Yay for Liz Jefferies!

We went to Liz's mission farewell this morning in Draper. She gave a fantastic talk...I think she'll make a wonderful missionary in Ohio!

It was fun to see some of the Jefferies cousins and their families. I think we looked like an invasion to Bruce and Jane's ward! :)

When Liz has an MTC address, please post it on here so we can send her letters.

Come to think of it, let's put any missionary address up on this website -- So Garen's... and I'll put Christian's up when he leaves. Am I forgetting anybody?

Ethan's 4th B-day

Hey everyone! September 15th was Ethan's 4th birthday. He got to have some friends come over to celebrate with us, including our family down in Louisiana via an internet video conference call! I made a yummy chocolate cake (three-layer bittersweet ganache filling with a chocolate glaze on top!!! Ethan's choice, of course. He is a chocoholic like me). And it only took Ethan three tries to blow out all the candles. He received some fun presents including a giant wooden train set from Grandpa and Grandma Sharp, which he LOVES! We already had some wooden tracks that my sister gave me that fit together with the new ones. Now we have endless train track possibilities. Enjoy these pictures from the big day.
Love, Becky Sharp

Ethan's new source of joy...with some assembly required by mommy.

New gazooka bubble blower...watch out daddy!

Super racing ramp

Even Owen got in on the action, until he knocked it all down...

Owen is actually singing here, obviously pleased with his destructive abilities

The cats also had their share of knocking down the train tracks

Update.

So Christian, my brother, made it safely to Utah and got all registered for school. Wait, let me back up. Ok, he got his mission assignment a week ago, and found out that he doesn't go into the Missonary Training Center until January 16th. So he decided to see if he could squeeze in one more semester of school before he goes. He made approximately one million phone calls and got everything figured out. He and my Dad drove down from Oregon on Sunday (all in one day). My dad flies back on Saturday. :-(

Anyways, so we rearranged out house so Christian could live here with us and not have to hassle getting an apartment contract and stuff. We have 3 bedrooms, but we wanted to maintain the 'extra' room with the computer and sewing machine and other fun stuff, so we moved Preston out of his room and into the giant walk-in closet that's off our master bedroom. It's all legal because there is a big window. His crib and changing stuff fits in there perfectly. We set up our air mattress and extra little computer table in the extra bedroom for Christian. He's got a pretty swanky place in there now! My dad got him a little bookshelf from IKEA and I had an extra set of drawers he can use. And since our whole sectional couch doesnt fit in the living room anyway, we put it in Christian's room. So he's got quite the setup.

Christian registered for classes on Monday, which was the LAST DAY to add classes. The semester started 2 weeks ago, so he is quite behind. He is so ambitious though -- he's met with all the professors and made arrangements to get caught up. He is working really hard to get everything done. Once he gets caught up, he'll work part time at Jeff's work.

So everything is settling down and going well. It's been fun having my dad here!

Mission Call!!!

Hey everybody!!!

This is Christian Lobo and I just got my mission call today!

I spent a good 3 or 4 months battling the health care system to get my papers done. I had my wisdom teeth out in May, physical in June, but week after week getting bounced back and forth trying to get somebody to just poke me with a needle for the TB test. I got my papers in a little over 3 weeks ago and finally got my call today!!!

Check it out:



With a reporting date that late, it cuts into the Winter semester at BYU, meaning I will have missed this Fall semester completely. However, I do have the option of signing up for classes RIGHT NOW and then driving down ASAP to take classes at BYU. The only catch to that is that I would have to work out a deal with my job -- leaving with just a day's notice... I work for an online business, however, so maybe it's possible that I could work over the internet. Anyway, my bishop is going to see if I can get leave earlier

Either way, I'm really, really excited. I can't wait to head out and do some good.

Christian

Duke Clan

Here's a picture of Ariana and Preston near Bridal Veil Falls in Utah. It was such a beautiful day we decided to go for a walk down there.

Coincidentally, they were still conducting a search for a missing BYU student when we got there. You can read about the story on www.ksl.com Anyway, we did our walk, then visited Jeff's parents in Orem, then came home. I looked at the news and saw that they'd found the body of the missing girl near Bridal Veil -- at about the same time we were up there! Weird. It was pretty tragic -- it looks like she went for a little hike alone and slipped off a cliff and fell a couple hundred feet. Tragic!


On a lighter note, this is Preston being silly on Jeff's shoulders. He's quite a ham until you pull out a camera, then he won't do anything you tell him (hold still, look at the camera, stop chewing on his fingers, etc). :-) He is 2 1/2 -- VERY 2 1/2. He is definitely the boss. We just love him and enjoy watching him learn and grow. He's a smarty pants like his Daddy and is currently Curious George's #1 fan.

Anyways, a little about us right now--

We were in Portland, OR, for 3 years and owned a little townhouse about 4 miles from my parents. Jeff's job (well, his boss, who needed some anger management classes) was stressing him beyond his capacity, so he quit and tried to find something else. He looked for 4 months before taking a job in Midvale, UT. I was VERY sad to have to leave my beautiful Oregon, but here we are. We are renting a place in Lehi until we decide what to do with ourselves. We sold our place in Portland (for more on this drama see our personal blog -- click on the link on the right sidebar). We are doing well and Jeff is enjoying his job MUCH more. His boss is a normal guy, so that's an improvement. Jeff is now a product manager for www.MassageNaturals.com which sells supplies for massage therapists (linens, lotions, accessories). It's an exciting job for him since the company is so small-- he gets lots of hands on experience that he wouldn't get at a bigger place. He is learning a lot. He even can carpool with a co-worker who also lives in Lehi, so we like that!! Makes the commute fun since he's got somebody to talk to.

ANYWAYS, I am so excited to have this website to keep in touch with you guys. I think it will be fun. I keep our personal blog pretty updated so click that link to see all the ramblings and details of our silliness. We love you guys!

Oh -- there are still lots of cousins who haven't signed up on here...feel free to spread the word. I don't have everyone's email. I don't want to leave anyone out who wants to participate!

HEIDI- HO!!!!!!! (sic)

Yikes! It is so great to be it touch with all of you through this super-keen blog, and to see your nice pixelated faces looking back at us! Here we are:

Kate and Brent with Bruce and Jane Jefferies at Brent's graduation in May 2007. The goofy-looking person in the white shirt behind Jane is not a relative. Brent graduated from that gentile university in Salt Lake with a PharmD. Of course, he did go to BYU for a good while. Wymount was a great place to live ;)









Here's Toby the 2-yr-old (almost looks like Vince, when he has a beard):

And here's Joshy-the 5-yr-old:

We are currently living in Oregon City, Oregon. We moved here from Draper, Utah a few days after Brent graduated. Brent finally took his licensing exams (and actually passed), and so he will be a real live Oregon pharmacist by the end of the week! We are all excited to have that behind us. Joshy is just starting Kindergarten, and is super-enthusiastic about riding the bus. Toby continues to cultivate a taste for fine sands and dirts (er...soils, right Grandad?). And the magnificent Kate is ambitiously seeking to sand and re-stain a wooden bunkbed she found on Craigs's List for the boys. What a girl!

A parting shot until next time:

Presenting...

King Jer and Queen Margie Ann...

Back on the throne again after weathering storms of great magnitude, and challenges of every sort! But always grateful for a loving family that is always there to support them! We share our love with all the extended family--and yes, we did wonder what happened to John and Sarah! Keep close...more later! Love, Marg p.s. Heidi ho!

"Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn" Murray

We have adventure genes! On the left is Boyd Murray floating on the canal in Altonah. Uncle Lee is on the right. Note the fine workmanship on the boy-built raft. This is such a classic photo of our patriarch. We can only imagine the adventures he had as a boy on the family homestead in the Altonah Indian country. There was lots of hard work, but we can see there were times of great fun. The canal was dug by their father, James Beck Murray, and the other bench pioneers working together to divert water from the river to their fields. James Beck Murray was the first person to file after the Indian reservation was opened for homesteading.

Hello from the Dustin Sharp Family

Hi everyone! This is a great idea to help us all keep in touch. It's especially good for people like me, who married in to the Murray clan. I have to say, it's been hard for me to keep all the aunts, uncles and cousins straight. So make sure you all post pictures so I know who you are!

Anyway, here's the latest on us. I'm the wife of Dustin Sharp, who is Margaret (Murray) Sharp's son, in case anyone is confused. We've been living in Springville, Utah now for about four years. Dustin has been going to BYU this whole time. After exploring Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, he finally settled on Manufacturing Engineering. He is enjoying all the hands on classes and projects he gets to participate in; everything from plastic injection molding to metal machining. He will finally graduate next August!!! It's been a long haul, that's for sure.

We have our two boys, Ethan -4 years old, and Owen -16 months. They are very cute and make us laugh quite a bit. You have to have a sense of humor when you have young ones. We couldn't have asked for better kids, though. Ethan actually turns four on Sept. 15th. He's on a waiting list to get in to the local preschool. We are a little disappointed about that. He was excited to go to school. And since he is a September birthday, he won't get to go to Kindergarten until two years from now. He will get priority placement for preschool next year, though. Owen, on the other hand, is a momma's boy who won't ever let me out of his sight. Hopefully, the transition to nursery in two months won't be a nightmare for him, or me!

As for me, I attended some years of school before moving out here. I decided to transfer to BYU when Ethan was about six months old. I finally graduated in April 2006, just three weeks before Owen was born. I have a degree in Visual Arts. Currently, I am working at home on my new business. I make stained glass jewelry and hand-bound books. I even built an e-commerce website which I am very proud of, having no prior experience. With a great deal of help from Mitch, who is a computer genius, I did it! You can take a look at: http://www.beckysharpdesigns.com. Any comments or feedback would be appreciated, since I'm constantly modifying the site, trying to make it better.

That's enough about me. We bought a house two years ago and really love it here in Springville. Dustin hopes to find a job locally when he graduates so we can stick around for awhile. Otherwise, who knows where we'll end up a year from now. Wherever a job takes us, I suppose. I will post a family picture as soon as we take one! I cut the kids hair today, which is a start, but Owen has a giant bruise in the middle of his forehead, so that won't work. But I do have some cute pics of the kids on the trampoline from a couple of weeks ago.

Hope to hear more from all of you soon! And I hope you are all doing well.
-Becky, Dustin, Ethan & Owen

Where are you guys anyway?

I don't want to monopolize the posting or anything, but I get the feeling no one really knows where John and I are anymore, we have been moving around a bit lately, and are hard to keep track of. So I thought I'd share a quick blurb about where we are and what we're up to for the present. I am also hoping everyone else will do the same! ;-)

John graduated a year ago with a degree in recreation leadership. After spending the summer working at scout camp (he was the high adventure director, which he loved), we moved in with our parents here in Casper to settle in to the dreaded job hunt. After a few weeks, John got a job at White's Marine Center as the parts and accessories manager. He absolutely loves it. He loves the people he works for--they treat him
really well. Meanwhile, we found out that we were expecting baby Logan in June, so we prepared for that. Two weeks after Logan's birth, we moved into an apartment down the street from both sets of parents! Some people might think that's crazy (we're all in the same ward), but we love it! It is so wonderful to have our children know their
grandparents so well. It has truly been a blessing to be so close.

Here is our latest family picture:

Logan is now 3 months old, and thriving. Evan turns 3 this month! I have been
staying busy with the kids, and tutoring math on the side. I only have 2 students now that school has started, but I had 6 over the summer! We are happy with where we are for now, but I have a feeling the job hunt will begin again in a few months. We'll keep you posted.

Logan

Here is our newest addition. Isn't he the cutest!? We feel incredibly blessed by our two boys. Evan has started to be more helpful when I ask him to go get his clothes or get Logan's pacifier. Logan is such a good baby! He is teething already, so we keep the orajel handy to ease the pain when he does get cranky.

Hurrah for Ariana!

This is a wonderful way to communicate within the family! I look forward to your updates! Here is a photo of the Lobo family from last Christmas to get us started. We are currently waiting by the mailbox for Christian's mission call, which is expected any day. He is really chomping at the bit to be on the Lord's errand. We miss Ariana and Jeff and Preston since they moved back to Utah. Celso recently returned from two and a half weeks in Brazil. Andrew continues his welding training with sparks flying. I love you all!

Fun Memories

I have been organizing pictures on my computer so that I can start archiving and saving them on cd's. I came across these pictures the other day from when John and I were living with Grandma and Grandad. I thought you might enjoy them!

Here are Ariana, Danny, and Johnny Helping prune the orchard:

Grandad and Joellen--Just adorable!

Aunt Marianne and Grandma--at home in her kitchen :-)

Welcome

I have been trying to think of a way for us to keep in better touch and share our adventures. Finally I discovered that you can do a blog with multiple contributors. Perfect! (and free and even better, easy!) I hope we can use this website to share fun pictures and other adventures. I don't have everyone's email address -- so if you know of more of our extended family who would like to participate in this website, send me a note at oregonberry@gmail.com and I'll add them to the list. Let's make Grandma and Granddad Murray proud!

I have set this blog to not show up on Blogspot's community. So the only people who will see this website are those who know the URL. So post away! :-)