Decade-End Summary 2000-2009

Decade-End Summary 2000-2009

(aka: My Twenties)

alcohol units consumed: 1 (mission mix-up)

cigarettes: 0 (excellent)

pounds lost and re-gained at least six times: 30 (v.b.)

new countries visited: 35 (v.g.)

degrees obtained: 2 (excellent)

houses bought: 1

houses sold: 1

grandparents lost: 2 (v.s.)

sisters-in-law gained: 1

time spent on foreign soil: 2 years and 3 months 

times moved: 18

roommates: 34

Well, I can't say that this decade was too bad.  It is crazy to me that my twenties have come and gone.  Honestly, it was all kind of a blur.  There are whole years where all I remember is where I traveled to.  Sad.  Oh well, at least I remember something. 

2000: The end of the civilized world did not come, as some anticipated, on January 1, 2000.  We had a big extended family New Year's party to celebrate Y2K.  I spent the beginning of the year at BYU and the end of the year as a missionary.  I entered the MTC on August 23, 2000.  While at the MTC I got to sing in the missionary choir at General Conference...super cool, especially since I don't sing.  I guess they just needed sisters, and fortunately I am an excellent lip-syncher due to years of practice.  After a three week visa wait in San Diego, I made it to Argentina by mid-November.  I always wanted to serve a mission and the time finally came!

2001: I spent the whole year in Argentina as a missionary and loved almost every minute of it.  I met lots of wonderful people, made life-long friends, shared the gospel, learned Spanish (or Castellano as the Argentines call it), ate a lot of delicious food and a lot of disgusting food, helped people change their lives, gained confidence, gained weight, got lice, learned and experienced more than I ever could have imagined, and knew I'd never be the same because of serving a mission.  

2002: I was still a missionary at the beginning of the year, came home in March, thought everybody lived worldly and empty lives (including myself), got used to "normal" life again, traveled to China with my mom, grandma, cousin, aunt and some family friends, went back to BYU, and got a job teaching ESL at the MTC.  

2003: I spent the whole year at BYU.  I studied a lot and worked a lot and had a little bit of fun.  Luckily I loved my job at the MTC.  It was like a second little mission and was such a fun adventure.  I traveled to Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico with my friend Cindy and discovered that all my time spent floating the canals of Idaho as a child payed off.  Pretty much everyone in the group got Montezuma's revenge, except me.  My gut of steel is my one gift from God, and is evidence to me that I'm meant to travel.  

2004: in January I unwillingly moved to Salt Lake City to do my student teaching.  It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  In April I skipped out on my graduation ceremony from BYU and headed to Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile with my mission companion Hermana Merzlock.  We had a great time visiting the places and people we loved.  In August I started my first "real" job working at ARUP laboratories.  In October I got to go to Peru and see Machu Picchu...it was a great trip, even though I had to go on my own.  

2005: I got to travel to Guatemala with my grandpa and grandma F.  I'm so glad I got to go and meet all my grandpa's Guatemalan friends, especially since my grandpa passed away a couple of months later.  In March I bought my first ever house...it was such a cute little place.  That summer a high school friend Corrine and I traveled to Europe for a couple of weeks.  We had a great time visiting the U.K., Holland, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.  We had some great adventures.  

2006: I seriously don't remember anything about 2006 except that it was the year of the Briget Jones Thailand Tour, my third trip to Guatemala with my grandma, and I somehow talked Lee to go to Europe with me so he could visit his mission.  Lee and I went to France, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and Ukraine.  I had so much fun.  Oh, and Lee lived with me for about six months during 2006.  He  was one of my favorite roommates ever because he is such a good cook and a great friend.  I loved having him live with me.  In August Lee and I went sky-diving to celebrate my 27th birthday.  Don't worry, we wrote out our wills first.

2007: In January my mom and I warmed up for a week in Cabo San Lucas.  In February my grandma B passed away...so sad.  In March my mom and I headed to Paris for a week.  It was pretty cold but fun.  In April my mission companion Hermana Forrest and I traveled to Ethiopia and Kenya, first stopping off for a few days in Holland and Belgium.  Such a great trip.  In September Lee got married and I gained my first ever sister-in-law, Kim.  I started graduate school that fall so my traveling had to go on hold for a bit.

2008: I started off the year with a quick trip to California and Mexico with some work friends.  In March my Spinster friends and I road tripped Portugal, Spain, Morocco, and Gibraltar (U.K.) over Spring Break.  It was quite the adventure especially since none of us were really proficient in driving a manual transmission car and that's all we could rent in Europe.  Kate got good at driving stick really fast and became the main Spinstamobile driver.  In May I sold my cute little house.  In June my parents left for their mission in Brazil.  I spent July in Paraguay working on my practicum for grad school and then stopped by Brazil to visit my parents on the way home.  In October Kate, Christa, and I had an awesome week in Costa Rica despite the torrential rain storms and mudslides.  In December my siblings and I headed back to Brazil to  visit our parents for Christmas.

2009: Due to unbelievably low airfare to Belize I went in both January and February, once with my brothers and cousins and once with some Spinster friends and a random guy named Ed who we met in Guatemala.  In February I quit my job.  I was soooo ready for a change.  In June I did some work for school in Ghana and then traveled afterward around Africa with friends.  I spent July in Brazil, August in 30th-birthday-depression, and then went back for my last semester of school in September.  In October I traveled to Panama with VIDA and learned that I could survive without a daily shower and a hairdryer (but I hope I never have to).  


Well, there's my decade in review.  I have a fresh new passport and can't wait to see what the next 10 years will bring.  Hopefully I'll be more prepared for 40 than I was for 30.  I'm going to start preparing myself mentally right now so meeting my next decade mark won't be so traumatic.  Well 2010 to 2019, here I come!

Sorry if my decade summary seems like one big boring travel log...but really I don't do much else besides work, school, and travel in my life, and I figure you'd rather hear about travel than about work and school.  So there.