35 Wonderful Years!

I celebrated my 35th birthday yesterday. At first that seemed a little depressing to me. Sometimes I wish I could make time stand still. But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I've had 35 wonderful years. My life is not perfect....but, the more I reflected on the past and present, the more I realized that it's about as close to perfect as you can get on this short journey we have on earth. My brother-in-law Scott called me yesterday and told me he expected to log onto my blog and see me in my birthday suit :)! After I shuddered at the thought, I decided instead to use my blog to take a trip down memory lane. I've tried to pick out one event from each year in my adult life that has molded my life into what it is today.

1991-I was baptized into the LDS church on my 18th birthday. There are a couple events from my past that have truly changed the course of my life. This is probably the biggest and one of the best decisions that I've ever made.

1992-I graduated from High School and left for college at BYU.

1993-I married Mark. This is one of those decisions I talked about above. It IS the best decision I've ever made, and the reason I write about my life being so perfect.

1994-There is not one life altering event that occurred this year. However, it was one of the best years of our married life. We were poor, newlywed, college students that didn't have a care in the world. Our biggest responsibility was making it to class on time. Oh, what would it be like!?!

1995-We had Sawyer Dain...Hurray!

1996-Another one of those years where there wasn't any one big event. We were just happy spending time with our new baby boy.

1997-Mark graduated from BYU!

1998-I graduated from BYU AND we moved to Idaho Falls. After our first winter in Idaho, I swore I would not stay here. But after 10 years here, there is no where else I'd rather call home.

1999-We had Bailey Rae...Hurray!

2000-We bought our first home. We truly never thought we'd get to experience life living in anything but run down, old apartments. I really can't complain about our apartment days. They were some of our happiest times. That's where we learned the valuable lesson that money truly can't buy you happiness. We were as poor as can be and also as happy as can be.

2001-Grammy and Papa decided to move to Idaho Falls. All our married life we had never lived by family. We were so excited to have someone close by to share our lives with.

2002-My step dad, Jack, passed way. I never got along well with him. Once he died, I really regretted not making more of an effort. He was a good man, we were just very different. It made me realize that life is too short to sweat the small stuff. I've made more of an effort to get along with everyone, no matter how different they may be.

I also had my 10 year High School reunion this year. It was so great to see all of our old classmates again. It also made me realize how grateful I was for my own life. If you really want to see how your everyday choices can effect your life, for the good or bad, just go back to your 10 year reunion.

2003-Sawyer was baptized! The very first thing I listed had now extended into a new generation. This was a day I felt very grateful in my life for a choice I had made years earlier.

2004-We built a new home. This was an exciting time for us. We were close enough to keep all of our old friends, but we made some life long new friends in our new neighborhood as well.

2005-Mark went to Texas for 6 weeks to help with the hurricane relief effort. This time without Mark reaffirmed what I already knew....life without him, would be a very bleak thing for our family. It's always good to have these kind of reminders, so you don't take people for granted.

2006-We took the Ultimate family vacation. We had a 3 week adventure where we made wonderful memories with our kids.

2007-Bailey was baptized. This was a very emotional day for me. I was so proud of her, but it was also a slap in the face about how fast my baby girl was growing up. There's no way she could possibly be 8 years old!!!

2008-We'll just wait and see :)!