John and Luella (her brother and sister) were so busy singing around town, that I was my dad's tomboy. I even wore Levi's, which was unheard of then. So I spent lots of time with my grandparents too. I learned to fish with Dad and Grandfather in the ripples in the creek water, where the First Dam is now. When Dad and Grandfather went to the Madison for the big fishing trip, I would stay with Grandmother and sleep in the east screened sleeping porch on a special feather mattress Grandfather had brought from Sweden for Grandmother when he had gone on a mission. When they carne home from the Madison River trips, they would have the fish wrapped in a big heavy tarp that they kept soaked in river water. It was so cold at Madison, that the wet tarp kept the fish fresh. The following days were spent canning or bottling fish. Grandfather believed that you took no more than you could use. Grandmother's kitchen always smelled of luscious food: custards, bread pudding, cakes, cookies and Aunt Geneva's special Turkey soup. No wonder I was a fatty. Grandmother kept her food spplies in what was called a cellar - it was an underground dugout. It was always sweet smelling in there. And her foods tasted fresh because it was so cool and clean. It was dirt-lined with wooden shelves. She had a wooden wash house and soap house. That was where they made the soap, but it was off limits to children when they were making soap, because Grandmother was concerned about our getting hurt. We could go in later and help them cut it to bars, and Aunt Selma and Aunt Amanda always helped with the soap. It was fun to crawl up in the barn and peer into the pigeons' nests. Grandmother loved hollyhocks, and many times she would take me into the garden to make a sunbonnet baby out of hollyhocks. She used one hollyhock for the bonnet, and the second for the body. When ZCMI closed the stores. Grandfather closed out the Lewiston store, and I rode along, between bolts of material. I went to the farm while Dad and Grandfather put up hay. Every Friday, I'd take Dad's bike and ride it "under bar" to Grandmother's to get a yeast starter for our weekly nine loaf batch of bread. Mother made it on Saturday so the one loaf was fresh for the Sacrament at Church. I was so proud of my special part in this. Grandmother made all the fruit cake 3 to 5 tier wedding cakes. When she let me help cut up the fruit and nuts, I really felt important. The last one I helped with was my own cake in 1938, when my grandfather married Alton and me in the Logan Temple. Two years later he also blessed John Alton and gave him his name. Pictures were printed in the local paper because there were so many grandparents were in attendance - 81. When anyone was seriously ill. Grandfather was called before the Doctor. Grandfather always gave a blessing. As he put his hand on your head, you felt the power of healing and you actually shook. While in college, I lived with my grandparents and Marie and Merrill. It was a wonderful experience. Always, night and morning prayers were given. If it was almost time for the morning bus, Merrill was asked to give the prayer because he would cut it short. One time, Marie and I decided we'd go on a diet. She got home from school a half hour before I did. Grandpa met me at the door, escorted me to the kitchen, and said, "Sit down and eat this!" And he had fixed me two poached eggs on toast. Marie was just finishing her dish. We were told not to go to school without our food again. Grandfather darned his own stockings, but he let me darn some after I had received an A grade in a class in college for darning! Grandfather always listened to your problems and helped you solve them. He helped me pick out my first home in Logan when Alton was in the Army. My landlord had raised the rent from $25 to $27 so I bought a home, 4 rooms, for $4000, selling it later after building a garage for $8,000. Later owners sold it for $20,000. At the time I had bought the house. Grandfather had said the house was small. I pointed out that 2 bedrooms is all I needed if something happened to Alton in the war, and if he came home, the house could be added on to, as it was a half acre lot in a good location. And he thought that was a good idea. Lutefisk: it came stiff as a board and had to be soaked about 3 weeks or longer. Grandmother did it for the whole family and it was really good the way she fixed it: white, fluffy and mild with boiled potatoes, white sauce and mustard. There was a saying in Logan that as long as John Hyrum Anderson rode his bike, the bank would be solvent. At big family dinners, the adults sat at the big table in the dining room and the children sat at tables on the screened on south and west sides of the house. That way we could fight over the olives without the parents getting upset. I have always been very proud to be an Anderson, because my grandparents were thought so much of by the people of Logan. John Alton Peterson: As a very small boy, he remembers visiting with them in their garden. They walked together, holding hands, and were so tender with each other - they were just a pair of sweethearts. Naomi A. Peterson writes:
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