A little BYU-I

 On Monday we visited BYU Idaho.  I had scheduled to meet up with another of my former sister missionary friends and I kind of wish I had skipped the school tour to hang out with her.  But the tour was pretty awesome, so maybe not.  We loved the campus and the school and right now Callie wants to go there.

After the tour, we went to Big Judds for lunch and Dan was happy.  Then we drove away, heading back for Arkansas.

My first Sister Friend and a little photobomber. 

 I thought I maybe needed a "we were there" photo of BYU-I.  So this is it.

 A quick pic as we drove by the Rexburg Temple.

The nice waitress was kind enough to let Dan take a picture of this "Big Judd" one pound burger.  We did NOT order one!

I had this delicious burger.  

And Josh was happy with his lunch.

Idaho

 It was kind of the summer of seeing friends!  I didn't get any photos, but I saw my friends Beth in Provo Saturday morning before we left.  Then we drove to Idaho, with a stop on the way to see my friend Steph.  The funny thing is that Steph lives in Iwakuni, so I had to go all the way to Utah to see her!

We drove to Idaho Falls and stopped by Big Judds for Dan, but it was too busy to stay.  We went to church on Sunday with my freshman college roommate Jen. After church we went to her house and hung out all afternoon.  It was fun.  Dan and I took a walk to the IF temple that evening.  It was a nice, quiet day and I was glad.

Me and Steph!  I like her.

Dan loves this place. 

Me and Jenn and her other friend. 

The kids were very good and patient while I visited with Jean.  They entertained themselves with this very fun game.

Which was pretty hysterical. 

Visiting the Temple grounds. 

Visiting Provo

 The Friday that the reunion ended, we drove up to Provo.  We had a campus tour scheduled that afternoon.  The tour was lame.  It covered little and was short. I was also a little bitter that they gave the kids lame school shirts (my nieces got cooler ones and ours are ugly).  And even though Callie is the most likely to come to BYU, they wouldn't count her since she's not in HS. So it was quite disappointing.

It was also freakishly hot so the kids didn't want to wander around campus with us.  Dan and I wanted to see some old stomping grounds, but the heat was too much.  We made a beeline for the bookstore.

The only photo I thought to take.  Oops. 

Then we met up with some of my "Sister Friends"!  2 of our former sister missionaries were at BYU and came to hang out with us.  It was so fun to catch up.  The kids got bored though and I found several photos like this on my phone afterwards. 

 We did get a group shot of us and our sister missionaries.  No longer Sisters, they are Maddie and Courtney!

Then I was off to the Provo City Temple for a session.  It was awesome!

Dan took the kids to BYU's Bean Museum for a live animal event, which they loved.

Now, the good news about staying the night in Provo, is that we stayed at Aunt Dixie's house.  The downside is that the house had no AC.  It was a hot night.

Visiting Dan's Grandmas

 Both of Dan's grandmother's are buried in the cemetery on the way down from Brian Head.  So when the reunion ended on Friday July 13, we stopped by to find their grave stones.  We were able to find them both.  Rylee was thrilled to find "her" Grandma, who she is named after.  She thought that was pretty great.

Hiking the Navaho Loop

 So, the weather was looking ugly.  But Dan convinced me that I needed to hike the Navaho Loop.  It was about a mile and a half, and he said it was straight down and then back up.  Sounded fun. Josh, Marian and Rylee all wanted to do it too, which surprised me.  They did a great job! And it was a tough hike.  It really was a steep downward trail, and then steeply back up.

It was everything I hoped it would be!  It was beautiful and amazing! It made my soul happy.  And we totally got rained on.  We were hustling through the hike, keeping an eye on the dark clouds and hearing the rolling thunder.  We were 3/4 through when it started to sprinkle.  That made us move a little faster.  It started dumping rain as we neared the finish and the last 5 minutes was in a downpour. But yes, it was totally worth it!!

So happy to be doing this! 

 We did get to climb on the rocks and touch them and really enjoy them.

 Selfie with my girl!

Ug.  This is so dark.  But I love this kid! 

 Check out this cool rock formation!  I needed a selfie with it.

 Look how amazing this is!  I love it!

They found a little cave, so they HAD to sit in it. 

 This area had a lot of stacked rocks.  So Rylee wanted to stack her own.  She did a good job.

 Hiking back up.  It was hard work!

Must pose with the cool tree. 

I'm sad this one is dark.  It was so cute that Marian was giving Rylee a piggy-back when she got tired.

Walking up the trail in the awesome rocks.  I just love them! 

Come on, isn't this the coolest picture?!! Look at those rocks!  And the storm clouds. 

A quick pose for me. 

Looking down.  Yep, we hiked up from all the way down there! 

Did I mention how much I loved this trail?  And these great kids?! 

The last bit was switchbacks like this.  And we were hoofing it to beat the rain. Well, it was drizzling at this point.

 I was pooped.  So I took a picture so I had an excuse for a break!  That's the trail up.  Good times!