The Fair

Hummm...I'll call this "Waiting to show my horse at the fair"...just so it will fit my story!

As Del and I drove to the fair today he dictated another story. We missed having our own children and grandchildren with us, but we ran into our nephew and his family! You can’t help but run into someone you know while searching for food! Speaking of food - Del ate a hamburger and I had scone nuggets, our traditional food choice at the fair. We broke our tradition of getting an ice cream cone though, but there’s always next year to follow tradition again.

Del with his nephew Kevin Adams and his wife Katie,
plus their children: Oakley, Rhett, & Cree

Del & Trudy at the Eastern Idaho State Fair, September 2016

Here’s Del’s story. Enjoy! --- 

Fair time has always been kind of a unique part of our family tradition and Idaho culture. My earliest recollection of the fair experience goes back to a very young age. My grandma and grandpa Wootton lived just a couple of blocks from the Eastern Idaho State Fairgrounds. We would often go to their home and walk to the fair. In these rural communities the fair was always a journey of discovery. It was a time when all of the livestock people brought and showed their prized horses, cows, sheep, pigs as well as the latest agricultural equipment. As a boy I just loved to go to the fair and climb around on the tractors and combines. They were the newest and latest, and of course, not something we could even dream of having on our own farm. One of my favorite commercial displays, of which there were many, was the water pump booth where they made a little pond with an irrigation pump constantly circulating a big stream of water to demonstrate the proficiency of their pumps. There was also the Culligan Water display where the illusion of a faucet suspended in mid-air with water coming out of it was a source of amazement to me as a small child. At one point I finally realized the water that was coming down obscured a clear tube going up in the middle of the falling water. One of the giveaways at that booth was a headband with a long big colored feather. That was a must-have as a child. There were balloons and pencils and popcorn just for walking past a booth. Of course, the nicest thing about the fair was the endless variety of foods which were available including elephant ears, square ice cream coated with chocolate and nuts, as well as the usual pronto pups and hamburgers. And the fair wasn’t complete without a ride on the scrambler. 

One of my fondest memories was seeing my grandma Pearl sitting on a bench outside of the Home Craft building visiting with all of the other ladies. It seemed like to a little boy that grandma knew pretty much everybody who was at the fair. It really was a heart-warming experience as a child to see how everyone came together at fair time to see what was new in the world, to visit, and exchange pleasantries. My dad was always, of course, most interest in the horse and cattle aspect of the fair and we often had quarter horses that we showed and worked with.

For most of our children’s growing up years we have kept the tradition of at least spending a few hours at the fair and it always brings back pleasant memories of times spent in good wholesome family activity. There really isn’t any way of explaining the fair if you’ve not actually been there to experience the sight, sounds and smells of all that makes a fair a fair. Everything tastes better at the fair and life just feels good there.

Del at the Power County 4-H Horse Show with Rubber Star, August 1967

Side note: Speaking about a “good wholesome family activity” I love the 7^th paragraph in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” where it lists 9 principles that will help marriages and families be successful. Being involved in “wholesome recreational activities” is one of the nine. Here’s a link to the one page document called: “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”

Cops & Robbers

Painting by Nathan Roberts, my son

During the summer Nate and Sydney went to Arizona for a week vacation to spend time with Derek, Kristi, Jackson and Sadie. Within the first week Sydney ended up in the hospital because of pregnancy complications. Their one week vacation turned into three before the doctors allowed Sydney to fly back home to Wisconsin. While in the hospital Nate  called to give us an update on Sydney’s condition.

While talking, Nate who was already very choked up with concern for Sydney, told us that with so much time on their hands in the hospital they had chosen a name for their baby. The name was Copsen. They said it was a family name from Sydney’s side (not true…but we didn't know it). Although it was quite "different"  I told them I really liked the name. (What else would you tell an emotional son??)

Copsen...actually that was only one way Nate spelled it. He told Stephanie that it was spelled Coppson. Hummmm….by the title of my post, can you guess this was a joke? Del and I never caught on until Stephanie and Josh slowly and deliberately put Coppson with his last name: Coppson Roberts. Sound familiar? Kind of like the title of my post?!!! Say it out loud! Say it over and over until you “get it”! Coppson Roberts…Cops an Roberts…Cops and Robbers! Ya, you nailed it!

It came as no surprise that Nate was trying to fool us, but Del and I NEVER caught on! I think we went 2 months without figuring it out!

So Steph and Josh came up with an idea hoping to cause Nate a little uneasiness when he'd have to confess to grandma (me) that his child's name really wasn’t going to be Coppson. Steph bought a onesie online with the name “Coppson Roberts” printed on it and had the seller write a note that said:  “I really love the name Coppson! Hope you stick with it!” 

Although Nate "fell" for the joke for awhile, he finally caught on and texted this cute photo to the family.

Apparently it won’t be the name of their son, but they decided it would be the name of the little baby’s toy Tigger or perhaps a toy bear!!

(…and now you know why I used Nate's painting of "Cop Woody"… I mean Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear…his painting fits his story!)

Side note: Speaking about names, I just re-read the story when Helaman gave Nephi and Lehi the names of their ancestors. I love the Book of Mormon and I love the words Helaman used when he told his sons the reason he named them after their forefathers. He said, “…I have given unto you the names of our first parents who came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they were good. Therefore, my sons, I would that ye should do that which is good…” (Helaman 5:6-7) I love this! What a challenge for all of us! Here’s a link to the scripture story if you would like to read it found in The Book of Mormon, Helaman chapter 5.

Underwater Swimming

This was a fun picture to paint. Once again I used Crayola watercolor paint.  I'm not sure why I've become fascinated using this paint over my nice tubes, but perhaps it’s just fun to see if I can paint something half way decent with paint like my grand-kids use in elementary school. The paint is vibrant and with only 8 colors it just makes painting less serious – and feeling less serious allows me to be a little more creative!!  

I painted this just a couple of weeks ago when I was in Southern California with my parents while my mom was dealing with some serious health issues (August 2016).  I guess being with my parents in the summer and having some downtime caused me to want to paint something summery and something that reminded me of growing up in California. I remember my summer days as joyful and relaxing, without too much structure. I often called my best friend, Dawn, who lived down the street, to meet me at the pool. In those days, it was very rare to have a neighborhood pool. Now days, there are more and more of them. But for us, it was unique. So swimming and being in the sun was just part of regular summer living, along with laying on our backs to look at the clouds, going bike riding, and buying ice cream from the ice cream man whenever we were lucky enough for our parents to give into our begging for such a treat. Memories!! Aren’t they fun?!

My parents, Keith & Lucile, taken a couple of years ago.

I think being with my parents for 2 weeks has caused me to reminisce a bit. What a joy it was to spend time with dad and mom, even though it wasn’t under the best circumstances. I hope mom gets well soon, but thanks for the sweet memories I’ll have of this summer being with the two of you.

As part of my reminiscing, I took some time to search for photos of me swimming in our pool while growing up, but sadly, I couldn’t find any. But here’s a few depicting some of my other summer memories.

This photo of me was taken in August of 1964

If I wasn’t in the pool, I was often running through the sprinklers! 

This photo is of my younger sister, Regina, and me. 

Watermelon...summer! They go together!

I sell tags on Etsy called: Tags by Trudy
This is one of them.

Trudy Tibbitts & Linda Rameson

This is a picture of my next door neighbor, Linda, and me. She was a great friend, but she moved when we were fairly young. Her dad taught me how to swim and so just for fun - going along memory lane - I’m adding this photo to my post and a paragraph from a history my mom wrote about me, as if I was the writer.  

A very good friend and neighbor, Fred Rameson, taught me how to swim during the summer of 1964. I was just 4 years old. I always wore a life jacket when I went into our pool to swim and had lots of fun. One day I got my finger shut in the door just as we were all going down to the pool at the end of Ramona Vista (a pool that 12 families owned who lived on our street called the Ramona Vista Recreation Center). I told Mom I wouldn’t put on the life jacket because I was just going to sit on the step and hold my hand up. I sat there for a while and before I knew it there I was in the water swimming just like I usually did when I had the life jacket, only I was without the jacket. I surprised myself as well as Mom who was watching. So from then on I really practiced and got better all the time. Fred would come over and make me swim across the pool several times telling me to “reach way out” and pull my arms down by my body, which really helped me a lot. During the summer of 1965 I learned to jump off the high dive and dive off the side of the pool and swam the length of the pool lots of times. And finally, just before the swimming season ended in September 1965, I went down the slide. For some reason I couldn’t get enough courage to do that one thing. But I love to swim. I took a swimming course at the city pool during the summer of 1965 and I was advance from the beginner’s group right through to the divers group in about a week. I was one of the littlest and youngest there. My very good friend and next door neighbor, Linda Rameson, is a very good swimmer and she was in that class, too. Our hearts were all heavy and we were so sad when Fred Rameson died on September 4, 1965. He had been our very good friend ever since we moved here to Hemet and had taught me how to swim and enjoy it. I wondered how Regina would learn to swim now that Fred had died because he knew just how to teach beginners. (End of paragraph from my history)

Swimming...part of my growing up years. I love summer. I always have! It's such a carefree time of life. 

In closing, while at my parents my dad and I often took our projects into the family-room so we could be with mom as she lay on the couch trying to regain her strength. Sometimes we watched t.v. or a movie. On several occasions we watched different things from YouTube, including this darling interview of 3 women and their daughters. The interview took place on Brigham Young University in 1999 and the women interviewed were the wives of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This interview is so very entertaining and so well worth watching. I wanted to add a link to it with this post because Marjorie Hinckley, the wife of the Prophet at that time, and the last speaker, talked about her summer days growing up and how they had their children spend their summer days. And so I thought it would be fitting to share this on this post about summer. Besides, Marjorie Hinckley was just absolutely darling and funny.  I hope whoever is reading this post will watch this. It was wonderful. Here's the link: Wives & Daughter of The First Presidency (1999). 

Happy summer!! Actually, school starts in my town this week...so summer is coming to a close. So sad!

4th of July Rockets

My painting of fireworks

Over the last several years while on road trips my husband, Del, has dictated to me stories about his life while I scribbled them on paper. I love his stories and for some time I’ve dreamed of turning his stories into books with him as the author and me the illustrator. So far he has 30 stories and I’m only half way done with the first book I hope to publish. Wishing my grand-kids could have access to these fun stories now, I decided I wanted to post them on my blog. I’ve only posted 3 of his stories so far, so here’s another. 

The beginning of our hike. It's beautiful!!

But first…just a comment about our 4^th of July celebration this year. My daughter Stephanie, her husband Josh, and 2 month old son Luke, were here with us while moving from New Mexico to South Dakota. Being the hikers that they are, they convinced Del and I to take a 6 mile hike with them. We figured if they could hike for 6 miles with Luke in their arms, so could we! So we gathered some snacks, water and our tennis shoes and headed hiking to the lower and upper Palisades Lakes for our 4th of July celebration. 6 miles??? It is 15.6 miles! We actually hiked all of it, but there were times that I seriously wondered if I'd make it! I admit, I kept wondering if the people who rode past us on their horses would pick me up. I was almost willing to offer money for a ride back, but of course, I didn't hike with any cash! Well...we did make it all the way...but with Del's and my legs aching, Stephanie and Josh were good enough to forgo our yearly tradition of meeting the whole community on the banks of the Snake River for fireworks that night. We were sure we couldn’t walk another mile or two to get to our favorite viewing spot. So we exchanged fireworks this year for hot dogs and s’mores over a gas grill and the movie “National Treasure.”

Josh, Stephanie and baby Luke comfortable in the sling!

Del & Trudy
We made it to the upper lake - with the return trip ahead of us.

So...here's Del's story about one of his 4th of July celebrations. This is a true story. We removed names from this story to protect the innocent…I mean the guilty!!

The Fourth of July Rockets

There’s a good reason why some fireworks are not considered safe and sane. It’s also foreseeable to recognize that when fireworks fall into the hands of college students there use would most likely result in minor property damage if not physical bodily harm. This type of story can only be told with a disclaimer – don’t try this at home!

My roommate who drove truck on the weekends returned from Southern California having gathered up an array of bottle rockets, some small, some very large. These had been carelessly disseminated amongst several nearby apartments where I lived at the time.

The first evidence that trouble was afoot was when we were sitting in our apartment watching television and heard a curious noise from the adjacent apartment. As the drilling sound ceased we noticed a small hole appear through the wall in our kitchen area with a chrome towel rack pipe extending out of it. Mere moments passed until the purpose for the tube became evident as bottle rockets began to flash from the end of the tube and blaze across our apartment landing in an adjacent bathroom. While essentially pinned down, we were able to pull together a counterattack returning fire by launching bottle rockets from our end of the tube. A childish college activity!

Sometime later, this being around the 4^th of July, the local community put on a fireworks display from the stadium. We either didn’t have tickets or it cost more than we were willing to pay, so several of us decided to simply take our lawn chairs up and sit on the roof to watch the display. While so doing my roommate decided he would like to launch one of his gigantic bottle rockets, which he had purchased in Mexico. Now you typically need a piece of pipe to launch these rockets, but of course, we didn’t have one. Not such a brilliant idea was using the plumbing standpipes located on the top of the building. He lit the bottle rocket and dropped it down the standpipe. The bottle rocket came whooshing out of the pipe, rocketed into the air and exploded into a beautiful array of color. Everybody enjoyed the display except for an unfortunate fellow apartment dweller. As it turned out he had gone down into his apartment below to use the restroom. As pressure from the rocket launch recoiled it apparently blew much of the water out of the toilet bowl, which left the user both befuddled and wet! It certainly was an experience he will never forget - having a toilet bowl unexpectedly turn into a fountain.

Grandkids for a visit!

 

I started this painting a year ago during raspberry season. I pulled it out last night around 11 pm …painted until 1:00 am, climbed into bed and couldn’t sleep. Such is my life…I’d rather paint than sleep.

 

This painting also reminded me of this past week with Kristi, Jackson and Sadie - they came for a visit right during raspberry picking season. So I decided to make a post of our fun week!

 

I loved picking raspberries with these cute grandkids. I think they ate more than they picked…

but aren’t they cute?!

 

 

 

Eager to eat raspberries while we had plenty of them, we ate them on waffles, French toast, ice cream, angel food cake,  pie, and of course, fresh off the bushes.

 

We kept busy while they were here – FUN BUSY…

 

We took the kids to Tautphaus Park to ride the rides. I used to ride the same rides when I was a kid visiting my grandparents on our summer vacation (I hope they’ve tightened the screws and oiled the pullies since then!).

 

 

 

 

 

30 minutes playing a make-believe baseball game!!

 

 

We went to Del’s 44^th high school reunion in American Falls. The kids swung  for over an hour while Del visited with a bunch of “old” people. Are we really that old?! Afterwards we drove past the cemetery where Del's parents are buried. Kristi misses our traditional visits to the cemeteries over Memorial Weekend, so we went to the American Falls Cemetery to reminisce about Del's parents.

The highlight of the day was eating at Red Lobster in Pocatello.


For a 4-year old, Jackson has the tastes buds of an adult! He asked for crab legs! I wish we had a picture of him eating them. He loves crab - cracking the shell, getting the meat, and eating it!

 

 

 

 Sadie, age 2, loved the Salmon, mashed potatoes, and broccoli

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight was touching a real lobster!

 

 

 

 

 

 

At church on Sunday Jackson raised his hand to answer a question (He always had “2 things to say” letting others take their turn before raising his hand to say “2 more things” – cute!) for one of his comments he said in one sentence with no pause, as if they were a connected: “Jesus died on the cross because of mean men and I pet a real lobster!”

 

We also went fishing at Warm River. While saying a prayer on our picnic food, his mom thanked Heavenly Father for Warm River. Jackson leaned over to his mom and whispered during the prayer: “Why is it called Warm River? It’s a cold river!” Cute, and true! He knew first hand it was cold as they were in the water quite a bit and we also floated the river. I’m not sure if “floating” is the correct word…I think we pushed us along with our hands as we kept getting stuck in the rocks…it’s a very shallow river!)

 

Jackson fishing

 

Grandma, Sadie, and Jackson, with Grandpa fishing in the background

 

Grandson following Grandpa!

Sadie did her own kind of fishing!



 Jackson fished a good portion of the day. We thought he was oblivious to the fact that he didn’t have a hook on the end of his line. But later that night his mom told him that they might go fishing with their dad when they returned and would have to buy him his own fishing pole. To this comment he said: “this time I want a fishing pole with a hook.”

 

Jackson  sitting on a rock in the middle of the river fishing where Grandpa was earlier.

 

 

This was our biggest catch of the day! Grandpa Quack Quack (his acquired nickname from Jackson because he can speak “Donald Duck” language) wondered if he also was missing a hook!



I squeezed in my favorite thing to do at Warm River - watercolor painting!

 

Two other highlights of their trip were riding in Grandpa Quack Quack’s sports car and on his lawn mower! The simple joys of childhood!!

 

Jackson & Sadie in Grandpa Quack Quack's sports car!

 



Jackson on lawn mower with grandpa

 

Sadie on lawn mower with grandpa
 

All on her own, Sadie ran up to Grandpa and thanked him for the lawn mower ride!

We miss you Kristi, Jackson and Sadie!! Our house seems awfully quiet without your smiley faces but I bet your dad is glad you're back home! Don’t forget, Sadie and Jackson, to always keep smiling so you can be in our smiley club!! (We face-timed them on the night they returned back home. Hanging on their wall was a white paper plate with a smiley faced drawn on it. All on his own, Jackson drew the smiling face and had it hung up to remind them about the smiley club!)

 

Summer & Little-Guy-Ostrich

A few weeks ago I saw a cute ostrich painting on Pinterest. I wanted to see if I could paint it. Thinking it was just a trial painting I turned over one of my paintings I had nearby to test it out on the backside of the page. I then decided to grab my kids former 8-color-count Crayola Watercolor paints – maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was going to be blowing paint through a straw like I did in grade school, but regardless the reason, I’m glad I did! I think the colors turned out very fun. The whole project was fun! I think using the back of watercolor paper, Crayola watercolor paints, and blowing through a straw “allowed” me to just have fun like a kid! Not everyone probably likes this kind of painting, but I fell in love with this little character and can’t stop looking at it. It currently sits in my kitchen, unframed, and totally not in sync with my décor, but he makes me smile! Don’t the colors just scream “summer”?!!

 

We recently went to visit my daughter and her family in Kentucky. My grandchildren were excited for me to take my watercolors and paint with them, so that’s what we did. I showed them how to paint my colorful ostrich, and look how great their paintings turned out! I’m not sure if they had more fun painting or taking pictures of their paintings, but we had a great time!!

 

Last night, after a day of being mostly indoors, I wanted that “summer feeling” about the time I should have been heading to bed. So I pulled out the Crayola Watercolors and designed and painted my own ostrich pictures, using those summer colors once again. What an enjoyable way to end a day!!

 

Happy summer to everyone! I hope you’re enjoying the outdoors and if you can’t always be outdoors, grab your Crayola paint and give it a try!! Just paint little sections at a time and blow the paint  around while it's still wet, using a straw. Protect the eyes and paint them last. The blue and black will make them pop next to all those summer colors. Then add some shadow with the blue paint and you’ll be smiling like me! I showed my niece how to do this, and even though she hasn’t painted much, she too is smiling and showing her painting to others. These ostriches just simply make me happy!

 

Side note: There's a sweet story about kindness and lemonade that took place on a hot summer day. Check this link out.

 "The Power of Kindness" in the article "George Albert Smith: He Lived as He Taught"

 

Down Memory Lane

I am sharing 3 of my paintings/cards with this post. These paintings remind me of flowers on Memorial Day. The words on the card reminds me of the “thanks” I feel for my deceased relatives. Del’s and my grandparents and parents used to decorate the graves, just as we do now. They picked flowers from their yards, which I find hard to do in Idaho Falls as I can’t find many in bloom yet. I don’t know how they found any either. I remember Peony flowers as ones they picked for decorating graves. Perhaps that’s the problem! We tried growing them several times, but have never been successful!

 It is Memorial Weekend in May 2016. Del and I have the tradition of visiting the graves of our relatives in Idaho Falls, Shelton, Blackfoot and American Falls, all in Idaho. While driving I started reminiscing about the past, one of the best reasons for dropping off flowers at their grave sites. As we drove to the Rose Cemetery in Idaho Falls and to Shelton, visiting my grandparent’s graves, I wrote a letter to my parents (sorry it’s a bit lengthy) in an attempt to share with them some of my memories. This is my letter to them:

 

 Hi dad and mom,

 We couldn’t decide what to do for date night, so we grabbed some flowers and headed to visit Rose and Shelton Cemeteries. We followed the same routine as we always do, stopping at Sherie’s grave first. We laid a few flowers by her tiny little grave marker, the size reminding us she was a stillborn infant. How you managed through having 3 babies develop full term, but die before being born, is beyond me. How grateful I am to know and believe in a resurrection/life after death, and for ordinances that allow us to be with our loved ones in the next life! I guess that’s how you made it through those times too. Her plaque reads “Tibbetts” with an “e” instead of an “i” but that’s okay! I know she’s my sister. Amazing we’ll have 3 more siblings in the next life, if that’s the Lord’s plan.
 

 After being there for a short while we headed to the other plots, looking for the wishing well across the street, designating which path to go down. It’s hard to believe that wishing well is still there. Grandma and Grandpa Tibbitts’s grave are easy to spot, once on the right road, as it faces West towards our car, when most of the other surrounding tombstones face the East. We laid more flowers next to their plot and some on Sydney’s, Maria’s and Gladys’s too. I can’t help but think of Glady’s dying just months before her wedding. How sad those times must have been. That also brings back memories of you dad, with her as your sister. Those are such fun stories!
 

 I love going to these graves because of the memories that start to naturally flow. From this cemetery, Grandma Tibbitts is the only person I knew and as I walked away from her grave I started sharing with Del some of my memories of being with her. I can picture in my mind the many Friday night sleepovers I had at her home, following with a smorgasbord of breakfast choices!! There were all kinds of foods to choose from, not just out of her cupboard, but sitting prepared and ready to eat, spread over her kitchen table! I also remember her many empty bottles of perfumes and lotions that I’d sit for hours playing with, imagining them to be people or anything else I could dream of. I remember mowing her lawn after school and in the summers, and the Twinkies and soda pop she always had for us. Why I didn’t mow her lawn for free, I’ll never understand! When I think of mowing her lawn, I always think of the letter she mailed to me with payment for a time I couldn’t mow due to being sick. She was paying me for the mowing job you did, dad. I still have that letter.

 

 After leaving Rose Cemetery, we headed toward Shelton. I always love looking at your old home on Highway 26, mom. I only know it from when Uncle Wilford and Aunt Wilma lived there, but your stories of your early year’s runs through my mind as we pass it, looking at the small home and the farm land. I try to visualize you surrounded by cats and dogs, and even mice! It’s a little hard to picture that, but photos of you come to my mind and I can only imagine how it must have been. Knowing the Shelton church is just down the road from this place, it brings back memories of Stephanie and Josh’s wedding reception being held there, and of the story you’ve shared of sitting in the window sills during church dances watching the older kids while your dad, the Bishop, chaperoned. Those are fun stories!
 

 At the Shelton Cemetery it was a bit windy and cold, typical for Memorial Day in Idaho! The trees shaded what was left of the evening sun. We laid flowers next to Grandpa and Grandma Burtenshaw’s grave, glanced around at all the other Burtenshaw graves and jumped back into our car to get warm. The drive was beautiful and the memories this brought into my mind made the little extra distance to Shelton worth it. I typically can’t muster up past memories as well as dad does, but as we drove away I started once again sharing memories with Del of Grandma and Grandpa Burtenshaw from our visits to their home on H Street.

I remember their 3 story home (or 2 ½ story one might call it). I thought that 3rd floor was so cool. I didn’t know anyone who lived in a 2 or 3 story home, that’s just not how the California homes were in those days, so visiting grandpa and grandma in a 3 story home was fascinating to me. I remember playing games in that upper room. Was it as big as I remember it being? I picture 2 or 3 queen or full size beds in it. Remembering that room also reminds me of two things that I thought were unique to the area. Now living in Idaho Falls, these things are common, but back then, they seemed almost magical, creating a sense of being somewhere uniquely different. At night, I’d look out the upper window, and see people getting off or on buses. I later learn about the INEL (called by different names over the years) and now realize they were either returning or heading to work. This memory takes me back to dad’s story of Delmer leaving Gladys candy, gum and other small gifts in her mailbox when he returned from the INEL in the middle of the night. I love knowing that Grandma Tibbitts raced her to the mailbox each morning, hoping to get the surprise first. What a fun story (although mixed with sadness, like I mentioned above). Back to my story…I also remember hearing the train. I still hear it now and then, even in my own home further from the tracks, but back then, it seemed magical. I had never been on a train and I imagined people traveling to fun and interesting places. I have one other memory I want to share. I wonder if you’ll remember this. On one of our trips I got an extremely bad earache. My bed was in the upstairs room on the 3rd floor, but I couldn’t sleep due to the extreme pain I felt. Dad gave me a Priesthood blessing and I quickly fell asleep afterwards. The next day the doctor discovered I a blister on my eardrum popped.

 Well…that’s it for now. This is long enough. These memories have led to more, and I’m sure as we continue to travel to the Blackfoot and American Falls Cemeteries I’ll begin to have memories of Del’s family too. This is truly a blessing of living in Idaho, where many of our relatives lived. It’s one of our favorite family traditions.

 Happy Memorial Day!!

 Love, Trudy