Mountains and Trees

I grew up in Grantsville.  My family has lived in this little town for four generations.  I like to joke that my "people" sacrificed everything to walk across the United States to Utah and now I live in Virginia.

We are coming up on our second anniversary this summer.  That's not completely accurate because out of the last five years, we've spent four of them living in VA.  I guess that I've noticed a shift lately, and especially on our last trip out at the end of March.  Utah doesn't really feel like home anymore.  All those years that I lived away, I always considered my home to be Utah.  My family was there, my best friend, all of my favorite places to shop, a common culture....it was all there but I've felt a shift.  We are settled here in our life and our home.  It's a good feeling to not feel quite so torn between the two places. 

Back in February, my parents announced that they would be taking a job in Chicago.  This doesn't seem like groundbreaking news.  People move all the time, I just read of a good friend here today who was moving.  But, you see, my parents have lived in Grantsville for nearly 60 years.  In my childhood, we lived in two houses, around the block from each other.  You can see how a move to Chicago would be big news. 

I'm excited for them to go, everyone should have some big adventures in their life.  Knowing that this move was imminent certainly changed the trip for me.  People move on, lives change but there was so much about my "Utah life" that didn't really change much.  Yet, now even my most stable anchors are venturing out for something new.  It all has made me realize how much I've changed and all I've experienced as I've moved.

While I was out visiting, I couldn't get enough of the mountain views.  The sweeping landscape is the complete opposite of our home here.  The vast landscapes with no people that stretched as far as I could see were majestic.  There really aren't big wide open spaces like that here.  I think I forgot how open it could be, how big the sky was.  This probably sounds silly but it was like seeing my life, each part so starkly different from the other.  Each has their beauties and their flaws, as does everything in life.  

 

An Ophir Easter

It's been years since I've been to Ophir (a ghost town) but I can remember so many experiences under those rocky mountains. We'd explore the caves, eat good food and run down to Minnie's, a small store that mostly carried penny candy.  This was even the place where we told our families that we were expecting Leo.  I can see myself as a young child picking wildflowers, as an awkward teenager, as a newly married adult.  It's been a place we celebrated big events and small and where I will forever picture my grandparents.  I learned how to love the mountains here.  It's been almost 4 years since I've been there.

For my whole life, I have gone to the same parties every year.  There was the Christmas Eve party at Grandma Lois' with so much Christmas magic, the 4th of July celebration at Grandma Barbara's with parade watching and cold cut sandwiches.  And then there was the Easter part in Ophir.  Even if there was snow on the ground, we were up in my grandparent's cabin hunting Easter eggs and eating dutch over.  I have been so lucky to have had a large close extended family. As I've become an adult, these parties have slowly gone away or changed significantly.  Homes are sold, loved ones pass away and life changes.  It doesn't stop me from mourning the loss of these special traditional memories.

My siblings

This year, we had an Ophir Easter.  I feel so lucky that my kids could experience an Ophir Easter complete with the huge Easter egg hunt and traditional trip to the Minnie's equivalent.  My little ones may not remember being there but I will.

The new Minnie's

The cousins shopping at Minnie's

 Ophir is deep in my roots and such a part of who I am.  There is something about being there that sparks in me a love for my family and for the past.  I could picture me there at all the ages and stages of my life.  It's a weird dichotomy lately, it all felt very much the same being there and completely different at the same time.  I'm thinking it's because I live in this completely different place than how I grew up.  Utah is such a huge part of me but not at the center anymore.

 

 

 I am stepping out to be my own person and start our own traditions but I still long for the past too.  There is a happy medium though, my homemade chocolate eclairs.  That's my traditional food at Easter, happy I could share it with those I love. 

 

This is how I remember Ophir, just sitting around and eating.

 

The In Between

The phrase "in between" is exactly how I would describe my life lately, maybe even for the last year.  For months in Logan, we were waiting for things to resolve, for Heber's job situation to become what we moved for, for some sign to come that would make it feel ok to settle and buy a home in Logan.  This feeling never came.

We decided to start looking for work outside of Cache Valley.  Heber applied for jobs all over the country and we ended up with 5 job offers in Northern Virginia.  Five.  The one he accepted is a job worth moving for, he's so excited.  Now, Virginia is a great place to live, lots of things to see and do, good people but....it's not the easiest place to live. The decision to return was difficult but we felt like it was the right thing.

I imagine that many wonder why we would make a second cross country move in a year and why we would return to the same place.  The answer is complicated.  Would I change the way that I did things?  Absolutely not.  There were some deep lessons I learned through this whole experience, perhaps too deep for the blog, but I would do it all again. 

As for continued "in betweenness," we are currently living in a hotel.  There just wasn't time in between accepting the job, selling our condo (!) and moving to plan a trip out to find housing.  We came out blind with a month in temporary housing and hope that it would all work out.  While this is not the ideal situation with two very young children (I'm trying not to lose my mind), it hasn't been too bad.

We have been in Virginia for a week now.  In that time we've searched for house, found one, put an offer in, counteroffered, accepted and applied for a mortgage.  I almost can't believe it myself, which is why I write it down. As you can imagine, this has led to several sleepless nights because I've been so worried about it all.  Did we make the right choice on the house?  Should we have seen it again before purchasing? How can anybody sleep while going through this process?
 
We went over to the house for an inspection on Saturday.  As I walked into the house, I loved it.  It's not perfect but I could picture a good life there.  For the first time in perhaps a year, I feel calm.  We found a house in less than a week, we sold our condo in Logan in less than a week and I feel like I can see the hand of God in my life. The long winding journey is starting to make sense in my head. 

Yay!

Our soon to be new home!

Our trees!  Always been my dream to have trees of my own!

The real reason Heber liked this house, the garage.

In all of this, Heber started his new job and has been liking his first week, I'm interested to see how he likes it when he gets to the actual work part of this adventure.  I've been visiting my old haunts and connecting with old friends.  The whole things has been rough on the kids but it will all even out when we get settled into the house next month.

The in between is not my favorite and I'm looking forward to being somewhere, to settling down.  It's all coming together!  More pictures to come.

A Grantsville Fourth

We celebrated a Grantsville Fourth of July this year and I loved it.  We have not been able to participate for the past 3 years and it was as good as I remembered.  But, I have to admit that I was thinking of our DC’s fourths too.  There’s just so much history there and really, can you beat visiting the White House on that most patriotic day?  Well, no.  Ok, it was a close tie.  

Loni, my sis, and Heber with the boys.  Look at our crowd for the parade, this wasn't even everybody.

 

 I think the thing that really threw it over the top was being able to be there with my family.  My sisters, my cousins, nieces and nephews, the grandparents, it was just so nice.  It has been over a year since I’ve seen one of my sisters and it filled me up and made me sad that we are moving away from them all.  Leo ran his little legs off outside and had a wonderful time playing. 

 

It was a day filled with all of the traditional things.  The parade, which featured much less heavy machinery and tanks than I remember, a family BBQ with so much good food.  You should know by know that my family knows how to cook and make a beautiful meal.   To me, holidays are good food.

Grandpa Matt and Amy

One notable part of the day was being able to sing a solo at the flag raising ceremony at the Fire Station.  A few weeks ago, I felt like I wanted to sing there and just couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I called up the coordinator and asked if they needed a musical number.  It was wonderful to sing in public, it really is one of my favorite things to do.  Maybe I need to seek out more opportunities like this.

 

We topped it all off with fireworks.  What a wonderful weekend.

Bear Lake

This week some friends invited us up to Bear Lake.  It was a quick trip but we all had a great time.  You know how Leo feels about beaches.

When we moved back in November, I was so welcomed by these girls.  They came to my door and brought us treats and invited us out when we were new.   They have filled our days with play dates, invites and good times.  I am going to be a better friend because of these girls. 

 

 

Life Lately in June

It's our last month in Logan and we've been taking full advantage of all the fun things to do.  

I had been waiting for ages to go to the Logan Gardeners Market.  I have so many good memories from our grad school days of us going to the market.  On most Saturdays, you'll find us there buying up some salsa and a fresh lemonade.  We've had company for some of the weeks, my folks and Heb's too.  If you make it down there, be sure to try the Crumb Brother's booth.

This guy loves riding his bike around.

 

We've been down to Grantsville to visit with my extended family.  I love to visit with my cousins, aunts and uncles and grandma.  There is so much love there.

We have been taking trips up the canyon to have fires.  This is one of the things I missed most while living in Virginia.  Our latest fire was with the Hendrick's, friends from our pre-kids days.  We got together soon after we moved back in November and it was like we had never left.  And the best part is that we like their little boy and Leo does too. 

 Every chance we get we are up in the mountains and on a trail.  Even for a short walk, we love being in these mountains.

 

We've made some major decisions lately and I feel so much less stressed.  Even though those plans include a big move in the very near future, I feel very calm about the whole situation.  I think knowing what we are doing and not living in limbo anymore makes me feel so much better about the world.  And, of course, it's at this moment that our life really settles in her and I feel like I have friends and a routine, just in time to change it all!

And we have these darling little ones.  We just love them.  Even in all the craziness.

Leo had a very fussy week last week.  This is his "it's mine!" face.  We discovered 2 molars on Saturday and it all made sense!

So that's the latest.  So much good happening.  Ah Logan, you really make it hard to leave with your great summers!

Hyrum Reservoir

Last week, Leo and I went out to Hyrum Reservoir with the cousins.  In the 9 years that I have collectively lived in Logan, I have only been one other time.  I can't believe that we haven't spent so much more time there.  It was great, 15 minutes from my house and so easy.  If you live in the area, go there.  Today. 

Leo has a long history of loving beaches.  The first time we went to Outer Banks, he was about 11 months old and he crawled and dug in the sand and was the happiest that I've ever seen him.  It was the same at our last trip back in September.

Ever since our trip to the reservoir, Leo has been asking to go back with Ryder Jude (his cousin).  In fact, on the ride home, he said, "let's go back to the beach, want to?"  Seeing him so happy makes me forget about the sand and hassle of a beach trip.  It was so fun!