The hills are alive with the sound of music…U2 music, loud hollering, genuine laughter, Droid phone beeps, frequent tattle-telling, Marco Polo calls, running feet…..
Welcome to Over The Hills, a home with one Mama, one Daddy, and three little girls along with one wild kitty, and two lounge-loving dogs. We live among hills…and mountains and cedars and canyons and desert…in a rural small town in the scenic southeast Utah. About 3,000 folks reside in this one-blinking light town. The mixture of cultures is obvious with a small population – cowboys, rodeo princesses, truck drivers, football Friday night lights, Navajo heritage, pow wows, environmental lovers, college students, Latter-day Saints, pioneers, migrators, bewildered transplants, and stigma battlers. The place is rural but can be just as exciting as big city.
My name is Amanda, alias “Mama”, a stay-at-home domestic goddess for many reasons beside the obvious six little feet running in three different directions needing frequent attention. My Honey is Jared, alias “Daddy”, who will pipe in on his take of our family after my introduction. The oldest in our little band of natives is Celeste, a 10 year-old who has the physical energy of a child with ADD but with focus. Savannah may have ADD for a 7 year-old but I believe she just has an enormous bundle of creative energy. The littlest is Sierra, age 4, who has the charm of a ballerina but can easily display her inner demon. Our non-human members of the family are KC, the kitty stalker; Shotzee, the old lady guard dog; and Dusty, the big easy-going pup.
Being a domestic goddess is fun to say but I do have other talents for sanity purposes. Washing dishes and clothes is good to do to stay bacteria-free however creating art is far more appealing. I have been drawing since I can remember which would put me about age 4. Horses, always drawing horses - and cars (going along with the horsepower theme). I grew up as a Navy brat moving from Virginia to California with Tennessee in between, Tennessee having the most stays. I consider myself Tennessean through and through without a doubt however I am connected to this area. My Dad grew up in this town until he joined the Navy at the age of 17 and was shipped off to Vietnam. He wanted to prove to his dad he was grown up. I don’t think he clearly thought out his strategy.
After surviving the War, he settled into the Naval Air department and was transferred to Millington Naval Air Station in Tennessee. My Mom on the other hand was living in Huntsville, Alabama. A spit-fire of a southern bell she was just trying to survive a dysfunctional family. She herself loved art just like her parents.
Mom and Dad meet on a blind date and married several months later after Mom vomited from Dad’s first kiss (funny story, I’ll tell it sometime). Three years later I show up. I was instantly a daddy’s girl and gave my mom pain. My brother had to be an accident because there was no way she was going to have another baby after me. Luckily for Mom, Matthew was a mommy’s boy. Luckily again, Amylia showed up a few years later and she is definitely a mama's girl regardless of their disagreements.
I have been for the most part self-taught in art from having to have attended many different schools. I graduated with a Bachelor’s of the Fine Arts from Middle Tennessee State University and a Master’s from the Academy of Art University in California. So now I can be a struggling artist with a license to creatively hang wet laundry throughout the house when the dryer doesn’t work.
My Honey loves my creativity because it spices up his day whether it’s flavorful or bland. The girls most certainly keep him awake. It’s definitely not the usual daily beginning each morning of the day (let’s see what he says).
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