Age 10

This is our house. I didn't see any pictures in the collection at home of our house until this year. This house was awesome. My sister and I had a Jack and Jill bathroom in between our two rooms. We spent many nights closed in there after swim practice with our hair dryers on trying to warm up. It also had a great basement but those stories will come later.

When I was 10 my grandma turned 80. We had a big party for her and all the relatives on my mom's side got together. This is a picture of my mom and all her siblings and one cousin at the party. I always enjoyed getting together with the family. When I was 10 and in fifth grade I started playing the flute. My elementary school had a band and we were able to start playing once we started fifth grade. Since Amanda had started playing the violin a year earlier she performed at my grandma's birthday party. And since I knew so much about music... ha ha.. I helped her turn her violin. When I was 10 I completed my first 10k. I had kind of forgotten about this. Of course I didn't run it, since I didn't start running until well into my 20s but my sister, mom and I walked. And this was the year of the greatest Halloween costume of all time! I was a Hershey kiss and it was awesome.

I have a few school memories from the fifth grade as well. I was in Mrs. Richard's class. Mrs. Richards had been a primary teacher and I think it was her first year in fifth grade. She definitely needed to stay in the younger grades. I remember her talking about her husband, Marky Poo, a lot. I also remember that this was the first year I started to notice boys. I have distinct memories of being kicked under the desk and coming home with bruises on my shins. This was definitely the beginning of the awkward years. And I'm so glad that my parents documented it. This is a picture from Christmas at my uncle's house where I'm sleeping with my head gear on. Gotta love that.