Family Friday: Featuring My Sister (by marriage) JuLee

This week on "Family Friday" I'm featuring my sister "in-law" JuLee. I'm going to state right here at the top of this post that JuLee is one of the kindest, sweetest, and most sincere people that I know. When I talk to, or I am with JuLee she always makes me feel good.

JuLee's parents had three sons and one daughter. An interesting thing about JuLee's family is that all four of the kids names start with the letter "J" (like their dad Jerry) and all but one of them has double letters in their name. JuLee and Archie followed this pattern with their three girls, they all start with the letter "A" like Archie, and they all have double letters in their names.

Archie and JuLee met when Archie worked with JuLee's brother Jerry at Mountain Fuel (Questar), they were married on August 2, 1986 in St. Ann's Church. After the wedding they held a reception at the Jordan Riverboat. It was such a fun reception, and such a unique place, we all enjoyed it very much. JuLee and Archie's first home was a townhouse in WVC. JuLee has always been very organized, neat and tidy, and right on top of everything and anything that needs to be done. After a couple of years of married life their three little girls came in quick succession. I've always been impressed with how JuLee could work full-time, maintain a spotless home, and keep up with girls homework and lessons. JuLee and Archie have a close knit family unit; one of the things that impresses me the most is the fact that the three girls are best friends. JuLee is very disciplined and motivated (two attributes that I greatly admire), when Aubree graduates this spring, all three of her girls will have graduated with an associates degree from SLCC one month before their high school graduation. That is a fabulous accomplishment for each of these girls and I'm sure that JuLee was a motivating factor in it.

Alyssa Ann, JuLee Ann, Aubree Ann, and Ammanda Ann

One of my favorite JuLee stories happened several years ago while we were at Questar Lagoon Day. JuLee, Archie, Mike, and I and the four girls (Ammanda, Alyssa, Aubree, and Caitlin) were on the Log Flume ride. You know how long it takes to wait in line for that ride... forever!! The four girls were in one log, and the four adults in the log right behind them. A storm had started; there was thunder and lightening in the distance and the wind and rain was upon us. The girls log started to ascend the big hill (the one you look forward to during the whole ride) and just as they reached the top... the ride stopped. The log that the adults were in had just started to ascend the hill when this happened. It was pretty scary, the lightening, the wind, the rain. I don't remember how long we waited but we could hear some of the girls crying because they were scared. We kept shouting comforting words up the hill to them (shout and comfort don't really go together, but... it was a noisy storm). Finally the ride started to work and both of the logs went over the hill and made a big splash at the bottom. As the adult log meandered it's way back to the starting point where we would disembark, we could see that there were hundreds of people waiting for their turn on the ride, so JuLee started shouting a warning over and over, "DON'T.GET ON.THE RIDE!!!DON'T.GET ON.THE RIDE!!!" It was a little scary on the ride for a few minutes, but we laughed pretty hard at JuLee's council to deaf ears (the people still got on the ride). We still occasionally remember that story and Mike will say to JuLee, "DON'T. GET ON. THE RIDE."

One summer Mike and I and Jeff, Jeremy, and Caitlin went camping with JuLee and Archie's family in Yellowstone. We had such a fun trip together. I remember when we went to Old Faithful, as soon as it started to erupt JuLee was whooping and hollering with excitement. This was in August and Old Faithful was very crowded, JuLee was the most excited person there. It's always fun to see JuLee's enthusiasm.

Aubree, Caitlin, Alyssa, Ammanda, and JuLee; there is a reason that the girls are sitting on top of the truck and JuLee is standing as high up as she can get... there is a bear right across the street; seriously

At the beach house last summer; Mike, Aubree, JuLee, Ammanda, and Archie. Alyssa couldn't come, I suspect that is who JuLee is talking to on the phone

Things to know about JuLee: She is a wonderful hostess, she always makes you feel welcome in her home. She loves animals. She is very tenderhearted. She is extremely organized. She works hard. She likes "Survivor". She's a great wife and mother. She's a good listener. She's funny. She enjoys camping. JuLee and my son Jeffrey share the same birthday. She's kind. She is a very competitive player at musical chairs. Her nickname is Sally. She is a happy person. I love it when she laughs. She gave birth to Alyssa on my birthday. She always organizes the family Cherry Hill day for the birthdays. She has a dog named Biscuit. We are all so grateful that JuLee is in our family, and we all love her very much.