Growing up, early years:
*Where did you grow up? Describe it.
I grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho. It is a lovely place. I miss it dearly. I spent most of my childhood living out in the middle of the country (aka, "Nowhere"). The house wasn't anything to brag about, but boy did I have a lot of free roaming space. There were big trees I could climb, lilac bushes that bloomed and smelled amazing, a big garden, a huge tractor shed and a corral, dusty roads, ditches, a lot of room to ride my bike, and even a water spigot (I totally didn't know how to spell that word, by the way).
It was a pretty long drive into town, and then back home again. We would sometimes stop at a cute little store called Barry's Market. As well as the Stinker station. Both hold memories. We seemed to be there a lot. I always loved stopping to get a snack and a soda. At the Stinker Station I would usually get a couple pieces of the 25 cent peppered beef jerky, a soda, and a bag of chips, or a candy bar (caramello or Skor). At Barry's Market I would get gummy worm, a small bottle of apple juice (the round one in the shape of an apple), and even a can of cheese soup sometimes. Mr. Barry always threw in an extra gummy worm.
As I got older, I loved going to the canyon. I also hiked down to the lakes and would go to Shoshone Falls. I spent a lot of time with Jenny at the mall, and with Meghan at Barnes and Noble, and with Nakita, Meghan, and Julie at Java.
*What was your earliest memory?
My first memory is very vague, but it's of when we lived in Mississippi. I remember I was supposed to be in bed or something, it was dark and I was wearing a nightgown. I remember my mom sitting in a chair and then looking down at the floor and seeing a roach crawl across it. It's very fleeting.
My next memory is of the same time period, but it's day outside and my brother and sister are walking down the lane ahead of me. It's just a rock road and I am trying to peddle my tricycle to catch up with them, but I am stuck in the rocks. I think I was crying.
*What games did you play as a child?
I had a lot of games I loved to play. When I was by myself, I would get creative and imagine I was a super spy or an inventor, or a chemist. I made business cards on the computer and printed them out and carried them with me. I turned my bedroom into a secret lab where I performed "experiments" and analyzed "evidence". I even solved a mystery. I kept some bubble gum in my caboodle and noticed that a piece would be missing sometimes. No one confessed so I had to get dirty. I asked Nate and Laura to please submit their fingerprints to me (I think I actually tricked them saying it was for a school project...can't take any chances when you are a detective) and then I coated the latch on my caboodle with a clear sticky substance (made of sugar and water) and then I waited. A day later there was a fingerprint on the latch and a piece of bubblegum missing. I compared each fingerprint sample with the one on the latch and guess what? It was LAURA!! She laughed when I told her how I found out.
I also would play outside a lot. There was an apricot tree that I would hang out in and munch on apricots all day, pretending like I was James in the Giant Peach. Laura and I would play restaurant with dishes and our grill outside. Jake and I would build forts or play beanie babies and legos. My cousins and I would play in tree forts as witches or playing house or runaways.
Jennie and I would play with the troll dolls and pretend to be trolls ourselves. Kristin and I would play babies and pretend to runaway with our babies to get away from the danger. We also made a lot of home videos with our huge VCR camera.
*Where did you go to school?
I attended preschool in Pocatello at the ISU preschool place. I don't remember the name. I went to Kindergarten through second grade at Lincoln Elementary School. Third grade through sixth grade at Oregon Trail Elementary (Brand new school. I was with the first third grade class to ever attend). 7th grade at Filer Middle School. 8th and 9th grade at Robert Stuart Junior High. And 10th-12th at Twin Falls High School. Wasted a bunch of time and money at ISU for two semesters and now am about to get my Bachelors with University of Phoenix.
*Who were your friends? These were my friends at one point or another, some still are:
Jenny Brown, Kristin Allen, Stephanie Packham, Lindsey Egbert, Shauna Silvester, Angela Silvaz, Jullian (?), Meghan Underwood, Sarah Pratt, Anne Blackwood, Alicia Egbert, Ally Emmons, Brittany Hunzeker, Nakita Nelson, Julie Anderson, BJ Emmons, Scott Parsons, Joel Garcia, Shannon Helsley, Corey McCombs, Kyle Skuza, Matt Bennett, Lars Hegdahl, David Emery, Jon Bowyer, Jared Conover, Nicki Cornia, Heather Loar, Monica and Kelly Thompson, Whitney James, Jessica Gutnecht, Nikki Holloway, Sierra Seaman, Stephanie Ward, Tracie Buttars, and probably others I am forgetting but will remember later and then add in.
*Who were your favorite teachers and why?
Ms. Bausman was my 6th grade teacher. She was amazing. She made me feel like I was creative and intelligent. I think she helped everyone to feel that way. I was in GT with my friend Ally and Ms. B asked us to share what we learned with the rest of class. I thought that was awesome because no one else had ever asked us that. She let me have freedom and she trusted me. Ally and I worked on a book report together and Ms. B let us go to an empty classroom all by ourselves so we could work without distraction. She introduced me to harder books like "The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle" which remained my favorite book for quite awhile. She was no respecter of persons like some teachers are, and yet I felt more special in her class than in any other.
I also loved Mr. Keeney. He was my 9th grade algebra teacher. That's when math started getting too confusing for me, but he was just so good at helping me learn. It's almost and indescribable quality he had that helped me "get it". He called me "Guns 1" and Jenny "Guns 2" since we threw the discus. He was making fun of our wimpy arms, but in a nice way. We had tiny little biceps that he made us show the class. It was pretty funny and we liked the attention. He was also a track coach so we saw him after school during the season. We even presented him with an award at the 9th grade academy awards. It was the bad to the bone award, because he always acted so tough.
*What were your chores?
I feel like I answered this already, but oh well. I didn't have daily chores, but instead just did what my parents asked me to do. My main jobs were to take the garbage out and to burn it. One time, before volleyball tryouts in 8th grade (it was the last day of tryouts) I was burning the garbage in the barrels armed with a hose in case it got out of control. I would have to keep an eye on it since it had gotten out of hand a few too many times. Well, I was standing pretty far back when I started hearing a hissing sound sort of like a tea kettle. And then BAM! I remember a big jar of something exploded and I felt something hit my hand. I sprayed the garbage down and started to put the hose away when I noticed a slight pain in my right ring finger. I looked down and was horrified to see blood dripping all over the place. I also thought I could see the bone too, but I was exaggerating I think. My mom cleaned it up as best she could and wrapped it up for me. I went to volleyball tryouts and still managed to make the team (as a setter no less). The wound healed and left a big scar and a tiny lump in its place. I would freak people out with it because you feel something in there. I thought it was just scar tissue. Then one day I was sitting watching TV. It was a few years later. I looked at my hand and saw something glinting off the light. I picked at it, and a piece of glass came out! Now I have no scar and you can't even tell I was ever hurt there. So crazy.
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