Maija Bessey - "A Christmas Story" Revisited
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
February 2010 - Executive Office of Ken Woodward
Dear Family,
Less than 11 months until Christmas and I note that Wendy already has put up her Christmas tree, or maybe she hasn’t taken it down from last year. And if you don’t think my life during the past month has been boring, how come the most reportable experience I have had during the past 30 days was watching the wind blow down 50 feet of my redwood fence. I don’t remember now whether that was before or after the 18 hours we were without heat and electricity.
And to make matters worse, my life-long friend Jim Beatty, formerly of Orem, UT, who last summer become widowed, wrote me a letter from Waikiki where early in January married a local Polynesian widow of substantial substance, and was complaining that the ocean water temperature where he snorkels daily had cooled off to 81 degrees.
I couldn’t even find anything to get after Aaron about because he didn’t submit anything to our Newswire last month. Maybe those three Fridays a month of Governor Swarzenegger’s forced furlough is getting to him. And I’m not expecting much from him this month either. What with the recent heavy rains and mudslides in San Diego, both east and west of I-5, and his surfing time having been substantially limited, he’s got to have been in an ugly mood.
In two weeks Arden school will be observing a forced one-week Presidents’ break. During that time Grandpa Shubin is, as of this writing, planning to take Zachari and Joshua on a plane trip to Hawaii and a cruise around the islands for several days. I can’t say they are very excited about the event. But then I’m not surprised either. Even when I offer to take them to McDonald’s down the street they want me to go alone and bring the food home to them. During their absence, I’ll have time to decide where to plant my three tomato plants this spring. I’m planning for a bumper crop.
When one has little to say, the weather is always a timely subject. Your aunt Clarice wrote to me a few days ago and said that at the time she was writing the temperature outside their house was a minus 4˚F. And Colorado Springs has been nothing to brag about either. It’s during those times I especially love Sacramento.
Love, Dad
February 2010 - Bessey, Ryan & Alexis & Family
Hello wonderful family!
The Bessey's are here and boy did we have a fun month! We start with the end of our Christmas vacation with the Woodwards up in Colorado; we were getting snow in Provo and Colorado, so we went to Colorado because it had the added bonus of family. There we celebrated the New Year by watching fireworks go off on Pikes Peak.... it was pretty far away, and we didn't have the Air Force Academy fireworks which I pretty sure happens on New Year as well as the Fourth of July, but it was so much fun to spend time with our fun family. We then had to return to reality and start yet another semester of school.
Ryan and I are so close to finishing school...I just realized that I don't think I'll know what to do with myself when school is over... I've only known school for the past say 17 years (I'm so used to it)... and even with Maija I always had school, which made me feel like a fake mom. I guess I can't really say I'm a mom yet until I finally turn all of my attention to my little one after I graduate. So I'll be a mom this December, yay. Anyways, classes are REALLY fun this semester, well for me at least. I'm finishing up with the painting section that I have to do for my major, Acrylic, Gouche, and Computer. Yep that's right, I actually draw on the computer, literally, it's really cool. I seem to recollect mom telling me not to color on the furniture, I guess this doesn't count. I can't say as much for poor Ryan. All I can say is that he is busy. He'd get an A for busy. We see each other on Sundays and if we are lucky on Saturdays as well. The rest of the week only Maija sees us both in the same day and not at the same time. I just love my time with her and I am so glad that Dad gets time with her as well. So now we move on to this month's holiday, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
We were invited to go up to Cedar City with Ryan's family and spend the weekend in the mountains. We had SO much fun sleeping in a lodge, snowmobiling, snowboarding (Ryan being pulled behind a snowmobile on his snowboard), and making a snow cave. Ryan even managed to get the snow mobile stuck in the snow and when we tried to pull it out we were stuck in waist deep snow, and I was standing on a tree branch so it could have been deeper. How the heck did he pull that off. We recruited a couple of burly mountain men (muscles, thick staches, and curses to boot) and it took only five of them to lift that thing up and onto the trail.
Maija looked ADORABLE in her snow gear and loved walking around in the snow. Because her jacket is so thick, my attempts to get her into her snow gear is something a kin to that of the mother on a Christmas Story... and yes, Maija then "can't put her arms down." Finally we come to two very important parts in our story. First is that we remembered Grandma on her anniversary of passing on the 22nd, as well as the coming of Maija. We sure do miss Grandma, I'd like to think that Maija had a good time up there with Grandma before Grandma sent her on her way to me. Well we had a Kung Fu Panda party for Maija's first birthday (I can't believe how fast that year went. I miss my baby!!!). Since Maija expressed an affinity for Kung Fu Panda (a Dreamworks film, aided by some BYU students) we had to make sure that we gave special attention to her likes. I wanted to make sure that I would have a really good video of Maija digging into her birthday cake (since I had heard that some children do not like their first cake) and so a few days prior to her birthday I would feed her small amounts of the same kind of cake that I would be giving to her on her birthday, just to test the waters. But when it came time for the video (first she tried to grab the candle, flame and all) she only picked at her cake with two very dainty little fingers. I finally helped her along and smeared a little on her face. The birthday was fun and she was a very good little hostess. I guess we just might do more birthdays. Well that is all, nothing terribly exciting to end our month with. Just looking forward to what you have to say! We love you.
Ryan, Alexis and the Maija Bessey
The Bessey's are here and boy did we have a fun month! We start with the end of our Christmas vacation with the Woodwards up in Colorado; we were getting snow in Provo and Colorado, so we went to Colorado because it had the added bonus of family. There we celebrated the New Year by watching fireworks go off on Pikes Peak.... it was pretty far away, and we didn't have the Air Force Academy fireworks which I pretty sure happens on New Year as well as the Fourth of July, but it was so much fun to spend time with our fun family. We then had to return to reality and start yet another semester of school.
Ryan and I are so close to finishing school...I just realized that I don't think I'll know what to do with myself when school is over... I've only known school for the past say 17 years (I'm so used to it)... and even with Maija I always had school, which made me feel like a fake mom. I guess I can't really say I'm a mom yet until I finally turn all of my attention to my little one after I graduate. So I'll be a mom this December, yay. Anyways, classes are REALLY fun this semester, well for me at least. I'm finishing up with the painting section that I have to do for my major, Acrylic, Gouche, and Computer. Yep that's right, I actually draw on the computer, literally, it's really cool. I seem to recollect mom telling me not to color on the furniture, I guess this doesn't count. I can't say as much for poor Ryan. All I can say is that he is busy. He'd get an A for busy. We see each other on Sundays and if we are lucky on Saturdays as well. The rest of the week only Maija sees us both in the same day and not at the same time. I just love my time with her and I am so glad that Dad gets time with her as well. So now we move on to this month's holiday, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
We were invited to go up to Cedar City with Ryan's family and spend the weekend in the mountains. We had SO much fun sleeping in a lodge, snowmobiling, snowboarding (Ryan being pulled behind a snowmobile on his snowboard), and making a snow cave. Ryan even managed to get the snow mobile stuck in the snow and when we tried to pull it out we were stuck in waist deep snow, and I was standing on a tree branch so it could have been deeper. How the heck did he pull that off. We recruited a couple of burly mountain men (muscles, thick staches, and curses to boot) and it took only five of them to lift that thing up and onto the trail.
Maija looked ADORABLE in her snow gear and loved walking around in the snow. Because her jacket is so thick, my attempts to get her into her snow gear is something a kin to that of the mother on a Christmas Story... and yes, Maija then "can't put her arms down." Finally we come to two very important parts in our story. First is that we remembered Grandma on her anniversary of passing on the 22nd, as well as the coming of Maija. We sure do miss Grandma, I'd like to think that Maija had a good time up there with Grandma before Grandma sent her on her way to me. Well we had a Kung Fu Panda party for Maija's first birthday (I can't believe how fast that year went. I miss my baby!!!). Since Maija expressed an affinity for Kung Fu Panda (a Dreamworks film, aided by some BYU students) we had to make sure that we gave special attention to her likes. I wanted to make sure that I would have a really good video of Maija digging into her birthday cake (since I had heard that some children do not like their first cake) and so a few days prior to her birthday I would feed her small amounts of the same kind of cake that I would be giving to her on her birthday, just to test the waters. But when it came time for the video (first she tried to grab the candle, flame and all) she only picked at her cake with two very dainty little fingers. I finally helped her along and smeared a little on her face. The birthday was fun and she was a very good little hostess. I guess we just might do more birthdays. Well that is all, nothing terribly exciting to end our month with. Just looking forward to what you have to say! We love you.
Ryan, Alexis and the Maija Bessey
February 2010 - Bos, Rick & Kristy
Dear Family,
Sorry I missed the deadline for last month, but our family group here in Utah (Tracy, Craig, Todd, etc.) were in the throws of entertaining the rest of the family, Kelly, Kimber, and children, in a frenzy of family get togethers over the Christmas holiday.
During this last month, things have been busy, but the face of it is just different. Rick's and my life consists of work, kids, Church, Temple and school. I am still teaching two sections for the Education Department and BYU, AND I am taking an Accounting class at UVU with Craig. I spend more time during the week on that one Accounting class than I do on any other single thing. I do get a "Grandchildren fix" periodically, and that is one of the many pleasures of being a grandmother.
I did get to spend about 5 days in Anaheim at the beginning of January for a Trade Show with Rick. The weather was great (in the 70's) but not up to the standard of last year (85 degrees.) However, in Utah the temperatures were hovering around 30, so I am not complaining. It is nice to go back to California every once in awhile to get warm, but spring will be coming soon enough.
Life is good and all is well.
Until next month,
Kristy and Rick
Sorry I missed the deadline for last month, but our family group here in Utah (Tracy, Craig, Todd, etc.) were in the throws of entertaining the rest of the family, Kelly, Kimber, and children, in a frenzy of family get togethers over the Christmas holiday.
During this last month, things have been busy, but the face of it is just different. Rick's and my life consists of work, kids, Church, Temple and school. I am still teaching two sections for the Education Department and BYU, AND I am taking an Accounting class at UVU with Craig. I spend more time during the week on that one Accounting class than I do on any other single thing. I do get a "Grandchildren fix" periodically, and that is one of the many pleasures of being a grandmother.
I did get to spend about 5 days in Anaheim at the beginning of January for a Trade Show with Rick. The weather was great (in the 70's) but not up to the standard of last year (85 degrees.) However, in Utah the temperatures were hovering around 30, so I am not complaining. It is nice to go back to California every once in awhile to get warm, but spring will be coming soon enough.
Life is good and all is well.
Until next month,
Kristy and Rick
February 2010 - McClintock, Robert & Susan
Welcome to the month of Presidents.
Fog, Rain, Wind, and very little sun during January here in Carmichael. Somehow the weeds didn't get the message that winter means hibernation. Some misinformed insect has been encouraging the more radical weed in our landscape to get a jump on spring. I know California has a reputation for malcontents and counter-cultures but we thought that applied to the Homo sapiens variety not the botanical variety.
Uncle Bob was a new entrant in the Sacramento Arts event known as "Second Saturday". Artists of every make and kind display their favorite or most recent work at various locations in downtown Sacramento and the little adjacent community known as North Sacramento. Uncle Bob prepared three photographs for "showing" that were quite the rage. Uncle Bob didn't discriminate: his works included black parishioners, Blue Angels, and a very golden San Francisco street-scene. His selections for February are still under consideration.
The missionaries joined us for Supper during the month and so we have some stray cats, however, the cats are relegated to open-air seating in the back yard.
We continue to serve in our ward and find strength in the Temple and the scriptures.
Love to all,
The McClintocks
Fog, Rain, Wind, and very little sun during January here in Carmichael. Somehow the weeds didn't get the message that winter means hibernation. Some misinformed insect has been encouraging the more radical weed in our landscape to get a jump on spring. I know California has a reputation for malcontents and counter-cultures but we thought that applied to the Homo sapiens variety not the botanical variety.
Uncle Bob was a new entrant in the Sacramento Arts event known as "Second Saturday". Artists of every make and kind display their favorite or most recent work at various locations in downtown Sacramento and the little adjacent community known as North Sacramento. Uncle Bob prepared three photographs for "showing" that were quite the rage. Uncle Bob didn't discriminate: his works included black parishioners, Blue Angels, and a very golden San Francisco street-scene. His selections for February are still under consideration.
The missionaries joined us for Supper during the month and so we have some stray cats, however, the cats are relegated to open-air seating in the back yard.
We continue to serve in our ward and find strength in the Temple and the scriptures.
Love to all,
The McClintocks
February 2010 - Mercier, Cesar & Kelly & Family
The Merciers have had a month of ups and downs. Jilina and Kelly started out the month still in Utah where we had a blast. Of course, soon after our return was the earthquake in Haiti. We slowly found out that Cesar's brothers and sisters were alive, although one lost her house. But we later learned that he lost four cousins, one being pregnant. It was very sad for him.
On Friday Kelly celebrated her 35th birthday. Her class threw her a surprise birthday which was really fun. Also, the school did a fundraiser to raise money to send to Cesar's family. It was really thoughtful.
We hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
The Merciers
On Friday Kelly celebrated her 35th birthday. Her class threw her a surprise birthday which was really fun. Also, the school did a fundraiser to raise money to send to Cesar's family. It was really thoughtful.
We hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
The Merciers
February 2010 - Westover, Mel & Carol
Well, I just finished progress reports, so I guess that I am back teaching school. We had a great and restful Christmas vacation. For New Years Eve, Mel and I chaperoned the youth dance at our building. We dusted off our dancing shoes and had a great time. Luckily, we got to go home at 10:30 and didn't have to clean up. I think that is the way to do it. Also, Mel and I went to Las Vegas for the 7, 8, and 9th of Jan. for an ACN leadership conference. It was awesome. We always take some of our reps. with us. I think next time we need to rent a van and fill it up. These conferences are always powerful, especially in the personal development area.
January is always a sad month for me. This is the month that Gary and mom passed away. It always brings the realization of how grateful I am for the gospel and the understanding of eternal families. On January 11th, my kids and I had fun doing Garyisms, so I want to do one here. Gary used to say, "Chocolate Chip cookies and Coke, it's not just for breakfast anymore."
I am sure that everyone knows that we have a new granddaughter, Lilah. She is truly beautiful (and I am not biased!!). Once again, we are blessed to have such a wonderful and beautiful family. She is going to be blessed the first Sunday in March. Feel free to come if you are in the area, we would love to have you share the day with us.
Hope that all of our family are safe the warm. This winter has been pretty severe. Some of our family back East are really having a difficult time of it. Have a great month!!
Love from us.
Mel and Carol
January is always a sad month for me. This is the month that Gary and mom passed away. It always brings the realization of how grateful I am for the gospel and the understanding of eternal families. On January 11th, my kids and I had fun doing Garyisms, so I want to do one here. Gary used to say, "Chocolate Chip cookies and Coke, it's not just for breakfast anymore."
I am sure that everyone knows that we have a new granddaughter, Lilah. She is truly beautiful (and I am not biased!!). Once again, we are blessed to have such a wonderful and beautiful family. She is going to be blessed the first Sunday in March. Feel free to come if you are in the area, we would love to have you share the day with us.
Hope that all of our family are safe the warm. This winter has been pretty severe. Some of our family back East are really having a difficult time of it. Have a great month!!
Love from us.
Mel and Carol
Monday, February 1, 2010
February 2010 - Woodward, Kevin & Tammy & Family
For us this month has been a time of great anticipation and preparation. On Thursday, January 21, we had the privilege of hosting President Dieter F. Uchtdorf for dinner at our home. After almost a year of planning, President Uchtdorf’s schedule permitted him to come to Colorado Springs to visit the 110 LDS cadets at the Air Force Academy, all of whom reside within our stake. The 2 days that he was here was a remarkable event for the members of the church in this area. He met with General Gould (USAFA Superintendent), the Academy chaplaincy, dropped in on a German class, toured the campus, and visited the flight line operations at the Academy airport (as a former fighter pilot and Senior Vice President of Flight Operations and Chief Pilot of Lufthansa German Airlines, he had a natural interest in this area.) On Friday evening he spoke for 90 minutes to a crowd of 1,000 people at the USAFA cadet chapel. Following his address, he spent another 90 minutes at the cadet chapel with spouses and families of deployed soldiers stationed out of Ft. Carson (located on the south end of Colorado Springs.) I was personally touched by the way in which he lingered and reached out to so many, both member and non-member alike. Provided below are pictures of the inside and outside of the cadet chapel.
Dinner on Thursday couldn’t have been more perfect. Tammy did an amazing job of planning, organizing and executing. When President Uchtdorf first walked in the door, I greeted him and he gave me a hug. He thanked us for allowing him to visit and to enjoy dinner with us. He then went and personally greeted all 22 individuals in attendance. In addition to President Uchtdorf’s church security representative, we had two Area Seventies, the Denver Temple President, Colorado Springs Mission President, three other stake presidents, one of our high councilors who oversees Military Relations at the Academy and their wives with us that evening. We talked for a short while before dinner. President Uchtdorf asked me how the stake is doing, and I told him that it is truly a “dream stake” given the strength of the membership.
As we all were gathering in the kitchen to have a blessing on the food just prior to sitting down, Tammy, standing next to President Uchtdorf, reached over and instinctively put her hand on his back as she asked him question. In her words, “I did a Mrs. Obama, like when she touched the Queen of England”. President Uchtdorf lovingly put his arm around Tammy and pulled her in to his side and held her there. Needless to say she was more than mildly thrilled. You could really feel the love that he had for everyone in attendance.
Tammy mentioned to him that a number of sisters in the stake had expressed a great willingness to come and serve or to assist with dinner in some way. She told him that she had suggested to them that if they would like to drive by, perhaps they could see what was going on through the back window. President Uchtdorf replied, “Yes, we could certainly stand and wave to everyone from the window.”
We had soups, a variety of breads, salad and dessert. Early on, Tammy was concerned about what to offer for dinner to a group that size that would be light, yet filling. President Uchtdorf, as he was having seconds, told her that it was one of his favorite meals. That put Tammy’s mind at ease.
President Uchtdorf told us that although his wife had planned to join him on this particular trip, at the last minute, she fell somewhat ill. Consequently it was decided that it would be best to have her remain in Utah. During the weekly meeting which he had with the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve earlier that morning, President Uchtdorf informed President Monson that he would be traveling to Colorado Springs alone. To this President Monson replied, “Well, I’d like to go with you!”
President Uchtdorf proceeded to pronounce an apostolic blessing on our family, our home, upon all those who would come to visit, and upon all those in attendance that evening. He was delightful, witty and engaging. He took time that evening to have us go around the tables and share something unique about ourselves and our families. After talking about our family, I mentioned that I had spent most of my career in the development and test of advanced military aircraft. To this he responded, “Oh, so you’re able to see if my aviation stories are accurate.” I said, “Oh no, you’re the expert.” But I went on to say how much I enjoyed his aviation stories, and the wonderful gospel parallels that can be drawn from them. He said, “Yes, there truly are many.”
We asked him about his family. He has two children, a daughter and a son, and six grandchildren. Two of his grandsons are currently serving missions in Taiwan. His son and his family live in Switzerland. His daughter and her family were living in Europe. However, they recently surprised him and Sister Uchtdorf by moving to Utah. He and Sister Uchtdorf are thrilled to have them close by.
President Uchtdorf’s church security representative Scott Tremea took pictures that evening.
President Uchtdorf at the head of the middle table; Area Seventy Elder Randy D. Funk (standing).
The brother to whom President Uchtdorf is speaking (on the end of the next table over) is Mark L. McConkie, president of the neighboring Colorado Springs Stake, and the youngest son of Elder Bruce R. McConkie. If you close your eyes and listen to President McConkie speak, you would think you were listening to his father.At the end of our time together, President Uchtdorf went to each individual and personally thanked them for a wonderful evening. From our home, he traveled the short distance up to the Air Force Academy where he went to meet with 110 LDS cadets. As he left, I reflected upon something that was recently mentioned by a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He stated, “It’s a very rare experience to have a member of the Quorum of the Twelve in your home to have dinner. It’s a far more rare experience to have a member of the First Presidency in your home for that same purpose.” It was indeed a great privilege, and most likely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was an experience that we will treasure always.
Much love,
The Woodwards
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