Kristi Feels Closest To....

Here is my SHORT (for fear of hurting someone’s feelings as I tend to do so naturally) entry about my siblings.

I suppose I have taken so long to write because I have gone through different periods of “closeness” with each of my siblings so I don’t know how to say which one I feel closest to.

Lori was definitely closest growing up. We spent hours singing Barbara Streisand, the Bee Gee’s I think there had to be some Karen Carpenter in there somewhere and talking late, late, late into the wee hours of the morning (until dad stomped on the floor indicating that we were not as sneaky as we thought we were). Don’t worry. I use the same technique on my own chatter bugs! Then she had to go and go to college (the nerve!). I actually didn’t even get my driver license until I was 18 since there was really no need. Everywhere I needed to go Lori went too. I always had a ride so there was no reason for me to get into a car with dad teaching me to drive a stick shift until after she left.

Jeny and I got to be close later, when we both lived in Provo together. We went every morning on a 10 mile bike ride just because that’s how awesome we are. After several weeks of this we decided we were incredibly fit and it was time to show off our “skills” Let’s take our husbands on Saturday and ride our bikes to Bridal Veil Falls. For those of you who have no idea what that means, it is a lengthy uphill ride. So begins the ride where we show off….let me just say…not so much. The guys who never exercise and haven’t been on a bike in 2 years ended up pulling us part of the way up. Not fair! We got up EARLY almost every day to ride these bikes. They must have had better bikes, yeah that’s it, the bike. I have not lived by any of my family in nearly 24 years of being married so the time we spent in Utah near Jeny and Heidi will always be some of the best years. Of course some of the best memories we all have of Jeny have to involve Rummoli!

I got close to Amy when she came to live with us in Heyburn one year. Of course I have memories of her going out with some weird guy, can’t really remember his name but I’m sure he wasn’t the best choice of boyfriends. I’m pretty sure she had really different hair back then, kind of greased all over to one side. Heyburn will never be the same!

David also came to stay with us one summer. And I also remember the barbed wire fence, and the wedding cake with his foot print in it. But, Dave do you remember the game we played…one of us names a product and the other has to think of the jingle that goes along with it? We got stuck for sooo long on Juicy Fruit gum. That was before the days of the internet and now that I think about it, I don’t even think we owned a computer! Also David and I went night fishing once or twice. Once it involved Jeny and an unplanned stop on the way there. David went fishing with us to Island Park. That was an amazing fishing trip! I think David is the sibling whose personality is most like mine.

Mindy never lived with me but I will always feel close to Mindy because she lived close (Idaho while we lived in Layton and Provo) and she came to visit often. I remember her playing with Nickell and Kelsey at the park and thinking she was so tall! I feel like Mindy was always the protected one. She has such a kind heart and she can do pretty much anything so we older sisters always said that the boy she chooses to marry better be prepared for the scrutiny of the Lauritzen family because we are not going to let her go easily. Once at Nickell’s house I asked for Mindy to help me with a sewing problem [ps she was visiting Utah from Idaho] and she said “oh sure let me just go get my sewing machine out of the car” What? You keep your sewing machine in the car? Who does that? Mindy because she can do anything!

Heidi was very young when I got married but I still have a book she made for me after we moved to Heyburn. Thinking back on the relationship we had I want to say I didn’t know my younger siblings very well and that may be true. But I remember so well getting that book from her. It made me cry when it came because I missed her so much. She drew pictures of us having picnics under the trees that used to be behind the Rusty Hinge house. Heidi, Holly, Matt and I used to go in the back and pretend we were fishing in the little puddles of water that were back there sometimes. She said she missed doing that. I missed it too. Then we grew up and lived in the same ward for a little while then very near each other in Provo. I loved being close to Ashley when she was a baby and toddler. Heidi and I used to go on walks and when we finished she would always say “that feels great, doesn’t it make you feel great?” and it never did feel great to me. It always made me feel worse but I know it’s good for me so I kept doing it. Ugh And I remember when we learned to make this really yummy strawberry drink from someone in her ward with just strawberries and cream.

Holly and I are naturally close because we like to look at reconstructive surgery books together. You know the kind, where there are severed hands and fingers and they show the tendons being reattached and stuff. It’s sick and wrong but I like it and so does she so we get along. And if there is something that is really disgusting but I think it’s cool and there is not another person in the world who thinks it’s cool, Holly will. We also like to fix things that normal girls don’t like to fix. Basically, we are the tomboy twins. You have to have someone to be a tomboy with and Holly is my someone. We played tennis until she got better than I was now she plays with Jordan. Then Jordan sort of stole her from me. Because, you see, he can smoke through the Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit game and I…..don’t play it EVER. So game over. Jordan wins. But I’m just going to say this because nobody else has and I’m sort of shocked Holly…French silk pie. Yeah that’s a large part of what we have in common too. We like to eat chocolate.

Matt, my Ethiopian brother. Perhaps my closeness for Matt developed while we were cleaning the powdered milk out of his hair [remember when they made it ‘snow’? Of course you do how could you forget?] or another of the many messes the triplets made. Yes I said triplets because that’s what it felt like sometimes. Matt was tall and Heidi and Holly were short so they looked like they were the same age. I’m pretty sure they got each other into trouble like triplets. How could you ever get mad at those eyes though? I also remember that he used to cry so hard that he would pass out. Mom was crazy with panic, blowing on his face, yelling at him to breathe and dad would calmly say just let him pass out, he will stop crying when he passes out and then he will take a breath. I remember Matt always being the most willing to show outward love. He still is the hugging-est one out of all of us. I have often wondered where that came from! I have videos of Matt visiting when my kids were little and he was very young and I love it because that is the age I remember him the most.

That’s it, and I know dad thinks we don’t have a good relationship because we don’t live near each other and we don’t get together too often. But I think we all have a unique relationship because I bet that if we pick up the phone we could start talking about something or nothing at all and go on for 3 hours as if we lived in the next town and got together once a week or more. We just pick up right where we left off. I’m not saying it’s ok not to get together, we really need to have a reunion, but I think we are all very close in our own way. I know I have a deep and abiding love for my family and especially all my siblings. I am grateful for the examples and the expectations that have been and are being set. I am especially grateful for loving parents who raised us in a home where our family was important and making memories was a priority. I am grateful for having been raised in a home where testimony was nourished young and often. It may not be the typical family with the typical relationships. But it’s our family and I love it!