Spring Family Photos 2021

The other day Miss V brought a flyer for school spring photos home. That is my signal to pull out our family camera and tripod to update the wall pictures without paying for an unknown facial expression posed in front of a fake background. I am notoriously cheap thrifty. Zak also knows that the birthday presents I will always want are a foot massage and his willingness to pose for family pictures. We decided to take them on a weekend trip in Grandma Porter's backyard, with Cove Mountain in the background. 

 

Zak and the kids were good sports, getting dressed and ready quietly (so we didn't wake the aunts and uncles) as soon as Zak and I opened our eyes Saturday morning. We managed to finish while everyone else slept. Zak and his siblings worked in Grandpa Porter's (Dad's) work shed  sorting his tools and random items in toss, donate, and keep piles. They worked really hard all day preparing the space for upcoming projects this spring and summer. Since I had my camera and tripod already, I asked the extended family the night before if they'd like to do a family photo. I think Dad passing so suddenly has affected each of us in many ways, one of which is a greater willingness to do family pictures. We miss you everyday, Dad. You raised some hard-working, responsible adults, who love you very much.

Picturing Margaret Ellen

Margaret Ellen Johnston Johnson
with her husband, Chesley Austin Johnson

My mom's Grandma Johnson passed away when Mom was a toddler. At the age of 51, Margaret Ellen Johnston Johnson died when her breast cancer metastasized. Her youngest was still in elementary school. Mom doesn't remember much about her, since she was so young, and she doesn't have pictures of her grandma.

At a family reunion decades ago we got a plastic-bound family record book with family charts, stories, and scanned black-and-white images. Included was a little scan of a blonde girl with curls. For years this has been my only image of Great-Grandma Johnson. Whenever it would put the two pictures of Margaret Ellen and her husband Ches together on my AncestryDNA ThruLines, it looked a little skeevy as it showed an old man married to a preschooler.

Now that Mom has retired, she's made a goal to go through her paperwork and get organized. She and my brother Ammon have scanned family photos to upload and share. In a binder from her mom, Margaret A. Johnson* (Margaret Ellen Johnston Johnson's daughter-in-law), Mom found an image of her parents' wedding line. Grandma and Grandpa were married in 1956, and were surrounded in the picture by both sets of parents!

I was so happy to see Great-Grandma Johnson's face, and to see how cute she looked with her husband at their oldest child's reception. When I colored it, I wasn't sure what the wedding colors were, but I liked her in this periwinkle purple.

This wedding line photo has many relatives on both the Johnson and O'Neil sides of the family, with several treasures. I think I'll do a few more posts to feature those unlocked treasures.

Margaret A. O'Neil and C. Brent Johnson with family on their wedding day, 11 October 1956. The two couples on the far right are Margaret and Ches Johnson, and Auretta and Ed O'Neil.

*Note that my grandpa's parents are Margaret and Chesley Johnson. While he went by his middle name, Brent, Grandpa was named Chesley after his dad, so he and Grandma are also Margaret and Chesley Johnson. Not confusing at all.

Living in the World

While on my maternal grandpa's familysearh.org page, I noticed some records to be attached. I guess there were church census records in the 1940s and 1940s which have been indexed. Mom and I got a good laugh as we noticed the residence of Brent Johnson, his parents and siblings as "World." The other day Mom uploaded some new pictures of Grandpa as a handsome young man.

Inktober Marathon 2020

I did it. All 31 days. In some ways, drawing the pictures in my notebook throughout the month of October was therapeutic, especially once we got the news about Zak's dad passing away. Zak has been doing sketches and inks to the Inktober prompts for the last few years, and it always sounded interesting but very daunting to me. Since I do believe Picasso's words, "Every child is an artist..." I decided to do my very simplified Baymax-style drawings this year and see if I could make it. I did have to catch up a few times, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

1. Fish

2. Wisp

3. Bulky

4. Radio

5. Blade

6. Rodent

7. Fancy

8. Teeth

9. Throw

10. Hope

11. Disgusting

12. Slippery

13. Dune

14. Armor

15. Outpost

16. Rocket

17. Storm

18. Trap

19. Dizzy

20. Coral

21. Sleep

22. Chef

23. Rip

24. Dig

25. Buddy

26. Hide

27. Music

28. Float

29. Shoes

30. Ominous

31. Crawl

Harry Potter Halloween

 

Like many families during Covid-19 times, we decided to do some movie marathoning as a family over the last few months. The kids are still relatively young, so they haven't seen many of the movies Zak and I knew as kids.

Mr C and Miss V loved watching the Lego Star Wars shows on Disney+, so over two or three weeks we absorbed all nine of the Star Wars movies, as well as the Mandalorian. Over the summer, as I walked the kids to pickup the school lunch sacks, we would talk about Halloween costumes. Miss V was considering R2-D2, and Mr C was thinking Yoda. There was much usage of the Force throughout our house.

Next, we started Harry Potter. The kids had found some walk-throughs of the Lego Harry Potter video game, which cover books one to four. The video gamer guessed that the later books were dark enough that they chose not to do Lego games of those. As we watched the movies a little at a time, the kids began casting spells. I cannot count the number of times I have been disarmed with an "Expelliarmus!" spell. It also meant my chopsticks left the silverware drawer, and began appearing all over the house as wands. Halloween costumes switched to Harry Potter themes. As the movies got darker, I tried to explain the events to the kids. I noticed that rather than focusing on the movies, the kids were pretending to be wizards, and not exactly paying attention. I'm ok with that.

Miss V has told me for a couple of years now that she doesn't like chapter books, although we've read and listened to several together, including the Ramona Quimby books. She started reading the shorter, simpler chapter books, but didn't even want to touch anything that had too many words and not enough pictures. Enter in Harry Potter. I had purchased the first two books at a thrift store last year thinking they would't be touched for a few more years. Miss V decided she'd give them a go. She's already done with the first, and well on her way through the second book. When she couldn't find the Chamber of Secrets the other day, she decided to read "Sideways Stories from Wayside School," that I had tried to read with her last year. It's happened! She's willing to read chapter books on her own!

 

Mr C's response after finding out that Miss V wanted to be Harry definitely made me smile. He wanted to be with Harry, so he chose to be Harry's pet owl, Hedwig. I thought about buying wings and a hat, and then realized those would be about $45. JoAnn's it is. While perusing the store for solid white fleece or a feather-like pattern, I found some fuzzy, white, textured upholstery fabric with not much left on the bolt. I was able to get what I guessed I needed, and they threw in the last half-yard for free. 

Zak joked about buying a giant googly eye and going as Mad-Eye Moody, so I went with it. As the true villain of the Harry Potter series, I felt Dolores Umbridge must also be represented. Pink dresses for me were a little easier to find at the local thrift stores, but an appropriate and plus-sized trench coat for Zak was harder to locate. I ended up spending more on his, but let's just say that walking behind that handsome man in a dramatic trench was my pleasure. Seriously, he looks so cool!

Most of our weekends lately have been spent at Mom Porter's house, and we were relieved to trick-or-treat in the small town rather than the city with ever-increasing viral cases. We looped around the wrap-around porch, knocking on the front, back, and bedroom doors since we only planned to go to a few other houses. Zak's brother, Cohen, dressed up as Star Lord from "Guardians of the Galaxy," and joined to for our brief trick-or-treating adventure. Since Great-Grandma Manwill wills two lots east of Grandma Porter, we got to see her waddle in her "I'm a Penguin," costume, which we all loved.

Grandpa Wayne Porter's Obituary

Obituary

Wayne Porter

Central Valley, UT

"On October 10, 2020 heaven gained a great man. Wayne W Porter returned home to his Father in heaven at the age of 56. He was born March 25, 1964 in Cedar City, UT to James Niel and Rena Kay Jensen Porter. He was raised in Richfield, UT where he attended all his schooling. He graduated as a Wildcat from Richfield High School and later graduated from Southern Utah State College where he received his Bachelors of Science degree in Industrial Technology.

"He served as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mission. Throughout his life Wayne served in a variety of capacities, including Scout leader, ward clerk, nursery leader, and most recently as a Sunday School teacher in the Central Valley 1st Ward.

"On April 25, 1985 he was sealed for time and all eternity to his best friend, Teri Lynn Manwill, in the St. George Utah Temple. Together they raised three sons, a beautiful daughter, and a grumpy, old beagle.

"His professional career in computers took him on a journey to multiple companies in multiple locations. The highlight of his career was his time spent working at Satel for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games.

"In his free time he enjoyed camping, going on car rides with his sweetheart, working with his hands, spending time with family and spoiling his grandkids. He was an Eagle Scout and life-long Scouter and spent his time "in the service of his fellow men".

"He is survived by his wife, Teri; children: Zachary James (Nicole) Porter, Christian Wayne (Carrie) Porter, Cohen Niles Porter, Niki Lynn Porter; his 2 beautiful grandkids, father; brothers, and many other loved ones.

"He is preceded in death by his sister, Jamie Kay Porter Jensen Richards; mother; father-in-law, Niles Orson Manwill; brother-in-law, Randall Bert Manwill; nephew, Jordan James Jensen; and his nephew’s son, Brody Joss Harwood."

From https://www.maglebymortuary.com/obituary/Wayne-Porter.

Tragic Phone Call

On 10.10.2020, around lunchtime Zak received a phone call from his sister. I could tell immediately based on his expression and the one or two phrases I could hear that this was like the phone call he received when Grandpa Manwill passed away.

"My dad was in an accident, and they think he's passed away!"

We grabbed bags and clothes for us and the kids, and drove the two-and-a-half hours from Salt Lake to Sevier County. Great-Grandpa Porter, who served with Search and Rescue for fifty years, called when we were on the road to confirm that Zak's dad had indeed passed away.

After helping a neighbor move some things with his skid steer that morning, Dad brought back the potatoes the neighbor gave him and continued working in his own yard with the Bobcat. When trying to stand up at some point, he bumped some controllers that lifted the arms and bucket quickly and powerfully. It caught him  in the precise point where his breathing and nervous systems were pinched immediately. It was instantaneous.

Niki was able to quickly call 911 after Mom found him. I know she had help as she called for an ambulance, called her brothers, and raced to the neighbors' houses to find someone to be with them. The neighbor and emergency personnel arrived within minutes to look after them and Dad.

All three sons drove down to stay with Mom. We saw how Heavenly Father had worked to bring us all together before Dad died. The last few years, Zak's brother, Christian, and his wife, Carrie, had been working and living in Indiana. Just months before Dad had recommended a job in Utah to Christian, which he had gotten. Just the month before we had all camped together on the mountain.

That night when I went to their RV trailer to get the kids settled, Mom got a phone call from the organ donation organization to confirm that Dad had chosen to be a donor. They asked about his medical history and explained that he would indeed be able to donate several tissues and some organs.

The next day was Sunday, and both Mom's Bishop and Stake President from her congregation came to share their love and stories about Dad with her. They recommended that Zak and his brothers give any of the family members who wanted them special priesthood blessings of comfort and counsel, which are words from Heavenly Father for that individual. Listening to Zak, Christian, and Cohen give those blessings was one of the most spiritual and comforting experiences I have ever had. It became very apparent that Heavenly Father knew what was happening and had watched over Dad through the entire process. 

I'm grateful for the ten years I had with my dad-in-law on this earth, and am so blessed for all of the effort and conversations he and Mom went through to help Zak become the man he is. Dad has been an incredible grandpa to our kiddos, and they love him very much.