Getting to know Cindy...

I consider myself pretty shy, and I'm always hesitant to seek attention. But I'm usually in the background, working hard to make sure everything goes right. In school, I was always the student who never raised her hand (too shy!) but whose grades reflected a pretty studious side. Once you get to know me, however, I'm very open, caring, warm, and funny (at least I like to think so!).

When I was 11 my parents bought a piano from a family at church and I began taking piano lessons. I discovered early on that I had been blessed with a talent for playing the piano as well as a love for it.

I love music in general. I love classical music and a lot of eighties and nineties rock and alternative music, but my favorite is musicals: I love Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Show Boat, My Fair Lady, etc.

My true love, however, is literature. At the bottom of this blog I put a link to my "shelf" on Shelfari.com, a website where I can keep track of all of the books I have read, the books I want to read, talk with others about books, and even rate books. I am almost always in the middle of reading a book. Some of my favorite authors are Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and Leo Tolstoy.

Here is a picture of me when I graduated from BYU. This was in my bedroom...my roommate and I had decorated it like "a romantic Italian restaurant" with vining ivy and white lights wrapped around the ceiling (and a moon and sun motif).

Here is a picture of me with my two oldest friends on the day I graduated from Chapman. I am proud of my college education and truly identify myself as an "English major."


This is another picture from my bedroom at BYU. I don't really play the guitar...that's my roommate's. But I do like to act pretty goofy sometimes, and I like to rock it out once in a while, too. ;)






One more picture from BYU days...I dressed up like a pirate one Halloween for work. I was a waitress at a Mexican restaurant in town, probably the funnest job I've ever had!












After I graduated from BYU, I moved back to California and worked at an environmental engineering firm (the same company my dad worked for) as a technical writer and editor. I enjoyed the job because I got to work with my dad for several years and really got to know him a lot better. Here is a picture of me in the office, showing my "professional" side.





My dad passed away suddenly after I'd been working with him for four years. Losing my dad was the worst thing that ever happened to my family and me, but we all agree that it made us closer than ever because we know what it's like to lose someone.

While I worked for the environmental company, I attended a singles ward and met Kevin during this time. Kevin took this picture of me in the living room of the house I was living in while we dated.

My whole life has changed since I married Kevin. I'm never more happy than when I'm at home making plans for our family. I love to make plans for home improvements, vacations, dinners, and picnics or other ways to spend our Saturdays. I also love to arrange get-togethers with my family.

I really love my family more than anything in the world, so I'm going to end now with some pictures of me with my family. First, here is a picture of my sister and me (in the white shirt) on our uncle's boat, sailing past Laguna Beach.





Here I am with two of my youngest nieces, Kali and Kaytlin.

Here Kevin and I are on a camping trip with my brother and his wife.

And finally, here is a great four-generation photo of some of my family, taken at one of our get-togethers at my mom's house. This includes my grandpa (who passed away in 2008), my mom, three of her six kids (one sister holding her son, one brother holding his daughter, and me holding one of my nieces), and five of the grandkids (there are now eight, with a ninth on the way).


Thanks for taking the time to learn about me! :)