My "brief" history..

I wanted to write the brief history I usually tell people just in case someone reads one of my stories and doesn't understand how it relates to the rest of my life.. I guess. I'm not sure if that makes sense but oh well. In order to understand some aspects of my life people seem to need to know my general background to be able to put it into context. In later posts I'll go into more detail but this is the reader's digest version I guess you could say... so here it is:

I was born to a 19-year-old woman who was living in Tucson, Arizona September 6, 1982. I have never known my biological father. When I was 8-years-old I found out this fact (story to come later). My mom met the man I call my dad at an Institute dance in Tucson while my dad was serving in the army in Fort Huachaca (Sierra Vista, AZ). When I was 2 years old they were married- October 5, 1984 in the Mesa Arizona Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We lived in Sierra Vista for a little bit and then moved back across the country to Connecticut where my dad is from.

In relation to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we were active until I was about 6 or 7 years old. By this time 3 siblings had joined our family- Michael, Jessica, and Kymberley. When I was 10 years old I was taught by the missionaries of The Church and was baptized February 28, 1993. As far as i can remember we went inactive again within months. The missionaries would come over randomly at various points throughout life that I can remember and we had the same home teacher that stopped by every couple years or something like that. That was the extent of my contact with the church until I was about 17. By this time I was a senior at Montville High School. The missionaries started coming over more and more frequently. I hated it!! I was so mean to them whether they called or rode their bikes half hour to come see us. I was determined not to ever go back to church- I made a promise to myself that I would never go back and the promises I made to myself I always kept. I didn't see any need for any religion so I was a jerk to the missionaries but they kept coming over.

The Elders started teaching my sisters the discussions. I would lock myself in my bedroom and my window faced the street so I watch them walking out to their car and I'd finally leave my room when I knew they were completely gone. The Elders names were (Brandon) Smith and (Drew) Chisholm. One day they were over and I had been sick that day so I was tired of being in my room so I went out and sat in the living room while they were teaching my sisters. I remember it was Christmastime because our tree was up. I don't really remember a whole lot about the lesson but I think they were teaching out the organization of The Church using cups and stacking them into the shape of a chapel or a temple I don't remember.

The girls were baptized January 11, 2000. They asked me to go and I didn't really want to but I did to be a supportive older sister. At the baptism as they were changing into dry clothes we watched a video called "On the way home" which depicts a story of a little girl who is hit and killed by a car and her family trying to deal with it. They somehow learn about eternal families (I forget if it's missionaries or a neighbor or someone else) and I was balling like a baby. That is pretty much where everything changed for me when it came to The Church.

I graduated high school June 2000. I hadn't even applied to any colleges so I worked in a department store, Filene's, for the next year. My parents separated summer 2001- my mom went to visit her dad and (step)mom in Tucson for a month while us kids stayed with dad and then we joined her out there for about a month and a half so each of them could have their alone time to think about things and stuff. 2 weeks before we were to go back to Connecticut I told my mom I wanted to move to Arizona by myself. We worked it out so I would be living with my grandparents and I booked my ticket for August 16 to go back. I took 2 weeks at home to pack and hang out with friends and the family before making the big move.

The next 6+ months were pretty hard for me. My 19th birthday was just 5 days before 9/11 and my dad works at a naval base so along with the rest of the country we were trying to sort through everything. My brother was jumped and nearly killed October 4th. Thanksgiving I couldn't go home and was really homesick. December 21st (?) my dad's only brother, my Uncle Allen, died. Christmas day I was sick and just wanted to be home. My first trip home was spring break (March 2002). While there my mom told me that her and dad were getting divorced. She decided that in February right before I told her we needed new family pictures because the ones hanging in my grandparents house were like 12 years old at least (Kym was 6 months in the photo). I was the only kid to know until my siblings spring break in April. My mom then moved to Georgia in May (I think) and my sisters joined her a few weeks later when school was out.

My dad starting dating right away and they were married September 1, 2007. My mom got pregnant in 2003. She had Cody January 27, 2004 and married his father August 2004. It was/is weird because I'm 21 years older than Cody but he's the cutest, funniest kid for the most part. I love him and wouldn't trade him for the world. :)

Currently I'm in school at BYU and I plan on graduating April (2009) with my bachelor's in social work and then head straight into grad school somewhere. I guess that's it for now..