Personal History #3 - Ann Dee Knight Ellis

The first thing I remember is blue shag carpet. In the Apple Avenue house. I also remember going to Stewart Falls with Dad but the weird thing is I don’t know if my memories are just made up from the pictures. Like the one where me and Katy are playing in the water and I’m wearing a blue shirt with a white collar and Dad’s skinny in a plaid shirt and Katy’s laughing. Or maybe she isn’t. We used to hike up there or hike around. Mom told me once that when we lived in the Canyon Meadows cabin she’d be home with just me and Katy and she’d take us to Vivian Park and take us on walks by the Heber Creeper railroad. Everyone else was down in Provo. I wonder if Mom even had a car. She must have. I don’t remember much about the cabin but I do remember Julio who had a big wheel and lived at the beginning of the road up to the meadows. I think he was mean but maybe he wasn’t. I also remember the time the bat got stuck in the cabin and we all hid under the bed.

Another thing, Old Willow. The little lane by our house with the big holes and the apricots and we could walk down the road to the old Apple Avenue house and to see Rhiny’s horses and feed them apples. When Karen would come over with Holly and Tommy, we’d go on a walk and I’d always think about the OHVs (the Oak Hills Vandals) because I’d heard that in the trees by Old Willow, the OHVs would hang out and decide who they would steal from. There were bike trails all over through those trees and I knew only OHVs would go off jumps like that. One time I was walking down Old Willow to get my friend’s house and I stole a lot of apricots and put them in my bag. I ate some too even though they weren’t washed and there might have been worms in there. By the time I got to the end of the lane I thought maybe I shouldn’t have stolen those apricots but they were all over the road but I did steal them and maybe I was as bad as the OHVs and I should be one of them. One time they stole the purses out of all the Relief Society ladies cars when they were at our house for a progressive dinner. Mom was mad because she made Sam and Dan cut a path through the bushes so the ladies wouldn’t trip when they were going over the Van Wagonens for dinner and she bought a new wreath and she was cooking for days but then it was all ruined because of the OHVs.

That reminds me, our house on Oak Lane was right by a hill and there were no other houses around us and that’s why the tarantulas would come in our backyard and one time a huge boulder fell down into our backyard one day. I think someone is going to say that was there when we moved there but I don’t ‘think so. I just asked Dad and Mom and Leslie if it fell and Dad said it did and they said it could have killed someone and it could have. I could have died in our backyard or got bit by tarantula. Anyway, that was the best hill because we went sledding down it and we hiked up it to get to friends who lived in upper oak hills and we made a hide out at Puppy Dog Rock. I think Joe proposed to Donielle there which was probably romantic for them but was weird because it was Puppy Dog Rock, not love Dog Rock. One time Donielle took me for a root beer float. She got a Tab float.

Katy and I shared the blue cloud room so she put a piece of tape across the middle of the room. This worked.

I also remember Christmas in Livermore. Except I don’t. Was Livermore yellow? And the backyard went into a playground. I used to love to tell people that I lived in California even though I don’t remember it except for when we went on Bart and we saw Little Orphan Annie and I danced in the aisles. Or was it Nutcracker? I actually think that’s one of those stories that people have told me but I don’t remember it. I do remember the Nut Tree and the train and we went there every time we drove to California. And the fairyland and you had to put your key into the slot to hear the fairytales. I liked the big Blue whale one and I saw recently pictures of the place and it doesn’t look how I remember it. I remember the shiny and big and fancy. It’s not so shiny.

I remember when Karen would babysit us and Holly had a Rainbow Brite nightgown with purple trim and one time we made a play up in the quad and it had a real curtain with string and a blanket and we made everyone come watch. I liked popsicles and I didn’t like people combing my hair. Especially Mom because she would just yank and yank at my hair and it HURT. There would be big huge wads of snarls in my hair, chunks, and I did not want anyone touching them. Leave them alone. Sometimes I’d have Karen or Donielle French braid my hair and then I’d keep it in for at least a week. Except they yanked my hair too. When Karen did it I’d yell ouch and start crying and she’d say, Oh quit being a big baby. When Donielle did it I didn’t dare yell so I’d just quietly cry and afterwards she’d notice that I was crying and she’d say, Why didn’t you say something? And I’d say, I don’t know.

I got to be a bridesmaid at Donielle and Joe’s wedding and we got to go to California and wear big pink dresses and hold bouquets and she had a pool at her house. Plus we went to the beach. Did Joe work at the credit union? I remember going to the credit union. The big white one by the stadium and I always got a sucker when we went.

Hmmm, this is not in order and not before I was five? Was hanging out in the Eyring Science Center and eating sandwiches out of the machine and playing the violin for Dad’s classes so he could show some vibration thing and looking out the window and crawling on the desk and that big huge picture of Dad and Karen holding hands.

One time I took violin lessons. Katy was taking from Mrs. Primrose but she wasn’t taking new students so I had to take from Mrs. Grover. I hated group lessons and bowing. I liked playing jingle bells and the fun night at Suzuki camp. I used to lie about practicing. We were supposed to do at least a half hour a day. If Mom was there, she’d sit with us and make us practice every day. She’s say, “again” and “again” over and over and over, trill after trill after trill. Then, if she couldn’t’ sit with us, she’d say, “I’ll set the timer” and she’d take off to the grocery store or something but that NEVER worked. We’d start practicing but then when she left, we’d watch TV. I say we but maybe it was just me. Then, when I heard the garage door open, I’d run and start playing again. I also stole oreos and scraped out the middle and made a huge ball and kept it in my pocket and lick it whenever I wanted but Mom would get mad if she saw the empty chocolate cookies in the garbage so I’d hide those at the bottom of the garbage can. I also hid my pills but that’s later and another story.

In Pre-school I mostly remember going to Mom’s school and running up the ramp. There were no ramps or even stairs at my elementary school. And I liked being in kindergarten and pre-school at the same time. I also liked Dad picking me up and sitting in the booth at the Wilkinson center except the booths were downstairs and we ate in the upstairs because that was the faculty lounge and that’s where we got to eat all the deviled eggs we wanted and I wanted a lot. I sometimes went with Dad to BYU to get doughnuts in the morning. I think I’m running out of steam but I like remembering when I was little because I had a good little time.