Falsely Accused

Sometimes we all need to remember that things are not always as they seem. Here's an example. This summer I was with Sarah, Allyson, Baxter, Branson, Bentley, Emily and Jane heading down to Capital Reef National Park. We've been in the Sarah's van approximately 10 minutes when a dreadful smell emerged. Accusations about who the culprit was that passed gas generated. Naturally most of the accusations were directly toward the boys Baxter and Branson. Both continued to insist they were not at fault. After a few minutes of this we looked elsewhere pointed to the only one in the car not potty trained, Jane. I insisted that in Jane's short life I had never seen her mess her pants sitting down. She's the type that needs to move around to relax her bowels. When the smell did not ease up we pulled over and I checked Jane's diaper and sure enough it was clean. After buckling up we continued on our way gagging from the increasing foul odor. Once again the boys were blamed. We determining the smell was around Baxter thus all the attention was directly toward him. Baxter insisted he did not fart and we believed him because he has been known to take ownership in such circumstances. Sarah, being a good mom, began to question Baxter's bathing habits and we lectured him the remainder of the ride about good hygiene. We finally arrived at the Gifford home and expelled ourselves from the overwhelming stench. When Allyson and Sarah reentered the van they noticed the stench strong as ever although Baxter was no where around. A search of the vehicle was conducted. The stench was bad enough that you might expect me to tell you a decapitating body was found, instead a cooler that Baxter was sitting on was opened containing rotten worms from a fishing adventure the boys went on a few days earlier.
So the moral of the story? Although you may think you have enough evidence sometimes you need to look a little deeper. You never know what's hiding underneath in a cooler someone is sitting on.

Favorite Games

Mom- My favorite games when I was a child were the neighborhood games. We had a very fun neighborhood with lots of kids and we all got along and played together. We would have a fun softball game out in the street. There wasn't much traffic so we could play for hours and not have to stop and let a car or truck pass. That is where we all learned how to catch a ball, hit a ball and run fast to get to first base before we were 'tagged' as out or safe. I can remember using my father's softball mitt.....he made sure we would always put it back in its designated spot so we wouldn't lose it. I liked to play first base...there was always a lot of action on 1st base.

Also, the neighbor kids liked to play 'Hide and Seek' under the corner town light. As soon as it got dark, we would all gather around the light and then someone was designed as the 'finder' and start counting to 10. We had 10 seconds to find a 'good ' hiding spot. Then here the finder would come and look for us. As soon as he started looking, we would run to the stop light and try to beat him there. If we did, we were 'safe'. If not, we had to be the finder for the next round. We ran as fast as we could and most of us were very fast when it came to running.

Also, my mother purchased a Croquet set. Our lawn was a good lawn for Croquet because it had little hills. I always liked to pick the Red Ball and Mallet which usually brought me good luck. We all got pretty good at hitting the ball and making it around to the end with as few hits as possible.

All in all, we had lots of fun times, especially outside playing with the neighbor kids. We had lots of freedom and didn't have many worries. Still to this day, the kids in my neighborhood remain good friends.

Brooke- My favorite childhood games were chinese checkers, checkers, puzzles, night games and most of all Monopoly. My best friend was Kimberly Davis and every Sunday afternoon we would get together and play games. Most of the time it was Monopoly which could last up to 6 hours or more. We both got very serious about adding houses and hotels to our property and followed the rules exactly. I became very good with my money I think because of that game. Maybe I should start playing that game again.........

Sarah-My favorite game was spoons. I remember the fist time I played this game was when I was at the King house and a bunch of kids were sitting around the table and playing. We would play it around our kitchen table when friends came over. I also liked to go to night games with the kids in town. My favorite place to play was at Everett and Carolyn house. I think it was the best because it had a few street lights there. I'm sure I enjoyed playing games everywhere as long a people were around.

Collette- I don't know if I had a favorite game because I liked just about all the games I played. I remember sitting around the kitchen table playing Monopoly and of course Brooke had to be the banker. The game Life was always fun. I also liked playing memory at Melanie Shaw's house and Chess (although we never really could figure out how it worked). When we were at Grandma Morrell's we played Chinese Checkers as well as Checkers. I also like playing Old Maid and doing puzzles at Dark Valley. I also remember spending a night at Rick and Mary Jane's when they lived on the pig farm playing Rummicub all night long.

Allyson-I think my favorite game as a child was the Nintendo. Sad to say, but true. I remember when we got our Nintendo for Christmas. It was the last thing we opened because it was hidden under the orange crochet blanket. I remember that we were all really excited! I played that thing almost everyday and it was really fun, although I really don't think I was that good at it. I would also play it at the Piano teacher's house(Monte Laing) for a while after my piano lesson when I was waiting for mom to pick me up. I remember that Alison Webb "borrowed" the power pad, but never gave it back. It's fun to look back on, but I actually don't think that I'm going to let my kids have a video system.