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

Historic Homes in Holland ~ Shane's Trip

 

Shane and Jan Weening - December 2018

From Shane: I just barely got back from visiting Groningen (Northern Holland, where most of the de Haan lines are from). Jan Weening, a Family History Consultant in Groningen has written a book about the early church there, and knows a lot about Ate Obes Westra (my great-grandfather). I took the 3-hour train ride to Groningen, rented a bike, and Jan took me all around to see where Ate Obes lived, worked, and served as a missionary. It was so cool to see!

Here are the pictures he took on his trip ...

The photo on the left and upper right are two locations Ate Westra lived while serving as a missionary in the Netherlands (1919-1922). The bottom right is where church services were held during those years ...

... more locations where church services were held in Groningen are pictured below, 

although these were after Ate's time. 

The one on the left was where Jan Weening was baptized.

If you read Ate's History, you know that he met his wife Geeske in Groningen and they ran a laundry before they immigrated to America. Below, the top-right photo shows this laundry and their residence from 1902-1907. The building on the left is where Ate lived 1899-1900, and the bottom right is another possible residence. 

Check out A History of Homes for where Ate lived in Utah after they came to the United States.

Mom/Margie wrote to Shane: Dad just showed me your letter just now, with all the pictures!  That's amazing that you took the 3 hour train ride to Groningen, rented a bike, and went all those places where your great-grandfather lived!  So nice of Jan to take you all those places and that he knew a lot about Ate Westra! So wonderful that you took advantage of that great opportunity!  Thanks for all the photos!

... and to the other siblings: We had a nice video chat with Shane last night from his hotel in Boston. He mentioned the time with the FH consultant Jan in the Netherlands was delightful, after several train changes and bus ride---and the people in the smaller towns didn't speak English nearly as much as in Amsterdam, so it was a little harder to know what trains to take, etc. Shane would like to do something for Jan for taking so much time with him (though Jan seemed to enjoy it just as much as Shane).

One final photo from Shane's Netherland's trip ...

Shane eating raw herring ... mandatory Dutch street experience. Ewwwww.

Merry Christmas From Shane & Alicia (2018)

 

Another cute Christmas card from the Shane & Alicia crew. As cute as the cover/front is, the back is so creative and clever and really gives a great recap of their 2018 year. Ironically, the card was designed digitally, while the images for this post are scans of the physical card ... the colors don't come across as well in a scan as in the original. 

You can read more about Shane's trip to Holland HERE. 

Twins? Mom's Cousins & a Howell Reunion

Photos from 1964. Converted from slides May 2020.

Getting slides converted to digital photos  ... came upon these photos. Chris joked that Scott had a twin sister we knew nothing about! Actually, that is baby Lorraine, born three days before Scott. These kids are Mom/Margie's COUSINS in Manti. Their dad, Margie's Uncle Ken was GrandmaNorman/Zada's youngest sibling (Kenneth Rodney Howell 25 January 1929 – 6 October 2009). They had one more child Blake who was close in age to Chris. Mom thought it was funny to have 1st cousins the same age as her own children!  Memories from Mom ...

• Greg is the oldest boy. He died a number of years ago.
• Deborah Kay (husband, Mike Mangum, died of a brain tumor a number of years ago). When she was young, she stuck her finger in a wall radiator with slats. She turned around quickly and it ripped her finger off. She learned to play the piano, minus one finger. After her husband died, she got a job working for the church downtown. When we were on our mission we would run into her once in a while in the cafeteria. She must have learned to type well without that finger.  She was about to have two knee replacements, a month apart, since she needed to get back to work. Derek, you can check the directory and see if she still works there or has retired.
• Cynthia
• Identical twins: Kathy and Kerri (they were flower girls at our wedding at about age 6). Kathy has M.S. and is in a wheelchair. Interesting that her identical twin doesn't have it.
• Lorraine and Blake were the two youngest of the seven kids.

Ken and Yvonne were my favorite aunt and uncle and I would go stay with them for a week in the summer, when their first 3 kids were little. We would go hunting for night crawlers at night with a flashlight. But I wouldn't touch one now!! Ken and Yvonne got pregnant with a set of twins first, but lost that set of twins. Ken served as Bishop later on. 

There was a family reunion (Howell Cousin Party) in Alpine at Barry and Jan Vencent's home on September 29, 2018. Merrill and Lorrie and Nelva & Arnold & Greg. Mom & Dad and Chris and  Kim and son Cayson (12) and Derek, wife Danielle, and their 3 little girls: Aniston (8), Layla (4), & Noelle (2) made it there. Mom mentioned that Derek met Deborah at the family reunion.

24th of July Family Fun

In July 2018, Shane and Alicia were coming in to visit. Wendy's crew wanted to connect, and we managed to get most of the family together for a group gathering.

It all started with an email, and then more email exchanges ...

Alicia: I’m finally organizing our schedule for our trip! As always, there are lots of people to see and we’re trying to balance time with both sides of the family, a few close friends, and time to relax. We have two open evenings for family dinners...Sunday and Tuesday. Which one do you want (you get first pick...my family gets the other evening.) I should mention that by family dinner I mean going to Red Robin or something.

Mom: Shane & Alicia leave today and will get here about noon tomorrow. We are planning on dinner at Red Robin on Tuesday for any family that can join us. They don't usually take reservations, but I hope they will for a large group. Earlier would be easier to get that separate room, but hard for our working men. Let us now if you think you can come or definitely can't come, so we can give them an approximate number. Then we can come here after for dessert and a longer visit and so the cousins can play. Derek came at 8 this morning and will work all day to finish putting up the decorative panels on the garage wall. Thanks Derek! Grayson stopped by last night and went to Home Depot and purchased and brought home the Husky work bench we had chosen to get. He was able to get a floor model so no assembly required! So it is nice to have that taken care of! Thanks Grayson. He said he will probably stop by Mon. with some hooks, etc. to show us and ideas for us. Now we just need to finalize our cabinet choices. Jase and Janelle & her friend will be staying here tonight. Jase is picking them up in Logan, as their Stay-at-home EFY ends tonight. They stayed with Janika and Brandon this week. Then they will drive on to St. George tomorrow morning. We had a nice dinner and visit at Derek and Danielle's on Sunday and Rick and Jase were able to go there with us. They had never seen their house and Jase was a big hit with the girls, playing with them. Monday Rick & Jase went to the New Haven summer barbecue with us at the common area. Rick was able to buy a car. Jase finishes his training up here today for his new job at Deseret Federal Credit Union. Chris came last Tuesday to take Dad hiking, but Chris ended up feeling sick and awful and could hardly make it down the mountain, so he wasn't able to enjoy it. Corin's wife Kylie's birthday is today, so we can all wish her a happy birthday.

Scott: Tuesday is a state holiday so there shouldn’t be work conflicts. Amy and I will be out of town.

Derek: We should be able to join on Tuesday. We'll plan on it! Sounds fun! If we are going to Mom and Dad's house afterwards, we can bring some small fireworks (unless they are banned in your hood like they are in ours). :)

Mom: Fireworks are not banned in our area, so that would be great. Linthorsts did quite a show in the circle on the 4th, so I don't know if they will be doing more on the 24th or now.

Mom: Instead of going to Red Robin and trying to work around everyone's schedule, we will just buy a lot of Papa Murphy's pizza and have a family get-together here. You can come anytime in the afternoon or evening you want---swim if you want---have pizza when you want and have ice cream and cookies and brownies, visit, and play in the yard. You can visit with Shane and Alicia's family while they are here from California until Fri. And Wendy and her 3 girls are arriving later today until Fri.

Chris: We will bring some gluten-free boysenberries from our gluten-free boysenberry vines, and also gluten-free cinnamon French toast cookies. Sorry Wendy they will have almond flour.

... so, Wendy did NOT pay close enough attention to Chris's email and thought those Snickerdoodles looked good. They tasted good. But they didn't make her feel good! She had to go lay down (and take some Benedryl?) 

There were Papa Murphy pizzas galore (although Jen forgot to grab the Cinna-wheel dessert she'd ordered with them, not set aside with the pizzas at pickup, but too much bother to take a trip back) and said brownies and ice cream... and fireworks.

Why are all the kids looking into the pond in the picture at top?

 There was a snake!

Jen brought out some duck eggs for Derek to take home, but he forgot them ... 

and then Mom used them up. 

... this video is pre-party, as the Blackham Boys got in the car to come out. 

But it's a favorite memory of the day (and month, and year ... maybe life!)

The next day, the available Westra Women DID go out to lunch ...
but did Chuck-a-Rama instead of Red Robin

Family fun and ladies lunch ... reminiscent of a year earlier, July 2017

Aniston's Baptism

Little girls in white dresses. Aniston had some pretty pictures procured prior to her baptism.

(Derek ... are you impressed with the alliteration?)

Derek sent out an email invite on July 2. 

He had to send an update/correction to the address (2030 instead of 230) and noted "It's pretty close to our house. As you're coming up towards us you just keep going straight on Traverse Mountain Blvd until you come to the Elementary school. Turn right and head until you see the Stake Center. "  The folks are always great at coming out to events (and making sure to save several copies of the program, below), Chris&Kim gave their RSVP, saying Camden and Cayson would be coming as well. Wendy was sad to miss it, but it was Janika's reception in St. George that weekend.

More pictures from the day, and the gathering at the house afterward.

 

Father's day 2018

Time for the annual Father's Day funny photo ... and we get a "good" one too.

Missing Shane's family, away in California. Jase and the rest of the Jensen's made it up though. His homecoming had been Sunday, so the party got pushed a day. It was on a Monday this year. Colton was gone with his Wolves to a basketball tournament, and we were missing a few others too. Added Sol (Landon's fiance) and Courtney and Seth were there with their new baby (they left before the picture). 

 As with the 2015 blog post, Scott's amusing email is included:

Family:

You are all invited to a Father’s Day dinner on MONDAY, June 18th at 6:00 pm at the Westra residence. I will grill some chicken and hot dogs and have some baked beans. Please let me know if you are coming and what you can bring. I have arranged for some very nice weather. We still have a basketball hoop and tether ball pole but we had to remove the trampoline and fire pit. I know – Taylee is still mad at me. However, the tramp is right next door and I am sure you are welcome to use it there – their kids will likely be over at our house anyway.

Amy has nixed most of my suggested activities, including the garden weeding competition and car wash fund-raiser. Kemery has offered to give slack line lessons (you will probably have to sign a waiver – Derek or Grayson would have to sign two waivers). I am also willing to lead a hike to the suspension bridge or Ghost Falls. There are frequent Heffalump and Woozel sightings along both trails.

We hope you can come. Scott and Amy

So, no trampoline! But the slackline was up, and there was the new addition of swings. Grayson brought his latest toy ... a segway.  It got some use. Josh loved it, although should he really be riding with a newly broken hand? The kids took to the Segway easily. The adults ... Scott almost went down and there was a close call with the Segway almost taking out Noelle (Daddy Derek was right there for the rescue). Without the trampoline (hole) ... what happened to the TOADS?

The annual photo is featured up top ... here's a peek at what happens during set up!