My Life: Family History

Your Birth & Family: What is your full name and how did you get it? Do you have any nicknames? Christene LaChell (Choate) Edenfield. My mom just always liked the name Christene even before she was married. She changed the spelling to reflect her and her mother's name... Larene and Merlene. I hope I can come up with a name I like that has that same spelling. As for my middle name I'm not really sure. I think it just sounded good with my first name. I was always pretty adamant about the spelling, making sure that the C was capitalized. I think I liked that it was unique.

What are your parents full names, birth dates and places?
Steven Learon Choate born March 4, 1961 in Payson, Utah?
Larene Kay (Webb) Choate born November 1, 1963 in Kimball, Nebraska. (I think, I should double check)

What is the date of your birth? Where were you born? What are some of the circumstances of your birth?
August 9, 1990 in Payson, Utah. I am pretty sure I was early because my parents were taking a birthing class and their class took a tour of the hospital and they saw my parents. I can't remember if I was already born or not. I also remember my mom saying she was a little nervous and she had a mean nurse who said, "there will be no yelling." I also think my mom gave birth naturally? I could be making this up. This question is kinda weird because these are not actually my memories, just stuff I remember my parents saying, but yet it's all about me.

Sibling full names & birth dates?
Garrett Steven Choate September 19, 1992 (My mom also really liked this name for a long time before she got married. He is also obviously named after my dad)

Matthew Learon Choate March 4, 1998 (Same birthday as my dad. Also named from the bible as suggested by my Grandpa Jerry and named after my dad and his dad. I remember a lot from Matthew being born. I remember being at my friend Jerrica's house for her birthday (because oddly enough she also had the same birthday) and having to go back over there to stay the night because my mom was going to have Matthew. I think I also requested to stay there rather than stay at my other Grandparents house (that is where Garrett stayed) I also remember her being scared, she had complications and was on bed rest for most of her pregnancy. I also remember that day was the science fair at school and my dad and my Grandma Merlene peeked through the window in my class room door and waved. I remember seeing Matthew for the first time and seeing his pricked feet and the scar that formed there. I also remember that my Grandma took Garrett and I to Artic Circle to get us out of the house. She also bought be a Barbie.)

What is your relationship like with your siblings?
Garrett: Growing up (as if I am an adult now, haha) we fought a lot. We were so different and he used to annoy me o bad. I remember wrestling with Garrett for fun (our dad taught us that) and we would roll around the floor smacking our heads into the walls (we have big hard heads in our family), you can still see some of the dents in the walls. One time we made sock bombs (where you roll up one sock and put it into another) and smacked each other with them all night. Even my dad played. The funny thing is as I think about our relationship I know that we fought and boy did we fight a lot but I can't really remember any instances other than the time that my mom told me to just ignore Garrett and he would leave me alone and he decided to test my patience and he sat in top of me and poked my eyes and really I did try to ignore him, but I couldn't take it any longer and I through him off of me and he hit the table. Oops. Oh and there was this one time where we went through this phase where we would scare each other on this day it was intense. I went downstairs and as I was coming up I heard Garrett say he was going to scare me as I was coming up the stairs. I waited for a long time and finally jumped out and scared him. I scared him so bad that he fell down and started to cry, my dad tried to reprimand me, but ended up laughing. It was pretty funny. I also remember putting on silky docks and "skating" around the kitchen as if we were ice skaters, being spies and spying on our parents while they were watching tv, making up spells after seeing Harry Potter for the first time and watching Pokemon in the morning while we ate our breakfast before school. Now our relationship is more adult. I try and talk to him a lot and give him advice. Since I'm so smart, haha. Garrett is more timid and soft hearted and I am not, I think that is why we struggled so much when we were younger. All he wanted was to hang out with someone and all I wanted was to be alone. *this doesn't really fit in right here, but I have to add it. One time I caught him trying to read my diary, haha. I had one of the password journals and he tried to break in. Not that I had anything juicy or secretive for him to read. Garrett has grown up so much, he makes me feel old. He looks like a man now, not a little boy.

Matthew: I was eight when he was born. I remember feeling an intense level of responsibility for him even at a young age. I was his second mom. When we were little we had to go to the baby sitters twice a week, I remember Matthew waiting for me to get off of school. He hated the baby sitters and he would cling to me as soon as I got there. I also remember feeling guilty leaving him when I would go to friends houses instead of go to the baby sitter. When I got older I was the baby sitter in the summer and I would just hang out with him all day. We would make Garrett go to a friends since he bugged us, haha. I used to do crafts and paint Matthews face with my moms make up. When he got older he and Garrett started to fight a lot I was always the in between, but mostly protecting Matthew. One time Matthew got Garrett really mad and I had to hold him back to keep him from hurting Matthew, but then Matthew sucker punched Garrett right in the face and then ran upstairs to his bedroom and slammed the door (Matthew slammed doors a lot, he was rather moody as a kid). As Matthew got older I relationship changed a little, he got more annoying. My parents sided with him a lot even when it wasn't right. P.s. my parents are both the youngest in their families. No wonder they felt more sympathy towards him. I think our relationship changed because I was a girl, he started to want to hang out with Garrett more rather than me. Now our relationship is still pretty close, he made me cry at my wedding. More if that guilt for leaving him again. Matthew makes me laugh all the time, I think he takes after me a lot as well. He has dome of the same tendencies as I do.

What is your relationship like with your parents growing up?
I would like to think I didn't cause my parents too much grief but alas I know I was not an angel. I think a lot of my "angst" stemmed from the amount of responsibility they placed on me. I was the oldest and they also pushed me really hard in school. I was expected to get high grades whereas Garrett didn't have those expectations and I had a hard time with that. They also had me help Garrett and Matthew in school a lot. I always had trouble with friends growing up, I think that worried them, especially my mom. I also had older friends too and friends who's parents didn't care so much where they were or what they did and one times I would get jealous and wish my parents were like that. Now that I am moved out our relationship has changed for the better, because it is more adult. When I was at home my dad would tell me to clean my room a lot, give me the stink eye every time I came home with new clothes, get after me about my cell phone usage and keeping my car clean etc, but now my husband does all of that haha. No but really I think moving out really made me appreciate my parents and I actually look forward to seeing them.

Lessons you learned from your parents?
My dad: Everything I know about working hard I learned from him. My dad is seriously one of the hardest working people I know. My dad used to always say "I want a good job not a fast job." Whenever my house is a mess I always think that my dad would be disappointed. I remember him sweeping and mopping the floor once a week, he would get up before the rest of us and do it. He also knew a lot about cars and took care of them. I admire my dad for being self-sufficient in a lot of ways.

My mom: Taught me compassion and to be conscious of other peoples feelings. I just remember my mom getting after me fir my mean attitude towards Garrett a lot. I was so sarcastic and Garrett didn't interpret it that way. I also remember her telling me to be friends with a girl that lived by that not a lot of people liked or understood. She was always pushing me to be nicer and friendlier.

What are some of your best memories with your parents?
My dad: Let see... I remember getting up at the butt crack of dawn, drinking Ovaltine and going fishing with him and Garrett. I think we were pretty young I had to have been six, seven? I remember him teaching me how to shoot a gun. I also remember when I was like 14 and Garrett was 12 we got shotguns and we took them up to practice shooting. I got reprimanded for having long painted fingernails that would surely break from shooting the gun. Garrett and I fought over who would shoot first because we were both kinda scared of our guns because they kick. I went first and my dad launched the clay pigeon and I fired and I hit it. I will never forget my dads face when I hit it, pure shock. We also used to do this thing where once a month Garrett and I would take turns going with either mom or dad in our own date. My dad and I saw El Dorado and played Star Wars pin ball in the arcade. I also remember my dad getting mad at me for getting another pair of "high heels" when I was in elementary school. My dad used to jump on the trampoline a lot when were younger and we would sleep out there sometimes. I also remember my dad getting me ready for school, I was in first grade. He worked graveyards and my mom worked in the mornings so he had to get me ready for school. I remember the way he would hold my face really tight and then completely mutilate it with other using a wet washrag. I also wore my hair in a wet slicked back pony tail with a barrette on each side because that's all he knew how to do. My mom later taught him how to braid and curl my bangs, needless to say I learned how to do my hair at a really young age.

My mom: I remember a lot of shopping trips. That must be where my live of clothes stems from. Since i was the only girl we would try to get away from the boys and do girly things. I remember especially loving the deer hunt. Not because I woud go because Garrett and my dad leave and later on so did Matthew. We would go out to dinner and a movie, sometimes shopping. I remember they came home early once and I wasSo mad. I remember getting up early in the morning just so I could see her before she had to go to work. I also remember watching soap operas with her, young and the restless, as the world turns, etc. I remember going to get vanilla pepsi's from Glades in the summers. I remember watching her get ready for work and her letting me do my own make up. I think I learned how by age eight? I remember this one time my mom had taken a sleeping pill and she had stayed up to late and it made her a little crazy and she took my drink from me. My whole drink without asking. Ha, she didn't remember. Also this one time when we were staying at my Grandparents in Rangely, CO and my mom and I were picking apples out of their tree. Mostly I was just watching my mom and I was sitting to the side and I noticed something moving and I asked my mom what it was she touched it with her foot and it hissed. She proceeded to run down the hill without me and leave me with the snake, haha. But I got scared and I couldn't move so she ran up and got me. I think that is where my fear of snakes came from.