Merry Christmas From The Lewis Family

~News From Our Neck of the Woods~

*Jared: He arrived home from Taiwan after serving the Lord for two years.

He moves to Provo, Utah at the end of December and begins school at BYU on January 4th.

*Mandy, Roger and Mya Woodhouse: Mya turned two in October. Roger started a new job as Operations Manager for American Prep Academy in West Valley, Utah.

They are expecting our third granddaughter in the next few weeks: Savannah Lynn!

*Tara, Bryson and Sophie Kearl: Sophie is our newest family member,

arriving on January 12th, 2009! After a short stint in Texas, the Kearls have moved back to Sandy and Bryson started a new job with Heritage Music Festivals in West Valley, Utah.

*Scott and Galyn: Galyn was recently released as Stake Young Women’s President. Then she and Scott were called to be in charge of Youth Conference for next year. Scott had a rotator cuff injury and had to miss lots of tennis games, but he has mended well.

We are all grateful for the Christmas Season

and send our love and best wishes to each of you at this time of year.

May the Lord bless you and your families now and always.

Love, Scott & Galyn & Family

Georgia Highlights

Jared and I went to Georgia to see my fam the first week of November. My two nephews, Cory and Tyler flew out as well, so we had a mini-reunion! Robbie and I took the boys to Helen, Georgia for the day.

We had an early Thanksgiving Dinner at Robbie and Richard's Home. We were able to bring mom over for the meal.

This is a cute picture of Mom, Robbie and Richard:

Jeremy's wife, Courtney and their son, Connor.

Dale and Que's son, Aidan:

We topped off the trip with a visit to the Georgia Aquarium:

Halloween 2009

We spent Halloween in the Salt Lake Valley near our grandchildren this year. Earlier that day we went to Park City to view a Lego Exhibit at the Kimball Art Museum entitled, "The Art of the Brick" by Nathan Sawaya. Here are a few of the amazing pieces we saw:




Jared, Sophie and Mya dressed up for Halloween. Jared was "Jimmy Canoose" (whoever that is). Sophie was a little lady bug and Mya was her favorite Disney character, Snow White.

Elder Lewis Returns!

We are grateful to report that on Tuesday, September 29th,our son, Jared (aka Elder Lewis) returned from Taiwan and is back at home trying to comprehend the transitional state of post mission life. Here is a video clip of our meeting up in the L.V. airport:
We had balloons and a poster designed by Mandy so he spotted us quickly.
The first thing he wanted to do after leaving the airport was to go get something to eat at Wendy's. He said he had been waiting two years for that. He called his sisters and brother-in-laws. After a few hours sleep, we web-cammed with his sisters and their families this morning. Tomorrow, Thursday, October 1st, we plan to drive up to Sandy to see Mandy and her family in person.

Two Granddaughters With One On the Way!

How blessed I feel to have two beautiful granddaughters with one on the way. Mandy found out she is having a girl at the end of December!

Sophie, Age 8 months

Mya, 23 months

Happy 25th Birthday Mandy!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Happy 21st Birthday Elder Lewis!

This is a shout-out to everyone that my last born in the wilderness is now officially an ADULT! Twenty-one years ago my "Little Boy Blue" joined our family...and we haven't been the same since! Jared is finishing up his last six weeks in Taiwan as a missionary for our church. He has been greatly missed but we have enjoyed hearing how he has made a difference in the lives of so many. And, we're sure he has left a lasting impression with the Taiwan people. To attest to this fact, please watch the video clip below:


We Love You Jared!

Happy 8Oth Birthday To Granny!

I have just returned home from my mother's 80th Birthday Celebration. Mom had been diagnosed with pneumonia earlier in the week, so we were keeping our hopes up that she would improve enough to have the celebration and she did! Here are some photos from our celebration:
Tara and Sophie were able to go with us and this is our first 4 generation photo of the 4 of us:

This is Granny with all of the Great Grand kids that were there- we were only missing Mya! :-(

Here is Granny and her immediate family that was there. Pictured behind me, Tara and Sophie are Robbie and her family: Her husband Richard, Dale and Que Brown and their daughter, Nevaeh and son Aidan, Jeremy Brown and his son, Connor.

Lastly, I took a DVD with us for Granny that contained good wishes from her family members, who couldn't come: Scott, Mandy, Roger, Mya, Bryson, Cory and Tyler. It also included a special guest appearance by Elder Jared Lewis from Taiwan. Here is his video tribute:

Visitors From Texas

Tara, Bryson and Sophie came out to visit us for a few days in June.


They spent a few days with Bryson's family reunion at Jeremy Ranch, and then came down our way to the Southern Utah Heat. It got up to 106* while they were here. We had breakfast with Cory and Tyler right before we left for Kayenta. (Mya is 20 1/2 months and Sophie is 5 1/2 months in these photos!)




Mandy and Mya came down for the weekend too.
Here are a few shots from our adventures:
Pool Time:


Mya loved pushing Sophie in her stroller:


Of course, photographer Mandy had to take glamour shots of our models:








Not every picture was magazine material however:


There is nothing quite like having grandchildren!
Grandchildren fill a space in your heart that you never knew was empty!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A Visit to Grapevine

Scott and I had a nice visit with Tara, Bryson and Sophie this month.  Sophie has changed so much.  She is now about 4 1/2 months.  We took her on her first picnic at the 

Grapevine Botanical Gardens.

Scott had Sophie standing on his hand, like Tara did when she was a baby.  

She is learning to stand up and roll over.

We also went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, Stockyard Station, and the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas.

One of the funniest pictures was when we were giving Sophie a bath 

and the flash startled her.

The time went by too fast.

We love you Tara, Bryson and Sophie!

What's New with Galyn?

In April, I started a part-time temporary job with the US Census Bureau as an Enumerator.  We are canvassing part of the Washington County area, checking addresses and adding in those we don't already have so the census can be mailed out in 2010.  Scott took this photo of me standing at our front door while I was actually working.  At this point, I'm not sure how long the project will last or if there will be other projects I will be participating in.  It has been quite an adjustment to work 8 and 10 hour days when I haven't done it for over 25 years!

Georgia On My Mind

I was able to fly to Georgia in March and visit my sister, Robbie and my mother, Lucille.  It was so good to see them and spend time with them.  My sister is such a great caregiver to our mother and I so appreciate her love and watch care over her. She takes care of her hair, does her nails and makes sure mom is not neglected. I hope I have someone like Robbie looking out for me when I'm 80 years old!

Asian Arm Wrestler

Here is a cute video of Jared arm wrestling a Taiwan gentleman at a nursing home. Watch Jared's expressions!

My Missionary

My son, Jared has been in Taiwan for 18 month (as of March 5th).  He is doing well and continues to find joy in serving the Lord.  The top picture shows him and one of his companions with a class of Taiwan students they teach English to.

Here is a recent excerpt from one of his e-mails:

"We learned that on July 1 of this year Taiwan will be divided into only two missions (Taipei and TaiZhong).  It has been three separate missions (Taipei, TaiZhong, and GaoXiong) for some time, so this was news forsooth. After the conference Elder You and I met with Sister Cai, the investigator we started working with last transfer.  She is the girlfriend of Brother Bai, in our ward. She passed her baptismal interview this past Sunday after church.  As we met with her yesterday, I saw someone who was prepared to follow the Savior's example.  She has spent time reading the Book of Mormon and praying to Heavenly Father.  Those two simple (but vital) things along with coming to church are all a sincere individual needs to do to know the Church is true.  It worked for her.  It worked for me.  I have seen it work on others.  Her baptism is scheduled for this Friday at 7:30 p.m."

Mya's Visit

Mya's Hands are full of Rocks

Roger, Mandy and Mya came to visit us over President's Day Weekend.  We went to the Parade of Homes and had a great time together.  Mya is so much fun.  She goes a mile a minute and wants to take us with her.  She especially loves: dirt, rocks, Grandmother's fur throw on her bed, and food!  Here are some photos from their visit.

Sophie at her new home in Grapevine, Texas

These are some of my favorite photos I took while visiting in Texas

January 28th-February 11th 2009