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share 10 fond memories from your childhood.

okay, buckle up... this is gonna be loooong.

1.  dancing... yes, i've been having dance parties for my entire life!  my best friend, aubree, and i were obsessed with choreographing our own dances.  one year, we got the genius idea to choreograph a bunch and perform them for our neighbors.  we sent out invitations, planned costumes, and taught whitney the dances so she could perform with us.  we made cake and lemonade to serve our guests after the performance and set up chairs for the adults and laid out blankets for the kids.  it was a big hit! (or at least, we thought so!)  the next summer, we decided to make it even bigger.  i remember we planned "greeting outfits":  dressy skirts and shirts to greet the neighbors as they came into the backyard.  we made a dressing room around the corner of our house so that we could change costumes in between dances.  the dressing room consisted of the garbage can, the bike rack, and the sandbox turned on its side, all surrounding a teeny area where we got dressed.  haha!  we must have choreographed about 10 different dances that year.  i'm not sure how the neighbors felt about watching us do ridiculous dances for about an hour.  (and by the way, i could NOT dance.  who am i kidding... i still can't dance.)  whit and i would always make up dances, too.  any and every CD we owned had its own choreography. i remember dancing our little hearts out ALL THE TIME.  parker, the left out younger boy, would always want to do them with us.  we obliged a lot of the time.  looking back, we probably shouldn't have let park dance with us... we should have made him play trucks or dinosaurs or airplanes or somethin'.  but oh man, those days were so fun.

2.  Wilcox Family Reunion.  every year, we have a family reunion with my dad's side of the family that is always soooo much fun!  we went to Zions two years in a row to this sa-weet campsite.  it had little cabins to stay in, a huge lodge in the middle, and paved roads within the campsite.  one of my favorite parts of the whole experience was the drive down there.  i remember one year, we met in provo in the wal mart parking lot where we had krispy kreme donuts (which were SUCH a treat) and then swapped cars.  i am the oldest grandchild on this side of the family and after me, there was a grandchild born every year.  all of the older cousins are pretty close, so it was always so much fun to get in the car with mikell and lauren and ben and whit and park and sing songs, watch movies, and play games on the way down to Zions.  in the campsite, we'd ride our bikes around with no parent supervision (which felt pretty dang cool).  i remember the lodge at this campsite did fun things like movie nights and BBQs.  there was an awesome pool that we practically lived at.  and hiking in the beautiful scenery at Zions was always so much fun!  we'd bring a picnic lunch and be gone the entire day, exploring the red rocks.  i loved going to Zions!  another family reunion i loved was Moab.  we stayed at another sweet campsite, not quite as nice as the other one, but still so fun.  i remember when we pulled up to the campsite, my brother parker said, "please say this isn't where we're staying."  everyone thought that was hilarious.  we still tease him about it.  :)  this campsite had a huge rock at one end.  all the older cousins would ride our bikes down there.  we named it our "clubhouse" and would be down there all the time while the adults were talking or cooking.  i remember how cool it felt to say "clubhouse meeting!" and hop on our bikes and hurry down the the big rock.  i remember playing a game with a ball of yarn.  we had to say something we loved about someone in our family and then throw the ball of yarn to them.  pretty soon, we had this huge web of yarn interconnecting every member of our family.  i remember thinking how much i loved everyone and how lucky i felt to be a part of such a wonderful family.  another awesome {okay, they're all awesome, but i can't write about all of them} family reunion was when everyone came up to Heber!   we have a cabin up in Timber Lakes that's super fun.  we have four-wheelers, snowmobiles, a canoe, and tons of other fun "toys" that we play with.  this particular year, my aunt and uncle planned The Amazing Race for our family to do in Heber.  ohmygosh.  SO FUN.  we split up into 3 teams, and each team had a video camera.  we were each given a list of things we had to film.  making a people pyramid at the football field, helping someone across the street, spelling our name with french fries from mcdonalds, 10 cats and dogs, and other crazy things.  it was soooooo much fun. when we got back up to the cabin, we watched all of them.  they were hilarious!  we also had crazy competitions.  i remember having to get gummi worms (or something) out of a big bowl of whipped cream with our mouths.  those are such fun memories.

3.  building forts!  the. best. thing. EVER.  before our basement was finished, we were still pretty little, and couldn't quite figure out how to get the blankets over our heads... so we just pushed tables, our big dollhouse, dressers, and whatever else we could find in a big circle to make our "fort."  and our favorite thing to do in these forts was sleep in them.  why was it always so fun to NOT sleep in your own bed when you were little?  we have a home video of us sleeping in one of our awesome forts.  we had an area for the kitchen (our play kitchen and a teeny little table covered with extra fabric from mom's stash), a living room (a little chair covered with more fabric), wallpaper (flowered fabric covering our giant dollhouse, complete with a clock cut out of paper), and bedrooms.  when we got a little older and we finished our basement, we'd get every blanket that we owned and make the most fabulous forts.  we'd close the blankets in the tops of closet doors so it would be really tall, and turn the couches over and push the armchairs together.  we had amazing adventures in those forts.  i love remembering our pretend play.  we'd hide in the fort when mom asked us to do our chores because we thought the "door" was too small for her to get in.  it was always sad when mom and dad told us they'd had enough of our fort and we had to clean it up.

4.  our trampoline.  summer was always the best season because it meant no school, warm weather, popsicles, bike rides, and best of all -- setting up the tramp!  the adventures that it offered were endless.  i loved when we did "family jumps."  it'd be later at night, when dad got home from work, and we kids would BEG for a family jump.  all 6 of us would go outside on the trampoline and take turns getting bounced hiiiiigh in the air by my dad.  it was always so much fun!  putting the sprinkler under the trampoline was a favorite pasttime, too.  on a hot summer day, putting the sprinkler under the tramp was sometimes more fun than going to a pool!  also on hot days, we'd lay under the shade of the tramp eating popsicles and telling stories and sharing secrets.  but probably my favorite thing was sleeping out on the tramp at night.  we'd gather our sleeping bags and pillows and spread them out on the tramp.  we'd spend forever looking up at the stars and talking.  after my siblings fell asleep, i'd usually still be awake and have my own time to think, looking up at the sky.  in the morning, we'd either be awakened by the sprinklers (and have to run, shrieking, with our pillows and blankets to the deck, where we'd most likely just fall asleep again), or the birds chirping.  those days of fun on the trampoline are some of my favorites.

5.  playing TUFF.  this could be my favorite memory.  i don't know who coined the phrase, "play Tuff", but it sure stuck and we loooooooved playing Tuff with dad.  now i'm sure you're wondering, what the heck is Tuff?  HA.  if only you knew how much fun it was!  my dad would usually start it off by tackling us and tickling us, growling and making scary faces and trying to trap us in his arms.  then there would usually be a "magic button."  the hostage would yell to the other kids to find the magic button!  which was usually dad's big toe, or his nose, or his belly button, or his ear... you get the idea.  when the magic button was pushed, dad would freeze and let go of you -- but ONLY so long as you held down the magic button!  the second you let go, he'd go right back to growling and wrestling and capturing.  and then sometimes, dad would run away and hide without warning.  you'd be trying to get away, and all of a sudden, he'd hop up and run down the hall or down the stairs and hide.  the scary thing was, you couldn't go looking for him by yourself, or you'd be held hostage!  i remember tiptoe-ing down the hall, whitney and parker and i all hugging each other, afraid to find dad around the corner, because once you found him, it was right back to wrestling and growling and shrieking with delight.  a lot of the time, we ended up having to cut our game of tuff short because somebody got hurt haha.  i sure love my dad.  i LOVE remembering these memories with him.  i remember how sad it was when dad wouldn't play Tuff with us anymore because we were "too big."  i hope he plays Tuff with my kids.  :)

6.  New Year's Eve.  i always LOVED new year's eve as a kid because i got to stay up super late!  one year, we partied it up with the belchers and their family.  i remember the entire day, we went tubing down some super steep hill.  i don't even remember where we were, but i remember how much fun it was.  i remember making a train of tubes and going down, sliding on top of each other and losing people on the way down the hill.  it was sooo much fun.  then i remember going to our house to play games.  the adults stayed upstairs, and the kids went downstairs to watch freaky friday.  it was the first time i'd ever seen it and i still love that movie to death.  i remember dad set up a projector so we had a big screen on the wall of the basement.  we crashed with bean bags, pillows, and blankets.  when the movie ended, mom tricked the boys into thinking it was midnight already.  it was so awesome to be one of the "big kids" and get to stay up while the boys went to bed.  then we all sat in the living room and played games.  this was the year that whitney chipped her tooth.  a plate that was hanging on the wall fell, bounced off whit's lap, and hit her in the mouth HARD.  she chipped her tooth and we had to take her to the dentist that night.  {good thing for good friends/dentists!}  what a memorable new year's eve.  i also loved going up to idaho for new year's eve, to my grandparents' house.  our whole family would be there, and there would be tons of good food and sooo much craziness going on!  i love that family to death.  little kids are running everywhere, adults are laughing and talking and playing games.. there is love and laughter and good times to be had by all.  one year, i remember after midnight we played games until about 3:30 am -- the latest i'd ever stayed up.  i thought it was so fun to stay up so late!

7.  horsey rides!  man, these were the bomb.  i remember we used to fight for who got to sit on dad's neck {i'm sure he loved that haha.}  whitney, parker AND i {all three kids?!  we thought dad was superman for being able to take all of us} would ride on dad's back all around the house until he finally got too tired, and either bucked us onto the couch or just collapsed, sending us into fits of giggles and demands for more!

8.  the canal.  i love heber because of its small-town feeling, and the canal is a big part of that!  floating down the canal in the summer was always soo fun, but soooo cold!  i remember we'd put our swimsuits on, and then put a t-shirt and shorts over our swimsuits because the water was so dang cold.  we also went to king's and bought tubes that had a covering in the middle so our butt didn't have to get wet.  we'd have mom drive us clear up to the top of valley hills, all holding our tubes out the window because there wasn't room for them all in the car.  she'd drop us off, we'd walk down the sagebrush covered hill, and hop in!  there was a spot in the canal that someone had pushed a bunch of rocks into, and we called that "the rapids".  the water moved a little bit faster there, and it went down a teeny hill, so the cement on the bottom there was super smooth from the water going over it so much.  we'd go down it once with our tubes, get out, walk back up, and go down it again and again without the tubes, just sliding down the cement on our feet or shorts!  {i'm sure we ruined multiple pairs of shorts this way... oops.}  one year on the fourth of july, my entire waddoups family came up and for some reason, we decided to go float the canal.  ALL OF US.  my grandparents included!  {yes, i'm serious!} what a memorable day!

9.  cousin camp!  i mentioned this earlier, but on my dad's side of the family, i'm the oldest grandchild.  a year after i was born, my cousin ben was born, and so on down the line -- a cousin born every year.  it was really fun to grow up with cousins like that.  my mom started cousin camp every summer, where all {or most} of the cousins would come to spend the night and do fun things!  one year my mom took us all on the heber creeper and we made macaroni and cheese with a hot dog on top cut into an octopus shape.  another cousin camp i remember was in centerville.  we played paint tag and slept in a tent outside in their backyard.  goooood memories :)

10.  singing at bedtime.  i remember so many times when dad would come tuck us into bed, turn the lights off, and sit on the floor and sing primary songs to help us fall asleep.  i felt so loved and protected and special.  some of his favorites were "i am a child of god," "i'm trying to be like jesus," and "i love to see the temple."  mom also sang songs to us.  i remember when she sang "walk tall, you're a daughter of god."  i LOVE this song.  it brought the Spirit to me as I was trying to fall asleep.  i'm so grateful for my parents and the example they are to me. 

childhood was soooooooo great!!  i love remembering these good times in my life.