Temple, Bowling, Paleontology, Icecream, The Girls, and The Smiths

 Thursday morning my dear friend Samantha came and picked me up at the hotel so that we could spend the day together. We have not spent the day together without kids since we were in high school. We started our day with a session at the Provo City Center Temple. We have never gone to the temple together as adults. It was absolutely wonderful. We were early for a session so we just go to sit and talk. The beauty of the temple was positively magnificent and beautiful.

Then we had lunch at Kneaders (this was a must for me because we don't have one here). I did carpool with her picking up kids from school and taking them home, we went and picked some veggies from her sister-in-law's garden, got an ice cream cone, and then I stopped by to say hello to her parents before she dropped me off back at the hotel. It really was such a wonderful day, and although we hadn't seen each other in six years it was as if no time had passed at all. 


Chris took the kids to the Paleontology Museum at BYU. At one point they were watching workers behind the glass cleaning up dinosaur bones. Chris turns to Myles and says "Wouldn't that be cool if we could go in there??" Myles agreed that it would but that that would never happen. Well, leave it to Chris. He asked, and they all got to go behind the glass and see the bones and work being done up close and ask questions. Chris was busy holding Meg, so no pictures.

Then they all went bowling on campus for a $1 each.

 

They went  and had ice cream at The Creamery, and they went to the library on campus before heading back to the hotel to go swimming. Look who they found there.....................

I was sent this picture by Aeva. Chris, the kids, and she saw Rhaevyn doing her New Student Orientation tour. This boy is from Vancouver, so they had lots to talk about. Aeva got separated from her group and just decided to hang out in the library. Her New Student Orientation didn't go so well.

 And this was it................the last we'll see of them until Christmas........................


Thursday evening we were determined to visit our friends Sam and Karen Smith. We missed seeing them last time we were in Utah, and we weren't about to let that happen again. Silly me forgot to get/bring their phone number before we left home. I had no way to check my email, so I hoped just showing up would be okay. They have the nicest neighbors who volunteered to text Karen for me and gave me her number. While they finished up a soccer game we decided to run to Walmart to get snacks for the drive to Idaho. While we were at the Walmart in Lehi we ran into a Sister that was in our ward several years ago. When she and her family moved to Utah she gave us their piano for Aeva. It was so great to get to see her and chat briefly. We headed back to see the Smiths and had not planned on staying too long since it was a school night. They were so good about how late we ended up staying. It was great to get to see their children too who were great to entertain Meg and Elsa. We feel so blessed to call them our friends.  Even though it has been many years since our last visit, they are just so easy to visit with. We were so very glad that we were able to see them and only wish that we had remembered to get pictures. Thank you  Smith Family!!!!

Crazy Wednesday

Wednesday was crazy!!!
The Cannon Center cafeteria was not open so Aeva called us at the hotel to say she desperately needed breakfast. When we finally got to Heleman Halls there was absolutely no parking anywhere, and it was a mad house! We picked up Aeva and made a stop at the bank. We were so glad that we had dropped everything off the day before. People, by the end of the day, were just parking anywhere they could, even in the "no parking fire lanes".

The girls got to meet their roommates/families.
Rhaevyn loves her roommate and said her roommate's family was really nice and "normal".
We did get to meet Aeva's roommate's mom. She was really nice, and we exchanged phone numbers.
Aeva has discovered that her roommate is a lefty just like she is. Once her roommate moved everything in she was MIA for several days until classes actually started. They have family that live there and her mom was staying in town for a week. I think they were just spending extra time together since Aeva's roommate had just gotten back from Thailand just days before.

We did eat lunch with the girls up at the Wilkinson Center. We did one last trip to the bookstore. I got some cool pens for my pen collection. Yes, I love collecting pens!!

Rhaevyn went back to her dorm, but Aeva went to the Bean Museum with us on campus.  I liked the way it had been redone, but Chris did not. Aeva was a bit sad there were no vampire deer this time.

  Meg wanted to take a picture of her favorite bird at the museum.

We passed the library on the way to lunch. This is the girls' favorite spot, and they couldn't wait to get library cards.

I'm using the below picture for reference. It was in the 90's, Chris was dying from walking in the heat, but he challenged me to a race up this walkway. Ya, I won!! It was close though because I was laughing the entire time I was running.

We took pictures, said our goodbyes, and shed our tears. Okay it was mostly me bawling my eyes out. One of the hardest things ever; saying goodbye to two of my girls!!!!!!

Meg hugged the girls tight and cried. She didn't want to let them go.

 It was so hard to get a picture with everyone's eyes open. We tried turning in different directions, but that didn't seem to help. The sun was so bright.

I made a quick run to Macey's Grocery Store for a few food items. We discovered that there is no breakfast on fast Sundays. I'm glad that I happened to see that on the Cannon Center door, or Sunday morning might not have gone well for Miss Aeva. She will most likely have to go in and talk to the dietician to be able to get a "to go" box the Saturday night before fast Sundays. I made sure she had some cereal, milk, bowls, and spoons. When we dropped that off, curbside, Rhaevyn brought her clothes drying rack out and asked if I could return it for a different one. I guess it was rickety, and she'd already gotten a splinter. I didn't have the receipt and prayed that they would just let me exchange it at Walmart. The lady was super nice. She gave me my money back without my receipt, and I got a metal one ( the very last one). Rhaevyn was at dinner, so I ran it up quickly and left it outside her dorm room.  Then we quickly stopped to get Taco Bell to go, and to DI because we discovered that Chris had forgotten to pack a white shirt and a tie for Friday. We were ready to rest at the hotel, and the kids were ready to swim!

BYU Move in and a Visit to the Aquarium

The girls decided that they'd like to at least drop their belongings off to their dorm rooms and get their ID cards Tuesday. We agreed that $15 extra for a one day sooner move in date was worth it, and boy would we discover how worth it it was!

I don't think we were quite prepared for how long it would take to find parking up by the Wilkinson Center, walk, walk and walk, get their ID cards,  and purchase two packets and one book that Aeva still needed.
Plus we needed a few souvenirs......because, yes, I needed one of these for my car:

Elsa wanted a shirt for her souvenir and a picture with the bronze Cosmo the Cougar. I was snickered at by some BYU students when I asked if we were getting close to the Wilkinson Center; hey, I haven't been there in six years. Chris and I came up with so many good things to say after the fact. Oh well, I didn't take it personally. Chris and I both had a good laugh about it. 

 I could get used to this beautiful view. I love the Wasatch Mountains! In fact when we could finally see the Wasatch Mountains on Sunday, Myles said "Whoaaaaaa!", and he whipped out his camera.

 

Chris helped the girls get checked in at the Cannon Center while the rest of us found a parking spot by May Hall. We got all the boxes, clothes, bedding, etc to their rooms. It was a long walk up two and three flights of stairs several times. There are no elevators. There weren't too many girls moving in yet. We got to meet the RA's. Both seemed nice and really helpful. Aeva's actually came down and helped bring some of her stuff up to her room.
Rhaevyn's dorm floor:
It looks like a busy hallway, but those people are all Lindsays 😊

 

The girls both had goodies waiting on thier doors and beds when they got there.
The bathroom:
 It is a dorm for men, but they rotate because the girls are not as harsh on the dorms as the guys are.

 We snagged a campus map from here:

 Aeva's floor was not quite decorated yet, but she did have her name on her door. Yes, you will see that it does not say Aeva, and that is because she is gong by her middle name.

 She said she cannot even reach the security hole in her door.

 After we finished unloading the car we went to Chuck-A-Rama for lunch. It's been six years since I had one of these, and now I am set for another six years.

Mmmmmm..........scones with honey butter.....

After lunch we headed off to Loveland Living Planet Aquarium. I think this was a must for all of us, but especially Aeva.This was such a neat place. We enjoyed every aspect and exhibit. It was our one splurge for this trip and worth every penny.

I find jellyfish mesmerizing. I love how graceful they are.

The penguins are so super cute. The best part is that the exhibit didn't reek like the Portland Zoo exhibit. I could actually stay and enjoy watching them for a while.

 

Meg had fun watching this little guy follow her back and forth as she walked the length of his exhibit and back again.

We loved being able to touch starfish, anemones, sting rays, and spotted rays. Very cool!!

 

 The river and Asian otters were so fun to watch. I loved their playfulness.

 

 

 

 

 

We especially enjoyed walking through the "300,000-gallon shark exhibit with a 40-foot tunnel"

 Watching this turtle swim was amazing!!

 

 Two of of my favorite pictures right here:

We also really enjoyed the butterfly exhibit. My phone died before I could get a picture of each of us holding butterflies. 😞
I think we could have spent more time there, although, we had already spent at least two hours. Alas, it was announced over the loud speaker that they were closing. 

I dropped Chris and the kids off at the hotel. They went swimming while Rheavyn, Aeva, and I headed to Walmart for a few items and then onto their dorm. Aeva had decided that she was going to stay the night because she needed sleep. Chris's snoring was a bit much for her. Rhaevyn opted for one last night with us at the hotel. We got both of their beds raised, and I made their beds for them.  That was a sweet moment for me. We got their pictures up too. We said goodnight to Aeva, and Rhaevyn and I had our last fling together until Christmas..........Waffle Love at almost 10pm!!!

Rhaevyn took pictures, but I am not sure when she will send them to me. In the meantime these will have to do. She did take a picture of this:

The waffles that we ordered were the two bottom ones on the left and the right.
Rhaevyn got:

THE SUNSHINE

lemon curd, raspberries, whipped cream

I ordered:

RED WONDER

biscoff, raspberries, strawberries, whipped cream

 Super Yummy!!

  Pictures, magnet board/cork-board up, beds made, and mostly moved in to their rooms: