Family Posts

Monday, December 11, 2017

Hooper Christmas Festivities 2017

Left to right: Cousin Angie, Cassie, Mom, and Mr C looking ravashing in red. Michele (background) hosted the ever-growing group with much grace.

We picked up my brother, Ammon, from the bowling alley where he works and drove to Uncle Dennis' and Aunt Michele's house for this year's Hooper Family Christmas Party. Aunt Mary's family lives further south than the rest of us, so they can't always come to the get-togethers. Because of that, it's always a special treat when they come. This year because the others from Mary's family were sick, it was Mary, Angie, and Angie's husband, Tony. The hot soups really hit the spot.

One of the highlights of the night came when Mom pulled out the musical pipes she'd just purchased with numbers strewn across a poster board to allow us to play "Frosty the Snowman." For banging on a metal pipe with (in my case) a spoon, it sounded quite impressive.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Oh, to Fly

Miss V wishes she could fly. We've explained that people can fly in planes and go parachuting and gliding, but we can't fly without extra tools. She explained, "We just need wings, like this."

Monday, November 6, 2017

Beware of Dinosaurs






Miss V wanted to be Queen Elsa. OK. Fortunately, Zak decided he'd be willing to dress as John Hammond from Jurassic Park. I can work with that. Rather than wearing short shorts and tank top with a light blouse in October as Dr Ellie Sadler, I chose to go as Dr Alan Grant. I found a fitting dress for Miss V in China. Done. I looked online for a dinosaur hoodie which Mr C could wear more than one night. I found a perfect one from Target, and then realized it was discontinued. The kids and I hit up the local Deseret Industries thrift store for my stuff and to look for any dinosaur ideas. I found a faded patterned hoodie, which could have worked, but wasn't great. I thought again, and considered the fact that his favorite word to say repeatedly is "Truck!" Scratch the dino idea, let's make a Jeep costume! I wanted it to be like the Jurassic Park Jeeps in the first film of the franchise, so I looked online and found some movie stills. It looked manageable for a custom sewing job. I'm not a talented experienced seamstress, which a close look at any of my sewing projects will attest, but I've done enough clothing repairs and adjustments for my family in the last seven years to pick up a few skills.

I drew a preliminary sketch, which the kids colored, so I drew a secondary sketch, and searched for materials. For the main body and bumper I found Walmart sweatshirts, and bought fat quarters for most of the other stuff. Huzzah for Jurassic Park patches on eBay, because there's no way I could have managed without those. JoAnn finished off the rest of my supplies (along with Mom, who had a bunch of thread I used). Thanks to my parents and sister, Trena, who took care of my kiddos while I ignored them for countless hours to sew. Recommendation for future projects: use paracord instead of yarn for the winch cable, so it doesn't fray in the washer.

We got to wear our costumes four times this Halloween: my parent' church carnival, our church's fall festival, actual Halloween, and the Family Center's preschool party. Zak and I didn't want to spend $30-200 dollars on an ambered mosquito, so he got a Gerber baby container filled with orange hand soap, and added a rubber fly we found at the dollar store. D.I. did have a bamboo stick, so he hot-glued it all together, but partway into our party, the glue pulled the paint off the Gerber lid, so his main prop lost its focal point. I admit, he did quite well growing a beard to dye for the occasion. He insisted that Miss V's costume did fit with the family theme, because "she's the one who made the dinosaurs go extinct."

After the first two parties, it felt like Halloween was done (about before actual Halloween), but thankfully the kids' and my costumes are easy to wear, and I only had to wash them once to get soup off the queen's and Jeep's attire. Because of Zak's perfect hat that I borrowed, I did get called Indiana Jones once or twice, but the theme worked best at the trunk-or-treat on Halloween where I had black cheesecloth, a camo blanket, cardboard sign reading "Beware of Velociraptors," some dollar store dinosaurs, and Zak's phone playing John Williams' brilliant theme music.




Friday, October 27, 2017

Researching with Uncle Bob

Some cousins of his recently visited my great-uncle Bob O'Neil, which got him interested enough to help them look for information about their grandpa and his uncle, Joseph William Empey. Joe and his wife "Floss" had two sons, David and Raymond, who are both deceased. He remarried Amy several years after Floss died, and within eight years both he and Amy had also passed away.

Cousin Terry had taken Bob to the Family History Center in Ogden, which helped since he doesn't have a computer, let alone the internet. He guided Mom and I there while my sister, Trena, watched the kiddos, and Zak helped pick-up and move some furniture for her. I tried to go through the process with Bob from the beginning. We created a familysearch.org account for him, connected the living relative (Bob), to his deceased parents, John Edgar O'Neil and Auretta Empey O'Neil, and went from there.

We looked at the information already available for his Uncle Joe, and realized there were already several records and sources connected to him. Sometimes I take for granted how much information familysearch.org allows us to have in an organized place, accessed anywhere with internet. Bob had a few dates and names written on a paper, and I could click a few times and instantly have a screen of information. I helped him standardize some of the dates, and then we looked more at John's sons, David and Raymond. Because Terry was from out-of-town, he and Bob tried to visit some family headstones, but they didn't know where David and Raymond were buried.

Because we had access at the center to ancestry.com, as well as all of the records on familysearch.org and other free websites, I found the brothers on records we knew belonged to them, which then connected us to new records. Findagrave.com, oh how I adore thee.

We managed to locate David's headstone in the Aultorest Memorial Park cemetery in Ogden. As for Raymond, Bob knew he died in the '80s, but we didn't have a date or place. Through our research, we discovered that Raymond died in August of 1980, and was buried in the Roy City Cemetery. Ironically, my extended family has lived around Roy for years, but we've never been there. We officially have a reason. David had married "Bonnie," who we realized was actually named Vonda. Because Bob knew her before she died, he was able to tell us about one of her spouses, so we could connect Claude to her as well. First- and second-hand knowledge makes a difference.

Eureka! The same family!
The record I was most excited to find was Raymond's World War II military record, because it was the one which confirmed that this Raymond was our Raymond, with the same parents, and same address where Bob remembered them living. It can be frustrating at times when I'm trying to be responsible by verifying everything instead of just relying on something that could be a coincidence, like assuming he was the only man at the time named Raymond E Empey. I don't know how the actual individuals felt about their enlistment and other military records, but I definitely appreciate the gifted information, especially when parents and spouses are listed.

Another great feeling came each time one of the center volunteer or missionaries came over to help us, and they saw what I was doing and explaining, and told Bob he was "in good hands," and that I knew what I was doing. There's still a great deal I don't know about researching and family history, but I felt good helping him learn about the process.

Afterward we stopped by Ogden's pet cemetery where his Calli the Calico is buried. You can tell being around him how much that little lady meant to him.

Monday, September 11, 2017

Cove Mountain Reunion 2017


Ever since cousin Katie got conversation started and a pirate theme came into play, we've been excited for the annual Var and Forest Porter reunion. We loved the treasure/scavenger hunt that Madi and Kyle prepared. Aunt Niki excitedly rode the 4-wheelers for hours. Zak and I also took the kids for some short rides, and they couldn't get enough. At the end, Great-grandpa Porter went over family trust and Cove Mountain property information, which several family members heard for the first time. The t-shirts Zak designed were a big hit, and with delicious food in abundance, a family full of black sheep, and a piƱata, we did our best to "Party Like a Pirate."

Four generations of Porter Men! Zak, Mr C, Great-grandpa Jim, and Grandpa Wayne

Grandma Porter came prepared. The kiddos had lots of fun playing with cousins.

Four generations of Porter Women! Grandma Teri, Miss V, me (Nicole) in the back, and Great-grandma Sue

Quality time with the Porters 
Zak paracorded a bunch of keychains and lanyards for family and geocaching.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Eclipse Journey: Where Grandma Was Born

Part one of our journey to Eclipse Totality was from our house in Cache County on Friday to Sevier County so we could go to work then next morning. Zak and I found out his Grandma Manwill was anxious to tear down a historical outbuilding on her property to clear the way so her neighbor could use the land. Family members had decided the Saturday before the eclipse would work for the Porter and Manwill men to hammer cement and tear out the chicken wire holding the log building together. After much effort and some help from the skid steer, they separated the logs in organized piles for any future rebuilding. Grandma shared brief segments of its history, including the milling from local mountains, original build in Koosharem, rebuild on Grandma's parents' property, and her birth in that very one-room building. I love that Zak's family has so much local history in those small Sevier County towns, going back generations.

Grandma's cabin room

Uncle Tony

Zak and Cohen getting ready to work

Cohen

Jaxson

Dad

Jaxson

Dad

Cohen

Loading the debris

My Zak Husband

Uncle Tony

Uncle Tony

Dad

 

The skid steer was the favorite toy for the big boys

Dirt and sticks make excellent toys.

The women retreated to the shade


Mom Porter watching over the kiddos
Jaxson
Dad Porter


Concrete and chicken wire debris



Grandma checking on her workers 
(She brought cooled water bottles.)

Jaxson

My man Zak

Brick around the door and window








Logs officially separated
Only the foundation remaining
Other outbuildings on Grandma Manwill's property

Playing in the dirt, then the sprinklers
Darling Grandma
Grandma Manwill and me


Aunt Jenn wishes us well on our journey.

Mr C pretending to drive Jr Beef
Grandma saying, "Goodbye," to the kiddos


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