I am who I am because of you!

I love to think back to my younger days when I was growing up in my big family, and how my personality was completely shaped by each of my sisters and my brother. If it wasn't for having such a wonderful family, I would not be who I am today...Let me tell you how each sister and brother has influenced me in some way!!

My oldest sister Rachel: She was always fixing my hair, picking out clothes, helping me put on makeup, and teaching me how to dance! She was the "stylish sister", and although I didn't totally get into the "in-style" trend, she definitely influenced me when it came to dance. After she went to BYU, she would always come home and dance with me in the living room and try to teach me how to do swing dancing. Even though I only did that a couple of times with her, her passion for dance was contagious and I soon grew to love dance as well! Because of that, I married someone who loves to dance, and we dance together EVERY chance we get.

Amelia: She was the clown in our family, litterally! She always had a smart comment to make everyone crack up. She also was very into gymnastics when I was very young and taught me how to do back walk-overs, and cartwheels, and even full front flips! She also was the "athletic sister." She played basketball and was actually good! And always seemed to be tougher than everyone around her, including the guys! I will never forget being young and hearing the story about how she punched a guy and gave him a bloody nose because he was being really rude to her! I thought that was so awesome and thought, "if a guy is ever rude to me, I'm going to be tough and punch him!" haha. She helped me have a good sense of humor, and because I wanted to be tough like her, I played in almost every sport at some point in my life and always try to work out so that I can stay strong like her!! :-)

Stephanie: She was not only my growing-up "room-mate" but also my "molly-mormon" sister. She helped me develop every religious habit that I still have today. I'll never forget her reading her scriptures EVERY day, writing in her journal CONSISTENLY, and praying before she went to bed. She taught me the most important skills I could ever have in this life, and that is to keep the commandments!! I'll never forget us laying in bed and reading scriptures together. We would always try to be creative with the ways that we read so that we actually learned the meaning of the scriptures and what they were trying to teach us. She also was the one who took the time to teach me EVERY single article of faith. She taught me how to memorize things, and to this day, I still have EVERY article of faith memorized. She also was a straight A student, and gave me the drive to be the same! And because of that, I was able to graduate valedictorian, and get through nursing school!

Natalie: She was my playmate growing up. She helped me develop important qualities, because she was my "little, younger, more innocent sister" who I always had to love no matter what she was doing that may have annoyed me at the time!! :-) She also taught me how to sacrifice and share. When we were young, we played with barbies, ponies, and any other toy you can think of together. Unfortunately, I wasn't always the best at sharing the "good toys". I remember we had one barbie whose hair was chopped off into a mohawk, and I always gave her that barbie to play with for a very long time. There was also a ken barbie who Amelia had chewed off his leg (litterally) and I always gave her that ken to play with. I of course had all of the good barbies. At first she was fine with it, and we would be happy playing. But as she grew older, she realized what I was doing and told me that it wasn't fair that she always got the mohawk barbie and the one legged ken! haha. SO, I had to sacrafice, and learn to share the nicer things with my sweet little sis! Not only that, but she taught me how to give with all of my heart. I'll never forget her ways of giving to everyone in our family. She always went out of her way to find a really nice gift for a birthday or christmas present. She then would get so excited to give it to the person that she sometimes would tell us what the present was before we even opened it! haha. Because of her, I have learned to give and love with all of my heart!

Lastly but not leastly! My only bro Nathan: I'll never forget the day he was born. Mom and dad called us while we were at home, and was like "We have a baby brother!" I was so excited, I was jumping all over our couch and screaming happily with my sisters. He taught me some of my first mothering instincts! That may sound funny considering I was only 5 years old when he was born. But I will never forget him being a baby, and I would carry him around in my little arms until he would fall fast asleep. My mom would also let me rock him in the rocking chair and I would give him a bottle and sing him lullabies. At that moment, I began to realize that I had a great love for babies! He also taught me how to be a good sister, and I realized that I had be an example to him so that he could be influenced the way I was by my older siblings!!

So, that is why I am who I am because of all of you!!!! I am so grateful to my parents for having so many children, so that I could have such a fun and blessed childhood with all of my siblings. So many wonderful memories were and are still being created, and I will cherish them for the rest of my life!!!