| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | My parents' families were both from the same city. As the kids grew up they all moved away, except for their parents. Everyone would go back for the summers and winters. We would all go on caravan trips to attractions like Carlsbad Caverns. My most memorable childhood experience was when we all went to the mountains in Ruidoso, NM to go snow skiing. I remember being on top of the mountain with my cousins looking down on White Sands. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | I most closely identify with my father. I've learned a lot from him and I see a lot of him in me. We've worked our ranch together and he's taught me how to work the land, farm, ranch, and provide for my family. He has worked hard his whole life and says his greatest accomplishment in life is having all of his kids graduate from college. My main goal in life now is to be there as a good father for my two boys and make sure they get a good education. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | My paternal grandfather was calm and detail oriented. He had eleven kids and got them all up every day to go to 6 am mass. Before starting a project he would do research, draw up plans, and make a list of resources needed. Then he would complete the project and make notes about it. I try to emulate his calm, even-keeled foresight. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | We went to my friend's house. He wanted to show us how cool it was when he feeds his boa constrictor. The snake was in an aquarium on a bookshelf, so he was standing on a stool with his arm in the aquarium, holding a mouse by the tail. Me and my heavily pregnant wife were sitting on his bed below. The snake strikes, bites his finger, he jerks his hand out, the mouse lands on the bed between me and my wife, the snake lands on the ground in front of us. He is on the stool screaming at his bleeding finger, my wife is slapping herself trying to get the mouse off, I stomp on the snake, he punches me, we leave. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | Europe. I'd like to see and experience so many things across Europe. There are so many historical and current cultural things to explore in a small geographical area. There are also so many different types of food preparation I'd like to experience. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I have two young boys, three and four years old. I'd like to teach them about their great grandfather's calm, even-keeled foresight and his love of his fellow man. I would like to leave this world better than I found it, and I would like them to as well. I want to get them a good education, help them find a career they love, and teach them how to provide for their families if they had to live off the land. |
