2017: A year in review

December 2017 It has been a very full year for the Weston family during 2017. We have had so many adventures and have grown in many ways. The year 2017 started off with our third major winter snowstorm hitting the Portland area in January, causing the schools to close for a full week and extending our school year until almost the end of June. We enjoyed many days of sledding, snowball fights, hot chocolate, and (when we grew restless) time to clean out and organize our garage.

For spring break we headed to Rexburg, Idaho to watch Toby’s youngest brother graduate from B.Y.U. Idaho. It was a short 4-day weekend that involved a lot of driving -- but we enjoyed showing the kids around the campus and encouraging them to consider B.Y.U. Idaho as a potential future college to attend. This summer as soon as school was out (which wasn’t until June 24th), we packed our car and headed to California. We spent more than a month in the sunny state (with a short detour to Reno to visit family). We enjoyed spending time with family and friends and being outdoors a lot. We rode our bikes, camped, hiked, and spent a lot of time at the beach. We spent five days in Yosemite National Park where Ben and Toby hiked halfdome. We spent many days in southern California visiting theme parks, playing at the beach (and getting very sunburned), checking out museums, and spending time with friends. San Diego was our favorite destination of all. We hit Legoland, Knotts Berry Farm, Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, and the Wild Animal Park while we were there. The kids even took surfing lessons one day. We ended our vacation with a stop in Arcata and a drive up the northern coast of California.

Benjamin started middle school in the fall and has enjoyed being part of the Chamber Orchestra and running for the school’s cross country team there. He has adjusted to having multiple teachers, and he is keeping up academically so far (although Spanish has been a challenge for him). He is planning to do track in the spring. He continues playing cello and piano, and he is thinking about starting up Aikido in January Nathaniel is in fifth grade and is enjoying his final year of elementary school. He played soccer in the fall and has recently taken an interest in studying algebra and geometry with Grandma Myrna. Nathaniel plays violin and piano, and he and Ben both continue to play in the Marylhurst Youth Symphony Orchestra every Saturday.

Mary is in third grade this year, and she recently started playing violin with the West-Linn Wilsonville Intermediate Strings Program. She had her first orchestra concert this week and sounded great. She continues doing ballet with Abernethy Performing Arts and is gearing up for her winter performance this weekend. Mary also plays piano, and she is now part of a local girl-scout troop (which Juliette is one of the leaders for). Mary acquired several parakeets this year as pets, and she prides herself in caring for and spending time with them. Juliette is still teaching part time for North Clackamas School District. In addition to teaching half-time at one school, she has a .2 position as a special education Teacher on Special Assignment in which she helps support new teachers and provide case management support for teachers who need it. Juliette enjoys running and cooking when she has time. She ran one half-marathon this year. Toby is in his ninth year as a middle-school orchestra teacher. His program continues to grow, and he is always coming up with new systems and strategies to make his program stronger. In his free time, he often tackles house projects. This fall that included redoing and improving the ductwork in our attic and blowing in more insulation. It was a very messy job, but it seems to be helping keep our house warmer this winter. We hope you and your family have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. May the spirit of Christ be with you and your family and may you find ways to reach out and serve those around you. Love, Toby, Juliette, Benjamin, Nathaniel, and Mary Weston

Dear family and friends, It has been a busy year for the Weston family! Life just seems to get busier and busier each year. In February they redid the boundaries for our stake and added a new ward in West Linn, which led to us being moved into a different ward than we had been in for the last 8 years. It has been quite an adjustment to change wards after that long, and we have been trying to build connections and friendships in our new ward all year. This summer was especially busy for our family. Juliette’s dad ended up going into the hospital due to choking – and he eventually contracted Pnemonia (He is now in a nursing home still recovering). Juliette headed to Utah at the end of June to spend time with her dad. Toby and the kids came out a week later. During our time in Salt Lake, the kids enjoyed seeing lots of church sites, including Temple Square, BYU, the bishop’s Store House, the Church History Museum, and more. In mid-July we headed out on our annual roadtrip after leaving Salt Lake, starting with a visit to Arches National Park. From there, we headed east to Colorado, visiting friends in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, and spending time at Rocky Mountain National Park. After that, we headed through Nebraska and eventually reached South Dakota, where we visited Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Jewel Cave, and many other amazing places. After leaving South Dakota, we headed into Wyoming (stopping at Devil’s Tower on the way) before spending a few days at Yellowstone National Park. We were so impressed by the amazing features of this park and the incredible wildlife. On our way back home, we visited friends in Boise and floated the Boise River. By the time we came home from our trip, Summer was almost over! August was consumed by summer camps, Toby replacing our roof, and a couple of last camping trips to Sunset Bay on the Oregon Coast and to Mount Rainier National Park. Toby is still teaching Orchestra in Vancouver and loving it. His program has grown to about 115 students now. At church, Toby is the cubmaster for all three wards in West Linn. This summer Toby replaced our old shingle roof with a brand new metal one. It was a huge undertaking and dragged out through the fall, but he is finally finished and very proud of his work. This Christmas Toby is directing a church production of the Messiah (highlights only). He has been working hard to help the orchestra, choir, soloists, and pianists to all be ready. We are looking forward to the performance on Dec. 18th. Nathaniel will be playing violin for part of it, and Juliette and Mary are singing in it. Juliette is still working as a Resource Room teacher (half-time) and really enjoys her job. She continues to teach part time online for Ashford University, too. When she is not working, Juliette is coaching Nate’s grade level team for Oregon Battle of the Books, running the kids to lessons, arranging playdates, keeping our house in order, cooking, etc. Juliette has been substituting as our ward organist this fall as our permanent organist battles some health issues. Juliette also teaches senior primary. In May Juliette and Toby took a pre-anniversary trip to Anchorage, Alaska where they explored, hiked, rode bikes around the peninsula, and took a day-long Glacier Cruise. Mary turned 7 this year. She enjoys horseback riding, doing ballet, playing legos, making creations with Rainbow Loom and Perlor beads, playing soccer, playing with her stuffed animals, and reading all the time. Mary is now in second grade and is looking forward to being baptized next March. Mary is also learning to play the piano and the violin. Mary and Nathaniel both participated in their school play this fall and had a lot of fun. Mary played the part of a Vagabond. Benjamin turned 10 this year. He is now in 5th grade. He loves reading, listening to books on CD, playing Pokemon (and Pokemon Go), drawing, playing soccer, scouting, and playing piano and cello. Ben has been challenged a lot this school year with more homework and harder math. He and Nathaniel are both in Yearbook club and Battle of the Books. Nathaniel is 9 years old. He is in fourth grade and loves to mess around with lots of different things – such as playing with flower sticks, making music with boomwackers, doing magic tricks, reading, going to cub scouts, and playing piano and violin. He plays in the Marylhurst Youth Symphony (along with Ben), and he is taking private violin lessons now, which he loves. Nathaniel really loves learning new things and taking up new hobbies. Nathaniel played soccer this fall, with Toby coaching his team. As this year ends and we prepare for a new one, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May you and your family enjoy a safe and prosperous new year! – Love The Westons – Toby, Juliette, Benjamin, Nathaniel, and Mary

December 2015 Christmas greetings from the Weston family! We hope this holiday season finds you and your family well. We have had a busy and enjoyable year. For our annual summer vacation this year, we decided to explore areas of the northwest that we had not explored before, and we split up the vacation into two parts. Our first trip was to Central Oregon in June. We camped at Detroit Lake and Tumalo State Park in Bend. During this trip, highlights included digging for Thunder eggs, floating down the Deschutes River, and hiking Smith Rock. We also hiked in the underground Lava Tubes at Lavalands and rode our bikes all over Sun River. Part II of our Northwest vacation, which began in mid-July, was spent on the San Juan Islands and Vancouver Island. Our first stop was on Orcas Island, where we camped at Moran State Park. Our highlights on this island were hiking to the top of Mount Constitution (8 miles round trip with a 1500-foot elevation gain) and paddling all the way across Cascade Lake in our blow-up raft. From there we traveled to Lopez Island, where we rode our bikes all over the place and watched beautiful sunsets from our campsite at Fisherman’s Bay. Then we headed to San Juan Island, where from our campsite we were able to watch orca whales migrating north. Our last island stop was Vancouver Island, where we visited Buschart Gardens, the aquarium of the Salish Sea, and where we rode our bikes all around the southern part of the island. We also visited the Empress Hotel and checked out Miniature World. From Vancouver Island, we headed down to the Olympic Peninsula and enjoyed camping on the coast and seeing some of the oldest and largest Sitka Spruce trees in the world. Benjamin, who is now 9, has kept quite busy this year between attending cub scouts, playing cello with the school district’s after-school orchestra program, playing soccer, learning piano, enjoying legos, and keeping up with schoolwork. In February he took part in his first Oregon Battle of the Books. Ben has recently become quite interested in Platypuses. Nathaniel, who turned 8 in July, was baptized this summer. He loves playing violin and piano, and he also enjoys reading and learning new things at school. His latest interest is in flying remote control quadcopters. Mary, now 6, started first grade this year and loves school. She is an avid reader who can be found hiding under her blankets in bed reading her book late into the night. She also enjoys making Perlor bead creations, playing violin, doing ballet, and learning piano. She has been taking horseback riding lessons this year and hopes she can take more lessons next year. This year Mary finally got the hang of swimming and riding a bike without training wheels. All 3 of our kids danced with a ballet studio this winter and spring. The three of them took part in their dance company’s production of Sleeping Beauty in June. The boys roles were two of the seven dwarves. This fall the kids opted to take a break from ballet so they could all play on soccer teams. Toby coached Nate’s team. Then in October, they all took part in the Missoula Children’s Theater production of Sleeping Beauty. It was a week-long commitment to daily rehearsals after school, as well as a dress rehearsal and performance on Saturday. The show turned out great – and the kids can’t wait to do it again next year. Toby is in his eighth year of teaching orchestra in Vancouver. His program continues to grow and is bursting at the seams, yet he is still able to keep his cool and help each individual student do their best. In January, Toby hopes to launch a fundraising drive using Crowdsourcing to pay for a classroom set of high quality bows. You may be hearing from him then as he seeks for donations (his shameless plug). Juliette started a new job this fall as a half-time learning specialist for North Clackamas School District. She enjoys teaching children again and is back in the swing of being a special education teacher. She also continues teaching part time for an online university. In her free time she volunteers weekly in our kids’ classes, makes annual family photo books, and she also enjoys riding bikes, running, and cooking. We wish your family a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Love, The Westons – Toby, Juliette, Ben, Nathaniel, and Mary Email: julietteweston@gmail.com tobyjweston@gmail.com or find us on Facebook

Merry Christmas from the Westons, December 2014

Dear Family and Friends, December 2014 As we begin this holiday season and think about our plans for next year, it is fun to look back on all of the amazing memories that we have created over the last 12 months. One of the most lasting memories we have is of our summer vacation that we took to Canada. We spent 2 ½ weeks camping and sightseeing in southwestern Canada, stopping to spend time in Vancouver, B.C., Whistler, B.C., Banff National Park, Calgary, Alberta, Waterton National Park, and Glacier National Park. We took our bikes with us and spent a lot of time biking and hiking all around the places we visited. We tried fishing and stand-up paddleboarding, and Mary and Nate went horseback riding. We stayed up late most nights playing Uno in our tent and enjoying the long summer days. It was a trip we will never forget.

Benjamin turned 8 this year, and in March he was baptized while we were down in California. For his birthday he was given a new pet, Skittles – a corn snake. Since his birthday he has enjoyed attending cub scouts at church and this fall was proud to earn his “wolf” award. Ben enjoys reading, listening to books on CD, making Lego creations, playing soccer, and collecting international coins. Both Ben and Nate play in our school district’s after-school orchestra program, with Ben playing cello and Nathan playing violin. Nathaniel, age 7, is now in second grade, and at school he has been placed in a 2/3 combination class this year. He loves his new teacher and is always trying to keep up with the third graders in his class. He recently started reading the first “Harry Potter” book and he aims to read the whole series before the school year ends. Nate loves learning how to type and is always motivated by a challenge. He also played soccer this fall and hopes to try baseball next spring if we can make the time for it. Mary, age 5, is in kindergarten this year and is loving her all-day class. She has made many friends at school and enjoys all the time she spends there. She loves drawing and reading – and her handwriting is getting better all the time. She is also enjoying taking ballet lessons with a new and larger dance studio in Oregon City. This week she had her debut in the Nutcracker, where she took part in two scenes – as a mouse in the battle scene, and as dancer in the carousel scene. She loved every minute of it and can’t wait to be involved in the Nutcracker again next year. Mary is also taking violin lessons from Toby. Toby is constantly challenged and excited by his job teaching music at a middle school in Vancouver, WA. His program is growing, and each year his classes have more and more students. He was excited this fall that his school district took out a wall to a nearby room and expanded the space his students have to use for their music studies. When he is not teaching music, he still has his cell phone business that he pursues intermittently. Also, he swims 3 times a week as part of the Oregon City Swim Team. Juliette has kept busy this year between teaching ESL classes at Marylhurst University and teaching for Ashford University, an online university based on Iowa. This fall Juliette took a break from both of those jobs and took a long-term substitute teaching position for an elementary school in Oregon City. She taught a 3rd-5th grade special education class for three months and enjoyed the opportunity to work with kids again. Next year she plans to continue substitute teaching in the schools and to return to teaching part time for Marylhurst University and Ashford University. Juliette also ran two half-marathons this year. We are looking forward to a new year full of excitement and adventure. We wish you and your family and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Love, Toby, Juliette, Benjamin, Nathaniel, and Mary Weston

Dear family and friends, As we wrap up another year in the Weston family, it is so fun to look back and see all of the exciting things that happened to us during 2013. One of the highlights of our year was our annual summer vacation. This year we traveled nearly 3,000 miles over a 3-week period of time. We began our vacation by visiting family in northern California including Juliette’s brother and Toby’s siblings and family. Then we headed to the Central Coast to visit Toby’s dad. From there we headed across the Mojave desert over to Las Vegas where we stayed at Circus Circus and enjoyed checking out the various theme casinos. While we were there we visited Hoover Dam and Boulder City, where Juliette’s mom grew up. We then headed north to Utah and spent time at Bryce and Zion national parks before heading up to Salt Lake. We enjoyed spending time with Juliette’s dad and visiting many church sites while there. We stopped in Boise on our way back home. It was the longest road trip we have attempted with our kids, but they did really well. Benjamin, now 7, is looking forward to getting baptized next year. He is now in second grade and loves his class at school. Ben’s favorite subjects include math, reading, art, music, and P.E. He is also excited to be studying Chinese as one of his specialist classes at school. Outside of school, Ben loves making lego creations, reading comic books, collecting Pokemon cards, and using his imagination to invent creative games and activities. Nathaniel, now 6, loves being in the first grade. He is well-liked by his classmates and is always fun to be around. Nate’s hobbies seem to change quite often. This year he has gone through phases when he was really interested in legos, then magic, and now he is most interested in making bracelets with his Rainbow Loom. He also likes riding his bike and reading, and he recently started taking a ballet class, which he loves. Mary, who when asked her age will tell you she is 4 and a half, can hardly wait to start kindergarten next year. She is currently attending preschool at the same school where Ben and Nate go to school. Mary has turned into an avid reader and is quickly catching up to the boys in her reading skills. She also takes ballet, and she loves to give dance recitals whenever anyone wants to watch her dance. Mary recently began listening to Taylor Swift and loves to dance to her music, too. Mary loves attending her primary class at church and participated in our ward’s primary Sacrament program this fall for the first time. She did such a good job of saying her part and singing all of the songs she knew. Juliette has kept quite busy this year between teaching ESL classes at nearby Marylhurst University and teaching online classes for Ashford University. Outside of her teaching, Juliette enjoys running several times a week. She is able to volunteer in the boy’s classes at school each week, and this year Mary gets to come along, too. Juliette also enjoys bargain hunting at thrift stores, bike riding with Mary, and accompanying Toby to the Oregon Symphony Concerts we attend once a month or so. She is still serving as a ward missionary at church. Toby has had an enjoyable year of teaching music in Vancouver. His strings program has continued to grow, and this year for the first time his school had to break the 6th grade into two classes because there were so many of them. His program is bursting at the seams. Outside of teaching music, Toby began pursuing a side business selling cell phone service with a company called Solavei. He has grown his business a lot this year and is enjoying the challenge of building up his own business. Toby is still serving as our ward executive secretary. This summer we tackled a lot of house projects. We began by painting the outside of our house, a project we had started last year but never finished. After painting the outside walls, we decided to repaint all of our outside decks and porches (there are four of them altogether). It ended up being a major undertaking, but in the end we loved the results and hope it lasts for many years to come. Juliette’s mom, who has been living next door to us for the last few years, took a one-year position working as a school psychologist in Juneau, Alaska this September. We have missed having her around and are excited that she is having her own adventure. Also, we said goodbye to our cat Micah this summer. He was diagnosed with Renal Kidney failure in June and ended up not living much longer after his diagnosis. We have missed having him around. However, rather than get a new cat, we all agreed to buy a mouse for our new family pet. Wrestler has been a fun pet to have – and the kids are becoming quite attached to him. They are also learning about responsible pet ownership as they have to help clean his cage twice a week. We hope that this Christmas season finds you and your family well and happy. May you remember to keep Christ in Christmas this year and to focus on what is really important. Love, The Westons – Toby, Juliette, Benjamin, Nathan, and Mary

Merry Christmas 2012!

December 2012 Dear family and friends, The time has come once again to celebrate the Christmas season and reflect on the blessings we have received over the past year. It seems like Christmas came a bit early to our house this year. Our tree is up and our house is decorated, and it is only December 2. The past year has brought many blessings to our family. Toby has continued his teaching job in Vancouver and is loving it. Toby is on his fifth year of teaching and is excited that his orchestra program continues to grow each year. Sometimes he feels like he is living the dream but never wakes up. He also excited that our own kids are now old enough for him to teach violin and cello to each day. Juliette continues teaching online for Ashford University, as well as teaching ESL classes part time at nearby Marylhurst University. She gets to help out in Ben and Nate’s classes at school one morning a week and loves it. Juliette continues running and is looking forward to running the Hood to Coast Relay race next August. She did not run any races this year. In her free time, she dabbles in playing the guitar and ukulele. Benjamin, 6, is now in first grade and is doing well. This school year he has played soccer and basketball, and he has loved both sports. He has many friends at his school and is doing well both socially and academically. Ben’s hobbies include doing legos and drawing (he is an amazing artist). Ben and Nate both continue to take an advanced gymnastics class at the Little Gym. Nathan, now 5, started all-day kindergarten this fall and is loving it. While he may be one of the shortest kids in his class, he is also one of the brightest and most enthusiastic. Nate loves reading, bike riding, and doing legos, and he also loves playing with his sister. Nate played soccer for the first time this fall and had a great season. Nate also loves dancing and hopes to start back in ballet next summer. Mary is now 3 and a half (she corrects you if you call her three), and she is one tough cookie. She started preschool this fall and looks forward to it the two mornings a week that she goes. This summer she learned her letters and sounds, and she is now reaading Bob books. She loves Barbies, princesses, and Care Bears. She takes a dance class at the Little Gym where she learns ballet, tap, and gymnastics. She and Nate got to watch the Nutcracker for the first time this year and loved it. We enjoyed two trips to California this year. In May we drove down to see Toby’s sister Elizabeth graduate from college and Juliette’s brother Rob graduate from college. Then in July we enjoyed a longer vacation and spent time visiting Toby’s dad in Shell Beach and camping with family at Sequoia National Park. We also visited Seattle one weekend in June. This summer we did a lot of projects on our house. We replaced our dining room carpet with laminate flooring, and also painted every room and hallway inside our house. Since our walls were all previously white, having more color in the house has made a big difference. Next year we’ll work on painting outdoors. In other news, Toby was called to be the executive secretary for our ward, while Juliette is still serving as a ward missionary. Our biggest frustration of the year was having to put so much money into repairing our cars, but at least we don’t have car payments. Soon enough we will have to buy newer vehicles, but we are postponing it as long as we can. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year. May the Lord bless you and your family with peace and joy throughout the new year. Love, Toby, Juliette, Ben, Nate, and Mary Weston

Halloween 2012

We had a fun Halloween -- on Saturday we went to our Ward's Trunk or treat. Then on Halloween we went to the Oregon City Swimming Pool for their Swamp Swim. Nate on first place in the costume contest as the cutest and won a free birthday party at the pool! It was tons of fun.