Quality time with Dad - Cross Country Skiing

This memory is a more recent set of memories than those I have been recording so far, but it has been on my mind lately so I wanted to add it while I was thinking about it.

The other day I was wondering what I could do to get closer to James. I realized that I need to find an activity that James and I could do together on a regular basis that will let us spend some quality time together. As I was brain storming about what this could be I thought back to when I was growing up and what I used to do with Dad on a regular basis that brought us closer together and that I really enjoyed doing... As you probably guessed from the title it was Cross Country Skiing.

I am not sure what age we were, but at a young age in our new house I remember Phil and I got cross country skiis for christmas. I believe Dad already had some but this made it so that we could all go out together. From then on we would go cross country skiing often with Dad and always had a great time. Most of the time we would ski up to the medows and then either go around the medows, or go up towards the switch backs, or down into the canyon on the west. We would fall a lot, get cold a few times, but mostly just have a great time. I dont remember doing a lot of talking as we were skiing because we were usually following each other, but once we would get to the medows, we would usually just stand there and look into the valley and talk, or fall over into the snow and lay there talking. I remember especially one time where we were just standing there talking with Dad and all of a sudden he just fell over. We all thought it was so funny and could not stop laughing.

I remember almost every christmas we would go out cross country skiing in the after noon and as Tav and Colin got older they would come with us. I even remember Mom coming with us some of the time which made for a great family activity. I will never forget what a great time I had growing up going cross country skiing!

Our new House

I dont remember a lot about when the house was being built, but I do remember driving up once in the back of the yellow datson, and then standing on the edge of the hole with Dad and Grandpa looking at the foundation. When the house was finished I have the very vague memory of sitting in the middle seat of the moving truck while dad drove, and mom followed in the car. I dont remember anything else about the actual move, but do remember that our deck was not finished when we moved in, and we would go out on it and walk on the trusses being careful not to fall through.

Near Death

I dont know if Mom and Dad knew about this, but one day when we were living in the Apartement, Phil and I walked up the road with some neighbor kids to where there was a field and canal. There was a pipe that crossed the canal in the field and we were all walking across the pipe back and forth, and just playing on it. The canal was full of water and moving while we were doing this. Of course now I look at it and realize what a dumb thing that was, but at the time I didnt really comprehend the danger of what we were doing.

After a while of playing on it a farmer working on the field came over and yelled at us and told us how stupid it was for us to be playing there and that one of us could easily slip and die. We quickly ran home to get away from the scarry farmer.

Easter in Kodachrome Basin

I remember having easter with the entire Bay family in Kodachrome basin a few years in a row. There was a big gully that Phil, Richard and I loved exploring next to our camp site. I also remember a large water pipe that we would walk through that went under the road. Easter morning we had to hike up a very steep hill to find our baskets and the eggs and I remember having a hard time finding them. I think Unkle Dave or a younger adult hid them and made them harded to find than us kids could handle. It was fun though!

My First Hike

The first hike I ever remember going on was up spanish fork canyon I believe. I was very young but think I returned to the same spot when I was older which is how I remember where it was. Dad took Phil and I on a drive and then pulled off into this little dirt parking area that had big hills surrounding it on 3 sides. There were trails going up the hills in several places and we took one that circled around and ended up near a drop off that overlooked our car. There was one part of the hike in particular that makes it very memorable. There was a section of the trail that went over about five feet of very slick rock. The slick rock went about 10 feet down and then right off the cliff. When crossing this rock I remember starting to slide and then phil started to slide and we were sliding toward the drop off and couldnt stop. Dad quickly grabbed us and pulled us back onto the trail. Now I really dont think we were sliding very fast and I also dont think we were very close to the drop off, but I do remember being scared. I think we made dad carry us back over that spot on the way down. Other than that one scare I remember it being a great hike.

The Spanking

I only remember being spanked once and maybe that is because it was a painful enough experience that I tried to avoid doing things that would get me spanked after that. It also could be that I just dont remember the other times...

This spanking occured in the apartement we lived in while our house in woodland hills was being built. Dad took me downstairs into a room that i do not think was finished, leaned me over a chair, dropped my pants and gave me a good hard spanking. I dont remember what I had done but the spanking sure hurt.

The White House - As I remember it...

The white house had two entrances, a front entrance and a side entrance. The front entrance was up several steps and had a small porch. There were small bushes on both sides of the porch that looked like small pine trees. The front entrance went into a small front room that had two beautiful puke green couches with flowers on them. As you were leaving the front room you could go left into the kitchen. At the end of the kitchen was the side entrance. On the wall of the kitchen was a large green phone ( Dad and Mom must have liked green ). If you continued straight out of the front room you would run into the stairs which went half way down straight and then turned left for the last half. Left of the stairs was my bedroom, but I am not sure where the bathroom or master bedroom was upstairs. They must have been to the right.

At the bottom of the stairs was a room that was eventually used as a bedroom for Phil and I. Dad made two beds for phil and I which were really cool because they had two big openings underneith them that were meant for our toys, but that we used more often for hiding in. There was also a family room somewhere down there with a small room off of it that Dad used for his office.

Outside there was a white detached garage/shed at the end of the driveway. Next to it was our back yard and then there was a fence with a gate that went into our garden which was very big and I believe was an empty lot that came with the house. I remember corn and beans being grown in the garden and am sure more was grown as well but I cannot remember what.

These are all the memories I have of how our old house was setup.

My Baptism

The only thing I remember about my actual baptism is that I thought the water was very warm and felt great. I did not want to get out of the water. After that I remember that we went to a park with family and had a picnic. I have no clue what we ate, but I really had fun on the playground.

BOO!

One day in the old white house phil was running up the stairs and I was running down the stairs. Since the stairs had a turn in them we did not see each other coming. Sure enough we ran into each other, each flying the oposite direction. That caused phil and I to start laughing uncontrollably for a very long time. It doesnt look so funny just writing about it but looking back on it I still laugh. It was really funny to us!

Red, Yellow, Pink, and Green...

One of the earliest memories I have is a very vivid memory that takes place in the white house in the bedroom just left of the stairs. The room was very dark with one small night light and the humidifier was on. I was laying in moms arms and she was rocking me while singing the "I can sing a rainbow" song. I remember being totally relaxed, feeling safe and at peace. I believe that is why I love the sound of humidifiers so much is because it brings back these feelings.

Selfish Me

One day in our old white house in Orem it had snowed a lot while I was at school. I remember walking home and being very excited about getting to play in the snow with my friends. When I got home Mom was cleaning her closet and she asked me if I could come and help her. I remember throwing a fit and telling her that I could not help her because I was going to go outside and play with my friends. I continued throwing my fit for several minutes until finally Mom said "Fine, go and play with your friends" and then she broke down crying and went to her room. At that point I lost all interest in playing with my friends and felt really bad for throwing the fit and just wanted to help Mom with her closet. She didnt want my help anymore though which made me feel even worse. Finally I ended up going out and playing with my friends. What is interesting about this memory is that I remember the song that was playing in the background through all of this. I am not sure who the artist is but it was called memories I believe and I still can hear the tune whenever I think of this memory.

Peanuts

I remember visiting a neighbors house with Mom that was directly behind the large lot behind our house in Orem. I believe the neighbor had some extra beans, or maybe tomatoes from her garden that she was giving mom. What made this an interesting visit for me is that the woman showed me some peanuts she had grown in her garden. I was amazed that you could grow peanuts and she gave me some seeds that we could plant in our yard so we could grow our own peanuts. I do not remember if we were ever able to grow our own peanuts, but do remember planting them with Mom.

Dad's Big Red Motorcycle

One of my earliest memories is of Dads big red motorcycle. I believe Dad would give me rides on it around our old neighborhood in Orem. The most vivid memory I have of the motorcycle is of it parked in our driveway with the white garage/shed in the background and weeds coming up through the cement. I have no clue why I remember the weeds, but it is part of the image I have of the motorcycle. I also remember trying to get on the motorcycle one day when it was parked in this position and it fell on me. I remember screaming and dad rushing out the side door of the house and pulling it off of me.