Nicole Came Home!

Nicole and Megan

Left to right: Nathan, Brooke, Heather and Dad




My sister Nicole came home from being away for 8 months in both Kiev, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia. She was teaching English there in Ukraine and Russian schools. We missed here SO much! She came to stay at my house for a few days and we really had fun. My brother Michael got married on Saturday to a wonderful, cute girl named Amberly. I am so excited for them! My other 5 siblings who live in Montana came to town and my Dad who lives here, came to play some games. It was a lot of people in a tight crowded place. We had fun. I missed seeing them. We have so much fun as a family!

These are just some fun and weird things we did as a family and as kids together with 10 of us total:

>We used to play card games and Monopoly for hours and hours night and day. We loved War and Gin. I still love to play cards and Monopoly because of the fun I had with everyone. Nicole and I used to make Michale mad because we wouldn't charge each other if we landed on our space if we "didn't have the means". Sorry Michael.

>We loved to watch movies. Probably because with that many kids and limited money we could never go out together so we might as well rent every movie worth seeing and some not worth seeing. I have become a lot more out of touch with actors and movies since leaving my parents house.

>My sisters and I used to "draw girls", inspired by my sister Rachel. We used to use up every piece of paper in the house (much to our mothers annoyance and disapproval) to draw our own hair and clothing designs on our girl creations. Later we ended up just drawing dresses and judging them.

>My brother made a "Capue Mobile" out of an old skateboard and beat up dresser. It was a short blue dresser that we sat in and pushed in the circle by our house. Good times- until it broke.

>We used to make "recipes" out of yucky drinks and spices in the kitchen and make each other try them.

>For several summers we volunteered at a living history pioneer museum and dressed up as 1860 pioneers. We had Civil War battles, made lye soap, beat rugs, bought penny candy at the general store, took our shoes off in the pond, ran holding up our petty coats, climbed trees, danced in the social hall, ate cherries, churned butter, fed the pigs, etc. all dressed as pioneers in HOT western weather.

>We read books all the time. We would sneak novels behind our school text books to make it appear that we were studying.

>My mom started a homeschool choir that we sang in for about 4 years. We loved it and made many friends through singing. We performed for holidays and really enjoyed doing it. We still remember the songs we sang. Though my mom sold the choir after my dad's second heart attack, I have researched it on the internet and it is still going strong as the Heralders of Utah.

>We used to tickle each others backs in church, until our parents noticed and told us to pay attention. We drew on each others feet with pen- mom got mad at that too- wonder why she wouldn't want ink all over the house? :P (A side thing, one time my sister Nicole and I on a rare occasion were the only ones home- that never happens! And we were talking about WWII, interesting thing to talk about. And we drew swastikas on each others feet with pen. Dumb, really I know. We went into the kitchen and walked around the white floor and much to our surprise there were black swastikas all OVER the floor. We tried to wash it up and nothing was working. We freaked out a bunch and then tried comet. Sigh. It is a miracle cure so that kids don't get caught with making their kitchen floor into some psychotic tribute) We put glue on our hands and danced around until it dried so we could peel it off. We were really weird kids I guess, or we were normal and kids are weird in general.

>Whenever it rained we used to go into out garage and play. We made soft taco "tarts" with jam and sugar and ate them while the rain poured down.

In all we were very weird kids and very imaginative. There are SO many more funny memories that I have and I really miss my 5 other siblings. I wish I could relive some of the old days. I really love my family and am grateful to have been a part of all this. It was so special to me.