Jan. 18, 2012

The Grand Canyon trips.

When I was around 8 or 9 years old, in 1961 I think, I remember a trip when I got to go with the family to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon while on our way to pick up Alma from Jacob’s Lake, AZ where she had been employed during the summer. I was young enough to remember what the place looked like where she worked and I remembered the fields and high mountain grasslands that we passed by while traveling to the North Rim. It wasn’t until years later as Marie and I were headed to AZ to photograph Troy’s wedding in 2003 that we decided to leave early enough that we could go to the rim on our way to Alma’s. I must admit that the images which had been in my mind from my youth were totally correct as to what they looked like but totally incorrect as to where they were in relation to the entire trip. I had always thought that it was only a couple of miles from Jacob’s Lake to the rim but was shocked to find out that it was over 30 miles one way. (I remember thinking I was glad we had left earlier than planned initially.) The areas or scenes that had stuck out in my mind were between Jacob’s Lake and the rim when I had always thought that they were just outside of Freedonia, AZ. I had wondered several times while traveling to Mesa before for other weddings why I never been able to find those places even though we went past where Alma had worked all but a couple of those times. It became very clear on our last trip. The images of the resort at the rim and the fences and everything else around that lookout were correct. We decided also that year to come back from AZ and visit the South Rim since I could not remember ever having been to it. I enjoyed that view but must admit that the North Rim is far more spectacular in the view that you get of the Grand Canyon.

Jan. 17, 2012

Youth Conferences at BYU 

During my Mutual age years, after age 13 that it, I was blessed to be able to attend Regional Youth Conferences at BYU. I think my memory has kind of made the two conferences into one since I remember certain details and am not sure during which year that they occurred. I was blessed both times to be on the region planning committees and the first year as a member of the Duchesne Stake Youth Council and the second time as the Chairman for the Region Council. I think because I was involved so heavily in planning both is the reason why they are gelled together. Both years were a lot of fun and it also gave me a chance to make friends in Roosevelt and other areas and towns that were involved in the region planning committee. We usually held our meetings in Roosevelt where the Adult Chairman lived.

The highlights that I remember best though were the bus trips from Duchesne to BYU and the experiences that involved the classes and firesides. I didn’t really care for going to class so the fact that I had to help other youth find theirs, then it kept me from being able to attend for the most part which was alright with me. I also had hall duty and found the challenges in keeping girls off of our level even though I wanted desperately to visit theirs so I could see Marie. We did get to do a lot together however at the meals and in between classes. I did like going to the firesides since I could go with Marie to them and that was well worth it. In fact during the second conferencew we had to perform for one of them. Kevin Wilkinson, Marie and I and Rhonda (who later married Kevin) and I think a couple more people sang a song that Kevin could lay on his guitar. I still remember the title “Ruby, Don’t take your love to town”. I was a bit embarrassed since the message of the song really didn’t fit the messages we were trying to portray at youth conference but we did it anyway. I don’t remember any recourse from our leaders although there probably should have been some and it seemed some council given as to which verses to omit. 

Jan. 16, 2012

Car engine quit near Beaver

I have had the opportunity to take several trips to southern Utah and to Las Vegas. One year in particular Marie and I were going to Las Vegas to participate in an MLM meeting of which I do not remember what it was about. We were not sure the car we had would make it down there so we borrowed Tia’s Saturn. Well had we known we would have probably taken the other car. Anyway just about 20 miles outside of Beaver, before arriving there, we lost power in the engine had to pull off the side of the road. This was luckily in the days of cell phones and not prior to them and so we called a wrecker from Beaver to come pick us up and we also knew some of the upline who lived near Fillmore so we called them. They had room for us and they actually got there just about the time the wrecker did. We went on in to Beaver to the Chevron on the south side of town where we had them look at the engine. They said it couldn’t be fixed so we left it in their parking lot and went the rest of the way with the other families. After it was over we came on home and for a month tried to figure out how to get the car here. I finally asked Doug to go get it with me and was very surprised after getting there that they had charged $10 per day for storage which equaled about $300.00. They finally let me take it for $100. Since they hadn’t told me there was a fee for parking it in the sagebrush south of the station.

Doug and I then hauled it to his place where it was my intention to take the engine apart with Loren’s help so he could learn about mechanics as I did also. Life however was very busy and so we were only able to manage getting it torn apart and finally hauled it to Max’s where he replaced the engine due to the nature of the problem with the engine and repairs costing more than the replacement engine. That became Loren’s car anyway as I had bought it from Tia so she could get another one. He used it for quite a awhile before his mission and then I took it over and used it until I was in an accident with it while coming home from work. A fellow in a glass hauling truck pulled out in front of me across from the Model A café. I swerved to the right to miss him since he was pulling out so as to be in my path if I were to swerve into oncoming traffic to my left to miss him. I was almost able to miss him but the end of the glass carrying attachment on his truck caught and slid up the front of the engine and off just to the side before going through the window where I was sitting. The police later told me it was the best thing that I could have done since going to the left would have ended up involving a lot more vehicles. I have been in several accident but this was probably the worst and I am so thankful to the tender mercies of my Heavenly Father who guided the car the right direction that time just had He had always done it before.  

Jan. 15, 2012

Camping on Skyline Drive

When Ben and Jeff were young Marie and I decided to go for a camping trip along skyline drive above Mt Pleasant. We borrowed dad's (Verl's) old yellow pickup, loaded up our camping gear and went for a weekend , well friday and saturday camping trip. We found a campground of sorts and stopped for friday and saturday. We set up camp and had fun just being in the outdoors for the day.  The weather decided to turn bad however and we knew after a while that we would need to get off the mountain before we got stuck up there. SO we loaded all of the gear into the truck with the sleeping bags on the bottom so that they wouldn't get wet while it was raining. We didn't have a cover for the hear and so the tent went on top. We drove to the nearest road that would take us back down into the valley. It was a dirt road that came up from Spring City to skyline drive. As we were driving the rain became worse and we were starting to slide on the wet clay based road. It was like driving on ice and all I could do was just kind of steer it down the narrow winding steep road. It became so bad that we finally pulled off the road into a small camping area and decided to set up camp there and sleep for the night.  Well as I started to pull out the gear I realized that because of our going downhill and the bed of the truck being metal like a dich that all of the water had run to the front where our gear was packed. As I pulled out the sleeping bags from the bottom of the pile I became sick because they were all about half soaked due to the rain. Well it became obvious that we couldn't sleep in them and the rain had stopped by then and the roads were not as steep since we had mad it most of the way down the mountain so we packed everything back up and drove on down to Ephraim and stayed the night at Lynn's place. It was a very memorable camping trip.

Jan. 14, 2012

Count Your Many Blessings List 100 From Ensign 12/2011

From the youth section of teaching the monthly Home Teaching thought:

List 100 blessings, start by listing 10 in each of the following areas.

10 Physical Abilities

1.     To walk

2.     To run

3.     To smell

4.     To taste

5.     To feel

6.     To see

7.     To jump

8.     To bend

9.     To write

10. To read

10 Material possessions

1.     Home

2.     Yard

3.     Playhouse

4.     Cars

5.     Lights

6.     Indoor water and plumbing

7.     Heater

8.     Clothing

9.     Blankets and pillows

10. Computer and TV

10 Living People

1.     Kasia

2.     Gabe

3.     McKinsey

4.     Hallie

5.     Sam

6.     Brooklyn

7.     Leilah

8.     Kade

9.     Alex

10. Greyson

10 Deceased People

1.     Kermit

2.     Ilean

3.     Lois

4.     Linda

5.     Nana (Rozilla Poulson Grandmother)

6.     Alma Poulson (grandfather)

7.     Charles Hansen

8.     Alvira Hansen

9.     Callista (Bell) Houtz Anderson

10. Vincent Houtz

10 Things of Nature

1.     Rain

2.     Snow

3.     Flowers

4.     Rainbows

5.     Sunsets/sunrises

6.     Waterfalls

7.     Animals/Birds

8.     Sun/Moon/Stars

9.     Wind

10. Clouds

10 Things from Today (1-1-2012)

1.     Sabbath Day

2.     Sacrament

3.     Gospel Teachings

4.     Family visits (Marsha)

5.     Life

6.     Health

7.     Food

8.     17 Miracles film

9.     Sacrifice of Pioneers

10. Our Children

10 Places on Earth

1.     Manti/Provo temples

2.     Duchesne

3.     Holden

4.     Centerfield

5.     Phoenix AZ

6.     Corpus Christi TX

7.     Centennial CO

8.     Srpingville/ Mapleton/ Pleasant grove/ Spanish Fork UT

9.     Hobble Creek canyon

10. Maple Canyon

10 Modern Inventions

1.     Toothbrush

2.     Razor

3.     Video Conferencing

4.     Dishwasher

5.     Cell Phones/phones

6.     TV remotes

7.     Hot Tub

8.     Clothes Washer

9.     Clothes Dryer

10. Books / Printing presses

10 Foods

1.     Bread

2.     Milk

3.     Water

4.     Punches

5.     Rice

6.     Potatos

7.     Jams

8.     Peanut Butter

9.     Honey

10. Ice Cream/Cookies/Cakes

Notes after this exercise:

The list of 100 blessings were in response to Pres Eyrings  Dec editorial in the Ensign. It gave us the above lists to complete with 10 things in each list.

As you can tell it was actually a bit of a challenge because once we got started it was easy to put numerous things in each list. By being very broad it was OK but had we been specific then the list of nature, places on earth, foods etc would have been very extensive. I would bet without a lot of effort the list could be well over a thousand or even five thousand for things which we are grateful for these days.

If you were to add other subjects such as education, government, military, church, law enforcement, freedoms, and even friends, then the list could go on even with greater numbers. The list of living people we did with the grandchildren simply because there are exactly 10 of them at this point in time but the list also included without question each of our children and their spouses and their spouses families (parents, siblings, Aunts and Uncles and cousin of whom we know many of them). It is endless when you really get to thinking about it . Even the private things such as intimacy with a spouse and the relationships of a marriage can be listed out to many individual things that are intermingled with them. Marie and I have watched three films the last two nights that have really gotten me to thinking. They are Facing our Giants (using God and the scriptures in everyday life), Fireproof (how to work at marriage to make it last), and 17 Miracles (the miracles surrounding the Willie handcart company coming with handcarts to Utah). They are each loaded with things for which to be thankful without even considering the lessons that they teach for which we are also thankful. They have each left a mark on my soul that will never be erased, maybe dimmed by time but never erased. I am so thankful to a loving Heavenly Father who watches over and protects us. Even as I think of the traveling we do and the things that could happen but don’t because of His gracious tender mercies toward each of us. 

Well needless to say we are truly blessed and with many things for which to return to the Savior and give thanks unlike the 9 who were healed and just kept going. May we be like the one who returned to give thanks, on a daily basis if not many more times each day.