Memories

I will attempt to follow the format, Car / Road Trip

There are a few that stand out, but forgive me if the memory is a little foggy, in no particular order: 1) The trip to AZ where we picked up Granny In AK and she helped drive thru the night, and with granny driving it started to snow about an hour before Armarillo TX., (this was in the little blue van). So I started driving after our gas stop and was doing the best I could to get us thru, having had more snow driving experience and could maybe go a little faster. It turned out to be the worst conditions I have ever driven in. There was, in some places up to 4 inches of frozen snow and ice on the roads, it was a real wet heavy snow and I was actually suprized we got thru to Albequerque. if you chech the map, it is a pretty good hike, several hundred miles, well once we got to Albequerque, we turned south to get to more clear roads, the word at the truck stop was it was like that all the way to Flagstaff. UGH. We were stopped a couple times, cars were slidding off the roads all around, there was a truck with a fullsize airstream trailer blocking our lanes we drove around them off the road. but wow. 2) the Niagara Falls trip and the Toll Booth episode has to be a classic. I loved the way Blake wrote the dialog he and Kevin had after I yelled for them to "shut up"... bunch if idiots back there..."
that is so funny. "Is he serious?" "No, he's never serious." "But I can"t tell with those glasses on." "But he has that smirk on his face."... ha ha I laugh just writing this. And a few honorable mentions, the Trip to New Jersey from Utah including the adventure of the car dying and the Black Hills camping, and all we did, (that was a great time). Universal Studios, Space shuttle launch. Combined with the T-Bones steak house memories! That was a Sumner Classic. (J, this is one I would play and replay once we get our lives on CD up in heaven, ha ha) Insane that we did all that traveling. Countless trips to Grannies, Aunt Claudia's, when we were still in AZ a few trips to Utah. Yikes, Ya'll got your million mile club pins yet?

I think I will come back to this and add the "crazy" memories and "movie" memories on a Part II and Part III... Love all you guys, It is great to hear from you all Keep bloging. Hope school is going well for those in school. Ha. no me. KZ's last "First Day" is this Tuesday... We'll take pictures. :)

Swords and Shields: Your Move!

Julia here, still didn't figure out how to make an ID. oh well haha.

Lets see, family road trips. haha, "I'm in your garden" I remember that. I remember mom asking "whoever guesses the right amount of miles it takes us to drive from here to that hill on the horizon get's the last orange" or something like that. Listening to some Black Sabbath and RHCP always reminds me of road trips. More recently, I remember Dad, Lib and I (was keaton there too?) flying out to Utah and driving out that bucket Lincoln from cousin...whoever and visiting Nauvoo and driving back together. Also me and dad driving out to BYU and picking up Sarah in Ohio. And then driving straight from the Wijin (I forget their name) house in Iowa all the way to Utah, and stopping for frosty's in Wyoming. Me Sarah and Dad were all wired and punch funny at that point. Dad drove the rest of the way (and it's like 2-5am or something like that) and he told us afterwards that he almost drove off the side of the mounatins a couple of times haha. Good stuff. And of course the toll booth. I will never forget that. I think when I die, I want to have that on my heavenly tivo or something so I can watch it over and over haha.

Favorite "family" memories? Too many. Christmas cookies, sunday night movies, videogames, chore charts, wearing a big "M" t shirt for bed and sitting on the heater to make the shirt get all big and puffy, Liberty getting burnt by the Turkey baster, the hand of midas that as from keaton's washer/dryer toy, sledding on the big toboggan, of course all of the Granny trips and shennanigans, the m&m game "dont eat pete!". But just being together. I really had a good time at the "sumner family reunion" and visiting in Vernal with Indira, it's all about togetherness and family. :)

Favorite shows to watch? hmmm. First of all, let me apologize to mom for watching the Lion King every single day. my favorite movie, what can I say! Pete n' Pete, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Guts! (dundunn, dundundun, GUTS!), ren&stimpy, The Simpsons, House, Seinfeld, Hells Kitchen (where's the lamb sauce!!!!!), Nascar with pop haha, going to baseball games, GO PHILLIES,  and of course, Jackie Chan Adventures--uncle says "One morreee thing!"

FAvorite movies? Does the best of will ferrell count? "Hayy....if themoon were made of SPare riBs, woulD you EAT IT?" Anything Jackie Chan, like Blake said. Amadeus, Ten Commandments, Breakfast Club, Moulin Rouge, Mission impossible (Eathan.....EAthan!!!), Men in Black, Armageddon (which I recently learned-Brandon thinks is one of the wost movies ever haha---but we both like Independence Day) Hercules, and I cant think of anymore right now, but it's good to eat Blake's heart attack popcorn haha.

In other news, BYU starts this monday, Aug 30!!! Yikes! It's been fun working 8 hours a day over the summer, but I was losing my mind at the library haha. Time to get back into the grove of things. My arms and back of my neck is mad tan from athletic training, I gotta tape some ankles! Miss you! love you family! :)

-J

PS-extra bonus memory! I was apparently the only one in the family who had imaginary friends. Dandu and Dootodoo. remember them? and I was apparently the only child on the planet weird enought to kill my imaginary friends with bricks and a rake in the backyard with my sister. At least I turned out alright....right? haha

Motivated

This is in response to my own prompts, it's fun reading about everyone else's because then it triggers my own memories.

I remember making the "AAAAAAAAAAACCKKKK-lahoma" tape, and then I remember the Kermit the frog sketch where it was him interviewing Pinocchio. "My name is Abraham Lincoln and I'm 500 feet tall!!"

One constant on the early road trips was mom and dad talking quietly at a gas station in the middle of the night on a trip to somewhere, we'd be sprawled around the car and the distinct sounds of the car slowing down and their voices is something I almost got to looking forward to. I remember playing the "I'm in your garden" game where we'd push each other off of the top of the back seat onto all the luggage. ha ha. I remember putting our feet on the back windshield. I remember that I would put my head right next to dad's left shoulder, poking over the seat and talk with him about stuff. I think some of the most fun I've had was the aforementioned oll-booth incident....LoL that was hysterical. and then the being pillowheads. it was just getting dark, we were driving somewhere and Liberty and I had had entirely too much sugar, so we put our pillows on our heads and just went wild, extreme silliness.

My own road trips.... driving across the country, twice. what an adventure. it was pretty cool I will admit, it'd be better of course with someone to share it with but it was still pretty great. Driving all the way down to the middle of Georgia by accident on the way to Arizona. and still making that trip in 3 days. and then of course driving back to new jersey. I saw a lot of cool stuff on that trip. Brandon and Liberty would know, New Mexico is one of the prettiest places to drive through. And of course a road trip would not be complete without frosty's, a tradition that is still carried out today, (grand canyon) ^_^

Family spending time together? hmmm..... there will always be sheppard's night. making ridiculous amounts of Christmas cookies. I remember playing baseball as a family with the big kickball in the side yard of the first jersey house. A lot of Sunday night popcorn..........A LOT. that used to be huge. Sunday night would be movies and popcorn. dad would make a special batch for mom with light butter and no salt or something and we'd be stuffing our faces and almost always making a mess. That was always something to look forward to. I remember that turning into going over to the Graddy's house, and sharing popcorn and movie time with them. Sticky popcorn = super happy family fun time.

Favorite movie/tv show? back in Tennessee we'd always watch bozo the clown, back when mom was a seminary teacher. "Bucket number 6!" And I do remember waking up in the middle of the night to watch cartoons, ha ha, I'd usually go get the ice cream and a spoon, no bowl, and just eat ice cream and watch starwars.... I also remember getting busted.. heh heh

watching BYU games in Utah, or watching the Jazz and the Bulls play. Watching the Simpsons together. Arthur as siblings or ZOOM. i always like batman beyond. now i still like cartoons. if you watch enough in a row it's like reading a book with pictures. it's pretty cool. but a lot more time consuming. I like Bleach now. I remember watching that with Keaton on the computer, ha ha ha, "If you wanna see some action!!!....." best battle song ever. I love the show Life. it only aired for two seasons but it's awesome, it got cut because of the writer's strike back when that was going on, which is dissapointing because it was a good not to mention successful show. I've seen all of the episodes of DBZ that probably took too much of my life. but it's a good story. I think that's why I like some cartoons. because it's not just cartoons... it's a good story. I think that's why I liked halo so much. the story was awesome. (that and I was really good at it :)
And I'll tell you, back when i worked at the CVS warehouse I used to see how much of the entire script of The Princess Bride I could quote. I got pretty close to the entire movie, only missing a few lines here or there. Mr. nice guy was always fun watching together, Jackie Chan and his silliness and cool kung fu.

(sigh) good times!!!


I Love you family, I'm super grateful that we are close.

Love
-Blakester

Cat Soup

All of you have had such good stories to tell. I will tell some from the early days. Back when you were younger. Okay - Memorable Driving Experience - When we were moving from Arizona to Tennessee we had all of our belongings in the big Penske truck which Pop was driving and I was driving the white Bonneville filled with 2 year old Blake and 2 month old Liberty. Then the fusible link in the electrical system fried and the alternator quit working on the car. We were dirt poor and could not afford to stop at a garage to get it fixed. This happened somewhere between Memphis and Jackson, TN. We ended up tying the car to the truck to tow it along, but it was not secure and it needed someone to ride in it and steer it and brake it. This was fine. Blake was riding in the car seat up in the truck with Benet and I was in the car with Baby Liberty. Until it started to rain. The electrical system was shot, remember, so the wipers were running off the battery and everything started to go downhill. We switched drivers. I was now driving the truck and Benet drove the car. I had never driven a big truck before. Then there was construction. All of the traffic was down to one skinny lane with a steep drop off cliff on one side and hardcore orange cones on the left, pouring down rain and I don't know what I am doing. I am overcorrecting all over the place, Benet is behind me being towed by a piece of rope with his head out the window because the wipers aren't working trying to see what he is doing so he doesn't smash into our truck, smash our car or go out into the oncoming traffic. Oh, and yeah, the children are awake, hungry and irritable at this point. I really felt like the pioneers going out west because we had truly put our trust in the Lord's hands at that point. We had NO CLUE what we were doing, only that we were supposed to do it. I had a severe case of white knuckles.

2) Most vivid memories of spending time together? Going to Florida for Gramma Vacations. The First Year we went to Gramma's was the year The Badgetts had kindly told me "Everything Wrong in Our Lives is All Your Fault and We Want Nothing To Do With You Ever Again." I was pregnant with Keaton (It was April of 1993 when they dropped that bomb on me) and the doctor said he was going to induce labor because of the stress. Keaton was born two weeks early and weighed 9 pounds at birth which is HUGE!!! (I get gestational diabetes and the stress really complicated it) So the first year was running away and finding my bearings. We did so much - being chased by seagulls, going to the ocean, learning about Gramma and being fussed at by her, quilting, going to the IMAX, going to the Mermaid place and going to Sea World that first year. It was awesome. We stayed two weeks that first time with Keaton as a newborn. Let me throw in a music thingy here - I listened to Guns N Roses continuously as it helped my soul that year. Following years were spent At Grammas - weeks during the summer or a week during Easter. Fun Times.

3) Favorite TV shows.... My favorite one that you don't know about is Match Game. it is hysterical. I would watch that with Esther, one of my gramma ladies I was a care-giver for. I watched it growing up too and thought it was awesome. I don't care for TV that much. It sucks my soul because I am attracted to moving pictures and will stare dazedly at it and realize I have watched a whole hour of So You Think You Can Dance or Hell's Kitchen or other such drivel when I could have read a book. I do like Hell's Kitchen though. Simpsons. yeah.

4) Movies with Family: Princess Bride, Disney Movies, Ferris Beuhler, Ten Commandments, HEATHERS, Shrek... I mean, c'mon... any of these movies we can just close our eyes and repeat the script word for word. But NOT Planet of the Apes. Liberty is right. The soundtrack is just plain horrid. Even John Cage would not take credit for it.

Memories

Throughout my life I have been an observer. Let me explain. My disability limits what activities I can actually participate in and also gives me a great excuse if I don't want to participate. Who's going to say "oh you're not THAT crippled!" (Sorry that was a joke in poor taste but that's how I roll) Because of this fact, there are many memories that as a family, I have, but they are just memories of others doing things rather than my participating in that memory. I have come to terms with that fact though and have been a better sport as of late.

With that out of the way, I do have a memory that I will always hold dear to my heart. As a family tradition, during the Summer Break of that kid they get to choose where to go on that vacation. As the youngest child, when it came my turn I was the only kid still at home and I wanted to do something a bit more my speed instead of the beach. I decided that I wanted to go to Philadelphia and see all of the historical sites. This didn't seem like very much fun to my mom so just my dad and I went. We had a blast seeing all this history. On our last night we went to a fabulous restraunt called Morimoto's. He is a chef from the show Iron Chef. We decided that since we had spent a little more than we probably should have we decided to head back home. On the way back to the car we past a homeless man and we just past him by. On the drive back to the Fort, we both realized that we had made a terrible mistake. Spending so much on a single meal and not even being willing to give something, anything so someone in need. I had just experienced the dichotomy of the haves and the have-nots. I had always considered myself someone who didn't have much, but that night I realized how much I did have. How much I could do if I was but willing.

I remember that vacation not because I saw something so cool, or because it was so much fun. I remember it because I learned a valuable from and with my Father. This event cemented the respect I have for my dad.

Family memories and such

Great prompts Blake!! I hope we all take the time to answer...

Number 1: what is your most favorite/most vivid/ craziest memory of family road trips/driving experiences? (the more the better) :

Brainstorming ideas to answer this I think of a ton of different little memories but not one huge big one: watching movies in the car... playing Gauntlet (Green Knight has gained a level!)... making tapes when we were reeeally little (AAAAAAAAA-klahoma!)... the little tiny potty chair? (eeeew), sleeping in terribly uncomfortable positions, hiding out in the back-back-back with the speakers waaaaay too loud- so I muffle them with pillows and blankets so you guys would turn it up even louder so you could hear. I even remember when Dad got pulled over for speeding and Blake and I were both hiding out (seatbelt-less of course) on top of all the luggage in the waay back, trying to be still and unnoticeable. But definitely the best memory would be when we were driving up to EFY with Kevin McAvoy, and we see some raceway Dad thinks it'd be cool to visit. He says we'll ask the toll booth guy how to get there, but when we get there, the rest of us kids decide it would be hilarious to make hideous throwing-up noises when we pull up to the toll booth. This makes it impossible for Dad to hear anything and he suddenly whips around and yells at us- what exactly I can't remember (can anybody fill this in?) Something about a bunch of idiots back here or shut up I don't know. He had his sunglasses on so we couldn't tell if he was truly furious or just peeved we were being childish. But it was hilarious. Hahaha

Number 2: Besides driving what is the most vivid/favorite/craziest memories you have of the family spending time together? Hmmm I don't know, I have a terrible memory as it is, so trying to think of something without any specifics to clue my memory in is hard... Going to Burger King for Christmas Eve dinner was good. :] All those Easter Egg hunts in Florida where we'd get mad at whoever found the money egg, or smashing empty eggshells on top of each others heads... building a green snow dragon in Utah... Climbing the kid tree and exploring the cave back there-- Lots of memories about that cave- how it was a witches lair, or if you walked in you'd immediately fall down a hole, or how it actually just led to KMart. I remember when we saw some teenagers sniffing glue up there by the swing, and once, Will Furan and I were out there alone, and we looked up into the cave, and we saw two big red eyes, real high off the ground, and we went running and shrieking back to the house, but no one would believe us (heck I don't even believe it anymore). Fond memories of growing up. Sorry I listed so many. :]

Number 3: What were your favorite tv shows? favorite cartoons? favorite sports? watching with the family? by yourself? Well first, another memory... I remember once in Tennessee waking up to find Blake watching cartoons on Cartoon Network waay late once, and I was jealous I'd never had this great idea, and stayed up watching with him until Mom found us. :] Favorites from growing up: All That, Angry Beavers, Card Captors, Smurfs, whatever anyone else was watching (Arthur, Julia?!). Now? Phineas and Ferb is hilarious... Simpsons, of course. Love watching that with all you guys (Brandon doesn't find it nearly as funny) As for real-live tv, House, SNL, Glee, If I Can Dream are all on my Hulu queue. But Better Off Ted and Community are great odd ball ones too. I don't watch sports on tv, so that's out. Anyway, right now our tv is out of commission- we get no signal without a digital tuner and Brandon's computer monitor is bigger anyway (does anyone want to by our puny 19" tv? really?) so all of our tv/movie watching occurs on the computer through netflix or hulu.

Number 3-b: What was your favorite movie to watch as a family?

Um. Good ones? That make us laugh and quote for hours afterwards? Toy Story... Bill and Ted (watching that with Brandon now-hahaha first time in a long time I've seen it). Planet of the Apes! Actually a momentous moment for me happened while watching PotA (what a terrible acronym) I made a joke about the terrible music during the opening credits- the music byline popped up and I said 'now we know who to blame' and you all laughed and I remember that was the first time I ever thought I could be funny. :] Of course then I said it a few more times later immediately making it lame, but still. It was somewhat important for the development of Liberty. :]

Anyway, Love you all and hope to see you answer at least some of Blake's questions soon.

School starts next week - Brandon's pumped, but I'm definitely not too excited. I've just enjoyed being a do-nothing so much this summer I don't really wanna go back (Senioritis anyone?). :\ I'm sure I'll get into the swing of things quickly, but I will continue to be whiny about it until then.

Love you all!

Liberty