Chapter 35
My Life’s Journey Continues On

 
Goodbye Glen
              They say that life is what happens when you make other plans. My plans are to live, love and laugh. I have lived all these years and my plans are to live many, many more. My heart is full of love. I hate no one. I may not like a person, but I don’t hate them. I know that God knows me and loves me, just as my earthly parents loved me. Just as I love all of my children and family. I have so much room for love in my heart. Laugh! I love to laugh, sometimes I laugh so hard I cry. When I goof up I can even laugh at myself.

              My plans for 1998 were to be the best person this poor old princess could be, to work hard and keep our home the beautiful castle that we have made it. I hoped that a lot of family and friends would come to our home this year. In January Cindee and Steve were the first to come see us followed by Kellie and Kyle. On the 17th Gordon and Bonnie came with Glen to be sworn into the Navy in Boise. We went down to see him sworn in then. The next morning he was off to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois. The Harpers, Marian, Doug and Kris were here for a couple of days. We had the Elders here for dinner and Glen and Ada stopped by all in January. That was a good start for the New Year.




Some last minute studying		 
              Our sweet Sister Melynda was enjoying the Washington Seattle Mission. She wrote to us every week and I tried to write to her as often. She had her 22nd birthday in the mission field. Connie quit her job and is now a full time student at CSI in Twin Falls. She went for the Legal aspect of a career. She found it challenging but Kellie being very good at math was a good tutor.

              Steve lost his mother on January 23rd. Cindee and I had so much fun at the Scrapbook Convention held in the new Center of the Grove Building on February 19th. It was an all day event and we stayed for the whole thing. The floor was laid over the ice floor of the hockey rink so we both had very cold feet, but there was too much to learn and see to leave. They had vendors from all around the neighboring states, so there were plenty of neat things to buy. We left with happy hearts and so many new ideas and material. Melody and Emil celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on March 15th.

 
Popcorn girl
              We really enjoyed winter, but were ready for spring when it came. I sure enjoyed my spring bulbs and the birds. We had a very nice spring and along with it came Easter. Connie, her two kids and Cindee came to help me celebrate. We colored a lot of eggs and had a lot of fun. After Jack and I got back from church we fixed a great dinner and popped popcorn. I began to think that was why Kellie liked to come; she could have all the popcorn she could eat. (439)

              Kathryn and Richard were still giving fireside talks about their wagon trail experience the year before, and we hadn’t had the opportunity to go to any of them. We talked them into giving one in our ward and made arrangements for them to do so for our High Priest group on March 29th. They did a fantastic job on their presentation. They dressed in their pioneer clothing that they wore on the trail and had photos and items on display. The Relief Society room was full and everyone enjoyed them very much. I got comments for some time from different people. They stayed overnight so we got to enjoy them longer.


Sailor Glen		 
              After two months of training, Glen graduated from boot camp on March 27th. It was difficult for him but he stuck it out. The family drove back to Illinois for his graduation. After a little more schooling he got to come home on leave for three weeks before going to Sardinia, Italy for two years. We drove over to Rexburg to see him.

              Thursday the 4th of May, Cindee came and stayed until noon on Sunday. Saturday evening we took her to see “The Garden” put on by the Boise State University (BSU) Institute with Michael McLean and Bryce Neubert. It was very, very good. Very spiritual. Then on Saturday she and I went to see “Eternity” put on by the Christian Church. There was not a good Spirit there; in fact I thought it to be very scary. The old Devil was grabbing just about every other person and dragging them down to hell. One thing I have to say is that the effects and stage set up were great. Then we had to sit through a “hellfire and damnation” sermon and watch everyone that didn’t want that old devil to drag them to hell, go up to be saved! Finally I convinced her to leave. I don’t know about her but I knew for sure they did not have the power to save me.

              On Sunday afternoon, May 7th my dear friend Yoshiko from Mountain View, California and her daughter Angela Lewis and her children from Sugar City, Idaho came to see me. What a good time we had catching up on old times. (They stayed in a hotel, but spent their time here). Monday we all went downtown to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Yoshiko had to order for us or we might have ordered something gross. She did a good job because everything was so good. Yoshiko had such a good time she wanted to come back in July.

 
Norma, Jane, and me
              That spring and summer turned out to be very eventful for us even though we live a boring life. All but Jack, that is. He was always running around doing errands or fixing something for someone. Running the missionaries around, and giving blessings to someone who was sick. He had his Family History Center calling and meetings. But I stayed home doing my thing which was yard work. I also become one of the ailing. I had been suffering from tennis elbow. (Tennis elbow is is a condition where the outer part of the elbow becomes sore and tender.The doctor told me that I would have to give up tennis. Funny, I have never played tennis in my life. I think I got it from yard work, and if I gave up yard work our yard would soon become a weedy jungle.

              I had a great spiritual experience that summer. My visiting teaching companion and friend, Norma Bryce and I had the opportunity to go to the temple with a young lady and friend, Jane Hall for her long awaited temple endowment. We saw her through a very bad time in her life as her 16 year old son committed suicide and later her divorce. So it was a very special and happy day for her, and us.


Mark's day		 
              As I remember that spring and summer, we spent much time keeping the road hot between Boise and Burley with the grandchildren’s activities. On April 24th Kellie had a band concert; she played the clarinet in the Minico Spartan Band, Minidoka County High School. She made sweet music and was very good. We could not miss her first concert. On May 20th we were in Rupert again for Mark’s seminary graduation. On May 22nd was Kyle’s West Minico Spring Band Concert, nor could we miss Kyle’s first. His choice of instrument was the saxophone. He was with the intermediate group. Kyle was also playing football and basketball that year. We attended as many of his games as possible. Then we had Mark’s high school graduation on May 28th, from Minico High School. We must have camped in the area as I am sure we didn’t run back and forth for such short periods of time. We enjoyed each and every one of the events that we attended.

              We made a trip to Burley on June 13th to attend the funeral of my cousin Dorothy (Dayley) Allred. We were the representatives of the Frost Family as no one else was available that day. Before leaving for Boise we attempted to have lunch with Cindee, but she developed a bad nosebleed right after we had ordered. We couldn’t get it stopped so we rushed her to the emergency room. It took some time to get it stopped. We then headed for Boise and got home about 4:00 p.m. to one heck of a rainstorm that flooded some streets with two to three feet of water.

 
One of Kyle's work visits
              Kyle came all on his own little self without his Mom and sister. He helped his poor old Grandpa by mowing the lawn and doing the trimming. Grandpa taught him how to use tools among other fun things. Other times when he was here he helped with other projects. Together they laid a stone walk way on the east side of the house to the gate. One big project was building an arbor over the walkway between the shop and garden. He called them work visits. He was always willing to learn anything Grandpa had to teach him. After the work came the play. They built a cool birdhouse for him to take home.

              Next came the 4th of July. We cooked hamburgers and corn on the grill for our feast. Cindee and Clyde were our guests for the day. I haven’t mentioned Clyde for a while but he was still around. The 13th was Kellie’s day to shine. It was her 16th Birthday , and never been kissed, not that she told anyone that is. She had a wonderful day with many gifts.


Me and Thelma and a scarecrow		 
              Thelma and Jay flew in to attend Natalie Jensen’s (Darla's daughter) wedding on the afternoon of Saturday July 18th. We all went to the wedding and came home and changed clothes and decided to go out to dinner instead of going to the reception that evening. On Sunday morning Thelma and I both woke up with bad headaches so we sent the guys off to church without us. Thelma and I had dinner ready for them when they returned. We ran over to Darla’s to pick up something they had forgotten, hoping to visit some more with Lorna and Kenneth but they had already left for Burley, so we stopped in to see Glen and Ada Owens. On Monday July 20th Thelma and Jay celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary. Jack took Thelma and I to the mall and dropped us off so we could shop. Later in the day I fixed an anniversary dinner for them. We took a lot of pictures and loafed around on the patio just enjoying our time together. On Tuesday they were unable to get their return tickets, so they had to wait and leave on Wednesday morning the 22nd.

              The Boise River Festival was happening again, so here came Connie's kids. Jack took us down town again that year and dumped us off. There was so much to do and see. We watched the Day Parade with all the beautiful floats and big balloons. Walk, walk, walk! Even the kids got tired. I called Jack to have him come pick us up. We went back downtown that night for the Light Parade; Jack went this time and enjoyed it. As usual it was breathtaking, the floats were so bright
 
The Jacob Dayley home in Oakley
and beautiful.

              The 24th of July is always a big day in Oakley. I had always wanted to go to their celebration, but I never got there until 1998. The James Dayley Reunion was scheduled for that day as it was to celebrate the beautiful 100 year old home of Jacob Dayley. It has been lived in for the past 100 years by Dayley’s. It was open for tours, as were many of the beautiful old homes in Oakley. All that were there for the reunion left in the morning to tour the old cemeteries, putting carnations on every Dayley grave starting with the Basin Cemetery and advancing to the Oakley Cemetery, it was really quite spiritual.

              We returned to the Dayley home where lunch had been prepared and were entertained by some fiddle music. Lorna, Gerald and Verlee joined us. Other activities that day were “Music In The Park”, that Kellie’s summer band took part in, they played most of the day. Cindee had come up and joined us in time for the parade in the afternoon, we had hooked up with Kathryn and Richard who got us front row seats for the very interesting parade, with a lot of horses, old horse drawn wagons, marching bands from different schools around the valley, some beautiful floats and old cars. We went to a devotional service held at the church where Elder David B. Haight, a native of Oakley, spoke. It was one very busy day that could have lasted forever.




Me and my flowers		 
             The next afternoon we went back to Oakley, to see a 3:00 matinée of “Cinderella”at the Old Howell's Opera House. My seat was Seat #Q9. It was out of this world entertainment, and the Old Opera House was breathtakingly beautiful! This old princess felt right at home, and dreams do come true if you dream long enough. I have dreamed of going to the Opera House since hearing Lorna tell about going there and the wonderful productions they have seen.

              Well it was nice to get home to take care of my flowers before they started crying “Forget Me Not”. Oh by the way, Forget Me Not’s are one of my favorite flowers. They are so rich in color that mirrors that of the bluest sky. There is an old German legend that says just as God had finished naming all the plants, one was left unnamed. A tiny voice spoke out, “Forget me not, O Lord”! And God replied that this would be its name. I love them because they come early in the spring and last a very long time and are so blue, and what’s more they come back year after year. I love all my flowers and hate it when I neglect them.

 


Almost my whole family
 
              Our stay at home was short lived. We were back on the road to Burley again for our Frost Family Reunion held August 8th out to the Pella Ward Park. It was the Harper family’s turn to put the reunion together, with Marian in charge. It was a good one. Each family was to make a flag representing their family. There was good food, as always, visiting, relaxing in the cool shade, the craft drawing, and sharing of talents. She did it all. That was one year that every member of my family was there but Michael, Glen and Loren. Glen was in the Navy and still in Italy. Loren was at Boy Scout Camp. Michael was on the police force in American Falls and was on duty. How happy that made me to see most of my family there. Melynda had just returned from her mission. I had my 72nd birthday on August 19th. I can't say I celebrated it because I never get to have a party; cake yes, but no party!


Doing scrapbooks		 
              Melynda had just finished a wonderful mission, and it was time for her report August 16, 1998 at the Rupert 5th Ward Sacrament Meeting. We could not miss it even though it was another trip to Rupert. The Spirit was in abundance as Jack gave the invocation. Deelyn, Mark and Tim all spoke and bore their testimonies. Then it was Melynda’s turn. The Spirit shone though her as she spoke and bore her testimony. She looked so lovely. I gave the Benediction. We all went to Dudley’s for dinner and to visit. Deelyn’s mother and sisters were also there. Then it was back to Boise for us.

              Melynda came to stay with us for a few days in August. She and I had such a good time mostly working on her scrapbooks. I suppose we did a little bit of cooking, shopping and loving just being together. We took her back home as we had our family reunion.

 
Our bounteous harvest
              Connie, Frank and the kids put this one together. They made reservations for August 22nd at Nat-Soo-Pah, south of Twin Falls. There was plenty of food, fun and games and most of all swimming. We had water balloon fights, lawn darts which Connie and Melynda were the champions. Before it was all over and we finished off the watermelon. Most of us were soaking wet before clean up time. Buttars, we missed you. The sweetness of reunions is the joy of Heaven.

              That year I had a beautiful garden with a bountiful harvest. Summer was almost over and all the grandchildren were back in school. I got all my spring bulbs in and yard work done in spite of company and bad weather. I had enough strawberries for two giant pies plus shortcakes after all that the kids had eaten or smashed. Besides strawberries, our garden produced tomatoes, peppers and onions. Raspberries and Rhubarb grew in the back yard. The first and last good garden we were able to grow. I don’t know why we were so blessed that year.



Lunch with Vivian, Sachiko,and Yoshiko		 
              We took our last planned trip to California during the last week of September and first of October. We went to see our dear friend Theresa Sims as she was now 97 years old, not knowing how much longer God would give her on this planet. We certainly wanted to see her once more. Bob and Anne were getting older too. We had many friends and places we wanted to see for one last time. We visited our friends and sights in beautiful Aptos and Capitola, there we visited Norma and Myron Brown, Nancy and Jim Kloepfer and went to church where we saw many, many more loved ones. We met with Jack and Aurora, Jonny and Jamie and baby Mikkla at a very nice restaurant in San Jose for dinner. One of the highlights for me was having lunch at Marie Calendar's in Mountain View with Vivian Hatt and Sachiko Jones, who I worked with at Syntex, and my dear little Yoshiko Tester. We had such a wonderful time with dear people we loved and who we were never see again, it was very sad goodbyes for all of us.

              We took a scenic route home up through Ferndale to view the beautiful old mansions once more. We went though the beautiful old town of Scotia where we had dinner in a 100 year old restaurant and hotel. I am not sure just what route we took going up through Nevada, but we had planned to stop in Monroe, Utah to see Thelma and Jay. We stopped in Sparks, Nevada for lunch and called Jacksons but got no answer. We called them again in Winnemucca but still no answer. That was the turning point. Head for Utah or for Idaho. Idaho won out, and it is a good thing. We found out later that they were in Salt Lake. So we drove straight through to Boise arriving at 1:00 am. When I got out of the car after a very long day on the road, I felt strange and went right to bed.

              The next morning when I awoke I was so dizzy and sick I could not get up. My head was spinning. It felt like my head was holding still while the inside was spinning. Everytime I moved my head, it hit me hard. I had a bad case of vertigo. I had lightheadedness and blurred vision which caused difficulty in reading and using the computer. Quick head movements and turning in bed exacerbated the symptoms. I had difficulty walking in the dark and on uneven terrain. My balance was so bad that I could not drive. Going in stores was really hard. Doctor Ryan finally sent me to St Alphonsus Ambulatory Rehab. (STARS)

 
"The Balance Master"
              I started therapy with Connie Simpson on November 9th, once a week at 9:00 a.m. until January 18, 1999 with a follow up one year later, on January 25, 2000. Connie was a very pretty, caring lady who was so patient with me. She put me through so many different programs. One was a computerized “balance master” machine the size of a phone booth. It was used to help the astronauts after returning from space. Once I was strapped in , it was operated by my eye movements. I thought I was riding one of those mechanical bulls. After such a long haul, I finally returned to normal, hoping to never experience that condition again.

              During that time, Thanksgiving came along. Tim, Deelyn and family and Cindee and Steve were here. I made sure that Clyde was not left out. I was so dizzy I could not even help cook, but they all pitched in and we had a great dinner, and everyone but me had a good time. This bout caused me to permanently lose the hearing in my right ear!


Our 20th anniversary		 
              We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on November 25th and Jack had his 72nd birthday on December 19th

              Our Frost Family dinner and party was a disaster that year. A very bad snow storm had moved in. Thelma and Jay got as far as Salt Lake; everyone was cautioned not to drive. Eunice and Earl also were unable to go. We had the same storm but we braved it and went, so the party was just us and the Burley kids, but we had a great time anyway. No matter, heaven like Christmas is less about the weather.

              With the changing seasons, circumstance can melt away stretches of our lives like frost when the sun comes out. We did go to the Ward Christmas party and dinner. We had another white winter wonderland Christmas. I had the house and yard dressed in its Christmas best. I loved it. We spent a quiet Christmas at home by ourselves. Santa Clause was so good to us. How fast the fantasy of Christmas passes. That was our December.

              At that time in history, Gordon B. Hinkley was the Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. William J. (Bill) Clinton was the President of the United States of America. He was tried for impeachment, but would not leave office. He was in for two terms. He was dishonest and not fit for such office. (Democrat)

              Cindee came for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. With good TV shows and sparkling cider, popcorn and a Happy New Year dinner….... 1998 went to sleep forever!