I moved from Vernal in 1987 and have never been back. My sister Sheila was going to stop by there on her drive back home from Utah, so I talked myself and my husband into driving the 3 hrs it would take to get there.
If you can ignore the people in the pictures, this is a before and after shot of our house. We actually passed it at first because there are now bushes blocking most of it from road view. The same people that bought the house from my parents still own it and were very nice to let us look around, they even let us in the house.
Ok, the kitchen looks just like it did in this before picture except they now have white appliances instead of the yellow. But check out the floor it, is exactly the same.
It was fun to relive our memories of playing baseball in the backyard, breaking the tile in the entryway from tap dancing and rollerskating, breaking the chandelier in the living room from doing cartwheels, listening to the Osmond's in Ryan's room downstairs, pulling weeds (or hiding behind the bushes as we thought about pulling weeds), and the list could go on.
I had to take a picture of the 7-11 not too far from my house. It was the closest store to our house, but still a good bike ride away, to get treats when we were bored.
I felt bad that the rest of my family had to sit in the car as I got out and remembered my past, but at least they got to play video games at the remodeled McDonald's (it really probably wasn't that worth it but I thank them for enduring it for me).
As much as Brendan wanted to spend his birthday with all his friends, it just wasn't going to happen over summer break. The summer time is vacation time for many locals and that makes it hard to have a party with friends. We made up for that the best we could by spoiling him with a day full of activities.
This is our stopping point. Notice how dangerous it would be for us to go any further. 
Inside a lava tube at the Volcanoes National Park.
This picture sums up how some of the family has felt. It started with Brendan and Dylan and then I got it. It really was just a really bad cold but Dylan ended up with an ear infection and I got a sinus infection. Mine was the worst as I was out for almost two weeks. I was so bad I had to sleep reclined on the couch because I couldn't even breath laying down- I was just too congested. Richard was kind enough to come home early, pick up kids from school, cook dinner, and do the dishes. He is very grateful I am feeling better and I am grateful for all he did but the pile of things that didn't get done while I was sick is a little overwhelming. No wonder I am still tired.
The long season of Baseball has ended. Even though I was ready for the season to end, Brendan has enjoyed ever minute of it. He never wanted to miss a practice and wanted to be the first one to every game. He played hard and earned the right to play first base a lot of the time. He now moves up to the Minor Leagues and, since Hawaii doesn't start kid pitch until then, it will be interesting to see how Brendan does. Until then.
