Leaving Utah

Last week I closed the Utah chapter of my book of life. The much anticipated move finally came. After finishing school and moving out of my classroom, I began to pack up my apartment. It was a long process, but it was finally done. I sat with my stuff in boxes for about a week before the actual moving day came. I never did get a picture of my full living room. In my defense, half of my stuff was from my classroom.

On Friday, Brother Hatch helped me pick up the trailer. He and his nephews helped me load everything in. About halfway through I began to lose faith that everything would fit. The Tetris game began and Brother Hatch made it work somehow. It was all in there. I could not have done it without their help! That evening, Nathan and Bradford hooked up the lights for my car. They had spent hours trying to figure things out the day before and I finally had to order a special kit from Uhaul for the boys to put in.

That evening I picked up Travis from the airport. When we got to my apartment, he went to check out the trailer and check to see if the weight was ok. It was a little after midnight at this point. Apparently there is a certain amount of weight that can be put on the hitch and on the car. Well, when he went to test the trailer, he couldn't even get it to budge. He said it was too heavy and we would have to move some stuff to my car, take some stuff out, and shift around the weight. I thought, "we just loaded this whole thing and you want me to do what?" We went inside and brainstormed. He figured out that you can ship books for really cheap. He asked if I had many books. I said I had some. We went to Wal-Mart to get some boxes. Lucky for us, they were stocking their shelves and we got free boxes at 1:00 AM. We decided not to get the books out until the morning.

After a short night's rest, we got up at 6:00 and began to unpack the loaded trailer. I didn't think this would happen until we were in Ohio. I started getting out all the books I had. Children's books, school books, church books, etc. For someone who doesn't like to read, I sure had a lot of books...270 lbs to be exact. So, we boxed those up and shipped them off. Then Travis started rearranging the trailer so that the weight was distributed more evenly.

We just had hang-up after hang-up. We planned to leave by 7 and we left at 11:30. I guess all of the hang-ups did serve a purpose though. First, they made it so I was ready to get on the road. Second, they distracted me from the fact that I was leaving Utah until who knows when. When we were finally on the road and things were going smoothly, it did hit me. I started to cry a little, but I controlled myself.

I love Utah and have enjoyed the time that I have spent here over the years. You don't have to agree with me, but here are some things I love:

-the weather-I love that it gets hot and cold. I can enjoy the snow and the sun.
-the mountains-I love to just look at them, drive through them, drive up them and look out over them, rock climb and I am even learning how to enjoy hiking-as long as it is leisurely
-the people-I love being surrounded by people with my same beliefs. I also like not, but I love teaching at a school and having the kids say, "I saw you at church" or randomly sing praise to the man while they are doing centers. And of course all my wonderful friends!
-the opportunities-only in Utah can you go to the store and buy an Ensign, or attend Conference every year, or have your choice of temples to attend
-BYU-I loved going to school there. It was perfect for me!

As much as I love Utah, I am ready to start the next chapter in my life. It will be just as great as this chapter has been and I can't wait for the adventures that lie ahead!