32 things of April

Yesterday I turned 32. So, why not update the personal life history...let the posterity know a little more of what that great great great grandma April was all about anyway- mostly irrelevant facts about me but was sort of fun for me to write...

32 things of April

1. If I could live life over I would be a dancer. A Contemporary Dance Theatre dancer is probably the direction I would go because any type of music goes and FEELING is involved. Only Chay and my close friends know how much I love to dance. I go crazy with a good beat. But I can't live life over again so Kenzie, Ju-Ju, and I will just have to continue our mid-day kitchen dance parties for now.

2. I love to improve things. Anything- I like to take something and see how it could be better- this could be a gift or a vice.

3. Too much planning of anything stresses me out. Not a fan of being busy. I am the most happy when I'm surrounded by people I know and love in a place that I know and love. Sitting on a dock with my feet in the water and laughing and telling stories with a bunch of friends or family for a couple hours sounds 100 times better than some exotic trip to a foreign country.

4. I hate being misunderstood. I don't take certain criticism very well. You tell me to "work harder" I feel not good enough. You tell me "You are doing great" I accomplish more than I originally imagined and feel on top of the world.

5. I can't fake "having a good time" any longer than 30 minutes. Past that, I get a headache.

6. Mom never let me grow my hair out as a little girl. So basically I looked like a little boy. I was mistaken for a boy several times when I was little. I would come home every day and put a t-shirt on my head and pretend I had long beautiful hair. So childhood scars??? I think so, because I have no intention of EVER cutting my hair super short until it is gray, straggly, and falling out of my head.

7. I am passionate about health and proper nutrition. I have learned a lot about my body and the personal journey has been rewarding.

8. On that note, my favorite candy is Almond Joy and Louck's Sesame Snaps.

9. Best decision ever: GIVING UP COUPONING. I ended up spending money on things my family DOES NOT need. An occasional coupon for something necessary like soap, yes,....but I hated the time it took and how I could never catch on to a system without getting stressed out. Scratch. NO GUILT. FREEDOM!

10. I lied in an eye exam in the 6th grade so I could get glasses. That didn't work out too well. 32 years old and still 20/20. What a blessing.

11. I am so so so grateful I was raised in a home with a Mom who believed and taught me all about Jesus Christ. Who knows where I'd be without that knowledge in my life.

12. Least favorite Holiday: HALLOWEEN. I'm sure I just lost more than half of my friends. I still love you.

13. I love passionate people. They are by far the easiest to become best friends with. It's a breath of fresh air when I hear someone say "oh I just love...." Or "I am so happy because...." or "I just feel that..." or "man, that makes me so mad" or jumps up and down with excitement or belts out a big hearty laugh...love the passion- ok maybe not all the time 24/7 but you know what I mean.

14. scored 22 points in a HS basketball game and the coach still didn't set up the last play for me to score- she picked someone else with 30 seconds left in the game. She doubted me. The girl she picked missed the shot. We lost by one point. I would have won that game. I still have dreams about that game 12 years ago.

15. Super Pheromones. Every guy I have dated says I have a distinct smell-- a smell I guess that is irresistible. I was a wallflower at dances and didn't have guys falling at my feet, but once the few I dated got a whiff, they were hooked :)

16. I love color...but green will always be my favorite.

17. I think I have a lot of really good ideas.

18. I go into a deep depression before I start my period. I've noticed that diet helps a ton.

19. The books piled up by my bedside: Total Money Makeover, the Scriptures, The Parenting Breakthrough, Have A New Kid by Friday, pH miracle Food for Health, Teach Ye Diligently, Mere Christianity and Eliminate Chaos In Your Home. You can learn a lot about a person by the stacks of books on their nightstand. As you can see, I've got to improve in almost every area of my life :)

20. I have been without a cell phone for about a year and a half. I love it and hate it. I love it because I am present in my kids lives. The park, the store, driving to school-- my kids have all of me. I watched a huge eye opener experience at the park one day involving a little girl, a mother, and a cell phone and I vowed to stay off the phone as much as possible when I'm with my kids after seeing what I saw. But again, I miss having a phone terribly...we will see how long this lasts.

21. We do not have TV either. BLESSING! Our nights are not spent watching TV but spent doing other useless things :) No, we have found other things to do as a family and it has been wonderful not to feel glued to a favorite show- but again, there is always late night Hulu.

22. I always always wear a bra. I hate going bra-less. Even at night, I can't fall asleep until my girls are tucked in and protected :)

23. I love the elderly. They inspire me. Well the nice cute ones that is- 

24. I have several songs I have composed on the piano and guitar but can never come up with any words...well some words but I can never finish a whole song. I have a silly wish to publish songs I have written. I love to sing. I really do. Just a weird part of my life that I don't know what to do with.

25. Late at night while trying to fall asleep I lay in bed and almost always think of my children.

26. I have about 5 unfinished children's books I have started to write...

27. Growing up I had a horse named Charlie, a lamb named Dr. Pepper, and another horse named Sharm. We had pigs, cows, and chickens also. I remember learning to change irrigation pipes at a very young age. Butcher day would scare me to death. I would hear the gunshot and I would run and hide in my bedroom. 1 hour later there was a 5 gallon bucket sitting next to the back door with a huge cow tongue and liver buried in ice. I would look out toward the barn and there was one of the heifers I had just fed the night before, hanging upside down and gutted.

28. I need 100% organization and function or I'm completely lost and I don't even know where to start. If I walk into the laundry room and it looks like a tornado went through there, I will walk out, shut the door, and try again another day.

29. I paint furniture. I have painted almost a dozen pieces so I can officially say "I paint furniture".

30. Chay says he sort of likes it when I get mad or excited because my eyes get huge.

31. Growing up I had a wild imagination. Mom said I was the easiest child because I could entertain myself for hours. I was a lost indian living off the land, I won the Olympics on my trampoline, I had 20 sisters and we all had to share a room, I was an Eskimo who was crossing the great Antarctica in my saucer sled--at least I had that team of dogs to help. I also crossed the ocean on my brother's waterbed. I remember the day I stopped pretending. I was 13. Yes, 13. I was home sick and Mom was gone. I pretended to be a nurse who was helping a wounded soldier during WW2...and suddenly I felt really really stupid and embarrassed and I started to laugh and I stopped. Just like that. Stopped. Never went back. Kind of sad I'd say...especially now that I have children.

32. and one of my favorite quotes by Elder James. E. Faust:

"Each of us needs to reach down into the innermost recesses of our souls to find the divinity that is deep within us and to earnestly petition the Lord for an endowment of special wisdom and inspiration. Only when we so profoundly reach the depths of our beings we can discover our true identity, our self worth, and our purpose in life...Only as we seek to be purged of selfishness and of concern for recognition and wealth can we find some sweet relief from anxieties, hurts, pains, miseries, and concerns of this world...God can not only help us find a sublime and everlasting joy and contentment, but he will change us so that we can become heirs of the kingdom of God. This is really the recovery of the sacred within us." April 1995


and well, there you go.