Smithsonians

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Interviews

Jorja and Brenton met at the school early to interview some of the teachers for the Hello video. They did a great job. She was there working for most of the day. She came home with broken glasses. Two sophomore boys gave her a hug at the same time and squished her so hard that her glasses broke. We had to hurry to the store to try and find some white shorts for the 'white out' football game tomorrow. We found some at Target. We also went to Quilted Bear to find a gift for Cori. Jorja was so dizzy by the end. Jorja was meeting Janelle at the school so they could go shopping to find a birthday gift for Packer. I drove her to the school. On the way we stopped at one of her eye doctor's place. They fixed her glasses for her. Yay! Plus they didn't charge us anything, so that was a bonus.

Brenton & Jorja

Brenton with Jorja's glasses

Jorja took this picture. Kind of surreal to see March 2020 at the end of August.

Packer's cake

Jorja and Janelle got a few things for Packer. She left a notebook on our porch for people to come over and sign. Jorja went out with Hailey, Emily and Alison for awhile. She came back and made a mask to take to St. George. It turned out super cute. People were coming over while she was doing this. Two different people asked who was wearing the red gloves in the toilet video. People kept asking Jorja questions and she kept answering that she isn't allowed to say anything. JJ asked her if he would tell him. He asked this in front of a group of people. It was hilarious because JJ knew Jorja took the toilet. I hope Jorja has fun tomorrow. I hope she is safe and I hope she makes wise choices.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Make-A-Wish and Making Videos

Okay, so I didn't write anything about yesterday because I wanted that post to be all about my mom. Well, yesterday Packer called Jorja. She was still asleep, but I happened to notice a call came in from him. I woke her up and she called him back. She got dressed as fast as she could and hurried out the door. She said that Packer needed help and no one was answering. He told Jorja that he knows they have group chats and he needs her to see if she can get anyone. She told him they had a girls group chat and an sbo group chat, but if he wanted boys he would need to get ahold of Bode. He told her she could make a student government group chat! Now, it seems obvious that they should be able to have one, but Packer has been so against having a group chat! Ridiculous, I know. Jorja was thrilled to be able to put a student government group chat together. They now have a group snapchat as well. They are always posting quick videos on it. Jorja has loved it. She says it is so funny.

Anyway, Jorja rushed out the door and headed to school. She was there for a long time. I think she spent most of the time in an office writing the script for the hello video. She hurried home about 1:30 to change. She was a little stressed. She had set up an appointment to tour the Make-A-Wish headquarters with the other student body officers at 2:00. Jorja LOVED it. She said the place was amazing. She loved seeing how much thought they put into everything. They got to see the wish room where the kids make their wishes. She didn't take any pictures but felt so good about choosing Make-A-Wish for their fundraiser.

Jorja called me to tell me her car broke down again. She was able to get it into a church parking lot and then she called Brenton to pick her up. Jorja worked on a video with Brenton and Joe for a long time yesterday night. Mike and I went and got her car and then picked up Jorja to go with us to Leatherby's. I wanted to go there for my mom's birthday. We just picked up the ice cream and fries and brought it home. I also spent a couple of hours talking to Heather yesterday. I knew she is the one person in the world that would know exactly what I was feeling. She is the only girl and her mom also died years and years ago. It was so good to talk to her. I also spent a lot of time on the phone calling different people about Jorja's Step to the U grade. I called Alta and asked if they had a liaison that could help me. They told me the liaison is Jose. He is the person who hasn't returned any of Jorja's emails! Well, Jorja's counselor called me. She said she would look into it. Later that day Jose called me. He said that Jorja submitted her assignment, but he couldn't open it. He sent her an email asking her to resend it and she never did, so he never responded to her email, because that is obviously why she got the zero. I had access to Jorja's email and looked through it. I told him there was no email there. He said that if she could get it in by 5:00 he would accept it. It was 2:00. Jorja was with the Make-A-Wish people. Jorja got home at 4:30 and was able to resend it. Now, a week later, we still don't know what her grade is. The U of U locked the kids out of canvas so she has no idea if he changed her grade. Jose told me that he loved all of her papers, especially her final paper, so he was surprised that she didn't resend her file. I just wanted to strangle him. I was thinking if he would have just replied to her email like a normal person then they could have figured out she never received his email! I was annoyed he didn't apologize either. He better have given her the A she deserved.

Jorja & Brenton

Okay.... now to today... Jorja had a LONG day. They were at the school at 7:00 am and didn't finish until around 5:00 or something like that. They spent the entire day working on the hello video. Bode and Jorja went through the car wash in the bed of a truck for a weather report. I should find that video. Jorja was exhausted, but she had a great time.

Jorja

Jorja & Layla

The sbos decided to give back the toilet. It was causing too much drama. They had to have some fun with it first. They used it in part of their hello video. It was funny because the senior class officers and the senators were all at the school while they were doing this. Luckily they didn't see the toilet. Sadler posted this picture on Instagram right after he dropped off the toilet to Jordyrobs. Some people thought it was hilarious, some were super mad. Oh well, what can you do.....also, no idea why Joe and Bode thought they should be in their underwear. I asked Jorja about it and she said, "No idea. Do you know how many times I have seen them in their underwear? They just don't care." Also, Jorja was super embarrassed her phone was open in this picture.

Joe, Bode, Dallen

Brenton, Dawson, Sadler, Jorja, Layla, Marshall

Jorja

Kate and Jorja

I had fun watching the Jazz/Nuggests playoff game. The Jazz won by more than 20 points. It was awesome!

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

My Mom's 73rd Birthday

Today would have been my mom's 73rd birthday. I can't even imagine. My dad put a bunch of pictures of her life together and wanted to have it here too. He gave me permission. I love it. Thank you Dad.

Happy Birthday, Harriett!! She would be 73 years old today. I wonder if they celebrate birthdays in the spirit world. If so, I guess her birthday would be May 20th and she would be 24.

I thought I would share a few snapshots of her 48 years of life on this earth, beginning with the Wymount Village announcement of her birth (Wymount Village was a married housing complex at BYU):

Here is the first picture taken of her in the Utah Valley Hospital:

This was her blessing day (being held by her dad):

Being held by her mom:

And then being held by her older sister, Sue:

There were just the two at first. Mom took them for wagon rides...

...and dad took them for sleigh rides:

Harriett would hold Sue's hand if she felt insecure...

...until she could stand on her own two feet:

Proud parents of two pretty girls...

...in two pretty dresses.

In this picture, Sue's mad and Harriett's glad.

A twosome becomes a threesome, with the addition of Kris (Harriett is the sassy one.)

l to r: Grandma Lovell, Kris, Sue, Harriett, and Lois (mom)

Same group with a dog added in. (Harriett is in the foreground.)

l to r: Sue, Kris, and Harriett

And then along came John (l to r: Harriett, Sue, John, and Kris)

tallest to shortest: Sue, Harriett, Kris, and John

l to r: Sue, Harriett, Kris, and John

Mom and Dad, Harriett, Kris, and John

Jackie is added to the family. Here is a photo at Christmas time. Harriett is laughing because Santa Claus is taking the picture.

Take two: Harriett's fine, but Sue frowns, Kris decides to poke out her eye, John holds his nose, and dad can't hold his smile any longer. Santa gives up.

And Steve brings up the rear. Back row, l to r: Harriett, Sue, Kris.

Front row, l to r: Steve, Jackie, John

Harriett's on the right.

Harriett's on the left.

School Pictures of Harriett:

In 7th grade Harriett had to write an autobiography of her life up to that point (obviously):

After Harriett graduated from High School she went to BYU. Here are her roommates. Harriett is in the lower right.

This is the dorm she stayed in her Freshman year.

Here are some of her roommates later on in front of our house on Columbine Way:

Harriett waited for Bryan on his mission, then gave him a "Dear John" personally when I showed up on the scene.

The sign says, "Danger! Single Girl"

Harriett was going to stay for the summer in Idaho Falls. I had just met her and had to talk long and hard to get her to stay in Provo and go to summer school while I worked at the smelter in Tooele. I volunteered to take her to Idaho Falls to see her parents. I was successful in convincing her to go to summer school. This picture was taken in her backyard.

This is one of my favorite pictures of her that I took that summer:

This was taken that summer in front of the Seville Apartments where she stayed that summer.

Here's a couple of phone booth photos. It cost me a whole quarter.

And then I asked her to marry me. For full details see Blog #47, August 2, 2014; also found in Three Score Ten and Counting, Vol. 2, p.87-97.

Harriett would give out this high-pitched squeal when she was excited. If the picture below had sound to it, you would hear that high-pitched squeal. She was having a bridal shower.

This was our wedding picture:

This was one of Harriett's wedding pictures:

Here is the wedding announcement in the local paper. I like the caption at the bottom:

We got married in the Idaho Falls Temple on Feb. 1, 1969. The temperature never got above zero.

The reception that night was in the cultural hall of the church.

I finished out the school year in Vernal. Harriett decided to come live with me there. We lived in this house: (That's my 1968 Mustang in front.)

As soon as school was out, Harriett's family drove to Vernal in their camper and picked up Harriett and me, and we drove to Indiana to see Sue. Here is a picture taken in Sue and Chuck's house:

Back row, l to r: Sue, Tammy, Harriett, Kris, and John. Front row, l to r: Terry, Steve, Lois, Jack holding Rozie, and Jackie.

Jack, Harriett's father, made me promise to let Harriett graduate from BYU. She just needed a summer, so after finishing the school year in Vernal, we went to Provo for summer school. She graduated in August.

The next school year she and I taught in Vernal--Harriett taught English in the Jr. High and I taught English, Speech, and Drama in the High School.

Then we moved to Provo and lived in a mobile home which we purchased while I was getting my Master's Degree in Communicative Habilitation. After I graduated, I got a job teaching Speech Therapy in the Granite School District. We moved our mobile home to a new trailer park in Salt Lake.

This is a picture taken on a camping trip with my parents:

We went on a little vacation to southern Utah and the Grand Canyon. We had been married for three years and had never had a honeymoon, so we called this trip our honeymoon (at least I did). For details see Blog #46, July 27, 2014; also found in Three Score Ten and Counting, Vol. 2, pp.79-87. The start of the trip should not be termed "honeymoon" but "honey bucket." Pretty gross way to begin your honeymoon. Here is a picture of Harriett at the Grand Canyon: