Road Trip

After 34 hours in the car over 4 days, we're finally home from our road trip.

The weird part is: Ryan didn't come home with us.
It is a strange thing to take your son a thousand miles away from home and leave him there!
I know it is the right place for him to be, but now it seems like everything is in the past tense.
When Ryan lived at home
He was my first baby
He was homeschooled
We finished raising our son

Thankfully there is so much in the future to look forward to.
When Ryan comes home to visit
He will get his mission call
Life long learning
Temple marriage
Grandchildren
Family Reunions

Boy do I feel old!!

Here we are in front of the Taylor building where Ryan has religion class and attends church.
The BYU Idaho campus is really beautiful. We especially loved the flower gardens.
The buildings are lovely and they are filled with paintings, sculpture and artwork.
We checked out Ryan's classrooms and most of them are very small with state of the art set-ups. There is a lot going on with a remodel on the the student center and a new auditorium under construction.

The Rexburg temple is on the hill above campus and just a couple of blocks from Ryan's apartment. Click HERE to see some gorgeous photos of the temple.

Here's Ryan in his apartment. They even have two refrigerators--a necessity with 6 hungry men. They have two bathrooms plus an extra sink. They were a little scary by Mom standards, but Ryan thought they were great.

It is a very nice complex with a big laundry room, a pool and a hot tub. There are huge "No Girls Allowed" signs around the hot tub. I didn't like those signs when they were on his 10 year old club house, but I really like them now!

One of Ryan's roommates took this picture of us out in front of the apartment. It is only a couple blocks from campus--probably closer than my dorm was to BYU. As a bonus, all the residents get frees haircuts, manicures and pedicures. I'm guessing this is actually a bonus for the beauty school students. They have built-in guinea pigs!

We didn't have too much time to stop and play. We'll have to save the trip to Bear World for another time. Evan still managed to have a great time in the few hours he had with his cousin Josh. They made a bunch of "blubber buddies" which are latex glove water balloons. Then they piled them on top of the car and convinced my brother-in-law to take them for a drive. They were thrilled at the resulting watery mess!

Thanks to John's sister for letting us stay on the way up and back. We weren't very good guests, just stopping long enough to eat and sleep, but at least we didn't overstay our welcome.

With so many hours in the car, we did get some reading done. Evan read all of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and John & I listened to Mornings on Horseback. It is a great biography of Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough.

The Roosevelts chose to educate their children at home and when Teddy Roosevelt went to Harvard at 17, it was his first time in school. His father gave him some great advice that I'd like to share with Ryan. He counseled his son to focus on and take care of:
First, his morals
Second, his health
Third, his studies

Have a great time at BYU-I Ryan! Your Mom loves you!