Things I Love About Lisa! (+ some little-known stories)

I love how thoughtful Lisa is. I think this one of her biggest strengths.

When she’s out and about, going grocery shopping, at the thrift store, the dollar store,  or wherever– Lisa is constantly thinking of others. She’ll often pick up a little something, for a roommate, a friend, or one of us sisters. No reason, just because. She does stuff like this for me all the time, like randomly surprising me with a Lindor truffle, or a cute shirt she thinks would be my style, or some scones/yummy food she decided to pick up on the way home. It seems to bring her a lot of joy to do thoughtful things like this for others.

I’ve noticed that Lisa is very observant when it comes to people. She’s mindful of what people like or dislike, things they’re obsessed with, or things they lack/are in need of.   “Oh! This would be perfect for_____!” is something I often hear her say when we go shopping together. She seems to pay attention to the little things she notices-– like if someone mentions that they’re out of a certain thing, or need to get something, it’s like she takes a mental note of it (and might perhaps surprise them with it sometime down the road if the opportunity ever arises).

Lisa is very thoughtful when it comes to gift-giving. She gives of her time, doing things like making you dinner or homemade ice cream, crocheting cute little hats or blankets, getting personalized photo mugs made, or hand painting something special just for you, etc. Whatever you get from Lisa she usually put a lot of thought and effort into.

Here’s an example of one of the onesies she decorated for Nephi when he was a baby:

Close to the Spirit

Selfless / Giving

She is very selfless and giving  with her time. It  seems she’s always willing to spend her time with and for others. I can’t remember how old my little sisters were, but there was a period of time when Lisa would go in and sing the twins to sleep each night (which I imagine took a while because they were pretty rambunctious and didn’t go to sleep very fast if I remember correctly).

Peacemaker 

Maybe it’s a middle-child thing, but Lisa’s always been the peacemaker at home. She’s always the one to bend first and to be the one to smooth things over.

I’ve also been  inspired by how faithful she is in observing the Sabbath, paying tithing, fasting, and holding herself to high standards when it comes to media choices and dressing modesty. She isn’t into all the worldly fashions/pop culture, but keeps herself pure and her sights set on an eternal perspective. I love that about her.

Years ago, Lisa helped our twin sisters (who were 2 1/2 at the time) learn all the lyrics to and record a bunch of Christmas songs onto CDs. She also taught them piano lessons growing up. When Lisa was in 8th grade, my mom had written a song to help her memorize the Bill of Rights, and Lisa decided to use it to teach the twins to memorize the 1st amendment…(just imagine the cuteness of hearing little 5-year-old girls reciting/singing “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….[and so forth]”)

This is one of my favorite things about Lisa. She can be very silly and fun! Whether it’s the funny poems she writes in her birthday cards, or silly stories she comes up with, or random cheesy puns she makes up on the spot, Lisa’s unique sense of humor is endearing. There’s a lot more laughter with Lisa around.

Queen of randomness 🙂

Growing up, Lisa’s Halloween costumes were always fun & quirky: a baked potato, a slice of pizza, waldo, a mad scientist, or just wearing a sign around her neck that says “I am a frog.” 🙂 Lisa just likes being Lisa – she plays to her own tune and does her own thing.

Growing up, she always came up with silly nicknames for boys she had crushes on, kind of like a secret code so that we could talk about him without anyone knowing — some of them were super ridiculous and random (Doi Doi, The Muffin Man, Pink Toilet Paper, Mr. Scrunchy, to name a few- hehe!)

She comes up with silly names for other things too, like stuffed animals. For instance, she has a stuffed bear named Mr. Fuzziness,  and she gave Nephi a little stuffed animal and named him “Wonkin Foo Foo”. Random, right?

Oh and how could I forget her goofy usernames to like EVERYTHING…she never picks something boring or normal. It’s always something extremely random that you’d never guess, like fluffystarfish or penguinchopsticks or fifferfefferfeff, etc. (just examples). Inside Lisa’s brain is like a Dr. Seuss book! In fact, I  bet she and him would get along 🙂

I remember growing up she would write/tell funny (because they were so ridiculous) stories, like about the sandwich who was hungry, or a dog who had no ears, or the porcupine who just wanted a hug. Click here for a few random short story samplings to make your day 🙂

When she was 10 or 11, she was cast as the jester in a community play called “The king who loved his lollipops” (a spin off Rumpelstiltskin). She was hilarious and did over-the-top exaggerated emotions/different impersonations for each of her lines. She also played the old hag in my “Cinderella and the 7 little pigs” play and was hilarious in that role too.

To give you an idea of what a unique personality Lisa was when she  was younger, here’s another story. When Lisa was 9 or 10, we’d go to Classic Skating every month.  Well, she would go and sit right in the middle of the skating rink in  a crossed-legged position and close her eyes like Rafikki, humming loudly & pretending to meditate. Haha!

She can write her own alto part to songs. She’s really good at improv harmonizing alto. One thing that’s super cute and endearing is how she automatically starts humming an alto part to whatever songs are playing at the moment, like when we go to the grocery store, she’ll start harmonizing along with the pop song currently playing in the background- and she doesn’t even realizing she’s doing it until you point it out. Haha it’s adorable! 🙂

We have a long tradition of singing duets together, like “Danny Boy,” “Baby Mine,” “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and other 40s songs (mostly Andrew sisters stuff that my mom used to sing in her trio). We like singing in the kitchen while we do dishes, in the car, in the rain, etc. And recording cheesy singing answering machine greetings! When we were younger, we had a singing group with our neighbor friends called “Neighborhood Stars” that mom directed. We’d often perform at rest homes and stuff, which was fun.

#BlessingsofServingaMission? #YourHairWillBecomeDreamy #NotThatitWasntBefore

Pretty Brown Eyes (I’ve always secretly been slightly jealous of her deep brown chocolatey eyes)

My parents often comment how Lisa was the prettiest baby they think they’ve ever seen. (I wish I had a digital copy of a baby picture to post, but I don’t.)

Other random fun stuff about Lisa:

She loves Mexican food, Cafe Rio, Chocolate, and BearClaw ice cream. She loves feel-good movies like Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, & InsideOut, etc. She loves the color deep red.  She likes hymns, seminary music, and anything uplifting. One of her primary love languages is quality time.

Her Mission to the Philippines!