Here are a couple of Christmas photos. We hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!

A BIG THANKS to Kalyn!!

Just a note of thanks to Kalyn
for the wonderful food last night.
The attending Willeys thoroughly
enjoyed the night with Kalyn and
others in the family. The soup and
bread was delicious--which we would
expect from someone who does a
food blog!!!
We appreciate all you do for our
family, Kalyn---you're the best.
Love,
Willeys

ps. These are the only pictures I took---don't mean give preferential treatment, but they are darling aren't they!!! The hat is Dave's.

Happy New Year

We love you all!

Continuing the December birthday trend.

So what are you going to do on your birthday Carl? Count your blessings? Give out free hugs? Grant wishes? Learn something new? Bake cupcakes? Take a neighbors dog for a walk? Pop a balloon? Open presents round 2. Or all of the above? Happy Birthday. We love you Carl.

Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.

Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda.Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Amanda. Isn't today your birthday? I think it is. Happy, Happy day. We love you.

43, but who's counting?

Finally, a day to praise Rand for his hard work and devotion to his family. On his 40th birthday he sent out a wish for love - 10 days later we would meet and his wish would become a reality.

Over the past year we have traveled across the country, walked for miles in Tijuana, ate buckets of blueberries off my father's hill, slept in the Punjabi small bed, slept in a bloody bed in Sacramento, jumped down sand dunes in Death Valley, took Hannah to a Mission, watched the Incredibles in a canal, played frisbee until we had blisters, walked 60 miles in Phoenix (OK, it was 12), saw Margaret Cho live, wore our tags on Halloween, started a new business, coached a soccer team, won 64 gold medals (and counting), scared Janice Dickinson at the Grove, watched a gorilla chase a woman for 3 hours and 15 minutes, and attended the 80th birthday of your father and the funeral of my 93 year old, 4'9" grandmother.

To the most loving partner, step-father, and lap (Dr. Love's favorite spot) there ever was or will be, we give you a great big kiss, hug, and lick. We can't wait to see what this next year brings.

And one last thing, you've popped.

Love,
Bradley, Hannah, Gunther, and Dr. Love

Happy Birthday to Andrea!

A lovely lady in every since of the word. She's a joy and an inspiration to all that have the blessing of knowing her and associating with her. Strong and dedicated, she accomplishes what she is determined to do (including graduating from college two weeks ago after 7 1/2 years of hard work). Bright and beautiful, she lights up every room she enters. To the girl that I love and admire, Happy Birthday!

- Eddie

Let the celebrating continue.

Today is the birthday of one of our gorgeous nieces: Andrea. I hope your day is filled with wishes that come true, cake that melts in your mouth, and presents that are from the heart. We love you Andrea.

Getting pretty bushy!

For those of you that don't know... Jon, Garrett, Brandon and I are going to be extras in a movie in January about the handcart pioneers. They asked the men to grow out their beards and hair until they film! As you can see the Howelss are getting pretty hairy!
Thought yuo would all like to see them.

Merry Christmas and I love you all

Janet

Welcome Brayden John Howell

Look who's finally arrived!! Yes, we have a Christmas baby in the family!

Brayden John Howell was born about 7 am this morning in Cleveland! He weighed 8'12" and is 20 inches long. He has very large feet and big Denny hands! We are very excited for them and can't wait to see him in person. Tori is doing well adn everyone is very healthy! We re very grateful.

Congratulations Kent and Tori and Austin!

Merry Christmas to all.

Grandma Janet

Christmas Eve 2005.

A funny Guntherism.

Tonight we were eating dinner and I was telling the kids about Parkinsons. Hannah mentioned that she knew that Parkinsons was a disease that made it difficult to control your body and not shake. I then said "There are different kinds of Parkinsons. When I was a kid, a woman in the neighborhood had it and when her car went down the street, her entire car would shake." Gunther then asked without skipping a beat: "So cars can get it?" Isn't it wonderful how a seven year-olds mind works?

You're right, it IS Danen's b-day!!

Happy Birthday Danen!I hope you read the blog today and see this happy birthday post! If you have any last minute suggestions for birthday presents, please post them and maybe you'll get lucky and get something for Christmas!! I hope you like my picture, because it's pretty much as close as you're gonna get to a new dirt bike this year from me!! :)
I love you!
Heather

Happy Birthday, I think.

I think today is Danen's birthday. If it is, have a wonderful, dessert first, present opening, wish-filled day. If it isn't, go Christmas shopping, get an oil change, and then finish off that leftover spaghetti in the fridge. We love you Danen.

Aly Graduates Cum Laude!!!

Congratulations Aly!!!!
We love you and are so proud of all you've accomplished!!!

Love, Mom and Dad

CONGRATULATION ALY!!!

We just wanted to send a big CONGRATULATIONS to Alyson. She graduated from Utah State University today in Elementary Eduacation and Special Ed. We are so proud of you Aly!

Love,

Tim, Kara, Cooper and Sophie

Andrew's Letter 12-15-05

Dear Family,
I have had an awesome week! We have a couple very promising investigators. The only
problem is that they are far away from us. One lives 100 miles round trip from us, and other one lives about 50 miles round trip. They are both women. The one that lives 100 miles away from us has a great testimony of Jesus Christ and of the Bible. She said that she thinks that we are an answer to her prayers. She has been looking for a good Bible-believing church. Her husband passed away in March, and it is has been especially hard for her during this Christmas season. She said we were like angels. We taught her an awesome first lesson with a member, and the spirit was there very strongly. She will definitely be coming to church, and she is even going into Olean to find out where the chapel is before Sunday, so that she won't be late on Sunday.
The other person that is very promising right now used to have a Book of Mormon, and
she and her husband used to read from it, but they lost it when they moved. We have
high hopes for her both coming to church and reading her Book of Mormon. She has
a nice family, with some little ones. Some of the little towns that we have visited recently are Roulette, PA, Port Allegeny, PA, Smethport, PA, Cuba, NY, and probably some more that I can't think of their names right now.
Yes, Kate can use my TI-89 for Algebra if her teacher will let her.
I just barely got your card that you sent on the 25th of November. The Elder I was with was Elder Day. He was not my companion, but he was a very good person, and he loved to sing.
I have been having a great time, but my companion and I need to start doing more
tracting. We are getting some good media referrals, but we would get even more by just knocking more doors. We are tracting, but probably not as much as we should be. We are in a heavily tracted area, and we just need to get more member team-ups so that we can save on miles and go tract more small towns. We have used over 800 miles this month already, and can only use 1250 (I think) miles a month.
The work is definitely going well in this area, but there is always room for improvement.
The packages so far have arrived in one piece. I love all of you and last of all want to thank you very much for the nativity and the chocolate orange.

Love,

Elder Andrew J Ostler

a letter to stu

I was writting a letter to stu and thought I'd share a portion with you.

I thought I’d just share a couple faith promoting experiences that happened to me this past week.
#1As part of our mexico stuff, we decided to make these "kitchen kits" to give to women we meet. Each kit contains a hot pad glove, dish towel, big spoon, spatula, ladle, silverware set for four, scissors, broom and clothes pins.
the other day I was in a dollar store in a poor section of Ogden, buying items for "Kitchen Kits". I had two shopping carts full of stuff when this old grandma ( about 75-80 years old and under 5 feet tall ) came up and asked what I was buying all the stuff for. I explained it was going to mexico to families down there. She said, "that’s nice" and walked off. I didn’t think much of it, but just kept on with my shopping. A few minutes later, she came up and asked me if she could contribute to our cause and she handed me a worn, wrinkled up five dollar bill. I looked down at the bill and back to the worn ragged clothing this woman had and knew she didn’t have much more than that $5.00 she just gave me. Tears began to run down my cheeks as I gave her a hug, assured her that the money would go to a needy family and wished her a Merry Christmas.
My mind went to Mark 12:38 - 44 and the story of the widows mites.
38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations• in the marketplaces,39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:40 Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites•, which make a farthing.43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:44noscript For all they did cast in of their abundancein ; but she of her want• did cast• in all that she had, even all her living.
I learned a great lesson this day from a poor grandma who gave of her "want" and taught me the true spirit of sharing with those who are in need.

#2 For the last month or so, we’ve been making plans to take the Zephyr down to Mexico to give to Abraham. He is a member of the church who had Polio as a child and now has only small shriveled legs that don’t work. He’s now about 60 - 70 years old. He currently drives a old beat up station wagon that is a three speed on the column. He has two sticks that he uses to push the gas, clutch and brake pedals and when he shifts gears, he has one stick on the clutch and one on the gas and none on the steering wheel. We felt he could really use a good car like the zephyr that is an automatic transmission. We’ve had it planned so Mark would pull our trailer and I would pull the Zephyr.
Within the last two weeks, there has been such an outpouring of generosity with items to take to Mexico that we had to find another trailer. Hatch’s trailer wasn’t available because they sold it. So, for the past week and a half, we’ve been looking high and low for a trailer. It seemed like every time we found one, it would fall through. Last Monday, things looked pretty bleak and I started loosing hope that we’d find a trailer. We’d just have to leave a lot of stuff home and take it later. Mark and I found a possible 15 foot trailer, which would be too small but it was still a trailer, and decided to go look at it in Kaysville. I finally decided we needed the Lord’s help with this problem. I went into the bathroom at our shop and dropped to my knees. I explained to my Heavenly father that we seriously needed his help and I was giving him all the faith I possessed, even though it was a small amount it was all I had.
When I finished, we headed to Kaysville. The 15' trailer was too small and things looked bleak again, but while standing there looking at the trailer, a guy, who was also trying to find trailers for us, called and said he had a solid lead on a 25' enclosed snowmobile trailer and how soon could we go to east Layton and see it. We went over to the house and it was perfect! We called the owner, who said he could come right over and meet us. Within an hour, we were pulling away with all the trailer we needed!
My Faith was strengthened that day in the power of prayer and faith in a Heavenly Father who knows us, loves us, and is just waiting for us to seek his help. As in Mexico it is the same in missionary work and life after a mission.
Elder, I just wanted to share these with you and hope this finds all well with you and your companion.

Be safe, work hard, Pray often, be obedient.

Love, Dave

Bradley's Grandmother died.

Last night, Bradley's Grandmother Cannon died in Logan. She was 93 years old and still lived with her husband who is 92. We are driving to Utah, leaving today with the kids and Dr. Love. It looks like the funeral will be on Monday. Just wanted you all to know so you could send a little love Bradley's way. We will also be reachable by cell phone. Much love.

Jaxon's Blessing

Jaxon was blessed on Sunday by my dad and it was very nice. Here are a few pictures. He's getting big fast!

I Have Spirit, Yes I Do, I Have Spirit, But Do You?

This is from me, Justin, who just finished my finals and my first semester....


The Final Exam Poem

Twas the night before finals, And all through the college,
The students were praying, For last minute knowledge.

Most were quite sleepy, But none touched their beds,
While visions of essays, Danced in their heads.

Out in the tavern, A few were still drinking,
And hoping that liquor, Would loosin their thinking.

In my own room, I had been pacing,
And dreading exams, I soon would be facing.

My roommate was speechless, His nose in his books,
And my comments to him, Drew unfriendly looks.

I no longer cared, That my nerves were shot,
I just wanted to go to bed, And lay there and rot.

But I stared at my notes, My thoughts were all muddy,
My eyes went a blur, I just could not study.

"Some pizza might help!", I said with a shiver,
But each place I called, Refused to deliver.

I'd nearly concluded, That life was to cruel,
With futures depending, On grades had in school.

When all of the sudden, Our door opened wide,
And Patron Saint Put-It-Off, Ambled inside.

His spirt was careless, His manner as mellow,
And all of the sudden, He started to bellow.

"On Cliff Notes, on Crip Notes,On Last-Year-Exams,
On Wingits, and Slingits,And Last-Minute-Crams."

His message delivered, He vanished from sight,
But we heard him laughing, Outside in the night.

Your teachers have pegged you, So just do your best,
Happy Finals to All, AND TO ALL A GOOD TEST!

********************

Those of you who are done (like Aly!!!!)....tell me it's worth it!
Love to all, Justin.

This is what I am learning

I know this is old hat for some of you, but I wanted to show you what I am learning. Be sure you have the sound turned on, and then click on this link.

Kalyn

Christmas south of the border

This is Santa and Mrs. Claus out of costume. I snuck a picture of them with cactus in the background. Yes they do have Christmas in Ascension Mexico but much of the credit goes to these two. They started Tiny Tim's Foundation for Kids 12 years ago and Christmas in a few sleepy little towns south of the border hasn't been the same since. All because a retired Barber and his loving companion decided they needed to do something more to make a difference. And man what a difference they have made, if you had a week and a box of kleenex I could tell you just a few of the life changing experiences they have had on their journey. Anyway, we have the priviledge of traveling south with them again this year and we leave on thursday the 15th. I wanted to share a few pictures of our journey last year that touched our lives forever.
Justin met this little family and became fast friends with a few little toys. We found some shoes and socks and beanie caps in our bundle for them.










These little guys were excited to get candy canes and balls and a bag full of neat stuff. Amy made this cute little bag (and 100+ others) and filled them with toys and treats and toothbrushes and more! Their mother got a box of food and a hygiene kit to wash these dirty little faces.








Matt started his own Basketball Team with these jerseys and balls(not in picture) that he got from Layton High School Athletic Dept. This picture is outside the Chapel in Ascension on monday night at FHE the members had for us. There's about 30 to 40 active members in their little branch.







Travis got bit by a neighborhood dog at their house last year. We returned the next morning to tell them he was ok and brought them a bag of oranges and a blanket. They were so happy to see us again and know that he was ok. This is a little courtyard surrounded by apartments. We stopped here just before dark and the dog got scared and bit Travis. Ask him about the rest of the story some time.





Of course, Lisa made friends wherever she went. I could hardly get her to come home with us! She's giving this little lady a "shoebox" gift. Ask her to tell you the story of the shoeboxes sometime. Miracles really do happen, but they're not really miracles.







This is the Alantras family. The dad's name is Mario. This is outside the Chapel on sunday. I gave him the shirt and jacket he's wearing for Church. Obviously I'm a little too round for them anymore, but after he gets a few more meals they will fit him just fine. This family have been members for two years but they are a little down on their luck and live in an abandoned garage. Ask Dave about their home, he saw it first hand.

Mario wouldn't accept any help from us unless he worked for it so him and his son Carlos (not in picture) came every day to help out however they could. They swept out trailers and hauled boxes and whatever we needed them to do to earn their keep. Would'nt even eat with us unless they worked to earn it. A great example to me. He works in the chili and cotton fields but has no work from November to March.
This expecting Mother (standing in her front door) was a little scared of us at first. Her daughter was excited for the gifts she got in her little bag. We left them some food and a new born baby kit and a few other things to help out when the baby comes along.












Here's a little kitchen for all those that like to
cook. I always asked the people if I could take pictures to share and the Lady here said "si como no!" Notice the knife on the table. Just a blade anymore, the handle was gone. Oh well, you make do with what you have. Thanks to a great cabinet maker in the family several of us have a little nicer kitchen than this. Thanks Kelly. Maybe this picture would work on Kalyn's food blog?






In sharing these pictures please accept my apologies if it looks like I'm bragging about good we did, I'm not. Because of the generosity of many others and blessings to our family beyond measure, we simply got to be the couriers. Please remember throughout this special time of year how blessed we are as a family. Being born of goodly parents and waking up in America every morning is a start. Being taught how to "walk in the light" and "love one another" also comes to mind. Make this Christmas extra special for someone, but be careful, it's contagious!!

Feliz Navidad! With all our love, Mark , Lisa, and the boys.

P.S. See you all next year!!

Christmas Spirit from the D Drapers

Our Christmas spirit is shown in the smiles and shining eyes of the kids.

I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

Christmas is in full swing on Windward Avenue, in Venice. We don't have snow. We don't own snow shovels. We don't wear mittens. We don't make snow angels. We don't have snow tires. We don't have frost. We don't take sleigh rides. We don't really even have heat. Not in the proper sense. But we do have the Christmas spirit. Do you? I wanna see.

Golfing!!

Hey Mark----What day are we going? I'm in!!

A Salt Lake City Christmas OutingKalyn's Christmas Gift Request

A Salt Lake City Christmas Outing?

I am working on my pre-Christmas projects and I have come to the conclusion that, sadly, I have to give up my short-lived tradition of trying to buy everyone in the extended family a small gift for Christmas. You second generation Denny's are simply multiplying at too fast of a rate for my Utah school teacher's budget and energy (remember I'm 57 - don't tell anyone!) to be able to keep up with. I'm sad, but it was fun while it lasted.

I have decided to give family gifts to my brothers and sisters and maybe a little something for the kids who live far away. However, for those who live near me, I want to start doing something as a new Chrismas tradition. I am thinking of having an evening where I invite everyone to come to Salt Lake, do some kind of a family activity with your own individual family, and then come to my house after ( say between 5:00-8:00) to have soup, chile, and a few other snacks. I would make some yummy food as my gift for all of you, and you could have an inexpensive evening out with your family. Here are some ideas of family activities that are close to my house, inexpensive, and which would be fun:

• Christmas lights at Temple Square (ride the 1300 South Trax train down to Temple Square, come back and it's just a hop, skip, and jump to my house for some soup.
• Drive through "Christmas Street", just a few blocks from my house. If you haven't seen it, it's a whole street where everyone decorates so lavishly everyone who lives in Salt Lake calls it Christmas street. I took Ostlers there a few years ago and the kids loved it. (I can drive over and get the exact address and post it here if people are interested.)
• Take in a movie at the dollar movie in Sugarhouse ($1.50 after 6:00). (March of the Penguins is showing right now, but I don't know if it will still be playing by then. I am guessing they will have some family Christmas movies for the holidays.)

There are lots of other options for fun things to do in Salt Lake. Instead of picking a date which may or may not work, I thought I would post it here and asking you to comment leaving dates which would work between Christmas and New Year's. I am thinking of December 26-29, since I'm having an Open House for my friends on New Year's Day and I need a few days between the parties to clean.

I hope you think this will be fun. Please RSVP by commenting with the date that works best for you and I will post the date that works for the most people later. (I could possibly even tend a few babies while others go see Christmas lights if that would make it easier for anyone.)

Kalyn's Christmas Gift Request

Pretty brazen of me to announce I can't give everyone a Christmas gift and then hint at what I'd like you to give me. However, when you hear what I'd like I hope you think it will be fun. I am hoping that anyone who wants to will choose one used plate or bowl to give me to use for food photos for my blog. Light colors or white/off white with a subtle border work best. A dish that no longer has any matching ones left or one from the D.I. would be great.

But here is the fun part. I am planning to write the name of the person who gives me each dish on the bottom with a Sharpie marker. Then when I use it on the blog I am going to say who gave it to me, as kind of a "blog trademark" and a way for me to share a bit about the family on the blog from time to time. DON'T WORRY, I won't share much about you, just something like "The plate used in this photo was a gift from my sister Pam, who teaches special ed at a school near where I teach." I will be very careful about putting personal information.

I hope you think this is a fun idea. I am developing quite a few regular readers (even a few RSS subscribers - ask me if you don't know what this means because I know that some of you who don't have time to check blogs very often would love it.) I know my regular readers would really enjoy hearing a little about my friends and family, and I would really enjoy having a collection of single plates and bowls to spotlight on the blog.

Here is Andrew's emails. I am sorry you missed the webcam of him and his comp. Maybe another time. It was funny. No audio. They were just standing there in the cold looking like they were having fun. His email for now is andjost@gmail.com if you want to drop him a note that way. Thanks, Val

Andrew's 2nd email

Dear Family,

That is awesome that you saw me on the webcam! I wasn't sure if

that was going to work or not. Elder Skifton is not sick anymore,

since the beginning of this week. We are starting to do more tracting

so that we can find some new investigators. We haven't had much

luck tracting yet, but we have just started. The only problem with

tracting is that Olean is very heavily tracted, so we have to drive

somewhere else and tract to get new houses.

I have met some great members of the church in this branch in

Olean and the surrounding area. They are few and far between,

but the ones that are active have very strong testimonies and are

very good members.

Mail takes about three or four days to come here. I can't remember

the exact day that the CD player and speakers came, but it was

about three or four days after they were postmarked. Thank you

so much for the speakers and the CD player, and the wool socks.

I haven't used the socks yet, but it is getting colder every day here,

so I will definitely get a chance to use them. Also,

thank you for the Christmas calendar. It is a nice way for me to

count down the days to Christmas. I have some pictures of my

apartment, but I can't send them to you yet, because I can't

hook up my camera at the Olean Public Library. I am probably going to

print some out at Wal-Mart or something and send some to you

sometime. Maybe I'll just send the memory card once I fill it up,

so you can go to Wal-Mart and print the ones off that you want.

Do you want me to send the memory card home once I fill it up?

It doesn't really matter to me.

I can tell that the family is doing great. That is good to hear.

I have felt the power of the gospel in my life so much in the

past month and a half. To me, it actually feels like a lot more

time than a month and a half, because I have grown so much

spiritually. I have seen the power of prayer. Even in the MTC,

I saw the power of prayer, the power of the priesthood, and gifts

of the Spirit. The field is so much different than the MTC, but I

felt the spirit during the first lesson I helped teach in the field.

The sad thing is that that same person that we taught dropped

us about a week ago ( I hope I didn't already tell you about this).

We taught her the second half of the Plan of Salvation, Lesson

Two. The reason she dropped us is that she heard bad things

from a friend about the church. Elder Skifton said that we will

try back in a few weeks to resolve her concerns. He said it

happens a lot. It is still disheartening for me, because she

is a really good person and the Gospel can be a great help

to her life if she accepts it.

Today at 6 PM I am going home teaching with a

member, and so is my companion. The reason that

we're starting to do this is because each person in the

branch is assigned 15 to 20 people to home teach, so

we thought we could help the members visit more people

by going on exchanges.

I should probably wrap things up, (I'm getting a little bit wordy)

so I wish all of you the best and hope and pray that things

continue to go well in the family.

Love,

Andrew

Andrew's 1st email

Dear family,

I am writing this from the public library in Jamestown, NY, birthplace of Lucille Ball. There was a zone get-together today, and we watched "The Work and the Glory". That is an awesome movie. Now I wish I would have read the books.

How is the family doing? I sent a letter, but it probably takes a few days for you to get it and send one back. I'm doing great, and am getting to know Olean and the surrounding area. I found out that the CutCo knives headquarters are located there, which is kind of cool. I have met some of the members in the branch, and they are great people. They have very strong testimonies in the Gospel and are good to get to know. I have been tracting around town, and in Allegany, NY, Eldred, PA, and it is definitely something that takes getting used to. I think I'm starting to adjust, and I have definitely gained a much stronger testimony since I've been even just in Olean. Unfortunately my companion is sick, but he doesn't complain too much, and he still goes out tracting and helps me a lot (and rescues me during lessons, if needed). He has the flu, I think, and I'm just glad that I haven't been sick since I've been out.

I did finish the Book of Mormon the day I left the MTC, but I skipped ahead to be where you were. I am working my way through it right now, and it is amazing how much more clear it is when I am just reading it by myself. I have heard all of the stories in it, but I have never really sat down and read all of it straight through by myself. I have read it with the family, but it's different by myself. The stories come to life, and it becomes clearer to me everyday how wonderful and powerful it is. It is not just a book, to be lightly looked at, and then tossed aside. It is an amazing record, preserved for us in these latter-days! I thought I knew the Book of Mormon fairly well, but reading through it again, I don't even remember many of the wonderful stories and lessons that are contained within its covers. I also thought I had a good testimony of the church, and the Book of Mormon. I knew it wasn't strong, but I thought that it was fairly good. I am learning now that it takes much more effort than I ever thought it did, to find out for myself if it is all true. To believe it is true is simple, but to know it takes much more time and effort, which I am finding out, because that is my goal. To find out for myself, once and for all, to know that it is true, not just believe. I believe, yes I do believe very strongly, but I do not firmly know, which is what is truly a testimony.

On another note, this Saturday, at 9:00 AM <----(MST) (11:00 AM our time) Elder Skifton and I are going to be standing in front of a public webcam in Olean, and if you can, I hope that you can go to the website and see me. The website is http://www.oleaninfo.com/webcam.html We will stand there for about 10 minutes, in view of the camera, to make up for minor clock differences and make sure you can see us. I am excited to hopefully have you see me. It's been a while.

Also, I haven't got my new e-mail address yet, because the password to make a new account changes every month, so for now, you can send mail to this address, and when I get the new one at myldsmail.net I will tell you so you can e-mail to there instead. Remember that I am only allowed to check and send e-mail once a week, on Thursday, my preparation day, so don't be alarmed if it takes me a few days to respond.

I love all of you and hope you have a great week, and I will write you again next Thursday.

Love,

Elder Andrew J Ostler

It's two, two, two birthdays in one.

Tori? Aren't you also having a birthday today? I think so. And I hope it's wonderful. I hope it's warm. I hope it's sweeter than splenda. I hope it comes wrapped in fun paper. And I hope it ends with a wish from a candle. We love you Tori.

29 and holding.

When you look as good as Kalyn does, there's no need to hold at 29. I think all the Denny's should drop by Kalyn's Kitchen today and leave a birthday wish in her comments. Just don't put her age. I hope you have a wonderful, warm, and fry sauce filled birthday Kalyn. We love you.

stu's letter

alright everyone, this week was grreeat we had a lot of success and we are very excited for this up comming week. with all the new people we have to teach and all of the people who are progressing towards the waters of baptism. it is a bit cold here but actually is starting to get warmer i think that it's just because of all the clouds that are here. Because of the Christmas Holiday i've already seen a change in a lot of peoples hearts here in this town. they seem way more receptive to us speaking about Jesus Christ. especially with some of the DVD's that the church creates such as Mr. Krugers Christmas and also with Joy to the world. we are getting a lot of media refferals from people who see the comercials. also when we go out tracting we carry them on us and tell them that we would love to come back and give them there own copy and most of the time they say yes. VERY EXCITING!!!! i love the Christmas time of year people seem really nice. except for in the stores they are brutal trying to get every last worldy thing. ahhh!! frustrating. and dad to answer your question no we don't have a wal-mart St. Albans is a pretty small place. we do have some stores that provide winter clothing but not a lot of them very little stores. I don't know if i told you this but one of our investigators lives right on the boarder of Canada. his name is John he is an amazing man. he has already told me that it's not the question of if he'll get baptized it's just when now. so that is really good news we got the other day. he is a trainer, he has trained world Champion wrestlers and boxers and body builders and he told us to come over on Mondays. he says that on p-days every 50 pounds that i lift he'll read a chapter in the Book of Mormon. so i'm gonna try it for a while to try and get him moving a long faster. he says that when he gets done with the book of mormon he'll most likely be baptized. so at nights i've been lifting a lot on the weight bench we have in the apt. anyways that's really all for now i hope everything is going well for everyone at home and i hope that everything according to mexico is going well. god bless you all and keep up the good work. i love you all.peace.Elder Stuart Denny

Let the untangling begin.

I am happy to announce that the Wireless Shop at Untangled Life is now open for business. In fact, as I type this I have a silly grin on my face. We're considering this our "soft" launch and will follow in a week or two with our official grand opening. As we were finishing up a few last minute things last night, we decided that at some point you have to "flip the switch." It is now officially flipped and we've already had visitors from Germany, France, and even such odd far away places as California. We hope you'll check out the site. And tell your friends to check out the site. In fact, I'm working on an announcement email that you can all forward to your entire address books (grin). If you had us previously bookmarked, you'll notice that www.untangledlife.com is now the shop. And www.untangledlife.com/wibrary is now the blog. (If you get to us through the Wibrary, you can click the green ad on the left side to be whisked off to a completely untangled shopping experience.) Thanks for allowing a little self promotion on Denny+Connect. We are WAY excited. Happy untangling.

Rhymes with...

Sailor. Whaler. Mailer. Trailer. Jailer. Inhaler. The person having a birthday today has a name that Rhymes with all of those. Happy Birthday ________. We love you.

Happy Birthday PAM.

Here's to a day filled with love and laughter, health and happiness, candles and cake, grandkids and grown kids, Grizzly and gifts, balloons and birthday cards, and last but not least: Beef Stroganoff. Sounds like a perfect day to me. We love you Pam.

What a Great Family #11 of a Series

Happy Birthday Momma.

Yes, The only niece I have that can fold her ears inside themselves is having a birthday. I say you spend the entire day trying to teach Jaxon how to do that, and than finish the day with a piece of cake and a bubble bath. We love you Becca.

Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday Bec! I didn't forget this morning at 5:30, I just wanted to post it on the blog. I love you.

Ryan

Elder Ostler

Just an update on our missionary. He is doing great and seems to be thriving as a missionary. He spent nearly three weeks at the MTC and loved it there. Including the food! He arrived in Pittsburgh a week ago yesterday and spent a night at the mission home there. We got a letter and picture from them yesterday. We got a letter from Andrew today and he is in Olean, New York, which is about 4 hours away from Pittsburgh. Not quite as far north as Stewart but up there. His companion is from Las Vegas. It was 9* there this morning and they have a bunch of snow he says. brrrrrrr. It is a very spread out mission and he will be in a car the whole time and on foot when they run out of miles. It is a tracting mission as his President told him! Any how, I mainly wanted to share his address. Missionaries love mail. He will also have email by next week. Love, Val

Elder Andrew J Ostler
218 1/2 S 4th Street
Olean, NY 14760

One of My Favorites...

This picture is absolutely priceless to me (I only wish Ang were in it for the Ultimate Family Photo)! Ang took this of us on my birthday last week at my parent's house in SJ.



I love it because it shows every person's personality to the T. I'm making fun of the whole situation, Cam's looking around to see what's going on, Rylie's throwing a fit because she doesn't want to be in the shot, Mason's looking a little smug (like he knows something sneaky's going on that you should be aware of), and Kenz is the Beauty Queen of all America that is ready for any picture you might want to snap off.

I love it!

D

Stu's letter and new address

Hello all of you wonderful people. Yes i was transferred sorry i didn't get a chance to write you and let you know my new address but moving into another area that is about 30 minutes from Canada is pretty overwhelming and exciting and a long task. i'm in a small town named St. Albans VT it is way at the top northeast part of Vermont. I was kind of disappointed to get the dreaded phone call and get transferred mainly because i had 5 thanksgiving dinners all lined up for me and Elder Jorgensen. when i arrived at my new area my companions name is Elder Nicholas he is from Chicago. He only had 1 dinner lined up. i was quite upset with him about that. again like Elder Jorgensen i've served around Elder Nicholas in my past areas so it's not really a scary or new experience being with him. he is a funny laid back hard workin' missionary. who loves joking around. i think we're probably a lot a like. Anyways things here are going well Thanksgiving was definitely different being with people i didn't know at all. we ate over at the Branch Presidents house so of course they welcomed me with open arms and just to answer your question mom yes i was my usual self i'm not exactly a shy quiet person anymore. my Apartment is huge i do enjoy it. Dad and Nate get this the shower head is actually high enough that i don't have to squat down or lean or hunch or bend or anything i just stand there and the water is still above my head. i love it. the only one in the mission i think. things here are definitely cold though. the other day we went tracting in 10 degree weather and it was windy and snowing and brr... i'm not exactly a huge fan of this place already. ha ha ha just kidding i am having a lot of fun and we are finding a lot of new people to work with and infact. there is a family and another man that the elders have been working with for 3 months and they have never been invited to baptism so i think that is going to be the first thing i do when i meet them... okay so maybe not the first thing but me and Elder Nicholas prayed and decided that they really need to invitation put in front of them so they know why we are here and what the goal is. i'm healthy and strong and holy cow are wool socks expensive. i had no idea. the only ones that i can find are like 8 bucks a pair. Mom Help what should i do. do i buy them for that much or do i try to make my own i don't know. that's crazy expensive though right? anyways thank you all for all of your love and support i better be off now other poeple are waiting for the computer and that is really all that i have to say. oh wait you wanted my new addressElder Denny55 high st. #5St. Albans, VT 05478-1618good thing i remember that, i want some packages. ha hathanks again for everything everyone. especially MOM and DADLove Ya lots,Elder Denny

What a Great Family #10 of a series (Ostlers)

What a Great Family #9 of a Series (Mark Denny Family)

What a Great Family #8 of a Series(Featuring Darren Draper Family)

(Sorry about the red eyes on Rylie. My photo program doesn't have a setting to fix that. I'm going to check into Picasa2. Mason and Camrie were reluctant models.)