Derek - Hawaii, Bob and #99plus1

Derek posted this on June 27 to his Facebook account ... a sweet memory of a helping hand in Hawaii. 

We were newlyweds with very little money – about to move to an island where we didn’t know a soul. Until we met Bob.

Danielle and I were just 25 years old when I was offered a full-tuition scholarship to the University of Hawaii to pursue my MBA. I was working in a Provo basement for a tiny 6-person startup called Qualtrics, when I decided it likely wasn’t going to take off. Haha. Whoops! We accepted an offer for graduate school in Honolulu – sold everything we had (which wasn’t much) and boarded a plane. 

We literally didn’t know anyone on the island, but my parents mentioned our situation to some couples in their Church congregation. One of them said “I have a brother on O’ahu – here’s his email address – I’m sure he’d be happy to help.” I remember writing an email that basically said, “Hey Bob. You don’t know me – but my wife and I are moving to Honolulu and our flight arrives at 12:30 AM. Uber hasn’t been invented yet, and we wondered if you could pick us up from the airport and let us stay the night in your house, and then drive us to our apartment the next day.” The only thing we had in common was that we were members of the same Church. I sent my email, embarrassed that I was asking so much from someone I had never met. 

Five minutes later, I got this reply: “Aloha Derek. Tell me your flight number. I’ll be there.” And he was. By the time we gathered our luggage (not a couple carry-ons – we were moving…this was everything we owned) it was well after 1AM. I got a text message “This is Bob, I’m ready when you are.” We met him outside and he loaded our bags and drove us to his modest home for the night. The next morning, Bob said “let’s get you some Spam and Eggs at McDonalds – you’ve got a big day.” He drove us to McDonalds, bought us breakfast and then to our apartment. We thanked him profusely for his generosity – but it didn’t stop there. “You don’t have a car – how are you going to get groceries?” We’ll walk I guess – I answered. “Hop back in, let’s get you what you need.” Bob then drove us to Foodland and walked with us for an hour as we bought what we’d need to survive our first week in our new place. 

I never saw or talked to Bob again after that day – but I’m forever grateful that a perfect stranger would willingly drive in the middle of the night to pick up two scared kids from the mainland and not leave their side until he knew they were okay. President Nelson, the man I believe is the living prophet of God is turning 100 years old this year. As he reflected on the significance of that number, he invited us to consider times that we’ve been the “1” in the parable of the lost sheep. As I thought about this – I immediately thought of Bob, who reached out to my wife and I as we were (quite literally) lost in a new place. Thank you, Bob, for being like the Good Shepherd and ensuring that we made it to safety. 

#99plus1

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Derek has written official articles for the church website before, so I asked him if this had been an assignment. He answered "The church is doing a little 99+1 campaign ... and if I'm being honest, I was asked my some of my leadership to help "model" what members might do if they were to engage with this campaign) - but no assignment, this was on my own. :) "

AI Images and other Face Funnies

 

Derek spent a little time on MyHeritage.com (a site similar to FamilySearch.org and Ancestory.com) and traced his lineage back and found some ancestors that have a striking resemblance to him! It was amazing to find so many well preserved pictures, and with such a likeness in so many family lines! From a Viking forefather, to a Persian prince, a gladiator, a cowboy... Okay, just kidding, these are ALL Derek, worked over in the artificial intelligence time machine that My Heritage offers on their site. To get this time-treatment, you are asked to upload 10-25 pictures of yourself (3 full body shots, 5 upper body, 10 closeups and 2 profile pictures). The AI then takes all the data, mashes and matches to create these past portrayals. 

AI Art is all the rage right now ... although it's not without some controversy. In an article by the MorningBrew news site, it mentions that artists are upset about copyright concerns and devaluation of real-life skills. There are also privacy and ethical issues ... but it is easy to see the appeal of getting such pictures so quickly, easily and inexpensively. 

While not quite as realistic ... FamilySearch.Org offers a similar fun photo activity. With it, you can take a simple selfie to add and upload your face to preset picture poses. This was a Westra Family History Challenge back in 2021 with some great results! Many of the grandkids participated.

MyHeritage also offers an "animation" option ... upload a picture and bring it to life. This is especially unique to photos of long lost ancestors who have never been seen "alive" by current generations. There was a blog post featuring this fun option too ... Animating Ancestors. 

Jen went a little crazy with the #voila app in 2021, which could "Disney-fy" photos, creating cute cartoons (see some of Margie here).  You can check out some other funny faces on a Blackham Bunch Blogpost.  There are  fun filters, face swap apps and in 2021 Derek made this #refaceapp clip of he and Danielle in some starring roles ...

https://youtu.be/Vlbwaa3KryA

Silly technology!

Silhouettes

A silhouette is defined as "the dark shape and outline of someone or something visible against a lighter background".  I have a memory of all the kids getting a silhouette profile at one time or another. It was often a craft done in school. A bright light, tracing the outline of the head and cutting it out. Just from the silhouette profiles above, can you guess which Westra siblings these are?

There was a "shadows" song/dance with silhouettes in the musical Jen's senior year (1989) "Shadows on the Wall" ... Jen was Dorothy Brock, an older (like 50? Gasp, SO old. So many lines drawn on the face) washed up star, appalled she is supposed to audition for a part. The director makes a comment about Dorothy Brock "but she can't dance" ... and Jen knew the part was made for her (as singing and acting were no problem, but dancing was an issue!) Jen's Madrigals group (the guys) sang Silhouettes on the Shade (listen to that HERE).

Well ... have you made your guesses?

Chris on the left ... in first grade (1972-1973). On the right, little Derek ... younger, just three years old, done as a Joyschool project in 1986. You can see in the school photo, the side/profile, while not a silhouette, was the trend!

Here's an article about silhouettes. 

Archival Bible

For Derek's birthday in May 2022, Danielle arranged a great gift ... here's Derek's FB post:

I like old things. For my birthday Danielle gave me this framed page from a year 1595 Bible. When this page was printed, Shakespeare was 31 years old and one of my favorite Italian painters (Michelangelo Caravaggio) was 24. Rembrandt would be born a decade later. Christobol Colombo discovered the “New World” (aka The Bahamas) a century earlier. Did you know he didn’t actually set foot in North America?

Until this piece, the oldest “man made” piece in our home was our beloved 1883 piano. Anyone got me beat? I need photographic proof that you have something older than 1595.

Derek received several interesting responses. Chris wrote "I was going to post a picture of one of my billion year old rocks. Until I saw man-made."  Jen added "I just read a book (The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict), a historical fiction about the woman hired as librarian for J.P Morgan in the early 1900s. He was setting up a personal collection (later turned into a public library) and they were going to auctions and bidding on old bibles and other books (yours is actually older than what they were going for!) It totally made me wonder about who and when someone bought that 1595 bible, and when they took it apart and started selling it page by page, wondering how much it cost, and how much they made selling pages individually. How many people like you would love a single page, and if some pages would be worth a lot more (like I'm sure you loved one with music on!)"

Derek clarified further:

I was able to select the page that I wanted. It was almost a complete bible but other customers had purchased many of the more well-known and popular scriptures already. I leafed through the bible and found this page in Psalms. I selected it because it had text, sheet music, and also a small woodcut. The pages with intricate woodcuts were the most valuable, but this was one of the only pages I could find with music and I thought that was so cool!  The text is in English (old-English). It's really cool. A fun piece.

 Dad mentioned an old bible in his missionary journal, July 23, 1958. Here's the quote:

July 23 - I got up late, 6:45, studied, went out tracting with Elder Brewster. We held two cottage meetings then and Elder De Vries and I held two more in the afternoon, all first lessons. We met three of the cutest little girls I’ve ever seen, while we were tracting - Thea, Carla, Mona. - They tracted with us for a while. In the evening Elder Thompson and I tracted and I tracted and held two cottage meetings, one with three ladies, 2 young, 1 old. The young ones were interested. Then we spoke with a student and his father who didn’t believe in anything but had the biggest and oldest Bible I’ve ever seen, 1674.

See more of Dad/Lamar's Missionary Journal.

Documenting Your Dwelling

 

Here on the blog, we've done several spotlights on where our ancestors lived. Before pictures were so easy to come by in today's technology, finding photos that show the houses from years past are few and far between. Mom/Margie as commented that she wishes she had more pictures of the house she grew up in, and while we do have some photos of the Hermitage House, it would have been nice to have more. Pictures of the outside, the yard, the various rooms. Often we can see parts or portions behind a person, who is the subject of the shot ... but what about taking pictures OF your house, just for the sake of documenting your dwelling?

Derek and Danielle have done a great job decorating their home. They are always adding new projects and clever creations. As a little side-hustle (one of many) D&D have an Instagram and Website to showcase their home and their projects, often with step-by-step instructions. They had Alicia come and capture their home on camera ... both for social media sharing and because it's great to have these things preserved in pictures.  I know it's probably a photography faux pas  to crop/collage these pictures ... but they are all are included in their entirety in Dropbox (D&D/2021). 

Here's a little look at Derek's wallpapering project ... 

Quite the camouflage. 

Consider this a challenge, to make sure you document your dwelling and decor!

Take pictures and write up what you remember, what makes your house a home.

Check out all the Home Sweet Home posts here on the blog.

Derek's Fixer-Upper Article

Derek had an article he wrote featured on the Church website. Shane grabbed a screenshot of it when it was on the main menu. It's the Do You Have the Guts to be a Fixer-Upper? And yes, that IS Derek as the model ;) Derek has been doing a ton of home improvements (with Covid canceling so much, it's been something many have turned to). He said he had written up this article and submitted it a few months ago, and didn't even know it had been published to the church page until someone mentioned it to him. 

The link to the church article is above, 

but Mom wanted a copy on the blog and in Dropbox... so here it is ;)

Do You Have the Guts to Be a Fixer-Upper?

You could say I’m almost addicted to all things house flipping (as in: home renovations that fix up a deteriorating property and culminate in a jaw-dropping reveal.)

I love all TV shows in this category, whether it’s the more recent shows or the classic ones. To me there is something noble, beautiful, and irresistible about finding a home that is run down, falling apart, and fraught with issues but seeing its hidden potential and investing the time to “flip it,” restoring it to its former (and future) glory.

One of the most popular of these hit shows starts every episode with the husband-and-wife dynamic duo stating their objective: “We take the worst home, in the best neighborhood, and turn it into our clients’ dream home.” Then they start that episode’s story by asking: “Do you have the guts to take on a fixer-upper?”

I’ve often wondered why these shows are so ridiculously popular. Why are there so many of them? There’s a whole network dedicated to giving us as many house-flipping reality TV shows as we can take!

I remember asking a friend this same question years ago about sci-fi, fantasy, and superhero movies. “Why are we so obsessed with these stories?” I asked. “What is it that keeps us coming back for more?”

My friend’s reply was dripping with the wisdom of someone with decades more time than I have spent in the scriptures (and also within worlds like Asgard, Tatooine, and Gotham.)

“The reason these stories are so popular is because there is something deeply ‘true’ about the fight between good and evil, and the need for a hero to save us. It resonates with our spirits. We’re drawn to these fictions because of their similarity to the very real nonfiction we live every day.”

I recently realized that this same answer also applies to my other question: “Why are home renovation stories so popular?”

I believe there is something familiar about the process of recognizing potential, restoring virtue, and revealing beauty that speaks to our souls.

Isn’t it inspiring when someone can recognize the dignity of something that is so badly broken? Someone with “eyes to see” who can look past the neglected exterior and the injured insides, and with a confident smile can say, “I can work with this.”

Fixing up a damaged and decaying property takes a huge investment of time and labor. Sometimes the foundation needs to be reinforced. Often the roof requires repair. Sometimes there are significant structural issues. Some days are demo-days, where rotten walls and termite-ridden floorboards are ripped out, exposing the home’s fragile frame. Other days are for rebuilding, where stabilizing support beams are placed to strengthen the home and ensure that it remains safe for years to come.

When the bad parts are cut out and cleared away, it’s time for the designers to truly transform the space. They slowly walk through and look carefully at the various rooms, envisioning what they can become. They take notice of the flow, and how the light hits the walls. They visualize the people who will live there and begin to mentally place a fireplace here, a dining table there, and porch swings facing the sunset.

When the home is just about ready, the designers add the finishing touches to make sure every detail is in place: the landscaping is complete, the pillows are perfectly positioned and fluffed, and candles are positioned to accentuate the unique beauty and character of the home.

At this point the designers ask the homeowner, “Are you ready to see your fixer-upper?” The renovation is revealed. Jaws drop, tears flow, and homeowners say things like “It’s not the same house!” and “Thank you for seeing what this home was capable of becoming!”

Do you recognize this restoration process? These stages are similar to the steps of the Atonement of Jesus in our lives.

I realize that it is inappropriate to compare the most precious gift ever given to mankind by the Savior of the world to a home renovation. One is supernal, the other mundane. One is God-given, the other man-made. I do this only to say that on some level we intimately know and recognize this process, and it resonates with our spirits.

The scriptures are replete with examples of the Jesus’s “renovations.” I imagine Him at the Sea of Galilee looking at the rough and impulsive fisherman Simon Peter and envisioning the “rock” upon which He would build His Church. Then with a confident smile, saying, “I can work with this.” I imagine the resurrected Lord seeing the powerful potential of Paul in the small-in-stature Saul, and the yet-to-be-born Jehovah recognizing the determined drive in Alma the Younger that He knew He could “flip.”

The process of cutting away the spiritually rotten and decaying parts of a person is painful. It takes work to create a masterpiece from mangled and missing pieces. I believe the ingredient that makes this possible is mercy.

The scriptures describe this process of investment, love, and work many times. Here is one of my favorites: “And thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them, for they were the very vilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in his infinite mercy to spare them” (Mosiah 28:4).

Transformations require tools. Mercy, love, and grace are among the tools Jesus uses to renovate our lives. In all the scriptures, never did Jesus turn away from a fixer-upper. Never did He look at a potential restoration project and say, “That one is too far gone.” No matter how cracked the foundation or how abused the interior, our Savior always takes the job. The woman taken in adultery. The blind man. Jarius and his daughter. The woman with an issue of blood. Lazarus. Mary. Me. You.

If we allow Him to take us on, and to design our lives, we’ll find that He—as the Architect, Designer, and Builder—can do so much more with us than we can with ourselves.

Do you have the guts to be a fixer-upper?

An Appeal, An Answer and an Ab-Wheel

In December of 2020, as part of the "Light the World" challenge, Mom/Margie shared a couple stories about prayer from her youth (Mom's Memories). Not long after, Derek shared a story as well. Here it is. 

God Has a Sense of Humor (Ab-Wheel Story)

Shared by Derek Westra via email, December 2020

When I had only been on my mission to Brazil a couple of months – I had this strong desire for a piece of exercise equipment that I had used every day before my mission – it was called an ab-wheel. I’m not sure why I wanted it so bad, but I have always hated sit-ups and they just weren’t doing it for me out there and I felt like I was losing my six-pack. :) My companion was a Brazilian named Elder Mariano, and while I still didn’t know the language very well yet, I told him about the ab-wheel and asked if I could find one in Brazil somewhere. He had never heard of one but said I should mention it to some of the members to see if they had. I did this at several houses, but no one had ever heard of one. Since I was new to Portuguese, I remember struggling to explain what this was. “E uma roda. Como… uma roda plastica, pequena que voce usa para fazer exercicios. Assim – eu vou te mostrar.”

I’d say: “It’s like a plastic wheel with handles that you use on the floor to do exercises, like this!” Then I’d try to demonstrate – which must have look ridiculous. One of the members was taking a trip to Sao Paulo to go to Wal-Mart and I asked them to look for one and buy it for me and I’d pay them back, but they couldn’t find one. I became sort of obsessed with finding one and since missionary work can be somewhat monotonous and unimaginative, I started working my new-found obsession into our door approaches. “Hey there – I was hoping you could help me with something: I’m an American and I’m looking for this exercise thing (I’d describe it) have you heard of this?” The answer was always no, but Brazilians love helping and to ask for a favor (a glass of water or help with an address) was always a better, more effective approach then just telling them we wanted to share a message.

My companion started to really tire of my obsession with finding an ab-wheel. I could tell it was starting to bother him, but I didn’t know a ton of Portuguese yet and I had gotten pretty practiced at my approach so I kept using it. Finally, one morning during our companionship prayer before leaving the apartment, Elder Marino was saying the prayer and said (with a lot of pent-up frustration): “Heavenly Father, please help us today to find Elder Westra’s stupid ab-wheel so he can stop talking about it.” I opened my eyes to scowl at him, but this was as earnest and sincere as I’d ever seen him. I got the hint that he had had enough and decided to drop it.

We went out knocking doors as usual and I avoided the “ab-wheel” approach since I knew my Senior Companion was at his wit’s end. But one street in, we came to a house where this really strong guy was exercising out front with his shirt off (doing pull-ups). I looked at my companion and he said “Okay – ask about the thing.” I went up to the guy and said, “Excuse me, but you look really strong and like you exercise a lot.” He was flattered and entertained by where this was going. I said, “I’m an American, and there is this one piece of exercise equipment that I can’t find anywhere in this country, it’s called an “Ab-wheel.”’ His eyes lit up and he got really excited. “They don’t make it here.” He said. But he had a huge smile, like he knew something I didn’t. “But I do!” He told us to come in his house and he had three of these home-made ab-wheels that he had made out of wood and broom handles. “I’ve seen these on TV, but they are only in the United States – I wanted to try one so I made a prototype out of wood. It’s not perfect, I’m still working on the design, but this ought to take care of you.” He handed me one of his three wood prototypes and said “It’s yours.” I looked at Elder Mariano and he was speechless. We had somehow found “Elder Westra’s stupid ab-wheel” on the day that he earnestly prayed and asked that we would. I’m convinced that in that huge country, we were led to that house, where someone was making these out of wood and was willing to just give one away.

Now, wouldn’t it be cool if I had some awesome conclusion about how we went on to teach that man, and how he became a great Church leader? Well, that didn’t happen. :) He had no interest in the Church or our message, and I never saw him again, but I used his homemade, wooden ab-wheel every day until it broke a month before I came home from Brazil.

I’m convinced that Heavenly Father knows us personally and cares about the details of our lives – even the insignificant things that matter more to us than they should.

Check out MargiesMessages - Prayer Section for more inspirational stories.

A Plethora of Projects and a Pair of Parodies

 

I think most families are familiar with the popular children's book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" featuring a cute little mouse who wants more and more ... and more. The parallel to home projects is pretty predictable (continuing on with my title alliteration). You start with one thing, but changing it makes you realize something else should be changed as well, and so on and so on ...

The Blackham family did some home renovations in 2020 ... as Callahan got married and moved out, Keaton would be taking over that bedroom. But the wall was damaged, so it was necessary to fix the wall. Then that wall needed to be painted, so why not paint the whole room ... I mean the whole basement? With the fresh paint, the old carpet looks awful, so replacing the flooring is next. New lights are next. Where do you stop painting? Best to just continue all the way upstairs, right? The Blackham renovations stopped there. For NOW anyway (the kitchen floors no longer match the new paint, but then the cabinets, which match the floor, would need to be replaced too, then would the furniture match?)

Derek and Danielle had numerous projects in their home during 2020 (with quarantine, there wasn't a whole lot else to do!). In August, in an email he mentioned:

I've had a dumb little idea for a parody children's book for a while. We were talking to our friends about their new sofa, and she was saying: "so, we got the new sofa, and we love it - but it doesn't match our room perfectly, so we needed to get some new throw pillows, and then a rug - but the rug was too big for the space so we had to..." then she proceeded to talk about all the things that resulted from the new sofa. I joked how it was like the kid's book "If You Give A Mouse a Cookie." So I finally sat down and wrote out "If You Give a Spouse a Sofa" in the same style. See attached.

Wendy commented that SHE had also written a parody of this SAME little story based on a drippy-door painting project back in 2009! Here's a link to her blog post about it, and the text included below ...

Have you ever heard the story "If you give a mouse a cookie?"
Well, here is our TRUE story of "If you give your husband a request..."

If you ask your husband to put the closet doors back on your daughter's room (that he took off and put in the shed two months ago to paint and never did), then he will go and rent a paint sprayer so that he can spray the door before putting it back on...

And if he rents a spray gun to spray the door, he will decide to spray all of the closet doors that are sitting in the shed before putting them back on...

And if he decides to spray all of the closet doors before putting them back on, he will also take off all of the other doors in the house in order to paint them too (even if his wife tells him over and over not to)...

And if he takes all of the other doors off their hinges, then he will carry them all into the garage and stand them up while he attempts to paint them (even if his wife tells him that it looks very precarious and perhaps he should lean them against the garage wall instead)...

And if he balances the closet doors capriciously, and begins to paint them with the paint sprayer, then right before he is almost finished painting all of them, one will fall over and knock another, which will knock another, which will knock another, until just like dominoes, all of the freshly painted doors are now all over the garage floor with paint everywhere and a husband who is covered from head to toe in splattered white paint...

And if there is a husband covered with splattered white paint and doors all over the ground, then the paint splattered husband will enlist the help of his tired wife who was almost ready to crawl into bed, while he tries to brush the drippy paint (and dirt) off the doors. 

And while brushing debris and splattered paint off the doors, the husband will ask his wife if she will hold the doors while he sprays them. The wife, not wanting to be sprayed in the face with a paint sprayer, politely declines but attempts to help brush the drippy paint. But since the wife's painting skills are no better than her husbands, she is not much help.

And after two frustrated tired people try to salvage messy doors, the husband will try again, re-spraying all of the doors making more drippy paint.

And after leaving the doors dripping with paint and the time almost midnight, the husband will ask the wife if he should go paint the outside doors now.

And if the wife exasperatedly vetoes that idea, the next morning, the husband will go check on the doors and inform his wife that all of the doors look like someone just threw a bucket of paint on them and they are now completely ruined. 

And if the doors are ruined, the determined husband will still go ahead and begin to paint the outside doors of the house.

And if the husband begins to paint the outside doors of the house, the paint sprayer will start to spray paint in every direction.

And after the paint sprayer starts to spray paint in every direction, the husband will bag the paint sprayer and start to paint with a brush.

And after the husband starts to paint with a brush, he will run out of paint and go to Home Depot to get some more.

And if the husband goes to Home Depot in order to get more paint, they will say that they don't have any more paint in that color.

And after going to Home Depot and being told they don't have any more of that kind of paint, the husband will get very indignant, and blame the sprayer and Home Depot and the doors and say, "I never should have started this project..."

And after the husband frets and complains and blames Home Depot, the sprayer, and the doors; the wife will murmur under her breath...but will refrain from thinking, "This is what I get for marrying a musician/teacher instead of a handyman.."

And after the fretting and murmuring, the husband will tell the sons to go ahead and put the dried drippy doors back on their hinges so that he and his wife can fulfill their obligation at the temple that evening...

And after the boys put the dried drippy doors back on their hinges, the husband hurries and puts the still slightly wet outside doors back on so that the baby will not escape and the kids won't freeze with the approaching evening.

And with the doors back on the hinges, the husband and wife leave the 11 year old son in charge of baby-sitting all of the kids, fixing dinner, and putting on the rest of the doorknobs, since the 13 year old daughter got a last minute invitation to see the movie, "New Moon."

And if the husband and wife get home from the temple and find that all is well (except for having to live with dried drippy doors)...

And if all of this happens on the husband's birthday...then the wife has no choice but to close her eyes so that she doesn't see dried drippy doors and ask her husband to sing her a nice soothing love song...and tell him that someday they will laugh over this day, and that they will celebrate his birthday tomorrow...

And please oh please, if you happen to come visit this particular house, just don't ask who painted the doors!

Check out the Westra Writing ~ Stories and Poetry for other creative contributions over the years! And here's a little look at a little book Derek wrote and had animated ...

 

Summer Gone To The Birds

 (this will be backdated to July 2020)

Derek's front porch has a cute swing. It's been featured in many family photos. In the summer of 2020 however, a new family took ownership of said swing. A hummingbird family! There on one of the top knots, a mama hummingbird built a nest and laid two tiny eggs. Derek's family had a front row (or front window) view of all the hummingbird happenings, and Derek got some video so family and friends could also get a peek.  Here's some of the video updates he shared on Facebook ...

https://youtu.be/5Qn6v4fWJlo

... and amazingly enough, this wasn't the only bird family to take up residence at D&D's abode, a little earlier in the year, a momma robin built a nest and laid four little eggs. Derek documented that too ...

https://youtu.be/o3JJyyEydco

In July, Derek wrote "Final hummingbird update: The birds have flown the nest, and the Westras have taken black their porch! We loved all the birds this year, and had a 6 for 6 success ratio (with all four baby robins and 2 baby hummingbirds surviving). The hummingbirds were so cute and fun to watch, but they were SO messy and pooped all over. Our Saturday chores included deep cleaning the whole porch, and removing their nests. Sad to see them go, but glad to have our space back. "

This wasn't the first hummingbird nest for one of the Westras. 

Back in 2016, when Shane's family was living in California, Alicia wrote ...

• (February 21) The girls discovered a hummingbird nest in one of the trees by our garage! We were excited to find that it even has two tiny hummingbird eggs in it. 
• (March 6) one of the hummingbird eggs in the nest hatched this week! Now there is a little ball of feather fluff with a beak in the nest. We haven't gotten a great photo yet...we'll keep trying. 
• (March 13) We've been anxiously watching our baby hummingbird grow! The other egg never hatched, sadly. The baby hummingbird is almost filling up the whole nest. It's fun to peek in at it.

The Blackham home has housed some birds too ... but they just get starlings, which aren't as cute! You can check out a post on the Blackham Blog about them (Noisy Birds). And then of course, there were the DUCKS (several blog posts about the ducks, but to see the hatching caught on camera, click HERE). Ducklings are on the go just a few hours out of the egg, very different than the helpless little robins and hummingbirds. Another winged set of progression pictures and video of  Monarch Memories is on the Blackham Blog as well. 

Derek Memories (38th Birthday Edition)

It happened to be birthday 38 when these memories resurfaced. Wendy shared some journal entries from 1981, when we first learned that Derek would be joining the family. An email chain ensued ...

November 10, 1981 announcement (written February of 1982 in retrospect):

Oh my word! I can’t believe I forgot this! It happened on Jennifer’s (11^th ) birthday on Nov. 10. (I mean we got the news then). Jenny excitedly opened one of her presents and she read it and started jumping around yelling, “Oh boy! Just what I wanted!!” I kept yelling “What! What! What is it!” Jenny showed me the card and it read, “On May 13 you will have a new baby brother or sister!!!” We passed the card around so everyone could read it and we were all laughing. We hoped for a girl but the amtesase (or however you spell it) (amniocentesis) showed it would be a boy! Oh well! Better, than nothing! We are all excited for him!

--------

I sure that will make you feel great that you were "better than nothing," ha ha (coming from a 13 girl wanting another baby sister). But in all truth, after everything our family had been through, I doubt any family was more nervous, excited, and thrilled than our family was to be having another baby on the way!! 

A few more... 

June 6, 1982: Derek was blessed today! All of the cousins came to watch. He looked so cute. After the blessing Dad held him up and then Derek lifted up his head and then it fell, kerplunk! Then the cousins came over and ate dinner here. 

October 2: Derek has started learning forward all the time in his swing now, he looks so funny! Twice he fell asleep leaning forward with his head on the tray. He even chews and sucks on the tray.

October 4: Derek’s getting a little more hair now but not much! It goes down on the top of him head and curls up in back, it looks cute. He is starting to laugh now and sounds funny and cute. He makes lots of noises too. (Has conversations with himself) full of goos and gurgles. 

Jen added some memories as well ...

... and these pictures are from my childhood photo album. I might have taken the originals back in the day. I don't believe these are in Dropbox, and I'm wondering if any of you have seen these ones before!

I don't think I was keeping a journal at this age, but I remember this. For quite a while I said Derek was MINE because of this ... I got him for my birthday (just had to wait for delivery). I remember thinking we'd keep him flexible (as he could so easily touch his toes and such) ... but I think baby bodies are just proportioned differently! I remember trying to get him to say his own name properly~

Say "Der"    (he'd say "Der")

Say "Ick"  (he'd say "Ick)

We'd do it a little faster ...

Say "Der"    (he'd say "Der")

Say "Ick"  (he'd say "Ick)

Say Derek ... he'd yell "gigick"

... but of course, then we called him Dunk

Mom added a few more memories ...

Funny! Yes, I do remember him calling himself "gigick" and us calling him Dunk, though I am not sure where that came from. Remember how instead of sucking his thumb, he sucked his middle two fingers? I remember you telling him something like: "Yuck, if you are going to do that, at least wash your hands first!" And Wendy telling you, "Don't tell him that----it is just condoning it!" And remember how he would breathe so loud, if we ever couldn't find him, we would just listen, and find him asleep down in Chris's basement bedroom. We called him "Darth Vador" because that's how he sounded. We got his tonsils out at age 5 to solve the breathing problem and bought "The Little Mermaid" movie for him to watch. (Further tonsil memories ...Scott and Wendy got their tonsils out together and stayed one night at the hospital. Jeni and Shane got their tonsils out together and stayed one night at the hospital. Both times the younger child (abt. age 5) recovered much quicker than the older child.)

Chandelier

Mom/Margie and Dad/Lamar have a huge chandelier in the entryway of the Havenhill home.

Over the years, dust and dirt collect, and it's time for a cleaning.

Did you know there is a song called "Chandelier"? It's sung by Sia.

 Did you know that Derek has a Sia-type wig?

 

You Tube - Derek Cleans the Chandelier

Now you know ...

Mom wrote in an email on Feb 8, 2020 "Derek came yesterday and cleaned our big chandelier---the method worked well spraying it with a special cleaner with dropcloth below. Sparkles now!" I don't know if she was aware of the music video until a bit later!

Grandpa's Garage and a Stairway to Nowhere

There have been pictures posted of the outside of the Havenmoor House ...  and here's a peek at inside the garage. Garages can get crazy, and I've definitely seen worse. There is an extra fridge and a couple freezers. All sorts of stuff hanging from pegboard along the walls. Shelves holding all sorts of stuff, some organized in apple boxes. Look at all those racquets! That blue metal shelving unit (below) I remember from the Hermitage House. It was right outside the basement backdoor, under the deck. I remember we kept all the "newspaper logs" stacked in it (newspaper logs were papers soaked in water then rolled up and then used in the fireplace instead of wood). 

In 2018, Grayson did a complete redo of the Blackham garage. He spent quite a bit of time (and money) but anyone who has ever seen it is quite impressed. Do you know who else was impressed? Grandma and Grandpa. Probably a little more Grandma ... she decided it was time that the Westra garage was reworked as well.

Here's a peek at Gray's Garage ...

Thus started a big job at the Westra home (well ... garage). A lot of things given or thrown away. Shelves emptied and repainted. Recreating some of the same look with the Gladiator shelving and wood paneling, getting a similar wheeled drawer and some nice big lockers. Crates to replace all the apple boxes, and Grayson even broke out his (up until then unused) CriCut machine to make matching labels for the crates.

... a little look at some of the changes

Some pictures Derek took while over working ...

We need some "after" shots when it was ALL done.

Grandpa doesn't spend quite as much time in his garage as Gray does, he's more known for his love of working in the yard. His pond and plants and buckets ... and holes. In fact, Grandpa has the ULTIMATE hole, a CAVE. It's under the deck. He built a nice set of stone stairs down to his cave entrance (and to the basement backdoor). The stability of the cave got to be a bit worrisome, so some time and money was spent reinforcing the walls and shoring things up.

Chris helped set up the construction, getting bids and deciding which route to take to ensure no cave collapse. After the workers came and did their job they told him " We appreciated serving you. We are here to handle any future cave projects. Keep digging." Future cave projects ;) Dad did once have dreams of having a raquetball court under the house/garage ...

Derek got a little song idea in his head ... Stairway to, instead of Heaven ... to Nowhere. He actually took the time to write the words down, and then to record it. He gave me the clips to work up into a video, and here it is ... Stairway to Nowhere!

Stairway to Nowhere 

There’s a man named LaMar 

And he works very hard 

And he’s building the stairway to nowhere 

When he gets there he knows 

He can store potatoes 

And hoses and junk from anywhere 

Oh, oh oh oh, and he’s building the stairway to nowhere 

There’s a cave in the hole 

Where you feel like a mole 

Living deep underneath Salt Lake City 

Then outside by the pond 

There’s a squirrel who sings 

Oh that stairway and cave are so pretty 

Ooh, it makes me wonder

Ooh, it makes me wonder 

There’s a feeling I get 

When I talk to the West 

Ra, and my spirit is longing for learning 

What drives you to dig 

Boring holes small and big 

And forever your shovel is turning 

And he’s building the stairway to nowhere

Finally Finished - Family Portrait

In 2018, Derek shared a drawing on Facebook. 

Here's what he said about it ...

"When I was 14 I started a family portrait for my Mom, but got frustrated (I hated it) and quit (Shane was the only one unfinished - sorry brother). A couple weeks ago my Mom asked if I would finish it, so 21 years later I finally drew Shane. I’m the cute little boy in the front with all that beautiful hair!"

Derek then got the sketch framed and took it over to Mom&Dad's house.

"I zipped over to my parents house on my lunch hour to hang the family portrait for them (that I did 21 years ago and just finished). My mom made me a bowl of fruit - which is nostalgic because she used to make me fruit bowls while I practiced piano growing up. I sat down with my fruit and played a little on that old piano just like I did so much as a teenager. Thanks Mom!"

Little memories like the bowls of prepared fruit, of jello cups overflowing with fruit, are just part of "Growing up Westra".  

You can also see additional artwork on the walls ... those are sketches by Shane!

Uncle Dunk - Super Styles!

It was Easter 2010. Grandpa Norman (Rex) had been going through things in the house, cleaning out things and getting rid of stuff. There was this box of clothes, and Mom/Margie had Derek look through it to see if there was anything he might like before they were taken to D.I.  Derek tried some things on, a little family fashion show. That IS quite the jacket! Were there matching pants? Derek didn't keep anything, but I'm sure someone will consider it quite the find in the future.

Grandpa Norman was there at the Easter party - and little did we know that just 25 days later he would pass away.

Derek in Concert

 Derek and Blake performing at the Tahitian Noni

Wendy and Jen were very involved in music throughout high school and college ... but it was Derek who ended up playing at a couple of concerts. After finding several pictures in Dropbox, I reached out to Derek and asked if he'd share his memories ...

When I was at BYU, music was a big part of my life. My high-school friend and college roommate Blake Stillman and I had a little band and played lots of small gigs in Provo (a couple restaurants, Velour, the Tahitian Noni building, etc.) I had recorded a little album of guitar, piano and vocal music (I actually released it online under the name Three Three Three (our apartment number at BYU). You can find it here. :) I didn't use my name when I published these since I'm sort of embarrassed about college-age songs.

https://music.amazon.com/artists/B08NSR1R5F/three-three-three

 

In 2005, I was working at Zions Bank  (I had a huge crush on Danielle but we weren't dating - just working together). I had recorded a little demo CD and had sent it to some of the locals (Jon Schmidt, Peter Breinholt, Ryan Shupe, etc.) I heard back from several of them which I now realize was super nice of them to consider me. Peter and Ryan both pulled me on stage to sing with them in different shows. Jon Schmidt was starting to get really popular and I was thrilled when he called me and asked if I could open for his Thanksgiving Point show (which was his biggest show at the time.) He asked if I could do five songs. Blake and I practiced hard and were ready to do three originals and two covers. I printed and hung posters at the bank and in our apartment complex and secretly really hoped that Danielle would come.

Our student ward at BYU bought so many tickets that I think Jon Schmidt was really pleased with his choice of opener when he saw the crowd we brought with us. Blake's parents and my parents came to support which was meaningful since I can't remember Mom coming to much of my stuff growing up (Dad always came to my soccer games and tennis matches, but it was special that Mom made it!) That night was SO cold! It was in September 10, 2005 and it was absolutely frigid. Blake's Dad brought some hand-warmers and Blake and I needed them so much so our fingers didn't freeze (he played piano and drums and I played guitar). It was a full-house with hundreds of people there. It's fun because when I've posted about this on FB, people I know now, but didn't know then will say "Oh my gosh! I was there! I totally remember you singing!"

Danielle and her friend did come to the concert. :) When they got there and parked, I was already playing and she said "oh no! He's already on stage, I can hear him!" They ended up following the sound and were able to get into the show without paying somehow. Haha. I've teased her that my concert was the only thing she has ever stolen! When I got off the stage and Jon Schmidt started playing, Danielle came up and gave me a hug and told me good job. We started dating six months later!

I still play music, but I don't sing anymore. I was never a good singer and I always knew that, but since I wrote the songs, I had to sing them! Now, I just do piano albums. I've released 4 and I'm working on the 5th now. Our girls like to listen to "Daddy Music" at bedtime on their Alexa, so I've tried to record all my piano music as slow, lullaby style music.

Derek's Piano covers will need to be another blog post with the "music" label, but here is a little peek. Such creative covers (and I mean the visual, although the piano pieces are too) and love how he incorporates their piano into each one!

Derek's Instagram handle IS @DRockandRoll (https://www.instagram.com/drockandroll/) which is appropriate for this music part of his life!

Back to September 10, 2005 ... Mom's had mentioned the concert in one of her emails:

"We've only been to one concert in our life---Peter Breinholt (sp?) at the Sandy Amphitheater with Derek back in his dating days before Danielle. Oh, and I guess the Jon Schmidt one at Thanksgiving Point when Derek and his friend Blake, opened for him, when he just started dating Danielle. It was Sept. and we about froze to death."

Ah, musical memories ... and cold fingers! 

Derek ~ Missionary Prep

 This will be backdated to July 2001

Pre-mission photoshoot for Derek ... similar to Shane's, with picture poses around the house and yard. Originally, I only found about five "photoshoot" photos. Then I went out to the folks and glanced though some boxes and saw a bag of pictures - new ones I hadn't seen in Dropbox. So I grabbed them, scanned them, and redid my collage to feature more photos!

Inside ... and out! Showcasing Mom and Dad's lovely yard!

Honestly, this one might be my favorite!

Derek had turned 19 on May 5, 2001. He was finishing up his first year at BYU,  when his mission call arrived at the house. Derek had shared this memory ...

I was at BYU when my call came. It came a week early and I wasn't expecting it. I got home at the end of the day and my roommates said "your mom has called like five times." :) Mom had never called before so I was worried something was wrong! I was told that my mission call was here and that I'd better get home to open it. I didn't have a car, so I had to wait for my friend Blake to get home (this was before cell-phones). 

Blake drove me back and I just opened it late at night with Mom and Dad, Shane and Alicia and Blake. I remember being slightly disappointed when I saw Brazil. At the time (for some reason) I was hoping to go to Asia, or be called to a sign-language mission (I was taking ASL at BYU). I was very excited for Brazil within about 30 minutes though. I do recall strongly wishing I had been called to a different Brazilian city though. There was something about saying "Campinas" to everyone who asked, and having them say "is it really pronounced just like that?" that I didn't like. :)

The openhouse after the farewell ...

Departure day was July 3, 2001. 

We got some more family photos the day he headed out.

Adeus Elder Westra!

He's off!