Who Moved My House? Part II

Since I had some major plans fall through this week (missed my flight and had to cancel a 4-day trip--boo hoo!), now's probably a great time for me to get to write this post that I've been wanting to write for weeks.   Here's the rest of the story that I started by telling of my childhood homes...now on to my grown-up homes.

PROVO, Utah*--It's 1992, I'm in college now, and living on my own for the first time.  I got to live in the dorms my first year, so I remained naive a little longer to the life skills of shopping and cooking for myself, etc., but at least I managed to work a part-time job while I studied.  My first job was in this very stadium, in the concession stands.  Good times!  I can still remember trying not to lick my fingers when selling those yummy cinnamon and sugar-coated churros.  I don't think I ever got used to the winter weather there, but who wouldn't want to look at those beautiful mountains every day?!  Gorgeous.  I lived in Provo for almost my entire college career, until I got married (which came in my 5th year of studies).  I just want to finish my Provo segment by saying that the BYU campus is my favorite place on earth.  It has everything I would ever want from the world--superb music & other arts, racquetball (& a few other sports), education (of course), an amazing library, religion, and the BYU Bookstore is something like I would imagine the mall in heaven to be like ; ).  I LOVE BYU.  I hope my kids get to go there!
 *Before I/we left Utah for New Jersey, Jazz and I also lived awhile in Springville and Orem, but those really aren't too different from Provo.  Except that now I was a newlywed, and a couple years later a mother, so of course that was a whole new world!

Paella de Marisco--yum!

SPAIN--Madrid, Salamanca, Leganés, Toledo: In the middle of my college years, for 17 months I had the privilege of living in Spain as a missionary for our church.  I got to work in 5 different areas (2 in Madrid), and once a week if we didn't have too many other responsibilities, we missionaries were able to play tourist just a little bit.  Some of my very favorite things I loved seeing or experiencing while I was there were the windmills in Castilla la Mancha, eating their delicious food, speaking their beautiful language of "Castellano", and meeting and growing to love the Spaniards.  I really miss them.  I loved the castles and the grandiose Catholic churches.  Oh, what I wouldn't give to return there someday to see it all again.
    Spain is indeed a glorious place...but when my mission was through, I was very ready to move forward and return to my native land.

Jazz 'n Jenna with our two babies in 2004

North Brunswick, NEW JERSEY--wow, I love the trees!  I finally understood why some people (not I) think Utah is a desert...hello POPCORN TREES in the spring! The shores (I had to unlearn the term "beaches") were great.  And we all learned by listening to those around us, how to say "How you doin'?" just like Joey on Friends.  We felt that the biggest perk to living in NJ was being close to all of the other northeastern states that have cool sites--like in Washington D.C., in New York City, and in Philadelphia.  So one might think most of our fun was had outside of the state itself, but I should at least give props to Rutger's University in Newark, which granted Jazz the title, "Master of Music" after he completed his degree there in Jazz History and Research.  Thanks, NJ!
       We were in NJ for 2 1/2 years for the completion of that degree, and when it was done, we made a quick stop back in Utah for 8 months before moving on to California (long story...in short, let's just say that the "2nd Master's Degree" plan at BYU didn't work out). 

Sacramento, CA Temple     (I got to sing at its dedication!)

Orangevale, CALIFORNIA-- Here we got to experience life outside of college for 2 1/2 years.  Jazz investigated studying at UC Davis, but that wasn't in the stars for us, so he got to work full-time as a piano teacher, and later I joined him in a family business for awhile selling cookware!  We started out living with Mom & Dad for a few months, and were excited later to have (rent) our very own house (not apartment!) with a great backyard.  The weather in California was a little too hot at times, but that's okay.  We thought of buying a house at one point, but, well, houses in California are just simply too expensive!  No worries, we weren't meant to stay in California anyway.  Hey, how about giving that doctoral degree one more shot?  The University of Oregon thought that was a great plan for us, and they said OKAY!

Eugene, OREGON--We planned on three years, but we stayed for five.  We were very happy there, living once again in student family housing!  There was quite a bit of culture shock when we first arrived to Eugene--some nuances we grew to love, others not so much.  We were definitely in the minority as practicing Christians, politically conservative, and sometimes we even felt like the minority being Caucasian (lots of foreign students shared family housing with us).  We learned to become more environmentally conscious (joined forces with the tree-huggers, just a little bit!), and living in Track-town USA taught me how to become a runner.  Very cool!   A few times we went to the beach the shore the coast, but it was usually too windy and cold. Springtime allergies here were a first for me (NOT fun), but the summers were PERFECT, the pink & red fall leaves were unbelievably awesome, and the rainy winters made me happy!  Like I said before, we were so happy there, but knew we were not meant to stay, and we were so happy to move forward once again...on to PA for...(drum roll...)...a NEW JOB!  Hooray!

PENNSYLVANIA--has introduced us to lush corn fields and country life, which is a beautiful change of scenery.  This is our "adventure in progress", and it's been lots of fun so far.  The kids are thriving in school here, and Jazz loves his job.  I'm fascinated with learning about the new-to-me cultures of the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Amish and Mennonite faiths, and feel so happy to no longer be in the minority as practicing Christians.  Mormonism isn't very prevalent here...yet...but I'm always up for the mission of sharing the gospel when I can : ).  The weather?  Except for the fluke catastrophes we experienced last fall (flash flood, earthquake, snow before Halloween), so far so good.  Last winter broke us in gently.  We think it's cool to be near Hershey (yum), and again close to our US history sites in D.C. and Philly, and all--there is much sightseeing to be done!  And a wonderful life ahead of us to be had, here in Pennsylvania.

      Will there be more moves?  Don't ask me.  For the first time in my life, there are no planned moves, and I'm just reveling in this new feeling of what it might be like to "settle down".  I'm not comfortable with that idea, really, so it's possible I'll get the itch again in a few years to pull out the cardboard boxes and go through the whole process again.
     Okay, I just remembered YES, we have one more move coming up, when we'll change from our rented home to owning our first, but that's not for a couple of years.
     Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is making its way into my heart as one of my many homes.  I feel luckier than most, to have so many!