Flashback Friday: The Symes in Orem

The last Friday of every month I'm going to post related photos from my childhood and write down all the memories it jogs. Enjoy!

Summer of 1991, age 7. We sold our house in River Heights and rented a basement apartment while my parents looked for a new home in Utah County. For a few years my dad had been living with my grandparents in Springville Monday-Friday while working in Provo at Timpanogos Community Health Center (He previously worked at Bear River Mental Health in Logan). Once he pulled Timpanogos out of bankruptcy and was sure the job was stable (and was renamed Wasatch Mental Health), we all made the big move. Here's another story I found about his work. This is definitely a time in our family that I did not fully understand at the time : My dad at a high-pressure job, my mom taking care of 7 kids mostly on her own, my brother on a mission. They must have done their best to protect me from all of the stress during my kindergarten and first grade years.

Here's what I remember about that time in that basement apartment located approximately 900 N and 100 West (Near the Orem Macey's). (*Fun fact: Justin lived like a mile from here at this time. He moved to Springville in 1992.)

The apartment was so small. It was 4 bedrooms for 8 of us. My older brother was on a mission and my oldest sister moved out into an apartment of her own in Logan and didn't move with us (I think she was 19 at the time).

One side of the living room stored a bunch of boxes. We also had a storage unit that held a lot of our furniture and toys. I missed my stuff.

The owners lived upstairs. They had a trampoline in the backyard. We never had a trampoline of our own so this was new.

I never knew who my primary teachers were. There was a sub each week for the 3 months we were in that ward.

This was where I accidentally swallowed a button from my nightgown and thought I was going to die. I shared a room with my sister Rachel (the only time we ever shared) and she panicked when I panicked and lifted me upside-down and shook me. I did not die. I didn't even choke.

This is also where I shaved my legs for the first time (my sisters teased me on the trampoline and I didn't shave them again for years), and where I learned to make scrambled eggs (really salty).

Rachel got a Michael Bolton cassette tape for her birthday that May so we listened to a LOT of Michael Bolton that summer.

We were so excited when my parents took us to see our new house in Mapleton. We began attending our new ward right away.