An Early Angel

I have often honored the earthly angels in my life. They have given comfort and strength. They have taught me lessons. They have brought me messages of love from my Father. I want to remember one of my earliest angels.
    Third grade. Sunday School. We met in the ancient basement of the then unrefurbished Bountiful Tabernacle. We met in a windowless room with bright checkerboard linoleum flooring. There were plenty of interesting places to look during the lessons. One Sunday in my third grade year, a new girl sat in our class. She was introduced as someone that had just moved into our ward. She had blond hair and a shy smile. I was so excited to meet her. (You know who you are don't you?)
   From then on my life was so blessed. LeeAnn was a fun creative person even back then. We loved to play at her house in the top playroom. It just felt great to be there. They had the best toys. I remember making the plastic bugs and things with some machine (sorry the name escapes me....that is why I am trying to record memories!). They had a record player and great records. "And he fam and he fam all over the dam". We would sometimes get to do some cooking. Their family would make burnt sugar. They took some sugar and put it in a pan and cooked it until it was dark brown. I seem to remember it was very dark brown. Then pour it onto a cookie sheet and break it into pieces when it had cooled.
  Then there were the 'sleep outs'. (I may have remembered this in a far distant history on the blog , but enjoy it again!) I lived in a 'different age'. To have some peace and calm, parents would frequently let their children have slumber parties and even better - have the noisy little cluster spend their happy evenings out of doors, thus freeing up the television set and the parents minds and ears for peace. I will state that we were just about perfectly behaved and would never run the neighborhood, toilet paper, scream or any of that sort of stuff...(wicked wink right here). My dad would make us sleep under his bedroom window. I always thought it was so he could listen for 'creepers' but I have come to realize that he didn't want us running the town too far after curfew.
    We would sleep sometimes at my house sometimes at LeeAnn's. One night we even tried sleeping in the front yard. That was way too creepy. LeeAnn always worried about these aforementioned creepers. She would arm us with baseball bats and batons...Let me tell you, it doesn't make for a comfortable night. If you slept too long in the morning, you awoke by yourself in an empty yard. Everyone else having gone their merry way.
   I also remember watching Big Money Movie at the Youngdell house. How I loved watching the old movies. I think that is where I acquired my devotion to the classics. We would watch Uncle Bernie spin the wheel and count down his telephone directory list and dial the number. On more than one occasion the phone would ring at the same time and we would have a moment of exhilaration, thinking someone in the house was about to be rich beyond their wildest dreams. (The jackpot was usually never more than $1,000.00 )
  My earthly angel was always kind and loving to me and everyone she met. She was the head cheerleader in high school! I never saw her treat anyone like they weren't as cool as she was. She was so talented at gymnastics. I would have dreams that I could do flips and splits like her. Bummer when I woke up and found I still couldn't touch my toes without bending my knees.
This was my cohort in all the previous posts about running all over at Stoker School.
My final tribute to her. She had to organize a play at Christmas time for our Young Adult group. She wanted Steve Johnson to be the narrator. I thought to myself, "He is too shy to do that!" but I went with my buddy to ask him anyway. As she asked him and we stood there, he stopped and stared at me...but that was another story!

Saturday Night At My House

It was crazy. the captions should tell the story.

Carter and Heather in the 'office'

Mark playing video game in the TV room.

Lacey and Calvin in the guest room/ library.

Colton and Tucker enjoying the house.

Hayden and Shaylee playing video game in his room. (Same game that Mark was playing, somehow linked up)

Morgan chaperoning Hayden and Shaylee

The TV in my living room with....the video game...yes, linked together again.

The neighbor kid and his brother in law...playing the same game.

 

Another neighbor kid and Kenny....guess what they're doing?
Steve and I just went to bed!

Rockin' It!

We attended the Spanish Fork Rock Show this past weekend. It was fabulous. The Townsends and Goudys accompanied us. Here are some memories.

We met the dinosaurs.

Grammy and Popie bought everyone a grab bag.

Posing with a dino puppet.

One of the favorite things...'the train'. they could have stayed there for hours.

Now this is 'rockin'. Rock candy!

I loved getting the green and blue kisses afterwards.

Rock on!

Even Big D got a candy...No kisses out of him today.

The dads

Thanks for the rock candy Morgan.

It was a great day!
We stopped at Sonic to eat on the way home. I had the funnest day ever!

Growing Up

I remember how bare the yard was when we first moved into the house. I tried to imagine a gorgeous well manicured yard. It was a long time in coming. We planted our grass and then dug parts of it up to start new gardens. We made a play area for the children and later turned it into a parking area. We lovingly planted fruit trees and roses. Some thrived and others succumbed to insects and diseases. We laid out a boardwalk and planted our vegetables. We had lived in the house about 10 years, when one afternoon, I watched a gentleman hang a "For Sale" sign on the fence of the property behind us. We had loved watching the horses that ran the field. I kind of giggled to myself because- who was going to see that sign besides us? We talked about purchasing the little piece and adding it to our yard. It was land locked, who else would he sell it to? He wanted $2000.00 dollars for it, but Steve laughed and offered him $1200.00. It was a sweet deal. The 1/4 acre was covered with Russian olive brambles. They weren't trees just messy menacing bushes. After Steve carefully put a new fence around the property and cut  the old one away- what fun I had trimming up the trees and imagining all the fun we could have. It was like a piece of heaven. We loved to kick back and relax , 'out of town'. The dividing line between Centerville and West Bountiful was the old fence line (and still is!) We installed a large fire pit and enjoyed many Dutch oven meals out there. We constructed a band stand and held a neighborhood dance out there. I loved to hang a hammock between the trees and relax on fine summer days.  We had swim parties, raised a cow and housed a horse for a short while. We have spent almost 30 years in this house and spent 30 years designing  and redesigning that yard. The trees are large and wonderful. The patio is my very favorite place to be. We still look at all we are blessed with and think of new ways to improve it. It is a very different place than it was when we first cut the fence and started to sculpt the trees into our outdoor fairy tale castle. The lessons that I have learned from our experiences help me with the growing experiences I have had through life. There are blessing in the yard.

Cutting Wood

Wow! I have no idea why this popped into my head as I let my mind remember my past. I tried to pick an age of life past my teenage years and wham-Cutting Wood was there.
   We lived in a cute ancient cottage when we were first married. We brought our first loved child to this home (meaning all my children are loved!)  Steve was able to build a beautiful hearth and wall to house a wood-burning stove on it. It was a toasty affair that Steve totally loved. We found ourselves needing wood to burn. This meant several day trips to the Uintahs to procure fuel. You could purchase a permit at a ranger's station. You were shown on a map where you could gather wood. Then off you went for the rest of the day. I always accompanied Steve on these excursions because I loved being with him...still do. It was exciting to get up in the wee dark hours of the morning and pack a breakfast, lunch and water for the day. It was fun riding into the beautiful mountains that we loved. When we stopped and found the area that we were gathering from, Steve would start cutting the trees. I still can't figure out why but I felt like we were trespassing and were going to get yelled at. We always had the proper authorization. Just me feeling funny about disturbing nature. One year, we were cutting in an area that had been burned by a fire. Everything was black including us! I don't think we ever got clean after that trip. We took little Stephanie with us on these jaunts. That wasn't as fun for me. I felt like a prisoner in the cab of the truck as if I let her out to run around she may wander off or some gnome might steal her away per folk song lore. She was content to play and the day passed quickly. I always was ready to come home before Steve. I would tell him  the truck was full enough and he would just keep piling it fuller! We would arrive home after dark and I would finish the day exhausted. It is hard work sitting in the cab of a truck with a toddler. Sometimes, we had help getting the wood or we were helping family members gather their fuel supply. Those were times of innocence. Little did I know all the growth waiting for me around the bends of life. How I would love to spend a day in the forest once again with my only worries being: are we in the right place, are we going to get yelled at by a ranger, how am I going to keep a little one entertained, do I have enough diapers? But I wouldn't change my life experiences. I have learned that Heavenly Father is with us always. He loves us and sends comfort and strength we never knew were possible. He teaches lessons as we open our hearts to learn. He gave us all this beautiful world to experience.