Todd Nielsen: Childhood Friend

Todd was a good friend when we first moved to Hyrum.  I was in the second grade, and Todd was a grade older.  Our home had a smaller plot of land, but his was the center of a farm.  He had a nice swing set, a great sand box, and a tremendous climbing tree, as well as an orchard where the cows also grazed.  Most of my time, during my first few years in Hyrum, was at Todd's playing in the dirt.  We made great communities with tunnels and bridges.  It was great fun.  It is still the basis of my sand play at the beech; the tunnels we made.  Todd was always careful to not make the grade too steep.  We also enjoyed climbing his big tree.  It was an oak out by the barn, and we climbed very high.  One time my younger brother followed us.  We were sliding down through the branches to get out of the tree, what Todd called the back exit.  My brother followed, but was too light to bend the branches far enough for a safe landing.  He broke his arm.
The swing set had a really nice glider.  We use to slip off the back of the glider after we got it going good.  I must have slid to early one time, because I ended up underneath and it caught me in the head.  One of the times I cracked my skull open.
I us to play in their house at times as well.  This usually involved playing a game.  I remember we played Life frequently.
The Neilsen home was also the place for night games.  We would play kick-the-can or freeze tag or hide and seek.  I also remember collecting bugs from the flowers they had to the side of their house.
We lived kitty corner from the Neiesen's.  We lived there for my second through fourth grades, and then moved away for a couple years, and then moved back.  After moving back, Todd and I didn't play quite as much.  I mostly hung with the boys my age.  Todd's father, Reece, was the mayor for a time. At one point they divided the ward down the street between our homes.   However the broken arm incident was after we moved back.  My mom thought I should have done better with Charlie in light of my being a Boy Scout because I didn't even realize he had broken his arm.