I've Been Tagged!

A. The rules of this game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the question about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, and then leaves a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog to get the directions.

10 yrs ago: I had just finished up my junior season of volleyball. I was busting my butt in the weight room and individuals so that I could keep up with all of the other amazing girls on my team! I was having lots of fun with my friends and was living with Andie in our Madison Avenue apartment. I was poor and was driving a junker Volkswagon jetta--which incidently got rear-ended in February of 98 as I was returning home from the grocery store to buy milk, cereal, rice, yogurt, eggs, and tortillas with the last fifty bucks I had. When the officer and ambulance arrived to ask me if I was okay, all I could think about was how my parents were going to kill me if I had to borrow some money from them for more food, so I insisted that we try to salvage all the food we could from the trunk!

5 Things on my list of things to do today: 1. Book a couples massage at Sego Lily spa. 2. Babysit Jagger Hammer. 3. Clean up my tornado stricken room. 4. Order my Adidas promo stuff. 5. Return that 4 day overdue movie to the blasted Redbox.

Things I would do if I suddenly was a Billionaire: I would not be working for money anymore--it would be just for the sheer pleasure of it. I would buy a big ranch somewhere in Idaho and hire people to run it so I could just enjoy myself. I would build my dream home and spend as much time as I could with the people that I love. I would pay off every last bill that I and my parents have and would set up a college fund for my future kids. I would travel the world or at least to Costa Rica, Spain, the Medditeranean, Australia, New Zealand, and the Carribean.

3 of my bad habits: 1. I spend too much money on jeans and shoes. 2. I never wash my face unless you count the shower. 3. I get lazy and don't clean my house until I realize I would be embarrassed if my mother saw how bad it was.

Places I have lived: 1. St. Anthony 2. Preston 3. Whitney 4. Ogden 5. Whitney again 6. Ogden again.

Jobs I have had:
1. Worming--picking up worms and selling them to people who sell them to bait shops.
2. Ritewood Eggs--the EXACT same job Napoleon Dynamite had with the chickens and for the EXACT same salary too.
3. Lifeguard--This was the best job EVER!! I actually got paid to watch people, work on my tan, and occasionally fish a little kid out of the bottom of the green tube slide pool. The only thing I regret now is walking around like that in a swimsuit in front of hundreds of people on a daily basis. Oh and I regret the night we got caught skinny dipping by our boss after hours.
4. Presto Products--I stood on my feet for eight hours a day wearing a hair net, steel-toed boots, and as few clothes as possible to endure the heat while zip-lock bags were spat out of a machine at me. I rolled them up, popped open the box on my hip, stuffed them in the box, sealed the box, placed the box in a case, and then loaded the full cases on a conveyor belt. OVER and OVER and OVER again. It was awful.
5. Painter--Oh yes...several of my teammates and I were on the Weber State paint crew. Some of our most prized jobs include the Student Services building, every cotton picking bench and handrail on campus, and ourselves. It was actually a very fun job because we took 4 breaks a day and had a summer-long water fight with the carpenters. They actually filled our truck up with water. I can't believe we didn't get fired. The worst part about the whole job was Jaynee falling in love with some panty sniffer...
6. National Youth Sports Program volleyball and health teacher--I taught a bunch of renegades and trouble-makers how to play volleyball and eat kale.
7. Volleyball summer camp instructor
8. Breitweiser Insurance Customer Service Representative--Basically I provided people with insurance quotes and wrote policies. And filed the mail--lots and lots of mail. That part was horrible, but I actually really liked this job because my boss was awesome!
9. Baker and candy bouquet maker--How sad...I got paid $4/hr to wake up at 5am and bake bread all by myself at the worst bakery ever: Ma's Pies and Goodies in Logan. Needless to say, the joint got shut down because our boss refused to comply with the food safety people's many requests to post our ingredients on the products we sold. Oh yeah, the candy bouquet part--I wrapped little butterscotch candies and mini-candy bars onto wire sticks with green floral tape and then I arranged them into beautiful bouquets for the general public to admire and eat.
10. Utah State University Graduate Assistant--I taught Walking/jogging, Dynamic Fitness, Conditioning, Swimming, Volleyball, and Weight Training.
11. Youth Worker--This is a nice title for describing what I really did--babysit male sex offenders. I worked at a residential facility for boys who were anywhere from 12-18 that had been placed there in order to recieve treatment and counseling for abusing someone else. They were low-functioning too, so they often had behavioral issues as well.
12. Weber State University Adjunct Faculty--I teach volleyball activity classes and have taught a coaching/officiating volleyball class too.
13. AND FINALLY.......Assistant Volleyball Coach at Weber State University. Herein lies the excitment! After all of those other jobs, I finally settled on this one. I will be going into my 8th season this fall. Wow, how the time flies!

Things most people don't know about me: I am obsessed with jeans and shoes. Ok, so everyone knows that about me. How bout these dandies then:
1. I would love to go to beauty school.
2. I, like Mrs. Birch, secretly want to be a yoga and spin instructor!
3. I have a scar across my nose from sniffing a cookie sheet fresh out of the oven when I was a little girl.
4. I used to play with my Dad's thermoses--like they were dolls or something--and call them my "family babies".
5. I am the new Gospel Doctorine Sunday School teacher in my single's ward.
6. When I was younger, I painted my name on my dad's truck with nail polish and blamed it on our neighbor Janeen.
7. I have a SERIOUS fear of heights.
8. I love calla lilies. They are beautiful.
9. I am a little bit OCD. I have this weird obsession with numbers (I count when I walk, run, get a drink of water) and laundry (it has to be folded EXACTLY as I like it).

I tag Lindsey, Tyra, April, Rena, Alexis, and Dwight of course.

Sisters

I got this in an email last week and loved it:
Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come and go.
Love waxes and wanes.
Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end.
BUT.........
Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how
many miles are between you. A sister is never farther away
than needing her can reach.

When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you
have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life
will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on,
praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on
your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the
valley's end.

Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk
beside you...Or come in and carry you out.

This really got me thinking about my sisters. I love them both so much & they have been such a blessing in my life. I know that I've felt closer to them especially as I've gotten older. So here's a little about what I admire in each of them:

Kelsey: She has the funniest sense of humor I know. She is so sarcastic and has the ability to make me laugh even during my worst times and darkest moments. She is such a great mother and I hope that someday I can be the kind of mommy that she is. She always does things the right way and would never even think twice about giving up or skipping out on what's right. She listens to me with an open heart and never judges...she just supports me and let's me know how much she loves me.

Tyra: Tyra is crazy, she is a do-it-yourself girl who has a million projects going on at once but always finds a way to finish them. She is a fantastic cook & I love that you never eat the same thing twice in her household. She's always doing something for someone else and is so thoughtful and aware of other people's needs. Tyra is also a great mom. Brock and Ty moving here when they did was an answer to my prayers and was lifesaving for me--I've spent many nights eating at their table and crying on their couch...not to mention watching Jake or Happy!

I love you both! Thanks so much for your love and support--no matter what I'm going through or how sad, disappointed, or happy I am, I know you are always there for me, cheering me on!

Ah Hah! I'm not as fat as you think I am!!!

So...a little background info: You know how women never seem to be satisified with their bodies, no matter how skinny they are? Why is that? For me, it's because I've been called a "big girl" all my life! And for the record guys, "big girl" is NOT a compliment, no matter how many times you try to tell me that it is! Say "tall girl", it sounds much better, trust me...

So the other day, I was helping Colton with his master's thesis (about adolescent obesity) and we were testing out the Body Mass Index calculator that he will be using to categorize the subjects that he is working with within his study. Anyway, he is always teasing me and so he made me type in my height and weight to see what category I would fall in: underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese.

So my heart is pounding, my hands are sweating, and I'm praying that I will only fall into the overweight category and not obese! So, 5'11" and 148 pounds gets typed into the calculator and I anxiously await the results after I push enter. Walla! I am NORMAL! Did you hear that Biff? I am normal!!! So Colton can't believe his eyes and I decide that it's high time to get even, so I input his numbers...5'11" and 205 pounds. Ha ha! Guess who just happens to be overweight according to the Centers for Disease Control? That's right...And not only is he overweight, but he is only 1.4 points away from being OBESE!!! I love it!

Now I realize that this calculator is not accurate. I realize that it doesn't account for your sex, bone structure, or muscle mass. Because if it did, there's no way he would be overweight. He has more muscle in his forearm than I have in my entire body! But it sure doesn't change the smile on my face when I think of the dumbfounded expression he displayed when the word OVERWEIGHT came popping out on his laptop screen!

Interested in your own BMI? Or just wanna get even with someone like I did? Here's the link to the calculator!!
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/adult_BMI/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.htm

ABC's of Me

A is for age: 31
B is for band of choice: If we are talking group of people--Rascal Flats
C is for career right now: Volleyball Coach
D is for your dogs’ name: Jigs
E is for essential item you use everyday: Toothbrush
F is for favorite TV shows at the moment: The Office
G is for favorite game: Taboo or Scattegories or Catch Phrase
H is for Home town: Preston, Idaho
I is for instruments you played: Piano and guitar
J is for favorite juice: Minute Maid Pomegranate Blueberry
K is for whose butt you'd like to kick: Colton's
L is for last place you ate: Home
M is for marriage: Not yet.
N is for your nickname: Missy
O is for overnight hospital stays: None. Unless you count my birth in the 70's.
P is for people you were with today: Roommates and Colton
Q is for quote: Marriage is a three ring circus. First comes the engagement ring, then the wedding ring, followed by the suffering.
R is for biggest regret: Wow...let's just say some of the people I've associated with.
S is for status: Happy!
T is for time you woke up today: 8:30
U is for underwear you're wearing: Gray
V is for vegetable you love: Potatoes and green things--except for brussel sprouts. Yuck.
W is for worst fault: Freaking out over things I have no control over
X is for x-rays you've had: Knee, shoulder, ribs, foot
Y is for yummy food you ate today: Fruit smoothie
Z is for zodiac: Scorpio