Almost every summer I have the privilege of attending Education Week on the BYU Provo Campus. This is always a joy and I leaving feeling very edified and lifted up. My testimony is always strengthened as I attend the classes and I always leave with a desire to go home and make personal changes in my life. Everyone can improve in some way and do better than they currently are and that is always my desire.
One thing that always makes Education Week even more enjoyable for me is being able to share that experience with my sisters and with my friend Vicki. For the past few years, we have been able to get lodging in the dorms on campus. Such was the case again this year. But as things turned out this year, Janice, Vicki, and Gayle couldn't join us so it was just Jane and I. Janice and her husband Leonard are serving a mission in Georgia so she gets a pass. Gayle had to help Nathan and Stephanie with their newborn son so she gets a pass also. Vicki could only attend on Monday because she had to work that week, (Jane and I started on Tuesday), so she gets a pass too. But one fun thing was that on Monday evening, Jane, Gayle, Vicki, and I were able to meet for dinner and then go to a salon where we all got pedicures. I wish I would have taken pictures of that event, but I forgot to!!!
On Thursday afternoon during a break from classes, Jane told me that she was going to "kidnap" me that evening since we hadn't made plans to do anything. I was very curious about what the kidnapping would involved so finally she told me what we were going to do...and it was a brilliant idea and turned out to be a highlight of the week. This kidnapping was precipitated by a dream that Jane had during the night that involved Dad. She said she also felt like someone was sitting on the dorm mattress while she slept. Jane felt like it may have been Mom. My kidnapping turned out to be a night of nostalgia where we traveled to Spanish Fork to relive our youth by visiting some of the sights that mean the most to us. I will chronicle the evening through pictures.
Our first stop was to have dinner at the Prestwich Restaurant - formerly the Oak Crest Inn, close to our childhood home, where we used to eat with our Ward youth group sometimes. The restaurant hasn't changed much over the years. Oh....the memories!
Jane and I inside the restaurant getting ready to eat our meal. The meal was delicious - especially the hot scones with honey butter. Yum!
After dinner, we headed up to the Power Plant where we lived until we left for college. In this pic, Jane is standing next to the road sign indicating the road we were raised on. I don't believe there were any signs back then, but I could be wrong.
This little grove of trees was where we used to create our own "home" away from home. This was a little refuge from reality where we had a make-believe alternative life. We would clear out an area making it as clean and flat as possible for our needs. Our "homes" had an entry, a bedroom, a kitchen, etc. Thank goodness we didn't rely on TV or video games for our entertainment back then. We had so much fun exploring and creating our own entertainment.
I am standing next to the "whistling tree" where Jane and I would sit for hours teaching ourselves how to whistle with our fingers. I have to admit, the time spent there was well worth it. We are both extremely adept at this talent! I can also remember eating jello powder up in this tree until our finger and tongue were stained a different color.
When Jane and I were born, we lived in the little house pictured on the right.
A couple of years later, our family moved into a little larger home across a canal spillway from the two houses pictured above. This is the home we moved into, and yes, we had to park on the street and cross a bridge to access it. Even this house was rather small for our eventual family of 9 (it had only one bathroom), but we look back on this home with fond memories. Thank goodness, there was a basement with three extra bedrooms.
My Dad worked right across the street from our house in an old office building for the power plant, owned by Strawberry Water Users Association. The old building has been replaced by this newer building. I remember going to my dad's office all the time, watching him type on the typewriter, marveling at how he could type so fast without even looking at the keys. If I were to see him typing today, I am sure it wouldn't seem fast at all considering it was so much harder to type on those old typewriters than on our new computers of today. Isn't it funny the things that we remember?
This is the spillway that we used to love to slide down and swim in this canal. The spillway used to be open, but now it has been closed up so people can't slide down it anymore. It really WAS dangerous, so it doesn't surprise me that they don't allow sliding any longer. It sure was nice to have our own water-park like slide and "pool" growing up, though.
This building is called the "lower dam". This is just to the south of our home. We used to go play down by it all the time.
This area, close to the lower dam is where my dad had one of his gardens. My dad was the best gardener. I wish I had even a tenth the talent he had.
Although this looks pretty bland, I had to put this picture in because it means so much to Jane. She reminded me that there used to be a huge rock here that we called "singing rock" because we used to get up on it and perform.
I feel very fortunate that I had such a wonderful childhood. The memories are plentiful and pleasant. I had parents who I knew truly loved me and siblings I always loved and cherished. We were raised with the gospel of Jesus Christ at its core, for which I am very thankful. This night of nostalgia will continue with part 2 very soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment