- What are the names of your brothers and sisters? Describe things that stand out in your mind about each of your siblings.
I have three younger siblings, two brothers and a sister. The boys are sandwiched in between the girls. I remember growing up wanting a sister so bad, and I even remember crying when we found out my second brother was a boy (sorry, Andrew).
Cameron James Smith was born on February 27th, 1998, about two and a half years after me. I don't remember when he was born, but I also don't really remember life without him. Since we moved quite a few times my first 6 years of life, Cameron was my best buddy for a long time. We used to love playing dress up, blocks, riding bikes in the summer, digging in the mud, playing playdough, reading... We pretty much did everything together. It's the best when your sibling is also your friend. Something that stands out in my mind about Cameron is his constant desire to always do the right thing. More than almost anyone else I know, Cameron always thinks about things that most people would just shrug off, and finds joy in doing things exactly as they're meant to be done. I'll admit, sometimes in board games I would get a little annoyed when every single rule was followed to a T, but in overall life, it is something I admire and wish I could be more like.
Andrew Conrad Smith was born on April 4th, 2001 when I was 5 years old. We were living in Houston and I was in Kindergarten. Right from the start, Andrew has been the most energetic and silliest of us all. He has a fiery personality that goes right along with his fiery red hair. Of all my siblings, Andrew was the one that I would get in the most fights with, probably because we're both so stubborn. But he is also one of my best little buddies. The quality in him that stands out to me is the ability to make people smile and laugh. He's always telling jokes and being a little (or a lot) crazy to get someone to giggle, and he loves playing games or going to the store with people to talk to them. I think Andrew and I have similar senses of humor, which means we also get in trouble for laughing at the same things that weren't meant to be funny.
Sadie Genene Smith was born on September 25th, 2003 when I was eight years old. I was so excited to finally have a sister!!! I remember the day my mom was induced that I was so impatient for her to finally be born so that I could meet her. And then when I finally had another girl in the house, Cameron as her favorite, haha. I was pretty jealous of that for a bit. One of the things I admire so much about Sadie is that she searches for knowledge constantly, and she has a firm grasp of Gospel truths as well. There was a family home evening lesson she gave once when she was probably about 8 or 9 years old about dating and courtship that blew everyone's mind. We couldn't believe not only how prepared she was, but how well she understood the concepts she was teaching. Sadie is very smart and has a knack for remembering and comprehending things other people never do. When I moved away to college I really missed my random facts of the day!
I have the best siblings! I can't wait to see what kind of incredible things they do in the future, because they are all so talented and wonderful.
2. What were some of the family traditions that you remember?
We have so many family traditions it's going to be hard to narrow it down. I'll try to go by month.
January: On New Years Day we usually take our gingerbread houses out to the farmlands off of Clodfelter and shoot them! It sounds weird, but it's really fun to watch the brittle gingerbread explode into teeny tiny pieces.
February: On Valentines Day, Mom would always get a card and a little present or treat for the boys, and Dad would get a card and gift for Sadie and I. It was fun to always have a Valentine, especially in high school when everyone was lovey-dovey. I could always come home to my Daddy as my valentine :) That's where I got my favorite stuffed animal of all time, Beary. We
March: On St. Patricks Day we have a green dinner! Which meant green biscuits too, haha. They looked a little freaky sometimes.
We also have a lot of Easter traditions. We dye the eggs the day before, and then when we wake up in the morning the Easter Bunny has the eggs hidden all over the place outside. But first, we have to find our baskets, which are always hidden in the house. Our baskets always had one or two little gifts in them too, like a pair of earrings, chocolate, matchbox cars, etc. Then that night we always have ham, potatoes and rolls for dinner. That next Monday is always a FHE lesson about the Atonement and why we celebrate Easter.
April: Andrew always celebrated April Fools Day, even if the rest of us forgot. One year he switched the sugar and the salt, but nobody noticed until dinnertime when the strawberries were all salty instead of sweet!
May: Are there any holidays in May??? I know we usually plant the beginnings of our garden in May, like the peas. Oh! I guess there's Memorial Day, right? We always go camping with the Ashtons and the Mathers for Memorial Day weekend, it's so much fun.
June: Since my birthday is in June I'll talk about birthdays. As kids, we had a party every other year, on our even birthdays (8, 10, 12, etc.) I probably have had about 4-5 pool parties, which is always awesome. The night before someone's birthday, everyone else stays up later than them and decorates the living room and kitchen for when they wake up. We usually did presents in the morning before school, and sometimes Mom sends a cake to school with us. Cameron and Andrew almost always have a Chocolate Majesty, one of the best cakes in the whole world. We also do a cake at night, and sometimes we go out to dinner, depending on the year.
July: I feel like we've done different things for a lot of the 4th of July's, but we always have a BBQ for dinner and we go sit on the shore of the Columbia River and watch the fireworks from the barge. It's so beautiful to see the lights reflect off the water. For a few years we also were in the parade throwing candy for Dad's company, but for the last little while we've just gone to watch.
August: If there's a holiday in August I'm forgetting it...
September: Ummmm....
October: Halloween!!! Every Halloween we dress up and go Trick or Treating, and Mom would have Chili and Breadsticks when we got home for dinner. We also carve pumpkins a few days before, and sometimes we go shoot them later. We like shooting things.
November: Thanksgiving weekend has always been kind of crazy. I remember the majority of the time having Thanksgiving at our house and inviting family members over, usually the Ashtons and Mathers, sometimes Lezlie and Cals families too. There was one year that Jason brought his family up, and that was really fun. My brothers and dad always play in the ward Turkey bowl the morning of Thanksgiving, and then a few hours after they get back we have our traditional dinner. We have turkey, potatoes, stuffing, rolls, that gross green bean casserole, corn, pomegranate salad, pies, etc. There was one year I ate so much I puked later, but it's all so good! The rest of the day we usually play games and snack on the rolls, making turkey sandwiches and potatoes.
The day after Thanksgiving, we go get our Christmas tree with the Ashtons from Bill's Berry Farm, where we also eat way too many homemade donuts and ride on the sing-along hay ride. The boys also sit around the fire pit and burn any sticks they see lying around.
December: The month of December probably holds more family traditions than the rest of the year combined. Starting on the very first day, we make candy chains counting down the days until Christmas. Sometimes we've chosen a family and done the 12 days of Christmas gifts for them anonymously. We make gingerbread houses with the Ashtons a few weeks before Christmas; we go watch the Musical Senske lights; we decorate the Christmas tree together. Each of us has our own Nativity in our room, and when we were younger we had little mini Christmas trees too. On Christmas Eve, my mom makes the same dinner: Ham, yummy potatoes, homemade rolls, layered Christmas jello, veggie tray, sparkling cider, corn... So, so good. After dinner, we do a reenactment of the Nativity, reading out of the book of Luke. After that, we do the sibling gifts. Every one of us kids gets the name of another kid, and we do a gift exchange on Christmas Eve. I think the tradition started when we were really little and too anxious to wait for Christmas day to open at least one present.
There are probably a lot of traditions I'm forgetting, but it's still a lot! I love our traditions and I hope I can carry a lot of them over to my own family!
Andrew Conrad Smith was born on April 4th, 2001 when I was 5 years old. We were living in Houston and I was in Kindergarten. Right from the start, Andrew has been the most energetic and silliest of us all. He has a fiery personality that goes right along with his fiery red hair. Of all my siblings, Andrew was the one that I would get in the most fights with, probably because we're both so stubborn. But he is also one of my best little buddies. The quality in him that stands out to me is the ability to make people smile and laugh. He's always telling jokes and being a little (or a lot) crazy to get someone to giggle, and he loves playing games or going to the store with people to talk to them. I think Andrew and I have similar senses of humor, which means we also get in trouble for laughing at the same things that weren't meant to be funny.
Sadie Genene Smith was born on September 25th, 2003 when I was eight years old. I was so excited to finally have a sister!!! I remember the day my mom was induced that I was so impatient for her to finally be born so that I could meet her. And then when I finally had another girl in the house, Cameron as her favorite, haha. I was pretty jealous of that for a bit. One of the things I admire so much about Sadie is that she searches for knowledge constantly, and she has a firm grasp of Gospel truths as well. There was a family home evening lesson she gave once when she was probably about 8 or 9 years old about dating and courtship that blew everyone's mind. We couldn't believe not only how prepared she was, but how well she understood the concepts she was teaching. Sadie is very smart and has a knack for remembering and comprehending things other people never do. When I moved away to college I really missed my random facts of the day!
I have the best siblings! I can't wait to see what kind of incredible things they do in the future, because they are all so talented and wonderful.
2. What were some of the family traditions that you remember?
We have so many family traditions it's going to be hard to narrow it down. I'll try to go by month.
January: On New Years Day we usually take our gingerbread houses out to the farmlands off of Clodfelter and shoot them! It sounds weird, but it's really fun to watch the brittle gingerbread explode into teeny tiny pieces.
February: On Valentines Day, Mom would always get a card and a little present or treat for the boys, and Dad would get a card and gift for Sadie and I. It was fun to always have a Valentine, especially in high school when everyone was lovey-dovey. I could always come home to my Daddy as my valentine :) That's where I got my favorite stuffed animal of all time, Beary. We
March: On St. Patricks Day we have a green dinner! Which meant green biscuits too, haha. They looked a little freaky sometimes.
We also have a lot of Easter traditions. We dye the eggs the day before, and then when we wake up in the morning the Easter Bunny has the eggs hidden all over the place outside. But first, we have to find our baskets, which are always hidden in the house. Our baskets always had one or two little gifts in them too, like a pair of earrings, chocolate, matchbox cars, etc. Then that night we always have ham, potatoes and rolls for dinner. That next Monday is always a FHE lesson about the Atonement and why we celebrate Easter.
April: Andrew always celebrated April Fools Day, even if the rest of us forgot. One year he switched the sugar and the salt, but nobody noticed until dinnertime when the strawberries were all salty instead of sweet!
May: Are there any holidays in May??? I know we usually plant the beginnings of our garden in May, like the peas. Oh! I guess there's Memorial Day, right? We always go camping with the Ashtons and the Mathers for Memorial Day weekend, it's so much fun.
June: Since my birthday is in June I'll talk about birthdays. As kids, we had a party every other year, on our even birthdays (8, 10, 12, etc.) I probably have had about 4-5 pool parties, which is always awesome. The night before someone's birthday, everyone else stays up later than them and decorates the living room and kitchen for when they wake up. We usually did presents in the morning before school, and sometimes Mom sends a cake to school with us. Cameron and Andrew almost always have a Chocolate Majesty, one of the best cakes in the whole world. We also do a cake at night, and sometimes we go out to dinner, depending on the year.
July: I feel like we've done different things for a lot of the 4th of July's, but we always have a BBQ for dinner and we go sit on the shore of the Columbia River and watch the fireworks from the barge. It's so beautiful to see the lights reflect off the water. For a few years we also were in the parade throwing candy for Dad's company, but for the last little while we've just gone to watch.
August: If there's a holiday in August I'm forgetting it...
September: Ummmm....
October: Halloween!!! Every Halloween we dress up and go Trick or Treating, and Mom would have Chili and Breadsticks when we got home for dinner. We also carve pumpkins a few days before, and sometimes we go shoot them later. We like shooting things.
November: Thanksgiving weekend has always been kind of crazy. I remember the majority of the time having Thanksgiving at our house and inviting family members over, usually the Ashtons and Mathers, sometimes Lezlie and Cals families too. There was one year that Jason brought his family up, and that was really fun. My brothers and dad always play in the ward Turkey bowl the morning of Thanksgiving, and then a few hours after they get back we have our traditional dinner. We have turkey, potatoes, stuffing, rolls, that gross green bean casserole, corn, pomegranate salad, pies, etc. There was one year I ate so much I puked later, but it's all so good! The rest of the day we usually play games and snack on the rolls, making turkey sandwiches and potatoes.
The day after Thanksgiving, we go get our Christmas tree with the Ashtons from Bill's Berry Farm, where we also eat way too many homemade donuts and ride on the sing-along hay ride. The boys also sit around the fire pit and burn any sticks they see lying around.
December: The month of December probably holds more family traditions than the rest of the year combined. Starting on the very first day, we make candy chains counting down the days until Christmas. Sometimes we've chosen a family and done the 12 days of Christmas gifts for them anonymously. We make gingerbread houses with the Ashtons a few weeks before Christmas; we go watch the Musical Senske lights; we decorate the Christmas tree together. Each of us has our own Nativity in our room, and when we were younger we had little mini Christmas trees too. On Christmas Eve, my mom makes the same dinner: Ham, yummy potatoes, homemade rolls, layered Christmas jello, veggie tray, sparkling cider, corn... So, so good. After dinner, we do a reenactment of the Nativity, reading out of the book of Luke. After that, we do the sibling gifts. Every one of us kids gets the name of another kid, and we do a gift exchange on Christmas Eve. I think the tradition started when we were really little and too anxious to wait for Christmas day to open at least one present.
There are probably a lot of traditions I'm forgetting, but it's still a lot! I love our traditions and I hope I can carry a lot of them over to my own family!
I think I accidentally just answered this question in the question above, oops!
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