Week 2 - Personal History

Week 2:

When and where were you born? Describe your home, your neighborhood and the town you grew up in.

 

JACKIE:

I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah at the LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) Hospital. (8th Ave and C Street Salt Lake City, UT 84143). I was born at 11:07 AM MST. (I believe. This is funny, for when Elizabeth was born she came at 6:11 EST, but in Utah it was at 7:11 -Just like the store!) I liked the time I was born for if reversed it would be 7-11. Anyway funny. I was a healthy baby girl, a little jaundice but nothing to be concerned about. It wasn't until I was a year old, that my parents noticed my eyes not lining up right and the left eye drifting. Sometime around age 2 was when I got the surgery for the "Crossed Eyes" or "Strabismus". (I don't know that much) Expect the surgery was done in California. One eye, got ruined, and lost a muscle, and by age 5, there was nothing more to be done. I wore glasses for a while, but as a kid I'd take them off. I was stubborn and would not wear an eye covering after surgery. Anyway, long story. But, the crossed eyes are not crossed anymore, but now I have a lower right eye, and a straight left eye. The left eye,I can see out of, but the right eye, I can only see colors and shapes. I can see out of my periferial vision that is why I was accepted to be able to drive, with the help of glasses for my left eye (near vision).

I lived in the same home my parents bought (almost 38 years ago) about a week after I was born. That is all I know. I'm not sure on the story here. But, Mom was in the hospital and they were moving everything so when she came home, I could have a room. I had a brown crib in (Jeff's room), then Stacy (when she came 1 1/2 year after me) shared that room with me, and we had mattresses on the floor. We also had a horse that was a bouncy horse, I remember, and we'd like to play together. When Jenny came, her bassinet was in our room but we hated the baby crying, and Stacy didn't like tending or being around her and was bad (as Mom puts it). So, eventually, Stacy and I were moved downstairs to (Stacy's room). However, when Stacy was always in my bed, (she hated sleeping alone) and kicking during sleep, I wanted my own room. So, again I was moved to a different room (once my dad's office, now my room) where there was wood paneling. And Jenny came to share that room with me since it was larger. Sometime, later because Jenny was snoring, I wanted the "Play Room" Jenny's room and convinced her to move, and during a Relief Society visit, I moved her to her own room by the Family room. I stayed in this wood paneled room from about age 12 - 29 until I got married.

I went to school at a preschool that was in the neighborhood on Bell Canyon Rd. It was the house directly across Mill Canyon Dr. I liked to go to the preschool and funny thing is, I still remember the table we had to do crafts, the food activities (like learning how to fry potatoes and make potatoes into strips), and walking home (which scared me). But Sandy, Utah was an awesome city. It was newer city so there wasn't much crime, and roaming the streets was okay, Stacy and I would ride our "HotWheels" bikes up and down the street, go on bike rides, go on walks, every day. We'd walk home from Altara Elemtary every day, and in Middle School, and High School. It seems now, we are more aware of scary things happening, so children are not outside much, compared to the free days when we didn't know about crimes and strange kids, and going outside was okay. We were always playing outside. It was a happy time, and care-free. As a child, life was fun and not stressful. We didn't have to worry about guns or odd things happening in schools. School was with our pals, and we'd laugh, tease (something they don't do much because of the anti-bulling campaign), and have games with teams. We'd play kick-ball, tether, jump rope, and four square. We play dodge ball, and use an tent colored circle to hold in the gym. I like Sandy, Utah. That is why also because of the mountains (I know what direction everything is related) I moved back from Minnesota after getting married, to Utah again. It was a time, I could be with family and that was what I needed most with young children.

So, that sums up Sandy and about me.

 

STACY:

I was born in Salt Lake City at the LDS Hospital September 4th 1977.  I grew up in Sandy, Utah a suburb of Salt Lake City.  We lived in a split-level home that was yellow.  My mom and Jenny still live there.  At first the basement was not finished, so all of us girls shared one bedroom.  It was wall to wall beds in that room, but we had a ton of fun together.  We would roller skate in the unfinished basement around in circles.  There was a picture of us in our underroos laying out in our room as if we were at the beach.

 

Then, we finished the downstairs basement area.  It created a bedroom, office for our dad, a bathroom, laundry room, playroom and a family room.  Jackie and I first moved in together to the bedroom.  It was located in the northeast corner of the house.  We would play drive up window and one of us would stand inside while the others would pull up on our bikes from the backyard.  Jenny and Jackie later shared a room together and then one day Jackie moved out Jenny to the room near the laundry. 

 

Our neighborhood was nice and we were located near a lot of kids our age.  Some of my neighbor friends were the Granges, Brandts, Cudes, Sovics and the Tuckers.  My best friend growing up was Teresa Tucker and she lived next door until we were in 7th grade.  Silicia Sovic was my best friend in high school.  She lived at the end of our street on Mill Canyon Drive and 11000 South.  We would walk up and down the street to visit each other.   

 

Sandy continued to grow and expand while we were growing up.  A lot of the homes built around us were done in the 80's and then they expanded the small town to the South, Draper.  I remember traveling down a curvy small road to get to Draper. Then, they created a direct road through 10th East south to Draper.  A lot of the kids we went to high school were from Draper.  I consider Draper as my other hometown because we lived so close to the border of it.  We were on 11000 South and Draper started at 11400 South.

JEFF:
I was born at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah on January 31st, 1983. I recall Mom telling me that I was born around 9:45 pm that night, but I should probably double-check with her to make sure that I got the exact time correct. In any case, January 31st is my birthday. I remember dad and I talking about the curious numerology between our birthdays, which was particularly interesting because dad was a "Numbers Guy" being a Certified Public Accountant; his birthday was on 6/13/47, and my birthday was on 1/31/83 - 6/13 being the diametrically opposite configuration of 1/31 (January is the first of twelve months and June represents the midway point, and "31" and "13" are direct opposites of each other.)
I remember Mom and Dad telling me about the interesting day of my birth. Apparently, Dad got a flat tire on the way to LDS Hospital while Mom was having the contraptions... They rushed to the hospital and parked in the parking garage just west of the main hospital entrance and made it in alright with no serious complications or other issues, but when Dad later came outside to the car, he noticed that there was a nail in one of the tires, laying flat... I don't know if he had a spare or not, and I need to ask Mom about whether or not Dad had to get the car towed that night, but notwithstanding, Mom and Dad mused at the prospect of getting to the hospital in time to start the delivery process, driving on a flat tire (and not knowing it.) I can't imagine how difficult it could have been if Mom would have had to deliver me in the car, at the side of the highway, but I would have been happy to "pop-out" there too. In any case, I've always loved the timing of my birthday. January is an interesting time of year, frequently being the coldest month, and just one month removed from Christmas. At a young age, I grew a love for winter sports. My memories take me back to fun times spent sledding with cousin Adam (including the all-too-memorable, yet uncomfortable experience of Jackie and I sledding full-speed down Flat Iron Mesa Park on Christmas Day one year (I must have been 7 years old at the time) when the two of us slammed into a younger child who was standing in the way of our sled in the middle of the hill, and upon hitting him, he completely flipped over the top of us, which ended the family outing to the park pretty quickly, as we all sensed the awkwardness of the scene when the boy's family attended to him and we sensed that we should probably get going...) Other winter sports interests included snowboarding during my high school years, which I spent a lot of time pursuing by traveling up to Snowbird for all-day skiing and Brighton for night skiing. I also played ice hockey during each of the three years in high school, which was fun to play during the winter months, especially the late Friday night pickup hockey games which my buddies and I attended for $5 each to play ice hockey at the Cottonwood Heights Recreation Center with a bunch of old guys who assumed a "player-coach" role with us. I use these examples of winter sports which I loved doing as a young man to illustrate the great times I had during the winter season, leading up to, and immediately following my birthday. Within the past three years, my most recent favorite winter sport has evolved into snowshoeing, which my wife and I love doing on a regular basis, and which we are planning on doing during the last week of this month for my birthday. I seriously wonder if my love for winter sports evolved to what it has become due to the fact that my birthday has been right in the middle of the winter season (and the birthday presents received, and the winter activities which I became accustomed to, all occurred during this time of year). My birthday zodiac sign is "Aquarius" which refers to a sea horse, which is particularly interesting, since January is often the coldest month of the year, which leads the imagination to think of ice and snow, instead of tropics and sea creatures. The Chinese Zodiac for the year 1983 is a pig, which I adamantly disdained as a young man (struggling with childhood obesity) and even disliked into my adult years, until I discovered that the Chinese New Year begins in February, which technically puts me into the "1982" category, which gives me the Chinese Zodiac of "Dog." Granted, it's equally insulting to be called a "dog" as it is to be called a "pig," so I hope future generations can kindly refer to this aspect of my birthday with generosity, by remembering me with neither of these titles. :-)

We grew up in a yellow-shingled and tan-bricked colored house located at 10889 Mill Canyon Drive, Sandy Utah 84094. I had two best friends growing-up, Steve Enger who lived on Lafayette Street, and Daniel Savage, who lived just down the street on Mill Canyon Drive. When we were eight years old, we played on the same soccer team along with cousin Adam, which dad coached – leading us to a record of 17-0-1. I still remember dad taking me to those games and wearing his “lucky hat” which helped us win… The one game we tied was the game that dad wore a different hat… As a result, dad vowed never to wear the other hat again. That season was very memorable; the parents prepared orange slices and also brought Gatorade boxes for us to slurp after the games, which were primarily played at Flat Iron Mesa Park, in Sandy (a few miles east of where Jackie currently lives on Galaxie Drive). In any case, I largely look back on my childhood with fond memories, with the only exception being that I was troubled by the fact that I had to stop going to the Cude’s for preschool when Frank was arrested by the police – I still remember watching the news as a preschool aged child on the night that he was arrested and seeing a fleet of police cars down the street… The following day, Mom and Dad enrolled me at the Herschey Center Preschool which was located on 1300 E. just east of Alta View Hospital. On a side note, I absolutely loved the Herschey Center – the white bread and butter slices, the popcorn, the nap time, the animals in their cages at the front, including chickens, a snake in its own separate cage, and the playground area in the back where I recall playing with my newfound friends. It was fun being there. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better community than Sandy to grow up in. It was a place where new homes were constantly being developed; typified by suburban living. The LDS Culture of our childhood was wonderful because there were several children in our area which I became accustomed to seeing on a regular basis at church and other youth activities. I’m grateful that I was raised by a family where both Mom and Dad were home with us, and where we always felt loved. I remember talking with Dad a few years before he passed, when he expressed his love for Mom in the most simple but profound way by saying: “I have never been tempted to leave your Mother. I love her too much.” Home life was often interesting, as the girls frequently tried to get me to play their girlie games such as Barbies, which I treated with disgust. Unfortunately, with three girls to one boy in the home, and being the youngest, I found that my opinion was often overruled, which led me with no other choice but to play “school” or even Barbies from time to time. In some ways however, it wasn’t that bad because the girls had a really cool red Ferrari Car which Ken (the male Barbie doll) drove, which I often “zoomed” around the downstairs living room floor, to pass the time.

We belonged to the Crescent Park 2^nd Ward, of the Crescent Park Stake in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We attended church each week as a family, and I remember playing “the dot game” with my siblings and even with my dad during sacrament meeting. I also remember crawling under the benches during church meetings as a youngster to say “hello” to people sitting in the rows in front and behind us. Church was great as a youngster; the teachers often gave us prizes or treats, and later in my teenage years, I began to develop a spiritual testimony of the gospel from amazing young men leaders including Kevin Inglet, Mike Bohm, Mike Van Patten, and Sunday School Teachers such as Ben Timm, and even my Cub Scout leader Cara Peterson. I remember Bishop Doyle Smith, Bishop Hansen (who moved to Arizona), among others in the ward. I often played football with friends at the Dean’s old backyard (the Wood’s next door neighbor), including Steve Sutton, Geoff Sutton, Mark Shirts, Reagan Fugate, Aaron Krahenbuhl, Mitch Woods, Mike Middaugh, Andy Smith, Collin Willoughby, Jason Egan, among others. Time doesn’t permit me to include all of my thoughts and feelings about my childhood, because it was so great. Suffice it to say that the family life and the church community provided me all that a young man could have ever asked for, and I loved it.