Travel and Family

I grew up in a family headed up by a single mother who sup ported us with a rank & file job at the IRS and a child support check from my dad in the now meager sum of $150 a month ($50 for each of us three kids till we turned 18). Most of the locals around Ogden, Utah (our hometown, Roy, was about 8 miles south of Ogden) put in their time at the IRS. I worked the 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. shift there during the 1981 tax season when Heidi was a baby. John has great memories of rubber band battles w ith his coworkers while he worked his way through college in the old file room there. My mother, Verda; brother, Kevin; sister, J ill and I didn't have money for much of anything beyond the most basic of necessities. We had just one family car, a 1972 Chevrolet Impala. Back then, you were either a Ford , Chevy or Chrysler family and we were definitely of the Chevy persuasion. We didn't go a lot of places like families do now. Most of our outings, like going grocery shoppi...

The thing of which I’m most proud is the fact the four kids we’ ve been blessed to raise, have turned out to be well adjusted, kind, happy, and just good people. This isn ’t to say that we haven’t had so me dire worries, issues and concerns over the years. Those crazy early years – most of the 80’s is just a a blur of sleepless nights, changing diapers, cleaning up poop and vomit messes at all hours of the day and night in cars, beds and cribs, and if we’re lucky, outside somewhere. (We us ed to have a dog that would lick up vom it with relish the moment it hit the ground. I’m not really fond of dogs, but they do serve some useful purposes. They're really good at cleaning the floors under the tab le too.) John was often a teacher at the same school the kids attended, but that didn ’t mean they got any favors or special treatment – at least by him. The worst of this is that, any time any of the kids acted up or did anything slightly naughty, John usually found out bef...

Our "Gay Apparel" Family Christmas Eve Party....we had a house full of winners for our "ugly Christmas sweater" contest....see for yourself.....

Danny and I have been hiking together for a LONG time...this was around 1982 in Yellowstone, just a few years before the huge fire there that changed the landscape.

 Look at this beautiful, smart daughter of ours.  April graduated from my alma mater, Cal State San Bernardino, in June.   3 down and 1 to go....Hayley is pluggin' away and soon, this will be her....

John and I were so proud to attend a recognition dinner with Danny at the University of Redlands the night before he received his master's degree. Danny was honored as the top student in his Graduate Program for Education Administration. Danny is a 7th grade English teacher at Fontana Middle School. John teaches 7th grade history at Grace Yokley Middle school in Ontario. Recently, when a student moved, he transferred from Mr. Todd's (the Dad's) classroom, into Mr. Todd's (the son's) classroom. What a lucky kid! (Actually, he thinks he is.)