Our list of 25's...

Frank's 25 Random Things You May or May Not Know About Me.
1. I had a brief modeling career when I was 3 ish. I modeled my mom's stretch-and-sew line of clothing with my brother. :-)
2. When I was 4, my mom and I spun out in snowy weather on Old-23 in our fancy Chevette. My response to this was "Woo-wee Mom do it again". Somehow she has never let me forget.
3. I attended choir camp at what was then called Concordia College in Ann Arbor.
4. I attended basketball camp at what was then called Concordia College in Ann Arbor (I had to add that immediately to cancel out the choir camp thing to certain circles of friends!).
5. I have inside jokes with my dad about "Right over there on that bench" and the Ricola cough that I am deliberately being vague about so they stay inside jokes.
6. I went to 2nd - 8th grade at St. Paul's Lutheran School in Ann Arbor.
7. I have played the following sports on organized teams and leagues: Soccer, Track, Basketball, Baseball, and Football
8. I started off as a pre-med major at MSU and then realized that I liked software development after 2 years.
9. I went canoeing while it was snowing with 2 friends. We ended up tipping and thought we were going to die. Thankfully we had a tent and a change of clothes because it had to be single digit temps with the wind chill. Joe - I just remember you saying "I want my steak." Ha.
10. I am a proud Michigan State Spartan.
11. I married a Mormon.
12. I married a Wolverine.
13. I have only been married once, and I am married to the most wonderful woman.
14. I am a conservative Lutheran. Sadly, these days the conservative qualifier seems necessary.
15. Angie and I have far more Spartan-Wolverine conflicts than Lutheran-Mormon conflicts. :-)
16. The most alcohol that I've had at any one time was for communion at church.
17. My Mormon friends will find #16 ironic. :-)
18. My non-Mormon friends will say "Start living life already" to my answer to #16. :-)
19. Those that know me best will understand why regarding #16.
20. All 3 of our children were first our foster children before we adopted them.
21. I boarded a train once heading into Boston with no clue where I was getting off. I only had a promise from a friend that he would call when his plane landed to tell me where to get off. He did call (thanks Flem), and it was a good trip.
22. I've been schooled by my 5 year old son in Star Wars Battlefront (uh, and that was when he was 4). Ok, in my defense it was once out of a billion games, but I honestly tried my hardest and could not beat him.
23. We sometimes joke about our "mixed" family - Spartan/Wolverine, Lutheran/Mormon, White/Black - single-handedly bringing diversity to Howell.
24. My work friends joke about me having OCD. (Hey Chris and Jason - if you pay attention this list is darn near chronological).
25. I did this list to make Angie's jaw hit the floor. Mission Accomplished!


Angie's 25 Random Things You May or May Not Know About Me.
I have really enjoyed reading all your random facts! I've been tagged a few times, so I think I'll just steal the best ones from all of yours! :)
1. I do not like complaining about my husband, so I usually skip this part of female friendship rituals. I pretty much feel completely blessed to have him. He's a real jewel. I don't mind hearing all about your husbands, so please tell away...
2. I absolutely love living in Livingston County. I feel completely at home here and never want to leave. I wish it were a little more diverse.
3. I love doing laundry, not so much the folding and putting away, but the actual washing and drying is awesome. So much power to return things to normal and start again!
4. I don't like to talk on the phone and rarely answer my home phone and always check who's calling. If I answer the phone when you call, feel privileged. :) It's nothing personal. I just put off talking on the phone as long as possible, and if I can email instead, you know I will. I do however love to e-mail, get messages on my blog and facebook...and love hanging out with people in person when I want to.
5. I find it very difficult to find the time to take showers. I am not a morning person AT ALL, and it seems like if I can't get a shower in before my kids are awake, it doesn't happen. I am looking forward to when this isn't an issue!
6. I started out as a Chemical Engineering major at Michigan. I ended up with a political science degree. I've almost forgotten that in school, I never said, "political science" to describe my major. I always said "Polizei (an alternate German word that sounds like poli sci)!" to describe my "concentration."
7. I am such a night owl. I feel like the only time to myself is after the kids are asleep. I can get so much done for church, taxes, etc. after hours.
8. I wish I had done something like accounting in college because I LOVE LOVE LOVE taxes and everything about them. I do lots of peoples' taxes FOR FUN. Did you know some people won't take deductions that are totally 100% due them because they don't want to raise any flags at the IRS or take more than they feel is their due, even if they're completely legitimate deductions. It's so odd to me. It also takes the fun out of doing taxes when people won't "accept" all the awesome things you found for them to get more back from the government.
9. I love picking mutual funds and planning our investments. I admit things have turned not so fun in the past year or so, but it's still fun to do all my spreadsheets and go over the possibilities.
10. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have my whole life. I am a fourth generation Mormon. I believe Jesus Christ is my Savior. When others tell me the things they don't agree with about their religion, I feel so blessed to believe in a gospel that there is nothing I don't believe in or agree with. I have great respect for most other religions.
11. I have polycystic ovaries and endometriosis. These are reasons why we were not able to birth our own children. Some people with these conditions can have kids; some can't. We have 3 amazing children that were first our foster children that we have adopted.
12. We got a new van yesterday! I love it! It's a 2006 Buick Terraza. I feel like I just won the lottery. We had our old van 8-9 years, and it has over 148000 miles on it, yet I still feel guilty that we didn't run it into the ground. The Krispin in me.
13. We own two houses here in Howell, Michigan. We tried to sell one of them in 2005, but it didn't sell, so then we started renting it out. Having so many responsibilities is taxing and stressful, especially in these hard times. I know that without God helping us we would never have been able to pay all the things required for owning two homes, and every month we're grateful that we have enough again.
14. I love family history. I go in spurts where I do a lot with it and then nothing for a while. It's hard to find the time, but once I get into it, it's hard to resist doing more and more and more. I love helping others with their family history.
15. I love going to the temple. It is the place I feel closest to my Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I wish I could feel that way 24 hours a day. I feel so peaceful and calm and so loved there. I went to help clean it last week, and I didn't even mind cleaning in there. I was hoping I would be able to clean my favorite rooms, but I got stuck in the bathrooms...I honestly didn't mind.
16. I'm a Republican, which is not a shock to anyone. I feel pretty strongly about my convictions and am a little "depressed" about the state of affairs in our country right now. That's not to say I hate Obama or anything. I just disagree with pretty much everything he stands for. I am happy that an African-American is our President and that people voted him there, but I wish he agreed with me more often or EVER.
17. I love snow, and I love that we have four seasons here. I love things growing in Spring, and I love to dig in the dirt. I LOVE Fall the best, and I really could do without Summer (but I am glad we have it).
18. I have a disease called Meniere's disease. It makes me have too much fluid in my left ear. I have hearing loss because of it and a constant roaring and buzzing and ringing. If I put my deaf ear up and my good ear into the pillow, I have a hard time hearing crying kids at night. :)
19. The worst thing about Meniere's disease though is the constant vertigo attacks. Oh what I wouldn't do to not have them. Vertigo is extreme dizziness, and they come on at any time.
20. I am proud to have attended and graduated The University of Michigan. I am more proud to have paid for pretty much the whole thing myself and to have been done paying off student loans years and years ago. More blessings from God.
21. I've always loved Frank, and I always knew I would marry him. Since Geometry class...
22. My favorite ways to relax are taking a nap, reading a book, getting on the computer, going anywhere without kids with Frank.
23. I love Bon Jovi! I think pretty much every song they sing is worthy of your time. I do think Jon lets Richie Sambora have a bit too much of a role in the band, interviews, songs because he feels guilty that Richie never made it when he went solo. I do find the "'s all right" over and over annoying by Richie Sambora in the "Who says you can't go home?" song.
24. If it were a perfect world, we would live in Hartland and not have to deal with such a frighteningly liberal school board here in Howell. But that would involve either driving my kids every day or selling two houses, and that's not going to happen. They're not just good schools because we both graduated from there. They're rare in this world we live in.
25. I count numbers and words whenever I see them, especially on tv screens and readouts like DVD players and things. I have my own little elaborate system of what each letter and group get counted as, and what the numbers are. Ever since everyone started putting the name of the show etched into the tv screen on the right corner and the channel name etched on the left, I can barely concentrate long enough on what's going on in the show because I am counting the same thing over and over and over and over in my brain. I know, sick!