2001 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas 2001 and Happy New YearM erry Christmas 2001 and Happy New Year 

Dear Friends and Family, 

Here’s an update of the Westra Clan during the past year: 

• Scott and Amy Westra: McKenna was baptized last Feb. Alyssa turned 6 in Feb., Kellen turned 5 in October, and Kemery turned 3 in Aug. Scott is the Ward Mission Leader and Amy is the Primary Chorister. They live in Draper. Scott works at Workman’s Compensation Fund of Utah.
• Chris and Sandy Westra: Conner was 9 in May, Kadan turned 7 in June, and Corin turned 4 in June. They are expecting a new baby this coming May! They moved into their new home in Gunnison, Utah, in October. Chris works at the Gunnison Prison as a Substance Abuse Counselor. Chris is teaching in Elder’s Quorum and Sandy hasn’t got a job in their new ward yet, but we’re sure they won’t let her rest long! 
• Wendy and Rick Jensen: Janika will turn 6 in Dec., Jase will turn 4 in Dec., and Jared will be 2 next March. Rick is teaching Seminary at the Tuacahn Theater of the Arts and Wendy is teaching an evening class of American Sign Language at Dixie College. Wendy is in the Primary Presidency and Rick is Choir Director and in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency. 
• Jeni and Grayson Blackham: Landon turned 6 in September, Callahan will be 3 in February, and Keaton turned 1 in August. Grayson works for Hamlet Homebuilders and is serving as a Counselor in the Bishopric. Jeni teaches in R.S. and does a lot with her hobby of scrapbooking.
• Shane and Alicia Westra: Shane married Alicia Green on May 9 of this year and they are very happy in their new marriage! Shane works at Onyx Graphics and Alicia is attending the U. of U. Shane is in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency and Alicia teaches the 9 year-olds in Primary.
• Derek Westra: Derek finished his Freshman year at BYU in April. He flew to the MTC in Brazil on July 3, and is now happily serving in the Campinas, Brazil Mission. 

LaMar and Margie: We are truly empty-nesters now with Shane and Derek gone. But we still seem to be plenty busy! It looks like LaMar will be taking early-retirement the end of December. LaMar is still serving as the Stake Family Search Director. Margie is still the ward Family History Director and mans the Family History Center at our Stake Building Wed. mornings and still does volunteer work at the Cottonwood Hospital Surgical Center on Fridays. We help our ward members do their genealogy during S.S. hour each week. 

We hope you are all healthy and happy and that the coming year will be full of blessings and joy for you and your families. 

Love,
Margie and LaMar Westra

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!

 

Easter 2001

Easter 2001 ... Easter Sunday was on April 15th. The Westra party was on a Sunday this year (Landon and Callahan are in their church clothes, and these pictures come after Easter morning in the negatives). Looks like we were missing both Chris and Wendy's families this year. Just Jen and Scott still provide a pretty good group of grandkids, even if it is only half of them. The classic plastic Westra buckets were used for the hunt. Eggs up high on the ledge. Looks like Scott really wants those eggs - he's hoisting Kemery up, up, up!

After the eggs, everyone dogpile on Uncle Derek! While you can ...

Uncle Derek would be leaving on his mission in July. 

Shane and Alicia would be getting married in just a few weeks!

The EARS were introduced in 1996.

Here they appear again. Still on a Blackham Boy.

You can check out more of the Blackham Easter 2001 on their family blog.

The Easter Bunny came to the house! The Easter Bunny is pink!

Jen was very into scrapbooking at this time.

She made this page featuring the funny photo of Uncle Shane.

2000 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas 2000 and Happy New Year! 

Dear Family and Friends, 

It’s hard to believe that another year has flown by already! We hope it has been a good one for you. It has been for us. Zion is growing—2 new grandchildren, bringing our total to 13 (9 boys, 4 girls).

• Scott and Amy Westra: Live in Draper. Scott is a CPA, still working at Worker’s Compensation Fund of Utah. Three daughters and one son: McKenna, 7 ½; Alyssa, 5 ½ ; Kellen, 4; and Kemery, 2. Scott is a Stake Missionary and Amy is Primary Chorister. Amy helps at school a lot and in PTA.
• Chris and Sandy Westra: Live in Fayette, Utah, where Chris works as a Substance Abuse Counselor at Gunnison Prison. Their three sons are Conner, 8 ½ (who was baptized in a warm spring in the area—a beautiful setting--a tradition in the town); Kadan, 6 ½ , and Corin 3 ½. Chris is Elder’s Quorum President and Sandy is teaching Primary. They are going to build a new home in Gunnison come Spring. 
• Wendy and Rick Jensen: Live in St. George area (Ivins). Rick teaches Seminary at the Tuacahn School of the Arts. Wendy teaches sign language (ASL) at Dixie College 2 evenings a week and does some free-lance interpreting. Rick teaches occasional computer classes at Dixie College and for an internet company. Rick is in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency and is Choir Director and Wendy is in the Primary Presidency. They have a daughter Janika, age 5, and a son Jase, age 3, and a new son Jared born March 8. 
• Jeni and Grayson Blackham: Live in West Jordan. Grayson is a General Contractor,  building with Hamlet Homes.  Gray is a Counselor in the Bishopric. A new son, Keaton, born Aug. 31 joins big brothers Landon, 5, and Callahan, 1 ½. Jen is still totally immersed in her hobby of Scrapbooking! She’s very creative and has won several contests with the cute pages she creates. She also writes columns for an on-line scrapbooking magazine and is on Provo Craft’s scrapbooking “Dream Team” and teaches classes for a Craft Store. She has been using her singing talent a lot lately in various wards and programs. 
• Shane: is 24 ½ and became engaged this month to Alicia Green from Sandy. They will be married in the Salt Lake Temple on Wed. May 9. He is working at Onyx Graphics in Quality Assurance (Computer work). He is Executive Secretary to the Bishopric in his Singles ward and in a temple sealing group. 
• Derek: is 18 ½ and a Freshman at BYU. He took a trip to New York and will going on his mission when he turns 19 in May. 

LaMar and Margie: LaMar is still working at Unisys, but hopes to retire before too long. He is still serving as the Stake Family Search Director. Margie is the ward Family History Coordinator and mans the FHC in our stake center on Wednesday mornings and volunteers at the Cottonwood Hospital Surgical Center Friday mornings 

We hope all of you have a wonderful and healthy and happy year 2001! Write and tell us all about your growing families and what you are all doing. We love hearing from you! Or you can e-mail us at:
westra@softcom.net 

Gospel Topics and Missionary Helps Homepage: www.softcom.net/users/westra/Margie.htm

Sincerely, 

The Westras

Christmas 2000

 

The Westra Christmas Eve Nativity was featured in the Christmas 1999 post ... but only video, no pictures (although the video shows some camera flashes. Where are those photos?) This year, there was a plethora of pictures of the nativity ... but not really anything else from that night. Video from this year also only showcases the nativity.

No journal entry from Jen this year (her 2000 journal seemed to stop around the time Keaton was born in September ... busy with baby!) Anything in Dad or Wendy's records to remember? Jen does recall that this was Keaton's second time playing the baby Jesus this year. Jen performed in a stake musical showcase. She was Mary and the director wanted a live baby Jesus in the scene. Jen didn't volunteer Keaton as he wasn't newborn, but in the end, she was called and asked if she had a baby and was willing to let him be in the production ... ironically the caller didn't realize Jen was playing Mary, it was just a random request! There had been some concern that a live baby might cry, but Keaton did great. Both times!

Here's video ...

https://youtu.be/DB4ivtgpiEY

Jen created the scrapbook page shown at the top (featuring Provo Craft products, she was working as a brand ambassador on their Dream Team at the time) but there were even more pictures that didn't make it on the page. Some are repeats of those showcased above, and all are in the Dropbox folder (2000/Christmas).

... in the top left photo, you can see Jason and Kiki's little boy in the "sheep costume" for a moment before taking off (was it his parents, or the shepherds, that chased him down as he took off?)

Dapper Derek ... School Dance

Cottonwood High School Homecoming 2000. When asked if he remembered which dance this was, Derek said he did. "I was homecoming king that dance and my date was homecoming queen. :) I remember, because I was sick and throwing up in the bathroom when they called my name and I had to put on a brave face and act like nothing was wrong! "

This looks like a different tux (different dance), but doesn't Derek look dapper?

These photos were found in Dropbox - Year 2000

... For a little Homecoming History ...

Here's Homecoming from a few years before that - 1986. Jen was a sophomore, and this was one of her first dates. Jen remembers "Wendy and I had found some dresses we really liked, but they had spaghetti straps. To make them more modest, I found matching fabric and sewed puffy sleeves to add on."  Back in the olden days, before wrist corsages were the thing to do.

Adria was crowned Homecoming Queen in 2022, and Jaiden was in 2021. Check out all the HOMECOMING posts on the Jensen Journal, with all the Jensen kids and Wendy's good blogging skills, there's a lot! On the BlackhamBlog,  Homecoming 2016 (Kate was Homecoming Queen. Cal's "ask" is included, the guys spent weeks making a fun video). They actually did take the official group dance picture ... but that trend is fading as kids today generally do a full "photoshoot" instead of the one paid picture at the dance. Colton wrote up his memories of  Homecoming 2022 and he was up for Homecoming King his senior year. 

Graduations at a Glance ~ Six Siblings

Six Siblings - Grouped Graduations

There are several photos from Wendy's graduation, and quite a few featuring Derek (as cameras moved to digital, and his graduation was a little more recent ... and he's the baby!) but I thought it would be fun to look at all the Westra Siblings together at their respective high school graduations. A compilation post to compare and contrast.

All six siblings graduated from Cottonwood High School. For these siblings (those who have had high school graduates) I don't think any have had all their kids graduate from the same high school - of course Mom and Nelva didn't either. There was the move from Hermitage to Havenmoor, but that didn't affect the boundary school. The first five photos were taken at the Hermitage house ... the big blue spruce in the front/side was a common backdrop, as was the lava rock fireplace. Derek got the pretty backdrop of the Havemoor house for his graduation picture. 

Black, White and Gold will be victorious ... that's the start to the school song for Cottonwood High (probably the only line I actually know). This is reflected in the cap and gown over the years. While the boys seemed to stay consistent in black, Wendy's group got gold, while Jen's class looked angelic in white. All had some of the "extra" cords, sashes, etc that indicated academic prowess and other ideals.

Scott paved the way, and he and Chris overlapped their high school experience, as did Chris and Wendy. Graduations on the even years, 1982, 1984, 1986. Jen followed close enough that teachers definitely remembered the older siblings - Shane and Derek will have to comment if they felt as if they were living in a sibling shadow** during the school years. Jen's was the only "odd" graduation (year-wise). 

Check out the New Year's Babies for a similar side-by-side-six!

**We did get some comments from Derek and Shane ...

Derek: "I didn't feel like I was in anyone's shadow (6 year gap between me and Shane so we didn't share a lot of the same teachers) EXCEPT in Mr. Bill's AP Art and AP Art History classes. I think Mr. Bill always wanted more from me being Sterling Scholar Shane's little bro. In fact, I didn't get an A my senior year - I think I got a B+. But the night before the last day of school, Brian and I had already started our Summer lawn mowing business. As a last day of school prank, we drove Dad's blue truck over to Cottonwood, late one night before the last day of school the next day, unloaded our mowers and set them to the lowest setting. Then we moved "Bye Bye Bye" into the front hill of the school (REALLY short so it was a different color and unmistakable). The next day people were talking about it (it was right outside Mr. Bill's classroom windows). He gave me my grade (B+). I said with disappointment "Mr. Bill, I expected I'd do better after you saw my final art project." "What final project?" He asked. "That one." I pointed out the window. He smiled and said "That was you?" Brian and I confirmed that it was. He then changed my grade to an A-."

Shane: Speaking of living in the shadow of siblings, two experiences come to mind. One is also with Mr. Bill...on the first day of my first class with Mr. Bill, he says "Westra, huh? Any relationship to Jeni Westra?" I said, "Yes, she's my sister." Mr. Bill just stands silent for a minute and then says "How is she liking the Women's Penitentiary?" I laughed inside but kept a straight face, and said "She's dealing with it fine" (or something like that).  The other one was that I got into AP US History because the woman in charge loved having Jeni as a student. I normally wouldn't have got in because my grades weren't good enough, and I probably shouldn't have taken that class, as I didn't do well and I didn't pass the AP test.  

Jen: Ironically, I don't remember Mr. Bill that well. I know I took several art classes, but can't recall which were from him. I definitely remember Claudia Wright, the AP History teacher! I took AP American History my Junior Year, and AP European History my Senior Year. Tough classes, but she taught in such a way that it was interesting and engaging.