My story after high school...Part 1

This is part 1 of 3. I've decided to take a hiatus from writing about the girls and share some journal posts about me. I don't really have much written down and I just figured out how to use our scanner. So, if you're not interested in reading the whole thing then enjoy some goofy pictures of me post high school.

In high school I shopped at Savers thrift store for my clothes way too much and listened to music like 311, Lenny Kravitz, STP & Tori Amos to name a few. I guess I was a bit grunge mixed with hippie. My brother liked to call me a granola, but since I always showered and shaved my armpits, I never really was one. I never drank or did drugs either, but I often felt like other people thought I did. And for some reason, I was OK with that. During my senior year I goofed off, went to lots of concerts and had very little direction.

But then I went on this awesome graduation trip to Lake Powell with some friends and I decided I really liked outdoor recreational activities.

Muriel, Lauren, Leslie, Erin, Jen, me & awesome Bro. B (Lauren's dad)

Lake Powell 1996

Don't you love my outfit??? Savers shorts baby...what was I thinking?

Me & Leslie at Powell (I had to post this pic 'cause I LOVED that Savers shirt)

Growing up my family never went on camping trips or did outdoorsy stuff at least I don't recall any (correct me if I'm wrong, mom). Luckily, I had friends who were really into it all and they invited me to go hiking up Mt. Timpanogos at night, camping, snowboarding, rock-climbing and even skydiving. I had a blast. My friend Karen and I enrolled in a class together that fall and since I was super serious about gaining an education it was the only class I took--Mountain Biking 110. It was sooo fun and sooo AWESOME! The final consisted of a 4-day bike trip on the White Rim Trail in Southern Utah, sooo beautiful!

Mountain Biking became my passion, along with hiking and spelunking and river-rafting and other fun fun fun. I wanted to be a park ranger or get a degree in recreation because college was all about having fun. Oh, and I worked full-time at the Circle K gas station where I sold alcohol and learned what boxed Reds and soft menthol Camels meant. Very educational huh...again I reiterate that I never smoked anything. Hmmm, I have to take that back because when I was 7 years old, my older sister and I found some cigarettes in our neighbors bushes. We took a few puffs in our backyard, coughed 'til we were blue and swished lots of mouthwash afterwards to cover it up. We promised to never tell mom and dad and we never did. And that is my only experience with it.

Biking Slickrock in Moab on my sweet Gary Fisher

Spelunking in Nutty Putty Cave

(which was shut down last year because a man got stuck and rescuers were unable to get him out, sadly many people have died in the caves--looking back it was quite dangerous and stupid of me to do as a beginner)

Outside the Nutty Putty Cave

I also enjoyed the muscles that were forming on my arms. I thought I was so tough.

Again some sweet man pants from Savers--and again, what was I thinking?

I had the coolest friends (still do) and most of them were attending BYU and living the REAL full-time college experience. I continued to live at home, work full-time, waste my money on music and concerts, dye my hair and dress like a granola/grunge something or other. I took a few classes here and there and played outside whenever I could. In 1997, I took out a loan and bought my first real car for 2000 bucks--an '85 Honda Accord. I learned to change the oil, tires and spark plugs on this baby and I can still do it all by myself. Although, my manly husband won't let me, he takes care of the car maintenance around here...and actually I'm glad because I really wouldn't want to.

Why was my blonde-streaked self looking for a DANGERBOY? Good thing I never found one, and of course I am wearing another sweet Savers shirt.

(My very first car was an old '82 Nissan Datsun with a big hole around the stickshift that I covered with a towel so water and snow wouldn't splash up at me. And it had a dangling ignition switch that started with a screwdriver. What a joke! My older bro sold it to me my senior year for 500 bucks. Hey Ty--what kind of brother sells his little sister a piece of junk like that?!?! It died on me about 9 months later while I was driving home from a friends house late one night. Not cool...)

My awesome friend Muriel was and still is my most adventurous friend. She has traveled extensively, worked in Madagascar for the Peace Corps and is now a bona fide litigation lawyer in San Francisco. I love her!

I also had LOTS of fun times with my amazing friend Darlene and an old boyfriend's beautiful sisters Lexi & Vanessa. I chose this picture to show that I also did some girly things once in a while. We liked to have fun little tea parties. (We also played card games like blackjack and poker until the wee hours of the morning, but that wasn't so girly.) I love these girls so much! Darlene has three darling daughters just like me and works as a labor & delivery nurse here in Texas. It is so nice to have her around the corner and be able to hangout again. She's the twins' nursery leader at church and they love her.

No Savers clothing here, although I could've taken off my sport watch. I am wearing my senior prom dress, which actually cost me almost as much as my wedding dress.

In February of 1998, I went to teach English in Mongolia for three months with my friend Erin. It was quite a culture shock to say the least, I had never lived away from home and here I was learning to speak Mongolian, taking taxis by myself, buying and eating weird food and surviving some freakin' FRIGID weather. But the experience was life-altering. Someday I'd like to write in more detail about this, but not now. I decided traveling was super fun. I attended church at a small branch in Ulaanbaatar and for the first time in my life, was exposed somewhat to life as a missionary abroad. It looked fun and at the time, my life was about having fun. I wanted to go on a mission for the LDS church. This decision also changed me in countless ways and quite literally put my life on a new path with purpose and direction.

Erin and I eating lunch with some other teachers-- Erin is a super talented artist and just received a masters degree in creative writing. And yes you guessed it, I am wearing another Savers sweater.

My 21st birthday with my extremely smart and beautiful friends. Muriel, me, Lauren (a recent Berkeley MBA grad--such a smartyhead!) and Karen (an awesome homeschooling mother of five beautiful kiddos--this girl finished her degree at BYU while pregnant with her third child and while her husband attended the MBA program..she can seriously do anything!)

In May of 1999, two months after the picture above was taken, I left to serve a mission in Salta, Argentina...tomorrow I will post part 2.

Noteworthy day

Today the entire family all got a TWO hour afternoon nap all at the same time! (The girls actually slept 2 1/2 hours.) It was an amazing, wonderful, lovely experience...and may never happen again. It was great!

Oh how I adore these three little chicas of mine.

Audrey Audrey Audrey

She is dramatic, funny and LOVES to whine. She is a pro at it and is VERY persistent. She also fiercely loves her daddy. He came home from running a few weeks ago and it was hot, so he took off his shirt. Upon seeing her poor daddy w/o a shirt she quickly ran upstairs to get him one. She came down with a yellow t-shirt she got from my dresser and said "here daddy, here!" It was a little too small, but he put it on anyway.

She is the first to wake up in the mornings. She gets up, lies down on the floor and yells "daddeeee, daddeeee, oohhh daddeee!" from under the door. After a while if that doesn't work, she'll throw a "mommmeeeeeee" into the mix because even having mom come get her is better than staying in her room. She loves to hug Lucy and bite her. Whenever she does something herself (good or bad), she says "good girl" even to daddy when he does something. She likes to walk on her tippy toes and will say "C'mon dance!" and do a one legged hop dance jiggy thing. She has perfected the words "MIIIIINE!" "I want it!" & "I don't want!" "I eat?" "I go outside?" "I watch Nemo? or Tinkerbell? or Elmo? or Jesus? or whatever?" Of course each are of equal importance.

She gives great bear hugs and last night was the first time she actually repeated after me and said the prayer before bedtime. It reminded me of my mission when I taught a 14 year old girl named Jimena to pray for the first time. It was sweet. She loves to look through books and thankfully will sit for quite sometime 'reading/singsonging' out loud to herself. Oh and lately, she loves to be naked.

Can someone please explain to my child that it's not OK to go outside at 9am dressed in nothing...

...but these boots. It's cold and rainy my dear little friend, so sorry! But hey good job on getting your boots on all by yourself & thankfully THIS time there was no poop in that diaper you took off. We sure love you Ree!

I'm tired...but not as much as yesterday.

I've noticed that when I am tired, I spend more time here on the computer. I waste time and kind of 'avoid' the girls as they play around me or sit on my lap. I do basic maintenance (feed, change diapers, etc.) and maybe throw a load in the washer even though I have about four loads upstairs still waiting to be put away. Then there are days when I have more energy--I get sooo much done around the house and go the whole day w/o even looking at the computer screen. What is it about the computer that calls to me when I am feeling like a tired hunk of blah? Hmmm, don't know...maybe Saaaatan? (haha, remember the Dana Carvey-church lady SNL skits?)

I also tend to eat very tasty and rather unhealthy food when I am tired. Lately, it seems as though baking or cooking has been my therapy. Weird or normal??? Hmmm, don't know, but asi es! I enjoy following a recipe and adding my own additions, especially when it turns out delicious. It is probably because I have control over the food and LOVE when it works out the way it is supposed to...very unlike my real life, very rarely do things work out the way they are supposed to.

Anyway, I realize my life is as it should and that brings me peace. I know this is what mothering entails and I absolutely love my girls. I feel very lucky to be a mother, but sometimes (yes sometimes) I really wish I could have had one baby at a time...ya know like spaced out every few years. I think I would enjoy each stage alot more. Or maybe not, I guess I'll never really know, but I am SOOO dreading the whole potty training experience. Basically, I just wish I could slow things down and enjoy more.

Well, it is almost naptime and Sage is on my lap chewing on the dental floss case and the girls found the trivial pursuit box in the closet and they've emptied out all of the question/answer cards. Such a joy those two. And how I adore their snotty noses. Oh and I think I smell poop...time to play 'which one is stinky?'

Have a wonderful day!

P.S. What do you think the odds are of all three girls taking a good long nap so I can nap, too?Another hmmmm.

P.P.S. Lucy is the poop winner.

P.P.P.S. Is there anything more precious than baby feet?

A day at the park

Elmo slippers

I wanted to get them these slippers for Christmas, but I couldn't find two of them in their size... found them Saturday at Target on clearance...sweeet! They hug & kiss Elmo and even feed him cheerios w/ milk.

Art

A couple of weeks ago, the twins became "big girls" and stopped using the high chairs. They love their table and chairs from Nana Gail. Dad decided to put up this drawing paper because we noticed that they were wiping their hands and coloring on the walls alot (see before shot below).

I decided we needed to pretty it up, so I let the girls paint on a fresh canvas...

The girls are also picking out their own clothes now. I did get to choose Lucy's white undershirt, but Audrey was adamant about the butterfly shirt.

Sage was watching from the front room, slowly scooting closer and closer to the action.

more action shots

resting after the hard work...

Lunchtime was spent chattering and glancing up at their masterpiece.

my life as a me monster...

So, alot of you know that my life has changed quite dramatically over the last couple of years. And although I love this new crazy life with my sweet girls, lately I've been doing some self-reflecting.

I now completely forget the names of people I have met a few times. Not only that, but I have even called people by a totally different name. (I never used to do this before and it is sooo embarrassing!) I've noticed that I tend to interrupt others more or share my own experiences. I don't mean to sound like I am trying to one-up others, but I think I may come off that way. Also, I let other insignificant things that people say or do bug me...stupid things that I never even used to notice. I whine and complain more than I used to and well, it's weird to realize just how much these children have changed me.

While in some ways being a mother of three little ones has made me a better person. I fear that I am now a worse friend. I used to be a better listener. I used to serve others more. I used to be more reserved about sharing my own trials. I used to notice the goodness in others more and hand out compliments more freely. I used to be more perceptive and observant of others feelings, but lately, I fear I have become as Brian Regan calls it somewhat of a 'me monster.'

To those of you reading this that have conversed and/or associated with me over the last couple of years. I wanted to say sorry (you know who you are) and thank you for putting up with me. Here's to hoping that the recognition of this will help me strive to be better.

I also started blogging a couple of years ago...hmmm, maybe I should just blame my self-absorbedness (is that a word?) to the inherent nature of blogging and not on the little ones. They are too darn cute to blame.

Thanks Darlene for letting me borrow this jumperoo thing. Sage absolutely loves it!

New Year's Eve

Ree found Care Bears!

Errson rockin his air guitar

Yum pizza..."that's mine"

Lucy checking to see if her halo disappeared

Who doesn't love kisses from dad?

Some BFF love