Christmas Letter ~ 1994

 

Check out the orginal PDF in Google Docs

The Hermitage House

Ah, the Hermitage House. 1677 Hermitage Circle, off of Steeplechase Lane, in the Jamestown subdivision. Dad/Lamar noted in his history, that the area had been part of the home show the year before. The Westra family moved in August of 1972 and bid the home goodbye in 1994. They were there for 22 years. Moving in, the kids were: Scott (8), Chris (6), Wendy (4), Jen (almost 2). Moving out: Scott (31), Chris (28), Wendy (26), Jen (24), Shane (18) and Derek (12).  Not only did the kids change, but the house did too!

Dad remembers "We moved into this house in the Cottonwood Area of SLC, 2 Sep 1972, after spending about three weeks with Margie's folks while we were house hunting, and while we waited for the house to be completed and closed. We bought it from a builder who was building it for himself, and had to sell -- Richard Dunn, a young man building his first house. We paid $36000 for it and paid about $13000 down, which left a mortgage of about $23000 with Prudential Federal at 7½% interest."

Originally, the house was in black and white ... *Ü*

Mom/Margie remembers (from an email exchange) The house was brand new. The builder was a "drywall" guy and it was his first house to build.  I didn't like the mustard yellow color. It was much better later when we put the rocks and siding on in later years. We stayed with my parents for a few weeks after moving here in Aug. and I had to drive Scott and Chris to school at Woodstock and pick them up each day. Scott was 9 and in 3rd grade (Mrs. Silver, I think). Chris was just turned 6 and in Mrs. Clark's 1st grade. Wendy was 4 1/2 and Jenny not quite 2.

You can see in the pictures above that it was a new build. No landscaping, no plants or trees or fences. A split level with an attached (but no door to the house) garage. In the Westra Home Movies, there are quite a few glimpses of the house and yard. Here's a small clip from right after the move in. Grandma and Grandpa Norman are out helping prep the front for grass, then there's a look at the original back deck (with the stairs on the West side) and some shots inside the house.

(https://youtu.be/OFdf1hp7hvE)

There are more peeks at the house and yard throughout the home movies.

There really aren't that many photos of the house and yard, and even fewer really capturing the inside of the home. Here are a few more photos ... in color.

There were lots of changes and improvements over the years. Trees planted that grew so big. A basketball hoop in the driveway. Replacing the yellow siding with brown slats and rock. Switching out the deck and patio in the back. The addition of a shed, with an original "cave" root cellar. Lots of rockwork - a little pool and steps.

A couple of pictures from the kitchen ... the mustard yellow appliances (they were eventually replaced ... Funny story about the stove. Shane had made gingersnaps, and went to bake the cookies, and they stayed in little hard balls. They did not bake right. Well, the oven was old and apparently broken, so it was replaced. Then, Shane went to bake the cookies ... and they stayed little hard balls and did not bake right. It was the dough that was the problem, not the stove! Jen and Gray were finishing the basement in Gray's mom's house, so they took the stove. Jen convinced Mom and Dad that they should get a new fridge to match the new stove, and then the new little apartment got the old yellow fridge too). There was a flat carpet in the kitchen and in the bathrooms, I don't think there was any tile or hard surface?

This is just a quick sketch of the layout of the house, up and down ...

(maybe someone can create a more professional rendition)

In January 2019, Chris was scanning and sharing some of the pictures showcased above and it started an email discussion of Hermitage Home memories ...

Derek wrote: I have memories of each of the rooms in our old house (that weird under the stairs portion of Wendy's basement bedroom) The high bed in Shane's basement bedroom and the space underneath, the 1980's wood paneling in the basement, and the orange shag carpet upstairs (even carpet in the kitchen right?) :) There were lots of walls since that was before open floor plans became so popular. Small closets, and small bathrooms, and I remember we had a shed in the back and it seems like Dad had a root cellar cave under it (that couldn't have been safe!)

Wendy wrote: Was our home really only 1524 square feet? Or is that not including the basement? Yes, those pictures bring back a lot of memories! Like the ones in the kitchen with the scripture reading chart in the background and the big yellow phone with its looong cord. Sometimes I would try and go in the coat closet with it for privacy. I actually wish we had more pictures of the bedrooms and the unique features of the rooms and yard. I haven’t really seen pictures of the bedrooms – there might be a couple out there – but I wish we had those. If you see a picture of the kitchen carpet let me know! I remember it as patterned with squares and the colors were orange and yellow. We had to use a butter knife to scrape underneath all of the bottom kitchen cupboards in order to vacuum the floor since it didn’t reach well under there. I would be interested in seeing other pictures of the rooms in the house like the room Jen and I shared upstairs and my yellow bedroom in the basement.

Mom had several memories to share ...

• Dad would finish off one new bedroom every time we had a baby.
• I remember how we had to get out of the car to open the garage, carry in the groceries through the front door and then go back and close the garage door---not fun in bad weather and with our little kids. It was Scott when he was in his 20's, that he installed an automatic garage-door opener. For awhile, in later years, our garage door would mysteriously open and close. We finally figured out that Hadleys across the street had the same code so ours was opening every they pushed their buttons!
• Originally there was a cement patio. Shane fell once when it was icy and got a concussion and didn't know what was going on for awhile. As I remember the stairs from the deck originally went down on the West side. Then Dad did the shed. We hired a fellow in the 11th ward to build us a new redwood deck and patio and changed the stairs to the East side, so they landed on the patio.
• I think we had your big deep sandpile where the shed was later built. Then it was under the deck. It was about 3 feet deep. You kids would put on your swimming suits and take the hose into the sandpile and play "muddy mess."
• Yes, Dad excavated under the shed---supposedly for a food cellar. But it was too moist and full of spiders, so none of you wanted to go down the ladder through the trapdoor in the shed floor!
• I too wish we had photos of each room----so kids, take photos now in depth in each of your homes inside and out. I wish I had more of my growing-up home on Boxelder St. in Murray. I only have one bit of the kitchen photo and not even a photo of the outside.

Derek took this advice to heart ... Documenting Your Dwelling and Jen has quite a few posts on the BlackhamBunchBlog with the Home Sweet Home label, showcasing home improvements and room rearranges. 

Jen didn't chime in on the email exchange back in 2019, but has lots of memories about the Hermitage House ...

• Originally the basement was unfinished. Just cement floors ... which was a perfect place for roller skating in the big family room. Wendy and I would put the Xanadu record on and skate away. The Wonderful Westra sisters!
• There were unique spaces ... the closet under the stairs (great for hide-and-seek) with shelves at the back where we stored the sleeping bags (when we weren't using the green slippery ones to slide down the stairs), the little space behind the closet in Wendy's room. The "high" bed, the space under it was actually part of the food storage room. 
• The food storage room had so many "rolley" shelves, which was to help keep things in rotation. Put the new cans in one end, take out the oldest ones from the other end.
• Finishing the basement rooms, the older kids got to pick out their own colors for carpet and such. Scott's room was brown, Chris's was blue I think? Wendy's was yellow (I remember her dresser and cabinet were yellow). The basement bathroom was the first to have Dad's secret toilet paper storage (or am I thinking of the Havenmoor house?)
• Only the master bath had a bathtub. The master just had a shower, as did the basement bathroom.
• The main upstairs living area ... living room and "dining" room. The "sheer" curtains. The lava-rock fireplace. The yellow couch and loveseat, the stereo (record player and storage), the piano, the white couch. What was technically the dining area was the "tv room" with a little television, and then Mom's recliner.
• The kitchen had carpet. The appliances were mustard yellow (I can't recall the colors of the replacements). No built in microwave, originally there wasn't one, then we got one that would sit on the counter. There was a decent sized pantry in the corner ... we'd keep our boxes of cereal there that we'd get for Easter/Christmas. The "job chart" (there were a few different iterations) would hang on the wall, or on a big green pinboard. 
• The main phone hung on the kitchen wall. It was a rotary phone for most of my memory. Yellow, with a loooooong cord like Wendy mentioned. There was a second phone in the master bedroom, and then eventually one downstairs. Cordless phones became common in the 80s, not sure when we got our first set. I don't remember ever having an answering machine.
• The family room downstairs was finished at some point ... paneling on the walls, built in desk and cabinets, a countertop (for the boxes and boxes of Mom's coupons and refunds). The rock fireplace that Dad gathered rocks from the canyon to piece together ... extended to include a built in planter.
• The furnace room, with the washer/dryer, extra freezer and storage, was never finished. Always had cement floors. A door to the back of the house, exited under the deck. Another freezer just outside.
• Lots of pine trees in the yard ... cut down for Christmas trees later on. Lots of flowers. Chickens and Hens succulents among the rocks. Lots of rockwork. The side yard on the East had a rock pathway and the back had a little pond, planter and steps. There was a little hill/slope in the backyard.  Directly behind the deck was the vegetable garden.
• When the deck originally had the stairs on the West side, it was quite the trek to take things down to the patio. I think it was probably Scott who rigged a rope and bucket that we'd put things in and then lower over the side, rather than going down the steps and around each time. 
• Under the deck was the sandbox ... muddy mess (as Mom mentioned). 
• Mom and I would dry fruit leather on tables on the back deck ... Square frames with nails, to place mesh over to keep out the birds and bugs. We sketched out plans for custom frames, but never made them happen. 
• Dad always talked about building a racquetball court under the house ;) 

Here's a couple pieces of artwork, featuring the Hermitage House ...

This one was done by Derek ...

Complete with a Christmas tree in the front window (that's where it was always placed)... 

Mom remembers ... When it came time to move into the Havenmoor House, it had really been a seller's market for several years, so we expected to sell with ease. Many homes were being sold to the first person looking at it! We tried to sell it ourselves first, but that didn't work out. So we listed with a realtor in our ward. We started out asking $200,000, then lowered it to $180,000. We passed up one offer for $160,000. Then we ended up months later selling it for $160,000. We closed on the Havenmoor House on my birthday, Nov. 7, 1994 and moved in shortly thereafter.

Derek also commented: From a "Fixer-Upper" perspective, Zillow estimates our old home at $446K. 
https://www.zillow.com/homes/1677-Hermitage-Circle,-Salt-Lake-City,-UT_rb/12864397_zpid/

That was January 2019 ... interesting to see how that continues to change over the years! As of this posting (Nov2022) ... $631,000

Christmas 1993

Christmas 1993 ... this was the last Christmas in the Hermitage House. Mckenna had been born in February, so there were now two grandbabies to spoil. This year we have pictures and video!  At the very end of the video clip, Dad/Lamar mentions that the tree was taken from the backyard by Donaldsons. 

https://youtu.be/1kvaCMTzRLg

... and some additional Christmas pictures. Cute McKenna in a Santa hat, most likely at a Christmas Day gathering up at Merrill and Lorrie's home (they had moved to a nice new house). Some additional pictures of McKenna (again in a Santa hat) at the folks home, sometime other than Christmas Eve (based on different outfits). A glimpse of Gray and Jen's new place in Midvale, the folks came out to visit.

Merry Christmas Memories!

Christmas Letter ~ 1993

 

Click HERE to see the original PDF in Google Drive

Lake Powell 1993

 

There was already a post about Lake Powell memories ... featuring 1982 and 1984. This trip was about a decade later. While this year doesn't have a ton of pictures, we do get a peek at Dad's diary and recounting of the trip ...

Before hitting Lake Powell, Dad/Lamar, Mom/Margie and Derek had gone down to Moab to see the arches. Gray and Jen were in Moab for a Blackham Family Reunion, but hooked up for some hiking and then joined the family for Powell play. Wendy and Rick and Shane (who had stayed to finish up some school) met the family in Moab, unfortunately having car trouble along the way.  This did get its own blog post ... Off to the Arches. After the arches ... it was on to Lake Powell!

04 September (Saturday) We got up early, having to leave by 7:00 to make our scheduled rendezvous with Sharon and Kent at the Bullfrog Marina at 10:00. Jen and Grayson joined us around 7:00, and we had been out trying to resolve the problem with Wendy's car. We had Shane and Derek join with Gray and Jen and head out to meet Sharon and Kent. After about half an hour, they walked back to the motel, having had a flat tire. They got it all fixed and we had Wendy's car towed to the Chevron station, where someone would look at it on Monday. Then we took in Wendy and Rick, and we tooled off toward Lake Powell, with two cars jammed full of bags and people. We had called to leave a message at the marina that we would be late, 12:00 instead of 10:00. Then the trip took longer than we had anticipated, and we didn't get there until about 12:15. We couldn't see anyone there, but we left a few notes on the bulletin boards, and read a few notes and tried to locate the Amanns by land. After awhile, they came into the marina and took all us stragglers in on their boat, along with a really full boatload of bags and other equipment. We motored over to the houseboat. Alyson and Brian and their two boys, Brandon and Daniel were there, and my sister Diane and her friend Randy, and Ryan and his friend Jeff Larkin. One group of skiers went out, and did some late afternoon skiing, but a windstorm and thunderstorm came up. Shane and Wendy and Rick and Grayson got to ski. We had a nummy meal of salmon that night, cooked by Kent, who had caught it earlier on his trip to Alaska. We all got situated in our sleeping places, and we had a little rain, but it didn't amount to much, which was a good thing, as most of us were out under the stars without a lot of overhead protection. We had a pretty good night's sleep. 

05 September (Sunday) We played around the houseboat, and on the shore, and took some nice hikes up around the slickrock. We also did some fishing. I had brought one outfit, and we ended up catching four different kinds of fish: carp (about 5), bass (2), catfish (1) and bluegill (about 5). We did a lot of frisbee throwing, and swimming. Kent tried to resolve some of the houseboat problems; one engine in the ater and not startable, the potty full and not working well, some of the pontoons full of water. We tried to pump out the pontoons, but there was apparently as much water coming in as was being pumped out. Then Kent decided to head over to a place closer to the marina, since he'd already made plans for them to pick up the houseboat at 7:30 Monday morning for the necessary repairs. We tooled up on one engine to the potty pumper, and got the potty problems fixed, and then went to an inlet nearby the marina. We had a nice barbequed chicken dinner, and settled down in our new home. We slept pretty soundly again, without the storm threats of the prior night.

06 September (Monday) We got up quite early to get the houseboat over to the boat dock, where it was hoisted up onto the truck and hauled ashore. We unloaded all of the bags and stuff into the cars, and then reloaded the boat with what we needed for the day's water activities. Marge opted to stay with the houseboat in the repair area, while the rest of us went back to where the houseboat had been parked to get in some more boating and waterskiing. Shane, Wendy, Rick and Grayson all had turns up on the skis while Derek and Ryan and Jeff stayed on shore and hiked around and did some beachcombing. Then we went out with the smaller kids and Derek tried the skis, and was able to get up with some help from Wendy in the water. We tooled around the bay twice before Kent dropped him off in front of our swimming hole. Ryan and Jeff rode the kneeboard. We returned to the houseboat where we cleaned up everything. Then we hauled all of the stuff back to the boat ramp and unloaded, and got the stuff into the cars.  Our two cars headed back North about 2:30 with the same crews as to Powell from Moab. We stopped in Price at the Pizza Hut for dinner, and then continued on to good old SLC. We got home about 9:00. Rick's car, parked in our driveway wouldn't start. We jumped it to resolve that problem. We'd had enough car problems for a while!

In the next journal entry back home, Dad mentioned feeling woozy (like he was still on a boat) and that Derek was sick that first night home. Still rocking! Wendy probably has a pretty good write up (I/Jen checked my journal ... I wrote before and after this but didn't get around to writing about the trip. We do have a few pictures from before, in Moab so I'm not sure why I didn't get some pictures at Powell). Wendy did though!

Off to the Arches (including McDonalds!)

 

This masterpiece is attributed to both Derek and Shane. It was in 1993, when Derek was only 11 years old, that he snapped a  photograph of the sun shining through Delicate Arch in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. A little later, Shane (17 at the time) painted the image. Oil on canvas. You can see his signature there in the bottom corner.  After a little digging, we found some more information about this trip to the Arches. Here's what Dad/Lamar wrote in his journal ...

2 Sept. 1993 (Thursday) Our trip to Moab. Mom and Derek and I stopped in Provo to see Chris & Sandy, and to deliver pears and other items to them. We had a nice visit, and then headed South again. We stopped at Price at the KFC for a nice chicken buffet lunch, and then headed South again. We checked into the Bowen Motel, where we had reservations. We went for a nice swim to cool us off, and then we headed out to see Dead Horse Point State Park. It was quite breathtaking, and Marge was very nervous about the big drop offs, and how close we were getting to the edge. We headed back about dusk, and saw a beautiful deer on the way home. We got back to Moab and went out to a late dinner at JB's Shane didn't come down with us because he figured he couldn't miss two days of school. He'll be coming down Friday after school with Wendy and Rick.

3 Sept. 1993 (Friday) Derek and I got up fairly early and headed out to the Arches, and hiked up to see Delicate Arch. It was a lovely morning, and there were lots of hikers. The arches were all very pretty. The trail to Delicate was just one and a half miles one way, but quite a bit was uphill. We got there and took lots of pictures. I had been there when I was a boy scout. We stayed up at the arch for a while, and then hiked around and back down below the arch to get more pictures with a different view. We headed back to join Margie, and we all went out to breakfast about 12:30. We returned to the motel for a swim, and were joined there by Jenny and Grayson. They were staying the night at his grandparent's home just outside Moab.  The five of us then went back to the arches for more sightseeing. We hiked up the trail to Landscape Arch, and saw several other arches as well. We headed back at dusk, and got back to Moab, where Marge and Derek and I went out to eat at the local McDonalds. Rick and Wendy and Shane were due to join us, and finally called about 9:30, saying they were stranded on the outskirts of the city. Wendy's car had just stopped running. I headed out to pick up the transients and get them all back to our motel. We made more trips out and about trying to figure out the problem and who might help us, but all the stations were closing up shop for the night - and for the next few days. Our motel had three double beds, but Shane and Derek opted to sleep in their sleeping bags on the floor rather than share a bed with anyone. 

 Jen in Moab

...up next ... off to Lake Powell!

I wonder where all those other arches pictures are!

The next year (1994), Derek would enter his photograph into the school Reflections contest ...

... and just 29 years after taking the snapshot, he'd return for another priceless picture.

Christmas 1992

In 1992, Amy and Grayson are officially in the Westra clan (with weddings earlier in the year). There was a new baby too ... baby Conner! There is just over seven minutes of video footage (no photos were found), and there is audio. It's all from Christmas Eve, with the extended family over (Grandparents Norman and Merrill's family). Shane is actually the one behind the video camera at the start, then Jen takes a quick turn, then Dad/Lamar.

https://youtu.be/Ep0u4WzXfIM

Most of the Grandkid Generation are very familiar with the "candy bar game" as a classic Christmas activity... and based on this video, we now know the tradition goes back at least to 1992!

While Christmas EVE was always held at the Westra home, it was often followed by a Christmas (or New Years) celebration up in the avenues at Merrill and Lorrie's home. Homemade scones were a memory from these get-togethers. The downstairs kitchen, the big table in the side room with the big tortoise shell hanging on the wall. 

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https://youtu.be/2RQaIQAXhwQ

Merry Christmas Memories!