Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day and so I have been thinking about Grandpa Hall and Grandpa Davis. Grandpa Davis enlisted in the Army and after boot camp decided that he wanted to try become a paratrooper. He trained as a paratrooper in Fort Benning, Georgia. He was a demolition expert and made several combat "jumps" in the European front. He served most of his time in the famous 82nd Airborne Division.




Grandpa Hall enlisted in the Army at age 17 and trained in Oregon where he would later serve two full time missions. He was such a good marksman that he was assigned as a scout and sent to the Pacific front as a replacement.




Both men served with honor and did their duty as they were called upon. It's sometimes hard for us who did not live through those times in the 1940s when so many sacrificed so much to be able to defeat the Axis powers that were determined to rule the world and destroy personal freedom. But, it is good to reflect and remember both the living and the dead that did do what their country needed them to do during that terrible time of crisis.


Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day to remember the "War to End All Wars", World War I. The Armistice was signed by the Germans and the Allies at the 11th hour on the 11th day of November 1918 as a symbol of the approach of the millennium. Then the first Armistice Day was commemorated on November 11, 1919. Unfortunately, the millennium did not come before a new World War broke out in May 1940 with the German blitzkrieg of Belgium, France, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

After World War II it was decided to change the name from Armistice Day to Veterans Day to remember all soldiers who have ever served in the military. So, it is appropriate to stop for a few minutes to recall those, especially those we know and love, who have given so much, to allow us to live in a free country and pursue happiness.

Cousin Found

I found a cousin. His name is Joe Davis and he lives in Southern California. He has done a ton of geneology work and has sent it all to me. So, I now have more Davis cousins that I need to follow up on. I am hoping that between Joe and myself we can make some important family connections. Here's how the line goes as far as we know so far.

Michael Davis - Don C Davis - Robert A Davis - James C Davis

Joe thinks that James was born in Liverpool, England and that he had a wife and family and worked for as a Palace Guard. Then he left his family to come to America and a few years later one of his sons came over to tell him that his wife had died. He then marries Emily C Davis when she is about 20 years old and he is about 68. They had 9 or 10 children together with the last one being Benjamin Harrison Davis born in 1889. James died in 1891. Benjamin Harrison Davis would have been grandpa Davis' uncle and Joe, his son, would be grandpa Davis' 1st cousin. Joe has red hair, his father had red hair and four of his eight children have red hair. Joe is 76 years old, but he says everyone thinks he's much younger (sound familar?). Joe said the picture I sent to him of grandpa Davis looks just like his younger brother, David Harrison Davis who died in 2004. Joe was a professional artist and worked as the art director for Boeing and he has always loves going out on the ocean on his big fishing boat.

As soon as Joe sends me some family pictures I will post them on the blog. I can hardly wait!

Davis Cousins (getting closer)

What's so important about finding cousins? I've never known any Davis cousins because grandpa Davis was an only child of Robert Andrew Davis and Lennettie Cowley and Robert ran away from home at age 14. He was born in Missouri in 1879 and married Lennettie in 1919 in Portland, Oregon. He had a twin brother that grandpa Davis had met twice when he was young, but he could not remember his name exactly. He thought it was a different name, but could not remember it. I remember helping look through reels of film trying to locate a family where there was twin boys born about 1879 with a head of household named Jim or James Davis. We had found from the Social Security Administration that his father's name was James Davis. He had also listed his mother's name as Martha Davis. Eventually, when I was in college I found a family in the 1880 Missouri census that just might fit. The father's name was James Davis, but the mother was Emily C Davis. There was a step daughter named Martha and several other children with the last two being Robert and John, twins born in 1879. Over the years I have pieced together little bits of information and just recently found that the twins names were Robert Andrew and John Jackson. So maybe Robert's twin went by the name of Jackson, which would certainly have been a different name. Then I have found that the family had one more son named Benjamin Harrison Davis born in 1889, the same year that Benjamin Harrison was elected President of the U.S. Apparently, the Davis' were very patriotic, naming their twins after Andrew Jackson and their last child after the recently elected president.
So, now I have discovered that Benjamin Harrison Davis was baptized in 1931 and sealed in the Arizona temple to Marie Halvorsen in 1946. I had found that he had at least three children that have all passed away, except yesterday I found out about another child named Joseph Davis that might still be alive. I got his email from a man whose mother was Benjamin Harrison Davis' step daughter from Marie Halvorsen's first marriage. He thought that Joe Davis, as he referred to him, was still alive. I, of course, immediately e-mailed him and at this moment am waiting to see if he will reply. I will keep you all posted.
So, why is it so important to find cousins? Because it is an important way to tie up loose ends in our genealogical lines. I feel sure that there are a lot of my cousins out there and that one or more will be able to flesh out our ancestors. So, I will continue to pursue this search, no matter what happens with this latest find. When President Hinckley initiated this New Family Search, one of the most important aspects of it was to be the ability of connecting up with our cousins to assist each other in this immense task of finding our ancestors and getting their work done for them in the temple.

OK - I know I've been really bad about keeping up on my blog. Brenda chided me yesterday about how I need to blog more. There are a lot of ideas I have had but, then I get too busy, etc, etc. My birthday was Sept 11 and I got to go fishing in the High Uintas, then I took grandma to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse for some Ribeye steak that I had been craving. My family really overdid it on the presents, but I really appreaciated everything. My children got together and got me a chainsaw and I've been dreaming about cutting down the plumb tree and building my two car garage!

But, that is only a dream. Bill thinks I should get a shoot from this plumb tree and plant it and while it's growing I can save my money for the new garage. Great idea. Bethany wanted to know if I had yet even started the chainsaw and I had to admit that even though I had got it all put together and adjusted properly that I hadn't started it yet. I needed to get some chain oil and a new gas can because the the gas has to specially mixed. So, duely prompted, I took care of the details and cut up some wood.

As you can see it cuts like a hot knife through butter!

So what has been keeping me so busy? I guess you'll have to stay tuned for my next installment as I tell how I'm hunting down Davis cousins.

Wild July

July is over and what a wild and crazy month it was! But, we made a lot of memories starting with Bryan and his family coming to town for the 4th of July week. Here we sit on the parade route anxious for the Mt Jordan 7th Ward parade.

Then later that day we went to Provo for a picnic with Danny. Of course that is when the ping pong craze started when Danny challenged Bryan to a game at his apartment's ping pong table. The trash talk alone was highly entertaining. But, we did make it over to the park for a nice picnic. Even Ashton enjoyed the food and good weather.

The highlight of the day was the Stadium of Fire. We have never been to the Stadium of Fire which has been held ever July 4th for the last 25 years. But, grandma got on the internet and found a steal of a deal and got six $45 dollar tickets for $10 each. So, Sarah got the wish of her heart to see the Jonas Brothers live and be able to take another friend, Emily, who is also crazy about the boys (the Jonas Brothers, that is). So, here we all are getting excited for the program to start.

The entire program was great with Glen Beck acting as the Master of Ceremonies. They had some great dance numbers a F-16 fly-over, some attack helicopters, the SheDaisy and of course the Jonas Brothers!!

While Bryan was here that week he tok his kids to the Natural History museum and Danny and Sarah and grandma got to tag along.

Anna had a Princess party for her fifth birthday and invited Kaylee and Sarah. Sarah was like Mary Poppins, helping Bethany keep the girls in line and minding their manners.

Then when it got too hot inside for Sarah and the kids a water fight in the back yard was in order!

Cooling off seemed to be the theme that week when we all went to Liberty Park for a hamburger barbeque. All the kids got wet running thru the water park area there. The hamburgers were great, with a seagull managing to gulp down about half of Nathan's hamburger when our backs were turned for a second. But, it was funny to watch the seagull struggle to get the whole thing down his throat! He waddled around sideways and stretched his neck and finally got it down. Here's Kaylee running thru the water spray.

Ashton liked the turtle and getting wet too!

The next week was Girls Camp (see previous blog). It was a great experience but a lot of work!

Bill and his kids came for visit on July 23rd. That night we celebrated Ashley's ninth birthday. Then the next day they got to go to the 3rd largest parade in the country, the Days of 47 Parade. Later, when it got too hot, a waterfight broke out and Danny got in on some the waterfight action. Danny was the enemy and had to fight off all the kids. They all loved Danny!

We packed everything but the kitchen sink and moved up to Bear Lake for a few days to enjoy the clear blue water and sandy beaches. Here is Jimmy enjoying himself in the water. He kept getting a little bucket of water and pouring it onto the beach! The little rubber boat was a lot of fun for all the kids. They could paddle around and enjoy the little waves from the ski boats and jet skis that went past. The lake goes out very shallow for a long way. You can walk out a hundred yards and it will only be chest high. That's one reason we have always liked Bear Lake because the kids are fairly safe. But, of course grandma insisted that anyone that got into the rubber boat wear a lifejacket!

The kids all wanted Dad to go out with them! They loved playing with their Dad in the water.

After playing hard it was time to rest and enjoy the warm air and beautiful sights. Here's Joey getting dried off and warm in his Dad's lap.

On the last full day we took our traditional Limber Pine trail hike. It is a beautiful walk through the pine trees and open meadows filled with wild flowers. Sarah was so good to Missy all week acting as her sighted guide and making sure she kept up with everything that was going on around her.

One of the most fun things we always do along the trail is look for crystals. Ben was the first to notice them years ago and is still the best at finding them. He is so happy to show the kids how to find them and gets just as excited about them find them as he does finding them himself.

The 500 year old Limber Pine here is at the half way point of the trail and we got another hiker to take the traditional picture of us all standing under the tree.

All the kids found some crystals along the way. Here's Jack with a cluster of milky white crystals that he found right in the trail.

After the hike we all went down to the lake to cool off. Joey loved running along and doing belly flops.

Jack and Billl challenged Sarah and grandpa to a game of Bocci. Actually a couple of games, but Sarah was uncanny in her ability to knock the opponent's ball away, so we won every time in spite of Jack's heckling his grandpa!

At the end of the last day we were all tired and ready for bed. Little Jimmy was a good camper and joined in all the activities, but was really tired. Here's his dad keeping him comfortable just before dusk. Jack made sure we had a campfire everynight and it was fun to sit around and tell stories and roast marshmallows.

So, July was a memorable month and a lot of fun with all the grandkids. We love all our children and grandchildren so much!

Priesthood at Girls Camp

Since Grandma is in the Young Women's Presidency and the ward needed some priesthood to go up with the girls, I thought I'd go. I went last year for two days and enjoyed it a lot, so I thought I'd go for the whole week this year. It was at the Stake's rough camp property in the Monte Cristo mountains West of Randolph, Ut (sometimes the coldest place in the U.S. in the winter).

It was a lot of fun to see the girls being silly and getting along so well. Here is a picture of them practicing for their skit for the first night campfire program.

One of the things that I did was help provide 'Ham' radio communications for the camp. I am a part of the Stake Emergency Radio Communications network, which meets on the air every week to check in and make sure our equipment is working. So, I mentioned to the group a few months ago that maybe we ought to plan to provide this service. After some meetings and approval from the Stake we set in motion the plan. Here's a picture of my friend from the 5th Ward and me sitting at our little station we set up. We had a schedule to make contact several times a day with someone in our group in Sandy. So we were able to pass messages back and forth. We had one emergency when a young women needed to be taken home for medical reasons and we were able to contact her father and let him know what was going on and arrange with someone to get her back home.

Great News

Well, its been a nerve wracking couple of months, but today we finally got the results of all the testing and Grandma Davis (my little sweetheart) has no new cancer.

It all started in January when we noticed a red spot on her right temple that seemed to be growing. When it got to be size of the end of my thumb I suggested that she go see the same dermatologist that I had been seeing about some stuff on my face. I just needed to shave more often (just kidding), but the dermatologist was mystified by the growth on mom's face. He took a small biopsy, but after waiting for weeks for the results of that, the lab was unable to say for sure what it was. As it turned out, they thought it was t-cell lymphoma, but did not want to say until they were sure. So, they asked for a bigger sample. The dermatologist then decided to just remove the entire growth, cut it in half and send one part to one lab and the other part to a different lab. I am very grateful that he just removed the growth. I think his policy of shoot first, ask questions later might have saved grandma a lot of problems. If he had not just removed it, that type of cancer is very aggressive, so who knows what might have happened. I am also certain that the blessing she was given , where Heavenly Father blessed her that she would be healed and that she should be comforted, was the most important reason that today we are celebrating the good news.

After the two labs still could not say for sure what the growth was, the specimens were sent to the Mayo Clinic. That took several more weeks and then she was referred to an oncologist at the Cancer Clinic. That is an intimidating place. They take every case very seriously and there are many people there in various stages of being treated for some very serious forms of cancer.

Then after having a PET/CT scan and a CT scan followed a few days later by a bone marrow biopsy, we waited for another couple of weeks to see what the doctor would say. I actually felt pretty certain that it would be OK. Your mother and grandmother likes to know as much as possible so she read as much as she could about it and got a little more worried the longer we waited. But, she never let it stop her from doing all that she normally did. We also certainly appreciated all the concern of her children and family, with all the fasting and prayers.

But, today we got the news that she has no more new cancer. What relief and a blessing.

She still has to have radiation treatments to insure that the cancer is completely eradicated from the place on her face. She will meet with the radiologist next week to work out the schedule, but the doctor thought that she could probably complete the treatment within two weeks. So, she is still planning on going to girls rough camp in July. She will also still need to meet with the oncologist every three months and have the same PET/CT scans she had before every six months for the next two or three years. If all goes well, in five years the doctor says she could say she is cancer free.

So, onward and upward!

Space Aliens

Mom & I look like space aliens in bed at night now. We are both hooked up to our seperate CPAP machines with a hose that connects to full face masks. Mom said we could imagine that we are fighter pilots. But, so far, Mom has woke up with no headaches. If she can go a week with no headache, then I think it is worth it. But, for me I have had one sleepless night and another good long sleep, but I was still sleepy all day. I even fell asleep on the train this morning. We are going into the sleep doctor for our follow up visit tomorrow. Maybe he will reduce the force of the air on mine. When it is at full force for my setting, I feel like a dog with it's head out the window going 60. Sorry, no pictures with this post. Mom would kill me if I took a picture of her with her mask on and posted here!

Grandkids For The Week

It's been a nice week with the Grandkids from Idaho. They came down with their Dad late Tuesday night. Then after an afternoon swimming on Wednesday with their Dad, we had a birthday party for Missy, Joey and Jimmy who had birthdays recently. Grandma made each of the kids their own birthday cakes and after singing Happy Birthday everyone got some cake and ice cream.

Missy is 13 now, Jimmy is 2 and loves spaghetti (you can see it on his face) , and Joey is 6 and going to 1st grade in the Fall.

The next day, Thursday, Bill took the kids that wanted to go, to the zoo. They had a great time watching the monkeys and all the other animals. Everything went well except for a little incident Jack had with a crocodile and they all had with a giant spider.

But they managed to survive the attacks and live to tell about it.

Early Friday everybody got dressed up for some nice pictures. Bethany had us all go the the old train depot in Lehi that has been turned into a museum and park. Bethany took some professional pictures while I snuck around with my little digital camera and tried to get some candid pictures.

Here's Grandma with some of her grandkids, Joey, Anna, Matt, Ashey, Joey and Missy. Matt and Joey enjoyed playing together and Bill and Missy had a laugh together.

Then we all worked together on some kites. Grandpa and Jack worked on a diamond kite and Grandma and Ashley created a sled kite made from paper. Jack's kite flew very well, It had a long 20 foot tail made from sting and strips of plactic garbage bag. The sail was also made from a garbage bag. Unfortunately, the wind was so strong that Ashley's paper kite ripped apart and she resorted to a spare kite we brought. Jack's was flying great until he got all tangled up in Joey's kite. After getting them untangled, Joey got his kite up and it wa flying so well it pulled right out of his hand and flew away. The last we saw, it was sailing high above the trees you can see in the background in this picture. Ashley's spare kite decided to chase after Joey's. So, that was the end of that. So then we got out our big Romboid Box kite. But Grandpa crashed it so hard it was completely destroyed. We will have to learn more about flying kites and try that again another time.

Saturday was filled with fishing in the morning, swimming in the afternoon and the movie Race to Witch Mountain in the evening.

Here you can see Jack working on his line. He is an old hand at fishing. He caught the first fish of the day, but decided to let it go. The Joey caught a fish and also decided to let it live another day.

The Murray pool was a great place to hang out and cool off. The water was warm, but the air was starting to get little cool. Missy loved going down the waterslide. Danny had come up from Provo just to see the kids and have some fun with them and the kids all loved playing with him. He took Missy down the slide so many times we lost track and the other kids begged him to give them piggy back rides in the water.

It was a great week with the kids and hope to see them again later this summer.

Grandma on the mend

I am nursing Grandma today, so that is why I guess I've got a little time to sit here and blog. She had a little medical procedure this morning where the doctor took a sample of her bone marrow (och!!). She is resting quietly and getting a little sleep. I need to stay with her to make sure she doesn't try to hop in the car and go shopping. She is not supposed to drive or make any decsions today. But, tomorrow she will be up and back at it again.
We are looking forward to seeing Jack, Missy, Ashley, Joey and Jimmy later tonight. We are going to have a birthday party tomorrow for Missy, Joey and Jimmy who all have their birthdays this month.
Maybe we can find some time to fly some kites this week. I'll have to see if I can post some pictures of us flying our home made romboid box kite at the Point of the Mountain Hang Glider park.

Grandpa Davis' First Blog

This is my first attempt at blogging. I thought it would be fun to try to keep all my children and grandchildren up to date on what's happening with us here in the land of Florin.