Let's start with the pluses, and end with the minuses, because that's where the good pictures come in, and I like suspense:
+ 1: We are about fifteen minutes away from the BEACH! Which means we also know all its secrets, like where the best spots to dig for sandcrabs are, and .... ok, that might be the only secret we know, but I submit that it is the most important one.
+2: Our ward is amazing, and since we do NOT live in UT or AZ, I can still occasionally be considered a pretty crafty wife here :) Also we get to be outside of the "bubble"(c'mon, you know what I'm talking about) and see all the goodness that exists in a million other faiths. Very inspiring. And if you think I'm exaggerating about the "million" other faiths, just picture all but three of the 100 chapels in a UT town replaced by a different church. It's amazing.
+3: We get to feed the missionaries--ha-HA!
+4: Since there are not a gajillion violinists and pianists here like there were in UT, I get to play for everything from baptisms to stake firesides...which is fun to keep me performing, and learning to make up pretty arrangements.
+5: We are growing tomatoes and have four almost ripe again. Today is November 2nd.
+6: We can keep things like oh, say...a pregnancy...a surprise for as long as we want to, until someone comes down to Disneyland again. I was thinking how funny it'd be to not tell anyone until Thanksgiving, and then show up 6 1/2 months pregnant, but of course I am not THAT good of a surprise keeper. But still, the option is there :)
+7: I have now been wearing my flip flops for a year and a half straight.
+8: Snorkeling. Utah Lake may have been exciting, but can you beat this? And oh, yeah, that picture was taken in mid September.
+9: We have as much privacy as we want, since it's a 600 mile drive for anyone to come visit. Eh? Also, we have an excuse to stop by the Cache Valley cheese factory multiple times a year. THAT warrants a plus.
+10: I can fill up a cart with fruit and veggies for about what it would cost me to get a grab bag of fruit in UT. For example, 8 lb/$1 for oranges and 4 lb/$1 for bananas are standard prices(Superior and Buy Low, guys :)).
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And now for the minuses:
-1: WHERE IS ALL THE LAND??? I know it's beach, but ... really? We should really talk to someone about putting some of those orange groves back or something, I think.
-2: No snow. We may have had some brownish speckled Christmases in UT, but a green Christmas seems kind of strange. Especially to see the Christmas lights and fake reindeer out with no icicles or snowmen.
-3: Sometimes I forget I'm supposed to feed the missionaries until that night. Heeh! PBJ night for all!
-4: I'm more than a little afraid that the only-violinist-in-the-stake thing will not be exciting for long. I love doing as many musical numbers as they ask me for, but I get wondering if people might think I'm just hamming it up :)
-5: Our dirt is made of clay. Like that same tomato plant has been working on those same four tomatoes for about a month now. On the plus side, maybe Miles and I could take up pottery again?
-6: We miss being able to call up the siblings and come hang out on random nights. And play pranks on each other. Although the best prank was probably us showing up without telling anyone last October. Meh heh heh...remember the umbrella incident at Rebekah's house, Elizabeth? Yep, I'm definitely counting down til we get to all hang out again in November and December.
-7: I have the mother of all sandal tans.
-8: The leaves NEVER CHANGE here! Bah! Instead of Utah's nice tidy Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and why-is-it-still-so-cold Spr-inter, we have Spring, Summer, why-is-it-still-86-today-it's-November, and a- little-cooler-without-so-many-flowers-maybe-frosty-grass-almost-spring.
-9: Our car just hit 322,000 miles, so someday the drive back and forth to UT may not be as exciting. And you have to admit that the alien jerky samples are very small. Although ... Cache Valley cheeeeese! :D
-10: This is what our pumpkins looked like after less than SIX DAYS:
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| Well, this one was technically Josh and Debbie's pacman pumpkin, but by Sunday it got too ant-y to take to them, so ... |
Yes, that is gross pumpkin juice and mold anchoring the pumpkin to the ground. Let me clarify that they were already moldy and attracting ants TWO days after we carved them, but I had to at least leave them out until Halloween. Then they were too squishy to pick up, so I rolled them into a garbage bag, along with their many inhabitants. Is it just me, or do pumpkins last more than a couple days outside in UT???
