Blast from the Past

So.. I finally decided it's time to blog my trip back to Az. I had the opportunity to go "home" for a few days by myself to help celebrate my moms 60th bday and for a reunion with just the Lutz clan. I moved away from Safford when I was 18 and was only back shortly after that between my nanny jobs and moving to Tempe so I've been gone for 10+yrs now. A lot hasn't changed... but a lot has. Somehow though it felt like I never left! So many improvements have been made and I can 't help but wonder why the heck did they not do it while I was there??
Anyways I took some pics of places that were important to me or have since become important to me. Enjoy!
This is the house that I nearly drove into when I was 14. My friend let me drive her truck and I overcorrected the wheel and ran into these people fense and the car only stopped because the mailbox got stuck underneath the bumper. They never replaced the fence. I sure got into trouble for that one! 38hrs of community service!

This is the school that my dad worked at for several yrs when he died. He loved the kids and the job so much. When he passed, the administration was so supportive and wonderful. Even when he was sick, the kids made him cards and he felt so much love from them.

Safford High School... where I spent many wonderful and many hellish yrs of my life.

Another view of SHS.. this sure has changed too!

This is our seminary building. Believe it or not, I only ditched once and the teacher was quick to call my parents so I never did it again!

This is my grandparents old house. They lived right across from the old Thatcher HS and right on the highway. They have both since passed and it was sold and I guess renovated although you couldn't tell too much from the outside.

This is a little house by EA that many of my friends lived in so I went there often and hung out.

This is the LDS institute building at Eastern Arizona College. The yr I left, the added on to it too. My absolutely favorite teacher there was Brother Reed. I still think very highly of him!

The Eastern Arizona College fine arts center. I spent a lot of time here in choir, band and plays.

My dad has a sister- she died the day she was born. I'm glad they had a chance now to meet.

I barely remember my Great-Grandma Cantwell... but I have a vague recollection. She lived with my grandparents and I think she was missing an eye but I could be wrong. Anyways these are my great-grandparents.

This is my dads military headstone. The missionary tags are from my brother Chad and adopted brother Steven who were both serving missions when he passed.

Here's my dads beautiful headstone. This was the first time I ever saw it.

It was a little startling to see my name on it but he definately left a legacy!

This is my grandma and grandpa Lutz. I remember when my grandpa died. It was horrible. He was the first person I was close to to die and it was just horrible!!! Grandma Lutz died the day we moved into our house in Ga.

Mt Graham!

This is a view from the Thatcher park. Quite the contrast to what we see in Ga.

This is the house I grew up in.

This is the superstitious mountains that are right outside the valley driving from Mesa to Safford.

I can't tell you how many times I drove this freeway and got off on any of those exits!!!

The Fiesta Mall. I loved going to this one and Az Mills... not much else to do when you're single, young and with no responsibilities except a credit card you will later come to regret!!!

RED ROBIN!!! I used to work down the street from here so we would go here for lunch often.


So there's my trip down memory lane! It was a wonderful time and great to be able to enjoy the memories that were made at each place!