J C W Happy Birthday ! ! !

Happy Birthday John !
 We hope your day was the greatest!

  Dad and I sat and made a list of things about you that really made us laugh and cry because we had so much fun being your parents.  It is so true what they say that you learn so much more from your children than you ever did from your parents.  John you were an excellent teacher. You were also a lot of fun.
We are lacking in pictures and sickness has taken its toll on us today but we could not rest without letting you know Just How Much we Love and Cherish you as our Son.

Windy, John and Mandy. Just moved in !

 So we will start at the beginning....a very good place to start.

It was Labor Day weekend and I was 81/2 months pregnant with what everyone thought was a baby girl. We were hoping for a baby boy.But we were pretty sure it was a girl because of the tests. We only knew for sure because I spit in a cup of draino that turned grey instead of blue or was it blue instead of yellow or the needle dangling from a string went forward and back instead of side to side when hung over my belly. You know. The good old fashioned way to determine what it was going to be.

I would take Windy,3, and Mandy1 1/2 on very long walks with our (We thought was nice) big stroller trying to stay in shape so that when the baby did come it would be easier. I remember how excited the two of them were to get a new baby.

Monday Morning! Labor Day! How appropriate!

September 5 1977 I woke up early,sat up in bed and found that my water was slowly but surely leaking out. I still had  2 more weeks for this baby to come.

So I went to be checked and they made me stay there. 

I guess I was ready to have you because you came fairly fast and fairly easy. Let's see...I think you were 7lbs 2oz and so we were glad you were born when you were.

I found out you were a boy by your dad saying the minute you were out, "Oh! Good! Its a Boy!".

 

 We were so excited.                          Now You know that same excitement.

We lived in Orem at... well you know where we lived.  We went to church up center street there at the red chapel on the south side of center street. You know the one.

Windy, John and Mandy. Kurt's blessing day.

There were all young couple in the Village Green then.  I remember the day you were blessed Great Grandpa Jack was there. It was exciting. There also were 9 other babies to be blessed on that fast Sunday. It took a lot of the meeting. But then sacrament Meeting was 1 1/2 hour long.

Lottie's blessing.

From the minute you were born you were a delight. We loved having you around and so did your sisters. You were so cute...Really!  You had this hair that would stand straight up no matter what we did to it. It was a hoot.

 Dad had so much fun taking you everywhere he went. As he would walk around and check on things in the park he would grab you to go with him. Even when you were very little he would pack you up and take you with him.

Windy(3) and John

Windy would hardly let you out of her site. She would cuddle up with you on the couch.She really loved you.
For a while we were a little worried about you....You wouldn't even try to talk.
We were really worried. Then one day it happened. You Started To Speak!
It was so weird.You skipped the goo goo gaa gaa part and jumped right to the full sentence thing. I think you knew how to diagram a sentence in the womb.

John, John and Mandy at Jack and Lotties house.

It was funny because you were always talking long sentences and every word you heard telling us interesting things.  You heard and memorized everything. So your conversations became more interesting everyday.

So it was not  a surprise when Jack did the same thing. 

I will never forget you telling us how the power plant in Provo worked when we were driving home from Grandma Eleanors one day. You were maybe 3.

When Mandy would get home from school you loved to do her homework.
You would sit at the kitchen counter in Highland with the old typewriter and type Mandy's spelling words or reading booklets she would bring home. What fun!

The Old Kirby .Fix it up don't throw it out!

 You loved your matchbox cars and would sit inside the new unused fireplace in Highland for Hours playing with those things.

Legos were the next best discovery of all.  You were so creative. You would stay for hours at the end of the hall in the legos building a never ending project.

Cousins and Grandpa Wollenzien's tree.

Maybe your German can help Grandma find some names.

This was a wild bunch.

Then one day that changed to model airplanes. But you could put those together too easy. So you eventually came back to the Legos.


You may have been cute but You were a handful.
Mandy was your partner in Crime .
The two of you were either running through the house screaming and laughing or teasing Kurt and making him scream. Like the picture below. I came in the door and all of you (and the Perkins) were coloring With Crayons, big circles on my brand new dining room wall. Mandy and Daisy's idea.
Perkins were staying at our house as Luke was being born. I made you guys clean them off with some cleanser and then you all ended up in the big bath tub.

Windy , Suzie, Daniel, John, Daisy and Mandy.

Some days I would get so tired of the screaming I would make you all run down the street to the Kelly's house and back 10 times before you could come back in the house.

I never remember what happened next because that just always took care of the problem. Usually it ended up pretty funny.
You loved to be outside though and were always willing to go for a walk in the rain or a walk in the fog just for fun.



We remembered you going everywhere on your little 3 wheeler trike that you had to scoot on. It looked like a Honda 3 wheeler but you could steer  the front wheel.

You would go everywhere with Curious George tucked under your arm. Sometimes you would follow dad's scouts clear down the road on this little trike.
You would follow those scouts everywhere. One day the scouts brought you back because you had tried to ride your trike off the ramps at back end of the truck where dad would drive down the riding lawn mower. You hit your head so hard in the front. That poor head

 About that time all you did was bump your head and always in the same spot. It made you look terrible.

You were constantly running through the house full bore from one end to the other and very often did a head plant into the rock fireplace no matter how many don't run rules I had. You were looking bad boy. Your for head was as big as a football jk.

Just Like his Dad.

 Not yet.then one Sunday I decided to take you all to General Conference.  Alone! It was a beautiful day but the hardest thing I ever Did. I didn't hear any of conference but you all enjoyed being outside on the grass. The worst was on the way back to the car I had Kurt in stroller, You on top because you would not stay close and girls walking. I hit a curb and you fell off and landed square on your for head. Same Spot and it started to swell and got bigger and bigger until your head almost looked like a foot ball. The next morning I ran you into Dr. Freestone and started to cry because I felt so bad I had let you get hurt.

A beginning scouter.

Dr. Freestone checked you over real good and put his arm on me and said...
Luckily he said,' if he was going to bump his head that was the best possible place he could bump it'. Not referring to General Conference but to the front of his head. IT has an extra thick bone in that area made just for 4 year old boys to bump.
 When you were all little and big Dad was in the scouts alot. He would take you with him whenever he could.

John 5th grade.

We thought about the time dad took you with him to scout camp in the Wind Rivers in Wyoming. You were not in school yet. So you were maybe 5....Maybe.

Liz, John and Mandy

Jack on a raft at Lake Alice.

It was a week long trip with canoes. You all left our house at  12:01 Monday morning. You stayed up all night long while dad drove and played with the scouts. Then hiked all day long into the wind rivers until you came to the base of Upper Long Lake. At that point it was dark and late and you had not eaten all day or night.
Dad set up the tent and put you in it while he cooked you something to eat. He was so nervous you would starve to death. When he went back in the tent you had just fallen over asleep. He tried to sit you up to get you to wake up to eat but you kept falling right back over dead asleep. The next morning you hiked and canoed across the lakes to your final destination and had so much fun with everyone. You then did the same thing in reverse. IT was a special memory for your dad. That is why those pictures still hang in our house.

The Serious guy

He remembers taking you snow camping when there was 3 or so feet of snow in the mountains. You loved going with the scouts camping. He loved taking you with him.
To be able to camp gave our huge family something we could afford to do together.

And now you are doing the same.

           His goal was to have his boys love the outdoors as much as he did.

On Lake Alice

Waiting For Sam!

One of my favorite christmas memories is the year you all got a sleeping bag, flashlight and homemade underoooos. WOW.

You were excited. I could not get you to take off those super underoos.

The sleeping bags stayed in the living room for ever. You guys slept in them until vacation was over.

I could go on and on of all the fond memories of you being little that we enjoy pondering about.

Lottie Loves Camping

The ice skating in the canal, playing in the Lehi ditch, sliding in the ditch down by Fishers and Kellys house, Riding the 4 wheelers in the back yard at night (thanks to all dad's great lighting. 'What?. Need A light? There you go! Light!').Raising the Pigs, Rosey Pig. Didn't Mandy name one Rosey? Raising the Turkey's,the Chickens and the Sheep.

The baby lambs. Baby Cows. I will never forget the day I walked downstairs and there you sat on the couch with a CALF on your lap feeding it a bottle. Not a lamb a calf and feeding it a bottle. I had tolerated a lamb in the house but now a calf...You had so much fun with them.
Playing basketball on the driveway at night, kickball in the pasture. Jumping on the trampoline by the mules and sleeping on it in the summer.
Those were the good old days!

Day of the Eagle.

Then there was the Green John Deer Tractor and trailer.
One of those really good investments you make. Like Doogan Dog and the video camera. Boy you never got off that thing.
And Look your boy is doing the same thing.

You can take the boy out of the farm but you cant take the farm out of the boy.

We ended up with two of those tractors and You and Kurt rode them until there was no more. Thank goodness for that big driveway. 

You have always loved your siblings. You and Mandy and Kurt had so much fun together. And so did Windy if she would just remember.

Who is who? Hugh is you!

  Now it is so wonderful to see the friendship you keep with all your brothers and sisters.
This really is a blessing to a parent.

You are always supporting us in what we do. Thanks!

Life has been so fun with you John.

The siblings.

Full of so many wonderful and sometimes challenging but wonderful surprises.
You are so bright and always have been. I remember you wanting to do a Great Brain Project and so did Mandy .

Lottie like the candy idea Mandy.

You chose the Sound Barrier and She chose Candy. They would not let her do a great Brain Project on Candy.
You really wanted to do this Great Brain Thing and we had to get Grandma to get books at BYU just to find information.
I just remember how hard you worked at this. How hard we worked at it. But,
You and I learned so much doing it. I remember when you were finished a man asked you 'How does a little guy like you remember all that?'

Good Question.

John , Mary and Mandy

From Legos and Airplanes to guitars and drums.
From Baja in a Bus to The Alps with your brothers and funny dad.
Imitating Presidents and Candidates to Pretending to be an answering machine when the Bishop called and  we didn't have an answering machine.

Ivy June after her dad's chocolate Pie.

Whip cream pies thrown in your face more than once to making the best pies of your own in the world.

Lottie Loves Camping.

From  catching your back on fire in the newly carpeted family room and jumping in a snow bank to teaching your kids about fire safety to running the dirty dash with your son and going camping with him too.







 


From  Memorizing movies to memorizing scriptures with 

your kids. From learning German all you can to
 helping your kids learn a language in school.

 At least you knew the language before you left.

 
 From Snow forts in our front yard to snow forts in your front yard.

Family Smiles.The gift that keeps on giving.

Family Time: Its the Gift that keeps on Giving.

Those were all 'good old days' and now the greatest blessing of all is that you are building the 'good old days' for your own children. It makes us so happy! WE know you are going to find the same happiness later on and we know this is what it is all about.

We are so happy for you John and the way you are living your life. You have a wonderful wife and wonderful children.

Waiting for Brielle!

The day you brought Brielle home we were so thrilled with the kind way she treated you and yet she was so strong. We knew she would be such a wonderful girl for you. We were so Thankful to have her in our family and especially grateful for the care and teaching she gives to your children


You two are both trying so hard to be the best parents you can be. You will find out that those children are so important to you.
We can promise you two things: It will never be apiece of cake but it will bring you the Greatest Joy!

Life can be a picnic if you want it to be.

Sam Willy Devon John, Dad,President, Bishop Cope, Kevin and Kurt

This picture shows one of the most wonderful blessing that can come to a parent. To have all their sons ready and worthy bare and use the Priesthood.  You are a wonderful Example to your brothers. We Love you and thank you for Honoring your Priesthood in this way.

I was trying to think of a clever story to tell you at the end of this blog full of wisdom. The only one I could think of since we are outdoors people is about a man in Alaska told by a man from Alaska.
Now this man was heading out to go hunting on a late fall day. And you know that the weather in Alaska can change this time of year very quickly.  And you know that in Alaska when a storm hits you can be trapped for a long time before you can get help. Well He dressed very warm and put some extra food on his sled and headed out for the hunt. As he was about mid way through the day he noticed the storm was coming . The temperature was dropping and he could see it was getting bad but he knew he had his extra food. He would be OK. But it kept getting colder and his extra food was freezing and he knew he was going to freeze. As he went farther it got colder  and he was scared and worried. But soon he came to  a cabin. The door was open.  He went inside. He noticed there was a wood burning stove.  He looked to again there was some wood all chopped up ready to be put in the fire. On the other side there was logs and coal for the fire. Over in the corner was some paper.
There on the mantel was the box of matches.
This man was so glad . He knew God had sent him this cabin. So he said to the stove."Give me warmth". But it did not get warm.  He again commanded the stove "Give me warmth". No fire or warmth. One more time he commanded the stove "Give me Warmth". But no warmth. And so the man sat down in the chair in front of the stove and froze to death.
What is the point of the story.  You decide. What do you have right in front of you that you could use at any time but we don't?
How many times does the Lord give to us everything we need to be eternally happy, Everything we NEED, and we don't want to light the match.We expect him to bless us without doing anything ourselves or with out taking the one step or making the one change that will help our lives.It is so important to remember we must do the things required of us to have that Eternal Happiness or we will freeze to death.
That is the story we leave you with . We hope you enjoy it.

High on a Mountain Top!

 It is late now and I know this is delayed in coming. We hope this makes sense to you. We Love You. We are So Proud of you. We can not express enough how thankful we are to know you have a testimony of the Gospel and The Savior Jesus Christ, His Priesthood and the best blessing of all you are teaching it to your family.

Happy Birthday John!

From Mom and Dad