July 30, 2024

 

Carol and Richard Wall are settling in to enjoy her parent’s home, that of Larry and Lillian Hansen, while the Hansen take a trip to Scandinavia to explore their Danish roots. The Walls live in Salt Lake and enjoy the peace of the Mink Creek surroundings.

Mink Creek is welcoming another new family. James and Sydney Bowen and their three children Alex, Elliot, and Sydney. They are moving into the Two Creek Ranch House.

Matt Westerberg and his wife have spent some relaxing days at the home of his parents Terry and Wendy Westerberg. The beauties of Station Creek are perfect at this time of year and it is a different pace than their lives in the big city on the east coast.

Emalina Colvin, a daughter of JoAnn and Drew Ford, is here staying with her parents, assisting as they prepare to move and getting the Ford home ready to be placed on the market.

There are three other Mink Creek homes now looking for buyers. They are the Steve and Amy Baldwin home, the Reed and Penny Swann home, and the Kaci Baldwin home.

The Haws children brought their Dad, Karl Haws, up from California for a week of remembering his Mink Creek home. Their earlier years were spent in the Santa Barbara area, now several of the siblings live in Sol Vang. The plan was for the siblings to gather and, at last count, four of them had reported.

It seems fitting to have Cliff Keller to be the first high councilman assigned to the Mink Creek Ward since the organization of the new Preston East Stake. Cliff’s ancestral roots go back to the founding family of Mink Creek, that of James Morgan and Karen Valentine Keller. Teresa, Cliff’s wife, is a bonus to this calling.

We have had three power outages during this past week.  The first big lighting bang must have taken something out, or brought something in. The outages were various lengths of time, but it sure served as a reminder to update batteries in the lanterns that were feeble.  It always pays to have the old-fashioned candle, even the scentsy type break up the darkness.

July 23, 2024

 

The Young Women’s Girls’ Camp was really out of this world, at least the Mink Creek world, taking place at Island park at a “cabin” belonging to President Michael and Nicole Romney of the new Preston East Stake. As the group drove up they stopped by at the temple grounds in Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Rexburg. Camp activities included crafts, games, sing-a-longs. For water play activities they had both a lake and river nearby. A short drive took them to the top of Sawtelle Peak where they could view the world below, 360 degrees, all sides with a feeling of the vastness of creation. Their theme for the year has been Christ being the Light and a devotional where they were able to float lighted lanterns capped off one evening. Both leaders and young women experienced some time of enrichment and rest from the challenges of daily life.

We have had Sid and Lisa Whitehouse back among us for a bit of summer. They are Crickers at heart, but live in South Carolina when they aren’t traveling about. They brought a grandson with them, who had a great time riding horses and bikes, hiking the territory and just having summer fun Idaho-style.

Hannah and Spencer Singleton of El Dorado, AR, are spending their annual month with Hannah’s parents, Wynn and Cecelie Costley. The two Singleton sons, Samuel and Grey, are extra blond this month, having lost a family wager and have bleached their already blond hair and given both a buzz cut. Memories are made.

Robert Greenlee and Corrie Wallace were married June 22, 2024.They live in the former Jewel Christensen home on Mink Creek Road. It was a Mountain Man themed wedding, performed by Corrie’s brother T. J. Wallace. The couple was decked out in Mountain Man attire. The celebration was held at neighbor Clare Christensen’s front yard and garden with approximately 80 friends and family attending. Decorations were provided by Mandy and Dan Durham, “Moments to Memories Event Decorating.” A reception/dinner followed, hosted by the family and Clare Christensen. The food followed the theme, mountain-man flavor and style.

Things are hot and dry and we are so glad the state highway crew did a round trip to canyons and back with their mowing equipment. The roadside grasses were quite high and serve as cover, especially at night, for deer, and other wildlife to come suddenly into the road for a collision. Of course this doesn’t eliminate the problem, but it does cut down on fatalities.

July 16, 2024

 

I promised information about the 4th, and didn't realize it would be lengthy.  The day was wonderful, a special feeling about it somehow, being the middle of the week and yet so many wanting to be at the doings.  If you have visited in the past you know the ballpark is a lovely place.  It has been a part of Mink Creek for many, many years and only improved over time.

Mink Creek community’s annual July 4^th was a great day that filled the local ballpark with people of all ages. Lounge chairs, blankets, tables, shade pop-ups filled the area. The huge national flag billowed out in the breezes at the eastern edge of the park. The temperature of the day was “just right.” A flag ceremony was conducted by our veterans with a patriotic talk from Warren Wilde and the official raising of the flag by Royce Christensen, Layne Erickson and Bob Erickson. AnnaBeth Olson had put together a program for the occasion with Ethan McKague playing a trumpet solo of our National Anthem and a vocal group, Kristin and Jay Collins, Claudine and LaMar McKague, Sage Ricks, and Elsie McKague singing a rendition of “God Bless America.”

In trying to notice who were wearing aprons some of the food committee may have been missed, apologies from this writer. Dutch Oven potatoes from the Stuart Ostler and Brent Sharp family. Chicken and beef from the Clare Christensen crew. Tossed salad, rolls. Drinks by Brint Phillips: water, root beer and lemonade. Others in aprons: Bret Rasmussen, Wynn and Ceclie Costley, L.D. Larkins, Jan Seamons. And many willing, helpful servers when it came time to serve up the grub. Dessert was ice cream sandwiches and a piece of a huge cake decorated in the great style of Cecelie Costley and Leah Gilbert. \

By tallying tickets sold for the celebration dinner there were 420 attending, but that doesn’t include the children who didn’t require a lunch ticket. Live music from John Dahle entertained while food was being prepared and again later in the day. After the much anticipated candy drop from several swoops from a visiting airplane, there was a variety of activities available: a rope constructed monkey bridge, a short slack line, wading pool, bounce house and slide, corn hole, volleyball, face painting, ultimate frisbee , a treasure ball hunt, an obstacle course and high on the list always, is the water slide in the afternoon, taking advantage of our sloping countryside adorned with irrigation water and suitable slide materials. Bret Rasmussen brought his oil can train for afternoon rides.

There was happiness for living in the USA.

July 9, 2024

 

Idaho State Highway crews have been hauling many truckloads of gravel to improve some of the parking areas off of Strawberry Road, aka State Highway 36, as it winds up Strawberry Canyon on its way to the Copenhagen Parking lot. This will be a big improvement for the snowmobile crowd during the winter months.

Kasey and Julie Haws and Lauren and Ken Nash and family members have started the summer run of Haws family visitors, most of whom come from California, throughout the whole year, but mainly the months of more reasonable weather. This group likely was laying the groundwork for others as they choose to spend days in the Idaho summer.

Marilyn (Jepsen) and Bob Godfrey have managed to stay here for a few weeks recently. Marilyn is the first daughter of the Freemon and Ada Jepsen family, growing up on Bear Creek Rd. The Godfreys live in Arizona.

With the recent formation of the Preston East Stake there are frequent callings being made in the eight wards making up the membership of the stake. Thus far two of the Mink Creek members in stake positions are Steve Baldwin as a High Councilor and Robert Crosland as the 1^st Counselor to Tom Madsen in the East Stake Sunday School presidency.

Dr. Kurt and Margret Iverson , their son Conner, and an Iverson cousin, recently returned from a vacation trip to Scotland. The countries of Great Britain are just as green and beautiful as our own Mink Creek is at this time of year.

Our smaller creeks that flow into the Mink Creek waterway have dwindled in quantity of water with the recent hot temperatures. Most of them have shrunk with the snow pack meltdown a thing of the past.

People continue to report on spotting the Momma moose and her calf on their drives through Strawberry Canyon over to Bear Lake. She must be considering our forest as her home ground for now.

The Mink Creek July 4^th was fun day, lots of people, particularly for a middle of the week holiday. More on that next week.

July 2, 20242

 

Family members of Elder Jesse Erickson gathered together in Wellsville to welcome him as he returned from his mission. He is the son of Bryan and Shannon Erickson. His grandparents, Layne and Karen Erickson and aunt Terrie McKay drove down from Mink Creek for the occasion. Jesse served the first part of his mission in the India, New Delhi, Mission and then received a transfer to the Washington, D. C., South, Mission, serving much of that time in northern Virginia.

Some new arrivals have come to the community. This time it is Whitt and Ellie Smith. She is the daughter of Dan and Casey Christensen and the couple will be living in Mink Creek while their future plans take shape.

Robert and Phee Crosland attended a Crosland Family Reunion in Moroni, UT. This is where ‘the Cros’ grew up surrounded by siblings in a large family. As is often the case with these gatherings, there were relatives in attendance that they hadn’t seen in years.

Alex Huxford was here for a weekend, visiting and assisting the family of Richard and Vickie Free. Alex is a nephew and spent summers on the Free ranch as a teenager.

The family of Vance and Connie Christensen have been here visiting with family. There was much sharing of memories of when they lived among us in their growing up years.

Fierce winds have been causing some havoc for those who grow hay in our village. The strong gusts rearrange the windrows of hay that were so nicely laid out in our farmers’ fields as the crop was mowed. Haying season keeps the landowner on alert, needing to be weather-watchers affected by heat, rain, wind around the clock, at the mercy of nature. It all affects the nutrient quality of the hay. And then there is the breakdown of the equipment, another item that always surfaces as the summer months move along.

There is no question as to it being summer in Mink Creek. A drive past the Mink Creek Ballpark on a weekend finds the place full of visitors enjoying a Family Reunion, the next weekend, same scene, different family. Farm machinery wake up fairly early, along with the operating farmer, to catch the cooler temperature, or get involved in some phase of irrigating for the next crop. It is a beautiful time of year.