Happy Birthday, Scotty

Today Scotty is 12 years old.  What an important birthday.  Now he will be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood and become a Deacon.  He will be passing the Sacrament and gathering Fast offerings.  You are getting so grown up.  Don't stop wanting to come out and hang with me and share a movie or two.  I love it when we do that.  Sometimes when kids turn 12 they don't like to hang out with grandma.

I love you very much and I am so proud of you.  I love watching you grow and mature.  Thank you for being my grandson.

Scott as a baby...........

Scott now.........Happy 12th birthday,   Scott.

It's a Snow Storm........

There are two winters that I remember in my life that were really humdinger's.  When I was 14rs old we went through a very dry summer and fall.  We were in drought conditions.  We got into November with no sign of snow.  Our Stake President at the time called upon us to have a fast  and to ask the Lord to bless us with snow.   The snow started up that very day.  It fell thick and quickly.  There were no little snowflakes, they were big and covered the ground.   Boy, did it ever snow, and snow , and snow.  December, January, and March passed us by with no let up in the snowstorms.  The snow was very deep.  One of the little neighbor boys told his mother that when "those" Mormons prayed for snow they really got it.  The big snow storms let up a little in April and May, but it didn't get warm enough to melt it away.  June came and the big storms started again.  On June 26th, on my 15th birthday, We got the biggest storm for being in the summer season.  Needles to say, a birthday party just didn't happen.   The snow started melting in July, and was gone by  August.  I will never forget that winter season.  I will always remember it as the year of my lost birthday.


The 2nd bad winter that I went through was in 1972.  It was the year that I got married.  We were living in Salt Lake City.  I worked for the church offices.  I rode the bus to and from the offices.  The snow that year started in September.   It fell steadily until the end of December.  In January it got really bad .  The snow got up to 5 feet deep in the Valley.  The snow was so deep and came down so quickly that the snow plows couldn't keep up with it.  Our Volkswagon was completely hidden under the snow.  People couldn't shovel the snow fast enough to dig their cars out to go to work or anywhere.  Every thing in the Valley shut down.  Every one had to stay home and get through the snowstorm.  It snowed 6 days, and it took a full 2 weeks until the roads were cleared enough so that the traffic could flow again.  It was a good thing that I had 2 weeks worth of groceries in our house or we would have gone hungry.  This taught me how necessary it is to have food storage.  I always tried to buy extra things to put away every grocery day.

Of course I went through lots of bad winters, and driving over the mountain was always a time consuming and sometimes a frightening thing to do.  There were several times that the car would slide off the road.  The snow was falling so thick you couldn't see a foot in front of you.  We always had enough snow fall that tubbing down the hill by the golf course would always be one of the highlights of our winter season.

My kids liked the winter time.  They would often go up to Price Elementary and go down the hills there, on sleds, tubes, and even on their stomachs and bottoms.  They seemed to enjoy it.  They would make snow forts, have snow ball fights, make snowmen.  When they got mutual age they would sometimes go up Huntington Canyon with the Church and tube.  One of our favorite things to do in the winter time was to go to Temple Square and see the lights.  And who needs snow to enjoy a winter activity.  My girls came up with something neat.  Sliding down the front steps of our home on a toboggan.  How imaginative.  They seemed to have a good time.

The Temple is always so beautiful in any season.

Another view of the Temple

It must not have been to cold.   Danny didn't have a coat on.

                                                                                 

Rachel going down our Summertime slide.  What fun.

Birthday's are here.......

Happy Birthday Courtney Rae........You are such a princess.  Courtney is Matthews 2nd daughter.  Her birthday is the 17th of Feb.  She turned 4 years old this year.  I can't believe that it has been that many years.  It was just yesterday that I held her as a baby.

6 months old
Courtney Rae White

 

 

 

 

 

Now she is 4 years old.  Happy Birthday, Princess.

 

 

Courtney came to Idaho to visit last weekend, so we got to have a little birthday party with her.  It was so much fun.  She got a new bike for her birthday and she was so excited about it.  Thank you Courtney for coming to Idaho.  I love your hugs and kisses. 

Dutch Oven Cooking.........

Going camping with my Dad was always an adventure.  We always did and learned new things.  He would point out the things of nature as we hiked, whether they be plant life or animals and tell us how blessed we were to have these things around us.  He always pointed out deer and elk along the way and when we were by rivers he always pointed out the beaver dams and the best fishing spots.   Dad always liked to try new things out when he cooked.  He made the best dutch oven dinners in the whole world.  I loved them all but my favorites were the potatoes, onions, and carrots.  I can still taste how good they were to this day.  The barbecued spare ribs were to die for. I Had a funny experience with those at one of our Bentley reunions.  I had gotten my food and went to sit down.  The chair I sat in was plastic and we were sitting on a hill.  While I was eating the chair gave way (melted from the hot sunshine) and I tumbled backwards clear to the bottom of the hill.  I lost my spare ribs.  I was so mad.  I was glad that Dad made a lot or I would have missed out on them completely.   The chicken in the dutch oven was also great.  It was so moist and tender.  Sometimes he would make up dishes he had created.   They turned out pretty good.  He never had a recipie for his special dinners.  I am so glad that my Dad was so adventurous.

Though these last two things weren't camping trips they were still fun.  Every fall we would go pine nut picking.  They were easy to gather.  We would take them home and roast them.  They were so good.  I often think of buying them in the stores but they are so expensive I hardly do.   When we lived in Parowan  He would take us into the desert at times and would show us how to hunt for arrowheads.  I remember in the second grade I made him a pen holder with some arrowheads in the molded base.  I wonder what he did with that?  He had it for years but I never saw it again when they moved into their new house.  Easter picnics were fun too.  Most of the time we went to the San Rafael  Swell where we climbed in the rocks, buried each other in the sand, and had dutch oven dinners.  What great times we had.

I know all of you who have had a dutch oven dinner made by grandpa has a favorite one.

Please tell us which one you liked the best and what kind of a event we were at.  Camping, out for Easter, just a trip up consumers or in the back yard of grandpa's house.  He made every type of event an adventure to remember.

Dad checking to see if our dinner was ready.

Dad and Carol preparing our dinner........Yum can't wait.

Couldn't resist this picture.......Mom giving us a cheer.  We made it through another fun day out.

Rock and Rolling

Rock and Rolling.   When we lived on 1st South in Price, my kids loved to ride their trikes, roller skates, and anything on wheels up and down the sidewalk, and down the driveway between the house and the Bishops storehouse.  They really liked crashing into the gate at the end of the driveway.  It is a good thing they never suffered any broken bones, stitches, or other minor accidents.  One day , on Jennys Birthday, the photographer from the Sun Advocate caught the kids going down the sidewalk and took a picture.  It was a cool brisk day for June.  The girls were bundled up in their winter coats and Matthew was barefoot and no coat.  What a sight to see.  I kept the picture that was in the paper so that it would be a reminder to all of us of what kids do to be entertained.

Grandfather..........William McKinley Bates.

Grandpa was born the 25th of September 1900 in Riddle, Douglas, Oregon the son of James Reagan and Victoria Parrish Bates.  He grew up in Riddle.  When he reached his late teens he got restless and roamed around.  He ended up in Carbon Co. Utah and ended up working in the coal mines.  He met Ida Lucille Richardson at this time.  He swept her off her feet and they were married  16 Nov 1927 in Price, Carbon, Utah.

When Grandpa was a small child he got polio.  His mother tried really hard to help him get healthy.  His Dad didn't care for his son much and asked Victoria why she was trying so hard to help him.  He was going to die anyway.  How sad grandpa must have felt to hear those words come from his father.  He did get over it but he always had weak ankles because of the polio that he had.

Grandpa was very involved in the Coal Mines.  He never missed a day of work and he became very involved with the union.  When he lived in Latuda he was the President of the Union..

       

I don't remember to much about Grandpa.  I was only 7 years old when he died.  Mom told me that he was a very quiet man and didn't say to much.  Dad didn't talk about him much when I was growing up.  The things I remember about him is that I felt safe around him.  He loved little dogs and he and grandma always had one or two of them.  I guess that carried over for grandma because when she retired she always had a little muffy.  That is what she named her little dogs that she had.  she had to give her last little dog away when she went into the nursing home.

 Grandpa had quite a green thumb.  He grew the best raspberries in the whole world and it was a great pleasure for us kids to raid the patch whenever we visited Spring Glen...He loved to work out in the yard and he always kept a nice, clean, and neat yard.  He and Grandma lived in the basement of the house that Dad had started to build before he went to college. Dad told me that Grandpa was a boxer and that he could take down 3 men at a time and 'whoop" them every time.

I remember one time we visited Grandpa when he was in the old Carbon Hospital.  I can't remember why he was there but I remember standing outside his room window and visiting with him.  We weren't allowed to go into the hospital.  I wish I could remember more about him.  When I go to the other side he is one I would like to visit with first

Aunt Alma Rae told me that Grandpa liked to entertain her.  He liked to dance for her.  He had a little tap routine that he did for her.  It always delighted her.  When Grandma Richardson got all her kids together for a group picture, grandpa refused to go and have his picture taken.  That has always been a disappointment  to Aunt Alma. It would have really been nice if he would have had it taken. 

                                                                                                                    

Grandpa liked to take Dad and Jack fishing and hunting.  He enjoyed that very much.  He also thought that some day he would hit it big time when he struck gold.  He liked to pan in the streams for gold.  I can just see him doing that.  He reminded me of one of those type of miners.  He never did find the gold but he enjoyed his time panning in the streams.

Grandpa and Grandma were foster parents.  I remember them taking the Warren children from Kenilworth into their home.  I especially remember Mary Jo.  She was a little older than I was and she always called Grandma, Mom Bates.  Mary Jo lived with them for a couple of years.  When Mrs. Warren told them that she was well enough to take care of her little girl and asked for her back it broke grandpas heart, he loved her so much.  After Mary Jo quit living with them he suddenly seemed to age and get older.   Grandma and Grandpa were very charitable, and even though they didn't have much money they helped all they could.

Grandpa had a few problems in his life that really affected his wife and children's family life.  He had a problem with alcohol.  He spent many hours in the bars and grandma always had to go and pull him out of them.  When the kids got a little older she sent them to get him.  Dad told me he had quite a temper when he was drunk.  I am so thankful that none of his children had a problem like this.  I wonder if it was their mothers (grandma's) influence?  I'm sure part of it is, but I think that Grandma Richardson played a big part in helping them also.

I feel that grandpa must have been a very sad man that he had this problem.  He died a tragic death. On the 17th of May 1960 he took his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning . Dad never told us about how he died.  It wasn't until I was 13 that I learned about it from Mildred Simms.  I asked Dad about it and he told me that he had.  This disturbed me very much and to this day I still have a problem with it as sometimes I have felt the same way he did.  But I guess I just have the desire to live and stay her to help my children and grandchildren.  I have found out for myself that I love life and there isn't a trial that I can't overcome.  In my heart I feel a great love for this man and I know that he is alright with the Lord.  We just don't know what is going on in people's lives to make them feel that life is useless.

Grandpa is buried  in the Provo City Cemetery in the Utah Valley.  It is a place I like to visit because so many of them are buried there.   Grandpa's Father, James Raegan, was from Sebastian Co.,  Arkansas and his mother, Victoria Parrish. was from Joplin, Missouri.

Dad when he was in the Army
James William Bates

John Gordon Bates
He was a Navy man
He made it his career.

Alma Rae Bates Procarione

Grandpa Bill, Grandma Ida, and me.
Patty Lynne Bates

This is Grandpa's parents
James Raegan Bates and Victoria Parrish

At a Richardson Ruin
Mom and Dad, Rudy and Alma Rae, Jack and Doris

Grandmother.......Ida Lucille Bates

MY  JET-SET GRANDMA………………

From Bryce Canyon’s majestic rims,

   To Sun Valley’s shining slopes,

That wasn’t quite far enough,

     So off to Fire Island you did go.

Your life has been full of adventure

    Your accomplishments speak for their self.

How I’ve loved and admired your creativity

     Your paintings, your knitting, your crafts.

What a marvelous cook, you are, Grandma,

     Your brownie cakes gave me a natural high.

When I picked at your slow roasted Turkey,

     A slap on the hand was your reply.

Your music, your laughter, your good sense of humor,

     Brightened many grandchildren’s hearts.

Especially this one who will miss you,

     And looks forward to being with you again.

Things in your life were not always perfect,

      Some things you struggled with hard

But cheerfulness was your virtue,

     And love was always there in your heart.

Dear grandma, thank you for letting me,

      Help you leave your mortality behind,

So many things you taught me,

     About love, letting go and pressing on.

I Love you, Grandmother Bates.

My Memories of My Grandmother..........

Grandmothers are special people.  Some are quiet, kind and gentle.  Some are active and on the go.  Most always have a cookie waiting in the cookie jar, or the aroma of fresh baked bread fills her home.  She is always thinking of and is concerned about her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and on and on.

My grandmother has lived a full rich life.  She lived on her own until she was 92 years old.  She had to have a little help around her house, but not much.  Seven months before her 93rd birthday, Dad and Alma Rae had to put her into a nursing home.  This made us all a little sad.

Grandma was born in Midvale, Utah, the second child of James Dennis and Edna Rae Cummings Richardson on the 25th day of January 1905.  She helped take care of her younger brothers and sisters quite a bit.  She lived through the great flu epidemic of the 1920's but her two youngest sisters, Jessie and Catherine didn't.  It was a sad time for them to go through.  Grandpa Richardson got so ill with the flu that Fred, grandma's brother, had to take over and provide for the family.

Grandma had a hard time in school.  Especially in math.  She had to repeat the second grade and in those days that was a really terrible thing.  Grandma didn't graduate from High School until she was 22 years old so that gives a lot of hope for her great grandchildren who are falling short of the mark at this time in history.  It is possible to graduate at any age.  They need to learn from her example.

Grandpa Richardson brought his family to Spring Glen, Utah where he built them a home, and he worked on the railroad as a conductor.  Here is where Grandma met William McKinley Bates, and married him.  I guess he just swept her off her feet.  They had four children, James William, John Gordon, Dennis (who died shortly after birth) and Alma Rae.

Grandma and Grandpa lived in many of the small mining camps during their married life.  Heiner, Latuda, Standardville, just to name a few.  Grandpa worked in the coal mines and when I look at pictures of him he reminds me very much of a gentleman boxer.  Dad has told me that Grandpa could take on three men at a time and "whoop" them.

Grandma had to deal and cope with many sorrows in her lifetime.  Poverty, living through the depression, losing a child, illness, Grandpa's tragic death, but through it all she kept a wonderful cheerfulness and optimism.

Grandma had many talents that she shared with her family.  She was a very good artist and painted many beautiful oil paintings.  All her children and grandchildren have a least one of her paintings hanging in their homes.  Grandma knitted, crocheted, did beautiful ceramics, and made many beautiful things for her posterity.

Grandma loved music, she loved to play "Oh, My Father" on the piano.  She played the harmonica and boy could she whistle.

Grandma and Grandpa had amazing green thumbs.  I could hardly ever wait to go to Spring Glen to visit so that I could run up Haycock Lane where they were living, and raid their raspberry patch.  They always grew the most delicious raspberries in the world.  They also had gooseberries, fruit trees, and rubarb.

After Grandpa died in 1960, Grandma didn't stay home.  You might say she spread her wings and soured.  Over the next 15 years she worked in Bryce Canyon National Park, Sunvalley, Idaho, and Fire Island, New York.  She was mainly a cook in the resorts, and I might say she was an excellent cook.  She did do other odd jobs.  She got to babysit for Senator Robert Kennedy  and for singer Andy Williams.  She wasn't very impressed with either of them but especially not with Andy Williams because he was such a cruel , obnoxious, person.  During her travels she got to see many wonderful things.  Beautiful things of nature, "Niagra Falls", the Statue of Liberty,all the Memorials in Washington D.C.  What a wonderful life she led.

Grandma went to the Temple for her endowments and to be sealed to Grandpa and to have three of her children sealed to her, on the 24th of September 1977 in the Manti Temple.  Dad, Dennis, and Alma Rae were sealed to them.  Uncle Jack went later to be sealed to them.  Grandma was also sealed to her parents on this day.  How happy I am that they are all sealed as an eternal family.  I was able to go to the Temple with her and it made me feel great joy to be there with her.

Grandma retired from her travels, but she never missed a camping trip with one of her kids.  Not until her 91st year of life did she ever miss a Richardson Family Reunion.  What fun she created at our reunions.  There was never a dull moment between her and Uncle Gordon.  Her children had to make her stop driving a car because she kept wiping out mailboxes when she went down the road.

Grandma bore her afflictions well while she was confined to bed in the nursing home the last 7 months of her life.  She hardly ever complained about her plight and seemed more concerned about how I was feeling about things.  Being with her the last hours of her life was a very touching, wonderful experience.  I watched her and visited with her as she prepared to leave mortality.  She was very adamant about having her garments on and holding on to the Iron Rod.  The boys and I were very aware of her visiting with those on the other side of the veil.  About 2:30 in the morning she told me to take the boys home and go get some rest.  Of course we didn't, we just went down to the day room to wait to see if she would go to sleep and get some rest too.  She had been awake since she had her stroke on Tuesday morning.  About 45 minutes later Danny went down to check on her and she was still wide awake.  He came back and got me and we went back to her room.  She just had to get the last word in on me, even though she was in so much pain.  I said to her "Grandma, you didn't go to sleep", she looked at me and said, "and you didn't go home."

Shortly after that she called out to me and asked me if I could see the people there who were all dressed in white and so beautiful.  I told her I couldn't see them, but that I knew they were there.  She closed her eyes for just a few moments, then she called out "Bill, why does it hurt so bad?" I knew Grandpa was there and I knew he was well aware of what she was going through.  A few minutes later she called out to me again and said "Patty, I don't want to die."  I knew right then and there that I couldn't give her the peace that she needed to leave her mortality behind.  I called Dad and he and Mom came right down.  Dad sent me home because I was so upset.  He told me he would call me when things changed.

After I left, Grandma again became agitated and insisted on having shoes and socks on her feet.  I guess if she was going somewhere she had to be properly dressed.  As soon as she had something on her feet she calmed down.  Dad gave her a son's blessing and Grandma slept for about an hour and a half.  When she woke up she asked Mom and Dad who all the people were in her room, so there must have been a multitude of people there to help her go home.  Mom and Dad told her that it was family coming to greet her.  She called out for Fred, her brother, to help her, asked Dad when Alma Rae would be there then settled down again.  As soon as Alma Rae got there and took her hand she slipped into a coma never to come out to us again. At 10 minutes to 9:00 a.m. the 28th day of January 1998, Grandma slipped quietly away.

Yes, my Grandma is a wonderful person, full of life and energy.  She is a shining example of how one should live their life.  Not settling for anything but the best of what life has to offer.  Of accomplishing your most awesome dreams.

Grandma Bates with, Makette, Rachel, Matthew, Audrey,Kelsey
Carol and Steven

Taken in 1987 at Mom and Dads Welcome Home party from their
mission.  Jack and Doris,Mom and Dad, Rudy and Alma Rae
and Grandma.

Matthew with Grandma at her Birthday Celebration.

                                         

Grandma Bates with Danny, Samantha, Joshua, Brandon and Makalie.

            

Home sweet Home......Where ever we roam...

 There is no place like home.........I have never lived in a fancy house, they have all been quite humble.  This is Mom and Dad's house in Carbonville, Utah.  I never lived in this house but included it in this post because it was and is a symbol to me of home.  This is the only house that Dad built that was entirely new.  No one had ever lived in it before Mom and Dad moved in.  It is a beautiful home and it has made very happy memories for me.  All the holidays we went there for meals and barbaque's.  The laundry room where the kids played with the roller rack and the Barbies.  A place where blessings were given and testimonies were shared.  A home where we were comfortable and where we could all find stability.  When I walked in the door I usually found Dad sitting in his room at the computer leaning back in his chair in deep concentration on what his next move should be in his genealogy quest to find our ancestors.  Mom always had something good cooking, or she would be busy with one of her many projects that she shared with her family.  I loved this home.

 This is the house that I lived in for fifteen years.  It has sad memories and glad memories. It always made me feel good that, especially Jenny, would bring her friends to visit.  We had some good times and talks.  Most of her friends were from East Carbon.  They were a fun group.  Matthew would bring many of his friends over too.  They would stay overnight and they crashed all over the living room.  Ashley Patterson was at our house frequently.  I loved having her around.  There are many nights that we shared laughter and fun with her.  We watched fun movies.  My favorite one that we watched was "The Money Pit".  I still to this day laugh when I watch it remembering how we all enjoyed it.  Teresa Swayse  found that she could come to our house to find refuge.  I am glad that all these kids found acceptance and safety in my home.  It was a very humble home, but at least I had a roof over my children's heads.  This house was in Price, Utah, located in the Price 2nd Ward.

This is the first and only house that Marvin and I bought together.  It was right next door to the Bishops Storehouse in Price, Utah.  We bought it on the GI bill and paid 15,000 dollars for it.  We had to do a little remodeling on it.  We had a fireplace built on the east side of the living room.  I loved it.  Makette was always afraid of the fires we would build in it.  She was afraid it would burn the house down.  We put in  a new kitchen.  The kitchen was quite small.  We put in a new bathroom because the bathroom in it was a walk through with only a shower.  Just wouldn't do.  It was a three bedroom house and we would have probably lived in it forever if things had gone different.  In our remodeling we put new carpeting in, even in the kitchen.  We tore out the kitchen in the basement and made that a family room with a wood burning stove in it, we moved all the toys down to the basement so the kids could play unhindered.  There was a bedroom in the basement that Marvin slept in when he worked graveyard at Safeway. We shared a driveway entrance with the Storehouse and the driveway slanted down.  The kids love riding there various bikes and trikes, baby buggies, roller skates and anything else on wheels down the driveway and crashing into the big gate at the bottom of the driveway.  It was chain link.  I guess I should be glad that they survived without anything getting broken. especially bone wise.

 This is my Spring Glen home.........I lived in it for 8 years of my life.  This is what it looked like when I lived   in it.  Dad built this house from railroad ties.  No one else lived in this house but us.  Grandma and Grandpa Bates lived in it when we went to Logan, Utah where Dad went to school.  They lived in the basement.  The top of the house was just framed in.  It would remain that way until we moved back to Spring Glen when I was ten.  Dad liked to build.  When Dad was through with it , until he built on to the back of the house, it was a four bedroom house.  We girls slept in the attic bedrooms.  I had a room to myself,  Carol and Kelley and Leslie shared the other room.  It was really like having one big room because only half walls separated  the two bedrooms.  Bill and Steven shared one of the bedrooms on the main level. We had many activities in this house that bring back many happy memories.  As I write about Spring Glen I will share them with you.  Mom and Dad sold this house in 1976 and moved to Price, Utah.

This is our home in Parowan, Utah.  Dad always bought homes that needed to be built of needed to be remodeled   .  This house when we lived in it was a two bedroom home.  I don't know how we ever survived it.  All of us kids were in the back bedroom which was very tiny.  We had to share beds.  We had bunkbeds.  Carol and I slept on the top, Bill and Kelley slept on the bottom.  I don''t know how we fitted Leslie into that little room.  I think she slept in Mom and Dad's room for quite awhile.  Probably until Steven was born.  One night while we were asleep, little Carol fell off the top bunk and fell into the baby buggy by the side of the beds.  That is where Mom found her the next morning.  We had so many adventures here in Parowan.  I will have much to write about.

This is the house we lived in at Logan, Utah.  It was a very narrow house.  It only had two bedrooms also.  The bedrooms were upstairs.   The furnace room is what sticks out in my mind the most.  It was a big cement hole in the center of the house.  It had a cement ledge that went around the furnace.  It always scared me when Dad went down into the "HOLE" because I always thought he would never get out.  He had to jump from the ledge down to the furnace.  He always got out, to my relief.  This is the house where I received the only two spankings from my Dad in my whole life.   One when Bill came to the park to tell me to come home for dinner.  I just took my time getting there.  I stopped at the corner of the street we lived on to pet two horses.  As everyone knows, I love horses, and here came Dad down the street with a willow .  Boy he sure did give it to me and it hurt.  He felt bad about it later and tried to take the pain away.  I don't know why he relied on my three year old brother to make sure that I came home for dinner.  The other time was when I opened his slide case.  He always told me never to touch it.  When I opened it all the slides fell out and I didn't know how to put them back in.  Mom was up stairs so this guilty little five year old went up to be with her, scared to death about what was going to happen when her Dad got home.  I found out, got the spanking of my life and he told me if any of his slides were damaged I would get another one.  Then he made me stay in my room for the rest of the day.  After those experiences, Dad never had to spank me again.  Just one look and I always behaved.  There is so much more that I remember about Logan, that I will share with you along the way..

Pictures from the Past

I went through some more pictures and found these four more that I thought everyone would like to see.  These were taken off of Dad's slides.  I can hardly wait l until our CD is made with all the pictures on it.  Dad took so many really neat pictures.  I am sure that you will remember them when you view them.  They bring back such wonderful memories. In the meantime enjoy these.

      Bill, Carol , and I. was 5 yrs. old.  This was taken in Logan, Utah.

 This is one of my favorites.  We lived in Logan, Utah.  This is in the bedroom that the 4 of us shared.  The bedrooms were upstairs.  We only had two of them.  Our bedroom was to the front of the  upstairs.  Mom and Dad's was to the back.  We had to walk through Mom and Dad's room to get to ours.  Kelley is sitting in my doll stroller.  I loved pushing her around in it.  While we lived in this house I experienced many firsts.  I found some shears sitting down on the kitchen table.  I had long ringlets, they were so pretty.  I thought I would just cut one off and see if Mom noticed.  I went upstairs and cut one off.  I was kind of scared so I hid the cut off ringlet under Mom's  dresser.  Boy, did I ever get in trouble.  Mom noticed right away.  That caused me to have my first haircut.   There are so many things to tell about our time in Logan.  I will write about more later.

 This picture was taken at Easter Time (1961) in Parowan , Utah.  I am kind of in the Shadow of a tree, so you can't see my face to well.  This was taken just before my 8th birthday and Leslie being born.  Notice Dad's truck in the background.  They sure look different today.

This picture was taken in Dec. 1961 in Parowan, Utah.  Leslie wasn't in this picture.  She was just about 6 months old.  I guess Mom didn't want to sit her in the snow.  More on Parowan to come.  We had lots of adventures there.

Two Adventures in My Life

Saturday, January 28, 2012

A Seal sitting out on a Bouy  taking a rest                                       Me sailing the boat in the Puget Sound  2001                                           Before the Sunburn..........                                       Still sailing the boat........wasn't to hard.                                  Johnny my Beagle........wearing his life jacket and enjoying the sail. A New adventure in my Life.......... When I went to Washington to live I visited and did some things that I thought I would never do in my life. I am deeply afraid of water and avoid getting into it anytime I can.  I went out onto the Ocean 2 times while I was there.  The first time my husband (Steve Petersen) took me crab fishing.  We went out into the ocean and threw out crab pots.  We put salmon in the pots to attract the crab.  After leaving the pots in the water overnight we went out the next morning to retrieve them.   I was so surprised to see them.  They were clear full of crab.  We had four pots out and they each held about 30 crabs.  We pulled them in and started weeding out the one's we couldn't keep.  They had to measure so wide and we could keep no females. We ended up keeping about 40 Crab. We gave a few of them away to campers that were there in the campground.  We then boiled up 4 of them for dinner.  I felt kind of bad putting live crab into boiling water.  They only took 10 minutes to boil up.  The only thing I hated about crabs was cleaning them out.  It was gross.  I never did go in for cleaning any type of fish.  When we sat down to our meal it was so good.  Fresh crab is out of this world, especially when it is dipped in butter. The next thing I learned was how to sail.  I never thought I would do that.  Steve took me sailing in the Puget Sound a couple of times.  I really enjoyed it.  My big sailing trip took me out of the Puget Sound and into the Pacific Ocean.  I was really scared but it turned out to be a wonderful experience.  I saw dolphins up close , we saw one whale.  The Ocean was so beautiful.  We took Johnny on this trip with us.  He did really good and had his own life jacket.  We sailed to a group of islands out in the Ocean.  They had several places you could stay.  They were campgrounds.  We moored the boat and went into the campground and grilled a couple of steaks.  They were so good.  Johnny really enjoyed being in the out of doors.  He always did enjoy that.  We spent the night sleeping on the boat.  In the middle of the night I heard something going through are things out in deck of our boat.  I wondered why Johnny didn't let us know something was out there.  I got up to check on things and was greeted by a huge Racoon.   He wasn't afraid of me at all.  He screamed at me and I was very afraid of him.  Steve had me close everything up so he couldn't come in with us. Johnny slept through the whole thing and I didn't sleep for the whole night.  Anyway, I did enjoy being out on the Ocean.