News from Mom

Dear Family,

How was your January? It just seems like January can be a depressing month. Maybe it's part of the post holiday blues, maybe it's the darkness of winter, maybe it's something depressing in the air. At any rate, here comes February. As we stopped to count our blessing, we found all kinds of good news. I am so glad to see that certain family members have been busy writing about it all!

Sunday Nicolas came to visit us, and he brought his new girlfriend. Jennifer seems like a sweet girl who grew up on a farm in Minnesota and works in Las Vegas as a geologist. Nicolas looks good too. How does he manage such a social life? We had dinner and chatted late into the evening. We hope to hear more good news unfold from this piece of drama, and we'll let you know when we do!

Dad's been busy giving Grandpa's house a facelift, and it's almost done. You should see the color scheme. It looks quite modern compared to the quiet abode where Grandpa used to live. And in case you're worried, Summer gave her whole-hearted approval and thinks it looks beautiful. However it has been hard work, both physically and emotionally. It feels good to see it close to the finish.

School moves right along. It seems like second semester just flies by, and before you know it, summer begins. This week marks the end of the third yearbook deadline, with only spring sports left. I am so looking forward to having the yearbook done.

January 13th was Staff Development Day, which unfortunately, I always hate to attend. Fortunately we had a family emergency, which was not unfortunate at all. Summer and Chris went to the hospital to have their baby, so I got to stay home with the kids. Sage Nicole Whitney was born in Las Vegas later on that afternoon. We played all day, and the next morning they all woke up with Atwood cousins sleeping in their rooms with them. Everyone woke up so early that Grandma put them back to bed in her bed, and they all watched Matilda on Grandma's TV. Later on we went to Red Rock where everyone got dirty and tired until finally the Bronson grandparents came to take them home. Lucky them: they got to bath their grandkids! Atwoods stayed and played till Monday, then headed home to Spanish Fork.

So that's the news from Logandale, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

Love & prayers, Mom

Melanie and Andy

Dear Family,

Last Thursday we had such a big snow storm! I spent 2 hours shoveling snow off my driveway and sidewalks and the neighbor's driveway and sidewalks. Milo spent 2 hours playing in the snow up to his waist. I am amazed that snowclothes make this play in snow activity so fun. Friday after Michael and Kambri got home from school, Andy made an igloo with the kids. This is the crazy part: Friday night Michael and Andy slept in the igloo. I actually got inside it early Saturday morning. I wouldn't say it was warm, but I would say I have been colder in tents before. Anyway they had a good time. Since then we keep getting more snow, and everything looks so beautiful. But I sure hate the driving in it part. The kids are starting to prepare for a piano/violin recital in March. I will let you know the date as soon I know. It might be a good time to come get dental work done and see a great show... We loved our long weekend in Logandale: the warm weather, the new baby, the warm weather, Grandpa's jokes, the warm weather, Grandma's desserts and dinners, and of course, the time to relax and enjoy each other's company.

We love and miss everyone! Congratulations, Summer and Chris!! I was so excited to meet your very perfect little girl!

Love, Melanie and everyone else who lives here with us

Martha & Jeremy

Hello Everyone,

Philadelphia has felt more like Logandale this past month. The average high temperatures ranged from 50 to 60 degrees. We've had zero snow, lots of sun, lots of rain and even a few thunderstorms. It's been great.

Under these circumstances, we've been able to take in the warmth of the sun and play a lot! We've taken the boys several times to various parks to ride bikes. That only seems to last for a minute or so. Their favorite activity is running around and shouting for joy. It's tiring to watch! We took the boys to Valley Forge this past weekend. There are acres of green grass to run on. Can you believe this is January??? The boys were out of control. The only time they slowed down was for food. Jeremy laid Lyle on the barrel of a cannon for a picture. There was Lyle, lying on the barrel with his arms wrapped tightly around, saying cheese. Just as I was maneuvering my finger down to push the button on the camera, Lyle slipped off the barrel, flipped a few circles and landed flat on his back on the ground: a big mud puddle! The impact made a big thud sound mixed with a big splash sound mixed with mud flying high! Lyle just lay there dazed. Too bad I never actually pushed the camera button! He recovered quickly and moments later began chasing Rummy again!

Another highlight of the month was a trip to the Air and Space Museum. All three boys were swept away in excitement. Lyle got to be one of those guys who waves yellow foamy things at airplanes (yano, the guys that you see on Top Gun). Then he and Rummy sat in an airplane cockpit and flew Jeremy and me to California. All three boys took turns flying simulated flights. Jeremy sometimes would take too long of turns, and the other children in line would start to cry for their turns. I had fun just sitting back and watching everyone play. It was fun.

In between the fun adventures we took, Jeremy went to school to look inside people's mouths and I did, well, I'm not sure . . . However, the month's over and we're all still alive and healthy. In February, Lyle, Hyrum and I are taking a trip to Utah. Officially I'm going because Sheree Allred, college roomie, is getting married. Unofficially, I'm going because Mel is hosting a party at her house the week of February 15 - 22nd. All are invited. See you there!

Becca & Nick

As we suspected, this month turned out to be a busy one for Nick since his rotations started back up. He actually had quite a nice break since his last rotation in the states. Brazil was hardly hectic, and the month before and after, he swung his vacation rotation. He did come to realize that the only way he would ever find the time to knock out our Sante Fe/ Aztec hutch in the music room would be piece by piece. So after an hour here and an hour there the dust has finally settled, and he is almost done. I'll see if I can find some before and after pictures. It is quite a transformation.

Jonathan had to give the scripture and opening prayer in primary this month. Talk about breaking in the sunbeams! The other sunbeam in the ward actually had to give the prayer and scripture the first Sunday he was there. Jonathan didn't have to until his third Sunday. It took him a minute to figure out the microphone. He kept putting his mouth around it and talking. Finally I convinced him that putting the microphone inside his mouth was not the best approach, and it went much better. The next day we were surprised to find out that he had actually memorized the scripture he said. It's amazing the things they do in Primary these days.

Estelle has gotten pretty fast now with her run, although she hasn't quite figured out how to stop. Well I guess I can't say that because she has figured out a way stop. She just runs right for the wall. Just before she hits, she puts her arms out to hit the wall first. Voila, she stops! She also has taken a liking to Old McDonald this month. Out of the blue she just starts singing in the cutest and highest little voice, "Eee-i, ee-i, oohhh." She has also become a little show-off for any company we have. She acts as an instigator of induced hyper-activity as she and Jonathan chase each other around the living room giggling loudly. Then she walks right up to our guest and smiles coyly.

Last month I guess I said that maybe I'd have more news this month, and I guess I do. I have been loving my little piano angels. And I have also been refinishing a dresser to replace the shelving lost by the demolition of the hutch in the music room. Estelle has grown fond of babies. She carries them around whenever she finds one. And I guess that is a good thing since we'll be getting one in September!!!! Hopefully she won't want to carry that one around by the hand! We're all doing well, and we'll be in touch next month.

Love, Bryces

McKay & Keresa

I have one online class for counseling. It's about drugs and addictions. I had to order the book online which was called Substance Abuse. It came in the mail and I put the receipt out for Keresa to enter into her checkbook. Then I left.

Keresa got up a little later and encountered the hand-written receipt with my name and address on the top, the words "Substance Abuse" in the middle, and $76.00 printed on the bottom. At first glance she thought it was a citation I had the day before and was presenting it to her in this manner. Surely her blood chilled and she had the increased heart rate feeling for a moment. Then she remembered me telling her I was ordering a book online for my drug class. Poor thing. Needless to say, school is underway, and life is crazy again.

Sydney had a birthday party for the big number 1. About the party, it was fun. We got a nice card from Grandma and Grandpa Whit. Sydney ate the yummy caterpillar-cake with out much mess.

Sydney just loves the phone. She loves to talk, pretend to say hello, etc. She pulled it just a little too forcefully and the entire body of her Grandpa Gifford's multi-line, multi-functional office phone (aka the cinder block) came crashing down sending Sydney for a tumble. So sad.

Love, Mk kgw srw

Querida Familia,

I'm sitting here racking my brain and reviewing the week in my head trying to think of anything significant to add make this letter special for the newsletter. However, I'm afraid it's just been another week in the grind of it all. We had a great week working with the members and received 7 new references, and of those 7 we're teaching a 2 or 3 potential families. We also tripled the amount of lessons taught with a member present this week. However, we were still disappointed with the amount of investigators that made it to church. One fellow, Francisco aka El Gallo (meaning the rooster) as people know him, had a baptismal goal for this coming Saturday, but it's been difficult to have a good lesson with him for all the loud music and rowdy children that interupt our lessons in that area, then he told us he'd accepted a new job that requires him to work Sundays, and he did not come to church yesterday. Bummer. However, we did have a new girl we're teaching named Yulisa at church at she really enjoyed it all. More, this is her second week in a row attending and she loves reading the Book of Mormon. So there is a little bit of progress still going on.

Okay, here's something mildly interesting. One of my jobs as Zone Leader is to interview all of the baptismal candidates of my District Leaders. Last Friday, I went on an intercambio with one of my district leaders to go deep into his area to a place known as finca no. 6, an odd little comunity about 15 K bike ride (they took away our truck for the next three weeks) outside of town. We showed up and a member or two greeted us and had us wait there for the baptismal candidate to show up. After an hour of sitting (and the members searching) they had finally located him getting his hair done. So we found the obscure place where he was getting his hair done and he, very grudgingly, gave me a few minutes away from his hair stylest to give him his interview. It went well and really quick, only that he just didn't really seem interested. Weird but turned out okay. Then that night, I had another interview for my other district leader. We started at about 9:40 and we got out at 10:50. Yikes! What a rotten interview too. She was a nice enough girl, but the whole hour + in the interview, she didn't even let me ask one interview question. She just bombarded me with doubts about everything from Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon to dancing and music and sabbath day worship. So I asked her if she would like to wait on her baptism and she wouldn't really give me a straight answer. She just kind of said, "Well I know baptism is important and your church is good and I feel really good about going to church and...." So I asked her if she would like to baptized the next day as planned. She also wouldn't give me a straight answer, just express more doubts. So I told her her baptism was going to be postponed and said, "Is that okay?" And she wouldn't give me a straight answer and continued talking my ear off about everything we'd already discussed and, I have a hunch, she'd already discussed with her set of missionaries. So I said, "It's late, I'm going to leave it at that with the conclusion we've come to, and I'm going to say the prayer to finish. Is that okay?" No straight answer. More of the same. So I cut her off, and insisted on giving the prayer, and left.

I guess I just got really lucky that day to have two such unique experiences. I can honestly say I've never given baptismal interviews like either of those before. I was also pretty tired. But that's okay.

Well, I'm still working it and doing it the best I can. Thanks for all the support and everything else.

Con Amor, Elder Whitney

Bert N Whitney Family Newsletter, Glimpses of Heaven