Summer Fun!

August was a blast! A great diversion from the usual day to day stuff. The kids and I took off for Pocatello to visit my mom for a week. We visited Ed, swam at Ross Park and made a trip to Idaho Falls/Rexburg. I walked into my growing up home and it struck me as very small. It was such a weird feeling. The neighborhood was smaller, the house was small. I thought about that the whole week... then realized it seemed so much smaller because what I have is bigger. Since then I have felt more gratitude for our home in Grants Pass and less critical of what it doesn't have or what needs to be repaired. After a week with Grandma Cook and of kids complaining about the heat (no air conditioning there), the kids were dropped off at Danna's in Tremonton and I drove to Idaho Falls. After picking up Jay at the airport, we drove to the temple and met some of my brothers and sisters there. We did a session together, ate lunch and drove to Darryl's cabin in Driggs. (It's so nice having a weathy brother! and one who shares!) After changing clothes we went for a three mile hike, picked up groceries for a salmon dinner and headed back to the cabin to prepare a meal. Darryl's cabin is something else. It has 5 bedrooms and two large living/family areas. Each bedroom has a beautiful queen log bed made personally by Darryl. He stripped the bark and drilled the holes and put them together. Each is unique, beautiful and the one we slept in was very comfortable. The cabin also featured a wall of windows which framed the Tetons. Gorgeous! After breakfast the next morning, we put on our swimwear.... long pants for some... and headed to the Snake River for a rafting experience. Danna tried to liven things up among the senior citizen raft. We enjoyed watching her and Don push each other out and Lyndon pushing Debbie out as a "birthday surprise"! I'm sure grateful for Jay - he doesn't do things like that to me... Anyway it was great! Probably the best part of my vacation. Just a few days before, I had thought to myself, "Will there be anything to bring me back to Pocatello after my mom passes away?" Now, I know that my brothers and sisters will always share an unbreakable bond of love and memories. We've shared the good, the bad and the sometimes ugly during our growing up years. And hopefully we will be there for each other as needed in the future challenges and create more experiences of fun!

To continue the vacation, we went to Cedar City to visit Jay's parents. We took the older kids to the Randall Jones Theatre to enjoy the production of Fiddler on the Roof. Karina laughed so hard during the dream... I thought for sure they'd throw us out! We enjoyed our short visit there and then headed to Provo to celebrate Lanette's almost graduation from BYU. She walked in the procession, but officially graduates in DECEMBER! I am so proud of her and so love her humor and love for life! And then home. I was SO ready for my own bed... but it was a memorable trip, very special.