Miss, Won't miss, Can't Wait!

*note* This is a post I started a while ago and am just now getting around to. So I guess it's not that I can't wait, it's more of a I'm loving...

I will definitely miss these:




I love the pouring rain and the buckets of water it dumps within minutes. The water that covers the roads and pours down the gutters. Having a moat around your house where the water all drains to.

And the thunder. I love the large rumble that seems to shake the whole sky. It's truely majestic.

And the lightning. We loved sitting out on the porch and watching lighting storms. No thunder, just flashes of light every where. So cool.

I think I'll dream of Texas rain storms for the rest of my life.


At the top of the list of things I won't miss: humidity.

It wasn't even that bad in Austin. But it did not do good things to my hair. My hair usually ended up looking sgraggly, frizzy, and like I had used a huge curling iron to curl it under.

My hair LOVES Utah.


I'll definitely be missing having a short cold period. There's nothing like it staying pleasant until November and then getting that pleasantness back in March after only 4 months of cold.
Did I mention that it SNOWED today in Utah? It's probably 90 back in Texas. I'm going to be in for a shock come October when it gets cold again.

Speaking of October, another thing I will miss is that kids can wear any old costume they want on Halloween. None of this sweats/thermals under the costume or huge furry suits to stay warm. Halloween in TX is perfect.

Something I won't miss- the red ants. I HATE red ants. Oddly enough though, the latest bites I did get didn't hurt that bad and I don't think there was even a bump where as with my first red ant bite (seriously on my first day in Texas) hurt and itched for almost a week. I won't miss cautiously walking around my backyard always on the lookout for ants. I won't miss having to constantly buy mound killer. I won't miss having to tell my kid to watch out for ant hills.

On that note, in general I won't miss any of Texas's bugs. We never had any silverfish or cockroaches, but I wasn't a fan of the cicadas, spiders, cicada killing wasps, or grubs. I'm sure there is an equally long list of bugs in UT that I will dislike.

I will, however, miss the frogs that lived in our yard. Alex LOVED going out at night to see if there were any frogs hopping around the yard. We had a couple that lived in our yard and came out almost every night. HA! I won't miss finding dried up frog corpses or even live hopping frogs in our garage though. (yes, both happened).

I will not miss the birds in Texas. They were weird and noisy and ugly.

I can't wait for robins aplenty in Utah! And a nearby Zoo that isn't a rescued animal shelter. :)

I will miss the Targets everywhere. Especially the one five minutes from my house. And that if they didn't have something, another 3 weren't far away. Utah needs more Targets.

I'm really torn on the freeway in Texas. I both like and don't like their on/off ramps and one way access roads. So I guess I'll both miss and won't miss that.

I do really love having 5 lanes of freeway in Utah though. :)

I definitely won't miss the toll road. My budget definitely won't miss them either.

But I will miss being 10 minutes away from the outlets and Ikea. Oh to be close to Ikea... it was a wonderful thing.

I will miss having a swimming pool right in my neighborhood in walking distance.

I won't miss having to pay almost $500/yr. in HOA fees just to use said swimming pool and have letters sent to me when my grass is overgrown (ha! our grass was the least of their worries compared to several neighbors) or my garbage can is left out.

Speaking of grass, I won't miss St. Augustine. I give St. Augustine a big fat double thumbs down.

I LOVE my kentucky bluegrass in Utah. I can't wait to run around on it in bare feet with my kids (with no fear of red ants!)!

I will not miss the weird stopping almost a full car's length in front of the line at stop lights. Seriously... so weird.
Nor will I miss the rapid accelerations when the light turns green and the continued acceleration (as opposed to coasting) when the upcoming light is clearly red and will be for awhile.

Hooray for Utah drivers and their gradual, MPG saving, acceleration and coasting. I love it.

I can't wait for (okay, I've already had) Dick's Bakery donuts and eclairs. And Paradise Bakery's sandwiches and cookies. And cheese fries at the Training Table (yup, already had those too. Though I do have to say that the cheese fries at Chedder's probably top them...). And Wingers. And Arctic Circle. And Neilson's. And Leatherby's. And so many other yummy places.

Obviously then I'm going to desperately miss all of our favorite places to eat in Texas. Mostly Rudy's and Chuy's. Can you believe that I wasn't a huge fan of Rudy's the first time I had it. I thought it was a little weird and didn't care if we ate there again. Crazy right? Now I don't know what I'm going to do without it. Mmm... Texas BBQ- we will MISS you.

Oh and I'm going to miss my brand new fancy, insanely huge Joann's. That was right by Ikea. That was 10 minutes away. And Hobby Lobby being close by. LOVED the abundance of Hobby Lobbys. Now I have a ghetto-y old Joann's and the super wonderful Joann's is 20ish minutes away. As is the Hobby Lobby.

I'm going to miss the San Marcos outlets. Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrell, Restoration Hardware, Charlotte Russe... the list goes on and on. So many great outlets.

Hmm... I think I need another won't miss in here.

Nope, just thought of another miss.

I'll miss Texas state patriotism. It's funny. That and the high regard for the "confederate dead". We just think it's funny that such high regard is placed on the men who forged the way for Texas to secede from the union. (though I do get that it's important to honor your heritage).

Oh and we will definitely miss San Antonio. We love that place. It made for a perfect vacation destination.

On that note, we'll also miss being close to the ocean. Okay, the Gulf of Mexico. We had a great time in Corpus Christi... we just wouldn't go in July again. :)

I'm also going to miss the Texas accent and the funny Texas-isms like y'all and fixin' (though I'm still totally going to use both here in Texas. Fixin' has totally grown on me!)

I can't wait for more opportunities to go camping/hiking and doing other outdoor stuff. I love being able to escape the summer heat by going up into the mountains.

I also can't wait for trips to Yellowstone, Bear Lake, and St. George. It also doesn't hurt that California is only 12 hours away.

And now onto the sentimental stuff.

I will miss crafty days with Amy.

I will miss having so many kids Alex's age and having playgroup to send him away to.

I will miss all of our friends in our ward.

I will miss our house (and my beautiful light fixtures). I will not miss my laundry room though. Good riddance to that thing!

Even though we are sad to leave all of those things behind, I am loving being close to family (and thus not using vacation time to visit them or having to drive 24 hrs. to get here), having crafty days with my friends here, making more new friends, and the excitement of a new house that we are planning to stay in for many years to come.

We'll miss Texas a lot but are happy to be back in Utah!