Saturday, July 25, 2009

I fail to understand your romantic nostalgia

We've been in AZ for 2 years now. Some days that feels like forever and other days it feels like a week. I especially miss Utah on days like the 24th. There are a lot of things I miss about living in Utah, but lots of things I love about living here. Here are some of the pros and cons of each in my eyes:

Utah:
Pro - family

Pro - friends

Pro - shorter summers with lower peak temperatures

Con - winter & snow

Pro - radio stations that play something besides hip-hop

Pro - our house, ward & neighborhood (I LOVED our house in UT)

Con - commuting to work for both me and Toby

Con - living far from shopping areas (even Wal-Mart was 20 minutes away)

Pro - my job (I miss Richards & Duckworth so bad)

Con - Toby's job (no teaching jobs open when he was looking)

Pro - BYU sports (that one is for Toby)

Pro - cheap restaurants

Con - lower paying jobs


Arizona:
Pro - living by Kenlynne & her family

Con - not living by any other family

Pro - our house, ward & neighborhood (I also LOVE our house here)

Pro - excellent school for the kids

Con - all the radio stations only play hip hop

Con - HOT summers

Pro - fantastic "winters" with 60 degree weather

Pro - my job (love it!)

Pro - Toby's job

Pro - decent salaries

Pro - short commute (we live 3 miles from my work)

Con - no BYU sports (but not to worry, we upgrade directv so he gets 'The Mountain')

Pro - year-round golfing

Con - Toby has to miss out on fresh tomatoes from parents' gardens

Con - neither of us speak Spanish so ordering at a drive-thru is challenging

Pro - our yard (our yard in SF was pretty pathetically small)

Con - mowing the yard when it's 115 degrees (Toby's problem of course - as though I even know how to start a lawn mower)

Pro - we're minutes away from any shopping we could ever want to do

Pro - a house that's completely finished (no basement to worry about finishing)

Pro - an HOA that actually waters & mows the grass and keeps things looking nice

Pro - the cities & streets are always kept up and nice (no haggard-looking neighborhoods nearby)

Pro - all the speed limits are 45 MPH on main roads (no guessing & getting tickets)

Con - the snow birds (aka old people who don't know how to drive that come here in the winter)


Bottom line: despite the distance from the majority of family, we really love living here - but there are times we really miss living in Utah too. Overall I'd say we're content - and that's not a bad place to be in life.

3 comments:

beth said...

content... i love when that happens

Mary said...

We miss you too! That's what planes are made for. You'll miss us less when it's been over a year :( But you better not ever stay away that long! We may have to drive to shop but lady, it's got to be done!

Katie McCaul said...

I love it here in the summer spring and fall, but MAN i wish I lived there in the WINTER!!!