This is me! I must have been about 6 or 7 years old here. My dad sent me 3 CD’s full of family pictures that I’ve never seen.

I need to credit the Duchess for this list of questions. I hijacked them from her blog.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? bought a house and moved across the country
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? yes, except one, and yes
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? you bet! Three sisters in law and a few friends . . .
4. Did anyone close to you die? the only person I know who died last year was Wayne Ashworth . . . and we weren’t all that close but I did things for him that I have never done for another grown up person
5. What countries did you visit? nothing exotic, unless you count The Happiest Place on Earth as a visit to a foreign land
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? a vehicle that seats at least six, so that our whole family can drive to church together
7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? the whole month of April, one of the happiest times of my life. And June 8, 2007, the day we closed on our house. And July 1, 2007, Bob’s first day of Residency. And August 11, 2007 Jack’s baptism.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? still being married to, and madly in love with, my husband after supporting him through TEN YEARS of school. I totally deserve a medal.
9. What was your biggest failure? I failed to get a photo of my dad with my sister at her wedding
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? does depression count?
11. What was the best thing you bought? my very own house
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Robert’s big brother and his wife and kids, Andrew, and my dad and Eddie. They all came in August to be here for Jack, and when they got here they went to work on my yard.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? At times, my own. Otherwise, I plead the fifth.
14. Where did most of your money go? OUR MONEY! Not student loans! (Starting in July.) It goes to the mortgage and to clothe and feed my children.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? My sister’s wedding, Bob finishing school, buying a house (are you starting to see the trend?)
16. What song will always remind you of 2007? The Carpenter’s “We’ve Only Just Begun”
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier.
b) thinner or fatter? pregnanter
c) richer or poorer? about the same, though we have stopped accumulating Student Loans
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? write more thank you’s and send more birthday cards
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? yell at my kids
20. How did you spend Christmas? overwhelmed by the generosity of family
21. Did you fall in love in 2007? I fall in love all over again every day.
22. What was your favorite TV program? Until May it was Gilmore Girls (hi Shannon!), after that . . . Biggest Loser I guess.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I can’t think of a single person that I hate. I’m boring that way.
24. What was the best book you read? I read so many, this is a blog entry on its own.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? My daughter has the same disease I do: Singing Turret’s
26. What did you want and get? MY OWN HOUSE w/Garage
27. What did you want and not get? A vegetable garden out back (my own fault, it will happen this year.)
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Was Charlotte’s Web this year? I watch it almost every day.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Thirty, Flirty and Thriving and I celebrated my Sister’s nuptials.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? finishing the year consumer-debt free
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? same old, same old
32. What kept you sane? Meeting our new friends, reading our old friends’ blogs, $20 flat rate long distance combined with my sister’s lack of employment, plus, at the very end of the year, a trip to the HOMELAND.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Rosie O’Donnell and Paris Hilton
34. What political issue stirred you the most? knee length skirts or minis? Plus the disappearance of the thong, what happened to all that visible underwear?
35. Who did you miss? My mom. Weak, I know, but true. And my hairstylist. Vain, I know, but true.

36. Who was the best new person you met? All those who have gone out of their way to become my friends are the best new people I met.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.

1. It is not just a concept that the mother sets the tone and the mood for the household. It is reality.

2. I can do hard things.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
How about a movie quote: “There’s no place like home.” Whether you call Iowa home or Utah home.