Newsies!!

I had gotten Janika and Brandon tickets to see Newsies at Tuacahn tonight since they were in town this weekend. Then I found out that Shane and Alicia's family would be coming on Saturday and Sunday as well and so we all went! The Westras had gone to see "the Importance of Being Earnest," at the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and stayed overnight there. They arrived in the afternoon and everyone went swimming (except for me, I took a little nap). 

Then we had a great dinner -- barbequed marinated chicken, potato salad (made by Jenna), and fruits and vegies. Yum! Jenna had already planned on taking Ethan out tonight and so she brought him to Benja's and then to the show at Tuacahn. She gets four complimentary tickets to each show because she works at Tuacahn and had been wanting to bring Ethan for a while now. I had been able to get tickets since I interpret at Tuacahn. 

We had AWESOME seats for the show! Just a few rows from the stage, in the middle. (This picture is taken from the top of the theater). It was a little hot, but still fun and the cast did a great job!  

Camden and Hannah's Wedding

Rick and I decided to come up north for Camden and Hannah's wedding. Camden is Chris's son. I was glad that we came. It is a long drive, but it was nice to be there for their big day and see lots of family. Rick and I both commented on the way home how much we enjoyed spending the weekend together. We visited Janika and Brandon and their two boys on the way (see previous post) and then went to Shane and Alicia's house. We carpooled to the wedding with Shane and Alicia and my mom and dad, so it was nice to have that extra time to visit. 

The wedding was at Red Butte Gardens by the University of Utah. It was really beautiful with all of the trees, flowers, water-fall, bridge, pathways and so forth. With their wedding being on May 4th (May the fourth be with you!) they really integrated the Star Wars theme throughout. 

They had a nice ceremony outside and thankfully the weather and temperature were perfect! Then they had a full sit down dinner inside. The building for the dinner had full length windows and one whole wall was open to the outside and so the ambiance was really nice. They had speeches from family members during dinner and then cut and served the cake and had a dance party afterwards. It was really fun! 

Unfortunately, Chris's wife, Kim's son, Aaron and his fiancé also chose this weekend to get married in Florida! So they had to split up with Chris coming to Camden's wedding and Kim going to Aaron's wedding. That was sad because they both would have loved to go to both and felt so sad missing one to go to the other! 

Here are a couple of pictures we snapped before the ceremony. It was an "unplugged" ceremony and so I didn't get any pictures of Camden and Hannah and will have to add some later when they post some. 

After the wedding we stayed at Shane and Alicia's. We visited with mom and dad for a while and talked finances since mom has really been studying up a lot on finances and retirement and so forth and listening to a lot of podcasts and watching YouTube videos. She said that she was learned so much! So she was teaching us what she had learned. 

The next morning we went to church with mom and dad and Shane and Alicia's family. Then mom helped me set up Josh's ROTH account now that he is 18. We grabbed something to eat and then headed back home! It was a quick trip, but well worth it! The kids seemed to do fine without us while we were gone -- at least as far as we know!! They announced Josh's mission call in church and Josh met with the Bishop after church to get his temple recommend renewed. 

Our neighbor, Brother Larson, and his son came over with a Korean popsicle for Josh. He had gone to Korea on his mission and was really excited about Josh's call. We invited them in and he talked to us about Korea for about an hour. It was very interesting! We figured we could count that as our Come Follow Me to today, ha ha! 

Happy Father's Day!

 (Copied from Jens Father's Day Post on our Family Blog):

Sunday, June 19, 2022 ... the final group gathering and family photo with the back patio of Scott and Amy's home on Old English Road in Draper as the backdrop. Change is in the air, and the house was on the market and sold in the months afterward. 

Scott sent out the annual invitation June 2 ... "Hey Family! You are all invited to the annual Father’s Day extravaganza at our home on Sunday, June 19th. We will probably start around 6:00 pm if that works ok. I will fire up the BBQ and the Treager if Grayson can provide me some smokin’ tips. Please bring the 9 square game. Let everyone know what you can bring and pass the invitation along to all your family members."

On June 19, the day of the party, Scott sent an update ... "Happy Father’s Day! It looks like a cold front will be blowing in early afternoon and the evening temperatures will be on the cool side. Who would be able to come if we moved the start time to 5:00 pm? Please let me know and if that doesn’t work for everyone, we can keep it at 6:00 pm. Please let me know and I will send out a definitive plan early afternoon. I will be smoking some tri-tip on the Treagar and will have our traditional Sprite chicken on the Weber. We will also have baked beans and fruit. You are welcome to come earlier to visit and help. I know many of you will be disappointed to not see me in my short-shorts and tank top but I still hope to see as many of you as possible. Bring a sweater. "

The change in the weather was ironic, as just last year (Father's Day 2021) a heat wave hit the holiday and the festivities had to be shifted a little later to accommodate! With the cool temperatures this year, there wasn't any water fun, as was the case in many Father's Day parties in the past. 

There was food, and visiting. Many got to meet little Letti  for the first time. Layla had a little beaded bracelet business going, so there was some crafting going on. Chris's crew brought some fresh eggs from their chickens for a few people to take home, and Jen brought some tomato plants she'd picked up at a Blackham family reunion the day before. 

It was a bit breezy, and we weren't sure the 9-square would work with the weather.

But we got some games in.

It was a smaller group for this final farewell to Father's Day here at this house.

We missed those who couldn't make it.

... for a fun look back at all the photos from this back porch.

Starting in 2006 in the top left corner, ending with 2021 in the bottom right. Skipped 2011, as while there was a Father's Day photo at the house, that year it wasn't taken on the back porch as all the others were. All of these years have party recaps with additional pictures. Check them out by year (chronologically on the blog archive in the sidebar), or scroll through all the Father's Day posts. 

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Great post, Jen!! I love the collage of Father's Day family pictures through the years!! 

We had a fun time at the party! Now for a little background information on our plans before and after...

Josh, Jenna, Jaiden and I left to head up North on Saturday evening, the day before Father's Day. Rick had left the week before to go on his first interpreting cruise (Royal Caribbean) and so he wasn't with us. (I will do a separate post about his cruise). I dropped the girls off at Shane and Alicia's house so that the girls could spend time with their cousins and go to church with them the next day. Josh and I stayed the night with Janika and Brandon. I went to church with them, but Josh was still not feeling well and stayed in bed all day. 

I hadn't wanted Rick to go on the cruise over Father's Day, because I wanted our family to go to our annual Father's Day party and also spend the weekend together. But he had been really anxious to try cruise interpreting and said that this week worked well with his schedule. He said that he would be flying home on Father's Day and could fly right into Salt Lake and be there in time for the party. I was worried that he wouldn't make it in time (and he didn't). At the time he accepted the cruise he didn't know when the flights would be. I wasn't surprised when the flight showed him arriving later that evening instead of during the day like he had hoped. I was disappointed that he wasn't there and I was also not happy about having to leave the party early with the kids to go pick him up from the airport, especially since I wasn't comfortable navigating through the Salt Lake airport. I hadn't been to the SLC airport in years and didn't know my way around. Of course I got lost and and was stressfully driving around in circles. 

We finally connected and he took over driving. Then Janelle called for her weekly call and all of the other kids got on the zoom call too in order to wish Rick a Happy Father's Day and hear about his cruise. We had decided a while back that we would have our Father's Day Flee right after Father's Day and had reserved an Airbnb, so we drove straight out there and Janika and Brandon planned to meet us the next morning. Janika and Brandon didn't come to the Father's Day party since Everett was just three weeks old, but they planned to come to our Father's Day Flee. We missed Jase and Ellen and Evan, who were in Maryland for the summer. Jared was at FSY this summer and so he wasn't able to come either.  I will write about Father's Day Flee in another post! 

Later this cute collage popped up in Jaiden's Google Photos... Jaiden and Layla at the same party three years ago and today! 

Swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's House!

Those who were available came swimming over at Grandma and Grandpa Westra's house. We had Derek and Danielle and their three girls, Aunt Jeni, and Alicia and Adria, Rella, and Calder along with Cayson and Janelle, Jaiden, Josh and Jenna. Rick came in from Ogden and took Josh shopping at Stance at the Mall for socks and Jaiden and I headed to dinner and Les Miserables that evening! 

Happy Father's Day!!

We had a great time at the Father's Day party as usual! I didn't get a lot of pictures this year since I was busy eating and visiting! Our family was missing Janika and Brandon (who were at his family cabin in Bear Lake), Jase and Ellen, and Jared. Jen brought the 9 square game that Keaton made and it was a big hit! It was in use the entire evening! We had pulled pork and lots of salads and desserts! 

After the party Jaiden and Jenna went home with Shane and Alicia's family in order to have a sleepover with their cousins and Janelle and Josh and I went back to Janika and Brandon's. Rick headed to Ogden to stay over at Grandma Jensen's. He came up this week to work -- visiting the Deaf Branch Presidents and Bishops and other key people as part of his new work responsibilities of working with the Deaf. 

Click HERE to see all of the Father's Day party through the years!! (It looks like the first Westra Father's Day party we had in Draper was in 2006. It became a tradition and we have been doing it ever since!!) 

Rella's Dance Concert

Janelle, Jaiden, Jenna and I headed up North this morning and went straight to Janika and Brandon's townhouse to stay (they were in Bear Lake at Brandon's family's cabin). We were really sad to miss them! But we enjoyed staying at their place! We then headed to Provo to watch Rella's dance concert. She was in lots of dance numbers and did a great job! It was fun watching her and I enjoyed all of the different styles of dancing! 

 After the concert we headed to Shane and Alicia's house for a yummy pizza dinner! Jaiden and Janelle took a nap in their hammock. 

Family History Challenge: Picture Your Heritage

Westra Family History Challenge #3 was to do the "Picture Your Heritage" activity on Family Search. The kids had a lot of fun with this! It was really hard to recognize who was who! To see the pictures from all of the Westra cousins who participated click HERE. Here are some of the pictures from the Jensen family! 

Jenna

Josh 

Jaiden (she won for the fastest entry!)

Janelle 

Janika 

Josh and Janelle were both in the running for the funniest. In the end Keaton won -- and it was a well deserved win, ha ha! 

I think Corin won for the most realistic - another well deserved win! 

But it does not look like Corin -- at all, ha ha!! (Jenna and Kylie were also in the running for the most realistic!) 

 

2020 Westra Family Recap! (By Jen)

My sister, Jen, did an awesome 2020 recap for our family blog and so I copied the whole post to include on my blog as well! 

2020 ... Do We Really Want a Recap?

Family - this IS supposed to be a complete recap! If you have additional memories/thoughts for your family, or for Utah/US/World that you'd like to add, just email me and I'll update!

2020 ... a year that will be remembered, but one that many might like to forget. There was the Westra Christmas Newsletter and the Annual Slideshow for 2020 which gives a pretty good look at what everyone was up to. The annual Father's Day party still happened ... but Covid canceled a family reunion and the Christmas Eve party. 

There were three weddings ...

One pre-pandemic, one RIGHT before things shut down, and one right in the middle of it all.

Several of the younger generation became homeowners... and this year there has been planning for a new home for Shane&Alicia with a G-suite (section for Margie/Lamar). There was also new baby news!

There were the annual ouchies!

Cal broke his foot ... the FOURTH time. Scott had to have surgery on his spine. Derek decided to try a trip to the ER. Kim had surgery on her ear and Conner ended the year as Cal had begun, except he managed a bigger break that required surgery.  Covid was an issue for a few of the families (Camden was the first, then some of Scott's and all the Jensens) but happily no extreme cases.

Ah Covid ... that will likely get its own blog post, with thoughts and memories (and memes!) from the year. There was also the EARTHQUAKE in March, with aftershocks afterward. There were worrisome wildfires here in Utah, and worse ones in nearby states, causing smoky skies ... and spooky red skies. There was a night of wild winds that left some Utah residents without power for weeks. The airport was redone, Derek's old boss bought the Utah Jazz, a mysterious "monolith" appeared in the Utah desert and Jupiter and Saturn aligned to create the "Christmas Star"...

The year started with fires across Australia. Kolby Bryant and others died in a helicopter crash. The  Black Lives Matter movement made a mark, and there were protests and riots, in Utah and across the US. There was a plethora of politics and a presidential election. Whew!

Back to the Westra Clan...

Trying to add a little extra to what was in the Christmas Newsletter blurb.

Most snapshots are also in the slideshow.

Scott and Amy ... fun to have Mckenna and Spencer back in Utah. Some boating and razor riding, and S&A cheering on the cheerleaders. Amy and Taylee took a trip to Disney World. Kemery and Mitch got a house, a dog and now a new baby on the way!

Yea, a new and complete family photo for the Chris and Kim crew! A marriage, and a missionary home (temporarily). Lots of hiking, doting on a granddaughter and photo fun. Chris is good at keeping in touch with weekly email updates. 

Wendy sends email updates fairly often and keeps a family blog with all their activities as well as an annual Christmas post to recap their year (see it here). A wedding, a missionary home, college graduation and so much more!

The Blackham's also had a wedding, and once they moved Callahan out, there was a bunch of renovation (new carpet and paint). Gray got a new truck, and some new gadgets for his kitchen/cooking. Jen sent out monthly email updates (and adds them to the family blog as well). 

Shane and Alicia have celebrated being back in Utah/snow with several ski trips. There was a new family car (Kia Telluride), a driver's license for Adria, as well as teaching her to drive a stick in Grandpa's little blue truck. Dancing and biking and home improvement projects ... as well as exciting home plans for the future!

Derek and Danielle always have oodles of adventures going on! So many fun photos to feature. Many home improvement projects, music and art enterprises and their summer went to the birds (with them documenting both a robin's nest and a hummingbird's nest). If you follow Derek on Facebook/Instagram you'll be pretty connected with all that's going on. 

Father's Day!!

We arrived at Scott and Amy's a little before the party started. My sister, Jen, mentioned in our extended family Westra Way blog that this was the 14th annual group gathering for Father's Day. It has been held annual since 2006. Ironically (per the pandemic) this was probably the largest group there has been! There were even two dogs in attendance! (Since Jen had already done the Father's Day post I took some of the information directly from there!)

We enjoyed a delicious BBQ! Blackhams brought Grayson's super cool water balloon filler (that he made himself) where eight balloons can be filled at a time with on/off spouts to keep the H20 in some control. Chris brought a bunch of baby balloons (and Jen brought some big ones). So there was tossing, chasing, throwing and launching, as Chris brought his "launcher" to fling them high in the sky. Cornhole is a favorite and the girls liked the hula hoops and practicing tricks such as handstands!

Then our family sang "Oh My Father" for my dad! We had put this together for a Father's Day gift for him! I think he enjoyed it and sang along! As soon as I introduced the song my mom started crying -- and I did too. I could hardly sing! Whenever we watch the video my kids make fun of me because I look so funny playing the bells. I guess I need more practice so that I don't totally lean forward when playing them!

Derek videotaped our song on his phone and posted it on Facebook and it actually got 2700 views and 24 shares! We got loads of wonderful comments! Derek thought we should do more songs and start a family youtube channel like some others have done. The boys were NOT excited about that prospect! I think they are happy to have their Sundays back (we usually practiced the song every Sunday and then went around the neighborhood sang to several neighbors on Sunday nights).

Click HERE to see the song on Youtube!

We also took our annual photo!! Our family needs to do a little better about making "windows" for this picture now that we have so many people! There are a few people I can barely see!

 ... and let's not forget Scott's poetic invitation to the party! 

 On Father’s Day, the place to be 

 Is at our home, Covid free 

 We’ll gather and greet 

 And of course we will eat 

 And games we will play 

 To round out the day. 

 We’ll begin at 6 so it’s not too hot 

 And see how decrepit Scott has got 

 We will see how the Westra clan had grown 

 And allow for friendships to be sown 

 We hope to see you safe and sound 

 It will be fun to gather ‘round 

 And honor those who’ve done so much

 And pledge to better keep in touch 

 And since you all are dying to ask 

 No we won’t require a mask.

Jen has more videos and pictures from this party on The Westra Way blog!! 

After the party Rick and Jared went to stay with his mom (Grandma Jensen hadn't seen Jared since his mission) and the other kids and I went to stay with Shane and Alicia. We had originally planned on Rick and me and the kids staying at my mom and dad's but I had a little sore throat and with this whole Covid-19 thing going on I was worried about staying at my parents just in case it turned into something more! A day or so later I felt perfectly fine, so pretty sure it was "just a cold!" Rick and Jared went to Ogden since Jared needed to buy a car and they saw some on sale in Centerville. 

Rick and I had also discussed going to Lagoon the Monday after Father's Day with the cousins, but then the park was requiring everyone to wear masks while in line for the rides and there was so much on the news about spikes in Covid cases that we decided to err on the side of caution and cancel our plans. So we just stayed over at Shane and Alicia's and the kids played together and then we headed back to St. George! 

Callahan and Kate's Wedding

This morning I headed up north in order to attend Callahan and Kate's wedding. Callahan is my nephew (Jen and Gray's son). I brought Jaiden and Jenna with me so that they could have some time to spend with their cousins tonight and tomorrow. We arrived at Shane and Alicia's and then had a delicious dinner of Mexican Chicken. Shane and Alicia had also invited invited mom and dad to dinner and it was great to see them -- we haven't seen them since we came up for Jase and Ellen's wedding. The wedding was very nice. Kate and Callahan had written their own unique vows, which were very true to life -- many of them humorous. Kate is a beautiful girl and she and Callahan make a great couple. Rick was going to come up to the wedding with me, but he ended up having to go to his annual S&I area in-service. Jaiden and Jenna were excited to come and spend time with their cousins. They had a great time!