Mecca

Idaho, to us, is still this illusive perfection, that I don't know if we'll ever attain. I also don't have full confidence that if we ever did somehow make it back there that we would love every second of it. We'd miss being close/closer to family certainly, and we'd miss a lot of wonderful things about Utah. So, I'm almost afraid to ask for it. :) What if we put all this effort into wishing for Idaho, and then we get it, and then miss Utah!? I guess the trick is to just love wherever you are at with your whole heart. Right now, we love love living in Utah. We could do without I-15 traffic, but other than that...;) From 2006-2012, we loved living in Idaho.

We made our way back this weekend to visit some of our friends, the Christensens. They are having one-heck of a crummy year, so it was time to go and enjoy each other's company. We drove up on Friday evening and by the time we hit Pocatello, the sun was setting and treating us to quite the show. I don't know if you know this, but Idaho has the best sunsets. I forgot how much I missed them! They are incredible! Richie and I could feel our hearts in our throats as we got closer and started seeing all the familiar landmarks and road-signs. It was like we were driving home.

We stayed with our friends Mikel and Megan, who moved out of Rexburg, all of 10 minutes south to Rigby. Rigby is also special because that's where both Richie and I did our student teaching. It was a happy reunion, and after we put the kids to bed, we stayed up way too late chatting. (totally worth it)

The next morning, Paul and Lahni came by to visit before they took their cute, red, VW convertible bug on a ride to see some pretty fall colors. They brought over planes to let the kids fly around, which was a huge hit.


We then packed up lunches and the kids and headed up to an Idaho classic, Mesa Falls. It's a relatively quick drive up highway 20, and always a hit. Of course, we stopped to feed the bread fish on our way up. Then Mikel showed us possibly the most beautiful campsite in creation, Warm River campground. (He knows all the good spots) We lunched under a pavillion, walked on a few trails, watched all the fishermen, and just enjoyed the moment. Excuse me as I wax poetic for a moment, but...I sat under this huge willow tree by the river and watched my kids play. It was mostly quiet except the tree moving back and forth in the wind and I felt God's love so strongly. It was as if the tree was saying, "shhhhh", as it rocked back and forth, me underneath it, and I felt calm and peaceful, September has been such a whirlwind, I feel like I barely hung on. It was quiet and peaceful enough for me to feel God speaking to me, not through any thoughts or words, just feelings. I was so grateful.
And then Gwen fell in the River, (ha!), so we rummaged up some too-small clothes from the car emergency kit and headed on our way.


Mesa Falls doesn't disappoint. Ever. This time it was extra awesome, because it just happened to be some special national parks day and the parking was free. Also, the visitor's center there (which has been closed every single time we've ever gone) was open! They had lots of fun things to check out, but the best was these little adventure backpacks you could check out for free. So our vacation outing suddenly turned into a homeschool day. :) We outfitted the kids with their backpacks, butterfly nets, binoculars, bug jars, bird books, and bingo charts and headed out. They found a really neat, fuzzy, brown and yellow caterpillar, and spotted enough things on our walk that they both got bingo and got to take home a Smokey the Bear book. :)


That night we drove around Rexburg a bit just to be nostalgic and let the little babies sleep some more in the car. We grabbed some pizza, and then Megan and I did a quick wardrobe change, grabbed a slice and headed out the door just in time for the Women's Conference, which was fantastic of course. We drove a bit afterward and talked, just us girls, and it was so needed.

The next day we attended their Rigby ward with them and ran into a few old friends. Lindy is new to nursery, so she wasn't comfortable in such a new setting, but both the kids had fun in their primary classes. Miles had been telling us all day that he was nervous to go to a new class. Gwen tried comforting him with some sweet words, but ultimately, Miles said it was the prayer he said before going in that helped him be brave. *parenting win*

After church, we packed up and headed to Paul and Lahni's for Sunday dinner. What would a weekend trip to Idaho be without Sunday dinner at the Christensens?? As we drove up their rode and their home came into view, I just got so homesick, to be back there in Idaho. Wishing that coming over was our normal routine again instead of it being the end of our quick trip. It felt so right to be there and associate with these awesome people. We ate the standard fare (hot dogs, hamburgers, mac n' cheese, beans, you know the drill) and had fun playing with their toys and finding Bubba the cat. We hugged each other and cried, and then said goodbye.


Idaho even sent us on our way home with another beautiful sunset! Our hearts just ached as we left. None of this means we dislike where we live now. We are quite happy where we are. As we got closer to our exit here in the valley, this feeling hit me hard: We love Idaho and would love to be there, but this is where we need to be right now. It's just that Idaho holds such a dear place in our hearts that I think we might always be a little homesick for it. It made me so sad that as we pointed things out to the kids, (an old apartment, a certain park, a certain event), they didn't really remember much. I don't expect Gwen to; she was only about 18 months when we left. But I thought Miles would recall more than he did. However, I'm confident that those Idaho memories are tucked deep inside of them. They helped form who they are now, and perhaps will call on those instances when they need them.

September part 1

A friend of mine found some monarch butterfly eggs and was generous enough to share some with us. We hatched them and they were itty-bitty, but within 2 weeks, the caterpillars were huge and turning into their chrysalis's! The kids weren't as enthralled this time around, but still, it's such a cool transformation. So magical! These monarchs were a lot prettier than the painted lady butterflies we hatched a few months ago, but they didn't let us hold them. Once they hatched, they were out of there!


First Days of School! Here's Richie on his first day back teaching. I'm trying so hard to get up with him in the mornings now because he's not teaching early morning, and 6 am is actually feasible. It's still really hard. :) On his first day, I actually got up just so I could take a picture of him before he left for work. As you can see, it's all out of focus. I was so tired. Ha!

And then here's the kids on their first day of school. This was actually their 2nd day, when we had our homeschool group over, but they had been saving these outfits to wear for our first group day and I wanted to snap the picture then. The kids weren't getting excited for school to begin, so I took them to Wal-Mart and told them they could pick out a new outfit for school. That seemed to peak their interest. :) It was then I realized that I don't think I've ever let them pick out their own outfits. They have different tastes from me! haha! I had to really bite my tongue a lot. And in the end, they were so proud.



This girl. :) 2 separate days coming out of quiet time, she came out as pictured. She cracks me up.


Homeschool
I'll probably keep most school type pictures on the school blog, but just to have the basics documented here:

We hosted our homeschool group here a few weeks ago. We talked about the Nomads and defined what history and archaeology are etc. Later on in the week dad brought home a projector from work and we watched "The Croods" big screen style. It was a cool ending to our nomad week.


The next week it was at Makenna's house and we learned about the ancient Egyptians and hieroglyphics and the Sumerians and their cuneiform. Miles practiced all the different forms of "writing", and Gwen was most excited about her crown that represented the coming together of the white crown king and the red crown king to unite all of Egypt.



It's my turn to host Gwen's joy school group this month. I'll be totally honest, I'm having doubts and doing it this year. There is such a wide age gap with the kids participating this year. Some are barely three and have never done anything formal like this, and some are 5 and veterans to the whole pre-school idea, Gwen included. I signed up, and then fought the idea (internally), and have decided to keep going with it. It will be a fun social outlet for her and on the times I'm not teaching, it will give me one-on-one time to work with Miles. Anyway, this month we're learning about community helpers, and last week we focused on firefighters. Here's a few pictures.


Canning season is upon us. :) And to celebrate I got myself a new toy. My very own Vitorio strainer. Yay!! Hello Spaghetti sauce and applesauce!! Oh, and did you see those gorgeous tomatoes??? Unfortunately these ones were from someone else's garden, but man, they were so pretty.


Richie's home ward had a ward reunion this past week. We tagged along and had such a good time. We weren't aware there were going to be water activities, so we weren't dressed for it, but that didn't stop the kids. Miles and Gwen were begging to go home at get in a hot shower by the time it was time to go home. There's also a picture of Richie with Blaine Perry, his man crush. Richie pretty much wants to be him when he grows up. He's the guy that built our fireplace mantle. At the reunion, he was taking all the kids for rides on his own home-made, tractor pulled, train. So fun!



Every year, all the stakes that go to Murray high school throw a welcome back to school social. All the seminary teachers and their families are invited to come and socialize with the kids. This year the theme was Hawaiian. The kids had so much fun, but were complaining of tummy aches after not too long. They had lots of goodies there!