Our first order of business when we got into Rexburg was to go see my brothers who just recently started working at BYU-Idaho!. Ira is a seminary teacher at the high school and he is doing a year rotation teaching religion classes at the university. My brother Jared (who is a computer software genius) is a Application Systems Engineer there. Here they are with my mom, who is very proud of her sons.
Madelyn, Ian and Grace performed a puppet show that they wrote themselves and starred in, they even had programs. Grace was so wonderful, she came over almost every day and played with he kids and kept them busy. I wish I could take her home with me!
On our way to Rexburg, we stopped by Boise at the mall to get our family some Boise State shirts
M'Lynn left work to come be with us and she brought her child...ZeeZee the cat.
Who Maddy couldn't keep her hands off of, and then had a serious allergic reaction later on that night after her medicine wore off and there was still cat hair on her skin, hair, and clothes. We learned our lesson, I don't think we can ever have a kitty :(
Ian got his fill on Grandpa's I-pad, and Grandpa got to snuggle him whenever he did, so it worked out great!
Margaret and her kids came a couple days early to play, they immediately wanted the sand box.
Story time before bed is always a special treat with Grandma.
Sweet Lizzie!
Uncle Ira and Kevin were a big hit with Ian.
One morning my mom, sister, and I went on a 5 mile walk along the farms that are up above my mom and dad's house. It was a rainy, misty morning, but we survived! I thought the fields of wheat (on the left) and potatoes (on the right) were so pretty walking along the road.
We took the kids to the park
and Ira and Tera invited us over for a BBQ. They had a giant slip n' slide, trampoline, and little pool all ready for the kids, and they had a blast!
That night we watched a video that Margaret made of all of the family events that have happened since the last video she made which was mom and dad's 40th anniversary 6 years ago! We had four new babies born and Anna got married and we welcomed Kevin and his wonderful kids into our family.
On Saturday it was Rylan's birthday! We went huckleberry picking
I was with Ian picking berries when he said, "I am tired of this, where is Tera, I wanna pick with her!" Well she is pretty fun, she had these kids all around her like her little bear cubs.
Our caravan minus the mom and dad's orange van.
We had lunch next to the river,
Then we headed off on our raft trip
My mom, isn't she a babe!?!?
and we are off, Rylan, Teralyn, Tyler and Ira on the tubes
Ryan pointing the way
M'Lynn, Madelyn, and Carson
Erica and Michelle our blondies!
Ryan holding on to Ian making sure he doesn't fall off, now that is cousin love.
My dad the Captain!
All of the above pictures were taken BEFORE we turned a corner and saw huge dark clouds coming towards us, BEFORE we were pelted with cold rain, BEFORE our kids were screaming and crying for their lives when the lightening and thunder started. I didn't take any pictures during the storm but my BIL Kevin took a couple, here you can start to see the rain drops fall on Scott's shirt. We stopped for a bit hoping to wait out the storm, but then realized that we could paddle away from the storm, so our strong men paddled hard. Uncle Jeff even took off his shirt to give to Madelyn to keep her warm!
and here is my lovely face after being drenched on by cold rain and hovering over the kids.
What an experience! The funny thing is that there was only a 3% chance of rain, we thought we would be safe. We dried off, drove home and celebrated Rylan's birthday. The big 11!
The next day we were going to go hiking but the kids were perfectly content with just playing in the yard, so we had fun just watching them. They played with some water balloons, then Grandpa turned on the sprinkler.
Yeah, for boy cousins! You know how long Rylan has waited to have a cousin his age and gender!?!? This is Ryan and he, Rylan, and Tyler all stayed in Ira and Teralyn's trailer in the driveway. I think they bonded a little, I saw Rylan sneaking stacks of cookies from the cookie jar to share with the boys in the trailer and Scott caught them staying up late reading Calvin & Hobbes comics together.
As my sisters and I were sitting on the porch swing watching the kids we took the opportunity to take some pictures together! I love my sisters!
Playing ping-pong with my nephews
We treasure anytime we can have with our family, we love them all. We headed home on Sunday morning, with tears in our eyes not knowing when we would see our family again, but also being so grateful that we have them and had the opportunity to play with them even if it was just for a couple days.
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