Exercise

Dad was a great athlete. He was the state champ in wrestling, played football in college, ran marathons and rode his bike. To this day, he still gets on his bike and rides but now that bike is in his bedroom. He is a great example of hard work and taking care of the body that you have.

One time when I was in high school, Dad came to wrestling practice. I thought that since I was in shape and practicing every day that I would be able to do anything, use any move, and pin him with ease. But to my surprise he was so strong and my thought of a quick pin were short lived. I don’t remember how it all turned, but I am sure I didn’t get the pin that I thought that I would.

Once Dad asked me to help him coach Matt’s football team. I was married and it was fun to spend time with him. Teri and I still talk about when we went down to the Sun Bowl in St. George with this team and how much fun we had.
--David

Hunting

This is a picture of the field we hunted in before the houses were built.

We went hunting every year. We hunted deer, pheasants and rabbits. Dad would make use of me and Mike by having us walk through the brush to push the animals out of cover so that he would have a good shot. Mike and I walked the brush until we got old enough to carry guns and then we made Brian and Matt go through the brush for us.

Sometimes we would go pheasant hunting on the road between Farmington and Kaysville. It just so happens that we walked through the fields where my house now sits. Now, when the topic of hunting comes up with people in my neighborhood, I always like to tell them that Dad and I used to hunt right here where our houses are.

On some of these trips, Dad would let us drive his old green truck. I remember the first time I got to drive. The truck was a standard transmission, so I was suppose to shift. However, I drove the truck in the same gear until we came to a stop sign. I pushed on the brake and the truck died because I didn’t push in the clutch. I didn't realize how kind Dad was being at the time when he told me I did a good job.
--David

Vacations

Our road trips were an adventure. I remember all of us piling in the old blue pickup with the camper shell on the back and pulling that pop-up trailer. Four of us in the cab and everyone else in the camper. If we had the same seat belt laws back then as we do now those trips would never have happened.

We all know that Dad loves our Savior and on our vacations we would go to church. It didn’t matter if we had forgotten our Sunday shoes, pants or any other piece of clothing we still went.
--David

Fish Stories

This is Uncle Sylvester feeding the bears in Yellowstone. Uncle Gardiner is on the car.



On our vacations we would go to Yellowstone and camp or sometimes stay in the cabins. I remember seeing the bears come into the cabin area and we would try to feed them. We would go fishing and hiking all of the things that little boys love to do. I remember sitting in our car on one vacation to Yellowstone at a trail head one rainy night waiting for Mike and Dad to come back from fishing and how worried mom was.

I also remember one time that we rented a boat and went out on Yellowstone lake fishing. When it was time for us to leave Mike and I didn’t want to reel our lines in and just before we took off Mike thought that he had a fish on his line so he started to reel it in. As he was reeling in his line he decided that he didn’t have a fish on his line so he left it out and Dad started back to the dock. We sped back to the dock with Mike’s and my line out the back getting dragged behind the boat and when we got back and had to finally reeled them in Mike had a fish on his line that we dragged all the way across the lake.
--David

Trip of a Lifetime

One of my all time favorite memories was when we celebrated Claude and Joyce's 50th wedding anniversary by going on a cruise to Alaska. Claude wanted to celebrate big, and this trip was planned at his suggestion. This cruise had it all--rest and relaxation, fun company, and many interesting sites to see.

Some of the highlights of the trip were:
*Spending quality time with Claude and Joyce
*The 2 hour (or was it 6 hours ha ha) bus ride where we all were delirious by the end!
*Laughing and talking about family memories over fancy dinners!
*Who could forget, eating 6 meals a day at the Windjammer?
*The Skagway train ride- I think that was Claude's favorite excursion
* Just the fact that all of us were able to enjoy each other's company without any distractions.

I love looking at these pictures, it brings a smile to my face and these fun memories will last a lifetime! Matt and I loved the cruise so much....it spurred us on to go 2 more times!! Thanks Claude, you're the best.

--Jodi

Don't Lose Your Shorts

After all these years I am saddened to find out that the only family picture we have that shows us river rafting is the one above. I remember many fun times with Dad at the Snake or Green Rivers. I remember camping with him and then getting up the next day to hit the river hard. We would run the river multiple times a day. From first light until it got dark. It was always a thrill.

One really memorable trip with Dad was the time we went to the Snake River for a family reunion with Dad's brothers and their families. During one run down the river, everyone on the raft was daydreaming and enjoying the water, sun, and scenery when we realized we were too late to maneuver around a shallow rock in the river. Behind the shallow rock was a large drop off with a lot of back flowing water. Because we were not paying attention, we tried to paddle the boat at the last minute and just ended up making the situation worse. We went over the rock sideways and the raft got stuck in the back flowing current. The raft started to fill with water and eventually collapsed in the middle dumping us all in the river. The moments of panic went a little longer than normal as we tried to account for all the bodies we had before entering the rapid. My Dad took longer than everyone else to emerge. Most of us came up somewhere near the over-turned raft. Instead, the river pulled Dad down and spit him out about 75-100 feet below where we entered. By the time Dad came up the rest of us had already started to swim to shore so we could turn the raft back over and then start down the river again. When we turned the raft over, we paddled down the river to meet my Dad. For some reason my father was still sitting in the 50 degree river. Most people would not be able to sit in 50 degree water for too long. The water was good for cooling off but you would have hypothermia if you stayed in it too long. As we got closer we found out why my Dad was still in the water. He had lost his swim suit. When he fell in the water the current was pulling his suit one direction and the life jacket the other. Thankfully, my Dad valued his life more than his dignity and he held onto the life vest. It all worked out in the end as one of my sister-in-law's had a pair of shorts over her swim suit. My Dad borrowed her shorts and we were back on our way. But there wasn't any more daydreaming on that trip.
-- Matt

A Magnificent Example

Last year for English, I had to write a paper about someone in my life that has had trials. I didn't know who I should write about. Then my mom started telling me about Grandpa's childhood. I was really interested, so I decided to go ask Grandpa some questions. He told me lots of stories that were funny, but he also told me some pretty sad stories. The story that stood out to me was the story when he accidentally threw his chocolate bar into the fire. Despite all of hardships Grandpa had to go through, he is AMAZING! He doesn't let his past weigh him down. He was such an example of enduring and working to get what you want, and I look up to him. I love Grandpa!

--Mikell