It's April 15th

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US... THIRTY-FIVE YEARS!!!!!

Classics and Favorites: April 15, 1977

April 15, 2012 is tax day. On April 15, 1977 I didn't know anything about taxes. The day came and went and my taxes were never mailed. The government still owes me $30... I wonder how much interest I've earned on that.

April 15, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. My great-grandfather helped to build the Titanic in Belfast. My grandmother was six-years-old and was there when it was launched. When I found out that my ancestor had helped to build the Titanic I said, " I hope he didn't work on the part that broke."

On April 15, 2012 Michael and I will celebrate our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. This is one of my favorite wedding pictures; we look so young... that's because we were (only 18 and 19). Thirty-five years later... we are happy, we love each other, we love our children and grandchildren, we are blessed more than I can express... life is good; can you imagine what eternity will be like?

Mike & Les: Living In A Log House

Before the future house, and before the present house, there was a past house....and it was made of logs.

Shortly before our second wedding anniversary, Mike and I and our baby Andy moved to Bridgeland, Utah; it is a small if-you-blink-you'll-miss-it-as-you-drive-by town in the Uintah Basin. We lived there for two years.

After our first year in Bridgeland we bought an acre of land that bordered the Duchesne River, and Mike's Dad built us a log house. There were two floors and a basement, each floor was 16' x 20'. The stairs went up through the middle of the house with the living room on one side and the kitchen on the other. Upstairs, the boys room and the bathroom were on one side and our room on the other. In the basement Mike finished one side as a den for him and the other side was laundry, storage, furnace, etc.

The home was built log over log just the way the pioneers built their homes. My father-in-law laid insulation between each log, but often when the wind blew we could feel a breeze blowing through the cracks so we would go down to the basement where we kept a roll of insulation and a spackling knife and we would fill in the cracks until eventually a day came when we didn't feel anymore breezes. On the day we moved in we didn't have a bathroom door, so Mike measured the doorway, then he went outside and cut a door out of a piece of plywood and hung it up. When we moved in our floors were just planks of wood, whenever I swept upstairs I'm sure plenty of dust ended up in the basement. It was a couple of months before we got carpet. Although we had a furnace, we built a fire in our wood burning stove everyday that winter, oftentimes I would put my two toddler boys (Jeff was born while we lived in Bridgeland) up to the window and instructed them to stay there as I went outside and chopped wood, that way I was able to watch them at the same time. We kept a live mouse trap in the house (shudder) and there were times when I actually thought that I could hear the mice conversing. It was Mike's job to dispose of the mice but one day I decided to do it....but that was the last time I did it, all I will say is this, don't drink water from in the Duchesne River. This was a very rustic home and we loved it.

One of my favorite stories to tell was of the day that I got locked out of the house. I was going to drive to Roosevelt and I had just put my boys Andy and Jeffrey in the back of the car when I realized that I had locked my keys in the house. We had no cell phones in those days and my nearest neighbor was a half mile away, I would have to carry Jeff and hold Andy's hand and walk to my neighbor's telephone. I walked around the perimeter of the house to see if there was any way I could get inside. I noticed that my bedroom window was slightly open, but how was I going to get to it? Suddenly I got an idea....the logs on the corners of the house protruded and there was a porch roof directly under my window, so....I climbed log over log until I reached the porch roof where I was able to get to my window and then into the house (refer to the photo at the top of the post, it was the left front corner of the house where I climbed up).

We only spent seven months living in our first home; we then moved back to West Bountiful. But during that cozy fall and winter, we had some experiences and made some memories that we will never forget.

Mike & Les: Together Forever part 2...

"Wake up, wake up, it's April 15th!!" That was me on the morning of my wedding, running around the house to all of the bedrooms and waking up the entire family. I couldn't believe that the day was finally here.

It was a beautiful spring morning, Mike and his Grandma Richards picked me up at my house and the three of us drove to the Salt Lake Temple together. When we arrived at the temple, Mike and I were able to spend some time together sitting in the beautiful Celestial Room before we were escorted to the small sealing room on the 2nd floor. There were only about 14 people in attendance, including Mike and I and President Boyer who sealed us.

After we were married we went outside to greet the rest of our family and friends and to take pictures. I came outside through the East gate entrance (where the brides and grooms come out now) but Mike came from the north (where everybody else comes out now). When Mike saw me he ran the length of the sidewalk to get to me, everyone thought that was so tender. After we were finished with having our pictures taken we went to the Lion House where we had our wedding breakfast (it's really a lunch) which was hosted by Mike's parents, and that evening my parents hosted our reception which was held at our church. Now you may laugh at the colors of the tuxes, but our wedding reception was very fashionable in 1977. It really was a wonderful day, although there were a few "minor" mishaps that occurred. While changing out of my wedding dress at the temple the zipper broke (maybe in the comment section my Mom will express her feelings about that), later in the day when setting up the reception at the church my brothers spilled several gallons of punch on the floor. The mishaps really didn't bother me, I was married to Mike and to me that was all that mattered.
Epilogue: It has been 32 years since our wedding day, and so much of it is just a vague memory now. As I look at the picture above I momentarily step out of my skin and become the observer so to speak. What I see is a young couple who are happy and in love. They have absolutely no idea what their future will be. They don't yet know about the challenges or the joys that having a family of their own will bring. They don't know that they will go through the trial of losing a precious daughter to death, and that that very experience will strengthen and unite them and their children in the commitment to be an eternal family more than ever before, and that their faith in the Savior and their gratitude for Him would increase so much. That very experience brought a deeper perspective to what Lesley said to Michael on their first date...."I am going to get married in the temple...."

I am one of the two people that know them the very best. I know that they love each other so much more than they did on April 15, 1977 and I'm sure back then that they could not have imagined that possible. I know that 32 years from now they will love each other even more....that too, is hard to imagine to be possible.

What's In A Name? A Prize....That's What!

When I was 10 years old there was a television show that I loved called Here Come The Brides. It was set in the 1800's and was about a community of loggers and mail order brides in Seattle. The main characters were three brothers whose names were Jason, Joshua, and Jeremy. Jeremy (my favorite on the show) was played by Bobby Sherman who became a teen idol in the 70's along with David Cassidy and Donny Osmond. I loved the name and thought that someday I might like to name a son Jeremy, which I did. So...if you chose Jeremy you were correct; but....only one person can win. I wrote everyone's names on slips of paper and then folded them up teeny, tiny and dropped them on the floor. Mike picked one up and I opened it and the winner is....




EMILY (Jeremy's wife)

*Tune in tomorrow for the final installment of the "Mike & Les" series

Mike & Les: Together Forever part 1

In September of 1976 just 7 months after we met, Mike and I became officially engaged. We were both 18 years old.

Young girls dream of the day when they'll get married, they plan how many children they are going to have and what their names will be (one of my children actually does have a name that I picked when I was a young girl). While still in my youth I decided that I wanted to get married on April 16th, I loved the sound of that date....April the 16th. Back in "the days" when we got married it seemed that Friday was the "official" wedding day of each week. Once in awhile couples got married on a Thursday, but Friday was usually the day chosen. April 16th was on a Saturday (I didn't know anybody that got married on a Saturday back then) so we chose April 15th as our wedding day (I didn't know anything about tax day either).

Because our wedding date was 7 months away my Mother said we didn't need to start planning until the beginning of the new year. In the meantime I began working at the LDS Church Office Building and Mike continued to work at Safeway. We worked and saved our money and got a little bit older.

Fall came and went, then Christmas, and suddenly it was the new year....1977. On January 2 we called the Salt Lake Temple and scheduled our wedding ceremony, we also requested that Selvoy J. Boyer perform our sealing. President Boyer was the first President of the London Temple in 1958, when my parents and I were sealed as a family the day after the temple was dedicated (click here to read my Mom's blog about that day).

There was much to do to prepare for a wedding and the start of a new family. My Mom sewed my wedding dress and we shopped for fabrics to make bridesmaid dresses (which they sewed). There were pictures to take and invitations to print and mail. We planned our refreshments and decorations, ordered flowers and registered for china and silverware. There were several bridal showers where I received lovely gifts to fill my new home. My Mom had encouraged me right after Mike and I got engaged to save my money for the purchase of a brand new bedroom set. It was beautiful furniture and I was so proud of myself for my first major cash purchase.

Wedding plans were well underway as the days, weeks, and months crept by until April 15th arrived.


A CONTEST: with a prize!!
I mentioned at the top of the post that one of my children was given a name that I picked in my childhood. Leave me a comment with your guess of which child it is. This is really random; I know I've mentioned it to people in the past but when I asked Mike he didn't know the answer and so it's anybody's guess. Everyone who guesses correctly will have their name entered into a drawing for a prize...from me. I will announce the winner on my blog on April 14th, the day before the final installment of our love story. You have until April 13th at midnight to leave a comment with your answer. I know there are people who read this blog and don't comment, this is your chance to come out of hiding. Here are the choices:

Andy Jeffrey Jeremy Ashleigh Caitlin

Mike & Les: The Spirit Of '76

It was the year 1976. The bi-centennial of the independence of our country; the Pittsburgh Steelers won Super Bowl X; the Oscar went to Rocky for best picture; Charlie's Angels and Happy Days were two of the countries favorite TV shows; the Teton Dam collapsed; Jimmy Carter was elected President; Hotel California was released by the Eagles; Bohemian Rhapsody was a big hit; Mike and Les graduated from High School....

I'm going to share just a few random memories about the summer of '76. It started with a Memorial weekend camping trip with my family to Zions National Park. My siblings all loved Mike from the very start (how many boyfriends say to their girlfriends younger brother, "do you want to take my horse for a spin around the block?"). They loved him even more when on the camping trip my Mom treated us all to steaks on the grill (a rare treat; not rare as in rare meat but rare as in seldom). Mike did not eat steak (still doesn't) so you can imagine all of the volunteers eager to take it off his hands.

Mike's family had been planning for a trip to Tennessee in June for several months. They were going to be gone for two weeks. Before Mike left I considered the idea that some time apart might be good for us, we had been inseparable since we'd started dating 3 1/2 months earlier. Two weeks turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be. I missed Mike so much. Remember, in "those days" there was no such thing as e-mail, cell phones, or text messaging and making a long distance phone call (using a dial up phone that was connected to the wall with a cord only a couple of feet long), was very expensive (I think there was a phone call...or two). For years when Mike's family would reminisce about their trip to Tennessee, they would tell the story of how each night as they stopped at motels Mike would take out our prom picture and display it on the nightstand next to his bed. Isn't that cute!?! Or is it cheesy? I know, I know.... Needless to say we were very happy to be reunited after two long weeks.

Mike worked at Safeway at the old 5 Points Shopping Center. For awhile his shift was 3-midnight. We would spend our days together and then he went to work. Every night at about 12:15 he knocked on my bedroom window (basement) to say goodnight on his way home.

We used to have a drive-in theater in Bountiful, located where Colonial Square is now. The drive-in had a $3 a carload deal and so on weekends we went to the drive-in. Sometimes we would load up the back of Mike's truck with my siblings and their friends, I think we definitely got our money's worth and a lot of great memories.

One Monday night (family night) my parents planned a miniature golfing trip as a family. My Mom said that I couldn't see Mike that night, that I needed to spend time with my family. With the exception of the Tennessee trip I don't think that there was ever a day that we didn't see each other. I was obedient and went with my family. When we got home I saw Mike drive by our house, then he drove by again. I was watching out of the window as he drove by another time, finally my Mom gave in and said, "go call him." He was at my house in a moments time and we were never apart again.

Next time: An engagement

Mike & Les: Horsing Around

Up to this point in our story I have left out a significant detail about Mike that has to be revealed....he was a "cowboy"....I know, but let me emphasize the word was....he wore a big cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and a denim jacket (although a very popular article of clothing now....in the 70's a denim jacket was only worn by cowboys). But most importantly, Mike had a horse. His very own, bought and paid for by himself....horse. She was a Thoroughbred and Arabian mix and her name was Persian. Mike really wanted me to go horseback riding with him....but I really didn't. I have always been afraid of horses, they are so big and powerful and if you stand behind them they will kick you (at least that's what I was always told). But he was my boyfriend and I didn't want to appear....scared. So I agreed.

The day of the horseback riding date came. It was with much courage (really fear) that I got on the back of that beast. Mike was in the saddle and I was right behind hanging on to him for dear life. Things got off to a smooth start as our adventure began. Mike was certainly knowledgeable and experienced where horses were concerned and I must admit that I was impressed; but in the few months that we had been dating Mike hadn't ridden Persian as often as he used to. Being a female herself, maybe she was a little jealous of me, or maybe she just didn't like me at all, but as we were riding along 800 West in West Bountiful (basically the "Main Street" of our community), and right as we were in front of City Hall, Persian started to get a little excited. She started to hop and jump a bit, keeping in time with the hopping and jumping my heart was doing. Hopping and jumping quickly became bucking. I was hanging on to my boyfriend for dear life as his horse BUCKED like crazy, but the next thing I knew, I was flying through the air and then landing on the road as the horse continued to jump all around me. At some point the horse stepped on my left arm at the inside of my elbow. It's amazing that it wasn't broken and it is truly a miracle that I wasn't more seriously hurt. It was humiliating. Cars were screeching to a halt and people were running out of their houses to see what they could do to help, including a woman who came with strips of clean sheets to wrap around my arm.

Our Moms miraculously appeared on the scene and I was driven to the ER where my arm was scrubbed (literally) with a scrub brush to remove tiny pieces of gravel that were embedded deep into the open wound. It was an extremely painful process (I was very brave....I was). I left the hospital with my arm wrapped up so professionally, to the onlooker it would appear that it was much more serious than it was (I liked that part). For many years I had a huge, bumpy, purple scar with the horses hoof mark imprinted on my arm; it has faded now (a benefit of aging) but is still there as a reminder of my adventure underneath a bucking horse.

Epilogue: As the years have passed and I've occasionally reflected on that day, I'm still amazed that I wasn't more seriously hurt. It seemed like I was on the ground for an eternity as the horse bucked and jumped all over me. It could have kicked my head or even stepped on my head, but all I received was the wound on my arm (not even a break). Several months after the incident Mike sold Persian to a young husband and father in our ward by the name of John Salmon (now President Salmon in our stake presidency), he frequently reminisces with Mike about Persian and says that she was the best horse he ever had.

30 years later I got on a horse for the first time since the bucking experience; and I had a great time.

Next time: A two week separation

Mike & Les: First Date

Our first date was on February 24, 1976 and it was a double date with Mikes friend Steve, and his girlfriend Becky (not our Steve and Becky, they are still years away). We went to see the Charles Bronson movie Breakheart Pass. I was a little shy (does that surprise you?) and wouldn't eat any of the popcorn that Mike bought for us to share (that was the last time I didn't eat the popcorn). The very next night we had our second date, this time it was just the two of us. After the date we came back to my house, it was cold and dark outside but it didn't stop us from sitting on the backyard swingset where we could talk (we did a lot of talking....seriously). It was at this point in time that Mike told me again that he thought I was the girl he was going to marry. I realized that he was completely serious and so I said to him, "I am going to get married in the temple, so....if you are going to marry me you will have to start going to church." The next day was Sunday, when I walked into the chapel who do you suppose I saw sitting on a bench all by himself? You guessed it! And he has been doing the same (only sharing a bench) for approximately 1,716 Sundays ever since.

Next time: while on a day date, one of us is injured in a freak accident and ends up in the emergency room.

Mike & Les: Destined To Be?

....So, new friendships had been formed. Me and "K"; Chris and "A"; and Mike and Pam. For two weeks we did quite a few things together and we had a lot of fun. "K" was a nice guy....but he really wasn't my type. On the other hand, the more time we spent as a group I was noticing Mike. I observed that Mike was very humble; he didn't talk a lot, or about himself; he didn't need to be the center of attention, and he had such a nice smile. One night the six of us went roller skating at the old Rustic Rink in North Salt Lake. During the evening there was a "girls skate" segment where all the guys sat on the sidelines and only the girls skated. As we skated around the room with music blasting and lights flashing we would pass the guys and wave or smile or....WINK! Did I actually wink....at MIKE!?! The guy that wasn't my date!?! I did!! Another lap around the roller rink....and I did it again!! And nobody knew it but me and him (oh BTW, he winked back). Things were about to change.

There was an upcoming girls dance at Viewmont High School. Pam was going to ask Mike. In "those days" (I can't believe I actually referred to the 70's as "those days"...sigh) you just asked someone to a dance, and they answered you. So easy; so un-complicated. I remember standing in the northwest hallway at VHS near a wall of windows, I could see Pam and Mike in the distant parking lot talking. She was asking him to the dance. A moment later he got into his truck and drove away and Pam came back into the building where I was waiting for her. She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders as she informed me that he had said "no". She was very confused. So was I.

That night I had just washed my hair and gone to bed with a wet head when my Mom came to my bedroom and told me that Mike was at the front door. Mike was here at my house? What did he want? Maybe he wanted to explain to me why he wasn't going to go to the dance with Pam. Whatever his reason, I was certainly curious. I hurriedly threw on some clothes and took a quick inventory of myself in the mirror, threw a hat on my wet head and went to meet my fate.

Mike had indeed come over to explain to me why he didn't want to go to the dance with Pam....because he liked me. In fact, it turns out that Mike was interested in me as far back as our 1st semester English class, and on the day of the farewell when he had come out to the car he had seen me sitting in it and had hoped that I was his date (if you guessed that it was love at first sight for Mike, you were right!). He had much to say to me (including asking me to go out with him), but the words I remember most were when he told me that he was sure that I was the girl he was going to marry. Wait until you find out what I told him!

Mike & Les: Love At First Sight....For One Of Us

As our 32nd wedding anniversary approaches, I thought writing a post about us to publish on April 15th would be fun. Then I started reading Kathryn and Trevor's story, and I was inspired to write our story leading up to our wedding day. So if you're interested in knowing how Mike & Les (as we are affectionately known to those who know and love us best) came to be; read on and I'll do my very best to remember (it was a long time ago). Mike moved to West Bountiful at the end of our sophomore year, but it wasn't until 2nd semester of our Senior year that we "officially" met. He actually lived in my ward but didn't attend church, but like all good "Mormon" girls, the girls in my ward knew there were two boys in the family that lived in the log house next to the golf course. Girls just seem to have radar about details like that. Mike and I were in the same English class during 1st semester and I knew that he was the boy from the log house. Being in a class together brought us in closer proximity to each other, I was able to peek over the top of my English book (I probably never opened my English book) to get a good look at him, and decided he was good to look at. Now for the "official" meeting. My friend Pam came to me one day and told me that a young man in her ward (had a mission call) wanted to go out with me. They had struck a deal that went something like this: If she would arrange a date with me, for him; he would fix her up with a guy he worked with at Safeway. Guess who that guy was? Yep! Mike. And for good measure they added a third couple into the mix; my friend Chris, and my dates bff "A". For the remainder of the story I will refer to my date as "K" (my brothers called him Elvis). So the date was arranged, we were going to go to our ward for a farewell and then to Temple Square (these are some big spenders). Mike was the last one to be picked up and I can still see the smile on his face as he walked towards the car. He had no idea who his date was as he approached the car, but I remember Chris and I both thought "no fair" because we had both admired him from afar and Pam was the lucky girl. So I leave you with a question to be answered next time; for whom was it love at first sight? Mike or Lesley? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.