30 "Times-of-my-life" ---Long post!

I just turned 30 and for my own sake wanted to recount my best 30 times of life so far. It's long. I wrote these kind of randomly, but it appears that either my memory isn't that good or that the last few years were just pretty awesome because most of them fall into the last few years. Also, it's pretty likely that I'll think of even better memories once these are actually published and regret not mentioning them, so forgive me if I forgot about the time we were on an incredible road trip together or saw the craziest thing ever.

1 & 2. The day I gave birth to Cade and the day I gave birth to Bailey, both totally different circumstances but I can't imagine any experience more rewarding and beautiful than having a baby.

3. When Tyler and I were dating in 2004 I think I fell in love with him the day he took me to the cemetery. We just skipped out of Sunday school and walked around there a bit and I don't know if I fell in love that day or just realized that day that I really liked him.

4. The day Tyler and I got married in 2005. We had our reception the night before and I loved the way it turned out with the Japanese lanterns and the lilacs and landscaping Tyler had done in his parents backyard.

5. Lake Powell day--I've only actually been there this one time but it was a perfect day, or mostly. I was at my archaeology dig in Escalante in 2001 and my sister, her boyfriend, and my oldest brother came to visit me. We drove down the Burr Trail to the lake and stopped at the first sign of water. Spent the whole rest of the day jumping off a rock into the water, over and over and over. Then when we were sunburnt, starving, and exhausted, we went looking for a campsite, but it was June and they were all full. Ended up throwing up our tents in one of the Deer Creek day use sites and attempting to eat the burritos April and Bill made, but they'd gotten soggy in the cooler. Still, a great time.

6. Petra, Jordan--We visited these Nabatean ruins when I was doing my semester in Israel in 2000. It was just plain awesome. Much more there than just the first building seen in Indiana Jones.

7. The day I really got up and waterskiied around a lake for the first time. It was at a Speer family reunion in Oregon in 1990. All summer I'd been working on waterskiing but not been able to stay up for very long at all. Then suddenly I could do it.

8. Climbing Ichizuchisan 2002--This was when I lived in Japan I scheduled a day to climb the tallest mountain on my island, (the 2nd tallest in Japan. Not huge or anything, but I loved doing it. Apparently its something a lot of Buddhist pilgrims do. The day I went was really rainy and I had anticipated a beautiful view from the top, instead the peak was enshrouded in fog, but I loved how much more mystical that made it seem. Coolest part was the last 1/3rd of the way required hanging onto some huge chains against the side of the mountain.

9 & 10. The day my sister had each of her boys. April has always been my best friend and maybe because she became a mom before me I've always felt very protective of them both and love them to pieces. That and they are my nephews too of course!

11. The day I got my bachelor degree from BYU in 2002. I totally bawled through the ceremony. I'm into rituals. They may not be necessary, but I love creating rituals around events and so graduation was a big deal to me. Traditions and ceremonies make things more meaningful to me I guess. Graduation just felt like a big accomplishment at the time.

12. The Modest Mouse concert I went to with Tyler in 2005. I love live music and have been to a lot of shows, but this one beat them all I think. We saw them again in 2007 and will see them again next week, but I have a feeling the 2005 one will remain the best.

13. Hiking Horseshoe canyon with Tyler in 2008. We normally make our first camping / hiking trip at the end of March, but this time we ventured out in late February, just Tyler and I. It was wonderful for us to break away and be alone for a weekend and for me to share a great hike with him.

14. Escalante trip 2007--I loved the hikes we did on that trip but have to isolate this to the day we actually arrived in Escalante. It had been 6 years since I'd been there for my dig and when we arrived I just felt as if I belonged there. We stopped and ran along the slick-rock for a bit to stretch our legs before checking into the campsite and setting up. Some of Tyler's family met us later on that night and the next night and we did some really cool slot canyon hikes, but I think the best part was just arriving there.

15. trip to the San Rafael Swell with Tyler in 2006. He'd been there once before with me, when we were dating, but hadn't liked it that well and it made me sad because I'm so in love with the Utah desert. Then when we went again the next April he had a great time and from then on has loved it as well.

16. When I got my MBA my parents gifted me with a weekend trip to Portland with Tyler. He had just been reading "Undaunted Courage" about the explorers Lewis & Clark. We took one of the days in the Portland area to drive along the coast up to Fort Clatsop. It was early January and though we didn't expect it to be warm, snow is not common in Portland. It was a breathtaking view the whole drive and cool to see the juxtaposition of snow on the beach with pine trees just behind the sand.

17. Liberty Jail day--When I got my BA in 2002 my mom took me on a congratulatory trip where we visited a number of LDS church history sites. I loved them all, but was most affected by our visit to the old Liberty Jail where the prophet Joseph Smith was held for a number of months along with some of his followers. Regardless of religious beliefs, it's a profound experience to learn of one man's persecution and horrible mistreatment by the law and yet hear of his continued faith and fortitude during that time. It was both heartbreaking and inspiring.

18. In high school I saw a play done by the University of Montana of the book "Grapes of Wrath." I read that book and didn't care for it much, not like I loved Steinbeck's "East of Eden." However, the play really touched me. In this case, the play was better than the book I thought and seeing the dire circumstances made it more real to me. The orchestra pit had been filled with water for a river that at one point someone was thrown into. And at the end of the play when the family is being poured on and they hide in a railway car as everything is being flooded around them, the theater had water dripping from the rafters. For some reason, this just really struck me about what an important story the story of the Depression is.

19. War and Peace--I remember the 2nd day on site for my dig in Escalante it snowed. It was early May and Escalante is high in elevation. The day before we had all gotten sunburns setting up camp and suddenly it was snowing. We went back to our tents and in the next 3 days I think I read the first 500 or so pages of War and Peace. I finished the book just about 8 weeks later when field school was over. It's one of my all-time favorite books.

20. When I saw Arlo Guthrie in concert at the Gallivan center in Salt Lake in 2004. It was a free outdoor concert and totally packed, but his performance was awesome. When he was singing "This land is your land" I felt so connected to the whole world.

21. My Kolob arch hike--I wish there was more opportunity for me to go on long hikes at my own pace, but there's just not. So this was a great great time for me. The hike totals 14 miles and I did it in about 5.5 hours and enjoyed every minute of it. It was early November 2007 and perfect hiking weather, I only saw 2 other people on the trail that day, the fall colors were out, the red sandstone was magnificent, and the creek was especially cool where it had carved out the rock.

22. the drive-in movies in Fairview Utah, 2008. This was at Tyler's family's reunion in Fairview when I was over 8 months pregnant with Bailey. We went to the drive in and watched a pretty stupid movie, but I had a great time just because it felt so incredibly good outside that night.

23. SLC Bee's baseball game in 2003. It was the 24th of July and my friend had scored some tickets to the game that night. I'm not into baseball, but it just perfectly cooler that day in mid-summer, and right at the end of the game when the fireworks were going off in the field it started raining. Very cool.

24. Las Vegas bowl game for BYU in 2006--this was the 2nd out of 3 trips to Vegas for the bowl game in December, but this one was the funnest I think. Tyler and I made a little longer trip out of it, it was the first road trip we took alone and thankfully it was great because I was beginning to think we weren't good road-trippers together and for me, that was a big deal. I remember having a great time when we went out to eat after the game with his younger brothers and sister at a little Mexican place on the strip that was hidden and practically empty, I think it was already closed or closing or something when we got there super late at night. They were super friendly and gave us free drinks because they forgot something?

25. Sundance festival 2006--okay this is a 10 day festival and I worked 80 hours of it on top of most of my 40-hour a week job and 3 or 4 school nights in the mix but it was by far my favorite year. I was the outside assistant manager which basically meant being in charge of crowds, waitlist lines, and the volunteers who helped out outside. I was absolutely freezing cold. I wore handwarmers on top of my toes, hot pants under my jeans, and as many more layers as you can imagine. But it was also the year I saw the most great movies and some actors and musicians I really dig.

26. First Call to Prayer experience in Jerusalem--I flew to Jerusalem for my semester abroad on my 21st birthday. The next morning in my little dorm room at about 5 am I heard the loudest wake up call ever in my life. Probably I imagined it so loud due to the exhaustion of having not slept before leaving combined with jet lag, but it sounded as if someone had a megaphone and was shouting the Muslim Call to Prayer right on the balcony of my room. I will never forget that.

27. 2 week stay in Galilee--I really prefer Jerusalem to Galilee just as I prefer the Old Testament to the New which is what each of those areas represent to me because of the way my classes worked in each location. However, the couple of weeks we stayed in Galilee during my semester abroad blur together kind of like a sweet dream. I remember sitting on the beach every day it seems for a while to read my book and swimming in the water everyday despite all the schoolwork we also had to do.

28. Florida trip with my family in the 80's. We took a week-long vacation to Florida, visiting Cape Canaveral, Disneyworld, Sea World, Epcot center, Daytona beach, etc. To be honest, I remember the trip pretty well, but because I'm an emotional person the only thing that stands out to me was how cool it was when at Sea World there was a little storm burst, just as there was on most days we were there, but this one had a brief but torrential downpour. I remember running to find cover and we ended up running to the "rainforest" portion of Sea World and just for a few minutes it felt like I was in the middle of the jungle and it was totally awesome.

29. Osaka trip in 2003--Just before I left Japan I took a second weekend trip to Osaka. I just love exploring places on my own and maybe it's because I can follow whatever impulse I have, to spend my whole day just walking walking walking or to stop wherever and whenever I want. Anyway I loved walking around Osaka and just taking it all in, all the lights and signs and shops and shrines, and figuring out which trains to ride, though sometimes aggravating, was part of the adventure of it.

30. Exploring Washington DC in 2003. My second trip to DC, I did this one staying at my cousin Amanda's place where she and her husband graciously hosted me. We went out to Mt. Vernon together and also got poured on briefly while there. We hit up an outdoor concert on Pennsylvania Ave and they showed me how beautiful old Alexandria was. I did some exploring on my own as well around the Smithsonians and the new spy museum and the subway system.

Again, as you can see, a lot of these memories are from trips and as trip hungry as I am, it's true that I've had a ton of great ones already. I have a ton of other great trip memories and others as well of simple things like walks and bike rides, but these 30 are the best I could do as far as what really sticks out to me when I look at the entire 30 years.

Highway signs for moms

I laughed out loud reading these highway signs for moms on the back page of my Babytalk magazine. Maybe because I just made a trip to Boise with my twin sister and our kids crammed in the back. We got kicked out of the McDonald's outdoor playland area in Burley, Idaho because our kids weren't wearing socks. We were the only people out there and somehow the management saw fit to kick us out. There was no sign saying they needed socks though there were plenty of signs saying they needed their shoes off. And while I do understand germs can spread through bare feet, I'm positive those playlands aren't kept very clean to begin with and that's the risk you run when allowing your children some playtime along the road.



So, here are the Mom highway signs from the magazine:

Diner where folks won't give you the hairy eyeball for nursing--Exit 9

Forget Route 118: It's so bumpy your baby may barf up his entire last meal

Scenic overlook of three thrilling bulldozers in action--Exit 24

Rest stop with picnic area that's not insanely close to traffic: 300 yards on right

Only playland in tri-state area where they occasionally clean the ball pit--Exit 29

Pop in another Dan Zanes CD (no decent radio station for 50 miles)

Restaurant where waiters don't hand your baby a balloon just before you climb back into your overstuffed car--Exit 38B

Weight limit: Way, way heavier than you

Eyes crossing, next 60 miles (make your spouse drive--you need a nap)

Exit 4--Restroom with crud-free changing table

Bailey's First Year

Click through to see the "scrapbook" I created of Bailey's first year, I made it to read like a children's story to document all of her major milestones.

Part Time with Schedule > Part Time On Call

I am very pleased that it seems my schedule at work should be becoming a bit more regular now. For the past few months I've been working a little extra, covering while some were on vacation, maternity leave, paternity leave, sick, funerals, etc. While the extra work has been good for my bank account, and I was happy to help out considering the fact that I was allowed a 5-month leave of absence when I had Bailey, it turned out to be more difficult in actuality.

What happened couldn't really have been anticipated:

1. Tyler had to go out of town a few times during those couple of months for his new job.

2. I changed daycare providers 3 times during that time period, making a total of 4 day-care homes Bailey has been in since January. (All of whom I've liked, but for personal reasons, job changes, etc. they had to quit doing their in-home daycare services.)

3. Work was exceptionally busy (as it is in the summer, but this year topped others to date). Sometimes the database had crashed, sometimes we were just plain overloaded or had an unexpected shortage of staff, all things which couldn't have been helped. On those occasions I made last-minute arrangements to come in earlier than planned.

Altogether with work demands and Tyler's being gone this probably accounted for re-arranging my daycare schedule at last 8 times in the last 10 weeks. Since I was working an afternoon - evening shift and Bailey needed picked up by 5 at those homes, this required an effort almost one time per week to engage the services of friends, neighbors, relatives, etc., all of to whom I owe a HUGE THANK YOU!

That being said, I do really enjoy my job and am grateful that I'm able to work where a 10-15 hour work week is permitted and that I'm able to be with my baby as often as I am.

Moab Foreshadowing

A few nights ago I had a dream about my upcoming half marathon in Moab--I'm running it in mid-October.

In the dream, I was forced to run the race in flip-flops because though I had brought my running shoes, for some reason we had to cross a stream to get to the starting point and I was unable to carry my shoes because this time they didn't have a "sweat bag" pick up to put items in that you carried with you at the waiting area. Somehow no one else had had this problem in my dream though and I remember being frustrated that their shoes weren't wet or that they were smart enough to have figured that part out.

So just two days following my dream, when heading to the rec center for my workout, my shoes were nowhere to be found. I've looked everywhere, but it's most likely that I left them at the rec center on Thursday when I went to workout and afterwards took Bailey and Caiden swimming there. I went home in my flip-flops.

I asked the rec center staff if my shoes had been turned in but they haven't. I guess I'll get a new pair of running shoes out of this, but I sure hope I don't have to run a race in flip-flops.

If any readers are interested, I'm kind of looking for someone to go with me for the car ride to Moab and to watch Bailey for the couples hours I'll be running. I promise a shared hotel room and some hiking in the area afterwards.