25

*I started this post 2 1/2 weeks ago, when it was the day after my birthday... since then Emma got sick and life got turned upside down as she stopped sleeping all of a sudden! Expect more posts soon!*

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 25. It was a fantastic day-- my visiting teachers took me out to brunch, Chris took me out to dinner, and Emma took two decent naps! I didn't do any dishes (except cleaning Emma's bottles... I can't skip that) and I only did one batch of laundry (we needed our whites done...)

In honor of my 25th birthday, here are 25 factoids about me, some that you may know... others that you may not.

1. I love tootsie rolls. A friend in my ward has five kids, and last year after Halloween she complained that nobody in her house liked tootsie rolls so after all the other candy was eaten they just had a big bucket of tootsie rolls left. I told her I love them. On Sunday at church she told me to come over to her house and pick up all their tootsie rolls. Yesterday I went and picked up the candy, they are so tasty!

2. A friend introduced me to Vanilla Dr Pepper (from Sonic). It's my new favorite drink when I need a hit of caffeine. I just wish that I could buy Vanilla DP in a can at the grocery store. Good thing Sonic isn't that far away.

3. I love Harry Potter. A week ago we started watching the movies again, and after I finish the few books that I'm working on right now I'm going to start reading the books again. I can't wait for Emma to be old enough for us to read them to her.

4. I love Sea World. I love the sea lion show. And Shamu! And oh man, I love to go through the "coral reef" (aquarium) which Emma loves. The penguins house is awesome too, but it does stink. We went to Sea World on Saturday as part of my birthday celebration. We had a BLAST!

5. One of my favorite games is Ticket to Ride. We don't own the actual game (it's kind of expensive and has lots of pieces) but we have the iPad version. For my birthday I got the Switzerland map, and so far have really enjoyed playing it. The actual board game would be fun to have someday, but it sure is quick to play on the iPad, since it doesn't require any set up and it does all the scorekeeping for you. This is also why I love Monopoly and The Game of Life on the iPad.

6. At the beginning of October (or maybe this was back in September sometime) I withdrew from the BYU class I was taking. It was poorly written and the professor was in the process of completely rewriting the class. I decided not to sign up for another class for a while (aka, I don't know when/if I will). Instead I thought of lots of other skills that I wanted to learn. So far I've done a few crafty projects, starting making Emma's fruit/veggie purees, and started learning about canning. I don't have the equipment to do canning, nor do I have the space to do much of it (we have super limited cupboard space) but someday not too far away (hopefully) we want to buy a house and will then have some more space. I hope then to do some canning!

7. I LOVE having my toe nails painted. I never have my finger nails painted (they chip too much) but I always like to have my toenails a fun color. Right now they're a pretty pink!

8. One of the crafty things I've been working on lately are File Folder Games. I started them over a year ago, but then I got pregnant and didn't really feel like working on them. So far I think I have seven completely done. They take a while to make, they require lots of coloring, cutting, laminating, cutting again, and attaching velcro. I have a bunch of games printed, just waiting for me to do all the other steps. I like to do this while we watch tv at night.

9. After Emma was born I discovered that Hulu Plus had 20 seasons of The Amazing Race. I know I have seen some episodes here and there (especially with Paul and Jeanne years ago), but since Emma was born I've watched seasons 1-6, and then I introduced the show to Chris. We've watched 3 other seasons together. This is one of my new favorite shows. It actually makes me want to travel.

10. I've never owned a curling iron. I'm thinking I might want to change that sometime... maybe.

11. My Amazon wishlist is way smaller than my "wishlist of things for Emma". It's WAY more fun to look through the toys/books and pick things out for Emma!

12. When Emma was 3 months old I found out that our next door neighbor (not the ones we share a wall with) had a baby the day before Emma was born. Her baby is also a girl. They're hardly ever home since she and her husband both work lots of crazy hours otherwise I would totally try to have our girls get together for play dates.

13. We had a free Redbox code the other day. We chose to rent Montser's University even though there were a ton of action/comedy movies to choose from too. Likewise, for my birthday I got Wreck-it-Ralph and I just watched it. I would rather watch a fun animated movie than most other movies lately.

14. I've been loving fruit smoothies recently. My favorite is 1 large banana, 1.5 cups Strawberries, 1 cup Pineapple chunks, 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt. YUMMO. I make this smoothie often for breakfast. Or for a snack in the afternoon.

15. My ward just started up a book club. After picking our first book (for January) I ordered the book from amazon off my phone (while I was still at book club) and it came on Saturday. I finished it Saturday night. And now I've already read the sequel and am upset that the third and final book in the trilogy doesn't come out til May. What am I supposed to do? I'm so curious about what will happen!

16. I'm working on a quiet book for Emma. I know she's only 6 months old, but by the time I get it done (in forever and a half) she'll probably be ready for it. I'll do a whole post about this after Christmas once I get a chance to have my mom help me with some of the pages. I'm getting some sewing lessons from her!

17. I love soup. Broccoli Cheese soup in particular. And specifically now the one from Our Best Bites. It is delicious, and I want to eat it every day.

18. I have a goal to be like my friend Sarah and completely give up fast food. She's been off fast food for years now, and I think that is AWESOME. I'd also like to be like her and give up pop/soda/whatever you call it. I think I'd even be willing to give up Vanilla Dr Pepper.

19. I like doing yoga. I don't do it often enough, and I don't do it at a yoga studio, I do it at home. There is an awesome Bob Harper yoga dvd, and I love Jillian Michael's yoga dvd too. Amazon Prime Instant Watch has a ton of Jillian Michaels workouts and I've been working through some of those lately. I need to shake things up a bit and try some new things because working out gets boring in the winter here when it's too cold to go on walks.

20. I'm obsessed with Food Network. This probably isn't much of a surprise. But I love it. There are so many shows on that channel that I just love! I could watch a Chopped marathon all day and be in heaven! I am disappointed that Paula Deen got the boot from them, but I'm learning to deal with it.

21. One of my favorite movies is 27 Dresses. I really like James Marsden in it. A lot. And Katherine Heigl.

22. A dog kept getting into our yard recently and I was disappointed when the Animal Control guy wouldn't take it. Then I wasn't as disappointed when my next door neighbor realized it WAS his dog, which he denied earlier. I'll have to write a whole post about this, it was kinda funny but mostly irritating.

23. I used to hate socks. Now that I have some awesome Nike running shoes I am learning to not hate socks anymore. Apparently I just needed fun shoes to learn to like socks.

24. I could eat a whole batch of muddy buddies in one day. There is just something about that combination of peanut butter, chocolate chips, powdered sugar, and rice chex. Oh man just thinking about them makes me want them very badly.

25. Coming up with 25 things about me is super hard. I probably shouldn't do a post like this ever again.