I have had 5 different houses as a child, so let's just go through each of them. We'll see how much of each I can even remember! I will mostly just write down memories of each house, rather than describing what they looked like because I'm sure you want to know the layout of each house... ha.
House #1: The Shanty
I lived in this house in Orem until I was 4 or 5 (we moved soon after Tanaya was born). I don't really remember much about this house, but I've seen home videos. It was a little add-on to my great grandparent's house, I believe, and it was tiny (from what my parents and other relatives have said). The bed was in the main living area. That's all I can tell from the home videos. The only things I remember from this house was me smearing cheese on the bathroom mirror. And also, I loved playing outside with my stuffed orange kitty cat that made purring sounds. There was also a huge pine tree (at least huge to my little toddler self) and I think a swing out front. Or somewhere in the yard.
House #2: Spanish Fork House
My sisters and I had a lot of fun in this house. I specifically remember the short-door closet in the living room and the little "ramp" inside of it that we would use as a slide. Kajsia and I shared a room, and we had a green bunkbed. I also remember playing school a lot as a child, and this was done either in our room, or on the stairs. I would line up all of my stuffed animals on the stairs and Kajsia would join them as one of the students, while I taught my class from the bottom of the stairs. I also remember squishing a spider at the bottom of those stairs, and unfortunately it was a mother spider with a bunch of baby spiders on its back so they scattered everywhere when I squashed it with a shoe. It was a terrifying experience. I also remember a ginormous spider skittering across the floor in the downstairs bathroom where the washer and dryer were also housed. That was also terrifying. I remember our backyard and our green swing set and the fun times we had on our trampoline. When we found out we were moving, my sisters and I trapped our farts in our room and lined the bottom of the door with towels to keep the farts in so that no one would want to buy our house. We ended up keeping the house and my aunt and her family lived there while we lived overseas.
House #3: The Mountainside Apartment
When we moved to Taipei, we lived in an apartment up in the mountains. Not too far up in the mountain, but it was a steep drive up to the apartment. There was a nice old man who manned the lobby area, and we lived on the 3rd floor. I always thought the quirkiest thing about that apartment was the laundry room. You had to go through this door that lead to the outside where stairs were in case of emergency/fire, but instead of going straight down the stairs, you turned right and there was a little sun room type area where the laundry room was. I shared a room with Kajsia again, and our room had this weird extra "room" that was super long and skinny like a hallway, and it was behind a curtain, so we would use it as a stage where we would perform dances and songs to the Backstreet Boys, N'SYNC, and Britney Spears. I also remember using it as a secret room where my book of spells would be when I would pretend to be a witch (those were the good old Charmed days). Another fun memory from that room were late nights where we'd just goof off, and if our parents came in to check on us, we'd hurry and jump under our covers and pretend to be asleep. Then as soon as they left, we'd jump right back out and continue goofing off. I remember one time we were throwing a bunch of feathers around the room (I think we pulled them out of some pillows) and we were just laughing and dancing around in a room full of feathers. I would also hide around the house (I specifically remember hiding in my parent's room behind their door) and I would "spy" on family members. "Harriet the Spy" was one of my favorite movies.
House #4: The Villa
Our house in Guangzhou was in a gated community, and it was my favorite house growing up, mainly because it had a pool in the backyard, and we had so much fun swimming. I'm laughing to myself typing this because one time my dad came out of the pool and had the longest snot hanging from his nose. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that it went down a little past his chest haha! So gross, but it was hilarious. The Villa was also my favorite house growing up because it felt like we were living in a castle of some sort (not really, but it was a pretty big house). It had fancy marble floors, a grand entrance with a winding staircase, a grand piano, a bar (that we never used, except to house our fish tank) in the dining room, and my parent's room had a huge jacuzzi tub. I had never seen anything like it. There was also a fancy statue of an angel or something by the staircase, but that statue creeped me out, especially at night because I thought it would come alive at some point, or at least turn its head to follow me as I walked. My bedroom also had its own bathroom, so that was a plus. I also remember going to the clubhouse where I had swimming lessons, or I would just swim there with my family or friends. I have never swam in water like that in my life (or since). It was like swimming in butter (only not fatty or greasy). It was the smoothest water. There was also a big turtle that lived in our backyard. We named him Speedo. We also had a starfruit tree in the backyard and we'd pick starfruit off the tree and eat them dipped in sugar. It was a fun house to live in.
House #5: The City Apartment
For this being one of the most recent places my family has lived in, I sure don't remember much about it. It was an apartment in Shanghai, and we lived on the very top floor, I think it was floor 7... It was a two-story apartment, and my bedroom was upstairs. The upstairs was kind of its own apartment because it had another living room area upstairs with a TV, and it had a little bar area with a mini fridge, and a nice spacious bathroom that also lead out to a big patio area with a porch swing. The downstairs part I don't remember much. I remember the living room area downstairs, and the kitchen and dining area. I remember the two first rooms down the hall. To the left was the office where my siblings and I would film silly videos from our webcam, and to the right was my sisters' room. But for some reason I can't remember past those two rooms, where the master bedroom was and where my brother's room was... at least I'm assuming there was a room for him down that hall. My grandparents from my dad's side and two of his sisters came to visit China while we lived here. We also experience having lice while living here. I think Kajsia contracted it from school or something, and it was so gross seeing these moving bugs in our hair. Bleh. Makes me shiver just thinking about it. I would also go swimming at the complex's pool and go to my friend's house (she was a few floors below us). The apartment complex also had a little shop and we'd go and buy treats there. This was the place I was also introduced to the series "Smallville", and my friend had the DVDs to a few seasons, and we'd watch them in "my" living room (the one by my bedroom). I don't really remember much else...
House #6: Last House
My last childhood house before becoming an "adult" was a newly built house after moving back to the States. This house taught me how awesome soft water is. We also brought back some Asian influences to this house, ranging from the big things like the furniture we imported back from China, my dad's dragon desk and Chinese sayings etched into the glass on his office doors, down to the little things like the bamboo faucet in the downstairs bathroom and the Asian lion knocker on the front door. My favorite (and embarrassing) memories of this house include my sister and me making our Brandon and Tanner videos, music videos, and other random videos. My parents had a basketball court installed and we used to play on the court a lot, whether it was Around the World or HORSE, or volleyball, or badminton. I had my room painted a light pink (ew, don't ask me why I did that). I'm trying to think of other fun memories of this house, but I feel like as you get older, the little things you found fun as a kid aren't as fun when you're boring and old. Of course I had some good times with my family playing games around the table, or with my friends, but I feel like this post is already so long haha. I can't think anymore, so until next time, my faithful readers.
