15 Fun Facts about Me:

1. My name is Alicia, but my friends from high school all call me Bean and/or Beanie. There is an entire group of human beings on this planet who would sound really strange if they called me by my first given name. Which is weird now that the number of people who use my first name have far outgrown the number of people who don’t. But I love it because it means I get to keep a piece of my maiden name which I loved and now miss.

2. I didn’t used to love children, even though I’ve always been really good with children. They kind of overwhelmed me and made me nervous, but I can now genuinely say in a surprising turn of events that I love interacting with kids. LOVE. It’s becoming one of my passions in life, actually and I anticipate that when my own children all start going to school full time, I will begin a career which involves children in some capacity.

3. I’m super into football, guys. Like, I get really, really into it. I love the intricacies of the rules, I love the strategy, I love watching a talented quarterback make breath-taking passes in less time than it takes me to figure out where the football is during the play. It’s one of my favorite things about fall, actually.

4. Reading is my number one hobby. I love reading about the same as I love chocolate which should give you some idea if you have functioning taste buds. I’ve read more books than I could ever remember to count. And several of those more than once.

5. Harry Potter is my jam. I’ve read the entire series once a year since I was 11. I’m 29 now. So. You do that math.

6. I hate math.

7. I love music! I’m looking forward to a time when I can devote some of my time to re-learning music theory and practicing the piano on the regular. Right now, I practice a few times a month if I’m lucky because I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to play the piano in the presence of a 7, 5, 2 and 9-month-old, but I can make you a couple of promises: A) they will all sit next to you on the teeny, tiny bench, B) they will play the piano and C) you will not.

8) I’m a singer. I was studying music in college, but was derailed by a little thing called: babies (a sacrifice I am very happy to have made because I heart my life and my kids and wouldn’t trade them for all of the college degrees in the world). I was planning on going back to school to study music, but have changed my plans for a future career and will focus on music on my own time when time and money permit.

9) I love to write. I’ve been writing short stories and books and poetry since I was really, really young and have never fully stopped. Writing is a really great way for me to work out my thoughts and feelings. I’ve kept a journal since I was in second grade and as a result, I have about 20-25 full journals. Including one I typed from 8th-10th grade. It’s about the length of War and Peace and literally no one will ever read it because I’d be mortified if they did (turns out 13 year olds are tres embarrassing), but hot dang if it doesn’t exist.

10) I love food, but don’t love to cook. I’m a fan of shortcuts in the kitchen and typically see meal prep as a necessary evil in the ‘keeping my children alive’ category.

11) I’m a boy mom and love it! I’ve experienced some gender disappointment in the past, but now I just experience all kinds of joy at being a mom to all boys. I feel like I won the lottery and genuinely enjoy my role as mother to all these tiny men.

12) I hope to sing in the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square someday.

13) I’m a brand-spanking new yogi! I’m really terrible at yoga because I am zero percent flexible, but I absolutely love it because it does wonders for my back which is a miracle because I have the back of an 80-year-old. I’ve been doing it for several months now and am just getting to the point where I can do a proper downward-facing dog. Which. Is an embarrassingly easy yoga pose.

14) I love nature. Camping, hiking, the beach, forests, walks in the park and by rivers, etc. It all brings me joy. I don’t even super mind the bugs out there because that’s where they belong. If they happen to wander into my house, though, our truce has officially been breached and I will slaughter them with no remorse.

15) Diet Dr. Pepper is my D.O.C. I could drink that stuff all day, err day. I try really hard to drink responsibly and not get to the point where I’m having it every single day, but it’s a struggle. That stuff is like crack to me. Mmm. Dr. Pepper.