High School Memories

I saw this on facebook and thought it might be an interesting post for my blog. Actually, I got to talking to McKayla about this blog, she said she might want to read it sometime. This might be a post she might someday want to read, something about her mom's years in high school...

Class of 2002 -- Lebanon High School, Lebanon Oregon

Did you marry your high school sweetheart? Yes, we were married in June 21, 2003 and our marriage ended January of 2014. I think it was a pretty successful high school romance. Produced three beautiful little girls. Not all divorces are terrible, ours was amicable and we remain friendly, co-parenting our children successfully.

This is me and my "high school sweetheart, at the baby shower our church
threw for us for McKayla, one month (almost exactly) before she was born.
This was two years after we got married, three years after graduation


Type of car: I didn't drive in high school. Didn't get my license until I was married. At that time we drove an Ford Escort Pony hatchback.

very similar to this one, but I stole this pic from google

What kind of job? Also didn't have a job until after high school. Unless you count summer camp. I did work at Camp Kuratli between my sophomore and junior years (2000) and again between my Junior and Senior years (2001), both times as a kitchen helper/waitress. My first "real" job was as a waitress at Redbeards Steak and Seafood restaurant and I worked there until after McKayla was born

Summer 2000

Summer 2001

Where did you live? Lebanon, Oregon.

Were you popular? No. I was a newspaper "nerd" which was okay with me. I had my own group of friends who I ate lunch with and associated with.


Were you in choir/band? I was in band my first year. I was in choir for a year (maybe two) but then moved on to newspaper after I took a journalism class. Loved it and didn't look back.


Ever get suspended? No. I did get in trouble once in middle school for "walking through the grass." We were in modular classrooms at the time and they were trying to grow the grass back from when they had placed them. It was my only detention and yes, I cried.


If you could, would you go back? I might, just for a day or two. Only if it were in the same time period though. Seems like the "kids today" have more problems then we did...


Still talk to the person that you went to prom with? I would hope so, he's the father of my children. lol


Did you skip school? I think once, with my best friend Sam. I was so paranoid that she never asked me to do it again. I was sure we were going to get arrested.


Go to all the football games? I think I went to one or two. It was mostly for newspaper things. Not a real sports person.


Favorite subjects? Newspaper, journalism, English


Do you still have your yearbook? All four of em!


Did you follow the "original" career path? what career path. I never really wanted to go to college. Just planned to find a job after school and live and I think I have done that.


Do you still have your senior ring? Never got one.


Favorite Teacher? My journalism/newspaper adviser Mrs Graham...


What was your style? Blue jeans and a baby tee kind of girl.


Favorite Shoes? I had quite a few pair of shoes. Typical 90's style, regrettable I am sure....


Favorite thing to eat for lunch? The pizza pockets from the cafe, not the cafeteria. There was a difference.


Favorite band? Oh, I was a big boy band fan. Loved the Backstreet Boys in my early high school. Jimmy introduced me to his girl Britney Spears. We learned to love quite a few bands together like Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory, My Chemical Romance, Good Charlotte, Simple Plan and Jimmy Eat World. We had some eclectic mixed cd's back in the day.


High school hair? Natural brown, long.


How old when you graduated? Barely 18. I graduated in early June, turned 18 on May 18.


Throwback graduation photo of me with my family. June 2002
From left: Mom, my brother Michael (14 at the time), myself, Dad and my sister Colleen (16 at the time)

Day 30

Happiness is

Feeding the ducks on a beautiful spring day! =)
We had so much fun until Natalie fell in the mud. More pictures of that once my computer decides to cooperate. =)

Day 29

Guess what? Its raining, again. Big surprise right? But you know the best thing about this rain? It isn't terribly cold so I can still run in it! =) Only two weeks left till my 10k. Getting really excited to get it done with. Oh, and did I tell you all that my husband tried to schedule our trip over the 10k. Yeah, and I was going with it until this week when I realized! lol. Needless to say, we aren't going on that trip. He may still go on his own, but not the whole family. =)

Oh, and you know what else is great about the rain? It cleans everything. After the rain, or even during, everything looks clean, smells clean. Reminds me of a shower for the whole valley. Love it!

Day 28

So, I can't take credit for this, my auntie took it, but she said I could share!

This was the sunset the other night (Saturday I believe) Isn't it just amazing! Our God is so incredibly artistic. =) Who else could paint such a magnificent sunset?

Day 27

The things some companies do to get attention...

All I can say is, I'm glad my husband didn't have to build this display! lol

Day 26

I seriously love that my freezer is covered with pictures of all the people who love me. It reminds me every time I go for that ice cream of all those who might look to me as an example. =) My kids deserve to have a mom who is healthy and I am getting there. Can't say I'm perfect (who can!?) But I am getting there, and I am proof that it can be done. I am down nearly 30 pounds now, and slowly developing a healthier lifestyle. Take last night for example, we had turkey burgers on 100 calorie buns with sweet potato fries. And I stopped when I was full! It was an amazing feeling of empowerment that I can make the right choices for me! =)

You know what else I love about my fridge? It is covered with people who support me! =) I can look and remember if I am having a bad day that I can call any one of them for help (or email them :P)

If you can believe it, I have thinned out the pictures that are up there. I have a special album for old Christmas pictures so I don't toss em. =)

Day 25

Took this one yesterday, just before the diagnosis of an ear infection :( Poor baby! Then this morning I woke to find that she had decided to give herself a makeover. Breaks my heart a little to see this pic and know that a bunch of her hair is missing now! We are going to the hair salon today to see what they can do... not sure they can do much though. Life just gets more exciting when you have kids right?

Day 23

Seriously Walmart? Seriously? And the best part? They MAILED it to me! Talk about being financially responsible.

Day 22

This week we have seriously been POURED on, I'm talking more than 2" in the last 24 hours. That is a lot even for Oregon. But the other day, I saw this rainbow. I was reminded that without the rain, we wouldn't have those.

I was also reminded to enjoy the rain by a preschool cartoon called Ni Hao Kai-Lan. I know it sounds silly, but bear with me. The show starts out with this girl and all her friends talking about what they were going to do in this beautiful sunny weather, they all had different things they wanted to do. Then, you guessed it, it starts to rain.

They are all bummed that they can't do the things they wanted to. But Kai-Lan's grandpa shows her that there are fun things to do in the rain, then the ducks show her some more fun to have in the rain, and all her friends soon realize there are lots of fun things to do in the rain.

Its a kids show, give me a break, but the point stands. How often do we just look at the rainy day as this blah, now I can't do anything kind of day? Why not take the rainy days (like today) and seize the opportunity to do something fun in the rain (maybe even with the kids) =)

Day 21

Miss McKayla is growing SO FAST! Too fast for her mommy's taste, but that's how it happens I'm told. :( I am impressed daily by the things she picks up, some faster than I could possibly imagine! This is her at story time last night, we read the Dr Seuss book, There's No Place Like Space. =)

Day 20

This is one way to keep hair out of the snot faucet on her oh-so-cute face! lol =) I swear she was smiling until she saw the camera.

Day 19

My sweet Liv on Thursday. I didn't realize it at the time I was sent this picture, but the poor thing was fighting an ear infection. Poor baby! Notice she still has her coat and gloves on =) gotta love cold, cold weather we have been dealt this month! lol

Day 18

Sweet Liv. Who doesn't try sunglasses on their kids every time they go to the store! lol

Day 17

My McKayla, she hasn't slowed in her love for puzzles. Since she was like 18 months old she has really loved doing them, which always amazes me since I HATE them. :P The best part is, she is great at them. I love watching those little hands working, and hearing her little voice usually talking to herself. lol.

Day 16

My silly sister learned from her teen group the "Superman" symbol with her fingers yesterday. lol. She just has to be REALLY careful that she is getting her fingers the right way so she isn't just showing herself.

Day 15

My sweet Nattie-bug. Never has been stingy with her kisses. I <3 this child! =)

Day 14

This is a picture my aunt took WAYYYY back. This is the 4-generation picture of my dad, my brother, my Oma, and my grandpa. We lost Oma when I was 16 so seeing this picture brought back a flood of my memories of her. My Oma was an absolutely amazing woman. She and her entire family lived through WWII in a Japanese concentration camp in Indonesia. They moved to the US after the war was over when my grandpa was about 16 years old. My Oma is the strongest woman I have ever known. To have lived through that, surviving with her kids in this work camp all alone (my Opa was in a work camp for men and we think the ONLY reason Oma wasn't with him is because of her ability to paint portraits). Anyway, bit of history of my family =)

On top of that, the total 80s style of everything makes me smile! lol

Day 13

What I do to drivers who need to learn to park

Take pictures of their car (or truck or suv) and post them on facebook (or my blog or both!) So, learn to park, or park way out in the back of the lot!

Day 12

Girls are the best =) They were having a "tea party" in the hallway. The table? A tote box! And yes, they do have THREE tea pots on that table. And all the best princesses drink PINKY UP!

Day 11

This was just one of the pictures I took yesterday. As you can see, its a fire truck. I had to, for the first time in my life, call 911. I will tell you the "whole story." I really had to pee, so I told Maranda that we were going to my house first. So, you know the first place I went! In our bathroom, you can hear EVERYTHING from upstairs and I kept hearing this beeping, like an alarm clock. So, I checked my room. Nothing. Kept hearing it! I told my brother to mute the TV and make sure they were hearing it too.

About this time I figure out its the smoke detector from upstairs. We all decide together that someone needs to go check if someone is home, maybe they were dealing with it. I drew the short straw and got to go pound on the door.... nothing. Their car isn't in its spot either and I am starting to smell that burned food smell (if you know anything about me, you know that I know that smell well!) lol.

So, I called the fire department directly, who told me to call 911. They sent us out TWO fire trucks, an ambulance, and two response cars. Wow. Talk about bringing out the "big guns." They made us evacuate the apartment (we are downstairs and this was the apartment right above us.) So, we woke the girls, loaded them into the van to keep warm and waited. They ended up breaking in (crowbar in the lock and pryed it open!) Then went in.

It ended up just being a pot on the stove, charring the noodles that someone was trying to cook. What I don't really understand is why they were still going!? No one even came back home for two hours after the fire department left. Insane! I am just SO glad that I had to pee and didn't take Maranda home first. Someone was watching over me today. =)