Memory Lane Monday
Natalia takes you on a stroll down Memory Lane in this nostalgic feature.
memory lane monday
February 15, 2010
Four years ago today, I was arriving home after having spent 18 months serving a mission in California. My family greeted me at the Honolulu airport with leis. My older brother flew in from Utah to see me. My sister-in-law was pregnant with Hannah and unable to make the long trip. After the 45 minute drive to my parent’s home on the North Shore, I was welcomed home with signs galore.
(As you can see from the posters on the wall, my little sister and I shared a room… this was not how I had left it)
Although most return missionaries are really sad about leaving their missions, I just remember being excited. Excited to be home. Excited to spend time with my family again (I had been so homesick when I left that I cried every day for 6 months… I’m not exaggerating). Excited to be able to go to the grocery store alone. Excited to set my own schedule for the day. Excited to get go back to normal life. Excited for my future. And what a future its been.
memory lane monday
October 19, 2009
My family moved several times when I was a child. I remember always loving to do cartwheels in the house before we brought in any boxes or furniture. When Luis and I moved to our first apartment last year, I had told him about my cartwheeling childhood and he suggested we tap into our inner child and do them again. Given that we just moved to a new place again, I thought it was only appropriate that we do cartwheels (especially since we probably won’t be physically able to do them for much longer). So we got Luis’ two friends (who came down from Utah with Luis to help us with the move) to join in on the fun. There may or may not be some sort of video or pictures of this madness somewhere out in cyberspace. It was pretty funny to see some not-so-fit-and-trim guys trying to do cartwheels and somersaults… and let me just say, my 3-year-old niece does them better.
memory lane monday
October 12, 2009
This week’s memory lane monday is in honor of my sister-in-law, Carolina. The first time I met Carolina was at the end of the summer in 2007. I had just returned from doing an internship in Brazil. Luis, his brother and his sister-in-law were about to leave to go on a roadtrip to see Carolina in San Francisco and they had invited me to go. I remember instantly feeling welcome in Carolina’s little apartment. Carolina was even gracious enough to sleep on a recliner chair so that I could sleep on the couch :) 
Little did I know back then that Carolina would move to Utah and we would become BFFs. I don’t have very many memories of this past year that don’t include Carolina. She has been there for everything.
We cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner together (it was my first time ever).
She was there with Luis and me for Christmas when we were too poor to go see our parents.
We were together for each other’s birthdays.
She was there for my graduation and threw me an awesome party.
And those are just the big events. The list doesn’t include the countless hours we’ve spent just hanging out or eating out or even just chatting online. But in life, there are always big changes. And this week marks a big one for Carolina. She is moving back to Texas. It makes me sad that she can’t come over to my place after work and that I don’t have a built-in buddy to hang out with on the weekends anymore. But I wish her the best and I hope that she accomplishes all of the goals she has set for herself.
memory lane monday
September 14, 2009
I remember being a kid and going on a couple of family vacations to Las Vegas. We always stayed at Circus Circus. I now see Circus Circus on my way to work every morning, and am always reminded of how much fun I had on those trips. We got to ride trams (as you can see in the pic, we always wanted to sit at the front and wave to the other trams as they passed), see cool things, play for hours and hours at the pool, and eat whatever we wanted at the buffets. My favorite trip was one where I was got a ton of tickets at the kids’ arcade and redeemed them for a stuffed animal. I believe it was a cat. I don’t know why I remember that, but I do.
memory lane monday
August 24, 2009
I recently bought this:
I smile every time I wash my hands because it smells exactly like these:
memory lane monday
August 17, 2009
I’m not a camper. I never have been. I find the idea of camping really exciting and fun because everyone always says that they love it. There are even times when I will suggest to a group of friends that we should go camping. I’m always the first to back out. Camping is just not something I grew up with. In fact, the only time I remember ever “camping” with my family was in the summer of 1991. We had gone down to Manti to see the big pageant, and we camped in the backyard of an acquaintance’s house.
(notice the roller skates… a camping essential)Considering the fact that I married someone who doesn’t like to camp either, I don’t think I will become a camper. I do, however, have every intention of buying a tent so my future children can have camp outs in the back yard. I’ll even go the 2nd mile and get a backyard fire pit so that they can roast marshmallows :)
memory lane monday
August 3, 2009
See this spot? It may have no significance to any of you, but there is definitely a story that goes along with this little grassy patch. You see, I would sometimes ride my bike to school as a child. One day, as I was leaving school when I was 8- or 9-years-old, I felt the need to go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to get left behind by my friends so I figured I would just go when I got home. Well, somewhere along the way I realized that I wasn’t going to make it. As a million embarrassing scenarios crossed my mind, I did the only thing I could think of.
I slowed down my pedaling so that my friends would just leave me behind and stopped at the church hoping and praying that it would be unlocked. No such luck. So I ran over to this grassy patch in the parking lot, sat down under the big tree (there used to be a tree there), and pretended like I was just relaxing. A couple of other kids rode past on their bikes while I was sitting there and asked what I was doing. I told them I was tired and just needed to rest (I’m not sure how believable this was considering I was only 2 blocks away from home at this point). A moment later, feeling completely relieved, I got back on my bike and pedaled the rest of the way home.
When I got home a group of kids were already outside playing. Seeing my wet shorts they yelled, “Natalia peed her pants!” I couldn’t let this be the defining moment in my childhood, so my response was, “No I didn’t, I sat on the grass and it was wet!”
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