Sixth Grade

The Elementary to Middle School transition was extremely hard! I'm sure it is for everyone, but the first year was especially awkward. Every year my mom would take us back to school shopping and we could get one brand new outfit to wear for the first day of school. Never was I so worried about picking the right outfit! I even tried to figure out how I could sneak makeup to school and put it on before school started (and take it off before heading home). I was especially excited because my best friend from church, Natalie Morris would be going to Boyd R Larson Middle School with me!

I didn't make a whole lot of friends in sixth grade, because I was so shy and insecure about myself. I ended up sitting with an girl that didn't have any friends at the time either, Alex Jenkowski. She seemed pretty insecure about our friendship too, so she would buy me a Twix candy bar every day. She had a sister in college at the University of Michigan, which I thought was so cool.

This is the first time I got to choose some of my classes. I picked home ec., Spanish, shop and French. I really enjoyed the home ec. class, although I found the way I was taught to cook and sew was very non conventional. I learned you are supposed to use the measuring cups precisely and level off all ingredients with a knife or something (not that I do it, but I learned you should). Also, people don't typically add extra vanilla to everything sweet.

Sewing want pretty much the same way. I guess you should follow a pattern and directions, some steps need to take place in a certain order, etc. Although the method of sewing and cooking I was taught was pretty unconventional, once you understand the basics, it works.

I followed the rules a lot more in shop class. It was fun to create a plan, cut the things out and put them all together. I still have the shelf I made in shop class hanging in our house in the entry way. I made a lazy susan and a shelf.

One of the girls in my shop class, Antsy, was always made fun of by some of the popular boys. She was Indian, and a little more harry than most girls. They would scandalously tease her about her looks. One day I'd had enough of hearing it so I challenged the boy that was teasing her to an arm wrestling match. I told him if I won he had to stop teasing her. I beat him, he got made fun of for being beat by a girl and he stopped teasing her in shop class at least.

I was great at Spanish class, and looking back I should have taken more classes. I really had a skill, and probably could have easily picked up the language. Too bad it didn't really interest me! I was mostly scared of writing in a foreign language. I can't spell in English, so I couldn't imagine trying to figure out how to spell in a foreign language!

While mom and I were out shopping, we walked by a rack of training bras. Karen Walri already had a few, and I desperately wanted to start out Middle School as a "mature young woman", although I was so embarrassed when mom actually asked if I wanted a pack. I turned bright red, nodded and kept walking as she threw a pack into the cart. Little did I know I would be a super late bloomer and not really need one until High School.

The summer before this year I contracted Scabies while visiting my Grandma and Grandpa Brown. Their dog carried the disease, and I must have gotten it from petting him. I've never been so embarrassed about a health issue, and as a result became very shy and withdrawn until the third doctor I went to figured out what was wrong with me. I was so itchy all the time; it was just awful! Even when they figured out what was wrong with me, the medication I was given caused huge pools of puss to gather under my skin that I had to pop with a needle. Not exactly the way you want to start the year!

In December my parents decided to go on a trip to Costa Rica with my Uncle James and Aunt Rebeccah Brown. Rebeccah worked for one of the airlines at the time, so they were able to get relatively cheap airfare. They had so much fun on their trip and brought back such great pictures, that a desire for travel was entrenched in me!

One winter day I went to school and forgot to put my (unnecessary) training bra on. I was wearing a bright red sweater, and it had little holes in the pattern. I was mortified when I realized you could see through the holes and could tell I wasn't wearing a bra! Never was I so humiliated and I walked from class to class with a folder held firmly in front of me. I felt it was a blessing that it ended up snowing so hard that they canceled school early.

I started playing the viola in 5th grade, and continued through eight grade to play in the orchestra. I remember being talented. I didn't practice almost ever, but I could always play the songs in class and for performances. I even won a metal at a competition our school attended. Looking back, I should have been a more dedicated student. Maybe I'll see if I can pick it back up later in life. It's a talent I wish I hadn't given up.

The summer of this year I started Young Womens. I was so excited to be out of Primary, but scared to be in with all those big girls! I remember Pam and Wendy Johnson coming over and talking to me my first Sunday in Young Womens. I'm sure they were just trying to make me feel comfortable, but I thought they were there to tease me! I ended up crying because I didn't know how to deal with them. But once I got comfortable and more of my friends joined our class.

We were always such a large group of girls, that our age had our own class and teacher. I was so glad because Amie and Aubrey Kellett were a year older than me, and could be mean at times. They never targeted me to tease, but I remember being worried that I wanted to stay on their good side.

We had Sister Dorton as our teacher, and she couldn't stand us! She was really snippy and would yell at us on a regular basis. I remember Tiffany Welch, Natalie Morris talking and getting yelled at in one particular class and her calling us "you little b!#%@es!" Our moms had a hay day with that one. We were loud and sometimes rowdy, but that's no reason to swear at kids at church. We had her husband as our teacher a few years later, and he was the sweetest man. He did everything he could to get us involved in the lessons. It makes me wonder how the two of them ever got married.

I also remember briefly having Sister Belcher as our Beehive teacher. She was a weird one! She would insist we sit in a circle in class so she could touch all of our knees during the lesson. I don't remember much of my interaction with her, I just remember her giving us our first lesson on chastity. It was so awkward! She kept telling us how fabulous sex can be, but how we need to wait to have it with our husband. I was totally shocked by her openness and extremely embarrassed.

This summer was the start of my career as a baby sitter and a paper girl. We didn't get a big allowance, so I was always looking for ways to earn more money. From shoveling other people's driveways, to picking wild raspberries and selling them to neighbors, we always seemed to have a scheme to make more money. So when the Wells moved out of state, I volunteered to take over Heather Wells' paper route. I only had about 15 houses, but I made $60 a month for 20 minutes of work every day after school. It was a good little job, and a great start to teach me how to work.

My favorite customer was an old retired man that lived just a street away from us, named Balou. He was a little rough around the edges, but had a fun since of humor! He would talk to me briefly as I walked his paper to the front door every day. One day he's sitting on his front porch, waiting for his paper, and when I brought it up to him he says "come and see my first grand baby." So I walked into the house and he pointed me to the little baby laying in a playpen and told him how cute the baby was. He was just so proud! He always tipped me more than it cost to get the paper, and I loved dropping his paper off every day.

I also started baby sitting for neighbors and friends of the family this summer. My mom taught me well that you want to play hard with the kids and make sure a half hour before the parents are supposed to be home you clean everything up. Put toys away and leave the house cleaner than when you arrived. If you ate anything, make sure the dishes are washed. It was smart advice, and because I strictly followed it, I always got return phone calls.

Fifth Grade

The last year of Elementary school was interesting to say the least. I had Mrs. Meyers, and she was an odd bird. Her husband died during the year, so maybe the weirdness can be attributed to grief for loosing her husband. I also had History with Mrs. Jenkins, so we could get used to switching classes as we would do in Middle School the following year. I always liked Mrs. Jenkins, but I was a little scared of her at the same time.

She was a very stern black woman with a firm grasp on history. I learned a lot, and had fun working on projects that inspired my creativity. Karen was in her class, and said she was just as smart in all subjects as in history. I remember thinking I got off easy by having Mrs. Meyers as my teacher.

This year I decided I was too grown up to be in Brownies, and I didn't join. A lot of girls quit this year too, and we didn't miss it, even though we had a fun time while it lasted. Not going gave me more time to play with friends and just mess around, so I didn't feel like I was missing anything.

We also got to try out a musical instrument this year. I decided on the Viola, and had tons of fun learning how to play. I didn't do much practicing, but I was a natural, so I could get away with it. I don't remember who my teacher was, but I can still remember the songs we learned and can't help but sing "Go tell Aunt Rhody" when "Lord Dismiss us with thy Blessing" is played in church.

Fifth Graders got to go on a week long camp-out with a different school. We were in cabins, and got to participate in all kinds of activities. We played games, and had an all around good time. There was some game that involved us running around an old fashioned town, and I ended up getting locked in jail. It was pretty cold outside, so I didn't mind so much not being back out in the elements. There was a hay ride on which I was introduced to Queen. I learned "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions". I must admit my life has never been the same since.

Chrissi Newell was in my class this year, and we had a ton of fun! I would go home with her, or ride my bike over on a Saturday. One Saturday in particular I had ridden over, and left when it was time to go home. I got turned around and couldn't find my way back! I became really scared when the sky got dark, it became really windy and the tornado alerts went off! I was so scared I would be blown away like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, but fortunately I made it home safely.

We again had "The Change of Life" class in fifth grade, but we were taught not only about the changes in ourselves, but also about the changes that were taking place in the boys our age. The boys also got a class, after which Jamie Bogurelli exclaimed "I know about you!" when Missy Hogan asked what he was talking about he pulled out his pamphlet and pointed to a picture of a uterus. Sometimes I wonder if fifth grade is a little early to teach about these things!

My friend Kim Wofile planned a really cool birthday party this year. She was born around Halloween, so it had a halloween-is theme to it. Kim lived a few houses down from the Poulsons, and traveled to our school for some special education program we had. Everything went great until she pulled out the scary movie she had rented for us to watch. Although I can't remember what it was, I remember it was rated R.

I knew I shouldn't watch the movie but I didn't have the guts to ask them to put something else on. I ended up sneaking out of the house and heading over to the Poulsons so I could use their phone to call my parents for an early ride home. I was so embarrassed to have to leave early, but I don't think anyone noticed. Although I didn't have the courage to stand up for myself, I'm glad I was able to walk away. That situation gave me the confidence to decline R rated movies for my whole life.

I was a Merry Miss during 5th grade, and had Sister Middleton as my teacher. She was a sweet lady that lived a few streets over and never had any girls (just two boys). So the 22 girls she was given became the girls she never had. Each of us were convinced we were her favorite. She would take us out for ice cream, or stop by and visit with us. I have great memories of sleepovers at her house with Katie MacIntosh, Tanya Moe, Natalie Morris, and Tiffany Welch. Of course everyone from our class was there, but these are the girls that I spent most of my time with.

We would start by working on our Gospel in Action award, then we would have some pizza and watch a movie. Sister Middleton would stock the place with candy, sodas and all kinds of junk food. One sleepover Tania, Katie and I ate a whole 5 lb licorice jar full between the three of us. We had all kinds of fun at these activities.

Tiffany Welch convinced us at one to make a Ouija board and to ask it questions. The board didn't do anything, but when Sister Middleton walked in and she found out what we were doing, she explained to us that Ouija boards were summoning evil spirits and that we should never do it. She told us a scary story about how she and a friend had played with one when she was young, and that someone ended up getting hurt really bad. It scared us all enough to never want to play with one again.

We had a Fifth Grade graduation celebration party one of our last days of school. It involved a ceremony that the parents were invited to, games, and a lunch. My Dad noticed after leaving the ceremony that everyone was being handed a can of Coke for the lunch. Since we've never drank caffeine in my family he went out and purchased a Sprite for me to drink instead. When he came into the cafeteria with the Sprite I was ashamed to have already tried a sip of Coke. Fortunately I thought it was awful, and have never since drank Coke. At the time I didn't really understand what the big deal was, but after knowing several people that were addicted to the stuff, I'm glad one sip is all I've taken.

Fourth Grade

Fourth Grade was such a rough year for me! I was in Mr. Schmidle's class and seemed to butt heads at least on a weekly basis. Mr. Schmidle also worked as a police officer at night time, so he ran a tight ship. He brought in his uniform to show us so we could know exactly what a police uniform looked like, which was pretty cool to see up close.

The best part about that year was the wall of books on the left side of the class room. Mr. Schmidle had everything on that shelf from Ramona Quimby Age 8 to Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing and Matilda. We could pick one to read during silent reading time, or Mr. Schmidle would pick out one to read to the class. We loved class reading time, because he did all the voices of all the characters differently. He had a way of roping you into the reading so you couldn't help but want to find out what was happening next.

One day when a classmate was being particular obnoxious and disruptive (refused to stay in his seat) Mr. Schmittle pulled the boy's chair over to the metal book shelf and handcuffed him to it. The boy had remain there until lunch. Most of the class was scared of Mr. Schmidle after that, and I was one of them.

This was also the year of my first crush. We sat in alphabetic order and a few desks over was Michael Ciezlack. He had an identical twin brother named RJ, but to me he wasn't half as cute as his brother. I didn't really talk to Michael much, and he probably had no idea I liked him, but I was infatuated with him the entire year. He played basket ball in the community league with his brother and best friend Chris Ciezki. His father was a volunteer fireman at night time and I thought that was pretty cool too.

Karen also had a crush this year (although in her case she claimed she was madly in love). She was Tony Fisher's girlfriend and they ended up getting married at recess one day. It was back in the woods behind the school were we weren't aloud to go, so I didn't attend although she wanted me to be the maid of honor. It was devastating to miss, but I didn't want to break the rules and get in trouble. They got divorced a week later, so I figured it was for the best that I didn't break the rules after all.

This year for music class we all got to learn how to play the recorder. Since I already had one (a Christmas gift one year), I got to bring in my bright yellow one, instead of having to use the black and white ones you could buy from the school. I thought my recorder was the coolest and loved that it was different than everyone else's. I wasn't very good at it, but I thought the recorder was a fun change from having to sing. One week it went missing, and although I searched my room and the house I couldn't find it. Mr. Schmittle made me write sentences on the black board "I will not forget my recorder" 100 times while the class went to the music lessons.

I couldn't find the recorder again the next week, so again I was writing sentences while the class went to lessons. After the third week my parents decided it must truly be lost, and they ended up buying me a new one. So I finally could go to music classes agin! Several months later I magically found the recorder in the laundry closet (I think one of my sisters took it and hid it from me). So at that point I got to choose which recorder to use.

I ended up writing sentences pretty frequently, since I was an awful speller. I practically failed my tests each week regardless of how hard I studied. Later in life I realized I'm probably a little dyslexic, which I'm sure didn't help at all. To this day I still have to stop and think when I spell sycamore or special (not hard words, but I always superimpose the letters). I should probably get tested, but at this point in life I'm not sure there's a whole lot they can do for me.

Mr. Schmidle asked me to sit beside Elizabeth Reilly to help her focus in class. Her parents were getting a divorce, and she was having such a hard time doing well in school. She was one of the popular girls, and had a ton of fun, but it was hard to try to help her. We became friends and it became even harder to get her to focus. Eventually Elizabeth was so distracting to my school work, that we were moved apart so I could better focus on class and not chat during school.

Fourth Grade was the year we had "The Change of Life" class. Although I remember learning all about periods when Elise Walri went through this class, and again in great detail when we had this lesson in school, I never remember my mom talking to me about periods. I felt so grown up after learning about the changes we would soon be going through, that Karen and I decided we should probably start wearing pads just in case we started our periods. This was quickly put to an end when Karen's mom found herself running out of pads at an unusually quick rate.

Around this time I also got pretty devious! Sheila and I were sharing a room, and I would make up all kind of crap to tell her. I had her convinced we had a year supply of dehydrated water, I told her our bedroom really belonged to me and she had to ask permission to come in. To this day Sheila will ask me "Do you remember when you told me xxxxx? I just realized that wasn't true!"

But she did her fair share of annoying me right back. Sunday mornings she would wait until I got dressed and she would put on the closest thing she had to my outfit so we would match. If I then changed, she would also change to match. It was so frustrating! She would constantly steal my toys and clothing, eat my candy she was the epitome of younger sister. Sometimes we would play together without any problems, but we did an awful lot of fighting.

Third Grade

Third Grade was a great year! Mrs. Cowger taught our 2nd/3rd split class, and we all just fell in love with her. She had a way of really bringing the subjects we were studying to life. Years later I sent her a copy of the Book of Mormon and a different time the book Tuesdays with Morrie because she was such a great teacher.

Before the school year I had found the chapter books in the library but had been too intimidated to try reading them. I loved picture books! I was comfortable with picture books. Mrs. Cowger let me read a picture book for my first report, but after that she helped me pick out little chapter books. It was her passion for reading that helped me find my love for reading. I joined the Book It program, and earned a free pizza at Pizza Hut for every 5 books I read. I also joined the summer reading program and earned tons of prizes at the Public Library the following summer.

This was exactly the kind of teacher Mrs. Cowger was. You couldn't help wanting to learn in her class. She had lived in Africa for a while and would make the far away country seem something we could one day visit for ourselves. It just brought geography to life! She taught each grade a separate lesson, while the other class did work on a different subject. Not every teacher would be able to accomplish this task, but she did so with ease.

One day she brought in a huge caccoon she had found in her back yard for us to watch over until it hatched. We put it in a terrarium with grass, rocks and all kinds of things in it. Every day we would come in and check up on the caccoon to see how it was doing and if it showed signs of hatching. It felt like all year we waited for that thing to hatch! One day Mrs. Cowger was out for the day and we had a substitute. I came into the class after recess to check up on our sleeping friend, when I found the biggest moth I've ever seen had hatched! We were all so excited and couldn't wait for the next day to share our news with our teacher.

She found out the moth was called the Polyphemus Moth, so we named the day it joined our class (May 10th) Polyphemus Hatching Day! We celebrated, wrote an author in Arizona about it, and every year after that we were given a piece of candy if we stopped by to wish her current class a happy Polyphemus Hatching Day. I visited every year until I moved away from Michigan. And even for several years after I sent a card wishing Mrs. Cowger a happy Polyphemus Hatching Day.

We seemed to always be celebrating something in this class. We had a party and a cake for Snoopy's birthday, and all wrote letters to Charles Schulz the creator of Peanuts. Mrs. Cowger just loved Snoopy, so whenever we gave her a teacher's gift it had to have something to do with Snoopy.

This is the year I became friends with Anna Ravashot. She was in the Second Grade half of the class, but she was such a spunky fun girl that I couldn't help but become her friend. Her mother was divorced and she had a baby sitter watch her after school, so I didn't often get to go to her house, but when we did we got to do what ever we wanted. She taught me all the swear words and made up a secret club that we had to "swear" our allegiance to in order to become a member. She was a "wild" girl, but very fun to be around. I lost track of her after this year, but we had fun for that amount of time.

I also strengthened my friendship with Debbie Savage this year. We were in Girl Scouts together and her mother, Joyce, was our leader. She was the CFO of some company, was a sharp business woman and was a strong advocate in women. We learned all about famous women with careers and that made a difference in the world in Girl Scouts. Debbie would invite me over to spend the night regularly, and we would stay up late watching movies, playing games, and sneaking into their hot tub. Sometimes Debbie's older sister Lindsay would teach us cheerleading moves because she was in middle school cheerleading. Debbie was very religious and would regularly invite me to her church services (they had a band). It was always fun, but I remember thinking this wasn't as spiritual as church should be.

Looking back I wish I was more like Debbie as a kid. I never invited my friends to primary activities or merry miss activities although I never really knew when they were. They were always fun, and had some spiritual aspect to them as well. I should have been better when it came to inviting friends to Young Women's too. At this time Natalie Morris was my best friend at church. We lived about a mile away so we were in different Elementary Schools, but we would find time on Saturdays to bike to each other's houses, have sleepovers, or just go home from church with each other and spend Sunday playing.

We had the best imaginations! We would play for hours that her couch was a train and we were going on a cross country trip. Our Barbies would get into all kinds of trouble and would need to find quick escapes. We would sneak into Natalie's older brother Danny's room and steal his love notes to read and get ideas of what a "grown up" relationship should be like.

Third Grade was such a fun filled year with all kinds of friends, that I couldn't help but love life. Little did I know fourth grade would be the exact opposite and harder than any year of my life that far.

Second Grade

My teacher in Second Grad was Miss. Campbell (she got married half way through the year and became Mrs. Haines). She was a sweet lady and a good teacher. Karen was in the classroom next door, so when ever we went to to bathroom we would wave to each other. The school year in itself flew by in somewhat of a blur. Most of my memories of this time period revolve around playing horses on the playground and my friends of that time frame.

At School Karen and I were inseparable. We spend every minute of recess devising scenarios we could act our or games we could play with our toys after school. We have numerous sleepovers and this phase was the phase of the horses and Barbies. We played with them all the time (they weren't aloud at school, but at home).

Karen's mom also paid to take Karen, Elise and myself to The Little Mermaid in the expensive theater! I remember being so excited because this was the first movie I remember seeing in the theater. We picked up coloring pages somewhere and entered a coloring contest of the poster. I thought that if we won, our coloring would be on the box when the movie became a VHS, but I'm sure that's not the case. I used sparkly crayons and I was just sure my coloring would win.

This movie spawned an entirely different vein of creativity for our playing. When we would go swimming in Karen's pool we would tie our ankles together so we would swim like mermaids. Our Barbies got their legs wrapped together in green material. When the movie became a VHS we watched it over and over again. When we watched it at our house Heather would always get scared when the Ursula would grow huge an she would jump up on the couch and ask if she was bigger.

During this year I learned of the importance of Home Teaching. I always knew my Dad did his home teaching, but for some reason in this year my Dad started bringing one of us kids along as his companion. I don't know if he didn't have a companion, or if his companion just didn't come, but I remember several times going out with him on a Sunday afternoon to visit his families.

The one that sticks in my memory was the Welch's home. In years to come Cheryl (the mother) and my parents became close friends, but this point was only the beginning. Cheryl and her kids were members, but her husband Bob was not. That didn't matter to my Dad. We visited with the entire family and helped out when opportunity arose. I saw the family start to rely on my Father as their priesthood holder and from time to time I would get jealous of him going to their house to help them.

Then it was explained to me that because their Dad couldn't provide them with the priesthood, they needed someone else to bring that blessing and spirit into the home. After that I didn't mind so much that my Dad drove over to their house to pull Angel's loose teeth or that my Dad got to baptize Tiffany before he baptized me. I understood the gap that my Dad was filling in this family's life.

I became friends with Cheryl's daughter Tiffany, and we would have sleepovers from time to time. We would play Sonic the hedgehog on Brandon't Sega Genesis, play Barbies, go to the park behind their apartments or stay up late watching movies. One night they introduced me to the original Buffy the vampire slayer (they had cable and it was playing that night). We were all so scared that vampires would come get us that we had a hard time sleeping! In the morning Cheryl would make us a southern breakfast of grits and eggs. Although I couldn't stand grits, I knew I had to eat it! Cheryl's just not the kind of person you mess with.

Eventually Bob and Cheryl got divorced, but because of the great bond Cheryl had made with our family she demanded that my Dad remain her Home Teacher. A single woman is supposed to be taught by the High Priests, but they made an exception because of the close bond that had formed between our families. She gave us her piano which was beautiful, but she didn't have room for in her new apartment and she didn't want Bob to end up with it.

Our families were great friends until my parents moved from Michigan to Washington. We would have dinners, New Years Eve parties (which Cheryl always brought shrimp cocktail to), and General Conference parties. There was always good food and tons of talking when we all got together.

On a more important note, this is the year I turned 8 and was baptized. I remember being interviewed before hand by Bishop Dana and being so nervous about answering the questions correctly. I was so excited that I could be baptized on my birthday, since it fell on a Sunday. Grandma Yoder made the dress I wore, and I put it on to practice being dunked under water in the living room with my Dad. I loved my dress so much that I wanted to wear it in the water, but I was nervous that it would float up and I would be immodest.

Matthew Ling's birthday was the day before mine, and his mom asked if we could do our baptisms together. I was annoyed, because I didn't want to share my day with him, but I told her we could if I got to be baptized first. I didn't want to be baptized in the same water his sins were washed into first. I wanted clean water! My mother said I could pick any dessert to have after the baptism, so I planned on having root beer floats. I also invited my best friend, Karen to attend.

The day came and was great. I remember walking into the fount (in the Bloomfield Hills Steak Center that was then our building), tucking my dress between my legs as we practiced, and everything else going smoothly. After I took a shower, dried off and put on a pretty pink Easter dress my mother had made for me. My home teacher gave me a purple hair bow as a baptismal gift, and Karen gave me a Barbie.

The biggest treat of the day was my Grandpa and Uncle Mark (only 3 years older than me) flew out in my Grandpa's little white and green plane to visit me! I also got to go back with them afterward for a special week at the Grandparents all by myself. It was so much fun! We flew out on a Sunday and soon after we arrived we stopped at Tacco Bell for dinner. I was worried that buying food on a Sunday was going to be my first sin since baptism, but I was pretty hungry, so I ate it.

Grandma made sure she had activities and fun things planned to do. I got to help make cookies and eat a few of them fresh out of the oven. Grandma had some new girl toys that I was convinced she had bought just so I could play with them. I thought so much time focused on me was just the best way to spend a week in North Carolina.

Grandpa took me to work with him at his beach office. I remember messing around with the copy machine, drawing on paper, pretending I was surfing on one of the water beds in the bedroom upstairs and going out back with Uncle John to play on the hammock. It seemed like the perfect office and best job in the world.

At one point I headed over to Grandma Brown's house and spent the day with her. She had to clean a few houses at the beach, so Leanna and I went with her to help. I don't remember doing actual cleaning (we played pool while Grandma cleaned, or we talked to Betsy). After I remember going to the beach and boogie boarding. I didn't know it at the time but Grandma Brown was scared of water, so for her to take us there rather than the sound where she was far more comfortable was a big deal.

A week after I flew out my family drove out to spend some time in North Carolina and pick me up. It was great to be with them again, but the time with my Grandparents by my self was good in building individual relationships.

First Grade

In First Grade I had Mrs. Ramsbottom as my teacher. She was one ornery woman! I remember only getting in trouble once in her class, and I was put in time out under her desk. She wasn't sitting at it when I was under it, but it was still a weird place to send students. I remember peaking my head out over the top of the desk a few times and seeing the teacher's answer book sitting on her desk. It was open to the math page we were working on that day and was hoping I could remember some answers to the problems I had seen.

School was only a quarter of a mile away, so I walked to school with Karen, her sister Elise, and Justin Brown (the browns lived on the corner of the street and had two brothers and a sister). We had fun walking and chatting as we went. Because we messed around so much it usually took us at least a half hour to get to school. Most of the time we would walk all the way around the block, but when we were feeling very brave we would sneak through two yards and cut through to our houses. It made the trip so much faster. When it would rain or snow our Moms would take turns picking us up or dropping us off at school.

At Hill Elementary School first graders had recess on the little kid playground (1-3 graders). We loved playing on the swings, digging in the sand box, playing 4 square on the black top, and messing around on the baseball diamond. We had morning and afternoon recess which was always fun! It was at recess in first grade recess that I encountered my first bully.

My friends and I were playing in the sand box when Sarah Moag came over and demanded we play with her. She was huge, at least as big as a fourth grader (even though she was in second). We were so terrified of this burly girl that we played with her. If she asked if she could play with us we probably would have let her, and maybe we would have become friends. But by threatening us we ran every time we saw her.

Karen and I became close friends at this time. We spent all our extra time together, and loved to make up games. We would imagine we were horses or unicorns and that the bushes behind our house were dragons or monsters out to get us. Sometimes we would play with Barbies; Karen had a fabulous collection of special addition ones with the most beautiful dresses. We also pulled out the My Little Ponies from time to time and made up stories of how the Pegasus mom had lost her babies and the other ponies had to help find them.

Kindergarten

Mrs. Sperley was my kindergarten teacher. She was such a sweet, kind woman; the kind of person that was just made for teaching kindergarten. Regardless of how nice my teacher was, kindergarten was a rough transition! I was in the afternoon class. The buss picked me up at my house and took me into school after lunch.

I was a little nervous for my first day of class, but with my favorite dress on I felt more confident. Some time in the 3 hours of class I had to use the bathroom. Since I remembered it being right down the hallway, I slid out of the room to go. When I got back to class Mrs. Sperley was frantic! She didn't know where I had gone and sternly told me I had to ask permission before I went to the bathroom. I was extremely upset, but got over it before I had to go home. Upon arriving home I was so exhausted I laid down on the couch and took a nap.

Mrs. Sperley was also Mike and Sheila's kindergarten teacher. By the time Mom was pregnant with Daniel, she was so close to our family she took us to a magic show, fed us pizza for dinner, and bought us Monopoly to play at her house after the show. She just wanted to give my parents a break! Talk about going on and beyond your duty as a teacher.

I loved painting time, playing house in the dress up corner, and learning my letters from the letter people videos Mrs. Sperley would show us. She would also hide a stuffed letter person somewhere in the house that one of my class mates would randomly find one day a week as we got to work. I had issues confusing my lower case d and b, but it wasn't something that hindered my advancing to first grade.

Show and Tell was an exciting part of the day! 2 or 3 students would be asked to bring in something to share with the class. People brought in their pets, their favorite toys, or a souvenir from a vacation they went on. The most exciting thing I brought in was my youngest sister Heather Lynn Brown. She was born on Thanksgiving day November 26th, 1986.

We had only moved into the ward a few months prior to Heather's birth, so my parents didn't know who they would get to watch Michael, Sheila and I while they went to the hospital to deliver Heather. Fortunately my Mom's visiting teacher, Farah Jensen, invited us to her house. This meant her family didn't get the quiet Thanksgiving holiday they were used to, but it also meant the world to my parents not to have to worry about us. In December Sister Jensen also gave us lime green Rice Krispy treats in the shape of a wreath with red hots embedded in the gooey treat. She continued this tradition until my parents moved away.

Heather was born with some health problems that kept her in the hospital longer than usual. They sent her to another hospital for testing, but eventually everything worked out fine. She came home a week or so later than usual, but was no worse for the ware. She moved into the bedroom with Mike, Sheila and I shared a room, and Dad had the last bedroom for his office to do his school work.