The List

Everybody has a "list".  Some people call it their Bucket List, others Things I Want to Do Before I Die, or maybe it's not something written down, but it's more of a collection of desires they keep in the back of their head.

I just call mine The List.  I wrote this list down about five years ago, and I keep it in my wallet at all times, in case I need to whip it out and cross something off, or maybe I just want to revisit my dreams and say hello.  I have crossed off some things, and others maybe will never happen.  But they're my Dreams.  Would you like to see my Dreams?

-Volunteer in a 3rd world country
-Sit in Central Park and take pictures of strangers
-See a wild tiger and lion
-Play with a wild monkey

-Swim with Sharks-- This one I did in the Bahamas.  I was on a snorkeling trip with a friend and we were on a coral reef. When we got there the guide guy says that there are about 40 or so Caribbean Reef Sharks in there, he said "I'm not going to say you can or can't get in the water, just do it at your own risk."  Me and my friend were at the front of the line to get in.  At 4 and 5 feet long they were pretty intimidating though I didn't feel in danger.  The guide put in a feed box full of chum to attract them, and we were able to see their feeding frenzy.  It was an awesome experience.

-Fill my passport
-Be on Survivor or The Amazing Race

-Go Snorkeling in crystal water- This was in the Bahamas too.  We went to a privately owned island with a group of people, and the beach was gorgeous.  I get out to the water and it doesn't look very deep 'cause the water is so clear I can see right through it. I put on my mask and snorkel and have my first look, and there were tons of colorful fish, everywhere.  The water was so pristine they looked like they were flying.

-Go scuba diving

-Live in Cali
-Take my grandkids to the Beach
-Write a book
-Hold a tarantula (I have a very big fear of spiders, so I feel like holding a tarantula would be overcoming my fear in a big way)
-Go Skydiving
-Meet Jennifer Garner

-Meet Billy Boyd- I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan, and Pippin was my favorite.  I just love Billy Boyd and have always wanted to meet him.  I heard he was going to be in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, and me and some friends were already going to be spending the weekend up there.  So I did some detective work and goaded information from people that weren't supposed to say where he was, and I finally found out that he was going to be at a certain building at the top of main street the next morning at 8.  We got there at 7:00 for good measure and we were waiting and waiting, and decided to go for a walk down the street since we had another 40 minutes or so before he was supposed to be there.  We were at the bottom of the hill when my friend calls me from the top and says that Billy is there!!  So I take off at a run, sprinting through the crowded sidewalk straigh up the hill. Some lady pushing a stroller tried to cross my path, but I jumped over the stroller and kept on running.  Who knew I could run like that?  I get to the top and . . . he's already gone inside the building.  My friend that saw him had talked to him and told him that his biggest fan was on her way and that she really wanted to meet him.  He said he would catch me on the way out.  So when he gets out of the building about 20 minutes later I hear "BreAnn?  Where's BreAnn?"  That's right, Billy Boyd was asking for me by name. 

I was a happy little girl

-Go to a different country in a week's notice- This was to the Bahamas as well.  My friend lived in Florida and I was flying out to visit him for a week.  We didn't know what all we were going to do.  We had planned to go to a concert, and go to Disneyworld one day, but we didn't have anything else planned for the rest of the week.  He called me the week before I was flying out and said, why don't we just go to the Bahamas?  Um, OK!  So he booked the flight and I booked the hotel, and I flew out to florida a couple days later.  We went to Disneyworld that night for a couple hours, the next morning we went to the Bahamas for three days, and came back to Florida for the rest of the trip, went to Disneyworld again and said concert and I flew home.  It was a vacay packed with awesome.

-See love in a man's eyes-  Incredibly cheesy, I know.  When I wrote the list I had never experienced the unconditional love of a guy (that wasn't related), and I wanted to be able to look at a guy and see that he loved me.  It was this slugger right here:

-Go on an African Safari

-Go to all 50 states

-Road trip across America- This one I did twice.  When my friend was moving to Florida I helped drive him from Utah to Florida, and then flew home, and when he was moving back to Utah I flew to Florida and drove him back to Utah, this time taking a different route.  To go with my goal of going to all 50 states I have a map, and when I go to a state I get a keychain from that state and hang it up on the map.

Seen conveniently in the background.  Also, a freakin' huge poster of Jennifer Garner.  This was my apartment when Jordan and I first started dating.  Please notice how ridiculously skinny I was back then.  I might also have Spiderman sheets on my bed . . . but it's not for me to say.

-Ride in a helicopter- Two years ago me and most of my siblings went on a backpacking trip to the Havasupai indian reservation, which is at the bottom of the grand canyon.  It's an absolutely gorgeous place, see Exhibit A:

The thing is, to get to this gorgeous oasis full of multiple waterfalls, it's a 12 mile hike in, and a 12 mile hike out.

There are many ways you can do the hike.  Backpack, horseback, put your pack on a mule train and walk, or helicopter in.  I decided to do the whole thing by myself, so I backpacked in.  I reached camp very proud of myself, but because my shoes were still relatively new I had an absurd amount of blisters.  When it came to hike out again, I hiked the first couple of miles, but because my blisters hurt I was going slow and told my fam to go on without me and I'll go at my own pace.  When I got to the helicopter pad I said screw it, I'm flying out of here.  And it was amazing!  The helicopter was weaving in and out of the canyon, which was terrifying, but incredible at the same time.  Absolutely no regrets flying out, 'cause it was a cool ride and I got to cross this off  The List.

-Have straight teeth

-Attend the Oscars

-Go to Stonehenge

-Go to a Broadway show

-Go to a Las Vegas Show

-Ice Skate in Time Square

-Feed a shark

-Do a wreck dive (scuba dive a wreck, such as an airplane or sunken ship)

-Go on a solo road trip-  This was about three years ago.  I was sitting in my apartment on a Friday night at 8:00 PM, watching TV.  Jordan was working really late, all friends had other things and I wasn't a fan of my roommates.  How lame.  My eyes strayed to my map hanging above my bed and I thought that I hadn't gotten a keychain in a while and Montana really wasn't that far away, right?  So, I was gassed up (my car, that is) and on the freeway by 8:30.  And I got my Montana keychain! 

 Thanks for taking a journey of The List with me!  Hopefully I can cross more stuff off, and I'm sure I'll add more along the way.