December 24, 2011
I'd been thinking and thinking and thinking about what to get my grandparents all month. After all, they have EVERYTHING! They're at the point of giving away all their stuff, so what on earth do you get them?
I wanted to do something meaningful. My Grandpa and Grandma Allen kept raving about our family and Bear Lake photo books I'd made them last year but it was our "off" year for photo books. I was almost to the point of just getting a fruit or bread basket for them. Then the thought struck me to write down some of my favorite memories of them. Seeing as how I have absolutely zero crafting ability, this was going to be quite the undertaking with just a couple days before Christmas. Luckily for the crafting-impaired such as myself, craft stores have pre-made books that you can just slap some paper and stickers on and call it good. The only problem was I spent a small fortune on supplies (since I lack a good supply of essential crafting supplies on hand necessary for such creative endeavors) and we don't have a working printer. I scrambled after dinner at Jeff's parents' to get them both done tonight. I ran out of glue. I ran out of photo sticky thingy stuff. And I almost ran out of paper I'd bought. Not to mention my patience with a sick, whiny baby begging for me to hold him. But I made it just in time to rush over to my parents' house to give them to both my Grandpa and Grandma Allen and Grandpa Jewkes.
I'm fairly certain I'm still the favorite grandchild.
If anyone is wondering what my favorite memories are, I copied them below.
My favorite memories of you… (Grandpa and Grandma Allen)
Gardening
~Crawling on my hands and knees to scoop up an acre of potatoes into a gunny sack. My Dad later took 50 lbs. of potatoes I had picked to my school for our food drive
~Weeding row after row of beans.
~Eating all the peas straight from the pods.
Vintage dress shopping in Grandma’s closets
Grandpa’s Farming
~Moving pipe (I’m pretty sure I never did get the rows straight enough)
~While at the time I was kind of mad that Grandpa told me “girls can’t buck hay because they are supposed have babies,” I was happy to drive the truck once I learned that mice squashing was part of the job. It still creeps me out to think about the millions of mice jumping around us as we picked up the bales of hay and Grandpa telling me to step on them and squash them to death.
Bear Lake
Cleaning for Grandma
~Grandma taught me how to dust properly. I loved cleaning at your house for two reasons. #1 I got paid for it. #2 I loved looking at all the books, pictures, sea shells from Hawaii, and other treasures in each room (because as you taught me, you don’t just dust around stuff, you have to pick it up).
~Cleaning out the fruit room. We found an empty jar that was still sealed. I tapped the lid and it disintegrated in front of our eyes. We had a good laugh!
Watching Grandpa grade papers.
The Temple
Shortly after we got married, Jeff and I were doing sealings in the Logan Temple. We were lucky enough to be there during your temple shift. Grandpa was the sealer. I remember catching a glance of white rushing past the door out the corner of my eyes. I tilted my head a bit to see what it was. It was Grandma! She was running down the halls making sure all the “old men” were doing their jobs. I started to laugh, I couldn’t help it! Grandma would run down the hall until she got to a door and then stop and walk past it, then dash down the hall again. It still makes me laugh and smile!
My Wedding Day – July 11, 2002
How special it is to have your Grandpa seal you for time and all eternity! And to be blessed to your Grandma and all of our family and friends worthy to be there with us. Grandma was also my escort when I took out my endowments a few days before. I was Grandpa’s first grandchild he sealed…. I joke that I was the practice run. I remember Grandpa telling us that as long as we had one good saver and one good spender we should be fine. And that when we get in an argument, to always be the first to say “you’re probably right, Dear.”
Trip to Tooele
I went to Tooele with you when Grandpa had an extension class he was teaching. I had so much fun hanging out with Grandma in the hotel all day. We clipped newspapers, walked laps in the pool, watched T.V., and went shopping at the new Walmart. But what I remember the most was buying a pair of matching shoes with green, burgundy, and blue patches on them. I felt so cool having shoes that were the same as my Grandmda!
The Jenny-Penny Scholarship
I was devastated that I didn’t get a scholarship to USU after high school graduation, but you gave me the Jenny-Penny scholarship. I can’t even tell you how much it meant to me when you gave me your penny-filled Coke bottle (that all the grandkids wanted) and a check to make up the difference for my first semester of college. I proudly took bag after bag of pennies to the bank to have them counted and told all the cashiers why I had so many pennies and what a wonderful family I had. Without the Jenny-Penny Scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to go to school and may never have graduated from USU with my health education degree, and later my Masters of Public Health from the University of Utah.
Finding the low spot on the Texas Cake and drinking any leftover frosting!
My favorite memories of you.... (Grandpa Jewkes)
Nabisco cookies & crackers
Handmade treasures like Pearl’s table and chair set, truck mailbox bank, baskets, jewelry boxes, puzzles, bookmarks, puzzle chair, and elastic guns.
I remember a huge water fight with everyone one summer after dinner. You got drenched at least three or four times. Even though, I know you were just playing along, it was still so funny to trick you and get you all wet again.
Snails
One time you told me you’d pay me 5 cents for every snail I put in a jar. I thought I’d be rich! But after about an hour, I didn’t even have a tiny jar half full. When Grandma found out how much you were paying me, she was told you to give me $20 for all my muddy, slimy work.
Your beautiful yard, flowers, and lawn (You never seemed to like us jumping over the peonies though)
Asking you if I could have a pop and a candy bar and then laughing when you said, “No.” I guess I always knew Grandma would say yes.
Listening to all of your hilarious stories from when you were a kid.
Thursday lunches
My first year of college, I loved coming over for lunch on Thursdays with my Dad. The food was delicious and the company the best.
Nauvoo
~I will never forget seeing how happy you were when I saw you on your mission. You beamed as you took us around Nauvoo and the temple, sharing stories about what you were doing and who all your missionary friends were. I remember going to dinner with you and Grandma and Grandma Great, and when I saw you waiting for us, you just beamed. You had the Spirit so strongly with you. It was like a ray of sunshine was beaming from your body. It’s something I will never forget.
~Grandma gave me the Christmas tree you had in Nauvoo, along with the ornaments your missionary friends gave you. We still have that tree and all the decorations. Each Christmas as we set up that same tree and put on the Nauvoo ornaments, it reminds me of you and Grandma.
The Lumberjack Song
Jaws
When you left for your mission, you gave me a list of things to do around the house while you were gone. The one thing you told me I had to do (besides squeegee the shower after using it) was to keep your Beta fish, Jaws, alive until you got back. Jaws escaped death on more than one occasion when I’d accidentally drop him down the disposal as I was cleaning his tank. But I was bound and determined to keep that stupid fish alive like you had told me to. When you got home and found Jaws still barely clinging to life, you laughed at me and said, “Girl, I wanted you to kill that dumb fish!”
December 26, 2011
