The Grandma Jar

Jim and Garry Porter 2017 This week we said goodbye to my Uncle Garry. My mom's younger brother  passed away on February 15, 2017. The funeral highlighted a life well lived. It was fun to learn things about my Uncle Garry that I didn't know. What I do know about Uncle Garry is that he has always been so good to me and to my family. My kids love to walk down and visit Uncle Garry and Aunt Rula every time they visited the mountain and they always knew they would receive a warm welcome. Uncle Garry gave the best hugs. It seems strange to say that a funeral is fun--and maybe "fun" isn't the right word, but Tuesday, February 21st was a wonderful day and an awesome reunion. I spent the day with some of the choicest people on this earth: my cousins. Porter Family Reunion 2017: Cousins picture Back row: Mark Black, Neil Porter, Wayne Porter, Mariann Taylor, Teb Black, Ryan Porter, Troy Porter Front row: Kathy Cowley, Me, Carol Howell, Susan Crawford ...

Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That's how long, I will be your friend. I grew up with the best friends in the world. We lived in Highland, Utah when it was a small farming community (unlike the thriving metropolis Highland is today). We went to school in American Fork and rode the bus to school each day--miles on the road bonds friendships. We learning to cross stitch, knit, and crochet together in Primary. We loved to go to Girls camp together. One year (and I'm not sure who can up with this crazy idea) we decided to cut my hair--what a fiasco! I loved the party's we had. One day we were partying at Layna's house and her mother taught us how to make "parched corn." After harvest, they husked and dried the corn on the cob. We took the corn cobs and popped the kernels off and fried them in an open pan. The parched corn tastes like Corn Nuts! Yum! The night we ...

I met John Larsen when I was 14 years old. He had just returned from a mission to London, England. His parents moved into our ward right before he left on his mission but I really don't remember meeting him then. He was kind to his little neighbor girl and regularly gave me rides to our ward choir practice. He liked to tease and he called me "cabbage head" because I was a freshman in High School (I don't see the connection). When I was 16-17 he was our Sunday school teacher. It was a big class and we really gave him a run for his money. Right after I graduated from High school my friend Debbie Nielson told me that John would like to date me--I was shocked, he was OLD (25). About a week later I went with the Young Adult group to the Manti Mormon Miracle pageant.   I rode in John's car and observed him carefully all evening. I decided it might be nice to go out with him. I usually stayed awake on long car trips to chat with my dad to help keep him awake so I did the...

Tuesday is Valentine's Day and love is in the air. Love has lots of definitions but some of the best and most enduring love stories exist right in my own family--Stories of love, sacrifice, and eternal devotion. Today's question for my #52 Stories Project is  "Do you know the story of how your grandparents met and fell in love?" And so on this Valentine's Day I'd like to share love stories for Russell and Eyvonne Black, Mark and Nina Black, and Var and Forest Porter--my parent's and grandparents. Russell and Eyvonne Porter Black Here is Rusell and Eyvonne's story in Eyvonne's own words. "After I graduated from High School I went to Snow College. While there I met Joyce Peterson and we became real good friends. Joyce was from Ferron, Emery county. I don’t remember the reason we went to BAC (Branch Agricultural College), it must have been something to do with sports because Joyce and I were walking from the BAC campu...