27 Memories Part 1

Since my 27th Birthday is tomorrow, I thought I would come up with a list of 27 memories, one from each year I've been alive. Obviously I don't remember the very early years, but I do know stories, so that will have to work. :) Feel free to skip if you don't want to read. :)


1. Apparently I knew my grandparents were my grandparents before I met them. :) The first time I saw them was at the airport when they got home from their mission to the Philippines. I ran up to my Nana and greeted her with a big hug like I knew her. Without prompting from my mom.

2. My first memory is apparently from when I was about 18 months old. I thought I was older, but my mom said I wasn't. I remember my grandparents goofing around and Nana sat on Grandpa's lap and the gold chair they were in fell backwards and I remember them falling over and laughing. I remember laughing too.

3. This was the year my little sister, Caitlin was born. I was two when Steven was born and I don't remember it. But I do vaguely remember sitting in the hospital holding Caitlin.

4. Apparently I don't remember anything from when I was four. I keep coming up blank. If I remember anything, I'll update this post.

5. In 1989 I started Kindergarten. And I loved it. I have lots of memories from then. My teacher was Mrs. Rutledge and she was obsessed with Holstein cows. They were everywhere in the classroom. I also got Scarlet Fever this year at Christmas. I don't remember much of Christmas, I basically slept the entire time, but I do remember a little bit of Disneyland (we went that Christmas) and I remember Steven praying that the rain would stop and it did as soon as we opened the car doors. And once we were done for the day, and closed the car doors to leave, it started raining again. It was so cool.

6. I can't remember how old I was, but I think it was around when I was six. There was a really, really bad storm in Dallas and the missionaries came over and we watched the basketball game and then the basketball game got smaller and smaller on the screen as the storm warning watch Doppler map kept getting bigger and bigger. We had to get all our stuff by the back door, just in case we had to get in our cellar. There were 6 tornadoes in our city at the same time. It was really scary, but I knew we would be okay because there were a bunch of missionaries at our house. And it turns out we were okay, and didn't even need to go in the cellar. I also got Chicken Pox a couple of days before Christmas. I was the "Chicken Pox Santa Claus" that year and passed out presents. My brother and sister teased me about all time growing up.

7. My sister, Erin, was born. I definitely remember this. It was quite traumatic to our family since my mom and Erin both almost died. Fortunately, both ended up being okay. I remember when Erin came home from the hospital, she had to sleep in a little tiny bed that had lights shining on her all the time (an incubator) and that it was so cool that we could have it at home for her. I also remember sitting on the chair in the family room watching cartoons while holding her. She was sooo tiny. And cute. :) And I remember being mad that she was too little to play with us. I wanted her to grow up so we could play.

8. I remember my baptism vaguely. I remember that my primary teacher at the time didn't come and I was so sad. I also remember having my interview with the Bishop and that I sat on the floor in the hallway outside his office while I waited for my dad while he had his interview with the Bishop.

9.  This was the year we moved back to California and started 4th Grade. While quite traumatic for me, I still have a few good memories of school. My favorite part was when we took on the names and personas of the people in the Donner Party and stayed the night at Sutter's Fort in Sacramento. It was so much fun! We spent the whole day there pretending to be pioneers and stayed the night to "protect the fort." I was Mary Ann Graves, one of the few survivors of the trek and, no, she didn't eat anybody. Thankfully. :)

10. I remember on my 10th birthday thinking that I was a decade old and how mature I must be because I was so old. Yeah, I don't think that anymore. :)

11. I believe this was the year of the really bad floods. Our creek, normally maybe 10 feet wide at the widest spot, became a river--seriously--the creek approached the tree line away from the creek. It was amazing. Almost magical. Ok, it wasn't really--the flooding had destroyed the bridges we had worked really hard to build. After the storms stopped, Grandpa took us down to see the damage. I remember being in awed at the power of nature. The creek had changed directions, created a beach at our favorite swimming spot, and moved boulders that weighed tons. And we saw a creepy opossum. It was such a cool walk with Grandpa.

12. My first Sunday in Young Women's I was really nervous. I'd never been in a church class that had so many older girls in it. I was in awe. I remember Sally Cook and my BFF, Monica's (we weren't BFFs yet) sister, Kiona telling me that I would have to give a 10 minute talk that day, on the spot. I was petrified. I probably looked like I was going to cry because they burst out laughing and then told me that "Gullible is written on the ceiling!" I didn't know what that word was so I looked up totally confused. Then they laughed more. Fortunately it wasn't mean spirited, but I had been bullied a lot as a kid and so for awhile it was a bit traumtizing. Both girls ended up being good friends of mine. :)

13. My mom gave me my first scrapbooking kit with pretty paper and scissors as something to do. Little did she know what she was starting me on... mwhahahahaha ha ha ha... She created a monster....

Since this is getting a little long, I'll wrap it up tomorrow...