Another update on the Garr family

A few more things have changed since my last update. Natalie's husband, Randy Peterson, joined the Army at the end of last year. They have now moved to Fort Rucker in Alabama. This is a picture of them on the boat they bought at a lake near the base. They've enjoyed spending time together as a family again, since Randy spent most of the first half of the year away from them at basic training and officer training. School starts for their two older girls on August 7th.

Randy, Laura, and Brogan are still living in Ohio. Laura is now expecting another baby--she is due sometime in February. They recently came back to Utah for a visit. Here is a picture of them playing a game at my parents' house. (Also pictured are my dad, Cory and Karissa, Rob, and a family friend.)

And here is a picture of my mom with their son, Brogan. He just turned 18 months old. :)

Rob and Eve are now engaged. They will be getting married in December and will be moving to Colorado to continue Eve's schooling. Rob also recently graduated from UVU and passed his RN test.

Blast from the past at Webelos day camp

When I was attending scout day camp with my son and the other Webelos in our ward last Thursday, I kept seeing Debbie Earl and I finally got the courage up to go and say hello. I explained that I was Cherie Garr's daughter and introduced my son to her. He took our picture so that I could show it to my mom--I figured I'd post it on this blog too. What a small world! (We were in the old Orem 46th ward when I was ten--which is the age of my son now.)

My son shooting a sling shot; me shooting a bow and arrow:

P.S. I also ran into Sue Field at Harmon's a little while ago--which was another enjoyable "small world" experience. :)

Update on the Garr family

A few things have changed since our last post on this site. (This is Wendi, Cherie and Arnie's oldest daughter, writing again.)

• Randy, Laura, and Brogan have now moved to Ohio for Randy to attend podiatry school there.

Here is a picture of Laura and Brogan when they visited the sites in Kirtland:

And here's a recent picture of their son, Brogan, who is now about 9 months old:

• This is a picture that was taken of Cherie and Arnie's five children (Wendi, Randy, Rob, Cory, and Natalie) at Vivian Park on July 11, 2008:

• Here are a couple of recent pictures of Natalie's children:

This one was taken of their three daughters (Avril, Savannah, and Saren) on a trip to Canada last month:

Saren was baptized on October 11th by her dad, Randy Peterson.

And here's a recent picture of their son, Henry, who is now about 5 1/2 months old:

***Hope things are going well with all of you. And we look forward to reading more about you on this site as well. :)

Camp Shalom 2008

NOT REAL!! It's a Tootsie Roll. Kind of a gross prank to do, but it sure was fun!





I just read Brenda's thoughts about girls camp... I too get a bit more tired each year. I have lost track how many years I have gone. I completely understand! I also see changes in many of the young women and how our society is affecting them and their choices. I don't expect it to get any better. We must all stay close to the Lord. It is amazing how one person can affect the entire camp either positively or negatively. A good learning lesson there for us all! I got home Saturday and felt too tired to even shower! I believe I have a cup of dirt in every orifice of my body...

Highlights this year: Spending time with my daughters Ashlee, Kelsie & Abby (Lucky me!), watching Ashlee grow into an incredible Y/W leader, fun leaders & young women, yummy meals, girl time, night time in our cabins talking, giggling and singing, making tootsie roll poopies and putting them in the toilets, stealing camp flags from others wards and mixing them up, time around the campfire, yoga (NOT pretty), shampoos with warm water, stargazing, canoeing on the lake and testimony meeting (which makes all the hard work worthwhile). It was a wonderful time and we all came home very tired and dirty, but with smiles on our faces.


This was Kelsie's last year and Abby has three to go. It was fun to see Cheri Garr up there fixing everyone breakfast on the last morning with the Stake Relief Society. Thanks!!

Time to Retire

You may think by my title and the picture that I am wanting to retire and go to the mountains. Actually I am wanting to retire from the mountains. . .Girls camp that is. I figured out that I have spent at least 23 years at girls camp, could be more, I may have forgotten a few. That is almost 1/2 of my life I have spent one week of summer at Camp Shalom. This year I really felt my age. Not only is it harder to get up and down the mountain, I have less patience with the girls and activities. This year we had everything from girls accusing other girls of Satan worshipping to petty theft. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good that goes on up there and there is a lot of really good girls but this year the naughty ones just really got to me so I think it is past time to retire. The beauties of the mountains though, I would really miss and I must say that I had fun with the other old ladies up there and I know that there can really be testimonies strengthened. The difference is, in the past it was kind of like childbirth, I forget from year to year how hard it is, that is no longer the case. Instead of my memory fading with age it has been enhanced! Still I will probably go again if I'm called. . .I'm such a sucker. 

-Brenda Buttars

John Egbert's Wedding

We just wanted to invite everyone to John's wedding reception. We are so excited for them. She is from Brazil and has brought into our family the joy and warmth of Brazil. After the wedding we will have an updated family photo and I will try to add it. I loved seeing all your smiling face at the reunion and hope more will post family photos. It will be fun to see how the kids have grow. Got to run and get ready for this wedding. Take Care!

The Birrell Family

Ransom, Katie & Conrad Bigelow

Paul & Ashlee Ward

Brenda, Ashlee, Lindsey, Katie, Kelsie & Abby

I thought I would put a post up and show you the girls and our new grandson #1 Conrad (Katie & Ransom). He is almost 7 months and I am so in love with being a Grandma... best thing in the world. It is amazing how busy or stressful a day can be and when I see him, life just stands still and all is wonderful! I think boys must be more active? I think my girls would have had me carry them until they were 18 months old. Conrad's little legs are busy all the time... I think he is ready to take off! 

Email me at Brendabirrell@mac.com with your photos and I will be happy to post them or you can upload them yourself to the blog. We want to hear from you!

Take care, Brenda