Happy Birthday, Emily!

This morning (as I was washing my hair) I was thinking about a conversation I had with Tracy yesterday about Easter.

I'd thought I had been home (California home) last Easter. I even recounted specific last Easter memories for Tracy. Mitch and I drove down from San Francisco, etc. Tracy point out that I didn't live in San Francisco last Easter. I lived in SF last, last Easter. Oh. Right. I didn't go home for Easter.

Anyway, so I was thinking about that this morning and that led to, "Hey, we moved back about a year ago. What day did we move back? What day is today? August 19th. ...August 19th?!"

Today is Emily's birthday!

(I didn't forget, Em and I already celebrated last Saturday.)

Happy Birthday, Emily!

And then, right there in the shower as I was conditioning my hair, I suddenly really missed Emily. And I wanted to be back to life a couple years ago when we were living together so that we could go do something to celebrate today. (But, instead, she's in Salt Lake and I'm in Provo. And anyway, she has her almost-practically-fiance and I'm sure they're doing something.)

So then, as I rinsed my hair, I started thinking about some of my favorite memories with Emily. (I wish I had pictures from when we were little too but, I don't.)


- Geocaching (especially for naked treasure(r)s).
- Playing "elephant" with Dad's socks.
- Playing "crow" with Dad's jackets.
- Dying Stephanie's hair.
- Our Apostle Party.
- Our Christmas party.
- Writing notes to people in our ward.
- Running our 4 or maybe 5 or maybe 6K.
- Emailing regularly while Em was on her mission.
- Getting Abby.
- Abby's sweater.
- Going to Em's knitting group (once).
- Playing/moderating SPEED Ticket.
- Puns.
- Getting those Italian things from that one store but I don't remember what they're called.
- Remembering things that our siblings don't remember.

And I'm sure there are lots more but, that's what I started with.


So then I asked some of my family for their favorite Emily things. And this is what they said...

Dad: My Neil Patrick Harris surprise was great. Going to Canada or Mexico or fishing on the ocean. The block parties. Her and the animals. All fun.

Mom: She went on a mission. And she was a cute Brownie. And she went to Chile. Swimming and floating in the pool together while the boys were in Montana. As long as we wanted to. :) She started the Scrabble game then, too. We left it on the table, took turns whenever we walked by. One hand was Emily, other was Jason. Can't remember who won. All of us remember geocaching with her. The boys were on the very first trip and Tyler's the one who found it. It was in a bush or hedge at Snow Creek. Tyler reached right in and got it.

Sarah: One time Emily and I bonded while I helped her with one of her high school projects where we cut out magazine pieces and glued them on a poster board and it made a picture of a giant cup. And now I've used that method for a lot of A+ projects! Also, remember how she used to make those 10-hr fries? Not really 10 hours.. but they were steak fries or something... really good! And... I used to go help you guys at Renatos.. That was fun. :) I got to feel like a big person when I went with you and Em!

Jason: One time, he and Emily walked to the Liquorette to get eggs. They talked the whole way. When they got home, they made m&m brownies. Another one, Emily really wanted to make m&m brownies so she took Jason to Vons to get brownie mix. And they talked the whole way. And there were cockroaches on the wall along the road. She told him how she hated cockroaches. Soon after she returned from her mission, she went into the kitchen and started making pasta for lunch. I walked in as she was starting. She taught me how to make it. It included pasta, olive oil, bacon, and garlic. Delicious!

Brandon: One time, Emily was outside and Brandon walked out and said, "Hi, Aunt Emily!" And she was like, "I'm your sister!" He said it to her as a joke. :)

Boys: Remember that one time that Emily and all of us went to the movie theater. They wouldn't let us in because all the girls had such large purses. We left all of the purses in the car. When we finally got in, Steph almost got us kicked out when she tried to flirt her way into the projection room. She was left in the car with Dad while we watched the movie.

Mitch: Burger King and Pepto in Fillmore.

Hooray for Emily! And Happy Birthday from all of us. We love you.