More of My Life in Pictures

I've had a full day of writing, so my brain is pretty fried. Therefore, pictures will speak a thousand words for me unless I get my second wind.

This is me on a horse behind Prince Charming. My dad took me (age 8), my younger brother and younger sister camping in the Sawtooth Mountains when Mom had a new little baby girl. The people in the next camping spot had horses, and I was so enchanted that I screwed up the courage to ask them if I could ride. They were kind enough to say yes, and this guy took me around the area at a slow walk. It wasn't until years later that I noticed he was a hunk.



After a couple years of hanging in my high school locker, this picture got understandably battered. It represented such happiness that I loved to see it every time I went to get my books. July 4th was my absolute favorite holiday all during my growing up years. In Northern Minnesota, it meant setting up the branch's booth at the big city festival down by the lake (back in the day when wards could do fund raisers) and having practically the entire congregation crammed in there making bread dough, shaping elephant ears, and frying up sugar-coated discs of deliciousness. We always sold out before nightfall, so the booth would be abandoned in order to watch the fireworks show. I was about 15 in this picture, and I'm standing with two of my good friends, Sarra and Tanya.



I took ballet for years. This was the first year I was in The Nutcracker as a flower in The Waltz of the Flowers. I did not fill out the bodice on my costume yet, but I didn't even care. I had so much fun. I did, however, manage to break my foot during one of the dress rehearsals and had to sit out the performance in favor of the understudy. That made the director understandably perturbed (he was the kind of guy who would get perturbed about things like that), and he told me off for it the next year. I am in the back on the right, and my then-bff is in the back on the left.



I was in the jazz choir in high school, and during my junior year I got to sing a solo part in one of our pieces. I think I had to rap, if I remember correctly. Note the acid-washed button-fly jeans. Does that not take you back?



In my series of bad hair decisions after having babies, I developed a mullett. Wow. And mulletts weren't even in style by this time, either. It wasn't intentional; I just let my hair grow out and this is what happened. The baby is Gabrielle, aged 3 months, and in 1997 we were living in Wisconsin in a one-bedroom apartment with two little girls. Husband was working as a carpet cleaner, and I was a full-time mom. I would soon go on to become a telemarketer for a company that sold crap for a lot of money. I quit a few months later on principal.

Thank you for taking this little journey with me today. My brain has cooled down somewhat from the overusage I put it through today, and I guess I should get the kids into bed.