Monday, August 6, 2012

Goodbye to the Fark



Almost immediately after Nate completed his last final we packed everything up and said goodbye to our 800 sq ft apartment in Spanish Fork.  We had lived in that apartment for nearly four years, which was all but a few months of our marriage.  We loooooved our little apartment and the small town feel of Spanish Fark.  So many things happened in those four years.



I remember the first summer when we discovered the Snow Shack on the corner of 100 South and Center street...we even had punch cards because we just had to have "snowies" every chance we could.  Then one morning we walked out our front door to see that a ferris wheel had been set up on our street with accompanying carousel, tilt-a-whirls and the like.  Summers in Spanish Fork meant parades, rodeos, fireworks you could see from our parking lot, and lets not forget the famous tri-tip sandwiches!  You could hear all the events in the high school stadium over the loud speaker which we attended on occasion, as well as the crack of baseball bats when it became spring, and on Saturdays it was yard sales and the farmer's market.  In October in between sessions of General Conference it was fun to go to the farmer's market to buy little pumpkins or fall decorations and fresh made breads and zucchini.  I also really enjoyed this because I would always see someone I knew whenever I was out and about.


I don't know what they are feeding the kids at the local high school (which was across the street from us) but this past year they won the state championship in Softball, Baseball, and Lacrosse.  I know this because they put the whole team on top of a fire truck and had a little mini parade around town.  They don't need to plan ahead for this because all of the sirens bring everyone out of their homes wondering what the heck is going on!  I started to become desensitized to sirens, assuming someone had won something:)  They even had a parade when a soldier came home from the war...towns just aren't like that anymore.

Sundays when it was warm we would often walk over to the track at the high school and talk while we went around a few times.  A couple weeks before George was born we walked a lot at the track...we have had many conversations there that motivated big changes in our lives.  A couple blocks away is the local library where Nate studied for the GMAT many hours.  We have also rented probably all of their movies and every one of George's birthdays has been celebrated in the park behind it.  The park is also where George swung on the swings for the first time and where we had playgroup once a week.

Last Halloween George and I went trick or treating to all the stores on Main street which was lots of fun.

Christmas time in Spanish Fork means a holiday parade at night where they have a bunch of floats decorated with Christmas lights and a local restaurant supplied everyone with free hot chocolate.  At the local Macey's grocery store they had a real Santa Claus come to the store and visit with kids for free.  The Santa was so kind and looked like the real thing.  George sat right on his lap and they talked business:)  One winter it snowed and snowed and snowed.  Everyone was outside digging their cars out and shoveling driveways and walkways....and streets!  I even saw an old grandpa with a plow on a station wagon plowing the side streets!  New Year's Eve meant turning all the lights off after midnight and watching all of the amateur firework shows around the neighborhood.

Along with walking or running on the high school track, I attended "UVU" classes at the Spanish Fork high school while I was pregnant with George.  I would cross the street to go to night classes and occasionally run back during our breaks to make a quick sandwich.  I still get that morning sickness gag feeling when I get near that building.  We did walk on the track quite a bit but we also walked everywhere else.  A block behind us there is a home that kept a few horses and we would cross the street to say hi to them and try and feed them random pieces of plants.  In Spanish Fork there are actually more horses than people, a stat few towns can beat.

In our "backyard" which was about 4' deep and 30' long, George and I had many adventures, one summer I bought an inflatable pool and we would go back there and I would try and keep him from drinking the water.


Our apartment was quite roomy for us when we moved in...we had a spare room and everything.  For a month or so Nate's sister even stayed with us while she attended beauty school.  Our "spare" room went through many changes, it started out just lined with boxes, then we used those boxes as computer desks (his and hers) and Robin slept on a blanket in the corner:)  Then some friends gave us a real desk made out of wood (or it's relative) and I remember the two computers did not fit as well and there was a real draw to getting to the desk first because that meant you got to put your legs in the feet hole.  We watched general conference on those computers while laying on the floor.  Soon the "spare room" was transformed into a baby room!  Grandma Backman gave us a crib that fit perfectly through the doorway and a family in our ward grew out of their changing table.  Soon we bought a used futon and a bookshelf.  I decorated the room with art from my jobs at Boys and Girls Club and New Haven.  When George grew a little older we bought a twin bed at a garage sale and got rid of the futon.  George got a big boy bed equipped with a shelved head board which was constantly jammed with library books from grandma Kris.  Lastly the crib was unpacked again for the boys to share the room.  Our bedroom started out with a mattress that was given to us my Grandma Backman and some furniture that came with the apartment.  Later we upgraded to a real bed which we put on pedestals and crammed all of our "spare room" items under.
The halls were often used (I imagine to the chagrin of our neighbors) as our own indoor race track, hiding spots for hide and go seek, and a photo gallery.  When George could crawl I would hide in the hallway and play peek a boo and he would laugh so hard and crawl over to me.


So many memories in that little two bedroom apartment.

Bathing George in the kitchen sink

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