Seventeen years ago I had a vision. I wanted to do something with the land behind our house so it didn't just sit and go to waste. I also wanted to teach my children how to work. And help them save money for their future. One day I was doing a monthly playdate with my cousin Wendi from SLC and we went to a patch. There were wheelbarrows and clippers and you just took care of yourself. In fact it was raining hard, but we had a plan and we did it in the rain. Well fast forward those amazing 17 years of Weston's Pumpkins and our land had given all it had for our cause. It had began to slow down on the production and the bugs were getting so bad so as my children called it "Mom, its time to give up the dream". They were right. I was loosing my help as they moved out and grew up, and it is a big patch for one person. Of course everyone helped with the planting and preparing the soil, but the weeding always got ahead of me. So 2023 was our last year. The production was about 1/2 of what it was in the past, but we still had a wonderful final season. As I sit here and look back on 2023 it was a year of BIG changes for us. It was a year of many days of sadness and tears, but it was also a year for excitement and growth.
Braxton celebrated his 21st Birthday. He was back living on his own and driving dump truck once again. (Luckily Craig Munford asked him to come work for him soon after so he didn't drive truck for too long while his brain was still healing).
These cute girls Laney Hall and Kaitlyn Hall have taken this pic with Shane for many years. This year Taylor and Alice were on their missions.
Kiley was so sweet to play the great pumpkin every year. All the kids looked so forward to this tradition where she came out of the patch with candy at dusk. Now most of the kids are so grown up and a bunch of teenagers linger at our parties, but we still love to keep the tradition alive.
Our first Pday talk with Dakota. He was in the MTC in Provo and loving learning Turkish and more about Jesus. I absolutely love talking to him on the phone and look forward to it every week.
The original 8. Turkish missionaries had been located in Bulgaria for a while now, but the church decided to move them to Frankfurt, Germany to be closer to the European Mission Headquarters. So there were a few that moved from Bulgaria to Frankfurt, but these were the original 8 that got their call to Frankfurt. In fact, we didn't even know until he got to the MTC that he would be flying into Turkey about once a transfer to be with the branch there and that 95% of his missionary work would be done sitting at a computer in an office.
Kiley did a little photoshoot with the kids in the mountains. Cam's turned out so cute.
This was the first day that Shane and I saw Braxton back on a horse. It was a little hard, but his smile was from ear to ear. He was back at his passion in life. This is his happy place on the back of a horse.
These 5 boys will spend 2 solid years together. Each day together in an office, all living in the same apartment building. They will trade companionships and new elders will come and go, but they will remain together the entire time. The bond they will create will be like no other. I remember telling Dakota if there are any of these 5 that you don't get along with you better learn to because they aren't going anywhere. Levvitt, Cheney, Timmerman, Wittemund, Weston
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