The Farm

When I was 5 years old, we moved to "the farm." It was a little old house on ten acres. We only lived there for two years before moving to Las Vegas, but I have a lot of fond memories of that place....
I remember the MICE....there were a lot of them. I have memories of my mom jumping on a chair in the kitchen and letting out a shriek at the sight of a mouse. It didn't take long until we invested in some cats and mouse traps. That helped, but didn't completely solve the mouse problem.
I also have memories of the coal shoot and the black mess that was left behind when the coal was dropped off. I remember the smell of the coal burning in the winter to keep us warm.
I remember the scary, smelly basement that my brothers slept in. I didn't like to go down there because there were mice and spiders and...it was smelly from my brothers and the coal furnace was down there.
I remember the well. It would freeze up at least once every winter and we would be without water for a while until my dad defrosted the pipes.
I remember the clothes line. I loved to hang upside down on it.
I remember playing in the fields and the old sheds and the old tree swing.
I remember the garden that my mom planted in the spring. I remember loading up our little car and going to a corner to sell our corn. I thought that was fun!
I remember the big trees. I loved lying under them in the summer to enjoy the cool shade. And I thought I would love sleeping under them on a summer night, but it was so dark outside that I got a little freaked out, especially when my older brothers and sisters told scary ghost stories. I don't think I made it the whole night outside! :)
For some reason, I LOVED that place, even if it had mice!

When we moved to Las Vegas, my parents kept "the farm." They wanted to move back someday. And they did...over twenty years later. (The white part of the house with siding was an addition that they added on when they moved back.)

After living there for a few years, they decided that the farm just wasn't big enough for their kids and over 50 grandchildren to come home and visit. So, they started looking into buying another house, but their hearts couldn't leave "the farm." The only other option was to tear down the house and build another one. My siblings and I were a little leary about them building a house. After all, they were almost 80 years old and we knew building a house was a lot of work. But my parents didn't think age was an issue and my dad even decided that he could be the contractor even though he knew nothing about building a house.
So, last May, I headed up to Utah with my three oldest kids to give our farewell to the farm house and help my parents move out so they could tear it down. I was just going to go because I knew there would be a lot of work to do and some of my other siblings were coming to help too, but Rachel, Tommy and Sam really wanted come with me. They loved the farm as much as I did when I was a kid. They promised they would help. There was a lot of work to do...and there were a lot of helpers, but my mom was the hardest worker (not surprising). She was the boss and everyone followed her orders! :)
I had a great time sorting through my parents "stuff." One of my favorite finds was this container of all my parents names tags when they were missionaries. They served three missions together in different countries with different languages. They went to Hungary, Cambodia and the Netherlands.



We figured since the house was going to get torn down that it would be OK to write on the walls with marker. Oh was it fun!!!
And Grandpa (my dad) gave the kids a crowbar and told them to start the demolition!

Hey!! that used to be MY room!!
After the hard day of work, my parents fed all us workers some roasted hot dogs, baked beans and some potato salad. That was the perfect menu for the day on the farm. We were all so hungry and tired, it felt good to sit down and eat.
So that night we said our goodbyes to the farm house and drove back to Vegas. The house was demolished soon after and for the next seven months, my dad (the contractor) built themselves a new house. They moved in two weeks ago and last week, we went up to Utah to visit them. When we drove around the familiar windy road that leads to their house, I saw a familiar mailbox...with familiar fields...

but a very unfamiliar house!
And even though there were still boxes and unpacking to do, the inside was beautiful! My mom and dad are so happy there! My mom loves her new kitchen, and like usual, she spends most of her day in there baking. Rachel loved helping her bake cookies, and we all loved eating them!

While we were there, Mark and the boys went to a great Lakers/Jazz game, we went skiing, and just had a great time hanging out in their house without worrying about a mouse running across the floor or stepping on a mouse trap! :) We were also able to spend Valentines Day with my parents. We heart-attacked their house and had our traditional red Valentines dinner with heart shaped pizzas.



The kids loved looking out at the fields of snow and look forward to playing in them when when we visit them in the summer and the snow is melted.

I look forward to that visit too! The farm is still "the farm"....even with a new house!