The New Trailer Home

We have always wanted to live in St. George, now we literally can.  We purchased this small little lot of land at 448 Telegraph, Washington, Utah.

It is in the Cherokee Springs RV Park and is lot #127.  Hope it's still standing when we return in 18 months.

The Christensen's new house in St. George

Being that we have not left on our mission, we spent the first two weeks in April helping Craig and Judy Christensen remodel their new/old home.  This winter, they have lived in their son's camp trailer in St. George and low and behold, Judy has not spent one day in the hospital.  She is still doing oxygen from time to time and breathing treatments, but no hospital stays.

Craig has not had to shovel snow and risk the chance of falling and breaking something.  It's been a good winter for them.  Having found this out, they purchased a home near the trailer park where they were living.  Judy wanted to put in new wood floors, change the baseboards, raise the bathroom vanities and put some new lights in the kitchen.

The work was Theron's job assisted by all of us -- Collin, Kathy, Steve, Jackie, Brad Fox and me.

Their sons-in-law came to paint and did a great job.  Craig Jr. textured the walls.  The home should be ready soon for furniture and living.

As we were there, we approached President Webster about selling the trailer lot.  He accepted our offer and we are now the proud owners of lot #127, Cherokee Springs RV Park, Washington, Utah.  Craig and Judy moved into our trailer and we pulled Brandon's trailer back north.

We have our first TEENAGER!

On March 20, 2015, Cameron turned thirteen.  Wow, where did the time go.  He has grown into a wonderful young man who holds to truth, doesn't drink soda, is totally addicted to his iPod, attended the Temple often and seldom (never) calls his grandmother on his cell phone.

For the first half of junior high, he is straight A's.  What a high standard to set for himself the rest of junior high and high school.

Happy Birthday Cameron!!!

It's March - The Weather is Great - Yard Work Begins

We were hoping to be gone by now, but being that we are still around we had to do some yard work.  We called in our only child that owes us big time and she was glad to come help clean out the scrub oak patch, go to the dump and have lunch with us.










Got Adrian's best side.

Theron has also been sorting through all of our old slides and they are at the digitizing place now.  Can't wait for a family home evening of that was my mom, that was my dad, that is who, when did you look like that party.

Mason was fascinated by this and he keeps reminding me of the evening of slides.

There's a Few Water Heater Problems of Late

Guess it's a water problem for some and a remodeling of a basement for others.  Marc had to replace his water heater and he put his best man on it.








Adrian is putting in a new water heater for baseboard heating in the basement.  She also put her best man on it.  Oh, wait.  He's my best man.  He's been spending lots of time in that basement!  Can't wait for it to be finished.

It's Operation Time

Tyce has been battling ear infections for a long time and they won't leave him alone, so it was determined that he should have his adenoids removed.  Wouldn't you know it was the first and only big snow storm day in Salt Lake that day, March 3.  

Marc and Brittney head out and the van won't make it up 4th South.  They slide into a near-by parking lot and walk to the Trax station and ride the train up to Primary Children's Hospital.  Theron and I are stuck in St. George; 13 inches of snow in Cedar City prevented us from being home.

The operation was successful - except Tyce woke up "combative".  Who would have thought - a two year old, in a room full of strangers, in a strange place, not knowing just where he had been, and probably his head buzzing from the anesthesia.  That would make me combative- oh, wait, I get that way when I wake up after surgery.

After calming Tyce, Marc goes down the hill to retrieve the van.  Well, the van with the 'boot'.  He was illegally parked and the store had, had a boot put on the van.  After much grumbling and paying a fine to have it removed, all was well and the three of them went home.

A fun day for all - how do you define 'fun'?

In this picture on Trax, Tyce has no idea what is about to happen.

Two Year Old Tyce

It's not bad sharing your birthday with your sister, yet.  Tyce will have to talk to his dad about sharing birthdays; Marc has lots of wisdom in this department.

For now, Tyce is just happy, go lucky and glad to be wherever he is at the time.  I love his ready smile and show-off attitude.  Today, he had a great time, celebrating!!!!

Wow, did Elmo come to celebrate with you?  Great cake.

A Four Year Old Ali Jo

February 18 is a big day at Marc and Brittney's with two birthdays.  Each one should get their own blog page though.

We gathered in the evening at the skating rink in Layton for a big evening of pizza, cake, roller skating, laser tag and big toy fun.  The kids had a great time and played their hearts out.

Ali tried her hand at using her scooter to navigate the skating floor.  She was expert at zipping in and out of skate traffic!

Happy Fourth Birthday Ali.

It's Brittney's 30th Birthday

The big 30 year for Brittney.  

We gathered around and watched as she opened Adrian's 30 presents and lots of other presents from family and friends.  Wow, 30 already!!  Way to go.

Happy Happy Birthday Brittney

I reflect often on what a wonderful addition Brittney has been to our family.  She is a great wife and mother, she is thoughtful of others, and she has a strong testimony of the gospel.  Marc, you choose well!!!

February 2015 - the Month of Birthdays

We are a February birthday month - it starts with Taylor on Feb. 3; Brittney on Feb. 13; Ali Jo and Tyce on Feb. 18; and Melanee on Feb. 27.  This year, we were here for all of them. 


TAYLOR - 11 years old


We always have fun giving Taylor duct tape, popsicle sticks, glue (a whole case this year), and lots of foam and paper so he can invent things and make things.  He also wanted to go to the Great Salt Lake as one of his days when he was out of school.  How fun was that, being able to walk clear to the water and into the water on a February day.

Taylor turned 11 this year - wait for it -- the big one is next year Taylor.

















Taylor also received his Arrow of Light - the Eagle of Cub Scouts.  Congratulations for all your hard work.  We are so proud.

 Taylor made Adrian go into the water, she wore the big high boots!

2015 Begins A New Year

I know it's not quite the beginning of the year, but I have finally sat down to officially start recording 2015.  I have to say this has been the most mild winter we have had in a very long time.  The whole month of February was warm and sunny.  Theron and I spent most of that month trying to hurry our Visas for Samoa; when they did finally arrive, we found out from the New Zealand Area that the ICS people were out of the office until mid-April.  So the official get on the airplane date is now April 20, 2015.


Curt, when did you get to be 37 years old????????  This January 11, Curt turned another year older and wow, I reflect often on where did the time go.  Theron and I have been looking through slides of our children when they were young and growing.  They were so cute and precious; but after all that, I love them more as they get older and wiser.  Love and kisses Curt and Happy Birthday.

Melanee was making him breakfast and had a fight with the powdered sugar.  Way to go -- look like its sugar 1, Melanee 0.

On January 18, my mother celebrated her 82nd birthday.  Later that month, Neala hosted a tea party for her and we gathered around the table to drink our many flavors of tea and eat goodies.  Happy Birthday mom.

My sister, Linda, retired the month of January.  She worked a long time at Hill Air Force Base and is my idol - a two time cancer survivor, a widow that has a great attitude and outlook on life, a grandmother raising two boy - Joshua and Matthew, and my sister.  Way to go Linda.

The basement update:
The sheetrock is up and the walls have been plastered.  It is ready for paint.  Theron worked all of January and February to help Todd and Adrian (our little carpenter) get this far.

Theron and I taught a stake family history class through January and February. We had about 30 students and met some very great people who live in our stake.  What a neat experience for us to work with them and teach this great new tool for family history work.

That's pretty much the wrap up of the first month of 2015.

Where in the World are Grandpa and Grandma this time?

One evening, we were sitting with our friends in St. George and Theron hands me the iPad and says, "What do you think?"  The message was for missionary couples to serve as technology specialists in Fiji.  I replied that we should write an e-mail and inquire.  The rest is history.

We wrote to the couple in the e-mail and they replied within a day and asked us to fill out a little survey of our technical skills.  Within another day, we were asked to prepare a resume and send to them.  A resume for a mission?  We then were scheduled to meet with several technical staff members at Riverton and were 'interviewed'.  The next step was doing a video conference with the ICS Manager at the New Zealand Area Office.  We passed and began completing our mission papers.


We waited most of December and the call finally came the first week in January.  We were assigned to serve as Area Technology Specialists in Apia, Samoa.  The MTC date was set at April 27.  We have now applied for our visas and are waiting for them to arrive.  If the visas can get her sooner than April, we will leave and begin our service to the Lord.

We are looking forward to this second full-time mission and look forward to seeing and witnessing what the Lord has in store for us to accomplish.

As we bid good-bye to 2014, we look forward to the future with anticipation of another wonderful adventure of life!  We are blessed with the most wonderful family in the world.  Our hearts are full of gratitude for our blessed children and their wonderful spouses and the most beautiful, bright, and brilliant grandchildren in the whole world!  We love you!!!

We have an abiding faith and love for Jesus Christ who is our redeemer and loving older brother.  We love our freedoms and the opportunities and blessing that come our way on a daily basis.  We want to exemplify a life of service to all.  What a great future we have - embrace it, love life and love the gospel!

Marc - You are how old? When did that happen?

Our baby turned 35 years old this December 25th.  When did that happen?  He's grown into a tremendous man, loving father and husband, and such a great man!  With Love and Kisses, Mom and Dad

The Bathroom Project - It's Officially Finished

This is the final photo of the new bathroom remodel.  It's complete and I have to say, it really looks great.  All the kids have fun using the sensor to turn the water on.

Christmas Cookies

I have tried to continue a holiday tradition of having all the kids and grandchildren up to make gingerbread houses or trains or something.  This year, the schedules just wouldn't allow for a day with the whole family. 

I couldn't let it go so on Christmas Eve day all the grandchildren, Adrian and Marc came up and we made sugar cookies.  Ali, Mason and Tyce helped put the batter together.  Tyce liked that he could crack an egg.  It was delightful to watch him look intently at Ali and Mason and see what he was supposed to do and then smile when it was his turn.


When the batter was "resting".  We entertained ourselves with an indoor snowball fight using some fluffy snowballs we purchased for just such an event.  I was planning on reading a story, but that was too long and boring to keep them entertained for more than one minute.

We then cut cookies, baked cookies, made tiny pizzas and then frosted cookies.  I think everyone got their fill of eating cookies, also.

Adrian and I made a 'special' batch for Neala's family - we tried to protect her as much as we could!

I love these kids and hope we are indeed building memories.

Christmas 2015

It's hard for me to believe an entire year has come and gone.  Neither Theron nor I were feeling much in the Christmas spirit this year, don't have a good reason.  Theron did not put up his light display and everyone asked about it.  Oh well, they will have to wait a couple more years - I'll explain in another blog.

We were able to enjoy the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Program at the Conference Center featuring the Muppets.  We loved the Bells on Temple Square Concert and the beautiful lights on Temple Square.  We tried and tried to travel to St. George for a few days, but that didn't happen.  But, we did get to travel to Kaysville and meet and greet ALL of Neala's family - Dan from New York, Karen Ann from South Carolina, and Darren from California.  All five of her grandchildren were there as were the spouses.  What a great family and what a treat for her and Louie.  Louie didn't get to spend too much time because his mother died and he had to travel to New York, but he did have Christmas Day.



We traveled to Adrian's and opened presents and then to Marc's and opened more presents.  It's such a joy seeing your kids' families and the joy that is there for our grandchildren on Christmas Day.  Always of course for us, it's a delight to celebrate Marc's birthday and remember Grandpa Schaefermeyer.

Theron and I bought new iPad Air 2 for each other and of course, we opened those way before Christmas.  

Cameron got new hockey gear, Taylor's got all camo, Mason got legos and action figures, Ali got a huge doll house, and Tyce got a Talking Elmo.  It was a celebration and we all recognized how blessed we are to have each other, to live in a free country, to have an abundance of everything!

Tyce is being patient with grandpa!

The story this year was that Taylor went shopping with us to pick out a pair of binoculars for Curt (but they were really for him) and he tried out several pair and told us the ones to buy.  He was surprised when he opened them on Christmas Day.  Way to go - picking out your own Christmas present and being surprised!