Easter 2008

Our little family was all together for Easter, and while that may not seem like a big deal, it's a big deal to us! Jessica, Brandon and Kendall flew in from Southern California and Becca and Justin came down from Logan and it was a great holiday. It seems to me that we took lots of pictures, but when I go back through those I took it seems almost all of them are of Kendall finding Easter Eggs on Sunday afternoon - Leslie did shoot some video footage of our outing to the tubing hill at Soldier Hollow on Saturday - beautiful day - great fun.

On Saturday night we went to Fratelle's - a new Italian restaurant in Sandy's Quarry Bend developement. If you haven't been there, we'd highly recommend it. Locally owned and operated, great food - the clam and mussells are some of the best we've had anywere!

As usual, we ate too much, stayed up too late, and were sad when the weekend was over, but we love having all of our babies together. This was the last time we'll all be together until after Richard comes home from Australia. Did we take pictures of all of us? Of course not, but I did take about 100 pictures of Kendall!

Check out this video clip - who's on the clip - well who do you think? Kendall of course!

Lauren's smile - oh baby, oh baby!

Lauren got her braces off this last week - one small step for man, one giant leap for a teenaged girl! Without question, Lauren is a beautiful young woman and now has a beautiful smile to match.

Richard's Farewell

We know they're not really called farewells anymore, but we don't know what else to call it. Richard spoke in sacrament meeting on March 16th prior to going into the MTC on April 2nd. He spoke along with his friend Erik Van Otten and former Young Men's President Dan Tongish. The three each spoke on different aspects of the atonement and Richard also discussed Joseph Smith's relationship with the Savior and how that helped bring a greater focus to the blessings of the atonement.

We had an informal gathering at our home afterwards where many of Richard's friends came and visited. It was impressive to see his friends, great young men and women, many returned missionaries themselves, interact. It reminded me of something Ezra Taft Benson was quoted as saying; 'you can tell a lot about a man by the books he reads and the friends he keeps'. As Becca would say, 'true story'!

Becca and Justin came down for the day and we spent a great afternoon together - we missed Jessica, Brandon and Kendall of course. We'll all be together for Easter though and we're looking forward to it. Just days later Richard will go into the MTC and it will be at least two years before we're all together again. Joy and sadness!

Pictured are Richard Haskell Jr. with friends Josh Hicken and Erik Van Otten - Josh has been called to serve in the Czeck Republic Mission and enters the MTC in late May.

The Gammill has landed!

Leslie (lovingly known as 'Attila the Quilter') has looked forward to the arrival of her Gammill quilting machine since Christmas - well she's actually looked forward to it for longer than that, but it was her Christmas present and since then she's been pretty worked up over its arrival. Just after Christmas she and Rick reworked her craft room - (tore out some wall sections, added some cabinets, etc.) in preparation for the new addition to the family - almost sounds like a baby right? It might as well be - it takes up more room and Leslie has already spent more time with it than with any of the rest of us. Were it not for Richard's farewell this coming Sunday we're pretty sure she'd be down there with the baby right now!

After Leslie gets comfortable with the machine she'll begin stitching quilts for others under the name of her new business, Signature Quilting - check out her web site at http://www.signaturequilting.com/ - you can also find her at http://www.attilathequilter.com/ - no kidding!

And if you come to the house and nobody answers the door - you might just want to tap on the basement window at the front of the house - that's the baby's room and she may be in there quietly stitching away.

Evelyn Walker 2/27/1926 - 3/1/2008

Our Aunt Evie passed away on March 1, 2008 in Morgan Hill, California. She will be greatly missed. Evie (Evelyn) was the daughter of Cecil and Annie Walker (Rick's maternal grandparents). Rick and his siblings all visited Eve the week prior to her passing and then were all present at her funeral. Cyndy and Don Roen cared for Eve for the better part of the last 30 years and deserve great thanks from the greater Walker/Haskell family - they were her closest friends and most caring companions.

If you will 'click' on the collage to the right, you can view many pictures of Evie throughout her life with many of her loved ones.

Rick and Leslie (inspired by the work of Rod and Teresa Royce) built Eve's casket and transported it to California. It was a tremendous experience and helped focus our thoughts on Eve's life and our many memories of her. Evie was more than my aunt - she was more of a second mother to me and cared for me when my own mother couldn't. We will love her forever.

Eve was laid to rest in the Walker Family Plot on March 8, 2008 at the Los Gatos Memorial Park.

Richard's Mission Call

Richard has been called to the Austrlia Perth Mission, entering the Provo MTC on April 2, 2008. As you can imagine, we're all excited, but it's been great fun to see him prepare for this.

His 'farewell' will be held on Sunday, March 16 at 11:00 am at the Sandy Crescent Ridge Stake Center (110th South 13th East) with an informal gathering at the Haskell home afterwards.

Richard's mailing address while at the MTC is:
Elder Richard Haskell, Jr.
Australia Perth Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 East
Provo, Utah 84604

Richard's mailing address while in Australia is:
Elder Richard Haskell, Jr.
Australia Perth Mission
PO Box 185
Tuart Hill WA 6939
Australia