Meet the Hosts

Connie Nelson Wilkes was born and raised in Boise, ID. She was nominated to be the amateur
editor of these podcast episodes and truly questions why anyone would give this job to
someone with a chronic OCD personality? She is learning a lot about how often she interrupts
people…and has now made this her number one goal to improve on.

She loves classic movies, and the old black and white movies. Cary Grant is among her favorite
actors. Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly were the stars in her first date with her husband,
Vaughn. He took her to see a special viewing of the 1954 thriller Rear Window and instantly
won her heart without even knowing of her love of old movies!

She met Vaughn, just before he left on his mission and they wrote the entire time he served in
Australia. His shy, humble manner brings truth to the phrase, “opposites attract”. They are the
parents of 6 awesome children. Connie always wanted 6 kids, but high risk pregnancies
threatened her dream. Fortunately, Heavenly Father sent the last 2 at the same time making
her dream a reality! Having 6 kids with the oldest at the time being 8, her elementary education
degree from BSU helped keep her sane. The family teases her about the plaque in her kitchen
which reads, “When I said, ‘I Do’, I didn’t mean the cooking.” But it explains the reason why the term Yo-Yo was her go-to menu 75% of the time. Yo-Yo meaning You’re On Your Own! She
credits this motherhood flaw to her need to please people and finally succumbed to her
frustrations of thinking she could ever fix meals to please a family of 8. She is still working on
this guilt…but tries to tell herself, she was teaching her teenagers how to be self-sufficient.
She loves fitness and has taught aquatics exercise classes for over 20 years. Don’t let this fool
you….she really just needed the motivation of getting paid to work out and a class of people
waiting so she couldn’t talk herself out of going to the gym!

The greatest thrill of her life was becoming a grandma. She has a beautiful birth-granddaughter
named Ruby and 3 additional treasured grandchildren: Joey, Tennyson and Everett. She longs
for more…hint, hint and hopes to be able to retire from her many side careers to become a full-
time grandma! She loves the Lord. She loves teaching and testifying of His redeeming love. Her
quest is to bring others into the safety of His tender care.

Marlene was born in Montana in 1965 and raised both in Montana and Wyoming.

She is the youngest of 11 children. Her parents were ranchers, and her dad was known as one of the best horsemen in the area. Her favorite memories as a child are going with her family on round-ups and taking the cattle off the mountains, or when they would go to the mountains where the sheep were and stay in the sheep-herders wagon.  (…well her parents would remain in the wagon while she and her brother slept outside!)

She moved to Boise after high school. She worked there, and that’s when she met her soon-to-be husband, Michael.  After she  served a mission in Massachusetts for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,  she came home and married Michael Nelson in 1988. 

She and Michael have raised ten children and now have five of the cutest grandbabies soon to be six in June. 

She loves spending time with her husband, Michael, either riding bikes or going on hikes.  They’ve spent many hours together on snowmobiles, usually with one of the babies on her lap while snowmobiling.

She adores each one of her family members, and one of her favorite times is having them all together laughing and telling stories with each other. 

Marlene has been blessed with amazing friends. Some of which she runs with in the early hours of the morning being uplifted and edified with good conversations while running on the roads, snow, rain, or shine.  She also has a passion for good nutrition and experimenting on how to make a dish more healthy and yummy at the same time!

 She loves a good gospel doctrine conversation with her friends and family.  She loves Jesus Christ and tries fervently to keep her covenants.  And has to repent daily because she’s human and is constantly falling short. 

 This podcast has been a huge stretch for her and she is constantly feeling inadequate with it, but at the same time she has loved it and is excited for this new adventure of sharing her thoughts, experiences of her family and testimony of Jesus Christ.

Geri Lyn Harris Gropp loves people and words. Her newest family motto is JOY – Jesus, Others, Yourself. She believes that keeping life in that order is the surest way to true Joy! Her kids also get advice from her like, “There are a lot of stupid things in the world; don’t be one of them!” She lives a crazy life with her husband and 10 kids, 2 add-ons and 2 (almost 3) grandbabies that live in far away Utah!  She adopts every friend her children bring home and considers them her kids.

She was able to have her dream job for 25 years, being a stay-at-home mom and
homeschool teacher to her amazing children! (She is certain she learned a lot
more than they did!) She now works for Howell Orthodontics where she gets to
make people smile all day long plus work with amazing friends. She loves all the
people she meets at work, in the grocery store or wherever she goes.

She is currently seeking her bachelor’s degree online in Marriage and Family Sciences
and hopes to graduate before she dies! She loves traveling with her husband to
far off places, family vacations, and spending the summer on the lake in the boat
watching her kids expand their talents with wakeboarding and surfing. Camping
with friends and family are among her greatest loves. Others are dance and
Zumba workouts which she loves to teach as often as she can, playing piano and
singing when no one is listening! She craves dark chocolate with nuts, snuggles
with grandbabies, and time to write in her journal. She’s an ugly crier and snorts
when she laughs, but can’t help wearing her heart on her sleeve. She feels
completely inept at speaking on this podcast but loves to share her love of the
Savior.

Cheri Spjute (pronounced ‘spute’) grew up in Kuna Idaho and participated in volleyball,
basketball, tennis and cheerleading. She enjoyed life away from the city. She loved to ride
horses and motorcycles and camping with her family She loves the mountains, power-walking
and spending time with her family. She graduated from Ricks College (1986) and Boise State
University(1988) in education and still teaches pre-school in her home. She met her husband
Craig in Boise after a young adult dance and they were married in 1986. He taught seminary for
a few years and has been teaching at the Boise institute since 1991. He currently works with
special needs Seminary & Institute students in the Boise Idaho region. They both served as the
directors of the Boise Youth Spectacular (BYS) for 19 years and love working with young adults
and youth. Cheri serves as the Young Women President.

She is mom to 10 beautiful kids most of which are now grown and make her proud every day.
Being a grandma is one of her favorite titles although the littles usually call her Mimi.

Cheri and Craig love traveling and have led young adult tours to England, New York to Nauvoo
and cruises to ancient American sites in Mexico, Honduras & Belize. They spent 2 weeks in
Kenya-Africa on a service vacation and fell in love with the people and that country.

She enjoys Friday date nights and vacations with her friends and family. Service is her life and
if there is an opportunity to serve, she will find it and will bless others. She is a gifted teacher,
wife, mother and grandma. Her husband says she is the most gorgeous being to walk the earth
and as the poet said, “with her, there is Eden.”