Versatile Blogger Award

I was nominated for the Versatile Bloggers Award!! Yay me!! I belong to several groups of bloggers and a couple times a year, individuals from those groups nominate other bloggers for certain awards including this one. It is a way to show other bloggers that you appreciate their hard work and enjoy having them as part of your community. It is also a way to pass it forward to other bloggers. Someone nominates you, you write a blog post with seven facts about yourself and nominate fifteen others. Share the love!

I have been nominated before, but never had time to write a post. But this time, I decided I would make the time because it looks fun. I was nominated this time by Rolling On Blog (Katie) and Mean Green Chef (Angela), both amazing bloggers that I really enjoy following and are very supportive of others. Katie is super fun and Angela posts some of the most delicious recipes.  Thank you so much ladies. I appreciate you!

Seven Fun Facts About Me

1. I have fifteen siblings!! My oldest sister just turned 60 and my younger brother is turning 27 next month. There are five boys and eleven girls and I am the thirteenth kid. I have so many siblings because my parents were part of a polygamist community at one time. We are all close and I love all of them. It makes get togethers entertaining.

2. I am third generation Montanan on my mother’s side. My great-grandma Pauline immigrated to Montana in 1917 from Eastern Europe and started a ranch with her husband raising sheep. My mother named me after Pauline because they were very close and Pauline was amazing. She raised ten children to adulthood in the middle of nowhere, came through Ellis Island on a boat, and worked hard every day of her life.

3. I lived in Israel for twelve years. I have duel citizenship and I volunteered for the Israeli Military. I speak Hebrew as a second language, and I can understand Spanish and Russian and a smattering of Yiddish, German, Polish, Afrikaans, French, German, Italian, Amharic and Arabic because Israel is a melting pot. I miss Israel because I love the sun, but I also miss the culture. Moving back to the States was a culture shock.

4. My husband and I have known each other since we were babies. Our parents were best friends. When I was four, I told my mother-in-law that I was going to marry her son. We would bump into each other over the years when I would visit my dad and kept track of each other through friends and family. In 2007, I moved back to the states and lived in Utah. Every time I would go to Montana, it always seemed that my husband had just left the day before to go back to New Mexico. In February of 2008, I randomly called him after not talking to him for six years. After a three-hour phone call, I had my flight booked and we had decided we were getting married. We have been together for eleven years and married for ten.

5. I live on top of a mountain, literally. When we moved back to Montana six years ago, I told my husband that I wanted a log home with at least twenty forested acres, running water somewhere on the property, and to be on a mountain. I got what I wished for, but I should have thought about the mountain part a little bit more, because my driveway in the winter time is an icy, windy, mountain road with a hundred foot drop off.

6. I love to read. I always remember my mom reading to me when I was little, every time at bed. She would read whatever she was reading, or books that were well above age. Because of her, I reached a college reading level by age nine. At age nine I discovered most of my favorite all-time books and authors such as Tolkien, Tolstoy and Bronte. I am a book hoarder!

7. I am very passionate!! Even when I talk, I gesture wildly. I throw myself into everything, I am adventurous and love challenges. I am most passionate about family, food, the outdoors and mental health. My day job is in human services and I love helping others, especially low-income families and those recovering from mental illness. Besides my family and the outdoors, I absolutely love food. It isn’t just that I like to eat or cook, it’s that food means something to me. Food is getting people together for a meal and slowing down to enjoy each other’s company. If I share food with you or cook for you, it means I care about you.  I think it’s either a Jewish or an Israeli thing.

And now it’s time to pay it forward. I would love to nominate the following bloggers because of their hard work and fabulous posts:

Life, Chaos and Cameras

Dreams and Wishing Wells

Relentless Spunk

The Farmers Daughter Bakes

Follow R Footsteps

This Family Blog

R and R Wander

Go Love Be

The Flannel Mama

Where The Road Forks

Russells Loving Life

Jett’s Kitchen

Happily Healthy Living

Essential Living Life

Sunflowers To STEM

Feel free to check out some of these other bloggers. They are all really great!!! And don’t forget… be outside with no limits. Only 27 days left until Spring!