I have been tagged, by my cousin of all people, so here is my 100. I was quite surprised at some of the things that I learned about myself when I was writing this! I am not sure that it is supposed to work that way, but it did!
1. I am the 2nd oldest of 6 children. I have one older brother and 4 younger sisters.
2. I have always been very responsible.
3. I started babysitting when I was 8 years old for my family and for neighbors down the street while they went visiting teaching.
4. I was "mom" to my little sister, Mandy, during the summer before my youngest sister, Rachel, was born. My mom was down in bed most of the time due to problems with her varicose veins, so every morning I loaded Mandy (age 2) up in my little wagon and took her all around our neighborhood to the park and friend's houses to play. We came home for lunch and then I put her down for a nap. I was 9 years old.
5. I babysat newborn twins for the summer when I was 12 years old.
6. I have never left my babies with anyone younger than 16. I don't think it is wise and I can't believe people ever left their babies with me at such a young age.
7. I cheated on my 4 times tables when I was in 2nd grade and then I lied to my teacher when she asked if I had done it all on my own. I had tried and tried to memorize them and got frustrated and cheated. I was wracked with guilt and spent that afternoon committing those facts to memory. I have always felt bad that I didn't apologize to my teacher.
8. My favorite aunt was my Aunt Jane. I wanted to be a nurse like her. I was devastated when she and my Uncle Jerry (dad's brother) divorced. I felt like Uncle Jerry betrayed us.
9. I was a candy striper when I was in Jr. High. I loved being a candy striper, but that is when I realized that I could never be a nurse. I didn't like causing pain (even if it was necessary), but I loved being the one to make people feel better after the pain.
10. Once a week for a month, I sat at the bedside of a 2 or 3 yr. old boy who had been severely burned by an abusive parent in a hot bath and read him stories during my shift as a candy striper. I cried when I went home each day.
11. As a parent, I was always scared I would get the bath water too hot for my own children.
12. I lived on an Indian Reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico, when I was little. I have a silver bracelet that one of the indians made for me.
13. I moved around alot when I was growing up.
14. I changed schools eleven times.
15. I wanted to get married and settle down and never move again. When we bought our first home, I imagined my grandchildren coming home to it.
16. My husband and I have lived in 3 apartments and owned 4 homes.
17. I cry every time I leave another house, but I no longer imagine my grandchildren coming to our current home.
18. I was engaged twice; both of my fiancees were named Chris!
19. I am convinced that I married the best one! We have been married for over 15 years now.
20. I gave birth to 5 children without ever having an epidural. I love natural childbirth, but the truth is, I was too scared to get an epidural!
21. I worked as a lactation educator for WIC before I ever had children.
22. I have breastfed all 5 of my children, but will admit that learning to breastfeed is way more difficult than I thought it would be when I taught my clients at WIC!
23. I have been pregnant 11 times.
24. I have had 5 miscarriages and 1 ectopic pregnancy.
25. Sometimes, I still mourn the babies that I lost. I am incredibly grateful for the ones that I have been able to have. It breaks my heart when I hear of someone else who has lost a baby.
26. I decided not to get pregnant again because I couldn't cope with the pain of losing another one. Sometimes I feel like I am weak because of that decision.
27. I have a hard time making close friends. I think it is because I am scared to become attached to someone because I will just move again.
28. I am fiercely loyal to the friends that I do have and would do anything for them.
29. I do not think I am a very good cook.
30. I don't enjoy cooking for my family because the kids always complain about what I make.
31. I love baking, though, perhaps because no one can complain about cookies and brownies and cakes and rolls!
32. I do not have a passport.
33. Except for one trip to Tiajuana, I have never left the United States.
34. I would love to travel, and I have to admit to being slightly jealous of my husband and all the travelling he gets to do for work.
35. I am not a risk taker. If I did travel, it would probably be with an organized tour group.
36. I have had plastic surgery on my face.
37. Growing up, my two greatest fears were being in a car accident and being in a fire.
38. I have never been in a fire. I am still scared to death of it.
39. I was in a car accident in college. I was on a scooter and was thrown through the windshield of a car.
40. I have had stitches in my knee, my face (way over 100, that's when they stopped counting, see #36 and 39), my stomach, and my wrist.
41. Amazingly, I have never broken a major bone.
42. I have broken my pinky toes way too many times to count! I really should stop walking around barefoot and accidentally kicking things.
43. I used to love doing cross stitch, but I haven't done any since my first child was a baby.
44. I learned how to smock when I moved to North Carolina. I also learned heirloom sewing techniques.
45. I wish I had more time to sew. I really do enjoy it but feel like I neglect my kids and house when I do it.
46. I am a project person. I like projects, but I HAVE to finish them. I become engrossed and nothing else matters until I am done. (See #45)
47. I am a bargain shopper. I love to get a good deal.
48. I have been known to buy things because they are a good deal, not because I actually need them. This is a quality I inherited from my mom! I am trying to work on not doing this!
49. My most recent bargain shopping trip was last night. I went to a Dillards that was going out of business and bought 4 sweaters, 1 sweatshirt, 1 pair of Calvin Klein jeans, 1 pair of dress slacks, 1 skirt, 1 dress; 2 hairbows and 1 shirt for Savannah; and a semiformal homecoming dress for Shelby all for $60. The orignal prices totalled over $600!
50. I rarely buy clothes for myself. As a matter of fact, the above shopping trip was the most clothing I have ever bought for myself at once.
51. I would rather spend my money on my kids.
52. I will buy the name brands for my kids, but only when I find them at a great discount. I think it is important that kids understand the value of money.
53. I always had hand-me-downs as a child. I envied my cousin, Sonda, because she got a new coat and dress every year, but I loved getting her hand-me-downs.
54. My cousin, Alan, and I share the same birthday. One year we even had breakfast in bed together on our birthdays (I was 7 and he was 8)!
55. I love daisies! I like them more than roses because they last longer. They are a simply beautiful flower.
56. My biggest pet peeve is dishonesty.
57. I cannot stand when my children lie to me. Unfortunately, they lie to me alot! I feel like my biggest failure as a mother is not effectively teaching my children to be unfailingly honest.
58. I am a worrier. I cannot help but worry. I often lose sleep at nights because I lay awake worrying! I wish I could not worry!
59. I got ulcers in college because of my tendencies to worry.
60. I also had a parasite when I was in college. I have no idea where I got that from!
61. I weighed as much after I had 3 children as I did my senior year in high school.
62. I was incredibly chubby in high school!
63. Fortunately for me, I had a distorted self-image as a teenager and I thought I was very skinny when I was in high school!
64. For years in college I worried about my weight. I became obsessed with it and weighed myself 20 times a day. After I got married and was pregnant with my 1st child, I had to put my scale away because I was afraid I would be too paranoid about my weight gain.
65. I graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS in Dietetics. It was one of my greatest accomplishments.
66. I love taking long, hot, bubble baths.
67. I do not currently have a bath tub in my bathroom, only a shower, and it is probably the thing I dislike most about my house!
68. I have an incredible weakness for chocolate! I like dark chocolate best.
69. I do not like to be the center of attention. I would rather be in the background quietly being supportive.
70. When I was little, I wanted to be an singer, model or movie star when I grew up.
71. I am glad that I didn't grow up to be any of those things!
72. I eat Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds almost every morning.
73. I am a creature of routine! I find myself eating the same things and going the same places because I know they are good and I like them. I don't want to waste my time doing or trying something I might not like.
74. I wish I could be more spontaneous and adventurous.
75. I really wanted all girls when I started having kids.
76. I have 2 girls and 3 boys.
77. When I had my first boy, I didn't know what to do with him. Now I am so glad that I have boys!
78. My middle child, Joshua, holds a special place in my heart because he was the baby born after I had lost five babies in a row.
79. When our children were younger, Chris and I rarely went out on a date. I think we went out 2 times from the time Shelby was born until Caleb was 6 months old (almost 2 years).
80. The one thing I regret most about our early years is that I didn't make time for my husband and our marriage enough. If I had it to do over, I would find a way to have a date night every week; even if it was just creative dating in our own home after the kids were in bed.
81. I love reading a good book. Unfortunately, I HAVE to finish those too (see #46), so I try not to read too much!
82. I secretly wish I could throw my husband's Blackberry on the floor and smash it into a million pieces! It is one more way that I feel like his work invades our private family time!
83. I was a pseudo-single mom for two years while my husband worked on his MBA at nights. I like to take ownership in that degree, too, because he couldn't have done it without me holding down the fort at home! Oh yeah, and I proofread his papers for him!
84. I have always had a hard time fasting. When I was little, I would throw up on fast sundays. Now I can fast, but I have only been able to go the full 24 hours once in my life.
85. I suffer from migraine headaches. They make me throw up. Chris likes to tease me about all the different parking lots that I have thrown up in!
86. I love being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
87. My favorite scripture is "Be still and know that I am God" . (Psalms 46:10) I believe that often things happen to us that we don't like or don't see the purpose of, but if we can "be still" and trust in God, he will work all things for our good.
88. I find great peace and safety in following our prophet. I would never do anything contrary to his commands.
89. I really miss living in Utah, but I appreciate the perspective that I have gained by living most of my life outside of Utah. I have to admit that there were some things I really hated about living in Utah, though!
90. I wish I lived closer to my family. We have such a close relationship and I am glad that my sisters and brother and I have all remained friends through the years.
91. When I was little, I worshipped my big brother, Glen. I wish we lived closer to each other now because I think that distance has hurt our relationship.
92. I don't like rainy, dreary days. I feel like staying inside and baking cookies, but that only works for one rainy day, not weeks of endless dreariness! It rains too much here in the spring and I think I go into a seasonal depression! Deep down inside I think I am still a "desert girl"!
93. I hate having my hair cut short. I keep it long now even though I think I am probably too old to have long hair.
94. I have too many gray hairs to count and I cannot bring myself to pay to have my hair colored! I am going to have to give in soon, though, because it is way beyond the amount that you could pluck out each time you fix your hair!
95. I have an incredible amount of respect and appreciation for my parents and the time they put into raising us kids. I think they both came from bad situations and they were surprisingly good parents to us. I am glad that I was raised in their family.
96. I cannot sleep in in the mornings. I never had a problem with this as a teenager, but now I am up early every day. Sleeping in to me means waking up at 8 a.m.
97. If I turn on the TV during the day, I usually watch HGTV. I love their home decorating shows and it is fun to watch when I fold laundry.
98. I used to watch TV alot, but I really don't watch that much TV anymore. I feel like it is a huge waste of time.
99. I spend entirely too much time on the computer. It is probably my greatest weakness! It is fun to be connected to distant family and friends, but I need to set restrictions for myself so I can stay productive!
100. I keep the heat between 66 and 68 degrees at night during the winter. I like to feel cold air around me and then snuggle up under my blankets to stay warm!
WHEW!!! That was actually kind of fun! When I started, I could not believe I would ever be able to come up with 100 things about me, but now I am finding I could actually keep going! (Don't worry, I won't!) So now its your turn....TAG Shannon, Shelby, Amy, and Julie!!!
Well, Samuel wore these tennis shoes 2-3 times over the summer and then has worn them to school every day since school started 3 1/2 weeks ago. This morning when he went to put them on, this is what they looked like:
Now we did have a little bit of rain yesterday, but the shoes were by no means soaked. I am appalled that shoe and clothing construction standards have fallen to this point! I am throwing in the towel and will be purchasing name brand shoes from now on! This is ridiculous! A big thumbs down to WalMart and their Champion brand shoes! If I still had my receipt I would go ask for my $3 back, but it would probably cost me that much in gas just to drive to WalMart and back home again......
No instructions here; anything goes.....Just use marshmellows, toothpicks and candy you have in the house. You can make a royal icing to get everything to stick together really good, but we just used toothpicks! We got our idea from 
If you haven't eaten at one of these, you have got to try it! I ate more meat than I usually eat in 2 weeks! Basically, you get your salad from their salad bar (which is incredible, by the way) and then they just keep bringing more and more meat until you have had enough. My favorites were the filet mignon and their house special sirloin. I had chocolate mousse cake for dessert and it was to die for!
Not that I am trying to brag or anything, but I can kick his butt! Yes! Finally a game that I can beat him on! Life may never be the same around our house again! We now have our own virtual personal trainers (yes, I picked the hot male one and Chris picked the girl just to spite me!) and we will see who wins next week!
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Now I just have to work on getting Samuel a sponsor for swimming since his goal is to be the next Michael Phelps!