A Drive Home and a Dog

I was so excited to hit the road after such a nice flight to Salt Lake that I forgot to even take pictures of the airport once we were down. This is the road leading from the Tac Air FBO to the road that will take me to the I-215 freeway. Does that count for anything?

The freeways were clear and fast-moving for most of the 1.3-hour drive. I called my Mama to let her know that I was on my way in the rental car. I warned her that I may stop for lunch before I got there, since they had already eaten.

This is the curve just south of Santaquin towards Mona. Mona was the other little town that came to my high school, so we are only about fifteen miles outside of Nephi now!

Look at that haze! It was like this (or worse) the entire five days that I was in Utah.

Luckily, the roads were clear, too. They hadn’t had a snowstorm in a few days, and I had checked the weather ahead to see if any storms were going to visit during my stay. I hate to say it, but this wimp wouldn’t have driven down to Nephi had a storm been forecasted.

I hate hate hate driving on slick roads.

But I’m so glad that things were cold nice enough to let me come down to visit my family!

That’s right. I’m from a town that has a whole three exits from I-15! Read it and weep!

We’re kind of a big thing…in central Utah.

When I was a kid, I loved going underneath this main overpass. It meant that we were that much closer to home! I opted to take the second exit, which is closer to my parents’ home, rather than take the first exit to check out town.

If you have never been to the Ute Stampede Rodeo in Nephi, then you have something to do this very July. It happens the second weekend of every July, so now you can plan on annual attendance. It is a fun, three-day rodeo/parades/car show/craft fair/Texas Tornado Lemonade event that the whole family will love.

And, as you can see from their website, it is run by a bunch of technical wizards.

As I passed the first exit, I got to see some of town outside my window for a few miles. This big building was my high school (go Wasps?), which was completed my sophomore year. We were all so excited to get a new school! It was such a pretty building.

And it fit us all…we had about six-hundred kids in the entire four grades attending.

I’ll let that sink in for a moment. Six-hundred kids. In my entire high school.

After exiting the freeway, I drove on snowy roads towards the house that my parents built seventeen years ago. I was just a cute little teenager back then, and I remember how excited we were to move into a new house, too!

New houses. New schools. It was like Christmas everyday growing up here!

But probably the very best thing about my entire drive home was seeing this. My Mama outside in the frigid temperatures, waiting for the first sign of my arrival.

Isn’t she awesome?!

Though I had warned her that I would stop, I was just too excited to waste time eating during the drive down. I lucked out, because Mama was making soup for that evening’s dinner. And the fresh, homemade bread had just come out of the oven and was still hot.

Pretty lucky kid to arrive to a gourmet meal already!

The soup was delicious and hearty with some veggies and barley. Mama was so mindful of my healthy goals, so she even got carrot sticks and blueberries for me to munch on this weekend while others enjoyed potato chips and M&Ms. Isn’t that thoughtful?

I am happy to report that I didn’t eat a single M&M. Of course, it helped greatly that they were the Cherry-flavored ones. Yuck.

The guest room was all made up for my arrival, and I even had a welcome sign from my little brother. How can you not feel welcome with all of this food and signage going on?!

This is Rosie, who has been a member of the family for seven years. She is a sweet yellow lab that simply adores my Mom and follows her from room to room.

Rosie gave me a warm welcome by trying to give me a high-five.

And as you can see, I wasted no time in getting into comfortable clothes. Here are some sweatpants and slippers to prove it. Don’t worry…this is not what I wore to work!

Did Rosie just think that my joke was funny?!

She is a sweet dog and part of the crew now. We never had a dog growing up, so I was surprised when I found out that my parents had gotten her. But they rescued her from an abusive situation, and she has been happy and healthy in their home every since.

Aren’t they great people?

They are, just so you know.

It has been so cold and slick on the roof that my step-dad hasn’t even been able to take down the exterior Christmas lights!

And I was juuuuuuuust fine with that.

It was fun to peek around the neighborhood in which I grew up. But I was safe behind a door that was keeping the cold outside. Did I mention that it was cold?

As you can see, this year has seen plenty of snow! I am tickled that they won’t have as bad of a drought this summer.

Now that we made it to Nephi, we get to enjoy four days of fun-filled family time! I am so excited!