The Growing up Years...

I was born in Utah, but spent the majority of my childhood growing up in Idaho. The year I started 5th grade we moved from our home in the city to a ranch house about a mile outside of city limits. It was a great house on the center of an acre plot. There was a big ditch that ran across the front of the property and a large willow patch across the back. It seems that most of my youthful experiences were a direct result of living on this wonderful little farm in Idaho. I think this takes care of quite a few of the experiences on my LIST...

3. Climbed a mountain - I've climbed quite a few mountains, none to big or wonderful, but a few. We once stopped on our way home from Wyoming with my uncle and looked for fossils on the side of a mountain. It was a lot of fun.

9. Hugged a tree - who hasn't hugged a tree?! We had a huge tree in our front yard that we loved to climb and play on. I think I've hugged that tree quite a few times over the years. It got a bug and died though, sigh...no more tree.

17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables - we had this HUGE garden in the back field growing up. It was such a pain in the butt to weed, but the rewards were just as big. I love nothing better than fresh grown veggies. Yum!

19. Slept under the stars - I always loved sleeping out on the deck or at my friend Sarah's house on her trampoline in the backyard. I appreciate my warm bed too much now to find it quite so exciting, but nothing was better when I was little.27. Had a food fight - I have brothers, what more can I say?!

30. Had a snowball fight - same answer as above!

31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can - I've done this a lot, more than I would like to admit now. Probably the one time I actually had a reason to be screaming at the top of my lungs was when my younger brother got mad at me and chased me into the bathroom with a knife...I didn't come out for a few hours.

33. Seen a total eclipse - I saw one when I was young, I can't remember how old I was. We were all sitting on the porch in front of the house. It was a really neat experience, one you don't forget.

34. Ridden a roller coaster - I didn't ride a roller coaster until I was in 9th grade when the whole 9th grade class went on their end of year trip to Lagoon - how sad is that? Just between us - They scare me to DEATH!

42. Had amazing friends - I've had a lot of truly amazing friends. I would hope everyone has had some.

45. Stolen a sign - in High School a bunch of my friends and I went out one night and stole an entire trunk full of signs off people's lawns. We played some night games at the golf course and on our way home got pulled over...fortunately, the trunk was never searched!

57. Pretended to be a super hero - This has very little to do with being raised on a farm, but everything to do with having brothers. We were very into the Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtles. My favorite was Michelangelo, check out the pic!60. Played touch football - Once again, the effects of having brothers. I was very into football as a young girl. I was the defensive captain on our Powder Puff Football team in High School. My favorite position was linebacker. Unfortunately, because we were girls, we had to play flag -0r touch- football, no tackling. So unfair. (I'm #16 in the pic, we're just getting ready to go out and play! It isn't a great photo, but all I could find).63. Played in the mud - I was somewhat obsessed with mud as a child. I remember sitting outside the house in the middle of a big mud puddle making mud pies, mud cakes, mud everything. I could have been a pig in another life.

64. Played in the rain - My sisters and I use to dress up in our play clothes and run around outside in the rain pretending to be Mary Poppins. We would run through the puddles and hold up our umbrellas and hope to get struck by lightening. Not very smart now that I think back on it.

73. Been in a movie - I don't think being in a big hit is in my future, but in High school we did Macbeth and I was Lady Macbeth. A friend of ours had access to the local public TV station and their equipment (I believe his parents owned it). Needless to say with the right equipment and some fancy editing, it didn't turn out too bad...I wish I still had a copy, it would be worth a good laugh every now and then!

81. Rafted the Snake River - We did this for a mutual activity once. I was the only one who fell out of the raft the entire trip...oops. I don't feel it was my fault though. We were going through some really heavy rapids and my yw leader (who was up there in years) lost her balance and knocked me out, I had been sitting right behind her. Fortunately one of the ym leaders was sitting behind me and grabbed the back of my life jacket and pulled me, under the raft, until we got to calm water. It was very exciting and, other than making me rather embarrassed, really livened up the trip!

84. Performed on stage - I clog. Correction, I use to clog. We performed at the fairs, parades and at the mall a few times. I was pretty good, but was only able to take classes for about a year. Then I got to busy and quit. I wish I hadn't, it was a lot of fun. Joe makes fun of me because when I get really happy I start to clog, he says it's my 'happy dance'. The pics not great, but the only one I have...I'm on the far right as you're looking at the pic.111. Helped an animal give birth - I walked out the back door of the house one day to see our very pregnant cow running around the pasture with a big white bubble hanging out of her butt. I ran and got my mom and we proceeded to herd the cow into the barn. She was in full blown labor and it was really amazing to watch. It took a few hours, we had to help pull the calf out because it got two of it's legs stuck. In the end she delivered a very healthy baby calf, a little girl. It was a really awesome experience.

116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol - I've fired all three. My best friend in high school, her father makes guns for a hobby. We use to practice with them all the time. I'm not as familiar with hand held firearms, but I'm a pretty darn good shot with a 22 - just ask my husband! I've gotten my Concealed Firearm Permit and this year Joe and I are going to take Hunter's Safety. I'm not a huge fanatic of firearms, but just as with anything, I think they have their place. I think my favorite gun is the 410. It is a shotgun, but it uses a much smaller shell. My dad has one and it only holds two shots, but if you're good, that's more than enough!

118. Ridden a horse - We owned a couple of horses growing up. I went out riding with my brother Henri once while my parents were at work, I believe we were on summer break. Anyhow, my brother's horse got spooked and took off. He got thrown from the horse and broke his arm. I had to walk him and the horses home. Fortunately, my dad was home on his lunch break and was able to take my brother to the hospital. I think that is the only time any of us ever broke a bone.

120. Had a snake as a pet - Remember the ditch that ran across the front of our property? It was a pretty big attraction for garden snakes. We use to catch them and keep them in buckets, they were pretty tricky though and most of them got away. We did have a few that found their way into the house on occasion...that was always fun.

128. Had your picture in the newspaper - I was a member of BPA in High School and made it to a National Competition in Business Management...and YES, I kept a copy of the piece they put in the paper, who wouldn't?! (More than likely it won't happen again until they run my obituary!) By-the-way, I tied for third place at Nationals, but there were quite a few of us who did and so they awarded us based on our time - my time put me in 11th place, one place away from recognition - oh well. (Again - not a good pic, but I just am not a very photogenic individual.)136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - We raised a lot of animals on the farm, but the most consistent animal we raised were chickens. I have killed, plucked, skinned and cooked WAY TOO MANY chickens. I hate the plucking part and have officially resigned from ever doing so again. The rest, not so bad. There is just something about pulling the feathers out that I don't really like. I've also done a lot of fishing and I've helped my dad clean out and take care of cutting up deer. We once spent an entire day cutting up, grinding and packaging deer meat. Doesn't sound fun, but I always enjoyed just spending the time with my dad.

149. Caused a car accident - This is a good one to end on. I have never caused a serious accident, but I did rear end another car on the way out of the High School parking lot once. No one was hurt, not even the cars - THANK GOODNESS!