Mikelle Ninow

Mikelle and her husband, Chris, live at 696 Mare Dr. Their house is the blue rambler with white trim that faces West. She and her husband have been married for 1 ½ years. They have a darling little boy named Beckett. He has an incredibly sweet nature and smiles most of the time. She is a stay-at-home mom. Her husband does programming for a direct sales company.

Mikelle was raised in Bountiful Utah. She attended , Oak Hills Elementary, Millcreek Jr. High School and Bountiful High. Her mom is her best friend. She has 3 brothers and no sisters. She is the 3^rd child in their family.

Mikelle graduated from Bountiful High in 2003 then headed off to school to Utah Valley University in Orem. She went away to school and loved it. She received her degree in paralegal studies. She was drawn to the legal field because she loved watching law shows like Dateline on TV. Unfortunately, once she got the degree she realized that as a paralegal she would be doing most of the work and have most of the stress dumped on her without the credit or the money an attorney receives.

With this in mind she decided the best course of action would be to continue working for her dad's insurance company. She worked their for about 13 years off and on until the birth of her son. Continuing to work for the insurance company however, proved to be a stroke of inspiration in meeting her husband.

Her family, the Hills, went to a meeting to learn about her future father-in-law's business. While at the meeting her future sister-in-law, Paige, was there to promote her part of the business called Shine Brite which promoted good morals for children using apps. When the Hill's entered the room Paige was in she had the strongest feeling to turn around and look at them and approach them. Mikelle felt very drawn to Paige and began volunteering to help her in her business.

Apparently, her brother Matt also felt very drawn toward Paige, but for a very different reason. After talking Matt and Paige set up a blind date for Mikelle and Chris. This put Mikelle in a very difficult position. She didn't want to go on the date, but refusing would make it awkward to work with Paige, however if the date didn't work out it would be equally awkward to continue working there. She was so mad at Matt. It was the only time she was ever really mad at him, but because of the situation she sucked it up and went on the date hoping for the best, or at least, not the worst.

It worked out great! The started dating in February, were engaged in June, married in August and pregnant in September. For many years Mikelle had dated people where it didn't feel right that when it did, she plunged right in. (Interestingly enough and as a side note. Chris's grandparents immigrated to the US from South Africa. They had joined the church in South Africa and met Mikelle's grandpa who was serving as a missionary there.)

During her years of being single she had the opportunity to travel a lot. She has been to England, Scotland, Mexico, Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Belize, and most of the Caribean. Her favorite place she has visited was Haiti. She also really loved Scotland and England because she loves history and it was wonderful to see so much of it in real life.

Mikelle also loves to read. She enjoys reading on any genre that catches her interest, but she especially loves to read biographies and memoirs of people who have overcome or lived through difficult things. She also loves hanging out with her mom and watching movies.

Mikelle is a very easy person to talk to. She is open and accepting. I hope everyone will enjoy getting to know her as much as I did interviewing her.

Introducing Amy Lee!

Amy was born in Utah, but moved to Phoenix, AZ when she was three. She is the oldest of six children and the only girl. Amy came back to Utah for school, where she studied Conservation Biology at BYU.

Amy met her husband, Mike, through her Phoenix singles ward. On a double date, her friend had asked Mike out and Amy had asked another guy. Throughout the course of the double date though, the pairings had switched and Amy and Mike were spending time together and her friend and the other guy were walking together. Amy and Mike got engaged 6 weeks later!

The Lee's moved to Kaysville last June and they live on Mare Drive, where Kentucky Derby ends. They have been working hard and almost have their basement finished.

Amy and Mike have four children. Regina is the oldest and she is living in Yuma, AZ attending Arizona Western College. Megan is 16, Jared is 13 (14 in a couple weeks!), and Nathan is 11.

Amy loves to hike, read, the idea of gardening, and photography. She ran her own photography business in Phoenix for seven years and specialized in child and family photography.

Funny family vacation factoid, they have been on one family vacation in the last 10 years without extended family!

Introducing Whitnee Murri

Whitnee and her husband moved to our ward from Centerville Utah. Whitnee grew up in Centerville with her parents, 1 sister and 4 step brothers. She attended and graduated from Viewmont high. She played soccer incestantly while attending. Which lended naturally to her going on to the University of Utah and majoring in Exercise and Sports Science.

While attending the U she worked at the UofU  hospital where she met a nice guy who became her boyfriend. He was ok, but things were fizzling. One night while at the boyfriends house, his roommate, Justin, needed a girl substitue for his soccer game. The boyfriend offered to have Whitnee play and she agreed. Whitnee soon then realized the boyfriend wasn't really working out but the roommate was awesome, so she started dating Justin. They ended up marrying 6 months later.

Whitnee loves to play soccer and enjoys running. But she isn't just a pretty soccer face, she also enjoys and is very talented at sewing. In fact, she and a friend currently run a business sewing head bands and wraps. Her extended family also owns the Brooks fabric in Bountiful. 

At present Whitee and Justin are living on Kentucky Derby Dr. Their house is the grey one with the turquoise blue door. They have a beautiful 14 month old son named Cooper. She is working for a doctors office part time in Bountiful and Justin is an accountant. We are so excited to have them in the ward and look forward to getting to know them better. 

Spotlight: Reini Butterfield

Reini lives on Filly Court with her husband, Jared, and their two adorable children, Emmett (3) and Brooklyn (15months). Before moving into the neighborhood two years ago, they lived in the Farmington townhomes near Smiths.

Reini grew up in Holladay and attended Westminster. She met her husband through a mutual friend. They lived a mile apart and never knew it until the night they met!

Reini is a nurse at the University of Utah Hospital. She currently works in Pediatric Dialysis, with kids that are waiting to receive a kidney transplant. Her unit was just relocated to Primary Children's, which means that she won't be working there anymore starting in February. If anyone know of a nursing position, let her know! :)

She loves spending time with her family, traveling, documenting her children's lives, crafting and baking! Before they had children, Reini and Jared took a sailing class in Greece and earned their Skipper's license. They have taken their family and friends sailing, and have created some great memories that way! In June, the Butterfields will be taking their little family (kids included!) to the British Virgin Islands (right off of Puerto Rico) and chartering their own sailboat for the week!

We are so glad to have Reini and her family in our ward and neighborhood!

Spotlight: Kacy Broderick

Kacy grew up in Fruit Heights, behind Cherry Hill.  She was the 3rd of 4 kids - and the only girl in her family.  She attended Davis High School and then Sherman Kendall Hair Academy for about 1.5 years.  Immediately after school, she got a job at Wild Style Salon (on Shephard Lane in Farmington).  14 years later she continues to work for Wild Style (now just a few days a week though).  Her favorite thing to do there is color treatments.

Kacy met her husband Brent when they were both out with friends in Salt Lake.  Afterward Kacy called Brent for her friend's sake because her friend was interested in Brent's friend.  So they double dated a few times.  Eventually their friends stopped dating each other but Kacy and Brent didn't stop! They were engaged 1 1/2 years later and were married in 2005.

After marrying they moved to Foxboro in NSL where they lived until moving into our neighborhood 2 years ago.  They now live right by the Equestrian center at the north-west end of Mare circle.  Brent works as a maintenance supervisor at a company called AMC (apartment management consultants).  They are both very handy and creative and have been busy putting in their yard themselves and doing  other DIY projects around the house.

They have 2 beautiful little girls.  Hadley turns 8 this February and is in 2nd grade. Wesley is 5 and in Kindergarten.  Their family loves to go camping, fishing, and hiking, and generally loves just spending time together.  Kacy also enjoys decorating and crafts (her darling home is evidence of that!).  She loves finding junk (treasures) at flea markets and elsewhere.  Kacy also loves to read.

This family is a great addition to our neighborhood and 

we want to wish Kacy a HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week!!!

Spotlight Katrina Cammack

Katrina grew up in Seattle, WA and is the 2nd of 5 children. Highlights of her life before college include lots of hiking and camping, living next to a zoo, being home-schooled, and traveling to Italy with her choir.

At BYU, Katrina majored in Political Science and met her husband, Devin. He had just moved into her ward and they had hung out in groups when a mutual friend asked them to go along on his blind date to lessen the potential awkwardness. Katrina didn't realize it was a date (their first date) until Devin tried to hold her hand several times during the movie. Things snowballed though and they were married 5 months later.

After college, they moved to Las Vegas, NV for a year before moving to Salt Lake for Devin's job. They built and moved into this neighborhood almost 2 years ago. They live on Thoroughbred, just a couple houses south of the church.

Before starting a family, Katrina worked for several years on political campaigns: local, state, and presidential. While she loved the excitement and fast pace of campaign life, Katrina is happy to be a stay at home mom to her 14 month old daughter, Cassidy.

In her free time, Katrina likes to cook, read, knit, and plan projects for her handy husband.

Spotlight Lori Thomas

Lori Thomas

Lori is the oldest child of 4 siblings. They lived in Kearns Utah when she was born. Later they moved to Sandy and then to Centerville. While in Centerville her parents divorced and from then on, her mother and siblings moved all over Southern Davis County, finally ending up in Kaysville where she lived while attending Davis High School. When she was 21, her mother remarried a pretty fabulous guy and his 2 daughters joined their family.

After graduating from Davis High School she attended what was then Ricks College. After graduating, she came home and started working to save money for her mission. During that time she was set up on a blind date with her husband. She secretly (or not so secretly) wanted to be set up with the guy her friend had been set up with. But Clint called her again and the other guy didn't, for which she is eternally grateful for. It only took 1 more date for her to see how awesome he is. They dated for three months before Lori served her mission in Nagoya Japan. He was still around when she came home so 3 ½ months later, they were married.

After marriage she finished her degree in Elementary Education and went on to teach school for 6 years while they tried to get pregnant and have children. She taught 5^th and 6^th grade. It was a very good experience and a great training ground for having children on their own. Clint finished his plumbing licence and school and was a licensed plumber running his own business until he retired from plumbing in 2012. Now they do property management.

After much struggle, fasting, prayer, and after 8 years of marriage they were blessed to adopt a sweet baby boy who them brought home on Thanksgiving Day. Lori was able to quit teaching and then 2 other children followed, all of them adopted. Now, after many years, Lori feels so grateful to have never born children of her own. She has 3 open adoption (meaning they have contact witht he birth parents). She has found she has many quality and talents that were best used working with these sweet birthmothers. 2 of her birthmothers have met with the missionaries and all of them have been blessed with happier and less dramatic lives because of their choices to place their babies. She loves her birthmoms almost as much as her babies and is eternally indebted to them.

Lori and her family moved here in July in 2013 from a different home by Barnes Park in Kaysville. She loves this ward and feels like it has been such a blessing to their family. The people here have been so accepting and willing to appreciate the difference in families here. She loves that their is more diversity in this ward. It helps to make a more loving and less judgmental neighborhood. The Thomas family lives on the corner of Thoroughbred Dr. And Mare Dr. In the summer they have a pretty waterfall that runs down their front yard (just in cast you need to find their house),

We are so glad to have them in our ward.