About Me

What has made me who I am today?

        Growing up I was told that I was the milkman's child because I didn't look like any of my siblings, parents, or grandparents.  It wasn't until the summer of 2004 when I was at my Grandparent's (Cox) house that I noticed a picture on the table that looked strikingly familiar.  It looked a lot like me!  It turned out that my Grandfather had just finished compiling a book about my Great-great-grandma, Deseret Singleton Salt, and that was a picture of her.  So, now I know where I get my physical features, but it also turns out that she was an avid nature lover as well, a trait that was certainly passed on.

        I was born to Nathan and Calla Cox, May 19th, 1981 in Provo, Utah.  I was their first child.  When I got old enough, I loved to eat mashed potatoes; I still love them today, I could live off of them!  When I could walk, my favorite game was "toss mom's and dad's shoes down the stairs."  For some reason I got a huge kick from it.  When such simple things as shoes and mashed potatoes weren't enough to suffice me, my Grandma Craig would take me on walks to the duck pond.  On our walks I would tell such unbelievable stories about anything and everything I could see without flinching or pausing in the process.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a good liar but just really creative (smirk).  The food progressed to mud pies, slugs, and macaroni on the ceiling.  What a great child!  I can promise I've gotten better because I love to cook such great dishes that I don't resort to mud or throwing it onto the ceiling.  Seldom do I get a complaint about my cooking, except that time where  I used an only microwavable dish in the oven and it melted around the chicken.

         From a young age I've loved to draw and doodle, another great way to express my creativity.  Some of my greatest memories, as a young girl, of my Grandmother Cox was how she would draw me these paper dolls I loved to play with, and when we went "Down South" for summer family reunions she would make me dolls made out of flowers.  Today I still enjoy everything creative.  I love to use my artistic talents in everything from designing the layout for my school papers to painting Disney characters on a childcare wall to how I carry myself and try to see/make everything around me beautiful.

         I seem to be a little accident prone... I've broken my right arm four times, and my left three times, making it a total of 7 times between the ages of 5 and 12!  I've had major stitches in the middle of my forehead due to a superman game jumping from bed to bed, and I've ran into a tree skiing when I was eleven.  I haven't broken a leg yet, and I'm trying really hard not to. I've been really blessed the past 10 years with no major accidents, just sprains, toe problems, burns, a cut eye, hurt back, and such.  Not too bad.  So, today I seem to be a little more cautious than previous years, it must be old age setting in.

        Pretty soon, several more children became a part of the family:  Nathan Craig (1982), Alan Christopher (1983), and Erin Elizabeth (1984).  It was in the year of 1984, May 9th to be exact, that my young family suffered a lost that shook and challenged all of our strength and faith.  My brother, Craig, passed away by drowning in my grandparent's pool in midday with supervision and all the signs of life.  What a horror for such young parents and family.  Yet, strength and faith did not fail.  He is an eternal part of our family, we miss him, but know with all of our faith that we will see him again.  I know that Craig is still with us, I feel his presence.  No time did it feel stronger than when I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he was my guardian angel.

        My family was blessed in 1987 with a beautiful blond angel, Sarah Ann, who had a smile and character that was hard for any of us to beat.  We loved to fight, tease, visit Grandparents, dance in the living room, and visit the mountains together.  Some of my fondest memories are of our yearly Lake Powell Trips, where I would refuse by screaming to jump off the cliffs until my mother reached the point that she would just picked me up and throw me in...eventually I got the hang of it, but each year it was the same struggle to get over my fear of heights.

         My family moved from Provo, Utah to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1992, a year after my baby sister Haley Michelle was born.  I was eleven years old and had to learn how to spell "Albuquerque" before we moved, which I thought was quite the accomplishment, due to the fact that spelling was not my forte, and still is not, if you can tell.

         I know you're sorely disappointed, but I would like to skip the Middle School years...they are just too painful...wearing pink ties, large puffy bangs that would move by lifting only one strand of hair,  learning to shave my legs, finding friends, Mrs. Johnson (Ah!), playing humpty dumpty in musical theater, the Thompson boys, loosing a best friend (Shelly Evans) and getting my first zit.  It's all too painful.  But, Sheala my dog, came out of those years...oh, puppy, puppy.