Lil Thanksgiving Roadtrip

During the last few years I've taken off the entire Thanksgiving week from work to focus on my own special projects - exercising, scanning photos, typing in old journals into the computer, etc.

However, this year has been crazy busy at work and many of us just used the Monday - Wednesday part of the week to actually get work work done instead of coordinating so much of it. So, though I was teleworking on Wednesday, I was working all the way up until 6 or 7 p.m. and fully expecting to pull in some hours on Friday and Saturday while lounging around the house.

But, no...we ended up taking a lil roadtrip. We had intended on doing a 24 hour stint to visit J's kids, but weren't quite sure what part of Thanksgiving that would fall on or how that would work.

So, at 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning we went to the local Cracker Barrel and had a lil Thanksgiving meal and then came home, packed quickly and hit the road.

We found out along the way that we couldn't actually see the kids until Friday and so we took a detour and late evening we were nestled into a not so great hotel in Kirtland, Ohio. By the way, is it just me - even the four and five star hotels gross me out now.

But, I digress.

On Black Friday morning we arose fairly early and went down into historic Kirtland and saw a lot of older couple missionaries and a younger missionary all up and about getting the place ready for visitors. We walked around the Newel K. Whitney  storefront, by the School of Prophets, and near the mill. It all was in great shape and it had obviously been updated since I was last there over 20 years ago.

We then drove up the hill to the Kirtland Temple which is still owned by the Community of Christ church.

Me with the brother and sisters at Kirtland, OH. Wow, and to think three more boys were born after this point!

I clearly remember the moments in the photo above. Besides liking that purple shirt (rare for me because I've just started liking purple recently), I distinctly remember the feelings I had when we had the tour with the Community of Christ tour guide and the tour we had with our LDS tour guide. Both were kind and good, but I felt powerful spiritual feelings with the LDS tour guide. It is just a reminder that children are not exempt from feeling the Spirit in their lives and may be closer to it than most of us having grown into adults.

It was great to walk the grounds alone. No one from the Community of Christ was at their visitor center and so we assumed it was closed for the day.

Right as we were walking toward it, the church across the street had an organist start playing "Till We Meet Again." That, along with the crisp (warm) morning air and being alone made it an especially peaceful experience.

The neighboring graveyard had many grave stones with familiar names - Smith, Stevenson, Pratt, etc. Standing among the graves of people who made great sacrifices brought feelings that I've felt at Gettysburgh, PA. Gratitude, respect, peace and a desire to push myself a little harder in life to stand for something and be something more than merely living a status quo.

We decided to head down into Ohio a bit more to see some Indian Mounds J had been hearing about. Sometimes it is more amazing to read about these things than actually see them in real life. But, again, I know that I had been to these mounds, or those that were similar, on one of those past family trips when I was young. Yet, I don't have a picture to prove it.

You can't go on a trip without visiting a local diner and we did just that - and sat up where we could talk to the waiters and waitresses as they shouted at each other and quite possibly us.

Notice how J also had to indulge in a Dairy Queen even while I try to be good. And, yes, the chocolate covered cone IS bigger than the vanilla cone he is eating. It isn't just bigger because it is closer to the camera.

A fun moment was seeing the Longaberger Baskets offices on a random drive near Newark, Ohio. The building looks like a big basket.



We ended up seeing J's kids after all this and the drive home was mostly in the dark through the mini-mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.

Trips are the best! They get us out of our norm and most important to me - I see people living life and they are OUTSIDE of the DC racket. Yes, there is a life out there and I'm excited to hit the road more to see it!

P.S. You will probably see another post above this since our moonroof decided not to close during our trip. Ugh. It was in the 60s and sunny the entire time, but now it is raining and presenting issues. More car sagas!

Anne Clark Heiner - newspaper article

I found my Aunt Anne's obituary. It's always amazing all of the things you learn about people after they are gone. Amazing life!

http://www.magicvalley.com/obituaries/?type=obit&id=76360

Anne Clark Heiner
PAUL - Anne Clark Heiner, teacher, mentor and champion of youth, died Friday, Feb. 20, 2009, at her home in Paul. She was 55. Despite a childhood condition that required multiple surgeries to her heart and left it faltering the remainder of her life, she mustered what energy was left her in boundless service to her Heavenly Father, her family and her community. Anne was an innovative, skilled and dedicated teacher and counselor of youth for 20-plus years. She taught school in small communities all over southern Idaho, including Burley, Bruneau, Declo, Dietrich and Malta. She taught on elementary and secondary levels. She taught at an alternative school and a charter school. She taught in a local prison.

Anne was also well traveled. She had visited or studied abroad in such countries as Israel, New Guinea, New Zealand, Australia, several European countries, Egypt, Thailand, Mexico and Central America. She therefore learned how to combine her passion for teaching youth and traveling by giving her students a taste of a broader world and brotherhood. Anne was dedicated to following through with her students, trying to help them with their lives outside of school. She tried to teach her troubled youth a modicum of family normalcy with lessons on etiquette and respect, introductions to a higher level of fine music, art, literature and drama, and how to play traditional wholesome games. She was the Cassia County Teacher of the Year in 1993.

Anne was born June 1, 1953, in Rupert. Anne graduated with an English degree from Brigham Young University and completed her teaching degree at Idaho State University. She served an 18-month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the Navajo-speaking mission in Arizona and New Mexico. Anne married Dennis Heiner of Paul on Sept. 24, 1999, in the Jordan River Temple in Utah. Anne and Dennis were beloved of each other. For nearly 10 years, Anne was blessed to assume the role she always desired, that of wife. She delighted in the individual personalities of Dennis' four children and loved being part of their growth.

Anne stood Tin Soldier steadfast and immovable in her religious beliefs. She often credited her lifetime of service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as her true growth, the callings she was given helping her to stretch. She faithfully and fully immersed herself in such responsibilities as that of Sunday school teacher, stake Relief Society president, Young Women president, seminary teacher, visiting teacher, Primary presidency, young adult adviser and various music callings. Anne honored her noble parents in a multitude of ways, considered it an honor to have been part of the lives of every one of her siblings, adored her Dennis, and was the truest of friends to so many of her worldwide brothers and sisters.

She is survived by her husband, Dennis Heiner of Paul; Dennis' four children, Jessica and (Dusty) Colter of Gooding, Leisel Heiner of Logan, Utah, Rebekah Heiner of Chicago, Ill., and Joseph Heiner of Moscow; her parents, Alma and Elizabeth Clark of Burley; her siblings, Charles and (Diane) Clark of Noblesville, Ind., Kathryn C. Tompkins of Jefferson, Ga., Steven and (Luanne) Clark of Pocatello, Gordon and (Janet) Clark of Boise, John and (Sandra) Clark of Orem, Utah, Antone and (Cindy) Clark of Layton, Utah, Ellen Clark of Thailand/Logan, Utah, and Paul and (Tondee) Clark of Boise; 42 Clark nieces and nephews; and 13 Heiner nieces and nephews.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Rupert LDS 1st Ward-Spanish Branch church (the former Rupert Stake tabernacle), 806 G St. in Rupert, with President Jeffrey C. Harper officiating. Burial will be in the Pleasant View Cemetery in Burley. Friends may call from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27, at the Rasmussen Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St. in Burley, and from 10 until 10:45 a.m. Saturday at the church.
• Published Thursday, February 26, 2009

In Memory of Anne Clark Heiner

Today I found out that my Aunt Anne passed away in her sleep. She was in her 50s. She was one of my youngest aunts (I think there are about 15 in all). She had heart problems from a young age, but it had rarely prevented her from travel, education, church involvement or staying busy.

I don't remember when I first remember Aunt Anne. It seemed to me that she was always in school or traveling when I was young. She used to curl our hair and put lip gloss on our lips (along with our Aunt Ellen) whenever we went to visit my grandparents in Burley, Idaho. It was fun to be made glamorous by our aunts. She must have been in her earlier 20s at that time.

When I got a little older, I remember taking a trip with Aunt Anne to Bruneau, Idaho to drop off some of her teaching supplies for the new school year. We (Renaye & I) went to her school and to her new home - a little house that seemed to be in a wide field in the middle of nowhere. Though I like the wide open spaces, I remember not wanting to ever have to do that by myself. I figured she must be pretty brave to conquer the wide open spaces of Idaho.

I will admit that I had my moments with Aunt Anne. She was very direct with her questions and sometimes they came at times where I couldn't handle them emotionally. What are you planning to do with your life? That was the question that came in front of a room full of aunts and uncles at a family gathering. I was 20 years old and really didn't know what I was planning to do. What is preventing you from getting married? That came in front of a little group of people right at a difficult time too. Yet, she was one person that was allowed to ask these questions. She was single until her mid-40s. She was an example to me of perseverance even when life didn't go the way it was planned. She got her teaching degree and a masters degree. She traveled the world. She was invited to do interesting things - some kind of trip with National Geographic, jury duty for some people that neglected their pet tigers in Idaho (?), and working with kids that had committed some interesting crimes. She even served a mission for our church on a Navajo Indian reservation and spoke Navajo. Rare.

In a heart to heart conversation at some point before she met her husband, I still remember her telling me this:

"God's delays are not God's denials."

That quote has stuck with me for a long time and I've shared it with many a friend.


It is sad that she is gone. I think the last time I saw my Aunt Anne was in 2005 and so it is probably time that I take another trip out west. Only this time we won't be able to talk.

These moments kind of shake me up a bit, but I do walk away appreciating life, wanting to make the most of it and feeling an immense sense of gratitude for family/friends.

Aunt Anne is in a good place right now, though that will provide little comfort to many at the moment. She fought a good fight, lived with meaning, and had an influence on more people than I will ever know being so far away.

But, I do know her influence on me, I do have memories, and I do have pictures. This evening I also do have a few moments to reflect.

I'm grateful for my Aunt Anne and look forward to seeing her again someday.

This last picture is one of my favorite pictures of Aunt Anne. It was the first I thought of when I realized that I needed to sit down and right about her this evening. We had a family reunion in Idaho when I was around 14-15 years old. There were about 35 grandchildren at the time. My mom, and some of the aunts, had put us into teams in which we had to dress up and run an obstacle course. It was so fun for a lot of the cousins. This was what my Aunt Ann dressed up in when she took a turn. Beautiful picture! I think my Dad took it.

Here's an excerpt from my sister Renaye's email. We both remembered the same excursion with our Aunt Anne!

My best memory of her was when she invited Rebecca and I to help her set up house in Warsaw, Idaho?? was that the name of the tiney town she was to be a teacher in? The town had give her a house...I think she was THE elementary teacher for the whole town or something like that!!! :) I remember helping her load up Grandpa's truck with all her things...school supplies and house supplies alike. We drove and drove what seemed like forever in the wilderness, stopping at a gas station that looked like it was straight from the 1940s!!! I looked at the gas meter on the truck and thought..."we don't need gas!"...but she said she always filled up when the needle hit the halfway point because she never wanted to be stranded, but always prepared....for some reason that really stuck with me (perhaps because we pushed OUR car many a time on trips when we had run out of gas!!! Dad...hahah)I remember being intimidated by her because she was such a strong person, seemed to be so in charge of herself and others, she knew what needed to be done and did it!...all things I was not at the time, and still struggle with, so I did look up to her for this.

Aunt Ann really made me feel important on that trip. She gave me assignments of loading and then unloading the truck, organizing boxes and items in her new surroundings, and other things i'm sure but just can't remember. The most important thing is the FEELING I had...I felt more grown up than ever before as if she recognized me as a fellow girl/young woman...(Becca do you even remember how old we were or what year that was?) For the first time I really felt an extreme amount of respect for my Aunt who was moving to the middle of nowhere, all by herself, to teach children like me....would I have done that? I don't know, but it was a poignant experience and wonderful memory...one in which I will cherish!!!

In Memory Of - Hugo Schaefer

We lived in Michigan during the 1980s and our left side neighbor was Hugo Schaefer and his wife. He was up around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. every morning and would be outside shoveling his driveway, sweeping his driveway, or picking up the endless twigs in his yard. I remember thinking he was old at the time, but apparently he was just in his early 60s and had barely retired from Dow Chemical.

Until reading his obituary, I wasn't aware that he had been instrumental in creating what we know as saran wrap. Of course, even though this amazed me, we did have other neighbors that invented silly puddy, Styrofoam, and made major contributions to the development of aspirin. That's what happens when you grow up in a town of chemists. I mowed lawns, babysat and delivered papers to these types of people. I don't think any of it rubbed off on me, but it's pretty neat that they were so smart.

Hugo warmed up to us the minute we moved in even though he probably didn't realize he was signing up for a loud Mormon family constantly on the go or who had children who made their way across his manicured lawn to ask questions about what he was doing or how his tools worked.

I still remember being so proud of myself if I could wake up before him and go get our driveway, his driveway or the other neighbors driveway shoveled before he got up. I think I only accomplished that once if I'm honest with myself.

I still remember him picking up all the twigs in his yard and then bringing out the golf balls to practice his swing. It seemed to be his reward after cleaning, fixing, sweeping or whatever he was busy accomplishing. His wife never came outside much and most of the time I only saw her when I went to collect the newspaper bill. My brothers would go over to his house a lot while I was at school and apparently they have even more fond memories as he patiently answered their questions or requests to help him with his tasks.

Our street didn't have many kids our age, but it was great that we had the chance to get to know quite a few adults that were probably secretly happy that there were some grandchildren type kids around. I'm glad we got to be part of that experience.

Good times and good memories.

Hugo is the second from the left at one of our annual neighborhood picnics.

Memory Lane - the line up

Ok, we are starting to take a few pictures with this line up. The boys. Lined up. Clicking their hands. It looks kind of funny. It looks like they are enjoying it. And, it is completely based upon a picture that I can't find from 1974. But, here's the picture that was probably taken a few seconds before the "famous" picture in 1974.
Gotta love my uncles outfits. It must have been moments after this shot that they broke out into the pose that my brothers and father continue to copy.

Here's the pose in the same living room at my grandparent's home back in 2005.

Just for kicks - I'm throwing in a picture of what some of us looked like back in 1974. Ha. I'm on the far left, Renaye is holding the necklace and RaeLyn is folding her arms on the far right.

I'll look around and see if I can find the original and make this post more meaningful.

Oh You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby!

This afternoon I got on Facebook and saw that one of my brothers and one of my cousins had written on another cousin's wall. Both comments were something to the effect of "sorry about your Dad." Hmmm. I wasn't sure what it meant and then listened to a voicemail from my parents telling me that my Uncle Don had passed away last night of a heart attack. He had been through a few surgeries for a brain tumor he had a few years ago, but I thought he had been able to move forward.
These are sad times, but I must admit...the few moments I've had to reflect have brought a lot of memories that I hadn't thought about for a while.

My family lived in Nebraska when I was in the 1st through the 3rd grade. Because there were not many congregations for our church, some people traveled rather far for the Sunday meetings. One person stayed with our family each weekend - Don Tompkins. I remember that he had a gruff, but pleasant voice and that one of his jobs was as a beekeeper. He would always come in the house and start belting out in a loud, strong singing voice "Oh, You must have been a beautiful baby, but oh boy look at ya now..." to the four little girls (me and my sisters). It was slightly embarrassing to us, but I remember we would all blush because he was giving us a compliment.

I remember him cooking fried chicken in this special cooking pan and using a lot of honey for his special recipe. Yuck! Or, at least that is what we would say before we tasted the chicken and then the yuck would turn to yum. It seemed to me that he put honey on to everything he ate, but not sure if memory is serving me well.

He also had some cool running shoes, but I remember them being fairly high tech (it was the late 70s so no telling what high tech resembled at that time) for what we were used to at our house.

I'm not sure how long it was, but after a while my parents decided that they were match makers and they asked one of my father's sisters to come out to meet this guy. I don't remember much about their dating experience, except that one day I came into my bedroom and they were sitting on my twin bed kissing. Something happened while they were sitting there and either the bed broke or the mattress slide off or something. I remember high tailing it out of the room because I didn't want to have to tell anyone what happened...or maybe I was just laughing. After all, what is an 8 year old to do in these situations?

They were married a short time later and that was my first experience as a bridesmaid - or shall I say mini-bridesmaid/flower girls.

I haven't seen my Uncle Don or Aunt Kathryn that much over the years. Perhaps at a few family reunions and then when they all came up to DC for Clark's wedding in 2001. However, my parents and other siblings have taken a few trips down to see them in Georgia and they've been up to Indiana a few times. Good memories.

Over the last year I've not re-connected with my Uncle Don, but have re-connected with my cousins on Facebook. It's kind of strange that I knew their father before they did. I was a healthy 8-9 years old by the time Don and Kathryn were married. So, these memories are something to add to their memories of him...and for them to know that he made a positive impression in my life, and the rest of my family.

May the Tompkins family be comforted in their time of need and know that we love and support them...even if far away from Georgia.
The Tompkins family in April 2008 as photographed by http://www.clairissacooper.com/.

Memory Lane - Squaw Peak hike

While I was in Utah a few weeks ago, I told my brother Scot that we had to go up to a little park near the mouth of Rock Canyon in Provo.

I stop by this spot every time I visit Provo.

Back in July 1997, I went on a blind date with another couple and we went on a fairly robust hike that started in Rock Canyon and took us up to the top of the Squaw Peak (7876 feet elevation). Now, I've never been quite sure which part is the actual peak, but this was the area where couples do not go up and park the car. The area we hiked actually had a traill most of the way, mountain meadows and a few tough rocky spots. However, we made it to the top and were located in the area that is almost exactly above my head in the picture.

The view was obviously incredible, but the amazing part is that we forgot how dangerous the front of the mountain looks from the ground. This is not a little mountain. The look from the ground can be deceiving as well. From our view it looked like you could descend down the front of the mountain through natural little trails and somehow arrive at Stephen Covey's home. Or, at least I've been told that is his home (the white house that sits highest on the mountain in the picture and has 6-7 fireplaces).

Anyway, the other couple said they were going to go down the mountain the way we had come and my date and I decided to race them by going down the front of the mountain. We didn't have a bad feeling and started to descend. It was around 5 or 6 p.m. at night. At first we were fine winding down, but then we got to some parts where you had to jump down 3-4 feet to get to the next layer of ground. Then there were little gravely areas that we had to pass over instead of slide down because the end of the gravel slide would be a 30-40 foot cliff.

We followed in this pattern until about 9 p.m. when we arrived at a spot where we could find no possible way to go down. We were surrounded by 30 to 40 foot cliff drops. My date thought maybe we should try to go down one of them and I said absolutely not. It was further down than it actually looked. We knelt and said a prayer and then decided we could do nothing that evening and so we just laid on a little ledge and talked, semi-slept and talk and semi-slept, etc. We were surprisingly calm considering the situation. Below we could see a big party taking place at the Covey house and we could see police cars over near the Rock Canyon parking lot, but no yelling would help. After all, when you are thousands of feet above them...the voice doesn't really carry. You are really alone.

After a long cool night, it started to get light and we decided we had to go back the way we came - except now we were going up instead of down. This meant that every place we had jumped down, we had to climb back up! Now, I'm afraid of heights, but for some reason I was calm. He helped me get up over those 3-4 foot drops and we kept climbing away until we got to a spot near the top of the mountain where we literally had to hold on to huge weeds to pull us up the last 20-30 feet of the mountain.
When we were about 4-5 feet from the top of the mountain, we saw rescue crews spread across the top of the mountain and they were yelling in mega phone that they could see us.
Whew! All of a sudden all of these three wheelers appeared and they were popping candy into our mouths. I guess we hadn't had anything to drink or eat in over 12 hours and so they said it would help with the blood sugar. Finally, one of them said - what did you think you were doing? Yes, what were we doing. We explained about how we didn't realize how bad it was and thanked them for helping us.

They then informed us that we were the 11th and 12th persons that had been rescued from that area that year AND that 8 of them had been dead rescues! Few lived through this experience!
At that point I actually began to shake for the first time on the entire excursion. The reality of what I had been through came to bear...and thank goodness it hadn't even 1/2 an hour earlier because it would have prevented me from getting up those parts of the mountain where one panicked moment would have taken my life.

So, I guess this explains why I don't care much for hiking and have no need to prove my skills in repelling or mountain climbing. It also helps to pay respect to the mountain each time I go to Utah. It's a reminder that sometimes we need to use our head and not just follow the heart.

Some of us have only one chance to conquer a mountain and I feel like that was mine.
I still have anxiety when I think about that event and even had a nightmare about it before my trip. And, I still have a deep sense of gratitude for being spared from a horrible experience or from leaving this life.

P.S. The great part of this story is the fact that a few years later, in Pentagon City, we were having a "Cupid Passover Party" and a friend of mine told a story about a couple that got lost and had to be rescued on a mountain while on a blind date. As the story unfolded I realized that I was the woman in that couple she was talking about - small, small world!

P.S.S. Note - the newspaper article stated they rescued us, but remember -they found us on the last 4-5 feet of the mountain and we were at the top when they actually got to us. Love the news!

Memory Lane - piano duets with my Mom

There are all kinds of family traditions that go unheralded because they don't fit into a holiday, birthday or family reunion type of category. I've started to think about these a lot over the last year because many of us mentions these "traditions" when they happen, but don't ever write them down. The great thing about digital cameras now is that you can actually catch some of these little traditions in little live snippets to keep for future viewing.

Growing up most of us played the piano. There were always quite a few piano books piled in the piano bench and on a shelf nearby, but the favorites always managed to make it to the little ledge right above the keyboard. I can't remember what it's called - does it even have a name? Anyway, out our house, it was the Rogers and Hammerstein slate blue book with the off white binding and this huge yellow book with children's songs (Jumbo the Elephant) and a duet book (still don't know the name of it) that made it to this special piano ledge.

Often one person (my mom or sisters) would start playing from the duet book and summon a partner to come take on the "higher part" or the "lower part." Over the years, it became an unplanned ritual to sit down at least 1-2 times during a visit home and go through the typical songs. The favorites seemed to be the Swanee River and the Yankee Doodle Dandy song.

This visit home I managed to get one of my brother's to catch the Yankee Doodle duet in action. The goal on this song is always for us to play faster and faster and so it's not about quality. We typically keep going until it's too fast for one of us to keep up with the other. Again, all of this is unsaid, but has been the emerging expectation over the years.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lyghJkOQK_6v06HYn6_1gg?authkey=EjXpx0DWdPY

http://picasaweb.google.com/clark.rebecca/BrettSMissionFarewell/photo?authkey=EjXpx0DWdPY#5207101864283934354

(Hopefully one of these links works)
At some point these little bits of personal history will become a library of their own, but for now it's just a trip down memory lane.

Memory Lane - nooks and corners

I came home from work the other day and did what I always do. I put my keys and blackberry on the bookshelf and then went around my sofa chair and put my computer bag next to my church bag and stack of "to do" papers. It's a perfect hiding spot from the front door, but very accessible to me when I'm sitting and working on my laptop or watching the tube.

This is my favorite corner for keeping what I use on a daily basis. It's also grown to include a printer, purse, scriptures and other books I read. One would think I would use my extra bedroom for this type of stuff, but the reality requires me to have everything easily accessible while I'm doing my day to day activities in the main part of the house.

Growing up, my bedroom was my "corner," but now that the entire house is mine I guess I had to create a "mini-corner" to fit the bill.

I'm realizing that special "corners" or "nooks" aren't so rare when I look through old family pictures.


This was a special corner, for many reasons, in our Michigan house. First, the cabinet is built into the wall and accessible from the living room behind it. We would often try to crawl through the cabinet into the other room. One of the benefits of growing up in a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired home.

Plus, we stored the little record player (shown) in that cabinet so you could access it from either room. But, as you can see, the record player never strayed from the corner. We took it out and played it right there. In fact, it looks like the record that is playing is the Mary Poppins record. You can barely make out the men in black dancing on the roof. All of the songs heard in that corner are completely memorized and when someone says a trigger word at family gatherings we all start singing the tune. "Cast off the shackles of yesterday..." or "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" or "Hound dog howdy kidlets...this is huckleberry hooouuuunnnddd."

The boys found little nooks and corners everywhere. Little Scot apparently had a special corner in the garage. The horrible yellow paint with perfectly matching burnt orange carpet scraps to complement the decor. I'm sure that it wasn't that clean either even though sweeping the garage was one of the Saturday "duties."

Here's an interesting corner. When it rained, it became apparent that the deck had a slant because water would always pour down in one corner creating a puddle and a steady stream. For some reason we thought it was great that we could get our hair wet by standing in that location. Not sure why it was different than the rain pouring beyond the deck, but this special feature provided cheap entertainment for quite a few rain storms.

Another tidbit of thought that may provide little value beyond a fun memory. However, a bunch of these little trips down memory lane are starting to add up.

Technology and Memory Lane - Facebook

I signed up for Facebook in 2007 primarily to communicate with my brothers that were/are still in college. They tend to respond to me faster from that forum, but the side benefit was also finding current and old friends.


Last week I logged into Facebook and discovered that one of my brother's had re-connected to a neighbor of ours in Michigan. This was the little boy (Chi Wei) that stood at the end of Burrell Court everyday and waited for Bus 53 with me and my sisters. Out of the 12 houses on that court we had quite the eclectic mix of people. We had my family (Mormon, big family), the Jewish family, the Muslim family, the Chinese family, the Episcopalian bishop and his family, the Methodist bishop and his family, the other bishop (?) and his family, the Dow Chemical chemist who helped invent aspirin (at least I think that's the story), the people that were never home, the Dow Chemical scientist or engineer that woke up every winter morning and shoveled the driveway even before we (the Mormon family) left for seminary (early morning church class for 9-12 graders often referred to as "cemetery" because of the early morning dead feeling), and the amazing pianist/organist that we all took piano lessons from. I think I am missing one or two, but there were a couple of moves of people during the nine years we lived there.

Really, it was a great mix of people and there were often holiday picnics where we all gathered in Bishop Gordon's backyard and had the usual "food, folks and fun."

Oh, back to Chi Wei - he just got married and has an awesome wedding video at http://www.chiweiandstacy.com/

Confession and Memory Lane - Pride and Prejudice

Ok, so, this is a confession and a trip down memory lane. Oh, and this is a confession from a Mormon, but the term is used loosely and not religiously.

Yesterday I was at Costco and went to the aisle that I frequent only every six months. It's the one in the middle that has all the kids books, novels, movies, DVDs, etc. I'm not a shopper, but for some reason I spend about 30 minutes in this aisle every time. As I make my way around the circle I keep adding, and then subtracting, items from the cart. I'll keep finding something better or I'll find the CD version of the book and have to decide which one is either cheaper (book) or more practical for my life in traffic (CD).

Either way, yesterday was one of those very expensive days. I bought the C.S. Lewis book collection, the new Ken Follett book (World Without End), a yoga/pilates DVD set, Atonement, John Adams, Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice. What? The "what?" is for the last line. I don't know what got into me, but I had the sudden need to own the two movies that all of my sisters and friends love - Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice.

A few years ago one of my roommates got in a car accident and was at home for a while before returning to work. She watched Pride and Prejudice all the time and often asked me to watch it with her. I always declined because I really wasn't interested in the "people dressed like that" and "talked like that." Prejudice from Rebecca? Anyway, a couple of years ago, my brother and his wife lived with me and encouraged me to watch the series with them. I remember thinking that I should be able to handle it if my brother enjoyed it. Long story short...we stayed up all night so we could finish the entire 6 hours. I really liked it, but never figured I'd watch it again.

So, after having an extremely productive day on Saturday, I decided to pop in the DVD around 6 p.m. and as was expected, I watched the entire thing. I loved it! Perhaps I'm just socially delayed, but I'm understanding these movies a little more each time and the outfits didn't bug me as much. It's amazing how much they still do relate to our society even though those moments of pride and those moments of prejudice may manifest themselves in other ways. We place so many limitations on ourselves.

I don't see myself becoming too enthralled with the array of movies that depict these past times, but I will most likely be open to one that I would have shunned in times past. After all, I did read "The Pillar of the Earth" by Ken Follett recently and it's about knights, monks, and castles. Soooo not what I'm interested in.

Just for memory sake, I'm going to throw in a photo of the "Victorian Club" that was formed by my sisters and our friend Marcia way back in the 1980s. We had a few little gatherings, but I couldn't tell you what they consisted of because it wasn't quite my thing. In actuality, there were probably 1-2 meetings and the rest of the time it was primarily everyone looking at the Victorian catalog to find refined ways to decorate their bedrooms.

Ok, I'm the one that is not wearing any lace and didn't prepare a proper hair do.

Memory Lane - from the Redwood forest...this land was made for you and me

So, I'm always looking through random family photos I've scanned and remembering little past moments.

I came across this picture - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=784297&l=2a5da&id=674446494 - and realized all of the memories surrounding that day. It is really time to write all of this information down in my journal. The official journal didn't start until I was nine years old and so all of these little childhood memories must be captured before I completely lose my mind.

This day was most likely summer of 1977. We took a trip up the California and Oregon coast. Since I was around 5-6 years old at this time, I'm not sure of the purpose of the trip, all of the places visited or how long it was, but I do remember:

- Clam digging with some of my parents friends in Oregon and then having to actually eat the clams in a soup after the excursion. I remember thinking that was a really gross concept (eating what you just fished/clammed). Another gross, but semi-funny thing was that the clams would squirt us while we were digging.
- Wearing a bright pink Winnie the Phooh shirt. I loved this shirt and logos were very special at that time.
- Seeing huge trees at Redwood forest.
- Standing in a group of people looking up at a seemingly huge Paul Bunyeon and Babe the Blue Ox statue and having him say - "What is your name little girl?" - and me hiding behind my mom or dad and squeaking out a little "Rebecca" and having him say back "Rebecca?" and me being completely blown away because he seemed to be about 200 feet tall and how could he possibly know my voice.
- RaeLyn sitting on Paul Bunyeon's shoe and hearing him ask her who was on his shoe and seeing her terrified look as she jumped off and ran away.
- Driving on a highway looking out over the ocean and worrying about if we would drive off the cliff into the water.
- Leaving the big box of Crayola crayons on the floor in the back seat and seeing the tips melt from too much sun/heat exposure.

No wonder some little kids look at us like we are idiots when we talk to them in baby talk. They know what's going on.