Road Trip With Nicholas

Nicholas was so great during our whole trip to Idaho and back. He was so strong and reliable and NEVER complained. He loaded the car like it was a puzzle to be figured out.

Check out all that self-confidence. I really could not have done this without him!

Everyone took turns driving, even Nicholas. By the end of the trip, he’d wracked up 8 hours of driving. Only 25 more hours before he gets his license now!

He was just as happy as the rest of us to finally get to Rexburg and have a real meal! What a treat!

He and I made 5 trips to Kristina’s shed and he hauled up all the heaviest boxes to the second floor. We were sure grateful that they didn’t live on the 3rd floor. With all the trips up and down those stairs, he never complained. I told him later I knew he was just as tired as me but I admired him for not complaining. He said “What would be the point of complaining? It wouldn’t do any good.” Man, I wish I could be more like him!

We took one chilly evening to walk around the Rexburg Temple. I’m so glad we did this cause in the end, this was the only chance we had to go see it. We had our church clothes with us though, just in case we had the chance to go in but it never happened.

On the way home, we stopped at the top of this huge hill/mountain. If you look closely you can see how the road twists and turns ahead of us, finally coming off the hill in a long straight road. The scenery was beautiful but 6 miles of a 6% downgrade was very hard on my breaks. I insisted on driving this part of the trip. Nicholas didn’t mind.

When we got to the Columbia River, we stopped to admire the view. Nicholas couldn’t believe the great reception he got when trying to send his sisters a picture that he took of the river. I love this picture. What kind of caption would you put on this? "E.T. where are you?" "Can you hear me now?" "Beam me up Scotty!" LOL

The day after we got home, Heather and Ryan went for their first day of school but his wasn’t till the next day. So we took the opportunity to visit the auto-wrecking yard, a trip he’d been bugging me to make for some time. He was a like a kid in a candy store, looking at all the wrecked vehicles. I just tried not to get broken glass in my flip-flops. LOL

The trip with Nicholas was so much fun. I enjoyed the time I got to spend with him and I appreciate more than ever his strong and steady personality with a bit of humor thrown in. What a great guy he is!

Traveling to College

Hurray! We made it to Idaho! I never thought we'd get out of Oregon. Let me tell you! A long trip is made longer by trying to travel through the night! I was so glad when morning found us in Idaho!

College girls with the Snake River behind them. We made many stops along the way. Our car was packed to overflowing so cramped legs and sore bottoms and sleepy eyes had us stopping just about every 2 hours to stretch and switch drivers. I'll never drive during the night again! But this part of the trip really was very beautiful!

When we finally made it to Rexburg, we were so happy to easily find the apartment complex they were moving in to. It's right across the street from the stadium. This pic looks like an ad for the place. LOL But they probably won't stay there for their next semester. They need more storage space for 6 girls in the apartment. There was only one drawer in the kitchen and hardly any cabinet space. They're going to look around to see if there are any other apartments they'd rather have that has more storage for 6 girls.

A quick and easy check in and we were moving into the apartment very quickly. It was pretty exciting to settle into a new place.

This mess was after 5 trips to the storage unit where Kristina and her friends stored their stuff. Compared to the other college students emptying out their storage unit, the girls did a very good job packing it into boxes and organizing it..... even though it DOES look like a mess in this picture. LOL Amber only had her suitcases to unpack. She had it all put away very quickly. It took the other girls a little longer. :-)

An unbelievable crowd at the welcome assembly. The welcome had just started and there were still people streaming in, trying to find a seat. In the end there was standing room only. In this pic, Kristina and Heather are sitting with Kathy and some other girls. Section F, right under the F. Unless you were there, you really can hardly see them! But isn't that an amazing crowd? Wow!

It's good to have them at school now and settled in. It's alittle quiet at home but we're going to adjust ok.

The last one in Contacts

How interesting that all of my children ended up wearing glasses like me. I got my first pair of glasses when I was 5 years old and my bad vision progressed till I was a -9 in both eyes by the time I became an adult. And now the kids all have bad eye sight too. And all of them were able to get contacts by the time they were 12 or 13. Now Ryan is the last one to get his contacts. Good thing too cause he's such a handsome kid!

This picture is when he was trying to put them in for the first time. I love his eye. Click on it to see the larger picture! It's great!


The next one is what I consider the perfect ad for contacts. He just got them both in for the first time and was really excited about it.

And here he is walking around the store, excited about what he now can see sooo clearly. Really, his glasses were just so bad and insurance would only cover new glasses or contacts every 2 years. I couldn't afford to get him new ones with the right prescription so being able to truly see with contacts was like a miracle!