Memory Monday------Great Grandpa and Grandma Hales

I have not been very good at keeping up with my Memory Monday posts. I wasn't able to get organized enough during the summer to get photos scanned and well......that is part of it.....you've got to admit.....it does make the post a bit more personal.

So, this week I decided to write about one of my more pleasant memories. When I was younger, I lived in Utah----I believe that you remember the posts I did before, about this time in my life.

Now......I am not sure where my Great Grandparents lived, but they were my Mom's grandparents, and I know that it was somewhere in Utah, as we had to drive a ways when we went there. I always loved to go to their house----there were so many things to explore and everything was so different!

My grandparents lived in a small white house, not very fancy. I still remember walking into the back door---that is how you would enter----and you would be in the kitchen. There was a big sink with a large pump.....yes, the kind that you would pump up and down to get water. It was always the first thing that we did! My grandma would get us a glass, and we would pump some cold well water to drink. There was always something baking at their house, also. My grandma would slice up some warm bread and get down some homemade jam to spread on it. It was so divine!

I guess by now you have figured out that my grandparents didn't have indoor plumbing---I don't think that they had electricity either. It was one of the amazing things that we loved about going there. Of course, we had to go outside to use the outhouse-----which was one of our favorite things to do. I am sure that you are all cringing over this, but you have to remember that we were children and it was such a novelty! They always had a stack of things to read in the outhouse, and the only time that it wasn't so fun was in the winter---boy, was it cold.

My grandparents also cooked using a wood stove. They cooked everything on that stove----we would go there for dinner----I seem to remember that it was on Sunday----and have homemade pies, all kinds of meat cooked, home made bread and rolls. I will never forget those smells----the musty smell of their house, the fresh smell of baked goods, and the starched smell of my Grandma when she came in for a really big hug.

After the kitchen, there was the living room----and through the living room, you could see a huge organ----that we loved to play around on. We didn't really know how to play it, but my Grandma knew how and would sometimes play for us. My Grandpa was funny and liked to tell us stories, and make us laugh-----and he would take us outside and show us his garden, so we could pick some fresh vegetables.


I still remember, one year, when I got older, that my parents and my aunts and uncles decided to surprise Grandma with indoor plumbing and a real bathroom! It took awhile, and she got really sick before it was finished. She ended up dying shortly thereafter, and it was so sad to go see Grandpa after. He just couldn't get over the fact that Grandma never got to use that beautiful new bathroom.....


Years later, after my Grandpa had tried to live all by himself, they had to put him in a rest home.
I still remember going to visit him there. He used to tell us about all the "crazy" people in the rest home and how there was no one to talk to, as no one could carry on a conversation. He would also take snacks and treats from his meals----when ever he knew that we were coming---and stash them to give to us. There was one time that we had been fasting for our church, and we went to see him after church. He handed us these little graham crackers that he had hoarded from one of his meals. We didn't know what to do, because we weren't supposed to eat anything! But, my Mom just nodded and smiled and said that it was ok----she wanted to make Grandpa feel good----and I was super glad----because I was starving!

Outside my great grandparents house....in our Sunday best.....

....and a little older sitting in their living room----weren't they adorable?
(thats me, my older sis, Janene, and my little brother, Jeff)

This is with my Grandparents, my Mom AND my Great-Grandparents!
(I'm down on the far left...)

When my Grandpa died, I went to his funeral. I was very sad, because I felt that something had shifted in my universe. I realized that I would never again experience some of those unique things that I had enjoyed, as it was as if a whole generation of that pioneer spirit had died with them....