Happy Birthday Little Sister

Today is my little sister Olivia's birthday. She is one of my favorite people in the world. She's everything a good Mormon woman should be...faithful, a loving wife and mother, diligent in her church callings, a cracker jack visiting teacher.

That really does not tell the story of Olivia though. While she is ever a champion of the underdog and obedient and valiant to a fault. She is wickedly wickedly funny.

And sometimes just plain wicked.

My dad has told me on many occasions that he knew from a young age that she would do whatever she wanted and he just had to hang on for the ride and hope she chose to do right things.

She did. She graduated from college, she served a mission, she married this handsome guy in the Salt Lake Temple on a cold winter day.


She also lied to her teachers and skipped school. When she was told she should stop beating on our younger brother because he would someday be bigger (he is), she replied that he would never be meaner (he isn't).

She started calling our dad "Big Guy" when she was about in junior high. He didn't like it. He thought it was disrespectful.

She still calls him Big Guy.


The rest of us were more or less intimidated by our "Big Guy" of a dad when we were young.

But not Olivia. One day he demanded she not leave Enoch because he was making her late for early morning seminary.

She left anyway.

My dad got in a different car and chased after her. Finally he pulled in front of her car, forcing her to stop. I was in college when this happened and I think I had to sit down when I heard the story because the thought of my dad chasing me in a car caused me to quake.

Not Olivia.

Here's Olivia in a high school play. She was mostly the lead in our small town high school plays. She always stole the show.


Here's Olivia (and our sister Marianne) in a community play last spring. She still loves to perform.

She also loves to dress up. One year she came downstairs on January 14th for dinner, dressed in one of my mom's high school formals. She declared it "Olivia Eve".

I am a fairly sedate (boring) and wanting-to-be-in-the-background sort of person. I have all these pictures of me dressing up with Olivia though...going completely against my nature. Olivia will do that to you.

This is when Olivia came to BYU to visit me one fall. She brought my mom's old high school dresses for us all to wear. (I think my mom must have anticipated Olivia when she saved some of her clothes.)

this is my roommate Erin, Olivia, me and our friend Melissa

She brought these clothes when she visited us in the spring:

me, Olivia, and Marianne...yes, Olivia has a band-aid slapped across her forehead and she made us eat in a restaurant dressed like this

Here we are at our parents' house.


Olivia (I'm sure to our parents' relief) has calmed down considerably. She puts her creative energy into motherhood. She is raising three adorable and bilingual children.

I'm just bragging but look how cute they are:

Ruben

Liliana

Marcos and Ruben

Happy Birthday sweet sister. I'm glad you were born. You've made my life a better, more lively place.