We both came from strong family influences in the Church and community in Bellflower, California. We felt the need to leave the area to become our own family rather than be known as the relatives of someone else. We chose to move to Utah. I went job hunting unsuccessfully for weeks in Salt Lake City. I decided to fast for a period to attune myself to God for guidance. I fasted for three days until I felt that my fast was accepted. I then ended the fast and got two job offers within two hours. I went to work at Salt Lake Hardware, where my grandfather had worked decades earlier. My search also took me to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints headquarters, where I applied. There seemed to be no interest in me there, so I continued looking elsewhere. Later, I was called and interviewed for Church employment, but no offer came. The man deciding on the position I eventually filled weighed everything carefully for weeks, and he moved slowly toward making an offer. But an offer was made. And this is where I wanted to work. I began a nine-year career with the Church in the finance department. I took up the practice of stair climbing every day. I started on the ground floor, climbed to the 26th floor, and then descended to the 14th or 15th floor, wherever I worked. I did so slowly enough to prevent a sweat breakout. They didn't need a stinky accountant.
The family soon followed me to Utah. We looked for a home and found an unfinished home being built in a development in Kaysville, Utah. It took several months before the house was complete. It was a beautiful home on a lot and a half. The north lot had our home, and the half lot to the south became an orchard and garden. An extensive streetside parkway was planted with strawberries. While awaiting the completion of our house, we moved into a basement apartment in the home of the Farmington Chief of Police. He was kind to us, but his wife was very allergic, so no dogs were allowed. This wasn't easy. We were fresh in the area and knew no one to help with Scamper. Scamper's terrible living conditions changed her nature, so she was never the same sweet dog again. I still think of this as one of the heartbreaking moments of my life.
The Kaysville Ward at church that we moved into was HUGE. Many new housing developments had overwhelmed local leadership. If you didn’t get to church early, there wasn’t a seat for you, and you ended up standing in the back. I remember a man there who made a colossal mistake that taught me a lesson that carried with me for life. His employment often took him to a site in Southern California. He started having lunch daily with a coworker there. They talked a lot. They became romantically involved. He finally announced that he was leaving his Utah family to live with the Southern California woman. I had thought of him as being a much better man than me. I knew that if he could be so foolish, so could I if I was not careful. You must always be alert to little mistakes that can lead to big mistakes.
Kathy became pregnant with Aaron. Pregnancies were complicated for her, but deliveries were easy. At about three months pregnant, she began hemorrhaging. We went to the emergency room, where we were told that the baby was lost. They proposed a D&C procedure. In the Church, men as priesthood holders often give blessings to the sick with consecrated oil. When I laid my hands on her head, I felt a strong prompting that the baby would be born healthy. I then thought about the circumstances and lost my courage to say this in the blessing. Shortly later, her obstetrician called the emergency room and told her that we should wait before deciding that the baby had been lost. He prescribed bed rest for three months. That was challenging with a busy 2-year-old Melissa at home. Aaron was born a very healthy baby. And I have remembered ever since the lost chance to comfort Kathy with the blessing I should have given. Don't ask me where my head was, but I decided to rebuild the carburetor on our only car when Kathy was nine months pregnant. Of course, she went into labor while the car was down. She was sitting alongside the car, timing contractions. I called my neighbor across the street, and we got the car running. Then, we were on our way to the hospital. Hey, we got there. And I didn't have to deliver the baby enroute.
Kathy once had an exciting experience with black ice and our pickup. She was driving to Ogden for a doctor's appointment when the truck's back end slid sideways. Kathy spun around several times and ended up in the weeds alongside the road. Everyone was safe and healthy, and the truck was unhurt, so she continued to the doctor. I believe that was the last time she drove my pickup. Or any pickup I have owned since.
One time, when Kathy was outside gardening, three-year-old Melissa went into the house through the doggie door. We planned to entertain friends that evening, and Kathy had some strawberry pies in the fridge. Melissa pulled them out of the fridge, dropping them upside down on the floor. Melissa had also gotten into some cocoa powder and poured it on the furniture in the family room. The visitors that night commented on how they enjoyed the "chocolate smells” in our house. Melissa’s life sentence for her crimes was later pardoned, and she grew up to be a responsible adult.
I told Kathy that I would be willing to do any assignment in Church except for teaching in Primary (the children) and serving as a ward missionary. I picture the Lord having a chuckle over that. I was called to serve as a Primary teacher within two weeks. I had a great experience with lots of help from Kathy. A few years later, I was released to be called as a ward missionary. I also had a great experience with this assignment and connected with some wonderful people there. I learned I can't tell the Lord what I will and won't do. The Lord knows me better than I do and knows where I will succeed.
While teaching the children, I had one boy who was deliberately disruptive. Nothing I tried seemed to help. Then Kathy and I had him over to our house for lunch. He enjoyed it, and we got to know him a bit better. Then we visited him at his home. A feeling of tension in the home clued me in that something was happening there that caused the errant behavior. He appointed himself with the enforcer role in my class. If someone became disruptive, they had to answer to him.