this is the place

Judging by the last three years, we like to move in August. In 2004 we moved from Boise, ID, to Manassas, VA. Dave took a position at Micron's VA location. It was a two-year temporary assignment so we rented our house in Boise, put a bunch of stuff in storage and moved across the country. Our first home in Virginia was a three-bedroom apartment on the third floor. With three kids. Not fun. Because we were being housed in corporate housing, we thought we were going to be stuck in that apartment for two years. Fortunately we were able to make arrangements to move into a house. It was lovely. In Virginia you can rent a lot more house than you can afford to buy. Sadly we had crazy, awful landlords (LONG story) and ended up moving August 2005 into another house on the other side of the neighborhood. We enjoyed that house (after we got rid of all the cockroaches! EEEWWW!!!) and were lucky to have Dave's sister live with us for the year.

When Dave's assignment ended in Virginia, we didn't feel the desire to return to Boise. Instead he took a position with IM Flash, Micron and Intel's joint venture, in Lehi. We spent a fantastic week driving across country, seeing the sights and visiting family. We arrived in Utah in time to celebrate the International Folk Dancers 50th year. Then we had a Daniel Family reunion the last week of July. We were officially moved into the new house the first week of August 2006. Now here we are a year later. Thankfully, were are not moving this year. Three Augusts in a row (with a January thrown in too) was quite enough.

We were sad to leave Virginia. I miss all the trees. I miss being able to go see places like this:


I definitely DO NOT miss the humidity, the traffic or having to take cross-country plane rides with 3 small children to see family.

I never thought I would return to live in Utah after graduating from BYU. I confess, it's still hard to admit that we might end up here for a very long time. Here are some of the things I am not enjoying about Utah:
--the lack of trees (especially in my backyard)
--the local library
--that there are so many people here for family and friends to visit that they don't come just to see me
--my calling

On a positive note, Utah has been great in a lot of ways. Things I am enjoying about Utah:
--my neighborhood and house (though it is still largely undecorated a year later there is so much potential and I have big plans!)
--walking to church around the corner and driving five minutes to the temple
--BYU (we got our season football tickets right away when we decided to move, and we have also enjoyed going to World of Dance, Christmas Around the World, etc.)
--cool summer nights
--good friends in the neighborhood for my kids
--mountains
--LOTS of time spent with family
I know that there is much more to explore and enjoy here in Utah. I look forward to the many adventures ahead of us. I also know that so much of what has shaped my life this last year (photography, Kids Company, blogging) has been because I live here. Perhaps, this is the place after all. Well at least for now....