Flock the Halls with boughs so jolly

The Christmas of 1972 was one that I will always remember. My sister Sheryl, really wanted to have a flocked Christmas tree, however, they were expensive, at least more expensive then Dad wanted to fund. Sheryl found a flock-it-yourself kit and talked Dad into buying it. The kit was a bit complicated, as I remember it. It came with an attachment that hooked up to our vacuum cleaner. It mixed water with the flocking powder as it sprayed it onto the tree, so it would stick to the needles when dry. Food coloring could be mixed with the water to make a pink, blue, yellow etc. tint to the flocking. We chose blue, for some reason, it may have been a popular color that year. When we got the water mixed up and the attachment, with the flocking powder in it, attached to the vacuum, we turned on the vacuum to try it out. Nothing happened! The vacuum was going, and no flocking was coming out of the nozzle. We tried everything we could think of to make it work. We checked the connections and turned it on and off several times. We did however manage to get Dad’s attention and he came over to see if he could help us figure out what was wrong. As he was looking directly at the nozzle, with the vacuum going, it decided to let loose. We shut the vacuum off and looked up. Dad was flocked! He was covered in light blue flocking, from his head to his stomach. Sheryl and I looked at each other, not quite sure how to react to the sight before us, (Dad didn’t always take things like this well) when Dad started laughing, we both couldn’t contain ourselves any longer and we laughed till we cried. Dad cleaned off his glasses and removed his shirt and we finished flocking the tree without any more problems. We did, however, gain a Christmas memory that will last a lifetime!

In Jeanne's own words, Part 9 (final post)

August 21, 1981

I’ve been slothful in writing my memories but I feel like adding to these notes today. I’m at the genealogical library today. I come every two weeks on a Friday to help the patrons find things in the library. To help them get their genealogical sheets done. It’s been a really rewarding experience and I go home feeling much peace and happiness from a day over here. Today it’s very quiet. Everyone is home canning, maybe. Well it’s a good time to catch up with my life sketch.

We now have 11 grandchildren, 5 girls and 6 boys. Lana has 2 girls and 3 boys. Her oldest is Jason, then Jared, then Darcy and Deana then Daren. A lovely family and Lana and Don are good parents, seeing to each other of their special needs. Ronald and Kerri have a little boy “Tyson” and he is a smiler, a darling boy and they are so good to him. I believe they are truly happy, I pray so.

Valerie and Darel have 3 darling girls Maureen, 7 Melissa, nearly 5 and Madelyn, 2 years (nearly) on December 8, 1981. Maureen is an outstanding student. So is Jason and Jared. Darcy starts kindergarten this fall. Valerie and Darel are close to the church too. John is living with us after 8 years away. He’s working for the school district driving school bus and janitor of the school. Then he does his dry walling finishing work in his spare time. And earns the extra money he needs to put by for a home. Evan is in Salt Lake City working for Toyota selling cars. We miss him and pray all is well with him. We pray he finds a choice wife and stays close to the church and his Heavenly Father. David is still on his mission and has been gone since April 17, 1980. He will be home April 17, 1982. Time is going so fast only about 8 months left. He’s doing very well. Cheryl and Hugh have 2 children, a boy Matthew, and a girl Adrienne DeHart. They are both busy in the church and working hard & saving to buy themselves a home. Matthew is one big smile all of the time, Adrienne rations hers out sparingly. It’s Sheryl’s birthday tomorrow. Hope we can go see her and surprise her on her birthday. But we were unable to go so we miss seeing her. She was going to come see us this summer but decided to go with Hugh on his selling trip. She’ll be gone for 9 days. Sheryl & the children stayed with us for 2 weeks the (not legible) day of September. We enjoyed them very much. It was Darcy’s birthday the 29th of August and I forgot all about it. Some grandmother huh? So I sent her a late card with $5.00 in it. Her mother knows what she likes and needs more than I do so we’ll leave it up to her.

Sent a card to Matthew and $5.00 too so his mother might buy him something that he needs. He’s 3 this year.

Hugh’s birthday is on the 29th of Oct. We’re having our pictures taken at the church tomorrow at 12:45 if I don’t forget.

September 11, 1981

I’m over at the genealogical library so am taking this opportunity to write some more of my life story.

We went to see Lana the 3rd of October, 1981. Don is going to school to become a Physicians Assistant and so we missed seeing him. We started Saturday noon and got there Sunday evening 7:30 or 8:00 pm. We weren’t there but about an hour and Sheryl called and said Adrienne had become very ill and had gone into convulsions and they had rushed her into the hospital. Before they went John and Robert Torgerson, our neighbor gave her a blessing and administered to her and she came out of her convulsions. We’re grateful to the Lord for saving our granddaughter’s life. They tested her for Spinal Meningitis and found definitely that she didn’t have it. We called the next morning and she was so much improved that we decided to stay and enjoy the next few days with Lana. We didn’t get a chance to talk with Don as he was at school and wouldn’t be coming home again until we had left for home. He’ll be through on December 13th and then has a year to intern until he can come to Idaho. My, we live for the day. We have certainly missed her children too. She has 3 boys and 2 girls. Jason, 8 ¾, Jared, 7, Darcy, 6, Deana 3, Daren 1 ¼ years.

In Jeanne's own words, Part 8

I’m now 54 years old, and have 9 children, eight grandchildren, 3 son-in-laws and a daughter-in-law. I’m working in Stake Sunday School, Junior Sunday School Chorister. And they just called both Kenneth and I to work in the Extraction Program (Spanish) and we are now in the process of learning Spanish enough to read the micro-film, baptism records and marriage records. We love the work but it’s hard to leave two teenagers at night to do the work – they tend to run off. We are going to try to get a film reader for our ward and then we can go more often and not be gone so much at night. It’s hard work for my husband with his poor vision and so he may have to drop out.

We are still doing extractions, I’m 55 now and Kenneth doesn’t go any more. But it is still exciting to me to know I’m actually getting names of my brothers and sisters from the films to have their work done. Mary Roedel and Wilma Wade are working with me now. I’m at the genealogical library today (4/3/81) as I take up my pen and try to set down some more of my life story. It’s been hard to think of all of the things that have happened to me. In fact I know I’ve only remembered a few things. We now have 11 grandchildren. Ronald has a lovely boy now named Tyson and he really is a good baby and very special. I pray this special little spirit in their home will inspire Ronald and Kerri to move closer to spiritual things. Our time is so limited on this earth, none of us know the day and hour of our call home to our Father in Heaven. We don’t have any time to waste.

In Jeanne's own words, Part 7

After we moved I began to take violin lessons from a Mr. Pascal. He wasn’t very young. In fact at that time I thought he was quite old, but I realize now, that I’m much older. He was still a young man. He could play so well that I would get discouraged just hearing him play, although I loved to hear the beautiful songs he would play. I remember Dad taking me to see Rubinoff. He was a famous violinist of the time & thinking, I would love to play that well. I loved the classical pieces of music from the time I was very young. Dad and I played a duet at church one time and it frightened me so badly that I wouldn’t play again for many years. Although I did still take lessons and studied until I was married. I played in the BYU Orchestra while I was going there to school for two years (I loved it). I can remember singing in Sunday School when I was very young and loving to sing the hymns all of my life. “Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam”, “My Light Is But a Little One”, “Give, Said the Little Stream”, “I Need Thee Every Hour”.

December 12, 1980
Music meant a lot to us children as we were growing up. I remember father and mother with company in our home and it was always centered around everyone participating in sing(ing) a solo or singing and singing and playing together. Any occasion was an excuse to sing and enjoy music. When friends came, birthdays, anniversaries, home comings, and leave takings. I remember just a night or two before mother passed away the family got together for some singing and mother was too ill to come into the front room but she would tell us how nice it was to hear the music and how much she enjoyed it. That was the last time she heard us before she passed away. But it was a very special evening, one I will never forget. Music will always be very much a part of my life. Whenever I sing or hear “A House Becomes a Home” or “Love At Home” or “I Hope There’ll Be Pine Tree’s in Heaven” or “Dear Earthly Father” I miss my parents more than I can ever tell. These songs have been very much a part of our lives. Aunt Lorraine wrote “A House Becomes a Home” and “Dear Earthly Father” and “I Hope There’ll Be Pine Trees in Heaven” and many more.

In Jeanne's own words, Part 6

As I write this page it’s May 30, 1979, and I’m 53 years old.

I’m now 54 years old, Jan 8, 1980. Time just keeps going fast. Anyway, we all seemed to enjoy anything connected with music or dancing & spent many hours together dancing & singing & playing. Across from us, in a very neat and tidy house (on 8th Street) lived a Mr. O. E. Bell & his family. I used to look at that nice neat house & hope someday that I would have one just like it. Mr. O. E. Bell was principal of the grade school & when I was going to it, he died. That made quite an impression on me and I saved the notice that came in the paper, of his death & about the funeral & put it in my diary. Too bad I didn’t keep up with my diary.

Father was made Stake President when I was about nine years old and we moved from 8th Street to West Broadway to a real farm. Boy, were we ever excited. It had a barn & chicken coops & an orchard & hay growing in the fields, and a big field of peas, which we kids found immediately and sat down in and ate & ate those peas. I can still remember how sick I got from stuffing myself with those fresh green peas. I don’t think I chewed them good enough for one thing. But I did learn not to overeat on fresh green peas again. I remember how beautiful that house looked to me. The floors were polished and the yards were beautiful. And my Father kept them beautiful as long as we lived there. When the house was sold & they bulldozed the beautiful trees & shrubs, the fish pond & the orchards & flowers down to put a drive inn in, I cried & cried. It was like seeing a loved one desecrated.

After we moved to the farm, there were animals to take a look at and we had horses, cows, chickens, dogs & cats. Dad grew apples, current, strawberries, raspberries, vegetables and all the flowers you needed to make a nice bouquet for the house, after you would clean it nice on Saturday, we would fill it with bouquets of flowers to make it look nice and the lovely roses, peonies, gladiolas and tulips, babies breath, Iris (all over) snap dragons poppies and pansies all live in my memory. I don’t remember anyone ever saying don’t pick the flowers. They were there to pick & enjoy if we wanted to and were given freely to all who came.

In Jeanne's own words, Part 5

We went swimming, often at a gravel pit out by the Airport. I remember how cold it was, even in the hot summer. You’d have to get in all at once, to be able to stand the cold, then you’d start to get warmer as you swam & kicked and (went numb) but we did enjoy it. We also swam a lot in a canal that was in back of Anderson’s place, about ½ mile from us in New Sweden area. It was awfully cold too and you felt like you would freeze, before you got used to the water. But it never stopped us from going. In the winter time we would go out to the old log building at Tautphous Park and skate (ice). How I loved to ice skate! The building has burned down since but how nice it was to go on a cold winters day and be out of that cold in that nice building, skating & skating. They since have built another new building out there for skating. We went a lot with our neighbors the Bishop boys. Lowell would drive us out there & patiently put up with all of us, about 6, until we were ready to come home. I went over to the Bishop’s a lot and one day I was singing and they ask me to sing something, so I sang a whole song and was surprised myself, because I was afraid to do anything in front of anybody. I remember how pleased Sister Bishop was, to have me sing for her, but I don’t remember what song I sang. Maybe it was “There’s an old spinning wheel in the parlor”. I used to sing that and Mother, when she and Dad traveled to the Worlds Fair brought me a small spinning wheel back to keep as a memento. I kept it until I went to college, then somehow it was lost. I had a lot of nice toys that were given to me as a child. I always tried to keep them nice for my children, but they were lost and broken by the nieces and nephews. But when I would cry about them, Mother would say to not mind, that was the chaf of life and to blow it away. As a result, I held no grudges and feel no animosity toward the young ones. I remember I had a Shirley Temple doll a Deone Quintuplet doll “Marie” and an electric stove I could cook toast & cocoa on. Some small furniture (doll house) and some tiny plates, dishes, bowls, glasses and silverware too. How I loved those miniature things. I still do, even at the age of (well old not quite young not any more) in between a lot of babies and problems to solve and tests have passed into the past & are getting to be ancient history.

In Jeanne's own words, Part 4

We moved from our home on 8th Street, when I was 9 yrs old. We moved onto a farm, out 1 mile west of Idaho Falls and there we grew hay, peas, apples, and a huge garden each year. We had chickens, pigs, cows & horses. After living in town, it seemed good to be out on our own, sort of self sufficient. We worked quite hard to harvest the things we grew & life seemed nice. Dad had been made Stake President (that was the reason for the move) and we were visited by many of the Brethren. Pres. George Albert Smith, Pres. Heber J. Grant, Pres. David O McKay (Father and Mother loved the man so much, they named my brother Kay after him. Fredrick McKay Smith.) but he was an apostle then, at the time he visited us. Brother Ezra Taft Benson, Pres. Kimbal (before he was president) Brother Romney (I can remember him as he sat in the kitchen at the table with Father and Mother, eating bread & milk & fruit & cheese which he said was his favorite supper meal. It also was my Fathers favorite supper. So they were both happy. But I remember our house had a lot of love in it and it always felt good to come home. But when the Brethren were in the house it had such a special feeling to it. It was like walking into a church or the temple. It was special!

We helped to haul hay. I remember I’d stand on the wagon and as they (Father & brothers) would lift the loose hay onto the wagon, I’d tramp on it so it would flatten down & we could get a bigger load. I felt important and loved to do this job. One day we had a big load on and were headed in from the field, to pile it in the barn. It tipped over and we were thrown off and the load of hay came down on us. It was a neighbors grandchild (a boy about my age or older) and I remember I wasn’t scared or anything, but I was glad when they got all the hay off us. They teased us for not paying attention to where we were going & letting the wheel of the wagon go off the bridge over the ditch and tipping us over.

We rode horses once in awhile. Father would always saddle them, then ride them for a few minutes to see that they weren’t rambunctious or fractious, and then he would let us ride as long as we wanted. But he would caution us not to run them, beat or abuse them or over tire them. He wouldn’t have allowed this. But we had many pleasant hours on the horses.

In Jeanne's own words, Part 3

I can remember our loving Mother would fix our cereal in a glass & call it gruel and make us drink it before we could leave the house for school. I remember too a dog we had that would follow us to school and the teacher would tell us to leave the dog home but he wouldn’t stay home & we would try to send him home all the way to school. But it was fun to see him there when we got out of school so we could walk home with him.

I had a very dear friend Harriet Price that lived through the alley and across from the High School. I would go to her house every chance I got. I was punished for going, when I hadn’t asked permission to go. And it worried my Mother to have me away from home & not know where I was.

I remember when we lived on 8th St In Idaho Falls, my brothers and some of us girls & boys dug a swimming pool in the garage. We found some bottles buried in the dirt. Mother called it de-natured alcohol, and told us to throw it away lest someone taste it and die. We were all thrilled about the pool even though it was almost straight mud. When Dad opened the door to put his car in the garage & found a swimming pool in it, he wasn’t thrilled. He told us to fill it in again. I know between snakes, rabbits, white mice and dogs and cats, it was never dull for either us children or our parents & our neighbors. D. F. Richards (the banker) lived next door to us. One day, he said his wife had been terrified by a large snake. It had gone under their porch and she wouldn’t either go out their door or come in until the snake was caught. So as I remember it Mr. Richards killed the thing. It was Harlands. Harland used to let the snake(a blow snake) wind itself around him and try to get us kids to hold it. I was always frightened of snakes and still am. I wouldn’t touch it.

I remember playing “Kick the can” , “Run sheep run”, and other games like “Mother may I”, “Steal the sticks”, outside at night with the neighbor kids. We had a lot of fun. I can remember Halloween nights, going out with a “Tic tac” (an empty thread holder with notches cut in it & tied with string) to make noise on windows. Mother didn’t like us to put wax on windows, as it caused so much work, so we made a little harmless noise, told each other Ghost stories and scared ourselves so much we hated to go up stairs to bed in the dark.

I remember going down our driveway on a sleigh & going on down 8th Street clear to the bottom & doing it again & again until we were quite exhausted. I remember doing exercises out on the lawn with some of the neighbor kids. Standing on our heads and doing Cartwheels & trying to walk on our hands. Carol was really good at teaching us to exercise.

I remember when we would be playing hide & seek, we would hide behind all the neighbor’s shrubbery and I remember eating Gooseberries as I hid there by the Gooseberry bush. I still remember how good they tasted. We took both dancing and acrobatics as kids. Lorraine played for Don Wilson and he taught us Tap dancing. A Mr. Larson, I believe, taught us to do acrobatics.

In Jeanne's own words, Part 2

I remember we used to walk to grade school every school day. We would go down the block east to the bottom of the block and turn up north and then turn down 7th St and go east for about half a block & go through a vacant lot to sixth St and then up a block to 5th where the school was located. I remember in the first grade, Mother made me a new dress to wear with panties to match. There was a pocket in the pants for a hanky. I remember it was print, with fruit on it I believe. But I loved that dress. I must have looked nice as a little boy 1st grader gave me a kiss, And I was never the same after that. I liked little boys! My first grade teacher was a Miss Stevenson I don’t think she ever married. But I loved her, she was very nice. Then when I got into the 3rd grade, there was a Mrs Johnson. She had us line up in a line and March into the school house to a Phillip Sousa, March and I’ve always loved to hear a March ever since. My toes start to tap and I long to march. We had a Rhythm Band too in that school. I learned to love music at an early age. I can remember her singing the Hymns in Church & How much I loved them.

I loved to roller skate and when we girls would get together to skate, We would go down Boulevard lickety split to the little park & fall on the soft grass to stop ourselves, & then go do it again.

I remember when I learned how to ride a bike one of my sisters or brothers put me on a bike at the top of Ninth street(and it went sloping down quite steep for a beginner) & gave me a push & told me to hang on & I had to stay on & ride the thing to the bottom of the hill or have a terrible fall. I don’t remember falling. But I do remember how scared I was. But when I discovered I could do it I jumped off pushed my bike back up to the top of the street & did it again.

I remember many pleasant hours in the alleyway, where the church lawn ended and fell away into a steep wall. We would sit there and dig. Make roads & castles & houses & farms & gardens & everything we could think of. I remember going there alone mostly & sitting in the sun shining warm on my back & thinking things over by the hours. I remember how pleasant the feeling was & how warm it was there.

We were close enough to the church that we walked to & from church. The evenings were so nice as we would come out of church & start for home. One night after church, thinking I saw my Father starting to go home. I ran and taking hold of his hand began to walk with him. When I looked up at him, It wasn’t my Father, but one of his friends who looked a lot like him. I still remember how embarrassed I felt.

We often walked downtown from our home as it was just a nice walk, about 4 or 5 blocks. We passed this house that had a set of wind chimes hanging on the porch & if there were the slightest breeze, the wind chimes would play & it was quite beautiful. But if one were walking along being a trifle spooky, It would frighten us and we would run past the house and on home. There was a Chinese cook & houseboy that worked there and that lent an air of mystery about the place together with the wind chimes that late at night when it was very dark would hurry us past the place on the run.

In Jeanne's own words, Part 1

As I take up my pen to write my life story, I think, what are the more important things about my life that I should put down for my children to remember. And I guess I should start at the beginning and write as much as I can remember & if I leave any thing important out insert it in afterwards as it comes back to me. As I look backwards, trying to call to mind these things that I would remember, I think of a large red brick house, with a fence around the back yard. A (white picket) with a gate, going down some steps and out onto the alleyway, which we would go west along for just a few hundred ft, to our church. Just back of us across the alley was a large house in which the Catholic sisters(nuns) lived. Down the street to the east of us just a house away the Catholic father lived and the Catholic school(and church) was down the alley east of us. So we were much aware of the Catholics. We were taught always to be tolerant and never make fun of other Religions.

In the back yard we had flowers, Hollyhocks, pansies and peonies, and an apricot tree, which bore fruit. We would watch with fascination as the fruit appeared and grew on this tree. I remember we never picked the fruit while it was green as this made my Father very sad. I remember one night as we were getting ready for a family evening, And we had these all my life. We had made some home made ice cream & put it outside on the porch to keep cold until we were ready to eat it. When we went to get it, it was gone. I remember we were disappointed. I remember we lived on a hill and our house was on a hill too. So we would bundle up and get the sleigh out and we would go down the driveway and clear to the bottom of eighth street before we stopped. And what a thrill it was. And then we would race back & do it again, and again. I remember this house as a house of much love. It had a large mirror in the front room. We could see ourselves from our head to our feet. We also had a full length mirror in the bedroom. It kept us working on our weight, As it really showed every bulge, and every flaw.

It was in this house as a baby that I was very badly burned, On the radiator. The doctor gave no hope for my eyes when he saw how badly I was burned on the forehead & eyes, and hands. But Mother told me that tannic Acid had just been discovered for use in treating burns and it was applied, weeks later, when they peeled it off I had mended & made miraculous strides in healing of those burns. My brother who was somewhat to blame for me getting burned, Spent most of those weeks praying to his Heavenly Father in my behalf and I know that that is why my vision has always been so good. 20-20 until just lately, And as I write this I’m 52 years old and only lately have not been seeing so good as I used to.

Where's the beef?

In the summer of 1997 our family went on a summer vacation to visit Yellowstone park. On the way back we stopped in and visited John, Tammy and their family in Hamer, Idaho. The kids had a wonderful time being outside running around and exploring our old childhood farm. As they were running around playing tag with Kelsey and Kiley, Troy in trying to avoid being tagged, backed up quickly without looking where he was going and fell down backward, landing directly on top of a rotting, decapitated calf head. Apparently the dog had dragged it in from the field and left in the grass on the side yard. When Troy realized what he had fallen on, he was traumatized (you just don't get those kind of experiences living in the city) and started crying. Andrea, seeing what had happened, ran over and tried to comfort him and get him in the house to get cleaned up. Following a bath and some clean clothes, Troy felt more like his old self. As he came out into the living room to join the rest of us, John just couldn't resist asking him, "Well, Troy, do you feel like you've been De-calf-inated yet"?

I look at the "normal" experiences that I had, growing up in the country, and the "normal" experiences that my children have had growing up in the city and they are as different as night and day. Kelsey and Kiley did not seem to be too bothered by that calf head being in their yard, in fact to them it was normal. The dogs were always dragging some dead animal up into our yard to chew on when I was a kid.