Brothers

Even before I married my husband I was good friends with his family. (Sound Familiar?) My husband has 5 brothers. He is 20 years older than the youngest, Michael. I am almost exactly 10 years older than Zackary (the 4th child). Scott (27) and I have always had an easy fun relationship and I am glad he is a part of my family. Zack (18), Brian (16) and Michael (10) are like brothers to me because I have literally watched them grow. I did a bit of a Memory Monday about Jeff and Scott, so I am paying tribute to the younger three.

*I met Michael when he was less than a month old. Before Andy even did. (I was with my best friend, Andy's girlfriend at the time.)

*Michael kissed me before Andy did. (He was 13 months old.)

*Michael used to rub my calf because he thought the hose felt weird.

*Michael came wedding dress shopping with me.

*Andy baptized Brian when I was pregnant with Marcus. (On my 21st birthday.)

*Brian published his first novel at age 15 under the pseudonym Bron Bahlmann. It's called Bone Warriors.

*We had Brian and Zack take turns staying with us when we worked for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. That was a lot of fun.

*Brian and Zack came to stay with Andy so that he could go to school and I could go to Girl's Camp.

*My first Independence Day as a Bahlmann Zack emptied all the powder from the "dud" fireworks into a bowl. He set it on the piano bench and then found a match. That was a BIG flash!

*One of Zack's nicknames is Skippy. Marcus couldn't say it, so he called him Uncle Silly. Now all my kids do.

*Andy set Zack apart as a deacon. (Or was it a teacher?)

*A couple of weeks ago Zack turned in his mission papers. I am so pleased. He is setting an amazing example for his brothers, but also for my son. Marcus adores his "Uncle Silly".

P.S. Just got a call from insurance. No definite answers yet, but it looks like our mini van will be deemed a "total loss".

Memory Monday

Before Andy and I even thought about each other in "that way", I was friends with him and his family. I did a play where I was engaged to Scott. My senior year in high school I did "Preferred Couples" with Jeff and was in the Mormon Miracle Pageant with Scott and Andy just before Andy went on his mission. It is interesting the dealings that I had with his family before we even got together, let alone engaged. I still enjoy hanging out with them. Scott and I have always had fun together. I have great in-laws. (I had to get these all out of my scrapbooks, so they are weird shapes. Sorry.) After Andy and I got engaged and then married we split every Sunday between his family and mine. I loved playing games with his brothers and getting to know everyone better. In fact, my first Bahlmann kiss was given to me by little Michael. At the time he was 14 months old. I even think my mother-in-law has pictures of that somewhere. Ah, the memories...