Chapter 20
Good Times in Sunnyvale

        Beginning in 1982 several events occurred over the next two or three years in the lives of our children. There were births, deaths, marriages, and career changes. Needless to say there were several reasons make to several trips to Idaho during that time.

 
My first Primary class in Sunnyvale
        We were so busy with our jobs and church callings that most of our hobbies and fun little trips to the ocean, etc. had gone by the wayside. Shortly after we were baptized, I was asked to teach the twelve year old class in Sunday School. I tried, but how was I going to teach a class of young people when they knew ten times more than me? Those kids were smart and well behaved. One little girl's father was a rocket scientist. I was so out of touch, I asked for a class more suited to me. So I was switched to the Sunbeams. Now, they had it right. If I didn't have the mentality to teach three year olds I was in deep trouble. I had so much fun teaching those sweet little ones. One little girl always called me “Sister Grandma”, precious huh?


Jackie and John Guy and me and Jack.		 
        I also gave a couple of mini classes in Relief Society Homemaking. We held Family Home Evenings with Jackie and John Guy and Yoshiko. We each took turns giving the lessons. They were always very spiritual and helped to make it a feel good week ahead.

        The ward had a lot of activities. I even modeled a cute sweater set that I crocheted for myself at a fashion show the Relief Society sponsored. I still have it, but I think it shrunk a lot because it doesn't fit me any more! We enjoyed Hawaii night and a 1920's night. There were fun things going all the time that kept the ward close. Our good friends from the ward were Jackie and John Guy that we socialized with.

 
Jack and I ready
for a Diamite
Halloween party.
We won the prize
for best costumes.
        Another couple that we socialized with were Carolyn and Glen Farnworth. They owned and operated a Pharmacy and also were involved in a company called Diamite that sold health and skin care products. The products were of excellent quality. They also had one of a kind Jewelry. We got suckered into joining the company. There were a lot of meetings to attend, plus a lot of fun parties. Halloween seemed to be the favorite. We dressed up for a lot of them, even took a prize or two for our costumes. I did real well with selling the jewelry to the girls at work. I think we were our own best customers. It was one of those pyramid companies, and you had to be on top to be successful.


Jeremy Dudley		 

Me and Kellie Jo		 
        Jeremy Lewis Dudley was born on June 29, 1982. That made six little Dudley's. He was very small and sickly, but through priesthood blessings he made it. Connie and Sam gave me Kellie Jo Gochnour on July 13, 1982. She was truly her daddy's girl. Cute, cute, cute. Kellie was born at the Cassia Memorial Hospital In Burley, Idaho.

        For our vacation in 1982, we decided to do a loop up the coast of Oregon and Washington into Canada back down into Seattle and down to Burley for the family reunion. We left Sunnyvale and drove over to the coast and up into Oregon. Along the way we encountered miles and miles of wild daises and other flowers. The beaches were sandy and offshore sculptures of rocks jutted out in the ocean. It was just breathtaking, you just have to see it. We stopped in Tillamook and went through the cheese factory there which was interesting and we got to sample cheeses. Everyone loves Tillamook cheese.

 
That's me on the left
        We drove on to Astoria where we crossed over into Washington. We followed the shore until South Bend where we had to go inland and stayed a night in Forks. We went through part of the Rain Forest in the Olympic National Forest. Another awesome sight that you have to see with your own eyes. It is amazing to me that every place we go on this earth, God has wonderful surprises of beauty just waiting for our eyes to see. I am so thankful that I have had the privilege to see some of them.

        From there we drove over to Port Angeles where we drove the car onto a ferry boat. We just relaxed and had lunch as we crossed into Canada through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and landed in Victoria, Britsh Columbia, our destination for this trip. How I love beautiful Victoria.


The Butchart Gardens		 
        There is so much to see and do that you could spend weeks there. I think my two favorite places were the beautiful Empress Hotel and The Butchart Gardens. I love to go inside that hotel and just look around, it is always fun to stop and sip a cup of tea and eat a delicate little sandwich in one of the many tea rooms. Each time we go we buy a piece of crystal or English china for our home. The
 
The Parliament Building at night
Parliament Buildings are also beautiful, we got a great photograph at night with its millions of lights. We stayed at the Royal Oaks Motor Hotel, so we could get to the places we had mapped out to see. We visited the Northwest Indian Museum, that took hours. They had life size replicas of each Indian tribe in their own habitats. You almost felt like you were living among them, it is so real.


Three little Japanese girls		 
        The Butchart Gardens was another of the must visit places we had to see. No a disappointment there! Oh, yes there was. It was pouring rain! We got the cutest picture of three little Japanese girls standing in the rain each with a clear umbrella. There are many many gardens within the Garden. The most exotic flowers, plants and trees planted to make the pretty landscapes so colorful. Waterfalls, fountains, and bronze statues were everyplace. The Japanese Garden and the Sunken Gardens were my favorite. The Butchart Gardens is a place that we wanted to go to again! And we did!

        After our time run out in Victoria we came back on the ferry boat to Port Angeles, stopping at Port Townsend where we got a great motel on the water. It was so beautiful. Around midnight or so I got up and looked out over the bay and saw a sail boat with the moon over it. I had to get a picture of it. (I can't help but use the word Beautiful, I see it almost every place I look.) We drove on down to Seattle to Ballard where Jack's sister Pat lives. We got there before she came home from work, so we drove over to Green Lake and watched little kids wading in a pool until it was time for her to be home.

        I loved her house, it was really quaint and lovely. She took us around to a lot of cool places that I thought were awesome, but not to Jack. The Pike Place Market was a lot of fun. I bought a cute little carousel horse that I still enjoy. For dinner we went down to Lake Union to the famous Salmon House. There I had some salmon that I will never forget. Salmon is my favorite dish so if it is on the menu I order it every time I eat out. At Pat's we did our laundry in order to continue our journey.

 


Four Generations: Me, my mother, my son Gordon, and my
grandson Gordy
        After enjoying Pat's hospitality, her fancy little poodle “Snow”, two big Siamese cats, and a bird or two, we had to leave for Burley for the Frost Family Reunion. As usual the reunion was fabulous. I love being with family. It too had to end and so did our fabulous vacation. I write so much about our vacations each year because they and the family reunions are the highlight that we looked forward to each year and tried to make the most of them. I wish you could have come along and enjoyed them with us.

        Another activity our ward held was the “Garden of Enchantment Costume Ball” to be held Saturday, November 13, 1982 from 8:00 p.m. to midnight. There was even a $2:00 fee, can you imagine? We got suckered into a group of four couples to do a ballroom dance number because we were such big time dancers. Ya right! We chose the Beautiful Dreamer Waltz. We held many practice sessions until we had it down perfectly. We ladies bought beautiful dresses and the gentlemen rented Tuxedos. We all looked so fine.


Olivia Buttars		 
        Our turn on the program came and everyone did so well, as Jack and I waltzed the circle and as I came face to face with the spectators I lost it. It was the first and last time I performed. Remember, what I said as a kid, I was never in any school events, so how else would I know how I would react? Another greater than great embarrassing moment in my life.

        Also, on November 13, 1982 another little granddaughter arrived. Olivia with so much black hair, was delivered at the Cassia Memorial Hospital to Gordon and Bonnie.

        We enjoyed Christmas the usual way. We went to a very fun Christmas dinner and party at our ward and also attended a party with our Moose friends, We had a quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home with a nice dinner.

        The New Year 1983 came in quietly, with new hopes, but not too much anticipation. We just took what came our way and did the best to enhance our lives and those around us.

        Gordon died at the University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City on January 19, 1983 following double bypass surgery. I made a trip to Burley to attend his funeral but more importantly to be there to support Gordon, Cindee, and Connie. Gordon was not able to continue farming and he moved his family to Salt Lake shortly after his father's funeral to get some vocational training in the computer field.

 
My grandchildren - December 1982: Gordy, Mark,
Michael holding Olivia, Raydon holding Kellie Jo,
and Melinda holding Jeremy.
        We enjoyed life in Sunnyvale. We were both still working. We were going to church at the Sunnyvale Second Ward. There were a lot of new people to meet and become friends with. We still enjoyed our friends from the Moose dances, and our neighbors We enjoyed our little duplex apartment with the wonderful lemon tree out the front door, and the great little patio that we made beautiful with plants and cute do-dads. We both enjoyed working as photographers doing wedding and family group photos.

        I gave blood at the American Red Cross blood bank almost every month that I worked at Syntex. I received a certificate for my second gallon of blood. My blood type is RH-O Negative and it all went to premature babies. That made it all worthwhile and it made me happy to know that perhaps my blood saved tiny lives!

        April was a real shaker with swarms of earthquakes. Some were as much as 4.1 magnitude. There were many, many smaller ones, but enough to get our attention. We would look up and see the chandeliers swaying or feel just a touch of dizziness. Oh, just another shaker.

        April came with a surprise, the people in duplex # 1 moved out and we jumped right in! It turned out to be the “hardest” move we ever made as everything had to be hand carried about fifty feet to the new place, even the water bed. It was so much better, with one more bedroom. (That was used for an office/guest room). We were now able to see the street and what was going on in the outside world, as we were boxed in, in the back duplex. It didn't take long to settle in and we were very happy there. Yoshiko and her little dog moved in to our old duplex # 3.


Our postage stamp sized backyard		 
        Jack made a lot of improvements on both of the places that we lived in. He built patio covers and put in little sheds. The outdoor space was very small, I referred to it as postage stamp size.

        While in Apartment # 3 we bought a beautiful chandelier, when we moved to # 1, we took it there and when we moved to Aptos it went with us and hung over the dining room table. It is now hanging over our dinning room table here in Boise, it is amazing it survived all those moves.

        In the kitchen in Number 3, he built a removable mirrored cabinet that filled the space between the stove, under the window to the wall, six feet eight inches long. When we moved to Number 1, the cabinet fit perfectly. That is when we started buying our Lenox dinnerware. I picked out “Forever”, a single black rose pattern. We ended up with service for twelve. Jack taught me everything I know about fine china, crystal, and other fine things. Before, I decorated with Avon bottles and dishes from oatmeal boxes. We also used it in the dining room in Aptos and Boise until we got a new china cabinet. Now it has a home in the garage where it houses our antiques and junk.

        We kept up both places and fixed things ourselves instead of calling the owner, and did a lot of extras that other tenants never bother with. When we moved out our land lord gave us our deposit back plus $200.