Ferriera Kitchen Remodel

Handed down by: Johanna

It does not look like much, but it is SO much better than the ceiling being open to the attic in order to get new beams in! We will have a kitchen one day - I am hoping for some time in 2010! Next steps (I think): texture the ceilings and new walls and then cabinets.

Family Home Evening

Last night many of us came together to have dinner and a combined FHE with our extended family. The night began with a rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" at Andersen's request and a sweet prayer by Tyson who expressed thanks for being able to be together for a lesson from Papa. Papa prepared a lesson about eternal progression that kept even the littlest grandkids occupied. The night ended by singing the Primary song "Book of Mormon Stories" with hand gestures and a prayer by Owen.

Here are some of the pictures of our evening together.

Listening to Papa's Instructions:

Working on coloring the pages Papa gave them:

The presentation of the kids' drawings:

Singing with hand movements:

Handed down by: Anupa

Christmas 2009, Part II: The Pictures

For Christmas Eve this year, we all met at Nana & Papa's house to sing Christmas carols, make the traditional cinnamon bun wreaths, open presents, and feast at a potluck soup bar. Nana & Papa's Christmas gifts for everyone this year included the traditional nativity for the grandkids, a book of Doug & Kathy's memoirs, and a flashlight for our emergency kits. Nana & Papa received tickets to see the Broadway Musical "Wicked" in San Francisco in January. Here are some of the pictures of our family get together that evening:

Singing Christmas Carols:

Making Cinnamon Bun Wreaths:

Handed down by: Anupa

A & J

Handed down by: Jeff Harvey

I guess you could say that Ashley and I never had that moment where we met and sparks flew, one might say we were almost robbed of the opportunity of actually "meeting." Whether you consider it a blessing or untimely, since as long as we can remember we always knew OF each other. We knew that there was an Ashley Hammarstrom or a Jeff Harvey somewhere in existence, but not a lick more. Granted, it's not exactly a fairy tale beginning to a long and happy life with the lavish and costly trimmings that we all read about, but it has turned out just as good.

We went all through high school attending the same seminary class, each only with one memory of each other; I remember her singing "God Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts at a Youth Conference thinking, "Wow, she can sing," and she remembers me walking into seminary one day with my basketball and thinking, "Hey, he plays basketball." As anyone could obviously see, these were huge building blocks for a life-long relationship. These were the only two memories that we would have of each other for about the next four years.

So years went on, I went on my mission and came back and the whole time we had not even had a fleeting memory pass through our minds. Even during my homecoming talk I didn't notice that she was in the congregation that day. Basically, either one of us could have fallen off the face of the Earth (sad to say) and the other wouldn't have batted an eye.

For some reason I can't remember whether it was Mom or Aunt Janet who told me about Ashley, although now that I think about it it was mostly like the two of them in cahoots. Obviously somebody was trying to tell me something, because on the very mention of her name my interest was piqued. I guess the memory of her voice won me over without me knowing it. So I, being as smooth and suave as I am, hadn't the slightest idea of how to approach her; just the thought of going up to a girl who until that point pretty much had no idea that I existed and saying, "Wanna date me?" was a bit daunting. Instead of diving straight in, I decided to wait for the cliché "perfect moment" which all of us know who have actually gone that route does not exist.

It was at this point that I believe God decided to intervene and I will forever believe that he had been waiting too long for this to happen and he wasn't going to let my indecisiveness get in the way of a lifetime of happiness. It all happened when church ball season rolled around, and of course, I jumped at the opportunity. Brother Whitaker had originally thought of me as a coach, but he didn't like the idea of a player coach going all tyrant over the basketball team so he went to someone outside of the team who knew the game. As anyone could guess, that person just happened to be Ashley Hammarstrom. This thrilled me to no end but much to my chagrin, this did not suddenly take out the step of actually approaching her and talking to her. After the first practice, two things were definitely decided, our team was horrible, and I still had no idea how to approach her. The only exchange of words between us were "Good practice," and, "Thanks." So for the time being, I decided that instead of going for the whole conversation, I would be content with blurting out, "Hey, Coach!" every time we walked by each other. Just as things were beginning to look up, Brother Whitaker good word that we could not have a female as a coach. So much for my slow-and-steady-wins-the-race attitude.

All hope was lost for a while, we continued small talking (and I mean SMALL talking) for a bit, but any prospect of something long term seemed to be fading from site. It was during a game night that Christina Brooksby asked me a question about Ashley and I acquiesced and told her that all I really wanted was a date but I had no idea what to do. After a night of talking it over with her it seemed the way to go was to play tennis. She played in high school and I at least thought I had an idea about how to play. And thus it was decided.

This was shortly after Ashley had returned from her trip to Germany and while she had gotten wind about this boy she knew existed that was suddenly interested in her. To no surprise she was wondering how this had happened and, despite being around me since the world began, who exactly I was. She had even looked on Facebook to see if she get a glimpse of who I was and while doing so she saw my picture of me playing basketball. Luckily for me, basketball was also a sport she liked to play so it gave me at least some points in her mind.

When she returned she came to our basketball games as often as occasion would permit, yet I still had no idea what to say to her. I just tried to play well hoping that maybe she would take notice and have at least a bit of interest in me. It was after one of these games that I mustered up the chutzpah to just ask her to play tennis. I used the excuse of being tired from playing basketball for stalling my pathetic attempt of asking her out. It may have been the most woeful thing ever witnessed by the human eye, but it somehow worked. I was in.

We went on our date and her friend Patricia from Germany was visiting so she came along as well. I remember I wore my black headband in hopes she would think it was at least in the slightest bit funny. We played for a while and even though we weren't playing a real game, I had my behind thoroughly handed to me. I had caught wind of a game night that same night so instead of having the night end early, I was able to get Ashley and Patricia to come with me to Tracy to play a few games and buy a little more time to talk with Ashley, though I still wasn't sure how to carry on a full conversation without making it completely obvious I was nervous.

As time went on, we began hanging out every day and our conversations flowed like rivers. One night, after hanging out, I had decided to ask what was in my mind a huge question. I was mostly quiet on the ride home because I was too busy making myself nervous to no end. We got to her house, I got out of the car to walk her up to the door and she opened the door to go inside when I called her back. I began to spill my guts about how much I liked her and how much I wanted to be with her. Understandably, she said she just wanted to take it one step at a time and I agreed. What I didn't know is that when she told me that she agreed to be together with me. I had thought that she said she wanted to keep being friends for now and we would see where that leads. This only led to me be confused my arm and hand holding because I had no idea where we were in the relationship.

More important than what was visually going on between us were the thoughts in our head. Unknown to the other, after about three days in to the relationship we had been thinking, "How will we make it work?" and ,"What will we do once we're married?" instead of thinking "Could she/he be the one?" It was so weird to us to not even consider if we were going to get married but to wonder about finances and other things once we get married. Since neither of us were sure about what was going on, we didn't say anything about what we thought, we just kept with our normal routine. It all came out after our first date.

We went mini golfing and nothing was out of the ordinary but when we got back, her parents talked to us because they had noticed how close we were getting to each other. Having that talk made us talk to each other about where we were in our relationship and where we were going. It was then that all of our feelings surfaced and we realized that we were feeling the exact same way about each other. Because I am so kind, I was nervous to even mention the thought of marriage so I let Ashley do all the talking and I just agreed with everything.

Unorthodox as it is, that is how we "met" and how we have come to start our life of happiness.

Jax Thought

What I remember. Well it all started out when I was going to institute to have a good time and meet people. I saw an Indian girl and thought that it was interesting that someone from that culture was a member of the church (as I had never seen an Indian in the church) and that was pretty much it.
But then weeks passed, and I started to grow fonder of her but I was too scared to talk to her or do anything. I remember trying to figure out where she was from for some reason--was she from Stockton? I was trying to figure out if there were Indian people who were members of the church; as if knowing this information would somehow guarantee that she would date me. I was worried about asking her on a date and being rejected. Now, I was stupid because I hadn’t even really struck up a conversation with her.
I remember once at Delta College we, as an institute, were passing out pass along cards and information about the church and she came. I was trying to stay close so she could see me, hoping desperately that she would strike up a conversion. She didn’t; at the end she went away. Actually, I think she said goodbye to my friend Jimmy Robison, but didn’t say anything to me. Wait--was I not there? I was standing right by him. I went away from that a little sad thinking she was not interested in me and I didn’t have any hope.
I continued on with my life, hanging with friends having a good time. Then the day of the baptism came. She sat by me. I was totally surprised and so excited--she really does realize I do exist. Then I worked my magic with my lovely voice, singing bass, then tenor, and switching between the two, I couldn’t miss a note, hitting this one and that one, B flat, F. Whatever it was, I tore it up. I believe I sounded like a musical virtuoso that day. I didn’t know then that Anupa was a choir nerd and she thought it was cool that I sang.
So about a week later at institute afterwards I was talking to friends and she came up and asked if I wanted to sing a duet in church one time. I said “sure,” while thinking in my head “Yes, this is so awesome.” The funny thing is that we never did sing that duet and still to this day have not sung. We “practiced” one day after church at the piano, I say practiced but we sat there and talked for over an hour about life and I talked mostly about family and how mine was so important to me. It was so cool just to sit there and talk. We set up a date for that Friday to eat Indian food, I never had. I get home and she calls me and invites me to hang out on Wednesday. I knew then that she really liked me.
First Date. I remember telling Anupa (because she isn’t tall) to wear high heels because my Mom doesn’t like us dating short girls. We went to Indian food; it was good. I had the Tandoori chicken. We walked around Berkeley for a while, and then stopped by her parents’ house so she could get something. The first thing I saw was a painting of a naked woman on the wall and just laughed. I think Anupa was a little embarrassed.
We continued to date and Anupa told me she was preparing her parents to accept me as a possible husband. The time came to ask Ashok for his daughter’s hand in marriage. I was so scared. I sat in the car by their house for about a half an hour before mustering the courage to go speak to him. I was going to be the first white person in their family; this was a huge deal. It was fine. We talked for a couple of minutes. He had an idea why I was there and then he said, “I guess you have something to ask me.” He said yes. Anupa and I were later married August 13, 2005 in the Oakland temple. I am so glad I married her; I feel that she is the only person who could put up with me. I feel that I can truly be myself and she would accept me no matter what. She is the only person I could be with all day and never tire. Except when she asks me thousands of questions, only kidding. And they lived happily ever after.

The End

Handed down by: Jack

Jill and Mauricio

Handed down by: Jill Berdugo

Mauricio and I had the weirdest meeting I am sure you all know. I had just moved in with Jill King and Jennifer Fletcher in Canyon Country. I was about 27 years old. My ward was filled with boys who were either waiting to go on their mission or just got home. So I decided to join LDSmingle.com. I met a few guys on there and went on a few dates. They were fun, but nothing more.

I started working as a nanny. When the baby went to sleep I would get online. I had met one guy in Canada-to this day I don't even remember his name. Mauricio tried to get a hold of me one day, but I had walked away from the computer and when I came back he was gone. I was a little sad, because his profile name was was "doc75b". So I thought to myself,"Dang, a doctor." So I chalked it up to a loss and went on. He had tried to get a hold of me on another day, but again I was away from the computer. They do percentage matches for how compatible you are. I was the second highest on his list. I guess that is why he kept trying, that and I am so good looking!!!!

We finally got talking. We talked for a while the first time, just getting to know each other. The second day he got on with his camera and microphone so I could hear him and see him. He told me that he grew up in Lancaster, CA, which was weird, because both of my roommates were from Lancaster. I asked him if he knew Jill King or Jennifer Fletcher. He said, "No." Then I thought to myself, "Maybe he knows Jill's sister." I asked him if he knew Jennifer King or Jamie King, and he did. It turned out he was friends with Jennifer and Jamie in Jr. High and he also went to church with the Kings. It was nice to have that connection and to know he wasn't crazy; especially because we both met our share of crazies.

The first time Mauricio called me I was driving from Northern California visiting the family back to Canyon Country. We talked for hours. We talked about him coming to visit me and when that would happen. So I honestly didn't think it would ever happen, but it was the first time we talked.

After a short time, we started talking on the phone everyday. I remember changing my minutes to have my unlimited minutes start at 7pm. Now, he could call me at 10 PM in NY and we could talk as long as we wanted. I would race home every day and be so excited to hear from Mauricio. We would talk every night for about 3 hours. During this time there was a guy who started to ask me out. We went on a date and I didn't want to tell Mauricio because he had already made plans to come out to see me. I felt that with how much we had been talking-it was like we were dating-so I felt like I was cheating on him. Then I thought, "I have never actually met him." I told him and he said, "Should I still come out there?" I said yes. I went on a second date with the guy and didn't tell Mauricio-haha.

Well he came out and it was crazy-it wasn't even weird at all. He met me at work and came to my classes at school with me. It was like we had known each other forever. Most who saw us thought we had been dating for a while, no one knew we had met online. We were holding hands and we even had a kiss that first night. The next day we left for Manteca. I was driving with a stranger for 5 hours, but he wasn't a stranger. We had a fun weekend.

I think we both knew right away that this was it. My mom bought us a book to make sure we knew each other and made us fill it out. She probably doesn't remember this, but she said to me, "He isn't the type of guy you normally would go for". I said, "Maybe that is why the internet was a good thing." If not I wouldn't have the wonderful husband and father I do now.

After some of Mauricio's flights out to California, now it was my turn to fly to New York to meet his family. I was so scared. I don't know why, because I have some of the most amazing in-laws ever. They loved me and I loved them. They took me in right away. I knew Mauricio was going to propose and I told him that he better not do it on Valentine's Day, because it would be cheesy. I don't know if I ever told him this, but I hoped all day that he would propose to me on Valentine's Day. He took me to New York City on Valentine's Day and we saw everything, he even took me out on a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, I was so excited for it to happen. So the next day was a Sunday we went to church and just hung out with the family. That may have been my first taste of pupusas-yummy!

On Monday he took me out to Palmyra, NY. I knew it-this was it. We went on a tour of Joseph Smith's first and second house. We took a walk out to the Sacred Grove, there was snow all over the ground. We got out pretty far into the Grove and then we decided to head back. As we started to walk back, Mauricio said, "Hey Jill". I turned around and he was kneeling and had the ring in a box in his hand and asked me if I would marry him and I smiled and said yes.

Thanks to this occasion I have a wonderful husband and amazing children. I am so grateful for the internet that brought us together and we will be together forever!!

Jay & Cammy's Story

Handed down by: Cammy Harvey
Jay and I both grew up in Manteca, CA. The Harvey family was never in my families ward but they have always been around. I spent 4 years in seminary with Jack, summers with Johanna & Jill as my boss, the Benson family living around the corner for a while, Kathy as my Church Choir Director and even when I went to Science Camp as a counselor, Jeff was there. So, it only made sense to me when I showed up that first day at BYU-Idaho and Jay was living across the street.
Jay and I never said a word to each other until one day my roommate and I went to invite our friend Dave for dinner and Jay was standing right next to him. We didn't want to be rude, so we told Jay he could come too. We had a great dinner but Jay had to leave for work in the middle of it. We all teased him about eating and running but what stuck out most in my mind was when 5 mins. later Jay showed back up to help clean up dinner.
After that day Jay never seemed to leave. All of our roommates and I got to know Jay really well and felt very comfortable teasing him about his horrible long shaggy hair and gross clothes. People kept telling us that we should date but we both said we were better off as friends. We spent many nights staying up late talking and really formed a great friendship. We never felt like we were trying to impress each other, so nothing was held back about what we each wanted in a spouse and life. We both wanted many of the same things.
Jay went home that Thanksgiving and came back with a whole new wardrobe and agreed to cut his hair (if we paid) to go with the new look. He looked amazing and for the first time I thought he is a good looking guy!
We decided to go as a group to watch the movie "John Q." I was standing behind Jay in line and the ticket taker asked if he was paying for two. Jay payed and turned around to hand me my ticket. He said "I got paid this week, so here you go." (very romantic) We entered the movie theater late and had to be split up. There were two empty seats next to each other so Jay and I stat next to each other. In the middle on the movie he started holding my hand. My roommate asked that night if anything was going on and I just said we are just friends.(Jay and I count this as our first date)
The next day he came over to watch a movie and in the middle of the movie I looked over at him and we kissed for the first time. I quietly told him this better be for real. He said this is the real deal and we decided that night that we were going to date!
I knew that Jay really wanted to get married and I was struggling with this. I had just started school and felt like I was so young to get married. As winter break was approaching I told my roommate if Jay was willing to make the effort to call or come see me while I was in Livermore with my family, I would be willing to keep an open mind about getting married right away and put all my trust in the Lord.
By the time winter break was over I knew that Jay and I were going to be married. We almost spent every day together and my family was in love with him.
Jay proposed the end of January. He had called my dad the week before to ask so I knew that it was going to happen. I had told him I wanted a new set of scriptures. One day he called me to come over because he need help in his religion class. I told him I had a test to study for but he insisted that it wouldn't be very long. I sat down on his couch and he handed me a set of scriptures and told me to turn to the page that had the bookmark in it. I opened it up to D & C 131 and the ring was inside that page. He got down on one knee & proposed. After I said yes he turned the scriptures over to the front where he had engraved "Cammy Lynn Harvey."
We were married on May 12, 2001 in the Oakland Temple. We spent our honeymoon in Disneyland, came home to open gifts and drove back to BYU-Idaho to start our life together that summer. It has been one of the best decisions I have ever made!