52. Joy, Matt and John's families all deserve the purple heart for the amazing care they gave to me and the girls for the whole month of August, and the Linkous'/Jensens for Feb-July. How would I survive this life without my family?!
53. The other thing about having great siblings is that they've all married fabulous people--Darrell, Natalie, Aup, Laura, and Christa-- that I absolutely love and will be eternally thankful for.
54. I fell in love with family history at an early age (before retirement) and there aren't enough hours in the day to do all I would like to. As is, Kev has often remarked, "Ok, it's time to start spending time with the living again."
55. The reason I love family history so much is because I am so grateful for these people from my parents, grandparents and on back, who have given me this life to live and a heritage of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ to continue. I love finding out about each person and how they dealt with the daily challenges I'm facing and many I, thankfully, will never have to face.
56. Kevin is, quite honestly, the most perfect man that could ever have been made for me. Infinitely patient, selfless, thoughtful, hilarious, musical, gorgeous, humble, kind (to EVERYONE), expressive, romantic, idealistic, optimistic, faithful, practical, generous, and loving--just to name a few qualities that he has in spades and that fill my days with happiness.
57. Being a mother is worth ANY and EVERY sacrifice it takes to get there and to keep going once the kids come. It takes every ounce of energy, patience, love, faith, perseverance, intelligence, and creativity that I can muster every single day. (This is where the Reverend Mother comes in with full vibrato, "...a dream that will need all the love you can give, every day of your life for as long as you live! Climb every mountain.....TIL YOU FIND YOUR DREAM! :)
58. Ryn is the angel God gave me to reassure me every day of His love. She always knows exactly what to say or do to help me and she's only 2!
59. Elle is pure energy in the tiniest body ever, and keeps me running, smiling and laughing constantly. Both her and Ryn's joy for every part of life are contagious and life-giving.
60. The sweetest sounds I've ever heard are these girls laughing or singing or breathing or talking or even crying :) because they're finally here and they're mine.
61. As far as friends go, I found the best one in Kevin. We still stay up talking all night long--of course, we hate it the next morning when the girls wake up by 7. Like he said in his 100, he knows me better than I know myself, and I hope to one day follow President Hinckley's counsel as well as he does.
62. I have been blessed with loyal and faithful friends throughout my life. Marcy, Erika, Emi, Mindy, Misty, Ashlee and Amy are some of the true friends that kept me afloat during my childhood/adolescence. We had so many good times through sleepovers, Sunday dinners, church activities, seminary, Encore, drill team, choir, middle school athletics, trips to Galveston, dating, not dating, etc! I can't express how thankful I am for the love they showed me and for their great examples. To this day I am still learning from them all.
63. At BYU, I hardly ever got homesick because of my wonderful roommates: Erika, Mindy, Heather, Whitney, Alisa, Emily, and Holly. The Chatham Towne #42 days were an era to go down in the history books, and after the mission I had a fantastic semester with 2 of my favorite mission companions (plus Holly as a bonus!).
64. The mission, itself, gave me a whole new range of eternal friendships. I loved all my companions for the patience and love they had for me and for the work we were able to accomplish together for the Lord. Soeurs Riggs, Pearce, Allal, Porter, Cousyn, Wilson, Gautier, Burt--all so different, but each able to teach me more about who I needed to be as a missionary and as a daughter of God. I also had some great district leaders who taught me so much about priesthood leadership at its best--Elders Acloque, Devore, and Olson.
65. My family (cheesy as it sounds) really are my best friends, just like Mom always said they would be when we were fighting and after she finished singing "Love at Home" (which I still can't sing without smiling and cringing).
66. My parents are giving us the greatest 'inheritance' of memories through the yearly trips they've given us--biking through the castles of the Loire valley, visiting G&G Kloepfer and Disneyland in CA, Alaska cruising, the beach at South Padre Island, Caribbean cruising, plus all the family trips of the growing up years.
67. One of the reasons I think we are so close is because we lived so far away from all our cousins, so we only had each other for family. Christmas and all the other major holidays were mainly spent with just our immediate family. Mom and Dad didn't want us wasting these memory-making occasions by spending all our vacations with friends, so they instituted the famous Ellis family tournaments. Every game you can think of, and some you might have never even heard of, are drawn up in brackets with all of us participating in every game, fighting for a year's worth of bragging rights and great prizes.
68. I was in the MTC with one brother, Matt, who served in Rio Brazil, and finished the last 5 months of my mission with another brother, Mark, who also was Kevin's last companion. My older sister, Joy, and her husband, Darrell, both served in the Paris mission, and my next brother in line, John, as well as his wife, Laura, both served in my mission--Bordeaux, France. With Rob having served in Portugal, Rachel and Spencer currently serving Portuguese-speaking missions and our parents serving in Brazil, our family is fairly equally divided along the French/Portuguese line. It gets pretty heated during the World Cup soccer tournaments :).
69. For the record, every time Brazil has played against France, France has won.
70. Since getting married, Kev and I have found some amazing friends everywhere we've lived. Michelle and Erik, Olivier and Stephanie, Virginie and Stephane, David and Christine, Herve and Marie-Noelle, Justine, Ophelie, the Dampt, Gros, Duez, Gossuin, Foulon, and Deladerriere families, and the list goes on. Just like Elder Holland said in conference, there really are angels in our midst and we have been blessed by so many.
71. My friend Michelle taught me how to knit when she came to visit us in Cambrai in 2003. Today Elle wore the cutest little sheep sweater I made before Ryn was born (from the Dale pattern book Michelle had on that trip that inspired my interest). Even though I haven't knitted in a while, it really is something I love to do, and when I look at the things I've made, I'm happy with the fruits of my labors and Michelle's patient teaching.
72. My sweet, determined, and ever-patient mom made all of us take piano lessons from K-12. We could do other things (voice lessons, other instruments, sports, dance, etc) if we wanted to, but piano was not optional. Even though I never practiced enough, I am forever grateful for this gift of love from my mom. Playing the piano makes me happy--I love just sitting down and playing and singing, especially on Sundays--and has given me many chances to serve, especially here in France.
73. I love to run and someday hope to run a marathon.
74. I love to play most sports, but am horrible at all but running. My family even laughed at me when I came home in 7th grade and told them I was trying out for the volleyball team--not to be mean, just out of shear disbelief since every time I came home from playing the sport at church activities I was crying because of my lack of skill.
75. I did manage to earn spots (maybe the coaches had a quota for picking at least one hopeless sympathy player each year) on the volleyball and basketball teams in middle school, and had a great time cheering for my more athletic teammates from the bench :). I still got great exercise at practices and learned lots about humility, hard work, and having fun as a team.
76. I love to dance, but can't touch my toes. After seeing Joy shine on the school dance team, and to still be with my group of friends when we moved to high school, I tried out and I'll never know how I made it. Then they even made me an officer 2 years later!?! I made the mistake of showing my sister, Rachel, a video of one of our officer routines where I'm doing, well attempting, a toe-touch. She has never laughed so hard and will surely never let me live that down.
77. I love choral music and being part of a good choir, led by a talented conductor. There is just nothing that compares with the swell of a group of voices in perfect harmony. My favorite choral experiences have been in high school in chamber choir competitions and the TMEA concert in San Antonio, singing in the Tabernacle with the Mormon Youth Chorus, the 2 musical presentations I was part of on my mission, and singing "O mon Pere" with the branch in Cholet for the stake choir festival in Tours and then the stake conference in Angers. If we end up living in Utah someday when my kids are older, I would love to be a part of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
78. I snore like a bear, especially when I'm pregnant or when my allergies are bad. So Kev hasn't had a good nights' sleep in quite some time.
79. I talk in my sleep--full conversations. Joy used to hold the phone up to me when we shared a room growing up so her friends could laugh about it. I've given many of my greatest bookfield demos sitting up in bed with my eyes closed and scaring my roommates to death. Kevin likes the talking better than the snoring.
80. Ryn has, unfortunately, picked up both these habits #78 and #79.
81. I sold books for 7 summers and 3 weeks in North and South Carolina, West Virginia, Utah, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New York. The best times were when my family was out there with me. The worst were when I wasn't doing my best.
82. I have the worst long-term memory of anyone I know. Friends and family will be reminiscing about some great experience we shared and I'll just shake my head with a sad, blank look and lament again the memories lost. Maybe it's the earliest onset of Alzheimer's ever, but it's truly horrible. That's why journals, pictures, videos and recording personal histories are essential for me.
83. Then I can remember stupid things forever--like bank account and phone numbers.
84. I'm a blue/red and Kevin is a yellow/white.
85. I hate strip malls and the number of trees they destroy as they continue their complete domination of northwest Houston. Every time I go home and drive down Louetta I want to cry.
86. I don't like shopping unless I'm on vacation and have money to spend. When I need something, I like to go to as few stores as possible, find it quickly and be done. Kevin loves shopping and searching every single store (and often multiple locations of the same chain) to find the absolute best price and perfect fit/thing.
87. Kev wanted a list of the countries I've been to: Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Chili, Argentina, Brazil, Scotland, England, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belize, Bahamas, and Colombia.
88. Early on in all 3 pregnancies, McDonald's cheeseburgers were a surefire balm for my crazy tummy.
89. I gained so much weight with Ryn that the doctor told me I was going to break his table and that I should just stop eating all together. (I gained as much with Elle, but had a nicer doctor. We'll see what the final tally will be for baby #3...)
90. I love watching Kevin hit 7 3-pointers in one quarter. I love watching him play basketball anytime, except for when he misses his free throws. (which is rare)
91. I was never a night owl until I married Kevin and decided I don't like going to bed alone. Plus, since having the girls it is the only time I have to get anything done.
92. As long as I'm not selling books, I love rainy days.
93. A Christmas tradition that I think should be mandatory everywhere: luminarias--brown paper lunch bags with sand and a small candle lining every one's driveways and curbs that you light when it gets dark on Christmas Eve. Our subdivision in Houston always does them and I think it is the most peaceful, beautiful decoration I've ever seen. I love driving or walking down the streets in our neighborhood lighted with that soft glow and thinking of the night when the Savior was born.
94. 16 has always been my favorite number--dating back to the days and months I counted down until that birthday and the privileges that it would bring. I had visions of the boys that would magically be lined up outside my door begging to be the one to take me out on that special day. No such luck. Happily, though, my good friend, Chris Bailey, took me to a baseball game so I wouldn't have to be sitting home alone that night.
95. I am the queen of $5 comments. The name itself came from one embarrassing story you'll have to ask me about some other time. Basically, I'm notorious for sticking my huge feet in my mouth. Hopefully I'll grow out of it.
96. Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' was the first cassette tape I owned, but the Thriller video gave me serious nightmares.
97. I'm not an animal hater or an animal lover. I would never harm an animal and I think they're cute/beautiful in general, but I'll never have a dog or cat living in my house. I'm allergic to cats, and even if I wasn't I still wouldn't have one in the house. We do have 2 goldfish, though :) and I know someday my kids will start begging and begging so we'll find out how strong my resolve is then.
98. Even though I love history and think many time periods are fascinating, I am so thankful to live now. I got to have a video call with my mom and grandma today where they could see and hear Ryn and Elle dancing, singing and talking. Pretty wonderful.
99. Like my brothers Mark and John, I would be an eternal student and major in everything if there were no limits on time or money.
100. There is nowhere I'd rather be and nothing I'd rather be doing than being Kevin's wife and Ryn and Elle's full-time mom.
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