Memory Lane

This is it! My first time being tagged (thanks Laura). And here goes...

20 years ago I was in the 7th grade at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, Washington. I was in the Honors program and loved most of my classes, except I hated the computer lab (we were learning DOS, I believe). I "went out with" Trevor Selby (which means we talked on the phone outside of school sometimes) for about a month. I had a perm and wore baggy Zebra Club sweatshirts over tight leggings. For some Health class project, a collage on our past, present & future, I put that I would be either a music producer or a novelist. I was really into music, making my own mixed tapes almost weekly, and I kept a journal as well as a binder of creative stories.

10 years ago I had my own apartment in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, near Lake Washington and the Woodlawn Park Zoo. I commuted to work at the Renton Boeing plant, where I was a Spares Inventory Planner. And I'd recently joined the Church. Well, you can check out this post to see other fun activities from that year. By the end of summer I had turned in my application to BYU in Provo, Utah which I began attending Winter Term (January '99).

5 years ago Isaac was 6 months old. I watched the Today Show every morning. Mark had started taking the occasional business trip to Brazil. I was in the Primary Presidency of the Fruitland First Ward (back when there were just two, there are three now) and was trying to learn the whole Primary Song Book. I was in a book club, and read all the time.

3 years ago we lived in Curitiba, Brazil! I was finally getting the hang of Portuguese, and was serving in the Primary Presidency of Ala Felicidade. At this point Sam was 9 months old, and literally climbing up the furniture. For Easter (Pascoa), I got together with a couple friends in an attempt to make the traditional Brazilian chocolate egg (ovo de Pascoa). They don't do an Easter basket with an assortment of candy and never a chocolate bunny. Just the ovos. Usually just one BIG one. In May, Mark's sister Melanie came down to visit us. We went to Iguacu Falls and then flew over to Chile for a grand adventure touring the southern half of that country. The accommodations were awful (for children) half of the time, but it was an amazing trip (hiking by an active volcano, searching for penguins, etc.).

Last year Mark was fine-tuning his new business plan to build a pellet factory. I think he may have even rented the building in Payette by March. Charlie was a month old and was sharing our tiny bedroom with us in our 800 square foot rental. We were in the Fruitland Second Ward, where I was teaching the Gospel Principles class. Our back yard (ha!) shared the fence with our pals, the Petts. Isaac was completing his first year of preschool at ABC Learning Center. Sam was in the most terrible of twos. Mid-year we bought our home (which bumped us back into the First Ward with all our old friends). We also took a class on the Constitution last summer, which has added a lot to our perspective of our country and to what we do in our free time.

So far this year Posterity Pellets has almost broke even. Mark is now the Payette County rep for the Constitution Party. Grandma & pa Golden visited in their new trailer - during a blizzard! Charlie started walking, is almost weened, and is a great sleeper. Sam is a Sunbeam, is such a joyful little guy to be around, and rarely tries to get into bed with us before 7am. He can count to 20, and loves all numbers right now. Isaac is reading at the 3rd grade level (per his preschool teacher). He is great at setting the table and helping Dad to sort the recycling. He starts spring soccer next week. I have reactivated myself in Book Club, and I'm still in the Young Women's Presidency, over the Beehives (12-13 yr-olds).

Yesterday we mailed cousin Abby her homemade birthday cards, after dropping Isaac off at preschool. After lunch, I ignored the dishes and the dirty bathrooms one more time so I could play Hi-Ho-Cherry-O with Sam and read another of the Railway Series books with Isaac during Charlie's afternoon nap. Somewhere in there I called a bunch of catalogs to get off their mailing list and researched "Martha Severance" for a role I'm playing in a little church play next week. In the evening, I went to a truly great Family, Home, and Personal Enrichment activity. Afterwards I went grocery shopping, getting home about 9:30. Then I finally emptied the dishwasher, and refilled it. And attempted to talk with Mark, but he was absorbed on the internet. (Like me tonight.)

Today I managed to get the kids loaded into the car a full 15 minutes before we needed to be at the Payette Library for Story Time!! Not only were we not late (for the first time since last summer) but I even had time to run into Albertsons to exchange the hamburger buns I'd purchased for the hot dog buns I'd intended to buy. While the big boys did the post-story activity, I found an educational DVD on volcanoes to check-out, satisfying a major desire of Isaac this week. Then it was drop Isaac at preschool, home to get Charlie down (late) for his morning nap, call to schedule Visiting Teaching, check my email and a couple blogs, arrange a babysitter for Saturday night, make a picnic lunch, get Charlie up, get socks and shoes back on Sam, pick up Isaac from school and head to the city park for lunch with a bunch of friends. The sun was shining and so despite a chilly wind we stayed almost two hours! We came home and watched Volcano, layed Charlie down for his nap, and then I cleaned the boys' bathroom and the baseboards in that end of the house. After a dinner of leftovers, I went to Mutual and played Cranium with the Beehives.

Tomorrow Isaac's preschool does gymnastics and visits the Fruitland Library. I will dust and vacuum, and change all the sheets. We will visit our neighbor, Erin, and her kids after they get home from work/school. I will make a nice dinner (at least not leftovers or from a box). Lost will be on, which means by about this time tomorrow (11 pm) I will be able to start downloading it. (ABC is actually one of the three stations we can tune in with the rabbit-ears, but I've gotten used to watching TV in high def on the computer monitor with no commercials, as opposed to static-y and 20 minutes of commercials).

This year Mark will run the pellet plant through the summer, but he should be able to take a week or two off when he wants. We're looking forward to planting a much better veggie garden this season. My dad will visit and help with a little landscaping. We will fix the rotting wood on the front porch, and maybe repaint the whole exterior. We'll be go to McCall in July with all the extended Dame clan, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the Castletons again when they visit the same month! Sam will turn 4 and start preschool in the fall. Isaac is so excited to start Kindergarten and be at the Elementary School! We will take at least one trip to Seattle and maybe make it to the Oregon coast this summer (with my mom & Chris?). We've toyed with the idea of going to: Yellowstone, L.A., the Grand Canyon, Mesa, or Washington, D.C. I will finally get around to selling on eBay all the items from the big-box-of-supposedly-valuable-things we have shoved in the closet. I will finish my scrapbook of our time in Brazil. We will definitely remain politically active and vote in November!

I tag Tysha, Heather, and Red (Alison). But it's no skin off my nose if they don't bother. This seriously took way too much time. (Of course, that's because I love adding fun links... Did you see the Freemont Troll or get a nickname from Sawyer?)