Things I Will Miss. And Things I'm Excited About.

Originally, we viewed our time living at The Rental in Young Ward as just a quick pitstop on the way to where we were going. An unfortunate necessity. A brief pause that had to be endured before we could settle where we were actually meant to be.

But what we thought might only be a year extended to 2 1/2.  And our time here shifted from a disruption in our journey ... to a hugely significant part of it. It seems unthinkable now that Penny and I might never have known the young women and young women leaders in this ward--Ramona, Charlotte, Sally, Jana, and Whitney, etc. What if there was no Janet? What if we'd never met the Whittiers or the Wangsgards or lived walking distance from Aunt Sarah? What if Uncle Jodie had never been one of Jesse's young men leaders and the kids had never gone to activities on Shane Olsen's bus or given pony rides with the Young Ward youth at the county fair? What if we'd never had a Nativity or Easter morning in the Tolman's barn?

The list goes on. So much we might have missed!

In a way it feels harder to leave this ward than our last. Not that I love it more. That couldn't be true. Our Pleasant View ward members feel almost like eternal family. But we'd been with them so long that I somehow felt ok about moving on. Those relationships felt strong enough to last through distance. But all these Young Ward connections? We've just established them! It took time and effort--proactively reaching out, sitting by people, asking questions, the Lord putting me as Girls' Camp Director (a challenge I dreaded but one that connected me with so many people!), being asked to substitute teach and to minister to various people. I can see the miracle, in hindsight, of how a host of things during our time here, tied us to these people. And it feels a great loss to be leaving them just as those ties have begun to feel strong.

When we first moved in up here, a few words from Doctrine and Covenants section 111 seemed to be the Lord speaking to me. The words were these:

"It is expedient that you should form acquaintance ... in this city, as you shall be led, and as it shall be given you. ... For there are more treasures than one for you in this city."

More treasures than one indeed. (Most of those being people.) And I see now that getting to be in Young Ward before heading straight to our permanent spot in College Ward (those are actual town names by the way) was a huge part of that "more treasures than one" for us in Logan.

With that very small introduction (ha) I will now share a few things that are a bit more superficial perhaps. Things I will miss about living in this little rental. And things I am excited for about living in the new house. (In no particular order.)

Things I will miss about living in the rental:

1. Being in close proximity to everyone all of the time. (Yes, I've complained about how squished we are. We are! But there is also something great about the constant togetherness it's forced upon us. A friend of Penny's said something recently along the lines of, "It's weird when I come to your house because everyone is just always out hanging around with each other. At my house everyone is just off in their rooms." Well. Where else would they be? Even if they tried to escape to their room ... they'd still essentially be around everyone.)

2. The shared girls' bunk room. (Speaking of togetherness. The big room at the back of the rental has six beds in it for our girls. Often only four of those beds are filled. But we had Goldie here for 9 months and Daisy here for weekends here and there and the occasional summer. I love all my girls together in that room. It just feels safe and happy.)

3. The sky lights. (There are a number of sky lights in the rental. They just add another element of light and sky to the house, [and another way to see that it snowed during the night], and I will miss them.)

4. The unpretentiousness of this house. (I am excited about the size and grandness of our new house for actual living purposes, but we live in an area of widely varying financial situations. There are those with large homes and lots of land. And others living in small trailers. It has felt nice knowing nobody would feel uncomfortable or the temptation to compare to our living arrangements.)

5. Our dead-end street. (Having a dairy at the end of the road means we get a bit more traffic [milk trucks] than we otherwise would, but we still have almost no cars on our road. And you generally know anyone that does drive by.)

6. Our view. (Our views at the farm are magical, but that doesn't mean I don't love our views here. I do love them, and I'll miss them.)

7. The charming interior of the rental. (The outside is misleading. One would never guess, from the exterior, how darling the inside is. Real wood floors throughout [something we won't have at the new house as they are just so much more expensive than lvp], matching cabinets, real wooden doors and window trim. It's just such a cute home. I can't imagine a more perfect home ... for a family with three children.)

8. How cozy it is. (The darlingness combined with the smallness just makes it such a cozy little place. It's hard to get this same cozy feel in a large and open home.)

9. The Ward. (We talked about this. There are only two wards out here. We won't even change buildings when we move. But I will miss the close association and the familiarity of those I've come to know in this ward. And it feels a little sad to have to start practically from scratch again.)

10. Closeness to the elementary school/Mendon. (I love Mendon and being so close to it--especially with the kids' elementary being there. Our kids are the last ones picked up in the morning by the school bus and the first ones dropped off after school. The bus will pick them up and drop them off so much earlier and later at the new house that I don't think I will even have them take it.)

11. So little area to clean. (This is a mixed thing because the "so little area" also means every bit of clutter is visible and impossible to ignore. But I really can get the entire house clean quite quickly. Only two bathrooms and a very small amount of space to tidy. There will be so many more areas to keep tidy in the new house.)

Things that get me excited about living in the new house:

1. Not being in close proximity to everyone all of the time. (Ha! I realize this is the exact opposite to the first thing I listed in what I will miss about being in the rental. But I feel both things. I will miss everyone so constantly together. On the other hand ... it will be so nice to not always be so close together! Haha. When we went over to the house after church the other day, Mike and I were checking on something in our room while all of the kids went to check on the progress of their rooms. Quite suddenly I realized how quiet it was! It seemed an absolute marvel to me that we could all be home and not have everyone [and their noise] crowded around us! And it will just be so great to sometimes send everyone to watch a show or play a game in a different area of the house.)

2. A walkway from the driveway to the front door. (There's no little sidewalk to the front door of the rental. Particularly in the late winter/early spring months there is just no way for anyone to come into our house without walking through mud. [The garage, being full of our stuff, is not an option.] The entry is always full of muddy boots and shoes. And I'm always shouting pleas and threats as the kids head into the house to try and stop mud from being walked past the entry. [It still often is.] I don't expect the mud to stop when we move of course. Feeding animals means mud is a pretty constant part of our lives now. [The other day I looked at myself and then at Mike and said with a sigh, "Remember when we weren't just muddy all the time?" And I could have added, "And when I didn't find hay in all my coat pockets?" Ah. Those were the days.] But it will at least be nice to walk from a car to the house or vice versa without adding a thick layer of mud to our shoes.)

3. More places to sit! (There's really just one small square of living room for sitting here. You can sit on your bed of course. Or at the kitchen table. But it's going to be wonderful to have a larger living room, a loft, a reading room, and even the apartment all as options for where one might simply sit!)

4. A laundry room! (I've spent 2 1/2 years now with only a laundry closet. With laundry for nine still being a constant [and at times 10-12, depending on who is here doing laundry] there are many loads done every single day. If those loads aren't immediately folded and put away--which generally they aren't--they are on my bed or folded in baskets at the foot of my bed. It's going to seem luxurious to have a laundry room not only for laundry itself, but for wet coats and muddy boots to be placed. [As opposed to in the entryway.])

5. Space for stuff. (I'd prefer to have no stuff at all to even need a place. But the fact is ... I have a huge family and all their trappings. For example, Daisy got a sewing machine for Christmas, and we pulled out a large bin of material pieces from the storage unit. Summer and Mette got little nightstands for their new room. Jesse has various tools and ... things. Everyone just has their stuff. And there's just not really anywhere to put most of it away--out of sight and out of mind. At the very least it will be lovely to be able to tell kids to take things to their own rooms.)

6. Feeding the animals. (I don't know that I can say, "I'm excited to feed animals at the farm." That would not be wholly true. [Though I do like that it takes me outside at times I might not otherwise be out there noticing the sky, etc.] But I am excited to, when I have to feed animals, not have to first drive to the farm! Right now, since we are getting ready to butcher our steers, we are graining twice a day. Often Jesse feeds on his way to school. But we have to feed again at night. I'm usually hoping to do it before complete darkness sets in--which makes for a hectic time as the sun is currently setting right when homework, piano lessons and dinner time is afoot. It will be nice to just send kids right outside to feed without driving ten minutes first.)

7. Hanging things. (We thought we'd only be in the rental for a year. And I didn't want a bunch of holes to patch up when we left, so I figured we'd just keep the walls bare while here. But 2.5 years of bare walls has seemed a little sad, and I'm excited to hang things again!)

8. More bathrooms! Especially on Sunday mornings. (We've managed quite well with only two bathrooms actually. Yes it's a bit of a pain when multiple kids need to go to the bathroom at once. And it's not fun when you just want to go to bed but can't brush your teeth because someone is showering. But the timing of Mike leaving to work, older kids leaving to college and high school, and younger kids leaving to school is staggered enough that two bathrooms has mostly been fine. But when we all need to be ready at the same time--like on Sunday mornings--with various people wanting to shower, or curl hair, or apply make-up, or get dressed someplace besides their big, shared bathroom, well, it can get a little hectic. It's going to be great to have two more bathrooms and mostly great for me and Mike to have our own bathroom again! [On the flip side, I am not eager to have more bathrooms to clean.])

9. More ovens. (I've never had two full ovens. And my parents always managed Thanksgivings and the like just fine with one oven. But we did have a little split oven with two sections at our last house, and I'd grown accustomed to being able to cook two batches of cookies at once, or to be able to put rolls in or bake brownies while the rest of dinner was cooking. Those split ovens don't cook as evenly, but it is worth it to be able to cook multiple things at the same time. I've really missed that while we've lived here, and I am looking forward to having another little split oven in our new house. There will also be an oven in the apartment! So we could even go stick a turkey or a roast in up there while baking other things in the main kitchen. It's a luxury, I know. But I'm excited to have it again!)

10. Space for married kids! (Goldie and Wyatt live close by, so they haven't needed a place to sleep when visiting, but it will be so nice to be able to coax Abe and Kenya up to visit with promises of an actual room--rather than pads in the main living area--for sleeping! I know this will become even more important to me as more kids marry and grandbabies come. So I'm very excited about space for family to all fit, or at least more easily fit, together!

11. A big Christmas tree. :) (I don't look forward to putting the lights on, mind, but it is going to be so happy to have a big old tree every now and then for Christmas again!

12. The things I love most about the new house. (The big window, the reading room, the spaciousness, the long driveway, the big porches [hopefully, eventually, with porch swings]. So many things that are really too good to be true and that I hope I never take for granted.)

13. Living on the farm. (Even though we are living only minutes away from the farm now, it is going to feel so different to actually live on the farm. For Mike and the kids to just be able to walk right outside to work on farm projects and then come right back in for lunch, to feed animals so easily, to check on the pumpkins, or have the kids out catching frogs, to set a chair under one of the cottonwoods Mike's dad planted to read or write in the evening, or to wander to the seclusion of the back pond--all without having to drive there first, and while still being in close calling distance from kids inside, etc. It's going to feel magical. Perhaps I need a bell to call people in for dinner.)