Another trip to Rexburg

I decided to take another trip to Rexburg to visit this weekend. Almost as soon as I got there, Ethan started asking me if I wanted to come out side and see him climb up the stairs. I couldn't figure out what stairs he was talking about. We went out back and he started climbing up the chimney. Then he asked me if I wanted to climb them too. He does it a little easier than I do. His feet aren't as big.
Then we went out front and put his training wheels on Kevin's old bike so Ethan could have a big bike too.

What a great rider! He biffed it a couple of times. Knocked his head pretty good once, but he's okay. We tried to find the helmet, but no luck. Everytime he would fall, he would start screaming "I NEED THE HELMET!!" It was funny.

Viva Las Vegas!!

This last weekend some friends of mine decided to take a road trip to Las Vegas, and invited me to come along. It was awesome!! We had so much fun! I have put some pictures here, and I'll give a brief narration of our trip through pictures.

The mighty five! Here we are, Janelle, Brooke, Gina, Lisa, and Me, ready to head out on our road trip. We left Thursday evening around 6:00 and went all the way down to St. George, Utah. We got there about 1:00 in the morning.

Friday morning we got up early and went to a session in the St. George temple. It was really nice. It's a beautiful temple. We then headed to Vegas.





This is kind of out of order, but we also drove down to Primm, Nevada on the border of Nevada and California to ride this awesome, AWESOME roller coaster. In 1996 it was the highest and fastest roller coaster in the US. It goes 90 miles/hr, and drops 225 ft. It was so high, and so awesome! Well worth the drive!!
We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner one day. It was really good. I broke my bet with Katie, and enjoyed every bite of my mixed berry crunch cheesecake. It was delicious! It was Lisa's birthday, so they put a candle on hers, and sang to her.
Gina had left over cheese cake for breakfast the next day!

Janelle hurt her ankle really bad when she went skydiving, so she was having a hard time getting around. I carried her on my back for a while, be soon I was tired, and her arms were tired from hanging on. So she was just going to sit and wait for us to finish our tour of the casinos. We didn't like that idea, so we went into the next casino, and borrowed a wheelchair. We found that people are really nice when they see people in wheelchairs.

Three of us had the chance to go see Phantom of the Opera while we were there too. It was incredible!!! Worth every penny. It was like watching a movie. The scene changes were awesome. The music was outstanding and overall....I want to go again!!!
We spent Sunday night at the Belagio watching the water show. My favorite was the show to Viva Las Vegas. It was really neat.
We filled up with gas for $2.29 in Las Vegas. I had to take a picture so that everyone would believe me. It was awesome. Too bad they aren't that low anywhere else we had to fill up.

Pres. Monson came to speak at what we thought was a YSA activity at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (where they have the Nascar races). It turns out it was really a scout jamboree of somesort. It was a good talk though. The odds were in our favor with regards to the boy/girl ratio......too bad they were all too young for any of us.
We also fit in a session at the Las Vegas Temple. Incredible. Very pretty!

What's Las Vegas if you don't eat at one of their many Buffets? We ate really well. It was good. We ate at the Fiesta Buffet in Henderson. The girl with the glasses is Melissa. We stayed at her house in Las Vegas. Lisa had some friends she used to work for that came to dinner with us at the Chessecake Factory. They invited us to come over to their house on Sunday for a BBQ. So we went. It was fun. They had a slot machine, pin ball machine, air hockey, and a pool table at their house. They made us Strawberry Daquaris (I have no idea how to spell that, but I'm sure you get the idea) They were super nice.
Over all it was a way fun trip, and I didn't want to go back to work on Tuesday very much. Oh well, we have to be able to pay for these trips somehow.

Red Rock

Before we left on Monday, we decided to go over to the Red Rock State park and hike around for a couple of hours. It was AWESOME!! We left Janelle in the car to take a nap while we hiked. It was a little scary at times, but so fun. We went down some pretty steep ledges. The pictures don't really show how steep they were, but at least you can see how pretty it was. After one of the steepest parts, I landed in a big thorn bush. It was painful. The girls are still shocked at how loud I screamed. The didn't think I had it in me. Whenever I moved, another branch came at me from another direction.

Tiger Pride

Me, Brooke, and Brock sporting our orange, and enjoying the game.

Skyline Highschool football team painting the goal posts blue!

Tonight was the annual Emotion Bowl. It is where the two Idaho Falls schools' football teams play each other. They share the same football field, so whoever wins gets to paint the goal posts their color. I was rooting for Idaho Falls High School, and at half time they were up by two touchdowns. They ended up losing by one touchdown though. It was a lot of fun. It's been a while since I have been to a good game.

Conference

During Conference, Rose's kids sat at the table paying close attention to the talks so they could fill out their papers for primary. They took better notes than I did. OOPS!

Hearding Cows

Liz with the cows

This last weekend I went down to my parents house to visit, and to pick up the last of my stuff. (I think it's the last of it.) I took my friend Liz with me. She's from Connecticut, and had never been down to the rural part of Utah. Not only did she get to see Fayette, but Grandpa was herding cows, so we went along for the ride. It was a lot of fun.

Liz enchanting Luke with Curious George

Moroni

They put Moroni on top of the temple in Rexburg on Thursday. It was so fun to drive into Rexburg after dark the other day and see the temple all lit up. You can see it from pretty far away. I love it!

First Signs of Winter

This last week we had a cold front come through Idaho....and boy was it cold. This was found outside my door when I got home from work. It was so cold, it stayed through the night too. I'm not sure if I'm ready for winter to be here yet. I'm not looking forward shoveling my sidewalks and driveway.

Baked Potato

I went to a friend's house for dinner one night, and another one of his friends brought this cool cake that looks like a baked potato. It is all cake and frosting. Everything on the cake can be eaten. I told him I wanted him to come to my class and do a demo for them. He agreed. So when we start talking about chefs and such, he is going to come. I'm sure the kids will love it!

Medal of Honor

I went to institute on Thursday and my friend Lisa gave all of us that went on the hike a medal. That hike deserves a medal. She bought them at the scout office. She even engraved my name and the date on the back. She is so awesome. I really like my new branch.

Table Rock Mountain

This last weekend we went to Table Rock Mountain as a ward activity. This is only a 12 mile hike, but much more difficult. It was very steep for most of the hike. That little knobby hill you can see above the trees is where we hiked too. It is just in front of the Grand tetons. You can see the Tetons in the background of the other pictures. When we finally made it to the top, we stayed up there for over an hour enjoying the view, and taking power naps in the sun. The wind blows like crazy up there, and is really cold, but if you sit down off the ledge a little, it blocks the wind, and you can only feel the sun. The hike down was much easier. My calves hurt after this hike. I woke up in the middle of the night with pain. The next day I couldn't have even touch them without tons of pain. But it was also worth the hike. I want to do it again next year too.

Dananda Falls

On Labor day some friends and I went on an 18 mile hike to Danada falls. It was so awesome. We hiked up under the falls and played in the water. On the side of the river there are little hot springs that serve as great hot tubs. They are really hot. Everyone that came out of them had red marks where the water had been touching them. That is my new friend Lisa in the picture with me. We were really sore right after the hike though. The falls are beautiful, and well worth it the hike.

Retirement

Many of you in my family will recognize this bowl. It's been around for a while now. Susan was remembering that Gary used to eat his breakfast in this bowl when he was little.
For the past few years it has been used as part of a pot for my plant.
Susan was nice enough to give me on of her old pots to re-plant my spiderplant. It out grew the other pot, so I had to retire the old pot and bowl. I like my new pot much better. I'm sure it will look great in my new house.

Sneaky

Today, Ethan wanted a treat that was on top of the fridge. Susan and I had both just sat down so we told him we would get it for him in a min. He didn't want to wait, so he pulled a chair up to the counter and got it himself.