Reflecting on the past 10 years

Wow. Have I really been graduated high school for 10 years. That's crazy to me. A lot has happened to me in the past 10 years. I'll try and catch you up. I graduated in June 2001 and moved to a cute little apartment outside of town.....by cute I mean it was tiny and furnished horribly, but I had a roommate, I was living on my own and acting all grown up. At the time I was working at Hallmark, but not really going anywhere with my job so I started looking for something better.

Shortly afterwards I moved into town where I found an apartment that I adored and lived in for quite a while. I started working for the Samish Indian Nation as a receptionist. I loved working for the tribe so much that I wanted to stay there and looked for opportunities to learn more and be a permanent part of staff. I wrote my first federal grant for $500,000 and it was accepted, I got to keep my job and move into a permanent position with the Tribe. I became the Transportation planning manager for the Tribe and I wrote a lot of transportation related grants that in later years were funded. In later years I also started designing all of their publications including newsletters, pamphlets, signs, you name it, I worked on it. Now I design and maintain their website, moving into a larger grant writing position, and working on publications and PR work. I've been working for the Tribe for almost 10 years now and I love working with such a great family.

My little sister Laura graduated in 2003 and moved off to Japan. She lived there for a short time and then moved to Texas. She loves living there, but I miss her dearly. She comes home for visits, but I wish she lived right next door to me.

In 2003, my dad had a stroke at the age of 47. It was a really big scare on our family and I was terrified at the thought of losing my dad. I decided then and there that I wanted to remain in Oak Harbor/Washington State and be near my family. We had moved around my whole life with the military. I loved traveling, but it was sure nice to have a place to call home. I must say, deciding to stay in Oak Harbor was the best decision I have ever made. My parents are my best friends, I love living by the water, and it is where I met my amazing husband.....but I'll get into that soon. Besides, I couldn't leave my mommy. She wasn't just my mommy...she was my best friend. Someone who I love talking to everyday. Someone that I couldn't dare be away from. I love being around her even when she pushes my buttons.I was doing well and working all the time....but I was lonely. So I decided I would work even more. I started modeling to make some extra money on the side and feel good about myself. I did pretty good and I got hired for a lot of different jobs including one of my favorites being a KISW 99.9 Rockgirl. I had the time of my life. Hanging out with girls and making life long friendships, hanging out with bands of people I listened to, dressing up for photo shoots, hearing my voice on the radio, watching a special on Comcast television about us.....it was all so cool.

In April 2008, a friend of mine passed away leading me to ask a lot of questions to myself. What am I doing? Who am I? Am I happy? Am I living the life that I should be living.....to the fullest? Is God in my life? That day I decided to make a commitment to myself to be a better person, live my life the way that I should be living it, live it in a way that would make my parents proud. That following week I met Brad. It was amazing to me that right after I made the commitment to myself, my family, and to God things just started falling into place. At the time I had an interview with another Tribe and I was offered the position. It paid more money, it was a higher level job, I would have had to relocate, and it would have been a great career move for me. I was offered the position the day I went on my first date with Brad. I called them and told them that working for the Samish is where I belonged. I had a feeling about this particular guy. He was different from everyone else. He looked at me as if no one else was in the world....just the two of us, and I loved it. I fell hard and fast, by our third date we were madly in love with each other.

After three months of dating and living together he asked my parents permission to take my hand in marriage. He told my mom that I was the one and my mom agreed with him. Even though we had only dated for a short time, my parents knew he was the right one. On July 26th, Brad proposed to me at West Beach. The place where we had our first date, where we would take walks and have long talks. I found a piece of drift wood on the beach that said I want to grow old with you....it was like a fairy tale. When we arrived back at his parents house for a BBQ, everyone was there waiting and cheering for us. It was perfect. On top of it all, I was going to be a step mommy. I was so excited and thrilled. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect little girl. How lucky was I to be her step mommy? I was on cloud nine. Not only that, but I was gaining a whole family with nieces and nephews....Grace Elaine, Ezra Marc and Audrey Claire. They were all so excited for me to be their aunt and I couldn't have been happier. I also gained sisters and a brother. How cool is that? I love our big family.

We planned to have a wedding in May 2009. Brad's grandfather George was suddenly diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer in August 2008 and was given little time left with us. When we announced to him that we were getting married in the hospital, he was sad that he would miss such a happy day with the family. So Brad and I decided to have a private wedding with immediate family only down at our beach on his Grandma and Grandpa's 55th wedding anniversary, September 18th. It was nothing fancy, we had 2 days to plan....I wore a sun dress and flip flops at sunset. It was perfect. Ten days later, Brad's grandfather passed away peacefully with the whole family by his side. Brand new to the family, we were dealing with a family tragedy and the loss of a wonderful man who I was blessed to know and be related to, even if it was just for a short time.

Brad and I had a wedding ceremony in May 2009 where our family and friends joined us as we read our vows for the first time. It was everything I have ever dreamed of....the perfect dress, my best friends as my bridesmaids, perfect location.....I couldn't stop smiling the whole day. It was my happily ever after and I had found the one who I was meant to be with.

A few months later we purchased our first home out at the beautiful West Beach. Fix it projects and decorating a house was so much fun.

We decided that we would take our honeymoon on our real wedding one year anniversary to Maui, Hawaii. The week before we left, Brad was laid off due to lack of work. We were devastated, but we weren't going to let it ruin our honeymoon. We had paid for the whole trip ahead of time so we decided to live it up and relax on the beaches in the sun. On our one year anniversary September 18, 2009 we found out that we were pregnant. We spent the day traveling on the road to Hana with like 600 some odd turns, I threw up a billion times, and it was awful....but we will never forget that day for sure. When we returned home, reality hit. Brad was without work, we had a house payment to make and bills to pay, and now a baby on the way. Brad looked for work for months, but apparently so was everyone else due to the recession. We had really hard times, but after four months he found a really great job in Anacortes. Things were starting to look up for us......we spoke too soon. Brad broke his right hand shortly after and I was put on bed rest due to pre-term labor. Could we have a break? Was being married and living happily ever after really this hard? Through it all, we remained by each others side where I fell more in love with him everyday for being the man that he promised me to be.

In May 2010, we had a beautiful baby girl who we named Lily Anne. My whole world changed. She was perfect and I was a mommy. It was the hardest job I have ever done, but by far the most rewarding. In an instant, I was now responsible for this little tiny baby girl. Who I loved more than anything. I couldn't believe that I had just met her and I was so in love. The following months, I learned a lot about myself. Who I am? What kind of wife, mother, daughter, sister, daughter in law, sister in law and aunt I was going to be. It was a really big adjustment. Balancing everything in my life and still making time for myself. This is something I'm still working on, but I'm getting the hang of it people. In March 2011, we added a new baby girl to our family, my niece Madison West. I was so excited to be an auntie again. Excited to hold another baby and watch her grow.

A week later we found out that we were blessed again with another baby due in November 2011....this time we are having a boy. Scared, excited....so many emotions all at once. So very excited to have my babies close together so that they could grow up and be best friends like my sister and I were. So here we are now.....I am 27 weeks pregnant and looking forward to the next 10 years. How exciting the past 10 have been, I can't wait to see whats in store for me next.