Uncle Don and Family

I remember riding the DUNES with Uncle Don and family in tow! Robert and I loved to burry all of our family! Danette and I would pose for a picture! We loved to be around our cousins!! Aunt Gloria was so much fun!! I believe that is the only time I remember good runs of water going through there, but I've been told it still does that. Every time I've gone it has been very dry, and HOT!

Uncle Don would put Grandma Gatha, Aunt Gloria, Marcy, Danette, Corey, Mom, Dad, Robert and I in a truck, or blazer as the case may be, and run up a hill at what we thought was lighting speed. Really, he was probably crawling, but the bumps made it feel like we were going faster!! We did have a good time! I loved riding in the back of an old pickup with all my cousins under blankets to stay warm!

All the times camping, riding sleds being pulled by The Toy, playing in the garage, sleeping in tents, sleeping in a burning house, climbing trees, climbing in to hay bails... all those things were so much fun! While a lot of those things we were doing, I wasn't really paying attention to Uncle Don, but I know he was there and for that I am greatful because we had the chance to be together as a family! I especially love that his family looked out for us and wanted to be around us! I appreciated Danette's faith and her ability to share that with me when I was around her. I loved that Uncle Don told us how he felt and showed us his way!

I have loved spending time with Uncle Don and his family! Since he and Aunt Gloria have moved to Utah, it hasn't been as easy for me to see them. I miss their presence in the Valley, a hop skip and a jump away. I always have felt welcome and warm in their home and miss the one-on-one times that we've shared.

turkey!

Anyone for an over cooked Thanksgiving Turkey! It is more like 'turkey jerky'! I remember one November Day before Thanksgiving I was cooking the turkey. Kent and his family were spending the night at our house. My oven was doing funny things...not cooking right. I tried something new and decided to cook my turkey at a low temperature in a brown paper bag. I told Phyllis to check the oven if she happen to get up in the middle of the night. Well she did and the meat was done so she turned off the oven. I got up the wee hours and noticed the oven was off so I turned it back on! Needless to say a few hours later when I checked the turkey it was pretty brown and pretty done!!! It was rather funny when we discussed the going ons, HOWEVER... the turkey got ate and was delicious.

Memories

Andrea asked me about sharing some memories. I am trying to think about some memories...

I remember the girls having water fights with the neighbors. I remember the water fights between Barry Bingham and myself.... all in Manassa.

I remember the gardens Grandma and Grandpa grew. It was fun to benefit from the harvest and to help sometimes with the work in. Grandma still grows a lovely productive garden in St. George. I tried to do some planting in Alamosa, but wasn't as successful. I'm still trying to do gardens. I remember making pickled beets, canning almost 100 quarts of green beans. One year Gatha/Grandma and I did some peppers stuffed with cabbage and pickled them. Grandpa Arlo really liked them. I thought they were good too. I've not done that recipe since. It has been fun to be able to can from the harvest. I do not do much canning lately. It was more useful when I had a larger family at home.

feeling the economy

on Tuesday with no warning I felt the blunt of the 'lay-off' once again. Looking into changes. It is a hard time at my house.

Oh the nose, ....

In answer to a couple of questions by the brothers .... The ole nose has been broken seven times, the first time by Joe Thomas hitting me while playing baseball when the bat came in contact with the nose while playing in grade school. He hit the ball and threw the bat back hitting my nose. Robert Holland broke the ole snout three times with the ole fist. Ronnie Luster broke it once in another fight. Then once it was broken when I went tobogganing. (You wouldn't think that the snow was that hard!) Actually the bone on the nose was broken three times and the others was the cartilage.

just a thought...

so I had this thought, no it didn't hurt!, I know that often you would like 'big brother' Don to make a comment, SOOOOOooo If you have a question I will ask him on which you would like to know and pin him down, nail him to the floor, and send the response.... any takers?

Constancy of Home

Manassa is a small community just one mile square. Growing up in Manassa was wonderful because our ward was something I could count on. The church was a place I went to worship together with my family, but it was also someplace that we went to enjoy our extended family and our neighbors. Fast Sunday, we would gather fast offerings. We attended Primary, Sunday School, Mutual, and Scouts together.

The old two story chapel is the backdrop for our family picture that appears on the Dunn BLOG. I remember how the basement would fill with water in the summer when the irrigation water was brought into town and the surface water level would rise. That chapel wasn't big enough to hold all of the church activities so we also had a Relief Society building, an opera building, a scout building and a Bishop's building. Eventually, we got a new building and we worked together as a ward and community to raise the funds and to build the building.

It wasn't the buildings that held the ward together, it was the people. The Bishop that I associate with my childhood is Donald J. Jarvies. His counselors that I remember were Boyd Brady and Tommy Rogers. They were all kind men. Don Knight was our scout master. I don't believe we appreciated him as we should have. He put a lot of effort into teaching us and preparing us for manhood. Cletus Gilleland was the bishop when I was getting ready to go on a mission. Denny Harmsen was my seminary teacher. Marilyn Harmsen and Lena Sowards were my piano teachers.

Neighbors in Manassa had a part in supporting each other in raising children. I remember milking cows for Dorothy and Shelton Sowards. We were grateful for that opportunity. The neighbors helped us put siding and roofing on our home in Manassa before Mom and Dad returned from their mission. When Dad passed away, Dion Jarvies called me and gave me the news and consoled me. I knew without a doubt that she cared for our family.

More than anything, I am grateful for the extended family in Manassa. The aunts, Elma, Doris, Hazel, Ethtel, Ruth, and Frances were all available to help us. Uncles Elmer and Edgar Dunn were my home teaching companions. They both set wonderful examples for me. I grew up with cousins that I loved and respected. Jack, Laraine, Pat and Mary Lyne were good friends.

The roots that I put down in Manassa are strong roots. I am grateful for my home town, my home ward and for the foundation built there for me.