Childhood Memories...

When I was around 3 years old my brothers Jonathan and Casey and I would go to work with my dad. He worked on my Uncle and Aunts dairy farm. Mom would pack us a lunch with sandwiches, carrots, celery and canned pears or peaches. Then we would rise early and head down to the farm with dad. We mostly rode around with him in the tractor while he mowed or plowed. It was a tractor with a cab on it. I remember feeling so proud to be a farmers daughter! We would go round and round that field and sometimes we would doze off but it was so relaxing and fun! At lunch time we would either stop and sit on a log or on the ground to eat. Sometimes we would go into my aunts house and sit in her kitchen to eat. Eating a packed lunch was so much fun! One time dad gave me a bite of something to eat and I was shocked..it had a spicy hot flavor!( Little did I know it was a raw radish! J ) I remember dad laughing at the face I made.

Also when I was 3 years old my sister Mindy was born. I remember my Aunt April babysitting us older kids and the house was so clean and quiet. I can’t remember who brought us but we got brought to the hospital to see Mindy. I remember being picked up and showed a baby lying in a crib in the hospital nursery. The day mom and baby came home I sat at the dining room window all morning waiting. When the red station wagon pulled in I remember shouting “they are here, They are here” and running to the garage to see them. Mom got out of the car holding a bundle. Mom always told me my mouth fell open and I said “it’s a baby?!” She figured I hadn’t fully understood that the baby was coming home to live!J

Starting probably around the age of 4 years old I would go with mom to the garden and walk up and down the rows. The earth would be hard packed and cool beneath my feet. It seemed that the green bean bushes were reaching to the sky! I always loved spending time outside especially with mom. One summer evening dad and others were out on the berry picker machine working and I was in the house with mom, Missy and Mindy. I must of said I was bored or something because mom decided to play with us girls. We sat on the sunken living room stairs and mom pretended to drive a car. In our imagination we stopped for ice cream and watched the beautiful scenery go by. The sun was setting in the west and the evening was warm. I remember hearing the hum of the berry picker as it went up and down the berry rows.

I always loved going outside to play in the summers…running around barefoot with soft dusty dirt between my toes. We would search for hours for “diamonds”in the dirt. One time I thought I really had found one and brought it to mom to replace her diamond in her wedding band that she had lost. She smiled sweetly at me and said it wouldn’t work. We would run up and down the berry rows barefoot and picking berries. Another time when I was 4 years old and my brother Casey was 5 years old, Casey decided to teach me how to drive the tractor. (he had been driving since he was 4) So off we went. I was trying to stand on the brake and Casey was steering…but oops, we drove down one whole post of berries! Dad came running and jumped up on the tractor and stopped it. Dad wasn’t to happy and I remember thinking I didn’t understand why because we were just trying to help. Also in the summer us kids went camping. I think the first time was when Casey was 9 years old, I was 8 years old , Missy 6 yrs. , Mindy 5 yrs and Jeremy was 3 yrs. Old. We went down into the woods on the back corner of the property and set up our pup tent. We brought sleeping bags and food along in our red wagon. Casey slept on one side and me on the other with the little kids between. Casey had his one pump BB gun and I had a stick for protection J Anyways during the night a pack of coyotes came and made a circle around our tent. Casey and I sat up with our stick and BB gun to keep us all safe. The next day we made a house around our tent with rocks and stick for the outline. Mindy got hurt and we went and picked berries and smashed them up and gave them to her. J We figured that would help. Mom came down sometime and checked on us and I remember showing her our “home”. That was the beginning of many camping trips. We would use berry picking money each year to buy camping gear and food. It was so fun planning and dreaming of what we would buy. Aww…I can close my eyes and be there again! J

more to come! :)