I HEART Utah (Days 24-27)

Shockingly I really do LOVE Utah. I never would have dreamed of saying that in the 4 years and 11 months that we lived there. In fact I would have said I HATED it. except for a few friends, some family, and a few great neighbors. It was not my favorite place, but the instant we got into Salt Lake and I saw the mountains I was hit with a huge wave of sadness. I missed being in Utah so much it was hard to breathe. I just about gave Ken a heart attack.
I thought of all the things I loved about living in Utah.
* Feeling Safe
* Late Summer Lightning Storms (which was right about when we arrived)
* Everything is pretty much family friendly (a welcome respite from the Bay Area)
* Having 4 Seasons
* Smaller Wards and closer church buildings
* Having 20 kids on your block all the same age as your kids
* My old preschool group
* Sunday dinners at Mindy's house
* Playing Scrabble with the DeSpain's
* Fruit Trees in everyones backyard (seriously it's like they don't believe in them in TX)
* Cooking dinner with Tasha
* Knowing my neighbors and not being the only SAHM on the street
* And MY HOUSE!

This is my house. Our 1st home. We worked so hard on the landscaping and I loved it. I loved sitting on my porch and watching the kids ride their bikes. I really like my house now, but I still LOVE my old house. Which is kind of weird because our home now is much bigger, nicer, has a great backyard, etc. I just don't feel the same "joy" I felt when I drive into the driveway. (Maybe that has something to do with the fact that in 4 years I still have not parked my car in the garage, but what's the point when it is detached anyways)

Anyway, we drove by our old house and saw it was for sale. Now that makes it tricky because technically since Ken telecommutes we could live anywhere...then again most of the families we loved living by have moved away too :-(

Okay, I am mad because apparantly the present owners do not know how to prune or weed. To this day I still know how much I paid for my Blue Spruce Christmas tree, and they have let it overgrow and lose it's beautiful shape! So sad.

My friend Tasha let us stay at her home. You have to love friends who let you (and my 5 tag alongs:-) stay at their house even though they aren't home. In fact she was in Texas not far from my home. And even though I woke her up at 2 am with a text message she says, "Sure, sleep in my bed, make yourself some pancakes. No biggie, just feed my dog."

Unfortunately I was only able to see Tasha for 24 hours before I left to go meet Ken in Las Vegas. We got in around 10 pm and Ken flew out at 4 pm the next day. Not much time to do laundry since all we had was pretty much sweats and dirty clothes since we were supposed to be going home. He is seriously living a crazy life and we are just along for the ride, and loving it!

I saw Allen and Mindy's family. Especially Meridin, she is our first niece to have a baby! I got to see her all huge and pregnant. Which isn't really true because she is the cutest thing EVER and is still all skinny with a basketball tummy!

I love Mindi. She is married to Ken's oldest brother and I remember before we got married I stayed one night at her house and was completely terrified. But when we lived in Utah I just fell in love with her. She is the ultimate mom, I always loved hearing her kids run up to her in the kitchen and chat with her. We just liked to go to her house and hang out and she likes to try out new recipes and cook, so I was totally into that.

Mindy and I took the kids swimming at the Spanish Fork Pool. I spent many summer days there with the boys when they were little. I finally remembered to look for my camera and found it. But vacation was supposed to be over so I really was relaxing then thinking of taking pictures. Sadly this is the only picture I took at the pool. But it was just me and Mindi with 11 kids! It was probably better to keep them from drowning then taking cute pics.

After swimming I went to Tina's house with the girls and chatted with her. The boys could not get enough of playing with Eric and Jacob, so Mindi took them back to her home for awhile. I miss Tina so much. We used to go to water aerobics together for years and mainly chat the whole time. She always makes me laugh and is the nicest person, she is just sweet to everyone.

While we were there she showed me her garden. It's growing really well. Kaylee picked Ginger some green beans. Ginger was pretty thrilled with that.


Rose got jealous of her sister holding something obviously special in her cup. And then when Kaylee showed her how to eat them she was like, "You want me to do what???"


This is Kaylee. She is such a sweet girl!

Rose still was in disbelief that you eat those things raw! Finally she tried it and would munch on them but say they were yucky, but keep munching away.



This is Bryce. He is about the same age as Rose. They got along pretty well.

This is Mya. She changed into this pretty dress and then asked me to take her picture. She is such a cutie!

Kaylee and Mya took over my camera after that. Here is one they took of Me and Ginger

And then of each other. Not too bad, they may have a photography career in their future.


Our last day I spent with Tasha. I love my Tasha, we could talk for hours about anything and everything. But mainly we just laugh! And we cook, because I like to cook and Tasha will eat it and tell me she loves it. She doesn't hurt my feelings because she knows how sensitive I am. And she knows well--everything. It's always nice to be around someone who knows you and understands you and still loves you:-) I was sad it was only 24 hours but it was better then nothing!