Tiffany's and my little (Eternal) get-together

I met a fun-loving Tiffany walking home from Church near her apartment where she had recently moved in with Erika, to whom I had been a home teacher. I received a calling in the ward to pass around notes which people in the ward had written to one another. I liked the calling for two reasons. First, it was a fun way to keep up on, and create a little, ward gossip. Second, it was an excellent excuse to stop in on a particular apartment, Chatsworth Center 7. In that apartment I learned to play speed scrabble, I watched a little bit of Pacers' basketball, and I learned about many types of grapes in a word search.

Most importantly, I found Tiffany to be an excellent friend and generally wonderful person. I loved her playfulness and funness. I loved how naturally beautiful she was and how genuine her personality came across.

The end of the Spring Term came and she needed a ride up to Salt Lake. We borrowed a car, Tiffany drove it up to her friend's house, and I drove it back to Provo. Then came a summer of a wonderful growing friendship. I checked my email three or four times a day to see what Tiffany had written, knowing full well that she worked long hours at Camp Belzer.

When we got back to Provo in the Fall we hiked up Y-mountain for our first real date, though no one paid for anything and Erika drove us, so some controversy has regrettably arisen on this point. Then we went on a few other dates and finally decided to date exclusively right after the dates that we had already agreed to with other people. We dated exclusively for a short time, were engaged for a short time and got married for a long time. I love that I have been so blessed to have Tiffany in my life. She brings happiness and peace and love into our home. She holds us together, and is the awesomest mother and wife I have ever known.

Halloween Memories

I promised my wife that I would write this, and though it is late, here is a memory. My parents attempted to make us less interested in trick-or-treating by having a family halloween party. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, we made our own pinatas, filled them with candy and then broke them at our party. Then we would watch a scary movie like boogie man, or Charlie Brown's Halloween special.

Later on in life, I grew back into trick-or-treating. By this time the goal was to cover the maximum amount of ground in an optimal time. Costumes at this stage had to be complimented by roller-blades to be able to move faster. I also carried two pillow cases: one to show how little candy I had, and the other to hold all of the candy I had. We especially liked to get to the houses that wanted to go to bed but still had a lot of candy that they were getting rid of.

How Erika became a Pike... in 10 minutes or less

So it was Fall 2003 when I ventured from NYC and the land of people full of themselves to DC and the land of people just a little less full of themselves. When I arrived at the Barlow Center (home for all non-married Washington Seminar participants), the Sister Missionary (Missionary couples run the show there) told me and one of the Rachels that had already arrived that two boys were already there. One was someone I don't remember and the other was Mason. Why do I remember? Because she told us how she remembered. Mason Pike was his name and he brought a bike. So he was "Mason Pike with a bike"... get it? It rhymes, people!

Later that evening I went down to the basement with ?Rachel? and sort of met Mason for the first time. About a week into the semester I had a small crush on Mason Pike with a bike as he had joined my crew on numerous outings in the D.C. area. We attended the NFL kickoff together, with a bunch of other people, but Mason had the inside info on how to get closer up, so he and I ended up together without any of our fellow interns. Hmmm, I wonder how that happened?! ;)

So when I couldn't see over people's heads and Britney Spears did some move that everyone gasped at, I asked Mason Pike with a bike what happened. He said, "I'll tell you when you're married." Little did he know he'd really have to.

Mason was healing the wounds of sending a girl he wasn't really in love with on a mission and I moved on to other crushes. We maintained a friendship, though, and Mason says he started liking me a little bit at the end of the semester.

I text messaged him Happy Birthday when I was in Indiana and he was in Illinois over break. He didn't respond. He apparently even CAME to Indianapolis, but "forgot" his cell phone - so he couldn't call. Not that he would have anyway since he was with his brothers who still didn't think it was cool to hang out with girls. He did call me before we got back to BYU to ask if I could turn in his final paper for him as he had so wisely planned to fly in the day AFTER it was due. Oh, I'm so glad Mason has changed his ways (even if I had to force him to do so).

The winter semester began. All of us who were back in Provo from DC got together. Mason liked Erika. Erika liked LOTS of people. She went on a really weird blind date with Tiffany's math teacher. She also asked Mason out on a date - the evening started off as just friends (well, Erika didn't know Mason liked her), but by the end Erika leapt into Mason's arms. Okay, really, she slipped on ice when they were hugging goodbye and fell into his arms, but still... there was a connection :). Mason finally asked Erika out on a date and then they just kind of dated. Erika dropped the other crushes, but Mason was a super sleuth in making their "dates" feel like two friends hanging out, so Erika was confused. Thus the blind date with the math teacher was arranged. After that AWKWARD date, Mason and Erika went down to St. George together for Mason's favorite mission comp's wedding (I would explain that whole thing, but I'm really trying to keep this under 10 minutes people.... so read faster!). And that's where they got together (I just realized I switched to 3rd person... weird). So thankfully when the math teacher called back the following Monday, Erika was able to say she was dating someone. Awkward math teacher's response: "That's kind of fast." Ha, but it really wasn't :).

So we dated and had fun and then Mason was all up in Erika's business about marriage (okay, really, he wasn't pushy, but the real story isn't nearly as entertaining). Erika was cool with it at first, then she freaked O.U.T. No clue why. After she came to her senses, seriously, they were all the way down in Hurricane, Utah. She had to go and get them. Once she came back with them, it was a done deal. Other than the fact that she had planned a five week trip to Europe and didn't want to get married in August. So the wedding was set for October, a week after Mason was to take the LSAT. And thus it was that Erika became a Pike.

The Brady's story, the real truth!!!!

So my wife is laughing at my title, even though it is the TRUTH. If I had my way I would just say that I got down on my knee and then she said yes. What more do you realy need to know?

For our courtship, you should most likely refer to Kristen's because she just knows more. That's the honest truth. My first thought of Kristen was that she loooooook gooooooood. I then went to play sports with my ward.

Eventualy I asked her out, even though she thought that she was making me do so, and we had ice cream which she would like while I am writing this. After this, we spent the next couple of years getting to know eachother.

So now that I cant think of anything else to say, we eventually had another date and got engaged, not on the date mind you.

If you want to know more than this, stop reading this one and move on to my wifes!

The Brady Family - Kristen's Version

Well, I feel like I've told this story so much in the past six months or so, but I know it's important to get it on the site for posterity, so here you go:

Shawn and I met in the Mountain View 3rd Ward - a singles' ward. I was over visiting his brother, Bryan, and Shawn walked out of the house. My immediate thought? I wanted to spend the rest of the night with him instead. He convinced me to come to the Ward Sports' Night, with the promise that if I came he would walk with me (since I told him I didn't like to play volleyball or basketball competitively). I came almost to spite him and see if he'd actually follow through - he did! I came a few times, and I enjoyed walking with him and talking, but then it became too cold, so I stopped coming. We remained friends, but nothing really happened. In May 2005, we were both at a midnight movie showing (his brother Darin put the group together), and ended up talking and joking around. He was complaining about not dating, and I made some comment about never asking me out, and he said, "Fine, want to go out with me?" and I said, "Fine, I will.!" Turns out (this came out WAY later) we were both trying to trick the other person into going out with us. We went out later that week for ice cream cones at Artic Circle and to see The Pacifier at the Dollar Theater. It was really fun, and we were both interested in each other, but too afraid to do anything about it. Now we come to one year later... I was living with Tania Finn at the time. She was serving as the Relief Society President and felt like she should go to Sports' Night to support the ward, and, since summer was coming soon so I could stay up later, I decided to go with her. I was fully prepared to play basketball, volleyball, or just chit chat with whoever. However, when I walked in Shawn asked if I wanted to go walking. So, I'm no dummy - I said of course! My crush on him immediately came back, and it got stronger and stronger. We would walk every week (except when I was in Europe and when I was on the Church History trip) for about an hour. Sometimes others would join us, but most of the time it was just us. During all those hours we got to know each other very well, and became very close. Meanwhile Shawn was called to serve as my new Family Home Evening co-group leader. Near the end of September Shawn started emailing me for things other than FHE stuff, and he then asked me out in October. Our second first date, as we like to call it, was like three dates rolled into one - we went to Panda Express for dinner, then went to Hollywood Connection to Mini-Golf and play games, and finally ended up at the Dollar Theater to see Step Up. We spent a couple weeks where we were just dating, but not seriously, when I (it's true, it was me) asked Shawn what we were doing here, and was he interested in me. He thought he'd been obvious (I see now that for him - he was!), but I was so confused. We decided that we were both only interested in dating each other, and thus began our almost six month courtship. We're both very busy people, but we made time to be together whenever possible. We started discussing marriage in February, and I felt good about it, and Shawn felt we should wait. Then in March he felt good about it, and I felt we should wait, finally, in April, we both felt that we were ready. We became engaged at the end of April. Shawn took me to the Veteran's Memorial Park in West Jordan. This is a park that has a lot of meaning for us because we'd spent many special times there. He took me walking around, and, although I was pretty positive he was goig to propose to me, he got me scared there when he started talking because he started saying things like how freaked out our relationship made him, and how he'd done a lot of thinking. I was almost surprised and very grateful when he finally said that after much thinking he'd realized that nothing would honor him more than to have me as his wife. He then got down on one knee and officially proposed. (Funny story though - around this time a cop car pulled up in a nearby parking lot and just sat there with his lights on; we didn't know if we were being watched or what, but decided to leave just in case!). Shawn and I were married in the Jordan River Temple on Saturday, July 28, 2007. Every day I'm more grateful for him, and I feel so lucky that I was able to marry my best friend. I love you Shawn!

The Story of the Bishops

Tim and I met in the Spring of 2004. I had moved in with Erika into Chatsworth and Tim was in the ward. We were walking home from Church one day and Tim was walking nearby, so Erika introduced us to each other (thanks Erika!). I asked Tim where he lived and he said he lived in Miller Apartments. I then told him that my sister had said not to bother with those boys (which Erika had said). That's what I remember from that conversation.

We got to know each other a few other times at ward things and just passings. Then Tim conveniently (I only learned this after we were dating) would save our place for last when he would be handing out fliers for ward activities (he was the head of the friend shipping and service council). I started to like him, but it was about the same time that Jordan was going on his mission so I wasn't really sure what to think about things.

For the rest of Spring Term we hung out quite a bit and did little random things together (like Tim helped me clean our apartment for cleaning checks). Then I went home to Indiana. One of the first nights back I hung out with Aaron and Kevin Anema and their dad. Their dad used to be a member but no longer is. It came up how I had turned in my roommate for cheating and he started on how self-righteous most of the BYU Students (including me) are. I was really hurt and I missed Tim. So I went home and wrote an email to Tim about how bummed I was. He wrote back and thus started our summer of emails. We wrote back and forth a lot! A few weeks after I left Provo, Tim also left and went home to Arizona. He didn't have a job, so my emails were kind of the highlight of his days (at least I tell myself that). I would receive his email when I would get home from work (I was working at Cub Scout Camp) and then I would write him back that night. We talked a few times on the phone over the summer but it was mostly emails.

Yes, I did start dating another boy that summer. This is the part of the story I like to forget. I wasn't interested in this boy a whole lot, but he sure did pursue me and I was very flattered. I had never had any pursue me that much before. But every time I would think about anything long term with this guy, my mind would turn to Tim and I wanted to be "available" just to see if anything would work with him.

So we both returned to Provo for the Fall semester. We were no longer in the same ward, but we live within a block of each other. I called things off with the other boy and Tim and I "hung out" A LOT. I think this is where Tim and I differ on what was our first date. I considered a lot of our things just hanging out but he considered them dates. Finally I asked him on a date and I made it clear that it was a date and we went and saw You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown with Erika and Mason. Unfortunately, rough times were ahead (okay, looking back they weren't so rough, but at the time they were).

There was a girl in Tim's ward who all the guys liked, but she liked Tim. From what I've gathered from Tim, he liked us both, but he liked me a little more, but he didn't want to risk not getting me? Does that make sense? Anyways, he started to do more with this girl and I was crushed. I started to pray to Heavenly Father that I could stop liking Tim, but it wasn't working. We still hung out but not as much and nothing was really an official date, and he was going on dates with this other girl.

So I had an intramural soccer game one night that Tim came to. I was driving and afterwards I dropped a friend off at her house. Becca Pike (my roomie) wanted to see her place so she went inside for a little bit, which left Tim and I in the car just talking. I don't remember how it came up, but I started telling him about a girl in our ward who would pretend to rip her heart out and stop on it every time a boy would make her feel anything but happy. I told Tim how I had started doing that sometimes as well. He asked if he had ever made me want to do that and the honest answer was yes, so I told him so. He wanted a further explanation and so our DTR began!

At some point Becca came back and we went back to BDA. Tim and I stood outside talking for maybe an hour or two and we both admitted that we liked each other and that we were going to start dating. We both had dates that weekend with other people, but we decided after that that was it. This was all the night before Erika's wedding.

So we started dating and I was in the clouds! Sometime around the middle of November the m word (marriage) came up. Tim said he had always wanted to get married in February, but that was way too quick. We decided that we would start thinking and praying about each other in an eternal sense.

We got engaged about a week before Christmas. Tim was in Indiana visiting and we had gone caroling. Apparently he wanted to propose while we were caroling but it never really worked out. On the car ride home I could tell something was bothering him but he kept saying that it was nothing. So I started to get frustrated with him. Some time after we got home we went to finish a chess game we had started earlier. Tim said it was my turn and I told him I really didn't want to play because I was upset that he wouldn't be honest with me. Then he proposed. Turns out he had the matter of popping the question on his mind and that's what was bothering him. I was no longer frustrated (if I could go back in time though, I would change getting upset - I hate that part of this story).

Then it was time to decide when to get married. I didn't want to get married right after the semester because I thought that I would be too excited to take finals and because EVERYONE does that. Tim and I both preferred not to wait until June, so we decided it would be February! We went upstairs and told Mom and Dad and then called people and that was that!

I love you Tim!

NEW SUBJECT

November's writing topic is: Your Courtship & Marriage, Proposal & Announcement! Let the fun begin!

I don't care for Halloween....

It is now October 31 (Halloween), and I have put this off as long as possible. The truth is that I have never really cared for Halloween. As a child I guess it was ok, but ever since my mother decided that she didn't want me to have much candy and started making up lame excuses why she needed to throw it away right after Halloween, the fun has been gone! OK, I'm not scarred for life, but I do have a funny story about that. I was probably about 10 or 11 (which was near the end of my Trick-or-Treating days, because, as you all know, in my family nobody 12 or older was allowed to dress up or go out on Halloween...), and I had a large brown paper grocery bag about 9/10 full of candy by the time I got home on Halloween night - it was awesome, but heavy to lug around. The next afternoon after school I got the bag down off the shelf, intending to stuff my face, and our dog (a Black Lab named Buff, after a Collie named Buff in a book that my sister had just read when we got the dog - and, by the way, Collies are buff-colored, but Black Labs are not...) came over eagerly to see what was in the bag. Now this is where my mother's version of the story and mine seem to diverge. I saw Buff pass her head over the top of the bag once, without touching anything. My mother claimed that she put her head in the bag and drooled, so I had to throw it all away, even the wrapped stuff! (In those days we sometimes got unwrapped, homemade goodies from neighbors.) It was clearly a far-fetched excuse for getting rid of the candy she didn't want me to have in the first place, and I saw right through it, but I nevertheless had to comply. Bummer! Let me remind you that in those days I was not overweight or lazy at all - I was thin and very athletically active year-round, so I felt entitled to a little splurge and thought I was quite unjustly treated!

Years later when my own children started bringing home candy on Halloween night I began to understand my mother's point of view for the first time. That much sugar is sooooo bad in so many ways, so I resorted to stealing large amounts of the kids' candy so that they wouldn't have to eat it all and make themselves sick, or ruin their teeth. Haha, sure Mom, we really believe that one....

However, my real dislike of Halloween is probably based on the necessity of creating costumes year after year for all my children. I have never felt creative; I don't sew very well; and I hate wasting money on frivolous things. Ugh, it was always torture, especially when it sometimes felt like a competition or "keeping up with the neighbors" in costume creativity. I think all the kids were pretty young when I told them that from now on they were responsible for their own costumes.

One thing I do like, or did like, about Halloween is handing out candy to the adorable little kids who ring the doorbell. I'm not quite so keen on the teenagers who come later at night, however. On Wellesley Lane we had lots of younger children right on our street, and I enjoyed seeing them. Now that we are officially past middle age and are living in an empty-nester type neighborhood, the doorbell is quiet, although we did have one group tonight - luckily I brought some Tootsie Pops home from work. I will miss that part of Halloween, but in no way will I ever miss the costume preparation or the candy that hangs around the house for weeks afterwards!

You Stink!

When I was in Kindergarten I dressed up as a skunk for Halloween. It was a really cool black costume with white and black tissue paper running up the back of me. I was happy with the costume until I wore it to school for Halloween! I was attending Country Day Private School at the time, and I can remember swinging on the swings having another student tell me that I smelled. I was upset, but I got back at them by saying something smart about their costume. If I could only remember what I said! Needless to say, I was never a skunk again! I remember our school's Halloween costume parade in first grade. I can also remember being a baby for 4th grade wearing a big pink set of footie pjs! So fun! By far though I think my favorite Halloween costume would have to be when Kim Poyfair, Stacy Carleton, and I dressed up as the Dashwood sisters from Sense and Sensibility. I was Eleanore. We all wore fancy dresses, we did our hair in updos, and had a fabulous time at a barn dance! Here's to fun Halloween costumes.

Favorite Costumes

The picture of Erika as a die reminded me of one of my favorite costumes...my pirate costume! That and my cowgirl (although I pretended I was a cowBOY) were my favorites. I was never a big one for dressing up. I think that's why I was embarrassed to be a turtle. I was a cowboy for two years in a row though. I think 3rd and 4th grade. Those were the years that I was in LEAP so I had the same teachers for those two years (I hope they didn't notice). I probably would have done it again had I not grown out of my cowboy boots!

It's weird to think that now I love the whole idea of dressing up and I begin planning way ahead for ideas. This year Peter is probably going to be a black-eyed pea. I know, I've done that before, but he hasn't...and it's cheap! I'm thinking Benjamin might be a dragon. I'm a little nervous about giving him a black eye. For the dragon costume, I can just cut sponges diagonally and then attach them to his back! So this latter part didn't really turn out to be a memory, but I love you all!

I've Got Pictures!

Evidence of Erika's die:
Kristen and Erika in the laundry basket:
Unfortunately, I don't think I have any scanned of when DJ and I were turtles.

Die

I will always remember the year I was a die. I thought it was so creative of mom! And nobody else was that - ever. Now if I had been older, I may not have liked that the social interaction (i.e. flirting) wasn't so easy when you're stuck in a box! It also made holding a pillow case full of candy a bit challenging.

teenage mutant ninja turtle?

I don't remember how old I was (4, 5, 0r 6 is my guess) but one year for Halloween Mom dressed both DJ and me up as turtles. I was mighty embarrassed to be a turtle. So I told everyone at school that really I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Rafael to be exact) and that the rest of my costume was at home.

October's Topic

The topic for this month is HALLOWEEN!!!!!!! It's a pretty broad topic, so feel free to narrow it however you want and to post as many memories as you want! Love you all!

T$

Just a thought - puncutation free zone

I spend a lot of my time at a computer either researching or writing reports. The report writing is a very arduous task because it needs to as near to perfect as I can get them. I have been thinking that when Mom decides to stop working full-time I should hire her as a proof reader/editor.

The process is very time consuming, for me, and not my strength. The research, analysis, generating thought provoking ideas, organizing chaos and project fulfillment are my strengths and what I enjoy.

Therefore, I would propose that the Dorff Family Blog become a punctuation free zone. In the words of a fellow Harvard graduate e.e. cummings, "it just confuses them,?'

Thoughts,

Love,
Dad

My First Memory

When you reach my age there tends not to be much difference between first and last memory . . . just one big haze.

Leo Prendergast was my mother's father and he played football including one year as a professional. He also coached football at both the high school and college level. I never looked into his career until a few years ago and it was neither as extensive nor noteworthy as I had thought - I wonder how that happened; but I digress.

He did play three games during the 1926 season for the Brooklyn Horsemen of the American Football League. Of course the American Football League only lasted one season. It was formed by Red Grange as a result of a contract dispute with the National Football League. He also coached at Lehigh University for 3 seasons, 1943 - 1945, and had a 2-15-1 record; the worst won-loss percentage of any coach. However, he found his calling as a high school football coach. He was very successful, had a positive impact on many young men and actually won a state title.

By now you are probably wonder what, if anything, this has to do with my first memory since I was born about 10 years later. Well . . . that is a good question.

My grandfather played a lot of football games. The helmets were made of leather, there were no face masks or any sort of face protection. By now maybe you can figure out where this is headed. You see he had broken his nose so many times that they had removed ALL the cartilage and that is the key to my memory.

To this day, I remember my grandfather coming up to me or trying to surprise me from behind. He would make a raspy noise with his mouth and shake his head from side to side - so for so good. But when he stopped shaking his head - well his nose kept going from side to side for what seemed like an eternity.

It scared the living daylights out of me which only encouraged him to keep doing it.

That is my first memory and I have been scarred for life.

Love,
Dad

The memory thingy. . . . .

Alright,

Since this is my first blogging thing, I think Kristen is going to take a picture and scrapbook it for all the world to see, when ever it is finished.

After all pondering that I have done with trying to find my long lost memory that reveals something about my past, I have come up with the time that I was tragically taken from my home and dumped in West Jordan, where I grew up. This might not seem tragic to you, but it sure wasn't for me either. After all, I got the best part of the move! Seeing that I was only two, I remember driving down the street in our luxuries blue van that held all eight of us and was escorted into the boys room where I started to play with my toys, which my mom still has.

Boring to many of you, this is the memory that I will never forget . . . . . (crying uncontrollably) . . . . . until I get alzheimer's!

Andi's First Memories

First of all, back in those days I was Anne, not Andi. I have some vague memories from age 3, which have been clarified and probably enhanced by stories my family has told me. In the summer of 1955 our family took a road trip north from Massachusetts to the Maritime Provinces of Canada, and we spent some time on PEI (Prince Edward Island, made famous by Anne of Green Gables). Yes, this was a road trip - there were ferry boats to the islands - you just drove your car onto the ferry boat. Two funny things happened to me there. I was sharing a twin size bed with my oldest sister Betsey (who was 13 at the time), and apparently one night I wet the bed. My memory is of dim yellowish lights in the middle of the night and lots of people making a big fuss when all I wanted to do was sleep! The other event, of which I have no actual memory but have heard the story MANY times, occurrred on a beach on one of the islands. It was low tide, and the shallow water (less than 6 inches) stretched out to a sand bar. I walked all the way out to the sand bar by myself, while the adults were watching from chairs on the beach. I proceeded to take off my bathing suit and, at the top of my lungs and raising my arms to the sky, sing "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" (the entire song) to the vast ocean in front of me.

Another vague memory from age 3 involves a mentally retarded woman named Arlene who had been living with our family for several years as kind of a maid/mother's helper. I don't know all the reasons why, but when I was 3 (and I was the youngest of 4 girls) my parents decided it was time for her to find another place to live and work. I remember her crying and hugging us all, and my older sisters were crying too. In later years we used to go visit her in her new home, but I never really knew her.

I have several memories, which have been helped by lots of family photos, of playing in our large yard on Chestnut Street, North Andover. There was a white wooden bench on which we used to lean one end of a very long wooden ladder - just on the seat part of the bench, so about 2-3 feet off the ground - and the other end would be on the grass. We would play on the ladder, walking up and down it, etc. It was always fun, although there were plenty of scrapes and splinters as a result. I remember having play group at our house with about 4 other little kids, and we would play on the ladder and then come inside for animal crackers and milk. I also have great memories of my Dad getting our clay tennis court ready every spring after the ground had thawed. It was hard work and took him several days. First he would rake and remove all the debris from fall leaves and winter storms. Then he had a big roller drum that would be filled with water to make it heavy enough to smooth out the clay surface, and he had to walk up and down the entire surface of the court several times, pushing that heavy roller. When it was smooth and hard packed, he would make the white lines with a lime substance and a push roller that had a little brush on the bottom - it was ancient! The last thing would be to hang the net and adjust it to be exactly the right height. We played a lot of tennis on that court over the years. Unfortunately, it had been built in the early 1800's, when tennis was a very sedate, gentlemanly game, and the players would stand at the base line to make most of their shots. Therefore, there was only about 10 feet behind each base line to the fence, so as soon as we got old enough to play a good hard game of tennis, it wasn't really an adequate court. However, my Mom taught lessons out there for years, including to all my friends from school for as far back as I can remember. I started at age 3.

I apologize for the length of this post, but Tiffany did say that one of her goals in setting this up was to get me to write my life history.....

Here's one more very early memory, although I might have been 4 by this time. I went to Nursery School at Mrs. Lewis' Nursery for 2 years, at her house, ages 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 (I started kindergarten when I was not quite 5). There were probably about 15-20 kids in the class, and I remember the one time I got in trouble. She had a canoe in her yard, upside down on 2 sawhorses, coverd by a large canvas. One day when we had been outside and she blew the whistle for us to go inside one little boy (this may have been the same little boy who got me into trouble in first grade.... ah, remember the umbrella story?) "made me" (haha) stay outside with him and hide under the canoe under the canvas. I don't remember how we were discovered, but I definitely remember having to stand in the corner and miss snack time!

A Few Short Remembrances Combined

I count any memory from when we lived in Boise as my earliest. Thus my earliest memory is a conglomerate of a few different scenes in my young childhood. I remember having an enormous backyard, that seemed to go on forever from the house (looking back, I am pretty sure we lived on well under a quarter acre). There was an irrigation canal in the very back corner of the yard where we caught tadpoles. I remember taking our red flyer wagon and parking it under the tall tree nearest our house and climbing up the towering limbs (three or four feet from the ground at most). Then I would jump from the limbs back into the wagon and repeat. There was a canyon (small indentation) between our front yard and our neighbors lined with a wall of thick trees (a few shrubs). I would run and jump the canyon (indentation) back and forth to show off my amazing skills. Lastly, I remember there being a neighbor girl that was around my same age. I can remember playing with her on a couple of occasions. From stories and pictures I know that our neighbor had at least one horse, and my brother once got mad at the neighbors and called them all "Jaredites." He sure put them in their places.

Choo Choo!!!

I have debated on which memory to share, and I was almost ready to share another great story, which I knew was not my real first memory, but a fun story, when this memory came back to me. I have very early memories of Erika and I sitting inside the laundry basket acting like it was a choo choo train. I have no idea how old we were when we would do that, but I have seen pictures of us doing it as well. I can distinctly remember sitting in the back, with Erika's curly hair in front of me. It's amazing to me now that we both once fit inside a laundry basket together!

My First Memory - Erika Style

As many first memories go, I'm sure mine is supplemented with details that I have "remembered" as others have filled in the story over the years. I don't know what all I would remember if not for this help.

According to the fabulous MFHD 210 Class my freshman year, I am "normal" in that my first memory is traumatic (like T$'s).

It was when I was __ years old (3 maybe?) and we were living in the house that Mom and Dad lived in when T$ and I were born. I remember the back yard from 3 feet high and lower pretty well (same with the house), and I recollect being outside and there were other kids there besides Kristen. I remember a t-ball stand off of which bigger kids were hitting the ball.

Then: pain. I remember pain.
In the head.
Ow.

Then I remember getting to lay on the couch with an ice pack (or maybe it was frozen peas??) on my head and I got to eat ice cream! I think I remember Kristen being jealous. Other than the ice cream, I think I slept through most of the day's recovery time (or so mom says).

And THAT is my first memory.

My First Memory

When I was little (maybe three or four) I was outside playing on the side of our house in Cincinnati with a Thumper (from Bambi) toy. Our next door neighbor, Jason McCaw came over with some other friends and told me that there was a stick in the ground that they needed to get out but that they weren’t strong enough to get it. They told me that I was really strong and would probably be able to get it. I, of course, knew I was very strong so I decided to give it a try. I went over to this stick that they showed me. As I started to pull it out, Jason and the other boys ran away. As soon as the entire stick was pulled out bees started to swarm around me (it turns out that the stick was marking an underground beehive). I ran screaming to the door in the garage that led to the house. I banged on it until Mom came and opened it. As soon as she saw me, she shut the door (I think the swarm of bees caught her off guard). But then she opened it back up and helped to swat a lot of the bees away. Then she brought me inside where she removed my clothing one article at a time. Every time she took off a layer, there would be more bees. Finally, she put me in the kiddie pool in the backyard to help with the stings. When she went over to talk to Mrs. McCaw, she told mom, “boys will be boys.”

NEW SUBJECT

This month's topic is: First Memory.