Meet Me Underneath That Big Montana Sky

April. April ended up being probably the best friend I ever had at college. She was from Montana, and she was a lot of good, down to earth fun. She was funny, she could play the guitar, she was pretty but not in a showy, high maintenance way, she was a good, hard worker. April and I really hit it off. I went home with her to Montana a couple of times, once for Thanksgiving, and another time or two during the summer. Her family lived in a double wide trailer home on a huge, huge property. The first time I went to her house, she pointed out her new “neighbor” who lived a couple of miles away from her house. The new neighbor was from California, and had planted a dead tree stump in the front yard.  And I heard all about how crazy people from California were. (Except me. I was reassured that I was not your typical Californian. Ha ha!) Seriously though, what else were they to think when people come from California and plant dead stumps? The truth is that the dead stump planter was the different one, most California people I knew were more like me than that new Montana neighbor.

April’s family was great. Her dad was a disabled veteran, and a lot of fun. Her mom was great to hang around with and talk to, and we just had a great time. Her sister Merilee was  seriously the life of the party. She dressed up her dog, Queenie, in baby clothes, and would make it do dances and all kinds of fun stuff. Every time Merilee opened her mouth, something funny would come out.

We had fun visiting her home ward, taking a day trip to Missoula, making pies, and eating elk. Once we were on our way to her house, and we were not able to go over the pass due to snow. The road was closed for hours, and it was freezing outside. So we turned around and drove down the mountain just a bit, and came to a lodge where a local live band was playing.  So we hung out there for a while, and stayed warm and entertained until the road opened again, and we were finally able to drive on to Corvallis.

Making Pies

(I have zero idea what was going on with my hair. I never colored it! It was just weird).

Merilee and Queenie

We loved playing POUNCE!

(Some call it Nertz or Dutch Blitz).

137 Down

One summer we had the most fun girls living downstairs from us. Actually, we probably had awesome girls living down there a lot of the time, but one summer in particular I remember having more fun with the girls downstairs than any other time. Living downstairs were Rebecca Hunt, Shelley Saling, Amber (something). Rebecca was from American Falls, Idaho, and Shelley was from Missouri. Rebecca ended up being called as Relief Society President for the summer, and I vaguely remember being one of her counselors. I could be wrong, but I think I was. I loved these girls, we became fast friends, and had a summer I’ll never forget. Both of them left at the end of the summer, and I never saw them again. (Although I am friends with Shelley on facebook!).

Amber, Rebecca, Shelley, and ?

Rebecca, on the trampoline out at Aunt Dorothy's farm.

Shelley's turn on the trampoline!

Shelley

Amber and Me

Rebecca and Me

Shelley had this creepy ability to make a piece of pull and peel licorice go through her sinuses, in her nose and out her mouth. It made me cringe, but I always asked her to do it again. Ha ha!

My dad's cousin, Ivan Ashcraft, with Rebecca, Me, and Shelley.

One strange night I went with my friends in 137 down to McDonalds, and we decided to play in the ball pit. 

Me, Shelley and Carol. I had just returned home from a long day at work on the Grounds Crew. I'm pretty sure Shelley was getting ready to move back home to Missouri, so this was a goodbye picture.

Rebecca, Shelley and Amber

Amber, Rebecca, Shelley, and ?

Ricks College: Grounds

Working on the grounds crew at Ricks College was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. There I truly learned the value of hard work, and I also learned that you can have some of the most fun ever while you are working. I'll never forget how it felt to come home from work at the end of the day with sore and aching muscles--evidence that I had worked hard. Some of my favorite days were mowing days, when we'd get our lawnmowers and push them up, down, and across the steep slopes at the dorms. Talk about a workout! I also liked manure hauling days. Ooh, I know that sounds so terribly insane. It was just like dirt, it wasn't stinky or squishy--but I loved to get in there and show up all the guys who thought a girl couldn't handle a job like that. That was very satisfying. Sometimes we would sing country songs for Mark, the supervisor, to try and convince him how great country music was. I don't think even "Don't Take the Girl" convinced him, though. He would sing crazy songs sometimes...I can still hear him singing "I got a booboo on my feeeeeenger..."  I always thought he was making up that song, but he wasn't! Sometimes we played the spelling game, that was always fun. Every season brought something new, and there were so many different jobs to do. I love the fact that the smell of dirt is so wonderful to me. I miss that. I miss that satisfying feeling of cutting a perfect ring around a tree, or cleaning out all the leaves, etc. that had collected under a shrub. Call me crazy, but sometimes I miss getting up at 4 a.m. to shovel snow with a bunch of other tired people. I miss working with the dirt, the weeds, the flowers, the leaves, the ice, the snow--all of it.

There were a lot of good friends and a lot of good times on the grounds crew. In the beginning I thought it was some menial job that I was too good for (???!!!???) but always for the rest of my life I will be so grateful for the experience. I am thankful for Mark, because just by the way he did his job, he taught me the value of hard work, and gave me the opportunity to realize how satisfying physical labor is. He changed me from a relatively lazy person into a hard worker, and it has blessed my life ever since.

Mark's Truck. We had a lot of fun riding around in the back of that thing with all our tools.

One of our work crews. On the left is David Searcy, then Joel Day. Joel died of cancer a couple of years after this picture. I don't remember the girl next to Joel, she was only there a month or two, Then there's me, standing next to Mark Jaynes. Then another girl I don't know. In the back with the green shirt is a girl named Melissa, then the tall dark guy is Romaine, and Jared Wood in the blue shirt.

One summer day we went up to the gardens for a work party. Not really a party, just some fun with the crew. This is me, and that's Joel chilling in the background.

Mark

Joel, Sheri Hogg, Melissa, Me, Mark

This is Erin Timothy (now Botz) after work one day.

Beautiful grounds and the Clark building in the background.

Some of our crew by the wall of tools! Scott, Me, Mark, Erin and some guy I don't remember. (another shorter term guy)

Robert from South Carolina. We adored his accent and his southern manners.

Robert and Scott in Mark's truck.

Here I am pretending I had the privilege of operating a riding mower. 

Me and Sheri outside the Manwaring building, where we had been pulling weeds.

A sample of campus in the winter. 

Roomies

There is no doubt about it, we were all a serious bunch of NUTS at 137 Up. There were plenty of girls over the three years and all those summers I lived there that were a bit difficult to live with, and they didn't like me too much. But when you have eight people living in one house that is bound to happen. Also when you have eight people living in one house, there are bound to at least be some girls that become friends for life.

We had a lot of laughs over the years.

This is the day we made caramel apples. Kim Johnson is in the doorway, and April is holding the apple.

Here are April and I in the doorway of one of the bedrooms.

Leg wrestling!!

Heidi after a shower, Lisa hiding from the camera.

Sheri and Me

Sheri

Lisa

Sheri got roses!

This is the night we hung pink moons all over our FHE brothers' apartment, with a big plate of brownies, and a sign that said "You've Been Mooned!!"

These were the girls I lived with my first full year in the house. Vinci is on the far right, then me, Jade, D'Lynn, Lisa and Heidi.

This girl was from Laos (I think). She lived with us for a few weeks one summer. She had a really hard name to pronounce, so she told us to just call her "Bea."

My first summer in the house...this was a girl named Lori, and Suzanne Perry.

Sheri, Suz and me.

Me, Sheri and Lisa at Big Juds.

Me and Suz acting like tough guys.

That's me in a tree with a couple of girls from my ward.

I was never a tree hugger, but here I am hugging a tree. Ha ha!

Erin Timothy and me. She was on the Grounds Crew with me.

Janae and Me. I went to high school with Janae.

Carol and Me

My junior year of college...

Front: Josephine Smith, April, Julie, Carol

Back: Susan and Brenda (twins), Tammy, Me

One summer...the only ones I remember are Brenda, Susan and Me.

Carol and Me, trying to build a snowman.

Carol and Me

Carol, Tammy, Me, Jo and Erin

April and Me

This was before a ward activity one summer. Carol, Me, Erin, ?, Amber, ?

Me, Carol, Melissa

Sheri and April

Me and April

April

Maggie Slocombe, from Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada

April and Jo

Me and Jo

April doing a Toyota jump.

April and Me

Front: Julie, Kim, Maggie, ?

Back: Carol, April, Me, Jo

Front: Rebecca, Maggie, Julie, Jordan

Back: April, Me

Jordan

April

April and Me

Julie and Ruth Anne

April and Me

Gift exchange one Christmas! 

Front: Jordan, Me, Maggie, Katie, Kim

Back: Ruth Anne, Julie

Me and Julie playing Bus Stop

There I am roller skating!

Silly, crazy Kim!

April and Me

Kim

Julie

April and Me

Brenda, Me, Amber--that's all I know!

When we had both finished school and were heading home, Jo and I ended up on the same flight out of Idaho Falls. That was the last time I ever saw her.