Mis Padres

My mom’s name is Bilynda Elrey Drews—she goes by Lyndi. Her name is a combination of her parents’ names, Bill & Lyn Elrey—clever, no? She was born August 15, 1951 in Monterey Park, California. She is the oldest of 4 siblings: Lyndi, Sam (11/28/52), Marti (9/24/54), and Matt (4/2/57). It’s easy for me to remember the birth years of my mom, aunt, and uncles because they are all exactly 20 years earlier than the first 5 kids in my family. In fact, Addie’s birth made four generations of first-born girls born in years ending with a “1” (Grandma Elrey-1931, Mom-1951, Me-1971, Addie- 2001…of course I broke the 20-year pattern and waited until I was 30 to have my first baby!). She only lived in California for a little while; her parents relocated to Phoenix, then Tucson, back to Phoenix, and finally settled in Tucson—they still live in the same house—in 1965.

My dad’s name is James Arthur Layton (Jim). He was born November 13, 1944 in Thatcher, Arizona. He is a direct descendant of Christopher Layton (“The Great Colonizer’) and his 8th wife, Hannah Maria Septima Sims. Dad is the middle child and only son of Max Thorwald Layton and Muriel Webster. He has an older sister, Maxine, and a younger sister, Gwen, who died in 1996. Dad grew up in Thatcher, then attended the University of Arizona, where he met my mother. They lived in Tucson, then moved back to the Gila Valley briefly (Pima, AZ, near Thatcher), then to Pocatello, Idaho. Dad has lived in Pocatello for the past 30 years and has worked for Simplot most of that time in the chemical lab.


My “other” dad and legal father is James Ernest Post. He was born February 21, 1950 in Tucson, Arizona. His parents are Ernest Eugene Post and Sine Olive Scharling. He married my mom in August 1978, just before I turned 7, in the Arizona Temple. He is the third of seven children—two older sisters, Barbara and Iva, and a younger sister Dorothy, twin sisters, Jeanne and Jayne, and a baby brother, Matthew. He lived in Tucson all his life, and grew up in a house my Grandpa Post built in the Binghampton area of Tucson. He has a rich pioneer heritage, as does my Dad Layton, so I never missed out on the feeling of having something to live up to.

My stepdad, Mark Drews, was born August 26, 1952 in Akron, Ohio, to Betty and Jack Drews. He is the oldest of four children—Marty, Marsha, and Mike. He was raised Lutheran and joined the LDS church after he married my mom in 1989.

My stepmom, Becky Tew, was bornn May 16, 1954 in Firth, Idaho. (I need more info about my step parents! Leave comments and fill me in!)

First Entry, Third Blog

I decided to create this blog for the sole purpose of personal & family history. Making a record has been a goal and a project of mine for a while now, but I haven't been very good at blogging it all like I promised my self I would back in the fall. It seems a little "non sequitor" to mix my history blog with my regular blog, so I'll keep 'em separated.

I have a list of questions to answer--one answer per entry, generally, but I would like to lay the groundwork of my family history by posting the info about my generation--our parents and children. It gets complicated, so I will post it in graph form.

This is a graph of my family of origin (CLICK TO ENLARGE). It feels much less complicated than it looks--especially since all of my siblings are really cool and we have a ton of fun when we get together.

While we're on the subject of siblings, let me list their families now (I know, I know...it keeps getting more complicated!):

Jamie (me) m. Rich Melin 2/17/2001 in the San Diego Temple; 2 daughters--Adeline (11/21/01) and Heidi (04/15/04), and we expect our third and last in September 2006 [James Ole Richard (9/5/06)].

Willy Post m. Audrey Anne Rasmussen 11/18/94 in the Arizona Temple; 3 kids--Melanie (08/06/98), Liam (01/11/01), Spencer (03/02/04), and they expect their fourth in November [Maeby Lynn Post (11/03/06)].

Laura m. Darrin Lehman 07/03/97 in Akron, Ohio; 2 sons-- Gabriel (05/10/94) and Jared (03/10/01).

Lisa (kinda complicated... div. Joe Oslin 2001(?); partner of 2 years Chris Calhoun); 2 sons--Cody (07/20/93) and Tyler (10/08/94).

Sam Layton m. Kristen Dever 12/30/2005 in the Arizona Temple; [Owen Elrey Layton (2/25/09)].

Dana Drews (div. Eric Duckett); 2 kids--Evan (10/18/00) and Leanne (01/29/03) and Lizzy (01/19/09).

Jill (Sine Jillene) m. Drew Petersen 12/19/98 in the San Diego Temple; 4 kids-- Alice (12/06/99), Isabelle (07/12/02), Jack (04/26/04), and Benjamin (11/17/05).

Matthew Post m. Amie Zauss 11/30/02 in the San Diego Temple; 2 kids--Jake(03/01/04) and Sam (02/21/06) --[Baby Sam was born on his Grandpa Post's birthday...I think that's special!].

Sara m. Rob Hamlin 09/01/01 in the San Diego Temple; 2 kids--Raef (06/20/02) and Brady (08/28/04) [and Kathlyn/K-lee (4/20/07)].

I haven't seen the kids on my Dad's side for quite a while, except my step sister Kaycee, who has a great husband and daughter, Becca, who just turned 2. I know my half brother Ryan has a son, Gavin (I think he is 5) and a daughter. My half sister Rhonda Mullins expects her 4th baby in November 2009, and Erin has Kennady and Max, and my step sister, Kelly, has 2 sons, Tyrell and Mason. They are great pals with my dad and my dad has even brought them up to visit me during our town's Summerfest. In case you're keeping a tally, that's 19 [24 now] grandkids on my mom's side or 16 [20 now] on my dad's side, or a total of 26. It's getting pretty numerous and it kind of reminds me of our Old Testament studies this year, except replace all the birthright swaps and handmaidens with divorces and adoptions!

My next entry will be about the three generations before us. I'll try to gather some photos and post them as a Sunday evening activity.