Memories of Fay

Lorie asked me to submit my memories of Fay. This is what I wrote:

I have known Fay all my life. She is always very quick to a laugh and seems to love laughter just for the sake of laughter. As a childhood friend of Randy, I spent many hours at her home. As a visitor, she was always kind, gracious, and very willing to help when help was needed. I am sure in the back of her mind, there were times she would have liked to sent Randy and me to the woodshed and given us a good lickin’. It seemed as though we looked for trouble! (And we did—truth be told!)

This memoir could be pages long, however, I want to mention three specific incidents that reflect my respect for her and some of the great memories I have.

As a child, I can remember many outings with the Merrill family. We would go to a canyon and have dinner together. On one instance, we went to Heart Mountain for a Dutch Oven dinner with our two families. After dinner, the parents reclined in the shade while the kids went off to play. Glen and Brad climbed the mountain and had been able to get a big boulder to come down, landing in the creek—making a big splash and a big noise. For whatever reason, Randy thought it would be funny if I would go running into our parents and tell them that Randy had been hit by the boulder. For whatever insane reason, I thought it would have been funny too. I went running up to our parents, excitedly told them Randy had been hit by the boulder and he needed help. Of course, Fay and Lynn jumped up to help as Randy appeared around the bushes laughing. I thought Fay was going to faint then really do what the boulder supposedly had done. I do not remember much of how Fay and Lynn did after that since Dad grabbed me and gave me the tongue lashing I deserved. I am sure Lynn and Fay did the same with Randy.

As I have mentioned, I spent many hours at the Merrill home. I have eaten many times at her home and each meal was wonderful. We always had punch served with the meals. I never left the home hungry. On one afternoon, I watched Fay make frosting out of powder sugar and water. She added food coloring in it to make it turn pink. She then spread the frosting between two graham crackers and gave them to Randy and me. I thought they tasted delicious. Several days later, Shauna and I were home wanting to have something to eat. Mom had left us to ourselves for whatever reason, so I suggested that we do what I had seen Fay do. However, in my youthful mind, I thought Fay had used flour. The powdered sugar looked like flour and I do not think I had ever seen Mom use powered sugar. So, I mixed a cup of flour with water and added some food coloring. It did not taste or look like the frosting Fay had made. I figured I needed more flour and water. I kept dumping flour and water into the bowl. By the time I figured I was doing something wrong, I had a ball of dough the size of a basketball. I did not want Mom to see it, so I took it out into the field behind our house and buried it. I seem to recall that Shauna kept telling me it was wrong, but in my bullheadedness, I kept using flour. Of course, when Mom got home, she set me straight!

Finally, Fay sitting at the organ and playing at Church will always be a great memory. Being in her home, I remember many times seeing her sit at the organ in their home. I admired her and in my adult years envied her for her musical abilities. Several years ago in Mutual, we had a talent night for everyone. Previously, I had learned the song “Que Sera, Sera” (the Doris Day song also known as “Whatever Will Be, Will Be”) from a song book that Mom had. I had memorized it. So, for the talent night, I played the song. I was very nervous. Fay was serving in the Young Women at the time and was a part of the audience. I can specifically remember thinking that Fay was sitting there and I was going to play in front of her. I got through the song—shaky fingers aside. When I was finished, Fay jumped up from her chair and came over to me. She congratulated me on playing so wonderfully and was very happy to see such a great talent in me. She told me that I should do more with the piano. I regret not taking her advice to my heart.

I could go on and on—her tears shed when Dad died; her happiness for me when I received my mission call, when I got married, and when Deb and I got Angie and Lilli; her tireless devotion to the Gospel and her whole-hearted work ethic in her callings. She is a great example for me and my family, and I will always call her name blessed.

The Ultimate in Sportsmanship

ESPN featured this story on what true sportsmanship is:

Away Too Long!

It has been way too long since I have blogged! It has been a very busy month, and it looks like it will not slow down!

Over the last month, Lilli has been the flower girl for her cousin (and birth father) Logan, Angie has had a dance recital in the Marsh Valley Performing Arts Center and a competition at Lagoon, Deb spent Mother's Day in the ER at the Portneuf Medical Center, and Deb's nephew Cody got married at the Logan Temple.

First, Lilli was great as a flower girl. She even tossed out flower petals as she was carried down the aisle by Logan's best man. Deb cried she was so proud.

Angie did great at her dances. Actually, at the Lagoon competition, she was the only who danced while the other girls just stood or cried. Deb was so proud, she was bursting--literally when a migraine headache hit her at the end of the day.

As you all know, Deb had a "wonderful" Mother's Day in the ER. (By the way, the bill was over $5000. I'm hoping for a great Father's Day gift that matches what we spent for Deb!) I was very, very concerned and was relieved when the doctors cleared her of any serious and/or life threatening issues. While the doctors were working on her, I just kept praying that Heavenly Father would make her right. And although the headache took several days to get over, she has recovered and resumed her duties as mother and wife. I love her dearly!

It was an experience going to Cody's wedding--starting with the bride arriving at the temple in her levis (because she was in such a hurry, she hadn't realized she wasn't in her skirt until she got to the temple) to the birde having the wrong wedding dress at the temple to the groom being in the hospital (kidney stones) with his bride (dehydration) during the reception.

As the summer rolls along, we will keep you updated. We have plans for a visit to Park City and Hogle Zoo next week, a family trip to Island Park/Yellowstone at the end of June, the George Gambles reunion at Bear Lake in July and the O. L. Brower reunion also at Bear Lake in August.