Alex and I four wheeling on Mar 24, 2012

Mar 18, 2012

Mission Reunion w/Pres Asay in SLC Temple

Friday April 2, 1999, Marie, Jeff and I went to a Texas North Mission reunion at the Salt Lake City Temple. President Carlos E Asay was then the President of the temple and had invited all of us to come with our spouses and any endowed children to participate in a temple session for our reunion. There were 305 of us in attendance including Elder Haire whom I had not seen since my mission in 1973 while we served together in Midland Texas for 6 months. As we were waiting in the chapel for the reunion to begin Pres Asay spoke to us and told us that the session could hold 300 but we would get all 305 into the session. Needless to say it was a pretty big group. It was a very special reunion however and Pres Asay took those who lived outside of Utah for a special tour of the temple that night after we were done. He told the rest of us that we could schedule a time with his secretary later and he would take us on a tour as well. That never had a chance to be fulfilled since on Monday morning he went into his office as it were on a cloud since it had been such a special experience. Then that night he had a massive stroke and the following Friday we were in the tabernacle on Temple Square attending his funeral rather than a special tour of the temple. He was a very special mission President and had been etched deep into the hearts of all of his missionaries.

Mar 17, 2012

Mission calls Ann & I

Sept 16, 1972 was a special day and began as I went to the post office to get our mail in which I was hoping there would be a mission call. Well there was and there was also one for Sister Ann Behrmann. Later with my family I opened my call and was surprised by the fact that I was called to the Texas North Mission due to enter the mission home on Sept 30, 1972. (Two weeks later.) Well due to the need for further preparation the following Saturday mom and dad and I went to Provo and purchased all of the clothing and everything I would need for my mission. Ann however received her call to New Zealand and didn’t leave for several weeks after that. I received my endowments after I had gone into the mission home in Salt Lake city. We went in on a Saturday to the mission home and then the following Monday morning entered the Salt Lake Temple where I received my endowments in the first of two sessions that we were able to participate in that day. We also were able to go into the special room at the top of the temple where we were able to listen at the feet of the prophet President Harold B Lee. He would later pass away while I was still in the mission field and I came home with President Spencer W Kimball as the prophet. One of the missionaries, in the group of 30 all going to Texas that week, was Bernell Taylor whom I would later serve with in the Mapleton Stake High Council and to whom I later found out I was kind of related. He and I were both nephews of Carling Allen. I was the nephew through Carma Allen and he was the nephew through Carling. That was the start of a great experience for me and even though Ann left a couple months after me I came home 4 months after her since the sisters only went on 18 month missions. Bernell was also one of Ben’s employers while he was in high school.

Mar 16, 2012

Maple Mountain Fires 1989, 1994

I have witnessed not once but actually 4 times now fires on the face of Maple Mountain next to Mapleton. In 1989 Marie and I were driving home form Storehouse market after doing our weekly grocery shopping when we noticed smoke going into the sky off the face of Maple Mountain. It was started by two boys who were making a fire to signal down to their friends in the valley. A wind came up and quickly spread the fire into the nearby dry grass where it went so fast that all they could do was run so it didn’t get them as well. The fire spread quickly up the hill but was finally contained after only going to the top of the one draw. Fire crews supported by an airplane were able to contain it to just that one area. The following spring I took part in a scouting project where for our Order of the Arrow campout we hiked up the ridge with 1,500 small evergreen trees that we panted in the area that had been burned. I always wanted to go back and see how many of those trees lived but was not able to and then a small fire was stared by a lightning strike on the property where blasting powder caps were manufactured in the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon. Trojan Powder plant refused help from the city fire fighters because of the explosives and consequently the fire got out of hand when the canyon breezes carried it toward the mountain and further north along the fire break road. I was awaken by one of the children at around 11 pm during the summer of 1995 when the fire looked like it might even come down into town. I photographed it though as it burned along the plateau and then around 2 am the following morning it turned and was carried right to the top of the mountain in just a couple of short hours. I sat on the roof photographing while Ben and his friends were having a sleepover on the trampoline. It was a very destructive fire and not easily contained. There were helicopters flying up and dumping water on the fire for several days before the hot spots were contained. I have never really wanted to go back and see if those trees survived the first summer because I am sure they didn’t survive that fire when it not only burned up that draw but all but one of the major draws on the face of the mountain.  I still remember the friend of mine who during the first fire in 1989 was on a hike with his 8 children up the backside of the mountain. They were on the top of Spanish Fork Peak when the smoke from the fire started to spill over into the valley at the top of the mountain and he suddenly knew he had to get his children down off that mountain as fast as he could. They all ran all of the way down to the parking lot and then left the canyon just as it was being closed to any traffic trying to go up.

The other two fires that I have seen were also started by lighting. The first was put out by the resulting rain storm while the second burned up the hill much further before being put out by fire crews and helicopters carrying water buckets. I have been glad that those fires were not as bad as the others.

Mar 13, 2012

Blazer patrol Hike

I didn’t always have a love for scouting as many think I have had. I started out as a cub scout and then as a blazer and later a boy scout. I remember getting my button cut off of my shirt because it wasn’t buttoned during a uniform inspection as part of a major stake cub scout activity. I remember feeling bad as a scout left camp to walk home because boys were making fu of him and even threw raw eggs at him. I learned first hand as I watched that raw eggs do not always break when thrown art someone but they do leave goose eggs on the head. I love to play some of the games, like Capture the Flag”, but learning the morse code was not as fun and pretty hard work the only paid off after winning a morse code flag contest at a district camporee. I couldn’t swim either so getting me Eagle Rank was not a possibility until someone who could swim found out and decided that I couldn’e give up an Eagle rank just for two merit badges that she could teach to me. The thing that probably really made scouting come to life for me and to become a lifetime love was being called to teach the Blazer Patrol in Primary when I was only 17 years old. It may have been just a way to help me want my Eagle rank or just because they needed a Blazer leader and I was available as the son of the second counselor in the Bishopric. It doesn’t matter much why as the fact that it worked. I got my Eagle rank because I told my boys I would, because a leader took interest in me and taught me to swim, and because my parents never gave up on me either. I learned that year as I taught primary while also going through my senior year of High school that there was a lot of value in the scouting program. 6 or 7 boys looked up to me to teach them to have fun in scouting while earning their badges and filling their requirements. We played the games and did a lot of activities in and out of class but I only specifically remember one hike. We had to cook and take a five mile hike as I remember. I loved to go up to Snow Draw and the Big draw so that of course was where I took the boys for that hike. We chased jack rabbits and cooked dandelions in the bottom of the draw on a small fire that they started with only a little help from me. It was fun. As I think about it now however that was a lot of responsibility to place on a 17 year old boy. We did not have any 2 deep leadership at that time and so I had the boys all to myself as the sole leader. It scares me as I think about it now but then it wasn’t at all out of the ordinary so I didn’t even consider the possibilities of problems then. I will always love the boys from that patrol just as I do all of the boys I have had in scouting since that time. They are still my friends and I love it when I bump into them even now. In fact I write this only a couple of weeks after seeing one of them at UVU. He was walking back to his car when I saw him and so we talked for a few minutes before he continued his journey home. I also see one of them every now and then if he is at the station he owns when I go to get my car oil changed. Yes they will be friends forever. 

Mar 12, 2012

Little League Baseball

There are just some things that most people think a young man should do as he is growing up. Well I thought the same thing for a long time but then realized that I was actually wrong and had known it for a long time as well. I speak about Little League Baseball. I think I learned this by participating as a boy myself (for one whole summer), by coaching it for a couple of years and by watching other fathers who believed it a lot more than I did. So now I must explain myself I guess. Here are the lessons that I learned from each of those three things. I played baseball for one summer because I think mom and dad finally gave in to my desire to play. We had played as a family some with other families and I did enjoy it. So as a young man I joined for one summer only to find out that since I hadn’t been involved at an even younger age that I really wasn’t very good at it. So the coach ended up making me an outfielder since I could at least stop the ball and had a pretty good throwing arm. I wasn’t a hitter however and so I seldom got on base. I had enough in just one summer and left it to the other boys after that who had dad’s that had to win through their boy he games that they had not won when they were that age. Well as a coach I did OK because it was for T-ball and the need for winning wasn’t the main objective for the boys that age. We could just have fu and the boys always got on base. I liked the game for that age group. However when they got older and the dad’s suddenly had to win the game or it was the end of life for them and their boys I realized that it really wasn’t for every boy. I still remember however one father who really got it right. He wasn’t actually the father of this one particular boy but he was the coach who wanted him on the team and then did everything to make it fun for that boy, and consequently for the rest of the team, as well as far as the boys were concerned anyway. This was Dave Nemelka who asked Lindsey Ashton (a dow syndrome boy) to play on his team. I don’t think the team won a lot of games but as far as I was concerned as a father of another one of the team  players they didn’t have a losing season at all. Everytime I saw Lindsey hit the ball and all of his team cheering him on as he rounded the bases I knew that they won that game that day for Lindsey despite the score not reflecting it so much. I will always respect Dave because of his understanding of the real need for baseball in the life of some young men. It was quite the opposite for some of the other father’s who would swear at the team players if the struck out or got tagged out on base. I lost respect for mother’s who would swear at the coach for not letting their little boy play every inning or be the only pitcher. Thank you Dave for your understanding the needs of every boy not just the future major leaguer.  

Mar 11, 2012

Mapleton Bi Stake Play/1st High Council Assignment

When I was called into the High Council of the Mapleton Stake it was just after the Stake had been divided into two stakes. Just prior to the split there had been in the planning a stake play that with the spilt became a joint venture between the two stakes. It was my responsibility to pick up as a new member of the High Council and so with a member of their high council we saw it through to completion. It was a lot of fun and required meeting with members of that stake several times as we scheduled practices, determined how to advertise it and then to usher during the event. It was a great success and due to that assignment I still have special friends from that stake that we see every now and the around tow and also for whom we take family pictures. It was a lot of work and I was wondering if I would ever be able to make it as a High Councilor and yet that assignment ended up being one of the highlights of my term in the Mapleton Stake High council.  We ended up having to put it on two or three times so that all of the members form both stakes could see it.

Mar 3, 2012

Leprecon in Stake Road Show as - 1st stave

I have had aa period of time in my life when I have had the opportunity to participate in various activities and hobbies. I have done woodburning, leatherwork, carving, and photography as my main hobbies. I have participated in ward and stake activities such as plays and roadshows. Well, in one of those ward roadshows  I combined activities. I was in a roadshow in the 4^th ward years ago and that was the time when I started playing a lot with staves. I was to be a leprecon in the roadshow and needed a small cane or stave to use in the play. So one day I walked up to where all of the plum trees were growing along the fence by Child’s field. I went into the small cluster of bush sized trees and found a limb that was fairly good sized for what I needed. It was about and inch and a half round and 4 feet  in length to where another large limb grew out of that limb at a right angle. I cut the limb off and then trimmed the smaller one to a few inches long and the removed all of the small twigs. It made a nice little cane and I later used it also as one of my staves at scout camps. It was the first stave I made followed by a 6 foot stave that I cut from a grove of trees about a half mile above Jolley’s Ranch. I cut it while on an outing with the ward held at Jolley’s and in the evening after I got the tent set up I hiked up the hill in search of a worthy tree trunk. I found it and cut it down and discovered that it wa a very hard wood. That particular stave then became my history stick as it made for carving letters that would not easily break or change while I was carving the words on the stave. I have since carved staves for other scout masters at timberline, for leaders at Girl’s camp and for scouts. It has been a lot of fun and vey rewarding as I have been able to give the staves to people who had served hard on various camps and in various activities and it was an easy way for me to show my appreciation.