Shaffer/Jay Family Life: 2017

2017 Shaffer Family Newsletter

Windy-the answer to “life, the universe and everything”- Busy and active working from home and being a taxi mom.

Benjamin-I've had a very exciting year in 2017. I have taken the reigns as managing partner of the law firm: Shaffer & Briney. I also had the honor of receiving my 32 degree as a Scottish Rite Mason.

Elnorra-12 Now in Junior High, making new friends is hard but rewarding. 3 summer camps, a trip with sister visiting GranDee and an airplane flight with Auntie Em. Soccer, orchestra, choir, honors math, church, Girl Scouts… also very busy.

Cordelia-10 5^th Grade-Volleyball and chime choir as well as 4-H underwater robotics, also loves to bake. Loves makeup and glitter, but also a tom boy at times. Also traveled with family down to Arizona and they left me and my big sister behind to visit GrandDee and fly home with Aunt Emily. Schedule filled with fun, lots of it.

Adelaide-7 2^nd Grade- Resource is helping our sweet girl be less far behind in school. She is sweet tempered and loves to play, sing and could become a champion whistler if we could find a teacher. She also earned every award and badge possible as a Daisy Girl Scout and is now a Brownie. She currently hopes to be a scientist when she grows up.

Gwendolyn-4 Pre-K-She is in Head Start and loves being with other kids, playing with legos and dolls, and tiding up.

Gwendolyn’s new word: She was jumping in a “muddle”.

In June we celebrated our 15^th anniversary and traveled to visit Windy’s mom in Southern Arizona. We left the big girls for 2 weeks to be with GrandDee and aunt Emily. This is a picture of Ben and the girls at the Church property where we had our wedding reception.

We, among many others, decided that it was worth the effort to see the total eclipse of the sun in August. Windy was able to reconnect with her “ Big Sister” Hilaire who happens to live in the path of totality so unlike many Utahans we headed to Oregon rather than Idaho. We had a lovely trip including visiting Ben’s home town where we saw his old house, his childhood haunts, and even his elementary and intermediate schools in Paradise, CA. We went to Mt Lassen National Park, camped at the Alder campground where his family would often camp when he was a kid, and drove by Mt Shasta. But wildfire smoke prevented us from seeing it well, and prevented our planned camping trip to Crater Lake after the lovely trip to Corvalis and Newport Oregon. While in Oregon we were treated to an aquarium trip and a night in the condo by the beach. A few weeks later we thought we witnessed a Lunar Eclipse, or maybe a freak accident because of wildfire smoke near our home.