About Me!!

My name is Samantha Jolene Garrison. I get called Sam, Sami, Sami Jo, and Samantha all pretty regularly by different people. I honestly do not have a preference to which one I am called but most people just call me Sam. I currently live in La Grande but was born and raised in Southern Arizona. I moved to La Grande with my husband (then fiancé) in February of 2007, a month later we found out I was pregnant. Our son, Lakoda James, was born on November 11th, 2007. I am going to school to get a degree in nursing. I work full time in a nursing home as a CNA; however, I hope to work as an OB Nurse when I graduate. My family is my world. I love playing with my son, goofing off with my hubby, and when I have the money visiting my family in Arizona. I also enjoy running and scrap booking but I do not have the time to do either very often. I have very high standard for myself, my mom has always said that I am my worst critic. I think that to often people make excuses to fail instead of making reason to succeed. Overall, I am a very optimistic person. I really like the motto “Life is what it is, if you don’t like it change it. If you can’t change it, learn to live with it.”

I really enjoy reading. I am not sure I have a favorite genre because my favorite books are all very different (In the time of the Butterflies, Black Creek Crossing, and the Twilight series are some recent one I have liked). As a kid I can remember reading my childhood favorite the Velveteen Rabbit to just about anyone who would listen. I continued to like to read through the years but don’t reading aloud in front of a lot of people, it makes me nervous. I have always had good reading comprehension but stumble when I read aloud too fast. Although I have always liked to read most of my spare time as a kid I used playing sports. These days reading is sometimes relaxing whether it’s a book of my choice or my son choice. I like to read before bed to wind down and help take my mind off stressful things in my life.

My husbands reading likes are very different then mine. He for the most part likes non-fiction reading only. He likes to read the magazine Bikes (a motorcycle one) and the National Geographic. He said he has “Never been a big fan of reading but never really disliked it ever either.” His furthest memory of reading was getting sticker at church for finding and reading the weekly Bible verse. As for my mother, she loves to read. I can remember finding novels around the house all my life. Like me she doesn’t favor a particular genre. Some of her favorites include The Clan of the Cave Bear series, Sacagawea, You’ve Been There Before, and several by Patricia Cornwell. She says she likes to read because, “The more you read the more you learn.” (What a motherly type of response.) Reading is one of my mom’s favorite things to do; she even reads on the toilet if she is really into a book. My niece Josephine is 8yrs and takes after my mom a lot in the reading aspect. Her favorite types of books are, “Long, funny, chapter books.” She loves the Goose Bump books particularly, How I Got My Shrunken Head. She said she likes to read because, “It’s interesting and I learn new stuff.” Her furthest memory of books was me reading her princess books before bed. (I read to her almost every night until I moved; she was five.)