Monday, July 7, 2008

Anna, aka Anna Rebekah Nelson Fine Bajanca Hart-thin Ashley Martin Arlene Becky Coates CoCo!

Whew!! Ok, I think the title says it all....so my work here is done. Seeya next time to talk about Jake!

Ok ok, of course I'm kidding. Lets see.....what to say about Anna....Well, lets see here....

Anna was born at our home on a warm spring day during the afternoon. I remember sticking my head in and out of the room to try to see if she had arrived yet. I remember being annoyed because the midwives wouldn't let me stay in the room. Didn't they know I was all of 5 years old, and not at all afraid of seeing a baby being born? I think in reality I was just oblivious enough that watching my mother give birth really wouldn't have freaked me out.So, Anna was born, the runt of the family, at 7 pounds 8 ounces. She was still very chubby, just a little smaller than the rest of us (yes, Anna I know you love this). She was born with braces, a little known fact about her that the family has always tried to conceal. Luckily, she got them off before she turned 2, and we refrained from photographing her until then (didn't want to break any cameras). Ok Ok Ok, I'm kidding once again. Anna was not born with braces!!! Got that??? The braces thing is just a little story Jared and I made up to bother her. She still insists that she didn't believe us and she was only acting frantic because it made her angry that we thought she believed us..... But we all know better......


Anna has always had a very distinct sense of style. She knows what she wants to look like, and she's not going to compromise, or give up until she can achieve that look she has in her mind's eye. As a small child, she always had a certain look dancing around in her aforementioned mind's eye. One of our favorite movies was Toby Tyler, and Anna loved the style and flair possessed by the two little equestrians, Janette and Ajax. Even though she was neither a member of the circus, nor a bareback rider, Anna just knew she could rock their look anyway. She did so by almost every day wearing fancifully colored leotards with a turtleneck (no pants). I will give her credit by saying Janette and Ajax's also went pants less when sporting their equestrian wear....but....I'm not quite willing to say they were wearing leotards. I think I would veer more towards saying they were thin leggings. But, lets not forget about the other half of the outfit...the turtleneck....I'm not really sure how her young mind came up with that one. But, for a long time, Anna's outfit of choice (thankfully she confined it to only at home) for around the house was leotards and a turtleneck.


Anna has always had a soft spot for getting lost. I suppose she thought it was exciting or something. Cruel child. The very scariest time Anna wandered away from the family was in one of the biggest, and supposedly happiest places on earth. That's right, Walt Disney World. We were staying in the Polynesian hotel, and I think Anna was almost 3 years old. Our family of 7 was traveling with our grandparents, Ronnie, Sandra, Brooke, and Mary. We were a very large group....but somehow Anna managed to separate herself from us despite our largeness. If I remember correctly, we were walking from Polynesian to ticket and transportation center to eventually make our way to the Grand Floridian for a massive breakfast buffet. Apparently, in Anna's words, Jared climbed on a rock, and seeing him climb on that rock just gave her the unquenchable desire to do the same. Well, once that little bitty girl climbed all the way up on what I must assume was one gigantic rock, her large family had already walked far far away. It wasn't until we were about to board a monorail and Mother was doing a quick headcount that we discovered we were missing a small rock climber! Dad made what he describes as the most frantic and terrified dash he's ever made in his life, retracing our steps. This dash took him all the way back to the Polynesian hotel. Not at all far away from the rock on which Anna began her little misadventure, Dad found her being taken care of by a nice couple. Apparently they had found her lost and a little upset. She had doubtless charmed them with her small and chubby sweetness, and they were comforting her and letting her hold a little stuffed Minnie Mouse doll. So, although this was a very dramatic event in Anna's life, instead of deciding to retire from the life of getting lost, she continued to do so a few more times. For example, a few years later she managed to got lost in a super Wal Mart while we were driving cross country to Colorado. She got her name announced on the loudspeaker and everything....ok not exactly her name, but "the little girl in the Aladdin sweatsuit." hahahaha.



Although as I mentioned before, Anna has always been on the small side of us Nelson children. in her childhood years (thankfully she has sort of grown out of this now) there was one thing possessed by Anna that was not so small. Her stomach (particularly after eating a tasty and filling meal at Golden Corral). It never failed, whenever we would go out to eat, which was frequently, and almost always with the Hubbards, Anna's little gut would just balloon up like a watermelon. Usually, us girls (Anna Lesley and I) would just get a good chuckle over it, and Anna would unbutton her pants, and wha-la, problem solved. But one fateful day....the attack of the expanding belly became utterly unmanageable! Anna and I had these amazingly cool outfits, no doubt, they were picked out using Anna's hardcore fashion sense (seeing as I didn't develop any until I was about 14, and even that is debatable). They were church outfits, matching ones. The skirts were ankle length, with light purple, light blue and white flowers spread liberally and fancifully across the fabric. The tops were the real kicker. I think they were made of some sort of stretchy-ish polyester, short sleeved....and.... they zipped. Yes, that is essentially what made them cool, the fact that they zipped. The tops were light purple to, of course, match the light purple flowers on the skirts. So, on that particular Sunday, Anna chose to wear the coolest outfit in her closet to church. Looking back, she insists that it was already getting too small for her, but she wanted to wear it anyway, because, of course, it was so incredibly fierce. Soooo.....we go to Golden Corral, the Mecca of all buffets (until of course, it got rats)....we invariably stuff ourselves full of delicious food. Anna's stomach does its thing....and, to quote Pants Suit, "bada bing, bada boom" Anna is miserable. But....fate is not on her side. She is not wearing pants, therefore she cannot unbutton her button! The stylish zipper shirt is at this point painfully tight, and completely uncomfortable. Her stomach is bursting to get out of this corset like article of clothing, but there is nothing she can do about it! So, in a stroke of amazing luck, Lesley happens to be wearing a white t-shirt with some type of jean jacket vest kinda thing over it. She magnanimously offers to let Anna exchange her restricting purple zipper shirt for the comforts of a a size of two larger jean jacket/vest contraption. Anna gratefully accepted, and her stomach got its way, as usual, and expanded greedily, probably trying its hardest to fill up the jean jacket as well. I don't think anyone asked why Anna and Lesley switched shirts after the meal, they probably just assumed that Anna's stomach was up to it's tricks again. It was Golden Corral after all!

1 comment:

Angr E. Bravesfan said...

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