Is it Really 2010?

My goodness, when I think about the past decade, I feel so blessed. I was 15 a decade ago! What magic a decade can bring! Life is so wonderful, isn't it? I just thought I would review, for my own documentation, the highlights of the last decade.

The Good: I got my drivers' license, learned to play the guitar, flute, oboe, and piccolo, got involved in Clayton Productions (the most AMAZING singing/performing group ever), made the volleyball team, learned how to rock climb, snowshoe, ran a 1/2 marathon, met and dated Wes, finally began my dream of dog sport while learning agility with my dog, started and ran various businesses, finally settled on Mona Vie and lia sophia, won an award for sewing a beautiful dress, learned how to cook, learned how to grow many beautiful and yummy things in my garden, taught a bird how to talk and do tricks, went on many mini weekends with friends, family and of course my hubby, moved 7 times, learned to surf, got to watch some amazing beach volleyball in person, started writing my first song, got two new brothers and two new sisters, a new brother-in-law, and a new sister-in-law, took the boys on their first airplane ride, got better at writing, read hundreds of books, got to be in a really fun play, learned a ton about photography, learned a little ASL, got to ice skate competitively, got ironically much better at dance once I quite figure skating, got involved in a daily yoga practice - all these things have really enriched my life

The Bad: both my Grandma and Granny passed away, as well as two of Wes' grandparents, lost a nephew to an extremely preventable, tragic situation that sadly heightened my awareness to the sad reality of child abuse, learned a hard lesson about car buying when we got stuck with a lemon for two years in which we lost thousands of dollars when we finally sold it, had the worst job of my life - really a nightmare, went on a bad honeymoon (really, I promise on this one. I am not hard to please, but our original plans fell through and we had to throw something together very last-minute. We ended up at a cabin with no running water and very little power that we had to conserve for what little cooking we could do. I had to shower in the boys' bathroom by the pool all the way at the bottom of the mountain, we rode motorcycles that broke down quite a ways from where we left, we were in a near-death rock climbing experience which involved a rescue from another neighborly group of rock climbers, we finally left a day early to have somewhere to shower and sleep before we started our trek to Nevada.), my mom and I got into an argument with an unconcerned, unprofessional Lehi cop that has resulted in a strong dislike for most cops for both of us as well as hating to live anywhere near Lehi - watch out for this guy, he is a creep! we've acquired a Valentine's jinx in which every single Valentine's Day from the time we were married up until now, has been ruined by some catastrophe...hopefully this one will change with the start of a new decade!

The Ugly: gained 46 pounds with each pregnancy that I am still struggling to get a handle on while beginning my third pregnancy, after five years of telling every do tor that would see me that something wasn't right, I had a large, benign ovarian tumor removed in emergency surgery which stemmed a plethora of health problems ranging from severe acid reflux to asthma to anxiety, got a third job doing medicine deliveries while living in Nevada which quickly proceeded to be the biggest, most expensive nightmare job ever, student loans and medical debt....need I say more?

The Beautiful: married my sweetheart and best friend in the Salt Lake temple (I still pinch myself every morning when I wake up next to him), had two sweet, beautiful, healthy boys, found some new passions in life including gardening, the great outdoors, health and nutrition, handwork and making things, to name a few, got to be a youth counselor in the Special Needs Mutual for a few years, having the joy of carrying our third child, due this summer, climbed Mount Timpanogas during which I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my life, got our two sweet, darling dogs, have learned and grown at a much faster rate since becoming a wife and mommy and seen so many little blessings and miracles come our way, met many amazing, inspiring people that have touched my life in so many ways, started and continued a gratitude journal for nearly a decade now, got my patriarchal blessing, set and reached many goals and dreams

Wow, when I look back, I know so much more has happened. It seems like such a long time and such a blur at the same time. I feel so happy at all the good (and bad) things I have experienced and accomplished. I have learned so much and been so enriched! Now as I am in the process of writing my New Year's resolutions, here's to another year, and decade, of many miracles, blessings, joy, and success!