Our Version of the Cookie Jar

Sneaking food became an art form from an early age; discovering if it was edible became a mission. Here, I learned at 2 how to climb with a chair on to the counter top and pull out what seemed to be chocolate milk mix, but what turned out to be unsweetened Dutch brand baking chocolate. The reason for the absence of a smile was 3 fold: Just realized mom was taking my picture, had spilled the proof of my sneaking all down my onesie, and realizing that not all chocolate tastes the same.

This picture reminds me of the various homemaking skills my mother would constantly implement and quote from her BYU homemaking classes. The few I always remember her referencing were the tin foil covering the stove covers, running a non sleeping child across a cold kitchen table in the middle of the night to make them cry so they would sleep better, that she was taught how to cut hair, and that newspapers only were to be utilized to wash windows. She refused to use anything else to wash windows, as it was the only non streaking tool on the market.

I remember that we were one of the first to have a microwave as seen here reflecting my left foot in 1970. I believe it was a Frigidaire. In this kitchen was also her beloved wheat grinder where she made wheat flour from her buckets of whole wheat. I recall that her bread smelled great and was very dense and thick. When we made sandwiches with this bread, milk, water, or other beverage needed to be near so as to help get it down due to the density.

That was Mom's handwriting to the top of the photos in pink.

Lois Quotes

Whenever Lois thought we as children were lying, she would stare at us and bellow, "Buuulllhonky!"

Melba with her favorites.

Melba with her banjo ukelele

Melba and siblings  (not pictured Florence)

Vee and Melba

Welcome baby Ginny!

Two decades later... she's grown up and getting married.

Pictures of Lois

This picture was taken in May, 1966. Lois must have been 29. Monica was 1 1/2. Very funky 60's dress.

Christmas, 1966. Ray, 32, holding Tony, 17 months. Lois, 29, holding Monica, 2, and Loni, 8 months. She always looked so classy. Although I don't remember that Christmas specifically, I do remember those doggy slippers I was wearing. They must have been important to me.

January, 1968. Lois, 30, with Loni, 21 months. Lois was 8 months pregnant with Darron.

This was also January, 1968. Tony was 2 1/2 and Monica was 3.

Mom used to read us a story every night. I remember one of our favorites was called, "What Happened Next?" Every page would end on some climactic threshhold followed by the words, "What Happened Next?" You would have to turn the page to find out how the cliff hanger was resolved. Sometimes, the phone would ring in the middle of our story. We got so frustrated when Mom would interrupt our story to go answer the phone. She would put the book face down on the bed and warn us not to peek. Tony always did and Monica always scolded him for his disobedience.

When Mom came back and resumed the story, she would ask, "Did you peek?

Tony would always lie, "No-o-o."

Monica would always tattle, "Yes. Tony did."

Mom would look at Tony sideways, bite her lower lip and shake her head. She would repeatedly slide the index finger of one hand across the index finger of the other hand as she clicked her tongue in disappointment and exclaim, "For shame, Tony. For shame."

I remember there was a big, full pine tree just outside that window in the background. In the summertime, when we would take naps, Mom would open the window so we wouldn't get too hot. I remember pine cones falling on us through the window and sometimes bonking us on the head and waking us up. And sometimes, when we went in to go to bed, we would find pine cones and pine needles on our bed. I remember at least one ocassion when Tony leaned out the window and picked pine cones right off the tree and he and Monica had a pine cone fight. I still remember the sound that the wind made as it whistled and moaned through the trees. Even now, as an "old lady," I sometimes like to immitate that sound. My kids all know, "That's Mom's New Jersey wind noises."

Smith Family Photos

Monica, Tony, Loni, Darron, Kurt

Kurt, Tony, Adam, Mark, Ray, Darron, Loni, Monica, Tiffani

Birthplace: Ogden, Utah

The first settlement of Ogden occurred in 1846 by trapper Miles Goodyear as a trading post named "Fort Buenaventura".  Purchased a year later by Mormon settlers and renamed "Brownsville", the City was later named a third and final time, this time after Peter Skene Ogden, a brigade leader of the Hudson Bay Company who had trapped in the Weber Valley a generation earlier.

Ogden has its roots in the railroad industry as the Junction City of the Transcontinental Railroad, which was completed at the historic Golden Spike location at Promontory Summit in 1869.  For several decades Ogden was touted as the major passenger railroad junction of the West, owing to its central location for both major east-west and north-south rail routes.  This led to the business community developing the catch phrase, "you can't go anywhere without coming to Ogden." www.ogdencity.com  Coincidentally, Lois' sister, Vivian, married into the Bamberger family who constructed one of the original railroads.

Amalagated Sugar Co., Ogden, UT

Bamberger Railroad, 1947

Broom Hotel, 1912

Browning Automobile and Supply

David O. McKay Home, c. 1930's

Egyptian Theater, 1925

Grant School, Ogden, UT

Ogden High School

Ogden Music Co. 1910

Ogden Stockyards

Old Ogden, Bamberger Terminal

Ogden, Utah