The Whittaker Family

Hola Ellsworth Ward Bloggers!

We’re the Whittaker Family. We’ve been in the ward since 1998. We remember when nothing around us existed - no stores, no schools or anything – just desert!
We are currently serving in Primary as CTR 8 teachers. We’ve had many callings, but love being in Primary.
To tell you a little bit about ourselves: Kendra was born in Merida, Yucatan Mexico and moved to Mesa when she was 8 years old. Dustin has lived in Mesa his entire life (except for his mission where he served in New York City and Connecticut). Dylan is five years old and is in Kindergarten this year.
We enjoy traveling as a family, watching movies, spending time together and cooking. Both of us work for Pearson Education Publishing and Dustin also works for an attorney. Dylan works hard by keeping busy in school.
We are very blessed to be in such a great ward.

The Dent Family

We are Jared, Rebecca, Cailin, and Macey.  We were married on November 22, 2002 and have two beautiful daughters.  Cailin will be three in December and is a fun spirited, bright, and seriously funny little girl.  Anyone that knows her knows she loves to talk and talk, loves to sing and dance, and is into all things girl.  Macey was just born on August 7, 2008 and is already a light in our little family.  We're so grateful to have her.  

Jared is currently studying to become a Radiology Technologist (RT) and works at True Imaging as an RT Assistant.  Rebecca works part time as a Book Keeper and also makes and sells salsa on the side to put her culinary degree to good use.

We have been in the ward since August of 2006.  We were thrilled to find so many old friends here and have made many new ones.  It will be great to get to know more of you through this blog!   

The Happy Hall/Hydes!

This blog is so fun!! We've been in the ward since early 2007, so a year and a half now. We feel so blessed to be part of this ward and our great neighborhood. We live in Muirfield Village. Brig bought this condo in Oct. of '06 and when he married Ali and her 3 lil' ladies on Feb. 3 they joined him! Check us out on our website www.easysite.com/brigandali for more fun photos and our bios!! We love the gospel and all of you!!

The Gunnell's

We are Phil & Heather Gunnell and have been in the Ellsworth ward for 4 years now and in the Stake for 6. Phil serves as Sunday School President and I am the Young Women's President. Phil is the guy roaming the halls during second hour at church making sure everyone is where they should be, especially our very social youth!

I work part-time as a dental hygienist and have started doing photography on the side. Phil works full time as a web programmer for CVS/Caremark in Scottsdale and we are in the throes of applying and interviewing for medical school, which he will start August 2009. He has an acceptance to a school in Nevada but we are hoping to stay in the Valley and go to U of A's Phoenix campus, which would mean we would get to stay in our ward, which we love! Either way we are definitely going to medical school next year.

We love to be active; camping, hiking, playing at the lake (when friends with boats call us!), Phil likes basketball and are always up for a game night. I love to read, love photography, cook and bake and have a recipe blog for fun. You can keep up with our family happenings at our blog: www.thegunnellfam.blogspot.com

The Nielsen's

We are Skyler and Jenny Nielsen. We have been in the ward for almost a year and have loved the Ellsworth Ward!!! Skyler and Jenny both grew up in Mesa, Skyler graduated from Mountain View and Jenny from Mesa High. We met in February of 2006 in a Book of Mormon class at the MCC Institute, and have been together ever since. We were married in November of 2006 in the Mesa Arizona Temple. Skyler is currently working and going to school full time and getting ready to apply for Medical School next summer. He is serving as the Stake Missionary Prep teacher and loves it. Jenny is working full time for an Orthodontist and waiting to get into Dental Hygiene. She loves working with the Laurel class and all the Young Women. We enjoy going to the lake, golfing, playing softball, spending time with family and friends, and relaxing if we are not in class or at work. We are so excited to be in the Ellsworth Ward and even more excited to become friends with all of you!! (jennyandskyler.blogspot.com)

The Williams Family

We are the Williams Family. Bill and Crystal have the pleasure of raising three great boys...Cayman, Merek, and Trey. We have been in the ward since late 2002 and enjoy being here very much. Crystal keeps everything running smoothly as a stay-at-home mom, and Bill keeps himself busy with technical sales, and a few other things. We also have Otis...who is our Golden Retriever (we're pretty sure), who we rescued from the streets about 9 months ago. Along with Otis we have two other pets; Cosmo is a parrot and Jack is a gecko.


Cayman, who is almost 11 years old, loves to read and devours any book, especially of the fantasy genre, that he can get his hands on. He is attending Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies and enjoys school very much.


Merek, our almost 8-year-old, will be baptised soon. He loves any kind of reptile, and has enjoyed taking care of his Gecko, Jack. He will be a 2nd grader this year at Patterson Elementary. He is very enthusiastic about his interests.


Trey, our youngest, will be 6 later this month. He will be in 1st grade at Patterson with his brother. Trey has an infectious smile and is a joy to have around. Trey loves to swim, and has decided to learn how to play the guitar.


Crystal and Bill like a lot of things...including travel, scuba diving, raquetball, and generally finding fun and interesting things to do. Recently, Bill has obtained his Pilot's license, and has been enjoying flying small airplanes and podcasting about the experiences (www.studentpilotcast.com). Bill also maintaines a personal blog at www.billwil.com. Crystal has been toying with the idea of blogging for a few months now, but hasn't started. We'll keep you posted.

Pulse with an "H"

Hello! We are the Hulse Family: Johnny, Melody, Daniel, & Jaxon.

Johnny and Melody have been married for almost seven years; we have two boys, Daniel (2 1/2) and Jaxon (13 months). Johnny grew up in downtown Mesa, off of Stapley and Broadway. He makes sure everyone knows he was a Mesa High Jackrabbit. Melody grew up in Hemet, Ca. and moved out here to go to college in 2000. We met shortly after Johnny returned home from the Pittsburgh PA mission and were married a year later in the San Diego temple. Johnny completed his BS in business marketing the same time Melody completed an MAED in Adult Ed and Distance Learning.

Our two very active boys keep us always on the move. Daniel loves anything with wheels or buttons. He loves basketball, swimming and going to the P-A-R-K. Daniel keeps us always learning what not to do as a parent! Jaxon loves anything he can put in his mouth, including dog food. He will try to copy anything his older brother does. His dimples are sure to melt any heart. Jaxon has a condition called Eosinophilic Esophagitis (try saying that 3x fast). Basically he is allergic to the protein in food. We are trying to figure out what he can eat, which so far is not much. We love our two boys, they are a great blessing. They bring such joy to our lives. I don't believe I have found anything in this world so beautiful as my two boys both asleep at the same time!

Johnny is in the Sunday School and Melody is the second counselor in the Young Women’s. We both love playing sports and especially love board games. We are always on the look out for other competitive couples who might be up for a game of Settlers! We look forward to getting to know more people in the ward.

The Huber's

Hi, We are the Huber Family; Chad, Ashley, Ella, and Carson. We were married November 22, 2003. We grew up 1 mile from each other our whole lives, but didn't really know each other. While Chad was on his Mission in Chicago, our wards rearranged and when he got home we were in the same ward. We were in the same young adult class, and he asked me out on a date. The rest is history. We dated for a year and a half before we got married. We had our first child, Ella Claire on October 14, 2005, what a joy she has been in our lives. She is full of energy, and has such a sense of humor. She sure keeps us on our toes:) We just had our 2nd, Carson on January 7, 2008. He has been such a great addition to our little family. He is such a good, and happy baby. I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mom. Chad has worked for T-mobile for the past 3 years doing site acquisition work(cell phone towers). He just opened a Spanish Movie Theater in April of this year. Life is so busy! We are truly blessed! We have a family blog also http://www.ashandchad.blogspot.com/.

The Maldonados

We are the Maldonados; Brent and Terina, Bosco and Bentley. We are both Arizona natives. Brent was born in Phoenix and raised in Chandler. Terina was born and raised in Prescott. We have been married almost 3 years. We met at a rock concert in Mexico. It was a great way to meet! Brent was living in Flagstaff going to NAU and Terina was living in Gilbert working at Seagull Book. About a year later we were married in the Mesa temple. We have been in the ward about a year and a half, but we have been in primary just as long so you may not know us, unless you are a parent of a CTR 5 child! Over the 3 years of our marriage, our two dogs have joined our family. They are great! They make us laugh almost everyday! They probably think they are our children!! Bosco is a 4 year old Boxer and Bentley is a 3 year old Yorkie-poo. Brent has worked for SRP in the billing department for the past 3 years and plans to retire there. Terina is a Massage Therapist and works for herself from home and traveling to others homes (feel free to call if you need and appointment!) We love to travel even if we don't get to do it as often as we'd like. We also enjoy a good movie, a good book, and The Office! Brent likes to play the guitar and bass. We also enjoy out door activities when the outdoors are hospitable. We love to get to know new people so feel free to call or stop by! We're in Muirfield Village. We also have a blog of our own, www.brentandterina.blogspot.com We look forward to meeting and becoming friends with all of you!

The Lee Family: Stephen, Tiffany and Tabitha

(We have 700 pictures on our camera and I can only find two of the three of us together...and we have 3-D glasses on in both!)

We are the Lee family. Stephen grew up in Scottsdale and graduated from Horizon High. I grew up in South Carolina, but moved to Mesa when I was a sophomore in high school. I graduated from Mesa High. Stephen and I met in a singles ward in March 1997. We were married six months later in the Mesa Temple. After years of longing for children, we adopted our wonderful daughter Tabitha in July 2005. She came to live with us on her 5th birthday. The day we sealed her to us was a great day! I can't believe how fast she is growing up!! She is now 8 and was just baptized.

We are also foster parents to some really loving kids. At the present time, we have a sibling set of three kids ages 6, 5, and 2. They keep us on our toes, but we really love having a big family. The hardest part about foster care is letting kids leave and go back to their families. I wish I could post pictures of the kids we have now, they are really adorable, but it is a breech of our contract to have them shown, so just look for us at church and see for yourselves! :0)

Stephen works for Hometeam Pest Control. I taught kindergarten for 11 years before becoming a stay at home mom. Our family loves to spend time together, travel, play games and go swimming.

The Steele Family

We are the Steele Family. We have lived in the Ellsworth Ward for 6 years, and AZ for 7 1/2. Lee was born and raised in Delta, UT. He always says Delta is not the end of the world, but you can see it from there. He is the youngest of 5 children. Carla was born and raised in Connecticut, and the youngest of 3 girls. Lee served in the CT Hartford Mission. His first area was Carla's home ward. A friendship began and when Carla left on her mission a year later they stayed in touch. Carla served in the Chile Concepcion Mission, and upon returning met up with Lee. The sparks flew and they were married 8 months later in May of 2000 in the Manti Temple.

We have 3 children. Kristian is 6 and loves soccer. He will be starting the 2nd grade. Jillian is 3 and she loves babies and girly things. She will be starting pre-school this fall and is very excited. Kedrik is 2 and he loves Bob the Builder and motorcycles. We love the Ellsworth ward. Our testimonies have been strengthened by our association with so many wonderful faithful people in this ward. We love the Lord and are grateful for all of our blessings.

The Bish-Ip's Family

Hi, we're the Ipsons.

As evidenced by the retiring of the big green 15 passenger van, our large family is dwindling as our children are growing up and moving on to new and exciting things. We are so blessed to be able to share in their experiences. Jarom currently serves in the Chile Vina Del Mar Mission, Landi has been serving in Taiwan and comes home VERY soon (YAY!), and child #4, Justin is in Italy on his mission. Megan, child #3, just graduated from BYU and begins her teaching career in the fall. Kara graduated from high school and will attend a local community college on a Cross Country athletic scholarship. That leaves three...Kristen and Jordan who are also into running, and Kylie, who is looking forward to 2nd grade.

Lance is an Accounting Manager by day and busy church worker by night. Valerie is in to writing and reading and has a home business selling vinyl lettering. She occasionally does respite and habilitation care for special needs children through Metro Care Services.

This all began when Lance and Valerie met at a BYU Ward Opening Social Dance (seriously) and the rest, as they say, is history...