A Little Trip Down Memory Lane, aka Cheshire Dr.

Well my folks are moving from our beloved home in about 2 weeks. Wow. We moved there when I was 9 years old - just about 20 years ago. So really, I grew up (albeit not much) in that home. I am a little sad about it because I have so many wonderful and fun memories at that home, such as:
Our Trampoline. It was our first tramp. We moved from Virginia and nobody out there had one. When we came out to Utah, everybody had one. It was a fine investment indeed (although my parents might have had some doubts the first week after we got it since a neighbor girl broke her foot on it). We had fun jumping on it in spring, summer, fall, and winter. Winter was great as we would get on it and jump and try to break up all the ice. I spent many hours out there practicing my gymnastics and making up routines. I loved it. (Remember Plop-for-the-Money, Erin?!) We also had many, many sleep-outs there - we usually lasted until about 4-5am and then would go inside because either: 1. it got really cold, or 2. we forgot to turn the sprinklers off.

Halloween. Halloweens were fun there. When I was young it was great because I lived in a nice, safe neighborhood and practically knew everybody. As I got older I enjoyed being there on Halloween and seeing the hundreds (yes, hundreds) of kids stop by for some treats.

The Fireplace. My dad could have lit a fire every day if it was up to him. Yes, the same man who can't stand the heat. He likes the nostalgia of it all, I think. But I loved the fireplace, too. I remember sitting there and waiting for my back to get real hot, then plopping down on the floor real fast to "sear" my back. Yessssssss.

Christmas. So many wonderful Christmases. I remember frosting and frosting and frosting sugar cookies. Eating "christmas wreaths" and toffee - my 2 favs. The huge-mongous (as Jonas would now say) Christmas trees my dad would buy every year - much to my mom's chagrin. The smell of "christmas cheese-braid" bread in the morning. Stockings hung over the fireplace. Presents under the tree. Oh, and luminaries - every year we did them and every year we loved them. Christmas there was always magical.

Hanging underwear on the wall. That's right. My cousins (Melissa, Steven, and Kristen) and my sister and I would play this game - I guess it was a game. We would stand in the upstairs office (there was a big opening/window looking to the downstairs area/entry way) and drop/throw underwear on the walls and hope they would stick. Yes, extremely weird, but waaaaay fun - you should try it. But you have to have walls that are textured and real poky.

Fried bologna. I don't know why, but we (me, my sister, and the same group of cousins, I think) made this a lot. How disgusting. We'd also create menus and restaurants quite often - serving, what else, fried bologna.

Games. My family liked, and still likes, to play board-games. Many evenings were spent playing Scrabble (the favorite), Taboo, Rumikub, and Yahtzee. My dad would always join us at the table, but unless we were playing Yahtzee, we'd get a loud grumble from him - then he'd either watch us play or play, grumbling. Actually I'm partly kidding - my dad would definitely, and jokingly, grumble if we weren't going to play Yahtzee; but he never grumbled during the games we'd play - until the end came and he had lost to a . . . girl (my mom, erin, or myself).

The Basement. Most of the basement was finished when we bought the house. But there was a whole unfinished section. One year I got a gymnastics' mat for Christmas and a roll-up beam. The mat was in actuality a wrestling mat and so it was very, very hard, to say the least. Gym floors are springy - wrestling mats apparently aren't. So I used it, but not very much. I did like my roll-up beam, though, and practiced and practiced my back-handsprings.

The Propane Heater. We had a propane heater for our cold basement. Often times we (my sister and friends/cousins) would "roast" marshmallows over the propane heater. Nothing tastes better than a s'more coated with gasoline. Yum, I want one now - seriously.

Pre-married Ben. I have 2 memories that stand out of Ben and my house - before we were married. The first one was where I and my roommies invited some BYU ward-guys to come to my folks' house for dinner and then to go and watch a BYU Devotional. I invited Ben. The only part I really remember was sitting in the devotional and hearing the speaker talk and I knew exactly what was going through Ben's mind: "I need to get back with my ex-girlfriend." Ha! I don't remember exactly what was said, but that is, indeed, what Ben was thinking during the devotional - and the whole ride home to Provo. So fun. . . not. Another memory was after my 6-week summer term in Guatemala. The day I left Ben told my roommate that "nothing" would happen with the 2 of us. Yeah, whatever. Fast-forward 6 weeks and Ben was telling my parents to have me call him no matter what time I arrived home. So I called him when I got home - maybe sometime around 12:30 or 1. Then that morning I remember him driving up to see me - and me walking down the sidewalk to greet him. Awwwww.

And Thor. Our house would not have been nearly so cool if it weren't for Thor the Pug. Nor would our family had been that cool if it weren't for Thor. He was Da' Bomb. Or something like that. Saying that we LOVED our dog would be an understatement. He truly was great and was such a part of our family!

And these are just a few of the memories. So many more memories of shoveling snow, folding newspapers with my dad in the garage, my dad waking me up to go deliver newspapers - and telling me he'd already bagged/rubber-banded the newspapers, too-numerous-to-count family gatherings, sleepovers, the smell of my mom's fresh homemade bread, sitting on the porch watching a thunderstorm with my mom, watching Jeopardy as a family, etc.

So I know that it will be sad when my parents officially move out of our home. But, really, when it all comes down to it we know that memories are not made because of where we are, but because of who we are with. . .