Fabulous Sisters Day Out

 It's not often enough that my sisters and I spend the whole day together, but yesterday was one of those days. It was so much fun! We met in Spanish Fork, the city we were raised in, and visited many of our old stomping grounds reminiscing our childhood. 

One highlight was when we stopped at our old church building, which has long since been converted into a wedding reception area. The unique thing about the building is that it sits on a corner and the shape represents an open book with the spine facing out. The balcony wasn't there when we were kids.

The four of us at the entrance. 

As we were walking around the grounds, a man approached us and asked if he could help us with anything. Turns out his family owns the building. He treated us with a tour of the inside. 

This is the stage where we performed "Hillbilly Burton Band".

I remember these lights used to hang in the chapel. I'm glad they preserved them.

The chapel was converted into this reception hall.

This is the original pulpit (saved and preserved) that I remember so well.

One of the curved benches was also saved and preserved. It sits in the bride's room, if I remember correctly.

Close to the church is the cemetery where both of my parents are buried, so we couldn't miss the opportunity to visit their grave site together.

After that, we drove up the canyon and walked up the path to "Dripping Rock" where we used to play sometimes. There was no path back then. We had to walk upstream to get to the best places. Jane and I used to pretend that little fairies lived underneath the little outcroppings. We would make little furnishings from twigs for their pretend homes. What silly little girls we were.

You can't see very much from this picture, but in the shadow portion, water seeps out from the mountain and drips into the river. That's why its called dripping rock. It really is quite magical to witness. We used to spend hours playing around there.

Three of us on the trail. (Janice took the picture)

After that little hike, we drove around the power plant (where we lived) and drove up to the forebay where dad would rake debris from the rails as part of his job. This is a picture of our little red house from the forebay bridge above the old spillway (which is covered up now) that we used to slide down during the summertime. That patch of water in the middle of the picture was our swimming pool. Haha!

After a nice drive around the river bottoms (the route we rode the school bus each day), we ate lunch at The Olive Garden. It was so nice to sit indoors where it was nice and cool and just chat with each other for a period of time. (no picture was taken)

After lunch, we drove over to our old High School. A new one is being built, so this one will be torn down soon.

It definitely looks old and the new one will be so nice.

We then drove to Payson to see if we could find a couple of our aunts and uncles homes. Thanks to Janice (and some texting with our cousin Joyce) we were able to find Uncle LeRoy and aunt Eva Hill's home. Uncle LeRoy was my mom's brother - twin to my aunt Ruth. It was difficult to recognize the house because it has been totally refurbished since my aunt and uncle lived there. Janice was brave enough to knock on the door to inquire if we had found the right house or not. Fortunately, the owners were home and they said it did use to belong to our aunt and uncle. They were very friendly to us and the wife knew more about our family history there than we did. She told us about all the changes made on the house. This is how it looks today. When my aunt and uncle owned it, it didn't have the addition to the right side of the house. It is so big and beautiful now.

We ended up locating The Kennison home (uncle Albert and aunt Anna) not far from the Hill's home. Aunt Anna was my dad's younger sister. They had a daughter Karen who was a month older than Jane and I. We used to love going to their house to play with Karen. I remember when they built this house. We called it a "mansion" because it was the biggest house we had been in. It is for sale right now. I looked it up.  It is 3,776 square feet and has 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. By today's standards, that's not huge, but it sure seemed huge to us back then. Our little house had only one bathroom and no shower. Could that be considered child abuse? (Not really funny!)

This was the last thing we did on our sister's day out in the Spanish Fork area.

Janice headed south and the rest of us headed north to our various homes. It was fun to have Gayle and Jane drop me off at my home and come inside to see how our kitchen remodel is going. I love living so close to my sisters now. Days like this couldn't have been possible when we lived in California. Living in Utah has been such a blessing in our lives. Feeling so blessed!

Setting The Date

 My right knee never fully recovered after my meniscus repair surgery last March, even after doing months of physical therapy. Because of that, I met with the same surgeon who did my hip replacement surgeries, Dr. Nikolaus, and set a date for him to do a total knee replacement surgery. Since we are in the middle of our kitchen repair and then have our trip to California planned in September to help Cheryl out after her c-section, I chose to wait until October to have my surgery. 

We set the date for October 19th. Hopefully, that will give me a chance to recover before the holidays arrive.

I really, really, really do not want to have another surgery! This will be my 4th surgery since moving to Utah 2.5 years ago!!! It really stinks that my joints have been riddled with so much arthritis, requiring all of these surgeries. The fact that I have opted for this surgery speaks volumes - I am in so much pain and NEED the surgery. My knee is always swollen. Having to go up and down stairs so often every day to get to our make-shift kitchen doesn't help. I will be doing a lot of stairs at Cheryl's house also. I'm sure I will be ready for that surgery by October 19th.

Standing Up For What We Believe In

 We learn from the teachings of Paul in the book of Romans that we should stand up for what we believe in. He tells us to not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not ashamed of the gospel, but I have always been a rather quiet and reserved person, so it isn't always easy for me to stand up for or push my beliefs on others. However, there was one time many years ago where I just couldn't keep quiet. I had to say what was on my mind.

The incident took place at a Dodger baseball game. Cheryl was having a birthday and for her party she wanted to take a handful of friends to a Dodger game. Cheryl loved playing softball at our local little league. Knowing how much she liked the game, I gave in to her desire go, so one Saturday afternoon we found ourselves in the stands at Dodger stadium enjoying baseball. It was just me, Cheryl, and a few of her friends in our group. 

As the game went on, I kept hearing a lot of cussing from the guys sitting behind us. They were big, burly, beer-drinking guys, who kind of intimidated me. Many people are not offended by cussing, especially if they are raised around it. However, I was raised in a family where we don't talk like that. I don't like hearing cuss words (they burn my ears and offend my spirit) and I didn't want the innocent little pre-teen girls listening to it either, so I turned around and asked the guys if they would mind not using cuss words around us. I didn't wait for a response. I turned back around and continued watching the game, but later noticed that the cussing had stopped. We had to leave before the game ended. As we got up to leave, I thanked the guys for not cussing. As I did so, one guy spoke up and said "I did something good today, didn't I?" I LOVED that response. Instead of cussing at me and berating me for making that request, he actually was good about it and felt proud of himself that he hadn't cussed for that period of time.

Sometimes we think that speaking up will not go well. I worried about that, too, but in this instance, things turned out quite well. I'm so glad that I spoke up. It made for a much more pleasant experience for me, Cheryl, and her friends at the baseball game, plus I realized that sometimes it's good to speak up and let our wishes be known. I was definitely not ashamed of the gospel that day!

Patriarchal Blessings

 I've been thinking a lot about patriarchal blessings lately and discovered that I wouldn't mind giving a talk on that subject. However, in our Sacrament Meeting yesterday, our High Council speakers both spoke on that subject, so it's unlikely I will be given a chance to share my thoughts about patriarchal blessings any time soon. Therefore, I guess I will share them here.

First of all, I will share the story of my mother receiving her patriarchal blessing from her own father, who was a patriarch at the time.

Mom received her patriarchal blessing at a young age. In her patriarchal blessing, the Lord told her that she would be blessed with children - be a mother in Zion.

In her teens, mom had an appendicitis attack and needed her appendix removed. During the surgery, the surgeon discovered that mom's ovaries hadn't developed properly. I believe they were all shriveled up. The doctor told her mother, my grandmother, that my mom would never be able to have children. My grandmother never mentioned it to my mom because she knew that mom's patriarchal blessing said she would have children, so my grandmother decided to exercise her faith and leave it in the hands of the Lord.

When my mother and father met, fell in love, and decided to get married, they both expressed a desire to have many children, not knowing that physically it wasn't possible.

I remember dad telling us that during the first three months of their marriage, mom was experiencing a lot of pain in her abdominal area. My dad strongly believed that mom's ovaries were developing correctly at that time. Miraculously, she became pregnant and delivered their first child, my brother Neal, on their first anniversary.

When God promises us something, he paves a path for it to be fulfilled. He will always honor his promises. That was certainly proved when my mom's deformed ovaries developed properly in order for her to bear seven children. I'm so grateful for that miracle. Without it, I wouldn't have the parents or siblings I have today. Seven children born to a mother who wasn't supposed to be able to have any children is quite a miracle.

For a couple of years, I served as the typist for our patriarch, Robert Rokita, in Lancaster, California. That turned out to be my favorite calling in the church. Normally, the wives of the patriarchs type the blessings for them, but Bro. Rokita's wife didn't type or didn't know how to use a computer, so I was called to do that job. I think I ended up typing around 150-200 patriarchal blessings.

I don't remember any particulars about any one blessing I typed. Even if I did, I would not be at liberty to share any aspects of any blessing with anyone else. What I do remember is feeling the overpowering love the Lord had for the individual receiving the blessing and for His desire for his son or daughter to avoid the pitfalls of Satan and to live a righteous life. 

Patriarchal blessings are often filled with warnings as well as blessings. Satan wants to thwart our efforts to return to our Father. Warnings, properly heeded, will help us live happier lives and keep us on the path to return safely back to our Father. Blessings will flow if we turn our lives over to Him through complete obedience to His laws and commandments. 

There were a couple of interesting cases in our stake during my time as the typist that I want to recall. One time, Bro. Rokita called me and told me that there was an older brother in our stake who was basically on his death bed who had never received his patriarchal blessing but  wanted to receive it before parting this world. Bro. Rokita asked me if I could get it typed quickly because time was of the essence. I told him I could. After typing it, Bro. Rokita came to my home to pick it up so he could hand-deliver it to the recipient before he passed away. I heard later from Bro. Rokita that the brother passed away within the next day or two.

We think of patriarchal blessings as a roadmap for this life. This brother in the stake was nearing the end of his mortal life. What would the Lord have to say to him? I don't recall exactly. I could be wrong, but what I remember is that it was based on the eternal nature of the family.  

Another interesting case was when a brother from a neighboring stake asked Bro. Rokita if he could receive his patriarchal blessing from him because he had just been called to be the patriarch in his stake and didn't even know how to give a blessing. He had never received one of his own. That seemed so bizarre to me, but then I remembered that the Lord moves in mysterious ways. Whom the Lord calls, he qualifies. I have seen that repeatedly in my many years of service in the church. I have felt so unqualified in so many of the positions I have held, yet, God qualified me in order to be able to not only fulfill that calling, but to magnify it. I'm sure this brand new patriarch went on to become a very good, faithful, patriarch for his stake.

I have a testimony of patriarchal blessings. I'm grateful for mine that I received at the age of 15 (almost 16). It has been a great comfort to read it and study it over these many years and see how the Lord's promises have been fulfilled. Who knows how much longer I will be here enjoying this earthly experience. Since my journey is not yet complete, having my patriarchal blessing helps me to try harder to reach my potential and to be the daughter my Heavenly Father wants and knows that I can be. I really don't want to disappoint him!

Music To My Ears

 

Two men are here to install our kitchen cabinets, which I am very happy about. I've been waiting a long time for this day to arrive. Unfortunately, they turned on some rap music and it was very profane. I mean REALLY profane. I'm definitely not used to hearing that kind of music. Music like that offends my spirit and I could not just let it go and say nothing. I spoke up and requested that he not play that type of music. I think he thought I didn't want him to play any music at all and he was pretty offended. He said that this, meaning the kitchen, was his work area alluding that he should be able to play music while working. He then said he wouldn't play any more music. I told him I'm ok with him playing music. I just request that he play music without profanity. He turned his music off completely for a while, but now its back on again. I'm pleased that he's playing much better music now. I'm so grateful for that. It's still rap, but much of it is religious themed. Our kitchen may be his temporary work area, but it is still our home. We try to make our home a place where the spirit can reside.

My heart rejoices when I listen to good music. I was raised loving music. Although we weren't great by any means, I felt that we had somewhat of a musical family. Mom wanted all of us to learn to play an instrument. Gayle was the only one who stuck with the piano and she got very good at it. She also ended up teaching music to children at her local elementary school in Bountiful. Neal played the trombone and Kent played the trumpet as young boys, but they didn't keep up with it. Most of our music came from singing. My sisters and I sang together at functions (especially Church), and I found that very scary, but fulfilling to harmonize with each other. Most of my siblings participated in school musicals and/or sang in the High School a Capella choir. Music is the song of the heart. At least my heart swells when I hear beautiful music.

Hillbilly Burton Band

Another Burton Family Reunion was held yesterday at Canyon View Park in Spanish Fork. We hold the reunion every year on the first Saturday in August. Routinely keeping it the day makes it easy to remember each year.

This year, Kent and Janice were in charge. They did a terrific job. The food was great and the program was so much fun.

Kent displayed this blown-up picture of us as children. It was taken before Neal went on his mission to New Zealand. We didn't have color photos back then.

One memorable thing to share is that our Hillbilly band was reunited. When I was a young teen, our ward held a talent show. In fact, every ward in the stake did the same. The "winners" of each ward's talent show were then showcased in the Stake talent show. Since our family (including Mom & Dad) performed as a hillbilly band in our ward talent show and won 1st place, that meant that we would be eligible to participate in the stake talent show. Although I was nervous to do so because of the size of the audience, it turned out to be a blast. I believe we actually took first place in the Stake Talent Show as well, but in speaking with my sisters, none of us can remember for sure whether we took first place in both or not, but we did receive a plaque that said "We are # (sharp) in our b (flat)" at the ward talent show. Neal didn't participated with us back then because he was on his mission at the time.

This is a picture of us performing yesterday. Most of us played different instruments from when we originally performed, but that's ok. I played the guitar yesterday, but had no clue how to play one when we first performed. Originally, I played the kazoo with Jane.

(From left to right: Gayle on the ukulele; me on the guitar; Neal on the drum & whistle; Kent on the harmonica; Jane on the kazoo and spoons; Janice on the jug, and Phil on the washboard.

Some of us went all out in dressing up like a hillbilly, while others not so much. Phil took the cake, though. Everyone loved his costume! He blacked out his front teeth by using raisins. Clever!

After our band played, my siblings and I all got to participate in a contest of athletic skills. We were very competitive as children so this was right up our alley. We were each given a cone shaped cup with a ball attached with a string. We had a contest to see who could catch the ball the most times in the allotted time. I thought I did well with 20 catches, but it only earned me a tie for 3rd place. Gayle won with 23 catches. Here's a picture of us during the contest.

From Left to right: Jane, Gayle, Joan, Janice, Neal, Kent, Phil

As part of the program, Kent & Ann passed out these booklets containing missionary stories shared by each of us for our children and grandchildren to read.

 

At the end of the program, Neal shared his missionary experience from this booklet and I shared the story that was published in the Church's Ensign Magazine in 2015 entitled "My Christmas Miracle". Kent  asked me ahead of time to be prepared to share it.

I took very few pics at the reunion, unfortunately. We had a good turnout and it was fun to see the extended family members who attended. One highlight was that my sister-in-law, Lynda, was able to attend. She has been battling Leukemia for a few years and needs to be careful about attending large gatherings. She wore a mask to try to keep herself from picking up any unwanted germs or diseases. This picture just shows her from the back (best I can do). I wish I had a better picture of her. I was so thrilled that she could attend.

Alan and I, plus Eric's family represented the Stott's this year. I wish more of our family could have attend, but Cheryl's family was just up here last month and she's 7 months pregnant. Kyle & Jared, our Arizona boys, needed to work. Ryan, who usually attends the reunion, was on a trip to Washington and Oregon. He will return to Utah in a few days.

Jane and I will be in charge of our next reunion. Planning a reunion is a ton of work and it's such a relief when its all over with, but the work is also rewarding. Hopefully, we can come up with some good ideas to make it fun for all ages.

Reunions are all about FAMILIES and TOGETHERNESS!