Backtrackking...

Hi all.
I realized maybe I should tell you all a little bit more about myself...


My family's kick ass. Hands down. My dad's what I like to call 'a good 'ole boy.' He's been in our town for years, and he seems to know everyone. He's easy going for the most part and is amazing at telling stories. He's also very much like Forrest Gump. No, he's not slow, you tools. He has been all over the place and done a bunch of awesome things and I can never quite put it all on a time line. He and my mom are both from Wisconsin, but he was from a small town and she was city girl. My mom's a nurse. So's her mom. (Callie wants to be one too) Mom's really cute. She's like a tiny ball of energy. Standing strong at 5 foot nothing, she's really cute. Constantly happy, and always the first to offer hot chocolate. She makes the best cookies around. If you don't believe me, come over, I'll make you some. I love her more than life itself.

My sister is my favorite person in the entire world. I don't think she likes that. We're completely opposites, but we're cool. Callie is way quieter than me. She waits around to see what people are like before being outgoing. She did gymnastics forever... Power tumbling, really. She's also a cheerleader (I know I just said she's not outgoing... It's fun to watch). One of my favorite things is that when people meet us they don't realize we're related. We don't really look alike and we have completley different personalities but we have a lot of the same mannerisms. I'm her biggest fan. I love going to her games and cheering for her as loudly as possible. :)

Callie and I at the Jonas Brothers concert
2-27-08

Callie thought JB was overrated... Until she watched Nick J do an aerial. Then she was on board with the rest of us... :)

I'm from Kansas... Wait, let me be more specific. I'm from a small town outside of Lawrence. It's a big difference. When most people think of Kansas, they think of Fred Phelps. He's crazy. He's that guy that pickets everyone's funerals because 'God hates fags.' This is not Lawrence. Lawrence is the only liberal town in Kansas. I'm not kidding.

I'm from a small town 15 minutes from Lawrence. My parents are conservative, but my mom's best friend is the most liberal woman I know, so I had an interesting time growing up. Here's some things people think is weird about my childhood:
1. My house doesn't have a heater. At all. We have a wood burning stove. Seriously. The result of this is that our living room is really really warm all winter long and every other room is freezing. My dad finally broke down and bought a space heater for the bathroom (showering sucked).
2. We lived on a farm and had about 30 cats, between 2 and 5 dogs at any given point in time, and 3 horses.
3. My family doesn't have cable, or satellite. Just your basic channels with the antenne.
4. No video games. At all. To this day, I only know how to play Mario Kart, and I'm not good. :)
5. I could read at a 2nd grade level in Kindergarten. This is a result of the last two things.
6. I was never allowed to have barbies. My mom said they were a negative body image icon for girls. Instead, I had My Little Ponies.
7. No one in my family has ever been on a diet. Another 'negative body image' thing.
8. I had to be told by a friend's parents that homosexuality was 'wrong.' I just thought it was up to you to figure out what you were.
9. I went to church every single Sunday, regardless.
10. On weekends for fun, my mom, sister and I would walk along roads and pick up trash.

So that's the idea of my childhood. It rocked my face off. I was a tomboy. I loved being outside and hated being dressed up. I got poison ivy at least 5 times a summer and I was proud of it. I had no fear. I liked heights, jumping off stuff, and doing really dangerous things, which on a farm was pretty easy to find. I was pretty rough too. I'm the oldest. There's just me and Callie, my little sister. She's 6 years younger than me. We had a brother in between, but we lost him. So since I'm the oldest, I was the guinea pig on 'how to be a parent.' My mom thought it would be good for her to become friends with other women who had kids my age. She made three friends... Aaron's mom, Jesse's mom, and Jared's mom. All boys. I blame her for being such a rough girl.

I think that's going to be about it for now... More on my entertaining life later...

I'll leave you with a little Jonas...