Beth

1. I was born in Australia. obnoxiously, when I was a kid it was the first thing I would tell about myself. I clung to it as something original. so I figured it should be number one.

2. i had two opportunities in life to mess my face up. once i scraped it off when i was 8 on the asphalt off a bike, and had to have my 7 busted teeth wired shut. the other was mashing it on a diving board when i was 19, breaking my nose and 3 teeth. mom says it is a miracle i look regular. thanks, mom.

3. i love to eat. i love food. to the point where in health class, when I first heard about bulimia, my first unchecked thought was, “brilliant!!”.

4. i love to read, but can’t let myself at this stage in my life. If I get into a good book, I find myself saying things like, “go and make your own dinner!” to my 1 year old.

5. i exaggerate everything, to make it better, but I am a terrible liar. explain that.

6. i thought I was a fantastic dancer, because I love it so much, until I saw myself on video.

7. I have had just about every low-paying job there is. The list is actually impressive, if I do say so. A few highlights – bartender (I was 17), horse trainer, painter, gas-pump-scrubber, smoothie maker, kids day camp babysitter, health club towel-hander-outer, trampoline/diving coach.

8. what is the opposite of a fear of heights? i love to jump off of high things. anything. airplanes, diving boards, roofs, cliffs, you name it. but I didn’t realize how twisted it was till I climbed half dome. i had to talk myself away from the edge. for a second, I really, REALLY wanted to jump off it.

9. I love berries and I am an optimist.

10. when I was little, my dad took me to work out with him in a stinky, headband-wearing, 80’s man-gym (do you have the picture?). I loved it! i read in a journal I had when I was 10, that I wanted to be a personal trainer when I grew up. I am incredibly proud that I did it.

11. I am terrible at searching the internet. I have no explanation for it. I once typed in “football” and got no results. maybe it is because I can’t spell.

12. each of my 4 (make that 5) children are a little slice of a different part of me. I am glad to discover, in a self-analytical way, that I like them all.

13. it took me 9 years to graduate from college, but it is one of my greatest triumphs. summa, not just regular old cum laude (claire!).

14. I am not afraid of much, but I am afraid of bad guys at night.

15. I hate hidden camera or “piss them off and then tell them they are on tv” shows. They make my skin crawl.

16. I hate cake. It is a waste of calories and doesn’t deserve the level it has on the dessert hierarchy. I can list off 20 treats WAY better than cake, but it keeps showing up at the most important events (birthdays, weddings). this is, of course, with the glorious exception of claire’s carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. that is different.

17. I love motherhood WAY more than I ever thought I would. I didn’t even want to be a girl until I was about 15.

18. i remember, vividly, walking into an apartment and seeing tim for the first time. i didn't even know his name, but i remember when he stood up, looked me full in the face and smiled, shaking my hand, that if he asked me to marry him, i would say yes.

19. I hate grown-up things like insurance, taxes, car maintenance, and bills. blech.

20. I like to be a hero. To feed people, listen to sad people, give somebody something they need. you know… save the day. I like to save the day.

21. this one is hard to explain. I change my personality to match whomever I am talking with. old people, hippies, pta, hockey players, republicans, you name it. it is a skill, and comes in handy, but I am not sure if I am proud of it or not. which one is me?

22. I LOVE general conference. I like getting my religion straight from the top.

23. I am not good at keeping up with friends. I see or hear from an old friend and think, “man, I really like them a lot!”, and then I don’t see/call/write them for 10 more years. but sisters are different. when I am with my sisters, it feels like a clean, deep sigh.

24. with the exception of volleyball, I like individual sports. If i do badly, it’s all me, but if I do well, I get all the glory.

25. one of the best moments I ever had was in a high, sunny, fragrant mountain meadow where tim was fly fishing upstream, my new baby was asleep in my arms, my three kids had stripped down and were swimming in their underwear, squealing with joy, and would come to the edge long enough for me to squirt “easy-cheese” and a cracker into their mouths. Tim was 100yards away, but we smiled at each other in that way that says, “i-love-you-I-am-totally-happy-right-now-and-this-is-awesome”.