My Brothers and Sister (part 2)

Last week, I wrote about my three youngest siblings. This week, I'm turning my attention to my three older siblings (meaning that they are older than by three youngest siblings. Unfortunately, none of them are older than me).

While we all get along and have good relationships with each other, in some ways, there is a difference between the older four kids and the younger three kids. The older four were all born before we moved to Grantsville. There is roughly a six-year gap between myself (the oldest of the older four) and Carl (the youngest of the older four). There is then a three-year gap between Carl and Kevin, and then there is a six-year gap between Kevin (the oldest of the younger three) and McKell (the youngest of the younger three).

We older four grew up when our family had less money, but part of that was that Mom didn't work when we were young. The younger three grew up with more money (in part due to Mom returning to teach school, and also due to more of the older siblings moving on and being financially independent), but maybe had less of Mom's time. At the end of the day, my point is that the younger three were pretty spoiled. (None of them were working all summer at the age of 12).

I love all of my siblings, but definitely grew up more with the older three, so have a few more memories that involve them.

Carl

I've already written about some of my early memories with Carl, mostly about me accidentally (purportedly) injuring him, whether with a dart or a baseball bat. Despite these early mishaps, as far as I can remember, we've always gotten along pretty well, maybe because we were always teammates in the Sunday-morning two-on-two basketball games we'd play against Scott and Alan in our basement on our toy hoop.

I don't recall exactly how it happened (and I guess it is their story to tell anyway), but sometime in the early part of 2000, after Jeanell and I were engage, Carl took an interest in Jeanell's younger sister Rachel. She was a year ahead of him in school, but he asked her to Prom, she accepted, and by the time Jeanell and I got married in May, I believe they ware dating. That was always fun, and became even more fun, when Rachel and Carl were married, four years and two days after Jeanell and I were (it would have four years and three days because Jeanell and I were going to be married on May 9, but Jeanell's cousin Jay was getting home from his mission on the 9th, so we bumped the wedding back a day).

Another vivid memory I have of Carl is attending a quarterfinal state playoff football game against Millard his senior year. The game was played at Grantsville, and Millard was driving late, looking to make a go-ahead touchdown and win the game. Carl started at inside linebacker and was key to a heroic goal line stand that sealed the victory for the Cowboys. I remember him raising his arms triumphantly after stopping Millard on their 4th down try.

With Carl being both my brother and my brother-in-law, I've spent more time with him than any of my other siblings as adults. But that hasn't been limited to just family interactions. At the beginning of 2012, both Carl and I left our previous jobs (Carl from Xactware and me from Vulcraft) to join a small custom software firm called [io]development, owned and run by Carl's friend Chad Francis. We worked together in that for four to five years, and eventually worked together again at 365 Retail Markets until Carl left a few years ago.

(I still work at 365 and Chad is still my boss. I have now worked with Chad longer than any other person).

When Jeanell and I moved back to Grantsville, we opted to purchase the lot next to Carl and Rachel's home and built our new home there. Consequently, there was a time where Carl was my brother, brother-in-law, co-worker, next-door neighbor, and a counselor in our ward bishopric.

On one occasion, we traveled with the Jefferies men to attend a baseball game in Los Angeles. Carl and I roomed together at the hotel we stayed at and were amused by the fact that the door to the bathroom in our room didn't have a lock on it. Anytime either of us would go to use the bathroom, we'd turn to the other and say, "Don't come in." before we slid the door closed. Sounds silly but we got a kick out of it every time.

Carl playd an important role in my life. Despite him being my younger brother I will often turn to him for advice or to get his perspective on something. He's always there to help me out when I need it and I treasure the close relationship that we have.

Carl and Rachel with Jeanell and me at a Christmas party when we worked together at [io]dev

Alan

Alan was the brother that I most clashed with growing up. I'm not sure exactly why that was, but I know that he had a talent for saying something that I would have no retort for, and so I would resort to violence. (Alan: Did you just comb your hair? Me: Yes. Alan: Doesn't look like it. Me: [throws punch]). While Carl was on the receiving end of some unintentional violence, I would have to say that Alan far and away suffered the most intentional violence from me.

That isn't to say that we never had our moments. I have a memory of going over to the elementary school behind our Nalder grandparents' house and playing basketball on an eight-foot hoop on one occasion. Another couple of kids came over of similar ages and we challenged them to play two-on-two. We destroyed them! I remember Alan hitting shot after shot in the early part of the game until at one point I didn't feel I was getting enough shots and suggested he should throw me some lobs. He immediately began doing so and threw me so many perfect lobs leading to so many dunks that I got blisters on both of my hands.

Alan was always the most competitive of my siblings and for my money, was the best athlete (though it's possible Brent just faced stiffer competition). I was on my mission during Al's amazing junior football season when he scored a record 42 touchdowns and helped lead Grantsville to its third state championship of the 90s. But I was back for his senior year when he continued his run and was able to be at the game at South Summit when he broke the all-time touchdown record.

I always felt that Alan was the most ambitious of us and the most willing to step outside his comfort zone. While the rest us did college in-state, Alan went to Iowa and Pomona (in part to continue his football career) and ultimately earned his law degree from Stanford Law School.

Being back in Grantsville together, I've enjoyed seeing his service to the community, serving on the school board for several years (I always enjoyed his speeches at high school graduations. He did a great job) and volunteering as a football coach.

Like Carl and myself, Alan also married his high school sweetheart, Meghan (who was Lila's wonderful kindergarten teacher). I've enjoyed being able to watch their kids grow up and cheer them on in their athletic careers.

Alan is extremely well-read and informed on a wide variety of topics. I always appreciate being able to give him a call and pick his brain on different issues. We don't always share the same opinions, but we do always have great discussions. Grateful for Al and the important role he plays in my life.

Al and I with his two oldest boys, Noah and Gabe, after what I have to assume was a Cowboy win

Scott

Scott is the next oldest and I believe we are the closest two in age of any of my siblings, with me being just over 21 months older. So at least to the extent I can remember, Scott has always been there.

While I'm sure we did at times, I don't have any memories of us fighting as kids. When the basement at our parents' house was finished, we both moved downstairs and shared the basement until we left home.

My buddies Aaron and George both had brothers in Scott's grade and in high school, some of my fondest memories are of times where we'd get together and me and my friends (the seniors) would get together and play basketball or ultimate frisbee against Scott and his friends (the sophomores). While we were older, Scott and his friends were great athletes and I remember many competitive battles. When we'd play at the church, we'd often listen to music (Billy Joel's greatest hits is something I distinctly remember). On one occasion, President Rose poked his head in and icily told us to turn it off. (I mean, fine, I guess, but it's not like we were listening to anything different from what was played at Stake Dances and I don't remember there being anyone else in the building at the time that we were disturbing. Maybe President Rose just really didn't like Billy Joel).

I again missed it while on my mission, but Scott was a starter on the 1996 state championship football team and was in on the final tackle that sealed the victory over our most intense rivals, the Morgan Trojans. (I was going to say "most-hated" rivals, but I don't hate them. I just really hate losing to them and I really, really like it when we beat them).

When Jeanell and I were dating, we'd sometimes double-date with Scott. As I've described elsewhere, Scott was the only of my parents and siblings who lasted through the night and was present when Caleb was born.

Scott actually did the career that I thought I wanted to do when I was finishing high school. He went to Utah State and got a degree in Math Education and came back and has been a math teacher and coach at Grantsville High School for many years. While I don't regret the path my career has taken, it has been rewarding to see Scott take the path I once thought about and see the impact and influence he has had on so many hundreds of students. He coached all of my older boys, some in tennis and others in cross-country and I always appreciated how he worked with and encouraged them.

Scott is the brother that most shares my love and running and is also the brother I just can't seem to beat. While there have been years when I've trained more intensely than he has and I'll manage to get him at the Ray Barrus 5K, if we've both been running consistently, it's not much of a contest. I've run seven or eight half marathons, Scott ran one (or at least at one point he had only run one), but his time in the one was better than any of my times.

Every year around Christmas time, Scott makes a big batch of chocolate chip cookies and with his wife Shannon and their kids, brings them around and carols to us. It's something we look forward to every year.

Scott is always responsive when I need to ask him a question or need his input on something. I also feel that he's always been my biggest fan, defender, and supporter. Love him and so grateful he is a part of my life.

Not sure what year this was, but Scott took first and I took third in our age group