My roots.

This weekend we were able to go to Idaho. We had not been able to really go there since last November and it had been a long time since I had been home. As soon as we got in Idaho I started thinking about all the things I love about Idaho. When I was in college I was living in Provo for awhile and I had a really good guy friend and he was from Idaho not too far from where I grew up. He would talk all the time about how Utah was too big city for him and he could not wait to get back to the country. I would make fun of him and tell him he was crazy and that I wanted to be in Utah forever. He told me once that there would come a time when I would look back on my Idaho upbringing and how simple the people are and the values that are instilled in everyone there and I would realize I was incredibly lucky and I would want my children to have that same opportunity.

When we lived in Rigby I suddenly knew what he meant. I am proud now to be from Idaho. I may sometimes talk like a hick and my grammar is awful and I may say things that crack my husband up. But all in all I was incredibly lucky. In Idaho things are simple. The people who are usually rich are the farmers and all farmers are very frugal people they know that a hard time can be anytime so they save and scrimp. A lot of homes were built by the people living in them and most families have lived there their entire lives. People look out for one another and they grow up with you. Sometimes they can know too much about one another but generally there is always love expressed about families in the communities. They protect their values and no matter what church you attend people generally have similar values. People's wants are different and more simple. Really everyone just wants a nice truck and a little land. We may not have big malls, movie theaters or much for entertainment but that is because we spend our time outdoors. We are working in fields, fishing, hunting, hiking, four wheeling, bike riding, boating, rafting, skiing, snowboarding, and sledding. College students fill our towns and we encourage in them the same small town values we hold dear. After they get over the shock of the cold and get used to the boredom they too see what we have to offer and they join us outdoors. They even start enjoying all our country music.

Not too many people are extravagant. They are simple. In my wards growing up really every woman had about two dresses and it didn't matter how much money you had that was just how we lived. People are incredibly generous and kind. They look out for you and you look out for them. Idahoans can be stubborn and we are not big fans of change and growth in our communities but that is because we want to preserve our small town ways. I did not understand that when I was younger but I do now. I am grateful it was in Idaho where I met Dallin. I am grateful that when we met he was able to understand me so much more because he was living where I was from. He was able to see those things in me and understand me. I am grateful that when our children were young we were able to live in the country. We were able to look out on fields and walk among the horses and cattle and my kids learned to love the outdoors. Almost everyday in Rigby I would look outside and think that no place could be more beautiful than the farms lands in Idaho.

As much as I love Idaho I am happy to be living in Utah. I love being closer to the mountains and that things are much more accessible to us. I love this area and always have. I never want to move and I feel at home here. But it was nice to remember this weekend about my upbringing. I am a simple person because simplicity was modeled for me, and I hope to always be working to be more humble like the families I grew up around. I hope I will take all that was taught to me and share it with my kids. I am so glad we get to take our kids to Idaho. I am glad they can still have some of the country experiences I had growing up. I am so glad my kids love animals they way I do and that they love being outdoors. Porter went on his first hunting trip with my Dad and Dallin. As weird as it may sound to some that was really cool for me. I am glad my kids were able to ride on a horse this weekend and my Mom was able to show them how to brush, feed and care for a horse. She taught them how to sit in a saddle and how to hold the reins. She taught them how to be cautious but still loving with an animal. I loved seeing all the fields and this is a fun time of year because it is harvest time. The older I am getting the more I appreciate where I came from. I can see more and more how so much of where I grew up has made me who I am. I can see that the things I am learning I like most about myself had so much to do with where I came from. It was great to go home and remember.

I am glad to be back here in Utah but it helps me remember to take with me the things from Idaho I love and make them apart of our life here in Utah. It was a great weekend.