Happy Birthday, Krissy!

Wow! My big bro. is rounding his mid-thirties. How in the heck did he (and I) get so old. Kris, we are really not that old. Thirty-six is the new 25, right? And soon to be 34 is the new 22. Anway, my older brother deserves a big birthday wish. He is the greatest guy and many of you may not even know it 'cause he is a little quiet about being so cool! I have always admired Kris. Growing up he was smart and got straight A's all the time. I remember thinking that he was the smartest person I knew, until that is, he told me he got a C in his first semester at BYU and lost his academic scholarship. Little did I know back then that most people who have an academic scholarship at BYU lose it in their first semester.

Some memories I have of Kris are the following:

Kris would always be the first up Christmas morning. He would wake me and my younger siblings and lead us all downstairs to the Christmas tree. A couple times, we got in trouble by my mom, despite Kris' warnings for us to be quiet.

One summer, Kris was taking care of the neighbor's dog while they were out of town for a week or so. This required him to go into their house to get the dog food and feed it. A couple times, he would take me with him and we would sneak into their basement and play nintendo, super mario brothers. We didn't have the nintendo system, thus we were desperate to play any chance we got.

When we were really young, I think Kris was in the 3rd grade and I must have been in 1st, we were walking home from school together. There was a kid who was picking on us or something. The details are vague, but I do remember Kris turning around to fight the kid. I was so scared for my older brother, that I ran all the way home as fast as I could to tell my mom that Kris was in trouble. I knew Kris would win the fight because he was my brother.

I remember Kris helping me pack our moving van and car in order for us to relocate to Las Vegas. And when it was time to say our last good-bye's, he cried. That really meant a lot to me to know that he was going to miss me and my new little four-week-old, Kamryn. He might have cried for Benn too, who knows?

I like that Kris, does't need any attention. He sits back and let's others have their moment in the sun. But when Kris does decide to break into the action, he usually has something funny to say. He's got a great sense of humor! What I like most about Kris is that he is dedicated. Once he sets his mind to something he will no doubt acheive it. He won the spelling bee at our elementary school and I begged my mom to let me miss school to go with her to see Kris participate in the district spelling bee. Although he didn't win, he did let me wear his cool demim jacket that day. Kris was a good waterskiier as well. I wanted to ski just like him. He was a great tennis player and took state in his senior year of high school. I remember watching him play and wishing I could do the same. He was liked by everyone. Nobody could say a bad thing about Kris. I am proud to be his little sister.