Around 1965 the church decided to sell the dairy farm, so we needed to find a place to live. They had one home for sale in Sugar City that belonged to a teacher who was transferring to another job. We decided to buy the home for $13,500. It seemed like a fortune to us at that time, but we were able to handle the payments. It had a furnace and carpet, so I was thrilled. They had built an addition up over the garage, but it wasn’t finished. Arlin knew he could finish two bedrooms up there. It had two other rooms finished that we used for the boy’s bedroom and later for the babies. When Arlin got the other two rooms finished we had a nice bedroom for us and one for the girls. We were able to have a nice garden, treehouse, and playhouse for the children.
On April 14, 1967 our Cheree was born. She was a darling little girl with blonde curly hair. We were so thrilled to have two daughters and two sons. Lisa turned three-years-old a month after Cheree was born, so she was her baby. That summer we decided to go to Nounan to help Max on the farm. We didn’t have to go to summer school, so we rented our house to Nancy and Evan Meyers. They were just married and needed a place to live. We packed up the family and went down to live with Grandpa Bartschi for a few months. With a new baby and an old ringer washing machine it was a lot of hard work, but the boys and their father loved being on the farm. I think back on it now and realize it was probably a little challenging for Grandpa. He had lived all alone for so many years, and then to have a family move in on him must have been a big change. But he seemed to love the children, and did enjoy a cooked meal he didn’t have to cook himself. We spent time in the canyon cooking dutch-oven chicken and going for bumpy rides on all the old roads up in the mountains. Cheree was a good-natured baby and we dragged her everywhere.
The summer went by really fast and soon it was time for us to head back to school. We hadn’t been home for very long when they called Arlin to be a counselor in the bishopric. He served with Bishop Sonderegger and Tedd Holman for five years.
In 1968, instead of going to Provo for summer school, we had the option of going on a Church History tour for three weeks. We decided not to pass up that opportunity. We sent Craig to stay with Grandpa and Grandma Ward, Bryan and Lisa stayed with Uncle Max and Aunt Vicky, and Bonnie Holman offered to keep Cheree who was 13-months-old. We had a wonderful trip and saw all the church sites. But I really did miss my little family. We had no cell phones to check on them every day, just hoped and prayed all was well. When we got back home Cheree wouldn’t even come to me and acted like she didn’t remember me. It broke my heart. They did get along fine, but we were happy to be back together again as a family.
In 1969 Arlin had the opportunity to teach in the Building Construction Department at Ricks College. They were expanding the department and needed more teachers. He had loved teaching seminary, but it was time to move on. We didn’t really want to leave Sugar City. We loved the people and could see that it was a great area to raise our family. So with prayers and much thought, Arlin went to teach at the college. He needed to go back to B.Y.U. to get his master’s degree, so we went back to Provo for summer school that year. He taught at Ricks College for 29 years and what a blessing it was in our lives.
On August 18, 1972 another baby girl joined our family. Roseanne had olive skin and lots of black hair. I called her my Indian baby. She had four older siblings who spoiled her and loved her to death. I had my hands full with my family, but the boys were good to always help and Lisa and Cheree were my little mothers. I went in for my six-week check up and Dr. Passey told me I was pregnant again. I couldn’t believe it. I was nursing Roseanne and thought no-way this could happen. Arlin said he had a dream and knew we had another son.
The next spring Arlin was called as the bishop of Sugar City 1st Ward, with Kenneth Howell and Robert Worrell as his counselors. We were asked to go to Salt Lake to be set apart, so we made the trip and met with Elder L. Tom Perry in his office. I remember walking in as he was standing there by his door, counting each one of the children as they walked in, and then he looked at me 7 months pregnant carrying Roseanne. I could read the thoughts on his face (“You poor woman…”) Ha! This was another wonderful spiritual experience for our family.
I didn’t go to summer school with Arlin that year because of the pregnancy. He continued to serve as bishop and would go down to school each week. He traveled with some other men who were also working on their master’s degrees, and then come home on weekends to do his church assignment. That would always be a long six weeks.
Our family was growing up fast. The boys would go with their Dad to work on his summer building projects. It was important to us that they learned how to be good workers. When they were quite young they rode their bikes down to Ashcraft’s farm out in Moody to help move pipe. Lisa even went one summer because she wanted to earn her own money. She would move one end of the pipe while one of their daughters helped carry the other. I felt bad for her because she wasn’t very old, but she still wanted her job like the boys. They made their own money for school clothes, which was a big help to us. It also gave them some independence, even if they had to get up at 6:00 a.m. every morning.
On July 20, 1973 Max was born. He was my smallest baby, only weighing six pounds. He seemed so tiny. We discovered he had a knot in his umbilical cord, so it was good we had him two weeks early. If he hadn’t been born then he probably would not have lived. I chose each one of my children’s birthdays after Craig was born, because I had them so fast the doctor warned me I would never make it to the hospital. So they were all born on a Friday so Arlin could take care of the other children until I came home from the hospital on Sunday.
Now I had two babies 11 months apart. I called them my twins, and they were the best of buds. As they got older, Roseanne called Max “buddy.”
My brother Allen came to Ricks College and lived with us while he went to school in building construction. He loved Arlin and took as many classes as he could from him. Allen was a good help to us also, and the boys adored their Uncle Allen. He met his wife, Julie, while going to school at Ricks College. After they were married, they moved to Provo where he finished his schooling.
Arlin received his master’s degree in the summer of 1974. Yay! No more summer school. He had no desire to go for a doctorate, and I really didn’t encourage him either. With his jobs, family, and church assignment our plate was full. In the spring of 1976, the high school band was invited to march in the Disneyland parade. The kids all wanted to go really bad. Max and Roseanne were only two and three at that time. The older children gathered night-crawlers from the lawn and sold them to earn money, and soon we had enough money saved so that we could make the trip. Uncle Laddie and Aunt Shirley planned to go with us. They had a camper on the back of their truck, and we pulled mom and dad’s trailer. Grandpa Bartschi also went with us. We had a great time and loved Disneyland.
