I used to love going to Grandpa Holt's house. It was only a once or twice a year thing so it seemed to be a real treat. It also seemed like it was more of a vacation at Grandpa and Grandma Holt's house. That might have been because it was further away and we stayed for a few days when we went. It might also have been because going to Grandma Hill's house was usually associated with doing some kind of work in her yard or house. Either way, I loved going to Grandpa Holt's house.
I remember feeling like the big city guy in town when we'd go visit. I didn't really have any friends, and don't recall ever playing with anyone in particular that was my age, but I remember feeling that way among the rural lifestyle folk in Enterprise, Utah. It almost seemed like they were just stuck in year's past - I wonder what they thought of us.
Most of the time down there we'd spend running around exploring the house, yard, old Holt house that was like a short but big barn with all kinds of fun stuff in it. I remember I got to take my bike down one year. I don't remember how we got it there, but I left it at the tennis courts that were by the elementary school. I don't recall ever getting it back. I think I learned from that experience to take better care of my things. We'd go to the Clove's grocery store and get fun things to play with. One of my favorite things to do down there as a boy was to go up to the dam and play around the honeycomb rocks. These were rocks that you could climb up and find little alcoves to hide in, or just sit back and relax in. We also caught crawdads up at the dam a few times. I remember bringing them back to the house once. We left them outside on the porch that night and the next morning they were all gone. I don't recall ever knowing where they went. I've just always thought they walked away. Thinking about it they may have gotten thrown away, or maybe Dad and Grandpa fried them up for a late night snack after we all went to bed.
I was always scared of Grandpa Holt's basement. It was cold and dark. There was also all kinds of things to explore down there. There was old fishing equipment, marbles, and who knows what else down there. The "what else" group also caused a little fear. Downstairs on the wall of the room we usually slept in was a big dear head that I suppose Grandpa had shot and had stuffed. I'm sure I've heard the story of it thousands of times, but I don't recall the story about that deer in particular. I do know that Grandpa was a great sportsman (even though when he was hunting or fishing it wasn't for sport it was out of necessity). I've heard numerous stories about him being a steady shot with his rifle and a great fisherman that always knew where to get some dinner. I think about Grandpa sometime when I hear the story in the Book of Mormon about Nephi breaking his bow and needing to get some food for his family. Nephi rigged up a bow out of some sticks and went to his father to ask where to go to hunt. I think Grandpa Holt spent some time on his knees when his family needed some food and he was out in the woods looking for a deer, or holding his rifle steady while looking across a ravine at a deer, or even when he was sitting at the waters edge hoping to catch some fish. I've never heard a story like that, but that is the kind of person I remember Grandpa Holt being.
I don't know why I remember this, but I remember being a happy little boy at some little town that I remember as Big Rock Candy Mountain. I know that is a song we used to sing growing up. But, I remember us being on vacation somewhere. We went into a little shop that I remember feeling something like a train car or a house on wheels. I remember looking around and at some point Mom or Dad bought some candy that looked like rocks. To me, they were delicious and I was a happy kid. I don't even know if this really happened, but I remember it. Maybe it was a dream.
When I was a bit older, but still single. I was able to take a few trips with one of my friends. I went to Washington DC, upstate New York and the surrounding areas on a bus tour of US and LDS Church history sites. I went with Ben Barazza. We were on the tour with a bunch of people that were highly involved with government affairs in Utah. There were a few that were in the state legislature, others that were large business owners, and then there was Ben and I. One of the couples on the tour had brought their two daughters. Another had brought a few of their boys. Ben and I pretty well stuck together, but we did have a few folks take us on as their kids on this trip - even though we were probably mid-twenties at the time. This trip was super fun and enlightening. I learned a lot about our nation and the pioneer heritage that we have.
I also went on a trip a year or so before that with my friend Jason Lewis. We went on a LDS Church history tour to Nauvoo and the surrounding areas. This was also a bus trip. This tour was with the same guide as the one in New York - one of the Ogden LDS Institute instructors. He was one of six or seven authors of the 400-500 page LDS History manual that the institutes use to teach out of. The guy was a great guide and story teller. I remember listening to story after story on the hours we spent on the bus driving from destination to destination - sometimes being lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the bus. Both trips were great experiences and I hope to do them again someday with my family.
Kelly and I had the great opportunity to go on a few fun trips before we had children. While that might seem harsh towards my kids, it is not intended that way. We enjoyed a different lifestyle when we were recently married. We were both employed with great jobs with little debt or care to attend to. So, we traveled and enjoyed exploring new foods and cultures. One of my favorite trips with Kelly was a small trip we took to Seattle. One of Kelly's favorite bands from the UK - Keane - was on a US tour and Seattle was one of the stops. Kelly has some family that lives in the area, so I got her tickets to the show for Christmas. We went up there in January to perfect weather. We rented a car - it was supposed to be a smaller "economy" car - that ended up being one of the largest cars I've ever driven a Ford Crown Victoria. So, we rolled around the streets of Seattle and took a ferry boat out to one of the islands. We stayed out in a quaint Bed and Breakfast. It was a great trip. The concert was great as well, but that time was just a fun time.
Another fun trip we went on, just six weeks after Ivin was born. I was in the final stages of my Master's program at Westminster College. Part of the program was to do an international tour. One of my options was Ireland. Kelly's family a few generations back comes from Ireland and Scotland. Kelly's sister Katie was big into Irish step dancing and just so happened to be on an LDS mission at the time in Ireland. I had always wanted to go to Europe, so this was my chance. I went on the trip with my fellow classmates to Ireland then a quick trip to London. Kelly and 6-week old Ivin flew over with my sister Amy and her husband Jason Brown and met up with us on the last day or so of my trip. We stayed in London then rode a taxi, train, ferry and another taxi to get up to Ireland. We toured around Ireland for a few days and even got to meet up with Katie for a quick dinner and visit with one of the people she was meeting with about the gospel. This was one of the neatest trips I have been on in my life. It may have been a once in a lifetime event, but I would love to go back again. There is so much history across the ocean. I always hated history in school. Experiencing it brought some life to my bones for discovering my own history - that may be part of the reason I started this family history journal.
While I've only mentioned the huge fun things and trips that I've been on, these do not overshadow the day-to-day fun things that I enjoyed doing as a kid. Some of my funnest moments as a kid was just experiencing the joy of riding a wheelie on my bmx bike for the first time, then getting better and being able to do it the whole way down the block; jumping on the dirt hills with my friends; sleeping out on the trampoline; running in a race and achieving a personal best at that distance; getting good grades at the end of a tough semester and having Mom and Dad be proud of me; or performing at a concert and seeing Mom and Dad watch with smiles on their faces. Those are the things that really have brought me to being the person I am today. The big things seem to stick out. The other fun things make us who we are. I think that those simple pleasures have made me enjoy the simple lifestyle that Kelly and I enjoy now. We constantly work to be more self sufficient. When we reach a new level, it is fun. We reached a goal a week or so ago that we've worked hard on for just over a year to pay off my school debt. It was fun to have that goal met and to relieve ourselves of that weight on our shoulders.
Just today, in rare form, I had both boys sitting on my lap during one of our church meetings. Ivin reached over me to William and gave him a big hug and a kiss. A few nights ago after prayers, Ivin and Kelly gave me a tickle torture that had me laughing as hard as I have laughed in a long time. I went on a bike ride with Ivin the other day and had to work to keep up with him on his little balance bike. Every night recently when Kelly is putting William in to bed, as she walks out of our room with him to take him to his room, he looks back at me and smiles. If Kelly's head gets in his way, he reaches his head over to be able to see me and smiles again. Every once in a while, one of the boys will do something and Kelly and I either burst into laughter or exchange a glance that says more than a paragraph of words could tell. Kelly wrote me a note and got me one of my favorite snacks the other day. These are a few of the every day fun things that I get to enjoy right now as a father and spouse. These little things are worth just as much, if not more, than all of the big fun things I've been able to do in my life. I'm sure they will be just as memorable as well.
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