FERRIN FAMILY REUNION

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILLIE!!

She would have been 100 years old this year.

I love this picture of my mom. It was her senior picture. In her Weber yearbook she wrote "I look like I was going to bawl."

We had a wonderful display table with things she had made, and letters she had written. Also a beautiful black dress that was hers and one she had made for a dance festival or "All Faces West" that looked like a pioneer dress. An unfinished table cloth that Milo took home for his wife Connie to finish. Aprons, blankets, and wash rags made into baby clothes for shower gifts. Books she had read to my kids as children. Depression dishes, her diary when she was 16 years old. Her high school year book, and an example of a doily that she made many of. There were life histories, and aprons....she did so may things in her life time.

We gathered pictures of Mother and Nikki put together a wonderful DVD with old songs like "Turn around" by Rosemary Clooney, "I've got a crush on you" by Frank Sinatra, "Sisters, Sisters" Rosemary Clooney, What a Wonderful Life " by Louis Armstrong. Also "Always" and "I'll be there". It was very touching. Much Love to Nikki and all of my kids with help for the reunion. Here is a sample of some of the pictures that were on the DVD:

Mom is the one on the right. These are her friends from Provo.

They remained good friends their whole lives.

A couple of pictures of mom and dad when they were dating.

Mom's engagement picture.

This is one of my favorite pictures of mom.

Family picture without Ray who was serving in Korea in the Airforce.

I think this is the last family picture we had taken all together.

The following is my all time new favorite picture of mom:

Well that is just a sampling of the pictures used in the DVD.

We had a picture taken with most of the people that came to the reunion. Some had left before pictures were taken. We had about approximately 50 attend.

Siblings Ray, Carolyn, Rosalie, and Colleen

The gang of Ferrins

Is it me, or is Carly the only one paying any attention to the photographer which was Doug by the way. Oh well, you know how it is a family reunions.

And last but not least, a picture of the Wilson Branch with our matching shirts:

First a picture from years past.

This was taken the year mom was honored as the Pleasant View Founders day Grand Marshall of the parade. Every sibling's family had these shirts made to honor her. This year 2011 our family decided to bring back the shirts:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

WE LOVE YOU!!

Mothers Favorite....Happy Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOTHER'S FAVORITE DAUGHTER

[INSIDE FAMILY JOKE]

THIS IS MY SISTER CAROLYN.

I LOVE HER MUCHLY.

SHE HAD A BIRTHDAY ON JUNE 5TH

IT'S OK IF YOU WERE THE FAVORITE...

I GREW UP KNOWING YOU WERE THE FAVORITE...

AND HOPING I COULD GROW UP TO BE JUST LIKE YOU.

BUT NOW YOU'VE STARTED ACTING LIKE YOUR MOTHER...

HMMMMM....HEE...HEE

SHHH.... DON'T TELL ROSALIE...

SHE MIGHT NOT KNOW YOU WERE THE FAVORITE

FERRIN FAMILY FOREVER....

REUNION TIME

This weekend we had our annual reunion.

Thanks to Rosalie's family for putting it on.

A special thanks to Tamera and John for letting us invade the back yard.

Here are a few pics of the day...

Here we are the 4 of us Ferrin siblings still a kickin.

We confuse our grandchildren.

One of them thought Rosalie was Carolyn's mother....

One of mine asked me if I was the oldest [whitest hair I guess]

This is a test....what is the order of our birth?

Answer: #1 is #1, #2 is #4, #3 is #2, and # 4 is #3.

Got it????

Tamara in the turquoise shirt was the Hostess with the most-est.

Richard standing and Rosalie on the far left were in charge.

Ray and Suzanne and Family relax in the shade.

The Fletcher Gang was there as well...

in the center is John and Melissa Clark....

my famous cousins who wrote the book...

"Road to Zion".

John also designed the new Utah licence plate.

If you look close you may see my family scattered about.

We were there I promise.

Love you Ferrin Family

Blustery day at the "Gardens"

This weekend we celebrated Carolyn's birthday

at the "Gardens" at Thanksgiving Point.

Let's just say we walked the Gardens in record time.

These are my sisters....I love them...

The wind did not take away the beauty of the Gardens.

In fact it was perfect picture taking weather:

The flowers were lovely in spite of all the rain and wind we have been having.

Thanks Carolyn and Rosalie for a wonderful day and a wonderful memory.

Thanks for being born.

Hugs

Random weekend...Birthdays, Anniversarys..and more

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLYN!!

70

Wow!!!

This is my sister Carolyn. Saturday was her Birthday.

I love her very much. She has always been my hero.

She just gets more amazing every year.

She is the glue of our family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS

"Sister Love"

Stay tuned for more weekend events:

This weekend was also the celebration of my cousin

Elaine and her husband Mark's

60th Wedding Anniversary.

They have a daughter Janine that is a year younger than me

and they used to invite me to stay for a week or so every summer

at their house in Layton.

Here are some reasons I love them and loved to go here.

• The spirit was always in their home....you could feel it.
• They had a large family [6 kids] and something was always going on.
• Elaine churned her own butter and ground her own wheat.
• They had a "Turkey" Farm and raised feed for them.
• Their Grandma Morgan lived on "Gentile Street" by the Feed lot. They had a little party house there which is still there. She had beautiful white hair. She was always so kind to me. We used to walk to her house.
• I loved to sit on their lawn and watch the planes from Hill Field fly over. Their house is on the flight path. I even saw one when I visited her on Friday.
• They had a piano and played it. Elaine taught lessons.
• They had family prayers and prayed at every meal.
• They made homemade ice cream the old fashioned way with rock salt and lots of people took turns turning it.
• Mark was a tease and liked to put sugar on my cereal when I was not looking, I blame him for my sugar cravings to this day.
• They played games and NEVER watched TV.
• To this day when I am with their family you can feel how special they are.

Elaine and Mark have served many missions. Their first one was to Africa, then they went to some islands in the Pacific, Spain, and Canada. They are amazing. They got married 2 days out of High School.....and have the most wonderful marriage. I love them. I am so grateful I was able to visit with them on Friday and catch up. While both have had health problems, they are living with what life has given them. Mark is going in for an Ankle transplant soon, and Elaine suffers from Neuropathy on the right side of her face and has lost her hearing on that side. Still they are faithful to the end. They were working in their garden when I got there. Hugs to Mark and Elaine. Thank-you for the wonderful example you have been to me.

There is still more to come and it has to do with this:

HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY TO PATRICE

My friend Patrice celebrated her 60th Birthday party

at the Union Station on Saturday.

It was a great party.

There were over 100 guests.

Her daughter Michelle and her friend Amy did a fantastic job planning the party.

Her son Chad did an amazing and tender job of being the Host.

They roasted and toasted her.

The theme was :

"Where in the world is Patrice?

We were supposed to dress like "Tourists".

The best I could do was a Hawaiian Shirt.

Doug dressed like he always does when we travel......

just like he does every day. [Minus the suspenders]

The party planners did an amazing job down to the little details.

The centerpieces were travel bags with Post Cards from all over the world.

There was a wonderful Buffet by the Union Grill and little "thank you" favors.

My favorite were the multi colored cupcakes.

I don't know where to start to tell you what an amazing person Patrice is.

She has volunteered her time to many "Charities" over the years.

Red Cross, Christmas Box House and many more.

She has rescued many of us in times of trial whether it be divorce or death of a loved one, or someone just needing a friend. She has provided many trips to Lake Powell in the most amazing house boat you have ever seen. She has invited friends to Deer Valley for the weekend, provided a house for a 40th year reunion, and a 60th Birthday party. She has been thru divorce, near death, the loss of a husband to a heart attack, heartbreak, and sadness, but always comes out of it with a cheerful heart. She has given so much to others and has been my friend and has rescued me many times. She tells it like it is and opens her home and heart to everyone.

Thanks Patrice for the memories.

I love you and appreciate all you have done for me.

HUGS!!!

I can not leave the weekend without mentioning Doug's "highlight".

Casey Scott of KUTV 2 was the Disc Jockey at Patrice's party.

I took their picture.

Doug is a fan!!

And that is a wrap!!!

THE END

What I am missing day 5....................

HAWAII in the 70's

Doug joined the Army six months into our marriage.

The first 6 months we were in Sierra Vista Arizona.

Then Doug got his orders to Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

We lived there for 2 1/2 years.

Here are some pictures of our time there.

We lived for the first year or so in the Ala Moana Hotel.

It has since been torn down and a new high rise put in.

This is Christmas at the Ala Moana.

I wore a lot of Mu mu's and no make-up [hard to believe I know]

What I remember about living in this apartment were the huge "Cockroaches" that you had to be careful not to sit on if you got up in the middle of the night to go potty. They could fly and made a snapping noise.......I hate Cock roaches!!!!

We did not have a car and Doug rode his bike to work.

We were poor and so we spent time "people watching" at the beach or at the Mall.

Doug had a metal detector and found rings and things on the beach while I sunned.

I just wanted to be pregnant after losing my first son in Arizona. Those were hard days of homesickness and sadness and disappointment.

However, Doug and I were also very happy inour relationship.

Here are some pictures of our carefree days before children:

Playing on the beaches on the North Shore.

Spending many days on Beaches. This one was Eva beach.

We spent most of our time on Ft Derussey Beach a Military R&R .

Our Apartment was very close to it.

They also had a little movie theater there. [Trust me, not fancy]

Picking up "PUKKA SHELLS" on the North Shore. I made me a necklace out of them.

We went to church here:

Waikiki Ward. This is the Honolulu Tabernacle where we met for church.

We often saw people we knew who were visiting Hawaii as this was the

only church on this side of the island at the time.

One of those visitors was Rod and Audrey Carver. This is myself, Rod and Audrey at the

Pali Look out. It is very windy there.

We moved to a new apartment on McCully Street:

There was this dive on McCully street called McCully Chop Suey. They had the best "Beef Fried Rice" ever. Today we order "take out" [Beef Fried Rice] from the "China Garden" on 12th street, it is very close to the same flavor as McCully Chop Suey. It always brings back memories.

It may not look like much but it was the Taj Mahal compared with the Ala Moana.

We still had cockroaches but the big ones flew mostly outside on the sidewalk. We had to keep EVERYTHING in plastic bags or the little cockroaches would get in....cereal boxes, cracker boxes, everything. We bought an old green car. Lime green. It was ugly, but it got us where we were going. Holly was born in November at Tripler Army Medical Hospital [it is pink].

My mom and dad came over just before Holly was born. We did the tourist thing with them.

This was during the years that mom dyed her hair.

This next one is one of my favorites:

Not because of the birds at "Paradise Park" ........

because my mom wore curlers in her hair and a scarf over them.

Times they have changed.

We did the "Kodak Hula Show"

The Polynesian Cultural Center, Sea life park, and many other places.

We were able to go to the Temple in Laie.

This is a picture of my mom and dad with Aunt R May and Uncle Horace.

They must have been on their way back from their mission in Tonga.

It was fun having visitors in Hawaii.

Most of my memories of Hawaii are of Holly. Here she is the day she was blessed. Mom had the little "Blessing" dress hand made for her. All of my girls and Holly's daughter Analyn have been blessed in itl

She was a beautiful baby, check out her dimple....

here are some more of my favorite pics of Holly in Hawaii.

I can't talk about Hawaii without mentioning my friend Nancy. She is the one that told us about the apartment. Nancy taught me how to love to sew. We did a lot of fun things together. She had a daughter 6 months older than Holly, her name is Michelle. We walked to Ft. Derussey beach 2 or 3 times a week and watched our girls play on the beach, picking up cigarette butts and coral and splashing in the water. Nancy was married to Mike, a Maori that danced in one of the professional shows. I would not have survived Hawaii and being away from my family had it not been for Nancy's friendship. After I had lived in the apartment for a few months, Nancy saw my "Mayhew Book" at our apt. and she said, I have that book!!! Turns out we are cousins. We have the same great great grandfather. Small world. Nancy and I keep in touch even now. Thanks Nancy for the memories............

Sorry about the rip in the picture.

One of the memories I have was seeing Doug's friend Phil

get Baptized in the Ocean on the North Shore.

This next picture is of some girls that came over from the mainland for the summer.

I include this picture because this is where we got Robin's name. The girl in the middle in the back had "Robin" for a name and we really liked it and used it the next time we had a girl.

I often wonder what happened to these darling girls.

This last picture is the day we said "ALOHA" to Hawaii.

Friends from Doug's Army office came to see us off.

Doug had to fly military and I had to fly commercial with Holly......

that flight is what started my "fear" of flying.

This is what I will say about Hawaii. Doug and I were never closer. He is an amazing man. He tried so hard to help me not be home sick. We both got "Islanditis" now and again. We never had the money to go to other islands, so Oahu is all we experienced. But living there was more about the people and less about the island itself. We made lasting friendships there and were close to the gospel. We depended on each other for our happiness. That is why I am missing Hawaii........but I don't miss the cockroaches!!!!!!

ALOHA !!!!