A Weekend Trip to Idaho and Home Again

I took a personal day off from school on Friday and we left about mid-morning to take Josh back to Rexburg, Idaho,  where he is finishing up his last two semesters at BYU-Idaho.  The weather was beautiful, and the traffic wasn't bad, but we took our time and stopped as much as we needed to. We got to Rexburg about 2:30 p.m..   

We  took Josh to his apartment, then checked into the Motel 6 in Rexburg where we stayed.  It's the most economical place to stay in town, and it's quite new.  The rooms are not fancy, but they are comfortable and the staff (mostly BYU-Idaho students) are very nice and helpful. 

After we checked into the motel, we went to check out this cool little used bookstore that Josh found and told us about.  It was an interesting place to browse. 

Later, we all went out to dinner together at a place Josh recommended.

We had some really good Chinese food.  I had delicious Orange Chicken - one of my favorite things. 

We left to come back to Utah Saturday morning.  We had great weather.  Saturday was a beautiful spring day.  I saw this lovely tree in bloom near one of the places we stopped on our way home.  

We stopped at a thrift store and also another used bookstore on our way home.  I have been trying to buy fewer books lately, but I couldn't help myself on this trip and got a few new books that I am excited to read. 

We arrived home from Idaho about 3 p.m. on Saturday, in the 2010 Kia Optima (shown above) which we will soon be giving to our grandson, on his 18th birthday. 

After we got home, we had a lot of things to do - unpack, catch up on laundry, finish the weekly house cleaning and mow the lawn.  It was a busy afternoon and evening. 

Sunday morning we were up and off to church in time for the 9 a.m. worship service. 

After church, Charly and I watched the scripture master class we are following on Youtube. I always learn alot from it. I also did some volunteer indexing at Familysearch.org.  (If you don't know what indexing is, it's basically typing information into from original historic records into a database so that people searching for information on their ancestors can readily access the information).  Sunday afternoon, I indexed some immigration and marriage records from the 1920s.  While I worked, I listened to one of my currently favorite religious/Christian Youtube channels.  The picture is a screen shot from the Youtube channel.

After indexing, I took a little Sunday afternoon nap. When I got up, I had my favorite "wake-up" beverage - Strawberries and Cream Dr. Pepper zero sugar, with half and half in it.  Yum!

I went out for a walk later in the afternoon.  It was another nice day.  Trees and flowers are out in bloom everywhere.  The air smells sweet with the fragrance of all the flowers!

This old car was parked at one of the houses up the street from ours. It is a restored Plymouth Fury III convertible, probably from the 1960s.  I like old cars, and this one was beautiful, and in pristine condition.  

Sunday dinner was bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, tater tots and Asian salad. It was simple, easy and very good. 

Weekend gratitude:

• Having Josh come home for a few days.
• Traveling safely to and from Idaho.
• Getting all the weekend chores done after we got home.
• Having a positive and restful Sunday.

That's all for this weekend. Have a good week!

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Now the God of hope will you with all joy 

and peace in believing,

that ye may abound in hope,

through the power of the Holy Ghost."

~Romans 15:13 KJV

 

Catching Up and Being Grateful

Wow, we are having another busy week.  Moving and renovating an old home is not for the faint of heart. In the midst of it all, there has been much to be grateful for.   To take stock of all the good that this past week brought, I am joining with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five. 

I will start with Father's Day.  Charly was honored with calls and texts from our children, and I gave him a couple of small gifts - a leather belt pouch for his phone and a history book because he is an avid reader and loves history.   I am grateful to be married to a man who is a good husband and father.  I am also grateful that Charly loves to read.   His love of books is one of the things that attracted me to him. 

We attended church Sunday morning at the congregation near the home we are moving to.  We will probably be attending that church congregation from now on.  I am grateful to be able to worship in a place near the home we are moving to.  

After church and lunch, we drove up to Rexburg, Idaho, where Josh is going to school. It took us about four hours to make the drive (allowing for potty stops) so we arrived there just before 6 p.m.. We stayed in this motel.  We went to Rexburg to see Josh for his birthday and to drive with him to Logan, Utah so that his car could get a Utah emissions test so he could renew his license and registration for another year.  Since Josh wants to remain a Utah resident, his car has to have a Utah emissions test in the state.

Logan is a nice college town at the very northern end of Utah, almost to Idaho.  It is the home to Utah State University.  I attended a week-long journalism camp at Utah State University when I was in high school, but I hadn't been back to Logan since.  It is in the Cache Valley, surrounded by beautiful mountains.  You can see it was cloudy and blustery the day we were there, and rain and thunderstorms were expected in the afternoon, so our job was to finish the emissions test and get the car registration renewed, then drive the 200+ miles back to Rexburg before heavy rain hit.  

I didn't take any pictures, except of the mountains that surround the town. I am definitely a mountain girl and love living close to mountains.  They make me feel safe somehow.  We stopped for lunch, then headed back to Rexburg.  I am grateful that we were able to have a safe trip to Logan and that Josh's car passed the emissions test so he could renew his car's registration in the state of Utah. 

It took us just over 2 hours to make the drive. We got back to Rexburg just in time to take Josh out for his birthday dinner.  Josh chose Outback Steakhouse in Idaho Falls for his dinner. 

It was fun to sit and visit and catch up with Josh in person.  He usually text or calls every week, but it's always better to talk face-to-face and celebrate his birthday and his accomplishments since he has been going to college in Rexburg. I am grateful for Josh, as I am for all of my children. Josh is a good man who is making his parents proud. 

We got a "Bloomin' Onion" to share, then Josh had a steak and Charly had shrimp and pasta.

I had a cheeseburger and fries because that is one of my favorite meals.  I am an "All American Burger Girl."  We had a busy, but good visit to Josh in Rexburg.  We left to come home on Tuesday morning and were home just before noon. I am grateful for a good trip and a safe return home. 

We have been trying to sell our old dining room table on online classifieds for a couple of weeks, and we had priced it to sell - $20 for the table and all five chairs. The day we got home from Rexburg, we got a text from a young woman who wanted to buy it! She came in the evening with her mother and they loaded it into her mom's van and took it home.   I am grateful that we won't have to move the old dining room set and that it can bless the lives of another family.  

We bought another, smaller, newer dinette set. This is a picture I took at the store where we bought it.  We rented a U-Haul to pick it up and bring it to our house, but it isn't set up where we want it in our house yet. I think it will look and work great for us.  I'll post another picture when it is all set up in our dining room.  I am grateful that we found this lovely new (to us) dining room set that will perfectly in our new space and was a significant discount over buying it new.

I also found this cute little rocking chair at the same Thrift Boutique store where we bought our dinette set.   It will look great in the family room at our house.  I am grateful that I found this little chair for such a good deal.  I have always wanted a little rocking chair like this one. 

Speaking of the family room at our house, we got new carpet in our family room last Friday. This is what it looks like now with the new carpet. 

We also got our new dishwasher installed.  Our new stove is coming this later this month.  The new refrigerator won't come until August. 

Right now, our upstairs bathroom looks like this. We had no idea there was glass brick in the bathroom.  I love glass brick, but alas this will have to be covered up because it is in the shower and behind it is the wall to the family room addition. Our contractor said there would be moisture issues if proper waterproofing isn't done, and we want things done right.

The tile for the bathroom has been delivered and is now on the living room floor, but it will soon be up in the bathroom.  I am grateful that our home renovation is progressing on schedule.  

We went to another of our  grandson's baseball games Thursday night.  First we met up with our daughter and four of her five children at Taco Bell for a quick pre-game dinner.  

Because of the angle of the sun, I wasn't able to get great pictures of our grandson as he played, but here is one picture of him at bat. 

He stole a couple of bases.

Here he is sliding home.  

It was as fun watching the grandchildren who weren't on the ball field as it was watching our grandson play ball.   In this picture, the three- year-old was holding a deceased butterfly she had found on the ground. 

This is our almost nine-year-old granddaughter (on the left) chatting it up with her friend while both of their brothers played ball. 

I am not sure if they saw any of the game at all, but these two sure enjoyed hanging out. (That's our granddaughter in holey jeans on the right).  Both of their brothers are on the team. 

It is so enjoyable hanging out with our family at the park watching a ball game on a summer night. The weather was perfect! 

Here is grandpa with our sweet three-year-old granddaughter.  We had a delightful evening with our daughter and her family at the ball game.   I am so grateful we have been able to attend our grandson's baseball games and spend time with our family. 

That's all for now. Thanks for visiting.  I hope things are going well in your world. Enjoy this beautiful summer!  

Until next time,

😊Deb💖

"Gratitude sweetens even the smallest moments."

~Anon.

More Pictures From Josh's European Vacation

Josh is still in Europe. He has been pretty good about texting us photos, so I decided to share some here in this space. While he has been good about texting pictures, not so much about specific details on each place he sends a picture of.  I looked a couple of the churches up to satisfy my curiosity about what I was getting pictures of.  The churches are in Munich, Germany where Josh and his traveling companions spent several days. 

This is the Frauenkirche in Munich that serves as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.  It was built way back in 1401. 

This Catholic church is The Theatine Church of St. Cajetan in Munich.  It was completed in 1690. 

Josh did tell us that the following pictures were from Dachau, the first concentration camp built by Nazi Germany clear back in 1933.

Josh said these pictures were taken in Germany, including pictures of a "famous" German castle.  

These pictures are from Switzerland.  According to Josh, the lion is a monument to Swiss mercenaries who defended the king of France during the revolution. 

Josh's European adventure is almost over and he will be coming home in a few days.  What a blessing for him to be able to travel and have such great experiences and see such amazing things. 

Until next time...

🙏💙Deb💛🙏

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience 

can never go back to its old dimensions."

~Oliver Wendell Holmes