My Natal Family

So. Patty put an open tag out there for her blogging friends to write about what I like to call our "natal families." Patty has a family much like mine - all girls - and she wrote down all the funny stuff she and her sisters used to do together, so I'll do the same. Believe me, there are plentiful stories to be told...



We, like Patty and her sisters, had to clean the kitchen every night, which was always annoying, but looking back on it now, it taught us a good work ethic and actually ended up being quality family time. Mom would always turn on a CD, and we'd sing and dance while washing dishes. I liked to pop in my INXS CD, because on this one song, "Suicide Blonde," our dog, Ebony, would get totally riled up. She'd start jumping up and down and barking and running around in circles. It was hilarious. One of us would rinse dishes, another would stack 'em, a third would clear the food and dishes, and the fourth would wipe off. And then mom would sweep. But it changed every night, so some nights I would sweep, etc. When Nat and I had rinsing and wiping off duties, respectively, we'd fight over the faucet. Our solution for the faucet conundrum was always one of two things. We'd either give each other thirty seconds with the faucet, then switch it to the other person. Or, one of us would use the sprayer and spray for thirty seconds, and then let the faucet-user use the water from the faucet for thirty seconds. I know; lame. The wiper-offer could have always just waited until the dishes were rinsed. But we were always in a hurry to get done, so that we could get to our homework. And, obviously, because there was a sprayer involved, we got into plenty of waterfights. I'm surprised that Mom didn't get more mad about the messes we made when we got into these waterfights. I know I would flip out if my kids did that!! I really need to loosen up. Hmmm....



Once, Dad was working during dinner because it was tax season, and we girls got into a food fight at the dinner table. I just remember thinking how funny it would be to fling applesauce at Lex, because she was being naughty, so I did it. And the food fight began. Mom was sooo mad that she made us stand against the counter and threw chicken parts at us. We were like, "Ouch! Mom!! Owww!!"



And once, Nat and I were fighting over the last piece of pie in the fridge, and Mom shoved us both outside and then ate it in front of us; we could see her, because we had french doors. She was all, "Yummmm..." and we were screaming, "Nooooooooooo!!!"



Mom taught us a thousand times how to play jacks, but we always forgot. So we always played a game with them that we called "Fifi and Foofoo." We'd spin each jack on one of its pointy ends and count the seconds that it spun. The one that spun the longest time was named "Fifi." Second runner-up was named "Foofoo." Then we'd have, like, best two out of three and stuff, to see if Fifi really was the best spinner.



We played this game where we'd lie on our backs, with our feet touching, and we'd foot-wrestle. We called it "Feety Fight." There was really no object. If our legs fell down, or if someone's foot came off the other person's foot, we'd just replace it and keep wrestling.



We still enjoy the "Clapping Game." Two of us will stand, facing each other, maybe two feet apart. And then you clap your hands together, trying to knock the other girl off her balance. We get a big kick out of making fun of each others' clapping style. Nat always wore a lot of rings, and she had bony fingers anyways, so when she clapped my hands, I would be almost crying from the pain!! Brianna's clapping style was like a barrage of cannon fire. She'd just clap-clap-clap-clap relentlessly. Lexi liked to grab my hands and psych me out that way. Nat says that I would always yell "Wooo!!" and kind of glance off the tops of her hands into a double Heil Hitler kind of a salute.



When I was an EFY counselor, I learned the game Zip Bong, and we played that on road trips all the time, especially if we had to stand in line a lot, like at Universal Studios or Disneyland. We'd arrange ourselves into a circle and play. The rule is that you can't show your teeth. So you cover your teeth with your lips (hard to do for all of us, because we all have big teeth), then move the play either clockwise or counter-clockwise by saying to the person next to you, "Zip." They can pass it along by saying "zip" to their other neighbor, or they can pass it back to you by saying "Bong." And we would try to make each other smile by making weird eyes and using weird voices. It was hilarious. I think it really embarrassed Dad. We were always embarrassing Dad. :) We're kind of a gregarious bunch. I know that our husbands get a little overwhelmed when we're all together, because we're quite hyper.



We still play Nertz whenever we get together. It's a game I learned at Ricks. We have dubbed it "Bitter Nertz," because we all have a tendency to get really bitter while we play. We say the meanest stuff to each other when we're playing! It gets intense. But it's really fun. And we've kind of made up our own little lexicon to go with it. "Coving" is when someone is laying down cards too close to their own piles, like a little cove on a lake that no one else has discovered. And we yell at each other for not clearing away King piles, or for making a mess of the central playing area. Once, we were playing so intensely, and Brianna was beating us, of course, because her mind is like a freaking computer, and Dad yelled, "I'm just sitting here pooping my pants!" It was a classic moment. Once, we added like thirty extra cards to Brianna's pile, and SHE STILL BEAT US!!



Nat was always the peacemaker, but when she was pushed hard enough, WATCH OUT!! Once, Lex was bugging her in some way, and she wouldn't stop, so Nat did a Tai Bo move on her and totally kicked her in the stomach! And then Nat tackled Lex and stuck her feet in Lex's face. It was sooooo funny. And once (I wasn't there for this one), Mom, Nat, Lex, and Beads went to Utah State for Nat to take some scholarship test, and on their way home, Lex and Beads were fighting over some toy. And Nat, without a word, grabbed the toy, rolled down her window, and threw it out. I giggle just picturing it.



I obviously could go on and on, but one more story. It was Thanksgiving, and I think my Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Boyd and a couple of our cousins were over. We had all eaten and were playing downstairs, and I went upstairs to get rolls for me and Nat. And we were breaking off pieces of roll and trying to throw them into each others' mouths across the room. We obviously weren't succeeding. Nat decided to throw a "bullet throw" (versus a "rainbow throw") to my mouth, and it totally landed right in my mouth! It was like 50 miles an hour, I swear! It was so funny.



So that's us. We're super! We're spastic! We're super, and we're spastic! And we're sprinkler heads! Sprinkler heads! We're super-spastic sprinkler heads! Cha-cha-cha-cha, chachachachacha... A little EFY cheer for ya.