Garth Childs

Are you still alive, Garth?

Yes Ma'am I am. I have been in St George for about a week and they have been running us wild with jobs around here and today is the first that I have had time to even look at my Email. We are all still kicking and yelling. I don’t know if you remember Tempie Childs or not but any she passed away Sunday night not much other news.

Love Garth

Ericksen Family Site

We have a new Ericksen Family site. You should all have received an invitation. This is a letter from one cousin to another. They are two of the cousins who inspired creation of the site.

Hello Kate:

Thank you for your message. I am curious whose granddaughter you are in Alberta? I had the wonderful experience of going to Lethbridge a few years ago when I had to be in Banff on business. I drove down and met first cousins who I barely knew existed! It was a wonderful day and family reunion. I probably met your grandmother there. I am also copying this message to Ms. Trautwein who is also related to us, because I could not respond when she contacted me.

When I was in Canada, Bea's daughters kindly gave me a book from the Procter family and the copy I have has information about Lars and Stine in it. I also went to Denmark in 1991 and went to Kolle Kolle and Fjarreveijle where they lived originally. It was fun to see it.

As you may know Lars came here with his first wife, Birthe Marie Pedersen. In Denmark the families lived not far apart, and I would think that they all may have been converted at about the same time. Lars and Birthe Marie also lived in Copenhagen where they did missionary work (as far as I understand it.) Then they came across to Utah. Apparently Stina or Stina came across alone, but in the same company of pioneers as Lars and Birthe Marie. (She actually came with the couple as a servant girl where she helped the family with the trip in exchange for passage.) Stine's mother also came to Utah and died in Mt. Pleasant, but I don't know if she came in the same pioneer company. 

Anyway when they were in Salt Lake City on June 22, 1861 Stina and Lars were married at the Endowment House. Of course, this was a polygamous marriage, and eventually when the U.S. Marshall's were sent to Utah to attack polygamy, it is my understanding that Lars was one of the men prosecuted or indicted or something. I have never looked at the whole incident thoroughly. I think this was a happy marriage, and I believe that after Louis, Lars' and Birthe Marie's last child was born, that Lars took good care of them, but I know no more children were born to that part of the family. Stina went on to have 8 children, the oldest was Ferdinand. She died at a fairly early age because of an internal injury when she was hooked by a cow. Tough way to go, but there was no care at that time for injuries like that. I have all their dates in my files if you need them.

I am attaching a copy of a picture from my copy of the book that was supposedly taken on the wedding day of Stina and Lars. It shows Camilla and her sister with Birthe and the new couple. Camilla or "Milla" as she seems to have been known in the family was a much beloved figure in the whole Ericksen family.

So enough of what I know. Do you live in Canada? I live in Washington, DC. I am always glad to hear from cousins, which is why I post. I apologize for not replying to Ms Trautwein when she kindly replied. I have been in a job transition and not doing family history much right now.

Best regards,

Caren Ericksen Wilcox

Runnin’ Utes

Sorina: She finally had her Super Duper Dora Party with plates, napkins, cups and a few friends. She had a lot of fun. She did get the cupcakes that she kept telling everyone she wanted also. Her Daddy was gone for her birthday, so she has played up the birthday angel pretty good this month. We now call her “The Girl of the Three Week Birthday.” She thinks it’s normal to open presents every week. It’s hard to believe that she is 3 and growing up so fast. She’s her own person with her own ideas, and she definitely has her own path to follow. She is no longer afraid of Ella, she still calls her “Pals” and carries her around a lot of the day, setting her on high surfaces that she can’t get off (however, she is learning to jump—Ella). She also still has her Dad wrapped around her finger. We just hope that the other kids don’t figure out how easy Dad is if you just yell “Hi Daddy” and run to him with open arms for a hug when he gets home.

Toren: Just when we thought the snow was gone, we got more! He was so excited. He was also exited for soccer season to begin—which it did this week. Next week is his and Dane’s last week in school. They’re off from April 10th to May 3rd. That’s a wee bit too much time according to their Mom. We recently bought him a t-shirt that says: It seemed like a good idea at the time. We were watching The Thief Lord (based on the book of the same name by Cornelia Funke, who also wrote Inkheart and Inskpell—which we really enjoyed) on DVD and one of the characters, an investigator, uses a set of lock picks to pick a lock and Toren pipes up and tells us that he wants to be a lock picker when he grows up. Is it a wonder we bought him that t-shirt?

Dane: Dane has an excellent scoutmaster. His scoutmaster is a former Bishop and Ward Mission Leader. Dane attended his first Court of Honor and got his first merit badge. He’d earned another, but his counselor did not sign in all the right places. For some inexplicable reason, Dane really loves going to scouts—you would think he had scouting running in his veins or something. He is excited to be able to go to camp this summer, but his Dad has to go in order for Dane to go, and Shawn’s vacation is currently up in the air because of a possible job change. Dane was also excited for snow, more snowboard ramps and snowmen in the yard. And lots of snow flying here and there, and sometimes even where it did not belong. Dane is also fortunate to have a schoolteacher that really likes having Dane in class. She said he had so many good traits and was so good to work with, which he truly is (unless he is
fighting with a sibling). Fortunately, he does not have a twin to go to school with.

Brigitta: Brigitta and Mom had a good time attending Sunday afternoon General Conference at the Conference Center and walking around the outside of the Conference Center in the wonderfully warm Spring weather. Brigitta enjoys Young Women’s. She also had a great term in school. She’s started the last term and I think she already has Spring Fever. She didn’t tell us about her after school dance, again, so her Dad couldn’t go and show off his “moves.” Brigitta’s biggest fear is that her Dad will dance in front of her friends. He already sings in front of them, changing the words, of course. She liked a song that went: “There’s a boy who works at Starbucks, and he is such an inspiration”, which her dad ruined by changing it to “There’s a boy who works on cars-and-trucks, and he smells like perspiration”.

Ella: Cute, but a little short-tempered with the boys. They are a bit rough. And still potty training. Just when I thought I’d won my last battle with Sorina……

Kimberly: I got my braces off on the 16th, just in time for my birthday. However, no one noticed immediately, other than Sorina and my friend Julie. In fact no one noticed when we got together for Men’s Broadcast in Provo. Everyone just thinks the change they noticed was my hair. My hair has been noticed a lot lately.? I haven’t bowled in a long time and that was a lot of fun. I think Sorina and Toren are going to want to go again really soon. I am also very active in cub scouting now. In November I will have Toren in cub scouts for a couple of years—not that he doesn’t already do some of the activities with us, and already has a Cub Scout shirt. [Shawn’s Note: Kimberly did also get her haircut, so don’t think you totally missed everything. If you noticed her hair was different you were 100% right.]

Shawn: We had a great time in Provo getting to visit with everyone. We enjoyed visiting with Melanie and Siovhan (we see her about as often as we see Melanie). AnnMarie’s and Brandon’s house is beautiful. Brick Oven with everyone was great. Shawn was gone for a week to a national user group conference in Nashville, where he also presented. He got to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame one evening of the conference, and has been listening to country music more since he got home. He remembered Dad used to like it, in fact he remembers that he, Melanie, and Todd got records for Christmas one year – Petulia Clark, Charlie Pride, and someone else he cannot remember. In the museum at the first exhibit he saw it said Jimmy Rogers, and replied, “Oh, he’s the yodeling cowboy." to which one lady in country/western clothes looked astonished. She went and read more and listened to a sample song and came back and said, “I had never heard of him, but you were right." I guess Dad rubbed off on him more than he realized.

The Old Folks At Home

One year of newsletters! It is our family newsletter anniversary in May  (since we started in May). Is that something worth celebrating? One year of Mom nagging, cajoling and pleading. Oh, well, you are all used to that anyway, right?

It has been a good month. The daffodils are blooming and the tulips are nearly ready, so summer must be just around the corner. Here in Utah we can’t decide if it is spring or winter. One day it is one thing and the next day it is the other.

Robert Frost said it best.

“Two Tramps in Mud Time”

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.

You know how it is with an April day

When the sun is out and the wind is still,

You're one month on in the middle of May.

But if you so much as dare to speak,

A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,

A wind comes off a frozen peak,

And you're two months back in the middle of March.

We have been enjoying the fireplace. However, on the Sunday of Conference, Dad got the T.V. room so warm we could hardly stand it. Just ask Melanie. She was sitting closest to the fire. When we went upstairs to eat, it became apparent that we were enjoying a warm day. We ended up throwing the windowsopen just to catch a breath of cool spring air. Just an aside, Melanie still owes Julie a dance. Julie and AnnMarie made pies just so Melanie would keep her promise to dance for pie, and then she didn’t do it.

We had a great time bowling. Those moms and kids who could be there (it was too far for Todd and David and families) went to BYU and bowled while the men went to Priesthood. Then we all went to Brick Oven for pizza (men included). Thanks to Eric getting there a little ahead of us, we got a ROOM to ourselves. There are no reservations during conference weekend.

We also enjoyed a weekend visit from Erin and Donovin a couple of weeks ago. We all had fun and hope they did. Mary misses them and, the day after they left, asked where they had gone. We also had the Howard kids with us (and AJ) overnight during their spring break.

We are looking forward to a camping trip to St. George to spend Erin’s birthday with her. She wrote us a letter inviting us to, please, take her camping for her birthday.

I have one bit of great news. You all remember that dark brown age-spot I had at the corner of my left eye? It is gone. I went to a dermatologist to have a skin cancer burned (they actually freeze them) off and he also burned that off. I am happy to be rid of it. Now, if he

could just burn off wrinkles.

Dad is still Dad. He works so hard all of the time that I can’t even dream of keeping up with him. He and Jim tilled our garden the day before it snowed again. So we are ready to plant. All of the electric work in the on-going bathroom project is done. The shower fan works and now we need to put up the rest of the drywall and paint and my dream will be complete. Nevertheless, I am enjoying it just the way it is.

As you read through the items from family members, please note how many great students and how many talented grandchildren we (Grammy and Gramps) have! Is that due to good genes (I know you are going to say from the other side of the families.), good parenting or just lots of love and care? Whatever it is, we are thankful that we have so many wonderfully talented and highly intelligent people in our family.

In June, we should have two more and that will add even more to our happiness. Thanks for sharing these wonderful people with us! We are grateful. I want you all to know that, now that I am a grandma, I could be a better mother. I just had no idea what I was doing, most of the time and had to fly by the seat of my pants, so to speak. I no longer cringe when you bring up my mothering shortcomings; however, because I have learned the women I work with at the temple (who are angels in my estimation) all have regrets as well. So I am now acknowledging that I am human and, as such, have made and will continue to make mistakes. So forgive me my past and I will try to

continue to grow up. I may even make it someday. I do want my kids to know, however, that I don’t remember everything you say I did or didn’t do. I do remember that I loved you and that I still love you. It was a great privilege being part of your lives and watching you grow and become the wonderful people you all are. I still LIKE all of you as well as love you. Thanks, also, for marrying such wonderful people.

All of you know that Grandpa Pitts was good at playing the harmonica. He also had a beautiful baritone voice and he and Mother Elaine sang together for funerals, dances and other occasions in the Carbon and Emery County areas. Did you know that Aunt Renee was also quite musical? She played the trumpet in the school band. The talent I most admired, however, was her whistling. I always loved to wake up at her house and hear her whistling. She could sound like a great variety of birds plus she was good at whistling tunes.

Grandma Smith always woke me up by singing: “Lazy Myrna, won’t you get up, won’t you get up, won’t you get up? Lazy Myrna won’t you get up so early in the morning?” Dad says his mother used to sing that to him with the exception of exchanging Tim for Myrna. Grandma Smith was also musically inclined, though she did not have much of a singing voice. She played the accompaniment while her sister, Jessie, sang all over at all sorts of events. She also made needed cash by playing for the silent movies. She would watch the movie before the theatre attendees so that she would know when the music should be happy or sad, loud or soft, romantic or dangerous. In those days, each piano player came up with his or her own mix for the movie so that it varied from town to town.

Great-Grandpa Pritchett, Vivian’s father, played the violin and would fiddle for dances in Sanpete County, Utah County and later in Emery and Carbon Counties. Of course, when he played for dances, it was called “fiddling” and Grandma Smith said her favorite of all the tunes he knew by heart was “Turkey in the Straw.”

Grandpa Ray and all of his brothers sang together in a popular group. Later some of those brothers sang with the Tabernacle Choir. Grandpa Tom Pitts also had a wonderful singing voice. So there you have the music abilities of the family that I know about.

I think Dad, LHT, has a good voice and many of you also have good voices. You know that Auntie Helen is a good pianist. So I suppose you get your talent from ancestors on both sides of the family.

HAPPY EASTER! HAPPY SPRING!

Buzzn’ Joneses

Dear Family,

I delegated the responsibility of writing the newsletter this month to Jim, but he decided to go to California. So, you get to hear the news from me again. We'll try delegating it again next month. If not, I'm sure that June is his turn because I plan on being a little preoccupied. We sure do love him!

The month of March was a great month for the Jones family in Nephi. We celebrated St. Patrick's Day and Mary's second birthday. Jim enjoyed Mary's birthday celebration a lot more than he did the St. Patrick's Day celebration. He thought that I was going to permanently turn his insides green with too much food dye. (Okay, I guess I did go a little overboard, but the green roast beef, au jus, and French fries seemed like fun.)

For Mary's second birthday, we bought her an aquarium and seven gold fish. We got home with five of them still alive. By the time her birthday came a week later, they were all dead. Apparently, gold fish aren't very good survivors. So her back-up present was a tricycle. We had a fun party including cousins Erin and Donovin who got to spend the day with us. Mary loves to have her cousins around. We have also discovered that we have a budding bowler in the family. She gets that from her father, not from me. We have been bowling twice in the last month. Mary has skunked me both times. I would like to blame it on being pregnant, but I am afraid she will still trounce me after the baby is born. We have gone bowling at the Wilkinson Center for both events. Now anytime we start going north on I-15, she starts saying, "Go bowling, Mommy and Daddy." She might start a new fashion trend in bowling apparel. It is fun to see this little two-year-old bowling in a dress and pants. Who knows, maybe bowlers will begin wearing tennis skirts. As you can tell, Mary is still in her dress faddish (fetish). She loves to wear dresses, but it is still too cold to wear them without pants underneath. We are anxiously awaiting warmer weather so she will no longer have to wear two outfits at once. Mary also likes to have her fingernails painted. She loves to dance and learned some new moves when her two cousins came to spend the day. She is also loving Nursery and can't wait to go play toys. We are sure thankful for her in our family.

Jim is busy trying to bring bees back to Utah. His first trip to California got delayed a week due to our truck breaking down. Fortunately he noticed it leaking oil before he pulled away from the house. The second trip was full of rain and delays. He got stuck twice in one night right in the almond groves. Then, when he got them back to Utah, it was so mucky here that the diesel got stuck and later that night Jim got stuck on his way into a different yard. It rained the next two days. He was going to go get the bees last week, but Bakersfield got walloped with rain. They had an inch of rain in just one night. So, here we are the ninth of April with half of the bees in Bakersfield and the other half in Utah. Jim says he has decided not to worry about it, he will just keep praying for the Lord to take care of the bees. With more rain predicted here in Utah this week, I think there will be plenty of prayers being offered. We really can't complain, the Lord has been looking out for us every step of the way. We really are blessed. We just think that we live fairly humorous lives. Beekeepers lead a charmed life--it must be that extra spoonful of sugar.

(Julie left out the excitement of what happened while Melanie was here. She and Dad got to go to Ephraim and rescue Jim in the middle of the night. He hit a deer and it damaged his radiator.)

We hope that all is going well with everyone else. 

We love you all!

The Nephi Joneses

Boston Baked Boltons (Plus One True Blue at BYU)

It was an interesting end to the month for Howard, when he came through LA airport and was told that his Resident Alien card wasn't any good anymore: it had become faded and some of the information wasn't legible. He was told the next time he tried to get back into America with it, he could be deported and fined. He re-applied for a new card, but while waiting he can't leave the country. That isn't stopping his travel, just his travel abroad. He has trips planned stateside during his waiting period. We are wondering if the new Compromise Law that was just passed might delay his card becoming reissued. The family isn't too sad to see him stay closer to home. His trips will only be week long ones, as opposed to weeks long.

Melanie is gearing up for the Stake's Family History Center Conference, which is Saturday. Her young women are making lunches for 130 people, as a fundraiser for camp. Melanie needs to buy meat, bread, cheese, chips, etc. and organize 25 young women to make the lunches and sell them. This usually earns about $700 for the young women to be used to defray the cost of camp. It takes about a week's worth of organizing, and a day's worth of work for assembling and selling. It will make the weekend go by quickly!

Siovhan hasn't made up her mind whether she is coming home this summer. She has the opportunity to come home and work at Tyco again, for $10/hour, with rent and board being free, or stay in Utah, find a job and pay for room and board. She won't be home until the end of June, as she needs to stay for a communications class.

Braden is finished with the Musical "Beauty and the Beast." They did the Broadway version of the Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." Howard and Benjamin really liked the performance. They were impressed with how professional it was. The costumes were amazing! Braden is sad that he once again has no life. He was gone up to four days a week with practice and now he has to share his free time with his family. He has been lifting weights and working out at the YMCA. He would prefer to swim, but the lap times aren't family friendly.

Ben recently purchased an electric guitar. He starts lessons this month. We just have to encourage him that practice is the only way to go. He likes the fact that it is spring and he can go for walks in the woods. He goes in heavily armed: a long wooden pole and a pocketknife. We have foxes and coyotes in our neighborhood. It hasn't deterred him, just made him stick closer to home. He loves being outdoors.

Mikaela is finishing up gymnastics for the spring. She isn't sure she wants to do them during the summer, and I don't blame her. She loves the class when she gets there, it is just a bit tiring to have to drive for a half an hour to get to class. No short cuts to the building. She just finished up her specialized math class and had a blast using math in everyday situations. Her math teacher is a lot of fun and had a lot of fun games and activities to teach the children with. I like the fact that our district takes those who test high in certain areas and encourages them with specialized classes (even if it is extra curricular).

It was so much fun to be in Utah during the good weather time. I loved being with my siblings and my daughter. (I thought that Mom and Dad went without saying. Who isn't glad to see their parents?) I appreciate all that you do to try to keep Siovhan family-oriented. She isn't easy to get a hold of. (I know, I was with her for a few days, and one day she left me for someone much younger, stronger and of the opposite gender.)

God bless you all for you endeavors in our behalf!

Happy Easter.

I found this interesting fact on Martha Stewart's page: In late-nineteenth-century Germany, eggs were used as birth certificates. The newborn's name and birth date were etched into the shell of a dyed egg, and courts honored these "IDs" as proof of age and identity.

I wonder if our extended heritage did this.

Mel

Rocky Mountain “Hi”!

Cancun was awesome! Jared and I got to stay in an all-inclusive resort just south of Cancun (Grandma Waite came to stay with the kids) where they brought you drinks by the pool. Needless to say, my doctor wasn't very happy (also not surprised) that I gained an extra five pounds while in Mexico (all attributed to the non-alcoholic Pina Coladas), but it will all work out in the end (I hope). I did learn that I'm not fond of many Mexican desserts (they're just not sweet enough for me; pretty pathetic, eh?), but apparently that didn't matter since the slushies and virgin coladas all made up for the extra calories.

I was nervous about all of the Falcon Dental office staff and spouses being together for four days in a row, but it worked out splendidly and was actually very fun!

One of the most exciting things we did while there was driving to some Mayan ruins (Chichen Itza), about an hour and a half outside Cancun (if you take the Super Highway; four hours if you take the back roads through true Mexico in the dark--long story). It was amazing to see how exact they were in constructing every building. Because of all the precise measurements, they were able to amplify sound (the Mexicans call it the first "recorded" sound), and make different symbols using light and shadow. Our tour guide, though not a Mormon, mentioned the Book of Mormon several times, especially when talking about the tower construction and how the Mayans made sound travel (he mentioned King Benjamin), and all the references to the Feathered Serpent (Kukulcan or Quetzalcoatl) or Christ visiting the Americas (he said the Mayans named him the feathered serpent because they didn't know how to describe facial hair and the long hair, with which, Christ is portrayed; and "serpent" because that was their most respected symbol). I could go on and on, but I wouldn't do it justice.

The girls had fun with Granny; though she was tired after the five days of chasing two girls who get up at 5:45 in the morning.

Jared and I decided everyone needs a good vacation away from the kids at least once in their lives. Four days was perfect, enough time for us to miss them, and to not get sick of each other either. Now life is back to the normal, and try as I might I can't seem to get anyone to bring me a drink around here. Oh well.

Laundry is all caught up, floors are vacuumed and the office is still a mess. Sound pretty average to anyone else? We really enjoyed conference and were sad to miss Mel, but we understand all you Utah folk had fun and that Siovhan didn't keep Melanie out past her bedtime again. :)

Happy Easter to you all!
The Waites

Princess Sorina Photos

Princess Sorina Photos from Kimberly

Tyler as a Top Reader!

If you go to this web site and hit ctrl + f, type in "Tyler Trauntvein" you will see his latest accomplishment.  He was the top reader for his school.  He was one of 1,616 in the state that made it to the list.

 

http://www.bluejackets.com/ice/news/arts/2932.0.html

Torkil Dressoe 107 on Monday!‏

Kenneth Anderson wrote: There will be an Open House for Brother Dressoe on Monday at the rest home where he lives.

If anyone would care to send a greeting, the address is

Hesseløgade 6,
2100 Copenhagen Ø

You can also send me an e-mail (evt. with an attachment) and we will see
that he gets it!

We will be taking my mother-in-law, Solveig Als, who recently turned 92, to
visit!

Hav det godt!
Ken Anderson