Family Tree

Grandma Taylor

Grandma Taylor was a special lady.  She was not a member of the church.  She was born May 1, 1910 in Vardiman, Chickasaw, Mississippi.  

Her parents were John Rueben Taylor and Lou Dorothy Doss.  They were born in the 1880's

Even though my Grandma Simmons was not her daughter (her grandaugher) she took her in because Grandma’s mom could not take care of her.  Mom says that she probably saved Grandma's life.  She was married several times.  She stuck with the last one. 

My mom talks about how she used to cook bacon on fast Sunday, not knowing what she was doing to the poor kids.  She was diabetic so she could not fast anyway.

She lived to meet my older brother Tyler.  She died 27 May 1983.  She was buried in our family cemetery in Provo Utah. 

My Grandpa Simmons

My Grandpa Ralph D Simmons is an amazing man.  I admire him a lot.  My mom said that if I find someone like him to marry I will be very lucky.  I believe that.  He was born on September 18, 1921 in Lakeshore Utah.  He learned to use a rifle before enlisting in the army in WWII.  Mom says that she would come home sometimes to a deer on the table.  They lived in Wyoming so it isn’t all that surprising.  Grandpa grew up in the Great Depression.  I think he told me when I asked that he never went without. Things were tight and he learned not to be wasteful.  A lesson I learned from his example. 

My Aunt Nan says that he used to call their dog in by whistling.  He was very handy.  He was in to carpentry.  He worked in a steel mill.  My mom said that she remembers his lunch pail.  When they saw his lunch pail around the house, that meant he was home. 

He married Grandma Ruth Irene Woodson Simmons in 1945.  Grandma was a spunky woman.  I think the story went that Grandpa got home from the war and she knew she wanted to marry him, but when he didn’t ask, she started going on dates and he realized he didn’t want her dating other men so he married her.  Good call on Grandpa’s part.

Grandpa told me that all his kids have always been kind of industrious.  They knew they had to work for what they wanted so they did.  I can see that in my mom.  She values hard work.  In the stories they tell about different things they did to get what they wanted as children are amusing.  “Industrious” doesn’t always cover it. 

I like the story of how my Grandma and Grandpa joined (rejoined for my Grandpa) the church.  They took the lessons and then they got to talking.  Grandma told him that she thought it was the true church, but they had to make the decision as a couple to join or not join.  It shows how they valued their marriage and each other’s opinion.  Luckily they’re both pretty smart and they joined the church together

Me and My Family

Life Goals

I want to live in Europe for a while, preferably when I’m young.

I want to get married in the temple have a lasting and happy marriage and have children.

I want to be a stay at home mom.

I want to learn Spanish fluently.

I want to learn new types of dance.

I want to dye my hair funky colors.

I want to build a home that is pleasant to be in and pretty to look at.

Personal History 2013

My birth was an exciting event.  I was a high risk child.  The day I was induced they had my mom hooked to heart monitors and all sorts of measuring equipment.  At one point my heart tones went below 28 beats a minute.  Sirens went off and nurses started running around frantically.  One nurse was attending to my mother and kept telling her to breathe deeper.  Finally my mom shouted “I am breathing deeper!” and the lady responded “I know!” expressing that she did not know what else to say.  I came ready to hang with the chord wrapped around my neck and one of my arms, but thanks to skilled and attentive doctors and promptings listened to I arrived safely.  There were a lot of people living in my house.  My Aunt Chris lived along with us and my family already included 9 people, including my parents. I was an adorable child with ringlets in my short dark blonde hair. 

My younger brother was born when I was the age of three and we have been best friends ever since.  People say I used to look out for him and make sure he would not get into too much trouble.  I became a sort of second mother to him at one point until my mother had to tell me, “He doesn’t need two mothers.”  I remember Saturday chores being a tradition in my family.  I most remember doing my best to avoid my chores. I was successful on occasion.  There was nothing that could get my dad so angry as shirking chores. 

My mom started me on a journal at a very young age.  I may have only been two.  She would ask me about my experience I would tell her about it and she would write it down.  That is something I continued with my entire life. 

At the age of eight I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I remember expecting to feel different having heard so many people tell me it was such an amazing experience, that they were washed clean, that it was the best day of their life.  I did not.  So when my mom asked me how I felt afterward, I lied and said it was amazing.  “I feel clean.”  I had not been baptized ten minutes and I had already sinned. 

Growing up my best friend was Justin Hein.  We were the same age and the same grade in school.  His dad was my doctor up until the time that his parents got divorced. 

I was a good student, if unorganized.  My parents had instilled in me a testimony of the importance of a good education.  I never questioned that I would go to college.  In elementary school my friends and I were talking about what colleges we would want to go to. I was always good at making good goals and following through.  By fifth grade I had decided that I was going to a BYU school.  That choice guided many of my educational choices.

I looked up most to my sister Michelle and my brother Tyler.  Both are exceptional human beings.  Michelle often took time out of her busy schedule to play with me and give me one on one attention.  We would “do necklaces.” And play dolls.

For a blip in the time of my life we had a foster kid staying in our home.  Mother says that he damaged our home, but I think it was important to have him there just the same.  It feels like God’s will, and it is the past anyway, so it is not as if it is to be changed.

I did not have a lot of friends in elementary school or middle school.  I spent of my fifth grade playing alone at recess and lunch.  In middle school I felt alone most of the time.  I did not have friends at church and felt like I was looking through a window when I went to activities.

Then we went to youth conference when I was almost 14 and I roomed with Jennifer Blanchard (later Jennifer Maybe). She was excited to be my roommate. She had a lot of friends.  I felt included and noticed by people my age.

In eighth grade I met a girl who I became really good friends with.  Kristine Port, who was a Jehovah’s Witness and taught me to admire their fortitude.  After a couple years though, we lost contact.

When I started high school, they were doing a program that split freshmen from other people at lunch.  It was an effort to unify the freshmen and prevent bullying.  This forced me to find people my own age to sit with.  I sat with Justin Hein, Geneva Burlack and Becca Joccums and the other people became my friends and the core group stayed together.

I took AP classes, because I could not get an education in the lower classes because the students did not care and neither did the teachers.

I was a part of the choir all four years of high school. I did improvisational comedy all four years as well.  I continued doing that in college. 

In my junior year, I dated Trevian Austin.  It lasted 3 months. I knew going into it, it would not last, but it was a great experience just the same.

I graduated in 2010. That year was one of the best.  My classes were educational and fun.  Toward the end I spent a lot of time just messing around with my friends.

I completed the Personal Progress program at that same time.

I started school in the fall at BYUI. I went not knowing any friends or having any roommates I was already friends with.  I started completely from scratch.  That was my first time moving.  Some of my roommates ended up being people I would stay friends with and continue to room with.  I roomed with Michaela McMormack, or McCormack (later Oniones) until she married Dan Oniones in 2012 in the Portland Oregon temple.  Her name story is interesting.  Her family’s name is McCormack, but the nurse spelled it wrong as McMormack on her birth certificate and no one caught it till she was 16.  I roomed with Amanda Southwick every semester until the spring semester in 2013.

Justin Hein came out of the closet in 2011-2012.  I was pretty much the last person to know.  I would not believe anyone but Justin to say it.  It was hard at first because we had different beliefs about it, but our deep friendship conquered the differences.  We came to understand that even though we disagreed we could still be friends because we valued the friendship.

I met Jonathan Behymer in the beginning of August in 2012 at a YSA conference.  He caught my attention and we started dating the 7^th of September 2012.  The first 3 months were long distance. I stayed home and took classes online for the spring so that we could be together and to continue my paid internship at JBEI. When that internship ended I continued classes.  We officially started dating exclusively the day before I left for school.  The time crunch rushed the relationship and we spent our first evening as a couple kissing. 

I came home to find things were not as they seemed.  I had fallen head over heels and he had been casually dating me.  He had been flirting with other girls, because he was not that involved in our relationship.  It helped that my job was in vista now and was close to where he lived.  We talked through our issues and I forgave him and he changed.  He was more interested in me.

Then for a while things were rough.  He was everything but what I needed.  Until I started praying to have the Holy Ghost guide what I say and do around him.  I received divine help and we began to make head way on important issues. 

One day when he would not kiss me before he left for camp the next day for a month, because he did not want to get me sick, I began to pout.  He then told me that “pouting doesn’t work.”  I felt prompted and asked him what did and he said, “Not needing it.” I was stunned and I told him that was ridiculous.  He said, “If you need it then what is it? An addiction.”  I told him it was like being addicted food or water, being loved is a basic need.  We continued to discuss until I said something silly and busted up laughing.  As I giggled he kissed me. 

That was my first experience of him compromising and letting go of his stubborn side in action.

I returned to Idaho in the fall. He did not get his application in for the fall semester and the earliest he could go was winter.  This posed a problem for me.  I was not sure if I should stay in winter to be with him, if I should go home, or if I should not wait for him that long.  After all in winter we would have been dating a year and 3 months I reasoned. 

I graduated in Communications with an emphasis in Advertisement by 2015.