Friday, July 17, 2009
June News
June started out with Elyse having a small surgery.
She has had a clogged tear duct ever since she was
born. Often they clear up on their own, but it didn't.
We tried eye drops and took her to an eye doctor who
tried to clear out her tear duct with a probe. They had
to strap her to a papoose looking thing which she did
not like very well. Unfortunately, that didn't clear it up
either, so we took her to Primary Children's where they
probed her tear duct under general anesthesia. They
also placed a stunt in her tear duct which will remain
there for a few more weeks. Hopefully, after that is
removed, the tear duct will remain unclogged and we
won't have any more problems.
On June 8, our family was able to tour the Oquirrh
Mountain Temple. Since this temple is in our district,
Brian and I have also had the opportunity to volunteer
a few times during June. It has been a great
experience. It has been so neat to take our kids to two
different temples in the same year.
Brian and I were also able to help out with an awards
banquet that his work puts on. It's a pretty high end
affair, called the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year Award and applicants come from all over Utah
and Idaho. It was fun to be there and dress up and eat
really good food.
Emma's blessing was on the 14th, which was
wonderful. It's always difficult to get through special
family events without my mom there, but I'm confident
she was there in spirit. Brian had a family reunion on
the 15th. The kids had swimming lessons, which they
really enjoyed. We took a trip to Tracy Aviary with
Michelle's family. Finally, we celebrated our 8th
anniversary by going to Park City for a night while the
children stayed with Grandma Allen. It was very
relaxing and a needed break and I always enjoy our
trips to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory while
we are there.
She has had a clogged tear duct ever since she was
born. Often they clear up on their own, but it didn't.
We tried eye drops and took her to an eye doctor who
tried to clear out her tear duct with a probe. They had
to strap her to a papoose looking thing which she did
not like very well. Unfortunately, that didn't clear it up
either, so we took her to Primary Children's where they
probed her tear duct under general anesthesia. They
also placed a stunt in her tear duct which will remain
there for a few more weeks. Hopefully, after that is
removed, the tear duct will remain unclogged and we
won't have any more problems.
On June 8, our family was able to tour the Oquirrh
Mountain Temple. Since this temple is in our district,
Brian and I have also had the opportunity to volunteer
a few times during June. It has been a great
experience. It has been so neat to take our kids to two
different temples in the same year.
Brian and I were also able to help out with an awards
banquet that his work puts on. It's a pretty high end
affair, called the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year Award and applicants come from all over Utah
and Idaho. It was fun to be there and dress up and eat
really good food.
Emma's blessing was on the 14th, which was
wonderful. It's always difficult to get through special
family events without my mom there, but I'm confident
she was there in spirit. Brian had a family reunion on
the 15th. The kids had swimming lessons, which they
really enjoyed. We took a trip to Tracy Aviary with
Michelle's family. Finally, we celebrated our 8th
anniversary by going to Park City for a night while the
children stayed with Grandma Allen. It was very
relaxing and a needed break and I always enjoy our
trips to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory while
we are there.
May News
The following information is the family newsletter for
the Allen Family. This newsletter is based on actual
historical events.
Last month seemed really busy for us. I suppose part
of that has to do with the fact that we had a lot of things
to do. The other part of it is probably that the days are
now shorter due to the upcoming apocalypse.
Kalynn completed her spring soccer games. She was
extremely awesome. So much so that at the last game
she received a trophy indicating that she was the
“MVP”. I think her MVP status was cemented when
she learned how to slide tackle. Slide tackling is
generally not allowed at her level of soccer – but they
made an exception for Kalynn because she was so
good at it. She could literally take-out two or three
players on the opposing team when she would slide in
for the ball – not to mention a couple of player’s on her
own team.
Peter finished up his preschool classes during the
month. I think the reason he finished is that Kara and
Wendy decided they were tired of doing preschool. I
would therefore call his first year of preschool a
success.
Our other daughter, Elyse (she’s the short one), is
learning how to communicate. In fact she has
developed an extensive vocabulary and the two of us
enjoy taking long walks around our circle and
discussing deep philosophical issues. She is also in a
very inquisitive stage of her life. She spends most of
her time trying to figure out what is in each of the
cupboards, cabinets, dressers, etc. in our house.
Luckily she has figured out how to open everything and
she loves to take everything out and examine the
contents.
Our family did a lot of fun stuff this month. Some of the
highlights were going to Kyle’s concert (they had
cookies), attending Brian’s band banquet
(cheesecake), celebrating Adalyn’s birthday (cake),
helping with Brian’s Eagle-project dinner (brownies,
cake, ice-cream). Kara and I also helped out with the
new Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house
(sandwiches and various desserts). I should make a
note that we were not supposed to partake of the
refreshments since we were just the hired help and not
dignitaries – however, I convinced Kara that we should
do it anyway. On a related note – we both have
disciplinary hearings next week. We also spent some
time up at a Cabin near Heber City (I ate a huge bag of
peanut M&Ms I found up there which Kara said had
gone rancid).
We also celebrated my 30th birthday this past month.
I’m sure to some of you that sounds really, really old. It
sure sounds old to me. I was even reminded of how
old I was on my birthday because I sprained my ankle
playing soccer and couldn’t walk for a week. Although,
I’m also sure there’s many of you that think that 30
sounds really young and that’s just sad.
Well – we hope you all are doing well and we hope to
see you all at the next Southwick Reunion which will be
held in our backyard sometime this month. (More
details to follow next month.)
the Allen Family. This newsletter is based on actual
historical events.
Last month seemed really busy for us. I suppose part
of that has to do with the fact that we had a lot of things
to do. The other part of it is probably that the days are
now shorter due to the upcoming apocalypse.
Kalynn completed her spring soccer games. She was
extremely awesome. So much so that at the last game
she received a trophy indicating that she was the
“MVP”. I think her MVP status was cemented when
she learned how to slide tackle. Slide tackling is
generally not allowed at her level of soccer – but they
made an exception for Kalynn because she was so
good at it. She could literally take-out two or three
players on the opposing team when she would slide in
for the ball – not to mention a couple of player’s on her
own team.
Peter finished up his preschool classes during the
month. I think the reason he finished is that Kara and
Wendy decided they were tired of doing preschool. I
would therefore call his first year of preschool a
success.
Our other daughter, Elyse (she’s the short one), is
learning how to communicate. In fact she has
developed an extensive vocabulary and the two of us
enjoy taking long walks around our circle and
discussing deep philosophical issues. She is also in a
very inquisitive stage of her life. She spends most of
her time trying to figure out what is in each of the
cupboards, cabinets, dressers, etc. in our house.
Luckily she has figured out how to open everything and
she loves to take everything out and examine the
contents.
Our family did a lot of fun stuff this month. Some of the
highlights were going to Kyle’s concert (they had
cookies), attending Brian’s band banquet
(cheesecake), celebrating Adalyn’s birthday (cake),
helping with Brian’s Eagle-project dinner (brownies,
cake, ice-cream). Kara and I also helped out with the
new Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house
(sandwiches and various desserts). I should make a
note that we were not supposed to partake of the
refreshments since we were just the hired help and not
dignitaries – however, I convinced Kara that we should
do it anyway. On a related note – we both have
disciplinary hearings next week. We also spent some
time up at a Cabin near Heber City (I ate a huge bag of
peanut M&Ms I found up there which Kara said had
gone rancid).
We also celebrated my 30th birthday this past month.
I’m sure to some of you that sounds really, really old. It
sure sounds old to me. I was even reminded of how
old I was on my birthday because I sprained my ankle
playing soccer and couldn’t walk for a week. Although,
I’m also sure there’s many of you that think that 30
sounds really young and that’s just sad.
Well – we hope you all are doing well and we hope to
see you all at the next Southwick Reunion which will be
held in our backyard sometime this month. (More
details to follow next month.)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
April News
Dear Family,
On April 3rd, my dear mother passed peacefully to the next life. I miss her constantly and there is a void in my heart that I know will never be filled. I was grateful that we had a nice conference right after passing. It was uplifting to listen to and quite frankly, it was nice not to have to go to church so we could stay home and get things ready. Saturday we went to the mortuary, Sunday I spent the entire day working on arranging "Where Can I Turn for Peace?". This song brought much comfort to my mom while she was sick. I had hoped to arrange and sing it for her before she died, but I spent all of my extra time being with her, which I have no regrets about. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent getting everything else ready for the viewing and funeral. Brian spent much time getting videos ready for the funeral and they turned out wonderful. Jenny and I worked on getting things ready for a display and on the life sketch that we read at the funeral. We really didn't know how it would all come together, but it did and it was very nice. We had a lot of compliments on both the viewing and the funeral. And it was beautiful. Everything turned out perfect. The flowers, music and spoken word were beautiful. It was so nice to have all the family and friends that were able to attend. It was comforting to us and a great tribute to my mom to have so many people there that loved her.
The rest of the month seemed to be busy just catching up on many of things that were put off the last few months. We had a fun and nice Easter with both the Allen's and Southwick's. We went on a quick vacation to Cayonlands National Park. We stayed for two nights - we were planning on staying for longer, but it was extremely windy and sandy and it was impossible to go hiking. So, we came home early, which was okay because we were anxious to see our new little niece, Emma Norene. On Friday the 24th, we got to help out with Brian's prom dinner, which was fun. On May 2nd we went to Jenny and Diana's (Brian's sister) graduation from Utah State. It was good, but emotional day. It was also very rainy. The rest of the month was filled with doctor's appointments, visiting teaching appointments, and picture taking appointments.
Kalynn was off track the whole month, which was very nice. I love to have her home, she is a great helper. Peter's speech seems to be improving. We are working on helping him put the ending consanants on words which is very funny because then words become two syllables - such as shee-p and bir-d and fla-g. It's cute. Elyse is darling and all over the house. She has mastered going up and down the stairs and she loves being outside playing with her older siblings. She is also anxious to feed herself and does pretty well at it.
I suppose that is quite enough for this month. Hope you are all well.
The Allen Family
On April 3rd, my dear mother passed peacefully to the next life. I miss her constantly and there is a void in my heart that I know will never be filled. I was grateful that we had a nice conference right after passing. It was uplifting to listen to and quite frankly, it was nice not to have to go to church so we could stay home and get things ready. Saturday we went to the mortuary, Sunday I spent the entire day working on arranging "Where Can I Turn for Peace?". This song brought much comfort to my mom while she was sick. I had hoped to arrange and sing it for her before she died, but I spent all of my extra time being with her, which I have no regrets about. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent getting everything else ready for the viewing and funeral. Brian spent much time getting videos ready for the funeral and they turned out wonderful. Jenny and I worked on getting things ready for a display and on the life sketch that we read at the funeral. We really didn't know how it would all come together, but it did and it was very nice. We had a lot of compliments on both the viewing and the funeral. And it was beautiful. Everything turned out perfect. The flowers, music and spoken word were beautiful. It was so nice to have all the family and friends that were able to attend. It was comforting to us and a great tribute to my mom to have so many people there that loved her.
The rest of the month seemed to be busy just catching up on many of things that were put off the last few months. We had a fun and nice Easter with both the Allen's and Southwick's. We went on a quick vacation to Cayonlands National Park. We stayed for two nights - we were planning on staying for longer, but it was extremely windy and sandy and it was impossible to go hiking. So, we came home early, which was okay because we were anxious to see our new little niece, Emma Norene. On Friday the 24th, we got to help out with Brian's prom dinner, which was fun. On May 2nd we went to Jenny and Diana's (Brian's sister) graduation from Utah State. It was good, but emotional day. It was also very rainy. The rest of the month was filled with doctor's appointments, visiting teaching appointments, and picture taking appointments.
Kalynn was off track the whole month, which was very nice. I love to have her home, she is a great helper. Peter's speech seems to be improving. We are working on helping him put the ending consanants on words which is very funny because then words become two syllables - such as shee-p and bir-d and fla-g. It's cute. Elyse is darling and all over the house. She has mastered going up and down the stairs and she loves being outside playing with her older siblings. She is also anxious to feed herself and does pretty well at it.
I suppose that is quite enough for this month. Hope you are all well.
The Allen Family
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Obituary
Norene Sagers Southwick
7/27/1954 - 4/3/2009
Norene passed away peacefully at age 54 surrounded by her family after being diagnosed with lung cancer five weeks earlier.
She was born in Tooele, Utah to Willard and Geraldine Sagers, and was married to Wayne Southwick August 23, 1974 in the Salt Lake Temple.
Norene was dedicated to her family. She taught her children and others to live the gospel, love music and learning, and enjoy life. She exemplified charity and compassion as she served at home, at school, and in the Relief Society and Primary.
Her legacy will continue through her loving husband, Wayne; children, Nathan (Wendy), Kara (Brian) Allen, Jenny (Bryce) Lake, John, Brian, and Kyle; six grandchildren; five siblings; and mother. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Melynn; father; and brother, Kenneth. Services: L.D.S. Chapel 1899 W. 7600 S. West Jordan, Utah. Viewing: 4/8 6:00-8:00 pm and 4/9 10:00-11:30 am. Funeral: 4/9 12:00 pm. Internment: Tooele Cemetery.
7/27/1954 - 4/3/2009
Norene passed away peacefully at age 54 surrounded by her family after being diagnosed with lung cancer five weeks earlier.
She was born in Tooele, Utah to Willard and Geraldine Sagers, and was married to Wayne Southwick August 23, 1974 in the Salt Lake Temple.
Norene was dedicated to her family. She taught her children and others to live the gospel, love music and learning, and enjoy life. She exemplified charity and compassion as she served at home, at school, and in the Relief Society and Primary.
Her legacy will continue through her loving husband, Wayne; children, Nathan (Wendy), Kara (Brian) Allen, Jenny (Bryce) Lake, John, Brian, and Kyle; six grandchildren; five siblings; and mother. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Melynn; father; and brother, Kenneth. Services: L.D.S. Chapel 1899 W. 7600 S. West Jordan, Utah. Viewing: 4/8 6:00-8:00 pm and 4/9 10:00-11:30 am. Funeral: 4/9 12:00 pm. Internment: Tooele Cemetery.
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