The 25 Things

So anyone who is one Facebook has probably already seen our 25 things but I enjoyed them and more than that I enjoyed how different Jason and I are not only in our lists but in our thinking and process of making our lists so for all of you who are not on Facebook I am going to share. We were each "tagged" to write 25 things about ourselves and pass them on to family and friends to get to know them better, etc. Well, after I had been tagged I thought for a few moments while doing the dishes (I get some of my best thinking done while doing the dishes) and then when I was done with the dishes I went back to the computer and in about 12 minutes wrote my 25 things :) Jason, on the other hand, thought, pondered and searched his soul. He wanted these 25 things to define who he is past, present and future. He wanted everyone who read to learn something about and learn something from him. It took him days to come up with his wonderful list. So I think not only do the lists explain a little bit about each of us but the ways we came up with each thing made me smile too--I love Jason. We are so different in so many ways but we are also a perfect match for each other in every way that counts. ENJOY!


Tammy's 25 Things

1. I met my husband when I was 17 (he was 16).
2. He was my little brother's friend.
3. I shot archery competitively from the age of 7-17 and I was a junior national champion.
4. I would love to do it again, if I had more time/energy/money and was in better shape.
5. I hate it when people are not punctual.
6. Jason and I had known each other for 5 years when we got married.
7. I went to Scotland when I was 11 and I have wanted to visit again ever since.
8. I lived in Argentina for a year and a half--and loved it!
9. I HAVE to go to Disneyland/DisneyWorld every year (it's been 2 and I cannot wait to go back).
10. I absolutely, positively love everything about Christmas. I love the baking, the carols, the cards, the fancy dresses, visiting Santa, and especially the warm happy feeling that is everywhere you go.
11. I had 5 children in the first 10 years of our marriage (and that included three and a half frustrating years of "problems" that were never really solved)
12. I had my twins at 38 weeks 5 days--and they would have gone longer, that was just my scheduled date.
13. Olivia was 8lbs and Ethan was 7lbs (and I am only 5' 1")
14. I am terrified of spiders and heights.
15. I make my kids smoosh spiders for me, but they don't mind, they argue over who gets to do it.
16. I listen to Christmas music ALL year long.
17. I found out I was pregnant with Andrew (my second) in the ER--I had to have an appendectomy.
18. My two favorite "things" I own are my camera and my sewing machine (and my serger is #3).
19. I LOVE breakfast!!! Breakfast is our family meal and so I cook breakfast 7 days a week.
20. I wish I could homeschool my kids--Jason is somehow opposed to the idea.
21. I love reading my scriptures--it brings me peace and makes me a better mom.
22. I like for it to 68 degrees for me to sleep--in both the summer and the winter.
23. I love parties. I throw a party for any reason at all :)
24. I love Coke Zero!!
25. I like to quilt because it is so precise. I like the math, thinking and planning involved.


And Jason's 25 Things


1. My commute is one of my very favorite parts of my day – rare quiet time alone. I listen to church stuff in the morning and fun books at night, and usually have food and drink as well.
2. I spend way too much time and energy thinking about and talking about food. I tend to babble about what I’m going to eat next and plan my day in terms of access to food. I have a serious problem with ice cream – I probably have 15 different flavors at home at any given time and need to have it every day.
3. I could eat Mexican food for every meal every day. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Tammy and I get along so well. Another reason we get along well is that I love leftovers and could eat the same meal for days in a row for lunch and dinner and get happier each time.
4. I was a band geek. I played trumpet in middle and high school in Florida and marched in the marching band freshman year. I quit after we moved to California and the band was small and lame and didn’t have a marching band.
5. I played tennis and volleyball in high school. Both are still my favorite sports to play. I love 6-man hard court volleyball where you can run plays, rotations, etc. My favorite person to play tennis with is still my mom. We do battle of the cheap shots. Sometimes we get laughing so hard we can’t finish the point. My favorite compliment to receive from guys I play tennis against is “Nice cheap shot, Nancy.”
6. I listen to eclectic music when I jog or clean. It might jump back and forth from Eminem to Monty Python to classical to 50 Cent to Dr. Demento to Black Eyed Peas to They Might Be Giants to Faith No More to Weird Al to Metallica to Jack Johnson to Musicals to church music. I find that a lot of the songs I love feature the trumpet prominently.
7. When I’m walking around I find that I subconsciously avoid stepping on lines. Not just obvious lines like cracks in the sidewalks, but “imaginary” lines formed from extending nearby lines over my path, if that makes sense. Like the middle of a parking lot where there are no lines, but you can extend the parking lines across the middle. Not superstitious, but it just keeps my brain busy. Don’t know what that says about me, but kinda odd I think.
8. I have enjoyed riding a unicycle since I was a kid. My wife recently got me my first “giraffe” unicycle (5 feet tall) which I am learning to ride. Back in California I had a mountain bike tire on my short unicycle and went mountain unicycling (“Muni” as they call it), including attending an event where we rode down Northstar ski resort mountains on our unicycles all day.
9. Atlas Shrugged is one of my favorite books. There are great articles out right now about how it has come from fiction to reality in the 50 years since its publication. The thesis is very pertinent today that society will collapse upon itself into mediocrity if you remove the incentive to work hard by removing the ability to earn and keep outsized returns.
10. As Stephen Colbert wrote, “I’m not the smartest knife in the spoon,” but I’m willing to work hard. I feel like it takes me longer than average to get things, but I can do it if I spend the time. I want to teach my children the basic concept that successful people are often just willing to do unpleasant things that others are not. Work is a 4-letter word, and most people don’t enjoy every aspect of everything they do, but sometimes you just have to do it. I like the quote by Benjamin Franklin that “diligence is the mother of good luck." Others are luckier than I am, and I am luckier than some others. It is tempting to point to others success as luck or something else that you don’t have, but regardless of what hand you were dealt, all that matters is that you do the best with what you have, and remember the quote that “the harder I work, the luckier I get.” Another favorite quote is “Any excuse, even if it is valid, weakens the character.”
11. I have never taken a sick day. Once I came in 3 hours late because I had been up all night getting sick and didn’t finish until 11am so I was late. Because of this I feel I am unfortunately less sympathetic than I would like to be to others. I manage some folks at work and have to work on my empathy skills to treat them better when they are sick. A few years ago I left my wife Tammy violently ill with her Mother and went to work anyway thinking she was being a bit dramatic or something, and didn’t come home until late in the evening right before she headed into surgery to remove her appendix. What a jerk! Luckily, a few years later when the doctors and I thought my daughter Emily would be fine and should go home from the hospital and rest Tammy insisted it was her appendix until they finally operated and ended up removing her already burst appendix!
12. I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormon Church) when I was 17 as a senior in High School. I found it was able to answer all the important questions I had about everything before, during and after life in a way that made complete sense to me, and I am grateful every day for what the knowledge I have gained has given me and my family.
13. I served a two-year mission for my church after Freshman year of college from age 19-21 in various cities around Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, in the state of Sao Paulo. I spoke Portuguese despite my inability to learn a foreign language in High School. I love Brazil and the Brazilian people with a passion, and hope go travel there again someday. I eat authentic Brazilian food whenever I get an opportunity. I think the inability to get ice for 2 years led to my obsession with having tons of ice in my drinks now.
14. I enjoy what I do for work and all, but with complete freedom someday I’d like to be a park ranger. I love hiking and being outdoors with a passion, and don’t make enough time to do it. My family wonders why on weekends I will go stand outside regardless of the weather, but I seriously just have a need to be outside.
15. I don’t think it would be possible to care any less about sports than I do. If you turned off the TV half way through the Super Bowl and asked me who I was watching and the names of the quarterbacks, I’d struggle to answer. I try to make sports conversations for work, but it’s pretty pathetic. This is another one of the reasons Tammy and I do well together.
16. I absolutely love being a Husband and Father. To the point that I struggle to care about much else in life, other than how it helps me provide and care for my family. When I’m with my kids I am theirs, since I don’t spend time watching TV or sports or going golfing, etc.
17. My 3 little girls have me completely wrapped around their fingers, and they know it and use it to their advantage and already know how to completely manipulate me with cute smiles and stuff. I will do anything for them, even if Mom already said no. I love my 2 boys a ton, and probably spend more individual time with them, but am probably too hard on them and expect more from them, and need to work on balancing that better.
18. I avoid confrontation at all costs. Probably not healthy really, but I’d rather just avoid it. At times I’d probably do better at work if I weren’t the nice guy, but it generally works in most situations I guess. Definitely another one of the reasons Tammy and I do well together, and certainly one of the reasons she is spoiled :) (easier to let her have her way than have confrontation).
19. I take after my mother in that I have to be getting something done at all times. Because of that I have only seen probably 2 movies with my wife in the last 15 months, and those took several nights to finish. I love “to-do” lists, and the process of setting them up and then crossing them off as I go. If I sit still for more than 5 minutes I fall asleep, which is why I always drive when Tammy and I go anywhere together.
20. I had to leave Tammy and Andrew in the hospital the day he was born because I got the flu. It was Thanksgiving day, and I haven't enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner as much since then.
21. When making decisions I tend to gather opinions from everyone I can talk to and probably put too much weight on what others think.
22. I have one sister who is 2 years older and 1 year ahead in school. She always did everything right before I did, so the trail had been blazed already. It is amazing how much she defined my life, in terms of how I viewed the world and my thoughts and opinions on things, music, friends, etc, even to this day. Lucky she’s a great person! I’m grateful that we have always been close and wish we lived closer now.
23. One of my favorite lines of poetry comes from John Greenleaf Whittier: "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these; It might have been." Sometimes it is good to indulge in thinking of what might have been, but not for too long. Alas, I ponder these words far too much at Wachovia these days.
24. My parents are the 2 most amazing people I know. I could write a lot more on that, but if you know them you know what I mean. I am always grateful to have been raised by them and for all they have done for me.
25. I am married to the most wonderful, fantastic, perfect, creative and energetic wife and mother, and am so lucky to have her in my life. I have known my wife for over half my life since I met her my junior year of high school when I was 16. When I came home after meeting her I told my mother I had met the girl I was going to marry, and to my mother’s credit she believed me. 5 years later my wife bought her wedding dress 6 days after she got home from her mission to Argentina and 2.5 years since we had seen each other, before we’d even been ring shopping or I asked her to marry me. She told me she was getting married August 8th and I was welcome to join her. I got the hint and bought a ring and got moving on making sure I was the one with her that day! Best decision I ever made, and I count myself lucky to have “tricked” her into getting stuck with me forever.

So maybe sometime when I have several days on my hand to think about who I am, ponder what I want to be and search my soul I too will write and "autobiographical 25 things" but for now you just get what came out in those 12 minutes :) Hopefully someday soon I'll write more.