. But this was no ordinary call center. They loved their employees. They went out of their way to make their employees feel appreciated. They would have BBQ's for their employees and in every way try to make them feel valued. Once Shawna was promoted to work in the legal department of their company, she was in 7^th Heaven. She loved how connected working there made her feel to the community and the wonderful positive environment. She thought she would always work there because she loved it so much.

In August of 2010, after 2 blissful years of dating, Shawna and Mark got engaged. They were married the following November. They continued living in Logan while Mark finished his degree. Shawna says their courtship was so much fun. They did everything there was to do on campus. They never stayed home.

After they married they continued going new places and experiencing new things. Mark's family even took them on an incredible vacation to Argentina and Brazil. Shawna loved Argentina. She loved the food (mostly steak). She loved the culture. She also thought it was incredibly fun because they did everything in Argentina that they did on the Argentina season of the Bachelor. This trip combined all the things she loves, Mark, food, adventure and the Bachelor! It was a dream come true!

Horse from the Bachelor

Shawna thought she would never want to leave Logan. She loved all her friends and in 2009 her parents even moved up to Logan to be around Shawna and her sister who was also living there. They continued to live in Logan until 2013 when Mark was offered a job in Salt Lake City. By this time Shawna was pregnant with their first daughter Scarlett. When Mark told Shawna about the job she was unexpectantly excited. She was up for the adventure. So they moved to a nice apartment in Farmington to be closer to Mark's family in Centerville.

Just before moving to Farmington, Scarlett was born. After they moved to Farmington, for the first time, Shawna found herself feeling isolated. She was suffering from some post pardum depression and she wasn't meeting people in her ward. She wasn't working and for an extreme extrovert like Shawna this was disasterous. She wished so badly her visiting teachers would come visit just to meet someone. To add to the despair around her, Shawna's sister just younger than her died unexpectantly at the age of 25 leaving behind two small children and a husband. It was a very hard and dark time for Shawna.

Shawna and Mark started looking for a house and in June of 2014 they moved into their new home in our neighborhood. This went a long way in healing Shawna's depression. She realized because of her past experience in Farmington that she needed to reach out and make friends. So when Becky Moody asked who might want to be part of a Bunco group, Shawna jumped at the opportunity. She loves living in this ward. She loves that all the great examples that are here for her children to grow with and look up to. She loves the friendships and kindness she's found. Last July the Whitworths welcomed their second daughter Cosette to their family. They are so happy to be here.

I asked Shawna what piece of advice she would now share with her younger self. She said, « Carpe Diem! Cease the day. » She said after graduating from high school she's tried to do this and she wished that she had done it more when she was younger. She also said especially after losing her sister she feels this way with her own children. She tries to enjoy all the moments she has with them and wants to make everyday matter.

What a ball of positive energy Shawna is. I think if you come within her radar you will not be able to walk away feeling anything but positive and happy. She truly is loving and wants to include and be friends with everyone. We are so fortunate to have Shawna in our ward to associate with. Take the time to get to know her and you will leave feeling loved.

The Happy Haley Grimm

Haley was born in the Bay area of California and lived in Fremont for the first 12 years of her life. That is just 45 minutes outside of San Francisco. She lived there with her parents, Harry and Tiffany Young and her older sister. Haley and her sister were only 19 months apart. Not only were they close in age, but they have a very close relationship. They did everything together all the way up through high school.
Some of the fun things Haley's family did together were attending San Jose Shark hockey games (they are avid hockey fans) and a lot of camping on the California beaches. When they camped in Northern California they would just play on the beach because the water was too cold to get into. They would discover all sorts of fun treasure and over time collected a whole box of sand dollars (Which they recently just found). When they camped in Southern California it was at Pismo Beach. Here they would play in the water and boogie board. 
Haley's maternal grandparents lived by them in Fremont but the rest of their extended family lived in Utah. Therefore the Young’s created extended family in their ward. They became extremely close with the Grimm family. They did everything together. They all got along superbly even though the Grimm's kids were a few years older than the Young's girls. They would go camping together and do New Year with them. They ate a lot of Sunday Dinners together and would just hang out enjoying each other's company. 
While in California, Haley's parents looked for alternative options to public school. The public schools in California weren't that great. Haley's mom homeschooled a bit but then they found a Christian private school for their daughters to attend. It was a very small school and the faculty and parents and students were very close for example Haley's 5^th grade teacher came to her wedding and her dad would golf with the principal. 
This ended up being a huge blessing because during her 4^th grade year, Haley started having severe stomach issues. The stomach pain was so bad she ended up going to the hospital and staying for weeks and months. She was having all kinds of tests run. At the end, they still weren't sure what was causing it. They said she had all the symptoms of Crohn's disease but it wasn't testing like Crohn's disease so they would just call it that. Over the years of paying attention to what triggers her body into pain, she has been able to control it better by staying away from the triggers. She has also had good luck using essential oils.  The school was great in working with Haley and her parents and keeping her up on her school work so that she didn't have to repeat 4^th grade. 
After living for 9 years in Fremont California, Haley's dad retired from the Military and her family moved to Utah so they could be closer to more extended family. They all moved up to Kaysville East of the freeway in the Hess Farms neighborhood. Haley was 12 years old and entering 7^th grade. She of course didn't want to leave her friends. Moving to Kaysville was culture shock for Haley. She missed the diversity of friends that she had in California. She missed how being Mormon gave her a different identity then everyone else and was exciting to tell people. Now she was just like everyone else. She says that was good too however. 
After finishing Jr. High at Farmington Jr. High, Haley started at Davis High School. But she didn't enjoy it, especially after her sister graduated. So many of her friends went off with her sister to college and Haley was left at Davis mostly alone. She auditioned for the theater classes and even though she was told her audition was flawless, she didn't make the class. This left her with no motivation to want to stay at Davis. She says she was sitting one day in class and just realized if she had to stay at the school another year, she would be miserable. So that day she went her counselor and got all the paperwork on taking her GED. She came home that night and told her parents she wanted to test out of high school an enroll in College in the fall. They were completely supportive. 
After getting her GED Haley got a full ride scholarship to Southern Utah University in Cedar City Utah. Cedar City just happened to be the city where the Grimm family (there close friends from California) had moved to. She was excited at first. But as the day for going to school drew near, Haley started having very strong feelings that she needed to stay home. It got so bad she was having anxiety at the thought of leaving. She told her parents that she wanted to postpone leaving for SUU for a semester. They were again supportive. 
Not long after she made that decision Haley's mom, Tiffany, became very ill. At first they thought it was asthma, but one day she went to the hospital and they told her she had blood clots in her lungs and part of her left lung had died. The hospital told her dad that this is something people don't get better from. But, miraculously, Tiffany did get better. However, she was still very sick and would be bedridden for the next year. This was quite a big deal since not only did Tiffany need help around the house but they also had a granddaughter living with them while her dad was deployed. Haley stepped in to fill the gap, taking care of her niece, her mom and helping out around the house. 
In January, Haley's niece had gone home to live with her dad. The ward and especially Kim Nielson, who used to live in the ward and was a nurse, were taking care of Tiffany, giving her her shots and helping out. So Haley left for SUU and started her college life even though she was still really worried about her mom. She would panic whenever her dad called her, scared that her mom would be in the hospital again. Not only did she have this trauma, but she was having a really hard time adjusting to be alone from home and dealing with roommates. Finally one night she called her dad in tears. He told her to go visit with their friend Bro. Grimm who was serving as a bishop in a student ward in Cedar City. 
She went and saw him at his bishop's office. At first he didn't recognize her because she was so grown up but felt sheepish when he realized it was Haley. When she got into the office she burst into tears. He was afraid she was going to tell him she was pregnant! How relieved he was to know the only issue was acute homesickness and college roommate drama. Haley started going over to their house for Sunday dinners and the Grimm’s pulled her through that difficult time. They became extremely close.
As the end of the semester approached and Haley was preparing to go home for the summer Brother Grimm suggested that Haley start writing to their son Daniel on his mission. Haley wasn't too keen on the idea and besides she was already writing to a missionary and feeling pretty serious about him. Still, the Grimms didn't let up, suggesting that writing Daniel was a really good idea since he would be home soon. In fact they went as far as to say she was the last chance to merge their families!
Once home for the summer, however Haley was feeling really bored. She had had knee surgery and couldn't leave the house for a month or so. In July she received the ok to drive herself places. She was dying to get out. She wanted to go back to Cedar to see the friends she had made. When she told her parents this, they weren't too excited to let her drive to Cedar alone. Haley reached down deep and in desperation to get out of the house she said, « Its Daniel's homecoming. I should go down and support him. » With that they relented. Haley had figured out how to work the situation. She didn't want to show up at the homecoming and have the Grimms think she was there to date Daniel, so she took a friend with her to have someone to set Daniel up with. But as Haley sat in the chapel, waiting for Daniel to come in she started getting really, really nervous and anxious to see him. She didn't really understand why. Twice her friend asked her if she were ok. Then the friend asked Haley if she wanted to date Daniel herself. Haley said no. Then Daniel entered the room. They made eye contact and Haley had the strongest feeling, almost like someone were saying it in her ear that she was going to marry Daniel. She looked at her friend at that point and her friend said, « You love him. » After the meeting Daniel gave her a huge hug and it was really different than the 100s of times she had hugged Daniel before. She didn't remember him being so cute before his mission. 
When she came home, she told her parents that she was pretty sure she needed to go back down to Cedar City and date/marry Daniel Grimm. So after the summer, she went back down there only to find out that Daniel was already dating someone he had met on his mission in Georgia. The girl had even flown out to Utah on the guise of checking out colleges. Daniel didn't know it, but Haley was mad at him! Still she just started texting him friendly texts. 
One day she invited him to hang out with her and her friend. Haley was kind of afraid to be alone with him because she would normally feel very awkward around guys. Daniel came over and it was so easy. They didn't have one uncomfortable pause in the conversation. It was very comfortable. They kept hanging out and combined their group of friends. One night all the group of friends had to go home early but Daniel and Haley stayed by themselves to hang out. This gave him the opportunity to kiss her which he took. She looked at him and said she wasn't in it for playing around. He needed to choose between her and the Georgia girl. 
Well the next day he did. He chose Haley. 2 ½ weeks later they said, « Ilove you. » and started talking about marriage. At first they were gong to wait until March to get married, then December, but finally decided on the end of November, 1 month after they started dating they got engaged. They were married and 3 months later Haley found out she was pregnant. Their baby Addie was born just 2 weeks shy of their 1 year anniversary. 
Still living in Cedar made it hard for them to make ends meet. With it being such a small town and the jobs going mainly to locals, they couldn't nail down jobs that paid anymore than minimum wage. This led Haley to call her parents wondering what to do, they offered their basement to Haley and Daniel. This was such a blessing to them. They lived with the Youngs for 2 years. After 2 years, Haley and Daniel were feeling secure enough to go out on their own. They rented an apartment in Layton.  There were lots of problems with the apartment and then they had a mice infestation. Haley couldn't stand it. That coupled with the fact that she recently found out she was pregnant made them think moving back into the basement at the Youngs was a good idea. 
So now they are back in our ward. Daniel will graduate from the University in April, their baby will be born in June and Daniel will leave for officer training with the military in July. He will come back in October and they hope to have an idea of where they will be heading then. Either military bound with the National Guard or maybe continue to work for Wells Fargo.
I asked Haley what's one piece of advice she's learned in her young life. She said, « Follow the promptings you receive. » She said she would never have imagined her life would be where it is right now. Married to Daniel with kids. But its a better life than she planned for herself.
What a joy it was talking to Haley. She is very easy to talk with and enjoyable. I hope you get the chance to get to know her. 

The Delightful Debbie Severn

Debbie was born in Southern California and lived in the Glendale until she was 8 years old. She is the second oldest of 5 children. She had three sisters and one brother in their family. Her youngest sister is Jill Richins who is in our ward and Debbie lives in her basement. Debbie loved the warm weather of Southern California. She also really enjoyed that the whole time they lived there, lots of family would come visit them. (This probably had something to do with the fact that they lived about 45 minutes away from DisneyLand.) She also remembers that there were lizards everywhere.

When Debbie was 8 years old, her father took a job in Utah. The family moved to Kaysville. It was hard for Debbie to leave her best friend, but she found new ones in Kaysville. She grew up there until she left home for College. She lived just off 200 North on Oak Lane.

In Junior High Debbie played sports. She was on the basketball and Volleyball team at Kaysville Junior High. She also really enjoyed playing for the church Young Women teams. She was also an editor for the Kaysville Junior High student newspaper her 9th grade year. She loved going to Young Women's. It was a great social outlet and she learned a lot from her great leaders.

When Debbie went into high school her main focus was academics and family. She participated in a girls singing group in high school, but her main focus was getting good grades.  Looking back now she wishes she wouldn’t have worried so much about school.  Now she reminds her kids that grades aren't everything, so make a good effort and enjoy life.

After finishing high school, Debbie packed her bags and 2 weeks later headed to the sunny summer session at Ricks College. She stayed there a year and a half, going both summers she was there. Those summer terms ended up being  the most fun! Partly because of  her patriarchal blessing, she chose to go into Elementary Education.

She also worked while attending Ricks College as a tutor in a math and reading lab helping students improve there skills  so they could go on and take the required college courses they needed to graduate. She loved that job. She felt confident in her abilities and loved that she was able to interact with other college students. She also loved math, that is until Calculus!

After finishing up her associates in El Ed, Debbie transferred to BYU. She had great roommates and enjoyed her Family Home Evening group. She met a young man in her family home evening group and they fell in love. (They were married 6 months later.) She also continued to work while getting her EL ED degree. She had a couple of different jobs while at BYU. One was catering, but she found doing catering very physically tiring. She also worked for one of her professors making graphs and tables to summarize his research. She like that job, but her favorite job was still tutoring in the Ricks College lab.

After she graduated and was married, Debbie started teaching at an elementary school in Sandy. She taught there for 3 years while her husband completed his degree at BYU in engineering. That meant commuting everyday from Provo.  Debbie loved teaching, especially the ah-ha moment of watching the children grasp something they didn't see before and the variety of personalities in her classes.  When she talks about teaching her eyes light up and maybe one day she will go back to it.

After her husband got a job, they moved to American Fork where they lived for 12 years followed by a move to Cedar Hills. Debbie quit teaching as soon as her oldest son was born. By far, being a stay-at-home mom is Debbie's favorite job. She devoted herself to her children. She says she wouldn't have missed being with them for the world. This devotion and awareness of her children's needs helped her seek for the best educational opportunities for them. She has had them go, at different times, to public, private, charter schools and even homeschooled. In fact her youngest two chidren were homeschooled until junior high. Debbie’s oldest son, Brandon just graduated from college in personal finance. Her oldest daughter, Marie is married and attending BYU. Next is James who recently was honorably released from his mission in Denver, Colorado. Rachel is almost 13 and the spunky red-hair caboose. James and Rachel are currently living with Debbie.

Homeschooling didn't leave much time for Debbie to really have her own hobbies but she does love baking and cooking especially sweets. She has a total sweet tooth. She still loves sports but due to injuries had to give up playing them in her 30s. She also was in the Primary Presidency for 5 years when she lived in American Fork. It was a large primary just like ours and it really kept her hopping the whole time.

After 27 years of marriage Debbie realized that the unhealthy situation she was in was not going to change. So after many years and hours of contemplation, prayer and going to the temple, she decided to get a divorce. It was a very hard decision. However, after she decided, things started opening up for her in her life. Her sister Jill needed to hire someone to help her out with her children and Debbie was available. Jill also has a large enough house, they were able to finish the basement so  Debbie and her 12 year old daughter Rachel would have their own space. Debbie feels lucky to be able to live with her sister. They are able to be a blessing in each others lives as they help each other raise their children.

I asked Debbie after all of these trials and blessing she's had in her life, what piece of advice would you give to someone else. She said, «  If you are right with the Lord it doesn't matter what happens to you or what anyone else thinks. » I feel that is very wise advice. We are so lucky to have Debbie in our ward with the experience and positive attitude she brings. If you get a chance get to know her, take it, you'll be glad you did. 

Spotlight: Melanie Hawkins

Melanie was born & (mostly) raised in Burley, Idaho. She lived in Twin Falls for several years, as her dad was part owner in a glass shop with his dad & brother. She also lived up Rock Creek Canyon in the mountains just past Kimberly, Idaho for about a year. Her family also moved to Utah for about 6-8 months for a job for her dad when his glass shop business was struggling. Her dad sold his portion to her uncle, and tried to find work elsewhere. Her family struggled financially her entire life growing up.  She says sometimes it’s easy for her to get frustrated at the things her children take for granted. Melanie shared a room as a child, and often with 4 or more sisters. She was lucky if she got a few dresser drawers to herself and usually kept her own personal “stuff” in a box under her bed.

Melanie is the 2nd oldest of 12 kids. They are all about 18 months apart. No twins/adoptions, and only one mom and dad. That is what she got pretty used to saying as an automatic response when people found out how many brothers and sisters she had. The only HS graduation picture she has of herself is holding her 6-month-old baby brother (College friends once thought that she was holding her own baby in that picture!) Melanie’s oldest brother was on his mission in Taiwan when he was born. When Melanie was about 12, her younger brother was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer called Rabdomysarchoma. He was given a 5% chance of living. He went through chemo and radiation for 2 years and to this day is cancer free and just got remarried in June & lives in Elko, NV. Her oldest brother lives in Taiwan and she hasn’t seen him in almost 18 years! She has 3 sisters in Syracuse/Roy area, 4 siblings (2 brothers & 2 sisters) in Burley, one sister in Boise, and one brother in Idaho Falls. If you lost count, that’s 7 girls and 5 boys.

Melanie’s favorite things to do as a young child were to make up games and play pretend for hours on end with her siblings. They would make forts in the back yard, build a tree house, create a roller skating rink in their basement, complete with strobe lights (which meant that someone was on light flipping on and off duty), and play cowboys and Indians. They would even whittle their own arrows and make bows with twine that they would find from hay bales from where cattle grazed. They would set up Fisher Price Little People towns with several story high homes made from blocks and books, and would play for hours. They would also take care of the MANY animals that they had over the years, from the goats that they bottle fed and later milked, to the pigs, horses, bunnies, dogs, cats and (as they moved back to Burley when she was in 4th grade) they had Guinea pigs, pet lizards, and even a couple of snakes and a pet tarantula! Melanie’s little brother with cancer was obsessed with really weird animals and so to lift his spirits, her dad got him a 6 ft long Boa Constrictor named Elvis. Her parents partially credit that snake with helping her brother through some of the worst of his treatments and giving him the will to live.

Melanie’s favorite childhood Memory was when she was in first grade and lived up Rock Creek Canyon. Her school was so small they didn’t have a lunchroom and had to walk to the JH/HS that was across the playground yard. There was only one first grade class with 16 kids in it. They had to walk about a mile to their bus stop where they were picked up by a little yellow school bus that they called the minibus.  Melanie and her brother would regularly go fishing in the little creek by their house and catch a bunch of fish that her mom would cook up for dinner. Every once in a while, they would watch the deer walk through their yard (once they counted 40 head of deer).  She had horses and her dad got this little black Shetland pony for her brother… but it didn’t like her brother and would buck him off.  It would only let Melanie ride it and she would ride it bareback all over the place! It was a very short time in her life, but one of her favorite times.

During Melanie’s Junior High School years is when her brother was diagnosed, and going through Chemo and radiation, he needed to be in PCMC for treatments for a few weeks at a time. Melanie’s grandparents were able to stay with him quite a bit, as her mom had a new baby, but one time, her mom needed to be with her brother, so for two weeks (during spring break) Melanie (who was 13) took care of her 2 month old newborn little sister, bottle fed her and helped along with her other sister to take care of the rest of the kids while her dad was at work.  She says they didn’t get much help from their ward, but it made them pretty strong, capable, hardworking and able to really depend on each other.

Melanie LOVED art in High school and she needed a couple of extra credits of an elective class, so she talked the Art teacher into creating an Advanced Senior Art class with just her in it.  She would sit in the back of the room during another beginner art class, just so she could sit and paint. Melanie was also on the flag team with the marching band and got to travel to Spokane WA, and several other marching competitions.  Their band was #1 in their division and she says it was a ton of fun.   Towards the end of her Junior year in High school her mom found out she was pregnant with her baby brother and was also diagnosed with Lupus. She was really sick and it was a really hard time for her family. Melanie’s dad had just lost his job, her oldest brother was getting ready to leave on his mission, her grandparents that lived a block away from them for the last several years were called to be mission presidents in the West Indies islands, and her mom was put on bed rest for the first 4 months of her Senior year. Melanie and her younger sister took turns a couple of times a week staying home with their mom and the smaller children that were too young for school while her dad was at his new job. They would do all the cleaning, cooking, shopping, laundry and caring for their siblings. Melanie also had a part time job. It was a really hard time in her life (her grades were not the greatest) but looking back, she is so grateful for all that she learned. Melanie’s mom had her baby brother early and brought him home from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day to dinner on the table. Melanie and her sister had shopped and cooked a full Thanksgiving meal complete with Turkey, homemade rolls and pie!

After graduating from Burley High in 1992, Melanie moved to Twin Falls, Idaho to attend The College of Southern Idaho. She was an Art major and loved her Art classes. Melanie struggled with lots of her other classes, and after a semester of school she met a returned missionary and started dating him. After a brief engagement that she broke off, she moved to Utah and stayed with her aunt and uncle, and just wanted to take a break for a while. She worked as a receptionist at a nursing home and in the office at a car dealership for a while. Melanie’s parents were concerned that she was not in school, and talked her into moving back to Twin Falls to go back to school. Melanie hated every bit of school, but loved the social life. In the spring of 1994, she moved to Southern Utah to work as a counselor at a wilderness survival youth program.  Melanie says it was SO tough, but she really learned so much about herself and what she wanted in life.  Something about the big city, culture, and social life in Utah kept drawing her back and she knew that this is where she wanted to be, so she moved back to the Salt Lake valley to work in the fall.

Melanie was working as a nanny when she met her husband at an LDSSA Singles dance at Snowbird Labor Day weekend in 1994. It was more than a coincidence that she was there. She and her roommate were supposed to be on a double date that night with her roommate's boyfriend and his friend, but his friend “had something come up last minute.” As her roommate's boyfriend was standing there, these two (kind of weird) guys from their singles ward showed up to see if they wanted to go to this dance with them. Melanie’s friend shoved her out the door and she very begrudgingly went. She did NOT want to be there and so every slow song that came on she would go “take a walk” so I didn’t have to dance with them. What she DIDN’T know was that when she got there this cute guy in a white t-shirt, jeans and cowboy boots saw her and wanted to ask her to dance. Every time a good song would come on she would just vanish! He didn’t have the chance to ask her to dance the whole night! As they were walking back to their car, he saw Melanie and came over and asked if he could have her number. Melanie said, “Well, can I have your name first?” His name was Curt Hawkins and they talked all the way back to the car. Melanie’s two friends (bless their observant hearts) could see that they were hitting it off and mentioned that they couldn’t believe that they had to take me ALL THE WAY back to my apartment. Curt asked where it was and said he lived really close by (he didn’t) and wouldn’t mind dropping her off. By this point they talked about the fact that he had also served a mission in Taiwan like her brother, and she figured it was safe to get a ride from a stranger if he’s a returned missionary and he had a friend with him. Melanie and Curt talked all the way home and she kept getting the most bizarre feeling of Déjà vu every time he would tell her something about himself. They dropped his friend off first and then ended up talking at my apartment until about 1 in the morning. That night Melanie knew that he was the one she was supposed to marry! She said it kind of freaked her out because she was NOT looking for Mr. Right and had just moved back to Utah a month earlier and was having fun with her new roommate! However, she received a confirmation of the Spirit SO strongly, that there was absolutely NO denying it! Curt invited her to go waterskiing the next morning, so he picked Melanie up at 6am and they spent all day together. That Sunday morning Melanie drove to Burley to see her family.  Melanie told her mom and sister that she just met the guy she was going to marry. They just rolled their eyes and didn’t believe her. When she returned back to Utah, Curt was waiting at her apartment with a dozen red roses and she knew she was right. A week later they talked about their feelings for each other (thankfully) her feelings were confirmed, as he was feeling the same way! They officially got engaged about a week later when he proposed to her at Snowbird! THEN… they had to tell his parents!  Melanie said that was... fun!! His parents were a little skeptical, but soon warmed up to the idea that this little Idaho girl came and stole their baby boy! Her parents were thrilled as their engagement was pretty much the same as theirs!

Melanie and Curt were married on January 20th 1995 in the Salt Lake Temple. They spent their honeymoon in Hawaii and will be going back on their anniversary this coming year. After Melanie was married they lived in a couple of different apartments. When her nanny job ended, they moved in with Curt’s parents because he was still in school and working full time, and she was expecting their first baby Alyssa! They lived there for about 9 months and then moved to an apartment in Murray. When Alyssa was 2, they had their 2nd sweet daughter Maddie. After that they built their first house in a cute new little neighborhood in West Valley (the only place that was affordable for them at the time) and then along came their first boy, Joseph. When they were expecting their 4th baby they needed to move, so after just a few short years they upgraded to a much bigger house in a neighboring subdivision. It was new and had lots of cute little families with lots of kids their children’s ages. Over the next ten years, they added another daughter and three more little boys there, and in addition to once again being out of space, they found that their once cute little quiet street was being the target of graffiti, break-ins, and drugs were becoming more common. So they decided it was time to move on and look for a home close to Curt’s work in South Jordan, but then realized they could get SO much more home and yard for the money in Kaysville (plus they LOVED the quiet, little town and the Spirit they felt here). So Kaysville was their new home!

Melanie’s family loves to go camping and fishing together. They love to swim and play on their kayaks. They are BIG time movie buffs and love to curl up watching all sorts of movies with a great big bowl of popcorn. They find that they frequently quote movie lines, or mention scenes from their favorites!

Melanie has 7 children. Her oldest Alyssa (20), and has about 3 months left on her mission to the Texas Houston South Mission. She loves to write and is going to go back to Utah State next fall after she gets home. Madison (Maddie) is 18 and just graduated last spring. She is very artistic and creative and is working right now to save up money for school. She is planning to go to Utah State next fall as well. Joseph (16) and a junior in High School. He loves to build and fix things and is currently working at Bowmans. Emily (13) and is the BEST babysitter around! She loves to sing and do tumbling. Parker (11) and loves to play sports. He gets up at 6am every day so that he can have access to the remote and watch animal planet every morning. He knows pretty much everything about every animal, and begs his parents every day for a dog. Ryan (8) and loves Legos, riding his bike with friends and soccer. Timothy (Timmy) is 5 and is their little angel! He is their little bonus gift from God when they thought they were done. Melanie said, “How GRATEFUL I am for His plan for me. It is SO much better than the one I have for myself!” Timmy is such a bright spot in their family’s lives and fills them all with joy. He loves to do anything his brothers are doing because he thinks he is as big as they are! He also loves to sing… constantly!

Melanie’s family has lived in Kaysville for 4 years. After 1 year here, the Ward split, and her husband was called to be the Bishop of the newly created Ward. She said it was certainly not anything they expected, looking back they can certainly see God’s hand in their life guiding them (and at times dragging them) to where they needed to be, even right down to them ending up in this ward, and not on the lot on Sunset as they originally planned. They have learned, and are still learning to have faith in The Lord and trust that His plan is SO much better for us than anything that we could possibly plan for ourselves. They have learned that the refiner’s fire, while really hard, truly does make us into the person that The Lord knows that we can and should be.

Melanie loves the Scriptures, so it was hard for her to pick a favorite, but she chose Helaman 5:12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.   This is her daughter’s favorite mission scripture, and she hears it frequently quoted (nearly every Sunday) since she left.  Just as President Russel M Nelson said, “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.” Trials come & if we have that sure foundation, and are focused on Christ, not only will Satan have no power over us, but we can get through our trials with joy! (Melanie said that is what she is still working on!) Many of Melanie’s siblings have fallen away from the Gospel and it’s been very hard for her. She is trying to do all she can to help her children gain their own testimony of the Gospel because she KNOWS that it is what will truly bring them lasting peace & JOY in this life!

And lastly, Melanie loves to paint, still, but it’s been YEARS since she has. She loves to sew, and has since she picked up a needle and thread at about 5 years old! Melanie also has an Etsy shop / online boutique that is more for fun than anything and gives her an excuse to buy cute fabric!

As you can see, Melanie is truly a remarkable lady!  We are so grateful that the Lord led her family to Kaysville to be in our ward.   

The Terrific Tricia Bishop

Tricia Bishop was born in Price Utah They didn't live their long, only for a couple of years until her dad graduated from the College of Eastern Utah. Then the family moved so he could attend SUU in Cedar City. Her dad then went onto to start his career as a high school and College coach. This was a huge part of Tricia's life. In fact, their whole lives revolved around the high school and teams her dad was coaching for.

Tricia's dad's career began in Dayton Idaho, just over the Utah border. He coached there for 5 years. They lived across the street from the school. Tricia attended Kindergarten and first grade here. The family had a laborator retriever named Lady. When school was out for the day, Tricia says she remembers her mother saying to the dog, « Lady, take Tricia over to dad. » Lady would walk Tricia across the street and stay with her on the football field until football practice was over for the day. She also remembers going to school with her dad and coloring while he taught classes. Their whole world was the team. Her mom even made her a cheerleading outfit and every game Tricia would ride the bus with her dad and the players to the games.

The next job her dad took was to coach at Bear River High School where he coached another 2 years. Tricia was in 3rd and 4th grade. While her dad was busy coaching, her mom was a dancer and set up a dancing studio in their unfinished basement both in Idaho and Tremonton and started teaching. She was Tricia's first dance teacher. From age two, Tricia always danced. As she grew she worked with other teachers. As a kid she remembers for fun putting on her mom's records and tapes and spending hours making up dances.

After that, Tricia's dad got a job at Skyview High as the head basketball coach. But they were only there for 3 months because in October her dad got a call from Bobby Knight (head basket ball coach at Indiana University) saying he wanted her dad to come work for him. So the family packed up and moved to Indiana. Her family lived there until Tricia's junior year in High School.

Living in Indiana was hard for Tricia. She says it was so hard to be around so many kids that didn't share her values. She says High School there was just like an 80's movie. The kids drank and partied and their was a party at whoever's house the parents weren't home for the weekend. In school she kept herself busy cheering, being on the basketball team and of course, dancing. Sports gave her something to do and a place to belong.

Outside of school she only had 1-2 friends and her best friend was Jewish. They lived in the same neighborhood and the families became close friends. They had to find activities to do that didn't involve drinking and partying so they went to the mall alot, the arcade and hung out at each other's homes. To this day she and her friend are still in touch.

She also said school in Indiana was much stricter and not very much fun. They couldn't have any absences. The only absences that could be excused were the doctors or a funeral and you had to have a doctors note. If you were absence, you had to do detention. Not only that but you couldn't make up any work you missed. When her dad took Tricia out of school to go to the Indiana University Championship game she had to make up 3 days of absences in detention. They also didn't have any dances or assemblies.

Her senior year of High School Tricia's dad was offered the head coaching job at Utah State University in Logan. Tricia said Logan ended up being her favorite place to live. She was so grateful to be in a school where she could do sports and have fun. She loved having so many kids around her with her same standards.

After she graduated from high school, Tricia attended her first year of college at USU and hated it. She lived at home and everyone she went to high school with basically were doing the same thing. Nothing changed, it was like glorified high school. So her second year she went down to Ephraim and attended Snow College. Tricia loved Snow College. She loved the smaller classes. She loved being out of the cold. She loved her roommates and she of course loved being on the dance company and drill team.

After graduating from Snow College, Tricia went on her mission to the Harrisburg Pennsylvania mission. She loved her mission. She says the thing she gained to most on her mission was tolerance. She says she also gained a rock solid testimony of the gospel and came to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the real deal.

Tricia says they had to bear their testimony a lot in Pennsylvania. Especially in the city of Lebanon. It was a city just outside of State College Pennsylvania. At that time an ex-communicated member of the church had come out with the anti-mormon movie and was touring college towns preaching hard his anti-mormon propaganda. During this time Tricia says they had no investigators, no member referral. All they were doing everyday was knocking on doors and since they were forbidden by their mission president to engage in bashing, they were left with bearing their testimonies. They would bear their testimonies to the people they met and walk away.

After her mission, Tricia attended SUU and continued with her major in Theater and Dance with a minor in history. Her dad was sure she wouldn't make any money with that degree so Tricia tried some biology classes but just hated them. In fact, everything else she tried didn't work out. She knew she wanted to teach so she could be home with her kids when they went to school. She continued with her major.

During her last year she went into a sporting good store in Cedar City. A football player on the College team, named Ryan Bishop, was working there. They met and she stayed in the store talking to him for about 45 minutes. He asked for her phone number and as Tricia left the store she thought,  « I don't have to date anymore. » Which she thought was funny because she always made fun of people who claimed to fall in love at first site.

They started dating and found their backgrounds were mirrors of each other. His dad was the football coach at SUU. They finished their Senior years and got married in Logan. Ryan's dad wasn't active in the church and his mom had never gone through the temple so she asked Ryan and Tricia to wait to marry in the temple until she could be there. They went ahead and had a beautiful civil marriage.

They both got jobs up North. Ryan coaching at Bear River High and she teaching theater and started the dance program at Mountain Crest. They lived in Logan and added 2 sons to their family, KJ and Reggie. From their they moved to Farmington when Ryan was hired as the head football coach at Davis High and Tricia was hired on at Kaysville Junior High. Here they added their youngest son, Bode to their family.

When Bode was about a year old, their bishop came to visit them. He wanted to know why they had never married in the temple. He said they paid tithing and held temple recommends so he wanted to know what the hold up was. They explained they were waiting for family members to be there with them. He told them he felt it was time. Ryan then called his mom up and told her they were going to be sealed. She had always hoped Ryan's dad would get active but she could see he wasn't so she got herself ready and went through the temple. It was a beautiful day with their 3 sons kneeling around the alter and Tricia says it was worth the wait to be able to have some of Ryan's family there with them. »

Tricia said if she were giving her younger self advice it would be to follow your passions. Don't let others talk you out of what you want to do. » Advice she'd give to others is, « Let your kids be who they are. Each kids is very different. Sometimes we have preconceived ideas of who they should be or that they should be like another child. But life is much better when we embrace who they are and enjoy each of them as individuals for what they have to offer. Let them beat to their own drum. »

Tricia is very accepting of others and easy to talk to. She brings great experience to our ward and we are lucky to have her. I hope you all get the chance to get to know her.

Meet Kristina Tolman

I was born in Oregon, but only lived there for a couple of years. I lived in Idaho moving around every three or so years until my sophomore year.

While living in Burley Idaho, my parents married creating a large step family of 9. We moved to a little farming community outside Burley called View.  Two weeks after moving in, my oldest brother (16) died in a car accident.  There was a family by the name of Tolman who lived in the area that had a son (16) die in a car accident a few years before. They were a great comfort to our family.  Bobby Tolman was one of their sons. He was a couple years older than me so we didn't run in the same circles. But right before my family was to move to Wisconsin there was a combined YM/YW activity at our house. Bobby ended up staying after it was over and the two of us started playing Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo. We played until 3AM, not once did we talk to each other, except to say, "Man, this level is hard." When Bobby realized what time it was, he left. That was the extent of our association of our association.

Our family then moved to Wisconsin and that's where I graduated. Changing schools my Sophomore year was difficult. It was a small high school and the kids were established in their groups. The popular group of girls took an instant disliking to me because I had made the starting team for volleyball and one of their friends didn't make the team. I would often get tripped in the hallway, find nasty names on my locker and have basketballs thrown at my head. It was at this point that I had to decide who I was and what I believed. I decided I wasn't going to let these girls determine my future so I became involved in everything I possibly could.

One of the things I was involved in was the musicals. My Senior year I played Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady. »  I have so many great memories from rehearsals. We all became family and cried when the show was over because we wouldn't get to spend that time together anymore. I was also captain of the volleyball team. We won second in regionals my Senior year. It was a great experience. I was also chosen to represent Wisconsin in a volleyball game against girls from Illinois, called Battle of the State Line.

One of my fondest memories came when I was called down to the office my Senior year and told I couldn't graduate because I was missing a PE credit from back when I had transferred. I was a straight A student, took all the hardest classes and was involved in everything. I was so upset that they hadn't told me this before. I went back to class and got some teasing about what I was in trouble for. When I told the class that they weren't going to let me graduate the whole class got upset and said that if they didn't let me graduate they were going to boycott graduation. I remembered back to when I wasn't accepted at first and couldn't believe that these students were now standing up for me. It was awesome. Almost like a back to school afternoon special. For those of you who remember those. Hahaha. I ended up graduating with my class.

I attended BYU the next Fall. I had to work all through my High school years and then worked two full-time jobs during the summers to try to earn money for college. My parents kept trying to tell me that I should just take a year off and earn more money, but I felt very strongly that I needed to attend BYU, in fact it was the only college I applied to. As time was getting closer to head to Utah, I didn't have quite enough to go, but my ward pulled together and collected what they could. It was just enough to get me through my first year. So off I went.

My second year I was invited to sing with a group from Wisconsin and tour Europe. It had been a dream of mine to see Europe. The problem was I couldn't afford college, my apartment and save money for the trip at the same time. My plan was to go back home, work for a semester and then go to Europe that summer. Since I was leaving, I went and talked to my bishop so he could release me from my calling. We talked about my plans and he asked me, "Have you prayed about that?" I was like, " No. It just seemed like the logical option." He said "Pray about it". Right as he said that, though, I knew I wasn't supposed to go back to Wisconsin.

I knew I needed a new plan since I didnt' have money to stay anywhere. I looked up my former sixth grade teacher from when I lived in Idaho (we had become friends and remained in touch) and asked if I could live with her. She said yes. I had been working at Hardee's right off campus as a manager since going to BYU. But I worked third shift. 10PM-6AM. That January we had hired a new employee straight back from his mission to Japan.  I was a huge flirt. So I was excited to meet the new guys. The morning he started working there, I went up to say hi and....I knew him! He had been my neighbor for four years, back when I lived in Idaho. So I said, "Bobby Tolman??" He replied, "My name is Robert."

From our first experience (My name is Robert)which didn't seem very promising, he transferred to working third shift where we had lots of free time to talk while washing dishes and making biscuits.  I finally asked him if he wanted to come over for Sunday dinner at my old apartment with a group of people. (He would hang out when he was off work, "checking the schedule" for an hour, so I threw him a bone) He came over, but I started chatting with my best friend and we went back to her room and talked for an hour. When I came out, Bobby was still sitting on the couch! I thought for sure he had left. Then he invited me over to his apartment for a group dinner the following Sunday. The Saturday night before that dinner we worked together and ended up talking until 8AM until we had to be at church. It hit me right in that moment that Bobby Tolman was the man I was supposed to marry (I wrote it in my journal) BUT I.didn't.want.to.get.married. ( My mother had been married five times. SO I wore one of my mother's old wedding rings so that I wouldn't get asked. Side note-I still got asked four times)

That Sunday at his apartment, he invited me to go home to Burley with him for his mission report. I knew everyone there and my grandparents lived there so I was like, "sure!"  We had dinner that night and I was really quiet, wondering if he felt the same thing, if he would think I was crazy, how was this going to play out because we had only been on one really bad "date."

So the next weekend we went to Burley. The whole time he's asking me questions like, " What do you think the mother's role in the family should be? What do you think is most important in a successful marriage?" ACK! He was totally testing me!!! I was worried, « What if I fail? »

So after we got to his house and his whole family was very welcoming. We played some games and then he drove me to my grandparents house. They were gone but let me stay there. He came inside and we start talking. He ended up proposing to me, not even planning on it; the Spirit kicked his tail into doing it. We hadn't even held hands so after I said "YES!" I said, "Can I give you a hug now?" I went to Europe for my choir tour, got married two weeks later, and was pregnant with our first a month after that. (Not planned)

From then on the kids just kept coming about every 14-18 months. (Not planned. Birth control wasn't joking when it said 99% effective. We got pregnant on every form... ) After our fourth child, McKenna was born with congenital heart defects, I vowed I was done having kids. She needed multiple heart surgeries and it was terrifying. But I had a dream that I was holding McKenna and there was a beautiful little girl with blue eyes, long blond hair and dimples standing a little ways off. I said, "No. I don't want her. What if something's wrong with her?" So she was whisked off and sent somewhere else. I was horrified! I knew she was supposed to be mine. In my dream I began searching all over the world for her. I finally found her living with this older couple and I had to work very hard to adopt her back into my family. I awoke with a start and said, "Okay, Heavenly Father. I will have more." We got pregnant within the month. We had a beautiful little girl with blond hair, blue eyes and dimples.

Then we had our sixth, Parker, and I felt we were done. Our license plate on our van said "8ISENUF". We then moved to Colorado. One day the Spirit said, "there is a little boy that needs a home and if you are willing, he can come to your family." Who's going to say no to that...
So a month later we were pregnant. Well our license plate said 8ISENUF but now we had 9 people in our family. (Yes. We based our child bearing decisions on a license plate...) so we're like, " we should shoot for one more" but one day the Spirit told me, "there is a little boy and a little girl that need a home." I said back, « Wait. What? TWO more? No. Huh-uh. I can't do two more pregnancies. I'm 30 now. I'm too old. Okay. Look. I'm only doing this pregnancy thing One. More. Time. So if you have any more for me, you better send them all now. » True story. I actually said this...
So why was I so surprised when the doctor told me I was having twins?? But I knew right away it was a boy and a girl and I had already picked out their names. Now our license plate says "BLESTW9".

Jason 19 serving in the Philippines, will attend SVU, wants to be a pediatric heart surgeon, sings, plays piano to woo the girls
Emilyssa (aka Emi) 17 graduating this year, draws beautifully, writes poetry
Bryce 16 has a girlfriend that lives in Georgia, rubic cube genius, very smart
McKenna 15 getting her driver's permit (AHHHH!) had the heart surgeries, writes stories, sassy
Bug (aka Lizzie) 13 almost as tall as me, writes songs and stories, drama queen
Parker 11 cutest dimples you ever did see, plays violin, piano, very smart
Josh 9 love his smile and laugh, loves reading and math, looks just like Bryce
Bella 8 teaches herself gymnastics, plays piano by ear, best little helper around
Ty 8 loves Legos, loves giving hugs and kisses, full of energy and life
I am SO HAPPY birth control is 1% defective!!! I can't even imagine my life without them. My only regret is I didn't have more.
(People in our old ward would play a game on long drives to see who could rattle off our kids names the fastest in the right order. Not even kidding)

When Rob finished up school we had two kids, moved to Minnesota where we lived for 7 years. Then we moved to Colorado because that's as close as I would get to Utah. We lived there for 10 years when the Spirit told us we needed to sell our house. But didn't bother to tell us where we were supposed to move to. We put our house on the market a month later. Rob was traveling to Charlotte, NC for work quite frequently so we thought, maybe we should move to SC so he wouldn't have to travel as much. But the house sat on the market for 18 months....in a hot market. We were confused because we felt very strongly we were supposed to move, obeyed by putting the house on the market right away and then....nothing. In the meantime my oldest was able to graduate and prepare for his mission. As we were dropping him off at the MTC, I felt that we were supposed to move to Utah, not South Carolina. It was funny because I had prayed about it for over a year. But the timing wasn't right, I guess, and I had to get to a place so desperate that I would move ANYWHERE at that point (even Utah) as long as we could pleeeeese just sell our house.

Then there was another problem. Rob couldn't transfer to Utah with his current job and he had been job hunting for YEARS. Nothing was comparable. On the drive back to CO, I told him he could start looking in Utah. Our house went under contract that week. BAM! Then all of a sudden his work created this new position that would allow Rob to work in Utah but stay with the same company. BAM! Prayers answered. Now we're in Kaysville and we love it here. Yes, I said WE.

Rob and I both love to cook. Rob does the canning AND sewing. I am very crafty, love to sing, play the piano, read and play volleyball. (Not as much after I had a lower spinal fusion and knee surgery) I teach all of my kids to play the piano. The most beautiful sound in the world is constant music throughout the house. After celebrating our 20th anniversary in Europe this past summer, I decided to learn a second language. I felt like such a slacker because people in Europe speak two or three! So I'm teaching myself español. I also love, Love, LOVE the scriptures! I didn't always. I struggled reading them and studying them, but now I HAVE to read them everyday, just to feel the peace and power that come from that simple act. I love making the connections from their trials to our day. I love that scriptures will pop into my mind when I need them. I love hearing the Spirit speak to me through them.

As a family we love having people over, playing games and eating. Our dinner table discussions are hilarious and crazy. We try to reign it in in front of other people.

That's a peek into our crazy life!

What a fun gal Kris is. She and her many talents are a wonderful addition to our ward. 

Spotlight ~ Lynda Schaelling

Lynda was born in Provo, Utah and lived in the same house her whole life until she was married.  Lynda is the youngest of 4 children with 2 older brothers and 1 sister. 

         One of Lynda’s favorite childhood family memories was each Sunday, her dad would make homemade ice cream.  She says it was THE BEST, way better than her uncles!

         A memory she will never forget was during her senior year in high school, she was able to attend a semester in Israel with BYU study abroad.  Her dad was one of her instructors, and Lynda and her brother got to go with her parents.   She said that before she went she was not happy to be missing some of her senior year (teenage mentality of not being able to recognize a HUGE opportunity ahead of her).  Lynda said it was a life-changing experience!   It was fascinating to be in a different land and culture and to be where the Savior had been.  She is so grateful she was able to go and experience it with some of her family. 

         After graduating from Timpview High School, Lynda attended BYU. School was a challenge for her.  She attended 2 1/2 years, still not declaring a major.  Lynda worked in the English Department part-time as their Calligraphist (she made signs for them.)  When she got married she worked there as the Steno Pool Supervisor full-time.

Lynda met her husband Greg for the first time when he came to her house for breakfast one Sunday morning. Greg and her were in the same YSA ward for their Stake. One of Lynda’s brothers and Greg, along with some other young men started going to each other's homes for breakfast after their Sunday morning ward council meetings.  

Greg decided to call Lynda on July 3rd, 1983, asking if she would like to go to the fireworks with him. He then finagled his way into coming to their family 4th of July events, so they spent the day together. They dated a lot until January, and then he broke up with her. Greg ended up being in her math class at BYU and she remembers thinking, "I'm going to show him he will want to be with me again."  So she tried to be fun and charming, and win him back!  It worked!  They started dating again around July. 

         In September of 1984, Greg asked her to marry him over dinner at the Homestead Restaurant in Midway, she said yes!  Lynda was 20 years old.  She remembers that same evening Charlene Wells, from Utah, won Miss America. 

         Lynda and Greg were married December 22, 1984 in the Salt Lake Temple. She borrowed her friends wedding dress, and her mom baked their wedding cake. She had teddy bears as the theme with pine trees and sleighs at the reception.  (She says, “as a mother who has done one wedding, I cannot imagine doing it the week of Christmas.  Bless my mother's soul!”   Her mom was amazing!!

         Lynda and Greg lived in Provo and Orem for a few years until Greg graduated from BYU.  Greg graduated and joined the Air Force.  Their first location was Mississippi.  They then moved all over for 23 years (New Mexico, Idaho, Germany, California, Utah, Korea, Colorado, Alaska, England.)  Lynda says there were so many great blessings of moving around every 2-3 years, mixed in with the hardships of moving.  She is grateful for the opportunity to move, she believes it strengthened their family.  She said, “Moving brings change.  Change is hard.  But hard things also help us to grow and become better people.”  

Lynda is blessed with 5 beautiful children.  Cameron Gregory, who died after one week of a hypo-plastic left heart.  Scott Cameron (26), he is artistic in art and music, and is service-minded.  Katrina Elaine (24), has amazing hand-lettering skills, she is positive and friendly and is married to Nate Mosley.  Carly Arlene (22), brings spice to their family, she loves to quote Shakespeare and write poetry. And lastly there is, Jenna Jeanine (20), she is spunky, a juggler and a moviemaker.

         Lynda and Greg moved to Kaysville 7 years ago. She said it feels like they have been here forever after moving around every 2-3 years for two decades.  Lynda thinks Kaysville is a great place!

         Lynda’s family loves to travel, read books, watch movies, go on walks, spend time with cousins, spend a week at Snowbird in the summer, and talk of times when they were young. Lynda’s hobbies and interests include reading, quilting, going to the temple, learning about healthy living, canning, walking, hiking, having lunch with friends, serving, and being with her family.

Lynda’s favorite scripture is Proverbs 3:5-6--"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."  She loves this scripture--if we trust in Him, he will direct us.        

 It was great to learn more about Lynda and her family, she is such a great mom and a great example to all of us.  We are grateful she is in our ward. 

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