Answered

Wow, thanks for the questions! This is LONG and I just wrote whatever went on in my head, so occasionally I go on a tangent. Enjoy;-)

My brother, Michael, asked: If you had a thousand dollars that you HAD to spend tomorrow and could not save or donate, what would you spend it on?
Answer: My thousand dollars could go 2 ways (assuming I don’t pay bills either). One would be a shopping spree on clothes and shoes. I mostly shop at places like TJMaxx and Ross because you can find stuff that not everyone has and at better prices, meaning you can get more;-). I’d also go to Dick’s, because I’m a sucker for cute Nike workout stuff. And I have an addiction to jackets/coats, so I’d find a few cute ones. Yes, I could spend $1000 just “shopping”, but I’m sure there would be purchases for Chris and Carly in there.
The second way to drop $1000 would take me to Best Buy. We desperately need a new laptop and I drool over the digital cameras. We got our camera over 3 years ago and now you can get twice as many megapixels for half the price. They have the updated version of our camera in blue that I covet. Anyway, a new computer and a digital camera would be another wonderful way to spend $1000. (Though a new TV would be awfully fun too.)

My friend Laura asked: Hmm... what's the best gift you've ever received? Given? I'm going to put some limitations on you though and say it actually has to be a material gift, no saying Carly, Chris, wisdom, etc. :)
Answer: One gift that I got that I really cherish is a blanket that Chris made me the Christmas right before we got engaged. He was really surprised when I told him I was going to say that. Ok, he didn’t actually do the sewing, but he put it all together. It’s a quilt of aspects of his life and my life and has pictures of us together and is purple and green (my too favorite colors). I’ll put a picture up so you can see it. I love it so much that I never use it. For 4 years it has been wrapped in plastic and kept in the closet! I don’t want anything to happen too it. Another gift I’m really loving right now is my “C” necklace. Its tres cute.
Best gift I’ve given? I must be a bad gift giver because only one really stood out in my mind. Once I saved up money for months to buy a high school boyfriend a Fossil watch for Christmas. That was stupid; that’s not it. However, for Valentines when Chris and I were dating, I started in mid-January and wrote a journal entry every day about what we did that day and how I felt. Mushy stuff, to be sure, but I did it for a whole month and typed it up and added pictures and inside jokes and put it all in a book for his V-Day present. It was pretty nifty, I must say, and its something we both like to look at even now.

My dad asked: What do you think about, aside from your loved ones, in any spare time? (This is not intended to be a test question from April's General Conference.)JT
Answer: This might be the hardest question I got. Honestly, these days I think about very little other than Chris, Carly, and how I’m going to make it through the day (in a positive way, like actual what I will do when and how). I’ve found motherhood to be delightful, but also more than a tad overwhelming. Maybe other people find it easier sooner, but I’m just beginning to feel a little under control. Anyway . . . I think about sports, what games are coming, injured athletes, etc. This is weird but how TV shows impact me. Like the other day I saw an Oprah where she was seeing how people live very simply in Denmark and now I want to throw away half of my belongings. How friends are doing that I haven’t seen in a long time. Things I’d like to do soon, things I’d do if I have time (messy closet, anyone?). Then theres the Gospel-oriented things, the personal things, and the parenting things (which will get a blog of its own eventually). I don’t really think of anything in particular. Just what hits me whenever it hits me.

My brother, Jason, asked: Which one of your brothers is your favorite? No pressure.
Answer: Jesus

My gorgeous husband, Chris, asked (he asked 3. Cheater.):
1) What is your single favorite childhood memory?
Answer: Impossible. Too many. One is of course taking walks with my daddy around the Mesa Temple when we lived in Arizona. Vacations to the Oregon Coast (rolling down the sandhill). Tree houses in the orange grove in AZ. Feeding the homeless cat by the new Jr High in AZ. Praying with my cousin on a rainy 4th of July that it would clear up so we could have fireworks that night (it worked). Orange and grape soda fight in a friends backyard. Filling the dirt hole in my backyard with water so it was a giant mud pit and then playing in the mud with same aforementioned cousin. I was blessed to have a very fun childhood with fun good friends and a wonderful family.

2) If you could meet any one person to ask them anything, who would that be and what would you ask them (and what would you do the rest of the day with them)? (This person must be someone besides Jesus, because everyone would want to talk with him)
Answer: At the risk of getting too emotional and too personal, I’m going to be totally honest. And I hope my dad doesn’t mind. If I could meet and speak with any one person, it would be my paternal grandmother, Bonnie. Bonnie died when my father was a child, but its easy to see she was a special woman. My grandfather remarried, and I grew up with a wonderful grandma that I love very much, but I’ve always wanted to meet and know my Grandma Bonnie. My grandpa is a tender man, and whenever he speaks of her, he does it with great reverence and love. I can see how much he loved and continues to love her. I can see that in my dad too. I look forward to meeting her some day. And what would I ask her? To tell me her life story. I want to hear everything. Then we would have a simple day of getting lunch and doing whatever she would like to do.

3) How did you get so beautiful?
Answer: my mom


My friend Kristin asked, Do you ever cheat on your celiac diet? ;)
Answer: Uhhhh . . . rarely on purpose. I feel too horrible when I do. Sometimes, especially when going out to eat, I get a little lacksadaisical and don’t bother asking many questions about how they prepare things and whats in a meal. During pregnancy I was very careful, but once since having Carly I was careless and got pretty sick. Forgot what that feels like! Ew. And I cheat with malt and malt extract a lot. I don’t find that malt bothers me all that much so sometimes I just don’t worry about it;-)

My friend Stacey asked: Best/Worst highschool memory.
Answer: This was hard too. I don’t really have one specific best memory of high school. I have lots of wonderful memories: dances, playing sports, friends, boyfriends;-). I had great friends in high school (many of whom are reading now;-) and was lucky to have people around me who shared my values. Ok, is that a bale out? All right one really FUNNY memory: It was the dance in November that was a girl-ask-guy formal (oh gosh, what was it called, you Highlanders??). Anyway my and two friends, Barbs and Katie, went in a group with our dates. Early that morning for the “day date” we picked them up and blindfolded them. Then we drove them all around the neighborhood (we all lived in the same neighborhood) in and made sharp turns and drove all crazy so it seemed like we were going far away. Our plan . . . gosh this is a long story and I’m dying of laughter trying to write it, but it’s a “had to be there story”. If you want to know, let me know and I’ll post it. But I had lots of hilarious and wonderful memories from high school. But whats funny? Life is infinitely better now.
Worst: My worst memories are private and sad. I think everyone has those hard times in high school. One of the reasons life is infinitely better now.

My sister-in-law, Becky, asked: Which in-law do you like best for what reason? I know, it's too easy.
Answer: On Chris’s side: Sam, because she is loyal and noble.
On my side: Camie and Kasee are tied because they both have great taste in men.

My friend Laura (a different Laura) asked: If you could have a super power what would it be?
Answer: All right maybe this was hardest??? I must not be very exciting because Chris was naming off super powers and I didn’t really want any of them. I wouldn’t really want anything physical like flying or strength. I’d want something along the lines of a “Twilight” super power. Like Jasper’s. He can control the mood in a room, make people feel at ease. Something like that would be great because you could use it to make friends, be successful at any vocation you choose, and be a good mother and wife. Ok, am I boring or what?

My friend Erin asked: What is the craziest dream that you have had and remember?
Answer: The craziest dream for me wasn’t really that crazy but it was just so REAL and the timing of it made it crazier. We were still in Provo and contemplating starting to start trying to have a baby in the very near future. I had the most real and vivid dream of sitting in a hospital bed and Chris was next to me. We were holding a baby boy named John (a real name we like for a boy—its Chris’s late grandfather’s name). The boy had reddish brown hair, the color Carly’s is now. All the emotions I felt were so strong. It was really cool and just so real I woke up wondering where the baby slept. A while later not long after I found out I was pregnant, I had a dream about walking on the Oregon coast with Chris and toddler John. He still had that reddish brown hair. Needless to say, I was shocked when I found out we were having a girl first!
~
Thanks for the questions! It was fun for me to answer, though way harder than I expected. Probably won’t be doing this again anytime soon;-).