So... Thirty

I wasn't there, but the story I heard goes like this: Charity and Tara were shopping or something and the subject of birthdays came up. Tara mentioned that she would be thirty years old on her next birthday. Charity in shock, unable to stop herself blurted out, "YOUR SO (pause... ) thirty." Apparently she was able to stop herself from being too tactless.

Your Monkeys are Buggin' Me!

Sundee, Brian, Charity (or was it Summer?) and I were playing Phase 10 on the floor at the house on Minton. I was wearing these really great gorilla slippers - but I have this problem with my shifty feet. They're always looking for a warm place or for something to do. In this case, I had my legs stretched out, ankles crossed, and feet wiggling aimlessly but swiftly back and forth. The way we were sitting, the gorilla heads on the slippers were bumping Sundee and I didn't notice that until she asked me to move my feet. No prob. I moved, but being as busy as they are, my feet ended up back where they were wiggling back and forth as before. She again asked me to move them and I obliged. I did make a conscious effort to not move them back there until my turn came around. After I made my play, I'd entirely forgotten again and moved my restless feet right next to her. I guess she was out of patience and done asking kindly at this point because she blurted out, "Ya know...your monkeys are buggin' me!"

And we all laughed and laughed and laughed!

Tibbly! - my memories

TC growing up was kind of shy and often singing to herself. She's always up for a good chat or a game of cards, but I guess that's all the Murdock kids. :) Her lilting voice is as peaceful as a warm breeze - I always admired how she could touch every high note so effortlessly! And she has a personality to match. Growing up, Mom always said "every family needs a Tiffany right in the middle" because she was the peacemaker. As a kid, I remember trying to have all the good qualities of the older siblings that Mom praised. So when it came to being kind, I looked to her. One Sunday she got up to bear her "simple testimony," and later I caught myself using her exact words in a Young Women's testimony meeting. I also immitated her artistic talents. She wrote poems, so I wrote poems. She told me hands and eyes were the hardest things to draw, so guess what I worked on? Yep, hands and eyes. When I got the part of Annie in the church play, she tried to teach me tapping so I could dance during my duet with Daddy Warbucks. I say she "tried" because I got discouraged that I couldn't get it right the first or second time, so she ended up teaching me a super-simplified version that I used on stage.

It was also really nice when we shared a room living on Minton. She slept on the top bunk and I was on the bottom. After we turned off the lights to go to bed, we spent hours just talking about whatever was going on in our lives. That's when I really got close to Tiffy. Another nice thing about rooming with her was that she was a heavy sleeper. I got this new alarm clock, and the night before I had turned up the volume pretty loud to make sure I got up. In the morning when it rang, I thought it was the fire alarm! I gathered up all my stuff - backpack, shoes, scriptures, blanket, and went to wake Tiffany on the top bunk. That's when I realized that the noise was coming from my dresser and not the house, but she slept clear through it! Not even a movement!! And that thing was LOUD.

Anyway, I really respect Tiffany. She's a wonderful example to me of how a person should be - and I think that started way back when she played the older sister in one of those silly songs we mouthed and performed for Mom and Dad - "She's about this high, she's smaller than I, sometimes I help her tie her shoe. She's my sister...."

Movie Quoting Queen

Tiff took tops on movie quoting. The rest of us quote movies about every other sentence, whereas Tiffany - at least for a while - every other word out of her mouth was a movie quote! There was a time when she quoted the french maid on "Kiss Me, Kate" where she does this crazy-fast thing with her toungue - "La-lalalalalalalalalalalala!" The great part is when Sundee tried to immitate it too, but her toungue seemed to get stuck on the roof of her mouth. And the harder she tried to do it, the longer her "L"s got - "La-lullll-lulllllllll-lullllllllll-lullllllllllllllll...."

Don't Squeak Me!

Remember when Tiff was really little? I don't, but I remember the story. The vacuum would squeak when it was on and apparently little Tiffany was afraid of it. I'm not sure if Jayson was chasing her around the house or if it was just anybody using the vacuum - but whenever that thing was on, she would run away from it yelling "Don't squeak me! Don't squeak me!"

Singing Arguments

Charity made a comment and I think the story should be posted. :)

Back at our house in Taylorsville UT, our parents were desperately trying to get us to stop quarrelling. So one happy Family Home Evening was centered on no contention - and the article in the Ensign suggested that people try singing their arguments. Anytime they got mad, they HAD to sing, and by the end of the argument everyone was laughing instead. Singing your arguments was instantly included in house rules.

Chance was in the living room while Summer and Tiffany were in the kitchen, and an argument started. He didn't even know what they were arguing about, but they were definitely singing it instead of saying it. I guess the squabble got somewhat passionate because - as Chance describes it - he heard them getting louder and louder. Finally, when he thought nobody could get any louder, Summer comes sailing above. Then Tiffany topped her volume and he swears the house rattled and now for sure, no one could beat that. But NOOOOOO, Summer sang yet louder!!! I think she was the last one in the battle of volume, but it was a tough match!