Tribute to Grandpa

Clark Marcel Hillam

November 6, 1916 - March 15, 2011

Grandpa Hillam lived 94 years of a wonderful life full of experiences.  He was born on 1916, attended Utah State for two years and then due to the Depression, went to work for the Western Pacific Railroad in California.  He served a mission in Germany but had to finish the last 6 months of it in Detroit, Michigan due to Hitler and the onset of World War II.  He married his sweetheart in 1941 and they lived in California for a short time finishing work on the railroad.  In 1945, he returned to Brigham City, UT where he worked in the Abstract and Title Business until the 1980's when he sold it and retired.  His wife, Margaret, passed away in 2003 and on March 15, 2011, Grandma and Grandpa Hillam were reunited.  Grandpa has 2 children, 10 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren.

Most of the great-grandchildren

Sarah and Katelyn sharing memories of Grandma and Grandpa with Owen and Carlee

Grandpa Hillam was a very special man.  He was generous and loving.  He was always willing to help anyone and give all he had without expecting anything in return.  Grandpa was charming and chivalrous.  He always acted as a gentleman and treated women with respect and admiration, by opening their doors, complimenting them, and making them feel special.  He made everyone feel loved, and like a close friend.  He loved his grandchildren and great-grandchildren so much.  He was thrilled to visit them all over the country and loved having them visit him in Brigham.  Even as old as he was, he was full of life, energy, wisdom, and strength.  He had a strong testimony of the gospel and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and was an example of this throughout his life.  

 Grandpa Stuart drove the horse-drawn buggy holding Grandpa's casket.  He led the funeral procession from the Stake Center to the Brigham City Cemetary.  The skies were overcast and gloomy so we were praying that the weather would last through the burial.  It started to rain lightly after the ceremony at the cemetary.

Joe loved him very much and was very proud to be "Grandpa's boy".  When he was in Kindergarten, he took Grandpa into his class for show and tell.  When Joe and I got married, he was very adamant that our first-born son would be named Clark, in tribute to Grandpa.  Because both Joe and Grandpa served an LDS mission to Germany, they had many stories to share and Grandpa loved to tell them.  The most exciting tales were of his escape to Poland during World War II.  He had a wonderful memory and when his life experiences were told, his eyes twinkled and his lips smiled. 

The pall-bearers, grandsons and 1 great-grandson

Even though I am just an "in-law" and the only family member not from Brigham City or its surrounding towns ;), Grandpa accepted me and treated me just like his grand-daughter and was very loving and kind.  He would check in on me and made sure that Joe treated me right.  Some of my very first and fondest memories of him were learning to play Rummikub against Grandma and taking me out for my first meal at Maddox.  He even flew out to Maryland for a week to take care of Clark and Joe while I was on bedrest and in the hospital during my pregnancy with Katelyn.  

 Clark and Katelyn in the summer of 2002 (Clark age 3, Kate age 11 months)

 Jacob riding with Grandpa in the Summer of 2005 and our family in the buggy

Four-wheelers:  Grandpa, Kate, and Jake

Six-month-old Carlee talking with Grandpa

Our kids and Owen with Grandpa in June 2007

Some of my children's favorite memories of Grandpa were horseback and buggy riding with him, playing in the irrigation water while he squirted them with the hose, listening to stories, and running away from his teasing threats of taking off his belt to them when they were being overly loud and obnoxious.  Grandpa loved to snuggle with them, tickling their backs and singing songs while rocking in his favorite chair.  Grandpa Hillam is greatly loved, thought and talked about, and sorely missed.  

We're So Lucky!

For St. Patrick's Day this year, we were lucky enough to have Steph and her kids come to Vegas and spend the week with us since it was her Spring Break.  We were unlucky in that we were both single moms for the week since Jim is deployed and Joe was out of town doing deployment training.  However, being lucky again, she lives less than 2 hours away, we get along great, our kids have fun playing together, and we love to hang out--talking, shopping, going through clothes, and putting our creative ideas to good use.

During the day, Carlee's preschool class went on a field trip to the fire station so the kids had a great time learning about fire trucks, the uniform, and the typical daily schedule of a firefighter.  The kids toured the trucks, shook the firefighters' hands, and announced their phone numbers and addresses in case of emergency.

That evening, we prepared our traditional Green Dinner--green beans, bowtie pasta with green pesto sauce and grilled chicken, rainbow jello salad, garlic bread with green seasonings, green cucumber limeade,  green apple rings, and rainbow cupcakes!

 

The LUCKY Boys!

The LUCKY Girls!

All the LUCKY Leprechauns!

 Sisters rockin' some LUCKY green hair - good thing this isn't permanent!

After dinner we had a shamrock hunt for the kids. Each cousin had to find hidden shamrocks numbered 1-5 so they could trade them in for fun prizes.

Bag #1 had green glow sticks
Bag #2 had green Juicy Juice
Bag #3 had green bubbles
Bag #4 had different green objects like a ball, airplane, sunglasses, harmonica, etc...
Bag #5 had their "treasure" (rolo chocolates and a dollar bill) in a cute green container

We had a wonderful GREEN St. Patrick's Day!  Hope that you all are LUCKY too!

Mountain West Championships

We got tickets to the Mountain West Championship games held on Thursday at the Thomas and Mack Center.  Joe and I arranged a babysitter for Carlee and we headed to the Thursday afternoon game with the Chuggs, Whites, and Allreds.  BYU was playing TCU and they ended up winning in a close and exciting game 64-58.  It was a lot of fun.  We also had tickets for the rest of the day but due to our children's activities that afternoon and evening, we had to give them up.  The rest of the day included New Mexico beating Colorado State 67-61, San Diego State beating Utah 64-50, and UNLV beating Air Force 69-53. 

But as luck would have it, a friend in our ward called on Saturday morning with tickets to the championship game that evening.  Joe was out of town but I jumped at the chance to take my boys.  They have had a bit of Jimmer fever and I was excited to take them to see a game.  Melissa watched the girls and I took my boys on a date to see BYU play San Diego State.  They were thrilled and because Ken had box seats, we had a VIP parking pass and seats about 6 rows up.  It was so much fun.  Unfortunately the Cougars lost 54-72, but the boys enjoyed whooping and hollering for Jimmer.  We ate nachos and popcorn at the game and enjoyed some dinner on the way home.   What a fun date to be with my guys!

Skiing in Brianhead

Last fall, the Young Men held an auction to raise some money for Scout Camp.  We bid on a cabin in Brianhead and won, along with the Chugg family who joined us in the rental.  The kids were out of school on Monday for a Staff Development Day so we spent the weekend enjoying the winter weather up north.

We arrived Friday evening and settled into the cabin.  It was really nice with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and two small playroom lofts upstairs; a big kitchen, bathroom, master bedroom/bath, and great room with a wood-burning fireplace on the main level; and a family room with 2 sets of bunk-beds, a big television, laundry room, and an organized mudroom on the basement level.  It was fun, cozy, and perfect for two families with 9 excited children. 

All of the boys, except Cole, slept downstairs in the bunk-beds where they had unlimited use of their DSes

We woke up Saturday morning to stormy weather--overcast, and snowy all day long.  We had a quick breakfast and hit the slopes by 9:00 a.m.  We enrolled the kids in ski school--Carter, Hanna, the Jakes, Katelyn, and Carlee.  They were full so Clark skiied with the adults, and Geneva actually relaxed at the cabin with Josh and Cole.  She made a wonderful dinner and even got to read a book and take a nap!  Lucky girl!

The kids were a bit bored in the ski school.  Unfortunately they were stuck with some kids that were scared to go down the hill so they spent a lot of time in and out of the ski lodge between snacks, bathroom breaks, and crying kids trying to gather up courage.  After lunch, they did hit the slopes and practice their technique.  They did really well and enjoyed it.  When the ski school ended, they skied the hills with the adults and were pretty excited.  They were sad that the day ended around 4:00.

Playing Uno while waiting for their instructors

Joe wasn't feeling too well that day so he spent most of the day sitting around the lodge and watching our kids in the ski school.  Clark and I stuck together skiing on the hills and he did really well and caught on to my amateur teaching quickly.  I haven't been skiing in about 20 years so we were on the same skill level.  We had a great time snow-plowing down the easy hills together but by the end of the day, we both had gained some confidence so we tackled a harder and longer run.   Since Joe was sick, Geneva was relaxing in the warm cabin with the younger ones, and I was too slow, pro-skier Jared hooked up with the scouts from our ward on the other side of the mountain for some harder runs but came back after a couple of hours declaring that the weather was worse over there.  He pulled Carter out of ski school in the early afternoon and they stuck together for a few runs.  After a couple of hours, Carter and Clark were skiing off on their own with Jared and I trying to catch up!

The Jakes (Stuart on top, Chugg on bottom)

Hanna

Katie

Clark

Carlee

Clark

Everything closed about 4:00 so we headed back to the cabin for some hot chocolate and a sweet pork taco bar for dinner.  It tasted so good after a long day out in the snow!  We all relaxed that evening talking, reading, drawing, playing video games on DSes, and alternating games of Neon Leon and Samurai.  Our kids get along so well and they had such a great time giggling, wrestling, and teasing with each other.

 Samurai (I look like I'm about to break out in song...)

We woke up Sunday morning to beautiful blue and sunny skies.  It had snowed all night long so there was about 15 inches of snow on the ground.  It was incredible!  After a delicious big breakfast, we let the kids go outside and play in the snow.  The driveway hadn't been plowed so there were huge snowdrifts and fresh snow for stomping through, making big bootprints, snow angels, and sled tracks.  The kids had a great time climbing on top of the snow drifts and sledding down into the driveway.  Joe took Clark and Carter up the mountain behind the cabin and made their own sledding hill.  There were a lot of snowmobiles driving around the cabin so Joe asked one of them to drive up the mountain to make a sledding track.

Carter

Clark

Jake C.

Carter

Jake S.

Josh

Geneva

Jake waving from the top of the snowdrift by the front porch

Cole helped Jared shovel the driveway to get the cars out

Joe sledding down their man-made sledding hill

Uh-oh!  Losing control

Wipeout!

Clark's turn

Clark and Jake made a smaller sledding hill that wasn't as much of a hike up the mountain

Geneva and I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the cabin, trees, mountains, and the cute kids all snuggly in their snowsuits with big grins on their faces.  After playing outside for a while, we came in for a family home evening lesson that Geneva had prepared in which we talked about character and which characters we want to be like, either from the scriptures, or modern-day Church leaders.  The kids drew pictures of who they esteem to be and they are going to be some great characters and examples for future generations!  Then we enjoyed a yummy potato bar with chili and all the fixin's.  We played more games that night--including Settlers, English Rummy, and Mexican Train.  After putting the kids to bed, the adults stayed up later playing some more.  It was a great Sunday.

Look at all that gorgeous white snow!

Cole

 

Josh made snowcones

Carlee

Jake S.

Giggly girls--Hanna and Katelyn

My biggest kid of all

Monday morning we again woke to beautiful, sunny weather.  Geneva and I took Carter, Hanna, and Katelyn skiing while Jared and Joe took the rest of the crew tubing.  The weather was warm and perfect.  The girls and I stuck together and Geneva took Carter on the bigger hills.  Katelyn was a bit more timid than Hanna so we were a little slow but they enjoyed just being together and gabbing all the way up the mountain on the ski lift.  It was cute to see them encourage each other when they were frustrated and teary. We even hit the longer, harder hill and they made it down slowly but surely.

The tubers had a great time also racing down 7 snow-packed sledding lanes and dragging their tubes back to the rope tow.  Cole couldn't go with an adult so he sat in the tube for a couple of hours while Jared just pulled him to the tow and sent him down the hill over and over again. 

After a full morning of tubing and skiing, we headed back for a quick lunch before packing up and cleaning the cabin.  When all was cleared out and we said good-bye to a fun stay, we were on the road back home but not before hitting Texas Roadhouse in St. George for a delicious steak dinner and the best melt-in-your-mouth rolls with raspberry butter.    A fabulous winter weekend with some fabulous friends!  Thank you, Chugg family, for a wonderful time!