Girl's Weekend in Idaho

Our girl's weekend in Arco was such a fun get-away! I took two days of student teaching off to fly up and visit family. Thursday my flight left at 10 in the morning and I got into Idaho at noon. Trisha picked me up, we ran a few errands together, and then she let me borrow her and Travis's truck to take a romp to Rexburg and see Keaton and friends. I went to the Reading Center where I used to work and gave my old supervisor (Sister Engstrom) a surprise visit. We gabbed for a few hours (not kidding...we are great friends and she's Mom's age!) and I also met up with my brother in-law James while he was at work. We both met up with Keaton after his welding lab and had dinner at Coasta Vida. James took off with his girlfriend while Keaton and I hit Walmart for him to get some earplugs. Apparently his roommate snores. Well halfway into Walmart we were stopped by a sales associate who told us there was a "code blue" and we needed to evacuate immediately. Umm...okay? Keaton thought he heard him say something about a "bomb threat" but I told him to stop spreading rumors and move. We ended up hanging around by the Walmart employees at the back of the parking lot to try to hear what was going on and Keaton was right...there was a bomb threat! The fire department came and blocked off the main road, police officers were everywhere checking cars in the parking lot for anything suspicious...it was fun to see for the 20 minutes we were there but we decided to move on and get our earplugs at Broulims...Rexburg: where anything can happen!

We got ready to play ultimate after our store adventures. We had a fun group show up to play some short-court in the I-Center and we played for two hours. Keaton really enjoyed himself and he was awesome! My favorite part was when Keaton and I both burst into "Let it Go!" at the same time...good times!

We went back to his apartment and watched the news for a few minutes and I headed back to Trisha's. It was good to have the time to visit Rexburg while I was in Idaho. Friday Trisha and I waited around unto 12:30 for her mother in-law to babysit her kiddos and then we headed to Shae's school to do an orientation meeting with her. We headed to Arco after that and were the first to arrive. The weather all weekend was breezy, cloudy, and rainy/snowy. It was a breath of fresh air after the monotonous sunshine we have in Vegas. We enjoyed visiting with Mom until the other sisters arrived. The Boise group got in and we had Trisha's soup for dinner. We enjoyed visiting about bowel movements, pregnancy, and birth stories (a true Beal gathering) and watching "Philomena" that night. We stayed up even later and gabbed until midnight. 

The gals, but missing Katie and Rachel

Saturday morning Jory made her fabulous crepes and Mitzi and I went for a 2-ish mile run/walk. We had fun visiting more during our exercise. The gals hit The Family Dollar and the A&A after that to pick up last minute food items and of course, just to browse! We bought the ingredients for jalepeno popper dip per request. Trisha introduced us to our service project of coloring some items for kids doing school work so a few of us colored while we watched Steel Magnolias. We had Christy's fabulous salad, soup, and bread for dinner and watched two more movies: Austenland and Memiors of a Geisha. There was lots of visiting in-between but also some sleeping: we partied hard! My favorite part of that day was looking at old family pictures. It made me reflect on what a wonderful childhood I had! We all have the fondest memories of Mom and Dad, our siblings, and The Farm.

Good Ol' Duke!

Sunday my flight didn't leave until 12:45 so we had time in the morning to have breakfast with everyone. We got ready to leave around 10 and I started crying when I was saying goodbye to everyone. Dad said family prayer and Mom begged me to move closer! It's hard being away from family...I love Idaho so much! I took some pictures with Duke and King Mountain with Mom's green grass, the blue sky, and white mountain. I also filled up my water bottle one last time with Dad's utility sink water ;) I had a great time in Arco and I already look forward to visiting again this summer for Atomic Days and to see EVERYONE. 

I am obsessed with these mountains!

Lake Mead

Trisha drove me across the desert to the airport. I sat next to an older couple on the flight and had a nice conversation with them. They were on their way to Hawaii. I tried to slip in some gospel things but we were landed by the time I could say anything more. I was so happy to see Justin waiting for me at the airport. Absence makes my heart grow oh-so fond of him! 

I now have 11 days left of student teaching. I can't wait to be done. I started a countdown for myself on the whiteboard at school...my students are not happy. Oh well! Let the countdown begin!

It wouldn't be Arco without a cow carcass on the yard 

This week we did a lot of missionary work. The sisters have a three-companionship right now so one of the sisters has to go on splits with the members. So I've been doing a lot of splits with the missionaries and will continue to do so for the next 10-ish days until the next transfer and we'll see what changes. We had two baptisms this week and we have two more scheduled in the next two weeks. I met a lady tonight who came with the man who was baptized and they've been friends for a long time. I talked to her after the baptism and asked her if she'd been taught by the missionaries, and then I asked her what she'd think about being baptize. She said, "Yeah, that'd be nice." Look at that! Committing people to baptism! I caught the sisters before we left so they could set a date with her.

We had stake conference this weekend and I am so impressed with the work of salvation that's being done in our area. The members here are so strong: youth are constantly inviting friends to church and members are very welcoming to new members and those investigating the church. I love being part of it! Living far from family is hard, but we have the gospel, we have our ward family, and we are so happy.