December 1983
We brought the year to a close with plenty of snow in our neck of the woods.
Onward to a new year.
Merry Christmas
Christmas 1983
Mom and Aylin share a Christmas Eve birthday. So, it was a tradition in our house to open Christmas gifts on December 24. After Mui and I got married and moved to the US, that tradition continued.
Yes, we went a bit crazy with the gift giving. After all, we weren’t together for our first Christmas in the US; Mui was at Air Force Basic Training, and I was in Wichita with my brother. In our defense, many of the gifts were from friends, and we bought “household” stuff as joint gifts for each other.
Music box from the Pinskis.
Duck decoy lint brush from the Rapps.
Pair of “Christmas Love” mugs from Mui.
Six chocolate “Kisses” from me.
Gloves from Mui.
Wool sweater from me.
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I opened the practical “house” gifts; Mui used them.
Left: Thin Slicer; Right: Pressure Cooker
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Left: Brass Planter; Right: Turkish Rummikub
That's what I call a microwave!
Mom made the Christmas stockings for us.
And here we are on Christmas Day …
Merry Christmas!
It was a great first Christmas together since starting our married life.
Temple Square: Festival of Lights
17 December 1983
During the Christmas holiday season, Salt Lake City’s Temple Square is transformed into a magical world of twinkling lights — 215,000 lights to be precise. Bundled up against the nighttime cold, we went to check out the festival of lights. Our Saturday night visit included a concert performed by the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
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It was a memorable evening.
Company Christmas Party at La Caille
14 December 1983
The Petrolex Christmas party started out with cocktails at the Maxfield residence and then continued with dinner at La Caille, located in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
With Sandy and Andrew.
The Petrolex Gang with their spouses.
(L to R: Dave & Joan Dallof; Robyn & Burke Maxfield; Andrew & Sandy Parker;
the little boy on the far left – Taylor Maxfield.)
This wasn’t our first time to La Caille — we’d had dinner there in July. (Click here for that post, and photos of the grounds and interior.) The atmosphere was much more festive on this occasion. A good time was had by all.
By the way, the red dress I wore for the occasion was the evening gown I had custom-sewn for my high school graduation ball. I got more wear out of what could have been a one-time-wear dress after I had it shortened to cocktail-length.
Happy 2nd Anniversary
26 November 1983
On our first wedding anniversary in ‘82 Mui left to begin Basic Training in the Air Force, so we didn’t celebrate the occasion. We made up for that in 1983.
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Until we stopped decorating the house for the holidays a few years ago, we always set up our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving dinner. In 1983, we made an exception since we had guests for Thanksgiving. Instead we set up the tree after our anniversary celebration. By the end of the evening, not only was our tree decorated, but all the gifts were under it ... well OK; the gifts were around it. Yeah, we did go a bit overboard with the gift exchange, but it was our first year celebrating Christmas together since Mui was gone for the holidays in 1982.
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The big gift box in the back … that was our first microwave. Do you remember how big those first models were? It served us well and was still in working order when we finally donated it in 2006.
Happy Thanksgiving
24 November 1983
We invited our friends Sandy and Andrew to celebrate our first Thanksgiving in Utah with us.
Jaycees Parade
19 November 1983
I’m not a parade person. Sure, I like the colorful floats, but the crowds — ugh! Somehow Sandy and Andrew convinced us to join them, so off we went to Salt Lake City to watch the Jaycees Parade come down Main Street.
yes, that float is sponsored by Donny and Marie's studio.
I don’t remember if Marie was at the parade, but the woman
standing at the front of the float sure looks like her.
(the osmonds are utahns.)
Note: The United States Junior Chamber (Jaycees) gives young people between the ages of 18 and 40 the tools they need to build the bridges of success for themselves in the areas of business development, management skills, individual training, community service, and international connections.)
Trappist Monastery
11 November 1983
The Trappist Monastery (officially, the Abbey of Our lady of the Holy Trinity) is located in rural Huntsville, Utah — about 26 miles (42 km) from Kaysville.
From the brochure:
The Monastery is home to Catholic monks belonging to the Order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance, often called Trappists. The name comes from La Trappe Abbey or La Grande Trappe in Normandy in France. They originated in France in the 1100s and have been in America since 1848. They came to the Ogden Valley in 1947. The quadrangle of quonset buildings the monks live in are functional and adequate, as well as unique in the history of monastic architecture.
[scanned from postcard]
The Trappists are a cloistered contemplative monastic community who have chosen a hidden, austere, simple life of prayer and manual labor. They live in celibate chastity, cheerful poverty, and humble obedience.
[scanned from postcard]
The Chapel
The Salve Regina window above the chapel Sanctuary.
It was a quiet, peaceful visit and we returned from our Veteran’s Day outing with a jar of the monastery’s specialty — Trappist Creamed Honey, described as “a fine blend of Utah honey and various flavors calculated to satisfy a variety of tastes.”
Meet My Family
October 1983
Like me, my brother lives in the States, so he’s not in this photo of my family (taken at my parents’ condo in İzmir, Turkey).
Mom; Aylin, my sister; and Dad
Mom just loves (not!!!) having her picture taken. She’ll probably want to strangle me when she sees that I’ve posted this one on the blog.
Fall Is Here
10 October 2003
Columbus Day found us visiting the University of Utah School of Horticulture in Farmington …
… and then taking a drive up the canyon to Park City. Curiously, I have no photos of Park City itself … hmmm?
It was a beautiful day to enjoy fall colors.
Hill Air Force Base: Open House
17 September 1983
“The open house is a great way to showcase the Air Force and Hill Air Force Base,” was the lead-in to the article. We invited our friends Sandy and Andrew to join us on a beautiful fall day and went to check out the Hill Air Force Base Open House. In addition to demos — on the ground and in the air — several aircraft were open for public tours.
Bomb Loading Demonstration
Fly-over refueling of three F-105 Thunderchiefs
by a KC-135 Stratotanker.
Treaty of Paris celebrates the 200th anniversary of the
treaty by the same name that ended the American Revolutionary
War, as well as the bi-centennial of the first manned flight,
an epic event that occurred in Paris and was witnessed by
Benjamin Franklin.
The C-141B Starlifter first flew in 1963.
It remained in service until 2006.
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The KC-135 Stratotanker is an aerial refueling aircraft.
the refueling boom is visible in the photo on the right.
The C-130 Hercules, capable of using unprepared runways for
takeoffs and landings, was originally designed as a troop,
medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft.
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In 2007, the C-130 Hercules marked 50 years of service.
Thunderbirds Aerial Ballet — Bomb Burst
This was the one and only open house we attended at Hill Air Force Base.
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