Spotlight: Christine

CHRISTINE JEFFS

(She had a lot of good answers, so I decided to leave this one in Christine's own words. And isn't this picture just the best?!)

Where are you from? 

I am from a little town in Northern California called Placerville. It’s about halfway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe on Hwy 50. It’s often referred to as the Mother Load because it’s where gold was discovered! (Remember learning about Sutter’s Mill and James Marshall in fifth grade? And FYI – the LDS pioneers played a big part in the discovery, too.)

Tell about the family you come from.

I am the oldest of three kids. My brother, Kevin, is 21 and is on a mission in Florida. He comes back May 28th! My sister, Karen, is 19 and is a freshman at BYU-Idaho.

My mom and dad met at BYU and the moved to California where they had the three of us. My mom is from Southern California and is a registered nurse. She just got a job at the IHC hospital off of 53rd south! My dad is from Northern California (mostly) and was a real estate developer. He now works for the church in the real estate department. His new job is the reason they moved from Placerville to Draper in October/November.

If married, tell about your spouse/family.

My husband, Tyler, was born and raised in Orem. For those of you Oremites in the program, he went to Timp High School. He served his mission in the Madrid Spain misison. Tyler is 24 and is a mechanical engineering major at BYU. He’s in an LSAT prep course right now and will take the LSAT in June. He applies for law school in the fall, will graduate from BYU in the spring of 2009 (the same time we finish hygiene school), and will start law school the fall of 2009. He’ll probably go to the BYU law school, but we might venture to California for law school. :)

Tyler’s family has a family law firm called Jeffs & Jeffs. His grandpa and his grandpa’s brother started the company in 1957 and recently celebrated their 50 year anniversary. Tyler plans to join his two uncles, grandpa, dad, two cousins, and brother at the law firm when he’s done with law school. He’s not sure what kind of law he wants to practice, but I think he should go into patent law or real estate law.

If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go OR where is somewhere cool that you’ve been?

I would love to go somewhere tropical because I think it would be so beautiful! I would also love to travel to Europe; Tyler wants to go back to Spain and I only try to encourage it. :) His dad also wants to go to Italy, and I’m not opposed to that idea, either. :) I would even love to travel to more places in the USA. I’ve only been to five states, so I’d like to make that number bigger!

Somewhere cool I’ve been? Lake Tahoe or Catalina Island, since most people haven’t been to those places, or Goblin Valley. It’s amazing to me that nature can look the way it does – especially in Goblin Valley!

What do you like to do when you’re NOT doing school things?

I like to TRY and exercise if I can. :) I enjoy jogging (I don’t dare call it running). I also have an exercise bike that I don’t mind using when I don’t get to jog. I LOVE to play tennis and I still have yet to play with Tricia!

I LOVE spending time with family and friends. Tyler and I spend a lot of time with his family and with my family and we love it. We also like to arrange get-togethers with our friends since we don’t get to see them often anymore.

I keep buying scrapbooking materials with hopes that I will one day actually sit down and scrapbook. I want to start with my wedding pictures and go from there.

Tyler and I love doing recreational things like hiking, biking, 4-wheeling, and camping. It’s hard to do these things while in school, but we still try to get out as often as we can! We look forward to the summer when we can do more of these things.

What are you very talented at?

Um, good question. This is nerdy, but I’m good at organizing and planning! I wish I was a great runner, that I could play the piano, or that I could sing. 

What is your favorite food?

Junk food. :) I love chocolate, candy, chips, fried foods, ranch dressing, etc! I also love grains – cereals and breads. Give me a loaf of great bread with some oil and vinegar and I’m in heaven. As for genres, I love Chinese food, Mexican food, and Italian food.

Would you rather watch a movie or read a book? 

Depends. I’d rather watch a movie than read textbooks, but I enjoy reading when I have the time. I guess I’ll say that I like them equally. I don’t like stupid movies, though; most of the movies I do like come from very good books. (For example, The Prestige, Catch Me If You Can, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Count of Monte Cristo.) I also like old movies, such as The Great Escape, but I don’t get to watch them often.

When I do have time to read, I find myself reading church history fictional novels. I also enjoy contemporary books like Animal Dreams and The House on Mango Street, compliments of my high school senior English teacher. He’d be proud. :)

Favorite Disney character?

Mulan. She’s a strong woman, not a damsel in distress!

Tell something unique about yourself.

I’m fifth generation Wilke – which is my middle name. My family has a tradition that the oldest daughter on my mom’s side has the middle name of Wilke, so I have it, and my oldest daughter will too.

Also, my dad’s family likes to sail – something that most people probably haven’t done before. At family reunions we would play tennis in the morning and then go sailing in the afternoon. Fun times!

What is your fave dental instrument and why?

The posterior curet (I forget the name and number). It’s angled just right to swipe across the buccal or lingual surfaces of a posterior tooth! 

What are your plans after we’re done with hygiene school?

I intend to practice for a few years, but the more and more I think about it, I think I’d love to go into teaching. In order to do that, I’d have to get my master’s degree and then convince the administration at the UVSC dental hygiene program to let me teach! :) 

I’m also interested in working for a dental company. I’m not sure what I’d do exactly, but my business degree combined with my hygiene degree could mean endless possibilities!

Here's a more serious picture of Christine... the first one I just liked.