November 2010 - Slade, Jeff & Crystal & Family

Dear family-
So, the leaves are changing, fall has come, the kids are dressed for Halloween (except for Mathew), and we are in school year mode.

Jeff no longer works for Wal-mart. He is looking for another job. Crystal still works at the local school district as a school psychologist (part-time). Despite the challenges of life (work, health, etc.), we are enjoying each other's company.

Andrew has really gotten into the "Cars" game on the WII, and several of us have tried our hand at it as well. It is fun to drive a car over 100 mph and have no fear of wrecking your own car or anyone else's.

Felicity and Mathew are still doing a great job at developing their talents as pianists. They are fortunate to have a Grandma that is willing and able to teach them and give their parents a really good rate (free). We look forward to family time this fall as it gets cold outside. We enjoyed hot chocolate together the other night and had aebleskivers this morning for breakfast. Yum!!

Love,

The Slades

Felicity and Andrew

November 2010 - Woodward, Kevin & Tammy & Family

Dear Family:

Here it is the end of October. Today is to be 75 degrees in Colorado Springs, and yet the ski resorts are open in the high country (this really means "the higher country" ~10,000 ft.). Yet if past results are any indication of future performance, we should be turning the corner on the Indian Summer shortly.

Tammy enjoyed another trip to Virginia this past month to spend some additional time with a couple of cute granddaughters (Emma and Charlotte) while their parents skipped town for a week to perform their own abbreviated reenactment of the Lewis and Clark expedition to the great northwest. I will defer to the parents for further elaboration. Suffice it to say that Tammy, Emma and Charlotte couldn't have had a better time together.

The Colorado Springs North Stake still continues to thrive in spite of the frailties of its ecclesiastical leader. It is simply a witness of who is really at the helm. I look forward to the visit of Elder Russell M. Nelson who will be in town in early November to conduct training for stake presidencies and bishops in and around the Pikes Peak region. (As an aside, we don't use the term region in the church any longer as we used to. When it involves more than one stake, we now refer to it as multi-stake. Beyond the stake, it is the Area.)

Shortly after Tammy returned home from the east coast, I headed out to the west coast, to San Diego, for a brief business excursion. While there, I was privileged to spend a Tuesday evening with Cassie (our new family mid-east expert), Aaron, Mindy, Jakob and Hannah. It was exciting to hear about Cassie's travels abroad, to see how Jakob and Hannah have grown since I last saw them, to hear of Mindy's new calling in her ward, and of Aaron's effort to balance work, church and his civic duty as a prospective juror (perhaps Aaron can expound on this point). I certainly enjoyed the time with them.

What used to be the October event now spills regularly into November: the World Series. The National League came out on top in this last July's All-Star Game after a long, long losing streak. (I think the last time the National League won the All-Star game prior to this year I was in my 30's). I trust the National League will come out on top again in this Fall Classic. If so, that should even things up with Grandpa Woodward on the Baskin Robbins (or Leatherby's) semi-annual ice cream wager.

Love,

The Woodwards

October 2010 - Picture of the Month

Charlotte Haupt is 2 !!!!

October 2010 - Executive Office of Ken Woodward

Dear Family,

The executive office is still open, but barely. September was a slow month. The most reportable happening was what didn’t happen. Zachari and Joshua had been scheduled since last spring to have braces placed on their teeth the first week of September. But on the fateful day the orthodontist said he had 2nd thoughts and recommended that the installations be delayed for at least another year. I guess he was current with his mortgage payments. The boys were about as disappointed as California malefactor, Albert Greenwood Brown, was last week when a federal judge cancelled his scheduled event at San Quentin.

I attended a memorial service earlier in the month for our long-time friend Barbara Walker. It was actually a family reunion with a captive audience, and about as long as a session of general conference. Barbara was living in a care facility in Bountiful, Utah at the time of her passing. The institution was just around the corner from the one Winston Langlois occupied when he received his call from above. I’m adding an addendum to my living will. Never consign me to a care facility in Bountiful. Those places are dangerous.

To all you attendees and fans of BYU, I feel your pain. It was unforgiveable for my alma mater, USU, to treat the BYU football team so unkindly. It just wasn’t suppose to happen that way

Love,

Dad

October 2010 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

September was a fun filled month! First we had Nana and Papa (Levi’s parents) come over the Labor-day weekend. We had fun in pool for the last time this season. We also had fun going mini-golfing and spent a day at the near-by zoo. Levi and his dad also took in the scenery on a tandem bike ride. We’re so grateful that they came to visit; we all had a great time. Plus we got pics and video of the girls, Levi and Nana on the zoo’s resident Elephant! We hope they had fun and we promise to do similar stuff for any of you that want to visit….

P.S. We promise to take the golf club AWAY from Charlotte.

A little later in the month “Grandma Word” came to visit. Grandpa Word had to stay and work and attend to his stake presidency stuff, however Grandma was a blast. We saw the movie,“Despicable Me”, went mini-golfing, celebrated Charlotte’s 2nd birthday,
and went to a decorate-your-own-pottery store . While at the pottery store, we learned of Charlotte’s love for painting everything, including Grandma’s hand. The girls and Grandma also made some yummy Rice Krispie treats. Thanks for coming Grandma, we miss and love you!

Cooking with Grandma

Enjoying the cake

Riding with Nana and Dad

It was sad to see all of our visitors leave, however we haven’t been any less busy…. We started Preschool for Emma the beginning of October so we’ll save those adventures for the next post.

Hope you all enjoy the start of the Holidays

Until next month

Love,

Charlotte, Emma, Torrie & Levi

October 2010 - McClintock, Robert & Susan

Dear family,

A couple of months ago our very own Grandma Anna created a new dietary delicacy. It is simply called the Corky English Muffin. That's right, an English Muffin made out of cork. Whomever suggested that when one enters into the sunset of life clever and innovative ideas flee, simply did not run across some like Anna.

One morning Aunt Susan went to the kitchen to prepare Anna's breakfast. A trail of suspicious material led from the dining table toward the nearby kitchen. On the table were the remains of a cork coaster. The coaster appeared to have been broken in half and one of the halves was broken in to smaller pieces. There appeared to be teeth marks on one of the coaster halves while the other smaller bits and pieces appeared to have been chewed and then discarded. The trail leading to the kitchen was more mysterious. The pieces on the floor were definitely cork but did not appear to fit with the pieces on the table. Counting all the remaining cork coasters revealed that the original number of coasters remained - but one. Where did the extra cork pieces come from? Why was Anna dining in the dead of night on a cork coaster. And, even more mysterious, do nightmares accompany cork consumption?

As of this moment none of the other residents of the McClintock household have the courage to try the Corky English Muffin creation. However, a visit to Ikea uncovered a Cork Trivet that is twice the size of the McClintock Cork Coaster. Might over-dosing on the Cork Trivet be the answer to discouraging a Cork fetish? (On second thought a huge Cork Trivet not be such a good idea since there has been no reliable data regarding the effect of the cork coaster on the digestive tract.)

Life can have lots of interesting and humorous moments. Let it be known that odd dietary pursuits come from the paternal side of the McClintock-Woodward bloodline. McClintock-Woodward off-spring can be assured that the Woodward side can be counted on to consume garden variety nutrition...especially when it comes time for the off-spring's mother and father to be considered "advanced in age."

Love to All,

The McClintocks

October 2010 - Woodward, Kevin & Tammy & Family

My how the weeks clip by. September marks the end of summer, and it has historically been the one month out of the year in which the stock market performs least favorably. Yet the notable events for this September were Tammy's trip to Virginia to visit the Haupt family, stake conference, a relatively quick trip in which I accompanied Tammy to southern California to visit her mother and step-father, and the implosion of the BYU football team.

Altogether, Tammy was home for about 11 days during the month. Since moving to Colorado Springs, it seems that her travel schedule has been more intense than mine. This is evident from the robust balance of her frequent flyer miles account. She had a wonderful time with Torrie, Levi, Emma and Charlotte experiencing day to day activities with them in the Commonwealth. Since she was in Virginia during our stake conference, and since we typically webcast our conference out to three other buildings in our stake, we made arrangements for her to view stake conference from the comfort of Levi and Torrie's apartment on their home computer. Yet all too soon her scheduled stay came to an end. She was home long enough to barely wash a few articles of clothing before heading west to California.

I won't say too much about our beloved Cougars. Yet I will mention that I watched them play Air Force at the Academy. It wasn't pretty... in the least. The highlight, however, was attending a Friday night fireside at the Academy chapel at which Bronco Mendenhall and his wife spoke. Their messages were very inspiring. Although BYU has gone independent, Bronco indicated that he looks forward to regularly scheduled play with the Air Force. That just means we will have to continue to exercise some creativity in scheduling the priesthood leadership session of stake conference when it falls on the same day BYU is in town to toss the pigskin.

Hugs and kisses to all,

The Woodwards

September - 2010 Picture of the Month

Cute cousins: Mimi, Hannah, Jake, and Jilina

September - 2010 Executive Office of Ken Woodward

Dear family,

Joshua and Zachari were returned to me on August 8 from their 8-day vacation with their rich Fresno grandfather, aka. Big Nick. The handoff went smoothly at the Manteca McDonald’s on Lathrop Road at high noon. Big Nick now has a trip scheduled for them to Las Vegas between Christmas and New Years Day. He thinks they need a little more experience at roulette and the slots.

I successfully launched them into Arden Middle School on August 23 where they will be matriculating in 8th grade. After a summer of roaming the range, imposing a little more discipline in their lives was not something they looked forward to. Actually the process was somewhat similar to the annual Mustang roundup of Modoc County. Corral ‘em, lasso ‘em , cinch on a backpack and push them out the chute. The only problem I’ve detected so far is they seem to be suffering from computer and Wii withdrawals.

I want to thank Kristy, Carol, Susan, and Wendy for their joint visit during the month, but I did feel a bit intimidated. I’m not accustomed to talking to anyone over the age of 13.

Early in the month I had an enjoyable 4-day trip to Hawaii to visit my friend Jim Beatty and his 88-year old native bride. She is an extremely talented back-seat driver and intimately acquainted with every building, every street, and every high-priced restaurant in Honolulu. This was the first time I ever ate at a Denny’s beanery where valet parking is provided and reservations are recommended. But surprisingly, the price of the Grand Slam is the same as locally.

I learned that “aloha” means anything you want it to mean; hello, goodbye, drop dead. In my next visit she is going to teach me another Hawaiian word. That is, if Jim doesn’t move back to his Orem, UT home first. One can only eat so much mango and I could see he is under a strain.

I attended a backyard barbeque, hosted by Dave and Natalie Boucher for Apostle L.Tom Perry. Elder Perry was in town to attend our stake conference. Natalie is the daughter of former stake president Austin G. Hunt under whom Elder Perry served on the high council and as a counselor in the stake presidency. He inquired about Ken and Corene’s children and his recollections of Arden Ward are very good considering he is the oldest living general authority, a fact he is rather proud of. His first question to me was, “Ken, where in Arden Park is El Nido Way?” How should I know? I seldom drive down it. That is the street he lived on, and he and his present wife spent some time looking for it prior to the evening event but were unsuccessful.
And as he may be the only general authority older than me, I decided to write this during the evening of August 27. Tomorrow I’ll be a year older and at that advanced age I may not know who I am.

Love,

Dad

September - 2010 Bos, Rick & Kristy

It's the end of the month and I can't believe it. This month has been "family reunion month" for our family. I spent a week in Sacramento and stayed with Grandpa and the boys. They are in 8th Grade now, and have grown taller than me. As they have gotten taller, their voices have gotten lower. That is the way that “adolescence thing” works. Carol came from Fresno, and with Susan and Wendy, it was a time to get caught up on everyone's lives. Other than falling face first into Grandpa’s driveway with Katelyn in my arms, we had a great time together. (Katelyn was unhurt but my face had seen better days.)

I got home and Kelly had come from New Jersey (by way of San Diego and LA) and spent 12 days in Utah. Jilina and Kelly spent half of their time with Tracy, and half of the time with me. It was so much fun and, again, great to get caught up with Kelly and Jilina. Jilina turned 9 on the 29th, so we had an early birthday party for her which included, swimming at the big heated pool, dinner out with the whole family at Tucanos, a Brazilian Restaurant in Provo, and the next day a family dinner at Tracy's house. All of the Utah Christiansens were there and it was, again, great fun.

Craig finished his last college class, and is officially GRADUATED from college. CONGRATULATIONS Craig!!! Todd and Sarah are back in school and are "plugging away" at getting their next round of college courses started. I am back at BYU teaching two classes, back to back on Tuesday. It is 6 hours of teaching and that makes for a long day ( I know. I get no sympathy from Carol.) Then the rest of the week is mine to wear my other hats of wife, mother, and GRANDMOTHER.

By the way, Grandpa Woodward turned 87 years old on August 28th. He still looks as good as he did last year. However, I did find a book on "Geezerhood" that I sent for his reading pleasure. I hope he enjoyed it. (You know he's not getting any younger.)

That is it for this month. My love to all of you,

Kristy and Rick

September - 2010 Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family

August was fun. The weather is still hot but starting to cool down at night and get ready for my favorite season on the east coast….. AUTUMN! For those of you who have not experienced an east coast autumn, you have not lived my friend, and I do not care if you do live in California, on either side of the I-5, nothing can compare... But I’m sure I’ll have a few months of gloating so I’ll move onto another subject for the moment. August seemed to go really fast, I think it was because I knew family was coming in September and I had to get ready.

We signed Emma up for preschool, which starts in October (I’m sure there will be pictures and stories later)

We had our 6-year anniversary on August 27, yes we know, its been pointed out that we tried to upstage a certain somebody’s birthday, we did send something in hopes of bettering our status from “shun” to “dislike”, let’s see if it works.

My kids spend a lot of time in the water, its amazing they’re not prunes yet. Charlotte likes to pitch a fit over having to wear floaties, she doesn’t seem to see the difference in ages and abilities between herself and Emma. It’s a CONSTANT game of “peat, repeat” around here. They seem to have fun together finally, its been a long 2 years in that regard. They even combined efforts to earn enough "good girl" pennies to go on a family date night!

Speaking of which, I can’t believe Charlotte will be two in September, that also means we’ve been out of school for two years and that we’ve been on the east coast for two years, its crazy how time flies, and how much can go on, in what feels like, such a short amount of time.

Levi is enjoying work for the most part, and has an addition to his calling the YM’s. Our YM’s presidency was called to oversee the tri-ward weekly activities for the youth. There isn’t enough youth to hold separate mutual nights so its held together and Levi gets to help. My calling also changed. I still work in Nursery, although I’m now only in there for the music portion so that I can go the Relief Society and be visible since my other calling is Visiting Teacher Supervisor, its nice to know the sisters that I have to call and have them know who I am.

That’s all to report for know I’m sure next month will be filled with pictures from a certain 2-year-old’s birthday.

Love to all of you,

The Haupts

"Good girl" pennies

Peat, repeat

Lounging in the tub

September 2010 - McClintock, Robert & Susan

The month of August has had its ups and down. One of the ups was surgery for Uncle Bob to straighten his septum. After some consultation with his doctor it was decided that straightening his septum would help him breathe better during sleep and might help reduce the number of infections he experiences over the course of a year. After a false start the surgery was finally performed and the results were deemed successful. Uncle Bob's recovery went well and he is hopeful that the sinus swelling that he still experiences will soon go away.

Another upside to August was the visit of Kristy and Carol; both were in Sacramento at the same time. There was great fun visiting and reminiscing amongst the sisters. Grandpa joined in and a good time was had by all...even Zack, and Josh checked in occasionally on the confab.

Aunt Susan gave a number of the sisters in her stake a tour of the KCRA television studios. This group of sisters meet once a month for lunch in downtown Sacramento. It was decided that a slight alteration in the monthly routine might be in order. They seemed just as enthusiastic about the tour as any Aunt Susan has given. It was a fun time.

This was a terrific year for Aunt's Susan's old-world baby plums. The tree limbs were heavy with fruit. After a full day over a hot stove the result was 17 jars of Plum Jelly. Now, for those not initiated in the fine art of Jelly production, the feat of 17 jars is quite amazing. One does not just pick, pit, and process the fruit. One filters the fruit several times through cloth that has been woven to just the right size. That means the weave cannot be too tight or too loose. Too tight and the juice never passes through. Too loose and too much flesh joins the juice. The filter bag has to be hung above a pot while the juice slowly drips into a receptacle. (FYI...there are no contraptions on the market for hanging jelly bags for dripping. Great Great Great Grandfather Lowe would be proud of his posterity’s ingenuity.)

These plums are about the size of a Brach's Malt Ball. The pit inside the plum is about 1/3 its size. It takes six times as many plums to produce a jar of jelly as those using the standard Santa Rosa sized plum. (Too much information? Well, just stick with it a few more lines.)

If the fruit is not properly hydrated during the year, the weather too extreme, the ground too cold or warm, the bees too lazy, the ladybugs too few, the earth worms too sluggish, the Squirrels or Crows too many; the result is a poor harvest and tasteless fruit. This year it was plentiful and perfect. One learns a lot from time spent in and with nature. One could let the fruit fall or one can experience the joy of work's lasting reward. Isn't Father's plan glorious?

Here's wishing all a happy start of the School year.

The McClintocks.

September - 2010 Mercier, Cesar & Kelly & Family

Jilina and I were able to visit Southern California and Utah for three weeks this month. It was so great to see everyone and get away from the heat and humidity. We were finally able to meet Hannah. I have to say that Jacob looks just like Adam and Uncle Gary and Hannah looks like Cassie and Aunt Carol. I don't think we need a paternity test for those two. We were busy visiting all the amusement parks, the beach, and family. Jilina asked me what we are doing living in NJ, and why don't we move here. All I could say was that I ask myself that same question every day. Utah was unseasonably cool and was so great to see all the family there. We enjoyed celebrating Jilina's 9th birthday and are now getting ready for school to start on the 7th. Happy birthdays to Grampa, Cassie and Jacob too! Missing you all already!

Love,
Kelly & Jilina

Happy Birthday Jilina!

Cute cousins, Mimi and Jilina

See Pic of the Month for another Picture!

September - 2010 Westover, Mel & Carol

Don't want to miss the newsletter. Another busy month. School has started again. The students have been coming for the last week and a half, and pretty much the whole time we have been doing assessments. Now that I have that information, I can get started. This week we start the real work, and the real personalities will come out. Right now we are still in the honeymoon period.

Got to see dad and the boys twice this month. Always love Josh and his ability to bring the conversation around to "are we going to get grandpa on facebook this time?" I personally think that dad would enjoy all the amazing and funny things that this family comes up with. ALWAYS ENTERTAINING!! Josh also loves my phone. I think that he technically orientated, thus his ability to draw.

Next weekend we will be headed down to Jakob's baptism in San Diego and more family fun. Adam tells me that his girls love school, but I am sure that he will tell you more on his own.

Mel and I are still involved in ACN and really enjoying what we are doing. Pretty soon we will be able to offer Energy. We are excited about that!

Hope that everyone has a wonderful month!!


Carol and Mel

September 2010 - Woodward, Kevin & Tammy & Family

August was a good month. I went to Orlando on business during the first week. But the highlight of the month was a subsequent two-week visit from Alexis and Maija. We enjoyed a day trip to the mountain resort of Breckenridge, and took in the malls, movies and parks around Colorado Springs. Maija was a big hit as she and her grandmother would step outside in the morning and send well-wishes to all of the neighborhood kids waiting for their buses to take them to school. We all had a great time together. Alexis and Maija returned home on the very afternoon that Grandpa, our esteemed occupant of the Executive Office, was celebrating his 87th birthday.

We look forward to the adventures of September, and extend our love to all.

The Woodwards