After the wedding and BBQ on Saturday, we drove up to Idaho to David's parents house. They live in Blackfoot, Idaho, home of the Idaho Potato Museum.
We didn't stop at the museum this time, although we did go once several years ago. We always laugh at the giant baked potato out front, so we finally decided to stop and take a picture of it. They used to have a big billboard on the freeway right outside of the town advertising for the museum with the slogan, "Free taters for out-a-staters." We didn't see the sign this time, so maybe the sagging economy has taken its toll. Who knows...
The kids loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. Sunday after church we met lots of David's family at the Blackfoot cemetery. As David videotaped, his parents took turns talking about different relatives buried in the cemetery. It was wonderful to hear their fun stories and and help my children learn about their great heritage. On a side note, as we were leaving to go to the cemetery, we told Benjamin that we were going to go to where some of our ancestors were buried. He asked if there were going to be any "an-brothers" (ancestors = an-sisters). Poor guy--always thinking he is surrounded by girls!
This is not even half of the family who was there.
Here is Benjamin in front of the grave of David Hill, David's great-grandfather, whom he is named after.
We ended at Marvin's grave (David's brother). All of Marvin's children were home for the weekend, which was amazing since they live all over the country. It was neat to be there with them, and his wife Cherie, as they remembered their father and husband. Marvin died in 1993, a few months before I met David.
After the cemetery we went back to Mom and Dad's house. The kids all played with their cousins, and David and the big boys had a big football game. It is so fun being with family.
Monday David and his brother got up early to go waterskiing. It was not quite 50 degrees at best, and the water was much colder, but David doesn't get a lot of chances to go, so he braved it. The kids and I joined him later, and even though he had gotten all dry, he decided to ski again, so he could show the kids how it is done. (It has been a few years since we've been able to go, so the younger ones didn't even know what waterskiing was. David figured he definitely had to remedy that. It's been very cute because Benjamin has been pretending to waterski ever since). I thought about skiing, but it was just too cold for me. I kicked myself for not taking the camera out on the boat, so I didn't get any good shots of waterskiing, but I did take one of the kids playing on the dock as we were loading the boat.
It doesn't much look like waterski weather, does it?
After David finally thawed, we took a trip out to the Springfield cemetery, where my grandparents, Marie and LaMar Whyte are buried. By the time we got to the cemetery, it was raining, so we didn't stay that long. But it was nice to pay tribute to my wonderful grandparents and remind the children again of their great heritage.
After we left the cemetery we drove up to my grandparents old house and farm. We drove up the lane to their house and then, because someone else owns it now and we felt like we were kind of intruding in their lives, quickly turned around and left. But seeing their house, and the beautiful open land surrounding it brought back so many great memories.
A Few Memories of Grandma and Grandpa
I remember going to my grandparents house once or twice a year. It was a long day's drive, so we were always anxious to get there. I remember some times we would beg my dad to let us out part way up the lane and let us run, since we were so tired of sitting. We would race my dad, who of course drove slowly and carefully up the gravel lane so that no rocks would pop up and crack the windsheild. He would always win, but it felt so good to run and stretch my legs and breathe the crisp evening air after breathing stuffy car air all day. Grandma would always be waiting at the door with a hug and a kiss.
I loved going to my grandparent's house. They lived in a big three-story farm house that was excellent for hide-n-seek. They had fun toys and especially dress-up clothes in the basement that we would play with. The basement had long, multicolored shag carpet, a pool table, and a black vinyl coach. I usually slept in one of the bedrooms upstairs. I especially loved the bathroom upstairs that was all done in red--red carpet, red wallpaper, and a cool old red claw-footed tub. It was a huge bathroom, with a closet that had all my aunt's formal dresses stored in it, so we would often play that we were royalty and those were our clothes (although we never actually touched the dresses).
My grandma was a good cook and I remember her house smelling of roast beef and pototoes. I remember working with my grandma in her garden and taking rides to town with my grandpa.
One summer while my sister Julie and I were visiting a stray cat showed up. They lived on a farm, so a stray cat wasn't that unusual, but this one was a little white kitten that was so soft and adorable. My sister and I had fun taking care of her all week and begged our mom to let us take her home at the end of our stay. I think she must have said no, but on the day we were going to leave, we tried to find the cat to say goodbye. We looked everywhere, but couldn't find her. About five hours into our trip, we heard a meowing. My aunt, who was driving, finally pulled over and looked in the hood and there was the kitten. She had climbed up in the engine to stay warm and had traveled in there for all that time. We rode home the rest of the way with her on our laps and ended up giving her to a neighbor.
My grandparents were good, honest, hardworking people. I am blessed because of the good examples they set for me. They had strong testimonies of the gospel, and worked hard to teach their family. My grandmother died when I was 19 years old. My grandfather died a little more than a year later, right after David and I got married. I'm so glad David was able to meet him.
Thanks for sticking with me for this long post. I want to put this all in a book someday, so I just felt like I should record some memories while I still have them. It is interesting to me that David grew up only 20 miles from where my grandparents lived. All those trips I made right through his neck of the woods and I never knew he was there.
Family Dinner
Later that day we had a big family dinner with nearly all of David's family. Eight of the 10 siblings were there, with most of the grandkids as well. It was pouring rain, so instead of a BBQ in the backyard, we moved dinner to the church and had fun eating, visiting, playing basketball. It was the day before David's birthday, so we had a birthday cake for him. It was neat to be able to celebrate his birthday with so much of his family. After dinner we moved back to the house and helped tie a quilt for his niece Mary who is having a baby next month. I tried to take pictures of all of this, but none of them did it justice.
We spent Friday morning at the Germantown Splash Park. It was the perfect place to be on a super hot day. We met lots of friends there and had a great time playing in the fountains.
This is the greenhouse. He grew palm trees, oranges, lemons and other exotic plants. The greenhouse was heated through ducts in the floor connected to a fireplace on the opposite side of the buildings.
Kate was our little ball girl--running all around the court retrieving the balls.
The kids learned about all sorts of cool things--bones, minerals, shells, animals, and even got to dress up like children from around the world.
Even though it was a sweltering humid 95 degree day, it was cool and pleasant down by the creek. It is amazing to me how kids can be in a room full of toys and be bored, but spend hours at a creek playing in the dirt, throwing rocks, splashing and exploring.