Garden Tour Saturday

Glen has been cleaning up, trimming, and replanting after our hot, hot summer all of October. He is inviting the neighbors by to see his backyard garden this Saturday. Please feel free to stop on by.

Surprises await behind the garden gate. Don't you just love this garden sign made from an old breadboard? I found it in Provo on my last visit. See you soon!

Halloween was prep day

I spent Halloween prepping for a screening colonoscopy. Anyone who has been there and done that needs no further information. Those who haven't can wait until it is their turn. Suffice to say that Glen answered the door for the neighborhood trick or treaters.

He had some help. Jill and Lynette brought Kimber for an appointment today at St. Joseph's Hospital in their CF unit. Kimber was able to beat Glen to the door most doorbell rings. It was great to visit with them and to have them in our home overnight. Looks like we will be blessed with monthly visits while Jill and her family are living in Arizona - even if it is in what may be the closest house to the border along the whole Utah/Arizona boundary.

Janae, look who I kidnapped from Provo :)

Me and the Bluebird

On our last business trip to Utah we made it as far north as Logan. While Glen dined with a client, I dined solo at The Bluebird. As I sat talking and pondering with myself while I ate one of their gigantic dinner rolls, the realization came that I had last eaten at The Bluebird almost exactly 35 years ago!

The Fall after my marriage I was doing my internship at Utah Power and Light as part of my BYU course of study. Each day I would ride to downtown Salt Lake City (part of a car pool in which I paid for gas but got to sit in back and crochet an afghan as we waited in rush hour traffic) to the office, test kitchen, and auditorium of the Home Economists employed by Utah Power and Light. We tested recipes for inclusion in a recipe and tips pamphlet included in customers' monthly bills, prepared for and gave demonstrations in the auditorium, answered customer's questions on the telephone, and traveled to high schools to give demonstrations in home economics classes. (By far the scariest of the duties!) This meant travel to far away places such as Price and yes, Logan!

Logan Temple

Such excursions sometimes required overnight stays. While in Logan, my mentor took me to eat at The Bluebird which is a historical space. It includes a ballroom on the third floor, banquet rooms on the second, and a soda fountain and dining space on the main floor. During this visit, I saw a bride posing for pictures on the stairway with its beautiful carved banisters.

To give you some perspective on the difference 35 years can make, the electrical appliance that we were demonstrating in high school home economics classes across Utah was the microwave oven! We carried one with us, demonstrated and talked about how it worked and its merits and then let each student prepare a s'more in the microwave. It was pretty heady stuff!

Interestingly, it was also the year when home ec had become coed in Utah for the first time. Boys were now allowed to take home ec as an elective. High schools in the Salt Lake area were full of cocky boys with many questions and smirky smiles. The Logan boys, but especially the Preston, Idaho farm boys, were shy and quiet and looked at the floor. They almost seemed embarrassed by that microwave. However, I don't remember any boys turning down a s'more!

My every six months visitor

Julianna and I hung out for several days waiting for her mom to become "un" radioactive. It was a fun, busy delight. This little girl is a ray of sunshine and her preference is "OUTSIDE?"

So we went for walks around the neighborhood because that is easier than keeping her out of the pool. While we walked we practiced our counting. Little did I know that she is on to letters, too. She spent several minutes in front of this sign calling out random letter names. Give me an "O" anyone?

Julianna also never feels fully dressed unless there are a bunch of colored rubber bands on her wrist. We have a pattern going. One year ago she spent a week with me while her family was at Lake Powell, the end of March beginning of April 2010 she came again, and then this visit. Yup, it's Julianna and I every six months!

Once there was a boy, a very special boy

In June at Grant's memorial, several people, including relatives, brought pictures they had in their possession of Grant to share with his siblings. Some of the pictures were not of Grant but of Glen.

Such a handsome boy he was (and is)!! Here he stands in front of the fir tree in Grandma June's front yard.

Throwing pie in Hawthorne, California. I understand that 135th Street was a hopping place back in the 50's and 60's. Do you see any of your children in these pictures?

Childhood anxiety and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Sometimes you read a book which mimics your childhood and brings back memories and fears of long ago. "Countdown" by Deborah Wiles did just that for me. The main character, Franny, is in 5th grade and I was in 4th grade in October 1962. The setting of the book is near Andrews Air Force and Washington, DC. I lived in rural Eastern Idaho on a dairy farm, but like the main character felt the gut wrenching anxiety that was the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both of us practiced evacuation drills and hiding under our desks while at school. Both of us lay awake at night as our fears and imaginations took over.

Forty-eight years ago today, on a Tuesday, I spoke in hushed tones at recess to my friends as we pondered what might happen next after hearing President John F. Kennedy give an address on Monday evening to the nation in which he challenged Nikita Khrushchev of the USSR to remove the missile sites in Cuba.

Deborah Wiles in her documentary novel, which is both a novel and a sort of scrapbook, has taken her childhood experience and recreated a time of great historical significance for the USA. I found myself thinking about and reliving my life as a 9 almost 10 year old. Franny lived in a place most in danger of attack. I tried to take solace in the fact that I lived in a place that surely was so remote the missiles would have no interest. Then an adult, I don't remember whom, informed me that we were indeed a target being just miles from a new nuclear research lab in the nearby Idaho desert.

"Countdown" is the first of a planned trilogy, so it looks like I will be able to relive the whole decade that was the 60's with Deborah Wiles. The book may be written for middle schoolers, but adults will be drawn in by the history, pictures, and music lyrics. For a more definitive and less personalized review, go HERE. That is where I first learned of "Countdown."

Here I am in my 4th grade year at Plano Elementary School. Do we look scared and nervous? I do, can you pick me out? Hint: I was too vain to wear my glasses and was the tallest kid in the class. My teacher, Mrs. Kunz, always seemed a bit frazzled. I can see why. Look at the size of that class. When I look at this picture it seems like playing kickball with my friends was just yesterday. My two best friends were Julie Atwood standing next to the teacher and Ann Shirley seated directly in front of the teacher. Ann was also my neighbor on Moody Road. (I just realized as I tried to add an "e" to the end that she could have been Anne of Green Gables :)

Tara's wedding

We stayed over the weekend after Glen's business trip to Utah so that we could attend Tara and Christian's wedding party.

Christy, the mother of my daughter-in-law, Sally, is in the background. Tara is Sally's sister. The very tall beauty behind her is a sister of Christian who is also a super model. Christian's family is very tall family with 6 ++ feet the norm. Tara is greeting one of her high school friends from San Diego.

Tara is a graphic designer who had many good ideas for her special day. This is the club house at Soldier Hollow in Midway. The giant white balloons were stunning as was the scenery.

Tara looked beautiful in her champagne beaded gown. She and her step-mother, Brooke, agree that the decor is unique and just right.

Glen and Scott, the father of the bride, watch the photography session from the balcony.

One of the great things about our children marrying people from California is that we have met some wonderful new people. When Oscar arrived for the party, he became an instant star. So many people wanted to meet him. These are his surrogate grandparents and aunts. Lezlie (far left) and Nichelle and Sally were BFF's in high school. Kay and John, Lezlie's parents, have been so kind to Nichelle through the years. Kay and John were so excited to tell us about the arrival of their first granddaughter who they had just met in Texas. (You might notice that we also have a very tall member of our family. Yeah, Nate!)

Our wedding responsibilities included helping the nieces get ready to go the the Salt Lake Temple to greet their aunt as she exited the temple. They looked so cute in their jackets and styling dresses.

Sadie loved the new flower fairy doors book that I had purchased the previous day at Anastasia's Attic at Gardner Village. More about that fun day in a later post.

After the girls left for Salt Lake City with Aunt Amy, grandpa and grandma were in charge of Mabel for the rest of the day. This is how Mabel watched BYU football with Grandpa Glen. Special thanks to Great-grandpa and Great-grandma Alvord for letting us hang out at their house.

For more pictures of Tara and Christian's day go Here and Here and Here.