The Best and Worst of Living in Utah

This weekend we said goodbye to our very first home together:

When we said goodbye to the house, I cried. There were so many wonderful beautiful moments that are associated with this house. It was our first place together--so many things happened here and we fell more in love. I'm so grateful that RBH was confident/sauve/perfect enough to trick me into getting married this summer so that we had all this time in this house together.

Whenever I say goodbye to a place that is filled with these sorts of memories I think about the part in Sense and Sensibility when Marianne says goodbye to Norland and she is super over-dramatic about it:

"Dear, dear Norland!" said Marianne, as she wandered alone before the house, on the last evening of their being there; "when shall I cease to regret you?--when learn to feel a home elsewhere?--Oh happy house! could you know what I suffer in now viewing you from this spot, from whence perhaps I may view you now more!--And you, ye well-known trees!--but you will continue the same.--No leaf will decay because we are removed, nor any branch become motionless although we can observe you no longer!--No; you will continue the same; unconscious of the pleasure or the regret you occasion, and insensible of any change in those who walk under your shade!--But who will remain to enjoy you?"
- Jane Austen, Sense&Sensibility, Chapter 5

I was Oh Happy House-ing all over the place when we had to leave. We are really excited for our next adventure, though. In honor of change, hellos, and goobyes, I have compiled a list of things that I will miss about Utah and things that I will not miss about Utah...







Things I Will Miss About Utah (both Provo&Logan):

1. Our Ward - We love our Spanish Ward. It has probably been the highlight for me in our time here. Great experiences, amazing people.

It brought me my bff here. ^ We had a hard time saying goodbye. La amo con todo mi ser.

2. Living by Illinois friends - it has been SO fun to be by friends from home and to have RBH know them and love them as I do.

^Especially The Four. These are the truest friends in the world. They know my soul.

3. Living by mission friends - so many of them live here and they are already friends that both RBH and I had separately before we were a couple. We love them mucho. (This also includes being able to go to mission reunions)

4. ...having friends. hahaha. I loved my years with the Logies and here in Provo. We don't know a soul where we are going.

5. Being able to talk to professionals that understand the way good Christian LDS people (Mormons) live. Example: the 20 minutes I spent convincing my doctor in Illinois that I did NOT need the HPV vaccine before I left to serve my mission. "No. I am not sexually active. I don't need this" "but you're going to be gone for 18 months, and you may become sexually active." "I promise you, I won't" "You can't make those kind of promises." "Sorry, Dr. I already have and I'm not planning on breaking promises with Him anytime soon." ...compared to the conversations I have had with my doctors here that just take my word for it that no, I have never had alcohol and yes, my husband and I are each other's only sexual partners ever. No questions asked, they just take it down on their records. Sweet simplicity. 

6. Deseret book - this may be the saddest thing to leave. I. need. it. Where will we go on dates now??

^ Fact. That guy in the white cap? Is the same guy whose face is on the cover of this book. CRAZY. Sometimes we always twice saw LDS famous people at Deseret Book. Fortunately, I got this one amazingly clear and wonderful shot of one of them hahahah

7. Being close to cool church stuff - there are awesome church sites, lots of graves of cool people, special conferences, firesides, devotionals, classes, people come and visit here, General Conference, randomly seeing GAs in public places haha. I will miss this a lot. So many things to take advantage of here.

8. The Logan Institute - the love of my life. The best moments of my college life happened here. The place where I had to un-convince myself 576 times not to just drop my major and study to be an institute teacher. This place is "one of my waters of Mormon." 

9. The rolls here. What are in these things?? Forreal. You just don't get bread like that anywhere else.

10. The Wall - we lived there haha. Partly because one of our great friends worked there, partly because one of our great friends played concerts there, but mostly because watching Bulls games while eating the best fries in the valley & a hecka good burger is our idea of the best kinda night there is. We will miss you, Wall, and we know you will miss us too. (Sidenote: Zupas, come to TX, please!)

11. Living by Family Members - I have lived by my broski forever and ever and I will miss that a lot. We also have extended family members that live nearby and family that is in reasonable driving distance.

12.All the temples here. It is awesome to have so many close by. They are beautiful and a blessing to me.

13. Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. It is so easy to live our budget here. Sigh. I love it.

14. It is BEAUTIFUL here. I didn't realize how much I love the mountains until late in my UT residency. Cool parks, landmarks, canyons, and hikes are so close by.

I mean, seriously? This was my running view. Getouttahere.

Things I Will Not Miss (both Provo&Logan):

1. Utah. Drivers. - Oh. My. Guys. I can't even put words to this. There. Are. No. Words. I have never in my life seen the things I have seen on the road here. I cant...even....I have to come back to this later. I'm sweating.

2. Provo traffic patterns/lights - okay I will skip to this then. Traffic lights here use timers and not sensors. This was an entirely new concept to me. Was I just spoiled in IL with sensors for traffic lights? I don't get it. Traffic patterns are awful here. So much congestion. Also, there is not a single Provo dweller that can tell me they haven't almost gotten in an accident in the Zupas/OliveGarden parking lot or by the highway entrance/exit/UVU area. Fess up.

3. The YSA crowd of Provo = wannabe hipsters and vivint bros. Others had told me about this but I didn't really understand it till I moved here. One of my first days here I sat on one of the benches in the library entrance, and I think my mouth was gaping open the whole time. Everybody dresses exactly alike. It is like a freakish zombie movie sort of feeling. And all 2 years behind. Which is probably the thing that blows my mind the most haha. The whole everything that is popular in the East finally makes its way here 2 years later IS REAL. I have been a witness. (I don't dress "with-it" haha don't worry I just watch).

4. That moment when I was living in Logan and realized there wasn't a Target for 45 minutes and started hyperventilating.

5. That other moment when they shut down Borders while I was on my mission. Yeah. Grudges.

6. Back in the day, I probably would've said a lack of cultural diversity. I mean, I kind of still feel that, but it is just a different type of cultural diversity. I definitely was introduced to new cultures in UT that I had never been exposed to in IL. Also - just move away from dorms hahah. There are tons of people from all over in the areas that I/we lived in and I loved that.

7. People that act like they don't like Mormons just because there are so many here. Especially when they are Mormon too...Then, like, move away, man. Mormons that claim to not like Mormons are hilarious. And people that hate Mormons just because they are 58% of the state's population are also hilarious.

8. On a similar note: people that obsess over Utah and can't fathom ever leaving to see if there is anything better and people that constantly talk about how much they hate Utah and bash on Utah...while they are living here. Both of these types of people need to move away from Utah haha.

8. How do I explain this one....One day I had to take my temple bag to work because I didn't have time to go home in between and I really just didn't have another choice (I was walking not driving). I felt like 567 people all judged me like I was trying to brag or promote my righteousness or something. I missed living in Illinois so bad that day; if I brought that bag around there, nobody would've blinked an eye. Nobody knew what my Mormon-y jewelry or items meant when I carried them around there. People would ask, and we would talk about it. Nobody thought I was being self-righteous, though. I feel way more self conscious when I study my scriptures in public here than I did in Illinois because I always feel like people are thinking I'm trying to be something or I'm full of my own righteousness or something. I don't believe in spiritual competition haha. Am I full of it?

9. Did I mention the driving?
I know I'm joking about it but it is a serious concern I have. There is something very wrong with the Drivers Ed program here or SOMETHING. There is no way that they teach highway driving in Utah. There can't be. I'm not sure a UT plated car has ever passed me on the left. I thought that was the end of my driving complaints, that is, until I moved to Provo...
Guys. If you have ever driven in Provo and are still alive to tell the tale, I commend you. I was seriously FEARFUL of driving while living here. Every time I would go out driving it was a constant defense mechanism of wondering if that person was really going to stop at their stop sign or if anybody at this intersection was going to really honor the right of way. OH and pedestrians. Pedestrians that stink at being pedestrians haha. They wouldn't survive a day walking in a big city. I really want to do a research study on why all this happens. I have several theories. Worst drivers in America. Aaaaaand rant over.


Should I have put the positive list at the end? haha (There are more good than bad, go back and read the good)

Regardless of the good, the bad, and "the Elijahs" ;) - we will always love you, Utah. You have been so good to me. Thank you for being my home for 4 years. Stay dry, you hear?