Fun Fall Break Weekend with Family

We have been looooving being so close to family and seeing them so much. Our fall breaks happened to coincide and we took advantage of that. 

 Thursday night, we headed to Mark, Mayela and Amber's house to sleep over. We talked, the kids watched a show, we ate Crumbl cookies and Costco pumpkin pie, and finally went to bed. We woke up bright and early to head to Pocatello, idaho to meet Grandma Di and Grandpa Scott for the temple open house. The last one we went to, Cov was just a baby so it has been a while. The temple there was so beautiful! Pocatello was where Dave's mom Sue was born, and when my mom used to live in Fort Hall, they would drive to Pocatello for church. Anways, we saw Mom's brother Uncle Dale helping out with security and later on the tour. He lives in Blackfoot, so it was fun to see him. So we have a few connections. The stained glass windows and carving details were beautiful - they featured the state flowers from idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The art work was so touching. Emma really liked one called "Not Alone" from Minerva Tiechert, which featured angel soldiers marching surrounding a pioneer woman and son carrying along by their wagon and oxen. Lucy said she really loved all of the happy pictures of Christ. She was just commenting recently how so many of the pictures of Christ he seems sad and serious. There were many he was smiling, and enjoying moments with the one. Callahan said the baptistry was the coolest, and Cov also said he liked the 12 oxen surrounding the font best. Sydnie did really well and was even silent on the silent tour, which we were worried about. She could definitely tell we were somewhere sacred. And though not dedicated yet, we were still able to walk on holy ground because of the sacrifices made to get this temple to the earth. We were grateful we were able to go experience this together.  We took some pictures on the temple grounds afterwards and rode the bus (also a favorite part from the kids) back to where we parked. We are thankful for the temple and know it is the house of the Lord where we can be sealed together for generations for time and all eternity.  After that, it was a quick Costco run to get a few things and eat at the food court (now that they're open again). My Dad was really excited to take us to the Museum of Clean. This was a pretty fun museum that helped explain the importance of being clean, had displays made out of cleaning supplies, lots of vintage cleaning collectibs, and tons of hands on fun for the kids. We actually had a really fun time here!  Then we drove to Lava Hot Springs to soak it up. We enjoyed chatting and swimming in the hot pools. Finally we ended the night at the Chuckwagon restaurant, which was per Marko's request as he had been there as a younger lad. We all really enjoyed it and the service was awesome!  What a busy but great day!  

We slept over at the Ryerses next, and woke up early to begin work. We are inbetween renters for our condo and decided to do a little updating and remodeling. Taking way longer than we thought but it will be great to have it all done. Todd has been helping lots, too, thank goodness. We still didn't finish but are oh so close! Just need to finish up a couple odds and ends. The youngers stayed at the Ryerses and played with cousins, decorated for a party, watched some Saturday morning cartoons and played with toys. Em and Cal went with Mark & Mayela and went treasure hunting to look for a chest with money some YouTuber from Utah hid in their area. Then we went to a very special birthday party for Grandpa/Great Grandpa Chuck, his 91st!  Dan's sister, Kelly also came for the occasion. And Stacy ad the kids were there!!  We listened to his stories (he has the best!) and talked and ate treats. All the treats...there were two types of cupcakes, lemon bars, no bake cookies, and then popsicles and drumsticks, some of his favorite goodies. Couldn't decide on just a couple so they made them all. ;)  Then the girls painted Grandma Carol's finger nails, Stacy gave her a haircut and Kelly tweezed her chin hairs, lol! So sweet!  Chuck and Carol recently moved to Legacy House in Bountiful so it has been a blast to have them closer and see them so much. Grandpa Chuck has such a fun loving personality and is such a tease. He loves to dish it out and get it back and has a great sense of humor. He is still in good shape and has a great memory. Grandma Carol has been struggling more recently but has been a lot better since she moved here they say. After the party, the boys all had a big wrestling brawl, then the older boys went to Cheese Park, Brian took the older girls shopping, and the rest of the littles stayed to play while the adults helped prep dinner. We had Ryerse tacos, always so tasty!  We watched some football of course, and then we were off to drive home. Golly it's nice only being two hours away. That's nothing!  We are glad we got to spend time with our family this weekend!