{HOME}

I was able to take a little trip home this last week. 

Home is such a relative term. 

I mean my home is where I live now with my hubby and my rugrats.

…but I went home, home.  You know to the old stompin grounds.

It felt even more like home because it was Labor day weekend, and the old stompin grounds produce quite a party over Labor Day weekend.

It’s Onion days you know, and that is one very special weekend in Payson City. This is a weekend to revisit some childhood memories.  Some of my best memories about home are centered around Labor day weekend, and The Golden Onion Days celebration.

I was able to leave the older kids home.  I took Tess because she is still attached if you know what I mean.(all you nursing mothers out there)

I got the kids off to school, and then Tess and I headed to the airport.

Our flight was delayed so…Tess decided to make a quick getaway.

(can’t even believe I am letting her crawl around on the floor of an airport; she’s my fourth child and I have been known to surprise myself with what I let her get away with)

Once I got to DFW, I had 10 minutes because of the delay to hope on a tram and make it to a new terminal to catch my flight.

Phew!  They were just getting ready to close the doors.  I made it.

Picture me running while pushing Tess in the stroller.  I think Tess thought it was a pretty good ride.  I thought it was a nightmare.

Got to SLC.  My lovely sister was picking me up.  I first had to figure out how I was going to get 2 suitcases, a car seat, and a baby in a stroller out to the curb to meet her.  I looked a little like a freak, but I did it.  BOO YAH!!  I like to think of myself as she-woman every now and then.  A freaky she-woman none the less.

What happens next is something that I would like to erase from memory.  I don’t want to ever relive the next five hours of my life.  Well with the exception of the little stop we made to the cutest swim suit store.  Where I purchased this little number at 1/2 off.

…and then the hell began.  This is when I began thinking that  stopping off to buy a swimsuit that I have been eyeing for months on-line was not a good idea.  Oh wait, yes it was… it was 1/2 off on Labor Day weekend, and I could try it on.  Instead of just hoping I picked the right size, and mailing it back because I guessed wrong. However, because of that little stop we ended up with:

4 hours in traffic

2 babies crying

2 hungry babies

2 crazy anxious mommies

2 pounding headaches

1 girl saying, “I can’t ever move back here.”

…and then we made it to my mom’s and all was forgotten.  She had made a delicious dinner, and I got to see my new niece London.  It was worth it.

Tess got reacquainted.

Luke showed Tess who was boss with G and G.

Luke followed Tess around.

Tess enjoyed playing with her cousin.

We enjoyed holding London.

I stayed at my sister Kristin’s house this trip.  Once we left mom and dad’s, I found a surprise waiting for me at my sisters.

YES! my new laptop.  I forgot to mention that I cried.  Did I already tell you that I have the best hubby in the whole wide world?  Well I do.  I am completely smitten. 

The next morning, the girls headed up to Swiss Days.  This is tradition, and I haven’t been in on it for about 6 years.

Man it is good to be home.

I got a few fun project ideas that I just might try and eventually share here.

Sunday was a day all about London.  She was blessed by her father in my parent’s ward.  Where my dad is bishop. 

The church was packed full of family.  It was then that I realized how great my family is.  All my Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and their kids came.  It was so fun to see all of them.  This is such a nice part of HOME that I remember.  My extended has always remained close.  I appreciate that.

We had a nice dinner following where I took some nice photos of Baby London on her big day.  Read on to see.  I also snapped this one of my lovely playing in the grass.  Beautiful, soft, lush green grass; we don’t got that in the south, Ya’ll.

 

Later that evening, we went to the park.  This is my favorite part about Payson.  This is home to me.  Payson is where I grew up.  It is such a neat little town.  Every Sunday in the evening a band concert is held in the park.  Everyone goes.  We take our chairs, and camp out listening to the band, and catching up with old friends.

When I was a kid, you would walk around and talk to all your friends.  Now we sit and listen.  Take a treat.  Enjoy the cool breeze, and run in to people haven’t seen in years.

During Labor day weekend, there are craft booths, a carnival, and yummy fair food.

As a child, we were not allowed to play, ride rides or buy food on Sunday.  We still don’t.  I think that is what I love so much about it.  It is a nice Sunday activity.  We save all the other fun stuff for Monday.

Monday it is.

Parade time.

If I could count how many times I walked the very route of this parade as a; Hatu Valley Clogger, a Payson High Cheerleader, and rode the float as Miss Payson 1996.  It was fun to be a spectator.

It was nice to be there with my family.

Somethings have changed.  We sit in a new spot.  The route is different.  I am watching it now, and instead of watching it as a kid with my sisters.  I am watching it as an adult, with my sisters and our kids.

I think Tess liked it.

After the parade, we wandered around the park, bought some jewelry, and listened to the band play for there final time this summer.

When I was a kid instead of buying jewelry, I would be riding the zipper and then considering throwing up.

After the park, it’s lunch at my parents, always a boil. (go here to read more)

After the boil, we decided that we would walk over to the ball park that is just across the street from my childhood home.  They are giving helicopter rides over there.  My sweet dad pays for me and my mom to take a little ride.

I got a pretty sweet view of my HOME from up above.  The wind blowing in the door-less helicopter while I grip on to the seat just in case I might slip and fall out.  The chopper was yellow my favorite color, and the rush of being up in one of those was so worth any fears of loosing my lunch that I had previous.  I wish I thought to take my camera, but I really didn’t think that I would go up.

Tuesday, I wake up and I know that my vacation is coming to an end.  I am ready to see my kids, but I am enjoying my time with my memories.  On the way to the airport we stop at Ikea, and my favorite shopping spot; Gardner Village.  It is then that I realize that I like this place more because it reminds me of home, and less for what the shops actually sell.

Sometimes it is nice to just go home and revisit some memories.