30 things you might not know about me

So, I thought I'd do something fun for my 30th Birthday this year and write down 30 things people might not know about me. I did something similar for George's 27th Birthday a few years ago and thought it would be fun to do one for me too.

Okay, 30 things is a lot, so there will probably be things on this list you did, in fact, already know about me. You ready? Let's go!

1.

I was born March 21, 1983. Early on, the doctors told my mom they thought I was twins, but an ultrasound confirmed I was just one big baby. I was 9 lbs 3 oz when I was born!

My parents were convinced I was a boy (this was before they did routine ultrasounds), so they were both surprised when my mom asked, "Is he okay?" and the doctor responded, "yes, she is!"

4 days old

 

1984--1 year old

1985-- 2 years old

2.

 I could swim when I was 2 years old! As in head and body under the water, swimming several feet away.

3.

I absolutely LOVED school when I was little.

1988 First day of school!

4.

I played T-ball when I was 5 and since we were so close in age, I got to be on the same team as my brother Chad.

1988

I also tried soccer later, but this sport didn't stick either.

I did swim team even later and enjoyed it. I ended up swimming all four years of high school as well!

5.

In third grade, I played the Velveteen Rabbit in our class play.

6.

I have always loved animals of any kind and wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up. I still do.

1990

2012--baby raccoon we found in a storage area in family housing. Yes, I'm holding a wild raccoon.

7.

My dad was in the Air Force growing up and we never lived more than 3 years in one place. I grew up in California and although we moved a few times between bases, we were lucky enough to always have two sets of cousins live within four hours of us.

1990--Thanksgiving with the Simmons and the Witts

 When I was 10 we moved to Ohio and were "alone" for the first time I could remember. I didn't appreciate it then, but because we saw our cousins so often in California, we formed lasting relationships that keep us close today even though we're now all scattered across many states.

8.

I had to wear headgear and had braces twice because I didn't wear my retainers after I got the first set off.

After the second set came off, the orthodontist put in permanent retainers so I didn't have to remember.

9.

When I was about 9 or 10 the ophthalmologist told my parents that one of my eyes was 4x weaker than the other and that I needed glasses. So, my parents took me to the store and I picked out a very fashionable pair.

About a year later, we discovered that the doctor had been wrong--there was nothing wrong with either eye. I stopped wearing glasses and have never had any problems with my sight. My hearing on the other hand could use some improvement. Just ask George.

10.

I had a dog growing up named Jake. We adopted him in California from some man who had found him along the side of the road. I loved that dog.

He came with us when we moved from California to Ohio. When I was 13, we we moved from Ohio to Virginia. Since we had to stay in an apartment for a few months while our house was being built, we couldn't take Jake with us. We found him a good home with a boy that he loved. We called about a year later to check on him and found out that he had been put down about a week prior to our call due to cancer that had spread and made him unable to walk. I still get teary sometimes when I think about him.

11.

I am the second oldest of 6 kids!

And yes, we do all look the same.

12.

My all-time favorite animal is a horse.

13.

I played the trumpet in High School. 

1998

I was in the Jazz Ensemble...

1997

 

...the Marching band...and the Wind Ensemble. The best part? George was in Marching Band and Jazz Band with me! 

2000

2000

14.

I played lacrosse in High School and loved it. I wasn't the fastest or the most talented, but I gave it my all and thought it was the greatest sport ever created. It wasn't an official sport at our school when I started playing my Junior year on the team, but the year I graduated it became school-sponsored and now lacrosse is a big deal in my hometown. George also played and we spent many fun hours "practicing" our throwing and catching skills. Surprisingly, I can't find any pictures of me actually playing lacrosse, so here's a picture of George:

2000

15.

I went on a cruise to the Bahamas with my family when I was 17 years old! It was a spur-of-the-moment deal my mom found that we turned into a last-minute family vacation before my brother Chad left on his mission to Russia.

Our ship is behind us.

In our amazing cabin.

Midnight chocolate buffet anyone?

16.

In High School I worked as a life guard.

  (the date on this photo is wrong... it's 2001)

17.

In 2000, I attended a football game at UVA where they were playing against BYU. I invited George to come and then forced him to cheer for the 'Y' instead of his college-pick.

 He did.

I never doubted his love for me after that!

18.

 I attended Brigham Young University for my undergrad.

19.

My freshman year I lived in Deseret Towers, the same dorms my mom and dad lived in when they attended the 'Y'...

T-Hall, 4th floor my freshman year

... and where they met for the first time!

Engagement picture of my mom and dad

Later I would move to Heritage Halls, the same dorms my GRANDMOTHER lived in when she went to BYU!

They have since torn down both these dorms and built new ones.

20.

I was in Utah for the 2002 Winter Olympics! I didn't actually see any events (something about being really busy trying to get into the Nursing program at BYU), but I was there!

21.

While at college, I earned money my freshman year by cooking stir fry in the little store attached to the dorms late at night (8-12 midnight) three nights a week.

I later worked at the BYU laundry and after that worked at "Sugar and Spice". No, it's not what you think, you dirty. It was a store in the Cougar Eat that sold pastries and ice cream.

22.

Jan 2, 2002 my dad passed away after battling leukemia.

2001 Visiting Dad at the hospital soon after his diagnosis.

2006 Visiting Dad's grave.

I think about him all the time. Little things bring him to mind, like the smell of cut grass or seeing something neat in a store that I know he would have liked. I wish with all my heart my boys could have known my dad. He would have been an awesome grandpa. I miss him every day.

23.

I graduated from Brigham Young University in 2005 with a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing.

2005 with my Allred Grandparents, Uncle David and his family, my siblings and Scott.

24.

I became a mom for the first time on September 14, 2005. I was 22 years old.

I delivered Jude (#2) naturally--no epidural, no pain medications, nothing. Since I was currently working as a labor and delivery nurse at UVA, I thought I knew enough to make it a decent experience. 

How did it go? Well, let's just say Cole (#3) came into the world with an epidural-ed mother. I am so impressed with the ladies who can deliver naturally and wish I was one of them, but having done it both ways, I'd much rather have a delivery like this:

2012--10 cm dilated with Cole

than like this:

2010 Delivering Jude

Yep.

25.

Even though I lived in Utah for four years, the first time I went snowboarding was in 2009 with George here in Charlottesville.

26.

 I absolutely LOVE to do outdoorsy things like camping, rock climbing and hiking.

27.

The first concert I ever attended was with George when we saw Paul McCartney live in 2009.

It was truly an amazing experience to see one of the Beatles live (he still has an amazing voice!). I was 16 or 17 weeks pregnant with Jude at the time and the first time I ever felt him move was at this concert. As soon as the vibrations from the loud music started, Jude started doing somersaults. "Hey, Jude!"

28.

Contrary to popular belief, my eyes are not brown, they're actually mostly green.

2006 Mother's Day with Lance

29.

I have known both sets of my grandparents, three of my great-grandmothers and two of my great-grandfathers. I don't know too many people who can claim the same.

Grandma and Grandpa Banner (my dad's mother's parents):

About 1990 (?)

 Grandma and Grandpa Allred (my dad's parents)

 1990

1998

 Grandma and Grandpa Teague (my mom's mother's parents):

 1983

1990

 Grandma and Grandpa Brewer (my mom's parents):

2001

 

 2006

 30.

I weigh 120 lbs, give or take about 3 lbs depending on the day. I can now dead-lift 200 lbs and squat 185 lbs!

I'm pictured here dead-lifting 195 lbs. The day before my Birthday, I threw on an extra 5 lbs and lifted it three time. Woot!

I am the strongest I've ever been and hope to continue to train.

If you've made it this far and you're not my mom or my grandparents, I'm impressed! I hope you had fun learning a little bit more about me. Bring on the next 30 years!

Happy Birthday to me!

I had a great Birthday this year! Thanks to my family and friends, I got to celebrate no less than 4 times!

First up, March 15th my mom and Laura drove down to Charlottesville. Laura's birthday is on the 16th, so to celebrate my mom took us both out to lunch (along with all the kids!) AND took us shopping where she treated us to a mini shopping-spree. It was so much fun!

We had lunch at a new Mexican restaurant that just went up in Charlottesville. The fact that they ignored the screaming children and bent over backwards to make sure we had everything we needed made me want to go back, even though the food wasn't anything spectacular.

(It was a school day, so Lance didn't get to come. )

The whole group

Sisters!


Second celebration happened on my actual Birthday: I got some great gifts from my family! George got me an Apple TV so the 40,000 picture I have taken that are on the computer get to scroll across our TV screen to music of our choosing. You think I'm kidding about the 40,000 pictures? I'm not. Lance gave me flowers he had picked out himself. Jude picked out the card the kids signed and then took pictures with George and Cole in the little picture booth at the mall to give me (Lance was with his dad when they did that, so he didn't get to be in the picture. Boo.) It was perfect!

(Cole was napping...)

That night George took me to a French restaurant on the Downtown Mall called Petit Pois, compliments of Mom and Dad Glass (thank you!).

It was really REALLY good! We had never been there before, but we will definitely be going back.


Celebration #3? The next day we invited some friends over to have some birthday cake George made. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting--my all-time favorite.

Melissa and Sarah (Jamie and Allison were out of town). And no, husbands don't get to be in the picture!


Last but not least, I got to celebrate a 4th time with some of my closest friends here in Charlottesville. They took me out to dinner at Bonefish Grill!

Jamie, Allison, Lori, Melissa and me.

Thank you to all my friends and family that made my 30th Birthday a special one--the perfect way to ring in the start of my 4th decade!

Match Day Madness

We have several friends in medical school and March 15th was a big day for the 4th year med students.  Match Day! Every 4th year med student across the US finds out on this day where they will be doing their Residencies. Oh man, it was just a year ago when we had our Match Day and found out we would be staying at UVa. 

Our friends the Smiths, Dickinsons, and Francoms all landed residencies at the place of their choice! We are so happy for them! After the official Match Day meeting, the families all met up for some bike riding in the neighborhood and then pizza for dinner. Even though we weren't one of the 4th year families, we were invited to join in the fun.

After pizza, the kids all had a great time in the Smith's backyard rolling and biking down their little hill.

Jude is getting much better at his bike and can coast with his feet resting on the footrests! I can't believe he's barely 3 and is starting to balance on his own. Way to go, Jude!

Cole was happy to just be outside and toddle around.

I love that Cole looks super bald in this picture.:)

George got home from work while the party was going on and was able to join us all, too, making it the perfect night!

As much as Lance bickers with these two girls, they're actually pretty good friends.

The next night we had a potluck at the Elmer's to celebrate the Match again! 

Sarah Simmons, Jaclyn Dickinson, me, Jamie Smith, Allison Vedomske, and Melissa Elmer.

The men! Mike Vedomske, Ben (in front), Rod Smith with Bo, Brandon Dickinson, George with Lance, Aric Elmer with Killian, Calvin Simmons and Jayden Elmer (in front).

We are so happy for our good friends and while I'm sad they're moving away, I'm so happy that they are moving on to bigger and better things. At least we still have about 3 months to enjoy them all before they move!

Swimming, boxing and tons of clay

March had been keeping us busy!

Jude is almost finished with his first set of swim lessons! He has loved every second of it... maybe a little too much. His teacher has told me multiple times that Jude has no fear of the water--rather he has trouble focusing on what she is teaching because he just can't stop playing.

That grin says it all. He loves the water and does a good job doing most of what the teacher asks of the kids. I just hope his attention span expands a little before his next class that starts in a couple weeks.

And what does Cole do while we're at swim lessons?

At this pool they banish all parents and kids not swimming to an upstairs balcony where we can watch. It's in the same area as the pool, so it's 85 degrees and humid. Luckily, it's a contained area so Cole can have free range and run back and forth as much as he pleases without too much worry from mama.

Jude as recently discovered a love of video games and asks to play them almost every waking minute. I introduced him to Wii Sports and he is currently obsessed with the boxing game. He's pretty good at it and enjoys trash-talking while he beats up different characters. "I'm going to knock you out!" "In your face!" "Stupid you!" (when he get's knocked down)

We give Cole the broken controller so he thinks he's playing, too.

Jude thinks it's great when he beats me, George or Lance. I have to admit he beats me often. Legitimately.


Lance has also discovered a love for sculpting things out of clay. He used some money he's been saving to buy a pack of clay and every day after school he makes about 5 or 6 different little creations.

Let's see... there's a snake with spines on it's back, a sting ray with stingers on the tail, a snake with venom coming out of it's fangs, a screw driver and screw, a hammer and a nail, a starfish, a bone, a tomato, a strawberry, an apple, and a diamond with a large sparkle on it. I love that he is so excited to be creating these. It's fun to watch his mind at work as he figures out how to make the ideas in his head. He's very creative and I think has a promising future in art if he keeps at it.

Snow!

I swear the weather in Virginia must be having a rough personal life right now because for the last couple months it hasn't been able to decide if it should be warm or cold. After having several nice days in February, March 6th brought us this:

About 8 inches of beautiful snow!

It happened to be a Wednesday and Lance, while happy to be out of school for the day, was upset the snow hadn't come later in the week. Why? Well, he wanted to have a long weekend and was sure they'd have to go to school on Thursday or Friday. Only Lance could find a reason to be disappointed about a snow day. Stinker!

I dressed the boys and we all tried to play in the snow. Unfortunately, it was a very wet, heavy snow so we didn't last very long.

Poor Cole wasn't too pleased about the snow this time since it was too deep for him to walk in and too wet to sit.

I had bought him some snow pants just a couple weeks before this and thought he would love them, but once they were on he simply refused to walk. He reminded me of the little brother in "A Christmas Story" who gets all bundled by his mom for school and can't put his arms down or get up when he falls in the snow. Cole just laid like this until I took them off.

Lance lucked out and got to go snow-shoeing with his dad this day since there was no power at Scott's work. He had a great time and even got to have a short play-date with Killian and Kendall. He gets to have all the fun.

Our friends built an igloo in their backyard, so in the afternoon after naps, we braved the wet snow again to visit and check out the cool ice house.

It was amazing! It was large enough to fit several adults inside and very well made.

The boys both thought it was great! We didn't last very long this time in the snow either since it was warming up and the snow was melting. By the end of the day much of the snow was gone and I was sad for Lance since I was pretty sure he'd have to go to school the next day although sure he would have a delay.

Lance got his wish, however. School was indeed cancelled the rest of the week due to power outages across the county. :) Woo hoo!