A little memory lane ...

I really don't have any new events to blog about today but I'm in the blogging mood, so I'm blogging about me and my thoughts lately. And I've got a lot of them. (By the way, if you don't know me well, then you may not know I have ALWAYS been a big letter writer and note writer. When I moved to NC as a 13 year old, I was the queen of letter writing -my parents limited my phone calls because they were too expensive, but I'm not sure the stamps were much cheaper. And those were just the ones I mailed. I was equally verbose with the notes I wrote my new friends in NC).


First, I have to say that currently, I'm feeling very blessed to have so much good in my life and am very grateful for all of it. I have an amazing husband that I just celebrated 12 years with, who is truly my best friend and I love spending time with him. We have a ton of fun together and are blessed to have a weekly date night so we get to spend a lot of time together. He has a great job, one that challenges him and encourages him to grow in a lot of ways and provides a great income for us. Plus he is a partner in another business that has an incredibly promising future and has seen some really great prospects in the last couple of weeks. I have 3 beautiful girls that are all healthy and smart. They have their moments, but overall, they are GREAT kids and I couldn't really ask for anything more from them. They make me laugh, make me smile and just when I've about had it, they love me and teach me something. I have a very supportive family, one that I love so much and am so appreciative for all they have done for me. I have a beautiful home in a great neighborhood with so many great neighbors. Neighbors that are great friends but more like family than anything else, people I can share so much with and learn so much from. I have lots of other great friends who I am still blessed to keep in touch with from past jobs, college, high school, middle school and believe it or not, even elementary school. I have a busines that I can do 100% from home (other than buying supplies), I have 4 employees who also get to work from their homes plus a one-of-a-kind assistant who works in my office, helps around my house and watches my girls when I go out. I am spoiled in so many ways and especially with my opportunities to travel to such amazing places. I am truly living a life I DREAMED about and never really imagined would be mine. Thank you all for being a part of it, for loving me and standing behind me, even when I'm not the perfect neighbor, friend, sister, daughter, mom or wife. I have so much left to learn and do but I am truly grateful and feel so blessed to have you all in my life and be living the life that I am. So anyway, here is a trip down memory lane. If you want to share a memory from the past, I'd love to hear it!


Second, I'm a sentimentalist. I've been on a little memory lane "cruise" recently. It was probably really started when I joined facebook. A friend from BYU ColorGuard invited me to join a facebook group of guard alumni. She was someone I hadn't heard from in years who stumbled onto my blog from another friend from guard. So, I joined facebook and the memories started to flood. BYU Marching Band has been one of the greatest blessings of my college life - actually my entire life. Why would 4 years of hours of practice and football games be the greatest blessing of my life ... my hubby of course. If you didn't know, I met Steve in marching band. He was a drummer (I'm sure that's no surprise if you've read any of my blog recently) and I twirled flags of course. But in addition to meeting Steve, I met some amazing friends and learned so much about myself. Thanks Beverly for starting the facebook group and to all the group members who have been posting memories! Thanks to all my friends from guard for helping me through some tough times that first year, for having so much fun with me while we worked so hard, for being there while I dated Steve and even after I married him, and especially for staying a friend even when things were tough and I left guard (Heather!!). This picture was taken during the '96 season. My very best colorguard friend isn't in this one though - Merf, that would be you - she and her husband were there for me more than anyone else during those first 2 years of college! And none of our drumline friends are in it either - but they are as much a part of my band memories as guard friends were - especially Robyn and Dallas who we still love to hang out with - can't wait for scrapbooking Fridays again!

After I joined facebook, I started getting in touch with a lot of other friends from my past - high school, my church group and even some elementary school friends. Its been a lot of fun to search for people and find out a little about what they are up to now. My own little reunion of sorts. I have always been a sentimental person ... so here is some more of it.

And the path continues. I stopped and thought about some of the other friends I've been connecting with recently on facebook, found a few from California, including a guy I was close friends with starting in 4th grade. We wrote after I moved and got to be even closer friends. He was the only one of my California friends who came to NC to visit me. Some great memories. We stayed really close into college. We've been in touch with each other off and on over the years but it was fun to find him again. He represents a fun time in my life and brings me to thoughts of other friends from 5th grade.

Ok, so you probably laugh ... 5th grade? Yes, oddly, it was one of my best years and we had a really tight group of friends and I have some amazing memories from that year. I kept in touch with several of them as we all moved around during middle and high school and even into college. One friend from that year, is one of my oldest and dearest friends. I have kept in touch with her now for almost 20 years and during that time we have NEVER lived in the same state. She and I were only 11 when she moved away, we were only in one class together (5th grade) and then were at different schools the next year. She has since lived in 3 other states, I've lived in 2 and yet we still email and keep in touch. We've managed to see each other only 6 or 7 times during that 20 years and yet its always like we never left each other. I'm not sure she reads my blog much, but if she does, I love you Joni! This is a picture of her the last day I saw her before she moved in Nov of 1988. Forgive the '80's look and the lovely quality of the picture - its 20 years old!!

My last year in California (I left California in 1989), I got to be really close to two other friends that I have continually kept in touch with, one from school and one from church. They were two of the ones who benefited/suffered the most from my "verbose" letter writing during my years in NC. One was also a great letter writer and I had boxes of her responses by the time I graduated. Thanks Jamin for always writing me! You were about the only one that could keep up on the writing! Thanks Jeanette for being there for me that last summer and for being here in Utah when I got to college! I'm glad we've kept in touch.

To add to the memories flooding back because of facebook, a friend of mine sent one of those "getting to know you" questionaires on email about a month ago. As I was FINALLY answering it this week, I came to a question that asked "Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to?" Her answer was me (and her mom). It made me stop and think about how long we've been friends. She was one of my very first friends in NC and one of my best. When I did the math, I realized she and I have been friends for 19 years and that makes me feel OLD! I can't believe I'm old enough to have had friends for that long. Thanks Janis for continuing to keep in touch (even though you aren't much of a writer) and sharing that email with me! You are forever a part of me! Don't hate me for the picture! Its from 8th grade!

I had lots of great friends in NC and thanks to facebook I've been getting back in touch with some great friends from high school and some classmates I wasn't as close to. I wasn't exactly miss popular at my high school - I would actually describe myself as a bitter, California "smart girl" with a sarcastic attitude and chip on her shoulder. I'm not sure how my friends put up with me so there is no doubt why most kids didn't pay much attention to me and I didn't date guys from my school much. I also had some great friends from my church youth group - some that I don't know how I would have survived without. A couple of them are friends I usually visit when I'm back in NC - we go on double/triple dates with our spouses. Thanks Jeremy & Lynell! Some others I'm just getting back in touch with.

And then there's this friend from my church group, one that I CAN'T skip. She and I have known each other for about 18 years and she showed up on my doorstep a couple months ago with her kids. She lives about 20 min from me, but we hadn't seen each other for a couple of years. She just showed up - didn't call or anything. And I was so glad that we were the kind of friends that she felt comfortable enough to do that. She was in my area and decided to stop for an impromptu visit. We hung out for an hour or so and it was like we hadn't really spent any time apart. Thanks Ciria for just showing up that day, reminding me how important "old" friends are and for being a true friend even through our rough patches. You have given me so much and forgiven me for some stupid mistakes! Ready to forgive me again? You'll probably hate the picture. Its from our 3rd year of church girls' camp - 2nd year as friends and it was taken on your birthday (which she shares with my daughter now)- which happened while we were at camp. We were probably a bit slap happy from lack of sleep and being out in horrible hot, humid weather. Thanks for all the "joy" you brought to my life!

Then I jump to more recent friends. Some very unlikely and unexpected ones ... a high school friend of Steve's married a girl from color guard (one that I didn't really hang out with much) but now have a blast with ... a fellow Novell employee from the next department who I met purely by coincidence (even though our husband's were friends and had been trying to get us to meet) and now she has truly become one of my BEST friends ... the out-going sales guy at Staples who was daring enough to ask Steve and his boss about job openings which led to him getting a job there and he and his wife being a major part of our lives, great friends and now neighbors ... a quiet friend from down the street who offered to swap kids with me when we both worked part time, who was an answer to my prayers then and so many times since then ... and to so many more of you - great neighbors, co-workers, friends from all aspects of my life!! Ok, so I'm a sappy sentimentalist who loves to write (and talk) but most of you probably already knew that.

Thanks for my little trip down memory lane! I think I just might do a few more blogs "from my past" with lots of old photos and fun times. I'll have to scan more photos from my old albums though!

I warned you ... I'm very verbose! Share your memories if you dare!

My drummer boy!!

Wow, I love him! And wow, he loves to drum! Steve's band had a gig tonight - they played for an employee party for Payson Wal-Mart. It was at the city park in Payson (which happens to be his hometown). We packed up the drums and the girls in the van and headed down this afternoon.

It was fun, but the girls got bored on the swings and slides and since I am still recovering from a cold (Steve and I both are actually) I just didn't have the energy to run all over the park with them. Jessica and Alyssa got into an argument and Jessica pulled her "stop breathing while she cries so hard and black out for a second" trick on me. She's done it once before but she was in my arms before. This time, she was standing on the blacktop so she fell over backwards and whacked her head. It was not fun for a bit. Fortunately, we had small ice packs in the little cooler with go-gurts and chocolate drinks for Taylor. She sat on my lap for quite awhile after I got her calmed down but ended up running some more later. They did find a fun bridge and we got some fun pictures!
This is taken right after she landed a perfect score crossing the monkey bars - including skipping a bar once! Who would have guessed that Taylor would have been my dancer and least shy of the bunch!? Not me, that's for sure. She wanted to boogie up on stage! She was the only of my girls who actually dared it. She did some dancing and then some running around. This is as she was building up her nerves and moving up the stairs to the stage. She's stand with one foot on each step and dance and shake her little bum for a bit, and then she'd move up a step. It was really cute. Then she made it to the stage for a bit but was moving around so wildly none of my pictures turned out. : )

First Day of School

Well, we're back to the grind! Alyssa started 3rd grade today. Taylor starts kindergarten next Monday. And Jessica starts preschool on Sept 9th. We went to the school on Friday evening to meet their teachers. Taylor played very shy and wouldn't even tell her teacher her name. Alyssa was ready to start class right then!

So, our schedule ... you've got to love this. Alyssa has school from 8am - 2:15. Taylor has school from 9:10 to 12:05. Jessica has school 2 days a week from 10-12:00. Am I going to be a taxi driver or what? I really wish we had a bus! But we're just too close ... darn it. I guess the good news is, I do have carpools with all 3 of them. I can't decide if I should set it up so I drive all 3 carpools one week or if I should spread it out and drive one kid each week. We'll see how it goes.

Alyssa looked really cute today for her first day. These pics are taken in the garage just before we left. Mady is one of her best friends and part of our carpool.

When I picked Alyssa up and asked how school was she said it was "cool." When I asked her favorite thing of the day, she said "that it went by so fast." : ) Hmmmmm... not sure if that is good or not. She's growing up so fast, but its fun. She also told me she had stinky under arms ... she had PE. I didn't detect the smell, but she swore it was there - the power of suggestion. I'm sure someone mentioned it so she thought she has it too. Not ready for her to grow up THAT much!

After school today we all painted suncatchers together. I am so blessed to have such a great life with 3 beautiful, fun daughters! Oh and a business so that my awesome assistant could be here doing work while I played! Thanks Karianna!

Alyssa's Swim Meet

On July 30th, Alyssa competed in her last swim meet. It was a county meet against about 15 other girls her age. They split the kids based on their top times. Alyssa was in the bronze meet.
I ended up helping time the swimmers so I didn't get to take pictures. Steve took some videos, but I don't know how to pull them off the camera yet. Still a new camera. Anyway, Alyssa swam 3 events - backstroke, freestyle and butterfly. She improved her time in freestyle by almost 8 seconds compared to the previous meet - 2 weeks before! But the big news was she improved her buttefly time by 17 seconds - yes SEVENTEEN seconds! It was HUGE improvement for 2 weeks. She placed first in her heat and 2nd in the age group at the meet! There were about 16 girls. She started the season not able to qualify in butterfly and ended with 40.19. For backstroke she started at 39.89 and ended a little better at 37.9, I believe - her final time was 38.50 but that wasn't her best. In freestyle she started the season at 50.46 and ended at 39.65. We are really proud of her improvement. She is already asking to do it again next summer!

These pictures were taken last night at the awards party for the end of the season. The group shot is of the Lehi 7 & 8 year olds. The third is Alyssa and her coach Cameron. The last one is her and Caitlyn - a neighbor that we carpooled with and the two girls really got to be good friends.

Cougar Clinic

I added pictures down below to the Women's Football Clinic that Lisa and I went to.

My tired kid!

I love this pose! This is how I found Jessica shortly after we got home from picking Alyssa up at dance. They've been having lots of late nights and it finally caught up with Jessica.

Wahoo! Potty training!

Jessica has finally decided that she is ready to be a big girl!! We are so proud of her. We've tried several times and she has just basically told me no, not interested. This time, she's got it. She's so excited when she makes it to the bathroom! I am a happy mom! Now if I could get them to be dry during the night. That would be really exciting!

Facebook

Sorry to have been so absent from my blog the last week. Its been quite busy around here with a day at Girls' Camp, then a family outing to Lagoon, and this week is my busy report week for my business. Plus ... a friend invited me to join a BYU colorguard alumni group on facebook, so I've been spending time there, visiting with friends I haven't seen or talked to in several years, some in MANY years. I've found friends from my childhood - elementary and middle school years, high school friends and college friends. Its good to be in touch again! If you are on facebook, find me and request to be friends. : ) I'll try to update my blog some more this weekend ... with pics from the rest of my trip and the Football Clinic.

Remember, don't lurk, at least comment and say hi!