What we will miss about Utah...

So these aren't necessarily in order of importance, just what I thought of first (so maybe some importance if .

1. My sister...Chad and I have a good amount of family here and we have really loved being able to spend to much time with them. First I will miss my big sister Nichole and her family. I usually tear up just thinking about moving away from them. My sister is about 6 years older than me but we are still very close.
She moved to Utah when I was still in Junior High and has lived here since. So we had quite a long time away from each other. But when I got into high school I started visiting her in the summer. She was my cool older sister in college with cool and cute older guy friends. I always had such a fun time visiting her and she always treated my as an equal, not the probably sometime annoying younger sister I was. Then I graduated from high school in California and moved to Utah too to attend BYU. It was my first time living on my own and my older sister was always a support. She was married now but still always invited me over for dinner and called me a lot. I didn't have the best time at BYU and it was hard for me but my sister was a constant that I always counted on.
I moved back home after a year and found mu husband. We got married and moved back to Utah. This time we moved to Salt Lake and I attended the University of Utah. Again I loved and still love having my sister near. During the two years I have been married my sister have grown closer than ever. We try as often as we can to talk and see each other and although we sometimes have very different personalities and don't always agree on everything she is one of my best friends. I look up to her and hope to someday be as good as a mom as she is. I adore my first Niece Brielle and am sad to think I won't be 30 minutes away anymore. I am sad to know that I probably won't be close when she says her first words. I joke with Nichole that I will send Brielle a picture of me every week so she won't forget me. I have so enjoyed seeing Brielle as a newborn to seeing her now as a chubby cheeked little angel.
I am so happy to have had the time with my sister that I have. It has been a blessing in my life to live so close to her and be so close. (I really wasn't intending for this to be so long, but it is something important to me and I can write a lot when its important.) So Nichole, Chase and Brielle, Chad and I love and will miss you when we move back to California. Thanks for being such good family to us and for always being an example of what family means.

2. Extended Family...We have so much wonderful family here on both Chad's and my side. We always have fun spending time with them and will really miss all of our cousins and aunts and uncles that we have spent time with in the last 2 years.


3. Grandparents... I have been blessed to live by my grandparents for the last two years. My mom's mom lives in Ogden and we have visited often. She always cooks for us and makes us feel at home. Thanks Grandma Adams. We love you and will miss coming to your home. My Mom's dad and stepmom also live in Utah... right down the street from us in Salt Lake. They are always the ones to get all of the family together and we appreciate them for that. They are endlessly cheerful and always happy. They are wonderful grandparents and we will miss them.

4. The Mountains... Although there are mountains in California they aren't like the Mountains in Utah. I love being able to turn my head and see beautiful, majestic mountains. The Salt Lake valley has so much beauty and history and I will be so sad not to live in the midst of it anymore. It is exciting to think that I live in the same place that Brigham Young did. I live in the same place that the first pioneers did. I respect and admire the pioneers all the more for taming an unknown land and turning it ino the Utah we know today.

I like how you can even see the smog in this picture...won't be missing that although there is plenty more where we are moving!

5. The Temples... In California the nearest temple to us is about an hour and a half away. Here it takes us 15 minutes to get there. We have loved attending the temple often in UTah and are so blessed to have so many so close. We have loved going to different temples and experiencing each ones different beauties but also have loved how they are the same in many ways. Mostly it is comforting to know that each temple we visit, we know that the Lord presides there. We know that we are in the Lord's house and are helping his kingdom grow. While we will still have a temple in Cali it will be harder to not have one right down the street. We love Utah for the wonderful temples it contains, especially the Salt Lake temple and its beauty.

Bountiful Temple

Salt Lake Temple

Jordan River temple

6. The University of Utah- I have really loved this school...more than I thought I would. I started out at BYU so it was a big change to switch to the U, but I am so glad I did. I loved BYU but it just wasn't a good fit for me. I neede something with a little more diversity of ideas and people. I have had such a good experience with the U. I have so many wonderful teachers who are just brilliant. I have had men and women, younger and older. And every teacher has taught me something new. Although I am glad to be done with my bachelor's and be able to move on, I will sorely miss the U. It has been a big part of my life for over 2 years and it will be hard not having it there.

7. Friends- Chad and I have made so many wonderful friends while we have lived here. We have gotten closer to family members and strengthened those friendships. We have made new friends at our jobs and at school. It is hard to move on once you have made so many good friends but we would just like to say that we definitely won't forget any of you and thank you for welcoming us to Salt Lake! I will definitely miss all of my friends from Cafe Rio! You know who you are. We have had so many wonderful get togethers and life just won't be the same without them around

8. The place where we started our marriage... Utah will always hold a special place in my heart just because it is where Chad and I started our life together. It may sound cheesy but Utah has been our home and it is all we know as a married couple. And although we have really missed our families, Utah has given us time to get to know one another...alone! I have cherished every weekend that Chad and I have had together to just be with eachother and Utah has definitely fullfilled all of my expectations.
This is us shortly after we moved to Utah.


9. Ivins Ward- We were in one ward previous to moving to Salt Lake, but we were only there for a few weeks. So the Ivins ward has been our ward for the better part of two years. We have really become attached to our ward family. We have made wonderful friends and have had wonderful callings. We started out as "Daily Dose" teachers and got to teach English to non-english speakers. That was a real blessing and we met so many wonderful people. Chad has had the opportuinty to me the Ward mission leader and also gets to teach the Gospel Essentials classs. He loves teaching and always does a wonderful job. I have had the opportunity to be the Young Women's secretary and also teach the YW once a month. I so enjoyed that calling and really got to be good friends with the rest of the presidency (michelle, Laura and Heather). Most recently I have been called as a Sunbeam teacher and I really love it more than anything else I have done. I have wonderful Sunbeams. Two come most of the time and they are a joy to teach. Thank you to the Banks for raising such wonderful children for me to teach! We will miss the Ivins ward and the close knit ward we have come to love.

10. LDS Distribution Center- I have been most blessed to find a wonderful job here in Salt Lake. For over a year now I have worked as a customer service agent in the LDS distribution call center. I get to assist members and non-members alike every day in ordering chuch magazines, church materials and clothing. I really have loved this job so much. The spirit I feel everyday at work is much like what I feel when I am at Church services. My managers and trainers at work really love their staff. They treat them with kindness, fairness and most of all charity. I have never worked for a better organization and never will again. I have felt needed and wanted at work and that is what is important. I really have felt like I have made a difference when working here. I will miss all of you at work and thank you for giving me a wonderful job to be happy at!

This is my little cubicle at the distribution center. I won't necessarily miss sitting in it every day for 5 hours but I will miss my job for sure.

11. Cafe Rio- When I moved to BYU in the summer of 2006, I worked at Cafe Rio as my first job in Utah. I was thrilled just to have a job and to be my own woman! ha It was actually a really fun job and I formed some really good and lasting friendships with some of my co-workers. Many of us girls that worked there still get together once and a while when we are all in town. So after a while the job was not so much fun and I quit but I developed an addiction to Cafe Rio and since quiting I go there whenever I can to eat a delicious pork salad. Chad has also become acustomed to eating their pork tacos and now likes it almost...almost...as much as I do. We literally eat there at least a couple times a month. I know...like I said an addiction. So when we leave, Cafe Rio is definitely on my list of things to miss. California...more specifically Modest...needs to get with it and get a Cafe Rio ASAP because I don't know how long I can survive without it. I have managed to get recipes from online that immitate Cafe Rio's food so I might just have to venture into the unkknown and try to make my own Cafe Rio salads! We shall see. We shall see. Cafe Rio you will be missed.

12. Living in the snow-Maybe. I might miss this sometimes when i am really wanting to curl up by a fire and read a book while watching the snow come down outside. I won't misss walking, or rather trying to walk and falling, in the snow and ice. I also won't miss driving in it. But I will miss it. There is always something exciting about going outside just after it has snowed. It is so peaceful and beautiful. I will miss Snow Days even though I only got maybe one or two in the two years we lived here. But I was just thinking about it the other day and decided to add the snow to my things I will miss even though I might only miss it about 15-20% of the time.

I will miss times like these when you wake up and its a winter wonderland.

We have absolutely loved our two years in Utah. It is a beautiful state with wonderful people. We are leaving behind many dears friends and family and this post was to let them know that we will miss then and will be thinking of them often in sunny California. We love you all.