For many reasons, this summer is a bit extra chaotic and crazy. We have a lot of unknowns and timelines that aren’t in place yet, but the one thing we did know was that at some point, we had to get to Idaho to take most of Lily’s college stuff out – and to finally take her to visit the campus of the school she would be going to. Because the rest of our summer was so up in the air, we decided to leave town the day after school got out, which meant a bit of extra craziness, but it’s all good. We made it work, even to the point of literally having Derek get his second Covid shot on our way out of town – ha ha! Good times!
Unlike other years when we have driven straight through the night, this time we decided to break it up a bit, and so the first evening, we stopped at my niece, Melanie’s house for the night. They weren’t in town, but staying at their house was a huge blessing. Then we drove to middle of nowhere Nebraska, and we stopped for the night in what turned out to be a bit of a sketchy motel in Kearney. It was fine though, and the room was clean, and I may have fashioned a “bed” for Arthur out of the arm chair and ottoman. Nice. Arthur’s favorite parts of the drive were crossing the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and driving through Ogden Canyon – oh, and the limitless movies on our old school portable DVD player. (We rented a van to save the wear and tear on our van, which meant no built in entertainment unit. I still can’t believe that 17 years later, this little DVD player is still going strong.)
Sunday evening, we arrived at Brent and Marilyn’s house in Ogden, and as it always does, it felt like home. They actually arrived after us, because they were flying home from a trip to Oregon, but Marilyn had everything handy for me to prepare us all a simple dinner, and so when they got home from the airport, we were ready to eat and talk. And talk we did, although we had to cut ourselves off at 11pm, because we had to get up bright and early Monday morning to leave for Rexburg. It was a crazy short visit, but it was fantastic!
Just thirty minutes away from Rexburg, where Lily will be going to school at BYU Idaho, my sister Cheryl lives in Idaho Falls. We stopped there first to say hello, drop off Derek and Arthur for the day, and leave the totes full of Lily’s college stuff. I always love getting to see my sister, Cheryl! She is my hero!
And the kids, especially Lily, fell in love with Cheryl’s new teeny tiny dog, Duke. He is so small, he really seems like a stuffed animal toy, and not a real live dog – ha ha!
After getting the boys settled at Cheryl’s house, we made our way to Rexburg. We started things off with an amazing appointment at the Disability Office, where we not only met with the nicest man who is in charge of the program, but heard about so many wonderful programs to help our girl not only adjust to college life, but thrive. After our meeting, we had time to get lunch, and my friend, Amber, suggested a place called Millhollow, and it did not disappoint- especially the yummy milkshakes.
We still had time before Lily’s tour, and so we took care of some important little details, like visiting the health center, academic advisement, and the housing office. We still had time to kill at that point, so we found a spot in the shade (it was 100 degrees) and took it easy until Lily’s tour. It was the perfect opportunity to have some great discussions with our girl about planning for success at college and making big decisions. It was such a gift, and made me even more grateful we were able to leave the boys at Cheryl’s house.
Lily’s campus tour was awesome!! Because she is already a registered student, it was a different tour than for prospective students, and it was led by the sweetest student volunteer, Suzannah. She was so kind, friendly and helpful, and Lily felt an instant attachment to her, which made the tour all that much more amazing. We loved getting to hear about and see so much of campus, as it was the first time Kevin and I had ever done that – and Lily too. (Kevin and I had each only been to Rexburg once before.) The more we saw, the better we felt about Lily’s choice to go to BYU I, and the more excited she got. And hey, right next to campus is the beautiful Rexburg Temple, and she can’t wait to go there.
After the tour finished, we picked up the boys from Cheryl’s house and headed off to Twin Falls for the rest of our Adventure. The drive was blessedly only 2 1/2 hours, because it felt like we had been driving in the car for an eternity. On our drive, we passed a crazy awful wildfire alongside the interstate. From a distance, it didn’t seem that bad, but closer we got, the more terrible it turned out to be, and it was headed straight toward some houses. Crazy!
We got to my mom’s house later in the evening, and it was so good to finally be in Twin after all that travel. We didn’t stick around too long, however, because we arrived in Twin Falls just in time to see Kevin’s brother Brian’s family, who was leaving on Tuesday to go back to Dallas. Our kids had the best time together and became fast friends with Dana and Isaac, who they can’t wait to live closer to when we move to Texas.
They were so sad to leave each other, that we made plans to get them together the next morning, when they got to ride grandpa Dennis’s horses, which is becoming a new and wonderful tradition. So glad that Kevin snapped some pictures, because I was with my mom helping her with some things, and so I missed the horse riding this time. Kevin and the kids had a fabulous time though, and Brian even got to help a man shoe the horses, which was a bucket list thing for him.
Wednesday was the one year anniversary of my daddy’s passing, and I was so grateful that we happened to be staying with my mom the night before and that day, so she didn’t have to be alone. We went to visit the gravesite, and being there made me so grateful that I know that my daddy is in a better place – his body may be in the ground, but he is happily working hard in the spirit world.
After lunch, we went with my mom to play in her friend, Paula’s pool. Paula and her husband are so sweet and wonderful, and they let us know we were welcome to come when we were in town, and since we had such a great time last year, we had to do it again.
I may have spent the whole hour and a half floating in the tube, but the rest of the group swam, splashed and doing tricks off the diving board. We also took Lizzie (it was her 11th birthday) and Gracie to play there with us. We had a quasi competition off the diving board, but really, I just took a quick video of everyone. Kevin definitely had the biggest splash.
And Arthur decided to jump in a tube – good times.
Wednesday was also the day that we moved from my mom’s house over to Kevin’s parents’ house (my mom had guests coming for my nephew Adam’s wedding). It was great to have a couple days at my mom’s house though, and we had such a wonderful time. And I am so glad we were there to help prep for the guests she had coming. It was a great first half of our trip.
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