directions to where I am

Be born in Salt Lake City on August 1, 1980. Have an older sister who tries to be your second mom from day one. Be called "tweetie bird" by your mom’s good friend because of your big blue eyes, chubby cheeks, and yellow hair. Have the nickname stick. Adore your big sister, but be incredibly jealous of how good she is at seemingly everything. Try to find her weaknesses and make them your strengths. Tell your mom that your favorite color is green because it means, "go". Make this your motto for life…don’t ever stop even to go to the bathroom until you absolutely can’t take it anymore. Have many accidents as a result.

Be THRILLED to have a baby brother. Try to be his third mom. Sleep in the same bedroom with your two siblings for several years. Get mad at your brother for talking in his crib when you are trying to sleep. Finally move to your own bedroom in the basement across the hall from your sister’s new room. Choose green carpet for yours. Be Teacher’s Pet every year in school. Be told by your second grade teacher that she hopes to have a daughter just like you someday. Be made fun of for having such big eyes. Squint in your third grade class picture as a result. Break your right arm while playing "whip lash" on the playground. Be hypnotized with a puppy balloon to have the bone set. Get a red and green cast for Christmas. Break the other arm a few years later while roller-skating. Decide you hate roller skating forever.

Find out you are moving to Placentia, California. Be super excited for the adventure. Live with your grandma until the day arrives and see your daddy only on weekends. Make the big move and make lots of friends right away. Be somewhat embarrassed by your small, run-down house. Be worried about your sister in Junior High. Become really close to your immediate family. Make lots of trips to Utah. Run for Student Body President in the sixth grade. Beat the girl who will become your best friend.

Spend lots of Christmas’s at your grandparents’ houses. Giggle with your sister in the sofa bed at Grandma J’s. Laugh even harder when she says, "Goodnight Lovers." Adore your dog and treat her like family. Survive Junior High. Run for Freshman Class President with a Rockin’ Robyn theme. Lose. Try out for Cheerleading and be told that you would have been the next on the squad, but you didn’t quite cut it. Don’t let the rejection get the best of you. Decide to play basketball and run track instead. Enjoy both. Play basketball with your grandpa every time he visits and be grateful for the experience. Try out for cheerleading again. Make it. Eventually become "Head of Class" and receive a small scholarship. LOVE singing and harmonizing. Try out for Vocal Ensemble and make it as one of four sophomores. Sing Tenor for a year, then Alto for the rest.

Be nicknamed "Tomate" by your Spanish teacher because of your ability to turn red easily. Be secretly happy to have the attention, but very embarrassed every day for two years as he tells the class to look at you and watch you turn red. Minor in Spanish as a result of your inspiring teachers.

Kiss your first boy by the side of your friend’s house. Be totally devastated and embarrassed when you find out that the neighbor saw and told. Break your leg on your first date. Hate having the broken leg, but somehow enjoy the attention. Sing in PRISM with your sister in a wheelchair. Get really close to your mom as she helps you shower every day. Have your best friend break her leg while carrying you in a relay race a few months later.

Spend lots of summers roasting in the sun. Wish you were as tan as all your friends. Get burned SEVERAL times in an attempt to compete. Be nagged by your mom over and over to wear sunscreen. Use Crisco as tanning oil. Go to the beach and apply sunscreen ONLY over your moles. End up with a spotted burn that turns to a spotted tan.

Date lots of silly boys. Get in lots of fights with your parents while dating the Jewish one. Become a stupid teenager and break lots of curfews. Dread coming home to your mom sitting on the couch waiting for you. Cry lots. Understand later why your parents worried so much.

Get a scholarship to spend 6 weeks living in Japan. Wish away every minute of it. Count down the days until you get to come home. Spend a semester in the Dominican Republic. Love every minute of it. Win a trip to Mexico with your roommates. Call your mom hysterically every time you leave the country because of some traumatic event.

Be one of two grandchildren present when your Grandma dies. Have a very spiritual experience that strengthens your testimony of life after death.

Spend time volunteering in the MTC. Be happy that you’ll never be a clueless missionary learning a new language since you already speak Spanish. Be called to serve in Finland. Learn the language with surprising ease. Love almost every minute of your mission. Make lifelong friends. Have a few crushes on some Elders. Be told by your Mission President to marry one of them. Be grateful he was wrong. Introduce your parents to the beautiful, cold country at the conclusion of your service.

Become passionate about health and fitness in order to lose the mission weight. Run, run, run. Sweat, sweat, sweat. Later become a Personal Trainer with a dream to open your own fitness center for women.

Decide to room with an old friend post-mission. Be sad when she decides to move to Pennsylvania instead. Live there anyway and meet a fun, charming guy. Make him work really hard to win you over. Realize you’re in love when he comes to California to stay with you and your family. Have your dad tell you for the first time EVER that he’d be OK with you marrying this boy. Decide that you’d be OK with it too. Be grateful every day that he tried so hard. Live in Utah for a while. Be thrilled when he gets a job in California. Live with your parents for two months and actually love every minute of it. Pray for months to have a baby. Wake up and realize you have a one-year-old and you’re back in Utah.

Miss your family terribly. Talk to them on the phone every day. Be grateful to have great in-laws close by. Find out that you are six weeks pregnant with number two. Be surprised, excited, and terrified. Decide to wait to spread the news. Change your mind and tell your mom as she’s shopping at Krogers Grocery Store. Tell the rest of your family. Watch your husband excitedly tell his. Decide to wait to tell your friends. Change your mind a week later. Blog about it. Anxiously wait to see who made it through this long post to find out. You’re here.

My cousin, Christie inspired this blog with her own life road map. I haven't seen her for years (excluding when we both ran in the St. George marathon) and am grateful to be re-connected through the blogging community!