20 August

Earlier in the week, we ended up needed to get our windshield replaced on the suburban. The kids loved watching the man take out the old windshield and put a new one in.

This past weekend was very nice. We were able to go up to Boise Idaho to attend a friends wedding reception. We decided that we’d leave early and spend the day Saturday finding things to do in Boise. Kelli and the kids worked really hard to get everything in place so we could leave Friday afternoon. Shaun came home from work a bit early (he worked late a few days so he could leave work early) and we took off around 3:00. We made good time until we arrived in the Layton area where there is a lot of construction. We ended up getting off of the freeway and taking the back roads around Layton. We made good time after that and arrived in Boise around 9:00pm. As soon as we got checked in and the car unpacked, we went to the pool.

The hotel room was great – we actually got a 2 room suit with a kitchen. The girls got one room, Mom and Dad got the other room and the 2 boys got the pullout couch in the front room (Isaac was at EFY for the week (he said that he had a fantastic time)). After swimming, we watched the Olympics and went to bed.

Saturday we got up and went to breakfast. We then decided that we’d visit some of the local museums since we had all day. We first went to the local hands on science museum. It was actually really nice. Some of the highlights were the swing that you pull yourself up on, the remote control robots you build yourself, the computer with robot arm that spells words, the sound and hearing exhibits (lots of cool things there), the electronic geyser, the bed of nails that you can stretch out on, and the biggest hit of all was the store where they had plastic food of all kinds, working cash registers, aprons and shopping baskets. The girls spent a long time there. They boys were not to hip on the shopping but there was enough in other areas of the museum to keep them entertained. There was a mirror exhibit that enabled us to get a picture of “forever” with each one of us.

We finished up around 1:00pm – went and got some lunch and headed over to the Old Idaho Penitentiary which was Idaho’s Territorial Prison from 1870-1973. The first thing we did in the prison was view a movie on the history and construction of the prison. We then went out into the yard and toured all the buildings. The kids commented about the condition of the buildings and the cells themselves and how the people had to live there. The feeling there was one of awe that people really lived there and did their time and one of quiet reflection and sadness that that kind of place was necessary. There was also a great interest on the part of our children to see the details of prison life and how things worked. The highlight for the kids was solitary confinement. For some reason, solitary confinement was the most fascinating point for them. There was also a gun collection housed inside of the jail which was interesting and a collection of old time buggies, a train car and horse drawn wagons.


After the jail we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the reception. The reception was for Katie Thomas formally of our ward in Washington. The Thomas family moved to Idaho shortly before we moved back to Utah. Katie’s older brother and sister (Elizabeth and Nathan) were part of Young Men’s and Young Women’s when Kelli was serving as the laurel advisor and Shaun was teaching Sunday school. We have been friends for a while now. A few weeks ago we were blessed to run into Elizabeth at the Jordan River temple. Kelli was in the dressing room getting ready to leave the temple and she saw Elizabeth. We had a nice talk with her there. Elizabeth had Katie send us an invitation and that’s when we decided we’d go up to Idaho. The reception was very nice and it was great to see the Thomas family members again. After the reception we went back to the hotel swam some more and went to bed. Sunday morning we got up, ate breakfast, checked out and headed home. On the way home we picked Isaac up from Steve and Heidi Kendall’s where he had spent the weekend after EFY.

Kelli and Isaac are at Education Week at BYU this week. They are enjoying themselves a lot. While dad has been at work this whole week the rest of the children have been home manning the house, taking care of things etc. They are doing a fantastic job of keeping things in order. We are very grateful that they have stepped up to the task and are being successful.

In one of the classes Kelli learned that we should write our blessing down as a reminder of Our Father in Heavens goodness toward s us. Blessings this past week; the successful completion of the school room and the ensuing peace of knowing it was in order, being able to travel to Idaho safely, the blessing of seeing old friends and seeing that youth we loved and the young adults they now are whom we still love are doing so well, that Isaac truly loved EFY and we saw his testimony grow, having our children step up and take responsibility for the house while Kelli is away and the blessing of learning and strengthening our testimonies with great activities like Education Week.