30 things my child should know about me

I found this list on Pinterest and felt it very poignant and something I really should fill out. Its things like this I wish I had more info on from my own mother. I don't think I'll tackle the entire list in one go but I will make a start and try to do at least one a week till its complete.

THE LIST:

1. List 20 random facts about yourself.
2. Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.
3. Describe your relationship with your spouse/your child's other parent.
4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.
5. What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?
6. If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?
7. What is your dream job, and why?
8. What are 5 passions you have?
9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.
10. Describe your most embarrassing moment.
11. Describe 10 pet peeves you have.
12. Describe a typical day in your current life.
13. What’s the hardest part of growing up?
14. Describe 5 and weaknesses strengths you have.
15. Describe when you knew your spouse was the one or how I fell in love.
16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?
17. What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
18. What do you think your spouse loves most about you?
19. How did you feel the moment you became a parent?
20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.
21. Describe your relationship with your parents.
22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
23. What’s your favorite holiday and why?
24. What’s your favorite and least favorite thing about parenthood?
25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong?
27. What is your favorite part of your body and why?
28. What’s your favorite quality in your spouse?
29. What are your hopes and dreams for your prosperity?
30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for.

So here goes...

Twenty random facts about me for my daughter

1) Where I got my name: I was my mothers first born after over 20 miscarriages. She never thought she would be able to have a child. In fact, even after she found out she was pregnant with me and was passed the miscarriage stage, she wouldn't believe I was actually going to be born alive. Then I had to make her panic when I was born. I wasn't breathing and they couldn't find a heart beat. Obviously no ill effects from that, but I am my mothers miracle baby. Hence why I was named Joy. 

2) My middle name is also a legacy. I was named after my paternal grandmother, Ella Taylor. Sadly I don't know much about her as we lost contact with my paternal grandparents shortly after my fathers death. 

3) When I was 9 years old I spent a week in the hospital with a complete stomach blockage and three ulcers. The doctors had to pump my stomach to clear the blockage. Not pleasant. I spent a year after that on a very bland diet due to my ulcers. It took me a long time to like some of those foods again after that. Guess I just got sick of eating them.

4) One you already know. I am a bookworm and if I had more free time, I would probably read more than you do!

5) I love to bake. It is the one thing I hate about apartment living. The kitchens are never big enough and never have enough counter space to do the kind of baking I love.

6) Since bullying is such a focus these days, I should mention that I was badly bullied as a kid. I was the ostracized child that no one wanted to play with all because I was the poor kid in the rich kid school. I didn't have the right kind of clothes or possessions to fit in with the kids in elementary school. I am proud to say I feel I have risen above it and I feel that anyone who is bullied can do the same. It's not easy. It will leave emotional scars that will come back into focus when you least want them to but you can be the better person for it.

7) I started playing the violin when I was 8 and began singing when I was 9. That has fostered a love of music I am proud to say I was able to pass on to you.

8) I don't remember much of my childhood in actuality. My memory is very fuzzy on my past. My first real memory is of walking to school on the first day of kindergarten. 

9) Before I was 10 years old we had moved over 20 times.

10) I was born in Henderson, NV and lived in Las Vegas for the first 6 months of my life. After that we moved to the Mesquite/Bunkerville, NV area.

11) I broke my arm in second grade falling off the wall surrounding our school playground. This is what trained me to become somewhat ambidextrous since it was my right arm. I had to use my left for the full 6 weeks with the cast on my arm. My left hand writing still looks like a second graders handwriting but I can use it to write somewhat legibly. 

12) I have had to have stitches twice in my life. The first time was on the pointer finger of my left hand and the second was on my right calf. The stories (because there are always stories behind those) are: the first one was in fifth grade I slipped on the back steps out of our house, and in trying to catch myself my hand went backwards through the glass screen door (yes those were made out of glass once upon a time lol). The second was when I was a teenager your Aunt Penny broke the glass microwave plate and instead of taking it out to the outside garbage like Amma had asked her to, she set it on top. (proof that no teenager listens to their parents!) I walked past the garbage with a basket of laundry (meaning I couldn't see below me) and cut my leg on the glass.

13) When I was sixteen, I thought I wanted to become a councilor.

14) I knew I was pregnant with you almost immediately and I knew then that you were a girl

15) I was born with copper red hair (Aunt Penny's natural shade). Amma shaved my head when I was 2 because it was only coming in in clumps and your Aunt Penny kept pulling out those clumps. It grew back in blonde and very thick.

16) I love chocolate but I am picky about what styles I will eat. My favorite candy bar is Almond Joy

17) As a teenager I had a very special group of friends. Some of them you know, others you've never had the chance to meet. Obviously Aunt Desiree was part of that group :). Other people included people like Karen Rawlings Hoth, and Amber Bastian Riding. There are many more but, like you, I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends. Sadly, most of us have grown apart since we've left high school. Thank heavens for Facebook!

18) When we were living in Cedar City, Amma put me in a children's acting group. I loved it. I got to do things like play Raggedy Anne and be part of SUU's Shakespearean Festival as a sugar girl.

19) I am very eclectic in my music tastes. There is very little I don't like and I will give any type of music at least a shot. 

20) I had hazel/blue eyes until I gave birth to you. They changed color with what I wore. Now they stay blue. It is a genetic quirk in my family. It happened to Amma too.

And The Beat Goes On

Yup It's Honor Band season again. This year Cele was fourth chair flute out of all the 7th-9th graders in Cache Valley, Brigham City, and Preston. She had a ball and said her conductor was lots of fun with great stories and jokes. Three days of non-stop band is certainly not my idea of fun, but it sure is for the crazy kiddo living in this house! So on to the more interesting (even if, once again, the sound quality isn't that great you still get the idea) videos and pictures.

 Cele and some of her friends before the performance

 Bridgerland Honor Clinic Band

Salvation is Created by Pavel Chesnokov

(Cele took one look at this piece and said it was way too easy)

There are two more videos from the concert but they don't seem to want to upload onto the blog.

Oh well it was better in person anyways.

And last but not least...

Nope, these two aren't best friends or anything. Whatever could have given you that idea!?

A Class Assignment

So this might seem a bit odd for most of you but a little explanation should help ease the confusion. I am currently taking a 'Technology in the Classroom' class and this weeks assignment included building [or using a current blog ( :] and answering a few questions on the blog so, while this isn't a family update, it might be fun for some of you to read the questions and answers.

1) Why do you want to become a teacher?
    I have always loved working with kids, especially teenagers but after my divorce I found that I was unable to get a job using my degree which did not involve travel so I decided to go back to school and get my teaching certificate. Teaching puts me back with a group of people I love working with and thoroughly enjoy. I look forward to all the new experiences and things they will teach me.
    I chose social studies partly because it used so much of my first bachelors degree (Asian Studies) but also because I truly love the subjects entrenched within the subject realm, history and geography especially.

2) What plans do you have for teaching?
    My plans at this point are very simple and basic. I want to get a job teaching in a middle school or Jr. High  and I hope to spend the rest of my time until retirement in that same district but we will have to see what life decides to throw at me.

3) What is your basic teaching philosophy?
    I believe it is vital for today's students to understand the cultures and histories of the world around them. If today's students are not tolerant and accepting of those outside their own cultural and ethnic sphere, it will cripple them in their future careers and daily lives. To help in this process, I hope to help my students learn about other peoples and cultures through a historical and/or geographical lens. It is through knowledge and understanding that our world will truly become one of tolerance and acceptance but that first step has to be taken.

Ok, off my soapbox. No worries family, the next update will be more on the lives of the Anderson girls!

The Randomness of Life

Well, Cele's back. She had a blast. And eventually I will get her to send out a letter/email to family and a blog entry on here so she can tell you all all about her adventures in the nations capital. We will also be trying to get thank you cards together for everyone that helped us out with her trip. I cannot thank you all enough! Without all of your help, from your $5.00 donations to Grandma Eiko who literally ended up paying for 1/3 of the trip, every bit was received with much gratitude from both of us. So here are a few pictures for you from said trip. I promise, I will make Cele give you more details later. It will be better to here the stories she has to tell from the 'horses mouth' as it were.

This digital slideshow generated with Smilebox As for any other happenings, not much has changed. Life is still hectic, crazy, and oftentimes hairsplittingly insane, but then that's normal for us. Cele just completed her honor band auditions for this year. She already made the band and the auditions this morning were just for her seating assignment. She had so much fun last year with it that she is super excited to get to do it again this year This month also marks the fourth anniversary of my mothers passing. I have decided to honor her memory with pictures and stories at least once a week on facebook about her. If you knew her, feel free to share your own favorite memories of her. Here are the pictures I have shared so far.  This picture was in memory of my mother as a grandmother. Her two granddaughters were her world. She adored them both and was very grateful to have both of them in her life. From being able to claim that she was the first to give her older granddaughter her first bottle to the many Amma-Cele adventures the two of them embarked on, these were the sparks that kept her going for the last almost twenty years of her life. They were her world. This picture was taken shortly before my own grandmother, my maternal grandmother that is, passed away. It is our family's four generation picture. We went down to Hurricane to visit my grandma one last time before she died and the adventures in the car on that trip are ones I will never forget, though there are some I wouldn't mind forgetting! My mother was most certainly NOT the best driver out there, especially when she was in her chair and your toes just might be involved! You learned to move fast when mom was backing up. It was also one of the last times I had spent any significant amount of time with that side of the family since I was a teenager, certainly it and my Grandma's funeral were the last times my mom saw all of her living siblings in the same place at the same time. Mom wasn't the best at keeping in touch with family. Sadly, I seem to have inherited that tendency. Bad Joy. On a separate note though, the fun thing about this four generation picture is that my mom was my grandma's oldest, I am my mom's oldest, and, of course, Cele gets to claim any place in the line-up she wants. Well that's all for now folks. Have a great day/week. We shall disturb you with more inane news at a later date!

Aaaand she's off...

Yep. That's right. We did it. Cele got all the money she needed, thanks in huge part to her Grandma Eiko (who donated literally 1/3 of the money for this trip) as well as all those family members and friends who have helped us reach this goal. (so thank you from the bottom of our hearts!)

 The buses took off from Logan High this morning at 4am. (Aren't you glad YOU weren't up that early!) And, after a layover at Chicago/O'hare, they will arrive in DC around 4pm today. I will miss my baby girl but she is thrilled to be going.

 Before they headed out though, we were treated to a preview concert on Tuesday night. The kids sound awesome and as this is a joint venture with the band and choir, they have a few joint members. My favorite was the patriotic melody at the end. The piece included all of the armed services anthems as well as a chance for the audience to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem with the choir. Sadly the camera batteries were not fully charged and died before I could record the piece. 

Cele and Grandma Eiko after the concert 

(don't worry; she's wearing heels)

Cele with her friends Brandon (left) Erika (front) and Braden (right) after the concert

We will certainly be posting at least some of the pictures Cele takes while she's in DC so everyone can see her adventures.

A Christmas Newsletter

So I cheated again this year and sent our family Christmas card/newsletter via e-mail. So if I don't have a copy of your e-mail address and you didn't get a copy, you can either view it here or send me a private message in any format (ie. facebook, email, phone) that you wish and I will make sure you get one!

Cheers! And Merry Christmas to All!

A free newsletter design by Smilebox

Let's play catch (well catch-up that is)

Hmm so much to say. Where to start... Oh I know! Now where did I put that camera?... Ah ha! 

So it seems we have had a few events over the past couple of months that need/deserve some coverage. First up is my sister Tonya's baby shower. It was, as always, great to visit with my favorite family and see all the kiddos. They get more adorable every time I see them.

Melissa and her older son Kellen

Melissa, Celestra, Joy, and Grandma Weeks

Joy, Melissa, and Alisha

Tonya, Byron and their youngest boy David

Cele holding her cousin Emmalynn (Alisha's youngest)

Tonya is now the proud momma of a beautiful baby girl named Gabriela. Gabby is the third girl to be born in the Brown family, all this year. She joined her cousins Kaylin (parents: Nicholas and Amanda) and Emmalynn (parents: Alisha and Kellison) two months ago. She was also the last of four babies born this year. Her cousin Colton (parents: Melissa and Kyle) was, strangely enough, the only boy born this year.

Colton

Emmalynn

Gabriela

Kaylin

Now on to some random pictures. With all the pictures I have been taking for my geography class this semester, its only fair I take a few non related fun pictures as well right? (I would also like to point out that somewhere in here Halloween and Thanksgiving happened and while I don't have pictures of those events, others (especially Grandma Eiko) do. SO eventually I will have more pics to share most probably hehehe.)

Miss Celestra in her fedora

Beautiful cloud picture courtesy of Celestra

Sunset in Cache Valley

Still in the realm of fun times, here's what happens when I let a certain teenager take the camera to school... 

1) her friends get sick of her taking pics of them and 

steal the camera for a little payback

2) She gets fun pics of some of her best friends. 

3) and even more pics of some of her best friends

4) and she makes sure to include the puppy in on the fun

And now as a parting gift: proof we really do live in Utah. The first snowfall of the year, even if it didn't last more than a few hours.

So here's hoping you all have a great holiday season, I make it through finals (next week) with my brain still intact, and we all aren't so broke we can't breath by the end of the month!