I spend a lot of time at my old homestead in Springville but it is in pieces here and there. Today I am spending the whole day because the caregivers are gone to a family reunion. They've been gone since Thursday but there has been a whole network of people here: first Amber, a paid caregiver, then Jan, my sweet sissy, then Melanie, another paid caregiver, then Loni, my cute niece who brought her darling kids Devin and Tessa. Tessa is 3 years old and she said she didn't want to leave, she wanted to live here forever. I told her it was such a fun house to grow up in and she could come back whenever she wants. I took Loni's place and have spent the day cleaning, fixing, watering, cooking and shopping for my mom. But making that statement to Tessa brought back some of my favorite memories of this house:
1) making cucumber boats to sail down the ditch out front (the ditch is gone).
2) swinging in the porch swing with any family member, friend or boyfriend (Kelly bugged the front porch so he could listen in ...)
3) irrigation day! The front and back lawns would be flooded and we'd get to play in our own 5" pool of cool water on hot summer days.
4) climbing the big catalpa tree out front. I can still do it. We played for hours in that tree, making certain branches rooms and talking about everything under the sun.
5) playing "red light, green light" and "Mother, may I?" on the front sidewalk. I loved scissor hops and giant steps the best.
6) playing in our own play house. My dad built a playhouse on stilts, well, three stilts and one tree. Kelly and I painted it white. It had three windows and stairs that climbed two sides. We had a little cupboard in there. It was one of our favorite hide-aways.
7) planting flowers with my mom. She planted geraniums (I think they stink), marigolds, petunias and others all around the edges of the yard. I always got to help, even when she broke her leg golfing (fore! oops) and had to roll around on a car dolly. (I plant all the flowers now.)
8) playing basketball by the shop. We played HORSE for hours at a time. I was even good.
9) the Cowpalace - this is the big building at the back of the property. When it was first built it was my dad's shop and an office downstairs and one huge playroom upstairs. That room had a ping-pong table, my brother's band equipment and my dad's gun reloading stuff. We named it the Cowpalace after some big entertainment place in California, I don't know why. Now it is his original shop and three apartments with a different staircase from the circular one that was there first. We had sleep-overs in that big room. I remember eating Chick-O-Sticks one night.
10) Christmas morning. OK, so we always had to wait for my dad to use the bathroom (I think he read whole Louis L'Amour novels in there) but then we would all tear down the stairs in order of age to see what Santa had brought. The first few years we tore through everything but then my dad brought order to Christmas morning by having us all open presents in turn. It lasted forever but the wait was a killer. My mom always made pancakes, in fact she made pancakes all the time. My friends remember coming over for pancakes a lot, all year long.
11) April Fool's Day - I was so gullible. Maybe it's why I like to pull pranks now. My mom would stand at the back door and say, "Kid's look at that helicopter landing in the yard!" or "There's a giraffe in the backyard!" I'd crane my head and look and look and say, "Where?" My dad would make pancakes and put a layer of wax paper in the middle. Got us every time until we wised up.
12) Valentine's day. My grandma Wheeler would come and leave candy at the front door, knock and run. We'd open it and then find her behind the bush out front. Nowadays I am the Valentine Fairy Monster and I do the same thing.
I had a really terrific childhood. This house is magical. I have 99.9% wonderful memories. The 1% is mostly from me doing naughty things which got laughed at so they really weren't all that bad. I'm thankful for good, loving parents and siblings who have always been friends. Pretty charmed life, really.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Our mobile home is toast
There was a picture of a mobile home in the paper the other day. It had burned in a fire. It looked familiar, like the one we owned in the '80s so when I was down in that neighborhood today, I drove by. It was ours. It made me sad. We have so many good memories of the time we spent there from October 1983 to August 1988.
Riley had just started his Ph.D. at the Y, Jason was 2 1/2 and Andrea was three months old when we bought it. We figured it was a good stepping stone while Riley was still in school. It was in a nice park, not a trashy park. We had great neighbors and made lifelong friends there, some that we still get together with.
These are some memorable moments from living there:
1) Jason and Andrea both learned how to ride bikes there. They also both started school at Timpanogos Elementary.
2) Amy was born while we lived there.
3) We had Thanksgiving dinners and family Christmas programs there.
4) I babysat for other people, giving my kids friends to play with and us some extra income.
5) I served in the Young Women program and loved my young women, some who are now friends on Facebook.
6) We had several litters of baby kitties there. The kids named them odd names like Lizard, Blizzard, Gizzard, Flour and Bakery. I think the mom to all of them was "Yeow," who Amy named.
7) Amy pulled most of her little shenanigans at that house: butter all over her body, hair gel in the carpet, pulled the Christmas tree over three times until we finally nailed it to the wall, flushed my glasses down the toilet and loved Wonder Woman underwear.
8) I started winning contests on a monthly basis while we lived there. My friend Leslee and I won a trip to Acapulco. I also won a "Consumer of the Month" contest and Riley and I were flown to San Francisco to pick up our $1,000 check. This led to the jobs I had with Purchase Power while we lived in Utah, California and Texas.
9) We lost five loved ones while living there. My grandma Wheeler had a stroke the summer of 1984 and I went to the hospital up the street every morning at 5 a.m. for five weeks to be with her at a time of day I wasn't needed as a wife or mother. She died July 14. My great-grandma Ford died within weeks of her. Riley's mom Aileen died in November of 1986, followed by my grandpa Poulson in Dec. of 1986. His wife, my grandma Poulson, died 17 months later in May 1988. I hadn't had anyone in my family die since I was six years old so it was difficult to lose so many in just a few years.
10) We played in the park swimming pool nearly every day in the summer to keep cool. My niece Steph remembers, "Around and around, around and around, brush your teeth, around and around" and other pool ditties.
11) Riley built a great porch where we had our picnic table and a kid-size picnic table. The kids had birthday parties out there. Andrea had one where friends brought dolls - mostly Cabbage Patch kids.
12) Riley had his bike stolen from that house, one his grandfather had given him.
13) I discovered Amy had molars when I had to dig manure from the garden out of her mouth.
14) We made great friends with Doug and Nann Mower, Ev and Kathy Snyder, Dave and Leslee Henson, Alvin and Cindy Williamson, Ray and Eileen Barney, Orlo and Vinetta Eyre, Debra Prestwich, Betty Morgan (of the brownies fame) and many others. We've kept in touch with them and still laugh about our times together back in the '80s.
15) We used to walk over to the Provo River to feed the ducks, a cheap family outing.
16) We got our first video camera while we lived there. Riley's dad Winston bought it for us.
We colored Easter eggs, carved pumpkins, set out Christmas stockings and got candy from the Valentine Fairy Monster there. We had yard sales, played in the snow, had Family Home Evenings, ate 4th of July breakfast and went to the Grand Parade from there. We bought our first family car - the '81 Toyota Corolla which we just sent to the Kidney Foundation in 2008 - in 1985 while we lived there. We spent some of the best years of our lives in the 14X70 mobile home and even though the house itself is now a burned-out shell, the home part will always remain in our hearts.
Riley had just started his Ph.D. at the Y, Jason was 2 1/2 and Andrea was three months old when we bought it. We figured it was a good stepping stone while Riley was still in school. It was in a nice park, not a trashy park. We had great neighbors and made lifelong friends there, some that we still get together with.
These are some memorable moments from living there:
1) Jason and Andrea both learned how to ride bikes there. They also both started school at Timpanogos Elementary.
2) Amy was born while we lived there.
3) We had Thanksgiving dinners and family Christmas programs there.
4) I babysat for other people, giving my kids friends to play with and us some extra income.
5) I served in the Young Women program and loved my young women, some who are now friends on Facebook.
6) We had several litters of baby kitties there. The kids named them odd names like Lizard, Blizzard, Gizzard, Flour and Bakery. I think the mom to all of them was "Yeow," who Amy named.
7) Amy pulled most of her little shenanigans at that house: butter all over her body, hair gel in the carpet, pulled the Christmas tree over three times until we finally nailed it to the wall, flushed my glasses down the toilet and loved Wonder Woman underwear.
8) I started winning contests on a monthly basis while we lived there. My friend Leslee and I won a trip to Acapulco. I also won a "Consumer of the Month" contest and Riley and I were flown to San Francisco to pick up our $1,000 check. This led to the jobs I had with Purchase Power while we lived in Utah, California and Texas.
9) We lost five loved ones while living there. My grandma Wheeler had a stroke the summer of 1984 and I went to the hospital up the street every morning at 5 a.m. for five weeks to be with her at a time of day I wasn't needed as a wife or mother. She died July 14. My great-grandma Ford died within weeks of her. Riley's mom Aileen died in November of 1986, followed by my grandpa Poulson in Dec. of 1986. His wife, my grandma Poulson, died 17 months later in May 1988. I hadn't had anyone in my family die since I was six years old so it was difficult to lose so many in just a few years.
10) We played in the park swimming pool nearly every day in the summer to keep cool. My niece Steph remembers, "Around and around, around and around, brush your teeth, around and around" and other pool ditties.
11) Riley built a great porch where we had our picnic table and a kid-size picnic table. The kids had birthday parties out there. Andrea had one where friends brought dolls - mostly Cabbage Patch kids.
12) Riley had his bike stolen from that house, one his grandfather had given him.
13) I discovered Amy had molars when I had to dig manure from the garden out of her mouth.
14) We made great friends with Doug and Nann Mower, Ev and Kathy Snyder, Dave and Leslee Henson, Alvin and Cindy Williamson, Ray and Eileen Barney, Orlo and Vinetta Eyre, Debra Prestwich, Betty Morgan (of the brownies fame) and many others. We've kept in touch with them and still laugh about our times together back in the '80s.
15) We used to walk over to the Provo River to feed the ducks, a cheap family outing.
16) We got our first video camera while we lived there. Riley's dad Winston bought it for us.
We colored Easter eggs, carved pumpkins, set out Christmas stockings and got candy from the Valentine Fairy Monster there. We had yard sales, played in the snow, had Family Home Evenings, ate 4th of July breakfast and went to the Grand Parade from there. We bought our first family car - the '81 Toyota Corolla which we just sent to the Kidney Foundation in 2008 - in 1985 while we lived there. We spent some of the best years of our lives in the 14X70 mobile home and even though the house itself is now a burned-out shell, the home part will always remain in our hearts.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Hiking adventures in Utah
I hiked the Y this morning. It's been on my list of things to do. Growing up in this area you'd think I would have hiked Timp, visited Timp Cave or hiked the Y as a kid. I did none of those until the last few years. Each one was a different adventure.
Going into Timp Cave with Riley and a group of students was fine until the walls started closing in and I felt nauseous. The guide asked if I have claustrophobia, which I only developed in the last six years or so. I said yes and she said to come walk at the front with her. I did and was fine for the trip through the cave.
Hiking up to the top of Timpanogos was another adventure. Riley and I decided to make a two-day trip out of it so he carried a tent and we each carried sleeping bags and food. It took about seven hours to get to where we camped because we stopped to take pictures of moose, flowers and other natural wonders. (And to rest.) We found a great place to camp off the trail and ate tortillas with peanut butter on them (a Riley camping delicacy) before we turned in. We heard people passing by in the wee morning hours. Crazy people. We stashed our gear the next morning and headed out for the top. We photographed mountain goats just above our heads on the trail. Riley let me set the pace and we took several hours to get to the top. Just before reaching the summit I tweaked my knee and it hurt a little but I made it to the very windy top of Timp. We wrote our names in the book in the shack and I called people on my cell phone. It was an amazing view from the top and we spent about a half hour there. As we started down I knew my knee was going to give me troubles. More than an hour into heading down I was popping ibuprofen trying to ease the pain. I didn't think I'd be able to get off the mountain and wondered if helicopters flew in to rescue hikers with bad knees. After a long time of barely walking, taking meds and praying for help, I saw the most wondrous site. Someone had dropped a knee brace at the edge of the trail. I kid you not. I looked up at the skies with an "are you kidding me" look. I sat down and slipped it on and continued down the mountain, still in pain but a little steadier and faster with the brace. A miracle.
The hike today was with friends Tamela Blake and her kids Tiffany, Tyler and Julia and Sondra Hudgens and her daughter Nora. Julia is five, just my speed, and needed breaks often, bless her. It was fun to sit at the top of the Y and look out over the valley. You really get a different perspective of the places you go every day and I was reminded of how beautiful this valley is with Utah Lake, the mountains on both sides and all the trees! The valley is covered in lush, green trees.
It's not really that difficult of a hike but coming down my knee reminded me why it doesn't like downhill slopes. Since we didn't have far to go I knew I'd make it but it reminded me of the prayers I said on Timp and the amazing answer to those prayers. Small but simple things.
Going into Timp Cave with Riley and a group of students was fine until the walls started closing in and I felt nauseous. The guide asked if I have claustrophobia, which I only developed in the last six years or so. I said yes and she said to come walk at the front with her. I did and was fine for the trip through the cave.
Hiking up to the top of Timpanogos was another adventure. Riley and I decided to make a two-day trip out of it so he carried a tent and we each carried sleeping bags and food. It took about seven hours to get to where we camped because we stopped to take pictures of moose, flowers and other natural wonders. (And to rest.) We found a great place to camp off the trail and ate tortillas with peanut butter on them (a Riley camping delicacy) before we turned in. We heard people passing by in the wee morning hours. Crazy people. We stashed our gear the next morning and headed out for the top. We photographed mountain goats just above our heads on the trail. Riley let me set the pace and we took several hours to get to the top. Just before reaching the summit I tweaked my knee and it hurt a little but I made it to the very windy top of Timp. We wrote our names in the book in the shack and I called people on my cell phone. It was an amazing view from the top and we spent about a half hour there. As we started down I knew my knee was going to give me troubles. More than an hour into heading down I was popping ibuprofen trying to ease the pain. I didn't think I'd be able to get off the mountain and wondered if helicopters flew in to rescue hikers with bad knees. After a long time of barely walking, taking meds and praying for help, I saw the most wondrous site. Someone had dropped a knee brace at the edge of the trail. I kid you not. I looked up at the skies with an "are you kidding me" look. I sat down and slipped it on and continued down the mountain, still in pain but a little steadier and faster with the brace. A miracle.
The hike today was with friends Tamela Blake and her kids Tiffany, Tyler and Julia and Sondra Hudgens and her daughter Nora. Julia is five, just my speed, and needed breaks often, bless her. It was fun to sit at the top of the Y and look out over the valley. You really get a different perspective of the places you go every day and I was reminded of how beautiful this valley is with Utah Lake, the mountains on both sides and all the trees! The valley is covered in lush, green trees.
It's not really that difficult of a hike but coming down my knee reminded me why it doesn't like downhill slopes. Since we didn't have far to go I knew I'd make it but it reminded me of the prayers I said on Timp and the amazing answer to those prayers. Small but simple things.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
I love my high school friends
Two years ago we had our 30th class reunion. It was a second attempt since the classmate who was in charge of the first one couldn't find anyone and it flopped. The second wasn't much better but we did get more people to come.
Six months ago I realized all of us are turning 50 this year so I told my friend Jon Groneman we needed to throw a "Class of 1978 turns 50" party which we did last night. Facebook helped us find so many more people and different people from two years ago. We had a blast. As usual, we sat and talked about all the crazy things we did in high school. Some people who listened were shocked, they never knew about the shenanigans. Others knew but weren't a part of them. And those of us who were in the thick of all the madness told the stories. Again. And we laughed.
I love these friends. I love the time I spent in high school, not just because of the pranks and naughty stuff that makes us laugh now but because we were so close as friends. We lived our lives together, some of us from kindergarten through high school, and a few even into college. Probably a day didn't go by that we didn't makes plans daily to be together back then.
I've tried to keep track of people over the years. Every year when I lived away I'd come back from Texas and meet with some of my girlfriends for dinner. We still do this once in a while. And now with Facebook I've reconnected with so many more and it's fun to have little chats online with them. The older I get the more I treasure friends and the relationships we had and can still have. It's one of life's greatest gifts.
Six months ago I realized all of us are turning 50 this year so I told my friend Jon Groneman we needed to throw a "Class of 1978 turns 50" party which we did last night. Facebook helped us find so many more people and different people from two years ago. We had a blast. As usual, we sat and talked about all the crazy things we did in high school. Some people who listened were shocked, they never knew about the shenanigans. Others knew but weren't a part of them. And those of us who were in the thick of all the madness told the stories. Again. And we laughed.
I love these friends. I love the time I spent in high school, not just because of the pranks and naughty stuff that makes us laugh now but because we were so close as friends. We lived our lives together, some of us from kindergarten through high school, and a few even into college. Probably a day didn't go by that we didn't makes plans daily to be together back then.
I've tried to keep track of people over the years. Every year when I lived away I'd come back from Texas and meet with some of my girlfriends for dinner. We still do this once in a while. And now with Facebook I've reconnected with so many more and it's fun to have little chats online with them. The older I get the more I treasure friends and the relationships we had and can still have. It's one of life's greatest gifts.
Monday, July 5, 2010
The 4th, no wait, 3rd, or 5th of July
I love the 4th of July, especially in Utah when it is celebrated over the course of three days. Saturday was fireworks at the stadium, viewed from the corner by my house so we don't get trapped in traffic. Sunday was singing patriotic songs in church which always brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye and today is the balloon launch and big parade. There are 20 balloons in the sky over Provo as I write and I am planning on skipping the parade. Every five years is enough.
As a child the 4th of July was always spent in Wyoming at our cabin on Fremont Lake. The day was filled with good food and water-skiing, playing on the sandy beach of Box Bay with my family and whatever friends were with us that day. I really don't remember fireworks being a part of the 4th except a few times pre-cabin days and after I was married. We even had a Wheeler cabin ballad that included words about the 4th spent on the lake.
As a young married mother we watched fireworks in Brigham City once or twice and in Provo several times. In Texas we created a new tradition. We, along with the Parkers, Krieses, Pearces, Joyces, Friskes, Algers and other families, staked out our place on the edge of Town Lake for the 4th of July celebration. We'd head down late afternoon with food, drinks and games and sit for hours playing and talking. At some point the Austin Symphony began to play and we listened to beautiful music. Then, after dark, the symphony played the 1812 Overture with fireworks bursting overhead. During that song there are cannons that are fired and they were matched to the fireworks. It was always insane trying to get out of there to get home but we always left happy and full of joy from the day's activities.
Here in Provo we started a new tradition. Our house is about three miles north of the Stadium of Fire. We eat, play nertz, hang out and then walk half a block to a grassy spot to watch the fireworks. We've learned that as soon as the show is over, visitors get in their cars and leave, missing the crazy log jam of traffic on our road. The past few years Andrea and Amy started their own tradition of going to Boulder for the 4th. Riley has been in Mongolia for the past five years during the 4th. So it's a good thing I have the Parker kids to keep the tradition going.
Whatever the tradition, whoever I'm with, whatever songs are played or sung, I love the 4th of July. I love our country's independence. I love the sight of the American flag. I love to put my hand over my heart and pledge my allegiance to my country. I guess I'm a patriotic nerd and that's just fine with me.
As a child the 4th of July was always spent in Wyoming at our cabin on Fremont Lake. The day was filled with good food and water-skiing, playing on the sandy beach of Box Bay with my family and whatever friends were with us that day. I really don't remember fireworks being a part of the 4th except a few times pre-cabin days and after I was married. We even had a Wheeler cabin ballad that included words about the 4th spent on the lake.
As a young married mother we watched fireworks in Brigham City once or twice and in Provo several times. In Texas we created a new tradition. We, along with the Parkers, Krieses, Pearces, Joyces, Friskes, Algers and other families, staked out our place on the edge of Town Lake for the 4th of July celebration. We'd head down late afternoon with food, drinks and games and sit for hours playing and talking. At some point the Austin Symphony began to play and we listened to beautiful music. Then, after dark, the symphony played the 1812 Overture with fireworks bursting overhead. During that song there are cannons that are fired and they were matched to the fireworks. It was always insane trying to get out of there to get home but we always left happy and full of joy from the day's activities.
Here in Provo we started a new tradition. Our house is about three miles north of the Stadium of Fire. We eat, play nertz, hang out and then walk half a block to a grassy spot to watch the fireworks. We've learned that as soon as the show is over, visitors get in their cars and leave, missing the crazy log jam of traffic on our road. The past few years Andrea and Amy started their own tradition of going to Boulder for the 4th. Riley has been in Mongolia for the past five years during the 4th. So it's a good thing I have the Parker kids to keep the tradition going.
Whatever the tradition, whoever I'm with, whatever songs are played or sung, I love the 4th of July. I love our country's independence. I love the sight of the American flag. I love to put my hand over my heart and pledge my allegiance to my country. I guess I'm a patriotic nerd and that's just fine with me.
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