I have been thinking a lot lately about all my brothers and what great men they are. I am so very blessed for the 4 brothers I have. I am sure growing up I was the biggest pain in their butts. I was the only girl, spoiled rotten and the only one with her own room. Which, let me add, I DIDN'T WANT! I would have so much rather shared it with someone! And before we made the piano room into the other bedroom, all 4 boys had to share the same room. I am sure that was completely unfair to the oldest, Kelly. But they had 2 sets of bunkbeds in that little room, and because I was scared to sleep alone, they had to take turns with me at night. HAHA. That actually was pretty funny. Ryan and I would always wait for mom and dad to go to bed and sneak out and get the crackers or bread. Or take the treats out of dad's lunchbox! OOPS! Even though we all had our moments and fought like brothers and sisters do, I love my brothers very much. They each are so different and add so much to our family.
Kel is the oldest and my favorite memory of him was when I was in probably like 5th grade. We had to ride the bus in cause we lived out of town. And there were some jerks on that bus. I remember some dumb kid Sean, he was so mean to me. And he was cussing at me one morning on the bus. Kelly told him to knock it off or he would make him. Well Sean was a wimp and shutup, but told his older brother that Kelly threatened him. So when we got off the bus, Sean and his stupid brother and friends jumped Kelly. I remember there was like 5 of them, and Kelly being a big, strong guy still beat off those punks. And in the process that Sean lost his glasses. I saw them fly off and he was trying to go at Kel, so I remember I took my little 5th grade self over to those glasses and stomped the heck out of those things. And man, did that feel good! HAHA The fight itself was not a good memory, but the fact that I have a wonderful older brother who protected me and got in a bad fight for me, has always meant a lot to me! Kel and I were at Snow College together too. That was fun because he was this big football star and I was this little dorky lost kid. Even though whenever I would be walking down the street, and he would have a car load of friends and they would honk and I WOULD WAVE, but they would wave the other way and I would feel like the biggest nerd ever, we had good times and I am glad I got to be there with him. Kelly lived in the dorms for a while, and he wouldn't let me walk into them alone or leave alone. He would hold onto my arm as we walked the halls, because it was the football dorms, and there was some questionable guys and conduct that would go on. That's the kind of guy he is. He was my protector. He would do anything for me. I guess that is why he was blessed with 4 girls and 1 son! He knows how to be a good dad to girls...and yes to Jack too!
There are a lot of memories I have of Chris too, but the one that stands out shows what an honest person he is. He was working for Bishop Bradshaw one summer, and had been hard at work all day. Well he was on his way home through the field, and found a water snake. And instead of just taking it home, he went back to Bishop's house and showed him the snake and asked him if he could have it, since he found it on their property. That has always shown to me what great integrity Chris has. I mean it was a snake. Like he would have cared if he took it, but since it was on his land he asked! Anther one is probably going to embarass him and Emily but its so hilarious to me! So when Chris and Em started dating, they thought they were so sneaky! HAHA. I admit, I am known that when I fall asleep, I AM KNOCKED OUT COLD. Usually things can't wake me up. Well they thought I was asleep one night, and were smooching, and whispering sweet nothings to each other. And I was so trapped! They thought I was asleep, and I WASN'T, yet I didn't want them to think I actually wanted to listen to them smooch! So I had to lay there, eventually I actually did fall asleep, but man, it took a lot of whispering and slobbery talking before I was out! Sorry Chris and Em, I had to say it! I always laugh about it! But I want you to know that I am so happy Chris chose my best friend since the 4th grade as my sister! What an awesome way to keep her in the family! Another good memory of Chris is when we lost the baby, he and Em also drove over here and cleaned up the house. Took care of the kids, lined up jobs for Ryan to get done. It was a blessing just to have them here and know how much they cared.
Tom, aka, Wooby. Tom was always serious! It was a good balance to have someone so serious in our family! The one thing that always stands out with Tom was his unwavering faith and example to the whole family! Tom was the one, no matter how crappy he felt, no matter how late it was, no matter what day it was, at night you would find him on his bed reading his scriptures and then on his knees praying. If you ever had one person in your life to look to as an example, it would be Tom. Even when he was so sick and the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him, and he lost so much weight, and hair and hurt to get out of bed or walk or even chew food, you could always count on Tom and his unwavering faith in our Heavenly Father. He put all his trust into Him, and they did finally figure out what was wrong with him. They finally got him some medication and he started to regain his health. But even when he hurt so bad, you could always count on finding Tom reading his scriptures or on bended knee in prayer. For some horrible odd reason, every single Sunday after church we would all have this incredible craving for SODA POP!~ So never fail, after church someone did a maverik run. And I remember when Tom decided he wasn't going to be a part of that. He was probably only 13 or 14. We would gather up all the mugs and quarters (cause they were only $.25) and get the list of soda everyone wanted. Tom would say no thanks. I don't want you to buy me a soda on Sunday. Any other day he would have one, and it wasn't that he was trying to be better than anyone else. He wasn't trying to make us feel wrong, he was just Tom. He was obeying the commandment to keep the sabbath day holy. I do have a funny memory though. This was when he had a high school girlfriend. And we were all in the same group. We all did stuff together on Friday or Saturday night. Well one night, we decided to go to the haunted house. And we were all walking down the dark street, and LaDawn and I were talking and laughing. Well she and I were by each other and Tom was in front of us. He reaches back and thought he was holding her hand, and it was mine! We laughed so hard at him, and he was so stinking embarrassed, which made it even funnier! Tom would give his shirt off his back to someone if he knew it would help. He is a very giving person.
Ryan and I were the closest in age. We were also pretty close friends too. I remember when Ry was a freshman and I was a senior, he was running so fast to get to class and Emily and I were sitting in the hall! She stuck out her foot and he flew! I felt so bad, cause I saw this little guy fly, books fly and laughed. Then I realized it was my brother. We both felt so bad. Em didn't mean to trip him, and we didn't mean to embarrass him so bad on his first day in high school! We were also in Logan together for a while. I remember one night we all wanted to go to a movie. But Ryan was starving. So we stopped at Carl's JR. and he bought these 2 HUMONGOUS hamburgers. And he wanted to save them to eat during the movie. So we walk in and pay for our tickets, and he has these 2 HUGE beef patties in his armpits. His arms stuck out really far and he was like, "you think anyone notices my arms sticking out so far?' We laughed so hard, and kept trying to get him to squish his arms down, because if anyone out there remembers Carl's JR. they had some burgers that were the size of Texas. They were huge. And packed full of all kinds of stuff, so each bite dripped ooey gooey goodness. So there was someone on each side of him standing kind of close. But he made it in, burgers in tact, and thoroughly enjoyed those burgers during the movie! Ryan always rushes to everyone's side as soon as help is needed. Tom broke down on his way back from Minnesota from visiting Kelly. Ryan drove all night long, and picked them up and drove them all the way home. Then turned around and went home! We aren't talking a few hours of driving. We are talking over 20 hours of driving easily! When I lost our baby, he drove right over at night and stayed with the kids while we were in the hospital. When Chris was recently in the hospital, he drove down twice for him. The second time he took the wood splitter and cut all the wood Chris would need for the winter. That is the kind of brother Ryan is.
I have wonderful brothers. They each bring something different to the table. They each would do ANYTHING for any member of the family or anyone for that matter. They have each done so much for me. And even though I may not tell them often, I love each of them. I am so thankful for the guidance and love they each show me. I know that living with me was probably not easy. Having me as a sister, the N.E.R.D. as Kelly put it, the never ending retard distress, probably isn't easy! But they are always there for me. They are good brothers. They are good fathers. They are good husbands. They are good examples to me and I am so very grateful I have them as my brothers.
