100 Things about Me

Ok, I'm copying my friends who all posted lists of 100 things about themselves. Finally made it to 100...enjoy!

100 Things about Carol

1. I am 30 years old (still a little scary to say that)
2. I am all of 5 ft and 3/4 inches tall...I round up to 5'1".
3. I was born in Framingham, Massachusetts.
4. I have lived in 8 other states since then. (South Carolina, California, Maryland, Arizona, Utah, New York, Michigan, Oregon)
5. The longest I've ever lived in ONE house is 4 years...
6. I'm about to surpass that record with our home in Oregon (Yesssss!!!)
7. I attended 11 different schools from Kindergarten through college.
8. I graduated from Brigham Young University in 1999 with a BFA in Illustration.
9. My goal is to illustrate children's books.
10. My first job was at Roy Roger's in Frederick, MD.
11. I worked for McDonald's too and actually enjoyed working in the drive-thru. There was always that one guy who'd come through saying "Hello, Hello? I want the usual." (My dad...his large Diet Coke.)
12. I worked as an early morning custodian at BYU for a semester.
13. Together with 2 of my close friends, we cleaned the nursery in the Smith Family Living Center on campus from 5-8am, Mon-Fri, and rotated jobs between Floors, Trash, & Bathrooms.
14. My favorite part about that job was hiding out in the observation room and jumping out to scare my friend Jessica half to death...she's always the most fun to scare.
15. I like to scare people...even my kids.
16. I frightened my boys once by making ghost sounds through the vents in our house--I only scare in fun of course.
17. My favorite color is yellow.
18. It's ALWAYS been my favorite color--since the time I could say yellow.
19. Xanthos means yellow or golden in Greek...it must have been fate that I would marry George! That or an incredible coincidence. : )
20. I love American history.
21. I have more than 1 ancestor who came over on the Mayflower.
22. I'm a DAR on both sides of my family.
23. My pre-American ancestry is English, Irish, Scandinavian, little bit Scottish and Prussian...and I recently discovered a Frenchman 14 generations back. Oh, and there's also one Native American named Running Deer.
24. I was really excited about the Frenchman because I love France--more on that later.
25. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
26. On my dad's side of the family, my ancestry goes back to Joseph Smith--we're Joseph Smith cousins. His grandfather Asael Smith is a direct ancestor of ours.
27. I have polygamous ancestors, and I'm not the least bit ashamed of that...actually think it's pretty cool, especially when I find out a friend is related to the same ancestor but through a different wife.
28. I am thoroughly conservative in my views.
29. I'm a huge fan of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, etc, etc.
30. I listen to Rush on the radio nearly every weekday.
31. I listen to a LOT of talk radio--George would say I listen to TOO MUCH talk radio.
32. I've been making a concerted effort to listen to more music lately to balance things out.
33. My top 3 favorite bands/musicians are: U2, Enya, & Pink Martini.
34. My top 3 favorite movies are: Far & Away, Pride & Prejudice (the A&E one), and Mary Poppins.
35. I couldn't tell you what my favorite TV shows are...I don't watch TV.
36. We get no channels on our TV right now--we took down the Dish that was acting as an antenna when we replaced the siding on our house and haven't put it back up yet. Just shows how little we watch TV anyway to not have missed it in all this time. (Siding went up in February & March.)
37. I love to read--specifically non-fiction because I feel like it's a worthwhile read if I've learned something from it.
38. I do enjoy fiction too and love anything Harry Potter or Jane Austen.
39. The first thing I look for in a children's book is the pictures. Naturally! : )
40. A majority of the children's books on my boys' shelves belong to me and I almost don't want them to touch them...but they do.
41. I worked at Rochester Art Supply when George & I lived in Rochester, NY, before Anthony was born.
42. While there, I once insulted an illustrator I have since come to admire. His name is Leonid and I thought he was trying to be irritating over the phone and so I insisted on calling him Leonard.
43. The worst thing I ever did was to cut down my neighbor's overgrown shrub, which I mistakenly thought was MY overgrown shrub. Great way to settle into the neighborhood, huh?
44. The bravest thing I ever did was to go on study abroad to France when I didn't know a single other person going on the trip (very unlike me!)
45. I had to fight my way onto that trip too--I'd audited a class that was a prerequisite for going so they almost didn't let me go. They let me take a test though to prove myself and I passed with flying colors.
46. I really wanted to go and I'm so glad I did--it is definitely one of the very best experiences of my life.
47. Back then, my French was pretty good. Now...um, not so good...very rusty. Tres, tres rust-ee.
48. I'd stay on top of it better, but I've also been trying to learn Portuguese & Greek because George's family speaks those...the end result is that I really only speak English well. : )
49. And I don't even really like to talk all that much...I love to write, but I'm not a good conversationalist and never have been.
50. I try though because I love to be with people. Is there such a thing as an introverted extrovert? or would it be extroverted introvert?
51. I have a very silly sense of humor.
52. I love to make my boys laugh by being totally silly.
53. My strangest talent is that I have a "man voice."
54. Going along with my love of scaring people, I enjoyed scaring my roommates that there was a guy in our apartment by using my man voice...shows you how convincing it is! : )
55. My natural voice is not at all deep--I get phonecalls asking, "Is your mom at home?" Uh, no...she lives in PA, would you like her phone number?
56. Speaking of my parents, they are divorced and as much as I wish that had never happened, I love my family as it is with all those who've become a part of it since then and couldn't imagine it otherwise.
57. When people ask casually about my family, they never know what they're in for as explaining my family is not that simple: I'm the oldest of 4 natural siblings, then I have 2 stepsiblings I grew up with, and a stepmom whom I loved and has passed away...then there's my dad and a new stepmom whom I love and I'm just getting to know her 3 kids, who are all the same ages as the rest of us siblings. My mom and her husband and he has 3 kids too...and that's all just the immediate family without all the extended grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.
58. Christmas gifts are complicated. : )
59. I love Christmas...I also love Thanksgiving & 4th of July.
60. Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal. Especially the pumpkin pie. ; )
61. I love my birthday, and I can tell you exactly how far away it is at any point in the year as I always have a countdown going.
62. Today there are 5 months, 4 weeks, and 2 days until my next birthday.
63. George & I just celebrated our 9th anniversary.
64. We want to celebrate our 10th next year by going back to this beautiful little island in France called Ile de Re, where we vacationed one weekend with my French host family when we were engaged.
65. I was one of 4 girls who were engaged during our study abroad trip--there were 22 students total on the trip with 1 teacher.
66. George visited me twice during my study abroad--that weekend at Ile de Re, and again at the end of my trip. He rented a car and we drove around northern Italy for a week.
67. We joke that that was our "honeymoon before the honeymoon" because we were in so many amazingly beautiful places unchaperoned.
68. Nothing happened on that trip that shouldn't have. In fact, when we got to our last hotel on the trip, we jumped for joy to find that we had 2 separate beds! We slept with pillows between us in the other places.
69. Our true honeymoon was in the area around San Francisco--3 bed & breakfasts: one in Napa, one in Inverness on the coast, and one near Half Moon Bay also on the coast. None of those places had separate beds. ; )
70. I enjoy traveling.
71. I've been to Greece now twice.
72. I've been across the USA many, many times to many, many different places, both by plane and by car. It would be ridiculous and insanely time-consuming to try to list every place.
73. I like to ride my bike.
74. I like to run but only with friends.
75. If I run alone, my imagination runs with me and that gets scary. Think abducters and big scary dogs...
76. I was terrified of dogs as a child.
77. I still don't really like dogs but I've overcome my fear.
78. I like cats.
79. More than cats, I love rabbits.
80. I had a rabbit once that I named B.E.E.B.S. (Benjamin Elvis Eric Bunny Shelley)
81. I now have a son named Benjamin.
82. And a son named Christopher (named for that Frenchman in my family line) and Aaron (after my dad Ron, in a round-about way) and Anthony (after George's dad Tony).
83. Benjamin is not named after the rabbit...
84. They ALL have the middle name George thanks to the Greek tradition we're carrying on.
85. After 4 pregnancies, I've spent a full THREE YEARS of my life pregnant.
86. I've spent even longer breastfeeding, and that's at 3-1/2 years and counting.
87. I have my hands full with little boys.
88. And I still want one more.
89. I like to make yummy food and eat it.
90. I have the worst sweet tooth ever.
91. I don't really care for chocolate all that much--give me a choice between chocolate and something else & I'll usually choose the alternative.
92. Offer me only chocolate though and I will eat it.
93. I think George looks like a cross between Tom Cruise & George Clooney.
94. I've had random people tell me I look like all kinds of celebrities from Melanie Griffith (?) to Jodie Foster (?) to Reese Witherspoon (?) and here's the funniest one of all: Michelle Pfeiffer...sorry, don't think so but I'm flattered.
95. While George & I are not celebrities or even really look like them, I believe we make some pretty stinkin' cute little boys.
96. I have never said a "bad" word in all my life...darn & crap are about as profane as has ever crossed my lips, and even those are very rare.
97. I have had an incredibly blessed life.
98. I am an optimist.
99. I LOVE my husband and he's always such a great example to me. I love you, George!
100. I love each and every person who's had an influence in my life for good, and that includes YOU--thank you!

Happy Birthday Anthony & Fun in AZ!

We are in AZ this week enjoying the HOT sunshine and Granddaddy's pool. We left home on Anthony's birthday--Aug 24th--so he celebrated a day early with all his friends. He got another big party in UT with all of George's family. We spent yesterday playing with my sis Maury & her boys Connor & Cash, and we'll be meeting them again today to play at some fountains.

Anyway...I can't believe my little Anthony is SEVEN years old! Even crazier is to think that he'll be 8 next year, which is a milestone year (particularly if you are LDS). I've heard other friends who've previously hit that milestone say how as a parent, suddenly your child hits that year and it's like a cram session to make sure they've learned all they needed to "pass" the bishop's interview for baptism. I'm not too worried about Anthony on that front just yet (though as that day gets closer, it could be a different story)...he's a very spiritually-minded little boy and is a great example to me in many ways. For instance, he loves to be read the Bible each night--George read the Old Testament to the boys at bed each night last year and this year has been reading the New Testament with them, and next year will be the Book of Mormon--and he's quite upset on the rare occasions he doesn't get read to, specifically from the Bible. I'm ashamed to say I haven't been so diligent myself with my own scripture reading.

I have lots and lots of photos from our visits here in AZ & UT as well as Anthony's birthday party at home--I'll put up a new album to my website when we return home on Labor Day.

ball game

Take me out to the ball game...

Nike footed the bill for dinner & entertainment last night--we got to see the Portland Beavers play against Las Vegas at PGE Park in Portland.  First we were treated to dinner down in the bullpen area...yummy hamburgers & hot dogs.
Then we enjoyed best in house views of the game...boys didn't think that was good enough though and wanted to sit up in the stands.
Nike also provided coupons to buy concessions & merchandise so each of the boys got his own bag of cotton candy.  I enjoyed a soft pretzel.  This is not a very flattering photo but I think it's funny...so there ya' go.
Quote from Aaron: "I'm ready to catch a baseball, baseball players!"  He & Anthony both wanted to catch a foul ball so badly.  No such luck.
And here's Bub, crashing his airplane, of course.

We left at the bottom of the 7th inning, and Beavers were ahead 4-1, yay Beavers.  On our way out, some Nesquik guys were handing out chocolate milks...YUM!  Perfect ending to a perfectly fun night...and thanks to Nike, it was free (all except for our parking, which was all of $1.25)!  

: )

Critters

I was sweeping rocks back into the walkway Sunday night when out the corner of my eye I noticed something wiggle...I looked back and thought, oh it's just a leaf...and swept more rocks in before looking back again and noticing, hey that's a salamander!  The boys played with it for 10 minutes until I thought we'd tortured the poor thing enough and let him go in the garden.
Now we can add salamander to the list of critters we've discovered in our yard: squirrels, birds, cats, raccoons, frogs, insects & spiders of all shapes and sizes...do boys count as critters too?

I'm in love...

...with my baby boy!  This baby is so cute and so sweet...just like all babies, but of course, this one is mine so I love him so much I can hardly stand it.  He just gets cuter and more fun by the day and we all love baby Benno to pieces.  He's just recently taken up thumbsucking...which is something none of my other boys ever did.  I'm not sure how I feel about it--I know what lies ahead if this becomes a beloved habit.  Regardless of that, he's pretty stinkin' cute when he does it.

Zoo fun

Saturday afternoon, the boys and I made an outing to the zoo...always lots of fun (regardless of the enormous crowd who also decided yesterday was a great day to see the zoo.) Below see my attempt at a decent pic of all 4 boys...I ended up with 4 photos with each boy taking a turn looking cute in each...so impossible to get one GOOD photo of all 4!

Berry Pickin'

Friday afternoon, George left work early and we went off on a family adventure to pick berries at a nearby farm at Sauvie Island in Portland.  We came home with lots and lots of yummy berries and a few other fresh farm treats.  See our website (link at right) for more photos.

More than a little creeped out...

Saturday morning, I thought I'd make pancakes for breakfast.  I reached into the cabinet to pull out my mixing bowl only to discover a giant spider had gone and died in it!!!  AHHHHH!!!  At least the thing was dead--coulda been worse I suppose.  The curious thing to me is that it hasn't been that long since the last time I used that bowl...how long had that spider been lurking in that cabinet before he met his demise in my bowl?

By the way, once I'd overcome my shock and creeped-outed-ness, I did clean out the bowl and make pancakes.

Gotta share a funny...

Christopher doesn't speak well--he speaks mostly with vowel sounds.  He's actually getting better and uses more and more consonants but almost consistently drops the first letter of words so he's pretty hard to understand, especially out of context.  I'm probably going to end up having to take him in for some speech therapy...but anyway, my point in sharing all this is that while he doesn't speak well, he speaks an entirely different language fluently...the language that most little boys master instinctively: the language of sound effects.

Christopher is a "Cars" maniac and could watch that movie 5 times a day nonstop if we let him.  He particularly loves the crash scenes.  

So last weekend, when Granddaddy was in town to see the air show with us, Granddaddy was driving the minivan and slowing to a stop at a red light behind another car when from the backseat, we heard "ur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r BOOMPH" (typing it out doesn't do it justice at all)--he made the perfect sound effects for a skid and a crash with the most perfect timing... We all burst out laughing.  

He's such a nut.  Every week when we're sitting through Anthony & Aaron's gymnastics classes, he finds the toy firetruck in the play area and spends the whole time "crashing" the truck.  He's perfected the art of rolling it and landing it as it rocks from one side to the other on its wheels.  It cracks me up.  Reminds me I should try to catch this on video so you all can appreciate just how hilarious it really is.

Happy Anniversary, #9!!!

Happy Anniversary to us!!!  We hit #9 today!  9 crazy years and 4 crazy boys.  : )  Funny story about these photos...they're totally staged.  We'd planned to do the cake-cutting with all our guests watching, but our annoying photographer had us do it JUST for him!!!  I was so mad.  I didn't realize what was going on until he said, "Ok, now slice it!" and I thought, Hey, wait...nobody's looking.  And then the caterer proceeded to slice up the rest of the cake after that photo.  Grrr.  There's only one thing I would change about our wedding day if I could go back in time, and that would be that photographer.  Oh well.  Our wedding day was wonderful though...very hot (116 degrees in Mesa, AZ) but everyone survived the heat to have a really fun reception afterward filled with lots of dancing and yummy food.  Lots of great memories...and here we are 9 very memorable years later, with many more to come!  Happy Anniversary--I love you, George!

We spent Saturday at the Oregon Air Show with Granddaddy & Grandma Darlene, who visited us en route from Phoenix to Seattle where they caught their cruise to Alaska.  We had lots & lots of fun seeing all kinds of planes, jets, & military vehicles.

Thursday, Aug 9th

And we had Jamba Juice too on our way home after swimming on Thursday...yum, yum.

There's a playground at the Nike Lance Armstrong fitness facility where we sometimes stop to play on our way out after swim lessons...





Wednesday evening, we ate dinner as a picnic in our backyard...as the sun went down, it was actually pretty chilly so the boys ran in to grab jackets and came back out dressed like this!  Silly boys...  Notice the overgrown garden behind them...it's out of control, but we love all the yummy zucchini, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, cucumbers & peppers we've harvested from it!

Mexican surprises!

Grandma & Papu Xanthos went to Mexico over the weekend to celebrate their anniversary & see what they brought us: 3 flutes & a maraca!  Thank you, Grandma & Papu!!!

And more weekend pics

More weekend pics

Weekend Fun

Friday night we invited over a bunch of friends--the Bennions, the Jarvis's, the Nascimentos, and the McMurdies--for pizza and games. While the adults played Bocce, the kids busied themselves by digging up the rocks in our walkway.  Who knows what inspired them, but they thought it was great fun to fill their clothes with the rocks....and they were thoroughly entertained by that for a couple hours!  Later on, George & Chris pulled out their guitars to treat us to some music...and soon after the kids forgot about the rocks and were performing as well.  It was a fun night with lots of great friends!