Life is Full of Achievements

This week's question from Family Search is: What will be the greatest achievement of your life?

I can't really answer this question the way it was intended. For one, I'm 26 and haven't accomplished much by the world's standards; and two, I can't pick one achievement to define my life so far. I think life is made up of several achievements that shape and define us. So, I have picked six achievements that stand out to me and that I want to share.

#1. I won the science fair in 5th grade. At my elementary school, Amelia Earhart Elementary, 5th and 6th graders could participate in the science fair. My project was titled: Which Whitening Toothpaste Whitens Teeth the Best? I took hard boiled eggs and stained them with grape juice, then I took four different toothpastes that claimed to be the #1 tooth whitener, and brushed the eggs. I brushed them over several days and recorded what I saw. I presented a poster with my recordings and pictures, and I also kept the eggs to show the judges. Winning was super exciting for an 11 year old! 2nd and 3rd place that year were also 5th graders and also girls! I got to go on to the next science fair (district level, I think), where I got 3rd place in my science (consumer sciences).

#2. I got 2nd place in Youth Smooth my senior year in high school. I was a competitive ballroom dancer during my high school years. My senior year I tried Smooth (which is American style of Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, and Viennese Waltz)  for the first time. My partner, had danced Smooth with other partners before, but this was our first year dancing that style together. I caught on really well, and we made the  finals (top 6) in almost every competition. During the last competition of the season: BYU's National Dancesport Championship, we placed 2nd in  Youth Smooth (our personal best all year)! When we looked at the individual markings for each judge and each dance, every single judge gave us 1st place in the Waltz! We also placed 5th in Youth Pre-Championship Latin (Cha-Cha, Samba, Paso Doble), and we helped our team win 1st place in Team Match. It was a great way to end my high school dancing experience.

#3. I graduated high school with high honors. School was always really important to me. I wanted to get the best grade that I could on every assignment, in every class. Yes, I was that student who asked my teachers for extra credit so that I could  go from an A- to an A. Naturally I wanted to graduate with high honors, and I worked hard to do so. (I also wanted the good grades to get into BYU, which I did.) I made the high honor roll all 4 terms of my Senior year, and I got that gold braid to drape across my shoulders for graduation. Graduating from high school was so exciting, and I could not wait for college in the fall.

#4. I married the love of my life in the temple. Getting married in the temple was always really important to me, and it was something that was also important to Gerson. So when we started talking about marriage, including the temple in that discussion was not difficult. Marrying Gerson, and being sealed to him was such a life changing moment for me. I really can't say all that I want to in one paragraph, but I did write an entire post a couple years ago: It's a Love Story and I Said Yes!

#5. I became a mother. Before I got married I didn't want kids. Because of my testimony of the Plan of Salvation, I knew that I would have them one day, but I was not looking forward to it. Shortly after marriage, something changed, and I was ready to start our family sooner than expected. I had planned to finish college, and do all sorts of traveling for dance. But that wasn't Heavenly Father's plan for me and we had Benjamin shortly after Gerson graduated, but I was still in school. I was pregnant with Luna when I graduated from BYU, and now we are a fun family of four! I really love being a mom. I was not very good with kids before I had my own, and I was nervous about not knowing how to interact with my own children. But natural instincts kicked in the moment Benjamin was born, and while there have been tough moments, I've never felt scared of caring for my own children like I did in the past. I have written Parenting and Pregnancy sections of this blog.

many posts about my mothering and pregnancy adventures in the

#6. I graduated from college. Graduating from BYU felt so good. It took a lot of hard work. I would be lying if I said I never considered quitting. I was never off track to graduate, but it felt amazing to graduate. Even though I'm not using my degree right now because I'm home with Benjamin and Luna, when our youngest goes to school, I will find a teaching job as well.

I didn't name these six achievements to say how awesome I am. I named them because I think it's important to record and remember these kind of mile stones in our lives. They map out our lives, teach us lessons, and give us great memories. I noticed that as I got older my accomplishments changed. I think that for the rest of my life, my achievements will not be my focus, but my children's achievements most certainly will be.