| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | It wasn't just one experience, but working with my dad in construction is the most memorable thing about my childhood. My dad owned a construction company while I was growing up that worked on jobs for the US Forest Service and for National Parks. We would build roads, hiking trails, fences, and campgrounds in rural, forested areas. Spending my summers with him across the western mountain states are some of my fondest memories of my childhood. It was beautiful scenery, and he helped us learn the importance of work ethic and family, since almost all of his workers were family members. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | My older sister is who I most closely identify with. She and I have the most similar personalities, and we laugh and joke with each other about anything and everything. We can be completely honest with each other about our lives and it's really refreshing to have someone that understands without judgement. We have some very interesting stories about our childhood together and love to laugh about the dumb things we did. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | I'd have to say positivity, first and foremost. You can tell a lot about someone not by what they've been through, but how they responded to those things. Life is hard sometimes and you just have to keep getting up and staying positive. Honesty is also critically important, along with humor. If someone is positive, has a good sense of humor, and I can trust them, that's all I need to become friends with them. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | Well, it kind of happened to my mom, but I was the reason, so I'll count it. When I was a teenager, I was really into Jurassic Park, my mother was NOT. She was terrified of the velociraptors from the movie. Being very animated and athletic, I decided to start stalking her through the kitchen while acting like a velociraptor. I was chasing her through the kitchen, and she was running away, kind of laughing, kind of scared at the same time. We got to the kitchen island with me on one side, her on the other, in some kind of stand-off. But again, I was very athletic at 17 years old, and I knew I'd be able to clear the height, so in one explosive leap I jumped straight up and landed on top of the island with both feet, arms stretched forward like a dinosaur and snarled fiercely. This of course scared my mom so much that she actually ended up peeing her pants as she screamed. I started laughing hysterically at her scream but when I saw her running upstairs to her room, clutching her wet pants, I was grossed out and regretted scaring her that bad. We still joke about it to this day. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | I'm a huge nerd for the Lord of the Rings movies and books and New Zealand is just BEAUTIFUL. Going to the Hobbiton set and seeing it firsthand is an all-time bucket list item for me. My second bucket list is to be there on a beach in Costa Rica when the baby sea turtles hatch and crawl their way to the ocean. I would die happy if I got to experience that in person. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | Most importantly, I want them to be kind. Ultimately, I want them to grow up to be happy and successful, but I want them to genuinely be "good" people who look after their friends and family with empathy. Too many people these days care only about themselves, so I want them to care about others. I want my daughters to be people that others look up to and can trust with their feelings. |
