HELP US PLEASE!

President Colton and I are doing a fireside (again) and we would like your input. We are talking about, what else, missions! We would appreciate you sending to me via email (kacolton1@gmail.com) your thoughts about:

1. The best ways to prepare for a mission.

2. How has your mission influenced your life?

3. Knowing what you now know, what is your advice for a young person preparing to go on a mission that will help them have a more meaningful experience?

We value your wisdom and know you can give us important insight on this subject.

*Be sure to put the "1" in my email address: kacolton1@gmail.com

Sister Colton Confessional

Being the inept technical genius that I am, I have just figured out how to scan in pictures and actually find them again in a file on my computer. My apologies to all those who have gone before in matrimony and sent us announcements/pictures. I didn't have the skill to get it in here then. Please send via email to me any pictures, updates on your lives, etc. and now I can be sure to get it in. And here is an update on us. President Colton and I did a site visit to Kirtland, Ohio to get things arranged for the Youth Conference scheduled for July.

Murray and Vance Marry

Mandi Michele Murray and Neil Vance were married on March 19, 2011 in the Portland Oregon Temple.

Todd and Kesler Marry

Virginia Irene Todd and Steven Kesler were married on March 19, 2011 in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Lazenby and Horne to Marry

Tyler Lazenby and Lacie Lee Horne are getting married April 15, 2011 in the Rexburg Idaho Temple.

Carney and Josi Married in March

Martin Carney and Ashley May Josi married on the l9 of March, 2011 in the Portland Oregon Temple.

Para and Noriega Wed

Veronica Isabel Para and Jesus Jacob Noriega wed on the 18th of March in the Los Angeles California Temple.

East Meets West

Paul Vidmar of Liberty Lake, Washington to wed Katherine Hubner of Rochester, New York on May 14th in the Palmyra, NY Temple.

Watson

Things are going fairly well here. I am working full time as a mechanic and going to school full time, hoping to start a mechanical engineering program in the fall. That is about all that is going on with me. I am still living at home and still single but that's ok - it's cheaper that way.

Justin Watson

Kosugi

Shauna Stewart reports on Sister Kosugi as follows, "After I heard about the earthquake and tsunami, I checked on her facebook and she posted that she and her family are fine. (She's still at BYU-Hawaii, but I was glad to know her family is ok too.) Thank you Shauna for the update. We are relieved to know she is fine and we pray for the people of Japan.

The Triple Ship

FINALLY here is a photo all for you, we finally all are together again and we wanted to capture the moment and send it to you, and let the entire FTM know that we are still hangin tight and together. The triple ship that sailed and always will!

Christophersons Await Dental School

Katie, Julie, and I are doing extremely well. Julie is now eight and a half months old, has three (almost five) teeth, and has just begun to really be able to crawl. Katie finished her schooling in December and graduated with a Bachelors in elementary education. I'm currently a teacher's assistant for organic chemistry and do two labs a week at the University. I am in my last semester at the University if Wyoming, studying chemistry, and will be entering dental school at the University of Nebraska in the Fall. I am anxious to get started with dental school. We are doing well and think of you, President Colton and Florida often.

Oswald Stars in "Oklahoma"

I noticed I didn't send any pictures with my last email so here are some photos from some of the highlights I've had since I've been home! The first ones are from the musical "Oklahoma". I was cast as the character Jud Fry! It was my first leading role in a show and I loved every minute of it! All of these pictures are from the scenes in the old smokehouse that Jud lives in. If you noticed, my director, who happens to be the bishop of his Green River ward, asked me to grow out my beard. I started growing it in august and it stayed until the end of November. If I had been able to make it to the mission reunion I doubt anyone would've recognized me because of it. It took me over an hour to shave it all off when the show was done and I don't think I'll ever grow a beard again. The next two pictures are from this last September when Jack and Jenny Dickerson from the Brookesville ward flew out to Salt Lake City to receive their endowments! They were the last two I taught and baptized while in Florida. They invited me to join them and it was one of the greatest days of my life to be there with them in the historic Salt Lake Temple! Brother and Sister James from the Brookesville ward also came with them to be their escorts and I enjoyed catching up with them! The last pictures are from the winter concert of the acapella singing group, 88 MILES PER HOUR, or 88 MPH for short. I am the groups vocal percussionist and I also sing baritone and lead in certain songs! This group is my main focus this semester of school as I am know the senior member of the group. We have a concert on May 5th at 7 p.m. here in Rock Springs which we are all very excited for! This year is going by so fast and I can't wait to graduate! I hope everyone has a wonderful spring!

Justin Firth Wins Raccoon Hunting Championship

Not too much exciting has happened since being home. Knudson has adopted me into the website team. It helps keep him humble I suppose to deal with my criticism. I'm going to school in Rexburg, not doing a lot of dating. I've won one raccoon hunting contest, am applying for an internship for the Governors office, and dominating rec sports basketball and dodgeball. Life is good.

Coltons Gather in Utah

10 March 2011

Dear Former FTM Missionaries,

We hope you are coming out of hibernation after a long winter’s nap. Actually, many of us are just looking for that Florida sun. This has been our first return to winter since our three years in Florida. There is much to miss - the friends we made there and especially each one of you. Our love for you is timeless and our excitement to see you expand your horizons on strong footing is now our joy.

The Utah homeland seems to call to many of you. However, even us in Virginia had the joy of a returning missionary couple passing through here on their way back to Utah from Florida –a diversion from I-80 West. Elder and Sister Chambers stopped and had lunch with us (and their daughter and her family). It was so good to see them and hear news of our beloved people in Florida. They return to Logan, Utah where you at Utah State will undoubtedly see them.

This seems to be the month for marriages – especially sister missionary marriages. Sister Virginia Todd, Sister Veronica Para and Sister Mandi Murray get married this year within days of each other. President and Sister Colton celebrate a March wedding date as well (17^th of March). We honor 44 years of marriage this year as Sister Michelle Kinyon White celebrates her one year anniversary of marriage - all in March. Now I realize that there may be others of you getting married this month too or in the near future or recent past. If so, and we have not heard, so send us an announcement please! There are other great things in addition to or besides marriage happening in your lives too. We are very interested to hear about all aspect of your journey.

The ski season called to us and we ventured out to Utah for a few short days with our children and grandchildren to ski. Three of the five families (nine of the twelve grandchildren) were able to join us. With so little time we didn’t get together with you ski enthusiasts in Utah this year but we will do so sometime in the future. It was great fun and another step in getting back to the normal groove. Speaking of the normal groove, that is a misnomer for sure. That groove keeps changing and getting better and better (though not easier). Life is meant to change us, right? And we all hope and work for the better.

President Colton continues to write, research and consult on housing and housing finance policy, the challenges of the recent past and thoughts on what needs to happen going forward. He has had a lot of catch-up to do to really understand the difficulties of those years during our mission when the housing market fell and the financial markets were shaken so badly. He is enjoying immersing himself again in this field. I continue to write my little books and immerse myself in family. We putter around the yard together trying to scare away the deer, skunks, raccoons, and ground hogs. We are hopeful for a vegetable garden this year if we are successful with the former! The answer is a seven foot fence, I fear. Yes, and I keep threatening to get goats and chickens. That is my dream.

Plans for the Kirtland trip for the Stake Youth Conference continues to move forward. We are loving our preparations for this event with the youth. Studying about the Kirtland years and the phenomenal leadership of Prophet Joseph is a highlight. Our temple service continues to bring great joy and peace as we are able to spend each Tuesday evening there together.

We love hearing from many of you. We would love to hear from all of you. If you encounter a former missionary who has not gotten an email from us, please give them our email address and have them reach us. We are not always able to get all the information.

Please send your pictures and something about yourself to: kacolton1@gmail.com. I then will post it on the blog.

Happy Spring

The Coltons

Kinyon and White Celebrate One Year of Wedded Bliss

It's hard to believe that it has been a year and a half since departing the Florida Tampa Mission. Life has continued to stay quite busy. About six months after I returned home, I married Steve White who I actually dated before the mission. He was kind enough to deal with the awkward transitional phase that is typically required when dating a newly returned missionary. We were married in the San Diego Temple on March 19th 2010. So, it looks like we are going to be old timers soon by celebrating our first anniversary this month.

We spent the first few months of our marriage living in Draper while I was finishing my degree in Economics at the University of Utah. Then we decided it would be a good idea to relocate to Hawaii for about a month...and we were right. And now we are currently in exotic Provo. Steve is studiously engaged in the Mechanical Engineering program, and I am working as a Personal Banker for US Bank. We are enjoying our time here. We have great neighbors and an all around great ward.

In hopes of convincing Steve to one day move there, I was able to take him back to Florida last December for a quick visit. We were able to see dear friends and we even made it down to the Everglades where I finally saw some real gators!

Thank you everyone for your updates. It's great to see that you are all doing well! Take care!

-Michelle (Kinyon) White

Paige Born to the Nields

Lyndsy and I are excited to tell you that Paige Devry Nield came on Tuesday evening. She is beautiful and healthy little girl. She was 7lb 1oz and measured 19.5 inches long. She brings so much joy into our life. We were able to bring her home on Wednesday night. It is amazing the sweet calming spirit she brings into the home. I thought I was a pretty tough guy, but Paige has turned me into a teddy-bear.

Good thing are happening for Lyndsy and I. We just got accepted to BYU, to continue in the Civil Engineering program. We will start in the fall. Once we get down there I will prob have about 5 semester or so to graduate. After that I plan to apply for grad school at BYU or Utah State in the civil engineering field. Mostly likely BYU.

Spencer Corley Proposes

I didn't last long on the singles market. I met Nikki Fox the night I returned home, went on a date with her two weeks later and we have been dating up until last weekend when that all changed. I proposed and she accepted. We were engaged at Laguna Beach, California.