30 years

I'm really not old enough to have been married 30 years. Not quite sure how that happened except that these are the things that made up those 30 years:

1) We were sealed in the Logan Temple June 12, 1980 - lots of memories from that day!
2) Our first apartment was in Brigham City for three months. Riley worked at Thiokol. I worked at Sears telephone center. We had a kitty named Meno and found a tiny abandoned black kitty we named Yoda.
3) We moved to Logan for Riley to get his Master's. I found out I was pregnant! Got a job at USU Housing office where my best friend from high school, Merry Giacomo Hitchcock, worked. Lots of firsts in Logan - first Christmas, first baby - Jason was born 10 months after we were married. :) He was the best thing to come into my life since Riley - I had two boys to look after and loved being a wife and mother. First vehicle bought together - I had a red jeep, he had a gold Mustang. We sold the jeep because it wasn't safe for a baby. We bought a little Chevy Luv pickup for Riley to drive. Second baby Andrea was born in Logan in July 1983 - we had a cute little family!
4) In 1983 when Andrea was three months old we moved to Springville - we stayed with my parents for about 6 weeks until we found a mobile home we wanted to buy in Provo to live in while Riley got his Ph.D. at BYU.
5) We spent five fun years in the mobile home at 1375 West 500 North #111 in Provo. At one point we had three kids in one small bedroom after Amy joined us in May of 1986.
6) We said goodbye to my great grandma Dora Ford and my grandma Leah Wheeler the summer of 1984. We lost Riley's mom Aileen and my grandpa Shirl Poulson at the end of 1986. My grandma Poulson died spring 1988. We lost a lot of beloved people in those four years.
7) The Nelson's Big Adventure started in August 1988 with a move to Daly City, Calif. I had never lived outside of Utah and this was scary and exciting for me. Our little family blossomed as we became closer living away from extended family. We loved our year in California, even though I got pneumonia from living in a fog bank.
8) I had started winning radio contests (and others) in November 1987 in Utah. This continued through California, Texas and back to Utah - I won at least one thing per month for 17 years! It was a fun part of my life and supplemented our family outings to places like the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and an A's game in California and tons of stuff in Texas: Schlitterbahn, Sea World, free dinners, concerts - Billy Joel and Elton John, James Taylor (3 times), Santana, Whitney Houston, Anita Baker and Sting (front row). I won airline tickets, trips to Cancun and Acapulco, coats, shoes, T-shirts, money, money, money, diamond earrings, pearl earrings, Thanksgiving dinner in a Mayflower moving van and more. I could write a book. Maybe I will.
9) We moved to Austin, Texas in August of 1989 and thought we'd only be there one semester. We ended up buying a house and lived there for 10 wonderful, fun-filled years.
10) I had a great job at Purchase Power, a national company, where I worked for six years. It was the best training for learning the computer, learning how to right consumer wrongs, learning the ins and outs of a national business and more. Wonderful job - thanks Noah.
11) Our kids grew up in Texas - we have tons of family memories that include lots of wonderful people from work, church and neighborhood. Thankfully, we still keep in touch with most of them.
12) Riley's dad Winston died in August 1995 after his cancer came back. Riley, his brothers, sister-in-law Jean and I took turns going to Utah to care for him for several months. He died while Riley was on a trip to Costa Rica. That's another book to write.
13) We moved back to Utah in the summer of 1999. Riley was hired at BYU to teach biology courses. I was a nearly full-time helper to my dad who was paralyzed in a snowmobile accident in April of 1999. He lived for 19 months and while it was excruciatingly difficult to see him in his new life, it was also wonderful to be near him and my mom and serve them. He died in November of 2000, two months after Riley's brother Randy died. Two great men.
14) I began work at Canyon Crest Elementary where I ran a reading program for below-level readers for five years. During that time I served as Relief Society president in our ward and I started back to college, just to take classes for fun. That was in 2001.
15) By 2005 I knew I wanted to be a journalist because I've always loved to write so I declared my major and worked through the comms program at BYU. I was a reporter for The Daily Universe, then the A&E editor, then the Opinions editor, at the same time interning at the Deseret News. Then I was the TA for the reporting class and graduated in Dec. 2007. Andrea and I walked for graduation in April 2008 - a milestone I never thought I would accomplish!
16) For a year or so I freelanced for Wasatch Life magazine, writing fun articles - there's even one with Riley's photos that we collaborated on. I also worked as a food critic for area restaurants but the best break came when The Daily Universe called me to take my adviser's place in the newsroom. I've been there almost two years and it's really the best, most perfect, most fun, challenging yet fulfilling job I've ever had.

There's lots more to my life with Riley. I really would have to write a book to make sure I mention our travels to Tahiti, Taiwan, Australia, Argentina, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Hawaii, Mexico and Paris. What about all the family cats: Meno, Yoda, Yeow and her babies, Callie, Tiger, Callie II the cat from Hell, Pika, Guida, Heiva, Stella and many more. The other family pets: rabbits, fish, turtles, cockroaches, mice, spiders, frogs, etc. I'd need more space to write about those fun contests, health challenges, jobs, kids growing up, aging, friends, Gladiola's adventures, girl's camp, theme parties (PeeWee Herman, Napoleon Dynamite, ponies, pirates, Wizard of Oz) our favorite family movies, songs, sayings, TV shows, outdoor adventures, house adventures including floods and renovations and more. I guess I really should write a book.

Anyway, the past 30 years have been one wild ride. I'm going to hang on for much more.