Idaho

It's taken me a couple weeks, but I wanted to share the pictures we took when we visited my niece/best friend in Rexburg last month. We went on the weekend so that meant Jeramy and Shannon had their girls...BONUS! I love these girls! They are beautiful and smart and sweet and oh, so fun! Jane is Halle's age and Kenzi is Wyatt's so it works out so perfectly! And Shan is due in October with Jack so he and Carson won't be too far apart either, at least not when they are older.

We arrived Friday evening. Here is a picture of a Sinclair dinosaur the kids just had to get their picture on. That's okay...it was nice to have an excuse to stop and stretch our legs during the drive up. Carson went nuts over the "Dino"! After we'd arrived and visited some and settled the kids into bed, Shannon and I took off to Albertsons to load up on some groceries. We then sat in the parking lot for thirty minutes talking and laughing, and porking out on the stuff that looked good to us in the store. (Never go hungry...)

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The next morning, Brett and Jeramy took off early for a golf tournament while Shannon and I hung out with the kiddos. They have two pets, a shelty named Sadie (which Carson got a kick out of) and a kitten named Spike, who Halle took quite a liking to. If I couldn't find Halle, all I had to do was find Spike! She really was very enamored.

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After lunch, we loaded up the kids and took off for the Dollar Store & the local Nature Park where the kids had a blast feeding (and chasing) the ducks!

The best part was watching 5 baby ducks follow their Mama all around the water!

Later on Saturday, we drove out to the cemetery because I wanted to see Thomas J.'s headstone. It is beautiful and depicts one of my favorite portrayals of the Savior. I also saw my aunt's headstone.

This cemetery is so lovely and serene.

I love that you can see the Tetons off in the distance and it is filled with lilac bushes. I know that at one time my dad took a start from the very lilac bush that was planted at his baby sister's grave.

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Following the cemetery, we drove to Green Valley, where Jeramy's family owns a Hot Spring. The kids LOVED swimming in all that warm water! Needless to say, we were worn out by the time we got home!

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After church the next day, Shan and Jeramy treated us to a delicious BBQ. Joey, Rayna, and their adorable new baby, Jude, came, too. I'm kicking myself that somehow I left there without one picture of Jude! Originally, I thought he looked just like Joey, but actually, his features are so small, much like Rayna. And he definitely has Rayna's mouth. We left shortly after, so happy with our weekend with them and excited for the next time we drive up, which will most likely be Jack's blessing this fall/winter! It was the perfect, low-key weekend.

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Shannon is one of those friends with whom you can go a while without seeing and when you do finally get together, it's like you were never apart. It seems she and I are in a constant state of laughter and I think we bring the best out in each other. We've hardly ever really angered each other, and when we have it's been over such minor things that we've never stayed angry for long. We usually end up apologizing within a couple minutes and are either crying or laughing over whatever piddly thing had come up.

(Brett wouldn't stop taking pictures, even after we'd walked away!)

I have two wonderful sisters. And I feel very close to them and love them very much. Now that I'm "grown up" I feel I can relate to them well, despite the difference in age. I really do mean it when I feel like they are not just my sisters, but also my good friends. However, I have to say that Shannon is probably the closest experience I could have had to growing up with a sibling; that is to say experiencing life day-to-day with a sibling in the home. You have to remember that by age 6 or 7 I was the only child left in my parents' house, so my growing up experience compared to other people with siblings closer to their own age is quite different. So in a way, I feel blessed, as though I was given a "3rd sister". One of these days I'll share more pictures of her and me...we did some crazy stuff together! :)