About Me

August, 2009

I’m Zina. My name rhymes with “Dinah,” like in the song where someone’s in the kitchen, strumming on the ol’ banjo.  My name is a Mormon pioneer name that I inherited from ancestors on both sides of my family.

I called this my imaginary blog because I was writing it in my mind for a couple of years before I put it on the internet.  The title still works because I use my blog as an escape.

I was born in San Francisco, raised in Orem, Utah, and graduated in English from BYU.  I’m the second of 9 kids, 5 boys and 4 girls.  Starting at age 21 I was a missionary for my church for 18 months in France and Belgium, speaking French. I met my husband Dean in Provo when we were both 24 and we got married a year later, after which we lived in Amman Jordan for 9 months–he had gone on a Study Abroad program learning Arabic, and wanted to practice his Arabic before settling into a Chemical Engineering PhD program.  (He applied for a Fulbright scholarship but didn’t get it, so we worked and paid our own way. He’s forgotten most of his Arabic.  I still remember how to say “Please don’t smoke; I’m pregnant.”) We came home, had our first baby, and moved to California where Dean attended UC Berkeley.  We were there for 5 years, then moved back to Utah where he teaches at BYU.  For the past 13 years or so my passionate and single-minded pursuit has been to have as many children as my health will allow.  I’ve been plagued by various health problems for about 9 of those years, but the power of denial is such that we might still have a couple more kids, “in shah Allah” (God willing.)  I’m not sure how Dean and I have had the luck to be the parents of the five most beautiful and amazing children in existence–maybe I should take up gambling.

If I had any spare time, I’d spend it sewing, reading, and hiking.  I seem to manage to write blog posts in spite of not having free time.

I’m a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints and I welcome questions, whether you’re looking for a church or just are curious about what life is like for members of my church.

I can be contacted at:  writetozina at gmail dot com (that’s not the email address I use most often, but I’ll try to check it from time to time.)