The Flowers

This is one of those gushy posts. You know the kind that makes you want to stick your finger down your throat and pretend to vomit. There is kind of a running joke that when women write on their blogs, they tend to skip over the problems and blemishes of what's real in their lives, and just write those things that they wish were real but aren't. Now comes the gushy part. I have this husband that really IS amazing. One of the things that he regularly does once the frost has killed all the flowers outside, is to bring me bouquets for no reason at all except that he was thinking of me and because he knows that I love flowers so much. This isn't just an isolated incident. He does it rather often and my heart melts each time. This weekend he also put up the Christmas lights. He took a vacation day to do it and we worked together and put them on the house, the front plum trees and the back trees too. I have to mention here that Christmas lights are about my favorite thing in the world. Walking through temple square during the holidays and seeing all the lights is the equivalent of sneaking a peek into heaven. So this week I have flowers, lights and my hubby home all at the same time. He also took me to breakfast and dinner. Can you say spoiled rotten? Have you gagged yet? I just truly feel blessed to have such a good man in my life and blessed that he treats me like a queen 95% of the time. Now to make it real, I will say that the other 5% of the time he drives me nuts. I can't think how at the moment, but it will come back to me the next time I need to pout and sulk. I mean, he's not perfect and to be honest I pretty much deserve it. I am a heck of a wife.

The Home Where I Grew Up

I grew up in a little Wyoming town and though I haven't actually lived there for 39 years, when I step foot into the front door of Mom and Dad's house I am "home". I love my parent's old house. It was built originally for a doctor and is probably one, if the not the biggest home in Cowley. It has tall ceilings, big rooms and although Mom and Dad have remodeled many things, there is still that vintage look about it. When they bought it, they had quite a large sized lot but have since sold one spot to my brother Jon and another spot to me. Wayne and I really thought we would be building a home on that lot 5 years ago but due to a need for health insurance and security, we moved to Utah. However we still keep in the back of our minds the idea that we may still do it one day. The things I love about their house are these:

Mom and Dad still live there after 50 years

It is a 2 story home and used to have a big porch all across the front but Dad remodeled it to accommodate a large living room. The giant cottonwood trees are no more. They served our family well and protected families of owls, robins and other birds but they also outlived their usefulness when they started to drop large branches that came close to the cars parked beneath so they were taken down. I miss them but Mom and Dad don't. They used to produce enough leaves to jump in for hours or to rake into the shape of my leaf house with divided rooms. I loved that!! Mom and Dad didn't.

Mom always has flowers. She had a row of marigolds that went the length of the lot but has since had to move them because Jon's house sits on this site.

These are the original light fixtures made from heavy leaded glass and brass. Now I ask you, how did they survive with my 4 brothers living there? Then along came my son and the other grandsons that were forever throwing things and (knock on wood) they still survive.

The top sides of the inside doors have this beautiful detail. (Probably hand carved)

The living room still has these wonderful leaded glass windows

The original bead-board and wood railings are still in place going up the stairs.

This is the back of the house which is surrounded by trees and bushes and a very large lawn. It was only in the last few years that Dad got a riding mower.

This is the side where you go down to a cellar and where Mom's home canned food is stored. It only has an outside entrance so in the winter it can be kind of tricky and pretty slick if it has snowed.

This is a decorative wooden element that Dad salvaged and painted and appointed to the top of the front door.

This is the yard in a typical Wyoming winter

The front porch of the home is a place where we all congregate when we go home for a visit. On a hot day, it really doesn't feel as hot as it is. For some reason the air currents rush through and keep it cool. You can see the birds and squirrels running around and the townsfolk driving or walking by and there is always a "hello". Life slows down just a little when you sit on the porch.

Am I sounding nostalgic? I am feeling it. Maybe it's the time of the year, or the fact that I don't get to go home enough any more, or most likely it's the fact that I still have two amazing people to call my parents and I miss them.

Amy and Emerson came over to visit and as any one year old does, he gets into everything. He kept trying to get out the box of tissues and pull them out. We had taken them away from him several times but Grandpa Wayne said to let him have the box. Emerson was very delighted and started to pull them out one by one until the box was empty. It was funny to watch for Wayne but not so funny for Amy as she is the one that has to put them away every time he goes for them now. This is the same Grandpa that feeds Shon's kids potato chips and ice cream for breakfast whenever they come to visit. There is a naughty little boy in Wayne that is living vicariously through his grandkids. I think he would eat ice cream for breakfast and throw things around the room if he weren't so proper and had to be health conscious.

If I stand up I have a little more room to pull.

See my technique?

Got a little leverage here.

This is not as easy at it looks.

No, Mom, Grandpa said I could.

My Most Memorable Halloween

One dark and ominous Halloween night back in 1968 was a memorable one for me. My little home town of Cowley (population less than 400) became the scary nightmare town for one night.... October 31st. Almost every teen that night got an arsenal of rotten and squishy tomatoes and headed up to main street for a citywide tomato fight. It usually involved climbing atop the roofs of the town businesses and running along launching tomatoes at the unsuspecting down below. When semi- trucks went by they usually got their windows splatted, and out of town kids knew they were in for trouble if they entered the city limits.

My cousin Ed Willis remembers it this way:

"I remember some Halloweens in the sixties so wild the local law enforcement gave up on Cowley and went home for the night. I remember the main drag in town being barricaded off by burning hay bales, and garbage cans on fire. It was a mild form of anarchy to be sure. The morning of November 1st was always a sight to see with the carnage on the main street area. There were volunteer tomatoes popping up in the church flower beds that next spring."

It just so happened that I was dating this cute out of town guy and he and his pals from Lovell came up to see what was going on. I happened to be with my buddies Cindi Peterson and I think Susan Nicholls at the time. We had our own arsenal, and although I can't remember from whose garden our ammo came, we were ready for the fight. Normally, I would have been sitting in my boyfriend's car with him but tonight he was the enemy. The guys had gotten got out of their cars and had found some ammo too. The war began and we started throwing rotten tomatoes at each other.

I was not near a barricade so one of my boyfriend's tomatoes happened to find it's target...my face. After only a couple of minutes I knew I was in trouble. I started to itch terribly and my face started to swell. I made it home in just a couple of minutes. Mom and Dad soon realized that I needed to get to the hospital ASAP. I was having an allergic reaction to the tomatoes or something on them and if I didn't get help soon, I would be in a world of trouble. After a few shots to keep my heart beating and an antihistamine and to calm down the hives that were starting to develop I was able to go home. My hives joined other hives until each one was about 6" across and I itched for days. The darn boyfriend didn't even know what had happened until the next day. I always say he tried to kill me that night, but then I went right ahead and married him. He has never hit me since.

Halloween Costumes

We have the same group of good friends for many years and we all liked to party. We have had a lot of dress up Halloween parties and these are some of the costumes from over the years. I have more pictures of the Stott's somewhere, but couldn't find them in time for this post. Marjie had one of the most clever costumes as she dressed up as the Energizer bunny. She carried a drum and had batteries taped to her wrists. If I find the pictures later I will post them. Her husband, Jim, had grown a beard and shaved only half of his face. Marjie had sewn him an outfit that was half a man's suit and half a dress so that when he turned one direction he looked like a man and when he turned other direction, he was dressed and looked like a woman. We have some pretty clever friends and we miss them a lot. Marjie's birthday is on Halloween too so Happy Birthday Marjie.

Joan/girlfriend of the rock star

Wayne/rock star aka Rod Stewart

Wayne/ a mama pig

The real Minnie Pearl

Joan as Minnie Pearl

Joan and Wayne Ostler/ witch and road kill

Notice the tire tracks across Wayne's chest and broken ears. There is blood there too but you can't see it.

Jody Schofield/Diva in the making

Dane and Jody Schofield/ The pope and pregnant nun

Dane Schofield/front of sumo wrestler

Dane Schofield/ back of sumo wrestler

Vaughn Clark/ Rolled bail of hay and Kathy Clark/Waiting for a roll in the hay

Oil Sheik/Lenny Clark

Spanish contessa and Vampire/Vonda and Larry Brewster

Karen and Tad Butt/ cheerleader and letterman

Veronica and Jimmy Jones/ flour and baker?

Doug and Cindy Bennion/Mr. and Mrs. Scarecrow