February 3rd was my 30th birthday!
And my friend, Shay (who has the most amazing blog ever), wrote a little challenge about sharing our life story or something. So................
The Last 30 Years.......
I was born at 4:35am. Almost born in the truck. I've never been a patient person :)
I had 1 brother at home (Brandon). 4 more siblings to follow (Heidi, Ryan, Ashley, Kyle).
We grew up in a little house in Hooper. My mom "stayed home" although I remember her watching kids, working as the recess lady at our elementary school, working at the store by our house and many other odd jobs.
My parents are the best parents in the world. I'm convinced that all the problems in the world would go away if everyone had parents like mine. We weren't the richest family, but we didn't know that. We were always loved and taken care of, that's what mattered.
When I think of my 1st memory, I remember almost dying when I was 3. Brandon's fault. I had a flag that I had gotten earlier from somewhere. Our house was so you could run in a complete circle on the inside. Brandon was chasing me around the house and I put the flag in my mouth (that doesn't make it my fault). I tripped and the flag stabbed the back of my throat. We were being babysat and luckily when my parents got home the baby sitter told them about it because I woke up in the middle of the night really sick. I ended up in the hospital with a really bad infection. A Priesthood blessing and a few days later, I recovered. What I remember most about the whole thing is waking up in the middle of the night and wanting to go sit on my dad's lap but I couldn't cause I had IV's in me. I cried. Total daddy's girl. I also remember when I could actually eat, the first thing I ate was mashed potatoes cause they were my favorite. And I remember the nurses trying to make me take a bath and there was no freaking way I was going to.
So, started preschool. My mom made me a super cute gray jumper but made me wear a boys' dress shirt underneath and I was SO NOT HAPPY to wear a boys shirt.
I loved school. From the 1st day of preschool till, well, today really. I loved all of it.
In 1st grade I remember being sick and getting up and getting dressed trying to convince my mom I could go and sitting by the window bawling because I could see all the other kids walking to school and I had to stay home.
My 2nd grade teacher was Mr Peterson. I loved him. I used to ask him for homework because I always finished mine in school. And I remember correcting papers for him.
All I remember about 3rd grade is puking in front of the whole school, and their parents. I had a speaking part for the school Christmas program and I had told my mom before hand that I was sick but she just thought I was nervous. We lined up to go on stage and my mom said if I felt sick then I should go sit down. So I started to go sit down and she told me "Not right now!" and I barfed. We were lined up on a ramp that was going down to the stage, so it ran down the ramp. Good memories.
I was always busy in elementary. I took dance and tumbling. Jake doesn't believe me when I tell him I used to be able to do like 10 back handspring's in a row. But I could. I also played basketball and softball and like a year of soccer. I also took piano lessons.
In 6th grade my parents made me choose just one activity. I chose softball and that's when I started playing competitive.
So from the time I was 12 till I graduated high school I pretty much played softball 9 months of the year. Pretty much every day we had either practice, a league game or a tournament. Now that I have kids starting to get into activities I realize, my parents are awesome for sitting through hundreds of games. A typical tournament we would play at minimum 4 games a day. I think the most we played in one day was 7. And I don't remember a tournament that both my parents weren't there. I loved playing.
Jr. High I hung out with my BFF, Dixi. We always had so much fun. When we were in 7th grade and my big brother was in 9th grade she totally tackled him in the hall at school, in front of all his friends, while he was wearing his football jersey. And she also pushed him into our back door hard enough it shattered the glass out of the window.
I wasn't a rebellious kid so my teen years aren't very entertaining. In jr. high I was the honors president, on the accelerated readers committee, on the softball team and on the yearbook committee. I think there was one semester that I didn't make the honor roll.
In high school I was on the softball team. Dated lots of different boys, none of which lasted more than a couple dates. (I get bored easy).
Went to lots of football and basketball games.
Hung out with friends a lot.
I was a sophomore at Weber State before I graduated from Fremont.
Got an academic scholarship to Weber State University.
My senior year of high school I got my 1st job as a janitor at Farr West Elementary working with my best friend, Jenny. We had a blast.
I also umpired baseball and softball games for Farr West Recreation. That was the funnest job I have ever had.
Got a job at Dan's in Layton in November 2001 in the bakery.
Met my now husband, who actually made it past the first couple of dates.
Got married when I was 19! Which, I never thought would happen. In fact I think my friends in high school voted me as the one that would be the last one married.
Still worked at Dan's.
Got my Associate of Science degree in 2002.
Still worked at Dan's but I had moved out of the bakery and was the General Merchandise Assistant.
My boss, Alisha, was awesome. We had more fun than we should have probably.
Had Aya in September of 2003.
Bought our 1st house in 2005 in Hooper.
Still at Dan's but became the receiving supervisor.
Had JJ in 2006.
Found out the most horrible thing in the world is seeing your tiny, newborn baby hooked up to machines helping him breath. JJ had Group B Strep and was in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit for the longest 10 days of my life.
Still at Dan's but was the Assistant Grocery Manager for like 6 weeks and then I became the General Merchandise Manager and Shay was my assistant. We had a lot of fun too. Lots of late, long nights setting the promo aisle. Then Markee became my assistant. That girl is crazy, but we had a blast.
Transferred to Dick's in Bountiful as the Assistant Center Store Leader. The day before I started I found out I was pregnant.
Became the GM manager at Dick's.
Had Britton in 2008.
Broke down and sobbed forever when they told me Britton was in the NICU. It was awful having JJ in there. And then to find out Britton had to be in there was the hardest thing I've ever had to go through. Britton had pneumonia and was in the NICU for 12 days.
I also learned the comforting power of the priesthood.
Started at Harmon's in 2009 as the OTC manager. After 2 months became the receiver.
Jake lost his job.
Had Zach in 2011. Healthy boy, finally.
Sold our house 3 months ago and moved across the street.
Just finished a CNA class 2 weeks ago.
So that sums up the last 30 years!
I haven't really had a hard time with "the big 3-0." A lot of people have told me it was a hard birthday for them because they looked at their life and felt like they hadn't accomplished anything. I look at my life and even though I might not have accomplished a lot career wise or on a world level, I have had 4 amazing kids, I have strengthened my testimony of the gospel, I have been happily married for a little more than 10 years and to me those are all great accomplishments and the ones that really matter.
So there is more than you ever wanted or needed to know about me.
- JJ turned 6 years old! He was so excited to be 6. We had cake and ice cream for him when we were at my Grandparent's house for Easter. He gets so excited whenever there is a gathering of people and when it's to celebrate him he is in heaven. He couldn't even sleep the night before!
- Aya finished 2nd grade last week. She came home all proud because her teacher told her she is smart enough to skip third grade and just go straight to 4th grade. On Aya's end of the year testing for math and reading she was way above average. So far above that her score's came back as off the charts. Literally, the charts they use for 2nd grade didn't go high enough to show her scores. I'm so glad my kids do well in school and absolutely love it.
-Britton finished his first year of preschool. He learned so much this year! He can write his own name, count to 30, recognize all the letters and colors, and he made lots of new friends. He wants to learn how to read more than anything, so maybe we'll work on that over the summer, even though he's a little young.
-Zach is all over the place. He has learned quite a few words and his new favorite activity is climbing. He climbs on everything!! He climbed in his high chair by himself yesterday. The problem is he has no fear whatsoever and will just keep going as high as he can with no regards to how safe it is. The last month he has started going to bed all by himself and has done away with the pacifier.
