October 2012

Sarah Sparks

Sister Sarah Sparks grew up in Delaware. Growing up she was one of eight children. She says she is the "youngest of the 4 oldest and the oldest of the 5 youngest." She met her husband in Delaware where she was a member of the USO (United Service Organization) and her husband was in the Air Force. Sarah would find that she would go to dances 6-7 days a week and at one of those dances, they met. She says the best dressed of all the servicemen were the Marines and one of her favorite dances was the jitterbug. They lived all over, her favorite place to live was in Germany. They have 4 children, 12 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. Her husband joined the church in 1975 in Germany and they were sealed together as a family in the Oakland California Temple in 1976. Sarah and her husband were married for 49 years before he passed away. She has many talents, one of which is baking. Her favorite thing to bake is peanut brittle around Christmastime but she makes some really yummy fudge too! She collects cookbooks and loves to cook out of them. For the past 21 years, Sarah and her family has lived in Utah. She worked for 12 1/2 years in the cafeteria of a junior high school. She spends a lot of her time volunteering at Orem Community Hospital. She loves spending time with the new mothers and babies and spends many hours making little hats for the newborns. One of her favorite church callings is the compassionate service leader and in second place, the library. She made sure all those young people knew how to say please and thank you when asking to use scriptures from the library. When asked what advice would she give to a couple just starting out she replied, " Work together as a couple in everything, chores and raising kids. And take time for each other."

Tony and Emma Pipes

Tony and Emma were married December 18, 2009 in the Nauvoo Temple. Tony is from Merced, California and Emma is from Missouri. They met in Missouri in a singles branch while Emma was home from BYU for the summer and  Tony was selling pest control. They are expecting a baby in March and will find out if it is a boy or a girl on Halloween. Tony served a mission in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Mission from 2006-2008. He is currently a senior at UVU majoring in Emergency Services Administration. He would love to one day be a fireman. He has a motorcyle and loves to ride that. He loves basketball and any other sport involving a ball. One thing he wanted everyone to know about him, he used to be a beekeeper! Emma is in her last semester at BYU going into History Education. She is doing her student teaching right now in Saratoga Springs. Emma loves reading, scrapbooking, sewing and TV. Her favorite TV show is "Say Yes to the Dress". Emma loves how funny and hard working Tony is while Tony's favorite quality in Emma is her domestic qualities. They enjoy traveling and have been many places together, one of their favorites was San Diego, California. They spoke about several experiences that helped strengthen their faith. Emma shared the patience she had to learn while waiting for Tony to propose. They dated for a year before Tony proposed and that was a great strength builder for her. Tony felt his mission truly changed his life but it took a lot of faith for him to serve a mission for two years. The Pipes' favorite snacks are anything pumpkin flavored and White Cheddar Cheezits for Tony.

Holly, Morgan and Oreo

 

 

 Holly McMahon and her family have been in the ward for 12 years. The house they currently live in was her grandmothers house. Holly is currently married to Scott and they have been married for 7 years. Scott has 4 children and 1 grandchild. Holly has 3 children, McKay, Melissa and Morgan. McKay is 21 and is currently working for a flower wholesaler. Melissa recently left our ward and is going to school at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. She is enjoying school and is majoring in Elementary Education. Morgan, 14 is in 9th grade at Lakeridge Junior High. Morgan is very busy playing football for Mountain View (he is outside linebacker and wide receiver)and going to school. His favorite subject is History and his favorite snack is Takis (a mexican chip) Holly says it's very easy to bribe Morgan to do anything if Takis are involved! Morgan would love one day to play football for Florida State and maybe even the Green Bay Packers. Holly grew up in Tabiona, UT where her dad was as school teacher and a farmer. She loves to read (her favorite book is Gone with the Wind)  and spend time with her family. She owns "Flowers on Main" in Lehi and loves her job. She loves working with the people she does and interacting with her customers. One of the hardest things about having her own business was making sure she could spend enough time with her children. Holly is currently a teacher in the Relief Society. One of her favorite callings was working with the Young Women. Traveling is one thing that Holly and Morgan both mentioned they loved. One of their favorite trips was a cruise to the Bahamas and loved the snorkeling. A tradition is their family is to bake chocolate chip cookies together every Sunday. A faith building experience for Holly and her family was when she had to be alone with her 3 young children after her divorce. As a family, they feel their faith grew tremendously as they learned to depend of Jesus Christ.

 Ryan and KaceyAnn Johnson

Ryan and KaceyAnn met in a singles ward and have been married for a year and a half. They were married in the Manti Temple. KaceyAnn is from Chandler, AZ. She recently graduated from BYU and works as a CNA at American Fork Hospital. Ryan is attending UVU and is majoring in Marketing. He works at Simplifile as a support engineer and is from American Fork. Ryan loves public speaking and was an EFY counselor for two years. One day, Ryan would love to own his own business. Together, they love to go hiking, play board games and be outside. Ryan and KaceyAnn are expecting a child on 12-12 2012. Ryan served a mission in Boston, MA Spanish Speaking but never used his Spanish while he was on his mission. KaceyAnn's favorite snack is rice crispy treats and Ryan loves 7 layer brownies. The question, What quality do you most admire in each other, was asked. Ryan said he loved that KaceyAnn was so loving and faithful and reminds him of reasons to have faith. KaceyAnn loves that Ryan is so willing to change and his applications to gospel principles in his life. An experience that has strengthened their faith was the decision to start a family. It was not in the plan at the time and after a few experiences, they both felt it was time. This decision truly changed their lives and helped to greatly strengthen their faith in our Savior.