Brooke Barker

 

Brooke was born and raised in Bountiful Utah. First living on the East side and then moving over to West Bountiful when she was 8. She attended Washington Elementary, West Bountiful Elementary, Bountiful Jr. High and Bountiful High School. Brooke always kept herself busy developing herself or working from the time she was very young. She was either involved in activities, studying for school or helping her mom with her 4 younger siblings. This love of work and self development as well as the need to be busy are personality traits she still carries until this day and have served her well.

 

When she was 6 years old Brooke began playing the piano. Her mother taught piano and it was an expectation in their family. However, Brooke truly enjoyed playing. She loved the beautiful music and the spirit it brought. She also loves the discipline and dedication that came from practicing and sticking with something. By the time she was 15 years old, she was able to teach lessons to the neighborhood kids.

 

At about 8 years old, Brooke also began playing soccer. It didn't take long until she was playing competitively. She loved being active. She played soccer until her Junior year of high school when she injured her MCL. After that, her leg was never quite the same and her soccer days were over.

 

This however propelled her into a new interest and hobby, musical theater. She took basic dance lessons from the time she was 3-10 years old. She also was singing in some of the school choirs. At that time when you auditioned for choir, you could also check mark a box indicating you were interested in auditions for the school musicals. So Brooke indicated her interest and ended up performing in 4-5 musicals during her Junior and Senior year of high school. She really loved this opportunity and especially the dancing. It kept her active and moving now that she was out of soccer.

 

But these weren't the only thing Brooke did during high school. She also got her first job at 14 working for Carmack's doughnut shop. After she was 16, she started working as a waitress for the El Matador restaurant. In addition to work and her activities, Brooke also enrolled in a few AP classes, just to have classes with her friends. She did graduate with college credits but she never really used them. The only one of the AP classes she really loved was AP Music.

 

The week after graduating from high school Brooke enrolled in the Salt Lake Community College hair school where she was trained as a licensed cosmetologist. While she attended hair school, she did take a couple business courses to help her be more successful with her cosmetology business. She picked up her licence and still does hair in her home today.

 

While attending hair school Brooke kept her job at El Matador but was becoming very disenchanted with it. The other women who had worked there were older and they always were able to get more tables and make more money than her. She wanted to be somewhere that she could increase her cash flow. Some of the girls at hair school told her that Discover Card was hiring in their call center and the money was good. So Brooke quit her job and went to work for Discover working in the collections department. Not only could she make her weekly wage, but bonus and commissions were included.

 

Another person working in a supervisory role in a different department was a 27 year old man named Andy Barker. A few people had tried to get Andy to take Brooke out. Andy thought Brooke was cute but didn't like everyone pressuring him, partially because she was almost 9 years younger than him, so he took his own sweet time getting around to it. Finally he asked her out and Brooke liked him right away. She found out on their second date that they had an age difference. She didn't quite know what to think about that, but she did like him and since Brooke had always gotten along better with people older than her, it seemed to work just fine. In fact, on their first date, a line from her patriarchal blessing went through her mind about the type of person she would marry. He seemed to be fitting the bill.

 

Their first date was in July of 2005 and Andy asked her to marry him in December of that year. Brooke was still living in Bountiful however, and Andy was living in Pleasant Grove. With their schedules it just wasn't possible to see each other every day. So in order to get to know each other better and have time to plan the wedding they had a 9 month engagement and were married in September of 2006. Actually September has turned out to be quite a significant month for them in their marriage with all 3 of their children Due or conceived in that month. Many other important dates have fallen in September for Andy and Brooke. 

 

After being married they first tried living in an apartment complex in Sandy close to their work, but they didn't like having people living on all sides of them, so they moved to a duplex in the Glendale Rose Park area of Salt Lake – that's right the drive by shooting zone! They liked it and lived their until Brooke was pregnant with their first child, but they could see the type of neighborhood was not where they wanted to bring a baby home. Also, Andy had gotten a new job and Brooke was planning to quit so they moved up to Davis County buying a town house in Layton.

 

After Kaden, their first child was born, Brooke resumed teaching piano and doing hair. They wanted to add more children to their family but it just wasn't happening. Brooke has severe endometriosis and after 5 miscarriages and multiple infertility trials they put their papers in with LDS Family Services to adopt. They were picked right away by a girl who was due in 2 weeks and then Brooke found out she was pregnant again.

 

They were unsure of what to do. They didn't know if they should trust that Brooke would keep this pregnancy or not. They fasted and prayed and came to the decision to not press forward with the adoption. It was hard but they wanted to be sure another family who had no prospect of having their own biological baby could have a child. The pregnancy stuck and 9 months later they welcomed a beautiful little girl into their home named Hallie. After this instead of going right back on birth control to control the endometriosis, they kept the pipes opens and shortly they found themselves pregnant with another little girl. Within 3 years they went from 1 kid to 3! It was quite a shock to their systems. Lucky for them Andy has a lot of flexibility in his schedule and is able to be their to help with the children when Brooke is working from home. 

 

After living in their Layton Townhome for 6 years the Barkers decided it was time for a change. They were ready for a little more room for their growing family. So even though they had many friends they loved, they put money down and started building their current home. In September of 2011 the moved into their home, finding out they were pregnant the same week- 9 months later in May she gave birth to Maycee. Later in that same year there were complications with an infection from her gall bladder. It was a scary and prayerful time for their family. How grateful the Barker's are for the support and help the ward gave them during this time.

 

Brooke says she loves living in this neighborhood and especially loves teaching piano to the neighborhood kids. She says she feels almost called to do it. She also still enjoys keeping herself busy with her craft of doing hair. She loves the social outlet it gives her and the chance she has to stay connected to her friends in her past by doing their hair. She also completely enjoys her calling in the Primary Presidency.

 

I found Brooke to be an extremely easy person to talk to and a great listener. I found myself doing way more talking than an interviewer should do because it was so easy to talk and be myself around her. I hope you will all have the opportunity to get to know her!

Karen Jensen

 

Karen spent her childhood in West Valley Utah. She says she had an awesome childhood. She was the middle of 5 children. She remembers spending her growing up years playing outside, learning piano, and having fun. Her parents were very frugal and managed their money very well. This allowed them to take their children for 4 weeks of every summer to Karen's grandparent's cabin in Island Park Idaho. Karen loved going there and has very warm memories of the time they spent there.

When Karen was 13 years old her parents decided that things were changing in West Valley. It was the early 90's and gangs were becoming a problem in their neighborhood so they moved their family to the South side of Kaysville. From here Karen went on to attend Farmington Jr High and Davis High School.

During her teenage years Karen enjoyed flute lessons and played in school bands, usually sitting at first chair. She also cared a lot about doing well in school. This kept her very busy between lessons, band, her AP classes, her social life and  working at Lagoon in the summer. She also made some great friends in high school who are still her friends today.

At her parent’s urging, she started working at Lagoon when she was 15. One of the boys operating rides in her area with her was named Adam Jensen. She even wrote in her journal about him. She thought he was the nicest, funniest and happiest guy.  Through the years, he became friends with her group of friends and periodically they would all hang out together.

Karen is an introvert by nature, yet craves and enjoys social experiences. While Karen didn’t love all the aspects of working at Lagoon, it was good for her as she learned to lead and deal with difficult situations, especially as she became a supervisor.  She also was able to put enough money away that with her scholarship, she was able to pay completely for her college education.

After graduating from high school, Karen received a schlorship to Ricks College. She began Ricks majoring in Pre-Law and minoring in English. She loved the way her major allowed her the avenue to write, debate, and discuss things that mattered to her.  Writing became a joy and an outlet for her. She had great fun learning and attending classes. Karen loves learning and if she could go to school the rest of her life she would be in Heaven.

With all of her AP credits, she was abld to rack up all the credits she needed to eliminate one year of college. This was a bit of a double edged sword for Karen. While it was a great accomplishment, she loved Ricks so much she was sad to leave. Again she made great life-long friends there. She said she and her roommates did the goofiest small country town things like riding around in the potato fields and going out star gazing at night for her astronomy class. She also loved attending school concerts and events.

After finishing at Ricks Karen returned home and began classes at Weber, now majoring in English.  She ran into Adam at a mutual friend’s mission farewell.  A few days later Adam showed up at Karen's house wanting to know if she would like to  hang out as mutual friends. So over the course of the next year, they would spend time having fun together. Karen says this was a great time in her life. She really got to know Adam as a friend without any romantic inclinations involved. She continued to learn about him and was able to see so many great qualities he possessed. She also came to realize she would be very sad if he wasn’t in her life. She loved how she was able to completely be herself when she was around him.  She also loved how he fit in with her family so easily.

Over time and little by little Karen started to feel more than just friendship for Adam. He was returning the feelings but was still very nervous and a little hesistant about taking it to the next level. Eventually though he took the step and held her hand. About 2 months after that they were engaged and married 3 months later.

They both continued to attend Weber. Into her second semester of school after marrying Karen became pregnant with their first child, Emma. It was a tough pregnancy and she had to finish the semester on bed rest, doing all of her course work at home. After the baby was born her entire focus turned to her. She decided to take time off of school in order to give Emma (and her subsequent babies) all the attention she could. She is excited to go back to school soon and finish up her major.  Or many majors, as she loves so many different things and wants to learn about so much.

After being married three years, the Jensens had their second child Ashley followed by their third child, Gabe.  Adam was working full-time at Fidelity Investments and going to school part time while Karen continued caring for their children. While attending a gymnastics class their daughter Ashley was in, Ashley did a somersault with her teacher and as she completed it, Ashley collapsed and couldn't move her legs. Karen rushed to her side and picked her up only to have Ashley scream out in pain. She continued to scream for 2 hours saying her legs buzzed. Eventually the strange episode went away and the doctor thought it was just a fluke (she seemed just fine by then).

However, the incident repeated itself a month later. Their pediatrician then sent them to a nuerologist. The nuerologist subsequently thought Ashley was just fine but just to be sure set up an MRI for a few months down the road. After the MRI was completed, the nuerologist called them back (on Gabe's birthday) to tell them something wasn't right, that there was massive fluid on the spinal cord, and she thought it might be cancer. She recommended they see a nuerosurgeon ASAP.  It was a hard day for Karen as she tried to put on a brave face for Gabe’s birthday. Her family made Gabe’s birthday fun and kept encouraging Karen that there was a possibiltiy it wasn't cancer and was treatable. This was when Karen was pregnant with their fourth child, and they had moved into this neighborhood 1 month earlier.

The next week they found out it wasn't cancer but a birth defect where there was a hole in Ashley's spinal cord and the brain stem was getting sucked into the the spinal cord. The surgeons were surprised Ashley could even walk, and without corrective surgery it would cause permanent damage. But it was good news, the problem could be fixed.

The surgery and healing were extremely difficult, and Karen was 9 months pregnant in a very difficult pregnancy. Ashley’s healing took years, followed by a few more surgeries and a final surgery where they repeated the first surgery and installed a shunt to remove the water from Ashley's spinal cord. As this was going on, Jane, the new baby, was having issues with eating and fussing all the time.

Karen says it was the most difficult time in her life.  She was worried how she could make it through while not really knowing anyone around her in her new home to support her.  She however also says it was ultimately one of the most beautiful times in her life. To grow and come closer to Christ and to watch the goodness in people of this ward. Often strangers, they came forward and picked up the pieces. The Jensens now know that Jane suffers from the same physical aliment as Ashley and will probably be having her surgery at the end of the school year. They also know their other two children are free and clear.

Karen says she loves living here and hopes they live here forever. She is still touched deeply by the kindness extended to their family by the people living here.

I hope that each one of you will have the opportunity to get to know Karen. She is one of the most positive people I have ever met. She is happy and upbeat. After being around her you will feel that you are a great person because of the generous comments she makes toward each person she is around. We are so lucky to have Karen in our ward and wish her and her family the very best as they prepare for the coming surgery for their little Jane.

Meet Amy McReynolds

Amy grew up, and lived in Bountiful all her life.  She is the 8th of 10 children.  Because of this, Amy was raised to be a hard worker and independent.  She was responsible to buy her own clothes and pay for her own activities throughout High School.  Her favorite job in high school was being the clerk at a dry cleaners because it wasn't very busy so allowed her time to get homework done.  She was very driven in school and took enough AP classes that she was able to get her bachelor's degree in just 3 years.

Amy has a strong love of music.  She begged her mom to let her start piano lessons when she was just 6 years old.  She continued to play until she went away to college.  She also enjoyed taking singing lessons and was involved in the school choirs.

When Amy was in High School, her YW leader hired Amy to tutor her 2 sons on their Jr. High math homework.  Amy's school counselors kept telling her she should work toward a math related career and through tutoring she was able to see that she really enjoyed teaching Math. When deciding what college to attend she knew that she would be responsible to pay for it, so she was driven to get a scholarship.  Thankfully her High School Math teacher let her know about a great scholarship for women majoring in Math or Science education.  Unfortunately the scholarship was only good for Utah "colleges" and since BYU was a "university", the scholarship could not be used there.  Amy's Dad knew her real desire was to go to BYU, so he let her know they would do all they could financially to help her to go there if that was what she desired.  After much prayer and fasting, Amy received a letter informing her that effective immediately, the teaching scholarship would now be available to use at BYU!  It wouldn't cover the full cost of tuition, but Amy received an additional small scholarship to BYU that covered the balance.  It was an answer to prayer!  She loved her time at BYU and roomed with the same girls the whole time she was there.  They are still best friends and get together often.

After a couple years at BYU, Amy felt a desire to serve a mission.  She moved home to get a job to earn some money for the summer before she would leave on her 21st birthday in October.  Even though she was very driven, she was unable to find a job.  She had never experienced anything like it, it was as if the Lord was shutting doors instead of opening the way for her to go.  Her Bishop even let her know that he didn't think it was the right thing for her to do.  So after weeks of frustration, she finally moved back down to school and enrolled in some summer classes.  A few weeks later she met Matt and they began dating.  When home one weekend from school her Bishop came up to her after sacrament meeting and said, "you've met someone, haven't you!".  He told her that he felt the spirit confirm to him that Amy was happy and doing what she should be!  Seven months later Matt and Amy were engaged, and married 2 months after that.  She hopes to still serve that mission one day, and is happy to be able to do it with a companion she loves!

Amy graduated from BYU just before their wedding so was able to begin her career while Matt finished his schooling at the U.  Amy taught math at East High School for 3 years.  During her last year of teaching, Amy got pregnant with their first son (Jackson), Matt graduated and got a job working for KPMG, and they bought a home in Farmington.  With just one child, Amy was able to tutor math out of her home for a few years.  Once they added their second son, Amy stopped tutoring and has been busy teaching her own children since!

Amy and Matt have 4 boys and have lived in the ward now for 5 years.  They love spending time together as a family.  They enjoy snow skiing together, boating in the summer, and most recently they started camping and dirt biking.   Amy also loves decorating, cooking, and reading books.  When she first moved into her home, she enjoyed writing a blog to share her decorating adventures in their new house (although she doesn't have time for that anymore!).  She said "virtual tours" are a great way for people to come see your house and it always looks clean!  

She never expected to love being a RS president- but recognizes it has been one of the greatest blessings in her life!  Her love for the women of this ward has grown leaps and bounds as she has gotten to visit with them, mourn with them, pray for them, and serve them.

Melissa Newman

 

Melissa Newman was raised in West Jordan Utah and lived in the same house from the time she was 18 months until she left home. In fact, her parents still live there. She loved it. Many of her friends also stayed there from the time they were little so she was able to grow up with a great association of people who knew and supported her.

While she was growing up, she spent most of her time playing. She did learn to play the piano along with her 4 other siblings, but she says she was never very good at it. She also spent a couple years in the high school color guard which she thought was very fun. Mostly though she worked on her grades and figuring out what she wanted to be when she grew up.

During her Junior year of high school she heard of an opportunity to leave high school and attend the Jordan Tech Center. Here she could get her nursing assistance license. She knew she wanted to be a doctor so she jumped at the chance. What she found was that she didn't really like changing bed pans. She also questioned the amount of schooling she would need to put in to become a doctor and decided that probably was not the right path for her. So she returned to school for her Senior year.

She ended up taking a Human Biology class. While there, she heard about an opportunity to become a surgical technician. She got excited and felt this could be a good fit for her personality. She would assist the doctors during the surgery. It would be in the medical field without having to deal with patient issues. She didn’t mind the blood and guts and enjoyed learning about the human body. So she began the program. After two years she had her surgical technician's license along with her associated degree. She loved and worked at Cottonwood Hospital until she graduated from college 6 years later.

Melissa wanted to continue schooling and get her bachelor's degree.  At that time she was still attending her home ward and thoroughly enjoying teaching Primary. One day while lying in bed thinking it dawned on her that she should do something with children. So she enrolled at the U of U in their Human Development program.

From here it almost seemed that to teach younger children would be the natural progression for her. After 5 years of school and with a Human Studies degree under her belt she spent 1 more year getting her teaching certificate in early childhood education. This allowed her able to teach kindergarten through 3rd grade. She said one of the most fun things that happened while getting her degree was doing her student teaching during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. The teacher she was working with was volunteering for the Olympics so she left Melissa alone with the class a few times and Melissa gained valuable experience.

After graduating, Melissa landed her first teaching job in Tooele Utah of all places. She didn't want to commute each day from West Jordan so she moved into an apartment in Magna. That was her first experience living away from home. She said it was a great experience where she learned a lot about herself. She attended a singles ward without knowing anyone and she really started listening to the Sunday School lessons without the distractions from friends. Her testimony grew by leaps and bounds and she became more firm in her commitment to the gospel

After a year in Magna she decided she needed a change. So she bravely built a townhouse in Sandy. She had 2 girlfriends that were going to move in with her, but both girls bailed on her right after she closed on the home. Her younger sister decided it was time for her to move out of mom and dad’s and moved in with her.  Melissa’s sister was an answer to her prayers.  

She was still commuting to Tooele.  She was enjoying great success as a teacher and lost some weight. She was feeling good about herself and decided she would really start putting herself out there for meeting someone to date. She joined LDSsingles.com at the age of 26.

It just so happened that another 26 year old was on the site, Scott Newman, and looking for a reason to get leave the site. He was tired of dating and meeting weird people. He came across Melissa's page and made the comment, " Looking good at 26. " It made her smile. They talked on the phone a couple of times and then went out. After that they were together every day. In fact, after they had known each other 10 days Melissa's mother made the comment  "You're going to marry him aren't you?" and Melissa said,  "Yes, I am." They met in February and were married the following July.

Five days before they were married, Melissa took a new job at a year-round school in West Jordan. Scott was doing an internship in Orem but it never turned into a real job. He found one in Ogden. The long commute in opposite directions wasn't working so they started looking for a place to live a little more central between Ogden and West Jordan. They came upon a new community of starter homes in Kaysville by the Angel Street Park. They built a new home and moved in.

Melissa didn’t want a long commute to West Jordan and started the job search again and found her dream job. She began teaching in a gifted and talented program at Whittier Elementary in Salt Lake City. She taught there for two years.  At the start of her second year she had a baby, Ethan.  It was hard on her to leave him everyday. Melissa had the desire to stay home with Ethan and Scott had an opportunity to start a new job.  So Scott and Melissa quit their jobs.  Luckily, she just so happened to become acquainted with a family who wanted to homeschool their children and hired Melissa as their teacher to teach them. Melissa was able to take Ethan with her to work.  A job Melissa was able to do for 2 years.  

Scott’s new job was a traveling job which supported them, but he was gone a lot and she became like a single mom. She was ok with it though, because it allowed her to stay home with the kids. It did, however, provide them with opportunities to travel together and with their kids because of all the sky miles Scott racked up.  During this time Emma joined the family.

After living that way for nearly four years however, Melissa realized she had become depressed and needed help at home. So Scott found a job writing curriculum for Juniper Networks.  He went from being gone all the time to working at home. Melissa says she is so grateful during that time to have had a wonderful visiting teacher who made it a point to be her friend. She said she wouldn't have made it through without her.

After 8 years of living in their starter home, they had added another child, Erin to their family and they were bursting at the seams. They needed a bigger home. Melissa also had a feeling that another child was waiting to come to their family, so they needed something different. They had been through the Symphony home model in this neighborhood but felt it was a bit overpriced.

Then one day Scott stopped into the Woodside model home and he knew immediately that Melissa would love it. It was everything they were looking for in a home. So they put their money down and again built a home. This gave them the space to add one more child, Edie, to their family.

Melissa says she loves our neighborhood and feels more at home here than she did after 8 years in her previous one. She loves how so many people here are in the same station of life as she is and that there are so many friends for her kids to play with. She also loves how everyone tries to be friendly and instead of one friend to count on, she has many people who she can go to when she needs help.

She also loves her calling, counselor in the Relief Society presidency. She says being in Relief Society has built her testimony and that the 3rd hour of church is her favorite. She is grateful for how being in this calling has made her reach out and get to know people instead of her being shy and keeping to herself. She says it has also helped her be a better person and not as critical.

How lucky we are to have Melissa in our ward. She is a very loving person and a worker. She genuinely wants to help others. We're glad she has her calling too and we've been able to get to know her better!

Kelli Smith

Kelli was born and raised on a farm in Filer, Idaho. Filer is located near Twin Falls in Southern Idaho. Her Dad was Catholic and her mom was Mormon but only in name. She was baptized into the church but attended so infrequently that when they did, everyone would always ask if they were visitors. She is the youngest of 3 children.

 

Kelli said she loved growing up on a farm. She learned to work and work hard. She could do anything her brother (who was 11 months older than her) could do. When she was very small she was hauling bales of hay, picking rocks and even driving a tractor. In fact she was 5 years old the first time she ever drove a tractor. Her dad showed her how to drive straight and left her to do it while he burnt ditch behind her. He, however, forgot it was his 5 year old driving and lucky for Kelli she had the presence of mind to turn the tractor or she would've ended up in the ditch. This experience, she says, is not necessarily uncommon though when you're raised on a farm.

During her growing up years Kelli didn't have a lot of time for social life. In addition to working she did rodeo, and played basketball and volleyball. When she did « play » it was with her brother. They would ride their horses out on their acreage and let their imaginations run wild. Being so close in age, they were even in the same grade so all the way through high school they were best friends.

When Kelli was in high school, she started attending seminary. It was here that she gained a testimony of the gospel. She also had a devout friend who would invite her over. Kelli loved the way it felt in their home and knew someday she wanted to have that for herself. She says even though she still wasn't super great about attending church, she felt that nagging in the back of her mind that she should be there. Over time she became more and more active as her testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints grew.

After high school, Kelli got a scholarship for volleyball to College of Southern Idaho. She started off as a pre-med major, but after taking and excelling in a couple of Math classes, her professor recommended she consider a career in engineering. He explained that companies were looking more and more for women engineers and that it could really open up some options for her. So after careful consideration and study she decided she would pursue a career in metallurgical engineering (the engineering of metals).

After graduating with her associates degree, Kelli decided the best place for her to attend was South Dakota Tech. They excelled in their engineering department. They also offered her 3 scholarships, one for volleyball, one for basketball and one for engineering. With her three scholarships Kelli was able to completely pay for her schooling. She was able to graduate completely debt free.

While attending SDT, Kelli's grandma who lived in Burley, Idaho told her about their home teacher(Travis Smith) who would soon also be attending SDT. She told Kelli that she was going to marry him. She also asked Travis to look Kelli up once he got there so he did. They met and became friends running in the same group of friends. It was a good thing because once again Kelli was so busy she really didn't have time for a social life. The whole time they attended school they didn't date. Unfortunately it didn't stop Kelli's grandmother from telling Travis that he was going to marry Kelli.

After graduating from SDT, Kelli accepted a job in Beaumont, Texas just Northeast of Houston. Kelli was working for a Steel Mill and doing consulting. She would move to the city and state she was consulting for. During the 4 years she worked for the company, she moved 4 times. She lived in Kansas City Kansas, Morton Illinois, Knoxville Tennessee and finally settled in Atlanta, Georgia.

While living in Atlanta, she ran into a friend from college who had recently seen Travis. The friend told her she should give Travis a call, so she did. Travis was living in Las Vegas and getting ready to move back to Idaho. They started talking every night on the phone. They flew to see each other a few times but they never really dated. In fact, their first official date was at a restaurant where Travis gave her the engagement ring she had picked out. They decided before they ever dated they would be getting married.

With being engaged, Kelli quit consulting and moved back home to Idaho. She and Travis bought a residential cleaning business. (In fact, they signed the final papers for buying the business the day they got married.) They ran it together and found they really enjoyed working together. They had their first son, Parker and he was able to come to work with Kelli. In about 2008 they noticed that across the country all the other cleaning franchises were having their business drop off. At that time, they decided it was a good time to sell their business before the recession hit Idaho. They were able to sell their business for a profit.

From there, Kelli was able to take a job as the district manager for Honeywell where she oversaw operations in the 16 Western states not including California. It was a great job but very demanding of her time. She decided she needed a change when she gave birth to her 2nd son, Hunter. While in the hospital, shortly after giving birth she was on her computer working. She had Hunter on Monday and she was back working on Wednesday. As soon as she hit the 6 week mark she had to start traveling again for business.

Kelli started looking for a better, more family friendly opportunity when she was led to look into opening and owning a Chick-fil-A. After going through an 8 month process, she was able to start up and own the Chick-fil-A in Centerville. Their family moved to Centerville and lived there while they built their current home on Thoroughbred Circle.

Since moving here, Kelli says she loves many things about Kaysville. She loves that this is finally the place they feel that they want to settle down in. She loves that their are so many kids for her boys to play with (their cul-de-sac alone has 23 kids in it ages 18-0). She also loves the ward and that the people seem very down to earth and not judgmental.

What an amazing woman Kelli is. The quality of hard work her early upbringing instilled within her has served her well and provided her with many opportunities. We are so fortunate to have her in our ward.



 

Devi Cooper

Devi was born and raised in Nephi, Utah.  She grew up in humble, and at times 

 challenging circumstances but with her strong will, hard work and determination, Devi is one to be admired.

Devi is the oldest of 3, one brother and a sister.  She was able to play soccer and 

softball, from the many babysitting jobs and money she earned.  Because of her love for animals, Devi collected different kinds of animals and/or rodents,  from a goose to a raccoon!  She caught this raccoon with her bare hands and every time he would escape Devi would  re-catch and put him back into his cage.  Finally one day her raccoon escaped and was gone for good.  

As a young girl, Devi attended and became familiar with the LDS church,  because of her great

 granddad.  She was baptized at 9 and would attend church and church activities  with friends,

 church members and her great granddad.  One year after high school,  Devi was married and started her family.  They moved to Elko, Nevada where Devi worked full time, while raising her young children.  She was always the stable one in that relationship.  They eventually moved back to Utah, which will always feel like home to Devi. 

 In 2010 she  became a single mom of two and worked at Young Buick,  as their financial manager.  There she meet Darek.  After 2 yrs of dating and making sure their two lives and families could fit together, Darek and Devi were married, in 2012.  Together they have 5 children.  Seth-15, Brinlee-13, who live with Devi and Darek full time and Camile-12, Braden-10, Abby-7, which come to stay with them every other weekend.  

Devi enjoys traveling and vacationing with her family, she feels strongly about giving  her children experiences and memories, instead of material gifts hat are easily lost or broken.

Devi loves to stay busy and active.  She enjoys weight training and her daily kickboxing class , at the 

sportsplex.  Devi also really loves physically challenging herself.  She has enjoyed competing in the tough matters and the  sparton events,   which are races with obstacles.  Last year she had so much fun completing in the tough matters event,  which not only has obstacles  but has electricity through out the course, which can be deadly. She has always been a hard worker and has worked.  For years she worked as a loan officer, as a financial manager and now she and Darek are enjoying working as restate agents in Davis county.

If you haven't had a chance to hear Devi, she is one of our relief society  teachers, and is so fun to be a part of her lessons.

Devi is one strong lady and a person that doesn't allow her circumstances determine who she is.   

Anena Tilt

Anena (named after her grandmother who was Welch) was born in Provo and raised in West Valley City. At the time she was growing up, West Valley was the up and coming part of Salt Lake. The homes were brand new and very big for the time's standards. It was very expensive to live there. She attended Cyprus High School and lived at home until she was married at age 20.

During her growing up years Anena kept herself very busy by playing the violin. She started in Elementary school and played all the way through high school. Her favorite part was playing for the high school musicals. She was quite good and was requested to begin playing for the musicals while she was still in 9^th grade. She continued to play violin after graduating for the Utah Youth Symphony for two more years, clear until she was pregnant with her first child.

After graduating from Cyprus, she enrolled in cosmetology school. While doing her training she met a girl who wanted to know why she wasn't dating any boys (Anena says she was a very late bloomer). She couldn't believe Anena had never gone on a date, received flowers from a boy, or even gone to Prom. Anena told her she didn't have time to date, that she was busy working and going to school. This gal decided this was unacceptable and convinced a very nice looking young man named Tom Tilt to send her flowers. Well, he didn't just send flowers, he sent a dozen yellow roses. He asked her out and they went on their first date on the 4^th of July.

Tom was smitten with Anena right from the first. After that date he came over and picked her up right after she was done with school and they would eat dinner together. He would say to her, "You're not going to date any other boys are you?" She replied that she would. He wanted to know why. She said, "Because I don't have a ring on my left finger saying I belong to you." Well, he knew how to fix that, so on July 10^th just 6 days after their first date, he proposed and they became engaged. He had even asked her parents permission. Later her mother told her that she knew the minute Tom picked her up for their first date that he was the one for Anena.

Tom knew Anena wanted to be married in the temple, but Tom had not been active in the church up to that point. He had decided, however, before he met Anena, that he wanted to go back to church. So with the goal in mind of being married in the temple, they were engaged for 13 months. This allowed them time to get things in spiritual order for the rest of their lives together. They gained many experiences and really got to know one another during this time. Although Anena wouldn't recommend to anyone that they have that long of an engagement, they really got to know each other. She was able to see that Tom was a great man of honesty and integrity. She says he truly is her soul mate and they have had a wonderful marriage with each other.

Becoming a cosmetologist was a great blessing in Anena's life. It has allowed her the freedom to work and bring home extra money for their family while providing wiggle room in her schedule to be available for her 4 children and now grandchildren. When her kids were little, she was able to work at home. As they got older she either worked for a salon or booth rented. It gave her flexibility to take weeks off at a time to help her adult children out when they had babies.

For awhile, she and a partner were able to own their own salon. They rented the place and charged booth rental to other cosmetologists. She enjoyed it but two years after beginning the business she fell and tore her shoulder, so she had to give up the business. She says her favorite place she's ever worked is where she works right now. She works at a retirement center in South Jordan. She loves it because she is providing a service to older people who couldn't really afford cosmetology services otherwise. She also enjoys the kindness they give and the more laid back pace.

Throughout their married life Tom and Anena have seen many good things, hard things and miracles happen. One of the hard miracles they have gone through is having their daughter, at the young age of 16, develop Crohn's disease (polys and cysts in the stomach and bowels). For five years they tried to figure out what was wrong it was very draining on them. Finally, a friend of theirs offered to pay for their gas and the first appointment if they would go meet with a homeopathic doctor they knew of in Ogden. So they gave it a shot. When they met the doctor he said to their daughter, "I've been waiting for you to come." He had known she was coming to see him for healing. After working with him, there daughter has a very normal life with 3 beautiful children. She only has minor flare ups now and only once in a while.

Now they are experiencing another blessing, being able to live with their daughter Cynthia Page and their son-in-law, Nathan. During the past year Anena has been dealing with some health problems. Cynthia has been a calming influence while Anena has had to face some very scary situations. She is so grateful for Cynthia and Nate and the warmth and kindness they have extended. Currently, the Tilt's are looking to move back to South Jordan, but they will always have a warm spot in their hearts for the time they have been able to spend living here.

If you get the opportunity to visit with Anena, you will be richly rewarded. She is a very open and peaceful person. I'm so grateful she made time to meet with me.

Tana Bennett

Tana was born and raised in Sunset Utah.  She grew up in a big family of 4

sisters and 2 brothers.  All 4 girls were dropped off at their regular gymnastics 

class and some of them competed, including Tana.  Growing up she loved 

gymnastics, tumbling, dance and cheer leading.  She loved being a cheer leader 

for her  Jr high, high school and even for Dixie State College.

As a 7th grade Tana remembers a certain boy catching her eye.  This boy stood 

out to her as someone important or special, but never had the opportunity to 

meet him.  At a football game, Tana was hiding from a "stalker boy," when a nice

young man asked her what she was doing.  He gladly offered to "hide" her,  himself.

As he was protecting Tana, they enjoyed talking and he invited her and her friends

to join his group, after the game.  This nice young man was the same boy that she 

had a strong impression about years before.  Finally after meeting Ammon, they

became good friends and dated throughout high school.  Tana wrote Ammon on his

mission, while she worked as a nanny and taught gymnastics, putting herself though

college. When Ammon came home, they were engaged within a week, married 

three months later.

Now married 17 years, Tana and Ammon have 5 children.  Baya 15, Asia 12, Brycon 10,

Bradon 8 and Tyina 4.  In the last 17 years, they have moved around a lot within Davis 

and Weber county but this last summer have found a good home on Thoroughbred Court.

  Tana is very passionate about nutrition, health, natural healing and fitness.  While dealing

with Colitis  years ago, thru research and teaching herself, Tana healed herself.  After

many cleanses, a very strict diet and a lot of self discipline, her health got better.  One day 

she hoped to pursue a career with personal healing and assisting others with her knowledge

of natural health, wellness and  natural healing techniques. 

Tana keeps busy with running her children to their different activities, soccer, dance, golf 

and ice skating.  She also works part time as the  director over the kids fitness, at the sports

 plex.  

As a family, they enjoy their yearly summer vacations.  Some favorite trips include 

Disneyland and Bear Lake.  Everyone agrees that the favorite vacation was last summer,

 serving the children, in the orphanage in Mexico.  Something they plan on continuing to do,

 as a family.

Tana teaches Sunday School to the 12 year olds and enjoys teaching.  She strives to stay close

to the spirit and to be guided on the decisions that she makes in her and her families lives.

Cookie Recipes from the General Women's Broadcast

Here is the Link to the Recipes!  If the sisters are wanting to know how we got the giant size cookies that were served, we used a 3 ounce ball of dough or a #12 disher to scoop the dough with.

Holly Tholl

Holly Tholl

Holly was born in American Fork, Utah. She only moved once while she was growing up, the tremendous distance of 100 feet to across the street when she was 3. She was the youngest child of 6 kids. She grew up in a very peaceful and loving home. Her parents were calm and very patient with each other and the children. They are all very close today and all still live in Utah.

While Holly was young, she took violin lessons for a couple of years and piano lessons off and on until she was about 11. She also started ballet lessons at the age of 7. As her teenage years came on, she realized she loved ballet, but to be involved there was really only time for ballet so violin and piano took a back seat.

Holly danced ballet every day. Her teacher told her, “If you miss dancing one day, you see a difference. If you miss dancing 2 days, I see a difference. If you miss dancing 3 days, the audience sees a difference.” So ballet became the focus through the rest of her growing up years. She went on to dance professionally for one year. She was fortunate though, even though she danced many of the hours after school, she had great friends that made sure she was invited and came to any social event the was held after ballet was done. They would meet up with her after football games and made sure she always knew where they were.

While growing up in American Fork there was another member of her ward that would become the focus of her life, Cory Tholl. Cory was just a year younger than Holly but he looked so much younger that she never paid attention to him or even realized he was in the ward. That combined with the fact that Holly rarely made it to mutual due to ballet. One Sunday however, Holly walked into church to look up at the priests blessing the sacrament and saw Cory. She thought, “Who is that?” She noticed he was very cute.

After that it seemed her group of friends would sometimes hang out with his group of friends and they started to get to know each other. They hung out as friends until Holly graduated and went off to live at BYU. Still Holly preferred his company to anyone she was meeting at BYU, so they still saw each other. She would come home or he would come up to campus. Cory, however, was dead set on not having a girlfriend before his mission. She still went along with him though because she really liked him. Finally he must have realized she probably wasn't going to still be around after his mission if he was just a friend. So he relented and they started to date up until he left on his mission to London, England.

Before attending BYU, Holly decided that dancing professionally was not conducive to her long term goals of being a wife and mother, so she stopped dancing. Her dad was a recently retired orthodontist, and she had spent some time working in his office and really liked the environment of a dental office. She decided that she wanted to be a dental hygienist. She would need to complete two years of prerequisites (which she did at BYU) and do exceptional to get into the program at UVU because it was extremely competitive. So that's what she did.

While attending BYU however, she had the amazing experience of doing a summer semester study abroad at the BYU Jerusalem Center in Israel. She said it was such an incredible experience and one she could never duplicate at another time in her life. She lived in the Jerusalem Center on the Mount of Olives. She studied the Old and New Testament and Near Eastern history all day and went on field trips to the different sites. With the studying fresh in her head, the Holy Land opened up and became so real to her. They also studied the 3 different religions in the area, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. They even had instructors from all three faiths teaching them. Holly cherishes this experience as one of the most valuable of her life.

After completing 2 years at BYU, Holly started her first of two years in the dental hygiene program at UVU. When she had one more year to go, she looked back at her BYU transcripts and realized she was only one year away from having a BYU bachelor’s degree in Community Health as well. So she pulled up her boot straps and while staying in the dental hygiene program, re-enrolled at BYU, taking a full course load from both schools (26 credits per semester). During this year, Cory came home from his mission and they were married 4 months later. Cory enrolled at BYU and they overlapped only one semester. Holly’s last was Cory’s first. Cory went on to get an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and two master’s degrees, an MBA and Masters in Mechanical Engineering. Through their years in school, they were able to have summer internships and live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Hillsboro, Oregon.

After Holly graduated, she worked full time for two years as a dental hygienist, went to part time after their first child Isaac was born, and then when their second child London came along they decided it was time for her to stay home. So she quit and has had the great privilege of being a stay-at-home mom ever since.

In 2006 Cory graduated and started working for a product development company in Provo. He worked there for 1 year and then did a year of free-lance on his own. He then took a new job with a company in Ogden. Living in Pleasant Grove created quite a commute for Cory each day, especially since he was teaching a class at BYU to boot. So in 2010, they came to our neighborhood in Kaysville and built their home on Equestrian Parkway to get closer to work. In 2012, Cory was made the president of the company and he recently moved his work location to Centerville.

Holly and Cory now have 5 beautiful children. They love spending time together and Holly especially loves boating and waterskiing. In fact, she loves it so much they planned having their children in the fall because that would give Holly the maximum opportunity to water ski (you probably guessed it, she water-skied while pregnant). They also love hiking and camping.

Her most recent obsession is doing family history work. She became addicted last fall when our ward started its big push to find family names. Now she can't get enough of it and has been very instrumental in helping many in this ward find and take names to the temple.

I asked Holly what's the best advice she would give someone with the things she's learned in life. She says the advice she always gives people is, “Don't take anyone's advice. Do what feels right for you.” She also says she would tell people, “Everybody has something to offer. Getting to know people stops judgment.”

Holly is one of the most approachable people I have ever met. She is happy and I truly believe she cannot be offended. If you haven't had the chance to get to know her, I recommend seeking her out.