I have turned 30! Most of my friends have approached this age with dread and sadness, feeling old and wrinkly as they approach the inevitable.
But I am really excited to be in this new decade! I loved my twenties and had so much fun-- but I think my thirties will be just as good or better. :)
Here are some of the highlights from the last ten years and the greatest times of my life.
Living in Alaska
Tough day at work. Ha! When I turned 20, I moved to Hawaii to attend the University of Hawaii. And I had some of the best times of my life there!! |
I traveled through Mexico and Guatemala with my Hawaiian buddies-- my first real experience out of the country.
I planned a trip to Europe with friends who all backed out. Natalie joined me instead but crashed her bike the second day we were in Germany and had to fly home for surgery. I stayed and traveled by myself for a month. It was such an awesome trip!! (Other than the bike crash.)
I moved home from Hawaii and got a job working at Brighton to snowboard to my heart's content.
I started dating my best friend somewhere around there:
When Todd and I were still "just friends" I asked him half jokingly if he wanted to go to Thailand with me. He said yes- and I knew in that moment that he was the kind of person I wanted to marry.
We fell in love in Thailand :)
And got married March 14, 2006
I joined the Hammond Family:
As newly weds we moved to Puerto Rico for work.
Our house
Work was really slow so we moved to Chicago.
We moved back to Utah and eventually I graduated from the U of U in Exercise Science & Nutrition. Nice hair, Todd. :)
I went back to the U and became certified in Nuclear Medicine Imaging.
Several years after graduating from the U of U in Civil Engineering, Todd took and passed the Professional Engineering exam.
Todd and I bought a house and a cat in December 2009.
We have taken dozens of weekend trips and a few big far away trips over the years.
This was our "home" in Spain for 3 weeks:
Bungee Jumping, Costa Rica
Lower Calf Creek Falls with the Hammond nieces and nephews
Our Annual Yosemite trip:
In 2008 we climbed up the "Snake Dike" route on the Half Dome. It was so cold that we didn't take any pictures till we got to the top.
At the top we got completely lost in a blizzard for a couple hours and blindly wandered around trying not to slip and fall to our deaths. That really, really sucked. Luckily the storm broke and we found the trail down.
We escaped with minor frost bite. Todd's hands blistered up and my skin peeled off. And my toenails fell off several months later. Gross.
Goblin Valley, UT
Yangshuo, China
Longsheng Rice Terraces, China
Patagonia, Chile
Patagonia, Argentina
Biking the Oregon Coastline with Natalie and Harrison
We have camped so many times I can't even begin to count...
Naturally, being married to Todd, we have done a ton of climbing over the years.
Todd and Mark on the East Buttress of El Capitan, Yosemite Todd and Mark spent four days climbing and sleeping on El Captain, Yosemite. |
The 31 pitches up The Nose of El Cap
Todd has been the drummer for a lot of bands over the years and he's played a lot of shows.
I got into running and ended up doing a couple marathons and lots of halfs and other shorter distance races.
And the number one event in my life that defines who I am and has changed me forever:
I became a mom, three weeks shy of my thirtieth birthday.