more on our trip to idaho and utah

the day after i finished my extremely difficult semester, and on the day that the rain finally came, mom and i left for idaho. it was 45 degrees in the morning and i laughed at mom when she suggested it might be snowing over the summit...ha! she got me! we got trapped in a mini snowstorm next to an accident. a couple cars went sliding off the road. we were the first car in a long line of stopped traffic.we came through the snow and into the fog and then rain at lake tahoe. we watched a hundred different skies that day. here we are at our favorite gas stop in lovelock: two stiffs mini mart. i like the old fashioned gas pumps that look like robots:matt is right when he says nevada is not so bad. we saw so much gorgeous scenery. this is after we turned north toward idaho. i can just imagine the shoshone indians riding horses across these grassy hills:but driving in a car is pretty fun too.somehow we arrived at our motel in twin falls idaho just minutes before matt, amy and the kids came pulling in. we rendezvoused in our roomy suite and the kids ate muffins grandma cherie sent. mom hadn't seen her grandkids in five months and so there was a lot of oohing and ahhhing over their cuteness. i mean look at this:
the next morning we woke up early and had a nice continental breakfast. i wish i had video footage of bella saying "darandula." she had discovered a new fascination/fear of tarantulas and i told her about the time i saw one, in the dark (the power was out) in a bathroom at a campground in new mexico, by flash-light. it freaked her out. mom or dad had to go in the bathroom with her now.
mom and i went off to see uncle dan. i will do another post of mom's pictures and tell more about uncle dan. here is mom giving him some childhood pictures of himself.
matt has already blogged the idaho part of our trip pretty thoroughly at beattytown.blogspot.com. so i will skip to sunday. we went on a walk through the historic neighborhoods of provo. the kids rode their bikes and jarom got a pretty nasty ouchy. (he rides without training wheels and falls pretty often) he was very brave (see knee).

monday we went to the mall. it was memorial day and we ran a lot of errands then had a see's candy fest here at the mall, as you can see.later that night we all went to the movies to see "horton hears a who" which we loved. the kids were perfect during it, even oey. we got the "family night special" with a giant refillable tub of popcorn. i kid you not, we refilled that thing four times, and the large soda too. it's fun to hog out on vacation!this is tuesday, which amy has also blogged extensively at their blog, if you want to check it out it's called "tuesdays with beattys" a name which i adore. we took a walk to the bakery,the kids each got to choose a dougnut and jarom got the big Y of course:and mom learned to dumpster dive.later amy made a nice pizza and we met matt (he was working that day) for a picnic at the park. it was a gorgeous day. there was a stray dog mom loved named harley. she found the owner's number and called them. it was a very sweet old dog and mom is just a softie.
in the evening matt and i took jarom and bella to DI. it was really fun taking bella around and looking at clothes with her. we were picking out dresses and skirts and glittery things right and left. she would go, "ooh, this is cute," like a little lady. even for not-so-cute things. she truly loved this old fashioned prairie girl dress i got her, and here she is swirling the skirt later at home:

jarom shows off the ball i bought him at the sports store. actually, i just gave him some cash and he stood in line and purchased it all by himself. he was very quiet and intent as he did the transaction, glancing proudly over at matt and i nearby. it was so cute. later bella did the same at the disney store with a pouch of plastic jewels (her choice.)

mom and amy spent the evening sewing an adorable keepsake apron for bella. here she is modeling it for us. she did about twenty five different poses. and i read them "horton hears a who" on our last night. i like bella's face here.