100th Post! AND Give Away!!!

This is my 100th post! WOW! 100 already! A cause for celebration don't ya think? Well, I do! So in honor of this centurian post I am having another GIVE AWAY! Woo-hoo! It's easy to enter. Just go to the end of this post and see what ya have to do! Tell all your bloggy friends! GOOD LUCK!

Go to the end of this post to see how
YOU CAN

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My 100th post!

It's an ancient blogging tradition that for your 100th post you are supposed to list 100 things about yourself that people don't know. I wouldn't want to deprive you of knowing 100 mundane things about me and since I am all about tradition, here goes...

1. I grew up in Utah (Ogden & Washington Terrace), California (Eureka, Stockton, & Concord), and Nevada (Reno, actually Sparks).
   
   
2. Ever since Jr. High, I always thought I would have six boys. I was only off by one! Unless a miscarriage counts.
   
   
3. Since I was in my 30's, I just knew I would be one of those women surprisingly pregnant at age 45. Whew! I was thankfully wrong about that one!
   
   
4. I have been obsessed with the color purple since the age of two or three. My Mom says I had a doll with purple hair at that age and the rest is history. The photo is of me and my brother Jerry. I am holding the doll, though you can't tell it has purple hair. Notice the vintage silver Christmas tree in the background.
5. I absolutely LOVE children...all ages.
   
   
6. I also absolutely LOVE animals...all kinds.
   
   
7. I have a tendency to go in the Men's bathroom at restaurants. One time at Olive Garden I went in the Men's bathroom accidentally and when I came out of the stall, I saw a man in there and I thought how embarrassed 'he' was going to be when he realized what he had done. I didn't realize what 'I' had done until I came out and saw all these people starring and laughing at me.
   
   
8. I once kissed a guard at Buckingham Palace and made him smile (and blush). Hope I didn't get him fired!
   
   
9. Although I really hate snakes and other creatures, I went on a college field trip with Dave right after we were married for his Zoology class. It was held in the desert of southern Utah. We slept in tents by night and caught rattlesnakes and Gila Monsters by day. We also went inside a BAT CAVE! They were flying all around us. It's amazing the things you will do before the honeymoon's over! ☺
   
   
   
10. I met President Ezra Taft Benson when he was in the LDS hospital and Dave was his medical resident.
    
    
11. President Thomas S. Monson's younger brother is in our ward. They are really nothing a like.
    
    
    
12. I've been a live manikin. Not a hired one though. My friend Carol and I would sneak in the sewing display window in our high school and pose as manikins. Most people didn't even notice, but those that did tried to distract us and get us to laugh. Unfortunately, they usually succeeded.
    
    
    
13. I got lost with my friend in East St. Louis (a VERY dangerous city!) after dark while driving my car that had Utah license plates and lived to tell about it.
    
    
14. I used to love, crave, and dream about mushrooms. I really loved them until my first pregnancy. Now I absolutely detest them. Bleh! I can't even stand the sight or smell of them any longer.
    
    
15. When I was away at Dixie College I ate so many carrots that my skin literally turned orange.
16. I really like foot rubs. I will even pay my boys to do it. They used to do it for a quarter. However now I can't afford their rates ~ (25 c per minute!) Thank goodness Dave will do it whenever I ask.
    
    
    
17. I was 'french kissed' in 2nd grade by another 2nd grader named Timothy Pettipuss (his real name!) He grabbed my arm and kissed it all the way from the top to the bottom... you know, how the "French" do. He told me after he had just French kissed me. For the longest time that is what I thought French kissing was. ♥
    
    
18. I loved to play Barbies growing up. When one of my friends would sleep over for the weekend, we would play non-stop the whole time, sometimes for three days straight. We would still secretly play with them sometimes even when we were 14.
    
    
19. In high school me and my friends sometimes ordered pizza's (with only anchovies!) and had them delivered to boy's houses that we either had crushes on or were miffed at. We drove to their houses and waited in our car to watch their reactions as they were delivered. Good times!
    
    
20. I love to bake, much more than cook. Especially really gooey, yummy, treats of any kind.
    
    
21. I used to love eating fish until I caught a catfish as a little girl and ever since then I. can. not. stand. it. My Dad says it's because I love cats so much and the term catfish messed me up. Mexican, Italian, Chinese...I'm there. But seafood of any kind...count me out! If it swims, not gonna happen.
    
    
22. Growing up I had a cat named Lightning (Mow). He lived for 17 years. When I was about eight we lost him and so we put an ad in the paper. I prayed hard and had great faith that we would find him without giving up once, although everyone else had. Sure enough TWO weeks later we got a call from a lady that lived at least 30 miles away saying she thought she had found him. She put the phone to his ear as I talked to him and he responded in such a way that she told us it was for sure him. It was. He lived another 15 years after that. Oh man, I loved that cat!
    
    23. We also had a Samoyed dog named Queenie that had 12 pups! Two died, but we had 10 of them in our house until we sold them all! They were the size in the second photo before they were old enough to sell. My dad was nice enough to let us keep one of them. His name was Prince.
    24. I frequently find plastic bugs, snakes, cockroaches, etc. in my bed and shower. My boys love to hear me scream when I find them. The roaches are the worst, they look so real! Thankfully that is slowing down some now that they are getting older! As long as they are plastic...no issues...it's when they are real that I need CPR.
    
    25. I am not a singer, though I really wish I was. I pretty much can't even carry a tune. But when I was 16 the boy I had a crush on was in a play and so I tried out for it too because I wanted to get to know him. I found out I had to sing a solo for the tryouts and I (insanely) actually did it! It worked. I somehow got in and he became my boyfriend.
    
    26. I was a Fraternity Sweetheart in college. They had us do a talent in order to choose the head sweetheart. My friend Lisa (who was also a frat sweetheart) and I decided to do a non-talent. We dressed up like hags (cat eyes, hair nets, etc.) and made a cake in front of them. We read the recipe and threw in whole eggs (shells and all), a cube of butter with the paper still on it, etc. really hamming it up. It was funny. Guess you would've had to have been there. For the final product we brought out a small three tier cake we had decorated. If I hadn't found this photo, I would have forgotten all about that. What good laughs!
    27. At one point while growing up I took lessons in baton, tap, ballet, drill, piano, gymnastics, cheerleading all at the same time. I have no idea how my parents afforded it, let alone how my mother survived the schedule! It paid off for me though. I got my first job at the age of 14 as a baton teacher. And then I ran my own dance studio for four years after we were married to pay for our living expenses while we were both going to school. This is me performing at my student's recital after I was married. In my entire career, I only caught the curtains on fire once! And just a small corner at that!
    28. I almost exploded a car when I was first learning how to twirl fire baton. After soaking the ends of the baton in gasoline my teacher (cousin Shelley) lit it and the flames freaked me out. My first impulse was to douse the flames and so without thinking I stuck the baton in the can of GASOLINE we used to soak it in! It really lit up then! I let go of it and without thinking again kicked the can. It rolled in a big flame under a parked car! We were all waiting for it to blow up the car. Lucky for me, it didn't.
    
    29. The day I got my driver's license, I drove to California with my grandparents. My grandpa Ed let me drive almost the entire way. I cruised mostly at 90 mph through the desert at his insistence!
    
    30. Dave and I were in the Hill Cumorah Pageant while engaged. I was in the Alma the Younger scene and he played the part of the Pastoral Christ. While there we served as missionaries for two weeks. They were very strict and we weren't even allowed to hold hands. But... we found a few ways around their rules (as you will see in the photo!) Our companions were very cool.
    
    

    This is Dave...

In front of the Peter Whitmar farm.

31. After the Hill Cumorah Pageant was over, Dave and I toured Niagra Falls and Washington DC before our honeymoon. Dave's Mom thought we were going to elope for sure and get married in the Washington DC temple while there. It was tempting, but we didn't.

32. I once out fished Dave when we were dating and I won't ever let him live it down! Of course, he claims it's because he was too busy putting on my worms and taking off the fish after I caught them.

33. While camping with Dave's family when we were engaged, Dave caught a fish and the hook got stuck deep inside it. I felt so sorry for the poor suffering fish that I did minor surgery on it to remove the hook. That was a huge feat of bravery for me to even touch the slimy thing! Dave's little sisters watched in amazement as I very un-skillfully saved it's life. I let it back in the water before Dave had any clue what I had done. But he still married me!

34. I have always LOVED cats. I also really like soft cuddly bunnies. Dave won't let me have a cat so I tell him when I am old and widowed (haha) I will turn into one of those cat ladies with a million cats, as a result of his denying me one. He of course doesn't care, because if I am a widow, then that means he is....

Me and my cat Pal. I'm three years old.

35. I have always hated to run! So I have NO idea why I decided to take it up last year. But, I did. I still don't love it, at least not on most days, but I do it almost everyday. I like how I feel after I run, not necessarily while running. I think you have to be a runner to understand that messed up logic. It has brought me a great feeling of accomplishment.

36. I used to think that people that ran marathons were seriously crazy.

37. I just ran my first half marathon and I'm currently training for my first full. Nuff said.

38. I love rain! My favorite weather is when the dark clouds come in and you can smell rain in the air and the sky is lit up with lightning.

39. Spring is my favorite season even though I am allergic to it. I once sneezed 15 times in a row without stopping.

40. I love books. Going in a bookstore for me is like a kid going in a candy store. I have so many books, I am running out of room for them. My motto... "I don't do drugs, I do books."

41. My perfect temperature is 80 degrees.

42. Lilacs are my favorite flower. I love their scent! They teach many life lessons... such as the most beautiful things in life are short lived and so we must enjoy them while we can.

43. Dave filled (and I mean filled!) my bedroom with tons of bouquets of lilacs when we were dating. The aroma was unbelievable!

44. I love two year olds. I hope in heaven I can somehow go back and re-live each of my boys lives at that age.

45. I am a recorder of memories and very sentimental. I kept a detailed daily journal of each of my boys lives up until they were eight. Then they were able to keep their own. I want to remember every detail of their childhood.

46. The smells of camping ~ bon fires and evergreen trees ~ make me happy. They bring back great childhood memories.

47. I have kept a journal for as long as I can remember. I currently have about 25 volumes.

48. I got the chicken pox the week of my Junior Prom. I had to miss it and I even had a date and a gorgeous dress. My prom date didn't believe I really had them. He thought I was using it as an excuse to not go with him. I wasn't really bummed I didn't get to go with him, just that I had to miss my only Junior Prom that was held at the state capital!

49. That was the same week as cheerleader tryouts. Being a cheerleader was my dream and I had worked sooooo hard and not even the chicken pox or a 102 degree fever was going to stop me from trying out. I still tried out at every one's encouragement (except my parents!) even though I was sick as a dog and had no energy - not exactly what they were looking for! It appeared as if I had a very serious acne problem because I was so covered with them. Literally covered!

50. Needless to say I didn't make it.

51. I cried for days.

I'm over halfway through and having a hard time coming up with more! This is harder than I thought! Who came up with this anyway! Does this mean on the 200th post you have to come up with 200 things? It would have been even harder had I not been working on an anniversary book for my parents and so I have a ton of photos my mom gave me which has really helped remind me of things! Guess I better go find more photos!

Onward... thankfully Dave helped me come up some of these or I would have never finished!

52. Once I am determined about something, it is nearly impossible to change my mind.

53. I was the majorette at Weber State University for two years. It was pretty cold twirling at some of those football games in November in that skimpy outfit! I just found several photos from this time. Be prepared for a major overdose!

What do ya think? Did I only attend WSU because their school color was the only true color???

No, the lower half of the grass is not on fire! I wasn't that bad. The photo is just so old it changed colors! At least that's my story...

If you look close you can see how long my hair was. It is flying off the back of my arm here. And once again, those aren't flames off to the side. But of course, with me, you just never know!
That's my Dad in the photo. He was there to light my batons for me and to bring a bucket of water...just in case!

54. I twirled baton across the Tames River Bridge by Big Ben in London with the Weber State University marching band on International TV.

55. I twirled a rifle on the Weber State Rifle Team at Royal Albert Hall in London and our squad took 1st place in an International competition. Same time as #54. I'm on the left, the one without a face, and my good friend Jody is on the right. The photo is taken at Weber State.

56. I once spent New Years Eve at Trafalgar Square in London. Same time as #54 & 55.

57. Speaking of twirling... I'm electronically retarded at times. When I was 15 I was mixing a cake with an electric mixer and apparently leaned over the bowl a bit to far, because the next thing I knew my long hair was twirling up in the beaters and they didn't stop until they hit my scalp! Oh, ouch! Glad I wasn't electrocuted!

58. I've been in one beauty pageant. It was called The Washington County Scholarship Pageant. I was attending Dixie College at the time and was asked by one of my professors to be in it. I didn't take it very seriously and just borrowed a dress, swimsuit, shoes, etc. I twirled fire baton for my talent. I didn't win. My roommate did. I did win a small scholarship from it so I guess it made the swimsuit trauma worth it.

How's this for beauty? (our Senior trip to Bear Lake)

59. I have never had a broken bone. Unless you count my 4th son's delivery, which broke my tail bone. My epidural only worked on half of my body during that delivery too.

60. I am a tradition fanatic. I love family traditions and we have many. I have started writing a book on family fun ideas and traditions. At the rate I am going, it may never get finished.

61. I graduated with honors in Child Development and Family Science/Food and Nutrition from Weber State University. I have been working in my field ever since! ☺

This is Dave, me, and my brother-in-law Lynn. We all graduated at the same time.

62. I graduated from high school in the top 10% with a 3.8 GPA. I thought I was so smart.

63. Little did I know.

64. I have one brother. No sisters.

65. My favorite holiday is Halloween. Christmas completely exhausts me. See #60.

66. I really like scary movies (old school scary ones, not the gruesome kind). I usually watch with both hands over my eyes, just barely peeking through.

67. I've had many confirmations that life is indeed unfair. But it's still worth the ride!

68. I blush very easily if I am embarrassed. I really hate that.

69. I am a very social person, although I also like to be alone at times. I will sometimes go early to pick up carpools just so I can sit and be alone in the quiet and think.

70. My favorite food group is chocolate. The older I get, the more I love it. But now, I am much pickier with what kind I splurge on. My fav is Dove Milk Chocolate. But I can be quite satisfied with just a good old Hershey Bar at times too.

71. My greatest passion is being a mom and speaking up for motherhood. Mothers do not get the respect they deserve in today's society and I want to help change that.

72. I've served with American Mothers, Inc. in nearly all capacities (including State President) for the last 17 years. I was our chapter president for 10 years. And I actually miss it!

73. I was Utah's Young Mother of the Year in 1994.


74. It was one of the most amazing years of my life.

75. I loved the 'job' (speaking, parades, meeting people, helping young moms, etc.) but hated the title. It put a lot of pressure on me to try and be the perfect mom, which I am most definitely not!

76. I think I was a better mom when my boys were little. It was much simpler then. I really love teenagers. It's one of the funnest times to be a mom, but it is more complicated.

77. I gave a speech along with the Mother of the Year in the House and the Senate on Motherhood and much to our surprise we both received standing ovations. (See #73)

78. I was able to meet with Governor Leavitt and he presented me with a proclamation declaring me as Utah's Young Mother. Hmm... I should probably find that and do something with it.

79. I've always loved to organize. I used to organize my grandma's hall closet when I was a little girl. I can spend hours organizing things. Since my son passed away though, I have found that my ability to organize is not the same. I have a harder time focusing. I have read that is a normal part of grieving. I hope it returns someday!

80. My ♥love♥ languages are: words of affirmation and gifts. Good thing I married a romantic!

81. I have always enjoyed being a BUSY person. In college I was involved in so many things I should have lived at the school. I did a million extra-curricular things plus three part jobs, and a busy social life. I guess that is how I roll because I have been that way my whole life. If I can squeeze in just one more thing, I will! It's like I don't want to miss out on anything. I have slowed down some since my Tyson passed away. I think that made me realize life is to be enjoyed along the way and not rushed so much.
In this photo I have my rifle, clogging shoes, lunch, and my Institute committee plans. I don't see my keys because I probably once again locked them in the car. I did that so often, I knew the campus police on a first name basis.

82. I love lighthouses. The lighthouse is our family symbol. I want our home to be a haven...that beacon of light and hope that my boys can return to after being out in the storms of the world.

83. We have a family flag, motto, and symbol.

84. I am a nibbler. I will take little bites of things (cake, brownies, pie, etc.) throughout the day, instead of just eating a whole piece in one sitting.

85. I am pretty very competitive. Board games, sports, contests, etc. I play to win. It's pretty tough to beat me at Boggle. ☺

86. I actually enjoy public speaking for the most part. At least if it is an opportunity to promote motherhood or something else I have learned that I want to share.

87. I have a thirst for knowledge. I am constantly reading or googling about things to learn more about them. Now if I could only retain that information.

88. I love to read about people's lives. Biographies are my favorite books. I think that's why I love blogging so much.

89. A fresh tomato out of the garden is one of life's greatest pleasures.

90. In college I was a member of the Weber State LDSSA Folk Dancers and during one performance my shoe came flying off in the middle of a clogging dance. I just kept on smiling and dancing as if nothing had happened.

91. I won a Miss Smile contest in high school. Guess it was a payday for my parents. They felt like the expensive braces were worth it after all! The irony of it all is I need braces again.

I know this photo looks immodest, but all our Senior photos were standard like that then!

92. I am magnetized to the color purple. I love things that I wouldn't have even given a second glance to if it was any color other than purple.

93. When I was a little girl, my dad used to smoke. I wanted him to stop and so I threw his whole pack of cigarettes out the car window as we were driving. He quit that day and never looked back.

94. Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, and Grace Kelly are the epitome of class, grace, and style that cannot be rivaled in today's society.

95. I was in an info-mercial for Dr. Glenn Latham's The Power of Positive Parenting book. We filmed it in Sundance, Utah. I never saw it. It ran mostly in other states.

96. I (yes, me!) was the fantasy football winner against all my boys and hub this year!

97. I can shoot a mean shotgun.

98. I made and decorated my own wedding cake. Craaaaazy!

99. I love to decorate all kinds of cakes and gingerbread houses. My favorite was my Haunted House gingerbread house.

100! My nickname in high school was VD. Relax, it was because my last name was VanDen... something or other.

Whew... I did it!!!!!!!!!

If anyone is still out there.... please enter my 100th post giveaway!

Check out these darling plates! One is a BIRTHDAY plate and the other is an I am Special plate. Think of the great new family traditions you can start with these! I will be giving away BOTH of them. All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment that includes something about this post or an obscure thing you have noticed about me that isn't in the list of 100. If you put a link on your blog telling others to enter, then I will enter you twice. Let me know if you link me. The contest ends in one week (June 24th) so spread the word. GOOD LUCK!!!

They are brand new and I will ship them in this protective box.