Most memorable childhood moment: Oooh, that's tough because I remember just about everything from my childhood, so it's all memorable! There was that time in the 1st grade when our class was walking in a single file line and I still managed to get taken out by a telephone pole. Or that time when my brother and I made ketchup, mustard, and cheese sandwiches on my parents' bed for an FHE treat, much to our delight and our parents' dismay. Or how my mom had to put chicken wire around the strawberries not to keep chickens out but to keep me out. Or how I would fall asleep in church and wake up with my 3-year-old fro matted to one side of my head....Shall I go on? :)
Your best physical feature: Most people would say my crazy curly hair, but I'd say my smile. Not because it's a particularly amazing smile, but because I use it so often!
Your best quality: I am relentlessly positive. Some people find that annoying because they just want complain and want me to join in on their pity party, but I can't help pointing out the positive and focusing almost entirely on it. It's just natural for me to see the silver lining before I even notice the cloud itself.
Why are you ready to find Mr. Right?: I've always been the type to continually evaluate the condition of my heart and how I'm doing in the challenge to become like Him and have a heart like His. And now I feel I've reached a point where I can say that I've conquered, with the Lord's help, most of the fears and weaknesses that could potentially get in the way of my truly giving my whole heart to a good and worthy man. It's exciting to be in a place where unlocking my heart will be easier than ever! Now, to find the right key.....
What would your last boyfriend say about you?: I think he'd probably give me a glowing recommendation! We're still friends, so dating me must not have been too traumatic! I think he'd probably say that I am a fiercely loyal friend, selfless to a fault, extremely creative in my thoughtfulness, and... a good (great?) kisser. :)
Most embarrassing moment?: As a new greenie on the mish, fresh out of the MTC and trying to learn spanish, I accidentally told an Elder to bend over instead of turn around. Whoops. My district had a hay day with that one!
Greatest accomplishment so far: Serving a mission. I had to sacrifice a lot to go and the particular challenges were so tailored to my weaknesses that it challenged even MY eternal optimism (gasp!). But I headed the call, sacrificed everything, served with everything I had and kept a smile on my face while doing it. I didn't have much outward "success" that I could point to, but the victory was in the determination (stubbornness?) to never give up. After that experience, I'm pretty sure that I'm prepared to take anything life could possibly throw at me!
What is one of your quirks?: I have very nervous fingers. I can't think unless I'm playing with something in my hands. Is that weird? If you hand me a paper clip it will be transformed into a piece of art within minutes without my noticing. Every sacrament meeting program turns into a piece of origami. Gum is completely out of the question since it wouldn't stay in my mouth! I've never been able to wear rings since I'll twist it until my finger is raw (I don't know what I'm going to do when I get married! I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!). I once made a ball of tape the size of my fist made up of hundreds of tiny little rolls of tape - the result of the thinking process of a couple of years of tough engineering problems. Is that a waste of company resources or an investment towards intellectual property? This little quirk does make hand holding fun though....
Worst Date: Ok, check this out. I love blind dates, but this one takes the cake! My roommate and her boyfriend had set my other roommate up with this guy and they were going to double. Last minute my roommate couldn't go, so I was coerced into taking her place. They didn't tell me until I was on the date (or rather, I discovered for myself) that the dude didn't speak english! How's that for first date blind date awkardness! 100% charades! Then (get this!) we went to the Nutty Putty Caves and it turned out that this guy was extremely claustrophobic and couldn't even enter without a panic attack. Instead of leaving to do something else, my roommate and her guy decide to go get lost in the cave somewhere (to make out, presumably), leaving me alone with my miming, mute, panic stricken date! We may or may not have popped a tire on the way home. It was definitely a one of a kind adventure! And overall, I still had a good time! But we didn't go out again. :)
Best Date: I had been very close friends with a guy for a couple of years and we were kind of in that place where we were determining if we should give it a real shot. It was my birthday and this guy planned a whole treasure hunt based on little moments and memories that we had had together. Each spot had a clue that would refer to a place where a certain memory had occurred. It took me almost the entire treasure hunt to realize that, because the places we were going were fairly populated, he hadn't planted the clues beforehand for fear they'd be tampered with and was hiding them right then when I wasn't looking. I finally caught him in the act (kind of embarrassing that it took as long as it did!). At the end the hunt was a photo album with a collection of his favorite pictures of us from our past adventures. He was absolutely darling, so sweet and thoughtful. I'm kind of a sucker for thoughtfulness - gets me every time!
Did you serve a mission?: I did! I served in Barcelona, Spain. If so where did you go and what would the elders say about you?: I'll be honest, the elders LOVED me (in a deep charity, "lock your heart", mission appropriate sort of way, of course)! Particularly my MTC elders. One of my sweetest memories of my mission was after my last zone conference. Somehow (a very blessed, providential sort of "somehow") all but two of my MTC elders were in my last zone with me. We were all headed home on the train and I opened a letter and found it to be my trunky papers. I just started bawling uncontrollably. Those sweet elders just didn't know what to do! They had only known "always positive and smiling no matter how rough things got" Hermana Conran and they were stunned and so concerned. It makes me laugh to think back at the inner struggle I could see in their faces, wanting so badly to give me hug but not being allowed to! So they all split up on a mission to make me smile. One drew me pictures. One wrote me a song and sang it into my tape recorder. One expostulated on how it seemed unfair that I had to go home when the rest of them had six more months. Another just filled his eyes with love and looked on me and smiled all the way home. I'm not sure what I did to inspire these elders to such love and devotion and loyalty, but some have told me since that they think that my mission was more to inspire, lift, and strengthen the other missionaries so they could find those seeking for the gospel than for finding them myself.
What did you study in school and why? Where did you go to college?: I got a BS and MS in Civil Engineering from BYU, with minors in both Engineering Management and Marriage, Family, and Human Development (officially) and Ballroom Dance (unofficially:) ). After taking one of those personality tests from the Career Center, the test giver told me that she had never seen anyone so even across the board - that I could study just about anything and enjoy it and succeed in it. Sooooo.....I studied it all. :)
What is one thing that not a lot of people know about you that you want to share here with the world?: I used to be shy! Painfully shy! Shocking, right? Knowing me now, most people would never guess that in a million years. A couple of years as a cheerleader, an EFY counselor, and a missionary beat that one right out of me! Also, I can get my hair to fro out larger than a fro wig (no exaggeration!), though only a chosen few have been privileged enough to see that!