Personal Timeline

1992

February 15: I was born in Santa Ana, Orange County, California, United States. I was 8 pounds 6 ounces and 21 inches long. I was born to a mother and a father, Lynn and David. I was the youngest of five children; I had three brothers and one sister. I was almost born on February 14, Valentine’s Day, but I was about two hours too late!

December 12: My mother, Lynn, died from adrenal cancer. She had been fighting it for a couple of years; she was a fighter. The doctors gave her less time to live than she actually did live. This event has impacted my life immensely because I never got to meet my biological mother officially. But she is a huge example to me to help me not be afraid of anything, even when things are going terribly wrong.

1993

June 30: My father, Dave, got married again to a woman named Linda. She has been my mother since before I can remember, considering the fact that I was only a year and a half when they got married. They got married in the Santa Ana courthouse civilly. I still look at the pictures of that day.

Unknown date: I was outside with my brothers and dad, and I all of a sudden took off and started running down the middle of the street. I got about halfway down the street when my dad finally noticed where I was. He quickly ran after me and potentially could have saved my life.


1994

March: My brothers were going to ride their bikes over to someone’s house in our ward that lived only a couple of blocks away. I was very young, a little over two years old, but I wanted to tag along with all three of them. My parents told me no, but as soon as my brothers started leaving, I jumped on my pink, plastic bike and I tried to follow them. Obviously, they were too fast for me, and I quickly got lost in their dust, but I still pressed forward, determined that I would keep up with them. Eventually, I was extremely lost (even though I was only down the street from my house), and my parents saw me and drove over to come save me. Oddly enough, I was not scared at all by what was happening.

Unknown date: My brothers would trip me when I would walk across the hall or through the living room. They thought it was funny, but my mom tells me she was so angry that they used to do that.
1995

January 5: My little sister, Ann Marie, was born in Orange County. My parents tell me it was a very rainy night, one of the worst days in the history of Orange County. I remember them bringing her home, and I immediately disliked her very much. She took all of my limelight; I was no longer the center of attention and I did not enjoy it!

September: I started Pre-School. I remember it being very fun; I had a teacher named Mrs. Rainbolt. She was a bigger lady, but was very much fun. My favorite part was playtime on the jungle gym and swings. I remember Pre-school was the place that I met a lot of friends that I would carry with me all the way through high school.

1996

September: I began my second year of Pre-school. I remember I knew a girl named Bree, and she and I were best friends. We played at each other’s houses and had lots of fun together.

1997

September: I started Kindergarten at Barker Elementary School in Garden Grove, California. My teacher’s name was Mrs. Bauman. I remember being extremely scared of her when I saw her, and I wished I were in the class next door with the younger, nicer-looking teacher. After my first day, I told my parents that I did not like Kindergarten because of my teacher. Later, after a few more days of school, I realized that I actually did like my teacher.

September: At Kindergarten, I met my best friend, Katie Marxen. We lived a couple of blocks away, and I spent the night at her house all the time. Eventually, we, along with a few other girls in our class, joined Girl Scouts, and Katie’s mom was our group leader. We were called “Daisies.”

1998

January: I liked a boy in Kindergarten whose name was Ryan Nichols. He was the tallest, cutest boy in the class. At recess, I went up to him while he was with all of his friends and I whispered into his ear, “I like you.” His whispering response into my ear was, “Your breath smells.” Needless to say, it scarred me for a while.

September: I started the first grade with a teacher named Mrs. Brown. She was a short, blonde lady who was probably in her forties. She was a very nice lady from the very beginning.

September: I started “Daisies” again in Girl Scouts with Katie and the other girls from class. Katie’s mom was still our leader.

1999

April: In first grade, we were learning new words. Mrs. Brown put on the board the word “huge.” She asked us all to pronounce it. Naturally, we, as little first graders, did not know what an “E” did at the end of a word, so we all pronounced it as if we were saying “hug.” She explained to us how the word was pronounced. For some reason, this event sticks out in my mind.

April: My family and I went to Utah to visit with our family who lived there. We stayed with my great aunt Louise, who lived in Orem. She wasn’t a very good cook, but always tried to make us food. We also went skiing almost every single day. I had to go to the Ski School. I hated it because I did not want my family to leave me with these strangers. I ended up really loving it and wanted to go back to it every single day we went skiing. These memories come back to me whenever I go skiing now.

June: For the school Talent Show, our Girl Scouts group did an act. We were the Magic School Bus characters and we did a dance. We had little star aprons on and got to sing and dance behind a little cardboard school bus. I remember I got to wear a bunch of makeup that night, and I was so excited because I had never really had makeup on before.

September: I started second grade with a teacher named Miss Easterly. She was not the nicest teacher; she was very strict and not very entertaining. Now that I look back, I realize that she was very fair and I ended up really liking her. She had short blonde hair and was in her fifties.

September: I was still in Girl Scouts but now I was a Brownie. My mom got me new clothes from the store for our outings; I got a white shirt with a brown vest where I put my patches that I earned, and I also had a brown skirt with shorts underneath it. I remember thinking I looked so good.

October: At a Girl Scouts meeting, I challenged my fellow girl scouts to a pogo-stick competition. I made it to one thousand jumps and I beat everyone. We played games out in front of Katie’s yard.

October: Baseball Parade with Katie

December: Naples with my family and hot chocolate



2000

February 20: I got baptized and confirmed as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My baptismal day was shared with a girl in my ward who was about my age as well. We had the same program. I remember I got a journal from my grandma, in which she told me how proud she was of me for making the choice to get baptized.

September: Started third grade with the same teacher, Miss Easterly. This time I really knew her and I was considered the “Teacher’s Pet.”

September: Still a “Brownie” in Girl Scouts

2001

September: I started fourth grade with Mrs. Johnson

September 11: I was watching TV with my brother, Greg, before school and we were watching the news. We noticed that some building was being blown up, so we went and told my mom what we had seen. She turned the TV on and saw the twin towers in New York being attacked by the terrorists and started crying. At first, we did not know what was really happening, but my mom explained to us the situation. I remember her calling the school to see if we still needed to go that day, and we were assured that we still needed to. With my small mind, I still did not grasp the entire concept of what was going on, but I did know that it was not good.

2002

September: I started fifth grade with Mr. Feliciano.

2003

March: We were doing group research projects in class and had to use the computers that were provided in the classroom. My partner, Paulina, and I happened to finish early before the rest of the class, and I really wanted to know what Osama Bin Laden looked like. I typed into Google his name and pulled up a huge picture of him, but as I did this, the computer froze. This was bad because we weren’t really doing what we were supposed to, even though we were done early. I told Paulina to go tell Mr. Feliciano that we needed help to unfreeze our computer, but I made her promise that she wouldn’t tell him it was my fault that it happened, even though it totally was. She went over to the teacher, told him what had happened, but as soon as he looked over at me from across the room, I knew that Paulina had thrown me under the bus. As my teacher walked over towards me, I tried to think of an excuse for why I was looking at a picture of a terrorist. He came to me and asked me what was going on, and I immediately responded that we were just doing something for our project and we needed the computer to be unfrozen This was a total white lie, and we both knew it. He unfroze the computer and walked away with disappointment in his stance and face. For a year, I carried this guilt of lying to my teacher (I’ll come back to it).

September: I started sixth grade with Mrs. McDannel.

October: School carnival for Halloween. I worked at a beanbag toss booth and got to go through the haunted house a few times.

December: I was in chorus for school and we had a Christmas program.

2004

June: I graduated from elementary school and was so excited for Junior High School.

September: I started Junior High School at Bell Intermediate School. I was extremely scared and cried throughout the first week of it.

September: I started to enjoy school with all of my new classes, and really liked P.E. because I was the fastest seventh grade girl who could run a mile in 6:56 minutes. I was also part of the drama club and loved going to class for it.

December: I played a malfunctioning toy in the play “Babes in Toyland” for school.

2005

January: The second semester of junior high school started and I was moved from Beginning Drama to Advanced Drama with all of the eighth graders, which was extremely rare.

March: I played one of the boys’ moms in the play “Tom Sawyer.”

June: After school got out, my family and I went on a month long journey across the country. We saw many historical and church history sites such as Gettysburg, the Sacred Grove, Nauvoo, Kirtland, Jackson County, Niagara Falls, and much more. This is where I gained my testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I loved being with my family; my older brother, Josh, had just gotten home from his mission and we, along with my little sister, my older brother, and my parents went on this wonderful journey. I was thirteen years old.

September: I started eighth grade at Bell Intermediate School.

December: I was Scrooge’s older sister in the play “Bah! Humbug!” I had to sing a solo in front of the entire school and their parents that required me to sing extremely high notes. I was very nervous, but I think I sounded good. I got to wear a big cloak.

2006

January: I got suspended from school for a day because I wrote my name on a wall. I only wrote my name there because it was the “Drama Club Wall.” People who were in Drama in recent years would write their names and what play they were in. My year, people kind of got crazy about it and started drawing pictures and inappropriate things; because of them, anyone who wrote their name that year was suspended. There were eleven of us who wrote our names. I was devastated because I was not the type of student to get in trouble.

March: I played Polly in the play “Charleston.” I was the main character and had to sing solos and learn how to dance the “Charleston.” I got to wear dresses that were worn in the 1920’s.

June: I missed my eighth grade graduation because I had to go to Utah for my older sister’s college graduation. She graduated from BYU. I remember we had to drive the long ten-hour car ride up and then watched the graduation. That same night, we drove back down to California. It was intense!

September: I started high school at Pacifica High. I was very scared to start at a new school; I registered a couple of days before school started and I had memorized all of my classes. On the first day, we got our official schedules, and all of my classes had changed! I was so scared and could not figure out where I was going in this huge school.

Unknown date: I liked a boy named Dennis Bronson. He was a year older than me and went to the same school as me; we were both members of the Church and he was the cutest boy I had every known. Everyone else did not approve of me liking him (now that I look back at it, he was kind of a wimp), and eventually I decided that he was not really what I wanted in a guy.

2007

September: I started tenth grade at Pacifica High School.

November: I had my eye on a boy named Charlie Madden. He was very cute and was interested in me too, but I was fifteen years old and had decided to wait until I was sixteen to date him. When I told him this, he decided that he would just go date some other girl, even though he told me he still liked me. I was actually very heartbroken, and did not even want to give him a chance after that (looking back at it now, I probably shouldn’t have).

2008

February: After I had turned sixteen, Charlie still wanted me to date him and kept trying to get me to give him a chance. I didn’t give in at this time.

March: Finally, I gave Charlie a chance and decided that I would date him. He and I were boyfriend and girlfriend, and it was kind of cool for a while. But he started saying some inappropriate things to me, and my parents found out. They told me I should probably stop seeing him, so I took it upon myself to tell Charlie that, even though I wanted to be rebellious against my parents.

May: After dating Charlie for about a month, I decided to take a break from him and see how it went from there. He agreed that that’s what we needed to do.

August: Charlie and I had made it through the entire summer together; we saw each other as often as we could (which was kind of difficult because I was on vacation a lot), and he eventually told me that he loved me. He even gave me a ring that said “Always” on it. I thought we would last forever, in my young sixteen-year-old brain.

September: I started my junior year of high school. On the first day of school, Charlie told me he didn’t want to even try to date me anymore, and that was that. It came out of nowhere because a couple of weeks before, he had given me the ring. I remember crying as soon as I got home because I felt betrayed and confused. For the next couple of months, Charlie still tried to get in contact with me, but I wouldn’t have it.

November: I sat next to a guy named Clay Leonard in my Anatomy class. Our teacher’s name was Mrs. Stankewich; she was a character. One day, Clay asked me out on a date; I was so excited because I was totally interested in him. He was the star receiver on the football team, and he was only a junior, like me. I, of course, said yes, and we soon had ourselves a double date with my best friend and his best friend. We went to Ruby’s on the Huntington Beach pier and played beach volleyball with some random people. By the end of the night, he kissed me! I thought that this relationship was going to go somewhere.

November: Clay took me out on another date, but this time we went to Downtown Disney and walked around. We got some popcorn and just talked. While we were there, we saw Leah Hicken, Dane Brodowski, Travis Johnson, and Seth Trader; they were spying on us on our date! We decided to play a trick on them, and started spying on them before they even found us. Eventually we all got together by the end of the night and laughed about what had happened. When Clay took me home, he kissed me again, and told me that he really liked me.

November: A week after our second date, Clay had a new girlfriend. Her name was Bree; she was the same girl that I was friends with in pre-school. I was so angry and hurt at what he did to me, but honestly, I think he didn’t want to seriously date me because I wouldn’t have sex with him. It was better for me in the long run, but still kind of awkward because we still sat next to each other in class.

December: While I was dating Clay for a little bit, the quarterback of the football team was trying to get with me, but I wouldn’t give him the time of day because I wanted to date Clay. His name was Ray, and he was a very popular senior. Now that Clay had moved on, I decided to give Ray a chance. For about a month, he would come over to my house and hang out with me. He got along with my family very well, but there was something that just seemed off about the whole situation. He would never want me to go over to his house and meet his family and wouldn’t really talk to me when he saw me at school. Right after Christmas, we went on a real date and he kissed me. I was so excited!

2009

January: The next couple of days after Ray kissed me, he didn’t talk to me at all. I tried to keep conversations going, but he wouldn’t really respond to me very much. Eventually I got the hint and realized that he had gotten what he wanted and didn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore.

January 11: My good friend, Mike, set me up with a new guy; his name was Tim Hutson, and he was a year younger than me. I was tired of dating jerks, so I had asked my friend to set me up with someone good.

January: Tim and I, along with my best friend Leah and Mike went on dates throughout this month. I was so happy because he seemed genuinely interested in me. I felt kind of dumb sometimes when I would talk too much, but he always listened very intently to what I had to say. I was finally happy.

January 29: Tim and I officially became boyfriend and girlfriend. I was hanging out at his house, and when it was time to leave, he walked me to my car. I could tell he was extremely nervous, but when he opened my door he asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes, of course.

July: I went to soccer camp at BYU for a week with Leah and our little sisters Ann Marie and Fayth. We loved it; it was our last year to go because we would be seniors the next year and wouldn’t get another chance to go to camp. We met lots of people, one in particular was a boy named Halston Wood. He was friends with Dane’s family and he was fourteen years old, but really funny and cool. We also had the best camp counselor named Gretchen Schwartz; Leah and I talked to her about everything.

September: I started my senior year of high school. I was also in ASB; Mike and I were the Athletic Commissioners. We were in charge of running the tournaments that the school had during lunch.

November 20: Tim turned seventeen. I made up a fun scavenger hunt around my house that led to where I was (in the family room). I had the fireplace going, and on the scavenger hunt, he had to follow directions and get a bunch of different pictures. At the end of the hunt, I had a photo album that he could put all of the pictures in. It was a lot of fun.

2010

January 29: Tim and I were officially together for a year.

March: Mike and I had to run a tournament for March Madness. It was a three-on-three basketball tournament. I remember being very tired after every day because we had to pick up the trash that people left near the courts and be late to our class after lunch.

April: The first week, right after March Madness, Mike and I had to run another tournament, but this time it was Homeroom Volleyball. All of the homerooms (fourth period) could sign up and play. This lasted for about two weeks; I was so done by the end of this tournament because we had been doing tournaments for a month and a half.

April 29: After a couple months of contemplating what I should do about college, I decided that it was best for me to go away to BYU-Idaho. I was not a very pleasant person to be around during these couple of months; I was especially not very nice to Tim because I was stressed out. I was torn between going to Cal State Long Beach because I would be home and continue my relationship with Tim, but I also wanted to go to BYU-Idaho because I got a good feeling that that is what I should do. Obviously, I made the right choice.

June 23: I graduated from Pacifica High School! We graduated at the Bolsa Grande High School’s football stadium at five in the evening. A lot of my family came, including Mike and Tim, and we went to Ruby’s afterwards to eat. It was a very fun day.

June 23-24: Grad night. We went to Dave and Buster’s in Irvine. I hung out with Mark Thompson, a good friend from school, the entire night. We had a lot of fun with the arcade games, ate lots of food, and also watched a hypnotist. We didn’t get home until six in the morning.

Summer: I worked every single day during the summer, besides Sundays and some Saturdays at a café in Los Alamitos called Sheldon’s Café. It was right next to the Los Alamitos hospital.

August: I broke up with Tim because I was going off to college in Idaho at BYU-Idaho. I cried for the first day, but I soon decided that it was what was best for me.

September 4: Leah and I left California to come to Idaho; my dad and her mom drove us up in my dad’s truck, and my mom flew up to Salt Lake to meet us there and then drive up. It was very hard because I missed Tim a lot.

September 9: I started my first day of college at BYU-Idaho. I was terrified, but I made it through just fine! I was nervous being on my own, but I eventually got used to it.

September 12: Because I was late for ward prayer this night, I met my future husband, Greg Livingston. He was also late for ward prayer, and we started talking. He got my number, and didn’t call me for a week!

September-October: Greg and I saw each other pretty much every single day.

November: For Thanksgiving, Greg and I went down to Park City. This is when I met his family. I was really nervous, but it ended up being very fun. The night before Thanksgiving, we drove up to Rexburg and stayed with his aunt and uncle, Lisa and Corey Child. They have three boys, Ben, Austin, and Jacob. I loved being with them; it was nice being with a good family on Thanksgiving since I couldn’t be with my family.

December 17: I got to fly to New York to be with Steph, Anthony, and Benjamin. I stayed there for a couple of days, and then went back home to California for a few weeks until I went to BYU-Idaho again.

2011

January-April: Greg came down to meet my family and spend time with my in California until we went back up to Utah, and I continued on to Idaho. Greg and I were apart while he worked in Park City and I went to school for the winter semester, three months. We did get to see each other occasionally throughout the semester.

April: I got to go back home for Spring Break and visit with my friends and family. Greg came down for his friend’s wedding towards the end of that week.

April 16: Spring semester started at BYU-Idaho, and now Greg and I were together every single day again! It was a very happy time.

May 17: I started working as the secretary at the Madison Fire Department in Rexburg.

May 28: Greg and I got engaged! He took me to the sand dunes and had some red flowers that spelled out “Marry me Sam?” on the side of one of the dunes. I had no idea it was coming, and we were both so excited. His roommates were out there too because they had helped set up; his roommate Cameron took pictures of us and after they left, we had a picnic. It was the most exciting day ever.