Dec. 18, 2011

Family Vacation to Disneyland

In 1989 we decided to go with Charles and Ann’s family to Disneyland and Sea World in southern California. I have never really wanted to go to Disneyland but agreed to it anyway for the children’s sake. (I do not like crowds and standing in line for an hour to go through one ride and then return to the lines for another hour.) Well we went in October and only the schools in Utah were out for vacation so the crowds were somewhat limited in size which did make it a lot better. It also was my first trip to California and  so that didn’t help matters since I have never driven in those freeway systems and that much traffic.

Well we went when Brittany not very old so Marie suggested that I take the older boys on the rides that she couldn’t go on with us. Brittany apparently didn’t feel real good and spent some time crying and the main thing to this day that I remember about the trip was Ann getting mad at me for not taking Brittany more of the time. She wasn’t about to let me explain to her that it was Marie who wanted it that way not me. I can only remember one or two of the rides that we went on that day and can remember more abut Sea World than Disneyland. I guess my opportunity to take pictures was much greater at Sea World and there was actually a lot more to photograph in reality.

I loved Shamu and the other sea animals and am fascinated by what they can be taught. So it was more in my interests also than Disneyland. I will probably never go there again unless Grandchildren talk me into it and I would go for them. Now don’t get me wrong in thinking that I might be suggesting that you should never go to Disneyland because I think it is an interesting place and everyone should go at least once (but probably no more than that).  Sea World on the other hand I would love to see again especially with a camera that could get good pictures from anywhere in the stands.

We did one other thing while there that was fun but silly in other respects. We crossed over the border into Mexico then walked across the street and back into the United States just so we could say we had been into another country. I guess it was good but I was not impressed with that part of the country and do wish I could go deeper into it and see parts of world history areas and especially what is believed to be Book of Mormon history sites as well. I will probably never make it there but am glad that others are able to go and make film documentaries that I can watch at least.

Dec 17, 2011

Wedding-8/8/88

There is an interesting thing that happens each year that I don’t totally understand but it is the desire to get married on a date that has numerical sequences. This year it won’t happen in the temples since the date today of 10/10/10 is a Sunday but I’ll bet there are marriages being performed somewhere to day just because it is an interesting string of numbers.

I home taught a family once for several years and got to know them quite well. The youngest, whose name I will not reveal in the story, had one such marriage. It was not in the temple however but it was on the date of 8/8/88. I was working at Signetics at the time and she had also gotten a job there so I would see her almost every day and got to talk to her quite often. This was years after I had been her home teacher but I was still interested in her and her family. They had since been put into another ward with ward boundary changes so I didn’t get to see them that often.

I remember being very concerned as I watched this romance, of sorts, budding. I also remember watching her and him in their interactions at work. One day specifically stuck out in my mind as I watched them going home, she was like a little pet of his obediently walking several steps behind him as they were going to the car. I noticed later that it seemed to always be that way and she was hardly ever by his side holding hands. I am sure they most likely did but never that I saw. I photographed the wedding and gave the pictures to her. I also wasn’t surprised to discover a couple of years later that they were divorced as I had never really been impressed by him from the beginning. I had lost contact with her since her wedding so I didn’t know it was coming. She later remarried a remarkable young man who was the brother in law to her sister and then I found out after the birth of her son that only a short time later he was laying in the bed playing with the son and had a heart attack and died. That was one marriage that I felt so bad about in the way it ended but at least this time she was married to him in the temple. She has again since married and has a wonderful family and a very loving husband. She only made the mistake one time and really learned from it. She has not to my knowledge been married on any of those types of dates since then and it wasn’t because of the date that she had a poor marriage but I will always remember that date because of her wedding.

We have since photographed a wedding on 8/8/2008 and one on 9/9/2009 and both of those marriages to my knowledge are still going strong.

Dec. 16,2011 Happy Birthday Marie!!! 58

My 1st wedding Leesa's

When I was 18 and waiting to go on my mission mom and dad were presented with a very interesting set of financial things for that year. I was going on a mission, Leesa, Stan and Lynn were also all getting married that year and dad and mom were not rich. So to help save on expenses I photographed Leesa’s wedding reception in Duchesne and she also had some pictures taken at a studio in Provo. I always felt that was a good choice to have some done in Provo since only two of all of my pictures turned out. Well I tell Leesa that now and she explains to me that there were a lot of them that were good but I still only remember two. I often wonder why I kept photographing weddings after that  but it must be my love for photography and the fun that I have watching young couples and their families during the entire process. I had a rough start as I remember it but have also had some very good experiences since then as I have continued doing it. It makes me feel young to a degree now as I do them to see the love between the youth (and even older people for I have done some of those weddings also) on their wedding day. I will often in months after the event when I see them ask if they are still in love and it is so rewarding to hear them say that they are. There have been a few disappointing ones that haven’t lasted but as I look back on them I could see then where things were not right with the wedding and should have expected it. A good 95 +% though have been very positive and are turning out well. It is hard to believe that I am nearing when I could be doing third generation weddings in my family and second generation in others. I know there is still a lot that I can do to improve the quality of the images that I provide but am always thankful when someone says that they loved the pictures and that they mean so much to them.

Dec. 15, 2011

A double wedding in one for the same bride:

I have just completed writing about Uncle Kay’s funeral and stating the fact that he had stopped using contracts in his business and had gone through his life with very few disappointments. I too had done the same with few disappointments. I did have one wedding however that was a little disappointing in a young lady from Gunnison who took advantage of my generosity in business. I try to do what the bride’s want and to make their wedding fun. This particular bride wanted me to do engagement pictures up American Fork canyon but due to weather we did it at BYU and then later went to American Fork canyon. She also wanted bridal pictures taken in two spots which we did. Then the day of the wedding she had requested that I come to Manti early to do pictures but when I told her that the temple generally suggests that it not be done since the brides seem to get into the temple late, I suggested that she not do it but that I would do whatever she wanted. Well I never heard from her so on the wedding day we took a few pictures at the temple then traveled to Gunnison for the luncheon and then back to Manti for the rest of the pictures making it essentially twice as well. We then returned to Gunnison for the reception. I had started charging $800.00 for the entire set of wedding pictures in the business and collecting usually at the reception. Well she had required so many expensive things for her wedding that she had drained her parents funds completely dry and in fact her brother had been helping her pay for the wedding expenses including the honeymoon and she had drained his finances as well.

I processed the pictures but it took a couple months to finally get her to pick them up. She had wanted to wait until her dad could pay for them. I finally convinced her that I would rather have her enjoying the pictures than to have them setting around my place. She picked them up and then paid approximately $400.00 in a couple of payments. She called almost a year later and asked if she owed any more and when I told her she said that she thought it was all paid up. I wondered then why she called. But she said she would get it to me. Well I very easily could have been incorrect in what she had paid and she may well have paid in full I have not gone back to my records to check because I know whatever it is it was sufficient if it meant not having to put that father through anymore expense. I do it for fun not to end up fighting over it and feel I can still love the people better if I don’t try to make it a big deal and let them decide for themselves when and if it is done.

Dec. 14, 2011

Uncle Kay’s funeral 9/2010

Marie and I got up around 4:30 AM to travel to Blanding for the funeral of Kay Perkins Lyman my Uncle. He was the Husband of mother’s second sister Velma Alvira Hansen. She passed away in December and we were not able to attend that funeral but were very glad that we got to this one. We had planned on leaving at about 5:30 but finally entered the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon around 5:50 AM. Earlier I had heard sirens going up the canyon as I was emailing my Good Morning email and remember thinking that I hope it isn’t someone I know headed to the funeral.

As I was putting gas in the car at the Jack Rabbit gas station by the highway leading to the canyon there was a police car that also went up the canyon at that time. Marie reminded me not to go fast as he was ahead of us. Well as we traveled I kept expecting to see him doing a radar trap but we had traveled all the way to Colton before we finally found where he had apparently gone. As we rounded the corner from the café toward the rest area there was an accident involving one semi-truck and possibly two and a white van. The van looked as though it had hit the semi from the front driver’s side of the van and was totally smashed on the one side. There was a tire in the road just beyond it and a second semi stopped right in the south bound lane making passing it very dangerous as it was close to the curve coming down from Soldier Summit. I commented to Marie that I hope it wasn’t a family member headed to the funeral but we would not probably find out until we got to Blanding.

Well we traveled on with no other incidents and not a lot of traffic to Blanding and got there just shortly after 10:00 AM. We were able to go through the viewing line and meet again my cousins, some of whom I had not seen since we were youth in high school. We also saw Aunt Helen, and Aunt Carma, tow of whom I knew had traveled down before us. We also saw Uncle Doyle and Aunt Ardyth. It was really fun to see and get to know again some of my family from Mother’s side of the family.

I really enjoyed the funeral as the children talked about Uncle Kay and his life and for the first time knew more about his involvement in WWII that went beyond the picture of he and Velma on their wedding day when he wore his military uniform.  I also learned that he went on a mission around age 25 or 26 maybe a little older, went to war after his mission. He had met Velma while serving in the mission-field where she also served. They wrote while he was in Germany fighting the war. Then they were married after he was released from the service.

He had written a life history that was used during the talks to point out these parts of his life. After the funeral services we went ahead of the procession to the cemetery so that I could get pictures as the group arrived at the cemetery. There was a military honor guard there awaiting the casket and the family. I photographed as many of those at the cemetery as possible including the 9 gun salute and the folding of the American Flag that had been draped on his coffin. The flag was then given to Ben who has retired also from military service. He began to cry as they gave it to him even though he had held so well his emotions prior to that. (They also presented the bullet casings to him after the services at the graveyard were over.) It was a very special service at both places.

We then went to the luncheon at a second church in town, the original chapel of Blanding. I also took the opportunity to photograph there and took family group pictures after the meal. The family wanted me to take a group picture of all of Uncle Kay’s posterity as one large group. I had to move to the other side of the hall and stand on a table with the camera in order to get all of them into the one picture.

We then drove home. It took a little longer than going since I stopped to photograph the Monticello Temple and a natural arch between Moab and Monticello. We were also held to below the speed limit as we followed 3 sets of trucks and caution trucks that were carrying the large windmill fan blades used in the windmills for generating electricity. We arrived home around 8 PM and had a very good day. Marie and I were the only ones from Mother’s family that were able to attend. I am thankful for families and was very impressed with that again as I watched my cousins pay respect to their father and mother at that funeral. Uncle Kay and Aunt Velma had very strong testimonies and taught their children well. I was also having fun trying to put timelines for his life in respect to mine. The closest similarity was that he was set apart as a Patriarch when I was called to serve my mission in 1972. I loved him and Velma and will always appreciate their example to me through my life. Another that seemed to hit me was the fact that he used contracts in his business for several years as he installed heating and air-conditioning in people’s homes. He went to install one in the of an old family friend once though and the fellow wouldn’t sign it. He commented to Kay that if his word couldn’t be trusted then he didn’t want to deal with him. Well Uncle Kay apparently went home that day and stopped using contracts in his business and went the rest of his business life trusting other people’s word with very few disappointments. I have not ever used a contract in my photography and I too have not had many disappointments but am thankful that the Lord has helped me to trust in others as well.