It was the end of the summer in 1985. Mom and Dad were considering moving and had taken several trips to see where we could go. One day they arrived home after a trip to Utah and announced that we were going to move to a place called Pleasant Grove. I was furious. Things were going well (at least in my mind they were, I had friends and a good job etc.) and I did not want to pick up and move again. I was 16 and was going to be a junior in high school. I volunteered to stay back and live with my friends or the Jensens or anybody for that matter but of course they said no (which truly turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. I would not be here as I am today with all my blessings, school wonderful five and family etc. if we had stayed in Arco). Two weeks before school started, I packed up my stuff with my family and we moved. I went back a week later to get more stuff and I never went back again.
I started school and quickly realized that living in PG was not going to be that bad after all. I loved singing and joined the HS coir and Chamber Choir. There were so many opportunities that we had never had or seen before. It was truly a blessing. In school I had 100’s of classes to choose from (at least is seemed like 100’s it was probably only 20 or so but that was 18 more than Arco provided). I did many things I HS that I won’t elaborate on at this time. There is one event that I would like to include. While attending my first year of college I wrote the following paper about my experiences in High School.
Paper written in College Writing 110, 10\26\1987
The year I began Ballroom Dancing
Pleasant Grove High School 1985, I had just recently moved to Pleasant Grove, Utah, from Arco, Idaho. In the third week of my junior year, the Drama and Dance Department announced that they were going to do a musical (which at that time, had not been announced). I, being an actor, dancer and otherwise performer, decided that I would try out for a part in the unknown musical.
I went to the auditions to tryout. I didn't have any idea what I was doing, because at that time I had never tried out for any musicals, so I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know a single, solitary person in the whole place. The director had everyone get up on the stage so that she could teach us a dance. I was privileged to be able to dance with Laura. Laura was, and is, an awesome dancer. She was on the ballroom dance team, the drill major for the Pleasant Grove High Drill Team, and the future Homecoming Queen for the 1986-87 year (of course unknown to us at that time). She taught me the dance, we tried out, and after dancing all over her feet, we made it. The musical was finely announced; it was "Lil Abner." I got the part of one of the lead dancers, and a townspersons. I was excited. It was the first musical that I was privileged to do in "Happy Valley Utah."
We started practicing the next day. It was hard and laborious work. One evening we were doing a dance scene. All the men in the musical had to line up in 4 rows of 5 (that was all the men we had). We danced for about an hour, and then the director taught us a move called the Banana. You had to squat down like you were going to do the Russian (the Russian is where you squat down and kick your feet out one at a time). After your rear end hit the floor you had to jump up and put one arm straight up and the other arm horizontal. After your arms were on a ninety-degree angle, you had to arch your back so that you looked like a banana. Hence they called it the Banana. You then did it on your left side and then on your right and so on. We then had to do it in a wave. We only had two counts to do this whole move, and we alternated the move every six counts. While we were learning this, our director made us do the Banana for an hour and a half. The next day I could hardly walk, my thighs ached even when I was sitting down. That night we had to do a series of lifts, which made it all worse. But it was well worth the pain.
Finely, after two months of practicing every night, the opening night came. The house was packed, and anticipation was high. The curtain opened, and with a bright flash of colored lights, and awesome music, we were on. The first scene was the whole town (or cast), assembled around a massive statue of "Jubilation T. Cornpone." It went very well. We danced, sang, acted, and otherwise had a smashing time. After the first show was over, it became a time for perfecting, and making the audience feel like they were part of the cast. My family said that they enjoyed the performance very much.
After this experience, Elaine, the Director and Dance Instructor, asked me to dance on the dance team. This experience was the first I had with the Pleasant Grove High School Ballroom Dance Team. That year and my senior year, we placed first at the annual BYU Ball, and second place at the Ricks College Invitational. As well as other places in the area. We also did the musical "Hello Dolly," and Finnians Rainbow."
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While living in PG, there were many other events including receiving my Patriarchal blessing, gaining my own testimony, working in the potato farms, working for the Veterinary hospital down the road (the vet offered to pay for my college tuition if I wanted to become a vet. I did not really know the value of that offer and I did not want to be a vet so I turned him down), receiving my Eagle Scout award, trip to Lake Powel with the ward, trip to Washington DC for a choir tour, working at Taco Amigo, graduating from high school and seminary, working at Weinerschnitzel and starting college at Utah Valley Community College (where I also danced on the Ballroom Dance Team for two years).
