At the end of May, I got to go on a very special trip. All by my lonesome, no kids or husband to worry about, to visit my parents. Haven’t seen my mom in 4 years, and my dad in 6. It was definitely time. Before I left I made up a bunch of freezer meals with detailed cooking instructions and taught Sarah how to do laundry. At least I knew no one would starve or sleep in their own filth while I was gone. 🙂
I was gone for a total of 12 days, so 10 actual days with my parents. And we really lived it up. I arrived at the start of Memorial Day weekend, and that Saturday was my brother Dan’s birthday. He brought his whole family down to St. George, and we got to spend quite a bit of time with him. He has two of the most adorable boys. 
This is James playing in the ball pit in his grandmother’s living room. Yes, my sister-in-law’s parents live half a block from my parents, and in fact, her father is my dad’s doctor. 🙂 Anyway, James is Sophie’s favorite. She loved him as a baby, and is very sad that he will be “all grown up” by next summer. So I took lots of photos of him so she could enjoy his cuteness. 
Here he is showing Grandma his sand pit. I could seriously just eat this kid, he is so cute!
This photo is actually from several months earlier, but it’s such a good one of both of them, I had to include it.
That little guy is Johnny. He’s got all the best features of both his parents. So handsome! I brought him some coloring pencils from Switzerland, and he busted them right out and got to work. Guess they were a hit. 🙂
Danny actually had a big project he was working on, but he really worked hard and was able to spend time with us on Saturday and Sunday. Something I really miss about living so far away from my family is that we can have a great time just sitting around talking. Someone always has something entertaining to say, and we have just enough variety of opinions to keep it interesting. Danny is a great storyteller. So even if he is just describing an average day, it becomes the most fascinating thing you’ve ever heard. And we were able to just sit and chat for quite a while. What a true luxury and a blessing.
Tuesday morning we hopped in the car and took a road trip down to the old stomping grounds of San Diego. 
I haven’t been back there in 15 years. Cuh-razy! Dad did most of the driving, and only scared me once. 🙂
Mom got all cozy in the back so I could hang out with Dad. She was awesome at passing up snacks just when we needed them. Seriously, it is so fun being able to be a kid again, when you have awesome parents like mine.
On our way through the desert, we stopped to visit my dad’s sister, Aunt Betty and her husband. I haven’t seen her in forever, so that was a nice surprise. We didn’t stay long, as we wanted to get off the road before it got dark, but we did have a good chat. And her house reminded me so much of Grandma Lasko’s place. It helped that she had a few pieces of Grandpa’s art in her home, but it was also the smell. They must both have used the same line of cosmetics or perfume or something. It wasn’t a bad smell at all, just a familiar one. Sadly, I don’t think I will ever have the chance to see her again, circumstances being what they are.
Dad had picked out a motel in La Mesa that turned out to be absolutely perfect. It was right in the middle of all the things we wanted to go see, was clean and well-furnished, and had a pretty decent breakfast every morning. We could have stayed with family, but it would have been squishy, and this way we were agents unto ourselves, which is just how we like it.
Just down the street from our motel , literally on the same street, was my Uncle Randy’s engraving shop. 
He started out as just an employee, but when the owner wanted to retire, Randy bought him out and has been the boss ever since. He does some really beautiful work, and I definitely want him to make the kids’ mission plaques and the the boys’ priesthood lineage plaques.
He actually did the engraving on the plaques that were handed out at my 8th grade graduation, so he knew what awards I had won before any of the rest of us!
Next we headed over to the old neighborhood in Lemon Grove.
I really wanted to get some pictures of Mount Miguel to show the kids. I had always tried to describe the open hallways, but they clearly didn’t get it, cuz when I showed them this picture, they were fascinated by the fact that there was no protection from the wind, or snow, or the cold! 🙂
And naturally, I had to share the story of how I tripped down these very stairs on the first day of school, in front of a bunch of upperclassmen. sigh It was fun to see how little the campus had changed in terms of student body. There is still every shade of brown/tan under the sun represented, and at least on that day, everyone seemed to be coexisting quite pleasantly. Sure there were fights that broke out in the quad every once in a while, but I don’t really remember them being racially motivated. More just regular high school hormone filled punk kind of stuff.
As I was taking this photo, two security guards pulled up in a golf cart and very nicely asked me what I was doing. I explained that I was an alumnus and they were all smiles, asking me from what year, welcoming me back, and then suggested that if I went to the front office and got a visitor pass, I could roam around campus at my leisure. So I did, all while Mom and Dad patiently waited in the parking lot.
There is the bookkeeper’s office, where we could pay for yearbooks and buy prom tickets and pay, ahem, fines. And right next door was the nurse’s office. That’s where I went when I cracked my chin on the bleachers during swim class. I probably had a hairline fracture in my jaw, going by the ball of scar tissue that remained for over a year. It sure hurt like the devil.
We were assigned a new locker every year, according to which grade we were, but somewhere in here was my freshman locker. I just remember having to wait for a couple that had the locker next to mine to finish kissing every time I wanted to open the door. 🙂
Aw, the pool. Where I spent so many hours swimming. 20 laps for warm up, and then we would really get started. Can’t imagine trying that now. My arms would fall off, if I didn’t drown first. It used to have pieces of plastic through the fence, so you couldn’t see in so clearly. Wonder why they changed it? And also, what happened to the diving boards? I am just now noticing that, or I would have asked someone while I was there.
This grassy spot was known as “Mormon hill” while I was at school. We always sat together during lunch hour and most breaks. Of course, anyone was welcome to sit with us, and two of them eventually joined the Church, which is very cool. The picture on the left was our view down into the quad. That super nice covered area is new, before it was just completely open with the planter boxes to sit on. Occasionally a fight would break out, providing lunchtime entertainment, but nothing ever too scary.
I didn’t see any old teachers, wasn’t really expecting to. It has been, ahem, a few years since I graduated. But it was great to visit the old campus and remember the good times I had there. Of course, that girl had no idea what a fantastic life she would go on to have, beating anything she experienced in high school. So glad those years weren’t the high point of my life like they were for so many….
This is the building my grandfather helped build and where we always came to church when we visited from Utah in the summer. When we moved back to San Diego, it was our ward building, and where I attended seminary every morning, except for the year it was being renovated and we met in a classroom at the high school. I always heard stories of kids climbing up to the top of the tower, but I never figured out how they got up there, and now I wonder if they were just making it up.
Just up the street is the memorial garden my friend Hyrum designed and built for his Eagle Scout project. I was so happy to see that it is still there and still beautiful.
It is always a bit strange to return to places that were once your entire world. I have seen and experienced so much since this area was my home, and truth to be told, it does seem like another person lived here, I have changed so much. But at the same time, it was very fun to relive those old times for a day. I was a bit sad to see the old house looking so run down.
And the yard is completely different. That palm tree is huge, but I don’t remember there even being one there before. Isn’t that weird? Do remember Pete falling asleep on the sidewalk out front, though. heehee