30 Years of Life: 25 years of Friendship

 

Senior class trip: Sioux Falls SD 2001. Thank goodness for curling irons and perms, eh?

Prom, freshman year. You went with my brother. I stayed home and tried to grow taller. PS, it didn't work.

Freshmen in college. Right? You were playing basektball at DSU and I was a state FFA officer at SDSU. I can tell from my nasty home highlights and your buffness. Holy crap, let's do that workout! mmm, maybe not.

 An actual nice, mature picture of us from our senior year of high school. I didn't know it was possible. We really grew up and blossomed at a young age. So lovely are we.

 

Five minutes later. If there's any "type" of picture I have more than tongue-sticking-out pictures, its butt shots. So maybe that's your "thing". Congratulations. :)

 

Alright, I know. Its fun to rib you a little bit, but the truth is that you mean the world to me. I don't know what I'd do without you and I'm so lucky to have you in my life and the lives of my family. I'm nodding off at the computer so I better cut it short. There's more to say, but its going to have to wait. Until then, one more letter that put it into words pretty well. Just pretend I'm writing it to you instead. Enjoy the rest of your birthday. I hope David spoils the crap out of you. You deserve it.

Dana turns 30: Picture of Youth

Road trip! Thankfully nobody let us drive. That was never a good idea. We didn't have a problem driving fast, but I'm glad I never met us on the road. Thanks for keeping me safe, and shame on you for never letting me drive your cars. I only ran over you once, and that wasn't even with a car.

 Over the years, I've gotten kind of a bad rap for being "that person" who sticks her tongue out in pictures. And yet, when I flilp through my pictures of you I see the SAME THING. Truce?

 

 We could publish a book with the correspondence from our youth. We'll title it Lock Up Your Daughters: They Are Probably Crazy.

 I LOVE the stack of moderately sized film cameras on the table. Hehe.

A couple more posts, hang in there.
K

Dana Turns 30: Flashback 1996

I know I'm posting these out of order, but I think you'll enjoy them anyway. Right Dana? :) PS, I still remember the calf Norman and SO wish I had a picture of him. I probably have gotten one from your mother, but that would have required some forethought. Also, the idea of you at the salebarn picking out a calf cracks me up! Let's do that again sometime k? :)

 I don't remember helping you babysit any cousins so clearly "Mean Old Brice" put the kibosh on that. Or I was off showing cattle or something.

I don't have great pictures from this Dance Line performance, but I have this. Man, were we cool!

 

Marching band! So many great memories stem from the work and trip required for marching band. Quite a few of them are even happy memories. Here's our practice uniforms, obviously. Where's Waldo? Also, are you even carrying your trumpet?

If I still knew how to play an instument, and owned one, you better believe I'd call you up and play you a song. Instead, I'll probably have the kids call and sing to you. I guess they're kind of like an instrument. Full of spit, loud and people get pretty cranky if you drop them.

Kim

On turning 30

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANA LEE!

Welcome to the world of 30. Since you plastered my picture all over Facebook (thank you for that, by the way), I figured I'd take a turn and share a few stories and pictures here, in a few installments that will post throughout the day. Enjoy. :)


We met in Kindergarten. Mrs. Poppen's class. I look at Gage's Kindergarten class and pray everyday that he starts a friendship and real and wholesome as ours. Who would have known that 25 years later, we still adore each other. I remember the story your mom tells about calling Mrs. Poppen to ask if 'The Franken Girl' was ok for you to hang out with. Thank goodness she said yes. :) Check out this picture I found of us...there you are in the your white dress, red bows, curled hair and fancy black shoes looking mighty fine. At the other end of the Kindergarten girl line is me, in my Little House on the Prairie dress and lion mask. Crayons are still awesome.

Summers were always difficult. You spent a lot of time in Colton with family, church and activities and I did the same in Madison. The 7 or 8 miles that separated us in the summer might as well have been an entire state. Thankfully, our parents were great about letting us sent letters back and forth. And fortunately, some have survived the test of time. I like this one best.

Throughout elementary school, it was pretty evident that our teachers didn't want us in the same class. Or maybe our parents requested that, at any rate, we were reunited a few times, and especially enjoy joint adventures like this fourth grade field trip. How is there only one fanny pack in this picture, and two pairs of Hammer pants? Also in style: windsuits, tight-rolled pants and cheesy grins.

And then we graduated. Through high school, some of our activities overlapped, others did not. We went our separate ways after CHS, attending different colleges. I really thought the separation would make life between us awkward. I feel so fortunate that our friendship is stronger now than ever before. Getting married and having babies has taken the 400 miles between us and given us something to talk about every day. I value the time we can spend together so much, even if that time is 10 minutes of virtual chat a day. It keeps me sane.

My favorite part of us? Sharing the joys and challenges of being Moms. I think its what we've always been meant to do. Gage was so lucky to spend a day with you last summer. Knowing my kids know you and love you means the world. Thanks for the letter. Anytime I see your handwriting in the mailbox, my heart leaps with excitement and anticipation. You never let me down.

Have a great birthday. Check back again later. I have some great letters you sent me and pictures of some high school adventures. I just need to do a little censoring first. :)

Love you dear,
Kim

The Best of Intentions

I don't think our fridge has been wiped down since I was pregnant with Max. I took care of it when I was nesting and the next thing I knew there was a baby, and then a toddler, and then preschool for the toddler's brother and then an unknown substance of a color not found in nature spilling down the interior wall on the second shelf. In an effort to ease the shock of this experience I started planning ahead and purging outdated things ahead of time. Next, I went on a grocery buying ban. And for the last week, we have searched a bare bones fridge full of grossness for something to eat while putting off restocking until it was cleaned.

Last night I finally mustered the courage to tackle the job. I cooked extra sloppy joes so the boys would eat their fill while I labroed away and leave plenty of leftovers for lunch today. I started grabbing things from shelves to rest on the counter and found a few more mysterious pieces to add to the garbage can. In an effort to prevent freezing of the kitchen, I turned off the fridge's cooling so I could clean to my heart's content. And boy is it clean.

I delicately placed the jelly and other condiments on the shelves and in the door so we could read the labels, reorganzied the produce drawer and packed up the leftover sloppy joes to ready them for transport to the office in the morning.

At this point in the evening, its fair to mention that I gave Max a bath, Gage a shower, took something for my headache, hauled too big/too small clothes upstairs to restock the boys' drawers, put the kids to bed and sorted said clothes. Then I went to bed.

This morning, Jack kindly reminded me that next time I turned off the fridge, to turn it back on when I am finished.

Note to self: pick up perishables on the way home. Your fridge is empty.

Looks like frozen pizza for lunch.

Random Thoughts

Six weeks into the new year and based on some self-challenges for the year, a few things have become clear.

Note to self:

·         You need to drink more water. You really needed to six weeks ago, and you have to consciously remind yourself to continue drinking water. Just because someone said, “go ahead and count the other fluids you drink as water too” doesn’t mean its ok to only drink mtn. dew.

·         Books/reading needs to be a larger part of your life. I think it has to be chapter books and not magazines/blogs, etc. – something with a full story that captivates you for more than a few moments. I also think you enjoy hard copies more than digital copies. You do still dream of having a personal library with a room packed full of books, you know.

·         Sitting at your desk all day isn’t good for you. It makes you cranky, it makes your back hurt and it gives you a headache. Convincing yourself to get up and move shouldn’t be a big deal.

·         Your brain functions better with music playing – most of the time – at least right now. Cooking, cleaning, working, music. Here’s a thought: maybe you need to dust off the piano music, bite the bullet to fix the keys and play your heart out a few times a week.

·         Don’t yell at your kids. They don’t like it, you don’t like it and it accomplishes nothing. You haven’t yelled like this the last (almost!) five years, there is no reason to start now.

·         Celebrate what you accomplish every day. Even if the only thing you accomplish is not yelling at your children. That’s huge.

Its really baffling to me how a few seemingly subtle changes, can make a really big difference in a person’s attitude. I’m working to reclaim a few things that were a big part of my life through those formative teenage years. You know, the years when you’re certain you have everything figured out. At a time when second guessing a decision is the routine (hello parents of toddlers!) I’m often left searching for a sense of normalcy for MYSELF.

Thanks for tuning in. We’ll try to lighten it up again next time. J