I can't even fathom 40 years of marriage

Way back in May...May 23 to be exact, my parents celebrated forty years of marriage.

They are the most difficult people to do anything special for...because they somehow end up giving back to their kids tenfold whatever is given to them.

So, instead of something material, we decided to put together a book of memories for our parents. Since there are four of us kids, each of us wrote up the top ten most vivid memories...either of our childhood or adult life...with one or both of our parents...siblings present or not. Knowing that some of the memories--like time spent in Sunriver--would be duplicated, it was pretty fun seeing what everyone came up with.

Our parents put us first and continue to put us first even though all of us are grown and married. We did everything as a family, always. We sat down to dinner every night growing up, and when sports interfered, a hot dinner was always waiting in the oven. When we started fighting through dinner, as siblings and teenagers do, we began watching Jeopardy while eating, and I swear that's when my love of trivia began. My parents didn't leave us much--I can remember only one occurrence when we had a babysitter. I know there were a few more, but they just chose us over most everything else. Maybe to a fault sometimes. Nonetheless, they were and are shining examples of parents.

Thanks for sticking together through it all, Dad and Mom. We are beyond blessed. Happy happy anniversary, again...just a few months late.

Um. I don't know why I can't rotate this photo. Christmas cookie decorating. If you can see my face, I'm super stoked to be eating frosting!

And I can't rotate this one either. Ugh. This was B.K. (Before Kate)...Joe and Elizabeth's birthday at Farrell's. 

Time flies by fives

Five years ago, I didn’t want to leave the comfortable confines of my high school. I had a blast. I thought those were the best years of my life. I tried to pack everything I could into four years. I met the greatest group of girls my freshman year, and even though I transferred schools after then, we’ve never lost touch. In retrospect, transitioning to a new high school was probably what shaped my outlook on life. I promised myself I wouldn’t fall into a clique or limit myself to certain classes or activities. As a result, I played three sports, had several leadership positions and a diverse group of friends. I surrounded myself with great people, I loved going to school, and I didn’t think anything could top those years. When my senior year rolled around, I started getting scholarship offers to play basketball in college. I didn’t, however, neglect my other sports or commitments. I especially enjoyed being the editor of my school newspaper. I knew then that I wanted to study journalism in college. I figured I would find a school that was the perfect fit for the whole me, not just the athlete in me. As a result, I chose Washington State University. Before I started getting recruited, I had never really followed college sports, and I had to pull out a map to find Pullman, Wash. I was nervous and excited to leave Portland, but if you asked me then, I would have never guessed all that I would experience in the four years to come.