The NY West's

Family History Nathan Harris, Emer Harris and Emer's Daughter Rebecca Harris Taylor Yates

2012-02-18T09:21:00.000-08:00

Living so close to many church history sites has been a blessing to our family. I especially have had the opportunity to research and search out my own Family History sites. Though I can't get a picture with my Great, Greats I guess their places of residence will have to do.

I would like to talk about another of my Great x4 Grandfathers Nathan Harris. Nathan's daughter married Solomon Chamberlin's daughter Polly. Nathan bought 600 acres of land from John Swift, most of that land is just a mile down Maple road from the four corner churches in Palmyra. While my brother Kyle was in town I searched out Nathan Harris's home and where this 600 acres would have been located. Thanks to Larry Porter and all his research that he did in a book titled "Sacred Places, New York and Pensylvania" I was able to locate the location of Nathan Harris's home this home is located just down the street from Martin Harris's home and is privately owned. Martin acquired 320 acres from his father Nathan, so it would make sense that his house would be so close. Here is a picture of the home that stands here now.

Site of Nathan Harris frame home, whether or not this is the actual Harris frame home, we don't know

When we visited the home, I asked the owners son if I could take some pictures and he said it was fine.

In Larry Porter's book he states: "Both Don Enders and Bob Lowe are of the opinion that this is the site where the Nathan Harris farm home stood, but they are reluctant to specify that the existing frame home is the original dwelling house without further research and proper verfication." The current owners son told me that the basement was built in the 1800's and he let me see that basement. If you take a good look at the entrance to the homes basement that was built in the 1800's one might believe that maybe this house, underneath all of it's modifications, could truly be the original frame home, but we may never know.

Enterance to the basement of the possible Nathan Harris frame home

What was so neat was that if it really was the basement that Nathan built, that his great x5 grandson who we named after him would later have a picture taken of him in there. Here I am holding him in the basement. Also, a picture of me, a couple of my kids and brother Kyle.

Lydia looking closely at the walls which were made mostly of large rocks and mudd in the Nathan Harris basement this area of the basement was very narrow

We do know that Nathan moved first into a log house which they built at the north end of Wintergreen Hill (now Walton Hill). In this picture you can see the edge of Wintergreen Hill and where his farm land is and the edge of the current frame home that stands there, so somewhere in this picture he built the log house first and then later the frame home.

Picture of Nathan Harris Farm in Palmyra NY. Panorama of the Edge of Wintergreen Hill and the edge of where the Nathan Harris frame home stood January 2012

Kyle Yost and Jan Yost West standing in front of the possible Nathan Harris frame home

On another one of our adventures seeking out the past was taking a trip to Kirtland, OH in April of 2011 more specifically Mentor Lake, Ohio where the home of Nathan's son Preserved lived. In Nathan Harris's history it states "moved to Ohio in 1831 along with some of his married children and their families, migrating with other followers of the newly formed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nathan lived to be quite an old man and died in November 1835 at Mentor Lake, Ohio. There is no record that indicates that he ever joined the Church.

In the Prophet Joseph Smith’s diary 18 Nov 1835 in Kirtland, he recorded, "I then went to Preserved Harris's, to preach his fathers funeral Sermon, by the request of the family I preached on the subject of the resurection, the congregation were very attentive My wife my mother and my scribe went with me to the funeral, we rode in a waggon, had a pleasant ride, the weather was pleasant, when we went, but cloudy and cool when we returned" In Nathan Harris's history it states "Preserved Harris' home still exists and is located on southwest corner of Rt. 84 and Chillicothe in Mentor." In Emer's history it states "In November of 1835 Emer´s father Nathan died at Menton Ohio, while living with Preserved, younger brother of Emer and Martin." So, we found another home that Nathan lived in, in Mentor, Ohio. Also, the fact that Joseph Smith preached the funeral sermon of Nathan Harris was facinating to me and so we searched out the home of Preserved and here it is in 2011 just after Nathan our 4th was born. It was neat to stand on the property and know that somewhere on that land Joseph stood and preached my great x4 grandfathers funeral sermon. I have not been able to locate Nathan's burial site though, if anyone knows where Nathan Harris son of Preserved Harris and Martha Mowry who was born March 23, 1758 in Smithfield, Rhode Island. He died on 11 Nov 1835 in Mentor, Lake, Ohio. 4 is that would be so helpful.

Here are some pictures of Preserved Harris home in Mentor, Ohio. A lady in Mentor told me that the house was yellow for a long time before they painted it this color. It is privately owned and currently the owner ownes 5 acres of land, but I do not know how much land Preserved owned at the time he lived there. I assume it was definatley 5 acres maybe even more?

Me and my 4 children standing in front of Preserved Harris home

Preserved Harris Home, Mentor, Ohio 2011

Front of Preserved Harris Home

Preserved Harris Farm Mentor, Ohio 2011

I haven't searched out Emer Harris and his places of residence yet, but I do have a picture of Emer Harris's daughter Rebecca Harris seen here on the bottom left (when facing the picture) sitting next her is her daughter Rebecca Harriet Taylor Tracy and two of Rebecca Tracy's daughters, though I don't know their names. David Samuel Tracy and Rebecca Harriet Tracy's daughters names in order are: Fanny Elizabeth, Mary Levina, Rosetta, Lydia Jane, Evelyn, Ida Lilly, and Nellie Rebecca. So it has to be two of these girls?? Rebecca had 6 sons as well. So 13 children in all. Anyone who has any information can contact me by commenting on this post.

Rebecca Harris Taylor Yates, Emer Harris and Polly Chamberlin daughter

From Left to Right Bottom: Rebecca Harris Taylor Yates and Rebecca Harriet TaylorTracy
Top: Unknown

A Little Family History Great x4 Grandfather Solomon Chamberlin

2012-02-12T12:53:00.000-08:00

Ever since I moved to Buffalo, NY almost 5 years ago I have gotten the Family History bug, mostly because shortly after moving here I discovered I was a descendant of Solomon Chamberlin (sometimes spelled Chamberlain) and Nathan Harris, Father of Martin Harris. Solomon Chamberlin has been mentioned by Church history historians for years and I didn't know who he was, I just discovered his name by reading the book "The Martin Harris Story, with biographies of Emer Harris and Dennison Lott Harris ". Knowing that I was a descendant of Emer Harris, Martin's older brother I read this book and discovered in the book that Emer married a girl by the name of Polly Chamberlin, Solomon Chamberlins daughter. Polly was Emer's first polygamists wife and they had one child a daughter named Rebecca Harris who made it across the plains safely with her grandfather Solomon, and her father Emer, her mother Polly died at winter quarters.

Solomon Chamberlains life after and before gaining his testimony of the truth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was fascinating to me. My husband served his mission here in Western NY and served 6 months in Lyons, NY which is where the home of my great x 4 Grandfather Solomon lived. And that is when I learned that his home still stands today. My brother Kyle and I had the opportunity to visit his home this past month. Here we are in front of the home that still stands in Lyons NY with the old Erie Canal across the street.

Here is a picture of his home with the old Erie canal across the street.

And here I am with my 4 children in front of the home.

In Solomon Chamberlins history he writes "About the time that Joseph Smith found the gold record, I began to feel that the time was drawing near, that the Lord would in some shape or other, bring forth his church. I made some inquiry through the country where I traveled if there was any strange work of God, such as had not been on the earth since the days of Christ. I could hear of none. I was living about 20 miles east of where the gold record was found, on the Erie Canal. I had occasion to go on a visit into Upper Canada. I took boat for Lockport, when the boat came to Palmyra, I felt as if some genie or good spirit told me to leave the boat. This was a few miles from where the record was found. After leaving the boat, the spirit manifested to me, to travel a south course. I did so for about 3 miles. I had not as yet heard of the Gold Bible (so called) [Book of Mormon] nor any of the [Joseph] Smith family. I was a stranger in that part of the country, a town where I never before had set my foot, and knew no one in the town."

Solomon was told of the Gold Bible and made his way to Joseph Smith's home and in his history he writes: "I soon made my way across lots, to Father Smith's and found Hyrum walking the floor. As I entered the door, I said, "Peace be to this house." He looked at me as one astonished, and said, "I hope it will be peace." I then said, "Is there anyone here that believes in visions or revelations?" He said, "Yes, we are a visionary house." I said, "Then I will give you one of my pamphlets, which was visionary, and of my own experience." They then called the people together, which consisted of five or six men who were out at the door. Father Smith was one and some of the Whitmer's. They then sat down and read my pamphlet. Hyrum read first, but was so affected he could not read it. He then gave it to a man, which I learned was Christian Whitmer, he finished reading it. I then opened my mouth and began to preach to them, in the words that the angel had made known to me in the vision, that all churches and denominations on the earth had become corrupt, and no church of God on the earth, but that he would shortly raise up a church that would never be confounded nor brought down and be like unto the Apostolic Church. They wondered greatly who had been telling me these things, for said they we have the same things wrote [written] down in our house, taken from the Gold record, that you are preaching to us. I said, "The Lord told me these things a number of years ago." I then said, "If you are a visionary house, I wish you would make known some of your discoveries, for I think I can bear them." They then made known to me that they had obtained a gold record, and just finished translating it here. Now, the Lord revealed to me by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost that this was the work I had been looking for.
Here I stayed 2 days and they instructed me, in the manuscripts of the Book of Mormon. After I had been here two days, I went with Hyrum and some others to Palmyra printing office where they began to print the Book of Mormon, and as soon as they had printed 64 pages, I took them with their leave and pursued my journey to Canada, and I preached all that I knew concerning Mormonism, to all both high and low, rich and poor, and thus you see this was the first that ever printed Mormonism was preached to this generation."

Solomon had a vision or a dream many years before this and he wrote a pamphlet and had it published and Brigham Young University found a copy.

Solomon Chamberlain of Lyons, New York, was accompanied to the print shop by Hyrum Smith, who handed him 64 pages from the new volume and as he stated took them into Canada to preach the gospel. This is when he came across Brigham Young and his brother Phineas and may have been the first missionary to come across Brigham Young. Brighams brothers Phineas and Joseph both visited Solomon at his home, the one pictured above, on their trips along the Erie Canal. After the church was organized, Solomon was one of the many that was baptized by Joseph Smith in Seneca Lake. Anyway, his history is fascinating and I loved learning all of the details.

Jan Hosting Kaleidoscope on NBC

2011-08-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

While I was in the hospital and recovering from C-section with Nathan, the Network of Religious Comunities President gave me a call and asked me to Host Kaleidoscope for Canesius College. So just 4 short weeks after he was born I went to the studio and the show was filmed. It aired on NBC in HD in July of this past year. I had so much fun!

Here is a still of me on our TV at home, I was mid sentence. Below you can watch the beginning portion of the show.

The Volume is low, so you might need to turn up your volume quite a bit to hear it and make sure the volume on the video box to the right of the play button is turned up.

Announcing Nathan Stewart West

2011-03-19T11:46:00.001-07:00

We would like to welcome Nathan Stewart into the world and into our family. He was 6 lbs. 5 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. Nathan decided that on a Friday night after I had, had 2 slices of pizza and some bread sticks for dinner that it was time for him to come. My water broke at about 6:45pm and Nathan was born at 9:26pm, who knew that you could have a c-section on a full stomach!

All of our children's names have significance and Nathan is no different. Nathan was named after his great, great, great grandfather Nathan Harris, father to Martin Harris who financed the printing of the Book of Mormon and was one of Three Witnesses who testified that they had seen the Golden Plates from which Joseph Smith said the Book of Mormon had been translated.

We decided to name him after Nathan Harris because he was born in upstate NY which is where Nathan raised his family. On the 3rd of February, 1794, Nathan bought six hundred acres of land from a man named John Swift for two shillings an acre (about $300 in New York currency). This area is now known as Palmyra, NY. History shows that providence had a hand in bringing Nathan Harris to this important area of New York and in purchasing this section of land. It became some of the best farm lands in the area and its value increased significantly. It was here he reared his large family of eight children. Nathan later deeded the farm to his son Martin and to his brother my great, great grandfather Emer Harris. Martin later became a friend to the Joseph Smith family and In 1829 Martin mortgaged his farm to finance the first publication of the Book of Mormon after its translation.

His middle name comes from John's family's Scottish family Crest which is Stewart.

2009 and into 2010 Gymnastics, New Mantle, Goodbye to Dear Friends, Emily Fisher Price, John Ski Day etc.

2010-10-09T13:08:00.000-07:00

At long last here I am... Let's see this post should cover the end of 2009 and into the year 2010...

Last year the kids started gymnastics, Lydia absolutely loves it, Jack on the other hand well it is taking a little bit to get him excited about it, but I think he has some raw talent, we will see how long we can keep it up. Although, I think Lydia is in it for the long haul, she has the right personality for it and has some raw talent in it too :) This is Jack on the Bars.

It's crazy to think that Emily wasn't much bigger than a teddy bear back at the end of 2009. Here she is:

Not only was she so cute, but she successfully made it onto another box for Fisher Price, this

time the Activity Center. This was only sold in the UK and when I found out she was on the box, I tried to get it from the UK, which isn't easy to do. But, as luck would have it I had a friend that was visiting the UK and they were sweet enough to pick up a box and fly it home to me!! I was so grateful!

John and I went to Sodus Point, NY for our 9th Anniversary. It was wonderful, we went to a Bed and Breakfast called The Cliffs at Sodus Point on the shores of Lake Ontario that had some stunning views.

There was a tree on the property that had just been hit by lightening the night before and it was split down the middle, they were going to have to take the tree down isn't it so sad.

We spent time in the evening in the small fishing town. John served his mission in Upstate NY and this was one of his areas. On John's mission he would go down to the Sodus Point lighthouse with his mission companions, it was neat to be able to visit some of these places with him.

He still claims to this day that the best hamburger he ever had was on his mission at the Busy Bee in Wolcott, NY which is now the Red Apple and surprisingly he said it tasted the same.? On our way home, we drove along the shore of lake Ontario.

In October 2009, I took a quick trip to North Carolina to see my brother and his family and had the wonderful opportunity of being apart of my niece's sealing to my brother and sister-in-law and their family in the Raleigh, North Carolina temple. Here I am with my brothers family:

At the end of 2009 and into 2010, John finished the mantle above our fireplace, he did a fantastic job. Here are the before and afters.

He put mdf board up to cover the brick wall and then built the mantle onto that, we felt white would be the best fit for the room. After it was all built, John and I worked late into the night painting it and the bookshelves white. At some point, he would like to build cabinets at the base of each of the bookshelves.

The finished product:

We said goodbye to some dear friends in Buffalo, he had finished his nurse anesthesia program and they were headed off to PA to start work. Her family moved in to our ward at the same time we did and she was also one of the first ladies I met here in Buffalo. I miss them dearly.

John went skiing with the other residents at Holimont. He really looks forward to this day. What amazes me is that he can ski as well as he does with only 1 working ACL in his knee. John had previously blown both of his ACL's while skiing a boarder cross track and going off a downhill jump and landed on the back of his skiis, thus blowing both ACL's. He had one fixed and has chosen to fix the other one later, he hasn't had enough time in the past 11+ years to do it though.

Here he is with the other residents after they had finished skiing.

August 2009: Thousand Islands and the First Day of School

2010-06-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

In August of last year our family went to Thousand Islands, NY. Thousand Islands, NY region that encompasses communities on both sides of the US and Canada border along the St. Lawrence River and the eastern shores of Lake Ontario. The region takes its name from the more than 1000 islands that dot the lake and river along this international waterway. The region extends from Kingson to Cornwall on the Canadian side, and from Oswego to Massena on the US side, reaching inland to the foothills of the Adirondack mountains to embrace the communities that are west and north of the Adirondack Park.
We stayed at the Edgewood resort and our hotel room was right on the St. Lawrence River. We were able to watch the boats, barges, and even canoes go by, it was amazing!

This is a panorama of our view from our balcony.

The Sunset at night was spectacular.

John spent a lot of the down time studying for his residency program and we all enjoyed the views and peace and quiet of the water on the St. Lawerence river.

One of the most amazing parts of the Thousand Islands region is Boldt Castle on Heart Island. At the turn-of-the-century, George C. Boldt, millionaire proprietor of the world famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, set out to build a full size rhineland castle in Alexandria Bay, on picturesque Heart Island. The grandiose structure was to be a display of his love for his wife, Louise. But, in 1904, tragedy struck. Boldt telegraphed the island and commanded the workers to immediately “stop all construction.” Louise had died suddenly. A broken hearted Boldt could not imagine his dream castle without his beloved. Boldt never returned to the island, leaving behind the structure as a monument of his love. For 73 years, the castle and various stone structures were left vacant until Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired the property. Since then, several million dollars have been used to restor and rebuild the Castle.

This is our view of the Castle from our room.

Here is Boldt Castle close up.

We took a ferry to see a lot of the different islands, the kids loved the ride and they even let them drive the boat for a bit!
One of the many boat houses we saw.

This is the shortest international bridge. The small island is officially on the US side and the house is on the Canadian side!

There was a house on every island we saw, yes even this tiny one! Boldt Castle's yaught house sits behind it.

We were able to tour the Castle, here is a picture inside and out.

Here we are on the grounds of the Castle. Then on one of our final nights in Thousand Islands we drove up to Clayton, NY and enjoyed an evening there. Clayton was listed in Coastal Living Magazine as the best small town in the Great Lakes. It was gorgeous! Over 18 years ago John served his mission in upstate NY and Watertown, NY up in the Thousand Islands region was one of his areas he stayed in for a few months. It was fun for us to drive around and see where he lived and hear his stories of living there.

On our way home, we drove along the Lake Ontario shoreline and stopped to let the kids play by the water. Here are some shots from us on the shore of lake Ontario.

Lydia loves the water!

Shortly after returning from our vacation the kids started school and one of the highlights for our family this year was Lydia starting all day Kindergarten. She gets to start Kindergarten one year early than she would in any other state because New York’s cut off is December 1st rather than September 1st and with Lydia being a November birthday she barely makes the cut and she is officially the youngest in her class. But she has been able to keep up with her pears remarkably well and we are so proud of her; she is reading and doing math.

Here are their first days of school pictures!

Update on Carter!

2010-04-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on my little cousin. It has been 2 weeks since the accident and 2 weeks that she has been in a coma; Carters breathing tube was taken out yesterday. Carter's Dad said

"I cant stop crying tears of joy, she did it, she is on her own. Not a single problem. Now she can really rest comfortably. I can't wait for her to wake up. She may not be able to talk or smile but just to sqeeze my hand will be enough"

and not but 2 hours later he said

"she opened her eyes , I said "hey poo bear"... I got the biggest smile, only for a second but it was there. She knows who we are."

Thank you again to all who prayed for Carter and don't know her. It was a Bright Day for my cousins. That same day some of her first words were uttered. Carters dad said

"Wow, a nurse that became very fond of Carter just came in to see her, she said I am the nurse that took care of you while you were asleep, Carter said "Thank you", we all cried again"

May we all be more grateful for the"little things"in life, first words, a smile, a touch, or even a first step.

The latest and most wonderful news is that she is moving out of ICU and into Rehab today! Her dad writes:

"Moving to rehab. Room 361 our new address for the next month. My cheeks hurt from smiling"

At rehab her dad elaberated a little on her condition he said:

"Carter is doing ok, she still tries to talk but can't tell what she is saying"

They still have a long road a head of them, who knows how long, but we know they will be strong. Carter has an awesome family standing behind her.

Carters Aunt created a new website for her on Caringbridge.org. Please go check it out and leave a note of encouragement in her guestbook! She is just starting to wake up and would love to hear from people! We've created it to keep friends and family updated about our sweet Carter Poo. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/carterhudson1

Also, a bank account for Carter has been established at ~United Community Bank~ This is to assist the Hudson's with the financial needs as theybegin their recovery journey back home w/ their sweet little Carter. Donations may be made directly at the bank OR they can... be mailed directly to the branch at the address below:

United Community Bank*

c/o Carter Elizabeth Hudson

2168 Scenic Highway

Snellville, GA 30078PS

*No account # needed on checks; bank president and ALL bank staff will beable to process your donations w/out it. Not sure about being able to do direct on-line contributions just yet.

Thank you to all!

Pray for Carter my Cousin...

2010-04-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

This is Carter my 12-year-old cousin who was in a terrible car accident and she hasn't awakened since the accident. The Dr.'s induced a coma to keep swelling down in her brain and keep pressure down to minimize brain damage. They may wake her up in the next few days and they don't know the damage until she wakes up. She needs all the prayers she can get.

Throughout this trial her father has said some very profound things that have touched me so deeply that I wanted to share.

"Hug your children, be patient with them. I am learning life is truly a blessing"

From my Cousin Jeff Hudson (Father of Carter Hudson)

And this is his prayer for Carter:

"I know she is your child, I am Honored that I was given the opportunity to bring her into this world, we have tried our best to instill in her the values that a good person should have. We have taught her that love is unconditional, that forgiving is easier than hating, that giving is really receiving. She has done well. She is passing all the lessons we teach, but I'm not done yet, you see, because its really her thats teaching me.

I pray humbly, you will see fit to continue my lessons."

Carter is the one in the one dressed in white; Jack was just a baby. Another picture from that day is below of her and the cousins. And some of her balerina pictures.

Pray for her that she will make a full recovery!

Jack's Dream for our Country

2010-03-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

Today we had parent teacher conferences and I felt this writing from my son was so profound especially given our current government situation. My son who is 7-years-old and in second grade wrote this.

"I have a dream that we didn't have to pay taxes and if democrats were republicans, so we wouldn't be paying higher taxes, so my dad would get the money that he earns so we can buy things. I wish there were more Republicans in the Government too.

I would really like it if killing and kidnapping really did not exist.

I wish our country had peace and other countries without fighting for it. I hope when people have surgery doctors would be much gentler and hurting would stop. I wish kids got what they want and grown ups got what they want.

I don't dream about me, I want life to be good for me and others (even the people I don't know)"

It just goes to show you that children understand what is going on in our country too!

Blueberry Picking, Jack on The News

2010-03-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

Every year around August it is tradition to go Blueberry picking at one of the many farms around Buffalo, the blueberries are delicious, especially when we pick them ourselves. We went with the residents wives group on this particular trip and here are some of the pictures from that day, I especially love this one with the frog, it’s there look closely.

Back in July the Channel 7 news was at the Mall while we were there for a playgroup. They were compairing the law makers in Albany to children and Jack was interviewed amongst some other children. If you look closely you can see Lydia playing there with some other girls. Here he is in his small moment of fame.

Beach Party on Lake Ontario and Pearce visit July 2009

2010-03-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get my blog updated. So, I have a lot to post. We will start in the summer. In July of 2009 when me and the kids went to a beach party in Ontario hosted by one of the chief residents. John was unable to attend because he was on-call at Erie County Medical Center. We had a lot of fun and it is fun to have beaches so close by… here are some shots from that.

Here we are standing on the shore of lake Ontario with the city of Buffalo behind us.

Emily loved caring this soccer ball around.Then we had John’s sister Anna, her family and his niece Mary and her boyfriend (whom she will be marrying in just a few short weeks!) come visit us. We all had so much fun with them, visiting Olcott Beach, NY on Lake Ontario where they have a vintage amusement park where all of the rides are truly still 25 cents! We also visited the Niagara Falls, the sacred grove and of course the Hill Cumorah Pageant!This is a picture of Niagara Falls taken from the bridge connecting the USA and Canada. The American side of Niagara Falls lets you enjoy more of the beauty of nature surrounding the falls. The Canadian side reminds me of Las Vegas, NV.
Here Jack, John, and Elsa sit on the International Borderline!
All the kids together.
Here are some pictures of the vintage amusement park from the 1940's, it features a 1928 style Hershell-Spillman two row carousel. Five vintage kiddie rides, and a wonderful 1931 Wurlitzer band organ. All of the rides are truly still 25 cents. These boats are amazing they are made of Genuine Mahogany.
It was a rainy day, lucky the girls had their umbrella!

The Famous Olcott, NY lighthouse
This is a replica of the 1873 Lighthouse that now stands in Olcott, NY near the park

The kids standing on the American side of Lake Ontario, Lydia loves to pose!

The kids playing/looking for grasshoppers in the field in front of Joseph Smith's home near the sacred grove.Lydia and Elsa holding hands in the Sacred Grove.

The kids getting ready to watch the Hill Cumorah Pageant, our kids look forward to it every year! It looks like Lydia is already asleep but she isn't :) Or maybe she's praying?

This is a picture of the pageant during one of the battle scenes from our seats.

Radio Show Raising Emotionally Healthy Children

2010-02-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

This past month I recorded another radio show and the subject of it was Raising Emotionally Healthy Children. I had two great guests and I felt they offered some really good advice in raising children. Click on the title and it should link to where you will be able to listen.

I am on the Stake Public Affairs committee for our church here in Buffalo and we have been given 30 minutes airtime at 6:00am once a month. I share this calling with 3 other girls and we rotate hosting each month. I really enjoy my calling and it's nice to get back on the radio and sort of relive my old DJ'ing days back in Salt Lake.

Salt Lake City 2009, The Alpine House, 2 weddings and a couple birthdays!

2009-09-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

This past summer we took a trip out to Salt Lake City for two weddings, my sisters and our nephews, and John's mothers birthday. John's mothers birthday just happens to be a day before my fathers. My father passed away in 2006, but that didn't stop us from celebrating with him. We went to our favorite bakery (Glauss in sugerhouse), we bought our favorite cake and visited his gravesite and had cake with him. It was nice to be able to be with him on his birthday.

Here I am thinking about my dad.

We had a wonderful time with family, although we kept it low key because we were there for only 5 days and had so much going on in that 5 days. However, we did find time to visit Alpine, Utah. Rumor had it that the home my parents designed and built had been torn down and a new home put it in its place. My heart felt a pang when I heard that. I was 2 years old when my parents designed and built it and we moved in, my family and I lived there for 8 years. We had to move because my father had gotten to ill, he had just fought cancer, had heart disease and it was about that time that he was beginning to have symptoms of Inclusion Body Myositis; which originally was diagnosed as ALS. He was a fighter and he put his heart and soul into this house. I have lots of fond memories of that home and the memories it held for us. As we drove up our old street in Alpine and saw the tractors and work trucks in front of the home, I was afraid it was all true and sure enough there was a new house in its place. Tears welled up in my eyes and I think I jumped out of the car before John could even stop the car. I went up to the workers and asked if the owner was at home, I just wanted to see if he had preserved any part of our house. The new owner of the home was so gracious and kind and offered to show us around and sure enough he had preserved parts of the house.
Here is the home when we lived in it, then below that the owners after us painted it white?

and now finally it was almost completely torn down and this home was put in its place. I have to say the new home is amazingly beautiful and is a big improvement to the original home, although I still am very sad to see it go.

As we toured the home, the owner showed us what was original. He kept our pool, the one I learned how to swim in, oh so many memories!! And yes, that is me jumping in, with my little sister Yvie waiting patiently in back, so how many of you rember the red tank top unitubes?? Anyway, here are some before and afters...

He kept the original storage rooms, part of the lower patio in the back, and he put new walls in their original locations in the basement, he had to tear the original walls down because of termite damage. Most of the house had a similar layout to the original one, which I was glad to see. And finally the back of the home before and afters. My favorite part is what he did with the backyard and accenting the river.

When I lived there our backyard was mostly made up of trees and weeds and weaving through the trees was a river, beyond the river we owned another acre of land (I don't recall ever venturing beyond the river, though). The people we bought the land from back in 1977 had built a makeshift bridge accross the river and my sister R'lene and brother Kyle tried to make it safer to cross by adding more 2x4's and plywood accross the top. It still was not very safe, I was never allowed to cross by myself, nor did I want to. The current owners kept the bridge in it's original location and built a beautiful bridge in it's place. I recall in the winter my brother Kyle and I would play on the frozen river. There was one frightful day though that I won't ever forget, Kyle was walking accross the ice and fell in, we were able to get him out and he was safe, but I will never forget the fear and disbelief I felt.

Here is the new

backyard, isn't it stunning!

Then we went to my sisters wedding and Hugh the 3rd's wedding. Here is my sister and her new husband and then some cute pictures from Hugh's wedding.

Lydia graduates from Preschool and Jack finally looses a tooth at age 7!

2009-07-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

Lydia graduated from Page 1 preschool in June and will attend all day Kindergarten with Jack starting in Sept of this year. We are so proud of her and think she did a great job! Here are some highlights:

I want to give you the story behind Lydia's banged up lip and face. I awoke one night before graduation to find Lydia crying loudly in her bed only to find her bleeding from her mouth and lip all over her bed. My husband and I cleaned her up and decided that she didn't need stiches. Lydia has no recolection of what happened to her and I did not see it happen. All I can assume is that it may have been from one of her night terrors. She tends to have night terrors at night, I have witnessed her standing up in her bed screaming at the top of her voice, eye's wide open and we have been instructed by the physician not to wake her up. If you know anyone that has had that type of dream, you know it can be terrifying to watch and all you want to do is protect them from whatever it is that is terrifying them. It is crazy her eyes will be wide open looking beyond you at something terrifying, you can literally see the fear in her eyes. So, my assumption is that she had, had one of these dreams and fell off from a standing position off of her bed and had hit the corner of her bedside table drawer, which was left open that night? Poor girl!

Lydia's teachers Mrs. Julie and Miss Shannon

Yes, it is true that my little boy finally lost his first tooth. He actually wrote about it in his journal at school and this is what it said, his spelling and all :).

"It was math time. later in math I got board so I disided to wiggle my tooth. While I was wiggleing my tooth something shoot up in my mouth! I took it out... and it was my tooth! I couldent believe what just happend."

I have to add that he left a note for the tooth fairy and here is what it said:

On the front it said

"To the tooth fairy

From Jack West

(leave for us Please. Thank you)

Inside it read:

"On the seat you will find the empier state bilding to welcome you. by the way, WELCOME"

(he had made it out of legos)

"Do wateever you want with it, you can even reck it! only if you want to. if you want to you can write back to me, I might show my class."

Of course the tooth fairy wrote back, you know she was quite nice. ;)

Margaret Louise Park and Birthdays

2009-07-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, it has been a long time since I have written in my blog… and there is a lot to share... so there will be many posts dating back to early spring this year. Here is the first of many...

I had the Richards kids over for a few hours. They played out in the backyard where we have a small stream and nature path. They caught snakes, saw frogs, turtles and even saw a small beaver. After they played for a while catching snakes, I took all the kids including a few neighbors down the nature trail which leads to Margaret Louise park. Here are a few highlights from the trip:Grant holding the snake with Jack and Monte
Lilly and Lydia

Boys with sticks!

Elise, Emma, Erin, Lydia, Grant, Lilly, Monte and Jack.... here they are looking at turtles.

Comming back from the walk.

Emily Turned 1!

Emily’s birthday was a low key birthday we didn’t have a party or get together just simple cake and ice cream with Dad when he got home from work. We opened a few presents which included a couple of very pretty dresses from Grandma and a couple of outfits from mom.

Here is my 1-year-old eating her cake!

She took her first steps about a month after she turned 1!

Jack’s 7th and his Surprise!
I told Jack this year that he wasn’t going to get a birthday party, so his birthday came and went with just cake and ice cream and a few presents. He got some new roller blades and clothes and as an extra special gift I told him that we would go to adventure speedway one Saturday. So, two weeks later, on weekend where John would be home on a Saturday, we had all of his friends gather at Adventure Speedway to surprise him and the boys got to ride go carts and bumper boats, they all had a blast. Needless to say it was Jack's best birthday ever!

Staring Emily, SLC, home makovers, and ice skating in our own backyard!

2009-03-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have written on my blog I apologize and I have lots to update you on… I want to start out with the most exciting thing. My little Emily was chosen by Fisher-Price to model the Brentwood Rocker, here is her picture and you can check out the real thing on their website. http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2011&e=detail&selcat=bgb&pid=48213 I took a trip out to Baby’s R Us and sure enough she was also on the box, she wasn’t the main baby on the box but they had a close up of her on the front and the back of the box.
I woke up this morning with this on our Kitchen table – “Don’t drink it is a ecksparement” can you guess who did this? You know if Jack goes into Science this picture will be classic!
I went to Salt Lake City with my three kids in February and it was as always, busy from start to finish. I flew out to take care of some family business. We stayed a few nights with John’s parents, one night with my sister R’lene, my mom and sister Yvette, then finally with John’s brother Will.
Lydia and Jack had so much fun being with family and all of their cousins and having multiple sleepovers with George and Lucy, Will’s Kids.
My friends Becky and Sarah put a get together on for me while I was there. My high school friends Jason, Becky, Natalie, Wendy, Sarah, Tasha, College roommates Amber, Becky and Michelle with spouses all came out! It was great to see them all and so much fun to reconnect!!
Flying home was not very fun, I got home and the Dr. said I had possible pneumonia. So not feeling well and having to be on-call with all three kids throughout the trip home made it not so fun. Although, I made it but I don’t think I would do it again, but I am sure there will be a time that I will have to. I was so glad to be home!!

Home projects… John took a week of vacation from work and his idea of a good vacation is staying home and getting something done. He tore up the kitchen floor and put a hard wood floor down. He also cut the counter off and put it in the center between the refrigerator and the sink, I can’t tell you what a huge difference it has made in the look and functionality of the Kitchen. Here is the before, John working on it and the after.
He also tore down the dark brown 70's paneling in our family room and painted it a light orange with white crown molding, it isn’t completely finished but this is it so far.
Tuesday nights the Residents usually have mandatory journal club, so we girls don’t want to be left out and we get together and have dinner or make dinner. In the picture; Karen PGY3, Me PGY2, Megan PGY4, Liz PGY3 and our 4 baby’s born not to far apart, aren’t they cute! We are missing the other wives, we hope they can come next time! These girls help me stay sane; I don’t know what I would do without them!!
And last but not least dating back to when we still had snow on the ground, here is a short video of Jack and the twins next door on the ice rink our neighbors dad constructed!

Our 2008 Christmas Story

2008-12-30T11:38:00.000-08:00

It all began with a couple of huge weekend snowstorms that left us with about 3 ft. of snow on the ground, which the kids loved!

The schools were closed both the Friday before Christmas and the Monday, so the kids had one day of school before Christmas with all of their Christmas parties on that day. We went to Lydia’s for her Christmas program and she was a Christmas tree representing how Germany celebrates Christmas, I thought that was fitting giving our family history and her grandfather Henry Herget.

Santa Clause came to visit her school and we were able to get the kids picture taken with Santa. Emily is not to sure about the situation.

Then on Christmas Eve we had a surprise visit from the Fire Department and guess what, they had Santa with them! Their fire engines came roaring down our street decked out in Christmas lights and Santa in the front seat. They stopped in front of our next door neighbors. And of course all of the kids on our street came out of the house. Santa gave them each a candy cane and a hot wheels car! We were lucky enough to get our picture with him.

Overall, this year was a little lonesome. John had quite a week at work, starting on Sunday leaving at 5:30am and not getting home until 7:00-9:00pm most nights and he finished out the week on-call on Saturday not getting home until 10:00am Sunday. He was exhausted.
Thankfully he was home for Christmas Eve. The kids and I had dinner at the Hulse’s and then we caught up with dad that night at 6:30pm. We had hot cocoa, listened to our family Christmas stories and let the kids open one gift. Their one gift is Christmas PJ’s and here they are:

Then Christmas day, Jack is at that age where 4:30am isn’t to early to see what Santa brought him. So he comes into our room to wake us up, our first reaction is to roll over and go back to sleep but we figured since dad had to leave at 5:30am and was going to miss Santa gifts we would do Santa gifts with him; so we all got up and went downstairs. They each got to open the gifts Santa brought and that took until about 5:00am. Then John went and got ready for work while I put the kids back to bed. And guess what they slept in until 8:45am, I couldn’t believe it. I think we are on to something here.

Christmas day the kids had to wait until dad got home to open the gifts under the tree, so to keep them occupied the sister missionaries dropped by and played battleship with Jack and helped me get ready for John to get home. It was a blessing to have them drop by!! John got home at 7:30pm, we ate our Christmas dinner of Ham, cheesy potatoes, homemade rolls, etc. and then we sat down and opened the rest of our Christmas gifts. The kids didn’t get to bed until close to 11:00pm!

Christmas Greeting!

2008-12-22T06:50:00.000-08:00

In April of 2008 we welcomed Emily Kathryn West into our family. She has been such an easy baby and we feel so blessed to have her in our lives. She was a lot smaller than Jack and Lydia coming in at only 6 lbs. 1 oz. Her brother and sister have been a huge help taking care of her and she is now starting to coo and babble.
John is staying very busy in his residency by working long hours. I have enjoyed my calling on the Church Public Relations committee which has me recording a radio show that airs once per month. Jack is in 1st grade and I am continually impressed with the school system here. He is already doing story problems in math and reading chapter books. We are so proud of the progress he is making. Lydia is in Preschool five days per week and preparing to enter Kindergarten next year.
We miss all of you so much and hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

I am sorry for the informal Christmas card this year, I hope you can all forgive me. I know how much fun it is to receive Christmas cards each year and I love putting them up on my bulletin board for all to see. So I promise this will not always be the way you will get your Christmas greeting.

Thanksgiving and a couple of other treasures.

2008-12-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post this cute video of Emily… she has started doing this soft singing and then she turns up the volume… it is so cute.

John has been working 17 hour shifts starting at 4:30pm and ending at 9:00am the next day, that basically gives him 6-7 hours to sleep before he has to be up and back at the hospital, he is so tired… I caught him taking a cat nap with our daughter Emily.

On Thursday, Gantrie and Corey Boren invited us over to share Thanksgiving with them and it was wonderful. John got up at 2:00pm and we went over he ate and then he left for the Hospital, I stayed with the kids and we played a few games, it was a lot of fun and it was nice for me to be with friends on the holiday. Thanks Gantrie!

Then Saturday we celebrated a second Thanksgiving because John wanted to wake up to the smell of Turkey in the oven. It was quite nice. It was our first Thanksgiving dinner with just our immediate family without friends and family and it was great. Here’s a picture of the table with all the fixins! I made homemade wheat rolls, turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, banana cream pie, etc.

Another fun thing I thought I would add. In Buffalo it is not unusual to find someone building an ice skating rink in their yard for the winter. And my neighbor did just that, here is a picture of the ice rink before the snow and ice. Twin girls live here, they are Jack’s age in fact they were born the same day as Jack. One of the girls plays ice hockey and the other one a figure skater. It will be so fun to watch them out there this winter!

Lydia was Glowing on her Birthday!

2008-11-15T14:16:00.000-08:00

Lydia turned 4-years-old Saturday and so we threw a “Glow-in-the-dark” party for her. We had the girls make beaded necklaces, with glow-in-the-dark beads, complete with their names. Then we painted their nails with glow-in-the-dark nail polish, painted their faces with glow-in-the-dark paint, gave them tattoos that glow-in-the-dark and when they were all finished I handed them each glow necklaces and glow bracelets. Then we went to our basement for some glow-in- the-dark fun, complete with a black-light which made their clothes glow as well. The girls had so much fun!

Here are all the girls that came to the party.

Here they are glowing…

Jack got creative with the necklace and bracelet and made a shoe out of them.

And here is one more video of the fun they had!

That evening after John had gotten some sleep from being on-call the night before, we went to Red Robbin to get Lydia's birthday burger. Just after we placed our order, the lights went out. Apparently a transformer at a nearby Lowe's caught fire and caused a power outage to local businesses. We joked that it was continueing Lydia's glow-in-the-dark theme. They were still able to serve the kids macaroni and cheese and bring us some salads but because of the power outage the kitchen was shut down, so no burgers for us - oh well :(. I have to say though, that the staff there was fabulous and helped to make it fun for all of us despite the circumstances, can't wait to go back!

Halloween and an Update on our House Projects!

2008-11-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago my husband finished the walls in our basement (the ceiling will be finished next year). Here are some before and after pictures:

You can't really tell what color the walls are but we painted them a very light lavender and then we had carpet put in the Wednesday before Halloween.

So, we decided to have a Halloween party at our house. We had about 10 families join us for some warm soup before heading out to trick-or-treat.

This is Jack and Lydia at the Great Pumpkin Farm, the pumpkins are as big as they are and there are pumpkins there that are 4 times as big as they are as well.

Lydia made a beautiful Cinderella.

Here is Lydia and 2 of her friends from the party.

Emily was a fabulous Jester.

And Jack a Power Ranger, of course.

Here we are right after we all went trick-or-treating and the party had come to an end.

Georgia on my mind...

2008-10-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we changed our plans from flying to SLC to driving the 13 1/2 hour trip to Georgia. We went to see my mother and my cousins. My mother recently moved out there to be closer to her sisters and to be back in Augusta, GA where she grew up. It was a very pleasant trip and my mother was doing better than I expected.
On our way down we stayed in Charlotte, NC with my cousin Tiffany and her kids. Here is Kade, Jack, Lydia, and Serrin…

This is me and my cousin Tiffany and our two babies that were born 2 weeks apart.

Then on Thursday we headed for Augusta, Ga and it was busy from the moment we arrived until the day we left. We moved my mother into a nicer apartment than the one she was in and she seems very happy right now. And yes, my mother is that small...

On Saturday, we finished up moving the last of the items over and got her settled so that she was functional. Then later that day, we met up with my other cousin Jaime and her family just outside of Atlanta. We met them at a restaurant called The Blue Willow Inn Restaurant. Formerly known as the Bertha Upshaw House. While the Upshaw’s lived in their grand home, Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With The Wind, was a frequent visitor during courtship with Redd Upshaw, her first husband. Redd Upshaw, of Walton County Upshaws, was the character basis for Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind. Knowing that bit of history made it that much more interesting to eat there. It was beautiful and the food was fabulous!! Good ol’ southern cookin’!

So, do you think they could be twins? It’s a little crazy how alike Natalia, Jaime's daughter, and Lydia look. Lydia is just a few months older than her and they both are having trouble growing out their hair – it must be genetic!

Here are Jaime's kids and Lydia and Jack sitting on a bench at the Blue Willow Inn.

The drive home was beautiful... especially at this time of year. This was taken in Virginia.

Jack’s workbench becomes a reality!

2008-10-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

This is the workbench before he and his dad made it a reality with nails. He stacked wood for his seat.

Daddy and Jack built his workbench together, this is so great for Jack. Thanks, John for being such a great dad! Here is the workbench complete with his own chair.

Here is a small video of their project together.

Missing My Dad Today...

2008-10-05T12:38:00.001-07:00

This is my favorite picture of my dad and how it demonstrates his love for his grandchildren. One year before he passed away, I took Lydia and Jack to SLC to visit family and this picture was taken as we were saying goodbye to fly back to Cincinnati. My dad was a good man and he was such an example of strength and perserverance as he battled Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM) and other trials in his life.

Below:

This is me, Lydia and my dad; Lydia was about 7 months old and this picture was taken in that same trip. He passed away in July of 2006. Lydia was named after his mother Lydia Jane Tracy.

You know missing someone after they pass away never goes away, sure you go on with your life but then something happens or you see something that reminds you of them and all of the feelings just flood back. I am greatful for those times because it helps to keep their memory alive for us. My trials may not be as great as his were, but I hope I can handle them as well as he did.

Thanks dad for your example!

Like Father, like son

2008-09-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning Jack's room this morning and came upon this... and had a little chuckle. Jack had drawn up plans on how to make a work bench, complete with 5 steps. He's only 6-years-old, I don't know where he learns this stuff. But he definitely takes after his dad, I love it!

School, solid food, and the red coats...

2008-09-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

The kids had their first day of school on Wednesday, here they are getting ready to go to school. Lydia is attending a Preschool here in buffalo that runs 5 days a week 2 ½ hours a day. She seems to love it, although she would prefer to ride the bus with her brother Jack. Jack started first grade, he loves it and says that his teacher is really nice.

Emily has started solid foods. Here is a video of one of her first bites, she laughs at the very end it is very cute. We love having Emily, she wakes up with a smile on her face that lasts all day long. She is cooing and laughing and rolled over for the first time a few days ago.

Lydia is now riding a bike, well with training wheels that is. Here is a picture of her on her new bike that we found on Craigslist for $5.00, it’s great and is perfect for her. I included a small video of her riding her bike.
The weekend before school started, we went to Fort Niagara. It is the oldest continually occupied military site in North America, it’s history goes back to 1679. The fort played an important role in the struggles of France, Great Britain, and the United States to control the Great Lakes region of North America. While we were there we met some military men dressed up in the old outfits that they wore back then and they did some cannon demonstrations for us, which Jack absolutely loved! I loved the history and the view of Lake Ontario, someone once said “if there is beauty in this world, in water it is.”

Jack found a large frog in our yard and we wanted to get a picture of him with it. When spring rolls around here in Buffalo that's when we find tons of baby frogs hopping around our yard and they are so very cute.

Here we are at the Naval shipyard, we took a quick trip out to show Jack the boats and submarine. We didn't go in them, but hope to take him on the tour soon.

Frequent Visitors

2008-08-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, I just had to post this. Throughout the year we have some frequent visitors to our yard. On this particular day, three gentlmen (or gobblers to toms as male turkey's are called) trot into our yard trying to impress a couple of young female turkeys or hens as they are called (The girls are the ones with their feathers flat in the bottom picture). It was quite funny to see them walk around slowly and proudly with their feathers and chests all puffed out trying to impress and get the girl, and as if they were saying "my chest is bigger than your chest". We have seen some baby turkey's around sooo I guess it worked!

This Summer and Recently...

2008-08-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

Today is officially our 8th anniversary, last night John took me to Shanghai Red’s for dinner (this is a picture of Shanghai Red’s taken from the water looking at the restaurant). It was very good and I highly recommend it. We had NY Steak with vegetables and a baked potato. Then we took a walk along the waterfront and over to the Naval Shipyard Museum late at night (here is a picture of the naval shipyard during the day), it was so nice to spend time with my husband without the children.

This past Sunday we got together with some old friends of mine that I hadn’t seen in about 15 years. This is Branson, Philip and Peter and of course me and John. I met both Peter and Philip (the twins) and Branson at EFY at BYU Idaho just before I finished High School and we would hang out all the time. When we moved to Buffalo last year, it was fun to find out that Peter and his wife Megan lived in our ward. His family came to town and we all got together, it was great!
John is busy doing his research months in residency, he has one more month left and then he will be in the hospital full time and then some… Although, he is doing research he takes call on the weekends, so he still is pretty busy.
Even though John is so busy, he finds time for his household projects; his next one as you can see is the basement. Below is a picture of our basement and the stairs (Lydia is on the stairs and Jack is on our makeshift slide), He has already framed in the stair railings and then he will frame in the walls to build an exercise room and a large playroom with storage closets for the toys. I will keep you updated on the progress.
Throughout the summer, Jack and Lydia have been taking ice skating lessons, swimming lessons and some soccer. They have truly enjoyed it. Jack had little scare in the pool during the summer where he almost drowned, we have continued his lessons and he is getting more and more comfortable in the water and is comfortable swimming in the shallow end (as long as he can touch!). I plan on taking them swimming throughout the winter to keep him comfortable and work with Lydia and her fear of putting her face into the water.

Jack and Lydia are also taking ice skating lessons, considering that Lydia spent her first lesson on her rear end crying this video I took is a huge improvement, (sorry the video is sideways, but I hope you get the gist. It is of Lydia skating backwards and Jack comes up behind her) They both seem to enjoy it and it is fun to have this resource so close.

In my slideshow up at the top of the blog, you can see some of our beach pictures, we went to two different beach party’s for the residents and the kids had so much fun. The water is like bath water and it only goes up to our knees, so it is perfect for the kids. I consider it a gigantic kiddie pool!

Oh yeah, we decided to name our cat Trixie, what do you think?

8 Fabulous Years!

2008-08-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

This August, John and I celebrate our 8th anniversary and it has been wonderful! In the 8 years we have been married we have had a major carreer change, had 3 wonderful children, lived in 2 different states in the east where we have met so many wonderful people, and that is just to name a few. My husband is my greatest support, my love and I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else!

This a close up of our engagement picture, man don't we look young!!

The New Kitten

2008-08-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

This is our new cat, we haven't officially landed on a name yet... We have kicked around KitKat, Felise, Loraine, Cinamon, Jasmine, nothing seems to click, if you have any ideas let me know!

I have to say that she is very nice and sweet, such a change from Ginger, and puts up with Lydia and Jack quite well.

2008-08-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

June 10, 2008

I felt an update on our family was long overdue. Last year about this time we were moving into our new home, here we are a year later and a lot has happened. First of all it feels good that this is Johns last month of his first year of residency, four more to go!

The weather is warming up and I have to say that our first Buffalo winter wasn’t to bad and I actually quite enjoyed having snow on the ground that would last more than a couple of days, and it was neat to see what Niagara Falls looks like in the winter.

John continues to enjoy what he is doing, although the schedule is nothing to be desired. He is on-call every 3rd day and if he is lucky he might get one full day off a month. He is doing general surgery right now and according to the laws, they are supposed to get one 24 hour period off per week and their idea of 24 hours off per week is that John will come home at 8:00am, after being on-call for 24 hours and getting maybe an 1 ½ of sleep, and they will tell him he doesn’t need to be back in until 8:00am the next morning!! He is worn out, sleep deprived, and will be glad to have it over. In some ways, I look forward to having him back on Orthopedics, at least he will be home most nights even if he does get home at 9:00-10:00pm.

Even in my husbands sleep deprived state, he finds time to do his crazy projects. His latest and my most feared was that he decided that our trees in our backyard needed to be trimmed… now these are no small trees they are roughly 5 stories high and the branches that needed to be trimmed were huge. When they had the infamous October storm here last year, a lot of the tree branches fell and some didn’t make it all the way to the ground, they were actually stuck on other branches of the tree. So John decided he would make home-made tree climbing spikes, which he did and attached them to his old brown boots. He wore a long sleeved shirt, long pants, wrapped dish towels around his legs and harnessed himself to the tree with just a rope that went around him and the tree. He forgot his hand gloves… and oh yea, a hand saw was attached to him with a pull saw waiting down at the bottom of the tree that I was to lift up to him when he got high enough. Once he got about 10 feet high, he reminded me that falls from about 10 feet have a 50% survival rate… yep, I was feeling right comfortable about this. I had the nurse next door on-call and the phone in my hand. So, he climbed about 3 stories high when he lost his right foot spikes but somehow he succeeded in getting the two large branches down and made it most of the way back down when he lost all traction and slid down the tree like it was a pole, did I mention he forgot his hand gloves. Our neighbor came out to try to help him out and stayed the whole time that John was in the tree. He said to me, “it isn’t every day that you get to see a doctor up in a tree.”
The birth of Emily has been the highlight of the year. She is so cute and is beginning to smile and coo. She has her 2 month check up this Friday. We had her blessed this past Sunday and Grandma Sue and Grandpa Hugh were here for it, it was such a treat to have them here.

While Grandma and Grandpa were here we took a trip out to Palmyra and toured some of John’s old mission in Lyon’s NY, which was his first area. It is also the area where Solomon Chamberlain, my great, great, great grandfather lived. His story is important to our family and to early church history. Brigham and Phineas Young stayed in his home as they traveled through, and some of the first church meetings were held here. It was fascinating to visit the home and to also learn that the old Erie canal was just across the street from his home. I knocked on the door and met the guy who lived there, he told me that a professor from Brigham Young University was interested in the house and that the church had thoughts of purchasing it, we will see.

Jack is doing well and is in his last few weeks of Kindergarten. I can’t believe that he will be in 1st grade next year. He is reading well and even had his first spelling test, which he passed with flying colors. He is looking forward to the summer as he will be starting ice skating up again, swimming, soccer and baseball. He is a big help around the house and absolutely adores baby Emily. He has a wonderful thirst for knowledge and loves to teach others what he has learned. Here he is with Lydia and one of Lydia’s friends from down the street, he is telling them all about the Titanic.

Lydia is doing well; we just learned that she was accepted into the Universal Pre-K program that NY State offers. So, she will be going to preschool 5 days a week 2 ½ hours a day following the school calendar next year and it is free for us (well I should say that the high taxes we pay here pay for it). We feel so blessed that she was accepted! She is wearing her glasses more religiously now and so far we have only lost one pair, let’s hope we don’t loose another! Lydia has just finished the first few months of ballet with the American Academy of Ballet and she did a great job in her recital. If any of you watch So You Think You Can Dance, the studio she goes to is where finalist Neil Haskell was trained. So far, I have been very impressed with their studio. For the summer, we will take a break from Ballet and she will start ice skating with Jack along with swimming lessons. Lydia is adjusting well to the new baby and loves to talk to her and give her kisses. Although, I did catch her in my office cutting her hair, not sure if it was an attention getting stunt?? I was devastated, because it has taken so long to get her hair long enough to put it in little pigtails. She cut both sides off and gave herself a mullet.
I am doing well and have recovered from having my third C-section. Emily is such a joy to have in the house. She is waking up, on average, only once a night now. I am still helping with the monthly radio show our stake is in charge of; our next few shows will be Emergency preparedness and family history. I have also been called to the Hill Cumorah Pageant Public Relations Committee. Our house is the Buffalo depot for the printed material that goes to the wards and such. I am also in charge of answering all of the e-mails that come in about the pageant and will be spending the night up in Palmyra with another committee member to be there on media day that starts at 5:00am. That won’t be fun, especially with all three children.
John and I have been to a couple of Black Tie dinners which were fun. One of them was for the 5th years graduation, a friend of ours that is graduating this year told a cute story in his short speech, he said that his daughters now 10-years-old and 8-years-old came down to his office and told him that they were not going to eat any more apples, when he asked them why they said because “eating an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. That gave me some insight on how Jack and Lydia might feel when we get to that point. It is hard to believe that when we finish residency they will be 10 and 7 ½ - years - old as well.

Goodbye Ginger

2008-08-06T05:20:00.000-07:00

A funny story to tell with a sad ending.

Emily and I went up to work the Hill Cumorah Pageant for one night this past Wednesday and stayed with a lady who was also on the committee up in Fairport. While I was gone, John put himself and the kids to bed, at about 3:00am he heard Ginger throwing up in the hall. (This is typical for her, she had terrible GI problems) He ran out to keep her from throwing up on the carpet and chased her down the stairs, this is when she went into psycho mode and John tried to calm her down and pick her up, she then took her hind claws and clawed him in both arms pretty badly. The next night when I arrived home, Ginger would still hiss and freak whenever John or anyone would get near her. She had also gotten outside that night and we figured we would leave her out throughout the night. Then John heard two cats fighting and it turned out to be Ginger and another cat, so we got her back inside. She ran down to the basement and John went after her to see if she was ok. I thought I would be nice and take her some water, so I went down too, shutting the door behind me. Once downstairs, we found the cat in psycho mode doing high pitched screeches and hissing, then suddenly she bolted up the stairs. But, I had shut the door and she was trapped, but then again so were we. In psychiatry they have the saying “never let the patient get between you and the door”. So here we were down at the bottom of the stairs and Ginger at the top by the door, hissing and screeching like a wild animal. John and I look at each other wondering how we were going to get out of this. So, John grabs a sleeping bag and slowly approaches Ginger, meanwhile I picked up the cup of water, I had brought her, to use as my weapon of choice. Ginger then bolts down the stairs past John towards me and then around the corner. I then run up the stairs and we both get through the door and shut the door behind us locking the cat down in the basement.

John and I had a long talk, discussing how it is truly time for this cat to go. John had hopes of the cat blowing it over and chilling out the next day… I did not, and even if she did I had truly had it and John was beginning to understand. So, the next day came and I had made arrangements with the SPCA, all we needed to do was to get her into the cat carrier. So, John with his high hopes and all goes down into the basement and finds Ginger in the same psycho mode as before and helps me get her into the carrier. He had to wear a coat and gloves to protect himself. The cherry on top of all of this was that Ginger pooped all over John and the floor when he was trying to get her into the carrier.

The SPCA had to tranquilize Ginger just to get her out of the carrier to put her to sleep.

Even though the cat was so mean, we gave her a good 7 ½ years chance to change and I am sad to see her life finally come to an end, but I know it is for the best.

We will miss how Ginger made life interesting and how she gave us good stories to tell.

So, today we said goodbye to Ginger.

2008-02-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

The Family at Graduation! Can't believe that we made it!