Looking back

25 years ago:

1. I was eight and got baptized.
2. I had my first slumber party with my friends.
3. I wanted to be a singer like Crystal Gale (I loved her knee length hair).
4. I had a pet cat named Klinker.
5. I loved getting hand-me-downs from my cousin Bonny.

20 years ago:

1. I was 13.
2. I had the most horrendous haircut of my life: mullet that was permed & looked like an old grandma). I don't know what I was thinking.
3. I was the only girl in my gym class that did not wear a bra.
4. I played the piano and the flute.
5. For this one year, I was taller than my sister, Erika.

15 years ago:

1. I was 18 and a freshman at BYU.
2. I was there when my youngest brother, Axel, was born.
3. I had no car, and so I rode the bus, my bike, or walked a lot.
4. I wanted to be a forest ranger.
5. I threw up, for only the second time in my life, after drinking a half a glass of tap water in India. I was so sick that I crawled in bed with my parents.

10 years ago:

1. I was 23 years old.
2. Nate and I had been married for two years and had 1 year old Toby.
3. We were moving from a summer internship in San Jose, CA back to Chicago where Nate was getting an MBA.
4. I was pregnant with Aspen.
5. I got the second worst haircut of my life: I asked for a short hairstyle and ended up with a boy's haircut. I cried for a week.

5 years ago:

1. I was 28 years old.
2. I had 3 children: Toby 6, Aspen 4, Isaac 2.
3. I was on pet dog number 3.
4. We lived in a house that was built in 1970 and had a center door knob on the front door.
5. I spent an entire summer with my kids in Utah (I was homesick).

1 year ago:

1. I had a baby, Hazel, after a six year break. It was like being a new mom and starting over again.
2. I had jaw surgery for TMJ and was on a liquid diet for 3 months.
3. I started gaining weight and put on 15 pounds, after I had the baby.
4. I started having insomnia.
5. I started blogging.

Today:

1. I am doing the hardest thing ever in my life by trying to recover from this last jaw surgery.
2. I am grateful to Nate and Vickie for taking care of me and my family. I can't do any of it right now and they are they best.
3. Hazel finally likes me again. She's gotten past my very swollen face and just wants to sit with me.
4. I still have insomnia. Thank goodness for Ambien.
5. I'm dizzy and slow and way out of whack because of the meds. I don't like this out of control feeling.