Arizona vs Utah

We moved here to Arizona something like 7 1/2 years ago. I had spent my whole life growing up in Utah, and was very sad to leave it. Of the things I miss the most are the mountains and the seasons. And fry sauce. Mostly the seasons. Spring was always my favorite, because of the flowers. After a long dreary winter where the white Christmas had dulled to a slushy gray, the bulb flowers start to bloom. My favorite yards were the ones just bursting with color. Yellow daffodils, red tulips, purple hyacinths. I haven't made it back in the spring time, but one of these years I will just to see the flowers. My neighbor planted some red tulips a couple weeks ago. I wanted to cry they were so pretty just the half dozen or so of them. (they didn't last very long) Last week John bought me tulips cause it wasn't the best of weeks for me. Those pathetic things are still on the counter probably dropping petals as I type.

Madison and Grandpa having a snowball fight-something that's a little more difficult to do in Arizona (I don't have a picture of spring flowers)
One of the many things on the side of why Arizona is better is Deseret Industries. Yeah I know that's a weird thing to put on the list and they have them in both places, and when I make my not-frequent-enough-semi-annual trip up to Mesa to drop off whatever I can pack in my Yukon XL, I think of how much I hate it, cause if I'm gonna leave Gilbert I better make it worth my while, so it takes half a day. But it still makes it on the list of why Arizona is better. I was pondering this as I was making my trek today. Thinking about all the junk that didn't make it in this trip, how I should do better and try and go monthly, or at least quarterly, and then this little thought popped in my head. (And this is gonna sound so awful, but it's still true) My grandmother (affectionately known as Grammy) has in the past few years truly found the joy in shopping at DI much to the dismay of everyone around her. She was always a big patron, but it's almost out of control at this point. She has 13 great grandchildren and is always on the lookout for "stuff"to buy for them. (many of the neighborhood children are the beneficiaries of her generosity as well. Toys, figurines, Happy Meal prizes, (yeah she actually paid good money for those things) etc. I have a whole box of Christmas stuff in my garage (DI doesn't take Christmas stuff this time of year, so I have at least a couple of boxes that might drive me insane if I don't remember later this year) that my parents had to bring down for my kids. This is why Arizona is better. We don't have to bear the brunt of all her gift giving. About once or twice a year is all. And it's not all horrid, I do have on or two things that made it to the "keeper" pile. Most of it is however just awful-manky old, loved too much by other kids stuffed animals, figurines that are broken with "Smith Family Reunion 1987" painted on the front, someone else's homemade Christmas ornaments (I think I got a couple of those this last year) and by homemade I mean simple ugly wooden gingerbread men with those little fuzzy balls glued on and other stuff painted on. My cousins in Utah at least are grateful to live far enough away that they know she'd never shop at their DI, so they can take the little treasures to a different one and some other grandma can bless the lives of their grandchildren. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that she has found something that makes her happy. She tells me she feels like "a little kid again" and I think she is totally trying to make up for a childhood where she grew up in the depression and had nothing. I also am truly sorry most of the time that my kids live so far away from any family. I want them to know her, know their cousins, know their aunts and uncles and other grandparents better. I say most of the time because sometimes, in some situations, distance can be a good thing.

Madison and Grammy