July 14, 2009
A little history about myself…….

My full name is Katherine Rosanne Farr. I was born on August 3rd 1988 at the Salem Oregon hospital. I don’t remember very much from my childhood but there are a few things I’ve been told. When I was born my hair was “flaming red”; I also immediately attached myself to my brother Will. I would cry if anyone else besides my brother was holding me. I have random bursts of memories. The information I share in this short history of myself are the things I remember the most, especially my funny experiences.

There is a video back at my home in Oregon of my mom feeding me when I’m a little baby. She is feeding me bananas and I am growling. I love that video. We also have a video of me from about 1993 and I am dancing with my Papa. That is another one of my favorite
videos. I’ve grown up in the same house all my life until I went to college. My home is a log cabin. My family often would travel to the beach and we would build sand castles and play in the water. One particular memory I remember when I was younger is when I wanted to feed our neighbors cows. I went into our kitchen to find something I could feed the cows but the only food I could find was marshmallows. I decided to feed the cows marshmallows and from what I could tell they enjoyed it very much. Every Monday night my family participated in family home evening. I remember not being able to say family home evening so I would say family home “neem neem”. I remember my parents always laughing when I said it; so every Monday night I enjoyed running around the house telling everyone “It’s family home neem neem time”. One time my dad tried to teach me how to say family home evening, and I was finally able to say it but immediately went back into the habit of saying family home “neem neem” because I enjoyed it so much. For a short period of time in grade school I did ballet. The ballet teacher’s home was right next to my grade school so I would walk to my ballet lessons. My family always did fun camping trips sometimes with relatives. I always enjoyed when we would stay at a camp ground and us kids would ride our bikes around or feed chipmunks. My family owned a video camera that we were able to put VHS tapes in to record on. That video camera was SO ghetto awesome!!! I remember as I grew older my parents became less and less inclined to use the camera because it was getting so old, but I also remember I loved to bring the video camera out on any occasion because it was just so awesome and people would always comment on it. The video camera finally stopped working. I was very sad!

One unique thing about me is that I was born with a rare vascular disorder that causes my whole right side to be larger then my left. This is caused by my right side having more tissue then my left. Along with my vascular disorder I have something called port wine stain which is similar to a strawberry birth mark that runs up my entire right side. Compared with other people who have these same disorders mine is very subtle and hardly noticeable. My leg and foot have the most noticeable effects from my disorder. I remember being uncomfortable wearing shorts. One occasion in grade school I was playing on the playground at recess and I was wearing shorts. One of the girls looked at my leg and said “you have a disease”. It really hurt me and for years I was uncomfortable wearing shorts in front of other people. Now it doesn’t bother me to wear my shorts in front of people. I wear a medical stalking on my right leg to support my veins. Sometimes now when people see my medical stalking they are curious and don’t understand and usually ask me for an explanation. I have found that I often wear pants just because I don’t feel like explaining why I am wearing a medical stalking. I have gone to Shriners Hospital once a year for all my life. I remember one day that I visiting Shriners and they said to me that I might be able to spend the night at Shriners sometime. Of course I was excited because I was very young and I was thinking I was going to be able to have a “sleep over” at Shriners; little did I know what me spending the night really encompassed. When I was 9 I had surgery on my foot. At the time of my surgery my right foot was about 2 or 3 inches longer then my left foot. The doctors opened up my foot and scraped 11 bone plates, they also removed a bone from one of my toes. The surgery they performed allowed my left foot to eventually catch up in length to my right foot. Now my feet are the same length. Shriners has always been a special Hospital to me. The cost of the surgery was free because they are a hospital that serves those in need who are not able to afford proper medical
treatment.

When I was younger I always loved to dress up. Sometimes I would dress up in ridiculous outfits and run around the house or play outside with my brothers and sisters. I also remember having fun while dressing my brother up as a girl. My sister and I would ask him to play Barbies with us, which he did and it was always very enjoyable. Sometimes when his friends were around my sister and I would joke
around him about playing Barbies with us. We had a box full of blocks we would build little forts out of and play with our action figures or JI Joes in. I have a huge collection of star wars action figures

I began collecting when I was very young. The first star wars action figure I ever received was of Luke Skywalker from Dagaba. I was very young when my parents gave it to me for Christmas. I’ve lived in the same house my entire life until I left for college. Our family has owned 3 acres of land and our home is a log cabin. We owned a field that always seemed huge and it was full of scotch broom. As kids we would build forts in the
scotch broom, it was easy to get lost. At the end of the day after playing around in the field, all the kids but me would come sneezing home. I have never really had allergies.

Our family has always grown a large garden. I remember for family home evening going down to the garden and putting fertilizer on the raise beds. It seemed like we always had about 10 rows of corn. I always hated going down to the garden to
weed. It was SO BORING and it would take me hours to weed one row of corn. A good portion of my chores when I was younger was watering the garden and the plants around the house and I remember hating doing it. Now when I look back it makes me laugh. The tradition of working in the garden allowed me to discover my love for gardening. Sometimes I spend time with my mom helping my mom in the garden and I always love that time I get to spend with her. Likewise growing up I remember my
mom canning food such as gravy, beans, tuna, etc. She also would make home made jelly and freeze and can it. It was a task helping my mom by canning food or making jelly. Now that I am older I enjoy the time I spend with my mom canning and making jelly. It has been enjoyable to bring home canned food to college.

As a family we would spend a lot of time at the beach. I loved going to the beach and wading in the water and picking up little rocks and shells. Sometimes I would collect buckets and buckets of broken shells to bring home. There was one occasion on my mom’s b-day when we went to a beach called fogerty beach to celebrate. My sister had recently given my mom a check she needed to cash and my mom had been given a check for 100 dollars from my dad for her b-day. Both of these checks had been placed carefully in my mom’s purse. When we arrived at the beach we parked unconsciously with bushes on one side of our car. A little ways away from our car there was a man sitting at a

picnic table. I can easily remember what he looked like because he looked completely out of place. His hair was bleached blond and he was wearing thick black glasses. His shirt was button up with a color and it was pinstriped a very light blue color. I remember his face and that he had sort of a nervous look about him. He had no positions that I could see and he was just sitting there. When we got out of the car we put most of our valuables in the trunk of our car. These items included my moms purse, a video camera, serophsky binoculars, and a few other items
I can’t remember. We began to walk to the beach because you walk down a pathway that has a wide stream running next to it to get to the beach and my mom and sister told me later that they had a bad feeling. The man sitting at the table was the only person who observed us putting our valuables in the trunk of our car. We enjoyed the time we spent on the beach and it was very relaxing. When we arrived back at the car a huge rock had been thrown through the window on the side next to the bushes. Nothing inside the car was missing but all the possession we had placed safely in the trunk of our car were gone. We went straight to the bank but at the time the bank was closed. Fortunately there were still a few employees there who allowed us to come in. My parents were able to file reports and close down credit cards. The drive home was very windy and cold and my sister and I huddled under a blanket together. Later we received a call from the police who informed us that they had our binoculars in the bushes. It was funny that they were able to find those binoculars because they are very expensive binoculars! To this day I still use those binoculars when I hunt with my dad. Two years after this incident we received another phone call from the police at 2 in the morning. Someone had found my moms purse in the stream at the beach and the only item left in it was my military ID. The police were calling to make sure that I was ok and safe. I laugh at this story because I like to tell people that I’ve been assumed dead.

I remember growing up and at my home we had an electric can opening. It had been a gift to my mom from my oldest sister’s boyfriend Donavan. One day when I was working where I had a job at a theme park called Enchanted Forest I was preparing in the ice cream shop for the day. I was about 15 years old and all the hot fudge had been used up the day earlier; I needed to open a new one. I didn’t know how to use a regular can opening and I was by myself so I had to find a random guy and ask him how to open a can. The guy got a really funny look on his face when I asked him how to use a can opener, but for the first time in my life I accomplished using a can opener.

Some experiences I remember having when I was younger are deaths in my family. I remember when my Nanan and Papa died. Both of them passed away from lung cancer. I was only 3 when they passed away but I remember them very clearly. I remember enjoying Christmas at their house and watching movies and playing with kittens. I remember also when my Grandpa Griffin passed away. I remember the day; it was February 28th, 1998. I was only 10 but I felt very close to my Grandpa. He was very sick when he passed away. I remember going to visit my Grandma and Grandpa and I would run through the door and my Grandpa would say “Katie” and I would run into his arms and give him a huge hug. I have been told that my Grandpa was sometimes very grouchy, but I don’t remember that side of him. I can only really remember one occasion when he got angry. I know that he loved me very much and I miss him very much. I also remember when my Auntie Linda passed away. I remember sitting one the couch in my sister’s lap and just crying really hard. My Auntie Linda was also very sick when she passed away.

One especially fond memory I have is Christmas with my dad’s side of the family. My dad is from England. When my dad’s family gets together they always make funny jokes. We have a white elephant gift exchange (which is always ugly gifts) and boisterous laughing can be heard throughout the house. After our white elephant gift exchange, everyone always tries to hide their ugly gift on the tree in the persons home in which we celebrated Christmas that year.

I love to hunt! My favorite time of the year is when I get to go up in the hills with my dad and hunt elk. The atmosphere is so beautiful and the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen was when I was up in the hills with my dad. We took pictures. I enjoy the fresh air and the absence of humanity up in the hills. I also enjoy not putting on make up or taking showers and acting like a boy for about a week. I love the feeling of freedom I get when I’m up in the hills and I don’t have to look good for others who may see me! My dad loves to tell me crazy stories about things that have happened up in the hills with my uncles. We use walkie talkies to communicate up in the hills and each of us have nicknames. My nickname is Skipper because I enjoyed skipping school to go hunting with my dad. I often times throughout the year have withdrawals from hunting! I have never actually shot an elk but I have spotted elk for my dad and uncles and there was particular occasion when I spotted an elk and my cousin shot it. That was very exciting to me. Although it seems gory, one of my favorite parts of hunting is cutting and cleaning the hide. I had a neighbor named Paul White who was very special to me who was an old cowboy. He made horse saddles and had friends that made all sorts of unique items. He received a collection of handmade knives from one of his friends which he passed on to each of his nephews. After giving the knives to his nephews he had one knife left which he gave to me. I felt so special that he would give me a knife that I found so valuable. He also made a sheath that holds my knife. Eventually Paul White passed away which was very devastating for me but I will always remember how special he was to me and how optimistic he was. I have used the knife he gave to me to cut up elk carcasses. I love to show off my knife to anyone who will allow me to show it to them.

I recently received my mission call to McAllen Texas. I report on August 5th, 2009. I will receive my endowments on July 24th, 2009. Today July 14th, 2009 I had a meeting with my Stake President and received my temple recommend. The idea of receiving my endowments is so exciting!

The experiences I’ve had so far in life have been so important for my development and growth. I’m mostly appreciative for the close relationship with my family. I feel that heavenly father has blessed me with these experiences.