There and Back Again: A Fall Break Tale (Part 2)

In Idaho Falls we stayed with the Jones family.  I love them! It was so fun to live close to them while we were in Pocatello and I've missed them terribly. Aunt Mary is like my Idaho mom, and my cousins and Uncle Jeff are darling. We spent time catching up and hearing about all their fun school activities. Mary and I went to Kristin’s volleyball game and watched some of her impressive spikes and serves.

 After dinner, I took Joseph to his hunting rendezvous point. John, Joshua and Joseph were going to head to the campsite to meet everyone else and then start hunting early in the morning with the rest of the boys: Alan, Luke, Luke’s dad, Cody, James and McKay.  They met at a little restaurant in Idaho Falls, exchanged hugs that looked remarkably like wrestling moves and then they were off! To the wild! I admit I was very excited for them. It seemed kind of picturesque in a manly sort of way.

The next morning Mary and I went walking in the mall and out to lunch. What a treat! Then Hyrum and I went to Rexburg where Joseph’s mom and sister, Chrystal, were holding down the fort. We went to the farmer’s market, to Downeast and then we came home to watch a chick flick, well…half a chick flick. You know how tired mamas get.

The next day the boys came home, and topped off their incredible weekend with some intense backyard football. It was really heartwarming to watch them play together. So fun. Such good brothers, nephews, and friends.

After delicious dinner made by the talented Chrystal, our family took off for Casper, Wyoming where Joseph’s sister, Linda Lee lives. According to Joseph, we drove through the most beautiful part of Wyoming in the dark. I've noticed that when it's really beautiful countryside the roads are really curvy so I believe him.

We spent just a little bit of time with Linda Lee and her sweet kids at breakfast and then at church. Hyrum and Anna swarmed Linda Lee for snacks during church. Both stuffing those little puffs in their mouth as fast as they could, cousin bonding. 

Then we hit the road. At this point I should probably mention that Hyrum had been a really good traveler the whole trip and I was very appreciative. He was pretty content most of the time. He took good naps, kept the complaining to a minimum, and was so contagiously smiley and excited to get out of the car at each stop.

On our way through Nebraska we didn't have any family to visit, but we made one of our pit stops in Alliance to see Carhenge. I read about this magical place on one of those “15 things that make Nebraska the most awesome” kind of posts. It’s like Stonehenge except it's been built with cars. There aren't myths and theories surrounding it, and it's not necessarily historically significant or celebrated world-wide, but let's be honest. It does make Nebraska the most awesome. 

When we got out of the car at Carhenge, it was surprisingly cold and the sky was threatening to rain. So we wrapped Hyrum up and quickly ran around the place looking, ooohing, aahing and taking pictures.

 Us running around was totally cracking Hyrum up.

 Not long after, it did start to rain. We jumped back in the car with a newfound appreciation for the prehistoric car formations in Nebraska:) 

We arrived safely home at about 10 o'clock. Hyrum and I went to bed.

 Joseph stayed up a little later putting some things away. In the morning I was looking for the milk, but I got this instead. It startled me enough that I closed the fridge door, forgetting what I had opened it for in the first place. 

When men go grocery shopping

Thanks to Cody, who shot it, there was a deer in our fridge.