Adventures Of The Week

First day of school was great for Joseph, a little frustrating for Annalina. I was worried.  The following day she came home ecstatic that she had made three new friends and they did everything together. She tells me one of the girls came up to her, grabbed her arm and said, "I don't know where to go or what to do, can I stay with you?" and they have been buds every since!  She is starting to find her way around and she LOVES her teachers!  Yay!  The weekend came and she was upset to have two whole days off from school.  I am glad both kiddos are getting along so well.  Joseph has informed me that he has made a "golden friend" in his class named Clayton.  All is well on the school front. I just hope I can made friends and find my way around in a couple weeks when I start back!!

Friday night Richard and I headed into Idaho Falls to do the grocery shopping.  We were heading out the back way to miss downtown Rexburg, not that there is much traffic or lights, but we prefer to go by the Temple.  Anyway, Richard said someday he would like to find the back way to Idaho Falls, just for fun. I said, hey, we are kidless, why not now?  It did not take us long to lose pavement and hit gravel and dirt roads, but the van handled it like a pro.  We drove along the beautiful Snake River, passed some great looking hot springs and campgrounds, drove the loooooong way around a reservoir, drove up close to the windmills, turned off the engine and just listened to the whoosh, whoosh.  We had to wait for some cattle to clear off the road for us, we saw a dear up close and personal and a coyote ran full speed across the road in front of us, leaving a trail of dust!  It was an amazing adventure and we did not get to the grocery store until two and a half hours later!  It was a great date night for us!  I am looking forward to exploring some of the campgrounds and hot springs in the near future!

Sunday Jacob spoke in sacrament meeting about preparing to serve a mission.  He did so incredibly good that I cried.  He is not my little boy anymore, he is an amazing, strong young man.  Joseph leaned over to ask if I was ok.  He seemed relieved they were tears of joy.  Jacob continues to amaze me. I am so, so, so proud of that boy, umm, I mean man.  After he spoke he went on to substitute in the 12/13 year old Sunday School class.  He really enjoyed it and wouldn't mind teaching on  a regular basis.  Today we took him to the LDS employment services office and he got some help in his job search.  Tonght he is at an interview with the Sr couple in charge of the Pathways program at BYU-I and will be enrolled by the end of the week in half time classes at the University.  He gets up early every morning to run, then he settles in for Scripture Study. And he is so helpful around the house and great with the little people.  I LOVE having my Jacob here with us!  (Oh, and I don't think I embarrass him as much as I used to, I don't get near as many of THOSE looks as I used to).

Last night the ward had its annual water slide party!  The neighbors across the street live on the side of the hill of this valley we live in.  They set up giant tarps and had a super water slide going.  All three kids had fun slippin and sliding!  They had a huge cooler full of fried chicken and everyone brought sides. It was a super fun evening for us all. We set up our chairs right by the slide and had a lot of fun watching and visiting.  I got to hold a newborn for part of the evening, so it was a great night for all!

Where I was taking this picture was about halfway down the slide!