Mopping

I remember Mom telling us to get on our bathing suits, because it was time to mop the floor. Honestly, I don’t know how many moms out there would handle mopping this way. As a mom, I’m not nearly fun enough to let my kids mop the floor the way we sometimes did. Ha ha!

Mom would throw some water on the floor, and squirt some dish soap down, and then we were let loose! We would slide all over the floor, over and over again. It was great fun for us!

Now that I think about it, I might have to let my kids mop my floor for me once in a while. ;)

Underdog

My dad was the best at pushing us on the swings. Our favorite ever was the “underdog.” This is where dad would grab the seat of the swing, and push us in front of him as he ran forward and up, and went all the way under the swing. He let go just when we were at the highest point. We always got super high with the underdog, and we begged for it every time we went to the park.

Broken Finger

My dad used to do the graveyard shift at his radio station while he was going to school at Weber State College. He was a really hard worker, going to college and also working to support our family. We didn't have a lot of money, and we only ever had one car, and sometimes even that didn't work. So my dad used to ride his bike to work all the time. Maybe to school too, I don't know.


I remember one night there was something going on. I think my mom might have left, I'm not sure. I  knew something was wrong, at any rate. It turns out that my dad was riding his bike home from work in the middle of the night, and while he was looking to see if he could make a turn, he missed seeing a sign and ended up crashing into it. As a result, he had a broken finger. I think that's how it went down. Just remember, I was a little kid who only heard bits and pieces of things sometimes.


My dad really went through a lot taking care of all of us.

Brite Music

Somewhere along the line (the time line, ha ha!) my mom got invited to someone's Brite Music party, and that is what started it all. Janeen Brady had published all this music that was good for kids and families, and my mom started getting it for us.


I grew up on Brite Music--songs about rhythm and clapping, counting, family relationships, weather, manners, marching, holidays, bed time, even LDS themed songs about not telling lies, paying tithing, and going to Sunday School. She also had a line of musical stories on tape (ha! tape!) that came along with picture books, that taught values--some of the topics were honesty, obedience, love, dependability, work, service, gratitude, happiness, dependability--there were 12 in all, and we sang them ALL the time. There were also three volumes of Safety Kids music and stories, helping kids with all kinds of safety precautions. GREAT stuff. I can still remember so many of those songs, every note, every lyric. Such good stuff!