Photos of me and my family

This is a picture of my family and Keith's family on our wedding day.

This is Keith's side of our family who were able to make the trip to Mesa,AZ to see us get married.

The Rush/Denison side of the family

Me and my husband, Keith.

My family in 1997

4 generation pedigree chart

Goals

My Dreams	Goals
---Goal 1--- Exercise	Daily: ·         --- walk on treadmill while reading something ·         --- take small exercise breaks from school work every 30 min (set of push-ups, lunges, clean, organize etc.) ·         --- set timer for 30 min. intervals ·         --- drink plenty of water Weekly: ·         --- go to the gym 1 hour at least 3 times a week ·         --- try to go in the mornings before 8am ·         --- work out with Keith at least once a week Deadline: --- Have gym membership by Tuesday of next week (4/2/13)
---Goal 2--- Have a home where the spirit is present and welcome at any time.	Daily: ·         --- Do dishes as they are used ·         --- organize something (depending on how much time I have- a closet, cupboard, desk, drawer etc.) ·         --- tidy up before work or before bed depending on the day Weekly: ·         ---Monday: Laundry washed, folded and put away. ·         ---Tuesday: Grocery shopping ·         ---Wednesday: vacuum and dust ·         ---Thursday: Clean bathroom, and makeup dresser. ·         ---Friday: wash sheets and towels/ mow lawn in the summer time ·         ---Saturday: Work on bigger projects if Keith is available or not (headboard, paint, sew, crafts for home etc.) Deadlines: --- If goals are met and house is tidy for 2 months straight, reward myself with a pet fish J
---Goal 3--- Be less distracted	Daily: ·         --- make daily list of tasks to do ·         --- refer to daily goals and plan out each day ·         --- go to bed before 10pm each night and wake up by 6:30am Weekly: ·         ---plan for primary lessons ·         ---plan for scout lessons ·         ---plan out deadlines for school ·         ---check Facebook only one day a week (Saturdays) Deadline: --- 4/13 have Facebook combined with Keith’s                 --- end of each month reassess goals
---Goal 4--- finish bachelor’s degree	Daily: ·         --- spend time on school work ·         --- make sure computer is available each day for Keith to use- so try to get hw done before work each day Weekly: ·         ---plan for weekly deadlines ·         --- have work done on Friday of each week to free up Saturdays and Sundays ·         ---make time for other goals Deadline: --- Apply for grants by 4/1/13                 --- 4/20/13- 4/21 plan out each semester’s finances by the start of spring semester
---Goal 5--- Make more friends	Daily: ·         --- plan for weekend in advance ·         --- seek out others with similar interests Weekly: ·         --- be more friendly at church ·         --- talk to a new person each Sunday ·         --- go to lunch with somebody at least once a month ·         --- offer to babysit Deadline: --- visiting teaching each month
---Goal 6--- Temple work for Anna Josephine Quinn	Daily: ·         --- receive daily guidance from the spirit on what work to do Weekly: ·         ---write in personal journal ·         --- work on family scrapbook Monthly: ·         --- talk to relatives- perform interviews ·         --- receive information from Grandpa Rush on his family history ·         --- gather information on Grandpa Rush’s line of the family and expand his line of ancestors. Deadline: --- Plan to visit Grandma Denison, after baby is born- to get help on family history work. (in October of November 2013)            --- Take name for Anna Josephine to the temple to have her work done by 6/13

Ancestral Histories

Judi Jeanine (Denison) Rush

            After interviewing my mom I learned a lot about why I was raised the way that I was.  She was born and raised in Northern California where both of her parents worked full time.  She had an older sister and an older brother.  My mom had a good relationship with her family.  She said that she remembers her mom being the dominate member of her house.  Her mom was always the boss.  Her father had a very calm and loving personality.  He hardly ever yelled or got angry.  Instead he would show disapproval through his disappointment.  My mom was a peace maker in her home.  She only remembers getting spanked once.  Spankings were a form of punishment in her home.  Friends were important to her, since both parents worked; she spent a lot of time playing with her friends as a child. 

            As a teenager she was very involved in a singing dancing group.  The name of that group was: Galina.  Her mom was very musical, which meant their family was very musically centered.  They did many plays and performances.  With Galina my mom was able to not only perform a lot, but travel with the group as well.  They got to go to Hawaii a couple of times, and perform on cruise ships.  Naturally, she went on a lot of dates.  She said that most of the boys she dated were also a part of her singing/dancing group.  Basically they all took turns dating each other.

            My mom met my dad and was married at age 18.  Something that attracted her to him was that he had a big family, and had similar views of many things in life.  Also she thought he was cute.  She knew it was right to marry him because it was very stress free for her.  They both knew they wanted to start having kids as soon as they could.  Because my dad was 24 and my mom’s mom had a hard time try to have children.  So 10 months after they were married my oldest sister was born. 

            A hardship that brought my parents even closer was when my mom’s dad passed away.  This was a very emotional time for my mom.  She also mentioned that with each child’s birth her marriage seemed to improve.  She described marriage as something that you always have to work on.  It’s not just a chore that you are able to work at for a few years, and it is done.  But it is a continuous process.  And you have to aware of the other person’s feelings and beliefs.  My parents have had a great relationship.  And most importantly they were excellent parents! Anyone would say so!

Charles Raymond Rush

                My grandpa’s life is very different than anyone else in my family.  It is interesting to learn more about him and the great strength that he has.  He was born and raised in Pennsylvania.  He describes the house that he grew up in as: large, white, and in the center of Dushore.  The lower portion was converted to a market.  And later the upper was converted to an apartment.  The building is still standing; and when I was 7 I got to go in it.  It is now called the Jolly Trolly.   The games that he played as a kid are some of the games that he taught to us, cousins, as kids.  One of those was kick the can.  He says, “The whole town was my playground.”  He was also a pretty healthy kid. 

                He had a dog that he grew up with till about age 8 or 9.  It was a, “big old American bull dog.”  When a boy, he ran off without telling his mother where he was going, and this is what would get him into trouble.  His parents were both quite and strict discipliners.  He had an older sister that died at birth, a younger ½ sister (who is still alive), 2 older brothers who are now dead, and another older sister (still alive).  Some family outing and activities that they had were: Sunday drives, board games, and trips to the lake or swimming pool.

                His parents both died when he was young.  He was 8 years old when his father died, and 12 when his mother died, during child birth.  Although his parents died when he was young they did have an impact on him.  He was raised catholic, and he remembers church attendance being a priority in his life.  He says that he served at an altar boy many times.  Something else that his parents instilled in him was the importance of education.  Even though he didn’t have anyone telling him to go to school, he was able to graduate from high school at age 17.

                Work has been a very important part of my grandpa’s life.  He started working when he was 12 years old, so that he would have food to eat.  In return this made it so that he did not have time for extra-curricular activities or sports.  All of the money he earned was spent to, “eat and pay (his) way.”  Although he enjoyed working he feels that if he could do it all over again, he would have received more of an education when he was young.  He feels that he would have made more money, although he realizes that money isn’t everything.  And they always had enough to get by.  He, “always managed to provide for (his) family” (a wife and 6 kids).   He’s favorite job was the work he did in the military.  After the question of:  If you could be anything in the world, what would it be?  He responded, “The perfect family!  And I pretty near hade it.  My ultimate wish is to have them all with me in the Celestial Kingdom.”

Personal History

Personal History: First memories through age 8

            I was born May 10, 1990 in the Phoenix, Arizona hospital.  My parents are Dan and Judi Rush.  I have 6 siblings: Christi (10years older than me), Charlie (8 years older than me), Ben (4 years older), Tim (20 months older), Michael (2 ½ years younger), and Annie (5 years younger).  Most of my memories of growing up are from family vacations, outings, home evenings, and time spent together. 

            My very first memory that I recall was from when I was about 3 years old.  This memory was of my great grandma Preston’s funeral in Utah.  I remember playing in the snow at the cemetery she was buried at.  I also remember parts of the hotel we stayed at, mostly being in the swimming pool with my cousins and grandma Denison.  My grandma Preston is my mom’s mom.

            Another memory I have from around that same age was being picked on by my 3 older brothers.  Until about age 4 I had a speech impediment that I quickly grew out of.  I could not pronounce the letter “R.”  My brothers would tease me by telling me to say certain words like, car or Christi.  When I would say caw or kwisti they would all laugh.  Then they when they got into trouble for laughing at me they would say they were, “just testing me,” as if that made it better.  Having 3 older brothers was good speech therapy.  

More memories that I have from a very young age are taking long road trips with my family of 9 in our 8 passenger vehicle.  My older brother Tim once pulled a trick on me that I can remember at about age 4.  At the time our family vehicle was a white van.  The van had a step under the door that was very useful for small children.  One day after church Tim got out of the van right before I did.  He thought it would be funny to put his chewed gum right where I would step to get out of the van.  So when I stepped on the gum, of course I complained and Tim was punished.  I can remember being very upset about this.  But it is something that Tim and I often laugh about now.

After being teased so much by my brothers, my dad started to “stand up for me.”  Something he often said when I would come to him tattling on something they did was, “be nice to your sister, she is a delicate flower.”  At the time I felt that was a good response, and felt much protection by that.  I now realize that he was saying it in a joking manner, without punishment, almost egging them on.  This is something I find quite funny.  My dad also had a couple of nicknames for me: baby girl, and emy em.  He still uses these nicknames every once in a while.  When my dad was home from work we always asked him to do, “roots, kalicatie (gibberish)” This is when he would basically just throw us in the air and say “roots kalicatie.”  I know that this came from some movie or TV show, but didn’t and still don’t know the meaning of what he was saying.  I just enjoyed being thrown in the air.  Another daily “tradition” we would do with my dad was: when it was time for him to leave for work we (Ben, Tim, and I) would “kick him out the door.”  He would stand at the door; we kicked his calves, and say, “Don’t come back until I tell you to… come back!” And finally, at dinner time my dad would often say, “good-licious.” And all of us kids would say, “and oh so good-tricious.”  I’m not sure where this tradition came from but my dad still does it today.  Only I recently learned that I had been saying it wrong all of these years.  I usually said, “and also good-tricious.”

As a child I remember having really long blonde hair that people complimented all the time. About the time I turned 4 my brother Charlie was babysitting on a Friday or Saturday night while my parents went on a date (back in the times when we used beepers).  Somebody let me have bubble gum, and I fell asleep.  I remember waking up with gum all tangled in my hair.  Charlie had some friends over, so they decided to use peanut butter to get it out.  Another thing I remember from that night, which probably added to Charlie’s fun was Tim, putting on every pair of underwear he owned at the same time.  Because Ben was about the same size they probably shared meaning he had double the amount of underwear as most boys his age.  Tim remembers this and claims that it was a good idea.

When I was about 3 or 4 I broke my leg.  We had a Sharpe dog named, Prunes.  Prunes and I were buds.  We were about the same age, and she was a very good dog.  One day, the doorbell rang, and I loved to answer the door.  So when I sprinted toward the door, Prunes followed.  When I came to a halt at the door, Prunes continued to run behind me throwing me over her body smacking the tile.  My dad had an x-ray machine at his office (he is a chiropractor) so when we found out it was broken, an orthopedic doctor in our ward casted it for me.  I got a pink cast, and my mom got to stroller/wagon me around for the next couple of months.  Soon after I broke my leg, Michael, my younger brother also broke his leg falling off the kitchen counter.  My mom had her hands full!

Some of my friends at that age were: Paige Grant (the neighbor girl) and Sterling Smith (family friend in the ward).  Sterling and I were best buds at this age and spent a lot of time together.  We were each other’s first kiss at age 3.  This was when Tim and Chase (Sterling’s older brother the same age as Tim) dared sterling and I to kiss under the trampoline, and Sterling and I dared Tim and Chase to kiss on top of the garbage cans.  We still laugh about this.  The Smiths were backyard neighbors to us at the time.  So we shared a backyard fence.  Tim and I would meet Sterling and Chase at the fence to play with our new pet gold fish.  We would actually take the gold fish out of its tank and pet it.  Sterling was always the only boy at my birthday parties.  Growing up he use to give me a hard time about that.

When I started Preschool I seemed to be a pretty easy transition because Tim was also in preschool.  Since his Birthday is in September he went to 2 years of it.  Our preschool teacher was also a woman from the ward, her name is Mrs. Janny.  She taught in a little school they built in her backyard.

Starting Kindergarten at Highland Elementary (where I spend all of my elementary school years) was also a fairly smooth transition because Tim was just a couple class rooms down from me, and we would see each other going to and from recess.  In elementary school I had a “clan” of girlfriends that I mostly stuck around.  But in kindergarten I have memory of them not being very welcoming to me.  I have a memory of them sitting in a circle in the sand, and me asking if I could sit with them.  They said yes and when I sat down they all left.  These girls later became my good friends, and do not remember this happening.  Jori, who to this day is one of my best friends, still denies this.  But I also had other friends in Kindergarten.  Sterling and his family moved to California for a few months.  They weren’t their long when they moved back, and Sterling and I could be buds again (about half way through the school year).  My school teacher’s name was Ms. Marrow.  She was very kind.  One of my favorite memories of this school year was stuffed animal day.  We got to bring any stuffed animal to school, and Christi and I had a teddy bear themed room, so we had a lot of stuffed animals.  And I brought a big giant bear, about the size of me. I also loved play time at the end of the day, when my friends and I could play house.

My first grade teacher’s name was Mrs. Black.  She was very artsy.  We did a lot of art work in first grade.  I also remember becoming a better reader during my first grade year of school.  We did a lot of flash cards in class that helped me to learn the sounds of a combination of letters.  My best friends in first grade were: Lexi Wood, Jori Jarvis, Brittany Stapley, and Lindsey Brown.  The summer after 1^st grade, Lindsey got in a really bad car accident.  She was put in Acoma for a couple of months.  When she woke up she had to relearn how to speak, walk and do most things.  My mom and I visited often.  After about a year she returned to function able status.  But she had a different personality.  Even though we still loved her, and were there for her as friends, she didn’t share the same interests as she used to.  She quickly made more friends, and throughout elementary, junior high, and high school we were friendly when we passed by each other, but we were not, and never became as good of friends as we use to be.

Second grade was a fun year.  Girls would chase boys on the playground, and boys would chase girls.  Even though I didn’t initiate this, my friends and I would still have fun joining in.  Sterling and I’s friendship slowly dwindled.  Just as most boy and girl friendships naturally do around ages 7 and 8. Even though our families were still good friends Sterling and I pretended not to be good of friend.  I think I may have even had a crush on him at some point.  But when we became teenagers we were friends again.  Actually I got engaged a couple of weeks after he came home from his mission.  When he found out I was engaged, at church he said to me, “What? Emily, we were supposed to get married.”  My family and I thought that was quite funny.  He also got married a few months ago.

Jori and Lexi were my best buds in second grade.  We would do everything together; this was mostly because we were in the same class, with Ms. Lake as our teacher.  Something funny that we used to believe, was that string cheese was lucky.  Whenever we got it we would try to make it last as long as possible.  Once, we forgot our jump rope in the class room for recess (we loved jump rope) normally we were not allowed to go back inside after we went out.  But this one time the recess aid let us go in to get our jump rope.  This was right after lunch, and we later found out that Jori had a piece of string cheese stored in her mouth, that she was savoring.  We tribute our good luck to the string cheese in Jori’s mouth.       

          During this year I also turned 8 years old.  This was a very big deal for me, because I got to get 

baptized. My stake did baptism days clumped together for the whole month.  So, at the end of the 

month, everyone who had turned 8 since the last month was baptized on the same day.  I got to be 

baptized the same day as Jori Jarvis, Alexa Jones, and Austin Trausdaul. All of these people were 

some of my very good friends, so that made it special for me. I remember wearing a big white bow 

with my baptism dress.  And as I changed in the baptism jump suit, we forgot to take the bow out of 

my hair.  So when my dad and I met in the water, my mom on the side that I came down was telling

 my dad to take my bow out of my hair, so it didn’t get wet.  My dad tossed it over to her.  I also

 practiced with my dad in my cousin’s pool that summer.  After I came out of the water I remember 

feeling physically heavy from the wet jump suit, but very fresh and clean.  After the baptism I was 

confirmed in the primary room.  Then Ben and I sang, “When Jesus Christ was Baptized” together.  I 

remember my primary presidency giving me a new book of Mormon with their testimonies in it.   

Afterwards family and friends came for lunch at my house.  Some of my favorite gifts were: my first 

pair of scriptures, which were maroon and a scripture case with teddy bears from my parents.  And a 

pink journal with my name engraved from my Grandma Denison.  Receiving that journal was the 

beginning of my journal keeping.