So by the time we arrived in Rexburg at our friends, Jesse (who was one of Grant's mission companions) and Jennifer's house, we were exhausted. (We passed the Idaho Falls Temple on the way, where we had our first kiss. We have lots of wonderful memories in Idaho, from when we met through our first year of marriage. It was fun to go down memory lane with the kids.) They were so sweet and had an incredible dinner waiting for us. It was a bit of heaven. (Later that night, there was a beautiful sunset too.) Then they helped us unload our stuff. Jennifer also helped me bathe all the children (which I had planned to do earlier in the day but hadn't had the chance) and get them in bed. Meanwhile, Grant and Jesse went out with the guys. (First, they stopped by the restaurant, where everyone was grabbing a bite to eat.) Aaron, Brian, Phil, Grant, and Jesse had a little bachelor party for Aaron which consisted of the usual- bowling. In addition, they played a little midnight baseball on the BYU-Idaho fields, with lights and everything, thanks to Aaron's keys. Quite a memorable experience! And to make it even more memorable, their Mom and Dad stopped by... LOL!
The next morning, Jennifer, helped me fix the girls hair, feed us, and get us out the door. We really appreciated it. The wedding was beautiful and emotional. Aaron and Shailee make such a beautiful couple! We are so happy that Aaron chose such a wonderful person to marry. They were so sweet to take some time with each of their nieces and nephews. Our girls are so in love with Shailee! (The girls dressed up their dolls and barbies for the occasion. LOL!) Also, it was nice to get some pictures of everyone... We sure missed Jeremy though!
After the wedding, we headed over to the church park for a luncheon. We had a yummy lunch and yummy dessert. They kids had fun playing on the toys. Shailee even played soccer in her dress (not wedding dress), with the girls. They thought that was pretty cool. Pretty cute cousin pictures of Ali and Callie (the youngest and oldest cousins), and of Paige and Riana (the two closest in age- 3 months apart.)
That evening, we attended their reception. It was a beautiful reception and it was especially fun visiting with everyone.
The next morning, we said goodbye to Jesse and Jennifer and their girls. It is just so comfortable being around them. We have so much in common. To name a few, we both have all girls and homeschool. Both of our blogs have Little Women in the title. Crazy! Jen gave us some awesome soap that she makes out of goat's milk. They were so generous to have us in their home. We really appreciated it!
Then, we headed over to BYU-Idaho campus to see all the changes which have been made since we last visited. They had a new building with a huge conference center in it. (It is like a smaller version of the Conference Center in Salt Lake.) It was amazing!! The building also had several basketball courts and an indoor track. We also walked through the beautiful gardens on campus and even saw some real turtles. There were lots and lots of changes on campus (it was still a 2 year school when we attended it and so it is a lot bigger now, as a 4 year college.) Side note- I love these first two pictures of my smiley Callie and of my girls in these sassy poses, which they did themselves. Super cute!
On our way out of town, we just had to stop at Maverick, for old time's sake (and to get gas.) Back before Grant and I started dating, we stopped at this Maverick, on our way out of town, before our big car accident, and it was here that Grant was trying to tell me how to get the guy I liked to kiss me. I later used those tips on him instead. LOL!! Anyway, while we were there, we randomly met up with Grant's whole family. First, Jill and Tito and their girls, with Brian and Shannon, stopped to get gas on their way out of town to go to Yellowstone. Then Gene and Shari drove by and saw us all stopped and decided to join the party. It was pretty neat! Uncle Tito spoiled all the girls and let them each pick out a treat. They thought that was so cool!
On the way home, we noticed tons of beautiful, wild sunflowers growing everywhere. So we stopped and took some pictures. The last one with the ladybug is my favorite.
Next on our drive, we came to another very important spot in our dating history-- our accident scene. In November 1997, we were in a serious automobile accident together. (We met when he kicked me out of another guy's apartment because it was curfew and he was the Resident's Assistant. Then we saw each other once on campus and played against each other in intramural soccer.) Two hours after we left Rexburg (and after we talked at Maverick about the guy I liked, who happened to live next to Grant), we were both sitting in the back seat of my friend's car, where Grant had his arm around me (something I had schemed up when I switched seats with another guy in the car.) My friend in the front passenger had just felt impressed to put her seatbelt on, when we started hitting gravel in the median. In a panic, my friend who was driving, overcorrected, which caused our vehicle to spin, going 75 mph, and flip down the 30 foot embankment. It was extremely scary and I wondered whether we would live or die. I remember having no control over my body, which felt like a ragdoll in a dryer or something (I was the only one in the car without a shoulder harness.) When we finally landed, the Volvo (thank goodness we were in a Volvo!) we were in was on it's side. I looked down and my hands were full of blood (which ended up being Grant's). But miraculously, we were all alive! Our friend, the driver, said a little prayer of thanks-- we will forever be impressed that she did that, and will never forget it. Grant crawled out the back window first, as he was bleeding pretty badly. Our friend in the back, undid my seatbelt, as I was shaking too bad to do it myself. I gave Grant my pillow and sweatshirt to stop the bleeding in his head. Luckily, one of our friends who we were caravaning with, was training to be a paramedic and was able to help. Several other vehicles also stopped to help. Several truckers called in the accident as possible fatalities and our friends feared the worst when they saw the laundry flying from the car. When the paramedics finally arrived about 20 minutes later, they put Grant and I in the first ambulance together. (They couldn't believe we were all okay and said we must've had lots of guardian angels around us. There truly were tons of tender mercies and things that were just too perfect about the way we crashed. For example, they had just drained the river 3 days before, right where we landed, which meant that the ground was very soft and thank goodness we didn't land in water.) Grant was strapped to a stretcher. I honestly wasn't sure how badly he was hurt and was really worried about him. He noticed this and looked up at me and said, "Hey, you want to go to Taco Bell after this?" How could I say no to a dying man's wish?? ;) LOL! Just kidding... I, of course, said yes. At the hospital, Grant was sewn up with 18 stitches and 19 staples in his head. He kept asking about me and I kept asking about him. Finally, after my x-rays (nothing was broken) I went in to talk to him. We ended up being the only two to continue the journey home-- he wanted to see his family, as he had only been home from his mission for a week or two before going to Ricks and I really wanted to see my 1st niece, who was only 2-3 weeks old. A nice paramedic invited us to come stay the night at her house (since they were pretty sure Grant had a concussion and needed to be watched.) Grant called the local bishop and counselor, who came and gave us blessings. He blessed me that our lives had been spared for a reason because we still had a purpose left on this earth (...6 girls later!) Those words comforted me for many months to come. It was very difficult to sleep, as just closing my eyes brought the scenes from the accident playing over and over in my head. Grant and I talked a lot. His parents came and got us the next day and drove us home. I remember being scared the whole drive home, and talking to his Dad to make sure he didn't fall asleep. At one point, we stopped at Wendys. Grant held his frosty upside down over me and laughed and said that it wouldn't come out. I told him that he should keep that to himself. Just as he shook it over his lap, it spilt all over him!! His parents and I had a great laugh!! Grant and I ended up holding hands on the way home. He called everyday of Thanksgiving break and my parents (and 4 year old brother, Joe) drove us back to Ricks. 6 weeks later... we were engaged!! Our parents would later joke that we must've hit our heads a little too hard in that accident... either that or it all started when we were hitting on each other during the accident.
On the way home, we stayed with Liz and Mark. It is very nice of them to always let us stay there. Apparently the girls had a tiring weekend because they all fell asleep during a movie at Liz and Mark's house and then again on the way home. We also saw a couple of interesting things on the way home- a forest fire and $100 ice cream cones at Burger King. The girls thought that was pretty funny.
All in all, it was a really good weekend. We made lots of wonderful memories and relived many more. Fun times! :)
