Working at Utah Technical College, etc, Tannie's birth

Leon, taught for one year at Brighton High (the band teacher had taken a sabbatical leave and Leon taught in his place). The school put on "Oklahoma" and the kids gave him a plaque in the shape of the state. At one of the basketball games I played the drums in the pep band. It was a very small band! After that year, he applied at the Alpine School District and became the band teacher at Pleasant Grove High School.
Tann Michelle Romriell was born July 17, 1978 so Leon drove me down to help out. They were living in a very nice house in Chino, CA I got to give her her first bath. It was a great experience.
I needed to find a job and after putting in my application in several places, I began working at the Utah Technical College, UTC. I worked in the office of Continuing Education and Roger Plothow was the director. Barbara Smith, a niece though inactive, of Pres. David O. McKay, was the assistant director. At first I worked for Gordon Evans, in charge of Fire Science, and Walter Barrus, the OSHA representative. I always said I got the job because our son David had filled a mission in Hong Kong, Roger’s son was then serving in Hong Kong, and Gordon’s son had just received his call to Hong Kong! Cecilia Patterson was the main secretary. It was a great place to work; everyone got along fine.
When each semester began, I would drive to Ogden and/or Salt Lake Community College and register fire science students. I would drive by myself, take the money and get everyone registered, then return home and then, the next day, turn in everything. A few times, Leon went with me, but mostly I went by myself. I would get a car from the school car pool to drive. I would often get a car and drive Roger to the SL airport when he had to go out of town.
Roger was a great person to work for. I was a little older than he and could remember things from the past and so he would enjoy talking about WW II, movies, and other incidents. He believed in rewarding his employees by sending them to various workshops around the country. He sent me to Glenwood Springs, CO (Leon was able to go with me as we drove there); to Cincinnati, OH, Boston, MA and twice to Washington D.C. I always took copious notes but he never wanted to read them so they were just filed.
The trip to Boston was great. The family paid for Leon to go with me and we had a wonderful time. We were able to walk the Freedom Trail, see Paul Revere’s home, visit the sailing ship "Old Ironsides" and take a tour to Plymouth where we visited the "Mayflower" replica. We enjoyed riding the subway, which rattled and shook, but got us wherever we wanted to go. We also visited Harvard University. All in all, a great trip. I did attend the workshops!
The Washington D.C. trips were also wonderful. Another girl from the office, was my roommate. She went on just one of the trips. She was fearful of being out at night, so we would go buy hamburgers and bring them back to the hotel room for supper. For one of the luncheons, I sat by our College President and visited with him. The other girl thought it bold of me, but I figured, what the heck, he is just a man after all!
In Washington I was able to see the Declaration of Independence, visit the White House, the Capital, tour Mount Vernon, Arlington Cemetery, see the statue of the raising of the Flag, Ford’s Theater, and all the Smithsonian Museums, between my two visits. One time, while visiting the National Gallery of Art, Roger wanted to go with me. I would go into one room, look at the painting and he would sit on a bench, then we’d go into another room and the same thing would happen. I really enjoyed myself. Roger also really liked his food and chose great restaurants. In Washington was where I first tasted Key Lime Pie, GREAT!

Move to Orem 1977

Leon was getting tired of teaching and wanted a change. We had always wanted to go back to Utah and on one of our trips he found a photography studio for sale. Brent went in on it with us. Leon's last day of school was June 15th, graduation. Alan, who was the band drum major, graduated that day. He, Rob and Doug played in the band. We loaded up on a large semi-trailer that belonged to a member of the ward. He drove the semi, Alan drove the little Toyota, Rob drove the station wagon with Doug, and Leon and I with Mark and Nancy were in our camper.We had bought a large five- or six bedroom home in Orem, Utah 767 E 400 S. It had a fenced back yard with two very large old apricot trees and concord grape vines. We eventually had 4 bedrooms downstairs with a 3/4 bath and two bedrooms upstairs with a full bath and 1/2 bath. We had converted one of the bedrooms into a dining room. For the first years we had to endure ORANGE carpet in the living room together with our ORANGE couch and overstuffed chair. I hated the colors! After quite a few years we took up the carpeting and found lovely hardwood floors which Leon refinished. We also painted and put up wallpaper. Brent doing the wallpaper and it became a lovely home. We bought new living room furniture that added to the pleasant feeling in the living room.The photography studio was called Mountainwest Photography, located on University Ave in Provo. Brent and Leon took the pictures and I was the receptionist. They learned to take good pictures but were not pushy salesmen! Alan also took pictures before he left for his mission in Padova, Italy. This experience enabled him to become a professional photographer, a very good one. The busines really couldn't support two families and both Brent and Leon decided they would rather be teachers. Brent went to Montezuma Creek and Leon, after taking some classes towards a doctoral degree, taught at Brighton High in Sale Lake County. Alan and I ran the studio, then when he left Rob began taking pictures, a senior in high school. Eventually we just gave the studio back to the previous owner.

Another Barlow baby; Tricia's wedding

Another snippet about the Vietnamese. Leon would take them to the parking lot of the high school and try to teach them to drive. They said they were ready before he though they were but took them to take their driving test anyway. The man who conducted the tests told Leon to take them home and not to bring them back! I guess they eventually did get their licenses. They bought Tricia’s car and promptly wrecked it!
We exchanged Christmas cards with Xuan for several years and then they stopped coming. It was and interesting experience.
Leon’s parents filled a temple mission at the Manti Temple and when released, they moved to Ephraim. They lived in "The General" and two-bedroom trailer with a pop-out side in the living room. Dad Honey built a utility porch on the side and Joan bought an old home next to them. We enjoyed driving down and visiting with all of them. Joan and her family had a lot of funny songs they taught us.
Sylvia and Brent had another baby, David Michael, born in Cortez, CO. He was early and his lungs were not fully developed and he had to be flown to a hospital in Albuquerque. Leon and I came, borrowing Grandpa Honey’s little trailer on the way. I stayed with little Jenny and Brent and Leon took Sylvia and Tricia down to Albuquerque to be near David. I again celebrated Sylvia and Brent’s anniversary, their 2nd! I made Jenny her first birthday cake. Mom and Dad Honey were able to come to Montezuma Creek for David’s blessing.
The next big event in our lives was Tricia’s wedding. She met Alan Romriell at Young Adults and he was (and is) a great guy. They were married in the Los Angeles Temple and Leon’s folks, my folks, David, Fred & Carol, Brent & Sylvia and Alan’s family were present. Again I made the wedding dress. Tricia chose a Vogue pattern, a little tricky, and I first made a dressy dress then the wedding dress. She has worn her wedding dress as a temple dress all these years. Sylvia was matron of honor, some cousins, and Alan’s sisters were bridesmaids. Nancy and Alan little sister Janna were flower girls. Grandma Williams also wrote a wedding song which was sung at the reception. It was a lovely day. We now had two great sons-in-laws.