Great-Grandparents

 While looking through the digitized slides I found pictures of my Great-Grandparents. I have already posted my Great-Grandpa Fredrick Young Jensen Jr's patriarchal blessing. Since I was so young when he died I don't know much about him. I do know that he was a famous sheep shearer and was scandalized by my Great-Grandma Madora LaVerna Rogerson before they were married because she wore a dress in the 4th of July parade that showed her ankles. Apparently this caused a major rift in their relationship so much so that he went to work at Yellowstone for the rest of the summer. 

   

Since my Mom's family spent every summer in Waterton and stayed in my Spackman Great-Grandparents' cabin there are many pictures. I have already posted about Great-Grandma Amy Clarissa Neel Spackman's patriarchal blessing. 

  

Mom said that Grandma Amy stayed with them off and on after Grandpa Spackman died. This was at the Vernal Dinosaur Museum.

Digitized Slides

My Jensen Grandparents, like all people in the 1960's, put their pictures on slides. My brother was here a couple of weeks ago and found a bag full of slides with a machine that converted them to digital pictures. Here are the ones of my Mom with immediate and extended family:

 I think these shoes are back in style.

 

 My Mom was in the BYU Marching Band. One of her favorite activities at BYU she did.

 Looks like my Mom and her cousins cold in Waterton while my Grandma fished in a dress.

 I think this is the only pregnancy (with me) pictures I've ever seen of my Mom.

Headstone

When we buried my Mom I made all the funeral arrangements and put her in a single grave. My parents did not have a good marriage and I know my Mom has no plans on being with my father for eternity from our conversations and what was in her will. My Grandma Jensen has been in the Spirit World since 1980, so she has had plenty of time to find my Mom a husband she wants to be with for eternity. Corey, dad, and I agreed that Mom would not want a elaborate headstone, but apparently when my dad ordered the headstone (I made him pay for this one thing) he added their marriage info without letting Corey and I know. 

If anyone wants to visit her gravesite, go into the Veterans Memorial entrance of the Provo Cemetery, then immediately turn right. Mom is under a couple of trees and next to the fence.

Crying

This week it's been 6 months since my Mom died. By 7am Wednesday November 5th 2014 I took a shower and Dave went to tell my students class was cancelled. I had been in the shower for a while when I suddenly started bawling like when I was a little kid. The next morning I woke up about 6am and started to cry out of nowhere. Dave grabbed me and held me while I cried it out. Later that day I told Dave thank you for holding me when I needed it, but he said he didn't remember doing it. Which made me laugh because he never remembers conversations, etc that happen unless he is actually awake. I usually have to ask him if he is awake and he will answer me yes or no before I try to talk to him in the morning. Even though we have only been married 4 years, it was great that his natural instinct was to hold me when I needed it.

At the Gilbert Arizona Temple Open House Feb 2014

We Bought a House

The week before Mom died we got outbid on a house. I was kinda bummed about it. My Aunt Kathy is our realtor, she found out afterward that it was a meth house, so we dodged a bullet. It would have been costly to clean the house before we could move in.

Two days after my Mom's funeral we met with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Phil to look for another house. It just doesn't feel the same at my parents' home without my Mom. We didn't feel comfortable there, plus we were only there to save to buy a house. We found a house near the Frontrunner station and put a bid on it. It was accepted and we moved in on 20 Dec 2014. My dad had told Dave that he wanted us to move out the day of my Mother's death, but the week we moved out I could tell he was dreading our move. This would be the first time he had ever lived by himself. My dad moved out of my Grandparents' house only when he married my Mom.

Dave is really excited that we own a house. It would have taken about 10 years of saving and scrimping to have enough for a down payment on a house in England. One of the benefits of living in America.

Dave found a picture online of our house:

It's gray now and the big tree in front is gone. I don't know what they did with the yard, but it's full of all kinds of weeds. I wish I knew more about botany so I could name all the variety of weeds. This past week we sprayed weed killer for the front yard, it is slowly dying.  

I dug out all the sticker weeds and around the front yard. I found the sprinkler heads, but they don't work. Hopefully we will get rid of all of the weeds and be able to plant flowers, vegetables, and grass next year.