A Red Reaction

I remember not long after we mover to Downey from Arizona, mom and dad decided to remodel the old greenhouse into a new addition for the house. Mom and I left for school. Dad worked all day in painting the new addition to have it ready for mom when she got home from work. Instead of doing it one simple color, he wanted a reaction. He painted the whole addition a nice whit the went back and painted one wall and the trim a bright fire engine red. He got the reaction he wanted from mom and us, then quickly repainted it to what mom wanted! It was hilarious!
~ Kantessa Heath, daughter

May I Have This Dance?

Mom (Twyla) and dad joined the square dancing club Country Carousels when we lived in St. George, Utah. They also had Jessica, Hannah, and I join. We would attend the weekly practices and then would go to different jamborees to dance. We each had our outfits with out petticoats and frilly underwear. As part of the square dancing club we were able to go dance at the Grand Canyon and the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell, AZ.
~ Sarah Juarez, daughter

The Drive

When I was in 4th grade dad got a job teaching on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, AZ. Mom (Twyla) was still working in St. George, UT and they decided it was best for the family to separate geographically for awhile to help make ends meet. So dad, Sarah, and I moved to Tuba while Jessica and mom stayed in St. George. The first year there Sarah and I both lived with dad, but the next year Sarah decided to stay with mom and only I stayed with dad. Almost every weekend we would make the four hour drive back to Utah to see the rest of the family. This continued for a few years until about a year after Kantessa was born. The whole drive we would be listening to dad's country tape. The two songs I remember the most were "Amazing Grace" and "How Much is that Doggie in the Window."
~Hannah Hamilton, daughter

Crazy Chores

When we lived in Tuba City, Arizona, mom and dad bought a Chevy Astro van. They made sure that it didn't have any carpet in it, but a plastic floor. About once every couple of weeks we would have to go outside and spray out the van to wash it. They it would have to be air dried so it wouldn't mildew and smell.

Dad was very particular about getting rid of dandelions in the grass. he would send us outside with a butter knife to cut the dandelions out of the lawn. We were not allowed to pull them or just cut off the tops. We had to dig down and then cut the entire plant out of the lawn.
~Sarah Juarez, daughter

T-Shirts Galore!

One day as mom and dad were out driving, they came upon a fabric store that had a table full of t-shirt material at a really good price. So what do they do, buy all of it. They came home with a ton of material and mom proceeded to make us all shirts and underwear. The shirts weren't the most fashionable and when kids would make comments about it, I remember telling them that at least our clothes were made with love.
~Hannah Hamilton, daughter

Ghosts

When we first moved to Tuba City, dad, Sarah, and I lived in a trailer house provided by the school district at the far end of town. We lived right in front of the hills on a cul de sac. At night Sarah and I would freak out hearing foot prints in the hall when everyone else was asleep. We had been told that the trailer park was built over an old cemetery or burial grounds. We were certain that we were hearing ghosts in the night walking through our home. Dad tried to reassure us that it was just the heater making noises, but we felt differently.
~ Hannah Hamilton, daughter

Movies

The first movie dad ever took me to was when we lived in St. George I believe. I don't remember why he had taken me, but we went and saw the James Bond movie "Never Say Never Again."
~Hannah Hamilton, daughter

Listening to the Sounds . . .

While living in Tuba City, dad loved to play his records throughout the trailer. He would always have on Patsy Cline, The Mandrel Sisters, and other old country singers. Modern country was an abomination to him and not really country at all. If he didn't have his music going he would often be lying on his bed watching TV (the only TV in the house) watching his favorites such as Hee Haw, Bonanza, Andy Griffith, Perry Mason, Laurence Welks, Gunsmoke, and any John Wayne or Clint Eastwood movie.
~Sarah Juarez and Hannah Hamilton, daughters

Fishing Floats

While living on Wake Island we would go swimming in the coral reef. The tide would carry in Japanese fishing floats that we would collect. We ended up with over a hundred of them. Some of these we still have. Most of the time living on Wake Island dad was sick. After leaving the island, dad ended up having surgery for stomach ulcers.
~Kristena Eden, daughter

Learning to Drive

Dad taught me to drive in a 1955 TMC flatbed truck.
~Jeff Heath, son

Peas, Jokes, and Spud Bars

I remember eating peas out of Grandpa's garden in Price, Utah. I also remember sitting around listening to grandpa telling jokes with my dad Jeff. Grandpa would send our family a big box of Idaho Spud Bars every year for Christmas.
~Kyle Heath, grandson

Falling From The Sky

One day Dad took Jeff and I out flying in his plane. Dad hit an air pocket and lost altitude. I started screaming because I thought we were going to crash.
Gail Heath, son

Overkill to Hunting

One time when Jeff and I went hunting dad forgot to change out the armor shell bullets. So when they would shoot a deer it would blow massive holes in the deer, shooting blood and guts everywhere.
~Gail Heath, son

Beans Anyone?

Dad loves beans with ham, so quite often he would cook up a pot of beans for dinner. Many times it would be for Sundays. There were many times where he would race mom (Twyla) home from church and get his pot of beans cooking before mom could get dinner started just so we could have beans for dinner. This was not always appreciated by the family as many of us didn't like his beloved beans and ham.
~Kristena Eden and Hannah Hamilton. daughters

Burnt, Hairy Deer Meat

When dad would go hunting and kill a deer, he wouldn't always get it cleaned very well. So we would then end up eating burnt (dad always likes his food very well done), hairy deer meat.
~Kristena Eden, daughter

Dad's Form of Begging

When one of us kids would come and ask dad for something, whether it was a treat to eat or going out with friends, over half of the time he would tell us to "lay down, roll over, and bark." If we were willing to do this then we would get whatever it was we were asking for, so most of the time us kids would then lay down, roll over, and bark.
~Hannah Hamilton, daughter

Building

My favorite thing to do was to build houses with dad. I liked fixing up the houses and build furniture with him. Dad would build the furniture and I would finish it. We made a cedar chest that Jeff also helped with. I would also finish furniture next to dad while he worked on building his airplane in the living room.
~Kristena Eden, daughter

Prairie Dog Days

One day Dad and I were playing around in Grand Junction, Colorado. They found a baby prairie dog whose eyes weren't even open yet. Dad let me take it home. I took it with me to school and everywhere I went. We lived in a trailer house at the time and it would come in my room and scream at me to feed it. One day it was running through the house chasing Gail when he slipped and stepped on it, killing the prairie dog.
~Kristena Eden, daughter

Going to the Hills

I also remember going out in "the hills" on Sunday afternoons and grilling on the hibachi. We would play in the woods while dinner was cooking and then go rock hunting afterwards.
~Jessica Kitterman, daughter

Fishing the Green River

I remember going on fishing trips to Green River and camping in the back of Dad's truck. We had to catch grasshoppers to bait our hooks. We poked the hook between the eyes and it made a crunching sound- gross!
~Jessica Kitterman, daughter