CO Cooks in Tucson for spring break (March 23-30, 2021)

Bruce and I were thrilled that Michelle, Josh, the boys came to spend their spring break with us in Tucson!  Many thanks to Michelle for taking wonderful photos and to her and Ben for writing about our fun activities in our family journal.

March 24th: "We went to the Desert Museum today and enjoyed seeing the snakes, lizards, Gila monster, mountain lion (which was up nice and close)--same with the ocelot, otter, hummingbirds, sting rays, so much more! We had pizza and watched the movie "Yes Day!" when we came home. It was a great day!"

March 25th: "In the morning Ben and Grandpa put together a remote control helicopter (a big hit!) and we enjoyed some badminton and basketball as well as trampoline jumping and swinging. Grandma had a CHOICE Humanitarian board meeting and so we went hiking in Sabino Canyon and did the Bajada Loop Nature Trail and also went up to the dam--there was water in it and everyone (except me/Michelle) put their feet in and waded around."  [Years ago we used to float in a little raft and swim at the dam, but erosion from the 2003 Aspen wildfire on Mt. Lemmon filled it in.] 

"Afterwards we went to the Children's Museum and had a great time exploring all the fun things there.  Favorites were the 'shopping' area and the air tube that you put scarves through and tried to catch them as they came out, and also the 'jumping' camera where we saw how high up we could jump replayed in slow motion." 

Michelle forgot to mention Grandpa's juggling skills!

Grandpa finished off the day in traditional style with Michelle first--for old times sake--and then Ben and Ethan!

March 26th: "This morning we saw javelina (Josh spotted them) beyond the fence in the backyard."

"We drove to Eloy and did SkyVenture indoor skydiving. Ben and Josh's first time!  It was a blast!  Ben did an awesome job."

"Then in the evening we went to dinner at Pinnacle Peak and wore ties (we went to Savers earlier to buy some for this special occasion) and got them cut off at the restaurant because--No Ties Allowed!  We watched the Wild West stunt show after dinner and the boys enjoyed the stunts.  (Ethan also ate the most steak at dinner.)"

March 27: "Today we went to the Funny Foot Farms and got to feed and pet goats, chickens, emu, and pigs. We held a chicken too!" 

"We got the party pack of Eegees (strawberry, lemon, pina colada, and lime). Ben devoured it! We went swimming over at the condos. Grandpa caught a snake in the backyard while he was barbecueing."

March 28: "We watched home videos and went to church. Ethan learned how to do the monkey bars, played games (Ben learned checkers against Grandpa), did a treasure hunt with clues Grandpa drew."

March 29: "Ethan learned how to pump and swing on his own!  We've enjoyed a day playing outside--badminton, trampoline, basketball. Ben worked on a secret box project he built with Grandpa and Ethan made a rubber ball gun with Grandpa. We all helped put Grandpa's tools in a new tool chest and organize it. Grandma played badminton with the kids and me and showed Ethan and James some cool bells and played that Ethan was her pet monster.  We went back over to the condos to swim and relax in the jacuzzi tonight as well."

"We also enjoyed playing Kings in the Corner card game almost every night.  Tonight Dad, Mary Lee, Josh and I played doubles badminton with a glow-in-the-dark birdie. It was fun to play underneath the moon--it was almost a full moon. Very fun!"

Ben said, "I loved seeing Ethan doing the monkey bars and pumping on the swing set. James was so cute doing his little bum bounce. It was the first time seeing it.  I loved going to places like the Desert Museum. I went indoor sky diving. It was amazingly cool.  I learned to play checkers. I saw a snake in the wild in the back yard at night time too. I just saw a toad or a frog in the wild." 

We loved having Josh, Michelle, and the boys come to visit. In the morning the day they left we went to Sabino Canyon where we talked with a ranger and the boys became Junior Rangers. 

We look forward to the rest of our children and grandchildren coming to see us in future!

Dec. 22-30, 2020 Christmas Fun in Tucson

We had a wonderful reunion over the Christmas holiday!

Camille and Bryan arrived the evening of Dec. 21st, and the rest of the family came on the 22nd and 23rd.  Tytan, as president of TBTI Inc., handed out the latest in TBTI branded products: white monogrammed towels and face masks.  

On Dec. 23rd we put two courses of block on the trampoline pit retaining wall.  We filled the cells with caliche, wet it down, and compacted it so it would act as a natural cement after it dried. It only took a couple of hours with everyone working together.  Once the trampoline was installed, Ty, Ben, and Craig showed us some great moves!  

Following our tradition (since Nathan and Megan gave us the green journal way back in 2013), many wrote about their favorite reunion activities and how they saw family members helping each other.  Olivia wrote, "I helped babies cross rocks to the trampoline."

Christmas Eve began with an invigorating High Fitness class lead by Michelle and Camille in the back yard. They were perfectly synchronized and tough to keep up with.

We loved playing games--badminton, cross net, and a variety of card games, including Magic and Monopoly Deal, and decorating gingerbread men. Ava wrote, "I liked playing games and swimming. It was super fun!"

Tytan wrote, "I was very grateful that Uncle Craig got me about 230 Magic cards when he didn't have to."  Craig responded, "I have also enjoyed playing and teaching how to play Magic: The Gathering, and building decks together."

Brie and Olivia wrote a note to Santa and left him a snack.  They found a thank you note from Santa the next morning.

Camille and Bryan fixed a delicious meal of ham, potatoes, rolls, and a spinach salad. (In fact, we had delicious meals throughout the week!) We set the tables with paper plates (for James and Miles, plus Ava, who was gracious to sit with them), white china, and Grandpa Scott's china and "crystal" goblets from the discount store. Uncle Craig showed Ava, Tytan, Aubrie, and Olivia how to fold the napkins in a fancy way. This dinner was one of Grandma's favorite memories because it reminded her of Great Grandma and Grandpa Scott and how Grandpa always loved being with our family--and because Ken and his friend Amber joined us from Mesa!

After dinner we gathered in the family room and watched the beautiful church video "The Christ Child." Then we went into the living room enjoyed piano performances and singing.  

Michelle wrote, "Enjoyed listening to Kaitlyn, Ali, Max, Tytan, Ava, and Ben play the piano.  Immensely enjoyed everyone singing Christmas songs on Christmas Eve (specifically Megan rockin' out to Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas' and fan girling when Kaitlyn and Max rapped Justin Beiber's 'Drummer Boy'." 

Tytan's "Tips" cup is just out of view.

All the grandkids showed great restraint on Christmas morning, waiting patiently while watching "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" until 8 a.m. to open presents.  As Nathan said, it was great to see how excited all the kids were on Christmas morning.

There were many wonderful gifts exchanged, including an original song, "Come Closer to God," by Ben for Grandpa, and a self-portrait by Grandpa for Grandma!

One of the most popular gifts was a light saber for each of the grandkids.

We enjoyed a visit from our special family friend, Paula Carlson.  Grandpa was thrilled that Michelle asked him to cut her hair--just like old times when she was in high school. 

Michelle wrote about "James being in his diaper practically 24/7."

We had great weather the whole week. It was a little chilly for swimming in the pond, but Brie, Miles, and Ethan braved it. Most everyone enjoyed swimming in the heated outdoor pool at Ventana Vista where we own a couple of condos.

Michelle mentioned a highlight was Ethan LOVING his paint by sticker book.

The hot tub and pickle ball courts were also popular throughout the week.  A highlight for Grandma was when Miles got out of the hot tub to give her a hug--seven times in a row :).  Josh mentioned that he enjoyed playing "shark" in the pool.  

Highlights on Sunday were visiting the temple grounds and having sacrament meeting as a family in the back yard.

We loved being together to celebrate Kate's 16th birthday!!!

A major endeavor was taking the family photo.  After the first attempt didn't yield the best results, we called Nathan out of his Zoom meeting to rejoin the family for another try. In the end, we got a great photo--worth all the effort! 

Highlights on Monday were a family hike in Sabino Canyon in the morning and horseback riding for the kids in the afternoon. 

The photo bomber gleefully prepares to make her move....

Nathan mentioned a highlight was going to the dam--"but the dam was only holding back sand."

The long-awaited, quadrennial family golf tournament took place on Tuesday, Dec. 29th, the last full day of our reunion.  

 A little prep work before the big game.

Nathan wrote that a highlight was "going golfing--and coming home with more golf balls than we went with, and taking two times as long to complete nine holes as expected."

While some got lots of great exercise battling it out on the greens at Ventana, the rest of us had a great time chatting, playing games, and making cookies and popcorn at home.  

Note the clever arcade game complete with joy stick! Both Michelle and Josh mentioned that a highlight for them was seeing Ben, Brie, and Olivia make and "sell" activity books.

Miles duet with his mom was another highlight of the reunion!

Craig summed up the day in our family journal: "A group of 8 of us when golfing today and had a blast.  Now it is time for the Call Family Game Night!" Michelle mentioned some of the family favorites: "Skull King, Chameleon, Balderdash, Monopoly Deal, and War." 

Everyone was up, packed, and ready to go early on Dec. 30th.  Before leaving, the kids choose coins from Grandma and Grandpa's travels to start their own collections.  There were coins from Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia.

Grandma loved that Ben thought of collecting money to help poor people.

About five minutes before leaving, Kate and Ava discovered slides. Grandma has lots--thousands--from Grandpa Scott's collection.  Come back and help me sort through them!

Our week was filled with lots of fun, love, and kindness.  Our family is truly TBTI!

Kate wrote: "I noticed Tytan helping his siblings and putting them to bed." 

Ava: "I noticed Ethan and Ben helping James." Later she wrote, "I noticed Kate played with the babies and they learned to do the Russian dolls." 

Ethan told his mom: "I love Ava."

Max did a great job of summing up the reunion: "I loved so many things about this reunion.  Just a few are jumping on the trampoline, golfing, playing games, playing with cousins, learning new games, swimming, hiking, eating lots of junk food, and lots more. I am so grateful for all my family and for everything we were able to do."  We agree!

Eyewitness to history

I grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, which is next door to Washington, D.C. In fact, Chevy Chase Ward, where we attended church, is on the District line.  In the summer of 1971, not long after my 17th birthday, a woman in our ward told my mother she might be able to get me a job at the White House if I would take the government civil service exam.  I took it and she was able to place me in President Nixon's correspondence section.

About age 17 - Mom made this formal for me.

I would drive into the District every weekday with my dad, who worked for MPR Associates on Connecticut Avenue just a few blocks from the White House.  He was a nuclear engineer and consulted with firms like Westinghouse and General Electric about building nuclear reactors to generate electricity.  On the way to and from work, we would often listen to General Conference talks, which Dad had taped in the middle of the night from radio broadcasts.  I would walk from Dad's office a half dozen blocks to the Old Executive Office Building, next to the White House, where the correspondence section was located.  Like many secretaries at the time, I left a nice pair of shoes at the office and wore my tennis shoes to and from work, which I'm sure looked charming with my skirt.

At the office, I would type short letters for the president's signature in response to letters from people who expressed their support.  Because the letters would be signed by President Nixon (in actuality, by machine), there needed to be many carbon copies--about a half dozen or more for each letter. There could be no errors in the letters because people would save them and sometimes frame them.  It was a big deal to receive a letter from the President!  I typed about 60 words a minute and not very accurately, so I often filled my trash can in the first few hours of the day.  I was thrilled when a year or two later, we used the first "mag card" automatic typewriters--precursors to word processors.

I began attending Brigham Young University that fall and worked in Mr. Nixon's correspondence section for four consecutive summers. In addition to typing letters, I was occasionally sent out on "detail" to substitute for secretaries who were ill or on vacation.  Two of the men I worked for were Tom Korologos (who worked in the East Wing of the White House) and Bob Brown.  I remember an incident with Mr. Brown when the mayor of Kansas City, I believe, called while Mr. Brown was on the phone and so I put the mayor on hold.  About 15 minutes later, Mr. Brown asked if the call on hold was for him.  Oops!  I also remember that Nancy Wilson called for Mr. Brown one day.  I asked for her name and then her organization, as I had been instructed.  She was quite offended and retorted: "The singer!"

In 1973, the summer of the Watergate break in, I received a note that said I was detailed to "Plumbers, Room 6," and that I should stop by the office beforehand for orientation.  I questioned why I would be sent to work for plumbers, but my supervisor didn't have any more information.  When I arrived at Room 6 (in the Old Executive Office building), there was indeed a sign saying "Plumbers" on the door. When the door opened, I noticed a large shredder machine. A young woman greeted me and explained that I was to answer the phones while she and her boss were at Key Biscane, Florida with President Nixon and other staff members for a few days.  When I asked why it said "Plumbers" on the door, she and her boss just laughed and didn't reply.  A few days later I was informed that my security clearance wasn't high enough for the detail, so I never went.  It wasn't until the following summer that I read in a press release that the White House "plumbers" were charged with stopping leaks to the press.

For the balance of the summer of 1974, I was assigned to work for David Gergen (age 32; now currently a political analyst on CNN), who was then director of speech writing for President Nixon.  Ben Stein (famous as the droning teacher in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") was also a speech writer (age 30).  Jan Barbieri was David Gergen's secretary and I helped out with whatever assignments they gave me.

The Watergate scandal came to a head that summer.  President Nixon had vowed to fight impeachment so Gergen and other speech writers worked long hours to create material that could be used in his defense.  They wrote in longhand on yellow legal pads and I got pretty good at reading almost illegible handwriting.  Finally, the evidence of Nixon's attempts to cover up the Watergate break in was so overwhelming that he was forced to resign.  Elder D. Todd Christofferson (one of Grandpa Scott's missionaries in Argentina) was a law clerk to Judge John Sirica, who ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes of his conversations with staff in the White House. Elder Christofferson invited Grandma and Grandpa Scott to attend one of the Watergate hearings.  In a 2018 address, Elder Christofferson talked about his experience during that time and how it taught him to always follow his conscience.

I'm grateful that in that fall semester at BYU my English teacher assigned us to write about our summer, so I have a good record of some of the key events as I witnessed them.

On August 8th, President Nixon gave a televised address to inform the nation that he would resign the next day.  Because the White House switch board anticipated they would be flooded with calls, many secretaries, including me, were asked to stay after hours to take calls directly from the public.  I invited a couple of handsome brothers (Eric and Clint Ensign) from my ward to be with me for the evening.

We stayed until about 11 p.m., taking calls, which ran about 9 to 1 supportive of President Nixon.  At about 10:30 p.m. Jan Barbieri was asked to type two versions of President Nixon's letter of resignation, and I was tasked with delivering them to the office of George Jowlwan (Special Assistant) in the West Wing.  I asked Eric to pose so I could take a photo of the letter.

Eric Ensign pointing to one of the versions of Nixon's resignation letter.

Here's the version that Nixon signed that is now in the National Archives:

The following morning, Erlynn Ensign and I arrived early to attend Nixon's farewell meeting with his staff in the East Room of the White House.  The room was ablaze with lights and TV cameras were everywhere.  There were only about five rows of chairs, and we were very lucky to find seats on the third row.  Dr. Kissinger and his wife were seated about 15 feet away and Tom Korologos and other senior staff members were standing at the sides of the room.

As Mr. Nixon and his family entered the room, the military band played "As You Walk Through a Storm." Many eyes were moist as we gave them a standing ovation. I hadn't fully realized until that moment what a great personal tragedy this was for President Nixon and his family.

It was very sobering to witness President Nixon's fall from a position of great power to do good because he lied. Sadly, few remember Nixon's achievements, later cataloged by Ben Stein:  "He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POWs, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty, saved [Israel], started the Environmental Protection Agency."

One of the photos I took during the President's speech

President Nixon gave a rather emotional, impromptu speech, almost the exact opposite of the one he had given to the nation the night before.  Throughout the speech Mrs. Nixon and their daughters, Tricia and Julie, struggled as their eyes filled with tears.  Recently, I found Nixon's farewell speech online and listened to it for the first time since I heard it in person.  I was surprised to see myself in the audience in the first few seconds during the standing ovation!

I'm in the upper left part of the frame, behind the smiling woman with grey hair.

After the speech, everyone crowded on the balcony to wave goodbye and watch as the Nixons boarded the helicopter on the south lawn.  I was too far back to see much, but I waved as hard as anyone else and watched the helicopter until it was just a small speck in the gray sky.

President Richard M. Nixon departing White House; photo by David Hume Kennerly

Apr 17-22, 2019 Easter weekend w Colorado Cooks

We had a lovely and productive Easter weekend, plus a day or two on either end, with Josh, Michelle, Ben, Ethan and James!

Michelle has some great ideas for remodeling their kitchen, but since we couldn't tackle the whole project this time, she decided taking out the built-in desk would be a good start!  With the desk in place, they weren't able to fit a table big enough to accommodate their growing family.  Michelle and I envisioned taking a sledge hammer to the desk, but Dad showed us a much wiser way--though maybe not quite as fun.

Dad used a jack and 2x4 to lift up the tile counter top.

Michelle demolished the back of the desk using her kick boxing skills:

Ethan and Ben had fun taking the jeep for a spin.

Ethan didn't give Ben much opportunity to drive!  But we all had fun playing kick ball in the backyard.

 Ben is currently very excited about Pokemon.  It's not clear he knows how to play the game yet, but he knows about many of the characters and how much damage, etc. they can do.  I think he enjoys creating his own drawings as much as talking about the cards he wants to get or has received from friends.

Mega Charzard EX/GX/Jumbo by Ben Cook

Meanwhile, the projects continued.  Dad was impressed by Josh's "fishing" skills: only one hole was required to connect the wire for the ceiling fan to the switch next to where the desk used to be.  Josh fished the wire from the center of the family room ceiling to the hole on the side, then aimed his phone as a periscope to see inside the ceiling to where the wire had to bend down the side wall. He  Facetimed with Michelle's phone to see the images on his phone--very clever!  Unfortunately, I don't have a photo because I had already gone to bed. Michelle's high fitness class and pulling nails out of 2x4s did me in!

Michelle and Ben helped Grandpa install the fan.

Dad and Josh spent the better part of Saturday figuring out how to rewire the switches that were on the built-in desk.  It was especially challenging because there were three switches, including a 3-way and a 4-way.

Ben helped Josh who helped Bruce with the wiring.

It was wonderful to go to church with Josh and Michelle on Easter Sunday--especially because Josh was the final speaker!  He didn't have much time, but he bore a tender, powerful testimony of the Savior and the reality of His Atonement and Resurrection.  We were so glad we could be there to hear him! 

We love our family!

My goal is at least one family photo every trip.  Michelle's friend took about a dozen and this is the best.  Ethan actually did look up in one but then Ben wasn't, so we went with this one. Two-year-olds are awesome.  

Everyone but me took a much needed nap after church--the first one Josh and Michelle have had in a long time!  I enjoyed a little quiet time to read the scriptures and watch the Come Follow Me Easter videos--beautiful and inspiring.

A highlight of the day was the opportunity to talk with Craig!  

Ben improved his chicken and cheese enchilada with Easter candy and Oreos. We tried not to think about it.

Ethan has mastered hopping on his right leg and kicking with his left.

James is a sweet, handsome boy.  We love to see him smile--and jump!

Bruce wisely kept some of the painted dry wall from the built-in desk so he could use it to patch the holes he had to make in the walls to move the wiring.  Michelle cut the grout around the old tiles and she and Josh pried them up--not easy work. Dad taught Josh and Michelle how to lay tile.  We barely made our flight home, but there were only a few tiles left to go when we left Monday night!

Michelle, Josh and Dad worked very hard--and I got the best job of all!