A New Blog Feature...Flashback Friday's !!

Since this is the closest thing I have to actually documenting my family's existence, and since many of my "faithful" blog readers haven't been around for all of our memories, I am going to dedicate a post each Friday to some of my favorite memories. Some will be joyful, some maybe sad, plenty will be funny, there might even be something profound. It will serve as a way for me to record how our family has become what and who we are.

20 years ago...young and in love. Chris and I met at a Church dance. We had been in the same young adult ward for a year and a half, but never managed to be introduced. We were however both "aware" of each other. It was love at first limrick as Chris whispered "There once was a ..." in my ear. We were engaged 5 months later and married 6 months after that. I still go weak in the knees for this guy and am so grateful for the last 20 years.



15 Years ago...still young and still in love. Two kids, one car, no mortgage. We were living in Salt Lake, Chris was going to the U, and I was loving my boys. I have lot's of memories of hiking up and down 900 south, with that stupid double stroller, for slurpees at the 7-11 by East High, enjoying the company of really good friends we met while living there, and Christopher meeting Elder Neal Maxwell, a neighbor. When I explained that he was one of Jesus' Apostles, Christopher asked, "Do you really go fishing with Jesus?"



10 Years ago...still young, still in love, really tired. We were living in South Jordan in a money pit we affectionately named "Wits End". Our "starter home" we ended up staying in for 12 years. Soo many memories of Glenmoor. At this time I was still an "on top of everything" Mom, kids in Suzuki violin and piano, everyone on a schedule, lot's of exposure to culture and healthy eating. The older boys like to tell Fairy Tales of a time when the Beckstrand kids had chore charts and practiced their instruments everyday. Our many friends and neighbors here are still some of our closest.



5 Years ago...not quite as young, still in love, really, really tired, but really happy! The smoke and mirrors of how together we are dropped when Geoffrey came along. I have likened four kids to jumping off a cliff and five to finding out you didn't pack a parachute. By this time the kids were eating white bread and fruit snacks, I had spent time homeschooling and was over it, and I didn't even attempt the matching outfits for church anymore, let alone care that sisters at church were always asking, "How are you?" in THAT tone. Although as I look at this photo, I am filled with happy memories of my bandits, and look they are in matching clothes.



Four years ago we moved to Reno. I wasn't happy about moving to Nevada, is anyone? But we soon learned what a choice place it is. Last year brought us back to Utah, reminding us to bloom where your planted. These posts won't always serve as a time line, but it was a fun place to start.

(names and dates may be changed to protect the innocent)