Aunt Val

Last weekend we went up to Idaho. One of my main reasons for going was to go visit my Aunt Val.  She is leaving this next week on a new adventure and I'm not sure when I'll get to see her again.

Me, my mother, and Aunt Val

She and my Uncle Brad are packing up and moving to Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Yes, Hershey--the town that smells like chocolate!  They have taken jobs at the Milton Hershey School as house parents. I find it an incredibly brave thing to do to pack up, move across the country, and take on the care of several children. I am so excited for them and their new adventure! My Aunt and her family have always had a special place in my heart as I spent a lot of time in her home and with my cousins when I was young. They have raised four very successful children and I know that they will be great mentoring the children at the Milton Hershey School. You can read all about what lead them to make this choice on her blog My Third Quarter. I hope that one day Jeff and I are able to follow in their footsteps, and find a way where we can use our time and talents to make a positive difference in the world.

Have you ever looked on the back of a Hershey bar?

Arika

Last March we met Arika. She was my sister in law's foreign exchange student that was studying at the University of Utah in a college exchange program. She flew in from Japan the night before Porter's blessing, and was such a trooper and came to church the next morning to his blessing.  I'm sure she was more than a little culture shocked! Over the past year we got to know and love her.  My boys adored her and Mason called her 'Rika or 'Ruga all the time.  She left at the end of December to go back home to Japan and we had a farewell party for her.  She really bonded with our family and we all had a hard time saying goodbye.

Grandma Butler

On June 29th, my Grandmother, Ida Maria Koski Butler, passed away.  She was my last living grandparent.

We traveled to Idaho for her funeral.  I was asked to give the family prayer and felt honored to be able to do so.  Grandma was the ninth of twelve children born to Finnish immigrants.  She grew up on a farm just outside of Newport, New Hampshire.  My Grandma and Grandpa Butler were married during World War II.  In 1944 Grandma took a train from New York City to Waycross, Georgia to visit her brother, Orvo, who was stationed there.  It was here that she was introduced to my Grandfather, and after a whirlwind courtship of eleven days, they were married. After the war, Grandpa brought her home with him to Idaho.  They were married 60 years, until my Grandpa's passing in 2004.  My dad is one of their eight children.

Over Labor Day weekend, we traveled back to Idaho and were able to see Grandma and Grandpa's headstone that had just been set. 



This poem was written by my Grandfather while he was a soldeir during World War II.



Grandma and Jonas in 2008