Happy 12th Birthday Kate

Today is the Day!  Kate has been waiting for months...maybe years for this big day.  Kate is 12 years old and now a Beehive in Young Womens.  To celebrate we had a huge family dinner with all of Kate's favorites.  Things like Ben's fettuccine, honey lime chicken enchiladas, parmesan cheese toasts, etc.  Everything starchy that Kate loves.  (We did have a few vegetables as well).

And CAKE and ice cream.

Grandma Jackson made a cuddle quilt that Kate absolutely loves!

Kate is haBEE to be 12!

Kate wishes to thank you all for the great gifts and for helping her have such a nice celebration dinner.

Christmas Deadheads!

Stacy sent pictures of one of the Jackson traditions...or at least the John Jackson traditions.

Grateful Dead t-shirts for everyone!

 Ben looking awesome on his water polo team.  Merry Christmas from San Clemente!

And from Fair Oaks.

Nice trip to Oregon.  Need the details Mom and Dad!

December 2013 News

We are finally settled in our new home! We moved at the end of August to Cottonwood Heights and we love our new home and the area. We have been staying busy with work and our new callings. I'm in charge of the Ward Newsletter and Noah is an Elders Quorum teacher. Finn has been making wonderful progress lately. He started rolling over and can hold his head up all on his own. He also has been more alert and aware of his surroundings, he gives us lots of smiles and laughs and loves to be around people. He absolutely loves music, I'm convinced he will be some sort of musician one day. We haven't been to many doctors appointments lately and we're taking a break with testing and it's been so nice. It seems like since we've stopped, he's been progressing a lot more. We're letting him do his thing. 

We're looking forward for Christmas in our new home. We've already got all our decorations up and our Christmas shopping is done. We are on the ball this year! We love you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Zemkes


A favorite Christmas Tradition among the John Jackson family is receiving Grateful Dead shirts from Grandpa.  I don't know when the tradition began, but for years John has picked out Grateful Dead t-shirts for everyone in the family.  As the family has grown, and Grandpa has started to lose track of who already has what shirt, he has started to vary in his gift giving.  But everyone in the family owns at least a few Grateful Dead shirts that they fondly remembering receiving on Christmas from Grandpa Jackson!

Staci Jackson

stacijackson2@gmail.com

Check out the Jackson Five blog for the "Grandkids 12 Days of Christmas"  What a great idea Staci!

Hi guys!, This is Kate Chatfield.

My choir has been practicing hard for our big concert! We are singing with B.Y.U vocal point in the Salt Lake City Tabernacle! We are also singing with about 200 other people! The concert will be televised on National T.V.! I am so excited! i will make sure to tell you guys when it is and where it will be on T.V.! On Dec. 2 i will be aditioning for my schools play called Cinderella! also that evening i will be going down to a retirement home and singing for them! it will be lots of fun! in December my birthday and the forbiden carols are coming up too! lots of things! But that`s always December for everyone is`nt it? well happy thanks giving and up coming christmas!

As u all know its now December! Yay!! Well not for us! (or at least me) It was all snowy! (Dec. 3,2013)

This is Kate! To day i am very happy i got in my play today we did call backs i might be Cinderella the godmother or the girl mouse!

yay me!!! I am so happy! But all of us don`t know until friday who got in and what part happy winter!

love Kate Chatfield

A Celebration of Christ-Kate's Performance

Kate's Hobble Creek Choir was invited to take part in an Interfaith Christmas performance at the Tabernacle on Temple Square.  The girls got to hang out with Vocal Point (BYU's premier nine-man a cappella ensemble), Jenny Oaks Baker (one of America's most accomplished violinists and daughter of Elder Oaks), and a whole host of amazing, talented professionals.  Was a beautiful and inspring way to invite the Christmas Spirit into our December. 

Once we arrived at the tabernacle we were ushered to the "Talent Entrance".  Kate said she had never been referred to as the "talent" before.  It was kind of nice.

Foundation 4Life organized the whole event and provided all the performers with several meals and a great place under the Tabernacle to practice.  It was called the "Horseshoe".  There were many halls, rooms and probably a whole host of other things we didn't see...all under Temple Square.  I've heard Dad talk about the tunnels he used to play in as a kid under the Temple and also under the Capitol.  

For the next 5 hours all the performers came together and practiced for the upcoming matinee and evening performances.  (The girls did have about a 45 min. break to walk over and shop City Creek...that was fun.)

Kate was extremely impressed with Vocal Point.  Her choir was invited to come to their dressing room for a private practice.  Kate said all nine guys sang to the girls in the choir.  Swooning aplenty! 

 The tabernacle was sold out for all performances.  Kate and the choir loved the whole day of "Celebration".

After the performances we were able to enjoy the lights at Temple Square.  Beautiful.

Thanks to Grandma Jackson for hanging with us from 8:30 in the morning till 10:00 at night.  It was fun to have her clapping and cheering all the while.

  

Kate to sing at the Tabernacle on Temple Square

Kate's Hobble Creek Children's Choir has been invited to sing at the Tabernacle on Temple Square, November 30th.  There will be two performances that day.  For more information and to obtain tickets go to www.LDS.ORG/EVENTS.

November 2013 News

Thanks for Giving

Today is November 1^st, Bianca’s birthday.  We are celebrating her birthday by helping her to move out.  She has been planning this day for a while now and we’re glad she waited until she was 18 to do it.  Jake is thinking about moving into her old bedroom although he’s not sure he wants to.  We will now have a guest room for any and all to come visit.

Last night our trick-or-treaters were once again in full force.  Car loads of cute kids are dropped off in our neighborhood so we go through the bags of candy pretty quickly.  This year it was a bit nippy so around 9:00 pm there was a lull at the door so we quickly shut the lights out and went looking for Kate.  This was Kate’s first year to trick-or-treat without parents along.  She and her friends had a great time and came back with huge bags of candy and frozen hands.

 Kate created her costume this year.  She was a “Party Animal.”  Just another way to show that she LOVES animals…I guess.

Jake decided to spend All Hallows Eve with a group of his friends playing word games, looking at an “amazing” baseball collection of a former BYU player and eating pizza.  He arrived home late in the evening and decided he needed to eat some of the left over Pigs in a Blanket.  Needless to say his tummy was rumbling all night long.

The biggest and the best news in our family is that Kels was offered a job.  A great job with Worker’s Compensation Fund.  WCF is a privately owned business that takes care of worker’s comp needs in the state of Utah.  Once trained he will be conducting audits throughout the Salt Lake and Utah counties.  They have been very good to him so far…even won a $50 gift card from one of the Halloween challenges yesterday.  Only bummer is that it’s to Red Lobster so I guess Jake will be accompanying him as his date for the evening.  Much to Jake’s delight I don’t do seafood.  (I’ll let Kels tell you about the job a little more in-depth in the next Chatter letter.)  The offices of WCF are in Sandy, UT (pictured below).  Once he's trained he won't see much of this building.  Until then it's a state of the art workplace.

In this month of Thanks Giving we wanted to let each of you know how much we love and enjoy being a part of the Jackson family.  As a family we had the opportunity to take part in a project at a Salt Lake homeless shelter just a few Saturdays ago.  While there we were able to witness little acts of love and sacrifice.  We felt, maybe like never before, the importance of eternal families.  We’re thankful we belong to an eternal family.

We love you.  Kels, Kellie and the Kids

Great Things Happening at the Holtry Home

Hi everyone- Things have been nuts around here the last few minutes, but I wanted to take a minute and say Hi and update you about what’s going on in our household. It was great to read all the entries last month. Thanks to those who support the Chronicles by taking a minute and writing! Kellie spends a lot of time on it and she has a lot of things on her plate so thanks Kel!

Josh just finished up with his Water Polo Season. The team did pretty well this season and Josh, in particular did a great job. I really enjoy watching Water Polo. The stamina those kids have is amazing. Swimming up and down the pool, not being able to touch the bottom , catching and throwing the ball with one hand all while your opponent is blocking you, kicking you, pushing you under the water and sometimes scratching or grabbing you under the water. It’s pretty intense, but josh loves it. 

He has moved on to Basketball and is assistant coaching our elementary school team. His Young Men’s group recently did a really funny video for young men’s. You should watch it. It’s hilarious! Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJH9UjGlDbU

Hannah has been busy playing soccer and working on school projects. Her soccer team is doing really well this season. Girls are fun to watch play soccer. They are so into it. Very competitive. 

The family got a new Kitten last month and she has been so responsible in taking care of him. He sleeps with her every night and they have really bonded. She’s such a good girl who is so helpful to me.

Jackson has also been playing soccer. Haven’t won a single game, but he always says “I had fun though!” – That’s what it’s all about in my mind. Of course it’s fun to win, but at that age they just want to have fun. He was in a little school play right before Halloween called “Squirm”. He played the Itsy Bitsy Spider. I was nervous if he would freeze in front of the crowd because he said he was so nervous but quite the opposite happened. He totally hammed it up! He even improvised some dance moves. Here is a short clip of his journey to the top of the water spout:

I am getting ready to start something new. They asked me to co-produce the school’s production of “The Little Mermaid Jr.” – it will mostly be behind the scenes, but I’m looking forward to trying something new.

Brent is starting something new also. He was called as the 2^nd counselor in the Bishopric. He was very humbled and overwhelmed. I know he will do an awesome job and he is very compassionate and loving. He’s also staying busy working, studying for the bar and trying to find a job as a Lawyer.

That’s about it around here. Hope you all are doing well. I am so thankful for my family. You are all so wonderful and I feel very blessed to have been born into such a close family.

Love,

The Holtry’s

Jackson's Squirm Video

Family Halloween Ghouls and Goblins

Thanks for sending your costumed ghoul and goblin pictures!  LOVE THEM!

 

The Road Home

October 2013
There is nothing that can compare to giving service.  Add willing, happy family members serving alongside and it's a little bit of heaven.  

When our non-profit organization, My Story Matters asked for volunteers to help with a special project, I didn't realize that 75% of the volunteers would come from the Jackson Family.  Thank you dear family for offering a bit of your time and talents to the children and families of Roadhome.  Below are a few of your comments...thank you for your loving service.  

Also thanks to Melissa (Jackson) for being our family photographer-she seems to have left herself out of the pictures!

My experiences at the Salt Lake homeless shelter are and will be forever in my heart as I grow older and try to serve people of all kinds. My first experience at the shelter was when we spent some time interviewing and photographing the families there.  I loved it.  Then came the day we got to deliver the books.  I could see all the people lined up to get there books that My Story Matters put together for the families.  It was great watching the families lined up eager to get their books.  The books were amazing with so many cute pictures of each family member. After they received their books I loved watching the children and parents open their books.  Their faces  would light up when they read the pages.  I also loved to watch the little kids choosing their very own blankets.  They held them tight and squeezed in joy because maybe some of them didn’t have their own blankets.  I would ask them which color they wanted and they would choose their favorite color.  I also was put in charge of creating and helping all the children there sign a huge banner that said THANK YOU HERITAGE MAKERS.  The children signed and drew pictures all over the sign to say thanks.  I want to thank all the people that invited me to visit the Roadhome.  THANK YOU SO MUCH for giving me these experiences and I hope that I can come back to help and serve more children and their families.

Cierra Warenski.

I  had a very unique experience with the Roadhome shelter.  I realized that  I am very blessed to have the things I have and I am grateful to my parents who provide for me.  Some children were happy even though they obviously don't have much.  I was impressed by that characteristic.  Some children were reserved and were less happy to play and interact with me.  I hope they are all able to find homes soon.

Lauren Chong
  

I liked listening to the stories the dads had to share and working with the little kids. I especially liked watching the kids open their storybooks.  It felt good to be with the nice people of Roadhome.

Jake Chatfield

Spending time at the road home was a great experience. I definitely think I got more out of it than the families. Seeing those kids and families have an opportunity to get family pictures put things into perspective. I was glad to help and learn about the homeless needs in Utah as well as the my story matters program.
Noah Zemke

Volunteering at the Road Home was a wonderful experience. I loved photographing the kids and families and helping them feel important. There was one child who kept coming back to me and asked to have his photo taken again. He wanted to see the photo I'd taken after each shot and the way his face lit up when he saw himself left me with such a great feeling. It was awesome to put some smiles on their faces.

Allyssa Zemke (Professional Photographer for the storybooks)

The Road home was amazing.  I loved it, even though it was sad to see all the homeless people.  I loved seeing their smiles and happiness for a chance to tell "their story".  The children are so cute!  It was such and awesome experience.  If you need me again ask me and I would be more then glad to work there again and again!

Kate Chatfield

Carri's Birth Day

Happy Birthday Carri!

Carri just home from the hospital-boys decided to mask up

Happy Carri and mom

Carri Ann Jackson was born on October 14, 1964 in Ketchikan, Alaska, the fourth Jackson child.  We had been living in Anchorage, Alaska for only 3 months ( having moved there in January, 1964) when the Good Friday earthquake of '64 struck.  When the opportunity to move came along a couple of months later, and with a lot of aftershocks still happening, we were happy to move to Ketchikan in Southeast Alaska.  Ketchikan is a rock in the ocean at the tip of Southeast Alaska, not far from the Canadian border.  It rains a lot in Ketchikan, like all the time.  So Carri entered the world on a very stormy night, and she  came into the world ready for it!  And sister, Kellie, was so happy to have a sister as an ally because she had two brothers.  We lived in a two bedroom apartment on the top floor of a five story apartment building overlooking the water.  Since the bedrooms were already full, Carri's crib was set up in the corner of the living room.   The kids played under and around her all the time and she just slept on.  Maybe that is why she likes quiet so much now.  After about one and a half years we were moved from Ketchikan to Palmer, Alaska.  We had a log house with plenty of property so were able to have pets for the children.  Carri's pet was a lamb named Butch.  And Butch loved Carri and followed her everywhere, even into the house sometimes. He was Carri's best friend, especially when the big kids were at school.  It was very hard for Carri to leave Butch when we moved to the city.  Carri was always a very active child.  She loved sports and dancing and is still fun to be around.

The Hills Are Alive with the sound of....