Utah Trip- Day 1, 2, & 3

I really wanted to see my college roomate, Jackie, and her family, before she left on her trip.  So we left on Tuesday, as soon as we could, and traveled to my sister's house.  Unforunately, we didn't arrive until 2 in the morning and then we left at 8 am to get back on the road.  (I felt bad but I knew we would be staying with them for a couple nights on the way back.)  We really appreciated all they did for us.

On Wednesday, we stopped at Sonic for lunch.  Yummy!  I love their drinks, especially the blasts!  So good!  Later in the trip, we passed the spot where Grant and I were in a serious, rollover automobile accident, going 75 mph.  (He asked me on our first date, in the ambulance.  He was on a stretcher and I thought he was going to die because he was bleedly a ton from the huge cut on his head, which required 18 stitches and 19 staples.  He wanted to reassure me that he knew he was going to be okay.  Plus he figured that I couldn't say no.  LOL!  Just kidding!  I thought I had broken my arm plus I was the only one who didn't have a shoulder harness on my seatbelt.)  It was surreal to see and think about how much God's hand was in that accident.  There were just way too many coincidences!  We were truly blessed to all walk away from it.  At the time, we were given blessings (at the paramedic's house), in which we were told that our lives were spared because we still had a purpose to fulfill on this earth.  5 kids later...  :)

  

We arrived at Jackie and Dan's house (and Brycen, 3, and Kaleb, 10 months) at about 6 pm.  However, we left pretty soon because we really wanted to go out to dinner.  When we were unpacking some stuff real quick, Brycen went to Aurora, put his arm on her and said, "Come on honey, let's go to a fancy restaurant."  It was so adorable!  We went to a place called, "Senang," and it was SO good!  I decided to break from my usual and get red snapper fish (fresh from Hawaii) w/a sweet and spicy sauce.  It was delicious- easily the best fish I have ever eaten!!  We put the kids to bed and then stayed up talking to Dan and Jackie (and eating ice cream) until 1 am.  Fun times!  (PS- They were so wonderful to insist that we stay at their house, even though they were preparing for a long trip themselves.  They even invited us to stay the next night, when they were going to be gone.  We were very appreciative of their generosity.)

Jackie made us the yummiest quish and blueberry muffins, for breakfast.  Then we had a total roomie moment, when I trimmed Jackie's hair for her.  It was fun!  (Side note- Jackie is the only person I have shared a room with in my life, besides my sisters and my husband.  I sure was blessed to have her as a roomate!  She is still one of my very best friends, to this day!  She is just such a wonderful person!)  Afterwards, we went on a quick shopping trip-- 4-5 stores in 1 hour and finally found what we were looking for.  Then we had to say goodbye.  Sad!  It was too quick!

Then we headed to Rexburg.  On the way, we passed the Idaho Falls Temple, where we had our first kiss.  Our first stop in Rexburg, was to have lunch with one of Grant's favorite mission buddies, Jesse, and his family.  We all really hit it off with their family, as they have 4 daughters (Emmalyn, Adrienne, Paige, and Elizabeth) and Jennifer homeschools them, as well.  Jesse works as a Pharmacist and they both enjoy music too.  We had a really great time with them, at Bajio Restaurant.  But it wasn't long enough.

Our next stop in Rexburg, was Aspen Village, where we met for the first time, and where Grant lived and was the R. A.- Resident's Assistant.  (He kicked me out of another guy's apartment at curfew, where my roomates were visiting their friends.)  Then we drove across the street, where the new Rexburg Temple is and dreamed about how nice it would've been if the temple would've existed then.  After the temple, we walked around campus, while it snowed-- that's the Rexburg I remember.  There were many differences on campus (new buildings, improvements, and such) but the main one I noticed was that everyone was on their cell phones (talking or texting), on their laptops, and the whole library was full of computers!  Wow!!  That sure made me feel old!  Back in 1998, I'm pretty sure very few people had cell phones.  We stopped in the campus mini-mart type thing because the main bookstore was closed, and bought some t-shirts and sweats, that were on sale.  And then ran into a kid from Tacoma, who recognized Grant from Savior of the World.  That was fun to talk to someone from Tacoma.  Then we left and drove by my old apartment at Royal Crest and our old apartment at Madison Park, when we were married.  Rexburg is so full of memories for us.  It was fun.  We stopped at Walmart, to see Jesse at work.  Then it started to snow more and more.  While we drove to IF, we passed a car that had flipped on it's side, on the other side of the freeway.  Scary!  Then we went to Wendy's, which happened to be our first date.  (On our first date, Grant held a frosty upside down over me and said that it wouldn't come out.  I pushed it back over and told him to hold it over himself, which happened to be pretty good timing.  Shortly after, the frosty poured all over his lap.  It was hilarious!)  That night we stayed at Jackie's, without her.

To be continued...