Ramblings: 10 Years in Pictures

Today I received a wedding announcement from Jeremy's sister, Alainna. She and her fiance, Stephen, are smiling back at me and I can't help being excited for them because this photo is one of the first of many to come. And how in the beginning, there's no way you could possibly predict or even imagine what life has in store for you as a couple--all the memories you will make and the experiences you will share as the years roll along. So for today's "10" list, I put together a couple of pictures that remind me of where we were in life for each of the past 10 years .

In doing this I also realized that it is really hard to find pictures of just the two of us---especially once we started having kids. A far more tragic discovery: years and years of really! really! bad! hair! Come on y'all, NO ONE could tell me how bad it really was? Seriously, I'm disappointed in every single one of you because no one was brave enough during my big bang years to hold a hairstyle intervention.

No need to mention, as it will shortly become very obvious to you, that there are several years where we appear dangerously...um, bloated?. Sadly, it wasn't just bad camera angles.

1997--Downtown Dallas, on a double date with Marianne and Lance "slide behind you on a chair" C. a few weeks after we had met. (Sorry Marianne--Kimball may not like this one.)

1997--Gotta love those BYU dorms. My roomates got used to having him around...eventually. And he eventually got over his embarrassment in having to walk into the dorms to pick me up.

1998--One of the 1000 rejected engagement pictures--mostly because Jeremy used to smile with his mouth open like he was in the middle of saying something (apparently this runs in the family--his dad and his brother Spencer do the same thing.)

1998--Portland, OR Temple, where I'm holding the possible Guiness Book of World Records winner for "Largest Wedding Bouquet."

1999--This isn't the greatest picture, but apparently we didn't take ANY pictures that year because it was the only one I could find. (This was, if you remember, way before digital cameras were so affordable. This fact will be just as shocking to my kids as one day when I tell them "when we were little there was no such thing as the internet. Or ipods." And then their brains will immediately burst into flames as they try to process life without such necessities.) Anyway, we were living in San Diego for the summer and this was taken on a ferry to Coronado during our one day off .

************WARNING******************

This is the beginning of the years where we appear to be suffering VERY severe allergic reactions manifested in the whole body swelling you will soon witness.

2000--We earned a trip to Hawaii from the company Jeremy and I worked for during the summers. It was a nice break in February from Utah's wintery weather. I think I had to pay Jeremy $10 bucks to wear that shirt to dinner.

2000--December in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Alex was born during Jeremy's first semester of law school exams. This pic was taken right before we were taking Alex to church to be blessed and Jeremy's parents were there visiting. It reminds me of our itty bitty townhouse where we lived for three years. I can't believe we didn't die from clausterphobia...or from paying $2000 a month for the postage stamp we called home for so long.

2001--We couldn't live that close to Fenway and not go support our Red Sox. This was Alex's first MLB game and he escaped without catching any linedrives to the head.

2001--Our street faced the Charles River. We would take walks up and down the river and watch the rowing teams from various schools cruising up and down it. Saturday mornings we'd wake up to the screaming calls from the person that stands up and berates the team so they'll row harder.

2002--At the Boston aquarium. You can tell this was the only 2002 picture I could find, because WHY ELSE would I pick such an atrocious one. Alex looks Chinese, but he was just mad we were making him wear his harness and leash because he was, and is, and always will be, a runner.

2003--This was taken on the steps of our townhouse in Cambridge where we lived next to our BFF's, the Beuses and the Rogers. Jeremy was about to graduate and I was about 7 months pregnant with Maddie. We were surprised by how sad we were to leave when the time finally came. Looking back, we spent the whole time dreaming of when "real life" would begin after law school, and now I wish we could just go back. It really was a fun three years and we made great friends and experiences there.

2003--Taken in December while we were in Washington for a Fielding Family reunion. We were living in Jackson, Mississippi where Jeremy was completing a Federal clerkship and where I was learning that yes, living in Mississippi was just about as bad as I imagined it was going to be. And in the words of Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

2004--This was taken on Maddie's first birthday in Mississippi--she will always have the claim to fame of being born there and then she'll get to spell every kid's favorite word. M-I-SS-I-SS-I-PP-I. Alex was just lucky to be alive after the world's longest year in an apartment above a lady who stayed home all day, chain smoking on her balcony so that we would have the pleasure of wallowing in the deadly nonstop second hand smoke screen she sent up to our place.

2004--This was taken on the 4th of July after shooting off fireworks and getting stranded in my dad's horse pasture when our Suburban died. We had driven to visit my family and to spend insane amounts of time house hunting throughout every city surrounding Dallas. Luckily we found the perfect house for us and made an offer the next day.

2005--Our first family campout at Tyler State Park in Texas. (I know, right? I'm camping. Me. Camping. Amazing things happen when you have kids and they talk you into doing crazy things like camping in Texas--land of abnormally large insects and other undesireable creatures that could bite your face off while you sleep.) Jeremy was working at the big firm where he started his legal career, and would be leaving it behind for a smaller firm very shortly.

2005--We were visiting our great friends Chip and Jill in Atlanta and they took us out for a night on the town...without the kids. Yippee. We got busted for taking this picture in the famous Fox theater after seeing Phantom of the Opera. We also enjoyed a great dinner where Chip shared dessert with a total stranger---from the same fork. Nothing like stranger spit to make a night complete.

2005--After Atlanta we continued on our first "real" vacation to the beach in Hilton Head, South Carolina and had a blast.

2006--This year was sort of a blur...bottles, diapers, and learning to do things like opening doors while carrying two infant carriers. This was taken in June right before taking them to church to be blessed. It was quite a funny experience to have back to back baby blessings. Jeremy's family was in town on the way back from Paraguay where they picked up his sister Candice from her mission.

2006- The same day. Our first complete family picture since the boys left the NICU.

2007- Taken in Oregon on a trip to celebrate Jeremy's grandpa's big birthday bash. We survived lots of location changes during this week away and the twins' bout with a stomach bug that hit them after going through about 12 others on the trip. It was the first time that we had all been back to visit with faraway family in Washington since 2003. Fun but exhausting.

2007--This was an outtake from our attempts to take a decent Christmas picture. The boys were INSANE by this point and we had resorted to bribing them with dumdums. It may be many, many more years before we have a cooperative picture-taking crew.

2007--Kids, see how easy it is to take a picture, see! One, two, three, cheese. One take and we were outta there. And SEE! After 9 years, Jeremy has almost learned to close his mouth for pictures.

2008--Awesome quality pic (ha ha) via my cellphone camera taken on our recent trip to see Buble. A nice little escape from reality, but where, after years of conditioning, neither of us could sleep in past 7 am.

And that, is the Cliffs Notes picture version of our last 10 years.