Trip to Utah

Memorial Day weekend Tyaan, Michael and I took a drive to Salt Lake City.

We stayed at my grandma Avis' house in Salt Lake. We had a lot we wanted to do while we were there. Michael had only been to Salt Lake once, just before entering the MTC so there was lots we wanted to show him.



One of the first places we visited was This is the Place Monument. It is a monument at the base of Emigration Canyon of those that helped the pioneers get to the Salt Lake Valley. It is right next to Pioneer Village which is set up to be like the city at the time it was settled. We spent some time there as well. It was really fun!


We also went to the Church History Museum, which is one of my favorite places. There is some great things to see there. Shannon came to hang out with us there as well!


Of course the most exciting day of the trip was the day we went to Temple Square. Michael and I went to a session at the Salt Lake Temple in the morning, and Tyaan met us there. Before we left Temple Square they were engaged. Afterwards we went to lunch at The Garden Restaurant which is at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and overlooks the temple. I took this cute picture while they were both making phone calls to announce the exciting news!


Believe it or not, this is really a window that overlooks the temple.


Later that day we went to the conference center. Michael had toured the building previously but hadn't been able to see the roof. It's beautiful, and there is a beautiful view of the temple from there as well.


It was such a great trip. On the drive home we were already deciding when we would be able to visit again. And my baby is getting married!!!

Drew's baptism

On December 5th, 2009 our nephew Andrew was baptized. Jon was able to go to Colorado for it. It's hard to believe he's 8 years old already!!

Russell's Endowment Day

On November 21st, 2009 Russell took out his endowments at the LA Temple. We were able to attend with him and it was wonderful.

Here is the beautiful LA Temple, which I love. I grew up in the LA temple district so it's where I went to do baptisms as a youth, and where we visited the visitors center and went to see Christmas lights. It is also where I took out my endowments and was married. So it is a very special place to me.


Here is Russell as we were leaving.


Russell and Tyaan. She got to go do baptisms while waiting for us to go through the session.


Russell and I. Jon also attended but got away before we could get him in a picture.

Russell's Mission Call

On October 2, 2009 my 'almost son' Russell opened his mission call. He is such a great young man and we were so proud of him as he prepared to go and finally received his call.

There was a pretty good group there. It was especially exciting for me because I'd never seen anyone open their mission call before.


Here is his call. Signed by President Monson himself, which was so cool to see. He was called to serve in the Brazil Fortaleza mission. He was really excited to hear he would be going to Brazil and reporting to the Brazil MTC in February of 2010.


Tyaan and Russell...


Russell and me...


Soon to be Elder Withers!

Girls Camp 2009

I was asked to go to girls camp this year as a leader. I was very excited because it was Tyaan's last year at camp and I was able to go with her.

The theme of camp was "It's a Jungle Out There" I was asked to be one of the SIS leaders (Sisters in Service) which is the year of training (or initiation...) before they become counselors the following year. They are freshmen in high school. Tyaan was Jr. Staff, which is the group of oldest girls that are asked to take on leadership positions. She pretty much ran camp, and did a fantastic job.

Tyaan's camp name is Outburst.


This is the 2nd day of camp, which is when the campers arrive. The older girls (Jr. Staff, Counselors, and SIS') get to go up the afternoon before and set up. The SIS' pick a theme and song to identify themselves through the week. We were jocks, so they were all dressed in jersey and sports attire. Their shirts had their names on the back and the number '09. They were very cute. It was a fun theme to work with through the week.


These are my SIS' at our table. They were each partnered up and assigned a cabin to serve. They had to attend to their cabins table whenever they were called, so they couldn't get too comfortable. I made each of them their own place mats with a sports theme. I knew what their favorite sports were so they were all unique and had their names and the theme of camp on them. The girls loved them!


Part of certification was crossing a monkey bridge. The priesthood got it set up and some of us got to try it out. Tyaan went across it very easily...of course.

I was a little slower... The men were ready to catch me if I fell, although I think they probably would have been more injured than me! Luckily I made it across and nobody had to save me.


One of Tyaan's responsibilities was to make the mail box. She made a tree with a hole for each cabin. It was SO great!! (Notice the SIS' always get put at the bottom)


Mike and Kathy were both up at camp as well. Kathy was doing certification, her camp name is Trail Mix. Mike went up as priesthood. Since it was his first time going up he got his camp name...McGyver. Pretty appropriate we think.


This is me and the other SIS leader Wendy. This is in our cabin while helping the girls practice their skit.


Each day the SIS' have assignments that go along with the daily theme. Each day their campers get to dress them up, and there is an eating assignment. This day they had to feed the person to their right.

This day they were dressed up as tour guides. They had to pretend they were speaking into microphones every time they talked.


At the end of the week is SIS graduation. They get their camp names and become counselors! Camp names are VERY important and it is a lot of pressure to give them each names that fit them well and that they will like. We did pretty well. It came down to the last minute on a few of them, but we got them all done. They receive their name by poem which was really fun to read to them.


It was a lot of work, but the girls were great. I had such a good time with them and I know they will go on to be great counselors next summer!

Class of 2009 Graduation

Graduation Day finally arrived! June 10th, 2009 Tyaan graduated from Chaffey High School.



High school sure seems like a long 4 years, but they sure did go quickly.

Don ordered a lei for her from Hawaii. It was beautiful. She couldn't wear it during the ceremony, but put it on as soon as it was over. We were so excited to get to be there for such a special occasion.


My high school graduate...

Baccaulaureate

Tyaan was chosen to speak at her class' baccalaureate. It was held the Sunday before graduation. She did such a great job! It was great to see her with all the other seniors in cap and gowns.



It's still hard to imagine that she's so grown up already. I was so happy for her and what a great girl she has grown up to be.

CIF!!

May 12th was the CIF swim meet for SoCal. Tyaan's 4x100 freestyle relay team had qualified along with several other swimmers from her school. The meet is usually held at the Belmont pool in Long Beach, which is 50 miles from us. But at the last minute we heard that there was some problem there so they moved the meet to Mt. SAC, a jr. college close to home. It's actually where Tyaan is now attending! That was great news and we enjoyed seeing all of the swimmers from schools closer to Long Beach because we knew for once they had to drive a long way instead of us.

It was a long day in the sun. The Southern Section for CIF covers most of California. Central and Southern California, so everyone who qualified for an event was here this day to swim. They swam and the top 16 in each event went on to finals which was held a couple of days later.

Here is Tyaan warming up in the competition pool. She's got great technique, and a beautiful stroke. I always say she's a 'pretty' swimmer.



This is the team getting ready for their race. The 4x100 free relay is the last event so it was later in the afternoon and they'd had a lot of time to be nervous!



You can see Tyaan standing next to her coach here. Chaffey had a pretty good sized group of swimmers qualify this year, so there was usually one of them competing.



Here is their race. They are in lane 6. Tyaan is the first swimmer.




She finished first on her leg. She is so good at pacing herself. A lot of times other swimmers will pull ahead but she never gets rushed by them. She sets her pace and sticks to it and passes the girls who pulled out ahead and burned out. Her teammates mom was timing their splits nearby and you can hear her say "1:01" when Ty finishes her leg of the race. This is her best time ever for a 100 free. It was the best time any of these girls got all season. I was thrilled when I heard she had done so well, and she told me later that she had a bad turn and slipped on the wall.

Here is Tyaan with Coach Brown after the meet. They didn't qualify for the next round, but they were all really happy with how they had done. Her coach called her his "1:01er"!




Here she is with 2 of her 3 teammates in this event. It was the last time they swam together in competition. It was really great that they got to swim at CIF! So Tyaan got her CIF patch to go with all of her letters and her league championship patch. She accomplished a lot as a high school athlete and I am excited for her to go on to college level, but will really miss going to the high school to watch her there.



As always, she did great and made me very proud!

Our Temple Sealing

On April 25th we went to the San Diego Temple and had Tyaan sealed to us. It was a very special occasion and was just as wonderful as I had hoped it would be. We had a lot of family travel to be able to attend the temple with us and many friends make the drive to San Diego and back that day as well. It was wonderful to be surrounded by people we love, and people who love Tyaan in a place that is so special.


The three of us made the drive down together because we had to be there earlier than everyone else. It was a nice drive without any traffic and great weather. As you can see in the pictures the day was as gorgeous as possible. (Those who were at my wedding will know how much I appreciated that)

Here is Tyaan just before going inside. She was really excited and had been anxious to be able to do this for a long time.


The experience was wonderful, one of my favorite days ever. Afterwards we took pictures in front of this gorgeous building with those who stayed to visit with us. Some people weren't able to stay for pictures because of the 2 hour drive back home.

Here is The Don Haslam family: Amanda, Niki, Tyaan, Jon, Don, Susan, Jennifer, Melissa & Scott.


Here is the Boyd Anderson family (my mom's family): Terry, Rolayne, Boyd, Alice, Darran, Niki, Tyaan, Jon, Darci, & Lisa


Jon & Tyaan


Some of those that were able to be with us during the sealing.


Tyaan


Darran, Grandpa Boyd, Tyaan and Jon


Lisa, Terry, Rolayne, Niki (back) Grandma Alice, Tyaan & Darci (front)

That evening my mom had dinner at her house and it was a fun celebration. Our family that was in town from Utah (& Pennsylvania) were all there, and some other friends and family came by. My mom did a great job and put up decorations and put together dinner. My dad got tables set up outside and got Tyaan a really cute cake. It was a great way to celebrate the occasion as well as enjoy everyone's company.

Here is Lisa and Christopher (who had just turned a year old)


My Uncle Larry, Grandma Avis, and my dad.


My dad and his brother Larry in front of a painting of my grandfather on his mission



Tyaan & Katie


Tyaan with Megan Meier (Jennifer's youngest)


Tyaan and her cake


My mom with her 4 sisters: Terry, Lisa & Marla (back) Darci & Rolayne (front)


It was such a great weekend. Getting to see so much family that we live so far away from was wonderful. I nearly cry when I think about the effort they made to be with us in the temple. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the blessings my family is able to have because we have it. I'm so blessed to have Jon & Tyaan and know that if we are obedient we will be a family for eternity.

It was a wonderful day.