Western Adventure 2013: REXBURG

rexburg is such a special place.

one of the things that makes it so special are the people.

we were able to visit a few, very dear, friends while we were there.

first we visited chris' great friend, megan, her two little boys, along with her awesome mom, kris. they took good care of chris while he was a student there.... not to mention that kris always, always has banana creamies. she even shared them with us during this visit. it was so neat to see them and see how megan's little family has grown and how happy they are. isn't that the best? to see good friends and know that they are happy?

our next stop was to see berniece brown.

berniece is a special lady.

one in a million.

when chris was driving down a street in 2002, he saw an old lady (berniece) shoveling the snow in her driveway. he stopped and asked her if he could help and she said no, thats how she got her exercise, but that he could visit with her. so he did. and he went back often. they became special friends. i met berniece in 2004. she is a firecracker and smart as a whip. she has a green thumb and is a wonderful gardener. she taught elementary school for many many years. she prefers living on her own and refuses to live with her children. chris calls her each january on her birthday. she'll be 90 on her next birthday! she's so very special.

chris loves this picture of her family. 

she is in the upper left corner.

berniece hates that picture because her ruffled collar is flipped up. she just can't believe that the photographer didn't tell her. she gets fired up telling that story, which makes us laugh.

when we pulled up in the driveway, berniece said she wanted to take us to a great little place for lunch. after we visited for a bit, we loaded up and she took us to arctic circle :)

we feel so lucky that we got to see her. she's been a great influence for us.

october 25, 2013

september 11, 2006

 after saying goodbye we headed up to the byu-i campus.

holy moly!

it has changed so much!

the new i-center is breathtaking and mimics the conference center.

several times while walking around i heard groups of girls oohing and awing over the kids. one girl even said, "oh my gosh! i can't wait!". at the moment i felt like gaging. charlie wouldn't stop yelling to hear is voice echo in the big buildings, jack wouldn't stop running, and ellie was whining. but really, when i look back at it, i probably would have thought the same thing as a young college student... even if i didn't say it out loud ;)

we visited chris' favorite professor, brother palmer. he's awesome and gave the kids several cookies and filled my backpack up with kitkats for later.

of course we had to stop and visit "the steps"

this is where chris proposed on a sunday evening in august 2004.

awwwww, so romantic!

.....minus the nonstop running and screeching from the munchkins....

we took one picture and knew it was a bust, but hey, we tried.

it was winter when we first started dating and when we would go for walks, i would freeze. so we would take a break on these heated steps to warm up. during the summer, we would stop here to read together. so when we finished reading an article in the ensign one summer night, i was totally surprised when chris picked some flowers from the flower bed and proposed.

those days seem so long ago.

we ended our visit by driving by the beautiful rexburg temple and it took my breath away. 

we love rexburg.

i think i used the word "special" a gazillion times, but thats what rexburg is to us.