HISTORY

A Little History:
Our story begins in Pocatello, Idaho, circa 1972, when the lovely Debby Christensen agreed to a first, though fateful date with admirer, David Croshaw. Long story-short, he bade her follow him, and they went arm-in-arm to the Logan, Utah temple for establishment of an eternal family unit, Generation 1, on May 23 1973.

From their first blissful summer in Salt Lake City, educational pursuits took them to Provo/Orem, Utah, birthplace of Leslie and Rebecca, and to San Francisco/Oakland California, birthplace of Colin and Matt. Then, for establishment of livelihood, expansion of the tribe with Abby and Dana, and for raising/unifying of Generation 2, it was back to the roots in Pocatello for a rewarding sojourn.

In time, driven by a raging, but commonly shared sense of adventure and independence, one-by-one, Generation 2 escaped the homeland to distant regions of the country and the world, each ultimately developing their own tribal expansions by pairing with worthy mates and initiating Generation 3.

Now sensing fulfillment of their purpose in Pocatello, Generation 1 has also left those roots and transplanted to Cascade Idaho, from which base, they anticipate more abundant contact with The Posterity, Generations 2 and 3, in the future. That contact however, awaits fulfillment of a call to LDS missionary service in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, wherein they hope to help the state of the world by sharing the love of Jesus Christ.

So now, including Generation 0 (Grandma and Grandpa Christensen) home base includes Yuma, Arizona, Pocatello, Idaho, Cascade, Idaho, Vancouver, BC, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Spokane, Washington, Boise, Idaho, Los Angeles, California, back to Boise, Idaho, and on and on (Generation 3+) to infinity.

Our Mission Statement:
This is the blog of our eternal family unit. Initiated years ago, it served well as a journal, but even more so, as an archive of our personal interaction. It was a gathering place, a confabulation instrument, a unifying force for four generations of widely dispersed and progressively prolific posterity, and their valued associates. Though it served these purposes well for many years, it eventually took a back seat to new-kids-on-the-block, Facebook, and Instagram, and was sadly forgotten.

We now move to resurrect this blog with an added functional purpose of archiving the missionary experiences of Generation 1, of their movements and activities as they participate with The Gathering of Israel in the land northward. In so doing, we hope that via their own comments and posts, this blog will again serve to gather and unify the posterity and their friends.

As in the past, that the young and vibrant may know the old and tired, that enduring bonds may be fostered and maintained, that experience and encouragement may be openly shared, that posterity may embrace truth, and that hearts may be knit together, we must resist detachment despite our geographic divergence. We shall do so here.
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Sunday, June 8, 2008

We Made It!!

For those of you who don't frequent the VanderLouw family blog (dad)...

So, after months of anticipation and preparation, we are finally here!! We actually got here a week ago, only to learn that the movers wouldn't be here with all of our stuff until FRIDAY!!! We are so lucky that Ray's work paid for movers, so I am totally not complaining, but 10 days?! That is how long it took from the time they loaded it until we got it. So we were living on air mattresses with a borrowed TV/DVD player for most of the week. We were so happy when they finally arrived on Friday. It was seriously exhausting trying to keep the kids all in check when they were unloading, but I was so relieved when I finally had my bed to sleep in (despite the fact that I am still waking up at 5 am every day!!). Anyway, the house is still a mess, but we have the kitchen and living room all unpacked. Ray is leaving tomorrow for the week for work, (nice timing, I know) so who knows when it will all get done! It has been absolutely frigid here since we arrived. I don't think it has gotten over 60 the entire week. The average has been the low to mid 50's. Needless to say, I didn't pack hardly any warm clothes (it was in the 80's in OK when we left!!) So the kid's clothes were seriously disgusting when we finally got our washer and dryer! It is supposed to start warming up next week, but Tuesday isn't supposed to get any warmer than 50!! Despite all that, it is so beautiful here. I sooo missed the mountains. It feels wonderful to be surrounded by them again!

Here is a little overview of our trip!


We stayed in Goodland, KS on our first night. I guess that Goodland is the sunflower growing capital of the US. There was this 80 ft. painting of Van Gough's "Sunflowers". The story is that when Van Gough painted this particular piece he did 7 different paintings. Some art teacher in Canada decided to do all 7 paintings on giant 80 ft. steel easels and place on on each continent in the world. Little ol' Goodland, KS got the North American painting! This was right by our hotel. We passed up the largest prairie dog in the world a few miles back!


Maggie wasn't in the Colorado pic because she was zonked!!

We actually missed the Wyoming sign when we got to WY because of construction. So we just crossed the street when we got to ID (we were on a little deserted 2 lane highway) and took the picture with they WY sign!

Yeah!! Back in beautiful Idaho!

We stopped in Pocatello and stayed for a day. It was a much needed break that all were grateful for. Unfortunately, grandma and grandpa were on vacation, but my sister Dana, her husband and kids are staying with my parents until they move to San Antonio next week. So we got to see them and all the cousins got to play. The had so much fun!!

Max was extremely grateful for the break. He loves grandma and grandpa's house more than just about anywhere else! (We had Max groomed before we left, when we picked him up Grace saw the green handkerchief around his neck and said "did they say that Max was a pioneer dog?" It was really cute.)

You can tell that Grace and Colby are related!! They had so much fun together!

Our trip to Walmart. I love the way Maggie is leaning over to get in the pic!!

Jez and Trina came to visit us while we were there. They are moving to Minnesota next week!

Ironically we didn't get a picture by the Washington sign because it was in the middle of the freeway, not on the left hand side. But we are here and very happy about it!

7 comments:

Jason and Dana said...

Funny how the sign in Idaho is just a plain blue sign, with Idaho written in a different font. And all the other signs are a lot more colorful. I think I should write to the Idaho State Department of Transportaiton and ask whats up. Put a Boise State Bronco on there or something.
Only one week until we are on the road. Funny how ourlives are so far away, but so much the same. So much change in this family.
I'm proud to be a "Croshaw"
Jason

Colin & Lori said...

Jason,
Don't you mean an Idaho State Bengal? It has Idaho in the name. Boise isn't the name of the state you know, get it right.
Colin

Colin & Lori said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Leslie said...

It was so great reading your post, and so strange at the same time. It made me remember the trip we took (round trip) to Chicago. We have so many pictures by state signs. The weird thing for me was that now, Becky is the mommy and has her own kids. I can't believe how quickly time passes. It makes me kind of sad...

Colin & Lori said...

Maggie is so big now!! I just can't believe that is the same girl that was here last November. What a trip. Glad you made it safe and sound. Carmen said it has been cold there. Take serious advantage of the weather when it gets warm or you will wish you did. Lori

rebeccaV said...

It has been freezing!!! It snowed this morning!! Is this really June?!

Jason and Dana said...

Colin,
I was thinking we wanted something that the state could be proud of, so I think that rules out the bengals. Refer to Sept 4th 2004 Boise State 65 ISU 7.
Jason