Utah

One of my best friends from high school finally found the man of her dreams. She got married later than most of her close friends, but that's sort of what happens in mormon circles. They get married young and start having babies. We're only 26, not old by any means! She used to joke with me asking what was wrong with her, and I would tell her she has too much ambition to let a guy tie her down so early in life. She graduated Law up at BYU and passed her BAR and everything. I'm so proud of Leslie and what amazing accomplishments she has made in life. Finally, Austin was able to rope her in and get her to marry him. So I was super excited when I got my invitation in the mail! Bobby was unable to attend with me. It was really hard with the kids, plus he was going to be gone the weekends before and after that, and he didn't want to miss out on that time with the kids. I was okay with that, because Leslie was getting married where I grew up. Salt Lake City, Utah!

I was so excited to go back and visit. I spent the majority of my first day there just seeing things. Old places I had lived, my grand parents house that I basically grew up in, schools I had attended. It was fun to re-live some memories. I was having a hay day checking in places on facebook and taking pictures sending to my mommy and daddy. I cried at my grand parents house. It has been so run down it was so sad. My grandparents kept their yard beautiful, my pops used to mow the lawn and trim trees. I remember my Grammie waking up early in the morning to water her grass and move the sprinkler around all the time. Their home was beautiful. I have so many memories growing up there. The porch swing in the back was broken... I remember we spent a lot of time out on that swing. All of us would just pile on and swing and watch the tall trees sway. The wind would pick up in the spring and hundreds of butterflies would come out! I remember my sister and I would get the tennis rackets and catch the ones that would land on the grass then put them in jars. We let them go a few minutes later, we just wanted to watch them. My Grammie used to grow strawberries and tomatoes. She had a plumb tree, an apple tree, a pear tree... we used to go to the neighbors and pick from their cherry trees they had. It was a beautiful up bringing. I barely recognized it when I saw it. I'm not going to post the pictures I took... it's just too heart breaking.

This is the condo we lived at when we lived in Eden and the view that we had out of our back patio.

Nikki used to ride her bike around, and then put her bike RIGHT NEXT to the creek, it was just outside our patio, and then take off exploring! My mom would see it and think the worst. We would send out mass search parties for her and she would show up 30 min later like 'oh hey guys what's up?'. 

We used to get big huge tires, sit inside of them, and roll down these hills. It was awesome.

This tree? Best climbing tree ever. We had a huge blue tarp that was tied to a few branches and we would lay in it in the middle of the tree and just hang out. 

There was a golf course right next to our condo too. See those trees? It was like its own little jungle in there. We would sneak on to the golf course and find lost golf balls, then sell them to the golfers for .50! We had such a blast.

I busted my booty on this hill on my bike once. It doesn't look like much of a hill in the picture, but it is. we all used to just put our feet up and glide down. I got going too fast, lost my balance and ended up skidding down. I remember someone's dad carried me home to my mom. It was SO painful getting cleaned up. I had road burn on my leggs, arms, belly. Ugh. Worst ever.  

This is just a little waterfall through the winding road leaving the canyon. I pulled up my camera snapped, and hoped I got it. haha! This was the best place ever to live. I'm so glad I got to grow up here.

This was at an apartment we lived at later on. Behind the complex was this road and we used to race on our bikes up and down. 

This was the view directly behind our patio

We used to ride our bikes down the road to this little market and buy chocolate and little fruits and stuff.

My middle school. I loved this school

I can't tell you how many hours I spent in this cafeteria doing dance. When we broke up into groups and weren't on stage we utilized the cafeteria. So many work outs and practices here.

My elementary school. This was the kindergarten area. That play area wasn't there when I was there! We had to cross the little street to get to our play ground. They tore it down and now it's just grass. Made me a bit sad. I wanted to see if I remembered it right. 

The picture above and below are of my church! I loved church. We went on Wednesday evenings. That's when the alternate service was, and my sister and I would go to Missionettes. I still have my binder book of lessons. Best experience ever growing up. My grandma would give us each .50 cents to give as our tithing every week. We did our Easter play here, and it was a HUGE production. Still is. They moved the location of where they do it though because the original pastors copywrited it, and when they went to a new church they took the program with them. But those were some of the best weeks of my life. I had a blast being in that play every year. I remember one year my mom was SPEEDING to get us there, and got pulled over. The officer saw our costumes and told her to hurry and get us there but not to speed! lol!

This burn spot here? It's about 20 years old. My Daddy brought a huge box of illegal fireworks one 4th of July from Texas. My, we had the entire neighborhood out to watch all our fireworks we had. My daddy was a hero that night to everyone. It was the greatest 4th of july I've ever had. I remember riding my bike around, trying to avoid getting hit by the bumble bee fireworks that were there. I don't evne know if they sell them anymore, but you would lite it and it would just bbbbzzzzzzz around in the air and be unpredictable where it went! I think it might have shot out sparks or something, but everyone would go crazy when one was lit. This spot is one of my best child hood memories. 

 

THIS here, was the coolest place when I was a kid. It is called 'Jungle Jim's'. And it was an indoor amusement park. Had all kinds of games and rides. I sent these to my daddy and he laughed. Said it was funny that 20 years later IT'S STILL EXACTLY THE SAME!!!! 

The reason I got to enjoy this trip, my beautiful friend, Leslie. She married a great man and I'm so happy for her. She was absolutely stunning in her gown.