Football Rivalry - JC

It was October 20th 2006 and we actually didn’t have school that day for some reason but we still had a huge football game against our crosstown rival, Starrs Mill. It was a big game because this was the first year our two schools would play each other on a varsity schedule. Since Whitewater was a new high school we didn’t play 4AAAA football schedule until our school had all four grades. New schools in GA start out as just one grade and then build up to a full school over the next 4 years.

This game was big and a lot of smack talk had taken place. We were all hyped up and ready to go. When we arrived at Starr’s Mill the stands were packed. It was pretty much a sold out crowd. Around 4 or 5 thousand people were in attendance and I was super pumped. I wasn't starting but I would come in every other series.

We got down early on a long run up the middle by their QB who had committed to Navy. He was one fast white dude. It was through my hole which bothered me, but it was all good. They scored again before halftime and we went into the locker room down 14-0. During halftime a few of the seniors gave inspirational speeches and we all got pumped up again. After half-time we quickly we scored on an 80 yard bomb. This brought us within 7 points. After our first score both defenses held tight til the end of the fourth quarter. With 2 mins remaining we threw a halfback pass to our quarterback which brought the score to 13-14. We expected an extra point that would tie the game and sent it to overtime but Coach McCreary yelled, “Go for 2”. At this time we knew this play would be the game. We called a pass play but right away it went a muck. As our quarterback saw this he ran for the pylon himself. He was met at the pylon by one of the opposing players. We were unsure if he got in because it was on the other side of the field. The two seconds of doubt were ended by the referee signaling that the conversion was good and we went up 15-14! Everyone went crazy!!! It was one of the best feelings. We then held their offense the next two mins and won the game! It was definitely the most exciting game of my high school career. I will always remember this!

J.C

Return to Honduras

Last Wednesday after dropping Danika off at the MTC, I flew out to Honduras to do some mends on the temple walls down there.  We did the project in June of 2012 but the walls need mending and I was to teach the locals how to mend any future issues.  Honduras was an adventure.  It was hot and beautiful there, but the nights were hot and it’s hard to sleep.   As with all my temple projects, it has also been a trial, challenge and filled with faith, tears and lots of prayers.  But also like all my temple projects, I have seen miracles and answers to prayers.  Excerpt below from my letter to Danika.

"I also started training Gina, a sweet artist lady.  She speaks limited English and I speak very little Spanish so it was a four hour adventure...but it's amazing how much you can understand working together by ourselves.  She will come back tomorrow when the translator temple engineer is here so I can make sure she understood everything." 

In the end, things turned out well, Gina thanked me for letting her "share in the art passion" and while she didn't speak much English, I realized she understood most of what I was telling her.  The country and people are beautiful and I feel it a privilege to have been part of this temple.

 

View from my room.  I stayed in the patron housing just across the parking lot from the temple.  Safe and easy access.

 

 

 

 

Fall Memory - Hermana Jennings

When I think of autumn-time I am taken back to cheer leading and football games and being with friends and just smiling. It takes me back to those times when all I wanted was to grow up. Now I wish I could go back to that life that I thought was so "complicated",  but now i realize it was simple and carefree. Right now it is so hot here which is making it really hard to thing of a fall memory but all y'all in the states enjoy the cool weather cause it is like an oven here! haha but i love this place. Love y'all family and i hope y'all write on this blog.  I would love to hear from y'all.

Hermana jennings

Pheasant Hunt - Grandpa Jack

When I was a boy my favorite time of the year was the annual pheasant hunt. Each year the entire family, aunts, uncles, cousins, and everyone else would gather in Benjamin, Utah at the home of my Uncle Arch and Aunt Lucile Huff. In those days Benjamin was a long way away from Salt Lake. There were no freeways or high-speed roads and it was necessary to travel on a two-lane road that went through the downtown of every little community.

We would start out by going South on State Street and travel through Murray, Midvale, and Draper. After we had rounded the point of the mountain we then had to drive through American Fork, Pleasant Grove, Linden, Orem, and arrive finally in Provo. Getting through Provo always took the most time as it was a much larger city than the others. In the previously mentioned cities the highway went right down the main street of each town. Once we left Provo then had to travel through Springville and then move on to Spanish Fork. Once in Spanish Fork we turned west and drove another five miles until we have finally arrived at the Huff family home.

It took many hours for our journey and so it was quite common for us to go down the night before and stay
overnight. That was always an adventure as Norm and Lucile only had a two bedroom home. On that occasion the adults would get the beds and the couches to sleep on and the kids slept on the floor. It didnʼt matter, we were with family and everyone was excited for the opening day of the pheasant hunt. Once the appointed day had arrived we had a family ritual that we adhered to religiously. In the morning the men and boys would go out to chase and shoot rooster pheasants. During those hours the women would stay behind and prepare a huge Thanksgiving type dinner.

My aunt Lucile and my mother were both excellent cooks and the meals which were prepared were fantastic. In the afternoon everyone would go out and enjoy the walk through the fields. In addition to those who were carrying guns all the ladies and the kids would spread out and we would move through many a sugar beet field. With all of the members of our family we formed a line as much as 100 yards wide. It was quite a sight and very exciting particularly when the dogs would point out a rooster pheasant and the bird would make every effort to get away. The birds seldom prevailed and my dad and his brothers Uncle Wes and Uncle Mervin were all excellent shots.

When I was finally old enough to carry a gun I could hardly contain my excitement as pheasant hunting each year was the highlight of my year. Most kids would reckon time from Christmas to Christmas or from their birthday to birthday but not me, as far as I was concerned time was measured from pheasant hunt to pheasant hunt. I can still remember the first pheasant I ever shot and to this day I could take you to the exact
spot. I was only 12 years old at the time I felt as if I had conquered the world when in I knocked the bird down. As the years went by my cousins Martin, Paul, Sherm, Keith, and David would join my brother Al and I for the annual hunt. Some of my fondest memories of my childhood were with the entire family gathering together to enjoy one anotherʼs company, partake of a wonderful meal and to hunt pheasants.

After Judy and I were married and had a family of our own we still continued to go to Spanish Fork each year to join with other members of the family in the annual pheasant hunt. In later years we no longer met at the home of Lucile as her husband Uncle Arch had passed away. After that time it was quite common for us to assemble together at the home of my cousin Marlin Huff in Spanish Fork. Judy and I would load the kids in the car and travel there in a much shorter period of time as there were freeways and wide roads on which to travel. Also during those years I had an outstanding hunting dog, a Hungarian Vizsla. We named the dog Sandy as her AKC registered name was Sandy N. Arany. She was a great hunting dog and was very skilled at finding birds. As it was when I was a boy the family gathered and the men and boys went out in the morning to shoot birds, and the ladies fixed dinner. Once again in the afternoons we all joined together, spread out and formed a line as we marched up and down through the fields. I doubt that there are many families who enjoyed the great association that we had during those precious years. However, like everything else in life things come to an end and as the years went by fewer and fewer relatives showed up for our annual pheasant hunt. As I look back now I have very fond memories but I havenʼt picked up the shotgun in over 20 years.

Grandpa

OK - I realize these are not pheasants, but it shows the young Jack hunter and it's a great picture!

Football Fun - Jody

My autumn memory comes from the football field in 1978. It was my junior year and we had enjoyed a successful season thus far and we were preparing to play Washington County. Washington County was a new school in our district and as players we did not know what to expect from them. However we had a secret weapon, our coach Ronnie Massey.  He had played quarterback for Washington County when he was in high school and his high school coach was still their current coach. Yes Coach Boggs had been coaching Washington County for 15 years.

 I will always remember Coach Massey calling the defense together and saying. I don’t know if it will help but when I was the quarterback coach Boggs would signal in the plays to run and these are the signals. He proceeded to show us about 20 different signals that they had used when he played and what plays they represented. He told us that they may have changed the signs but he wanted us to know them just in case they had not. Well the night of the game arrived and we traveled down to Chatom to play them. The game started and we kicked off to them. Once their offense was on the field their coach signaled in the play. The offense got the play and also our defense got the play. Turns out that the signals had not changed in 15 years and we knew every play they were running. It was fun at first but then we started to feel a little guilty. They never passed the 50 yard line that night and we won 30 to 0. If only life was like that game and we always knew what to expect. 

Jody

Deer Hunting with Derek - Melinda

As I child remember our school system would get 2 days off of school for deer hunting. Seems rather odd now, but we loved to get out of school and  it didn't matter the reason. Each break dad and Derek would pack up and leave the women behind so they could go off on their big hunt. I had always wondered what deer hunting was like, but was never invited to go.  Finally in high school I decided I wanted to experience the hunt also.  So Derek consented to taking me hunting with him early one weekend morning.  When he said early I had no idea that it meant “dark”. We donned our orange attire and headed out into the blackness in search of those elusive deer. The drive the long and the hike even longer for us to reach our perch.   Our goal was to be on the mountain at dawn. I believe we achieved our goal and by then I was tuckered out and tried with no success to curl up on a large rock and go to sleep.   Derek kept telling me that I needed to be looking around for our prey to come in sight. I had that fleeting thought as I looked at the mountain across the way that if we got a deer there would be more hiking in store to go find it.  We got to see the dawn arrive, the morning and even the afternoon sun, but never did we see that elusive deer.  All was not lost I had found a jaw bone and skull of an animal and was so excited by my find.  The hunt was a success in my eyes and the prey was pretty easy to catch. Most important I was able to spend the day with my brother- the mighty hunter. ( We took a picture that day and I can remember it in my mind, but cannot seem to find it)

Pumpkin Painting Tradition - Autumn

Every Halloween my mom cuts pumpkins out of wood and we paint them. I've been doing it since I was 3 and thankfully I've gotten better at it. We have all sorts of themes to each pumpkin: Banana, pirate, cheer-leading, politics, salad, even Christmas pumpkins! (We were a little late one year) But each pumpkin is different and I  love that time with my family and we get creative and think of what we are going to  paint each year.

I'm holding the first pumpkin I every painted!

An Autumn Affair - October 2013 - Nathan

Last month I helped my roommate throw a rather large party in our backyard. In order to obtain a certain fall aesthetic we put a lot of work it it, including hours of yard work, decorating, and I built a stage and a barn facade to add a bit of atmosphere. In the end the most appealing aspect was watching everybody enjoy the party, seeing them in awe at the ambiance, laughing with friends, and listening to great music. We had three bands perform and they were all fantastic, my favorite is a good friend of mine, Kelly Bryan. I loved the entire evening because the weather was cool, we had two fires, and the sum of it created the perfect memory to bring in the Fall. Now I'm beginning to think of more ideas so this new stage in our backyard can get some more use out of it.

Nate

Gilbert Temple Painting

Friday, September 6, 2013

What a week!  It is finally time to do the Gilbert Temple Job after having been pushed back three times!  As I got ready a week ago to come, it almost didn’t seem real!  Amanda and I mixed product back in June, thinking we were coming in July and I’ve been buying product and supplies since January so it’s great to finally get the stuff out of my basement.

Monday we drove down.  Everyone met at the house at 6:15am…bright and early!  Camron agreed to come down for the first week to make sure things were running smoothly, help with moving scaffolding and getting our temporary help set up.  I was especially grateful he was driving the van as just before the Beaver Exit he pulled over to the side of the road.  We stopped as well wondering what was wrong.  One of the tires on the van was splitting and Camron said we needed to find a tire shop.  Literally as he pulled into the bay at the tire shop, the tire went flat.  The tender mercies and watchful care of the Lord had already begun.  With the speed we had been going and the way the van was loaded so heavy, Camron believes that if the tire had a blow out on the freeway, the van very easily could have rolled.  I’m so grateful I wasn’t driving it and that we were watched over and protected!

The drive wasn’t bad until about Prescott /Sedona area and then traffic started to look like we were coming in to LA.  It about drove us all crazy…slow, stop and go for the last couple of hours.  We were all so happy just to arrive.  But alas, our arrival wasn’t all warm and fuzzy as it should have been when arriving at a vacation home (best deal in town for our group to stay at…about $23/day per person).  We realized that nothing had been cleaned from the last group…dirty sheets, dirty towels, dirty house.  Not exactly what we wanted to come in to after driving for 13 hours.I talked with the home owner who was embarrassed and mad and said we’d get our $250 cleaning deposit back.  But that night we had to change our own sheets, clean our own bathrooms and do some work instead of relaxing.

I thought “at least we’re getting the problems over with right off.”  Little did I know what Tuesday would bring?  And yet with the experience I’ve had with temple projects, I should know that the unexpected always happens!

Tuesday morning we had to be on-site at 6am for the contractor orientation.  5:45am was pretty early since we’d traveled so far the day before. We had to sit through a boring 30 minute video, but then received our official sticker for our hard hats that showed we went through orientation.  Then we went up to the third floor of the temple where we met Buddy and were shown which rooms to start in.  We were all excited to get going and started to tape, but immediately noticed that the walls were NOT in good shape.

In the past we have come in to immaculate dry wall and painting…some of the nicest ever seen.  This was not the case here!  They had brush strokes through all the edges, divits, holes, gouges, chunky caulk…not temple worthy!  I pointed out a few problems to the contractor and asked what he wanted me to do?  He was pretty indecisive.  After looking over all the walls in all seven sealing rooms, I said they had to be fixed since my contract says I will inspect prior work and then be responsible for the walls once I start my work.  The walls were definitely not good enough to want to approve them. So Tuesday we pulled off the job while the painters were called in immediately to basically start over on our surfaces.

In addition, I was surprised to find that the outside areas around the inset panels in each room were painted the color that I had requested as the base for our faux.  So I mentioned that I was pretty sure those areas were supposed to be a different color since we weren’t painting them.  Then to my surprise, the contractor said that we “were supposed to paint them.”  That sent me into a bit of a panic mode since the only thing I bid were the inset panels, NOT all the walls in all these rooms! Thankfully I’ve since found the email from a year ago where they sent me the elevations I was supposed to bid (exactly as I thought…insets only).  I’m not sure when or where along the way they thought otherwise.  So, we’re in the process of bidding the rest for a possible return trip.  We’ll see whether they want to pay for faux or for plain paint.  J

On a brighter note, the architects were on-site yesterday when we had one large sealing room completely done and they LOVE our finish!  They would like to do it everywhere instead of having the plain paint.  Meanwhile we are making great progress!  Everyone is doing such a great job!  Heidi Sorenson and Patti Emery are working with us for their first temple job.  Poor Heidi was stressing pretty bad when we first started.  I could see it and knew exactly what she was going through since that is what Kim, Vicky and I experienced in El Salvador.  The weight of possibly “messing up” in the temple.  I put my arm around Heidi and told her not to stress because I had already done it for all of us more than once.  She has done a terrific job!

So the adventures continue.  Hopefully week two will start off a little more smoothly!  We are almost finished with all seven sealing rooms and will move down to the second floor tomorrow to start on the Veil Halls and Celestial room.  The C-room is incredible!  The details and height is staggering!  40 feet in the air and we will be up there painting walls.  Thankfully they plan to put us in a lift with an operator so we won’t hit anything we shouldn’t.  Should be an adventure!  Unfortunately they are being super funny about taking any pictures on-site at all…even outside the temple, so you’ll all have to look up http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/gilbert/construction/ to see photos.

Alicyn

Southern Magnolias

The Jennings are excited to announce that our very own Autumn Jennings has been voted onto the Sophomore Class Homecoming Court!! Yippee and so exciting. I think the most exciting part for her is that she got to go shopping for dresses. Unfortunately not a lot of modest dresses are out there for sale so now I am busily sewing away to make it the perfect dress. Pics to come!  The game is on September 13th. She is also playing Fall Lacrosse - so life is busy for us.

Lauren is loving her mission - she did let us know this week that somehow her SD card got all erased so she lost all of her pics. Fortunately she has been sending a bunch home each week. She was OK with it - I think being a missionary helps put all things in perspective.

JC left yesterday for Louisiana where he will be doing a short business internship with an old college roommate of Jody's does sales. Then he is back to BYUI for Fall Semester.

Jody and I are getting ready to start another semester of our church service missionaries doing the Pathway program.  If you are interested to learn more - here is the link explaining about the pathway program.  www.byui.edu/online/pathway

Melinda