Christmas Letter 2012

 

Christmas 2012 (The abridged plates of the past year)

Dear Family and Friends,

Greek philosopher Epictetus once said, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” Our family has had many occasions to rejoice this past year and recognize the many blessings we’ve received. For this we are truly grateful. As we celebrate this Christmas season we are especially thankful for the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and for His atonement. It is a gift that can bless all those who embrace it.

     The arrival of three new grandchildren this past year was a special blessing. After Rob and Kathryn’s sad loss of Travis last year, they continued their efforts to adopt. This spring a lady from Idaho contacted them about adopting her baby. They went to Idaho on Jun. 7^th and were there for the delivery. Serious complications arose, and the baby was life-flighted to McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah. The doctors figured the baby would be in the hospital for three weeks. Family prayers were answered and the baby was released after three days. He is healthy and strong and doing fine. They named him Ryan Lemuel, after Kathryn’s father. The adoption was finalized Dec. 11^th and Ryan was sealed to them on the 15^th in the Monticello Temple. His older brother Ethan is ecstatic (as are his parents and grandparents)!

Nathan and Tammy had a baby girl, Isabella Felice, on May 9^th.  Laurie and Brendan were especially happy to welcome a new baby sister and have been really good helpers.  

Chris and Pam still live in Provo and have seven children. He works for BYU keeping their heating and air conditioning running. He was released as Scout Master this past summer after serving many years in that position. Pam is a counselor in the Primary. Their oldest child C.J. will graduate from high school this spring. He also turns 18 in Jun. so he would be ready to serve a mission and is attending the Mission Prep class.

Quentin and Bev are in Gilbert, Az. Quentin works at Avnet as an accountant. Bev was recently called as primary president in their ward. Anthony and Ashley now live in Mountain Home, Ut. Anthony graduated from Law school this spring, passed the Utah State Bar and was hired as a prosecuting attorney for Duchesne County. He and Ashley had a baby girl, Lawsyn Margaret, who was born on June 25^th

Autumn and Theron are in West Valley where he serves as bishop of their ward. He works for the State of Utah Dept. of Health and still rides his bike to work each day. Autumn is chairman of the cub scout committee and helps to plan lots of the ward activities.  She is a great neighbor, and is always looking for people to help. She competed in a couple of marathons and several other races this past year and has run over 1000 miles this year. They have three children. Andrew and Amy live in Kaysville. He is an investigator for the Utah Workman’s Compensation in Sandy, Utah which takes him all over state investigating accidents. Amy is a nurse and teaches CNA classes. They have three children.

The main traveling we did this year was to visit our kids and attend family reunions. there.  For Janet’s 70^th birthday Bev and Amy initiated a 70 plus page collection of letters from family, friends & former students.  It was a very tender and special gift.

At the CEU/USU graduation we were given a Student Service Award, for our help over the past dozen years with college kids. Janet organized a two-day 4-H quilt camp in June with about 25 kids attending.  In June we went to Payson Lakes campground for a reunion with Steve’s siblings. The last part of June the Steve Wilcox clan (32 of us) met at Mountain River Ranch near Ririe, Idaho for a family reunion..In addition to learning more about Ririe, via a treasure hunt, we took a tour of the Keeler farm, which was only 15 miles from where we camped. Janet was able to show her children and grandchildren where she grew up.  She also created a couple of family jeopardy games for the reunion.

    Starting in April we began a big outdoor improvement project which included cleaning out weeds, putting in a meandering walkway at the top of the garden, as well as new flower beds and a fire pit. Then in August we had a deck built providing much needed shade for our patio, plus a fun place to sit in the evening, or have a sleep over for grandkids.

Even though our garden has half the size as usual we still had tons of tomatoes and other produce to share. We initiated a big 4^th ward reunion in Blanding Sept. 22, as our ward had been dissolved a year ago, and divided into three others.  Janet created a 80 min video featuring ward events of the past 38 years.  It was a big undertaking as she used nearly 800 photos set to music, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.  We keep busy teaching Addiction Recovery class every Tues night.  Steve works in the Monticello Temple Tuesdays in the morning, and we also shepherd the Young Singles in our Ward and hosted many dinners and parties for them during the past year.  We also go visiting teaching and home teaching…so we manage to stay out of trouble.  We love Blanding, the slower pace of life, little traffic, the good people we constantly rub shoulders with and the good clean air we enjoy when walking.  Janet walks every week day and has gone over 750 miles so far this year.  Our family blog is http://wmmeanderings.blogspot.com/

 

Our best Christmas present was getting this little guy (in white) officially adopted and sealed as part of our family on Dec. 15, 2012. 

           May you continue forward, holding to the “iron rod”, with faith in Christ as your guide.

 

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"Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,
if he is not born in thee, thy soul is still forlorn."
(Angelus Silesius)

 

 

 

 

Christmas letter 2010

Christmas 2010

Dear family and friends,

We have Valley of the Gods in Utah; in Greece they have

a mount of the Gods on the Acropolis

It’s a good thing we write these yearly updates, or we wouldn’t know what we’ve been doing or why we’re so tired! We are both enjoying good health and are very thankful we can still climb, and hike and remember how to get back home!

   
This past summer Steve was called as an ordinance worker at the Monticello Temple. He works Tues. mornings. This fits our schedule nicely because we still teach the LDS Family Service Addiction Recovery class on Tues. nights. This allows us time to travel to see family.

We continue to work with the Young Singles in our ward and have had some fun times with them. We try to have a couple of activities each month: usually a game night and Sunday dinner. In November we hosted a donut making activity for Veterans Day. Had about 24 YSA making and delivering donuts to 50+ families. The veterans really appreciated this gesture.

Steve raised another big garden this year and we had lots of produce to give away, can and store. Janet does a monthly column for our local paper on provident living. http://providentponderings.blogspot.com/

She was recently elected the president of the local sewing guild for next year. She made several quilts this year; one of them was a difficult lone star Eagle Scout quilt for our oldest grandson. She also filled up all of our empty fruit jars. Her new specialty is Jalapeño jam, and green tomato raspberry jam.


Kathyrn and Travis, Pam and Emily, Autumn and Hinckley



There were three new grandchildren born in 2010:
Emily Hope born March 3, Hinckley William born March 26, and Travis Robert born August 28.

We now have 23 grandchildren with one more on the way.  We love all these wonderful children and are so pleased with the good parenting that goes on in their homes.

 Here’s a brief update of what each family is doing:

Rob and Kathryn - Rob still works for the Sheriff’s Office; Kathryn works part time for a law office in Monticello. Ethan will turn nine this month and they are in the process of adopting a baby boy that was born on Aug. 28. Travis is very adorable and looks so much like Ethan.

Nathan and Tamara live in Toole and have a lovely home which they continue to make improvements on. Nathan works at Dugway as a civilian. They are kept busy keeping up with Laurie and Brendan and all of their activities: academics, dancing, cub scouts, & soccer. They are very active in their new ward and provide much service there.

Chris and Pam- added Emily Hope to their family March 3, so they now have seven children. CJ, Michael, Kylee, Dan, Hailey, Adam and Emily. He works for BYU, as well as his own business. He is Scout Master and is super busy. Pam is the family activity/ homework manager, and cook. We always enjoy going there to play games with the kids.

Quentin and Bev- are now in a larger new home in Gilbert. Quentin still works for Avnet. They have three adorable girls: Quincy, Sage, Ava and one handsome boy, Brig. They will be adding an addition to their family next May. They have callings in the Young Womens and Elders Quorum.

Anthony and Ashley have two kids Sam and Logan. Anthony is half way through law in Phoenix and is doing exceptionally well. He was invited to serve on the Law Review Board this semester. They live in Mesa. Ashley is Primary President and Anthony teaches gospel doctrine SS class.

Autumn and Theron are still in West Valley City and have 3 cute kids: Hunter, Peyton and Hinckley. Theron applied for a different job this fall, and when his boss found out about it, they offered him a promotion to entice him to stay—which he did. It’s nice to be appreciated. He is also bishop of their ward. Autumn holds the home front down. They both continue to compete in bike and running races.

Andrew and Amy also have 3 children: Madison, Jaxon and Gannon. Andrew works for Workforce Services as a fraud investigator and Amy teaches CNA classes in Davis County. They are very busy keeping up with 3 busy little kids.

Year in Review

Had a huge snowy winter last year and hibernated for 4 months! Snow levels were half way up our kitchen windows and didn’t melt until April—just like Idaho!!

Janet worked on Hole-in-the-Rock history sites and profile stories for the two Blanding stakes, preparatory to youth treks last summer. We both participated in the west side trek in June. It was a great experience. If you haven’t read The Undaunted by Gerald Lund, be sure to do so. It is about our part of the world. Learn more at: http://wmmeanderings.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

Janet’s next big spring project was producing a DVD show and web site for her 50th Ririe High class reunion in May, which we attended in Idaho Falls. See at: http://sites.google.com/site/rhs50years/

Everyone had fun reliving the events and music of the 50’s. We also visited her Idaho siblings. Doug and Della, and Nancy and Bruce and also got to attend the Rexburg temple for the first time. It was a wonderful trip though short.

The annual Welsh Festival was in Malad about a month later and we met up with Nancy and the Westenskows. One of our cousins from Wales Aled Betts was a presenter there. We visited with relatives from the 3 families of Jonah Evans, our ggg grandfather from Wales, and also with the Talbot family in Malad, who are Thomas relatives.

We hosted the extended Wilcox family reunion at the Blue Mountain Guest Ranch in June. All of our kids and grandchildren were there plus some of Steve’s siblings and their families. Autumn organized the activities and meals and kept the kiddos busy. It was beautiful and green and everyone seemed to have a good time. Face painting, scavenger hunt, Madagascar night, and family jeopardy were all part of the fun. Our friend Diane even came over from Colorado for it. Pictures of the reunion can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jwilcox42/BlueMountainReunion#

The first part of Oct. was our Mission reunion and we saw many dear friends again. We stayed for General Conference, then left the next day for a 14 day Mediterranean Cruise. We flew to Milan, Italy and toured Milan, Verona and Venice. We stayed over night in Venice and then boarded the ship. We visited Egypt, Israel, Greece, Croatia and Italy staying each night on the ship. There were about 300 in our LDS tour group; at each port we were bussed to the different places. It was an amazing experience. Shows of our trip can be viewed at

http://www.photodex.com/share/jwilcox

We were on the road again for Thanksgiving visiting our two families in Phoenix. We had a very good dinner and enjoyed playing games, golfing, visiting a high school friend, and surviving a 10 hr. Black Friday marathon! Thanks, Ashley for the memories.

Arizona Cousins: Ava, Logan, Sage, Quincy, Brig, and Sammy



We came back to Blanding and spent two days madly wrapping presents then traveled to SLC for an early Christmas party up north with five of our kids and their families. Autumn organized it and we all had a wonderful evening. One of the highlights of the evening was making gingerbread houses. Autumn spend many hours baking gingerbread kits and the kids got to put them together and decorate them with icing and candy. We also had lots of good food to eat.

We did a Victory arch for all the grandkids to celebrate their good works.  Their parents told of their accomplishments and the rest of us cheered and gave high fives.
We then presented CJ’s with his Eagle scout quilt and encouraged the rest of the boys to work towards earning that award.

We’re now on the final countdown to Christmas, and it has been way busy. Just in the past 3 days we had a neighborhood party at our home, helped with a funeral, attended our ward party with 3 neighbor kids, went to a baptism of a neighbor and hosted a dinner for her, attended a 50th Anniversary party, fixed dinner for 8 young singles Sunday.  Whew, I'm tired tonight. Nice to have a day of rest!

This week I’m just going to kick back, be lazy and read a book, and watch a few Christmas specials – that is if I get this letter done and sent. (Please write and tell us what you’re doing.)

It is our 43rd wedding anniversary this month. The years have really flown and we’ve been so blessed with good kids, who are still making changes and moving forward. We feel our Saviors love, and are learning to listen more attentively to the Holy Ghost. It has made a difference in our lives, and I hope it does in yours too.

Have a Very Merry Christmas and an Inspirational New Year.

                  Love, Steve and Janet Wilcox

Christmas letter 2009

Merry Christmas -- December 2009-- from Blanding where skies are blue and snow is deep!
Dear Family and Friends,

As this year rapidly draws to its end, we reflect upon the past year, and count our family and friends among our choicest blessings. We pray that you had a good year and the next one will even be better. We enjoy good health and seem to be more busy now that we are retired. Maybe as we get older it just takes us longer to do things.

We were released from our mission to the Navajo Reservation on April 22, 2009. We served 18 months in Ganado, Ariz. We left behind many good friends and still maintain contact with them. All of our family returned to Blanding in April and we had a super family Great Race/Luau reunion orchestrated by Anthony and Ashley.

In July we went back to Ganado and for a visit/service project. We then traveled to Snowflake Arizona to attend the temple with Joseph Yazzie and his daughter. We taught Brother Yazzie the temple preparation lessons and were thrilled to go through the temple with him when he received his endowments and was sealed to his wife. It was a joyous reunion with them.

From Snowflake we drove to Gilbert, Arizona to visit Quentin and Bev and to see our new grandson Brig Keeler Wilcox.

Janet stayed for a few days to help entertain the girls and Steve returned to Blanding to take care of the garden. Grandma got to go see the musical Wicked with Quent, Sage, and Quincy.  It was a fun activity.

Brig was blessed in July in Blanding.

Chris, Quentin and Anthony's families came to spend the 4th of July in Blanding.  Lots of fun!!

In Sept. we went back to Ganado to attend the funeral of Gilbert Kinlichee, a Navajo Medicine Man. Even though he did not accept the gospel, his family asked Steve to give him a priesthood blessing when he was hospitalized. We taught his family and eventually baptized his son-in-law and one of his grandsons.

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We went up to the Murphy/Keeler Reunion this summer and saw quite a few relatives. Lynn was also there from Rhode Island as he and Roseanne had come down for their daughter and son-in-law's graduation. It was a short but good visit with lots of people.

Janet's siblings: Nancy, Lynn, Doug, and Janet

Steve raised a big garden and we took a car full of garden produce to share with our Ganado friends and children. While in Ganado the Branch members presented us with a beautiful photo memory quilt they made for us. It is wonderful. Corey Waunkea, a fine young man we taught the gospel to is living with us and attending college in Blanding.


We loved visiting all of our children this summer and had fun playing with the grandchildren. New grandson, Gannon Thomas (Andrew and Amy's) was born June 29.

Gannon's baby blessing:

We also cheered Autumn and Theron in a couple of triathlons: American Fork, and Blanding Hillman and helped Nathan and Tammy move into their first home.

Quent and Bev are also moving into a new home this month. Anthony and Ashley are in Mesa now (going to Law School). Chris is working for BYU and Pam is the family activity Supervisor and traffic director. Rob and Kathryn were the "big losers" in our family during 2009 and are looking svelte and healthy.

We tended Ethan on Mondays during the summer and had lots of fun activities, including fishing with Grandpa! Laurie and Brendan came down and spent a few days with us as well. It was very fun for all of us.

In Sept. We took a two-week cruise to Hawai'i. We boarded the ship in Los Angles and cruised to Hawai'i visiting the four main islands. We saw the Polynesian Culture Center, rode in a submarine and did lots of other fun things. On the return trip we stopped in Ensenada, Mexico. We had great food on the ship (So much for our diet!) and Steve even tried the frog legs. We did a lot of reading (4 books each) watched a few movies, lots of live entertainment, and played games with others in our group!! We had the best time.

Right after we got back to Blanding our stake president called us on a service mission to set up and run the LDS Family Service Addiction Recovery program. We have seen some success and we enjoy working with the attendees. We are also working with the YSA in our ward which includes CEU dorm students. (That's why we love to play games so much!) Last week Janet was called to be a History specialists for a Hole-in-the-Rock trek in June.

Four families were able to come home for Thanksgiving. We loved their visit. The weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed hiking, along with eating.  That Saturday, Quincy was baptized, which was pretty special since both sides of the family could be there.

We wish you a very merry Christmas and a "stimulating" year. May we remember the real reason for the season. We are thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for us. We are also thankful for our wonderful family. We have truly been blessed.
            Love, Steve and Janet 2009 Christmas