100 things about Cambria

A while ago a cousin of mine wrote about her obsession with cheese. It made me realize that I have one too. . . and then I started thinking of other things about myself--some I'd previously realized, some I hadn't until making this list. It turned into this huge list, and here it is!

THINGS ABOUT CAMBRIA
You probably don't know
1. I love cheese. It's not uncommon to find about five different varieties of cheese in my fridge--gorgonzola, myzithra, ranchero, fresh grated parmesan, typical cheddar. I {heart} cheese. I am also in love with. . .

2. Yogurt. Also common to find at least three to four varieties of yogurt in my fridge. My favorite yogurt ever tried was Noosa (raspberry was the best flavor), but I only found it at the Farmer's Market in Boulder. So good! So sad I only discovered it a couple of months before we moved. The closest thing I've found to it is Zoi (honey variety). I really enjoy Kefir, Fage, and the regular full-fat yogurt at the grocery store. Mexican yogurt is also excellent, especially the piña colada kind--a party in your mouth, as my roommates and I used to say! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I think the reason I love all these dairy products so much is because. . .

3. I grew up on a dairy farm. My grandparents lived two houses away from me, and they owned a dairy farm that was in the family for over 100 years. We had the second largest dairy farm in Utah, almost 300 milking cows at one point. My parents would send us up to the farm on a regular basis (a chore we despised) to go get fresh milk out of the huge holding container and bring it home in a milk pail. I hated the cream that would rise to the top and always skim it off and throw it down the sink. I love drinking milk, and secretly thought I could probably do the gallon-in-an-hour-challenge, although I've never tried. The one dairy product I consume the least, though, is . . .

4. Ice cream. Although I think I like ice cream as much as the next person, and certainly loved it growing up (especially with my grandpa around--according to my grandma, the only time in my grandparents' marriage he ever criticized my grandma was the one time she didn't have ice cream on hand), it's not something I regularly buy or consume. Unless there has been a birthday recently, there is probably not ice cream in our freezer. We do own an ice cream maker and occasionally make ice cream, but it doesn't always make it to the freezer or last very long at our house ;)

5. I always wanted someone to secretly take me out of the country. I never told anyone this, and when Tyson stole me off to Canada when he proposed (I didn't even know I was going out of the country until we got to the border and he pulled out my passport), it was a dream come true. I love how Tyson still does things for me that I secretly wanted and haven't told anyone.

6. I can't stand doors that creak. One of my top pet-peeves. Often when we move to a new place I march around with WD-40 and spray ever creaky door and cabinet I find. I am really suffering right now because I never found our WD-40 since moving here and keep forgetting to buy more, and this place has a lot of squeaky doors. It also has something else I discovered I can't stand. . .

7. Creaky floors. Yuck. The floors in this apartment and stairs creak a LOT. I don't like it. If I want to sneak around my own house, I want to do it in silence.

8. I also can't stand doors that don't open all the way because there is stuff behind it. People, behind the door is not a storage area. Probably because I am always carrying around kids and need space to get through doors, and have hit my hips too many times on door handles at a particular house I will not name, that is another thing that drives me nuts.

9. My favorite book ever, outside the scriptures, is Les Miserables, the full 1,400 page unabridged version. I once talked to a guy who had served his mission in Japan, and for whatever reason his mission president added Les Mis to their missionary library. He said, jokingly, "And on my mission, I gained a testimony of Les Miserables." I pretty much feel that way. I've seen the Broadway Musical three times, which makes it interesting that. . .

10. I'm scared to see the new movie Les Miserables. I love the book so much, and the music from the musical. However, although I've seen the Broadway production several times, the very last time I saw it in New York it just about ruined it for me. There was a part that was just too, too graphic in a play for my tastes. . . and I'm worried the movie will have the same.

11. I love to read. There was a time in junior high when I came home from school every day and read a book cover to cover. Yes, I did not have a life at that time ;)

12. Although I love to read a variety of books, I don't like Jane Austin books. I think that it's just hard for me to get past the language. But

13. I love movies of the Jane Austin books. I've never seen the million-hour Pride and Prejudice movie, but I like the new one, enjoy Sense and Sensibility, and Emma is one of my favorite movies.

14. On the subject of romance and such, I should make a note that I am not a fan of diamonds. When Tyson and I became engaged, we actually looked for a ring that had an opal as a center stone. We couldn't find one (all the jewelers told us opal was too fragile), and my mom ended up giving me one of her mother's rings which I love. It does have a diamond, but also sapphires and is just pretty unique.

15. I'm not a huge chocolate fan. Growing up I hated chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate licorice, etc. I like candy bars that have chocolate, however (butterfingers are my favorites). I will actually eat chocolate cake and brownies now and then if they're exceptional.

16. I like Dave Ramsey and his philosophies. I read his Total Money Makeover a few years ago, and a lot of his ideas helped me be able to put a plan in place that made it possible to leave Colorado debt free when Tyson finished his Masters.

17. I'm much more efficient than I am a perfectionist. I'm not much of a perfectionist at all, actually. If I could get a 95% on a homework assignment by doing an hour's work, and it took a second hour to get the last 5%, forget it.

18. I taught piano lessons while I was in elementary school. I laugh now that I think of it. A younger friend of mine "took" lessons from me, and her parents paid a decent price for her lessons. Those lessons didn't last long, but I did teach several more students while I was in high school.

19. For most of my life I was more comfortable around guys than girls. Part of it was growing up with all brothers, and another part of it was just struggling with a really mean group of girls in junior high, but by high school it was far easier for me to make friends with guys than it was with girls. I remember when I went to State Finals for Junior Miss my senior year in high school and going through the biggest culture shock of my life being around all girls for a week. Seriously, it was about 50 times worse than any culture shock I experienced on my student exchange summer when I went to

20. Japan. I lived in Japan for a month when I was fourteen for a foreign exchange program. Loved it.

21. In my opinion, elephants are the most comfortable animals to ride. I've ridden a donkey in Jordan, a camel in Egypt, a horse in Galilee, and an elephant in California. The bigger the animal, the smoother the ride.

22. I like pie over cake. And cheesecake is awesome. I knew Tyson loved me when he once surprised me by pulling out a strawberry cheesecake at midnight in the middle of nowhere while driving to Montana.

23. Art classes stress me out more than AP classes. My senior year my mom kept encouraging me to take a "fun" class like art or painting. My last semester I signed up for a watercolor class . . . and dropped it three days later. Much too stressful. I instead switched to AP Psychology, even though I'd missed the first half of the year. It was much easier and more "fun."

24. I somehow cannot get "into" Pinterest. It fails me every time I give it a try, but a subject for another blog post.

25. I write in my journal every day.

26. My memory is slightly better than average, especially when it comes to stories, verbal or written. I can't stand listening to abridged books on tape that I have read because I notice exactly when they leave off even a little word, let alone a sentence.

27. My backup plan in college, if I didn't get into the nursing program, was to go into mechanical engineering. I took the introductory class and really enjoyed it.

28. I am not very concerned about appearances, as far as being in style, or having the perfect decor, or a picture perfect meal. If it's comfortable, functional, or tastes good, that's what matters to me.

29. I love to organize. It's my favorite activity when we spend a few days at my parents.

30. Meet the Robinsons is my all-time favorite Disney movie. I just about cry at the end every time.

31. I have chronic sinus issues. I don't know if breaking my nose as a one year old has something to do with it or not.

32. Although I love having kids, I don't particularly enjoy being pregnant like some people.

33. I'm not a huge fan of movies.

34. My favorite type of book is historical fiction. Because in story form I can remember all the itty-bitty true details.

35. If things are not in story form, don't count on me remembering it perfectly. Especially if I only heard it verbally--aside from stories I am definitely not an auditory learner.

36. I'm much more a morning person than a night person.

37. Sometimes I just can't count.

38. I love board games, card games, and puzzles. My favorite board games are Ticket to Ride and Risk, and my favorite card game is Monopoly Deal.

39. In college my favorite midnight snacks were hot chocolate and hard-boiled eggs. Also frozen burritos were up on my list.

40. I'm still good friends with several college roommates. One year in particular the six of us were particularly close, and we just had a ten-year roommate reunion last month.

41. I like keeping up with current events, and my political views do not match the general population of Utah/Idaho.

42. I dislike shopping. It was a sad disappointment I think, for my mom, who loves shopping, to have her only daughter dislike it so much. Some of her planned "bonding moments" turned out to be a disaster. I should have tried harder to like it.

43. I'm not into crafts unless they are particularly functional.

44. I dislike driving to the grocery store. Thankfully, almost every place we've lived I can either walk or bike to the store. I don't know what it is, but it just seems such a waste to put the kids in their car seats, just to get them out a couple of minutes later, just to strap them into shopping carts or whatever. It's much easier to load them up in the stroller ONCE, load all the groceries into the basket underneath (which means I don't have to load them up into the cart after buying them and then re-load them into the car) and then walk home. Even in the middle of winter in Colorado I typically walked the mile to the grocery store since the bike path there was so well plowed.

45. I'm a quarter Canadian.

46. Before I got married, my name was as Welsh as it gets. "Cambria" means Wales, and my maiden name is the most common last name there is in Wales. I even audited a Welsh class in college and can pronounce awesome useful phrases like, "Dw i ddim yn deall." (I don't understand)

47. I like Jillian Michaels exercise videos.

48. I think it'd be fun to be a certified Pilates instructor someday.

49. I was once a nanny for a crazy family in Colorado who lived 20 miles from where we ended up living ten years later.

50. I just bought "Love like Crazy" on iTunes five minutes ago (the fourth song I've ever bought--we only buy songs when we get the free mp3 credits).


Things you probably do know about me:
51. I am completely clueless about pop culture. One embarrassing example is when I entered junior high a teacher asked a student who he admired. He said Mariah Carey. I had no idea who he was talking about and assumed he had mispronounced the name and meant Marie Curie (a female scientist who I did know about).

52. I thrive on change, which is kind of interesting considering I never once all growing up, and my parents still live the house I grew up in. One year a roommate, who knows I love change and variety, asked me, "What are you going to do when you have been married to your husband for five years?" I replied, "We are going to have kids like none other!" After 5 1/2 years of marriage, 20 moves between six different states, and 4 1/2 kids, I can say that Tyson has fulfilled my needs of providing enough change in our lives ;)

53. Have I mentioned we're expecting in January?

54. I love light. I think have slight seasonal depression because I usually get pretty down or grumpy in February.

55. Windows are my favorite aspect about houses.

56. I like to make goals.

57. Love family history. I love teaching it to other people in our ward and so far have been able to help each person I've worked with find a family name.

58.  I love being a nurse.

59. I like to scrapbook.

60. I like cooking and trying new recipes. One thing I love about having a husband and kids is being able to cook new meals for them (because let's face it, in college I never cooked much for just myself).

61. I want to visit all the Temples in the world. So far I've done Temple work in over 40 temples, and have visited about 10 others.

62. I like learning languages and want to continue to deepen my fluency in Spanish and become conversational in French.

63. When I'm not pregnant, I enjoy running.

64. Tyson and I like to plan road/camping/rafting trips together.

65. I like doing things in the outdoors. I was always so jealous of my brothers growing up because they got to do scout backpack trips and such (which they hated) and I had never gotten to go backpacking in my life. Thankfully, Tyson has fulfilled my wishes in that way as well ;)

66. Although we go rafting often, after having some near-death experiences, large rapids scare me.

67. I don't wear a lot of jewelry.

68. I don't often paint my nails (it used to be once every 10 years. . .it's a little more frequent now), but I paint Amri's nails for her almost weekly.

69. I really enjoy teaching my kids to read, set goals, and do other learning activities with them. Right now we have little goal charts for the kids and they get to color in a little piece of their pie chart when they each work on their individual goals.

70. I don't let my kids watch a lot of movies/TV, and I'm pretty particular about what I let them watch. The Little Mermaid has been forbidden to them until very recently, just as an example. My favorite thing to let them watch is the Planet Earth/Life movies by BBC.

71. I love inspirational shows movies. So it's no surprise that

72. "Turning Point" is my favorite TV series.

73. "Amazing Grace" is one of my favorite movies. I think it's a must-see for anyone that likes true, inspirational stories.

74. I LOVE General Conference and can't wait for it. I even had a dream about it the other night. Tyson and I are reading a Conference talk every night from last session to get ready for this next one.

75. I have a total of six pairs of shoes/slippers.

76. I don't like wearing orange.

77. I like country music.

78. I love road trips, but I hate driving around town for errands/appointments. It just feels like time wasted. I try to limit my errands and appointments to one day a week.

79. My favorite discourse in the Book of Mormon is Abinadi's--seriously, every time I read it, I think how no one could make that up unless they were prophetic. At times my testimony of the Book of Mormon has been based on how that part just could not be faked.

80. I'm really looking forward to the day when we live in a place that has a dishwasher. Only one of our places had a dishwasher, and we only lived there for two months. It was a glorious two months when my kitchen was always very clean!

81. I'm not very technological savvy. Thank goodness I married Tyson so he can help me load songs on my iTouch and whatnot.

82. When I'm working on a goal, charts really help me. On January first of this year I printed off a Book of Mormon chart to fill in each chapter, and since we have that chart, we've hardly missed a day this year reading the Book of Mormon as a family each day. We're in Helaman 12, and on track to finish it as a family. Before that Tyson and I were pretty good about reading together every day, but we'd never involved our kids the way we do each day now. It's pretty fun.

83. I have a crosstitch that I've been working on since I was 14. It's huge, but I still enjoy pulling it out when I can and working on it.

84. My favorite animals are butterflies and dolphins.

85. I love Latin American food for the most part. I really loved 90% of what I was offered by the Central/South American people on my mission, and I totally loved everything I had in Argentina. Sometimes when I'm really feeling nauseated from pregnancy I go back to eating Mexican dishes I learned on my mission and I feel so much better.

86. I would like to listen to more books on audio.

87. My favorite season is spring.

88. I am SCUBA certified.

89. I would love to go paragliding. I tried to go in Argentina, and every time I went something weird happened (no wind, dark by the time it was my turn, etc.) I want to go back there and jump off that mountain someday.

90. I also want to go back to Argentina to take Tyson to Iguazu Falls. When I went, our group went on a special tour that was only offered during a full moon. We walked out to the falls at night and looked down and could see rainbows in the mist--made by moonbeams. They were incredible. I think it's the most romantic place in the world.

91. My kids make me laugh daily. I love living my dream job every day with them.

92. I do bookkeeping for my dad's business.

93. I miss snorkeling in Shark's Cove in Hawaii. Snorkeling always took away my nausea during my first trimester of pregnancy. . .I think it had something to do with being in the water and feeling weightless for a while. It was great to feel like a normal person for hours afterwards.

94. I've had long hair for most of my life. My freshman year I cut off 18 inches and then wore glasses the following week. It was kind of fun that no one recognized me.

95. I don't have a favorite flower, but I love flowers, especially any kind of flower that Tyson has given to me. Jacob is super sweet, and every single day we walk Jeffrey to school he always stops and picks dandelions, and then runs up with a huge smile on his face to give them to me.

96. I love my brothers. They've really helped shape me into who I am and have taught me TONS. I'm so glad that I feel close to them and that we get to talk on a regular basis.

97. I'm also glad that Tyson has an awesome family. We're both so blessed.

98. I'm really thankful I've had pretty good health for most of my life.

99. I have incredible parents. They truly are the best parents in the world for me.

100. I know that Jesus Christ lives, that He loves us, and cares for us individually. He really does have a plan of happiness for me, and I love discovering it. I hope every day that I can be faithful enough that He trusts me with the work He would have me do.