Kitchen Remodel Update 2

Handed down by: Johanna

Cabinets are in!! Tile will go down this week & we have chosen granite - I think. I may have to go take a look at the granite again tomorrow to make sure I still love it. But here are the pictures of the kitchen today and the granite we have chosen. (Owen really wanted to be in all the pictures)

New Year's and more

Vacation's over--it's 6 days into the New Year and our Christmas tree is still up. I'm a little bit in denial, but mostly being lazy...we'll see how long that lasts.

Anyway, I posted most of our holiday vacation pics on facebook & to conserve space, I think I'll just post my favorite ones here.

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