Friday, February 22, 2008

I went for a jog

Ok..surprise...I went for a jog...down memory lane. One of the great things about blogs is I find long lost friends. Yesterday a friends blog led me to a friend that I grew up with...Darleen Waite. When my parents bought the house I grew up in I was 1. Darleens parents bought their house like the week before...so we literally grew up around the corner from eachother. I was so excited to find her because her family moved to vegas right after her brother Aaron and I graduated from high school. So I have decided to share with you a little of my jog...


1. I remember sitting in her front yard and making her practice being a "lady" how to cross her leg properly and sit up straight (I was so bossy and feel bad about that now..sorry)


2. We use to spend hours in their sand box building elaborate cities for hot wheel cars, and then by the time we were finished building the city our hands were so cold we couldn't play, or it was time for me to go home


3. We at one time built a zoo at their house. Aaron had a ton of animals, so we decided to make a zoo. They had rabbits and mice, and we caught minnows and snakes in the ditch behind their house. My contribution was my dog missy! We wer so surprised that no one payed to come to our zoo!


4. When Darleen and her sister Marleen moved into their older sisters' room after they moved out we were so excited. It was the coolest room because it had a counter top in it with book shelves above! I don't know why, but I thought it was the neatest room ever.


5. I remember many times kneeling with their family for family prayer in the hallway near all the kids bedrooms. They always made me feel part of the family.


6.Darleens mom was a baker. She made the best bread and cinnamon rolls.


7. In 6th grade the other kids in class made fun of me and Aaron because we were walking home together. I couldn't understand why because he was like a brother to me and they we teasing us about liking eachother.


8. Aaron was the first boy I ever kissed....when I was 3. Our big brothers made us kiss, but I don't remember it, just remember the story.


9. In high school Jonathan, an older brother, drove their grandpa's station wagon. I mean those monster station wagons with the amazing engine. This one was complete with 8 track and wood panel siding. After church dances we would race people off the red light...and always win. It was so fun!


10. I helped out at Christine (The second oldest) sister's wedding. I was maybe 10 or 11 and got to wear a lacy apron and go around picking up garbage. I loved it!


11.The Waites had an hugh van...to fit all 9 kids..but that was before electric sliding doors. I never was strong enough to slam that door shut...although I tried many times.


12. I remember one of the older sisters, I think Julene, got in the van, and then backed out of the garage, without opening the garage door.


13. In junior high my friends and I toilet papered their house, all my friends had a crush on Jonathan (eeewww...we were like siblings) we then rang their doorbell and hid. After we watchen them clean it up, we did it again. I feel terrible about that now!


14. Each year for Darleen's birthday I would give her a 1 inch teddy bear figurine. It was always a little different. Maybe you remember the kind with the red bow tie glued on it.

15. Sister Waite taught us the 13th article of faith in Primary...and I still remember it from the time she taught it to us.

I will always remember the Waite family as fun and welcoming. They treated me like I was part of the family. It was fun to go for this little jog...but I better go reward my "workout" efforts with a cinnamon roll...thinking of Sister Waites has made me hungry!

7 comments:

MB said...

HAHAHAHAH Shell. This list is funny! I loved #13 I actually laughed out loud!! Still am!!

What a nice Jog. I should do one of those.. Does it really take off the extra inches?? LOL

LOVE YOU!! How cool to get to read this about you!

Caryn was at my house today. The photo of the 2 of us in the living room (I swear I am mailing yours asap) And she said.. (1st) Dang I did a great job on that photo takin hahaha.. (2nd) Shelley is soo beautiful and (3rd) She is totally the perfect mormon mom. Shopping, cooking, sewing, cleaning, kids, and everything else. So I thought I let ya know. Caryn thinks your about as cool as I do. Oh wait did I just admit to that?? ;)

Darleen said...

Shelley!!!! My long lost big sister!!! Oh my goodness! I'm laughing and crying at the same time. That post was AWESOME! Wow, that brought back MANY, MANY memories. I have to go tell all the Waites to read that. So cool! Just so you know alot of them have blogs too--linked to my blog--Merry Marleen (Marleen), Waite for Carolyn (Aaron), Brad's Mumbo Jumbo (Julene).

How crazy that you found me!?? I have thought of you so often. Your family is so beautiful. I'm not surprised though! I always knew you would be an awesome Mom. How are your parents? Do they still live in Stonegate? Isn't Reno so different from when we lived there?? Okay, well I'm so excited that I now get to keep tabs on you (hope you don't mind). :)

P.S.-- I still have a few those teddy bear figurines that you gave me!

Marleen said...

So, Darleen calls me up breathlessand laughing and then shares with me how you left a comment on her site and then posted about our family. Thanks for sharing. Some of those memories I had forgotten. I loved growing up in Reno and I love having your family as neighbors. Your mom made some amazing barbie doll birthday cakes. Are your parents still working? I remember your dad was teaching at Reno High and your mom working at Sears. I'm really surprised all of this is coming back to me. Your family looks great and I love your cupcake blog. I'll have to try some of those yummy looking recipes.

Carolyn said...

Hello Shelley, it's Aaron's wife. I was sent over here by non other than Miss Darleen. Loved the jog. I was laughing because knowing the Waites as I do, I could just imagine all of the those things. When Aaron comes home from his soccer game, I'm totally going to grill him on who was his "real" first kiss??? And then I'm going to blow his mind, when I actually know it was when he was only 3 years old and with Shelley Upton! Hey just to play the name game since you live in St. George... my older sister lives there too. Her name is Jill Simmons. I'm sure Aaron will be popping his head in on your blog shortly!

Linz said...

What a great jog! I love old friends! And I love those little tiny teddy bears too!

Sister Ballard said...

Marleen called me to tell me about your blog. Wow! You remember a lot about our family. It was so fun going down memory lane and remembering and learning new things about my siblings. You were correct. I was the one who went through the garage door. My dad and I were driving back from somewhere and I thought I was using the brake, but instead I was using the gas. I remember saying "I am so sorry, Dad" a million times. He was not happy. After that, the news went out and everyone at church heard about what happened. I was so embarrassed.

Aaron Waite said...

Shelley,

It's been a long time. I think it's been more than 10 years. Your oldest daughter totally looks like you. I did a double take when I first logged onto your blog.

Isn't that surprising that I'm going to be an eye ball surgeon? Who would have thought? I was pretty sure I was going to be a vet too. Oh well. I still have a cool fish tank and we recently had chickens (but they had to go). I thought your post about remembering life with the Waites was great. So true. I just don't buy the kissing story. I've heard it but I also don't remember it. I always thought my first kiss didn't happen until I was like 17 (I was always kind of shy). I think that's funny about us walking home together from school and getting made fun of. We basically grew up with each other like brother and sister. Do you remember running around on summer days with no shoes on and consistently stubbing our toes? Riding big wheels? Finding lady bugs? Growing up in Reno was great. Are your parents still there on Joshua Rd?

As you can tell from Carolyn's blog we're living in Memphis right now. I did BYU undergrad, U of Utah for med school and am now training here to be an ophthalmologist. 2 girls ages 1 and 3. Eden and Ava. They're really cute (they take after mom). Anyway, I'm glad to hear things are going well for you. Sorry this comment is like a big email.

Aaron.