Winter in Rexburg --- [backposting]

It's the little things in life. Like not having to buy your own toilet paper or wash the dishes for three weeks while you're visiting family.

Recap on the last few weeks:

The week before we left for AZ, we went to a Ward Christmas Party, David Archuleta Christmas concert and a Nutcracker Ballet. Christmas coming on strong.

 On our way down to Arizona we stopped in Salt Lake to go see the lights at the Salt Lake Temple...they were gorgeous. We also ended up driving the 16 hour trip all night long. We stopped in Utah somewhere to "camp" but camping didn't really happen. We just slept off and on in the car for about an hour and a half then kept driving through the night. I didn't sleep because I was worried about Travis falling asleep. Eventful to say the least. Our first real stop in Arizona was in Chinle. Man was it refreshing to feel the [relative] warmth and smell the desert air as we overlooked the small canyon.

We went on several other adventures this past winter while in Idaho, my favorites being a snowshoe trip to Mesa Falls and hot springs in Jackson..pictures to follow. Snowshoeing was awesome. Freezing and sweaty and hard but awesome. The falls were so pretty and different from when drove to them in the summer. It was about an 8mile round trip to the falls and back.

Our snowy yard

Snow sculptures at the Snow Festival in Driggs

MESA FALLS:

Right after we convinced some snowmobilers to give us a ride back up the mountain..

                                                My cute boy sporting his mustache.

 Blanket fort night

Some more of our house

Light The World

     I've been thinking a lot about priorities lately and the importance they hold. Not only do our activities constitute what our time and thoughts are spent dwelling on, they publicize what exactly we hold dear. If we spend all our time surfing the internet, watching television and taking naps, what message does that send to our spouse or our children? What message does it send our friends or our coworkers? What message does it send our Heavenly Father? If we hold something dear we should make it known. Not that the above activities are inherently bad, but there are better things out there.

In Dallin H Oak's talk Good, Better, Best, he teaches us that, "Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives." I hope to shift the focus of my priorities this week to that of my family and service to others, especially with this Christmas season coming up.

     As Christmas is approaching, I want to make an effort to more fully center my thoughts on the Savior. Christmas can get so hectic and turn from a time to focus on Christ and his gift to a busy time of shopping and Santa. We are encouraged by the church to do an act of service each day of December as a way to become more like the Savior. I am grateful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and for all that he has done for me and I am grateful for the Christmas season that is so full of love and happiness.

Thanksgiving-Eve

We've had a fun week with Travis' parents coming into town for Thanksgiving. Visited the new Star Valley temple and got to meet Aunt Julie for the first time. Then Travis and I decided to take the parents to Pizza Pie Café for dinner, because who doesn't eat at a buffet the night before Thanksgiving..?
Thinking about my blessings this week and especially with reading so many things on the importance of mothers, I have had some extra tender feelings for my own mother. She is truly one of my very best friends. David O McKay tells us that, "Motherhood has the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life." I can attest that my mother influenced me for good. I learned so many things from her and still do to this day, even when I'm hundreds of miles away. I am also grateful for such a caring mother-in-law who loves me like one of her own. Mothers have an influence unlike any other. It is no wonder that women are so precious and wonderful when we remember that we are made in the image of our Heavenly Mother. I am grateful for mothers and for their divine nature. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to bear children and become a mother myself one day. I am grateful for my father and for all that he did to provide and care for me. I'm grateful for siblings and for my husband. I'm grateful for friends and for neighbors. I'm grateful for temples, for mountains, and for prophets. I'm grateful that I'm able to spend time with family this Thanksgiving and I'm grateful for the gospel in my life. I'm grateful for my Savior and for his sacrifice for me. I'm grateful for his sacrifice for me and for the chance I have to live with my family for eternity.

Stake Conference: The Family

The past few days have been filled with some wonderful talks and thoughts on the gospel and the family. One of the speakers bore a strong testimony of eternal families. He and his wife had lost their little girl at birth and were devastated. But because they knew about the plan of salvation they were comforted by the fact that she was with our Heavenly Father and Savior and that they would be able to see her again. What a sweet and wonderful knowledge we have as members of the church.

Another woman spoke about an experience at her work. She had a quote attached to the bottom of her emails which read something along the lines of "Children do best when raised in an environment where both a father and a mother are present." Unfortunately, she was asked to remove the quote because it offended some of their clients. Although it saddened her to have to take down the quote, she made a goal to continue supporting the family and standing for what she believed in, even if everyone didn't agree with her. What a great example of standing as a witness of Christ.

As I was studying, I came across this quote that sums up my feelings great.

"Children can be born and raised, sometimes quite successfully, in other than a married two-parent family environment. But on average and in the majority of cases, evidence of the social benefits of marriage and of the comparatively superior outcomes for children in families headed by a married man and woman is extensive." - The Global Flight From the Family(Wall Street).

Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God. It doesn't mean that other marriages can't be successful, but the ideal marriage is between a man and a woman ordained of God. I'm grateful for the knowledge that I have of the gospel and of eternal marriages. I know that families are central to God's plan for us and that we can be with them forever.

AZ

A couple weeks ago, we were able to go and spend time in Arizona. We originally planned the trip to attend Brock's wedding but extended it a little longer so that we could see family in both Taylor and Mesa. It was a whirlwind of activities trying to say hi to everyone and attend every activity, but I loved every minute of it. On Halloween, I convinced Travis to dress up with me so we could get $3 burritos from Chipotle. After a few unsuccessful costume ideas, he allowed me to paint his face like an avatar(the blue people). I'd say it turned out pretty good. We ran into Jayrod who ate dinner with us and the fam and then we spent the rest of the night hanging out at Jon and Emilee's with family. Jaylee was terrified of Travis and I because of our face paint. She literally started crying when we walked in the door. I guess it was too good of a job ha.
At the end of the night Travis went upstairs to remove the paint and makeup from his face. He came down informing us that what he thought was makeup remover turned out to be nail polish remover..and subsequently his face was burning. Poor thing.

Back in Rexburg, we were pretty anxious to get the rodeo put back together and running. After hours and hours of working on the car with Trav, I understand why mechanics can have such dirty mouths. It is frustrating! We finally got it fixed, thank goodness. Now I just need to practice driving it..

Thanksgiving is in 7 days, a week, exactly! And Christmas is in 38! Travis thinks I'm crazy for decorating for Christmas already, but we're only going to be here in Rexburg for another few weeks so I want to take advantage it! What we need is a tree...that will be the goal for this next week. Get ourselves a Christmas tree.

What Matters Most

I came across this video the other day and love the message that President Monson shares with us. With the busy changes of our lives, we need to focus on what matters most. And that thing is family. Families are forever and we need to treat them as so. I too often get caught up in my own selfish wants and neglect those around me who need my love and friendship. I need to sacrifice some of my own time and in turn, let the spirit guide my actions. I also love the quote President Monson included by Shakespeare, "They do not love, that do not show their love." Go express your love for a family member or a friend. It need not be in person. A phone call, a text, a note or letter work just as well. It doesn't take much time or effort but it does make a difference and it does matter. "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

Falling

Did some exploring this weekend along with a photoshoot as seen below. This is the first time I've actually experienced a true Fall and I'm loving it! Stumbled upon our first snow of the season up in the Targhee forest. The tree tops were frosted and the ground had a light layer of fresh snow...it was magical really. Too bad it can't stay like this for the rest of the year.

Identities and Geothermals

Studies from this week led me to some essential and wonderful truths on the eternal identities of men and women. Growing up, I had always considered myself a "tomboy". I wanted to play with the boys and get dirty and wear dragon t-shirts everyday. In today's world, and with different, less righteous parents, I probably would've been pushed to explore that opposite gender. To consider, since I preferred what were deemed "boy" tendencies and activities, that maybe I came here in the wrong body. That really, I was meant to be a boy. Children are even taught in schools today that there are hundreds of different types of genders and that, you should experiment to figure out which one fits you best. And that couldn't be more wrong.

We are all born with different likes, dislikes, tendencies and challenges here on earth. These include gender confusion and same-sex attraction. The adversary uses them to confuse and upset the plan that our Heavenly Father created for us. But we are blessed to know that gender is an essential characteristic of pre-mortal, mortal and eternal identity and purpose. It is rooted deeply inside of us and will dictate not only our own lives, but the lives of our spouses and children.

As a woman, femininity is part of my inner beauty. Possessing the virtue of femininity does not mean that you have to love playing dress up, wear makeup and adore the color pink. Every woman on earth possesses the innate virtue of femininity, it just presents itself in different ways.  It finds expression in your capacity to love, your spirituality, delicacy, radiance, sensitivity, creativity, charm, graciousness, gentleness, dignity, and quiet strength" (President James E. Faust).

I'm grateful for the knowledge that I have of this gospel and for the joy that I find in my divine nature. I'm grateful for a wonderful mother who taught me what a woman should be and for a father who respected and protected women.

West Thumb

Bighorn sheep at the elk refuge!

Took a day trip to Yellowstone last week and went the touristy route this time. We hit up every major geyser and geothermal and sat foreverr in a typical "bison jam." On our way home, we stopped by Jackson and reminisced about the good old trailer days.  And as fun as our time living in Jackson was , I'm so grateful for the house we live in now.

Empty Houses, Rainy Days, and Prophets of God

It's been a lonely few days at the house. Travis got called to work an overnight charter again from Friday to Monday which means I watched conference by myself. Luckily, I got to see him and spend the night with him two of the three nights by some chance. I'm so grateful for my husband and the things he does for me. I'm lucky to be his wife and to get to spend eternity with him. Eternity. Sometimes I don't think I fully comprehend or appreciate the beauty of that word.

I was studying some teachings that really stood out to me and touched my heart the other day and wanted to share them. We know that the family is central to the Father's plan, these words come straight from the Proclamation given to us by prophets and apostles over 20 years ago. Something that I never really put much thought into was the fact that we can only continue our families in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. Nowhere else will families exist. How crazy is that? That realization made me evaluate my life and the progress I was making. If I want to be with my family forever I need to make achieving celestial glory my highest priority.

That may seem like a lofty goal, but we can start small. Eternal families aren't constructed by grandiose deeds, they require consistent, daily affirmations of faith and love. They require striving and encouraging, praising and teaching. Repentance will be necessary and forgiveness a common practice. But with faith we will be able to qualify for all the blessings our Heavenly Father has in store for us, including eternal life with our families.

"Every major decision should be based on the effect it will have on a family to qualify for life with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ." - Henry B. Eyring

Rexie-burg

Week one of officially living in Rexburg has come and gone. And we've already had to turn on our heater....am I just a wimp or is it really that cold? (According to Travis I'm a wimp...but he never gets cold so his opinion doesn't count)
We got everything moved in thanks to Travis' father and his truck and trailer. Church is great, school is good(except for the annoying orientation stuff) and life is wonderful.
Travis had to go work tonight for Salt Lake Express. He has to stay overnight in Dubois since it's a charter. I considered driving there to hang out with him tomorrow before work but decided it wasn't really worth all the driving for the time. This is actually the first night since we've been married...8months...that we've slept apart from each other. Crazy to think about. I miss him. Hopefully he doesn't have too many overnight gigs. But at least he has a job, for that I'm thankful. 

Part 2:

Day 4: Waking up to grey skies was a wonderful surprise as the weather had previously forecasted no clouds all day. The drive through the Quinault Forest was one of the prettiest parts of our entire drive. Huge trees lining the road with low hanging fog...breathtaking. we stopped at Beach 3(yes that's literally what it's called) and walked around for a bit. I love the ocean. Then we made our way up the coast to the Hoh Rainforest. Don't get me wrong, the rainforest was amazing..it just didn't exactly match the pictures I had expected in my head. Sunny and very dry, not really what you would imagine a rainforest to look like. A stop at Tillamook was a must on our way to Aunt Carries house. And of course we had to get some ice cream. After the dessert break we finally made it to Portland where we met Amber with the key to Carrie and Ken's apartment(they were gone until the next night so we had the whole place to ourselves...good and bad).  Picked up some Thai Food for dinner and passed out in a nice comfy bed.

Day 5: First thing in the morning we headed to Multnomah Falls and Oneonta Gorge. By far one of the coolest hikes I've ever been on. You hike up a slot canyon, wade through water(freezing cold water) and a climb over huge log jams until you reach an amazing waterfall carved into the back of the gorge. The rest of the day was filled with relaxing and a mexican dinner out with Carrie and Ken. We visited for a while afterwards with Rachel and her husband and then began our drive towards California. After driving for a couple hours I fell asleep and not long after that Travis pulled off onto a random road and we ended up just sleeping in our car.



Day 6: Life is a Highway
After a mediocre night of sleep in the car, we were awakened by my phone at 5am. We figured we might as well start making our way to California since we had such a long day of driving ahead of us. It was suuuper foggy the first couple hours. We pulled off at one of the beaches along the highway to find a lighthouse but could barely see five feet in front of us..and we nearly were blown away by the wind! Needless to say we didn't make it to the lighthouse. After a few hours of driving I took a turn  at the wheel and let Travis get some more sleep. The first time in over 2000 miles that I've driven..He loves me.
After a quick lunch at Applebees we headed for the Redwoods. The trees were HUGE. Bigger than anything else we'd seen this trip and we'd seen a lot of trees. We drove a few scenic roads and hiked a cute little trail deep In the forest. On the trail we found three banana slugs! So cool. From there we made our way to San Francisco. Got to cross the golden gate bridge at night which was gorgeous(but expensive) and ended our night with a chicken nugget dinner and another sleepover in the car.


Day 7: Drove down the coast almost the entire way to Los Angeles. We stopped at channel islands National Park(the visitor center anyway since you can only access the islands by boat) bringing our national park count for the trip up to 5. Spent the day with Brandon, Travis' friend/roomate from Hawaii. For being an LA native, he didn't have very many non-touristy ideas of things for us to do. We walked the main boardwalk, hit up a ferris-wheel(at Travis' request), and ate dinner at panda express. Not bad, but nothing out of the ordinary. He did suggest a cool hike but it ended up being closed due to a wildfire nearby so that was a no go. After chatting with a couple of Brandon's friends for hours we decided to just spend the night at his place and leave in the morning. Next time we''ll definitely have to use the temple patron housing that's available. We didn't even think about using it.

Woke up to find some sweet elephant seals on the beach!

Day 8: The drive to San Diego was relatively short compared to the other legs of our journey. It was a nice change. We drove straight to the temple and decided to do a session there. The temple is gorgeous. And the terrarium...so cool. I'm grateful that we have so many temples and that we can attend them often.
Our stomachs were growling at us by the time we left the temple so we stopped at a little surf shop for sandwiches. Then we made our way to Cabrillo National Monument and lighthouse. Unfortunately we got there too late to explore the tide pools but the lighthouse and army bunkers were pretty cool to see. After some shopping and a dip in the hot tub at our hotel, we ate dinner at Travis' favorite childhood restaurant Filipis Pizza. I wasn't as impressed but it wasn't bad. We fed the rest of my pizza to some homeless guy's pets haha..at least it went somewhere.
Day 9: The drive back to AZ and home!!! Family dinner with the Stradlings and delicious food. 

Summer Road Trip: Part 1

Day 1: Jackson to Twin Falls. Spent the night at Terel and Rachael's new house. We ate at Sharis Pies with them and Gio that night around ten and laughed harder than I have in a long time. You know, the ugly crying laughter..

Day 2: Twin Falls to Olympia. We attempted to go to church that next morning with Rachael and Terel but showed up an hour early because it was stake conference that day so we just took off and headed to grandma's house. Made a stop in Boise to explore the State Capitol, which was sweet and another stop in Oregon for gas. I forgot to tell Travis that in Oregon you can't pump your own gas..and he told the gas attendant to go away haha.
Finally got to grandma's where we ate like kings. She and Ferrell had picked several gallons of blackberries and made all kinds of creations which included blackberry syrup over icecream for dessert🍧


Teaching grandma how to use the selfie stick..again haha.

Day 3: The next morning we woke up to the smell of blackberry pancakes. Grandma wanted to get an early start so we could make it to Hells Canyon. After a terrifying two hour drive we finally made it to hat point lookout. The views were definitely impressive but nothing like the grand canyon people compared it to. We had a late lunch with the grandparents then got back on the road making our way to Washington and Mount Ranier. Our main destination was The Grove of the Patriarchs. I think it's safe to say it was the prettiest place we'd been thus far. I wish we would have planned to spend more time there but unfortunately we had other plans. We decided to stop and get a cheap hotel in Olympia for the night instead of driving to Seattle. Worth it.

 

Twenty one.

Had an interesting night of sleep(or lack there-of)yesterday.. I would blame it on my sporadic sleep schedule but given the other factors that were present I think it's safe to say that wasn't the only cause. Travis and I had just returned from dinner and we were laying in bed when I heard some tapping noises by our door. At first I ignored them, thinking it was just my imagination. When I heard it again a little louder I asked Travis if he heard anything but he only confirmed again that I was imagining things. A few minutes passed by and I heard the noise again, only this time it was accompanied by squeaks...there was no imagining this time. Even Travis heard it. 

A mouse. 

Gross. After a few moments of silence we decided that it was probably just outside. But after hearing it again from what seemed to be underneath our closet and then underneath the sink we decided otherwise..which put me into a little bit of a panic-mode. How did a mouse get into our trailer and more importantly where is it?? I made Travis get up and look but after several minutes of failed findings he finally gave up and said it was probably under our floorboards and he would look for it tomorrow. Sick. So there is the number one reason why I didn't sleep last night. Number two...drunk Emily. I was finally starting to drift off, still trying to ignore the tapping sounds of the mouse around me, when Emily shows up, back from her night out. I'm not sure what exactly even happened but it involved lots of crying and yelling and loud noises. After about 15 minutes of that episode it quieted down again and I started to fall asleep again. And finally, number three. We had decided that night, to try sleeping on the "table" bed  instead of our actual mattress...not the greatest idea. It was softer than our mattress for sure but the cushions kept sliding out from underneath us..all night long. I don't know why we didn't just move onto our bed after them falling off so many times. Lazy. Nevertheless we survived the night. And as far as I can tell, the mouse is gone...

In other news..I'm now 21!!! Crazy.

My birthday went like this:

Sleepover at our house in Rexburg, Cap'n Crunch and Shrek, Denny's at midnight for breakfast(because hello, free birthday food), late night walks, a hike to Strawberry Lake, snack at taco time, ice cream in Afton, dinner at the noodle kitchen and a beautiful new winter jacket..courtesy of Travis. (Yes the day centered a lot on food but it was my birthday, you're supposed to eat good food.)
 It was the first time I've ever spent my birthday apart from Melissa so that was a little weird, but it was a great day overall. We'll probably hit up a bar or something together when I get to Arizona..maybe haha. Plus I got my own birthday song this year so that was a first!

Our time in Jackson is quickly coming to a close. And I'm so excited..a little sad too..but mostly excited for what lies ahead. The past week, we spent some time exploring some of the trails in the snake river canyon and found berries along the trail by the creek! Most of them were raspberries of different kinds with a few mystery berries that we decided weren't worth our time. We also had dinner with the boss and the Denhalters on Sunday. Mary made delicious Swiss food consisting of cheesy noodles, saucy meat, and fresh green beans. Delicious. 

Goodbye Trailer, Hello House

  As of today, we officially are paying rent on a house in Rexburg. THE house in Rexburg(aka Terel and Rachael's old house). I'm so excited and grateful and relieved that we got it. It just meets so many of the requirements we were looking for and it's literally right down the street from the school. The downside is we aren't moving into said house until September...which means a whole month's rent in the toilet. Lame. But it was worth it.

The drive to Rexburg....gorgeous.

Our cute little house!

  On the plus side....our last day of work at Mad River is less than two weeks away! Which is a little sad too, don't get me wrong, but I can't wait to go back to Arizona for a little while and catch up with everyone and enjoy the warm for a little while. Plus, the end of work here equals the start of our super, awesome road trip down the west coast! Full of all kinds of gorgeousness and coolness and deliciousness.
  Until then, we'll work our butts off and earn some money before we go to Idaho. Here's to the last week of work!

Jackson with Friends

  One of the good things about working for Mad River, your friends/family come to visit because you live in an awesome place and your job is awesome.

 We had the chance to show my family around last week and take a little time off work which is always nice. And because the first hotel room they got was pretty much the same size as our trailer, they upgraded to a nicer, bigger one in the village for the second half of the week. Which meant an oven and a jacuzzi and a pool! And a couch that Travis and I slept on for a couple of the nights. Aside from all the fun perks, it was super nice to have my family in town and get to see them for a few days. I didn't realize how much I missed them till then!

Saturday, Terel and Rachael came to visit again, this time to actually go rafting before Terel starts his big-boy job in Twin Falls. I had originally taken the day off to go rafting with Alex(bearman) and Brandon Davidson (who won a free rafting trip off of James' Instagram page) but changed my plans and ended up babysitting Hudson while the Nichols went down the river. It was kinda fun taking him on the bus(although we got crap for it from some unnamed people) with everyone fawning over him. Travis and I took him to the grocery store with us to get some lunch and everybody kept commenting on Hudson and asking us if it was our first baby and how old he was and what he weighed, etc. We played along for the most part pretending he was our baby..haha. But it was nice to be able to give him back to his parents after a few hours. I can't wait to have kids, but man are they a lot of work. And I can't even imagine having two at once...dang my mother is a saint.

That same night was the infamous Mystical Creatures + Tacos employee party. We had been trying to devise plans to skip the party all day(beer and mystical creatures aren't exactly my kind of party). We even almost drove back to Idaho with Terel and Rachael after their rafting trip just to take their niece to the airport in Boise. After talking to a few other people about the party we gave in and decided to go look for a costume or at least some article of clothing that could count for a mystical creature of some sort. We ended up exploring shops downtown and found ourselves in a Patagonia store. The moment we stepped into the store I heard my name. I turned around to see Alex Bearman and her husband. They had been wandering around downtown wondering what to do for the night and, to Travis' delight, wanted to go look at bike shops around town. Long story short, they got local tour guides for the night and we got a reason for ditching the party. 

We perused a few bike shops(and a dollar tree at Brandon's request) then made our way to the village to try and ride the gondola. On the way there we saw a HUGE moose right off the road! Finally! I had never seen a moose on "moose road" until that night so it was a good start. We went on a little hike in the preserve then ended the night with burgers from D.O.G around 11. Thank goodness for their strange hours(10pm-3am)! I'm not sure if it was just because of the empty stomachs we were running on but it was one of the best burgers I've ever tasted. Definitely worth the eight bucks.

Lobster and Fireworks

  Paddleboards, barbecues and fireworks. Sounds like the perfect Fourth of July..amiright? The idea was great. The day was great. It may not have been executed quite as perfectly as we would have liked it to, but it was a day well spent and one to remember.  I did miss all the annual pool parties and warm nights that normally come with the Fourth but it was a fun change of scenery.

  Since Travis got stuck working on the Fourth, I spent the day on the bus with him. We borrowed Mad River's boards and drove down the the Palisades Lake in Idaho. Sooo much warmer than all the other lakes and rivers around Jackson. We had planned to do a BBQ at Camille and Andrew's place that night but by the time we made it to their cabin everyone was done and we ended up eating by ourselves.We also missed the first 5 minutes of the fireworks and ended up watched them in an alleyway by ourselves haha. What we really should've done is gone paddleboarding during the fireworks... Next year. After fireworks I gave Trav a haircut and we finished off the night with some movie snuggling in our trailer.

My cute bus driver!

 Earlier that same weekend, we had our annual Lobster Dinner at Mad River and somehow Travis convinced me to eat said lobster. Let's just say I'm glad I didn't pay for it too. It wasn't bad but it wasn't exactly what I would call good. A lot of work for tiny amounts of food. 

  That same week, we also had the big chamber mixer at Mad River for all the local businesses. Basically a big party with lots of food and people you don't know that you're forced to mingle with. But the ribs and brownies made it all worth it. Plus, for volunteering to help Annie out all day she gave me a new little backpacking stove and mess kit. Saweet. 

What a man.