So in trying to keep up with Grandma Gibb, I've decided to just write. It feels rather daunting to try and remember everything all at once, so I'm not going to. I am going to just write what I remember about my childhood
(twelve and under-ish). And if I remember more later, I'll write more later. I wish I had all the pictures to go along with it, but I have packed them all up in a box in Edmonton to be forgotten somewhere and have not scanned any! I know. I'm bad.
Often I wonder if my children will be scarred because I am not the most perfect Mom, but now trying to remember back to when I was their age, I really don't remember many vivid details. It relieves me to a degree that maybe they won't remember all the times I lost my patience with them. Ha! Honestly, the things that come to mind about my early childhood
(pre-Kindergarten) are sitting at the kitchen counter watching my Mom make home made bread. She always seemed to have fresh loaves made just in time for when the older kids would come home from school. She continued to do that up until I was a teenager. I can still remember the smell of fresh baked bread walking in the door from school and having a slice of hot bread with butter and jam.
(That sounds really good right now). This year I have been trying to do the same with my kids and I am proud to say that about 60% of their sandwiches are made with home made bread thankyouverymuch.
I also remember playing on my own while the others were at school and while Doug must have been napping. I would make roads out of our massive block collection and drive the toy cars around. Sometimes I worry that I let Ellie play on her own too much as I am not always there to get on all fours and play ponies with her, etc, ...so having this memory makes me feel like it's okay to let her have some alone time to play while the boys are at school. I know I really enjoyed that time alone to play. However, that being said, I remember my Mom taking the time to sit down with me and make paper dolls. I thought she was quite the artist and it really inspired me to want to draw all the time. I ended up taking art classes up into Highschool, the highest Art Class you can take in high school, Art 30IB. All thanks to my Mom sitting down with me and taking the time to draw. I'm sure I wasn't a proficient artist at 5, but I remember bringing home a framed picture that I drew and coloured of my own profile from Kindergarten and I just thought it was the best drawing out there, likely because I had all the praise in the world from my Mom who encouraged me to continue drawing and being creative.
I remember long Summer days at the park. In those days, you could run free and wild all day long as long as you came home for lunch and dinner. The park was just across the field, so the four youngest kids
(which included me) would go spend the whole day at the park enjoying the Park's Recreation Program. You could always hear my Dad's whistle from all the way across the field that meant it was time to come home. There was always a park leader and she got to know us Ords really well because we were there every single day ALL day long! I still remember the name of one of my favourite Park leaders, Cori, ...although I have no clue what her last name is otherwise I might try to look her up to let her know how awesome she was. I remember once she secretly gave me some chocolate chips from her lunch and no one else. No wonder I loved her so much! We would play games like "Graveyard" or have bubblegum blowing contests, or play everyone's favourite, "Capture the Flag." Just simple fun. Oh how I wish I could send my kids to the park all day and not have to worry about predators and other such nonsense. Sometimes I would ride my bike to Mac's and get a slurpee and 5 cent candies. I am sure my Mom had no clue, but she trusted we were making good decisions while we were out and about. Sadly, when I was eight, I really let her down. I had just gotten baptized so I had the Holy Ghost with me to help me make good choices, so I knew better, but I let peer pressure take over. I used to play at the Southgate Alliance church parking lot down the road from us. In the winter the snow would pile up so high, so all the kids would build tunnels and have a great time playing in them, etc. Well, I would meet up with a friend and one day we decided we wanted some candy but we didn't have any money, so she had this great idea that we go to Mac's and sneak some. I knew this was a bad idea, but she was my friend so I went along with it. I think we got away with one chocolate bar, and when I got home my Mom asked where I got the candy, so then I had to lie, ...but she believed me. Why wouldn't she? Well, the next day we thought we should try it again since it was so easy and we didn't get caught. Free candy? It was just too good to be true. So we went back to Mac's and stole more than a chocolate bar. The entire time, I knew it was so wrong and I felt so bad and dark inside. I don't know why I kept going back. There was more cover-up lying and sneaking my candy in the house, etc. It got to the point where I couldn't even enjoy the candy. I think I got in too deep that I didn't know how to stop or how to tell my Mom. Thankfully one day we got caught. We had SO much candy piled in our winter coats, it probably looked ridiculous to the officer who came in to talk with us. That's right. An officer. I remember being in the back room and the amount of candy and chocolate on the table in front of us was paramount. I felt really foolish and guilty that we had tried to sneak away with all of that loot. The worst was the cop drove me home in the back seat of his car and walked me to the front steps of my house for everyone to see. I felt like such a criminal. The girl who had never done a thing wrong in all her life, to be escorted home by a police officer. My Mom was shocked I'm sure. It was so out of the ordinary for me to do something like that. But I'll never forget how my Mom handled it. She gave me her disappointed face, which is worse than any yelling in my books, and told me to go to my room and think about what I had done. And boy did I ever. I cried and cried on top of my bunk bed. This was my very first experience having to really use the atonement. I knew the Holy Ghost was trying to guide me and Satan was trying to take me down a slippery slope. Getting caught was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I felt so relieved. I needed so badly to start fresh. Thank goodness for forgiveness and fresh starts. My mom never got mad at me. She never made me feel bad or guilty
(I did enough of that on my own). But she did tell me that I needed to make things right by paying back the store clerk, so I calculated that I had stolen about 10 bucks worth
(which was a lot back then. Chocolate bars were only 50 cents). It was a humbling experience having to go back and see that store clerk again, but he was kind and even a little surprised that I would pay him back for the other times I had stolen. After I had made things right and repented, I felt clean and ready to start fresh again. I knew from that experience that the atonement really did work and I was so grateful that I could use it to feel clean again. I am almost a little grateful for that traumatic experience because from that day on I stayed pretty far away from trouble.
I got baptized at the Millwoods Stake centre in Edmonton after I turned eight. There were four other children getting baptized that day so it was a pretty long program, and we ALL received the Holy Ghost directly after as well. I remember getting up on the stand in the chapel and feeling like a small little girl on this big chair with all these tall men surrounding me. But the feeling I had once the blessing was over was remarkable. I remember a feeling of being light and warm all at the same time. There's not really any other way to describe it. I knew that I was washed clean and now had the gift of the Holy Ghost.
(Too bad I didn't listen to that still small voice in my last story!). It felt especially good when my Dad gave me a great big hug. I was shaking every one else's hand in the circle and then when it got to my Dad I was kind of on auto-pilot so every one chuckled when I had my hand out to shake his. A hug from your Pops is much better than a hand shake.
My best childhood memories are of our family vacations. Our family was so big that my parents would split us up and have different family vacations. The four youngest
(which included me) always went to Jasper or Waterton to go camping. It was always beautiful and I have many fond memories of hiking, canoeing, and sitting around a camp fire roasting hotdogs. Seriously, the best and funnest. Sarah would always have us laughing and we played such fun car games. We never did movies in the car, but we sometimes listened to books on tape, or played the Alphabet game where we would shout out letters from the alphabet in order as we saw different letters on passing signs or license plates. We also loved the drawing game where you fold the paper in three pieces and someone draws the head, someone draws the torso and someone draws the legs all without seeing what the other person drew so that when you unfold it you can get a good laugh out of your creation. I remember one particular hiking incident which I felt really guilty for. Doug and I were walking together and we decided it would be fun to make our legs feel lazy walking down the mountain
(He was probably only 5). Well, we soon found out that was a bad idea. It started getting steep and Doug couldn't control his legs and he speedily started running off the mountain. I tried chasing after him and was so frightened that he was going to just run right off! Thankfully he had the sense to run right into a massive rock. It was either that, or run right right off the hill into the abyss. I will never forget that close call and feeling so awful about it. I think we were both crying by this point. Sadly, that's not the only time I accidentally hurt Doug. We used to have communal baths as youngsters and I remember Doug charging out of the bathroom leaving the door wide open. I called after him to close the door, but I didn't think he heard, so I got out of the bath tub to close it. Well. He did hear. And I closed the door right on his face. The door knob caught his eye brow and he had to get stitches. Whoops.
One of my favourite childhood Summers was when I was ten years old. My parents were in the Mormon Tabernacle choir for a year and that Summer they had a tour across the States. What's neat about this is that President Hinckley
(who wasn't the prophet at this time yet) toured with them. Pretty neat. I love that man. It was a three week tour and of course they couldn't bring us all along, so they dropped us off with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Gary Jenkins who lived in Gridley, California. And as all good Californians, they had a Swimming pool in their back yard. We spent all day and every day by that pool. My cousin Jane taught me how to swim that year and I loved every minute of it. Older cousins are so cool! I thought she was so beautiful and so nice. Aunt Mary also taught me how to clean a bathroom, and I've been cleaning them ever since! Ha! I think we bonded the most as siblings that year as we didn't have our parents around for those three weeks. I remember having a few pangs of missing them, but thankfully we sure had some great distractions! Definitely my favourite Summer as a child.
My parents were pretty on top of it when it came to Family Home Evenings every Monday night. I remember it was always such a task getting every one to gather in one room because one person would come down and see that only one or two people were there, so they'd leave and come back later. I don't know how my parents had the patience for this, but they were consistent nonetheless. I remember everyone being strewn around the family room in the basement downstairs reading scriptures and I am sure it was quite the sight having so many of us piled into one room. Quite comical. My favourite FHE games were States. With our large numbers we had a big circle going. Each person would choose a State and there would be one person in the middle with a rolled up newspaper and the people in the circle would call out a State that wasn't theirs and the person in the middle would try to whack that person before they called out another State. I was always afraid when my Dad was in the middle because he sure gave a good whack if you got caught! Ha! We also enjoyed many-a-Chinese baseball game. Having a large family has its perks, as we had enough to make proper teams. But having a large family also has its drawbacks. I remember it was such a chore getting everyone to the dinner table. My Dad made our beautiful dinner table that has suited our needs all these years. Hard to find a table that big anywhere. Anywho, we were able to squeeze our whole family onto those benches. Many times I remember Jenny falling asleep at the dinner table because it would take SO long for everyone to get there. All for the same reason it was hard to gather people for FHE. They would come into the kitchen and see only one or two people there and then leave thinking they had time to do something else until everyone else got there. Oh the waiting game. But then once everyone was at the table you had better get to that bowl of Jello first or there won't be any left if you're the last! Ha! It was also a noisy pursuit, so to help with that my Dad issued a rule, "No singing at the table." Everyone jokes that this was because of me. I am sure I wasn't the only culprit, ...but I do know that I did sing randomly a lot. Still do. Even at the table. (
Hmmm... must be where Ellie gets it from). Dad had his own way of dealing with too much noise. He would wad up some toilet paper or cotton balls and stuff them in his ears. At first I thought, how dare he, but now that I'm a Mom with less than half of his lot of kids, I get it. We also had many picnics at Hawerlack Park. We would take some balls and frisbees and spend hours there while my parents got a fire started to roast hotdogs or hamburgers. I LOVED those afternoons/evenings together and have tried to recreate those with my kids as well.
I have a vivid memory of my Mom sitting on the couch and us kids lined up at her feet while she read to us. I also remember when I was a little older, probably around 8 or 9, she read the Secret Garden to just Sarah and I. That was such a special time with Mom as I knew her time was limited and split in many directions. I now try to make sure we have that special time with the kids as well. We read books together almost every night and now that the boys are getting older, I've started getting more involved books from the library to read to them at night. "Chapter" books! Noah may be too young, but Jackson loves it. I hope to continue on with this tradition and I hope they treasure it as much as I did with my Mom as a kid. Who am I kidding? I probably love this time together more than they do! My Dad was quite the story teller. He didn't need books to entertain us before bed. I recall vividly laying on the top bunk while sharing a room with Sarah, Doug and Jenny and my Dad standing in front of our bunk beds in the dark. We always requested "My Ivory Soap" which is an Alan Ord original
(I've already talked about this story in one of my other Dad-posts), or "Little Boy Blue" which I never really liked, and hence can't remember. He would also transform into the tickle monster before bed, which if you ask me always scared me more than made me laugh. I was not as fast as everyone else nor did I have the best hiding spots apparently, so I did not have much of a chance as a youngster. My Dad always found me and tickled me to death! Or until one of the other kids would jump on him to save me. If my Mom was exhausted enough and wanted us in bed stat, she would bribe us with a treat under our pillow, which usually consisted of a small bag of chocolate chips or a piece of Double Bubble gum. I now pull that on my kids as well. Same stunt, different treats. Often we would talk all night or play around anyway, but as soon as we would hear any footsteps coming down the stairs we would shush each other up and pretend to be asleep. Who were we fooling? I am sure my parents could hear everything, but I am sure they were at least happy to know that we were pretending to be asleep instead of defiantly staying awake in front of their faces. I know for me, I can hear the boys playing in their bedroom for at least an hour after they've been in bed but I feel like I can't get upset with them because I did the exact same thing. Plus it's fun and a great way to bond as siblings. And if I am really tired and just want quiet, I bribe them with a treat under their pillow.
Thanksgiving was always a wonderful time. The Jarvis family and the Michelsen family would always join us for dinner. I have always felt that the Jarvis's and the Michelsen's were like second parents to me as our families were always getting together to do fun activities
(like go to Hawerlack park, etc). As per tradition, we would all go around the table and say what we were grateful for. There were multiple tables of course, and I always got so nervous about trying to find something that I was grateful for that no one else had already said. Oh the pressure! I think I mostly enjoyed hearing all the stories that the older siblings would talk about. They'd bring up funny stories of their past-time and I was always intrigued and stuck around to listen. Afterwards we always went for a nature walk. There were some pretty trails near our house, so that was our tradition. Good idea too with all that turkey in our bellies! My Mom has always been good like that, trying to keep us active when I'm sure most of us probably just wanted to nap! And I can't imagine being HER on her feet all day and then actually choosing to do something active after such a long day of preparing food. And there was always a slew of pies! No joke, there must have been about six to ten each year. And no doubt they would all get gobbled up! Her apple pie was always my favourite!
There was always music in our home. Sometimes it was desirable and sometimes it wasn't. My Mom taught piano lessons and voice lessons after school and then when my Dad came home from work he also had the odd extra student. So everyday for at least 2-3 hours we could hear scales, or "The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow" or "You Are My Sunshine" or "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." All on a singing machine with a microphone! I wish I could say it got real old real fast, but to be honest it was just a regular part of our day. I was so used to it I barely realized it was there. In fact, I couldn't wait until lessons were over so I could go into the music room myself and take over. My favourites to sing when the Music room was actually free were, "Save the Best For Last" by Vanessa Williams and "The Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston. In fact, I sang that song in Grade 5 at one of the school's talent shows. All of the kindergarten kids were sitting on the front row and when I would belt the higher notes they all plugged their ears and so I'd back off the mic and then look at my Mom who kept motioning me to get closer to the mic. Ha! This was when we lived in Pleasant Grove, Utah. I was nine years old and thought my life was over when we moved there because I had to leave all of my friends. But my parents told me that I would make new ones and then when we moved back I would be even more sad to leave them, which is exactly what happened. Nicole Nielson and Laura Morrey were my two best friends. I also had a crush on a boy named Rory. I don't remember his last name, but I do know that I showed my affection in a rather weird way. One day after school, I think I may have been dared or something because I really don't know why I would do this otherwise, but I kicked him really hard in the groin. I didn't realize it would hurt so much, but he rolled over on the ground in pain and I felt so bad and embarrassed that I had done that to him. I am sure that Joe is grateful that I do not still show my affection in that way.
Going back to music, my Mom also taught me piano lessons. She was a wonderful teacher, but I think by the time it came to her kids after teaching all of her other students she was likely tired. There was even a time or two that I remember crying because I wasn't reading the notes and my Mom was getting frustrated with me. But I will say I am glad she stuck with it. I love being able to play piano. Although I am not as proficient as she is at reading, I hope to be able to play like her one day. I even took piano lessons from a friend a few years ago just to brush up on my reading and such. I have always heard that it is easier for someone else to teach your child, and it probably is, so it honestly makes me so grateful that I had a Mom that stuck with it. She would make practicing charts for us and everything. I don't know how she even had time for all that, but I seriously am so grateful that she never gave up with me. She definitely had reason to be frustrated with me. I was always trying to play by ear instead of actually read and would spend a lot of my time "practicing" by fooling around and making up whatever songs I wanted. I always remember hearing Shannon playing and singing her own stuff on the piano that she had written and I wanted to be able to do that, so when I was about twelve I started writing my own stuff on the piano. Mind you, a lot of it was taken from stuff I had already learned and maybe just slowed down the chord or changed the chord progression ever so slightly. Either way, although my Mom was annoyed that I didn't spend the entire piano-practice time actually practicing, she was also very encouraging about creating.
One year, my Mom also put together a singing group called "Showtime Canada!" It consisted of me
(I would have been about 8 or 9 ...or ten??), Sarah, Jenny and the Clevenger kids. I think their Mom just wanted them in SOMETHING musical, so my Mom put together this group and choreographed numbers that we would perform in old folks homes. I am sure my Mom has the video tape somewhere. She would make us practice while recording and then we would watch it and I always got so embarrassed because the boy (J.J.) was really cute and I didn't want to make a fool out of myself in front of him. Looking back on it though, I think as the only boy of the group he did that enough for himself.
My Mom is my hero because she sure knew how to keep a clean house. My memories of her are with a hand towel over her shoulder while wiping the cupboards or constantly vacuuming. Yes, she may have given each of the kids a few Saturday chores, but I am talking about every single day! And even on top of the chores we would do, if we didn't do it right she would just come back and redo it anyway! Ha! For example, Sarah and I had to dust these plastic trees that we had in the living room. She wanted us to dust each leaf with a rag and really rub it. And this was a WEEKLY chore. Well, she'd always come to inspect our work and it was never usually up to her standard because, ...well, she's Mom. And when it comes to cleaning, she's kind of perfect. She would take the rag and start dusting the tree herself while we watched. "Oh? There? Okay...." and she would end up doing our job for us right in front of our noses. Ha! I still hate dusting to this day! Her only achilles-heel was the constant laundry. We had a massive pile in the basement on top of a large oval rug. I remember playing games in there and burying ourselves as little kids underneath that massive pile or running and jumping into the laundry. Because yes, that is how big it was.
I don't remember whose idea this was
(probably Sarah's because she was the funny one and apparently the trickster), but Jenny was quite the crier when she was little. She was adorable and loved and super sweet, but if she ever wanted something all she had to do was turn on the water-works
(sounds like Ellie to a T!). It was so annoying as older siblings, so we thought we would play a practical joke on her. Mind you, she was probably only three or four years old, we were so mean. She hated ET. She was so scared of that cute little alien. So one day we planned something that would scare the life out of her. She still talks about it to this very day and blames her fear of aliens on this incident. Well, I was hiding under the bed saying, "Neener-neener, neener-neener" in a creepy voice and Sarah brought Jenny into the room saying that ET was under the bed just in time for me to grab Doug's leg and pull him under. This freaked her out even more, of course, and by the time I got Sarah's leg and dragged her under the bed, we had her in tears. Ha! It worked. We were so mean. So so very mean.
We had a crab apple tree in the back yard and I loved that thing. We used to climb that thing all the time and look for caterpillars or just see who could climb the highest, etc. But every Summer when the apples were ripe enough our huge Summer chore was picking all those apples off the tree! It was a huge job that took all day long it seemed. But now that I think of how my kids treat chores and drag them out, I wonder if it was really all that bad at all? Anywho, my parents had the worst of the job because they were the ones that turned all of those apples into crab-apple sauce. We had a huge storage room full of tall jars of apple sauce. It was really good too. When Christmas would come around, that was the yearly gift we would give other families in the ward. We also had the chore of picking raspberries. I loved that chore though because I always ate as I went. Raspberries are my favourite berry. The only thing I didn't like were the spiders, but I think I was pretty brave most of the time. More brave than Sarah and Jenny easily. Still am. It's a shame we couldn't go through them faster than we did because I remember my Mom freezing them depending on how many we picked and I always thought that was such a waste as every one knows they are much tastier fresh!
I went through a phase where I wanted to be a figure skater. The Winter Olympics were going on and I could watch the ice skating for hours and hours. I probably did. It was when Nancy Kerrigan was big. I thought she was so pretty and just the best skater. Because of her, I spent hours at the Duggan outdoor rink skating my heart out and making my own routines and trying out some pretty lame-o jumps that I thought were awesome at the time. It was a fun dream. I am pretty sure I talked myself into thinking that if I really wanted to make it to the Olympics I probably should have started years ago and it was too late for me. Far too realistic at such a young age.
As kids we were always dressing up and making plays or movies or music videos. My Mom set up a storage room full of dress-up clothes and it was a daily event going in there and pretending to be so and so and using our imaginations. When I was a bit older, we did music videos all the time and on Christmas Eve it started becoming a tradition to make a family music video while Santa came. We had so much fun and laughed so much. I can't believe my parents trusted us with their massive video camera! But I'm glad they did.
Speaking of Christmas, my parents were always so amazing at going all out but keeping it relatively modest without us realizing it. We would wake up, ...or get woken up by Jared and Spencer at the crack of dawn who would then guard the door leading upstairs to where all the presents were. We weren't allowed to open presents until after 7am. I remember one Christmas, I had to go to the bathroom and the only bathroom was upstairs. I held it for as long as possible until I couldn't take it any more and begged Jared and Spencer to let me pass. They made me swear not to look, ...and I am pretty sure I kept my word. Although I couldn't help but peek at the stockings. I remember the feel of Christmas morning always being so lovely with the Christmas tree lights still up against the dark morning. Santa always did candy and oranges in our stockings and when we got older he would add cool things like gift certificates. Then we would go into the living room where the tree was and set our BIG gift from Santa which was usually not wrapped. After that, we would separate the gifts in order and open them in order. Before Christmas, siblings would pick from a bowl who they would be giving to that year. We continued that tradition until about a couple years ago I think we decided to just do Christmas cards and focus on our own families. Christmas morning was always a long process but still very exciting of course. Mom always had the most presents because she had all her piano and voice students that just adored her. After that she would make us bacon and pancakes and sausages and eggs with orange juice. This was a real treat because we usually only had cereal for breakfast. We would usually spend the rest of the day playing with our toys or watching Christmas movies, or if the weather was nice we would play outside in the snow and go sledding on Duggan hill. I used to think that hill went on forever, but it is a tiny bump as an adult. I know many people have turkey dinner on Christmas Day, but we do that on Christmas Eve and then eat the left overs on Christmas Day and eat all the junk from our stockings all day! We also used Christmas Eve to act out the Nativity while Dad would read from the Bible. After we did that, we would have a talent night where each child would have an opportunity to perform something from school that they had been working on, like a band instrument or singing a song on the singing machine, ...or sometimes not school-related, like magic tricks (Doug). Often times it turned into all of us singing carols on the singing machine as a family. My Mom had a million Christmas songs on tape, so we would bust right through all of those. I loved it though. I only hope that my family loves music as much as I do. But thinking back, there really was music in our home all the time. We were constantly singing for this or that talent show or church performance, or having piano recitals, or watching my Dad's students sing at the end of the year or like I mentioned before hearing music through the walls of the music room being taught to others, and even though there was no singing at the table, you can bet I was singing in my head. I also remember gathering around the piano just for fun while my Mom played different songs from Musicals and we sang along in different harmonies. FOR FUN! I can only hope that my kids will have any level of the love and desire I had as a kid. I just need to give them more opportunities to constantly be surrounded by music.
Anywho, I think this might be all I have in me for now as far as my childhood memories go. I know there are more and I will add to it if I can think of other things. I will write about my teenaged years in another post later on when I have the energy for it. I am not sure how much of my music career I journalled as a kid, so I will have to make sure I cover as much as I can as I would hate to forget that experience! All in all, I can say that my childhood was full of lots of fun and playing with my siblings. I have always been pretty close to the four youngest as we were always doing stuff together and roomed together for many years. I think the reason why I would like to have a larger family close together in age is because I have such fond memories of always having a friend to play with and laugh with. I hope my kids will appreciate that I really thought it through when I had them all close together! Although I think there may be more of a break between Zoe and the next if it's up to me!
Congratulations if you made it to the end!
