The last few weeks I've been thinking about some of my favorite memories growing up with my siblings. I would like to share a few in this post (special thanks to dad for help with the pictures).
My fondest memory with Stephen is building model rockets. It was a lot of fun to build and paint them, but of course the best part was walking up to the park by Greenwood Elementary to launch them. Stephen had a rocket that he painted black and maroon that he called "the hornet." He bought me one that I painted bright blue and yellow and called "mighty ducks"--how much do you want to bet I had just seen the movie?
Building rockets may not have been the most exciting thing Stephen and I have ever done. Indeed, the picture above was taken during my visit to Utah for EFY in 2000. Sliding down the ice pack on the back of Mt. Timp or the suicide jump at the narrows probably qualify for the most exciting things we've done together. The reason that building model rockets is my favorite memory is because it brings together all of the things that made Stephen a good big brother--his patience and his time when he very well could have been doing something else with friends or on his own.
My favorite memory with Michele is the trip we took to Sedona, Arizona right before my freshman year at BYU. Michele picked me up from Lesa and Eric's and we pulled an all-nighter to get to Sedona. During our few days there, we slept in a tent, we visited the souvenir shops, did some wilderness hikes, and of course, enjoyed some fancy dutch oven cooking. Our pizza crust was a little burned, but it tasted great anyway!
Michele is a great older sister. She was always nice to me growing up, and she was like a second mom. Hearing her play Chopin on the piano is the reason I ever wanted to play the piano in the first place! Our trip to Sedona is one of the few times in my life that we got to spend lots of 1-on-1 time together.
I was almost too embarrassed to share this photo of my fondest memory of Julianne. One year for Easter, Juli "wrote" a "play" that she and I performed for the rest of the family about the Easter bunny--guess who she got to play
that part?!?! I don't remember the details much, but luckily mom and dad have a few photos of the ordeal in their archives!
This isn't my fondest memory of Julianne because I had a great time doing it. In fact, I might not have enjoyed it at all! Looking back, it's just funny to remember how good Juli was at convincing me that what
she wanted to do was what
I wanted to do too. I probably ended up doing a lot of things with her that I didn't
really want to do just because I needed some company. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Julianne wasn't a great sister or that I didn't enjoy
anything we did together. It's just funny to think back on what she was able to get me to do sometimes by exercising her persuasive powers!
I'll let Stephen tell you
his version of the Daniel-and-Julianne story, which I like just as well. You should also ask him about the Julianne-ketchup-on-pillow-while-wresting story!
My fondest memory of Laura growing up is wrestling. We spent a lot of time together, especially after Juli graduated. Sometimes it was hard to come up with things to do together since there was such a large age gap. However, we were able to find some common ground in a few things--Star Wars (which she could quote at a
very early age), legos, and wrestling. I taught her a few moves, but her best move (as shown above) is the half-nelson!
Wrestling with Laura is probably my favorite memory because we bonded a lot doing something we both enjoyed. Laura was happy because she some moves and I let her get her fair share of pins, and I was happy because I didn't have to play stuffed animals or watch Jungle Book for the 137th time with her!
