Highlighting the Decade

As the New Year also brought one decade to an end and started another, a number of blogs have taken a look at trends and important events of the past decade.  In a similar but less useful and more personal vein, I thought it might be fun to look over highlights in my life from 2001-2010.

2001:
I started the second semester of my second year at college in January.
It was our last winter in our old house.

The new one was being built.

It was our last full year with my childhood pet, cleverly named by myself when I was only in 1st grade: Ralph the cat.

I enjoyed my second summer as a counselor at Clydehurst - we built a snowman in June and did a skit of David and Bathsheba.  Yeah.

 In the fall we moved into our new house...Joel chose the color for his room.

With a large new house and family as next-door neighbors, we were able to have an exceptionally large Thanksgiving celebration with all of my Dad's siblings and their families attending.  Cousins were present in explosive amounts.

 2002:
Lots of hiking this year.
Joel and I tried to hike to Hyalite Lake in June...only to run into 8 feet of snow at the higher elevations.

We hiked to Steeple Rock with Dad during camp season.

We hiked up past Kirk Hill with my sister around Christmas time.

At camp it was a summer of pool problems....

...resulting in the unique solution of the Duck Slide.

It was also the summer of the deck.

Right after camp I headed to Portland with some friends to look into the work of Wycliff for a week.  We also visited some friends living there and took a beach day.

Then I started my last year of college.
I also received my first digital camera as a Christmas gift, actually changing my life quite a bit.

2003:
As usual, a snowman was an important part of the year.

We celebrated Easter with our annual egg-dying party.  I should note that this really is an annual tradition.  I have egg dying pictures from most years over the past decade.

We went to Wibaux for Spring Break.

I graduated with a Bachelors in Comp. E. in May and celebrated by playing Ultimate Frisbee.

A large part of the winter and spring was spent preparing for Bolivia.  Our team spent lots of time at work projects, fund raisers, and prayer meetings.

 Shortly after school ended in May, we went to Bolivia for three weeks.

The rest of the summer was, again, spent at camp.

At the end of the summer we stopped by the Grand Canyon as we took my brother to college.

In the fall I took some Bible College classes and got a part time job teaching math.  

 Left to our own devices in fetching a Christmas Tree, my Dad and sister and I had a horrendous time dragging a rather large tree through the snow back to the truck. 

At least it was beautiful.

2004:
The New Year found us rather snowy from being dragged behind a tractor on a sled.  Fond memories.

As in previous years, I found myself often at Clydehurst during retreat season.   

 The Flag Ceremony was especially touching.

 We spent some time with Grandma - one of our last times at her old house.

 One of the College Bible Studies me at our house, usually ending with warm drinks, snacks, and intense games of foosball.  Yeah.  Don't mess with me.

We had a little fire trouble when we tried to burn some grass.  Fortunately, no major harm was done.  Still, it was rather surprising to see a fire truck come rumbling down your driveway. 

The summer was a little odd.
I moved into a trailer for a few months.  It was really classy.  We called it "The Palace."

I spent a few weeks at camp, subbing as they had need.

I took a trip to Idaho for some teacher training as I had agreed to teach full-time in the fall.

 I went to Colorado with a friend to visit her family and to go to another friend's wedding.

 And, of course, I had to climb a mountain with my brother.  We finally made it up to Hyalite Peak!

2005:
The year was off to a good start with a run of spectacular sunsets.

 Science classes also continued at a good pace with an impressive demonstration of glowing pickles.  

 I attempted to go hiking on a nice day in February and decided that my car probably wouldn't make it through this puddle.  So I walked to the trail head and then back to my car.  

 My math students participated in the Math Contest - especially fun for me since it was the same contest I had participated in when I was their age.  

A field trip to Museum of the Rockies added to the fun.  (Really, sometimes I think that teaching is just way too much fun to be considered a real job.)

 We had our first annual Renaissance Faire.  

For Spring Break my sister and I went to visit my brother and meet the infamous Rachel. :)

 That summer I was back at camp where I never fail to enjoy our staff trip to the Big T Rodeo!

 In the fall school started up again with some very important experiments regarding things like gravity and Newton's Laws of motion.  

 For the holidays I was blessed to spend time with family. 

2006: 

School continued.  We had a ski day.  

Another math contest (with celebration afterwards at McDonald's). 

 As part of the Renaissance Faire we had each house build a trebuchet.  

 In the spring, a crazed robin paid homage at my house by repeatedly throwing himself into various windows.  

 Biology class was a time for celebration with the dissection of fetal pigs!

 Ultimate Frisbee games at lunch continued.

 The summer found me back at camp, this time as the head cook.  

 I took a break from cooking to go to my brother's wedding.

There may have been an incident of midnight zip-lining.

2007:
My Physical Science class took a field trip to the college and visited the labs I lived in when I was a student.

Occasionally snow dances are necessary.   

 This Renaissance Faire required windmills.

 Protocol was a hit.

 We performed a play about Tom Thumb the Great.

 We celebrated our first graduation in years!

 At camp that summer the crewboys were a crazy bunch.

 And we had our annual trip to Blue Lake - more hiking!

2008:
Early on in the year we got things rolling with the wedding of a former roommate and a particularly vibrant shade of red.

 I worked on making a T-shirt quilt with some old shirts.  

 We performed "The Rivals" to resounding applause.  Well, maybe not, but it was fun.

 I bid a fond farewell to my students at the end of the year, knowing I wouldn't be back in the fall.

 Then back to camp where crewboys are strange and I made lots of food.

 Mom and cousins enjoyed playing on the 4-wheeler.

Then off to Jerusalem where I watched a random guy (who eventually became a random friend) ride a trash trailer through the streets of the Old City.  Well, I did other things too.  Like started work on my Master's degree!

 I visited Petra (in Jordan).

And the Pyramids (in Egypt).  And, for the record, the geography portrayed in Transformers II is totally messed up.  Petra is not right next to the pyramids.

And though I got sick in Egypt, I still managed to make it home for Christmas, where I celebrated with family and a home-made Christmas headdress.  

2009:
Back to Jerusalem for another semester.  (If you want to know more, see blog posts from the last few years!)

Over the course of the semester I managed to get back to both Jordan and Egypt.  I visited Dahab in Egypt for sort of a "Spring Break."

At the end of the semester we went to Jordan again, where we watched sheep be slaughtered and learned about culture in Biblical times.

 Then I went back to the states, and back to camp, where we celebrated Christmas in July...with the tree our bus knocked over.

August saw me back in Israel, moving into a new apartment.

I spent Christmas in Jerusalem (and Bethlehem) that year, celebrating with friends.

2010:
Read the blog post just before this one.  This one is quite long enough without repeating that all again.

Conclusions:
After spending some time looking over pictures and considering the last decade, I have come to a realization. Or several.
1. I have a lot of pictures.
2. I've spent a lot of time at camp.
3. I've made a lot of snowmen.
4. I've dyed a lot of easter eggs.
5. I've played a lot of Ultimate Frisbee.
6. I've gone on a lot of hikes.
7. I've spent a lot of time with students and crew children.
8. I'm blessed with a great family...though I don't get to see them often enough.
9. I'm just pretty well blessed in general.  It's been a good decade.
10. We'll see what the next 10 years hold...