The One with the Dream

Last night I had the craziest dream!  It's especially weird because I rarely remember dreams when I wake up.  I don't even remember the whole thing but I do remember there were a bunch of people in our apartment and they made a HUGE  mess.  Someone used one of our nice bath towels to clean up a big pot of spilled beans in the kitchen.  I'm guessing that made me upset in my dream.  Then out of nowhere there was a rat.  Not a big rat but ewww.  It ran across the counter and fell on the floor and when it hit the floor this gigantic spider attacked it.  They were about the same size so it was a big spider and a little rat, locked in a battle to the death.  Super weird!!

I must be worrying about how clean our apartment is or something.  It's really not up to my standard right now which means it is still probably one of the cleanest on the block.  We do live in a basement though and right now is my favorite time of year (dripping sarcasm there).  It's pretty hot outside but our basement stays nice and cool so we get bugs.  Usually I spray before they start coming but somehow I forgot this year and the other day I killed 2 centipedes and a spider.  In one afternoon.  Eeek!  I hate centipedes.  The weird thing is these bugs will literally just be crawling right across the middle of our living room floor.  Makes me wonder how many are hiding next to the wall.  I literally just shuddered thinking about this.  Must fumigate ASAP!!

The One with Thing 3

Thing 3- Describe your relationship with your parents.

If you can’t tell from Fear #3 I adore my parents.  I think I really lucked out in that department.  My parents definitely love their kids and are thankfully still together and celebrating their 40^th anniversary soon.  40 years!!  I know it hasn’t always been perfect but it’s a great example to me of making a marriage work.  So I guess first off I’d have to say my parents are both great examples to me.

Dad is the kindest, most generous person.  If he had a piece of bread after not eating for a week and a hungry fat guy walked by, Dad would give him the bread.  We have a shared love of sports and Justin appreciates that because it means I knew how to play football before we even met.  Dad was always good at teaching us kids how to do things like fish or shoot guns or play softball.  He is definitely one of those fathers who invests time and not just money.  I feel like the older I get, the closer we become.  Dad’s a good listener.

Mom is just amazing.  She is so talented and organized and just gets things done.  I take after her a lot :) She may not realize it, but Mom going back to school once I started kindergarten is a big reason why I have gone on to get a graduate degree.  Education is important to me because it’s important to her.  In the middle of my sophomore year of high school Mom had a hysterectomy and a long recovery.  I would get home from volleyball or basketball practice and go talk to her in her room for hours.  I think that’s what gave us such a good foundation and why we have a better mother/daughter relationship than a lot of others out there.  Mom even knows about everyone I’ve ever kissed!

I’ve noticed recently that my relationship with my parents is changing, in a good way.  Maybe it’s because I’m finally married and it’s a little harder to see me as just the baby of the family but I feel like our relationship has matured and we talk about more serious topics.  It’s a little weird realizing your parents are people too, outside of their roles as “Mom and Dad,” but I like where we’re at.

The One with Thing 2

Thing 2- Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.

1. My first fear is one I’m pretty sure you’re already all aware of and that is things that live in the ocean.  Mostly it scares me because I don’t think fish should have teeth but coral scares me too (I know, it’s sad).  And I’m not entirely sure where it came from.  Obviously sharks are terrifying and I did watch Jaws at a young age but even Finding Nemo scares me.  I made the mistake of watching that in the theater.  I have been in the ocean multiple times, even surfing and snorkeling, but I have to kind of separate myself from my location.  I just can’t think too hard about what I’m actually doing.  One time I was jetskiing in Rocky Point and got pretty far from shore.  The water there isn’t exactly crystal clear to begin with so when I realized there were fishing boats and not swimmers around me I turned around as quickly and carefully as I could (I did NOT want to fall off out there) and zoomed back to the beach.  The whole time back I did not care about chasing and jumping waves.  I just kept envisioning the fish/sharks/gigantic blue whales lining up under the water and chasing me back to shore in the hopes of swallowing me whole.  Ok, so maybe that’s not a legitimate fear but it totally counts!
2. I have to agree with Andrea on my second fear- losing my husband.  Especially now as we’re still relatively young.  I really think that Justin and I have the best love story/marriage on earth.  We’ve got a good thing going and losing it would be the worst thing ever.  I waited a long time for someone as good as Justin and never, ever want to be single again.  No one else could ever understand and unconditionally love me the way he does.
3. To be honest, I’ve thought of a few different things for Fear #3 but the one right in front of my mind is also losing my parents.  They’re still way too young to die but my dad’s older sister passed away just a few weeks ago and at the funeral somebody told my dad “So you’re next huh.”  He’s the second oldest.  I wanted to yell at that guy “He’s not next you idiot!”  What a rude thing to say and I was standing right there!  It really scared me though.  Justin and I don’t even have any kids yet.  So Mom and Dad- you’ve still got 30+ years to go before even thinking about leaving me behind!

The One with Thing 1- for Justin!

I really had a lot of fun coming up with a list of 20 random facts for Justin.  I probably won't do this for every "thing" so enjoy :)

1. I can’t touch my toes, as in I am honestly physically unable to do so.
2. I like to say “Go America!!”
3. I am scuba dive certified and own my own equipment.
4. I like historical/war movies.  My favorite is Saving Private Ryan.
5. I only have nine fingers.  I lost my left index in a wakesurfing accident.  Cindy thinks a gator in the lake swallowed it and is waiting for me to return- like Captain Hook and the crocodile.
6. I am one of the few people in the world who can pull off Florida orange.

Justin and his friend Justin Rae who was a groomsman in our wedding.  Together they are J^2 (that's pronounced Jay-squared).

7. I am half Peruvian and Spanish was my first language.
8. I served a 2 year mission for my church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil so I also speak Portuguese, which makes me trilingual.
9. I am a HUGE Star Trek nerd.
10. I could live on potato chips.
11. In high school my friends, Jared and Gordon, and I made movies to advertise blood drives in the style of the Crocodile Hunter.  I played “Skippy, the aborigine.”
12. My favorite spring to swim in (Jenny Springs in Florida) is on state land so my friend and I built a homemade raft to enter from the river, which is legal and free.  It’s a blow-up raft with an outboard motor attached using PVC pipe and we named it “the Millenium Falcon.”

  

13. I don’t get mad very often because most of the time you can’t do anything about the situation.  Except for driving.  I have terrible road rage.
14. I like being the little spoon.
15. In college my singles ward held a yearly talent show in the Spring called Shaka Pau.  I usually participated in an all male dance group.  One time we danced to a New Kids on the Block medley.  I was wearing a girl’s vest.  The second time we recreated a Menudo (as in Ricky Martin) music video.  I look amazing in spandex!

Justin, Ethan, Will and Jordan = NKOTB!!

Jordan, Justin, Will and Ethan as Menudo!

16. I hate summer because there are no good sports (aka football and basketball) on TV. 
17. I am really good at ping-pong.
18. I like to sing and have performed in a few choirs.  Before we got engaged I convinced Cindy to join the Institute choir so we could sing in the April general conference.  Unfortunately, I didn’t memorize the words to the rest hymn and I was standing right behind the conductor.  You could totally see me making up words on live TV!
19. I am really good at foreign accents, especially leering Spanish and snooty French.

20. Every Sunday for lunch I make myself sauceless pasta and hot dogs.  Yum!!

The One with Thing 1

1 of 30 Things- list 20 random facts about yourself.  

1. I can’t whistle, as in I am honestly physically unable to do so.
2. I am very patriotic and am so, so excited for the Olympics and for America to kick some international butt!  Ok, I’m a little competitive too.
3. I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie.  Whenever I ride 4-wheelers I seriously laugh the entire time, like a crazy person.  I’ve also jumped out of an airplane twice (with a parachute) and scare Justin (and myself sometimes) on the bike trails with my “hopping.”  I like the jumps :)

4. My favorite movies are based on comic books.  I am such a nerd!  I have honestly never read a comic book (unless you count Archie) but I think all the Iron Man, Spiderman, Batman... movies that have come out recently are awesome!  X-Men: First Class is definitely my favorite but Heath Ledger as the Joker is and always will be the best villain performance ever.
5. I have always dreamed of being the voice of a Disney character.  Best job ever!
6. I spoke at both my 8^th grade promotion (my essay was chosen and I didn’t even know it was a contest) and high school graduation (as valedictorian).  “And I was valedictorian!”  Just for you Wendy :)

7. When I was 16 I skipped mutual one night to hang out with my friend and our boyfriends.  Unfortunately the activity was Christmas caroling and both our moms noticed that we weren’t in the choir when the YM and YW knocked on our doors.  Sneaky leaders!
8. I recently started doing pilates and yoga and love them!  I was getting bored working out and don’t need the intense cardio, hard-core weightlifting type sessions I used to do.  So I tried some pilates classes and highly recommend it.  I was pleasantly surprised that I can still do a wheel (aka a “bridge” in gymnastics).
9. I have man hands.  I never really noticed until college when people would comment on how long my fingers were (full disclosure: I have long toes too so apparently it’s all of my phalanges.  Thanks Dad!).  When Justin and I compare hands they’re almost the same size but my fingers are waaaay longer than his.

10. In high school I was super involved in everything.  I played a sport every season (volleyball, basketball & tennis), was on student council for 3 years (as class president twice), served on seminary council my senior year and was in various clubs; Spanish, Math, FBLA, Peer Mediators…  I was voted “Most Likely to be Successful” but I personally think I deserved “Best Legs.”
11. I can be very possessive.  Not in like an “I’m crazy, stay away from my man” kind of way, more like “this is my routine and you can not change it.”  I am particularly possessive of my parking spot in front of our apartment.  One time I made Misha’s date leave our apartment and repark his car (not the first time he parked in my spot, this was a repeated offense and he’d been warned).  In case you think that’s rude (and not just funny), my truck was full of groceries.
12. Justin told me I have to add that I burp backward.  Not like burping the alphabet backward but probably half the time I actually inhale while burping.  I don’t know how else to explain it but apparently that’s not very common.
13. The one regret I have for my wedding day is that I didn’t dream about it beforehand.  I never wanted to be one of those girls that was crazy and had her colors and dress picked out when she was 12.  Not thinking about those details beforehand was a bad idea.  Go ahead, be that girl!

14. My biggest pet peeve is impedance.  You know when you’re walking out of the room and you’re husband or boyfriend thinks it’s cute to step in your way and give you a kiss?  Yeah, I hate that.  The reason I’m walking out of the room is because I have to pee so move it!
15. When I was little I thought it was funny to laugh using every vowel.  Like this: hahaha, heeheehee, hihihi, hohoho, huhuhu.  I was right.
16. Sometimes I wear things and think I look really cute and trendy and then a week later I match up the same outfit and wonder “what was I thinking?”
17. I eat M&M’s in pairs of matching colors.  If there’s an odd number then I have to eat the outlier with a similar color.  Yellow can be eaten with green or orange but not red or blue.  I also eat goldfish in pairs.  You would never know this if I didn’t tell you but I doubt many of you are surprised by it.
18. I love old movies.  Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, James Dean, Gene Kelly.  Mmm Gene Kelly.
19. I hate biting through fruit skins.  I honestly get chills in my teeth.  When I do eat fruit I usually slice it first.  Except grapes.  They’re hard to cut so I don’t eat them often.
20. My current favorite activity is to dream about mine and Justin’s lives after grad school when we will rejoin the rest of society.  It’s so close I can taste it and I’ve already started gathering ideas for our future home and what to do with our kids.  That’s right- kids!