When I was 5 our family moved from Shumway AZ, to Spanish Fork, UT. It wasn't a big deal that I can remember. At that age your happy as long as you're with your family. I don't have many memories of Shumway but I wish I did. My older siblings talk about it like it's the greatest place on earth so I'm a little bummed I don't remember it very well. Spanish fork was good to me though. We lived in a very tight knit neighborhood. It was full of other little girls my age so I have lots of memories growing up with the other kids in the area. We could run around everyday going from one house to the next. We spent a lot of time playing in the alfalfa fields next to us, catching butterflies, pretending to be Indians and all kinds of other little girl things. All of our families got along with each other and had neighborhood parties, we helped each other out and it was a very good time in my life. I grew up thinking that this was the norm. I didn't realize how lucky we were.
When I was 12 we moved to Mapleton, UT. It was not very far from Spanish Fork at all but to me it felt like a whole new country. At first I was excited about the move because I have ADD anyways so a change of scenery is always exciting. The excitement went away pretty quickly. Friends are not very easy to make when your 12. That's the awkward age when you try wearing makeup for the first time and try shaving your legs without your mom finding out. Kids start to care about the clothes you wear and how pretty you are. It wasn't like when I was 5 and made friends with every girl my age because we didn't care about petty little things. Our new neighborhood wasn't much fun either. No kids my age and no unity between neighbors like we had before. To make a long story short I started hanging out with the wrong crowd and I ended up moving to Gunnison, UT with my sister when I was 16.
Gunnison was good to me. I got involved with sports. I loved my sister and brother in law and I was getting my life back on track. During the summer I moved back to Mapleton with my family and when my senior year started I headed back down to Gunnison to finish out high school and my beloved sports. After my senior year I went back to Mapleton.
This is the time in my life when I probably should have gone to college but instead I joined the Army. I spent about 2 months in South Carolina, 2 months in Virginia and another 2 months in Texas to complete my army training. Shortly after I returned home I was deployed to Germany for a year. Germany will always have a special place in my heart and I hope to return one day. After Germany I moved to Texas with my boyfriend that I met in Germany.
I spent 2 years of hell in Texas but that's a whole new story. If you've read my other blogs than you know all about that. After I left Texas I came back to Utah to have my first baby. I stayed with my mom for a few weeks in Mapleton before I found my own place in Orem, UT. Well kinda my own place, I rented a basement. My land lord was amazing and I'm so glad I became friends with her when I did. I stayed with her for 6 months and than I moved back home to save up for a business my sister and I were supposed to go in on together. That didn't work out as planned so I got my own place in Springville, UT. I stayed there for 6 months and moved up north to West Jordan to go in on another business. That went even worse. I rented a few rooms and after a few decided I needed my own place so I moved to an apartment in West Jordan. The business idea was turning out to be an epic fail and I had decided to break up with my long distance boy friend so I moved back home once more.
I stayed in my parents basement for over a year and now I have my own place in Spanish Fork about half a mile from our old house that I loved so much. That's right, I have lived in................ hang on I need to go back and count......... 12 different places and I've moved more than that. This time I'm not in a temporary housing situation until I figure out what to do. I'm not saving up for anything bigger and better. This is my bigger and better. It's a rent to own so I don't own it yet. I hope to own it by next year. My kids each have there own room. I have a beautiful back yard that they absolutely love. I grew up playing in this same neighborhood. The people are different now but for some reason I get this feeling that I'm home now, like I'm back from a long vacation. I love watching my kids play on there new trampoline in this awesome yard. I love watching them pick grapes off our vines and swing on the homemade swing I put on our big apricot tree. I feel like they are able to grow up the same way I did. My kids have never really gone without. They were spoiled rotten in my parents home and when I wasn't living at home Kiana always got everything she needed and than some. I've always worked hard to make sure they are well taken care of but this time it feels different. This time they are enjoying the pink and blue rooms that I provided for them instead of my parents guest bedroom in their basement. They're enjoying the yard that I have provided instead of the yard my parents or land lords have provided. They're in a house where they can make all kinds of good memories and I take great pride in the fact that I am giving them the opportunity to do that. I have been saying I WAY to much. If it wasn't for the man upstairs looking after my kids and I than none of this would be possible. I give him all the credit.
The point is that I finally feel like I'm home. I don't know what the future holds, things never go the way I plan so I've given up on trying to say where I will be in 5 years. I could eat all my words and move again in 6 months and continue to feel like a traveling gypsy. I don't plan on it though. I really hope this time my home really is home for me and my little family. Right now I don't feel like a gypsy. Right now I feel like I've gone around the world and met some amazing people but I'm back where I belong now.
