Happy 50th Birthday to my youngest son - Garen

Garen Van Staley was born on May 29, 1964 around 8 AM at the Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Larry and I were all most ready to move into our new home, in Grantsville, Utah.  Larry was painting the inside of the house, and we were having a friend Dee Hubrich put the flooring in.  I had been watching Dee lay the floor and was packing Bret around as he hadn't leaned to walk yet.  I swear that is what caused me to go into labor, packing Bret around.  I went to bed that night and was dreaming about the new flooring in our home.  I was rolling around in pain all over that new floor.  Then suddenly I woke up and sure enough I was in labor.  I started to cry as it was almost a month earlier than I was supposed to have Garen.  I guess I wasn't emotionally ready for the pain I was going to go through.  I remember Larry telling me that I should be happy to get it over with. Even though Garen came early, he still weighed over 8 lbs.  So it is good I had him early.

When I went into labor it was the bearing down pain, so we had to rush and get me to the hospital.  Larry called our neighbor and had their daughter come over to stay with Sherry and Bret.  This was around 3AM in the morning.  I had Bret and Sherry around 8 PM so this was different.  We raced to Salt Lake City around a 45 minute drive.  My doctor was waiting for me as he knew that I delivered fast. When Garen was born, Dr. Latteier said "It's a boy and he looks just like his Dad."  That was because Garen had a receding hair line.  I thought all of our kids looked like their Dad.

I know Garen is an unusual name and this is how we picked that name.  Larry and I had some very special friends in Grantsville.  They were our neighbors and we ended up doing a lot of things together. Their names were Sharon and Gary.  A lot of times when we would say their names, for some reason we would run the names together.  Like Sharon and Garen.  So we decided to name Garen after them.  Larry always wanted to give the kids a name that couldn't be turned into a nickname. Larry, Garen's oldest son named his first son Garen.

Garen was my baby, and I spoiled him rotten.  Larry warned me about spoiling him, but I loved to rock my babies, and I couldn't stand to let them cry.  Garen had a bad temper and when he didn't get his way, he would throw his head back and scream.  One time we were visiting his Grandma and Grandpa Staley, and Garen had a screaming fit and threw his head back and hit me in the chin. It really hurt me and I picked him up and shook him a little and said, "I can't stand you, you little brat."  Well Grandma didn't like this and when we got home, I found out that Grandma had called Larry and told him about the incident.  I was under a lot of stress having had three children really close together, moving twice and the last move from Grantsville to Las Vegas, leaving behind my best friend Sharon. After Larry and I talked about it he understood.  Also the reason we were in Salt Lake was to go to our old doctors as we were all sick.  We found out later we had picked up a bug from raw milk.

Garen  had a tough time being picked on by his siblings and as they would be playing in another room, I would hear him screaming.  I would run into the room, and the screaming had stopped abruptly.  He would look pale and limp, it scared me.  Finally one day I caught him as he passed out.  He would hold his breath and pass out for a second or two. It scared me, but I learned to run him to the sink and sprinkle some water on his face and it would stop him.  To this day, he still has a bad temper.

Not sure how old I think around 6

When Garen was around three, he was out in our backyard with Sherry and Bret.  I had the spirit tell me that I had better go out side and check on him.  I went out just in time to see Garen get burned with a piece of plastic.  We used to burn our garbage and for some reason Garen had a fascination with fire that went on for several years. Garen had stepped on a piece of plastic that had fallen on the ground.  He burned his foot pretty bad.  Larry and I took Garen for a ride after taking care of the burn in hopes it would calm him down.  Then we came home and laid him on the couch.  Sherry and Bret were so concerned for him and were so cute in trying to take care of him. Larry was a volunteer firefighter and one year Garen started the field on fire across the street from where we lived.  A little embarrassing for Larry. Years later after Larry had died, Garen and a friend about burned our rental home down.  I often wonder if he is still fascinated with a camp fire?

Bret's Baptism Day 

A Christmas present Trampoline

Bret and Garen Christmas late 70's

I think this was Garen's first date to a Prom

Some huge fish caught on an over night fishing trip.Bret, Garen, and Frank

Mom, Pops, Bret, Garen, and Renee

Garen raised a lamb for the fair. Joder was his name and Garen got too attached to him and cried when he had to auction Joder off

I had to post the pictures of Frankie as he was a part of our family.  Frankie was our neighbor and was at our home for every occassion.  I would place an extra plate on the table at dinner time because I knew he would be there to eat with us. He was a lot younger than Bret and Garen, but never the less he was their friend.  Frankie ended up with cancer in his Senior year of high school, and was able to beat it.  He was able to get married, but unfortunately the cancer came back and he passed away.  This was a sad time for all of us.  We loved him as one of our own. Click on the image and they will show in a larger size.

Garen's 18th Birthday Cake

Wedding Day 

Grandpa with Garen, Larry, and Cortney at a Grandpa Staley Reunion

The Garen Staley Family at our Condo

This was one of the few times we spent all together at our Condo in Elk Meadows.  We had a lot of fun playing in the snow, and playing games.  I remember splitting my sides with laughter when we were playing a game. I think Cortney said something that just hit the funny button. They are all grown up now and have kids of their own.

Sherry, Mom, Bret and Garen  Staley family reunion

I don't know why but one thing that I remember about Garen is about him protecting me.  We were riding bikes in Overton one afternoon, and all of a sudden this crazy man came running out of a trailer park and started chasing me. It really scared me and I stated pumping that bike as fast as I could.  Garen went after the man and and that made him stop and he ran back into the trailer park.  Garen was my Hero that day.

One of the hardest times in our lives is when I married Frank and we moved to Oklahoma.  We were all homesick for our home and friends in Overton.  We would go to the Wichita Wild Life Refuge park not to far from our home, and we prayed our hearts out that something would happen so that we could move back to Overton.  Long story short, Frank had the spirit tell him on a trip to Oklahoma City, that we should move back to Overton.  We hadn't unpacked all the boxes from our move, and you should have seen how fast we packed up the house and was ready to leave.

I never dreamed that my relationship with Garen and his family would fall apart, but for the past eight or nine years that is exactly what has happened.  My heart has been broken as I have missed out on so much in my grand kids lives.  Marriages, great grand kids being born and not being able to see them.  They think I don't like them, but that is so far from the truth.  The truth is that I do not want to cause problems within their family, and that I love them very much.  Just wish there was a redo button to push.  Garen, you will probably never see this, but I want to wish you a very Happy 50th Birthday. You and Natalie have raised a wonderful bunch of kids.  I will love you forever........MOM