Callie Wilke

Our January Spotlight is Callie Wilke.  She recently moved into our ward from Seattle but previously lived in Spanish Fork, Utah.  Her and her husband have two rescue pets: a dog named Harry and a cat named Moon Pie. They are both 3 years old and so much fun.  Callie studied Anthropology and Art History at University of Washington and is currently teaching preschool at Sweet Pea Cottage Preschool of the Arts.  She loves hiking, camping, taking walks, watching birds, gardening. Anything outdoors!  Another interesting fact about Callie is that she has an identical twin sister who lives in Utah.  We are thrilled to have her in our ward!

Jean Nielsen

                              December 2017 Spotlight

Elizabeth Jean Nielsen goes by her middle name and is currently serving in our ward as our Relief Society Music Leader and our Amazing Family History Teacher.  She has two daughters, one lives in Lynnwood and the other in Missouri.  She also has eight grandchildren (four live in the Everett area) and 7 great-grandchildren (all 7 live close). One daughter is a registered nurse and the other holds a PhD in Cellular Immunology. In addition to her daughters and their families, she is a step-mother to 2 girls, 6 grand-children, and 3 great-grandchildren.

She enjoys spending time with her sisters.  On their decade birthdays (50, 60, etc.) her three sisters along with their spouses spend 3 to 4 days together for a birthday party. They have stayed in a Light House Keepers House, spent a day in the Portland Temple taking one name each through all the temple ordinances, gone to Arizona, stayed at Stehekin on Lake Chelan, and gone on a docent lead “birthday party” at Cougar Mountain Zoo, to name a few of their activities.

She has been on many great vacations.  A few that stand out are: her first 50-mile backpacking trip, were she hiked to Miner’s Ridge and Image Lake in the Glacier Peak Wilderness; back-packing the ocean front in the Olympic National Park, several times; walking to the light house on Dungeness Spit; seeing and entering the Egyptian Pyramids and King Tutankhamun’s tomb; seeing the “Bridge on the River Kwai” in Thailand; going with Weston to his father’s birthplace in Demark; and spending time in Israel (something she never thought would happen in her life! One might think going to Israel would be the best vacation ever but to her it was one of the best spiritual times of her life.)

Her favorite smell is fresh mountain air so it makes sense that she loves spend time with friends in the outdoors - walking, hiking, camping, talking, taking pictures, identifying wildflowers, smelling the air, getting physically tired, learning about this world, sharing gospel insights, and just being a friend.

She also enjoys The Book Thief and Anne of Green Gables - both the book and the movie. Her favorite type of fiction to read is Fantasy - Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, DragonRiders of Pern series, and Harry Potter.  She enjoys reading above watching movies or television.

If she could be any fictional character she would choose…well, as a young girl, she liked Jo in Little Women – not because she wanted to be a writer but because she is one of 4 girls and she liked her personality. Her sisters didn’t interest her like Jo did.

Some things she is most grateful for are: a body that is healthy and finds walking easy; parents that joined the church and stayed active the rest of their lives; sisters that live the gospel; the opportunity she has had to identify ancestors and relatives (She loves the process of finding and proving they are hers. She becomes very possessive of them and has a hard time doing the ordinances one at a time! She wants them done Right Now!); friends; an education (her college degree is in Home and Family Life Education) along with the ability to read and write; and most of all for a wonderful husband that puts God first in his life and loves her with all the rest of his heart. She says, “He lets me be me!”

Kiera Condon

November Spotlight

Kiera just moved into our ward and was recently baptized on August 28^th.  In this month of Thanksgiving, she is most grateful for her children, home and the strength of her family.  She has two children and is pregnant with her third.  She also has three dogs, Buddha, Remix, and Leo.

If she could be any fictional character, she would choose Pocahontas with a super power of living forever.  With 30 minutes of free time you would most likely find her taking a nap!  Choosing between a personal chauffer, chef, maid, or hair stylist free for a year, she would choose a Chef and if she won a million dollars, she would buy…a house for her and her kids.

If she had a theme song it would be “Kim-Possible”.  She would recommend the book Atlas Shrugged, and she can never watch the movie Avatar, enough times.

She likes to celebrate her July birthday with close family and friends with lots of food…cake or pie! The best vacation she has ever had was a trip to Michigan with her kids and dad.  She does not enjoy chores and her perfect day would be described as Quiet, Cabin, Nature, Sun, Kiddos, Tire Swing…

We are so excited to have her fun personality in our ward!

Tudi Campbell

Tudi Campbell

Sister Campbell has been a member of the church for 20 years April 2017.  She was introduced to the church while living in Weiser, Idaho with her parents.  Her friend, Fawn Wright, in the sixth grade introduced her to the church, but Sister Campbell did not get baptized until later in life, in fact, two weeks after a civil wedding.  She is married to Brother Craig Campbell and they will have been married 20 years in March 2017.

Her favorite flower is the rose.  It is the symbol of love and it was her mother's favorite flower as well. Her mother would often draw roses and this particular flower reminds her of her mother.  

Her favorite restaurant to eat at is "Terra Cotta Red" in downtown Everett.  She enjoys going there once a year with Brother Campbell to celebrate their wedding anniversary.  

Her hobbies are many.  She likes to crochet, sew, read and is learning how to plant a beautiful garden (with input from a friend). 

Her previous experience in the working world was as a paralegal.  Just recently she changed career paths and now enjoys teaching violin and cello to elementary/middle school students.  She considers each one of these students a blessing in her life.  She takes a sincere interest in her students and enjoys seeing the progress that comes from hard work and being a self-disciplined musician.  The best part of teaching is seeing the student overcome a frustration and lighting up the room with a smile when those students make a breakthrough in their studies.

Being a teacher, joining the church, and being married to a good man are the best decisions she has made. 

Tracy Moors

Tracy is currently serving in our ward as a Primary worker and her favorite scripture is Joshua 24:15.  She is most grateful for the people in her life and is the parent of 2 children, Ryan who is 2 ½ and Annalise who is 16.

She is a busy mother who works as a Hospital Receptionist. If she had 30 minutes of free time she is most likely to relax and think of what she should actually be doing.  Some day she hopes to develop the talent of being crafty.

If she won a million dollars she would buy a house with a fenced yard. Given the choice of having a personal chauffeur, chef, maid, or hair stylist, she would choose a chauffeur, as we have crazy people on the roads these days.

Some of her favorite things are steak, the smell of coconut, The Healing of Windwalker by Donald Chadd, and Comedy, Mystery, or Documentary TV shows.  A chore that is NOT her favorite is Folding Laundry.

When asked if she had any interesting scars, she said she indeed did, on the edge of her pupil from her son’s fingernail.  Even with that, a perfect day for her would be spent just hangin’ out with him. 

Melissa Brodhead

Melissa Brodhead

Melissa is currently serving as the CTR 6 primary teacher in our ward. She met her husband Dave at a singles ward potluck and they now how 4 beautiful children: Sophia and Katie (5 year old twins), Benjamin (3) and Nora (1). Their favorite thing to do as a family is going on walks while playing Pokemon Go. They also like watching the show Star Wars Rebels

In her spare time, Melissa enjoys reading and she would highly recommend the book Cinder by Marissa Meyer. At first, when she heard it was like the fairytale Cinderella she thought it was going to be like every other copycat story of Cinderella, but she feels Marissa Meyer made her version a completely compelling and original story. 

Melissa loves gardening and her favorite flowers are: Dahlias, Japanese Wisteria and Japanese Camellia. She also enjoys crafts and  likes browsing Pinterest for dream gardens or craft ideas. She  also hopes to one day learn how to draw and be good enough to do it professionally. 

Her favorite restart is the Cheesecake Factory where she usually orders their chicken piccata and red velvet cheese cake. Speaking of red velvet, that is her favorite candle scent along with the smell of Pecan pie. 

If Melissa won a million dollars she would buy a bigger house with a large property and a pond so she could create her dream garden. She would also most definitely hire a personal chef since she is not a fan of cooking. 

Her favorite "vacation" was when she was 10 years old and her parents pretended to turn their home into "The Prete Family Hotel". Her mom dressed up in funny clothes, made up a funny English accent and pretended to be a wacky hotel receptionist to welcome them to their "new"home. They got lots of candy that week which was a big deal because normally they never got any because her dad was a dentist. They had Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert Menus and a secret maid (her mom) made their beds and left a little piece of candy on their pillows. They even had "do not disturb signs" for their rooms if they wanted them. Then each day that we they went to a local attraction as a family. It was a simple but a super fun and memorable vacation. 

Melissa is most grateful for her husband and 4 wonderful kids. Sometimes they drive her crazy, but they give her life meaning and their sweet innocence makes it all worthwhile. 

Erin Campbell

Erin Campbell

Erin is brand new to our ward. She served a mission in Brazil and is currently serving as our Young Women's secretary. Professionally she works with AdvoCare helping people meet their health and fitness goals. She also flips houses with her husband. He is the general contractor and she is the designer/finisher and also helps with lots of demo. 

If she could be any fictional character Erin would be Mary Poppins; she wishes she could just snap her fingers and everything in her house would be all neat or tidy! Or possibly Cinderella's fairy godmother...."Bippity boppity boo" and BAM! Her house is renovated :) 

She met her husband Tim through an online dating site called LDS Singles. He decided it was worth the $15 to sign up so he could send her a message. It was a pretty good return on investment if you ask her! He later proposed outside the temple and she couldn't stop staring at her ring during the session after that! She didn't meet him until she was 30 but she is glad she waited! He is perfect for her and motivates her to be a better person simply by the example he sets.

They don't have any children yet but hope to soon. In the mean time they are sharing their love with their 2 rescue mutts Obie and Rhys. They are very sweet dogs but sometimes Erin feels like she has a couple of furry, permanent 2 year olds running around :)

Erin and Tim spend most of their time renovating together but when they're ready to take a break  they like to watch Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, The Walking Dead, Criminal Minds, Brooklyn Nine Nine or the Seahawks! They also enjoy going to Mariners games (Erin mostly goes for the food specifically the kettle corn), backyard BBQ's and salsa dancing.

They have lots of family in the area.  Some of their favorite things to do with them are relaxing at home, long boarding, riding dirt bikes, going to the shooting range, road trips and vacations (She recently took a 10 day trip to Hawaii with her sisters which was amazing). All of her siblings are competitive even with things like "who can get the longest jump off the swings at the playground" (She won against her brother even though he's really tall).

Erin is most grateful for her family and the blessings of the temple; it has truly brought the so much joy. Her whole family went to the temple together for the first time last year. It took a long time and  working through tragedies to get everyone there, but she felt like she caught a glimpse of heaven while they were all together in the celestial room. Eternal families really are everything. 

Cory Blas

Cory Blas

Cory is currently serving in our ward as a ward missionary. Professionally she is a stay at home mom as well as a nanny for her friends kids.

She met her husband 17 years ago while they were both teenagers working at Jack in the Box. They dated for a long time and then decided to get married 5 years ago. They have 2 children together: Zachery (10) and Rachel (6) who are both very excited about joining the church. They also have a lot of pets including 2 cats that are momma and baby and about 45 fish in a 125 gallon tank!

One of their favorite things to do as a family is just get in the car and go. They like getting lost and exploring. The kids love their adventures and not knowing whats going to be around the corner. Their best vacation ever was a month long trip to Guam, visiting her husband's family and swimming in super warm water most of the day.

Cory loves Daisys and the smell of any fruit especially oranges. Whenever she has free time she will usually read. Romance and True Crime books are her favorites. Something unique about her is the scares on feet. When she was a kid she dropped a glass and cut open both of her feet and the scars look like little smiley faces :)

She is most grateful for her husband, kids and especially for the missionaries knocking on her door. A perfect day for Cory would be going on an adventure with her family, finding a new interesting place to explore and then coming home and having a BBQ with her family and close friends.

Sandy Montgomery

Sandy Montgomery

Sandy is currently serving as the Stake Relief Society 1st Councilor. Professionally, she works as a secretary at Eisenhower Middle School.

She met her husband in her student branch where he was her Sunday School teacher. He later proposed at Utah State University - Old Main hill. They now have 3 sons, 1 daughter in law and a cat named Shadow.

All of her boys live in the Seattle area so they get together often. Some of their favorite things to do together are going to restaurants (Gracie in Bothell is a favorite), or BBQing at home, going to sporting events, biking, skiing and snowboarding. They enjoy jet skiing in Lake Stevens, Eastern WA or the Oregon coast. They've also done zip lining, sailing and traveling to California, Florida and Utah. One of their favorite trips together was to Disney World.

Some of Sandy's personal hobbies include all the outdoor adventures her sons enjoy with the addition of running. Right now she is in the middle of training for a half marathon she is running with her boys. Whenever she gets a block of free time she'll usually go for a run. She also enjoys biking the trails around the area specifically Burke Gilman and Centennial. When she's in more of a mellow mood she enjoys reading (especially Maeve Binchy; all of her books are good)....and of course playing words with friends.

Sandy's favorite scripture is Ether 12:27 "And if men come uno me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

She is most grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, family, the gospel, her testimony, and good health! A perfect day for Sandy would be a warm sunny day doing anything outside with her beautiful family.