Macbeth Family

2012-02-02T08:18:00.003-07:00

A - Planking We Will Go!!! Aubrey at the laundromat!

Jennae at the rink!

Erin at Riverside!

2012-02-01T18:16:00.005-07:00

The Latest Adventure of

Al and Karen and Dave and Brenda

A Little Hiking, A Little Flying, A Little Planking and Alot Of Fun!

This is planking by Brenda.

So is this. Look at her form!

This is close to flying!

This is silly flying.

Nose to nose!

THIS is high flying by Daredevil Dave!

2012-01-30T15:57:00.002-07:00

Dear Ruth,

This day is such a special one;
It's birthday time for you.
We'd really like to celebrate
Your happy day with you.
Zip-a-dee-ay and heigh-dee-ho,
(Good words going to a cowgirl, right?)
Here's something we can do.
We'll sing a song that we all know,
Happy Birthday to you!

Lots of love from the
whole family!

A question for the J&G kids

2012-01-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

Last night I was watching a show, "How It's Made," and one of the items they were profiling was a cuckoo clock. It reminded me of the one hanging on the wall at the house in Helena (at least that is my memory!), and I wondered whatever happened to Grandma and Grandpa's cuckoo clock? Anyone know?

2012-01-29T15:48:00.003-07:00

Barry and I have had to clean out all our drawers and closets (another long story) and in so doing, I found this treasure from Little Laura. What a creative person she was and is! Now here's the question--did I redeem this back in 1978, or is it still valid???

Jennae said the other day that she really has this wild urge to just go out and spend her entire paycheck at one time. I told her to do it now! (while her paycheck is pretty small...)

2012-01-26T17:34:00.003-07:00

So January 2012 has been snowy and cold. Not our favorite! It managed to keep us in town several days longer than we had planned but we finally got out and are now enjoying the sunshine of Las Vegas.

Our first big outting was to the Railroad Trail to Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam. You can walk to the dam on the old RR trail through the tunnels built to get the trains to the dam. There are five tunnels and then a long walk to the parking garage and the dam beyond. Eight miles round trip! What were we thinking?? After walking all the way out there, we had to turn around before we could see the dam so we could get thru the gates before they were locked at dusk. By then I couldn't take any extra steps anyway. The first 30 minutes going back was very much uphill! And still an hour to go!

Obviously this picture was on the way to the dam!

Today we went to Red Rock National Park. We thought we'd check up on the Mountain goats we got close to last time. No sign of them. And it was NOT because planking scared them away.

We did make a new friend though! He would've happily crawled in the car with us.

I was just happy to lay down for a rest...I mean.... a picture.

2012-01-24T18:18:00.002-07:00

Hello family and friends,
This week has been a lot of the same as last week. Nothing big has happened yet, but we are seeing that our efforts are starting to pay off. We are getting in contact with a lot of less active members and some former investigators. We are still hitting the streets hard and doing a lot of the grunt work that is never fun but has to be done. The last bit of the week was a challenge since my companion got food poisoning or something and was throwing up for a few days. That was really interesting to find out as we were knocking on someone's door. They did not answer, though, so he made it to the curb to throw up. It has been an interesting week.
We also cover Travis Air Force Base and we just noticed that everyday at 4:30 they play revelry and the national anthem and you are supposed to stop. The first time, I didn't stop cause I had no idea what was going on. I got some funny looks when no one else was moving around me. The base is really cool. The only bad part is you can't proselyte to people or even talk to them on the street. It is really lame.
I am doing well being a district leader. It is very different and a challenge, but I am getting use to it though. The work moves on, but it is slow right now. We have not had a lot of investigators to teach, but it is going well. Elder Foyston is handling it well for being a new missionary. He is doing well tho he still acts like he is in high school but he is getting over it. He works hard and is not afraid of situations when I put him on the spot to do things. He is a good kid.
Well, I love you all. It is crazy to see all that snow. It is raining here and we have to start biking soon since we are running low on miles for the month. love you all.
Elder Pelton

2012-01-16T22:09:00.003-07:00

Dear Friends, Family, and Others*
This is my fifth time writing the family Christmas letter, so I think that it is time to finally dispense with using the third person in the letters. From now until the end of time (or when chocolate ceases to exist, whichever comes first), “I” means “Ben” (or “The Great,” whichever you prefer). 2011 was another busy year for the Kacher family; lots of working, playing,
chasing (Paije), and watching Sesame Street. Most importantly, we only got one traffic violation all year! Anyway, without further ado, here is the rundown of the year:
I worked as a contract negotiator for a Defense agency in Bethesda, MD until October, and then switched to a Navy agency in Arlington, VA. I now negotiate contracts for fighter jets and
bombs (no, I have not yet worked through the moral implications of my employment).
I spent my evenings and weekends working on an LLM (master’s degree for lawyers) in government contracts. Remember Tony Stark from “Ironman”? I’m working on becoming like him. Most of the time, though, I feel like the guy in “Pursuit of Happyness” (you know, the guy in the park who continually tries to steal Will Smith’s X- Ray machine because he
thinks that it’s a time machine).
Bonnie spent 2011 working full and then part-time for RBL Consulting and chasing Paije around. She had about 30 or 40 minutes to relax during the year. I don’t know how she still seems to be so happy, but she does. Bonnie travels a bit for work and usually takes Paije with her. She told me that, in all, she has taken Paije on 25 flights (and has developed a great appreciation for nice flight attendants and passengers). Bonnie also decorated our apartment. Come see it sometime. Seriously, come visit us! Paije’s hair seems to alternate between red and blond; we’re still waiting to see which color wins. Her temperament seems to go in tandem with her hair color too. She spent most of the year bringing us books for us to read to her (mostly princesses and Dr. Seuss), swimming in the bath tub (sometimes she says she’s a mermaid and sometimes she says she’s a shark) and telling us about her dreams (it sounds like she dreams pretty much exclusively about pumpkins). She turned two in October and we, like all good parents, let her eat all the chocolate cake that she wanted. New baby announced herself in the form of cravings for strawberries and feta cheese. She should make her debut at the end of March 2012 (provided the world doesn’t end before that).
All in all, a good year. We mostly just feel grateful that we have each other and that I still have some hair left. Have a fantastic 2012! Love,
Ben, Bonnie, Paije, and (?)
*Others: People who drive too slowly in the left lane

2012-01-16T16:58:00.001-07:00

Andrew's new address:
2751 Peppertree Dr. apt 115 Fairfield,CA 94533

I really don't have many things to write about these days since all we do is lots of tracting and contacting and no one seems to want to open their doors and talk to us. It is really interesting to see the area develop very slowly and I get really impatient at times. I have to catch myself and remember that it is going to take time and not come all at once. It is a challenge. But the good thing that has come from this is that we get to meet a lot of the members and gain their trust so that they can trust us to talk to their friends and neighbors. So far, we have not gotten anyone to teach but we will soon, I hope. Other than that, things are going really well and for some reason this area feels different to me. Most of the time, when I have gone into a new area, I have this kind of nervous feeling and excitement. But this one seems to be a little neutral and I don't feel the nerves as much or at all. I just want to work and get it done and find some people. I have already learned a lot from the two weeks I have been here. So I apologize in advance that most of my letters will be short until we can find some people to teach. I love you all and it is crazy to think that it is snowing back home and it is nice and sunny down here.
Elder Pelton

2012-01-15T14:15:00.004-07:00

As much as we love

a snow day in the PNW,

we love Ian Pelton more!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUDDY!

2012-01-13T23:10:00.001-07:00

This is the Friday the 13th

BIRTHDAY BOY BLAKE KROHN!

He'll smile for chocolate!

2012-01-10T17:47:00.000-07:00

Johnson Family Update:

So I was totally gonna do Christmas Cards, they were gonna be great...well they didn't get done, then I was gonna do new years cards....they didn't get done either, so I'm opting for the more convienent alternative, a blog post. Lame I know but oh well.

We had a wonderful Christmas and the kids were thrilled. It was so fun to see them all excited. I decided that I wanted to really try and focus on the true meaning of Christmas so for FHE each week in th emonth of December it was centered around The Savior's Birth. The first week we taught them the story using a felt nativity wall hanging we have that the kids love cause it is one of the only 2 sets they can play with! The Second week, we had them act it out...I think we will have to wait to do that again till they are alittle older cause it sure didn't go the way I invisioned it! And the last Monday before Christmas we read the story in the scriptures and watched the Living Scriptures video and then we made a "gingerbread" nativity. It was really fun and the kids loved each night. Of course we also had Santa leave them a note pointing out that Christmas isn't about the presents.

Christmas morning the kids were really excited to see if they had worked hard enough to get presents. You see there is this website called the portable north pole, you go in and put the child's name/sex/age what they asked for, for Christmas and if they were on the good list or the naughty list. And then it generates alittle video message from Santa telling them what list they are on and what they need to work on. I did this for each of them and man oh man...it worked like a charm. They were so upset to find out they were on the naught list, but they worked real hard and got off of it! It was fun and highly effective!

We had a dinasour year for Christmas, I made them all Dino hats and tails which were a much bigger hit than I thought. Parker wears his constantly and Emery learned real quick to use it as a weapon...I just wish I wouldn't have been such a cheapskate and bought the higher quality fleece that doesn't stretch as much...oh well. Carter even has a set... Things the kids asked for from Santa:

Denver; Remote control Car and Zurg Legos (he got the legos)

Porter; Cowboy and Horses (he got a Woody doll and horses)

Parker; Chicken Nuggets(he got a bag) seriously every time he was asked by anyone Santa included he asked for Chicken nuggets so I figured why not got him a bag and I've never seen a little boy be so thrilled than was! it was great!

Emery: Baby Stroller ( she got that and a car seat cause I was so sick of going to put Carter in to find a doll buckled in!!)

Mom dear mother is AMAZING and always comes up with the cutest and coolest gifts for my kids. This year she combined the boys and made them a 3-D dinasour world, complete with mountains, trees, lake, volcano, and logs. They each got their own dinasours with it. one of their favorite things to do with it is to set up their castle and town legos and have the attack of the dinasours. They've also repurposed the mountains as cover in their gun fights....boys.Overall it was the biggest hit and if it didn't take her so long to make, man I tell my mom to sell them! Perhaps she should just sell the idea....hmmmm

Carter is almost four months now! where did the time go??? He is cute as can be and is starting to giggle which I love! He's been rolling over since he was a month and half and is starting to push up more on his hands...it's only a matter of time, he can sit up by himself for a couple of minutes already too. Currently he is getting his bottom two teeth, I don't love that. he is a great sleeper at night when it is quiet and no one is bugging him, during the day is another story.

Darwin's Job is going so well and we are so happy here in Lakeview. We have had our fair share of trials and I'm sure they will continue to come however we have been so greatly blessed. We hope things are well with everyone, and we love and miss you all! hope to see everyone at the reunion!

2012-01-08T15:55:00.003-07:00

Happy sweet 16th birthday to our grand-daughter Kylie Kartchner. In her honor, Eric consented to design and fabricate a special cake for her... as a courtesy flag to all other Utah drivers in her vicinity.

2012-01-08T15:43:00.002-07:00

In remembrance of grand-daughter Aria Diane Westover. It was an emotion-filled day, but we remain firm in the knowledge that someone wiser than we are, is in control of things and that His will prevails. Tender moments...

2012-01-08T00:16:00.002-07:00

Hmmmm....
It was a dark and rainy night.
The wind was blowing
driving even the most hardy indoors.

Wait. Wrong story.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
KYLIE KARTCHNER

We hope it was wonderful
day for you.
We love you!

2012-01-03T21:58:00.002-07:00

From Andrew:
I don't have much time to talk. I am being rushed. I got transfered to Fairfield. I am whitewashing into it, meaning, I go in knowing nothing about the area and neither does my companion. We will both be new to the area. I am training again, and I am going to be district leader. Crazy!!!!! I don't know what to think right now, but I am going to go for it.
Nothing new with me other than that. I am excited and nervous. I love you all. Sorry it is so short.
Elder Pelton

2012-01-02T13:30:00.002-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO
OUR AUNT ANN!!
Is it hard to have your birthday
so early in the year?
What do you have to
look forward to now??
MLK Day? Valentine's?
Memorial Day? See my point?
Sorry!
Happy Birthday anyway. :)

2011-12-31T15:23:00.002-07:00

We would like to also wish a special happy birthday to the newest member of our eternal family.

Aria Diane Westover

12/31/11 7:14 am

10 0z 10 in

I hadn't felt any movement that I could remember in the last week and a half, but having had the twins previously, someone was always moving. But on Thursday night, I decided I had to find out for sure on Friday. The doctor's office requested I go to the hospital, and I felt silly, assuming I was over-reacting. But when I got in there, they couldn't find a heartbeat with the regular monitors used for labor. Then they brought in an ultrasound to get a visual of her. I could see her abdomen pulsating, but I knew it was too slow to be her heartbeat, it was mine. And where we normally would see her heart beating, we saw nothing. They did a more conclusive ultrasound downstairs in radiology, then when the doctor came to let us let us know what we feared most was true. Our little girl had passed away. They set me up for induction, gave me three doses through the night, and our little angel came into this world. We feel so blessed to have the knowledge that our Heavenly Father loves us, knows us, and has made it possible for us to have our little Aria forever. (We will post a photo when we get one e mailed from my mom).

2011-12-31T14:06:00.002-07:00

A very Happy Birthday to....

Miranda Macbeth!
You are out of the teens now...welcome to adulthood! We love you and hope you have a wonderful day! i like to think the whole world is celebrating in honor of your birth...but maybe that's just me! Love you! Happy Birthday!

2011-12-29T20:49:00.002-07:00

The year can't end yet...

We still have some birthdays

to recognize!!

Today's Birthday Girl is

*Julia Waters*

We hope you have a very fun day!

2011-12-28T22:37:00.002-07:00

Today has been the
birthday of the first
BLAKE.
Congratulations!
You beat your cousin to
TWO!

2011-12-26T15:18:00.002-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

LEE ANN & KARRIE!!

I thought I'd take some cute birthday pictures and show you what it's really like around here, but true to form, it was the way it always is around here! I had the camera, every one posed and ready to photographed, but the memory card was full. EEk! Hold that pose! Grab the other camera off the charger cord and say " OK! Blow those candles out now!" just in time to see the camera hadn't charged. So I have no Christmas birthday pictures and you'll have to wait for the kids to post the pictures they took.

2011-12-25T18:02:00.002-07:00

so here is Chip--the girls stuff wrapping paper in his collar--I'm sure he loves it!
The girls got new sleepers!

Classic!! Racing Grannies! One day I will figure out how to post a video-but for now you can check out "Racing Grannies" on Youtube...if you want to see them in action. Or you can come visit me and see them live :)

Merry Christmas to all...

2011-12-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas!

Lots of love from the Seattle area:)

Tate-almost 4 (Feb. 17th)

Blake-almost 2 (Jan. 13th)

Ryan-2 months

LeeAnn-almost 32 in a couple days (OMG!!! so old . . . )

John-older than me at least:)

2011-12-23T23:06:00.004-07:00

We wrote "Merry Christmas" in the sand - just for you! Hope your Holidays are wonderful even if you are not in Hawaii! We love you all and are excited to hear about your adventures when we read the blog, so keep posting - and a Happy New Year, too!

Aubrey - 16, Erin - 20, Jennae - 18, Carla -old enough!, Barry - not far behind...!

2011-12-23T21:13:00.002-07:00

First things first....
Yesterday was
a birthday I missed.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
SAVANNAH SHURTLEFF
We hope the
BIG SIX
was good for you!
We love you!

Merry Christmas from the Bishop family!

2011-12-23T20:59:00.002-07:00

I liked Shelene's idea of a blog holiday card... So I'm copying it. Merry Christmas from Puyallup. Hope you all have a wonderful day. We love you!
Tom, April, Brooke- 9, Alix- 6 (in white) Erin- 6 (in pink) and Sam- 3.

2011-12-23T12:03:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas to All!

We are so blessed to have you each as a wonderful part of our lives!

With Love,

Eric, Shelene, Alexis (9), Spencer (7), Grace and Lillian (2.5)

2011-12-21T14:28:00.003-07:00

This week's letter from Andrew.

We had some awesome things happen this week and we traveled a lot. I was in my own area for about 3 days, because of exchanges. We went to Santa Rosa and to the temple in Medford, Oregon, and we had a BAPTISM!! as well this week. This has been a very spiritual week for me and I have really come to know the meaning of Christmas more and who my Savior is and what it means to me. The conference we had in Santa Rosa was amazing. We got to listen to lots of testimonies of missionaries that were going home and musical numbers by some of the missionaries in the mission. It was really cool to see all of the missionaries in the mission in one place. I got to see all of the elders I came out with and those that I have served with and around. It was awesome. The whole time you could feel the love that everyone had for each other and how much it meant to them to be together. I came to know my Savior so much more because of the things that were said.

There is an elder in the mission that is serving a mini mission for three months because of some mental health challenges. He finished his mini mission that day we were there and was going home the next day. President Bunker brought the elder's family to the conference without anyone knowing. The elder is from the Santa Rosa area. President Bunker told us he was going to let us see what the joy would be like of seeing our families again in the celestial kingdom. H told the elder to stand up and go and sit with his family. To see the joy that elder had was amazing and the peace it brought to my heart to know that I can see my family again was something that I needed to feel. It made me think of how happy I will be to see all of you again in about a year. Crazy how soon! I loved the Christmas conference.

The week kept getting better. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to go to the temple in Medford Oregon. It was freezing cold when we got there. All of the hot weather has changed my internal temperature and now i can't stand being very cold. But it was an amazing time to be there because the spirit that the temple brings is great as well as the blessing it is for us and those that have passed on. I also came to know what happens in the temple is true. I am grateful that I have been able to attend it.
The best part of the week though, was the baptism we had on Saturday. We baptized a girl named Terri who is about 20 years old and is super awesome and has changed so much since we have been meeting with her. I got to baptize her, but I wanted my companion to since it was his first one, but I was not there when they went over who was going to baptize her. He was a little upset but it does not bother him. This week has been great spiritually but there is always opposition in all things - our other investigators with a date said that they wanted to start meeting with us after the new year because they were too busy, and yesterday some one left an anti-mormon dvd on our car. Those are the most ridiculous things ever. Never watch those! Stay away from them! They are very destructive to the spirit and testimonies. This coming week will be a challenge with the holidays coming up but I know that if I put my trust in God and Jesus Christ, miracles will happen.
I love all of you and can't wait to call home on Sunday and talk with all of you. talk to you soon
Love Elder Pelton
MERRY CHRISTMAS

2011-12-19T17:26:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO THE FAMILY
MATRIARCH!
GRANDMA GRACE!!

2011-12-15T16:17:00.005-07:00

It's a big one!!
Happy 30th!!! birthday Nathaniel! We love you!
And you are still just as handsome!

2011-12-15T08:28:00.003-07:00

While I have to admit, I don't know the score. I don't know how many boys vs. how many girls the Macbeth cousins have contributed. Although while Eric and I were counting last night, the score is tipped quite heavily in favor of the girls. We would like to give props to Candace for contributing the most boys, with very few others having more than one , but maxing out at two. Well, we must tell you, we are NOT contributing to the cause of evening things out. That's right! Another GIRL is on the way! There was one VERY sad face when we got home to tell the kids the news, but I think Spencer is okay with it now.

She looks like a Macbeth already!

2011-12-14T16:54:00.002-07:00

Today,
LUCKY WEDNESDAY,
DECEMBER 14TH,
of all days, is
Diann Macbeth's
birthday!
May it truly be
lucky AND happy.
We love you!

2011-12-11T22:28:00.002-07:00

I told Bonnie
I NEEDED
pictures of Paije!
And this is why!

2011-12-10T15:52:00.002-07:00

Happy Happy Birthday

ALEXIS!

Being nine will be

mighty fine!

2011-12-08T21:41:00.002-07:00

This big girl

is turning

FIVE

already!

How can that be possible?

We love you

Cathryn Macbeth!

Have a very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2011-12-04T16:03:00.003-07:00

We also feel
very strongly
about the
redheads in the family.
We especially love
them if there is a bit
of gray in the red!
Today
our favorite is
Uncle Dave!
We wish you
a very
Happy Birthday!
Long live the redheads!

2011-12-03T21:54:00.002-07:00

We just LOVE the tall, dark,

and silent type of man,

especially the one that

April is married to.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TOM BISHOP!!

We do love you!

2011-12-01T18:03:00.002-07:00

Today is
JAMIE MACBETH'S
birthday!
What a great way
to launch December.
We hope your day
has been great.
We love you!

2011-11-28T15:42:00.002-07:00

A letter from Andrew:

Hello family!
Sorry for not emailing last week - the computers here would not connect to the internet. They ended up working later that night but I could not email home cause it was not P-Day anymore.
This past week has been a challenge for the work here in Crescent City. It has been rainy, cold, everyone is gone for the holidays, and everyone is sick even ME!! Horray..... NOT.... I don't like being sick. But you have to deal with it while you are a missionary. I still have to go out and work. On the better side of things, Thanksgiving was great here. We went to our ward mission leader's home for dinner and they had tons of food. They had enough for twice the amount of people that actually came. There were 10 adults and 5 kids. They said they bought 4 turkeys that were still in the freezer, apparently they were cheap this year. Suprisingly, I did not eat very much - only one plate, I guess my stomach has shrunk a lot since I came out. That is fine with me. That means I can keep this weight off when I get home. It's crazy to think that I have been out almost a year. I still feel new to all of this missionary stuff. I still have a lot to learn and there is NOT ENOUGH TIME!!! I don't like that either. Can I stay out another two years? Please! If not, that is ok too, but I wish I could stay out a lot longer than two years.
Anyway on to who we are teaching: we have a baptism coming up soon on the 10th, she is super awesome and has that great desire to get baptized but she struggles getting to church each week cause she works 5 jobs and has a lot of medical problems but that is not stopping her. She has the strength to overcome everything that is thrown into her path. We just need her to come to church and then she can get baptized! We have another 2 people that we have a baptismal date with for Dec. 24th. They are really cool to0. The mom is formally Jewish. The daughter went to a singles' ward when she was in college because they had the best morals and she did not want to hangout with anyone else. Those are the updates on baptsims and how everything with teaching is going.
We are having trouble getting our investigators to keep the appointments we set with them and so that makes it a challenge for us to reach the 20 lessons a week. We have enough people but no one holds to their word so things are slow in that sense, but those that let us teach them are doing really well. I love it here cause I am finally in an area where people want to listen to us, unlike my last 2 areas where people were stuck in their ways. There was a really cool experience we had tracting the other day and to this day, it still stumps me because this never happened to me. We were walking up to this house and we saw this guy cooking and it was right by the front door. We get closer and he starts to walk to the front door and opens the door to come talk to us, and the first thing that comes to my mind is, "This guy is going to come out yell at us, cuss us out, and tell us to get out of here. Get ready for it." But suprisingly, he does not yell at us. He actually invites us in to talk to him! He said " Hey guys! I am the one to talk to. I am the one not saved yet." My jaw drops and my mind goes blank of what to say to him. I was so shocked. So we talk to him for a little bit, and sure enough, he is moving accross town into the 2nd ward missionaries' area. But he said that he was going to come to church next week and check it out because he has never been before. He said we could talk to him some more when they get all moved in. So, the blessings that come from tracting - he was the only one that wanted to talk to us on that street. It was really cool to experience.
That is the exciting news of the week. So have a good rest of the week. Hope you all are having a fun holiday season. Can't wait to call home for Christmas. Crazy how time flys. Love you all.
Elder Pelton

2011-11-26T13:55:00.009-07:00

Happy Turkey Day from Bothell!

We had great food (three turkeys!), great company (all 18 of us) and a great time laying around stuffed the rest of the day!

2011-11-23T19:24:00.002-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews, etc., etc.!! Hope you all have a terrific feast and find time to give thanks for all the wonderful blessings we have. YOU all rank right at the top of my list!
Here is Jennae's contribution to "planking" - however when Barry suggested we all go together and find some unique settings for planking, he got the thumbs down from the girls:(
Oh well, we wish you well!

2011-11-21T10:11:00.002-07:00

Save the Date: July 23-25 will be the Macbeth Family Reunion. We will be staying at the KOA camp grounds right here in beautiful Fort Collins Colorado. More information will be coming in the next few weeks. So mark your calendars.

2011-11-20T17:50:00.002-07:00

November

would not be the same

without these

two birthday people!

UNCLE PAUL

and

LAURA JEAN

You add to our reasons

for giving thanks!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2011-11-18T20:45:00.002-07:00

Happy

9th

Birthday Brooke!!!

Hope you partied hard:)

2011-11-16T16:05:00.002-07:00

Dear family,

We are looking at the following dates for The Macbeth Family Reunion summer 2012. First- July 3-5, second July 23-25. We will be camping at the KOA camp grounds in Fort Collins
Co. We have the dates on hold for the next two dates. Please vote for the dates you prefer. Remember majority rules. We have to firm the dates by Friday the 18th.

Love to you all. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Ann and Steve

2011-11-14T15:07:00.002-07:00

Greetings from Andrew:
Hello Family and friends reading this!

This week has been very spiritual and uplifting, along with its
hardships as well. We were able to pick up a lot of new investigators
who seem very interested and want to learn, so it has been a very good
week of finding those people that are seeking for the truth. I have
really noticed how much better I have gotten at teaching since I am
with someone that does not know how to teach very well. Sometimes I
notice that I don't teach the best way or I am not very direct with
what I am saying but it is all a work in progress. I have had my fair
share of down moments of thinking that I have not changed, or I can't
do this or even how annoyed I can get at my companion, but all of that
is past me. It is just Satan trying to stop me but NO WAY! It won't work.
It also helped that we got to listen to C. Scott Grow from the first
quroum of the Seventy. It was awesome to hear him speak. There is just
something different when you here them speak- everything they say has
this feeling of power and authority. You can tell he has been called by
a prophet of God. It was sweet. He talked about planning more
effectivly so that we could achieve the goals we set and not have them
just be dreams, but be realities. He also talked about doing this work
with a full purpse of heart and not going around going through the
motions of a mission or life, but to make things happen and let your
mission change you as a person. That hit me strong. I need to be
doing this to the point where I am not worried about anything or even
think about anything, except for the people that I am seeing and how I
can better myself as a missionary and to really let my mission change me
as a person, so that when I get home I can look back with no regrets
and not be that same watchful, shy, cautious, non outgoing, self
conscious, etc. old self. He also did a question and answer section
and I could not think of anything to ask, but there were some good
questions and he gave some inspiring answers. It was awesome to hear
him speak, even though I was sick and too focused on not letting
my nose run too much or how much my head hurt. I still got somthing from
him speaking.
So I am very excited to do this work. Some of the new
people we picked up are really inspiring like one kid we met who
is 8 years old. He called the number on the back of the pass along card
for a Finding Faith in Christ dvd. He wants to get baptized and go
to church. He is very inspiring to only be 8 years old and
want to do this. His parents are open for him to find his own religion
and believe what he wants. We will teach his mom as well since she will
be sitting in with us on the lessons, she is not interested, but we
will get her. We have also talked with these two ladies that are
trying to help a less acvtive member come back to church. They are
not members but we have taught them a few times. They have a Jewish
back ground and have really high moral values, I would say higher than we
do as a church. Her daughter, who is at least 25 or so, never watched a pg-13
movie or even had a TV in the house until she
was 16. Pretty high standards! But they are interested and
we are going to teach them. That is the story of this past week. Lots
of good stuff. Hopefully, we will have lots of baptisms by the end of the
year.
Love you all that are reading this.
Andrew

2011-11-10T10:22:00.001-07:00

Hello family!

I thought that I would go ahead and give you an update as to what has been going on in my life. Josh & I are still living in Holladay, Utah, and as soon as our roommate gets the picture and discovers that our landlord (Josh's sweet Aunt) is serious about him moving out we will be in the market for a new roommate.

Aiden is getting bigger and smarter by the day, and oh yes, definitely getting cuter by the day too, if that is even possible. He has discovered the joys of pulling himself up onto everything he can, including the dishwasher at his favorite baby sitter's house. (sorry for the poor quality, camera phone)

A few of his favorite things are: His Daddy, his face lights up every time Josh is around, his brother Dallan, he can always make Aiden laugh, his sister Shyanne, although we don't get the chance to see her very often because she is so busy with work and being a senior in Highschool, whenever we do get to see her, the two of them are inseparable. His momma, man alive if I am around he has to be right on top of me,FOOD, man alive can this little boy eat. his favorite foods are; sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans (NOT pureed), bread, German Pancakes, the big thick pretzel sticks, just to name a few, I could go on, but don't have enough time. He also loves chasing our lab in his walker, and will chase that dog for a good hour before he decides to give up. He is in the process of cutting his second tooth, having a cold on top of it. So needless to say he hasn't been sleeping lately, which means neither has his momma, but it hasn't dampened his happy go lucky spirits too much. We love him and are so glad to have him in our family.

Josh is the General Manager of the Dominos Pizza just down the street from our house, and has done amazingly well with his employees and his store. As much as he loves what he does, he is always looking for job openings in the Cabinetry world building and installing custom cabinets again, which is something that he is GREAT at doing. He has worked for a bunch of high end cabinet companies, but had a hard time getting back into it after he lost his job due to the economy closing the last place he worked for. On his days off he gets to stay at home and play with Aiden all day until I get home from work. I am so lucky to have Josh, he is a super amazing dad to all of his children! He is even so super that he will change poopy diapers without being asked!!

As for me, I am loving every second of being Aiden's mom. He is one of the biggest joys of my life. (His dad being the other) I am currently working for a non-profit organization called Utah Youth Village, hopefully I won't have to be a working mom for ever. I am also becoming more domestic, thanks to Candace, I have not purchased store made laundry detergent since her post of homemade laundry soap, I have since discovered the joys of semi homemade fabric softener sheets to encourage money saving anywhere possible. I am also discovering again my love for cooking and baking. I want my kids to grow up remembering the smell of bread in the oven and soup simmering on the stove and Saturday morning pancakes like I remember from my childhood. I posted my self challenge on my blog in order to help me achieve this dream. I am also very interested in pursuing the joys and wonders of canning. My friend had me try homemade pickled beets the other day and I was in HEAVEN!! They are so yummy!! I want to learn how to can beets, Aunt Carla's Delicious Salsa, canning meat, and much more! (Recipes and suggestions of your favorite thing to can are welcome).

Well, I guess that is about all I have time for today.. Hope all of you are happy and doing well. Love from the Westover/Williams family!

2011-11-07T11:30:00.002-07:00

I missed blogging about

Ben Kacher's birthday,

which was Nov. 3rd.

Sorry, Ben. Keep up all

the hard work you are doing!

We love you!

2011-11-02T19:58:00.002-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to the only one in the family
to get an AK-47
(cake, that is)
to celebrate the day!

BOB WESTOVER,
you're the man!
We sure love you!!

2011-11-01T20:34:00.002-06:00

OK So what are the rules to this game?

2011-11-01T13:38:00.000-06:00

Arggghhhh Matey! We had a wonderful and long Halloween weekend. Friday there was a carnival/fundraiser for the elementary school, so we all got dressed up in the costumes I made and went to support Denver's school. It was great fun and we won best overall costumes! ( I think our Treasure box of Carter put us over the edge!) yipee! I spent several days making them and overall am happy with how they turnes out, although I think Darwin's hat is a bit big, I should have made it smaller....oh well, So we had a late night that night. Then Sunday was the ward trick or treating...which for our tiny ward was great and holy cow did they get a good haul! Being that there are only 8 kids in primary and 4 kids in nursery...they went around and around and around till all the candy was gone! It was also great fun and another late night. Sunday was as relaxing as it can be...we only had scarament as the pipes to the building were frozen and so they canceled the rest of the meetings. Highlight of the day was Denver snapping his NEW glasses into three pieces...wonderful. Then the big day Halloween was finally here, I was relieved as my kids have been driving me nuts asking when is Halloween...Denver had a great little party at school, no costumes allowed(lame) and Porter and Parker had great fun at their school party, Porter went as Porter Cowboy and Parker as Robin as I didn't want them getting their pirate costumes dirty. :) While they were gone I was busy getting our Halloween party together. I made Mummy Pizzas, Jackolatern cheese ball, spider deviled eggs, mummy dogs, witches fingers, witches hats and candy corn rice crispy treats..(pictures will be posted on my recipe blog) And then the craziness began...our house was full of 15 children under the age of 10 and all the adults....It was wonderful fun. Then we went trick or treating...not so much fun. Everyone told us where we should go as our neighborhood is mainly older people and their porch lights would be off...well apparently the entire town goes to these three streets and it was nuts! And Denver just didn't understand that there was PLENTY of candy for everyone and that it was more important for him to stay with us than to run and push up at the doors. We did one street and then Porter started screaming that his head hurt...it was really windy and cold and his head is Really sensitive, Emery was shivering so we called it a night. I think next year we will just do our neighbors and the trunk or treating and a party and call it good, cause the trick or treating was SO not worth it!
As for other news, Carter is doing well and putting on weight, he is probably about 9 lbs now and doing well. We are blessing him this Sunday here in Lakeview. Darwin has his evaluation today at 1, so in 26 minutes and we are praying for a good review and a possible raise...so we will see. Also Darwin's Dad was diagnosed with colon cancer a few weeks back but had surgery and was very blessed in the results. The family all has seen how the Lord hears and answers prayers. We are potty training Emery...which is more work that ANY of my boys...she is doing really well but doesn't want to wear panties or a diaper after she goes, which is really frustrating!! Parker is loving school and is learning so much! Porter is also doing well and is the entertainment for the class. I'm alive and doing well, just trying to keep up with everything! anyhow love you all!

2011-11-01T10:03:00.004-06:00

Halloween costumes for this year

.......AND.........................

Announcing........the next Macbeth to join in the posterity ranks.....

Due the beginning of May 2012.

(Side note: please excuse my make up -less face and undone hair. I was sick all day, and even made Eric sleep in the spare room so he wouldn't get sick.)

2011-11-01T07:48:00.001-06:00

An unedited version :)
This week has been really good we finally got our kitchen cleaned up from the explosion out of the sink but the only problem now is we cant get the drawers in anymore cause every thing is all warpped. so that is the only bad news i have this week. we have met a lot of really cool people this week and we are going to start teaching them a whole lot more. one of the families we are teaching wants to get baptized this weekend but they are not ready, they are deaf and we have had there 12 year old daughter translate for us so we are going to have the lessons the right way with a member who knows ASL translate for us. but they will get baptized really soon after we can get all the lessons done. Also one of our investigators got a job up in Seattle for a couple months and she is going to get baptized some time in December so it is going to be an awesoem next few months and on top of that i get to be training the best missionary ever he is awesome. he is doing really well loves the work, works hard everyday all day, he is a machine, it is awesome. Our ward had their Halloween party this past Weekend and there were tons of people there and more than a third of them were non members or less-active members who have not come out for a really long time. it was really fun and we met some new investigators and we got most of the left over candy and there was nothing left really we got a few pieces from kids that thought our costums were cool (we were wearing our proselyting clothes). it was loads of fun did not get any pictures sorry. we have had some trouble trying to get people to hold their appointments so i dont have very many cool stories cause most of the appointments got cancelled. there was one appointment with a potential investigator couple that would let us in cause they knew that we got doors slammed in our face all the time and so we talked to them for a while. the lesson it self was relly cool how it turned out, you could see the change in them cause when we first sat down we talked to them about what they did where we came from and then when we first started to talk to them the husband said we are both strong Methodists and "we are not going to change to be mormon and we just let you in so you could have some one not slam the door in your face" it was something close to that. we said that was fine and we just were here to help them understand what we believe and what the Book of Mormon is. the wife had a ton of questions about everything we believe. so we explained to them where the Book of Mormon came from told them about the purpose of a restoration and how Christ church and the priesthood was restored. then we talked and answered her questionsshe had a lot of good questions. then at the end of the lesson she said " you know i think i am actually going to read and and pray about it" he on the other hand said nothing the whole time but you could tell that he was interested and they invited us to come back and talk to them more! it was an awesome lesson! dont you just love the Spirit, cause i do!. the blessing of hard work and dedication pull through. i love it out here and i love this work. and i love all of you.

2011-10-31T17:53:00.004-06:00

Here are the Halloween pumpkins!
Yes, I did go to school like this, and yes, I did leave my kitchen in a mess! Aubrey's says "BOO" and Jennae did the cyclops.

2011-10-29T23:49:00.002-06:00

Last night on the 10:00 news there was this story about the latest rage - PLANKING.

I had never heard of it, but Jennae was totally aware of it. Anyway, it was an interesting story and it looked kinda of fun. So here is what Barry and I did...

2011-10-29T08:59:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was Paije Kacher's birthday!
Auntie Lee Ann gave her
a really nice birthday present:
A new cousin!
HAPPY TWO PAIJE!

2011-10-28T21:39:00.001-06:00

Just arrived: Baby Boy #3 Krohn
8 lbs 10 oz.
Mother and son doing well.

2011-10-28T14:01:00.005-06:00

Pictures of our trip to Paradise.
This from the beach house where Bob learned to paddle board.

Looking from the golf course to the beach house.

Linda outside the condo with a bird of paradise and the lei she made.

Looking back at the condo from the golf course.

All in all, a lovely trip! We'd go again in a heart beat. Someday......

From the edge of the pathway walking out to the beach house.

2011-10-23T17:53:00.006-06:00

We went to Gardner Village to see the Witches - They were up to their usual tricks!

The top photo is a costume idea for you full-figure types! My friend says her name is

Carmen Mirandwitch.

2011-10-23T08:50:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday to super sister, marvelous mom, wonderful wife, amazing aunt, creative caterer - to name a few of her talents...WE LOVE YOU, KAREN! (sorry about the hair color on this photo - but it was really all brown in 1980!)

2011-10-19T17:17:00.001-06:00

Shelene brought up a good point in her post, below...and I thought I would just remind everyone, that once a blog is private the last updated button will NOT change. meaning our loved ones will be posting and updating on their individual blogs adn the sidebar will still say it has been a year. So you will want to check those blogs frequently as you may miss some updates! Family members whose blogs are private are, Shelen and Eric, and Ben and Bonnie. Also lets try to encourage everyone to still use this family blog as well, thanks!!

2011-10-19T14:33:00.002-06:00

See these cute faces? Well, number one, don't let them fool you, they can be very mischievous at times. and Number two, the one on the left? Miss Alexis, she will be freely enjoying her last holiday for a few years this Halloween. She will have from the 31st of October until the morning of November 3rd to eat all the gummy, chewy, sticky candy/food she can before she starts phase one of her orthodontic treatment. Anyone who wishes to donate to the fund can do so at any Zions Bank under the name"Alexis' VERY expensive mouth". So far, she is quite excited for this to happen.....once it does, I give her 12 hours before she changes her mind. I think of the years of pain I went through with braces....and I have to say, it is SO worth it....so in the meantime, we are keeping the end picture in sight instead of the ever looming multi-thousand dollar bill.

Also, on another note, I have been doing some blog updating. So I know it says we haven't updated in a year, but I promise, it has been more recent than that. So keep your eye on it over the next few weeks for LOTS of changes! Love you all!!!

2011-10-17T16:37:00.003-06:00

Cousin Rayna sent me a box of some of Ray's old collector type books to share with any of you who may be interested. I took a picture of all of them, but it wouldn't load, so here is a title page of one. I'll try another. So anyway, there is a copy of Tennyson, Idylls of the King and 3 other salesman books from 1925. Let me know if you would like to know more.
Thanks!

2011-10-17T16:26:00.002-06:00

Monday's letter from Andrew:
Hello family and all other listeners.
I got your letter, Lauren. Thanks. This past week has been really hectic with traveling to Santa Rosa for transfers and a leadership meeting. There has not been a
lot of time for missionary work cause I was gone to Santa Rosa on Monday and Tuesday for transfers, and then Thursday evening and all of Friday for a meeting. It has been hard to get aything done. And just to let you know how much driving it is, it is a 6 hour
drive one way to get to Santa Rosa so I've done a total of 24 hours
of constant driving this week.
An update on my greeny: his name is Elder Windhloz from Oklahoma. He
is 23 and was in the military. He is very dedicated to working hard and learning
as much as he can about how to teach, find, and do everything that a mission asks.
He is awesome and I can't wait to see the many things he will teach me. I
pray that I can be a good trainer and example for him and to help him
become a better missionary than me.
We have had some cool experiences in the short time that we had this week. On Sunday we went to dinner at a member's home. They have two daughters who are both less active and one
is not married and is having a kid. They were both at dinner and so we
talked with them and they liked us cause we were able to
show them that we are just normal people and then after dinner we had
a great discussion with them about what the Book of Mormon is and a
little about the plan of salvation. We also gave a Book of Mormon to
one of the daughters who normally has not wanted to read it or even have it in her own room, but she took one. Then the other daughter's boy friend, who is not a member, had never taken a book or really been interested in talking to missionaries, but we
gave him a copy and picked him up as a new investigator. We are
going to stop by this week and talk to them more. Also on Sunday we stopped by
at a potential investigator's house to see this lady named Margerette. She was
confused on how we new her name but we explained how when we met her and
she asked us if we could come back and talk to her and her husband today.
It was an awesome day and Elder Windholz got super excited about how awesome teaching is.
So things are going great for me and I am super excited for all the
investigators we have and to get them baptized.
I love you all and I can't wait to hear from you.
Love from Elder Pelton.
pictures will be coming soon

2011-10-14T11:55:00.003-06:00

Just a quick note to report on Paul. He called this morning from the hospital himself. His surgery was yesterday morning and they found no cancer in the lymph nodes and removed the prostrate with no complications. By 8 pm last night he was in a room and they had him up and walking by this morning. Diann stayed here last night, went right back to the hospital this morning and is hopeful they will let Paul out tomorrow. He sounded good this morning but was hopeful he looked better than he sounded.

2011-10-12T14:12:00.002-06:00

Letter from Elder Pelton
Sorry I did not write you yesterday. We were on our way down to transfers in Santa Rosa so I could pick up my new Greeny. I am TRAINING! This has been a rollarcoster of thoughts and emotions and I have been able to control them for a while, but the longer I was in Santa Rosa waiting and thinking, the more nervous I got. Now that I am with my greeny, it is not as bad. He is a really solid missionary. His name Elder Windholz. He is from Oklahoma and was in the military for three years before he came out, he is really cool and really ready to get to work and start learning how to become a missionary. I just pray that I can be that example for him and that person he can look up to. Wish me luck with my new assignment.
This past week has been quiet the adventure with finding and teaching people. We had a baptism on saturday for this 12 yearold girl that we have been teaching and she is shy but asks really good questions and liked learning. I got to baptize her. They flipped a coin to see who was going to baptize her. I won. It was awesome to finally have another baptism. I don't have a lot of time but that is the most exciting thing that has happened to me, except this one lesson we had. I will tell you more about that next week. I love you all. Super jealous that I am not in Hawaii with you. Andrew

2011-10-09T19:37:00.002-06:00

This blog is not changing very rapidly lately, although I have heard several noteworthy items from around the family...Anyway, here's what I did with a zucchini or two that got away from us out in the garden!

2011-10-04T11:51:00.003-06:00

Cool....

Very cool......

COOL!!...........

colin......

Colin!! ........

VERY

COOL

COLIN!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

COOL COLIN!

2011-10-03T21:35:00.002-06:00

Our cute girl
COURTNEY
turns
six
today!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
We love you.

2011-10-01T11:34:00.000-06:00

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY also to
EMERY JADE JOHNSON!
We sure hope you have a special day! WE LOVE YOU!

2011-10-01T10:09:00.002-06:00

Brothers' Birthday!!!

Vincent is 17 and Jack is 2.
Happy Birthday
to both of you!

2011-09-30T13:06:00.002-06:00

Welcome Home Lauren! Hopefully we will see you in Zion soon!

2011-09-30T11:10:00.000-06:00

We are home!!! It has been a crazy and stressful and scarry couple weeks. But we are now home and Carter is doing great! My water broke on Sunday September 16, at 36 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Being that Emery was born at 35 weeks and was fine we weren't overlly worried but I was nervous. His birth was relatively normal and I was fine, it wasn't until about three hours after his birth that he was starting to struggle and groan with each breath. After being airlifted to Bend and a few days of trying the less envavise stuff it was determined that he needed to be put on a ventilator and given medicine directly into his premature lungs. The night they put him on the vent we thought we had lost him. It was so very scarry. He spent 24 hours on the vent and 24 hours on the CPAP and then slowly weaned him off the oxygen. He is now doing great and is cuter than ever! He is tiny, though at birth he weighed 6lbs 7 oz and is down to 6lbs 1oz now. His siblings LOVE him a bit too much, they are constantly fighting over holding him and I caught Emery carrying him yesterday! We have been so very blessed through this and appreciate all the prayers. I should by now just expect the worst but it still amazes me when things go array. Oh well we are getting stronger and apparently we can handle all of this. Anyhow, I'm doing well, by far the easiest recovery for me and I know it is solely because of the blessing I received and that it was necessary. If you want to read a more detailed account of his birth with a day by day updates, it is on my facebook under notes. Love you all

2011-09-21T11:14:00.000-06:00

Hi family-

My mom asked me to post an update on Candace's newest little one Carter Steven. He is currently in the NICU in Bend, Orgeon and had to be put on a ventilator last night. All of his test results are coming back normal. his heart, brain and other organs are all doing well. He is a little fighter but they aren't sure why he is struggling to breathe. It looks like he will probably have to be in the hospital for a few weeks. Please keep Candace her family and little Carter in your prayers.

Thanks so much- we love you all.

Jessica

2011-09-19T20:55:00.004-06:00

Hello all. This is Jennae. I caved, my best friend and I have made a blog, and it is going to be spectacular. check it out.

jennaeandrachel.blogspot.com

if someone could also add it to the side bar that would be grand...no hurry there though.
loves ya all :)

2011-09-17T21:41:00.002-06:00

Hi, This is Erin not my mom :) I am just here to let you all know(especially Candace, if she's still in charge) that I switched blogs. My new URL is http://eringracenelson2.blogspot.com .
I know it's not much of a change, but it's done! Love you all!

Erin

2011-09-17T14:51:00.002-06:00

TALL PAUL
had a
BIRTHDAY
Sept. 16th
He and Spencer are
Birthday Buddies!!

Yesterday Sept. 16th
was our favorite
ANNA WATERS'
10th BIRTHDAY!!

and since I'm on a roll here......

Sunday Sept. 19th
will find
Aaron MacDonald
turning the BIG 35!

But don't feel bad Aaron,
JOE MACBETH
is right behind you!
His BIG birthday day
is Sept. 22nd.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
WE LOVE YOU ALL!!

2011-09-16T11:45:00.001-06:00

Chanel asked me to post this on the family blog for them in case any one wants to see the pro pictures. They are very nice pictures!! I especially love the one of Noel and Colin.
The password is: white
http://www.kruseportraitdesign.portraitstorefront.com

2011-09-15T18:42:00.002-06:00

A birthday shout-out to our darling

SPENCER WHIPPLE!

He's a big 7 years old today.
Eric and Shelene are lucky
to have this boy in their family...
he keeps thing interesting!

We love you, Spencer!!!

2011-09-12T21:58:00.002-06:00

There are a couple of pictures of Andrew on his Mission Blog: http://santarosacru.blogspot.com/

There is also a short video clip of two missionaries. The elder from
New Zealand was Andrew's trainer. Both Elders tell amazing stories!!

This week has been a little slow since we had our Zone Conference all
the way down in Santa Rosa. That is the longest drive ever! Makes it even
worse when you have 6 missionaries in the car. It is about a 6 hour
drive from Crescent City to Santa Rosa and no stops except for dinner.
We stayed with some missionaries in Santa Rosa for the night and
that was also a bad idea - to have 6 missionaries in one apartment. I had
to sleep on an air mattress with no blankets, so I used my towel for a
blanket to cover my feet. It was a long restless night. Then we had
Zone Conference the next day on Wed. and President Bunker talked a lot
about the responsibility we have as missionaries being the only ones in
the world to do this kind of work. How we need to step up as a mission
and work harder than we have before and to never give up when
everything is going bad and times are tough. He also talked about how
there are three types of people in the world; those who make things
happen, those who watch what happens, and those that wonder what
happened. It made me think of who I am and how I need to step up and
start making things happen at a better pace than I am now. I need
to work harder and Crescent city is the best place for that to happen.
I can really put my shoulder to the wheel and push as hard as I can.
Other than Zone Conference, not a lot happened this week because about
half of it was spent in the car driving to and from Santa Rosa. We
have some really awesome investigators and we also got down to Klameth
which is the Indian reservation for all the Yurok tribe members. It
is really awesome to go and teach down there cause you see a lot of
really cool stuff, like people build log canoes and a lot of fishing is
going on now since Salmon season started.
Thanks for all the birthday stuff. It was awesome and nice to get some
home made stuff. I am doing pretty well. The weather has started to get a
little colder than when I first got here. It is foggy from about 1:00 on till evening
when it gets really foggy. But the temperature is just like home.
I love you all and I will have more stories about our investigators next week.
Love you. Andrew

2011-09-10T22:25:00.003-06:00

Aubrey and Kiona went to WJHS Homecoming tonight. I can't believe my little Aubrey is growing up! I think she is beautiful in her everyday attire, and quite stunning in a formal dress!
Kiona's father is from American Samoa, but Kiona has never been there.

2011-09-08T18:15:00.002-06:00

This day is such a special one.
It's birthday time for....who???

Libby Macbeth
That's who!

Happy 1st birthday, little one!

2011-09-06T19:35:00.002-06:00

For those of you not on Facebook, here are a few pictures I borrowed from Richard's page of the wedding of Noel and Chanel. Looks like a great occasion!

2011-09-06T11:56:00.002-06:00

This came from Don and Rosie's daughter Susan:

(I've heard rumors about this!)

I was testing the children in my Sunday School class to see if they
understood the concept of getting to Heaven.
I asked them, 'If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave
all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?'
'NO!' the children answered.
'If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything
neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?'
Again, the answer was, 'NO!'
By now I was starting to smile. Hey, this was fun!
'Well, then, if I was kind to animals, to all the children, and loved my
husband, would that get me into Heaven?'
I asked them again.
Again, they all answered, 'NO!'
I was just bursting with pride for them.
'Well,' I continued, 'then how can I get into Heaven?'
A five-year-old boy shouted out, 'You gotta move to '' COLORADO "

2011-09-05T22:15:00.002-06:00

Monday's letter from Elder Pelton :)

I got the package. I am emailing so late because we had a lot to do this
morning. Crescent City is awesome. I love it here! It is just like home,
wet and coldish. It is the perfect temperature here, in the 60's all
day long even in the morning when it is really foggy. I will have to
send some pictures when I get the other memory card. I love it here
because this area is having a lot of success, and I can't wait to see how
everything goes this transfer.
We have had a lot of opportunities to
teach and I forgot my planner so this might be a little short but I
will try to remember. I've have had some trouble getting to know the
area for some reason. I have never had this trouble in my last areas
but I am hoping it will go better this week. When we first got here it
was pitch black and we could not see anything so we missed seeing the
ocean and the redwoods but I did get to see everything during the week and I got
some really cool pictures. We are teaching some really awesome people
and we have a lot of people with baptismal dates so we should have a
lot of success while I am here, if i don't mess it up. My new companion
is named Elder Gifford. He is from Salt Lake and is really awesome and
bold with people and I can tell I am going to learn a lot from him
this transfer. He is really funny. We get along great.
I am so excited to be in an area that is having success because I was getting
really bummed out in my last area. I was waiting and trying to find
success there and I found it after I left by seeing how hard I worked while I was
there. I gave my all and now I can't wait to give even more to this
area based on the things I learned in my last areas. Sorry I could
not talk about the people we are teaching, but I don't have my planner
again. I love all of you and the best wishes to everyone. Andrew

2011-09-05T15:11:00.002-06:00

Who is
TAYLOR GROPPER??
He is the mystery man
married to
Michelle Macbeth and today
is his BIRTHDAY.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAYLOR!
Can any one give us
some information
about this young man
so we all can get to know him?
Let's play 20 questions
about Taylor......

I know he's really cute and outgoing. kp

2011-09-04T18:59:00.002-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to the family's newest Doctor.

ROBERT BUTLER!

We hope you have
a wonderful birthday
and that you are loving
your new home town!

2011-09-02T15:54:00.002-06:00

Seems hard to believe, but

NOEL WHITE

is 20 today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2011-08-31T17:08:00.002-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
ELDER PELTON!
We love you
and miss you!
Keep up the hard work.

2011-08-30T14:57:00.002-06:00

Today is the day that

Sweet Kamie Peterson

turned Rachel into a

GRANDmother

and Linda into a

GREATgrandmother!!

Way to go, Kami!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We love you!

2011-08-30T12:53:00.002-06:00

187 E St. apt C-24
Crescent City, CA 95531

Monday August 29, 2011
Another change is in order for my mission: I am getting transfered to Crescent City, way at the top of the mission, right next to the Oregon border. I am going to be almost hours from home or so. That is the biggest news of the week.
This week has been a whole lot better than last week. We got to see more people and got a hold of some less actives that we had been trying to see but never answered. The one bad thing this week was that one of our most dedicated investigators did not come to church and we could not get a hold of him for the whole week, phone calls, stoping by at his house, nothing worked. We could not get a hold of him. It is really strange of him to not answer his door or return our calls. So I don't know what happened to him. This might be a short letter cause I don't have a lot of time to write. Any way we got to go and see one of our investigator's kids play in a football game and it was really cool and the kids were really good. My companion and I are just finally getting to know each other and be more relaxed with each other and now I have to leave, so that stinks. But what can I do? The Lord wants me in Crescent City so I am excited. Can't wait to see what is in store. I love you all. Andrew

2011-08-28T17:10:00.002-06:00

Today is also the birthday of

the family's newest member:

CHANEL WHITE

For a few days, she is Noel's

older woman!

We are also sending a

birthday shout out

Tony Hoffman.

We hope you get

some time in your

man cave.

2011-08-27T13:58:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday
to a favorite in-law

ROB MATHIS

You are living proof
that good things can com
in old packages!

2011-08-26T11:32:00.002-06:00

18 Eighteen

8teen 18!!

When did that happen??!!

Congratulations

Jennae Nelson.

2011-08-24T11:29:00.002-06:00

MINDY! MINDY!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY

May your day
be as much fun
as you are.

We love you!

2011-08-23T22:27:00.002-06:00

Only once in your life (thank goodness)
do you turn the BIG Five O.
So let's give a big shout out to
RICHARD WHITE!
This is his year !!
(Lucky guy)

BRETT WATERS
is also celebrating today!
But he's still a spring chicken.
(That's a compliment, Brett.)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2011-08-22T23:47:00.002-06:00

A letter from Andrew Monday Aug. 22, 2011

Well, this has been the hardest and worst week I have had on my misson. Mentally it has been an extreme challenge. Trying to find people to teach has been really hard as well because of school starting up again. We find out transfer information this week so who knows - maybe I'll go somewhere else, but I will probably stay here. Nothing exciting has happened at all this week so this may be a really short letter, sorry. Facebook has been really boring and I don't know what to do when I am online. It would make it easier if I had peope to teach but that is what I am trying to do - find people out on the streets that are online that we talk to.
There is not much new with the people that we are teaching cause most of them were busy with getting their kids back into school so it was hard to see them. Hopefully things will pick up this week, and we should have some new people to teach, too. I am really excited to see what this week will be like and how well everything goes, because I want to work harder than I have this past week. Who knows what might happen when we get transfer calls. We did have stake conference this week. It was strange. Since the stake is so spread out, they did a web broadcast and we watched it at the church building. Our mission president spoke and he only had a few minutes to talk, so he just bore his testimony. It really spoke to me and I am grateful for the things he said and I felt the love he has for all the missionaries.
I am doing good. I am amazed how fast time is flying by. I can't wait for the rest of my mission because I know I am going to learn so much and grow even more than I have. love you all, Andrew

2011-08-22T22:55:00.002-06:00

The world is richer
by one teenager
today......
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
GRACE WHITE!!

And right behind her is
Lindsey Butler.
She is an incredible
five years old!

We love you both!!

2011-08-21T10:11:00.008-06:00

Here we are on our cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada! The ship was really fancy and fun and the shore excursions were entertaining. We did the golf cart tour of Catalina -
preferable to a car because gas
was $7.50 a gallon on the
island!
Ensenada was
the girls'
first real taste of the barter system. Those Mexicans were able to part us of some of our cash in exchange for some memorabilia! We played shuffleboard and ate too much, and met some shady characters. Barry won the "Hairiest Chest"
contest and we attended
our first art auction.
All in all, it was a great vacation!