Good morning!! Welcome back!! I hope you are ready for today's adventures, because I was just looking through all of the photos and there were adventures afoot. We have a LOT to cover today, so go make some popcorn, get comfy, and cancel all of your appointments for the day because we will be here for a while.
Alright, got your popcorn, all comfy, cleared your calendar for the day? Good, let us begin.....
APRIL 2021
April 2021 was the month when the fateful decision to move was made. Nathan felt strongly that we needed to move, I did not. He asked me to fast and pray about it and if I received an answer of no, he would drop the subject and we would go on with the status quo. I was pretty confident that my answer would be no, and so I did fast and pray about it. Then April General Conference happened. When President Henry B. Eyring gave his talk, the answer I didn't want to hear came, but I knew it was what we were supposed to do. Before I get to what it was that President Eyring had said, I have to tell you that only a few weeks previous to General Conference, I had listened to his autobiography and the story he told in his talk was in this autobiography, so it was pretty fresh in my mind. Anyway, here is what President Eyring said:
"I experienced the same feeling when I was married in the Logan Utah Temple. President Spencer W. Kimball performed the sealing. In the few words he spoke, he gave this counsel: “Hal and Kathy, live so that when the call comes, you can walk away easily.”
As he said those few words, I saw clearly in my mind, in full color, a steep hill and a road leading up to the top. A white fence ran on the left side of the road and disappeared into a row of trees at the top of the hill. A white house was barely visible through the trees.
One year later, I recognized that hill as my father-in-law drove us up that road. It was in detail what I saw when President Kimball gave his counsel in the temple.
When we got to the top of the hill, my father-in-law stopped by the white house. He told us that he and his wife were buying the property and that he wanted his daughter and me to live in the guesthouse. They would live in the main house, just a few feet away. So, during the 10 years we lived in that lovely family setting, my wife and I would say almost every day, “We had better enjoy this because we aren’t going to be here long.”
A call came from the Church commissioner of education, Neal A. Maxwell. The warning given by President Kimball to be able to “walk away easily” became a reality. It was a call to leave what seemed an idyllic family situation to serve in an assignment in a place that I knew nothing about. Our family was ready to leave that blessed time and place because a prophet, in a holy temple, a place of revelation, saw a future event for which we then were prepared."
I knew in that moment that the message to me was that it was time to move, I didn't like it, but I knew it was supposed to be. Two and a half years later, even though it has been hard and there have been struggles, we can see some of the reasons why we were meant to move. The biggest is that if we hadn't moved, Nathan wouldn't have found his counselor who has been the reason why he has been able to find healing and peace from his anxiety and depression. To be frank, if we hadn't moved here for him to find this counselor, his depression would have spiraled and I have no doubts that he would not be alive today. Meow-meow has also had a profound effect on the people in our ward and because of his testimony, he, unknowingly, gave strength, hope, and courage to his primary teacher in the months before she passed away. We needed to be here so I could hear a good friend bear their testimony a couple of weeks ago, that gave me the strength I needed when we got Meow-meow's Scoliosis diagnosis. I'm sure there are many more, but those are the things that stand out most in my mind.
Apparently I didn't lose as many finished nativity pieces as I had thought. I found them interspersed all throughout my April 2021 photo file folder. So, I will begin with those.
Baby Jesus
Mary. I painted her in purples because purple is a royal color and Mary was of the lineage of King David.
Joseph. I painted him in blue because blue is also a royal color and was also of the lineage of King David.
Shepherd number one.
Shepherd number two
Cute little shepherd girl with her sheep.
The two little sheep.
Sugar Dust decided that the top drawer of my nightstand was now her new favorite lounging spot.
Jimmy got his learners permit!!
I cleaned out the garage and came across several plastic bins full of papers that needed to be destroyed. So, I took a day and busted out our paper shredder and made tons and tons of great packing material.
And the Sugar Gliders were adorable as always.
Here is where we come to the interesting photos from April 2021. These will be of most interest to Jacen, Jaina, and Jimmy. But before we get to that, I need to give a bit of a back story. When I was going through my divorce back in 2007, my little brother, Aaron, who, by the way, in my opinion, is the BEST little brother EVER!! Anyway, he was living in, I think Taiwan at the time and wanted to have some property in the U.S. So, he purchased this house up in Ogden and let me and my children live there to help us out, and I am eternally grateful to him for his generosity and kindness. He truly did save our lives. After I moved out, Aaron rented the house out for several years, but with how crazy things were going in the housing market in 2021, he decided that it was time to sell that house and look at investing in some duplexes. So, he came into town and he, my dad, me, and Richard made a trip up to Ogden to take a look at the place and to get an idea of what needed to be done to get it ready to sell. Let's just say the previous renters did not take care of the house very well, and the colors they painted then house in were enough to make your eyes bleed. So, without any further ado, here are the pictures of the Ogden house.
We lived down at the bottom of a shared driveway, and let me tell you, that driveway was very long and VERY steep. This picture is from 2021. And as you can also see, it was a very odd shaped and odd looking house. If the outside looks strange, just wait until you see the inside.
2007 when Aaron bought the house. If you look closely between the two pictures, down in the bottom left corner, you can see in 2007 there was no cement, but in 2021 there was. Well, that's because in 2008 my dad poured cement to make a bigger parking area for us because the next door neighbor was EXTREMELY OBSESSED with HER half of the driveway. If you look in the bottom right corner of the picture, you will see something that looks like a bench, well it wasn't a bench. The neighbor put that in right on the property line and they cemented in a metal pole. From her own lips she told me that they put it in so if the previous owners got too close to their part of the driveway, it would damage their cars. Yeah, that's just the tip of the iceberg on that one. She wasn't too pleased with me when I told her I loved it because the pole helped guide me so I could back up into my parking spot. It defeated her whole purpose of putting it up in the first place. It didn't take us too long to figure out why the previous owners had sold and moved, the lady was crazy OBSESSED with the driveway, I have stories!! Aaron had a rental company handling all of the business of renting it and such, and from what I've heard, there was a fairly high turnover rate in renters because of this particular neighbor. I wish all the best of luck to the people who bought this house.
When you pour cement, I believe it is a requirement somewhere that you have to leave your hand prints.
July 2008
This was one of the three entry points to the house. It was the main entry point that we used and it led straight into the Family/Living room downstairs.
That door leads to a storage room that my dad built onto the house.
That leads down a hallway to a bathroom/laundry room and a bedroom with one of the three entry points to the house. That bedroom was the room that Aaron used when he came into town. Just as you started down that hallway, you would have to watch your step because for some reason, that part of the house was set lower than the rest of the house, but not by much, and if you weren't paying attention, you would get a bit of a scare when you stepped down further than you had anticipated.
Under the stair storage and the stairs to go up to the upper level. I just want to put it out there and let everyone know, I DID NOT PAINT THE HOUSE IN THESE COLORS!! That happened LONG after I left. You can't see it, but off to the left of that horrible yellow and white door was another room. We used it as a bedroom for Jacen and Jimmy, but technically it was not a bedroom because it did not have a closet.
This was Jimmy and Jacen's bedroom
That switch on the wall, it's the only light switch to the room. So, if you wanted to turn on the light, you would have to walk ALL the way into the room to do it.
They had a lovely view of the driveway and the neighbors carport.
This is the hallway heading back to the bathroom/laundry room and the back bedroom (wait until you see its closet). If you look closely, you can see that step down that I previously mentioned.
Now for the fun part. You see that mirror? Well, when Aaron bough the house, there wasn't a mirror there, oh no, that is where the ELECTRICAL BOX FOR THE ENTIRE HOUSE WAS. Yes, you read that right, above that sink is where the E.LE.C.T.R.I.C.A.L. box was. To this day we are still scratching our heads as to how that house managed to pass inspection when Aaron was buying it.
Once the electrical box had been moved to a more sane and safe location, it was a very lovely bathroom. Although don't ask me why there is a hose in the toilet, it wasn't there in my day. They plumbed the toilet wrong and had it hooked up to the hot water, so any time you would use the bathroom, you'd get a nice steamy experience.
The little alcove is where the washer and dryer went.
This is standing in the doorway to the storage area that my dad built to A. properly house the electrical box in, and B. give us some storage space because the house had zero storage space.
Some of the shelves that my dad built and put in. Now, pause for a moment and scroll up to where I posted the two pictures of the outside of the house and look closely, you may have to zoom in on the 2021 picture but if you look under the stairs you will see that in 2007 it was an empty space, where 2021, there is obviously a wall there. That is where my dad built the storage room.
I am not entirely sure what the thought behind this color scheme was, but back in my day, it was a lovely light gray/blue. The is right where you can see the tile. This room was Aarons room when he would come to visit.
And there is the entrance to "the closet." I am not sure if pictures can do this closet justice. Do you remember how odd shaped the house is, well that plays into the shape and design of this closet.
You had to squeeze through that little door way and then you were in this weird triangular shaped monstrosity.
This is from in the back corner of the closet looking out.
This is looking out the door to the room and into the bathroom. And that completes our tour of the downstairs. We shall now proceed to the upstairs which is just as weird and convoluted. Despite its weirdness, it really was a fun house to live in, and the views were AMAZING!\
Ah, the stairs. Those hand rails were not there when Aaron bought the house. My dad had to install those and Jimmy, who was around the age of 2 to 3, and was grandpa's little shadow, had to "help" him install the railings. He would put his little hand on top of my dad's hand in order to "help" him when he cut the wood. And he would hand my dad the screws and such when he needed them. All of the work that was done in that house by my dad, also has a touch of Jimmy in it because grandpa couldn't do anything without Jimmy's help. There was a Home Depot not too far down the road that my dad would frequently go to to get supplies and Jimmy just started calling it "grandpa's store." The name stuck, I'm sorry Home Depot, but you are actually called, "Grandpa's Store." OH MY WORD!! Someone needs to build a hardware store and call it, "Grandpa's Store!"
So, you remember the odd shape of the roof, well, this is what it looks like from the perspective of standing on the landing that separates the downstairs section of the stairs from the upstairs section of the stairs.
Making the turn to head upstairs. Those stairs were steep and twisty.
We've almost reached the top!
There was just a half wall that went around the entirety of the stairwell. This is the view looking down on the stairs from the landing.
From standing at the top of the stairs, this is looking into the Front/Living Room. When Aaron bought the house, there was a very old and falling apart sliding glass door, he and my dad took it out and put in that lovely French door.
It was a decent sized room and was where we had the T.V. and the couches. We used it as the main living space in the home. I didn't use the downstairs Family/Living room for anything. It was mainly just a traffic flow to go from the door to the stairs.
This is the view from standing in front of the French doors. The kitchen is just off to the left. That open hallway is a small, short hallway that went to the "Front Door," at least it was the door that had the doorbell. I never used that door as a front door. Further down is the doorway to Jaina's room and behind that big gray wall was a hallway that lead to the bathrooms and my room. The bathrooms were quite unique as well.
This is the perspective from the kitchen. Along that wall is where the T.V. Was and the small half-wall on the right is where the stairwell was.
This is the hallway to the front door. There's an opening to the left that went into the kitchen.
The kitchen was a decent enough kitchen, but it had a tendency to sink a little off in the back left corner of the kitchen.
That corner right there, if you look close enough, you can see where the backsplash is pulling away from the wall.
This was Jaina's room. It was a really big room for one little girl, but she loved it. There were four windows in this room. Not sure why one bedroom needs four windows, but there you are....plenty of natural light.
Window number two
Window number three. Odd spot for it because on the right was the closet and between the closet and the window was just this little alcove, which wasn't really useful for anything.
The closet. I'm pretty sure that if Jaina could have found a way to get up there, she would have.
The entrance to her room.
And window number four. She had prime spying views of anyone coming up the stairs to the front door, as they were right next to her window.
This is from standing in Jaina's doorway and looking down the hallway that lead to my room and the bathrooms.
This is the view of the hallway from standing in my doorway.
The "guest" bathroom
The "guest" bathroom had a door that went into a teeny bathtub/shower room. around the corner was another door that went into the "master" bathroom.
Aaron is assessing the damage and all the repair work that would need to be done, behind him you can see into the "master" bathroom.
My bedroom. It too had an oddly shaped closet, but it wasn't as weird as the one downstairs.
This too had a horrid sliding glass door when Aaron first bought it and so it was replaced with a nice French door. I really did enjoy having my own private door to the deck. And I even had my own little private deck area, but we will get to those pictures in a minute.
Doorway to the "master" bathroom
That is a better view of the odd shaped closet. Whoever did the painting, did a terrible job
Aaron checking out the sink in the "master" bathroom
The throne.
Space behind the door. I used to have some shelving there to store towels and stuff on.
That completes the tour of the inside of the house. Aaron's house was situated on the side of a mountain on an acre of land and the house sat at the top of the acre. We had a lot of fun in that yard.
As you can see from earlier photos, the house had a lovely wrap around deck that had some very beautiful views. It was the best place for watching 4th of July fireworks because you could see ALL the shows from all over the valley. And the best thing was watching storms roll in.
My private deck which was off to the left of my room. Well, it wasn't 100% private because the whole deck around the house connected, but it was kind of like a private little nook.
The view from my private deck
This is the view of the section of the deck off to the right of my room
View from right outside my French doors.
View from the deck area off to the right of my room.
This is the walkway of the deck that went past the French doors to the Front room and kitchen, at the end, it turns left to go past the front door and to the stairs leading to the ground.
View of the big tree at the top of the retaining pond.
Another view from the deck.
This is the section of the deck that goes past the front doors and down the stairs. That is my dad on the stairs. In my day, the deck was well secured and functional. This time around, I was a bit scared to be on the deck because it moved and was not secure.
View of the house and the deck from down in the retaining pond. One year, we put the hose at the top of the retaining pond and made a mud slide that we then had tons of fun sliding down.
Another view of the house and the deck from down below the retaining pond. We had to have a retaining pond just in case there was a heavy winter and too much spring run off. In the four years we lived there, we never had enough snow to even leave water in the thing in the spring.
This is the back of the house, where you see the angle of the house, that is the wall to the weird shaped closet downstairs.
This is the entrance door that went to the room downstairs. We had enclosed it and had a hot tub in there.
Ah yes, the tire swing. There's a story there.
Before we put up the tire swing, we had put up a rope swing with a wooden bench to sit on. One lovely spring evening in March, 2008, me, my kids, and my nieces, and my older brother were out having fun on the swing. I was still dealing with some major nerve problems in my left hand..... To get onto the swing, you would have to stand at the top of the retaining pond and once you got onto the swing, you would kick off and swing way out over the retaining pond. At the highest point of your arc, it was about a 10 foot drop to the bottom of the retaining pond. Well, I didn't realize it, because I had very little feeling in that hand, but it was tired and just done from the use I had put it through during the day. I had Jimmy in my lap and had just pushed off for the last swing of the evening. Well, my left hand decided that it had other plans and just when we reached the height of our arc, my hand gave way and Jimmy and I toppled over backwards and fell 10 feet into the huge pile of rocks that were lying in the bottom of the retaining pond. I curled myself around Jimmy in an effort to protect him, which worked because he only ended up with a little bit of a bloody nose. I, however, took the brunt of the fall and landed on my head. I stand here today to tell you that God's hand was very much involved, there were angels who guided my fall and protected me. I felt it. I should not have walked away from that fall, especially when you consider that my entire spine was fused from the Scoliosis, but I did. After the fall, I stood up, I was banged up, sore, and had some cuts and scrapes, but I was able to walk out of that ravine. I tell this story for a couple of reasons. 1. It's a memory that comes with the house and I can't show pictures of it without telling the story. 2. Because it was a miracle and I know that my Heavenly Father intervened. I know it and I know he knows that I know it. and, 3. This story connects with what happened in April 2023 which we will get to later. So, how does it connect with April 2023? You see, in 2007 I had what is called a spinal cord stimulator implanted into my neck. The spinal cord stimulator enabled me to be able to get off the pain medications and to have relief from the horrible nerve pain to my left arm. That fall managed to break some of the leads in my neck, because after that the stimulator never really worked well, and eventually, as the nerve pain calmed down over the years, I mostly forgot that I even had the thing in. Well, in 2021, while we were moving into our new home, I somehow tweaked my left knee and received a meniscus tear. It really didn't start bothering me until the end of 2022. But, because I had a spinal cord stimulator, it meant that I could not have an MRI and in order to diagnose the meniscus tear, I needed to have an MRI. In order to have an MRI, that meant I would have to have a surgery to take out the spinal cord stimulator. I am not to keen on having surgeries and so I just put it off.....until I couldn't put it off any longer, but we'll get to that when I discuss April 2023.
Here are the pictures I took right after my fall, back in March of 2008.
Those are the rocks I fell onto.
That is my niece swinging out over the retaining pond. After my fall, we took down the swing she is on and put up the tire swing, which was safer and much harder to fall out of. However, I was given a life long ban from EVER going near the swings EVER again. And I mostly obeyed that ban......
I just had some epic bruising
Like really epic bruising
And was stiff and sore for several weeks.
Back to 2021 now. The yard was quite lovely and I worked very hard at making trails and pathways al over the place. During the winter we would slide down the back yard, and during the summer, we would use cardboard boxes and slide down the grasses.
This is standing at the top of the retaining pond by the tree. The tire would be off to the left of me.
Another view of the backyard.
Looking down into the retaining pond.
The spring grass was really grown in and so you can't really see the rocks well, but that is the spot where I fell.
The previous renters had left behind some very.....odd and interesting things. I didn't get pictures of everything, but I took pictures of some of the weirder things. They left behind tools, some dishes (which were some very nice pots and pans plus one of those stone cookie sheets), a sound board, the blue and white cooler in one of the previous pictures was something they left behind. They had lots of weird LED light strips and cords all over the kitchen. I took those and now use them for some of my outdoor Christmas lighting.
So, we came across this noose.
And then found some bones. Nefarious things afoot?
This weird light board.
Tons and tons of these little baggies. I can only think of one reason you would need hundreds of little baggies like that....and none of it sounds very "legal" if you catch my drift.
Apparently they raised falcons.
Weird little bird helmet.
There were tons and tons of slabs of marble of all different shapes, colors, and sizes all over the house and yard.
Wandering around the yard I found a discarded Christmas tree.
Trash in the retaining pond.
And just junk and garbage everywhere. That I have to admit made me very sad. I put a lot of time and work into making that yard beautiful. The first summer we lived there, I went through every inch of the yard and picked up every piece of trash that had been strewn about. I made pathways and little secret hiding places in all of the scrub oak. We planted over 100 pine trees in the hopes of one day having it be a forest. So, it was sad to tour the yard and find all of the trash just thrown about and not a single surviving pine tree left. All of my trails and paths were grown over. The yard was basically neglected, and all my love, attention, and hard work gone.
All right ya'll, we've finally reached the end of April 2021. I didn't think it would take me all day to get it done. I may have gone a bit overboard with the pictures of Aaron's house, but I know that Jacen, Jaina, and Jimmy have such fond memories of that house and I wanted to do it justice for them, I hope I did.....and don't you dare ask me why I didn't add more pictures from back when we lived there, because it would have taken me FOREVER to hunt them all down and this took long enough as is, lol.
Since this post took me so long and is already really long, I've decided to break down April 2021, 2022, and 2023 into separate blog posts, because in 2022 we took a trip to Goblin Valley, and I have to do that trip justice, then 2023 was all about way too much snow, flooding and discovering all of the mold, Leche's kittens and my spinal cord stimulator removal saga. So, stay tuned for tomorrow when we jump to April 2023 and take a trip to beautiful Goblin Valley!!
