Planet Provo

This is it: our last week has finally arrived! In 168 hours, we will be official Washingtonians again. It is SOOOO surreal that our time in Provo is over. Provo has been my home for 8 years (though I was on a mission for 1 year of that 8), and Sam's home for 6 years.

Here's a random fact... I am the 2nd youngest of 5 kids. All of us lived in Provo at one time or another, and 4 of us attended and graduated from BYU. My oldest brother moved down here in 1993 when he was 18 and one of us has been living here ever since. I think that back in 2001, there were 4 of us kids living here at the same time. I am actually the last kid to move out of Provo, thus ending my family's 16-year connection to this crazy but wonderful little town.

I always thought that when I moved away from Provo, I'd be aching to leave and would be nothing but thrilled to finally be somewhere else. Now that the time has come though... I'm actually really bumming about it. Provo is its own little planet, there is nowhere else like it in the world. Though it can be annoying to live somewhere with so little diversity, it's also a huge blessing.

Here's a rough idea of what makes Provo so inherently different: Brigham Young University is a private college that has about 34,000 students, approximately 98% of which are mormon. Two-thirds of BYU's American students come from outside the state of Utah, and there are a thousand + students who come from different countries. If you think you can live in Provo and avoid coming in contact with mormons by avoiding BYU campus, you might want to also factor in the local non-private Utah Valley University, where about 70%ish of the 27,000 students there are mormon as well. With that many people of the same faith and age bracket in one area, Provo (and its sister city Orem) can't help but stand out from the rest of America. Here are a few things that make Provo so different:

• If you drive around on Sunday, almost every car is filled with people in dress clothes either on their way to or from church.
• All grocery stores are PACKED on Saturday night from 9pm-midnight because everyone is trying to get their grocery shopping done before Sunday so we can try to keep the sabbath a special day in which as few people as possible are required to work.
• The population of young families here is insane. Everywhere you look there are young moms and dads out playing with their kids.
• You hardly feel like a minority when you're pregnant in Provo. Seriously, you can't close your eyes and throw a rock without hitting a woman under 24 who is pregnant.
• The general population of Provo is genuinely kind and generous. I can't tell you how many times random people have helped me when I've had car troubles, have been sick, have lost my phone, had a bum day at school, or just needed a ride somewhere.
• With so many do-gooders in one place, it can actually hard to find service projects sometimes. For instance, my singing group was once turned away from a nursing home the week of Christmas because there were too many carolers there and it was making it hard for the staff to operate.
• For the past 11 years, BYU has won the Princeton Review's "stone-cold sober" award for being the college with the lowest percentage of alcohol consumption.
• I've never felt remotely unsafe here. Bad stuff still happens in Provo, but it is few and far between compared to most other places.
• You seriously can't drive further than 6 blocks without passing a church. On Sunday, each church building acts as the place of worship for about 500 people who come in 150-person shifts throughout the day.
• BYU teaches more languages than any other college. As a result, probably 80% of BYU students speak a second language. You can hear at least 5 different languages being spoken in passing if you walk from one side of campus to the other.
• It is an extreme rarity to see people dressed immodestly, using pervasively foul language, smoking, or drinking.
• BYU campus is actually a rather serious place. If you're outside in the courtyards or in the student center, it's loud and fun for sure. But the second you're inside of any scholastic building, it's really very serious and quiet. The halls are laced with people who are studying, reading, or even taking a quick nap in between classes. Either way, everyone is pretty quiet and focused when indoors. I guess that doesnt sound too fun, but I think it just shows the caliber of students who attend BYU.
• You can't talk about Provo without mentioning the mountains. We live RIGHT at the base of an enormous mountain range. They don't look like the mountains in the NW, but they definitely have a beauty of their own. Plus, it has been nice to always be able to see which way is East quickly.
• Here's the thing I'll probably miss the most: The grid system! Who ever it was that was the original city planner for Provo was a genius. The entire city is laid out in a grid, and you can tell exactly where someone lives just by hearing their address. All streets are named according to their distance from the main roads; North or South of center street, or East or West of University Avenue. For instance, I used to live on 555 N 400 E. That means that I lived on the road 400 E between 500 N and 600 N. For real, I will miss this aspect greatly. From here on out we will be dealing with roads 14-syllable Indian words for street names.

Just for memory's sake, here are a few pics of what we've taken advantage of being surrounded by for the several years:





Here's a pic of our family up at squaw peak. It's a fantastic spot on the mountains where you can see all of Utah valley. Click on the pic to see it bigger, there's so much to see in it!



Due to my having deleted pics and Addie not attending the graduation ceremony with us, we didnt have any pics 1) of sam in his graduation outfit with addie and 2) in front of the actual BYU sign. To be nice to me on mother's day, sam agreed to stage a pic for me. I dont know why part of me NEEDED this exact picture, but I totally did.


Then here's a pic of me and Addie at the park this last week:


Speaking of things we'll miss... here's a pic of addie with her boyfriend josh: