Childhood Memories

Playing in the fall leaves 2008: Andrew, Lexie, Davis

CAREFREE!

I was reading my friend jen's blog the other day, about memories from her childhood. We grew up in the same neighborhood, and she ran around with my older sister, Jessica. So much of what she said reminded me of my own wonderful childhood, and made me want to record some of the things I loved about growing up on Oak Lane in Kaysville, Utah.

Kaysville is a bedroom community. Not great for a town's tax base, but wonderful to grow up in as a kid. It had one stoplight and today only has a few more. It was a town of one grocery store Bowman's (it now has two.) I think my parents are still loyal to Bowman's and when we lived in Layton I would sometimes still shop there( when I would do the shopping, Jeremy does most of it.) I love that my parent still live on the same street, I grew up on. They have lived there all of my life and can't imagine they will ever move. For some reason this makes me happy. Probably cause change is hard for me, and I couldn't imagine anyone else living in "my" childhood house.

I could not cover my childhood without paying tribute to Natalie. Nat and I we joint at the hip from an early age. She is in my earliest memories and I feel so lucky to count her as a close friend. Every little girl should be so lucky as to have a friendship like ours. It has been magical and still continues to be. I remember drinking chocolate milk from straws and blowing bubbles together. Having read-a-thons when we were like seven or eight. I don't think normal kids do that but I am so glad we did. I had a hard time learning to read, and I was lucky to have Nat who loved books to help me see the beauty. I love to read today and I learned that books were cool by being friends with Nat. (All of my family are readers so I think I would have caught the bug eventually but I am truly grateful to Natalie for this.) We got a ride in the mail mans truck one day when it was raining, and he chauffeured us from her house to mine. What would it be like to live in a world were you could still trust your mailman to drive your child to their friends house (it was only 5 houses away although we did turn a corner.)? I would die if Lexie did that and we were probably her age(4). Like I said the friendship was magical; I grew up thinking every little girl had the same magical friendship, and to my dismay, this is not the case.

I remember playing night games. I don't know if kids still do this, but I sure hope so. It was so fun. We had a total routine; it started with Steal the Flag at Benson's. Then we crossed the street to Anderson's and played Poison and Lightening on the basketball court followed by Ghost in the Graveyard also at Anderson's. When it was time to come home my dad would go outside, stand at the top of the hill and whistle. This is how we knew it was time to come home. No cell phones, no constant video games we played outdoors and we played hard. Then we would come home and have baths and Mom would put our hair in curlers for Sunday. On a rare occasion if my mom happened to be at work, my Dad would roll our hair in the curlers. This was bad cause taking them out when Dad put them in was always a tearful event with many tangles. Like I said it was a rare occasion, but I always thought it was cool I had a Dad who would do this in the first place.

We rode our bikes all over the place, went on circle walks, and walked around the cemetery. Jess(my sister) and I, on more than one occasion filled the wagon with the tall glass soda bottles and would pull them to Bowman's were you got 10 cents for each bottle. I remember getting close to twenty dollars once, we thought we're rich. Don't do the math to see how many sodas we drank. I'm sure we looked hilarious to the passer by, but for me those are the things that make life great. I love it when I see a lemonade or kool aid stand, and see kids just being kids. I think kids are growing up way to fast these days. Oh how I miss the carefreeness of childhood and hope and pray I create the same kind of environment for my own kids. Thanks Mom and Dad for providing the ideal childhood, it truly was the best!

Crickets and Heart attacks

I have this memory of Jess when we were kids. I distinctly remember one Sunday before church when Jess had a freak out session over a cricket. She must have been around Elevenish because it was when her room was the "toy room" downstairs. This room has been a variety of things over the years and for awhile after Michael was born it was Jess's room. Anyhow there was a cricket in her room on the floor and she bawled and carried on for like a half and hour. She stayed on top of her bed because the cricket was on the floor blocking her way to the door. I remember Jason and I being a bit mean in retrospect, as we made fun and light of her situation.
Well I had my own freak out session today with a cricket. It wasn't a complete freak out. just a scream you would her upon stumbling upon a murder scene or the likes. Back to my story. I was determined to get on top of my laundry today. Well I sorted the clothes. and as I moved a pile over which had been in the room for a few days, a cricket jumps out. Of course I scream and jump and just about die because well I know he is still in here amongst my sorted laundry. He is going to rear his ugly head again and I'm shaking just thinking about it. Is this a rational amount of fear over a bug for a grown women? I could handle it better if the suckers didn't jump. Well when it was time for the next load to go in I summon the courage to tackle the pile I think he is hiding in. OUT he jumps, as I transfer clothes to the washer. We go through the whole routine again, the girls come running to see why mom is screaming, and to check out the cricket. Well this time I got him. I stomped him. Luckily I had shoes on. Phew after the 2nd load cricket crisis resolved. Not so fast, I didn't have the ability to pick him up at that time and transfer him to the garbage, I would tackle that at the next load. Low and behold crickets are like cats in that they have nine lives. I swear I stomped him at least five times. If you didn't catch it, the cricket was gone. I checked with Lexie, my not quite 4 year old, to see if she disposed of the bug, or rather hoping she had. No such luck. She informed me she had gone to stomp on him and he was gone. Gratefully at this time Jeremy arrived home from work, and sought the cricket out and got him. He almost threw him in the garbage inside my laundry room, gratefully I caught him and sent him outside with the wretched cricket. I know, not rational. But you should know, my cricket equated to a quarter in size and Jess's was only dime sized. I think she has transferred her fear to me. This is also one of the reasons I haven't gotten into gardening yet here. Fear of bugs. They really are huge here. Well luckily the cricket is gone and although the day is coming to a close I'm going to finish my laundry yet!

JUST BECAUSE!

Lexie, Anna, Andrew June 14, 2009

Last night I decided I would have a camp out in the yard with the kids. They were so excited. It is really the little things. We were out in the tent and Andrew was telling us a story about Lehi, which was a story that was all over the place, when he decided he was headed in for the night. He ran off saying, "Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning." I hope I am not raising a sissy. He returned a few minutes later because he forgot his blanket. Then this morning he said, " Hey, why didn't we sleep in the tent?"
I guess he forgot he was scared. The girls and I lasted until about 3:00 am when I had to go to the bathroom and wanted a real bed. We will have to try again.
Lexie and I had fun talking about shooting stars, I remembered the song "Catch a Falling Star and Put it in your Pocket." Because Lex, asked if you could pick up a shooting star. We sang Primary songs, and I listened to her make up her own songs. I tried to point out the Big Dipper. We talked about crickets chirping and how they made that noise. I love these little kids and sometimes feel like if I blink I will miss something. It is easy to forget that the little guys just want some of our time and if we give it the rewards are great. Don't you think they are just darling? I love you Andrew, Anna, and Lexie!

The Drive-In

Andrew, Anna, and Lexie @ the Drive-In May 30 2009

Last night for a family outing we went to the drive-in movie; it was a double feture and kids 5 and under are free. I'm telling you this is the way to do family movies as it is much less expensive than a regular theater. Twenty dollars for a family of five with treats. I felt like we were going back in time a little bit. The place had Grease written all over it. We had a fun time and I think it is important to be building memories and traditions with our children. I'm hoping this is something we could maybe start.

Jeremy having some popcorn. Rare he never eats popcorn.

Part of the Grease feeling I was referring to


The movie screen. They had four screens and the place was packed

Jeremy and Anna in the concessions line

The concessions line

Me and Anna ( she has become a total pill as of our arrival in Texas)

The MUFF and my DUKES of Hazard Day!

I started thinking of my favorite muff memories, there are many. First the origins of the name. Obviously this had to me a LOUD car in order to pull of such a fabulous name as the Muff! It was very loud. When I would pick Nat up for school I didn't have to honk because she could hear me from her house as soon as I started the car at my house. Natalie lived around the corner and five houses away. One funny thing about this is a neighboring house of Nat's asked that I not honk the horn in the morning as they were in there retirement and sometimes were not up yet. This was hilarious because horn or not this car could wake you from a sound sleep.



Next the great part about the Muffler was it being a stick shift. This is a the car I learned to drive on and anyone who has experienced watching someone learn to drive a stick knows the comedy abounds. I remember one summer night I went to Blockbuster with Heather Nielsen. She wanted to learn to drive a stick so on the way home we had our first lesson. Just thinking of this right now I'm chuckling to myself. So we started in the parking lot and had a few stalls. There was a car of boys behind us getting a kick out of it. After a few tries and the lurch forward and then back, Heather opened the two door car and dove into the backseat. I head fist dive. We were laughing so hard. So I moved over to the drivers seat and wouldn't you know it we were stopped at a red light in the left hand turn lane and the car of boys pulled up beside us. Of course the windows were down as the A/C was not a luxury the Muff had. The guys were laughing an with there hands imitating the action of letting out the clutch while giving it a little gas. Heather did not even look over she was so embarrassed.



The next and possibly the most memorable muff experience was at good old Davis High. School had just let out and Nat and I had to run back into get something so we pulled into the round about outside the office, (which no longer exists). Well the round about was on a bit of a hill and bordered main street. I thought the car was in first gear but it had slipped out. So as I we start to walk in Nat notice the car is rolling into on coming traffic on main street. Once again lucky there was no A/C and the windows were down, this is my one and only Dukes of Hazard moment in my life. I ran full speed dove through the window and pulled the brake just before the car entered main street. Nat and I were in hysterics and it is a great memory. I sort of hope the great and funny moments in our lives are captured on some sort of heaven film, because the bloopers roll for my life will be long and a great ab workout with all the laughter. You know when you laugh so hard your cheeks hurt from smiling and you belly hurts from the hee ha? This is the type of laugh a gag reel of my life could evoke.
And finally yesterday I realized I have another muff. Our Subaru is super loud, at the embarrassing level, the a/c sucks and I often resort to having the windows down as the wind is a better coolant than the a/c. Alas it will probably be good for another 30 or 40 thousand miles, will drive'r till she dies. And I'll have the wind blown look.

"Flashback"

Yesterday night I had a very vivid flashback of my childhood. We were drinking apple juice with dinner. I hardly noticed but after I took a big gulp I sighed a large "ahh." What drew my attention to it was Lexie, copying me and very quickly Andrew as well. It made me laugh because I have a very distinct memory of my Mom doing this after a big swallow of Tab. Do you all remember Tab? I can still picture the pinkish reddish can; and I can certainly here my own Mothers "ahh.'' Jessica (my sister), and I would copy her at lunch doing the exaggerated "ahh's", of course we were drinking nasty milk. It is a memory I sort of forgot about, til yesterday when my own darlings were copying me. Isn't imitation the greatest form of flattery? Also what a great responsibility we have in raising these little rascals, nothing escapes there eyes or ears and at times it feels like a daunting responsibility. I sometimes find myself wondering if there isn't someone better for the task, then I trust the in the fact that these children are in my care for a reason and I remember how lucky I am; cause really they are great kids and I love 'em. So thanks to Andrew and Lexie for reminding me of this funny memory, and thanks to Mom. I bet you never thought two generations later, kids would be imitating your original "ahh."