Homecoming Parade in San Clemente

Lauren was in the Homecoming parade on Del Mar Street with the dance team.  Waving to mom on the side lines.

October 2013 News

Hi this is Kate.
I went on a  field trip on Friday.  It was a blast.  I got to feed and pet horses that people do gymnastics on and stuff like that.  It was awesome and the rain poured on us! We were drenched!!  But we did have an amazing time.  We had this dress up mid evil time show.  I wore a cloak with black and red snake hooks.  It was awesome.  Then we got to eat kettle corn, it was delicious! The next field trip is to a planetarium in Salt Lake in March or April.  Fun, fun!!!

This is my Reflections Entry for 2013.  I want to be a veterinarian one day.  Dr. D let me come take some fun pictures at his clinic in Springville.  I love animals, especially Maya.

September has brought many new things for our family.

Sarah started preschool and loves to go! Every day she asks, "Go to school?" Even on Saturdays. Sarah has a wonderful team of teachers who follow her closely and work with her to help her to improve and progress. Sarah likes to draw. Lately, bugs have been her favorite. We are trying to make progress with potty training. They usually don't allow food bribes in school, but Sarah is absolutely terrified of the bathroom, the loud flush of the toilet, the sinks that spray and the big overly-blue changing mat. They have allowed me to bring in chocolate chips to help with the transition.

Sarah also gets to do tumbling! We absolutely love Coach Ben. He has a group of nine three and four year old children and is able to keep them all on task. The class is very structured with free play, circle time (warm up and stretching), the circuit which is a bunch of mats and trampolines, parachute, and a fun cool down. I took David with us the first time. The coach was very nice to let him play at the beginning when all of the other children were playing. But then it was time to watch and he did NOT like that at all. He cried and pouted. I may sign him up for the next session. Since then, he has been staying home with Daddy.

I also have a new calling at church. I get to teach the six and seven year old children in Primary. To be honest, I'm having major Relief Society withdrawals. But it gets easier every week. And the children in my class are adorable! I have a set of twins that are squishy-cute and all of the children are so much fun.

I was able to attend the Relief Society broadcast at the home of one of the members last night. It was fabulous and I loved being with a bunch of women, again! We laughed a lot, had great soup, and watched the broadcast, which was super good. It was so nice to get out and be with other adults. One of the younger girls there had a scarf that she had made. We were all making a big deal out of it and one of the older ladies said she would teach us all how to make it. Today I showed up to church and she had bundles of the special yarn for a few of us and will teach us in an upcoming activity. So, I'm actually going to buy knitting needles. I know. Michelle does not knit or sew (I CAN do buttons if I have to) or anything domestic like that. But I'm going to learn. When I exclaimed, "Hey, I can do that!", I considered that this would be a good thing. And she's super patient, so I think this will turn out happy and not frustrating.

Friday night we had the missionaries over for dinner. It brought back memories from my own mission and we had a fantastic night. They were so cute with the kids and it was fun to have them in our home. When they showed up, they had on warm hats and coats. They said it was snowing in Granby. When it was time for them to go, we noticed it was snowing here! So we've had our first snow. It was melted by mid morning the next day, but it was fun to watch.

We are loving it here in Kremmling. It's a calming and healing place and I consider it a miracle that such a place even exists. But it does, and it's here! I love it here.  Michelle and Family 

Are You Ready For Some Football?! (to be over)

Will's football practice

Fall is officially here and we are enjoying the crisp weather.  School is in full swing and our lives have settled back into a routine.  A lot of our time seems to be taken up by football.  Scott is the high school freshman football coach.  He also helps with the varsity team.  That means he has practice everyday after school, freshman games on Thursdays and varsity games on Fridays.  Because the two teams trade off traveling to away games, he ends up traveling somewhere every week.  It has been a very time consuming schedule.  He enjoys it but is looking forward to when football season ends and he is not quite so busy (and the kids and I are looking forward to it as well!).  William is playing flag football and has practice or games most days of the week.  He has really had a lot of fun playing and guilty confessed to me that he likes playing football more than baseball :)  William and Adam are part of a bell choir that a woman in our ward started up for young children.  They will be performing Christmas songs for our December ward party.  I spend most of my time chasing energetic and curious Jacob around and then recuperating when he is sleeping. My calling in the ward is in cub scouts working with the wolves.  I feel like I am constantly surrounded by rambunctious boys!  But life is good and we are happy! Scott, Staci and Family 

Scott's German Chocolate birthday cake

Sister Reunion in Alaska...one more time!

Fall is here and the leaves are turning on the hills.  A very lovely sight.  Seems like our summer heat has left us and that is a happy thing, too.  I (mom) spent two weeks in Alaska with Sue and Gerry and we had a great time.  Of course we did the usual quilting thing, and the usual quilt shop hop, even down to Kenai and Soldotna.  Found two new shops in Anchorage.  One was just a tourist shop and the other has some potential.  But mostly we just enjoyed the hospitality of Gerry and Joe.  The only wildlife we saw was a possum at the side of the road.  Since the moose hunt was on part of the time we were there, we think all the moose were hiding.  It was interesting because at church when the bishop was making the announcements, he mentioned the the Owens brothers got the biggest moose this year.  Don't hear that down in the lower 48.  But it is always good to go to church and not wonder what will be going on.  The church is the same no matter where you are.  While in Alaska we had all the Alaska weather:  sun, wind, rain, snow and sleet.  Variety is wonderful.  On the way down to Soldotna we hit a snowstorm in the pass and Gerry just trucked on and when we got to Soldotna the sun was shining and it was beautiful.  It really is a beautiful country.  Mick (dad) stayed home and kept the house clean and the wash done.  The girls kept him in food and he looked good when I got home - healthy and all with the house shining and my car shining and filled with gas.  What a guy!  We are both healthy and doing well.  Mick keeps busy at the temple and I just keep busy.  We love our family so much and miss being able to hug everyone of you all the time.  Mom & Dad

Gerry's amazing work room

Road Kill Count

Connie's Excuse for not sending in a Chronicles entry!  

Connie was Asst. Director, Cierra had a small, but important part and Nate brilliantly played the role of the half-wit Ellard.  They all did a fantastic job...lots of laughter, lots of fun!

Stay tuned for the next play...Sweeney Todd.  In just a few weeks.

Ben was just recently featured in the San Clemente newsp

aper.  He's an amazing swimmer and water polo player. 

Ben Then...

Ben Now... 

Jake's big catch

Kate likes the goalie position

Kate taking a breather

Come Visit the Beautiful Northwest

The Pacific Northwest has enjoyed one of the warmest Septembers in history with temperatures in the low 90s and prolonged sunshine for much of the month.  That ended this weekend with 4 days of heavy rain that will eclipse the record for rainfall in September.  It has been fun adjusting to the new climate.  Christine has noticed more spiders per day then she ever did in Utah.  I rarely see them.

We have a Koi pond where we keep goldfish and 1 Koi.  One day we noticed the Koi wasn’t around.  We have not seen the Koi since.  The goldfish remain but as the Koi was so much larger we don’t think it was eaten by the others.  Christine initially thought it might have been a stork that dropped by for lunch but the current hypothesis is that there must be a raccoon who likes fish.  We have an electric fence designed to keep out such critters but found the fence disconnected.   Hmmm. 

Christine and I have decided to become cyclists.  We each try to ride daily, except in downpours.  I’m not sure Christine wears her helmet because of potential spiders in it but I always wear mine.  I even bought some padded shorts to save the sore prostate.  We are pretty cool.  We even recycle.

Christine is in the Relief Society presidency and has nearly daily presidency meetings so they can keep the ward running efficiently.  I have been invited to be the Teacher’s quorum adviser and am learning how to keep the young teenager’s interests. 

We miss our grandkids and their parents as well as our parents and brothers and sisters a lot.  We hope to return for Jet’s baptism in January and spend a few days.  Christine will probably stay longer as she is retired and misses the grandkids so much.  I thought she would get bored with retirement and sit around watching soap operas and eating bonbons all day, but she is surprisingly busy.  She does manage to make it to our local Walmart frequently, and has become quite domesticated as she has dinner waiting for me every night.    Love you all

Come visit!!

John and Christine

Hello all!

I am ashamed to say that I have never written on the Jackson Family Chronicle, but there is a first for everything right?

So, Carly and Taylor are in Junior High and loving it! They went to their first STOMP (fancy word for dance I guess)!!!  They both just got elected to be on Student Council and are very excited to decorate for their next Halloween STOMP :)

 Carly came up to me yesterday while we were decorating our house for Halloween and said, "Mom, will you teach Taylor and I how to slow dance?  I don't know how to and last time it was really awkward."  I thought about saying, good!  It will always be awkward, but replied, "Of course!" 

They both are getting so good at the piano!  It is fun to watch talents develop in my children.  It makes me so proud of them.

Spencer is loving 3rd grade.  He is such a good, smart boy!  He is such a gem to his little sisters.  He let's them have whatever they want, and plays with them so nicely!  He is a sweetie!

He just started Guitar lessons and is excited to become a Rockstar he says.  I made him promise to buy me a big beautiful house if he became famous.  He will go into his room and plug his guitar in and play as loud as he can.  The girls love it.  I don't mind the noise YET!

Sophie & London LOVE preschool and come home talking about Petey Porcupine and Tad Tiger.  It amazes me how fast children learn!!!

These two girls are a crack up!  They constantly bring smiles and giggles into our house!  Casey and I are truly blessed to have such sweet kids!!!!

Casey and I are staying busy with kids and Papa Murphy's.  Casey runs around to the stores making sure our managers are on their toes with operations.  I do a lot of marketing and get to go on TV every once in a while to locally promote Papa Murphy's.

I get to go on Fox 13 with Big Buddha tomorrow!  Wish me luck!

Love you guys tons,

The Kauers

(Editor's note--We've seen Jenny on TV often and we always excitedly say "Hey we know her!" Jenny certainly knows how to promote!)

See the full interview here

I totally forgot some other great stories.  Spencer turned 9 on Sept 15.  All of us girls were sick so we stayed home from church, but surprised him when he came in!

Sissies pile up on Spencer

He is also a bear now in scouts.  He completed 60 items during the certification period.  He is a hard worker!!! 

Carly, Spencer, & Casey went to a hunting expo in Farmington a couple of weeks ago and Carly was selected to go on a guided youth duck hunt with Casey.  Also Spencer won a child's 410 shotgun!  He was so elated.

Carly and Casey went on the duck hunt last weekend and she got two ducks!!!  The Sheriff came out and told her that everyone would be jealous that she got the one with the blue feathers one it's wings because they are fast buggers!

If you are wondering why I am not mentioning Taylor in any of these hunting stories, it's because, and I quote," I don't want to shoot animals!"  She wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up!  :)

 We also enjoyed taking the kids to a family skate night for their school.  Sophie and London couldn't get enough of the scooter riding!!!

A few more school pictures

The Chongs just went back to school this week!  Here are a couple of pics from Lauren's first school days.  Where's Ben?  

John and Christine visit the Portland Temple

Standing in Holy Places

LARPing...Some Jacksons are doing it!

LARPing, or Live-Action-Role-Playing, has become a favorite tradition in the Jackson family.  These nerds spend hours constructing swords out of pipe, foam, tape, and fabric and then use them in pretend combat to battle each other individually or on teams.

Casey, Bradley, and Scott at the beginning of a battle.

Scott, Chris, Brad, and Casey mid combat.

They get seriously into it and even follow a set of rules. Injuries often occur.  I must say I would not make fun of them so much for doing it, if I was just better at it.  Whenever in battle, I just run around trying not to get hit and have yet to actually "wound" or "kill" anyone.

Of course, the young Jackson boys think this is awesome and want to play as well.  One day Grandma Jackson and I helped William, Jet, Adam, and Tyce make armor out of place mats and ice cream buckets.

Then we let them loose to fight each other!

The youngest warrior, still in diapers.

I loved this post from Scott and Stacy's blog...see more at

The Jackson Five 

Mom, The Mighty Quilter

Mom was just featured on a blog for My Story Matters, the non-profit organization we've been working with for the past year.  Lots of great volunteers that work hard, including mom!

Mom presenting quilts for MSM at the Lindon Quilt Guild

Captain America Quilt for MSM child

Charlene Jackson is an amazing lady.  An individual who has worked and blessed the lives of many for years and years.  Her latest love is creating beautiful works of art in the form of quilts for children challenged with cancer.  These children have a special place in her heart.  She’s lost several family members to cancer including her son, mother and father.  When her son died of cancer she gathered many of his flannel shirts and created quilts from the shirts for each of his 3 children.  She wanted his kids to be able to cuddle with something of his at night when they were missing dad.  It made a difference then and years later continues to be a source of love and comfort.

Charlene enjoys making personalized quilts for the My Story Matters kids.  Once she receives the invitation to make a quilt she appreciates knowing as much as she can about the child.  If they love super heroes, she searches for just the right super hero fabric.  If they love princesses, she searches for just the right princess fabric.  Her searches have paid off.  One little My Story Matters child reported that when her book and quilt arrived the quilt was made out of the exact fabric as her bedroom curtains.  I think Charlene was inspired on that one!

In addition to creating beautiful quilts for the cancer kids she has 22 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren that receive surprise quilts in the mail often.  She’s one of the most loving, charitable women I know.  I’m especially grateful to call her Mom.

Mom teaching Kate to run the quilting machine

To read the blog click My Story Matters

September 2013 News

Holtrys on board with Family Reunion next year.  Are you?
Hi everyone- Are you tired of hearing from the Holtry family yet? I sure would like to hear from all of you. I don’t talk to everyone that frequently so it would be nice to hear from everyone. School has begun here and it’s a whirlwind as always. Josh is a Junior, Hannah is in 6^th grade and Jackson is in 2^nd grade. It’s been a busy year so far and at first I was mad summer was over and school had begun but now I suppose I am happy for the routine that fall and school starting brings.

Josh is off to a great start with Water Polo they won their game last week and he has many more games this season to still play. It’s a really fun sport to watch. Very intense. He is also keeping busy with school and other activities. We got an extra car for him to drive to school and seminary so it’s been nice not getting up so early!

Hannah is doing awesome in 6^th grade. She is on a field trip today doing a Ropes Course at Sac State. I’m jealous about all the fun field trips my kids get to go on at our school. All I remember was going to an occasional museum. Our kids get to do amazing things and I’m glad I often get to go with them! Hannah is playing Soccer this year and loves it. She’s come a long way from her first season in Kindergarten where she wasn’t thrilled playing because she didn't want to run. She is a great player now and a real go-getter.

Jackson is in 2^nd grade and learning things 2^nd graders do. He keeps using the phrase “personal space” so I am assuming his teacher is saying to them to stay out of others “personal space” a lot. Not surprising. He recently got glasses and loves wearing them. My first thought when he got them was – UGH- another kid in glasses and since his prescription is pretty small I figured he would wear them for a day or two and then not be interested anymore. Surprisingly he wears them every day and takes pretty good care of them. One of the moms at the school asked him if he liked his glasses and he said “I like getting all the compliments” – such a Jackson thing to say. Funny kid. He is also playing soccer and his favorite parts are the practices. He is a social kid and likes to play but doesn’t like the pressure of the games yet.

Brent is getting ready to take his patent bar in the next month or so and then has to really dig in and study to take the regular bar in February. We’ll be glad when it’s all over.

We went on a family trip this weekend to Santa Cruz and had an amazing time (except for Josh getting poison oak all over his body from looking for a football in bushes he shouldn’t have been in) – I want to propose a family reunion there next summer. The place we stayed at was called Seascape Resort. It’s right on the beach and they have a lot of amenities including beach, pools, shopping, hiking, biking and much more. Plus it’s only a few minutes from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Monterey bay Aquarium, Carmel-by-the-Sea and much more. I really feel like this would be an awesome place to gather. I am thinking the end of June might be a good time but I would love feedback from everyone. What time of the summer is usually best for you? I know summer is so insane for most families these days but it’s been far too long since we had a reunion. Please give me some feedback!

Hope all is well and that you all contribute to the next newsletter. Please know I, for one want to hear from everyone.

Love to all

The Holtry’s

Check out this link to Seascape Resort:  http://www.seascaperesort.com/

Josh First day of school-wouldn't hold the sign!

Family tearfully sends John and Christine off to Oregon.

Chatfield Chatter (entry from Kels' family newsletter)                                                                                       

We loved the “Grandma and Dahl show” in the last Chatter.  It’s so much fun to hear what is going on in your lives.  Sounds like Vegas is the happening spot!

Springville is definitely a little less happening.  Except for the start of the new school year.  And that doesn’t get much excitement from our kids.  Kate and Jake like the social aspect of school but not much for the homework.  And come to think of it I really don’t care for that part either. 

Kate’s 6^th grade teacher believes that there should be enough time during school hours to accomplish all the work and sees no need for homework unless students waste their time in class.  I agree.  Although next year might be a bit rough (in Jr. High) for Kate if she is not used to doing homework. 

Jake seems to think that all assignments (both at school and home) need only take about 10 min.  After that he’s bored.  He’d rather spend his hours in the school weight room or on the baseball field.  Better yet up Hobble Creek, fishing.  Jake signed up to take a dance class this semester.  He thought it might build his core.  He was right and it didn’t hurt that he along with one other guy are the only boys in a class of 30 girls.  We’re waiting to see how that turns out.  Jake also started Seminary this year.  We are grateful that Seminary is released time at school.  I’m not sure we could drag Jake out of bed any earlier than we do already.

Bianca is currently an employee at 3 different businesses.  Her greatest challenge is working her schedules so they don’t conflict.  Thankfully they are all within walking distance of each other and seem to be good places of employment.  We hope that her savings account grows and grows.

Kels found out the middle of last month that his company was laying him off (along with a few others).  After 10+ years it came as a great surprise and didn’t make him too happy.  It seems that the company needs to downsize and is now trying to assure the remaining employees that they are solvent, at least for another 6 months.  The good thing in all this is that Kels just completed all of his CPA tests and can now officially apply for accountant/CPA jobs.  He was planning on making the move anyway.  Just happened a little earlier than we’d planned.  He’s been able to pick up some contract work and has had several promising interviews with companies in the area.

Kels also received a new church calling.  He is now attending the single’s ward.  Not because he’s single but instead as one of the Priesthood leaders there.  He was sustained 2 weeks ago as the Executive Secretary to Bishop Tipton.  This isn’t a call for the family.  We continue to attend our home/family ward but occasionally join Kels for his Sacrament meeting.  There are some very nice young adults in the ward and we think Kels will really enjoy being with them.

I continue plugging away at PTA, Young Women calling and being a Mom.  Most of which I enjoy.  I’m especially looking forward to cooler weather.  And fall activities.

Love to all of you,

Kellie, Kels, Bianca, Jake and Kate

Jake's first day of 9th Grade

Kate and her 6th Grade Teacher, Mrs. Larsen

Kate was looking forward to her first day of school because she revealed a “whole new 6^th grader!”  She is now glasses and braces free.  She’s a beautiful young lady.     

Jake…well he’s taller than his mom and almost as tall as Kels…if you listen to him he’s already passed Kels up.  Jake still has a month to go before his braces come off.  Then Kels and I will be Orthodontist free!  Now that’s a great feeling!

Pictures of other grandkids that have returned to school!

Brad at BYU.  Melissa...how bout you?

Hills in Gunnison

Kauers in West Haven

More cute Kauers off to pre-school!

Mr. Scott Jackson-Gunnison High School teacher