Harwoods.org

Wow, that was quick. It is hard to believe that Christmas is almost a week past us. We had a great time with my parents. Their train arrived the morning of Saturday December 22nd. While they were here it snowed on and off most of the time and the temperature dropped to a daytime high of 25 deg. Fahrenheit and the night time low was 10 deg. Fahrenheit. Needless to say Mom and Dad Harwood froze their tushes off.

Despite the cold weather we took a trip up to temple square in Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights. That was a good experience and will become a yearly ritual for our family, as it is for so many other families that live here. Speaking of family rituals, one of our neighbors keyed us to one of the local hot spots for sledding here in the Orem - Provo area. They called it “The Bowl”, apparently the City of Provo had a small reservoir by the Provo Temple and for one reason or another they drained the water out and have never filled it back in. The sloped banks of the reservoir make for perfect sledding. Inez and I took the kids up there while my parents went to visit with Fred and Susie Myers. We had a good time, as did my parents.

Our Christmas was great, we had a wonderful time Christmas morning. Santa Clause, Inez and I gave Faythe a good start on his Lego collection. He has been playing with them and his marble-works non-stop since he got them. I want to say Thank you to all of you for helping us make this a great Christmas for my family and I. We really appreciate you all.

My Parents boarded the train Friday morning for their ride home. I now understand everyone’s jabs at Amtrak, and why it is said that they are reliably unreliable. Their train got into Provo two hours late on their trip here, and the train that took them home was almost eight hours late. They did make it home safe and from what they told me they had a pretty good time riding the train.

Some of you may know my affinity for a good pizza, and will mourn with me when I share with you the news that my parents gave me while they were here. It was told to me that Franks Pizza Pan will be closing today, December 30th. Pat and Jack gave our family many years of friendship and great pizza, I am very sad to hear that it will no longer be there when we go back to visit Grass Valley. Heck, if it were not for Franks, it is possible that I wouldn’t even be here to write this. My parents were introduced to each other by a mutual friend at Franks Pizza.

I hate to end on a sad note like that, so I’m trying to think of what else to say. Ahh, here you go, since we were just talking about Grass Valley “icons”, while we were visiting Inez’s Aunt and Uncle, Jan and Dave, their daughter sent them a like to a blog that had been set up on behalf of Jonsey, with the intent for people to share their stories about him, and linking from that site is another blog set up for Kenny Bond. If you are not from Nevada County, or if you didn’t get out much while you lived there, you probably have no idea who those people are/were.

– Jerel

The much anticipated update to the site is here. These past couple of months have been extremely busy for Inez and myself. Our schedule has been pretty much study, eat, sleep, ad’nauseum. Not that we are complaining, we are both very happy to be in school. Inez has worked very hard this semester and I am very proud of the efforts she made. For me the semesters keep going by quicker and quicker, if I can get my schedule right, I have about three left. I will be working hard to build my portfolio this next year as in a year from now the applications for graduate school will be due.

Faythe and Esperanza have both done well in school this past semester. We both have enjoyed watching them grow.

Christmas is coming fast and is almost upon us. This year we decided that we needed to stay home for the holidays and work on our own family traditions.

Starting Thanksgiving night Inez brought out a cradle that she used for her dolls when she was a child and every night we write one thing we are greatful for on a strip of paper and place it in the cradle. These strips are to be the straw for Baby Jesus to lay in. I think is has been good for us to try and maintain focus on the reasons we celebrate Christmas and to be greatful for our blessings. And continuing with that theme I want to thank all of you who make sacrifices to help us obtain our goals. You people know who you are, and so do we. We really are greatful and appreciate the support we are given as we work toward our goals. The past two years we have spent here in Utah have been very good for our family. We have grown in ways that wouldn’t have been possible anywhere else. And while I know there were quite a few people scratching their heads when I quit my job in Vancouver to move our family here and go back to school, and there were even more people scratching their heads when I began my studies in Art, I know it was the right thing for us to do, and we have received nothing but blessings for being willing to make those sacrifices. In the long run I think you all will be able to see that as well. In a way Inez and I have come full circle. When we were first dating all those years ago, and dreaming of the future, our plan was for me to join the Oregon Potters Association and live on the Oregon Coast in a small pottery, selling to people who drove by.

Now our plans are a bit more developed and my goals are higher, I want to teach Ceramics at the college level, but we are still working with art and creating, which is something I need to do very much. I fills a need in me to create and make things that will last. The beauty of ceramics is it’s longevity, it’s ability to stand the tests of time. A piece of pottery that I make could last 1000’s of years (if it doesn’t get knocked over). Since I was younger I have wanted to build things that will last.

Even if I never teach and go back into Network Administration it is so very important to me to study this and finish the goals I have set.

This move wasn’t just about me, our children were in an environment that was not conducive to building a strong testimony in the gospel. Our children’s testimonies have grown so much since we have moved here. Some people feel that life here in Utah is sheltered and that our kids will not know what it is like to grow up in the “real world” and while I may have felt that before, after living here I disagree with that sentiment. In the northwest our son was persecuted by his peers for belonging to the church, it was so bad that he would beg us to make him not go to church, no 3/4 year old child should have to face adversity like that. Now instead of trying to get him to lie/cheat/steal, his peers encourage him to be honest/upstanding/kind, he is not afraid to be a member of the church and looks forward to his baptism this next year.

Thanks for sticking with me through that rant. I hope you all have Great Christmas’s, we are looking forward to having Grandpa Terry and Grandma Deb with us for christmas, I think this the first christmas we will have spent with them in many years. Speaking of those two I got an email from G-Ma Deb that was pretty funny you can see the link here. My response to that can be found here.

– Jerel